Chemico-calorimetric analysis of amorphous granules manufactured via continuous granulation process

The current study explores the first case of the implementation of solution calorimetry (SolCal) in order to determine the amorphous content of crystalline benzoyl-methoxy-methylindol-acetic acid (BMA)—a model poorly soluble drug, in the amorphous granules prepared via single-step continuous twin-screw dry granulations (TSG). Amorphous magnesium aluminometasilicate (Neusilin®) (US2) was used as a novel inorganic carrier via a TwinLab 10 mm twin-screw extruder. The BMA/US2 blends were processed at 180 °C and varying drug: carrier ratios of 1:4, 1:2.5 and 1:1 (w/w). Physico-chemical characterisation conducted via SEM, DSC and XRPD showed amorphous state of the drug in all granulated formulations. Reverse optical microscopy revealed a meso-porous structure of US2 in which the drug particles are adsorbed and/or entrapped within the porous network of the carrier. This phenomenon can be the underlying reason for the increase of the amorphous content in the extruded granules. Solution calorimetry (SolCal) study revealed amorphous content of the drug in all formulations quite precisely, whereas the dynamic vapour sorption (DVS) analysis complemented the results from SolCal. Furthermore, an attempt has been made for the first time to interrelate the findings from the SolCal to that of the release of the drug from the amorphous granules. It can be concluded that SolCal can be used as a novel technique to precisely quantify and interrelate the amorphous content to its physico-chemical performances such as drug release from the granulated formulations processed via TS

Resource Nationalism Specter Hovers Over The Oil Industry: The Transnational Corporate Strategy To Tackle Resource Nationalism Risks

Resource nationalism is building momentum across oil-endowed countries. Transnational corporations (TNCs) have to effectively address the emerging scenarios that are caused by the resurgence in resource nationalism. This is clearly a diserable focus that has received much attention in the literature on government-business relations ever since the oil nationalization of the 1970s. But there is limited literature that provides a synthesized view on the transnational oil companies’ (TNOC) strategies to tackle resource nationalism risk; this leaves a gap in the literature where the paper aims to contribute. The paper explores the exclusive literature on resource nationalism and the activities of TNOCs, and from this literature engages in conceptual development. The paper focuses on the notion of resource nationalism and its implications on TNOCs’ activities in host states. This paper provides policy guidelines, suggesting the ways in which the major TNOCs can respond with robust responsible and sustainable programs to the resource nationalism in the global oil industry.

Socioeconomic assessment of shrimp farming in relation to local livelihoods in the south-west coastal Bangladesh

Nine different categories of stakeholders in shrimp farming industry ·were assessed to show the socioeconomic impact of shrimp farming in south-west Bangladesh. Among all the stakeholders the shrimp farmer's average own land was 4 ha whereas the seed collectors and faria's had lowest amount of average land, 0.1 and 0.5 ha respectively. The shrimp farming positively impacted to the livelihood of stakeholders. Income of the coastal people, sanitation, working facilities of women, employment, health condition and the literacy rate increased due to shrimp farming. On the other hand shrimp farming had negative impact on the rice production, livestock, drinking water supply, and social conflict and violence had increased due to shrimp farming. There were internal conflicts between different stakeholders; the farias conflict with the depot owners and shrimp farmers, marginal farmers' conflict with the rich shrimp farmers about leasing lands and saline water control, the rice farmers conflicts with the shrimp farmers about agricultural crop production

Sequestering atmospheric CO₂ inorganically:a solution for Malaysia's CO₂ emission

Malaysia is anticipating an increase of 68.86% in CO2 emission in 2020, compared with the 2000 baseline, reaching 285.73 million tonnes. A major contributor to Malaysia's CO2 emissions is coal-fired electricity power plants, responsible for 43.4% of the overall emissions. Malaysia's forest soil offers organic sequestration of 15 tonnes of CO2 ha(-1) year(-1). Unlike organic CO2 sequestration in soil, inorganic sequestration of CO2 through mineral carbonation, once formed, is considered as a permanent sink. Inorganic CO2 sequestration in Malaysia has not been extensively studied, and the country's potential for using the technique for atmospheric CO2 removal is undefined. In addition, Malaysia produces a significant amount of solid waste annually and, of that, demolition concrete waste, basalt quarry fine, and fly and bottom ashes are calcium-rich materials suitable for inorganic CO2 sequestration. This project introduces a potential solution for sequestering atmospheric CO2 inorganically for Malaysia. If lands associated to future developments in Malaysia are designed for inorganic CO2 sequestration using demolition concrete waste, basalt quarry fine, and fly and bottom ashes, 597,465 tonnes of CO2 can be captured annually adding a potential annual economic benefit of (sic)4,700,000.</p

Increased dissolution rates of tranilast solid dispersions extruded with inorganic excipients

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of Neusilin® (NEU) a synthetic magnesium aluminometasilicate as inorganic drug carrier co-processed with the hydrophilic surfactants Labrasol and Labrafil to develop Tranilast (TLT) based solid dispersions using continuous melt extrusion (HME) processing. Twin – screw extrusion was optimized to develop various TLT/excipient/surfactant formulations followed by continuous capsule filling in the absence of any downstream equipment. Physicochemical characterisation showed the existence of TLT in partially crystalline state in the porous network of inorganic NEU for all extruded formulations. Furthermore, the in line NIR studies revealed a possible intermolecular H–bonding formation between the drug and carrier resulting in the increase of dissolution of TLT. The capsules containing TLT extruded solid dispersions showed enhanced dissolution rates and compared with the marketed Rizaben® product

Volumetric properties and leaching effect of asphalt mixes with electric arc furnace steel slag and copper mine tailings

This study focuses on the potential of electric arc furnace (EAF) steel slag and copper mine tailings as asphalt paving materials with respect to issues of volumetric properties and leaching. In this study, four different asphalt mixes were investigated; each contained EAF steel slag and copper mine tailings of various proportions. Apart from the microstructure analysis of the materials, a toxicity characteristics leaching procedure (TCLP) test was conducted on both the mixes and the aggregates. All the mixes were evaluated by the following parameters: Voids in the mineral aggregates (VMA), voids in total mix (VTM), voids filled with asphalt (VFA), Marshall stability and flow and specific gravity. F-test ANNOVA was used to evaluate the degree of significance of the mixes with each of the evaluated standards. It was observed that the mixes containing either EAF steel slag or copper mine tailings or both gave better results than the control mix. In terms of the TCLP test, none of the detected hazardous elements exceeded the standard limits, which indicates the possibility of using them as construction materials

Chemical and biological investigations of Delonix regia (Bojer ex Hook.) Raf.

U radu je opisana izolacija pet sastojaka petroleterske i diklormetanske frakcije metanolnog ekstrakta kore biljke Delonix regia: lupeol (1), epilupeol (2), β-sitosterol (3), stigmasterol (4) i p-metoksibenzaldehid (5). Nadalje, testirano je antimikrobno djelovanje različitih ekstrakata difuzijskom metodom na disku (15 μg mm2). Zone inhibicije za sastojke topljive u petroleteru, tetraklormetanu i diklormetanu bile su 914 mm, 1113 mm, odnosno 920 mm, dok je zona inhibicije standarda kanamicina bila 2025 mm. U biološkom pokusu smrtnosti morskih kozica najveću toksičnost pokazali su spojevi topljivi u tetraklormetanu (LC50 = 0,83 μg mL1), dok je topljivost sastojaka topljivih u petroleteru i diklormetanu bila LC50 14,94, odnosno 3,29 μg mL1, a standarda vinkristin sulfata 0,812 μg mL1. Ovo je prvo izvješće o izolaciji sastojaka, antimikrobnom djelovanju i citotoksičnosti biljke D. regia.In this study five compounds, lupeol (1), epilupeol (2), β-sitosterol (3), stigmasterol (4) and p-methoxybenzaldehyde (5) were isolated from the petroleum ether and dichloromethane fractions of a methanolic extract of the stem bark of Delonix regia. Antimicrobial screening of the different extracts (15 μg mm2) was conducted by disc diffusion method. The zones of inhibition demonstrated by the petroleum ether, carbon tetrachloride and dichloromethane fractions ranged from 914 mm, 1113 mm and 920 mm, respectively, compared to kanamycin standard with the zone of inhibition of 2025 mm. In brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the carbon tetrachloride soluble materials demonstrated the highest toxicity with LC50 of 0.83 μg mL1, while petroleum ether and dichloromethane soluble partitionates of the methanolic extract revealed LC50 of 14.94 and 3.29 μg mL1, respectively, in comparison with standard vincristine sulphate with LC50 of 0.812 μg mL1. This is the first report on compounds separation from D. regia, their antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity