Chapter 11 Simulation studies of efficiency,returns to scale and misspecification with nonlinear functions in DEA

Using statistically designed experiments, 12,500 observations are generated from a 4-pieced Cobb-Douglas function exhibiting increasing and decreasing returns to scale in its different pieces. Performances of DEA and frontier regressions represented by COLS (Corrected Ordinary Least Squares) are compared at sample sizes ofn=50, 100, 150 and 200. Statistical consistency is exhibited, with performances improving as sample sizes increase. Both DEA and COLS generally give good results at all sample sizes. In evaluating efficiency, DEA generally shows superior performance, with BCC models being best (except at corner points), followed by the CCR model and then by COLS, with log-linear regressions performing better than their translog counterparts at almost all sample sizes. Because of the need to consider locally varying behavior, only the CCR and translog models are used for returns to scale, with CCR being the better performer. An additional set of 7,500 observations were generated under conditions that made it possible to compare efficiency evaluations in the presence of collinearity and with model misspecification in the form of added and omitted variables. Results were similar to the larger experiment: the BCC model is the best performer. However, COLS exhibited surprisingly good performances — which suggests that COLS may have previously unidentified robustness properties — while the CCR model is the poorest performer when one of the variables used to generate the observations is omitted.     

Chapter 15 DEA/AR analysis of the 1988–1989 performance of the Nanjing textiles corporation

This article employs new data envelopment analysis/assurance region (DEA/AR) methods to evaluate the efficiency of the 35 textile factories of the Nanjing Textiles Corporation (NTC), Nanjing, China. The returns to scale (RTS) of these factories were studied without assuming that the optimal DEA solutions were unique. All DMUs are identified with pointsE (Extreme Efficient),E (Efficient but not an extreme point) andF (Frontier but not efficient). We then further identify the nonfrontier DMUs with pointsNE, NE andNF according to whether they are projected onto a point inE, E, orF en route to evaluating their performances. All of the inefficient factories were in classNF and had unique optimal primal-dual solution pairs. Consequently, the solution pairs satisfy the strong complementary slackness condition (SCSC). Application of cone-ratio (CR) ARs reduced significantly the number of factories in classE, and showed that some AR-efficient factories were more flexible in adopting the mixture of central planning and market economies that China currently is trying to use. Also, linked-cone (LC) ARs were applied to measure maximum and minimum profit ratios. The SCSC multiplier space approach was utilized to analyze the sensitivity of the efficiency results to potential errors in the data with and without ARs. The results in this article suggest that collective units had a better performance than state-owned units in the two consecutive years analyzed.This paper was written while the author was at the School of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing 210018, P.R. China.     

Large volume sample application by a simplified “closed” on-column injector in capillary gas chromatography

Summary A new simplified version of a closed on-column injector is introduced. Because of its design isobaric injection conditions do not have to be followed and a wide range of injection temperatures above the boiling point of the sample solvent can be chosen for on-column injections in capillary gas chromatography. Also, when following certain basic injection rules, injections of large sample volumes (20 l or more) give accurate and reproducible results without further problems.Presented at the 17th International Symposium on Chromatography, September 25–30, 1988, Vienna, Austria.     

The effectiveness of solvents as hydrogen bond donors

Taft and Kamlet's -scale of solvent hydrogen bond donation ability is reexamined with regard to its correlations with three widely used polarity scales: Dimroth and Reichardt's E _T (30), Kosower's Z and Mayer's A _N , as well as with the _m values of the solvents when present as monomeric solutes. The correlation with E _T serves to extend the solvent -scale according to the expression:

PTV-LV-GC/MS/MS as screening and complementary method to HRMS for the monitoring of dioxin levels in food and feed

Recent developments in trapping efficiency inside ion trap mass spectrometer permitted to lower instrument detection limit (IDL). An IDL of 200 fg μl⁻¹ injected with a signal-to-noise ratio of 5:1 for tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) was obtained by gas chromatography coupled to a quadrupole ion storage mass spectrometer in tandem mode (GC/MS/MS). Coupling large volume programmable temperature vaporizer (PTV-LV) injection to GC/MS/MS provides an alternative and complementary method to classical splitless-GC injection connected to high-resolution mass spectrometry (splitless-GC/HRMS) method for dioxin monitoring in food and feed.

An injection volume of 10 μl was found to be the best compromise between the sensitivity requirements and the robustness required for a high throughput method. PTV-LV-GC/MS/MS and Splitless-GC/HRMS were compared by performing analysis on five different matrices such as beef fat, yolk eggs, milk powder, animal feed and serum samples covering a concentration range of two orders of magnitude (i.e. 0.2–25 ng WHO-TEQ kg⁻¹). An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out. Fisher tests pointed out that the method effect for all the 2,3,7,8 congeners was not significant, indicating that the null hypothesis (H₀: μ₁=μ₂=…=μ_n) was not rejected. Moreover, the interaction effects between methods and matrices were not significant for most of the 2,3,7,8 congeners. However, three congeners (2,3,7,8-TCDF; 1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDD and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD) were characterized by P-values lower than the significance level (=0.05). In toxic equivalence (TEQ), the study showed that no significant bias was observed between the two methods. Consequently, PTV-LV-GC/MS/MS is an attractive technique and can be used as a cost effective complementary method to HRMS for dioxin levels monitoring in food and feed.     

Structure determination of zinc iodide complexes formed in aqueous solution

Structures of the complexes formed in aqueous solutions between zinc(II) and iodide ions have been determined from large-angle X-ray scattering, Raman and far-IR measurements. The coordination in the hydrated Zn²⁺ hexaaqua ion and the first iodide complex, [ZnI]⁺, is octahedral, but is changed into tetrahedral in the higher complexes, [ZnI₂(H₂O)₂], [ZnI₃(H₂O)]^– and [ZnI₄]^2–. The Zn-I bond length is 2.635(4)Å in the [ZnI₄]^2– ion and slightly shorter, 2.592(6)Å, in the two lower tetrahedral complexes. In the octahedral [ZnI(H₂O)₅]⁺ complex the Zn-I bond length is 2.90(1)Å. The Zn-O bonding distances in the complexes are approximately the same as that in the hydrated Zn²⁺ ion, 2.10(1)Å.     

高氯酸二水邻菲咯啉合铜配合物的合成和晶体结构

Crystal structure of the title compound， Cu(phen)(H₂O)₂·ClO₄(phen=1，10-phenanthroline)， was deter-mined by X-ray crystallography. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system， space group C2/c with lattice parameters a=1.49071(4)nm， b=1.38594(4)nm， c=0.70292(1)nm， β=108.509(1)° and Z=4; The Cu(Ⅰ) ion is chelated by a phen ligand and two aqua ligands in cis arrangement and assumes a C2 symmetric square-planar geometry with the CuN₂O₂ core. Eight Cu(phen)(H₂O)₂·ClO₄ molecules are interconnected by strong hydrogen bonds between coordinated water molecules and uncoordinated perchlorate anions to form a molecular scale cavities along c axis. The bond distances of Cu-N and Cu-O are 0.2003(4)nm and 0.1973(3)nm， respectively. CCDC： 197600.     

LC and LC-MS Separation of Peptides on Macrocyclic Glycopeptide Stationary Phases: Diastereomeric Series and Large Peptides

Previous work on the LC separation of peptides had shown that macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases to be selective for peptides of five to thirteen amino acids in length. In this work, the selectivity of the teicoplanin stationary phase is compared to that of a C18 stationary phase for seven diastereomeric enkephalin peptides. The teicoplanin stationary phase separated all seven diastereomeric enkephalin peptides in a single chromatographic run. The insertion of d-amino acids into the primary enkephalin sequence produced areas of hydrophobicity that influenced retention order on the C18 stationary phase. However, analogous trends are not observed on the teicoplanin stationary phase, which is more polar and structurally diverse. Optimization of the mobile phase and the use of a step-gradient for the enkephalin separation on the teicoplanin stationary phase is discussed. Also, the selectivity of macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases for peptides of 14, 28, 30, and 36 amino acids also is investigated and compared to separation on a C18 stationary phase. A method for eluting peptides with multiple basic amino acids, which tend to be strongly retained on the macrocyclic glycopeptide stationary phases, is presented.