A Nestlé Company Research

A Nestlà © Company Research ABSTRACT Our group has decided to choose Nestlà © Company for our research. Our study was to do a research on Nestlà © Company in general view because it would provide us with wide range of topic for example what is their favourite Nestlà © products, why the like Nestlà © products, what is their opinion on the company and others. The research would be based on information from the internet, questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire and interview was done at Tunku Abdul Rahman College in Setapak. For questionnaire and interview, all of us had decided to choose 50 students from year two Diploma in Business Administration (2DBU) students. Our key findings showed a very positive response on Nestlà © products and its brands. The results had showed that the 50 students trusted the Nestlà © Company very much. They have become a fan of the Nestlà © products over the years. Even though there was one student who was not interested with Maggi but she did like their other products and did tru sted the company. So, it was conclude that the research was satisfying because most students really liked the products so much and are a very loyal customer to Nestlà ©. They had used the products in quite long time. INTRODUCTION Background The history of Nestlà © began in Switzerland in 1867. Henri Nestle, the pharmacist had discovered nutrition food supplement to overcome the problem of malnutrition. He helps an infant who was unable to accept his mothers milk by using his product called Farine Lactee Nestlà ©. He then saves the life of the infant. Henri used his surname, which means little nest, in both company name and the logotype. Nestle means little nest which symbolises security, family and symbol of companys care and attitude to life-long nutrition. Nestlà © success with its product innovations and now has turned into world leading Food Company. Today, more than 5000 employees work in Nestlà © Company. The Nestle Company also produce more than 300 HALAL products in Malaysia such as the brand Milo, Maggie, Nescafe and Kit Kat have been trusted by household names and enjoyed for generation today. Nowadays, Nestle products are sold in every country in the world. Purposes The objective of this report is to study about Nestlà © Company in general profile. Do research on Nestlà © products and with respondents to provide opinion on Nestlà © and some improvement or suggestion. Besides, is to investigate and analysis the Nestlà © Company SWOT analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, threat). This proposal aims to provide recommendation on improvement Nestlà © products and how can Nestlà © Company satisfied their customers needs. Scope The report investigates the general profile of Nestlà © products preference by Tunku Abdul Rahman College students from Business Administration (DBU 2) only. The other Tunku Abdul Rahman campus branches are not included in this report. It focuses on Nestlà © product and how consumers think about it. They were only 50 students to survey for this report. This recommendation is to improve Nestlà © products and satisfied customer needs. If long-term solution, suggested to do more health science research to develop more nutrition level of the food. Findings from Internet Nestlà © Company owns several brands in their product such as junior food, coffee, beverages, culinary product and others as well. The brands include Milo, Nescafà ©, Nestum, Maggi and many more. Based on the Nestlà ©s sales report, MILO, Coffee mate and Nescafà © are the best products sells. Culinary product like Maggi is the following best sells. Most of the people like to drink Milo or Nescafà © at the morning as their breakfast drinks. Nowadays, there are many choices in Milo. More choices are provided to obtain their customers need. Now, Nestlà © is promoting their new product such as Milo Sejuk, Mat Kool Spiro and others to attract their customers. Many people like to buy Nestlà © Companys product because their brands are trusted. Besides that, Nestlà © Company also provides wellness quiz and tools for their beloved customers, for example BMI Calculator and Waist Hip Ratio. When using these tools, everyone can easily check for their body weight whether is standard, underweight or overweight. After that, when you know your body weight, you can control or maintain your body weight by increase your food intake or maintain your diet. Every Nestlà ©s product has a simple device called Nestlà © Nutritional Compass. It provides the product information clearly. This can help us to make healthier choice when buying their product. Apart from that, Nestlà © also provide an app to help those who are not very well in cooking. The app provides step by step cooking guide for the users. There are many recipes provide for example how to bake honey chicken, how to cook Tom Yam fried rice, how to make Chocolate Milo and others more. For those who are interest can easily try it out. It is simple to do it by just follow the pr ocedure given by. Nestlà © research and development adapt to local consumers trend in lifestyle, culture and purchasing power. (Nestlà ©, Consumer Needs) This characteristic of consumer make Nestlà © research and development more understand about customer needs and to make new products. Besides it also do nutrition research to increase the nutrition level and tasty products. It makes all products standardise and safety to be consume. Nestlà © Company offer great career opportunities for those who interested with expertise skill and be competent for those who wish to excel in their careers. Nestlà © company also provide rewarding career and further develop to who want work in Nestlà © company. Next, Nestlà © set the principle to organize their organization, and how to treat each other. The principle set by Nestlà © Companys Trust, Respect, Involvement and Pride, its motivates them to run organization in successful way. Furthermore, Nestlà © company also provide training program Nestlà © Management Trainee program) to develop strength of employee. The Nestlà © Companys looking for applicant whose holder degree cert with minimum CGPA 3.2 and active in curricular activities. Program offer by Nestlà © such as position in marketing sales, supply chain, human resource and more. Findings from Sales Table 1: Sales of Nestle Product in Year 2011 Source:Nestle:http://www.nestle.com/Common/NestleDocuments/Documents/Library/Documents/About_Us/Quick-Facts-2011-EN.pdf According to Nestlà © company sales, the higher sales are powdered and liquid beverages with 18,204 sales. The products with high demanded which are Milo, Nescafà ©, and Nestea. The lower sales are mineral water at 6,526 sales. The sales of milk and Ice cream are 16,406. The products are Nestlà © NIDO, Nestlà © Coffee-mate, Nestlà © Ice cream and Dreyers. Nutrition and healthcare products have an average of sales compare to the higher sales with the sales of 9,744. Nutrition and healthcare products is such as, Nestlà © Nutrition, Nestlà © NAN, and Nestlà © Gerber. In addition, prepared dishes and cooking aids are like Maggi, Hot pockets, and Lean cuisine with 13,933 sales. The confectionary products like Kit Kat, Milo choco bar and Nestlà © Crunch with the sales of 9,065. The PetCare products have the sales of 9,764. For example products like Purina, Friskies and Dog Chow. The total sales of all Nestlà © products are 83,642 in 2011 year. The sales of 2011 have decrease 9,37 3 of sales from 2010. Findings from Nestlà © Company SWOT analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) The Strength of Nestlà © Company is having been a trusted Company over 100 years of history. Penetrate the market share easily in the early stage, because the price for the product is low and now the Nestlà © market share price is high at 54.100. Nestlà © products mix with many extensions of product lines that provide high quality brand and product that are well-known and top selling brands. For example Nestlà © brands are Milo, Maggi, Kit-Kat, Nescafà © and Hà ¤agen-Dazs. Research and development (RD) is one of the strength to Nestlà ©, it helps develop new products. Besides it helps to improve the nutrition level, taste, and safety to be consumed. However, the weakness is Nestlà © entering into the markets that are already mature and can have tough competition between competitors in the market. The complex supply chain management usually happens in rural place such as India. The factory require good working environment, hygiene and so it can produce good quality products. High distribution cost because not all product are manufacture at the country. In addition, the opportunities for Nestlà © is the company can expand their product line such as new Milo sejuk by differentiate the product. Besides it have the opportunity expand to smaller town or geographical area. It opportunity for Nestlà © is lower cost of raw material and produce product that is cheaper. Since cost is lower the manufacturer is mostly located in Asia country such as India for manufacturing goods. The Threats is Nestlà © Company has many competitors to be competing in the market. For example company like Kraft food, Hershey, Ovaltine, and Cadbury. The Changing consumer trend in products due to launch new products by competitor. Existing competitor may take over Nestlà © consumer by increasing the product lines and by giving customers the variety of choosing the products and it threatening to Nestlà ©. Nestlà © also need to follow local policy that made by governments to produce certain products or goods. Findings from interview Our group has conducted the interview on 10 students. Based on our findings, we have found out that most students have been using Maggi and Milo for so many years. Three students have been using the product for 19 years and two students have been using the product for 15 years. In addition, four students have been using it for 18 years which was the highest based on our findings. All the students have said in the interview that they like these product so much because they had been using it since they were little such as product like Milo. They like both of this product because of its taste which all of them will describe it as very tasty and delicious. Furthermore, one student describes the taste as fantastic. These students said that Maggi was convenience because it only takes about 5 minutes to prepare and usually if they already hungry they will make Maggi to eat. Besides that, it is an instant noodle that tastes good. Moreover, they also felt these product are wonderful because i t was easy to find and both of it satisfy their taste bud. Then, one student has been using these products for 3 years only. He did like the products but not too much. In addition, we found out that Milo was the highest product that they will buy because most of them like the taste of Milo. Meanwhile, a student said it was good to drink Milo for breakfast. Plus, they have been drinking Milo since they were little. Nescafà © was the second highest product they will buy. Most of them agree with the taste of Nescafà © which was tasty to drink not like some other coffee. Then, the third highest product was Kit Kat. They described Kit Kat as one of their favourite chocolate to eat because it was delicious. This is due to the taste of it which is sweet. Maggi was at fourth because of it taste and also easy to prepare for it. At fifth was ice-cream by Nestlà ©. The students like the taste of the ice-cream which was very sweet and has many flavours that they could choose from. Furthermore, some like to eat ice-cream because to cool down their body. The last product was Coco Crunch because it is a healthy cereal food to eat for breakfast. But, one person said that she will buy Nestle products depends on her needs. This is because she also likes products from other brands. Besides that, all of the students found that the nutrition information very informative. Moreover, most of them found the nutritional information helpful because it let you knew about the nutrient contains in the Nestlà © product. So, they knew how much protein, vitamin and fibre consumed by them when they eat the Nestlà © product. Plus, they also would notice what type of fat and how much does it contain in the product. In addition to that, they can monitor what types of product provide the best or good nutrients for them because they needed a lot of energy. Then, we found out most students have no complaint about Nestlà © products so far except for one student only that have a complaint. Most of them really like the products. As we could see clearly throughout the interview they had become a fan of Nestlà © products for so many years. Some student agree that the Nestlà © product was quite good compared to other brands that already been in the market. Moreover, a student said it was hard for other brands to compete with Nestlà © because Nestlà © have been producing many of good quality products in the market for so many years. Then, they have no problem with the Nestlà © products and its brands. They had been using the products for so many years and did not face any problem. The products by Nestlà © are great so they dont have anything to complaint about. But there was one student who thinks Maggi was bad. She said that it was not good for your health to be consumed often. If there is any severe case then this will threaten the Ne stlà © Company. Besides that, we also found out that most of them wanted Nestlà © to produce more products and give more choices in the market. Some of them said they could make new flavour for yogurt and ice-cream. Furthermore, they all wanted Nestlà © to lower the price of their product. So, it will be easier for them to buy the product in daily basis. Then, some said that Nestlà © could improve their product quality by following the current demand in the market and see the feedback from the market and customer. Plus, they wanted Nestle to do more promotion on their products for students so they could buy it. They also said that Nestlà © could give free gifts to their customer when they purchase the products. This could help retain their customers. Findings from Survey/Questionnaire Out of the 50 respondent from DBU year two students who took questionnaire, 49 of they satisfied with Nestlà © product and they believe that Nestlà © is trusted company because they were in market over 100 years and produce more good quality products. Besides that, Most of them agreed that it is an affordable price but yet some said that they are very expensive. According to our respondent, some said product of Nestlà © cant be consumed by every range of ages and as they give reason that coffee product is not suitable for children. Moreover, the latest product MILO SEJUK as came to many peoples mine and yet most of them said it is delicious and few of them said it is not delicious. The respondent claims that it is easy to purchase Nestlà © product at any store such as supermarket and grocery shop. In addition, we notice that the respondents are very often purchasing Nestlà © product. Lastly, There are suggestion from some student to do more promotion should be held on to increas e customers awareness and purchasing rate until its become the households brand in the market mainly. Table 2: Source from questionnaire below shows student DBU year twos most preference on Nestle product and what DBU year two student thoughts on Nestle products are. CONCLUSION The problems faced the consumer in Nestlà © Company Product is mainly on their nutritional. From our internet research we realise that many people complains about the nutrition. The first problem is nutrition for elderly, we notice that it is a large extent by a person diet and also their nutrition consumption. By taking an improper nutrition and unbalanced nutria diet can increase the risks to have disease. Secondly, Children obesity caused mainly because their consuming to much chocolate and confectionary, taking a lots of chocolate cause them to have disease in early ages. Lastly, in our research we realise that Nestle is producing less energy drinks. RECOMMENDATION Based on our research, we will like to recommend to Nestlà © to produce more products that are suitable for older people such as protein milk and cereal with necessary nutrition where every older people can make it as their daily use and also they should produce some organic product to whom are very health conscious so it can be a healthy snack. Since children obesity is increasing, Nestlà © can produce a chocolate bar with less sugar so that obesity will not increase. Moreover, Nestlà © should produce more energy drink that is suitable for all ranges such as students and people that is active in their daily life.

Molecular Weight Effect of Different Grades of HPC Polymer

Molecular Weight Effect of Different Grades of HPC Polymer Introduction Bioavailability enhancement Wet media milling + spray drying Issues have impact on dissolution performance Novelty of the work Objective Material and methods wet stirred media milling Spray dryer Characterization techniques Results and discussion Physical stability of the milled precursor suspensions Drug breakage kinetics Formation of the NCMPs via spray drying of the precursor drug suspensions Impact of different polymers on the drug dissolution from NCMPs PVP-K30 HPMC-E3 HPC-SSL, HPC-SL, HPC-L Molecular weight effect of different grades of HPC polymer on drug dissolution performance and stability It is estimated that a large percentage of newly developed drug compounds have limited bioavailibity due to their poor water solubility and very slow dissolution rate [1]. According to the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS), class II drugs are categorized as poorly water soluble and highly permeable in human body [2]. To achieve the therapeutic efficacy of these drugs it is very essential to enhance the bioavailability by increasing the solubility or dissolution rate. A number of approaches have been developed over the time to resolve this issue. The reduction of drug particles size to sub-micron or nanometer has been one of the most popular and effective approaches of all [3-6]. By reducing the particles size order of magnitude, specific surface area of the particles increased radically and enhances the rate of absorption and dissolution [7, 8], according to the Noyes-Whitney equation [9]. Drug nanoparticles production technologies are classified into Bottom-up or Top-down or combination of both. The bottom up techniques include precipitation using supercritical fluid, liquid anti-solvent precipitation, and evaporative precipitation, where small drug particles are produced from drug molecules dissolved in organic solvent [10, 11]. In case of top-down approaches, the particles are reduced to the nanometer range [11]. High pressure homogenization [5] and wet media milling [3] are included in top-down approaches. To prepare drug nanosuspension, wet stirred media milling (WSMM) has achieved the most popularity because of its effectiveness, robustness, scalability, high drug loading, and low polymer side effects [5, 12, 13]. Due to many advantages of drug solid dosage form, it is the most popular dosage form to the patients/clinicians. To encounter this high demand, drug nanosuspensions are usually converted into nanocomposite microparticles (NCMPs) using different drying techniques and incorporated into standard solid dosage forms such as tablets and capsules [13, 14]. Vacuum dryer [15, 16], spray-freeze dryer [17, 18], spray dryer [19, 20], and fluidized bed [17] are very prevalent and widely used drying tools in the pharmaceutical industries. Among all the drying techniques, spray drying has already got attention due to its energy intensive, continuous and scalable drying process characteristics and ability to produce micro to nano-sized particles with a very narrow distribution within a very short time frame [21]. Albeit particle size reduction is an effective technique for bioavailability enhancement, stability issue has always been critical for the efficacy of the drug products. In the nanosuspension, drug particles start losing their specific surface area by aggregation due to relatively high surface energy and specific surface area and also for enhanced Brownian motion [22]. For the prevention of aggregation in the wet media and having better stability, polymers and/or surfactants are added to the suspension as stabilizers. These stabilizers provide stability by electrostatic or electrosteric mechanisms [22]. Steric stability provided by the polymer is drug specific. Only few polymers can help to reduce the particle size of a specific drug down to nanometers. Therefore, selecting a proper stabilizer for a specific drug is a very complex process and cannot be generalized easily [23]. Thus, having a better insight about the polymer properties is very crucial to figure out the right stabilize r for a particular drug. Molecular weight of the polymer is a very significant property of polymers, which determines the capability for steric stabilization along with solution properties [24, 25], regulates mechanical property of the films [26], and controls the drug release during oral administration [27]. Consequently, optimum MW and polymer concentration may help to get the best stabilization performance during and after milling, and faster drug release from the composites.   Choi et al. [16] investigated the impact of lower range MW (11,200-49,000 g/mol) of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HW) on itraconazole suspension production and their recovery from the drug composites. In that work, HPC was used solely with the same concentration, and dissolution performance study was absent.   Sepassi et al. [28] studied MW effect of two different polymers hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the particle size reduction of milled nabumetone and ha lofantrine suspensions; however, drying and dissolution rate were not studied. Li et al. [29] studied the MW and concentration effect of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) on the dissolution performance of poorly soluble drug griseofulvin (GF) in presence/absence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as surfactant. In that investigation, drug nanosuspension was coated and dried on to the surface of pharmatose using fluidized bed technique and also determined the optimum concentration and MW effect of HPC for complete release of the drug particles during dissolution. To authors best knowledge, no comprehensive and systematic study has been performed so far to get the insight about the head to head comparison of different polymers performance and MW effect of the same polymer on the suspension stability after milling and during dissolution of NCMPs produced via spray drying. It is known from prior study that the combined use of polymers and surfactants provide a synergistic effect leading to better stability in the nanosuspension than individual stabilizers [30, 31]. Due to the side effects of surfactant, it is always expected to use minimal amount in the formulation. If only the use of polymer can provide substantial stability in the nanosuspension and immediate release of the drugs in the dissolution from NCMPs, then it is more viable than using surfactant.   Therefore, this study aims to develop an understanding of the polymer MW and different polymer effect on the physical stability of Itraconazole nanosuspension and drug dissolution fr om the composites. Itraconazole (ITZ) suspensions were milled in a WSMM and the nanocomposite particles were produced using a co-current spray dryer. Three different polymers HPC, PVP, and HPMC were used at 4.5% (w/w) concentration to see the polymer effect and for MW effect, three grades (SSL, SL, and L) of HPC having different MW were used. Laser diffraction, SEM, UV- spectroscopy, XRPD, and DSC were used to analyze the drug suspension and composite particles. Dissolution test of the NCMPs were performed by a USP II paddle apparatus. Materials Itraconazole (ITZ), is an antifungal drug with a water solubility 0.13 mg/L (at pH-7 and 25  °C), is a sparingly water soluble drug belong to the BCS Class II was purchased from Jai Radhe Sales (Ahmedabad, India) and was used as-received condition. Three different polymers, hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were used as polymers. Three grades (SSL, SL, and L) of HPC with ~40, ~100, and ~140 kDa molecular weight, respectively, were donated by Nisso America Inc. (New York, NY, USA) and used for steric stabilization. Polymeric stabilizers Methocel E3 grade HPMC and PVP Kollidon 30 were donated by Dow Chemical (Midland, MI, USA) and BASF Corporation (Florham Park, NJ, USA) respectively. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is an anionic surfactant used as a wetting agent during dissolution and provide electrostatic stabilization in the suspension, was purchased from Sigma Aldrich (Milwaukee, WI, USA). Zirmil Y grade wear-re sistant yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) with a median size of 430  µm (400  µm nominal size) was used as the milling media and purchased from Saint Gobain ZirPro (Mountainside, NJ, USA). Methods Wet Stirred Media Milling (WSMM) The presuspension (before milling) was prepared following the same procedure used in Afolabi et al. [32]. All the suspension formulations are tabulated below in Table 1. API (Itraconazole) concentration was kept constant at 10% (w/w) and polymer concentration was 4.5% (w/w) for all the formulation. All the concentrations are reported with respect to deionized water (200g). The formulation with 2.5% (w/w) HPC-SL and 0.2% (w/w) SDS was used as a baseline formulation, because from earlier study it was found to be the optimum for fastest and complete drug release from the composite powders. Prepared drug suspension was milled in a Netzsch wet media mill (Micorcer, Fine Particle Technology LLC, Exton, PA, USA) with 80 ml chamber; 50 ml of the chamber was filled with 400  µm (nominal size) Zirconia beads, which is the milling media and a screen with 200  µm opening was used to hold the beads into the chamber and allowing only the passage of the suspension. A shear mixer (Fisher Scientific Laboratory Stirrer, Catalog No. 14-503, Pittsburgh, PA) was used to prepare the suspension prior to transfer into the holding tank of the miller. The suspension was pumped through a peristaltic pump and was milled under the following conditions: suspension flow rate 126 ml/min, rotor speed 4000 rpm corresponding to a tip speed of 11.7 m/s. To keep the suspension temperature below 35  °C, milling chamber and holding tank both were equipped with a chiller (Advantage Engineering Greenwood, IN, USA).   All the parameters were selected from the earlier work done by Afolabi et al. [31]. To determine the breakage kinetics, particle sizes were measured at different time intervals up to 65 minutes and the suspension were refrigerated at 8  °C for one day before spray drying. Preparation of NCMPs via Spray Drying The prepared nanosuspesions were dried within a day of milling using a spray dryer (4M8-Trix, Procept, Zelzate, Belgium) running in a co-current flow set up. All the operating conditions were taken from Azad et al. [19].The suspensions were atomized at 2 bar atomizing pressure using a bi-fluid nozzle having 0.6 mm tip diameter. In each run, ~120 gm nanosuspensions were sprayed at 1.3-1.6 g/min spray rate using a peristaltic pump (Makeit-EZ, Creates, Zelzate, Belgium). Drying air was fed co-currently from the top of the column at 120  °C temperature and 0.37-0.40 m3/min volumetric flow rate. To avoid sedimentation of the drug particles during spraying, the suspension was stirred using a magnetic stirrer throughout the run. A Cyclone separator was used at 54-70 mbar differential pressure to separate the NCMPs from the outlet air stream and collecting them in a glass jar. The dried powders later on were used for powder sample characterization e.g., XRD, DSC, Rodos, and dissolutio n testing. Particle Size Analysis Particle size distributions of the suspensions were measured at different time interval during milling and after 7-day storage in the refrigerator by laser diffraction (LD) technique using Coulter LS 13 320 (Beckman Coulter, Miami, FL). All the steps involved for measuring PSDs of the suspensions were followed from Li et al. [29]. During sample addition, intensity was maintained between 40-45% while obscuration was below 8%. Mie scattering theory was used to compute the volume-based PSDs in the software. Refractive index value is 1.68 for ITZ and 1.33 for deionized water (medium). Before measuring the PSDs, 2 ml suspension sample was collected from the outlet of the mill chamber and diluted with 5 ml of the respective stabilizer solution using a vortex mixer (Fisher Scientific Digital Vortex Mixer, Catalog no: 0215370, Model No: 945415, Pittsburgh, PA) at 1500 rpm for 1 min. The Particle size distributions (PSDs) of produced NCMPs via spray drying were measured by Rodos/Helos laser diffraction (LD) system (Sympatec, NJ, USA) based on Furnhofer theory with dry powder dispersion module. On the sample chute of the Rodos dispersing system, just about 1 g of the sample was placed. To feed the samples, the sample chute was vibrated at 50% settings and 0.1 bar dispersion pressure was imposed to suck in the falling powder through the sample cell of the laser diffraction system. Determination of Drug Content in the Composite Powders Drug content of the composite powders were measured by assay testing. ITZ solubility is - in dichloromethane (DCM). 100 mg of the NCMPs was dissolved in 20 ml DCM, sonicated for 30 mins to ensure all the ITZ is dissolved in the solvent and then they were allowed to sediment overnight. An aliquot of 100  µl is taken from the supernatant and diluted to 10 ml with DCM. The absorbance of all the samples was measured at 260 nm wavelength via Ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometer (Agilent, Santa Clara, CA, USA). Six replicates were prepared from each NCMP formulation to calculate mean drug content and percent relative standard deviation (RSD). Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) SEM imaging was performed to understand the morphology and particle size of the ITZ particles before and after milling. SEM images of as-received ITZ and baseline formulation was taken using a LEO 1530 SVMP (Carl Zeiss, Inc., Peabody, MA, USA) SEM machine. Approximately, 0.1 ml milled suspension sample was placed on top of a silicon chip (Ted Pella Inc., Redding, CA, USA), and then on top of a carbon specimen holder. The sample was placed into a desiccator for overnight drying. The samples were then sputter coated with carbon before analyzing [33]. X-ray Powder Diffraction (PXRD) The crystallinity of the as-received ITZ, physical mixture of ITZ-excipinets, and spray dried powders were analyzed using PXRD (PANalytical, Westborough, MA, USA), provided with Cu KÃŽÂ ± radiation (ÃŽÂ »= 1.5406 Ã…). The samples were scanned at a rate 0.165 S-1 for 2ÃŽÂ ¸ ranging from 5 to 40 °. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) DSC of the as-received ITZ, Physical mixture of ITZ-excipients, and spray dried powders was performed using a Mettler-Toledo polymer analyzer (PolyDSC, Columbus, OH, USA). The samples were heated at a rate of 10  °C/min within a range of 25-220  °C under nitrogen gas flow. With the help of the integrated software of the machine, melting temperature Tm and fusion enthalpy ΆHm were determined. Dissolution Testing Dissolution of ITZ from the as-received drug, and spray dried composite powders were determined via a Distek 2100C dissolution tester (North Brunswick, NJ, USA) according to the USP II paddle method.   The dissolution medium was 1000 ml SDS buffer with 3.0 gm/ml concentration at non-sink condition.   The medium was maintained at 37  °C temperature and 50 rpm paddle speed.   The composites were weighed equivalent to a dose of 20 mg of ITZ. Composites were poured into the dissolution medium and manually 4 ml of samples were taken out at 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 60 min. Aliquots of the samples were filtered using a 0.1  µm PVDF membrane type syringe filter to avoid any effect of undissolved drug during UV spectroscopy measurement. The absorbance of ITZ dissolved was measured via UV spectroscopy (Agilent, Santa Clara, CA, USA) at 260 nm wavelength. The blank was measured using SDS buffer at the beginning. The amount of drug dissolved was measured using a calibration curve generated from drug concentration vs. absorbance (R2=0.9995 with p Apparent Shear Viscosity of Milled ITZ Suspensions The apparent shear viscosity of the nanosuspension was measured by following the procedure from Afolabi et al. [32], using R/S plus rheometer (Brookfield Engineering, Middleboro, MS, USA). To impart controlled shear rate on the samples from 0 to 1000 1/s in 60 s, a coxial cylinder (CC40) was used. To control the temperature the jacket temperature was kept constant at 25 ±0.5  °C. Drug nanoparticles formation and physical stability of the milled suspensions The formulation of the milled drug (ITZ) suspensions are presented in Table 1. Drug (ITZ) nano suspension was first produced in presence of both steric and an anionic surfactant, SDS (Run 1). Due to the synergistic effect of HPC and SDS [31], Run 1 was used as a baseline to assess the impact of various stabilizers (HPC, HPMC E3, PVP k30, and SDS) in their breakage kinetics and physical stability of the resulting suspensions. This baseline formulation was found to be the optimum formulation from a previous work performed by Meng et al [29]. The molecular weight effect of HPC was then studied in absence of SDS surfactant (Run 2-4) using three different grades of HPC; SSL, SL, and L grades having molecular weight ~40, ~100, and ~140 kDa, respectively. The apparent shear viscosity of all the formulations (Run 1-7) are represented in Figure 1. Formulations with 2.5% (w/w) HPC-SL/SDS, 4.5% (w/w) HPC-SL, and 4.5% (w/w) HPC-L (Run 1, 3, and 4) are showing near Newtonian behavior, indicating the extent of aggregation is very low. Milled drug suspensions stabilized by SDS or polymer alone (except HPC-SL and HPC-L) are showing significant shear-thinning behavior, indicating significant amount of aggregates. References 1.Kesisoglou, F., S. Panmai, and Y. Wu, Nanosizing-oral formulation development and biopharmaceutical evaluation. Advanced drug delivery reviews, 2007. 59(7): p. 631-644. 2.Amidon, G.L., et al., A theoretical basis for a biopharmaceutic drug classification: the correlation of in vitro drug product dissolution and in vivo bioavailability. Pharmaceutical research, 1995. 12(3): p. 413-420. 3.Merisko-Liversidge, E. and G.G. Liversidge, Nanosizing for oral and parenteral drug delivery: a perspective on formulating poorly-water soluble compounds using wet media milling technology. Advanced drug delivery reviews, 2011. 63(6): p. 427-440. 4.Panagiotou, T. and R.J. Fisher, Form nanoparticles via controlled crystallization. Chemical Engineering Progress, 2008. 104(10): p. 33-39. 5.Keck, C.M. and R.H. Mà ¼ller, Drug nanocrystals of poorly soluble drugs produced by high pressure homogenisation. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 2006. 62(1): p. 3-16. 6.Mà ¼ller, R., C. Jacobs, and O. Kayser, Nanosuspensions as particulate drug formulations in therapy: rationale for development and what we can expect for the future. Advanced drug delivery reviews, 2001. 47(1): p. 3-19. 7.Singh, S.K., et al., Investigation of preparation parameters of nanosuspension by top-down media milling to improve the dissolution of poorly water-soluble glyburide. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 2011. 78(3): p. 441-446. 8.Tanaka, Y., et al., Nanoparticulation of probucol, a poorly water-soluble drug, using a novel wet-milling process to improve in vitro dissolution and in vivo oral absorption. Drug development and industrial pharmacy, 2012. 38(8): p. 1015-1023. 9.Noyes, A.A. and W.R. Whitney, The rate of solution of solid substances in their own solutions. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1897. 19(12): p. 930-934. 10.Sun, B. and Y. Yeo, Nanocrystals for the parenteral delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs. Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, 2012. 16(6): p. 295-301. 11.Chan, H.-K. and P.C.L. Kwok, Production methods for nanodrug particles using the bottom-up approach. Advanced drug delivery reviews, 2011. 63(6): p. 406-416. 12.Bhakay, A., et al., Novel aspects of wet milling for the production of microsuspensions and nanosuspensions of poorly water-soluble drugs. Drug development and industrial pharmacy, 2011. 37(8): p. 963-976. 13.Van Eerdenbrugh, B., G. Van den Mooter, and P. Augustijns, Top-down production of drug nanocrystals: nanosuspension stabilization, miniaturization and transformation into solid products. International journal of pharmaceutics, 2008. 364(1): p. 64-75. 14.Basa, S., et al., Production and in vitro characterization of solid dosage form incorporating drug nanoparticles. Drug development and industrial pharmacy, 2008. 34(11): p. 1209-1218. 15.Kim, S. and J. Lee, Effective polymeric dispersants for vacuum, convection and freeze drying of drug nanosuspensions. International journal of pharmaceutics, 2010. 397(1): p. 218-224. 16.Choi, J.-Y., C.H. Park, and J. Lee, Effect of polymer molecular weight on nanocomminution of poorly soluble drug. Drug delivery, 2008. 15(5): p. 347-353. 17.Wang, Y., et al., A comparison between spray drying and spray freeze drying for dry powder inhaler formulation of drug-loaded lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles. International journal of pharmaceutics, 2012. 424(1): p. 98-106. 18.Cheow, W.S., et al., Spray-freeze-drying production of thermally sensitive polymeric nanoparticle aggregates for inhaled drug delivery: effect of freeze-drying adjuvants. International journal of pharmaceutics, 2011. 404(1): p. 289-300. 19.Azad, M., et al., Spray drying of drug-swellable dispersant suspensions for preparation of fast-dissolving, high drug-loaded, surfactant-free nanocomposites. Drug development and industrial pharmacy, 2015. 41(10): p. 1617-1631. 20.Lee, J., Drug nanoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ and microparticles processed into solid dosage forms: physical properties. Journal of pharmaceutical sciences, 2003. 92(10): p. 2057-2068. 21.Kemp, I.C., Fundamentals of energy analysis of dryers. Modern Drying Technology, 2011. 4: p. 1-46. 22.Kim, C.-j., Advanced pharmaceutics: Physicochemical principles. 2004: CRC Press. 23.Lee, J., et al., Amphiphilic amino acid copolymers as stabilizers for the preparation of nanocrystal dispersion. European journal of pharmaceutical sciences, 2005. 24(5): p. 441-449. 24.Adamson, A. and A. Gast, Physical chemical of surfaces. 1997, New York: Wiley. 25.Ploehn, H.J. and W.B. Russel, Interactions between colloidal particles and soluble polymers. Advances in Chemical Engineering, 1990. 15: p. 137-228. 26.Rowe, R., The effect of the molecular weight of ethyl cellulose on the drug release properties of mixed films of ethyl cellulose and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose. International journal of pharmaceutics, 1986. 29(1): p. 37-41. 27.Mittal, G., et al., Estradiol loaded PLGA nanoparticles for oral administration: effect of polymer molecular weight and copolymer composition on release behavior in vitro and in vivo. Journal of Controlled Release, 2007. 119(1): p. 77-85. 28.Sepassi, S., et al., Effect of polymer molecular weight on the production of drug nanoparticles. Journal of pharmaceutical sciences, 2007. 96(10): p. 2655-2666. 29.Li, M., N. Lopez, and E. Bilgili, A study of the impact of polymer-surfactant in drug nanoparticle coated pharmatose composites on dissolution performance. Advanced Powder Technology, 2016. 30.Ryde, N.P. and S.B. Ruddy, Solid dose nanoparticulate compositions comprising a synergistic combination of a polymeric surface stabilizer and dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate. 2002, Google Patents. 31.Bilgili, E. and A. Afolabi, A combined microhydrodynamics-polymer adsorption analysis for elucidation of the roles of stabilizers in wet stirred media milling. International journal of pharmaceutics, 2012. 439(1): p. 193-206. 32.Afolabi, A., O. Akinlabi, and E. Bilgili, Impact of process parameters on the breakage kinetics of poorly water-soluble drugs during wet stirred media milling: a microhydrodynamic view. European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2014. 51: p. 75-86. 33.Li, M., et al., An intensified vibratory milling process for enhancing the breakage kinetics during the preparation of drug nanosuspensions. AAPS PharmSciTech, 2016. 17(2): p. 389-399.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth - Who Has the Greater Guilt? :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Greater Guilt - Macbeth or Lady Macbeth ? Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is an exciting story containing all kinds of plots and murders. The characters that are killing and are planning murders are all very deceiving and treacherous. Two of the most dangerous criminals in this play are Lady Macbeth and her husband. Together they commit the most dreadful murder by killing the King; Duncan. This is why it is difficult to determine which one of these two carries the greatest guilt, because they each do their own part in committing the crime.   Lady Macbeth would prepare the plan and then encourage Macbeth to go through with it.   Macbeth did the actual murdering, he was also the first person who thought about killing Duncan. Furthermore he did some killing on his own. Lady Macbeth did not have any involvement in these cases.   Based on these facts, Macbeth would be found more guilty than Lady Macbeth. The very first murder in this story   was committed on Duncan. This crime was planned by both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The actual murder was done by Macbeth, making him more guilty of the crime.   Lady Macbeth just talked about committing the crime, but she never actually went through with it nor would she ever, and that is all that counts.   Talking about committing the incident is very different from actually doing it.   Lady Macbeth did a little more than just talk about it though. She also urged Macbeth into doing it and that is what makes her part of this crime, but she is not as guilty as Macbeth.   He really didn't have to listen to what his wife said. Macbeth had a mind of his own and he could make his own decision.   The other murders that Macbeth was involved in were not committed by him, but were ordered by him. The people who did the killing had no choice, they had to do it, because they worked for Macbeth.   Macbeth knew this and was a bit more guilty in t hese murders then lady Macbeth was when she urged him.

Mummification Essay -- essays research papers

Mummification is the form of embalming practiced by the ancient Egyptians. The mummification process changed over time from the Old Kingdom, when only kings could be mummified to the New Kingdom, in which everyone could be mummified. The entire process of mummification to be completed took 70 days. After a body was delivered to the per nefer, which is where the embalmers conducted their tasks. The first thing that was done was put the deceased on a slanted table. The first thing that needed to be removed was the soft, moist body parts that would cause decay. As the embalmers removed these parts, blood and other bodily fluids came out and went down the table being collected into a bowl. During the old and Middle Kingdoms, the brain was left in the head, in which it just dried up over time. When these mummies are moved you can hear the hardened pieces of the brain rolling around in the mummies head. Then in the New Kingdom, the embalmers started removing the brain. They would break open the bone that separates the nasal cavity from the brain cavity. They did this by shoving a sharp instrument up the nose. After they broke the bone, the embalmers used a hook to either take the brain out piece by piece, or used the hook to stir the brain until it was liquefied. If it was liquefied they would turn the body face down so that the brain would spill out of the nostrils. The reason the Egyptians were so rough with the brain because they didn’t think that the brain had...

Philosophy of Education Essay -- Philosophy of Teaching Statement

Philosophy of Education Education is an essential element to the life of every person. Teachers must have a philosophy of teaching to be effective in the classroom. No matter what way of teaching an educator chooses, it should positively affect his or her students and help to keep them on track to growing into strong intelligent adults. If a child is placed in a positive environment, then it will help shape them into good citizens. According to Plato, a student's environment determines his or her morals and character. It is very important for children to be able to function in society and to learn to interact well with other people; providing a positive learning environment plays a crucial role in instilling these characteristics. If all teachers would stress these concepts there would be a lot less discipline problems in the classroom. Philosophy Discipline plays a key role in the learning environment of the child. A teacher must have an effective discipline method to keep order in the classroom. The view of behaviorists seems to work in most situations. If positive reinforcement is utilized in the classroom, students will want to do well academically. Punishment often times causes students to rebel against authority. If the teacher rewards students for good behavior, then they will want to be consistent in their behavior they will see that this will benefit them. Knowledge is dependent upon the person and their situation, therefore the nature of knowledge is relative. Everyone is different and can not be expected to learn in the same manner. Some students learn best through experiencing things and doing things hands-on, these students are tactile-kinesthetic learners. Some students are auditory learners, ... ...variety of viewpoints. Elementary teachers should make sure that children have a good foundation in reading and math. It is very important that children have the basic skills that they need to build on and excel in the higher grades. As graduation approaches, my plans are to obtain a certificate in special education, concentrating on children with learning disabilities. After teaching for a few years, I plan to pursue a graduate degree in special education while I am still teaching. Educating young people is something that is very important to the future of society. As an educator, I would like to make a difference in the lives of my students. Upon leaving my classroom, I hope that my students will become open-minded and strong of heart. I want them to know what kind of things that they enjoy and to think of learning as a wonderful and valuable experience.

Ib Biology Hl2 – 6.1 (Digestion)

6. 1. 1 Explain why digestion of large food molecules is essential. There are two reasons why the digestion of large food molecules is vital. Firstly, the food we eat is made up of many compounds made by other organisms which are not all suitable for human tissues and therefore these have to be broken down and reassembled so that our bodies can use them. Secondly, the food molecules have to be small enough to be absorbed by the villi in the intestine through diffusion, facilitated diffusion or active transport and so large food molecules need to be broken down into smaller ones for absorption to occur.Summary: ? 1. Food needs to be broken down and reassembled. 2. Large food molecules need to be broken down into smaller ones. 6. 1. 2 Explain the need for enzymes in digestion. Enzymes are needed in the process of digestion as they are the biological catalysts which break down the large food molecules into smaller ones so that these can eventually be absorbed. Digestion can occur natura lly at body temperature, however this process takes a very long time as it happens at such a slow rate. For digestion to increase in these circumstances, body temperature would have to increase as well.However this is not possible as it would interfere with other body functions. This is why enzymes are vital as they speed up this process by lowering the activation energy required for the reaction to occur and they do so at body temperature. Summary: ? 3. Enzymes break down large food molecules into smaller ones. 4. Speed up the process of digestion by lowering the activation energy for the reaction. 5. Work at body temperature. 6. 1. 3 State the source, substrate, products and optimum pH conditions for one amylase, one protease and one lipase.AmylaseProteaseLipase EnzymeSalivary AmylasePepsinPancreatic Lipase SourceSalivary GlandsChief cells in stomach liningPancreas SubstrateStarchProteinsTriglycerides such as fats and oils ProductsMaltoseSmall polypeptidesFatty Acids and Glycerol Optimum pHpH 7 pH 1. 5 – 2pH 7 6. 1. 4 Draw and label a diagram of the digestive system. ?Figure 6. 1. 1 – The digestive system 6. 1. 5 Outline the functions of the stomach, small intestine and large intestine. The stomach is an important part of the digestive system.Firstly it secretes HCL which kills bacteria and other harmful organisms preventing food poisoning and it also provides the optimum conditions for the enzyme pepsin to work in (pH 1. 5 – 2). In addition, the stomach secretes pepsin which starts the digestion of proteins into polypeptides and amino acids. Theses can then be absorbed by the villi in the small intestine. The small intestine is where the final stages of digestion occur. The intestinal wall secretes enzymes and it also receives enzymes from the pancreas.However the main function of the small intestine is the absorption of the small food particles resulting from digestion. It contains many villi which increase the surface area for absorpt ion. The large intestine moves the material that has not been digested from the small intestine and absorbs water. This produces solid faeces which are then egested through the anus. Summary: Stomach: 6. Secretes HCL which kills bacteria. 7. HCL provides optimum pH for pepsin. 8. Secretes pepsin for protein digestion. Small intestine: 1. Intestinal wall secretes enzymes 2. Receives enzymes from the pancreas. . Has villi for absorption of food particles. Large intestine: 1. Moves material that has not been digested along. 2. Absorbes water. 3. Produces faeces. 6. 1. 6 Distinguish between absorption and assimilation. Absorption occurs when the food enters the body as the food molecules pass through a layer of cells and into the bodies tissues. This occurs in the small intestine which has many villi that are specialised for absorption. Assimilation occurs when the food molecules becomes part of the bodies tissue. Therefore, absorption is followed by assimilation. 6. 1. Explain how the structure of the villus is related to its role in absorption and transport of the products of digestion. The structure of the villus is very specific. Firstly there is a great number of them so this increases the surface area for absorption in the small intestine. In addition the villi also have their own projections which are called microvilli. The many microvilli increase the surface area for absorption further. These microvilli have protein channels and pumps in their membranes to allow the rapid absorption of food by facilitated diffusion and active transport.Also, the villi contains an epithelial layer which is only one cell layer thick so that food can pass through easily and be absorbed quickly. The blood capillaries in the villus are very closely associated with the epithelium so that the distance for the diffusion of the food molecules is small. This thin layer of cells contains mitochondria to provide the ATP needed for the active transport of certain food molecules. Final ly, there is a lacteal branch at the centre of the villus which carries away fats after absorption. ?Figure 6. 1. – Intestinal villus? Summary:? 9. Many villi increase the surface area for absorption. 10. Epithelium is only one cell layer thick and so food is quickly absorbed. 11. Microvilli on the villi increase the surface area for absorption further. 12. Protein channels and pumps are present in the microvilli for rapid absorption. 13. The mitochondria in the epithelium provide ATP needed for active transport. 14. Blood capillaries are very close to the epithelium so diffusion distance is small. 15. The lacteal takes away fats after absorption.

Vietnam Research Paper

Why is the Vietnam War so significant in American history? How did it really affect America? The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces trying to unify Vietnam under a communist government, and the United States attempting to prevent the spread of communism. There are many lessons learned throughout this war that America, hopefully, will never undergo again. There are a series of events that led up to this full-scale war. First, the U. S. tried to prevent Vietnam from becoming a communist nation, so they sent the French military aid to help rule against this. Soon enough, France wanted to withdraw their troops out of Vietnam; the Geneva Conference was a meeting between many nations deciding how France could peacefully pull out troops. A bit later, there was supposed to be a General democratic election held, but America refused to agree to the election, afraid that the communists would win. In 1965, the U. S. sent ground troops to help South Vietnam, sparking tensions between the U. S. and North Vietnam. From 1965 to 1969, America was involved in a limited war in Vietnam, meaning weak efforts to attack North Vietnam. U. S. orces became easily frustrated because war in the jungle was found difficult. Vietnam would attack in ambushes, set up booby traps, and escape through underground tunnels. To prove even more difficult, Northern Vietnam troops and the Viet Cong surprised South Vietnam and U. S. troops. On January 30, 1968 they attacked hundreds of South Vietnamese cities and towns, known as the Tet Offensive. Without a doubt, it showed that the enemy was stronger and better prepared. While the public’s support for the war was way gone, there was new hope with Richard Nixon, the new president of America. Soon after taking office, Richard Nixon planned the policy Vietnamization, which was a process to remove U. S. troops from Vietnam while handing back the fighting to the South Vietnamese. While America had almost completed the withdrawal of their troops from Vietnam, the North Vietnam attacked South Vietnam and the remaining troops on March 30, 1972. This attack is known as the Easter Offensive. This rough battle resulted in about 40,000 deaths and 60,000 people wounded or missing in the People’s Army of North Vietnam (PAVN). The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) estimated at 10,000 deaths and 33,000 troops wounded. The offensive was defeated, but the PAVN continued to occupy about 10 percent of South Vietnam after this battle. Nixon was in the process of his Vietnamization policy, when discussions had arisen about restoring peace in Vietnam. Soon began peace talks in Paris that finally succeeded in producing a cease-fire agreement. Nixon declares the news of the decisions made during the Paris peace talks. â€Å"Good evening. I have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the purpose of announcing that we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia. The following statement is being issued at this moment in Washington and Hanoi: At 12:30 Paris time today [Tuesday], January 23, 1973, the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam was initialed by Dr. Henry Kissinger on behalf of the United States, and Special Adviser Le Duc Tho on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The agreement will be formally signed by the parties participating in the Paris Conference on Vietnam on January 27, 1973, at the International Conference Center in Paris. The cease-fire will take effect at 2400 Greenwich Mean Time, January 27, 1973. The United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam express the hope that this agreement will insure stable peace in Vietnam and contribute to the preservation of lasting peace in Indochina and Southeast Asia†¦The important thing was not to talk about peace, but to get peace and to get the right kind of peace. This we have done† (â€Å"Peace with Honor† 1). After signing the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam, on March 29, 1973 the last group of U. S. troops left Vietnam. The North Vietnam toppled the Southern Vietnamese government, and South Vietnam officially surrendered in 1975 to communist North Vietnam. Tolerating all the hard work and fighting was proved pointless for American and ARVN troops when Vietnam was reunited as a communist country in 1976. Often in history, major events such as wars or disasters are the key elements that seem to influence and shape our society. The major event that shaped American society during the ‘70s was the Vietnam War, having a massive social impact. The Vietnam War acted as a catalyst to the counterculture movement, and changed the art, music, and education.