Layout Planning with Isles: A Genetic Approach

Plant layout problems involve distributing different resources or departments in a given plant and achieving maximum efficiency for the services or goods being made or offered. To this end, plants are designed to optimize production flow from the first stage (i.e. as raw material) to finish product. However, optimization which is generally expressed either in terms of minimization (for example, of material handling costs) or of maximization (for example, the number of desired adjacencies in a qualitative chart) is not always feasible when real problems or real sizes are being handled. The level of complexity may turn out considerable as the number of parameters, restrictions and other variables considered in the study become larger. This kind of problem has been formulated, from a mathematical view point as a static quadratic assignment problem. However, the number of problems that are usceptible to being solved by optimization methods is very limited. Some alternatives have been called from the field of graph-theory, direct method algorithms, construction algorithms (such as CORELAP), and improvement algorithms (such as CRAFT). In this thesis work, an attempt is made to develop the algorithm for solving layout problem with real-life restriction like aisles, used in factories for the easy transfer of materials from one section to the other, using Genetic Algorithm

Explicit solutions for a system of First order partial differential equations - II

In this note we give an explicit formula for the solution of conservative form of a system studied in a previous article [6], in the domain {(x, t) : x > 0, t > 0} with initial conditions at t = 0 and with Bardos Leroux Nedelec boundary conditions at x = 0

THE RESEARCH UPDATES AND PROSPECTS OF HERBAL HARD-BOILED LOZENGES: A CLASSICAL PLATFORM WITH PROMISING DRUG DELIVERY POTENTIAL

Over the past decades major focus has been given towards innovative drug delivery systems and new dosage forms. This is due to highly expensive process and high attrition rates of existing marketed drugs. Hard-boiled lozenges (HBLs) are one of the solid dosage form designed to release the drug in saliva for either local or systemic effects. Typical application of lozenegs includes throat infection, pharyngitis, cough suppressant, nasal-decongestant, expectorants, and smoking cessation. The drug delivery through the hard-boiled candies has an easy marketing advantage due to its attractive appearance and patient compliance. As a part of the drug is absosrbed into systemic circulation, gastrointestinal degradation and fast pass effects are avoided. Further, drug delivery through hard-boiled lozenges can be potential platform for some of the suitable drug candidates. This review on hard-boiled lozenges discusses manufacturing process, characterization techniques, quality control, research studies and market potential of hard-boiled lozenges. The major databases searched were, PubMed, Wiley Online, Medline, Elsevier, Google scholar, Scopus, ACS, The Royal Society of Chemistry, SciFinder, Baidu Scholars, CNKI, web of science, Cochrane database, US Patents, Espacenet and various business reviews. This review provides comprehensive information on hard-boiled lozenges that will help the pharmaceutical scientist from academia as well pharmaceutical industry to leverage the potential of this conventional dosage form for various herbal drugs and other pharmaceutical actives

Abortion care-seeking and reproductive rights violation in health facilities: evidence from six states of India

Background: Unsafe abortion continues to draw the researcher's attention due to its close association with maternal morbidity and mortality. Empirical evidence on the role of health facilities in providing safe abortion care addressing the reproductive rights of Indian women is limited.Methods: Using data from the 2015 ‘unintended pregnancy and abortion in India’ study, the present paper aimed to understand the violation of the reproductive rights of abortion care seekers in health facilities (n=4001) in six states of India. The health facilities were sampled using a stratified random sampling strategy. Univariate and bivariate analysis was carried out using SPSS (V 25) on cleaned and weighted data.Results: A sizeable percentage of public and private health facilities across states found seeking the consent of the husband or family members before abortion provision, compel women to adopt contraception and turn away abortion seekers, commonly citing non-medical reasons. The provision of post-abortion complications services is usually not 24/7, even at the primary health centre level, hindering access to an urgent health care need.Conclusions: There is a need to improve access to facility-based abortion services, especially in underserved rural areas, by ensuring that all public-sector facilities have adequate equipment and supplies, including MMA drugs and trained providers. Sensitization of health care providers about the importance of ethical issues and women’s reproductive rights is urgently required to ensure safe, legal, and accessible abortion care