Towards Determining the Optimum Process Mean using an Exponential Distribution

Manufacturers are often faced with the problem of selecting the optimum process mean. Wen and Mergen (1999) used the unbalanced step loss function for measuring the cost of the non-conforming item and adopted a trade-off model for determining the optimum process mean. They assumed that the quality characteristic is normally distributed, the process variance constant and the process mean is unknown. This paper presents the modified Wen and Mergen model with a step loss function and piecewise function using an exponential distribution. The proposed model is a generalization of Wen and Mergens model. Keywords: step-loss function, piecewise linear loss function, exponential distributio

Environmental and Waste Management in Iron and Steel Industry

The Indian Iron and Steel scenario has changed considerably after the announcement of Government Policy on de-control and liberalization. Several new entrepreneurs have entered the steel industry. It is heartening to see that the steel industry is set to carve a niche for itself in the domestic and foreign market. The rapid progress of steel industry has aggravated environmental and waste management problems. This has led to increasing pressure from Government and the public to speed up action plan for effective industrial waste management. The waste management in steel industry is an emerging complex issue and can be implemented after regulating through monitoring, analysis, legalization , addition of infra-structural facilities for enforcement, waste auditing , change of process technology etc. The paper reviews current knowledge of waste management in Indian Steel Industry, approaches to environmental improvement and examines various options to environmental management plan keeping in view of the importance of sustainable endurance of environment and other natural resources

Environmental Issues to be Addressed in Indian Alumina Refineries and their Possible Solutions

India is endowed with a vast bauxite reserve totalling 3037 million tons,more than 87% of which is deemed fit for the production of metallurgical grade alumina by the Bayer 's process. In spite of having such a vast bauxite reserve, the country 's alumina production is very meagre and poised for augmentation in the near future. Also, the existing alumina plants except for Nalco, which has been set-up in the eighties , all the other existing plants are quite old and require modernisation and capacity expansion. With further additional capacities, may it be new green field plants or brown field expansions, there would be an increasing concern mainly for bauxite residue disposal, the working environment and nearby surroundings. The working environment in the alumina plant is critical due to the handling of corrosive chemicals, toxic fumes, air borne emissions, noise hazards and require necessary safety monitoring system. Based on plant operation experience and critical literature survey it is thought that the environmental measures possible under the Indian conditions would match even the best available in the alumina industry abroad, so that there will be a very little negative impact. This paper attempts to bring out the possible areas of concern with measures available and comparison of those with the best possible under the Indian conditions. The overall assessment of impact on the environment including the social , cultural and economic would be highly beneficial to the project planners, local community and the country in genera

DETERMINATION OF OCTANOL-WATER PARTITION COEFFICIENT OF NOVEL COUMARIN BASED ANTICANCER COMPOUNDS BY REVERSED-PHASE ULTRA-FAST LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

Objective: The present study aims at the development of a reversed phase ultra-fast liquid chromatography (RP-UFLC) method for measurement of the lipophilicity (log P) between n-octanol and water for the newly synthesized coumarin derivatives in our laboratory.Methods: The synthesized compounds were dissolved in methanol and analyzed using XTerra RP18 column as the stationary phase and a mixture of methanol (0.25% v/v octanol) and buffer as the mobile phase with isocratic elution.Results: In this study we concentrated on the relationship between a reversed-phase ultra-fast liquid chromatography (RP-UFLC) retention parameters and log P of our synthesized compounds. Furthermore, a good correlation and very close values were obtained between the experimentally determined log P values and values obtained from Chemdraw.Conclusion: The developed method was found to be insensitive to any of the impurities present and moreover it requires very little sample for analysis

DESIGN, SYNTHESIS, IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND IN VIVO ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITIES OF NOVEL OXADIAZOLE DERIVATIVES

Objective: In the present study, a series of novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives (3a-3q) were designed, synthesized and evaluated for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.Methods: The title compounds were designed and docked onto the COX-2 enzyme (3LN1) protein using SYBYLX 2.1. 2-substituted-5-(5-nitrobenzofuran-2-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives (3a-3p) were synthesized from acid catalyzed dehydrative cyclization of 5-nitrobenzofuran-2-carbohydrazide (2) with various heteroaryl/aryl/aliphatic carboxylic acid derivatives. And 5-(5-nitrobenzofuran-2-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiol (3q) was synthesized on reacting the hydrazide derivative 2 with carbon disulfide. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for in vitro antioxidant property by DPPH radical scavenging assay method and in vivo anti-inflammatory activity by carrageenan induced paw edema method.Results: The synthesized 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives (3a-3q) were characterized on the basis of LCMS, 1HNMR [13]CNMR, IR and elemental analysis. The title compounds 3a-3q exhibited significant antioxidant efficacy ranging from 34 to 86%and the results of anti-inflammatory evaluation revealed that compounds 3c, 3e and 3d exhibited substantial anti-inflammatory activity of 72, 68 and 65%, respectively, at a dose of 50 mg kg-1.Conclusion: A significant correlation was observed between the in silico study and the anti-inflammatory results. The anti-inflammatory results highlight the synthesized compounds 3c, 3e and 3d could be considered as possible hit as therapeutic agents.Â

The interaction of Indian monsoon depressions with northwesterly mid-level dry intrusions

Monsoon depressions (MDs) bring substantial monsoon rainfall to northern and central India. These events usually form over the Bay of Bengal and travel across northern India toward Pakistan. Using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting Interim Reanalysis, an MD tracking algorithm, and an objective identification method, we find that about 40% of MDs interact with northerly intrusions of dry desert air masses as the MDs traverse the subcontinent. MD interactions with dry intrusions are often preceded by positive potential vorticity anomalies on the subtropical jet and low level anticyclonic anomalies over the north Arabian Sea. Dry intrusions nearly halve the precipitation rate in the southwest quadrant of MDs, where MDs rain the most. However, dry intrusions increase the rainfall rate near the MD center. Similarly, ascent is reduced west of the MD center and enhanced at the MD center, especially in the upper troposphere. The reduced ascent west of MD centers is likely attributable to changes in vertical shear reducing differential cyclonic vorticity advection. Dry intrusions slightly reduce MDs’ propagation speed. For the mid-upper level vortex, this can be explained by anomalous westerlies reducing propagation by adiabatic advection. For the lower tropospheric vortex, it is likely that reduced diabatic generation of PV plays a role in slowing propagation, along with reduced adiabatic advection

GGN repeat length and GGN/CAG haplotype variations in the androgen receptor gene and prostrate cancer risk in south Indian men

The ethnic variation in the GGN and CAG microsatellites of the androgen receptor (AR) gene suggests their role in the substantial racial difference in prostate cancer risk. Hence, we performed a casecontrol study to assess whether GGN repeats independently or in combination with CAG repeats were associated with prostate cancer risk in South Indian men. The repeat lengths of the AR gene determined by Gene scan analysis, revealed that men with GGN repeats £21 had no significant risk compared to those with >21 repeats (OR 0.91 at 95% CI-0.52–1.58). However, when CAG repeats of our earlier study was combined with the GGN repeat data, the cases exhibited significantly higher frequency of the haplotypes CAG £19/GGN £21 (OR-5.2 at 95% CI-2.17– 12.48, P 21(OR-6.9 at 95%CI-2.85–17.01, P < 0.001) compared to the controls. No significant association was observed between GGN repeats and prostate-specific antigen levels and the age at diagnosis. Although a trend of short GGN repeats length in high-grade was observed, it was not significant (P = 0.09). Overall, our data reveals that specific GGN/CAG haplotypes (CAG £19/GGN £21 and CAG £19/GGN > 21) of AR gene increase the risk of prostate cancer and thus could serve as susceptibility marker for prostate cancer in South Indian men

Survey of polypharmacy prescription in a tertiary care hospital, belagavi

&nbsp; Polypharmacy is the use of four or more medications in one prescription or implies the prescription of too many medications for an individual. Concerns about polypharmacy include increase adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, prescribing cascade and higher cost. Objectives: To conduct a prescription survey of polypharmacy in tertiary care hospital at Belagavi. Methodology: The study was conducted in the Medicine outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital, Belagavi, after obtaining approval and clearance from the Institutional Ethics Committee. Total 83 patients were selected by Simple Random Sampling and the data were collected prospectively by direct observation in specially designed proforma containing relevant patient details like registration number, age, gender and diagnosis, disease data and drug data. Results: Out of the total sample population (N=83), 56.62% had prescriptions falling under major polypharmacy (&gt;6 drugs), 43.37% had prescriptions categorized as minor polypharmacy (3-5 drugs). The most common age group of patients receiving prescriptions with polypharmacy was between 41 to 60 years accounting for 38.55%. Majority of the patients receiving prescriptions with polypharmacy in our study were females (59.03%) as compared to males (40.96%). Major polypharmacy is more prevalent in patients receiving treatment for Hypertension (60.24%) followed by patients with diabetes (23.67%). Conclusion: Our prescription survey portrays polypharmacy to be widely prevalent in a tertiary care setting. Specific treatment goals with certainty are the essential need for curing diseases rather than polypharmacy, which could be a possible threat of more harm than good

Toward the PSTN/Internet Inter-Networking--Pre-PINT Implementations

This document contains the information relevant to the development of the inter-networking interfaces underway in the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)/Internet Inter-Networking (PINT) Working Group. It addresses technologies, architectures, and several (but by no means all) existing pre-PINT implementations of the arrangements through which Internet applications can request and enrich PSTN telecommunications services. The common denominator of the enriched services (a.k.a. PINT services) is that they combine the Internet and PSTN services in such a way that the Internet is used for non-voice interactions, while the voice (and fax) are carried entirely over the PSTN. One key observation is that the pre-PINT implementations, being developed independently, do not inter-operate. It is a task of the PINT Working Group to define the inter-networking interfaces that will support inter-operation of the future implementations of PINT services

Metanilamide substituted thiourea derivatives

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