Indirect spectrophotometric determination of piroxicam and tenoxicam through oxidation with potassium permanganate

Three rapid, simple, accurate and selective validated spectrophtometric methods (A, B and C) for the determination of piroxicam (PX) and tenoxicam (TX) in bulk sample and in dosage forms are described. The methods are based on the oxidation of the studied drugs by a known excess of potassium permanganate in sulfuric acid medium and subsequent determination of unreacted oxidant by reacting it with Methylene Blue (Basic Blue 9) dye (method A), Acid Red 27 (Amaranth) dye (method B) and Acid Orange 7 (orange II) dye (method C), in the same medium at a suitable λmax = 660, 520 and 485 nm, respectively. The reacted oxidant was found to be corresponding to the drug content. Regression analysis of Beer-Lambert plots showed good correlations in the concentration ranges 1.0-8.0, 1.0-9.0 and 1.0-7.2 µg mL-1 using methods A, B and C, respectively, for PX and 0.3-7.0, 0.3-1.6 and 0.3-2.5 µg mL-1 using methods A, B and C, respectively, for TX. The stoichiometric ratios for the cited drugs to oxidant were studied. The optimum reaction conditions and other analytical parameters were evaluated. The proposed methods were applied successfully to determine the examined drugs either in pure form or pharmaceutical formulations with good accuracy and precision. The relative standard deviations were ≤ 0.33 with recoveries 98.9-101.7% for PX and ≤ 0.49 with recoveries 99.4-102.0% for TX. KEY WORDS: Spectrophotometry, Piroxicam assay, Tenoxicam assay, Redox reactions, Dosage forms Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2010, 24(1), 121-126

Optimization of Key Parameters Towards High Performance Perovskite Solar Cells

Here, we report important findings regarding underestimated parameters for the synthesis and fabrication of high-performance perovskite solar cells. These parameters include the effect of Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide (FTO) etching, FTO cleaning, the number of compact TiO 2 (c-TiO 2 ) layer, the number of mesoporous TiO 2 (m-TiO 2 ) layers and the aging time before Ag deposition. Our results demonstrated that etching of FTO substrate with Zn/HCl is an essential step and has a major effect on the solar cell's open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF) and power conversion efficiency (PCE). Furthermore, we demonstrate new and improved protocols for the complete cleaning of FTO substrates. Despite the use of sonication and plasma etching in previous cleaning techniques, SEM images clearly show black clouds in the samples, which may be due to residual Zn particles in the FTO grooves. Thus, a soft toothbrush was used with detergent before sonication to detach the remaining Zn particles. In addition, the optimum number of spin coated layers of compact and mesoporous TiO 2 precursors was investigated. We found that one mesoporous and two compact TiO 2 layers were required to obtain a homogenous pinhole-free compact layer. Consequently, we demonstrate that using these optimized device fabrication procedures, a high efficiency of 17.96% for 6 mol% Co 3+ -doped TiO 2 solar cells can be obtained in comparison to 16.98% for pristine TiO 2 -based cells. Such cells are particularly important for wearable applications that require a small area and a high energy

A review on nanocellulosic fibres as new material for sustainable packaging: process an applications

The demand for exploring advanced and eco-friendly sustainable packaging materials with superior physical, mechanical and barrier properties is increasing. The materials that are currently used in packaging for food, beverage, medical and pharmaceutical products, as well as in industrial applications, are non-degradable, and thus, these materials are raising environmental pollution concerns. Numerous studies have been conducted on the utilization of bio-based materials in the pursuit of developing sustainable packaging materials. Although significant improvements have been achieved, a balance among environmental concerns, economic considerations and product packaging performance is still lacking. This is likely due to bio-based materials being used in product packaging applications without a proper design. The present review article intends to summarize the information regarding the potential applications of cellulosic nanofiber for the packaging. The importance of the design process, its principles and the challenges of design process for sustainable packaging are also summarized in this review. Overall it can be concluded that scientists, designers and engineers all are necessarily required to contribute towards research in order to commercially exploit cellulose nanofiber for sustainable packaging

Modelling and simulation of 1.2 MWp tenaga suria brunei photovoltaic power plant

The energy demand in Brunei Darussalam will increase in near future. The renewable energy is one of the alternative energy sources that could satisfy the increasing energy demands. Brunei Darussalam depends heavily on fossil fuel to generate its electricity needs. Fossil fuels are depleted and the main source of pollution. Photovoltaic (PV) systems generate electricity directly from the sunlight without any emission of global warming gases, and the fuel is free. In order to optimize the performance of PV systems their operation should be well understood. In this paper, we present the modelling of a real 1.2 MWp photovoltaic system. The PV power plant is tied to the grid. The PV array, the DC/DC converter and the DC/AC inverter are modelled and implemented in Matlab/Simulink. The controller of the gridconnected inverter is modelled to achieve constant voltage, constant frequency and to be synchronized with the grid. The system is simulated under Brunei weather conditions and the results are acceptable

Atmospheric Neutrinos Can Make Beauty Strange

The large observed mixing angle in atmospheric neutrinos, coupled with Grand Unification, motivates the search for a large mixing between right-handed strange and bottom squarks. Such mixing does not appear in the standard CKM phenomenology, but may induce significant b to s transitions through gluino diagrams. Working in the mass eigenbasis, we show quantitatively that an order one effect on CP violation in B_d to phi+K_S is possible due to a large mixing between right-handed b and s squarks, while still satisfying constraints from b to s + gamma. We also include the effect of right- and left-handed bottom squark mixing proportional to m_b*mu*tan(beta). For small mu*tan(beta) there may also be a large effect in B_s mixing correlated with a large effect in B_d to phi+K_S, typically mixing effects are greater than 100 ps^{-1}, an unambiguous signal of new physics at Tevatron Run II.Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX. Corrected a factor of two mistake in the code; the possible impact on B -> phi K_s became larger. Figures and discussion updated, a reference adde

Technical and economic feasibility study of solar powered air conditioners in Brunei Darussalam

On daily basis, a huge amount of fossil fuel is being burnt which results in a substantial amount of greenhouse gasses being released into the atmosphere. Air conditioners are becoming more common and are a major strain on energy demands especially in tropical climate countries like Brunei Darussalam. The photovoltaic electricity is a clean and sustainable. In this paper, we present a techno-economic feasibility study for solar powered air conditioning system in Brunei Darussalam. Four alternatives are investigated, 1) the PV system supplies 50% of the loads, 2) the PV system supplies 75% of the loads, 3) the PV system supplies 100% of the loads, and finally 4) the PV system supplies 125% of the loads. Where in the last two case the excess electricity is sold to the grid. With 0.3$ feed-in tariff. The best alternative is the grid-connected PV system with 125% capacity factor which was chosen due to its short payback time period as well as high profit rate over the lifetime of the project

B --> Phi K_S and Supersymmetry

The rare decay B --> Phi K_S is a well-known probe of physics beyond the Standard Model because it arises only through loop effects yet has the same time-dependent CP asymmetry as B --> Psi K_S. Motivated by recent data suggesting new physics in B --> Phi K_S, we look to supersymmetry for possible explanations, including contributions mediated by gluino loops and by Higgs bosons. Chirality-preserving LL and RR gluino contributions are generically small, unless gluinos and squarks masses are close to the current lower bounds. Higgs contributions are also too small to explain a large asymmetry if we impose the current upper limit on B(B_s --> mu mu). On the other hand, chirality-flipping LR and RL gluino contributions can provide sizable effects and while remaining consistent with related results in B --> Psi K_S, Delta M_s, B --> X_s gamma and other processes. We discuss how the LR and RL insertions can be distinguished using other observables, and we provide a string-based model and other estimates to show that the needed sizes of mass insertions are reasonable.Comment: 33 pages, 32 figures, Updated version for PRD. Includes discussions of other recent works on this topic. Added discussions & plots for gluino mass dependence and effects of theoretical uncertaintie

New Physics Contributions to The B -> phi K_S Decay

Recent measurements of the time-dependent CP asymmetry of the B -> phi K_S decay give results whose central values differ from standard model expectations. It is shown how such data can be used to identify new physics contributions in a model-independent manner. In general, a sizeable new amplitude with nontrivial weak and strong phases would be required to explain current data. Improvement in the quality of data will allow one to form a more definite conclusion.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures; some references added; analysis updated in light of recent BaBar data announced at Moriond conferenc

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results