QUALITY BY DESIGN APPROACH TO STABILITY-INDICATING REVERSE-PHASE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY METHOD DEVELOPMENT, OPTIMIZATION, AND VALIDATION FOR THE ESTIMATION OF SIMEPREVIR IN BULK DRUG:

Objective: A simple, robust, precise, and selective stability-indicating liquid chromatography (LC) method (reverse-phase high-performance LC) was developed for the estimation of simeprevir through quality by design paradigm. Methods: The chromatographic separation was performed on Water’s 2695(Alliance) equipped with a photodiode array detector at 300 nm. The method was developed on Discovery C18 column (250×4.6, 5 mm) using orthophosphoric acid and acetonitrile (55:45 % v/v) with the flow rate of 1 ml/min at 30°C. The degradation studies of simeprevir were carried out under the stress conditions of hydrolysis (acid, base, and neutral), oxidation, photolytic, and thermal as per the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The peroxide hydrolysis shows more critical impurities which were well resolved from pure drug with the application of design of experiment and optimized the method. Results: Independent variables (critical analytical attributes) selected for the method optimization were mobile phase ratio, flow rate, and temperature of the column based on the risk assessment. The retention time and resolution were selected as the method response. In response surface method, the central composite design and 23 factorial designs were employed for the optimization of the method. The polynomial equation was derived for the estimation of method response. Conclusion: The method was optimized for better resolution among the drug, and impurity peaks were then validated as per the ICH parameters

Development of large scale drying system for Chillies(Capsicum annum)

A study was conducted to investigate large scale drying of ripe chillies in unutilized tobacco barns.  Experiments indicated that ten quintals of ripe chillies can be loaded in a 6 m×3.6 m size barn.  Galvanized iron wire mesh trays of size    105 cm×75 cm×7.5 cm were found to be suitable to spread chillies on the existing tiers.  Drying time required to reduce moisture from 292.5% to 9.6% (db) varied considerably depending upon whether chilli pods were thin pericarp type varieties or thick pericarp type hybrids.  The hybrids took about 40 hours to dry whereas the varieties took about 24 hours.  Drying air temperatures ranging initially at 50℃ to a final value of about 55℃ were found to be appropriate to dry chillies.   Open yard sun drying took 12 and 17 days for varieties and hybrids respectively.   The discoloured pods were low, 3.5%- 4% in barn dried process in comparison to 12% to 14% in open yard sun drying.  The study suggests that unutilized barns can be converted to dry ripe chillies on a large scale.Keywords: Chillies, drying, barns and large scale Citation: Satyanarayana CH. V. V., and P. C. Vengaiah.  Development of large scale drying system for Chillies (Capsicum annum).  Agric Eng Int: CIGR Journal, 2010, 12(1): 189-193.&nbsp

Adaptive Mean Value Function Based Quality Assessment of Software Reliable Growth Models

Software growth models aims for reliability of the application over a period of time. Assessment of such models is of great interest since many faults arises with the models during the operation over a span of time. In this paper a adaptive mean value function based testing and estimation of the parameters were discussed. The proposed approach is also compared against the conventional testing approaches and found that the proposed method able to detect the fault under different scenario and proves to give better performance under a constrained environment. Keywords: Software reliability, Growth models, testing analysis, Fault detection and correction

Light Metal Matrix Composites - Present Status & Future Strategies

The unique tailorability of the composites to meet the required properties has made them as advanced engineering materials . The continuous fibre reinforced metal matrix composites were developed first . The high cost of the fibre as well as fabrication made them very expensive and hence they are used only in selected critical areas of aerospace and defence . The invention of synthesising discontinuous reinforced metal matrix composites by stir casting initiated in India in the early seventies 1 s a landmark in the history of Metal Matrix Composites (MMC). The initial feasibility studies on making the composites with variety of dispersoids for tailoring new materials possessing special properties with lower cost had kindled interest in many R&D and academic institutions in India in the eighties . Extensive R&D activities were witnessed during this period . The work carried out during this period can broadly be classified into processing methods . structure property correlation , specific property evaluation , prototype component development and evaluation , etc. The expected impact of composite as an exciting engineering material did not take place in the nineties.The industries are still not receptive and their response is lukewann . At present,only selective academic and R&D Institutions in India are pursuing MMC activity on a low profile . Eventhough similar trends in R&D were observed abroad in the developed countries wherein the industrial applications of composites specially in automotive and engineering industries is steadily increasing Indian industries are yet to think of using MMC components . This calls for a renewed concerted and sustaining effort,pooling up the resources and knowledge as well as consortium type approach among Indian R&D and Academic Institutions . The identified areas include generation of data bank on MMC and their properties. pilot plant production facility for demonstration of prototype developments under simulated industrial conditions , bringing down the cost by redesigning the components, etc