Carbon Paste Composite with Co3O4 as a New Electrochemical Sensor for the Detection of Allura Red by Reduction

The detection of Allura red (AR) by electrochemical reduction using a different electrode from the conventional mercury electrode is presented. A carbon paste with cobalt (II, III) oxide composite electrode (CoO_x/CPE) is reported for the first time for the detection of AR. Moreover, others dyes such as tartrazine (TZ), sunset yellow (SY), amaranth (AM), Ponceaut 4‐R (P‐4R), and Sudan (SD) as well as pharmaceutical agents such as paracetamol (PMC) that are present in samples that contained AR did not show a reduced signal between 0.0 and ?0.3 V, which is the potential range where AR reduction was observed. The surface electroactivity was studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The presence of CoO_X increased the cathodic peak current for AR by more than 50 % and 65 % via CV and square wave voltammetry (SWV), respectively, compared with an unmodified carbon paste electrode. Under the optimal parameters, (pH=3.0, accumulation time (t_ACC)=60 s and accumulation potential (E_ACC)=0.50 V), the detection limit for AR was 0.05 μmol L^?1. The new sensor was sensitive and stable for the detection of AR. Moreover, it was easily manufactured and very convenient for food samples such as soft and isotonic drinks as well as chili sauce.     

Properties of G-martingales with finite variation and the application to G-Sobolev spaces

As is known, if $B={\left(B_t\right)}_{t\in [0,T]}$ is a $G$-Brownian motion, a process of form ${\int }_0^t{\eta }_{s}d{〈B〉}_s?{\int }_0^{t}2G\left({\eta }_s\right)ds$, $\eta \in M_G^1(0,T)$, is a non-increasing $G$-martingale. In this paper, we shall show that a non-increasing $G$-martingale cannot be form of ${\int }_0^t{\eta }_{s}ds$ or ${\int }_0^t{\gamma }_{s}d{〈B〉}_s$, $\eta ,\gamma \in M_G^1(0,T)$, which implies that the decomposition for generalized $G$-Itô processes is unique: For arbitrary $\zeta \in H_G^1(0,T)$, $\eta \in M_G^1(0,T)$ and non-increasing $G$-martingales $K,L$, if ${\int }_0^t{\zeta }_{s}d{B}_s+{\int }_0^t{\eta }_{s}ds+K_t=L_t,t\in [0,T],$then we have $\eta \equiv 0$, $\zeta \equiv 0$ and$K_t=L_t$. As an application, we give a characterization to the $G$-Sobolev spaces introduced in Peng and Song (2015).     

Empirical Likelihood Estimation for the Two-Sample Mean under Density Ratio Models Using Auxiliary Information

Auxiliary population information is often available in finite population inference problems, and the empirical likelihood (EL) approach has been demonstrated to be flexible and useful for such problems. The present paper concerns EL when interest centers on inference for the mean of the baseline distribution under two-sample density ratio models. Although dual EL is a convenient technical tool since it has the same maximum point and maximum likelihood as DRM-based EL, it can not combine such auxiliary information into the likelihood conveniently and may have loss of efficiency. By contrast, the classical EL approach of Qin and Lawless\ucite{21} does not have this problem and incorporate seamlessly auxiliary information. Based on the EL using auxiliary information and the dual EL methods, we construct both point and interval estimations and make a careful comparison. Though the point estimation efficiency gain obtained by the former is not noticeable, we find that they may have different performances in interval estimation. In terms of coverage accuracy, the two intervals are comparable for not or moderate skewed populations, and the EL interval using auxiliary information can be much superior for severely skewed populations.     

Study of degradation behavior of besifloxacin,characterization of its degradation products by LC–ESI–QTOF–MS and their in silico toxicity prediction

Knowledge and understanding of the stability profile of a drug is important as it affects its safety and efficacy. In the present work, besifloxacin, a new, fourth‐generation fluoroquinolone antibiotic, was subjected to different forced‐degradation conditions as per International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines such as hydrolysis (acid, base and neutral), oxidation, thermal and photolysis. The drug degraded under acidic, basic, oxidative and photolytic conditions while it was found to be stable under dry heat and neutral hydrolytic conditions. In total, five degradation products (DPs) were formed under different conditions—DP1 and DP2 (photolysis), DP3 (oxidation), DP4 (acidic), DP3 and DP5 (basic). The chromatographic separation of besifloxacin and its degradation products was achieved on a Sunfire C₁₈ (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) column with 0.1% aqueous formic acid–acetonitrile as a mobile phase. The gradient RP‐HPLC method was developed and validated as per ICH guidelines. The degradation products were characterized with the help of LC–ESI–QTOF mass spectrometric studies and the most likely degradation pathway of the drug was proposed. In silico toxicity assessment of the drug and its degradation products was carried out, which indicated that DP3 and DP4 carry a mutagenicity alert.     

Development and validation of an ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method to determine the bioavailability of warfarin and its major metabolite 7‐hydroxy warfarin in rats dosed with oral formulations containing different polymorphic forms

A simple, sensitive and rapid ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the quantification of warfarin and 7‐hydroxy warfarin in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. Animals were administered a single dose of warfarin sodium formulations (crystalline and amorphous) at 12 mg/kg via oral gavage and blood was drawn over a 96‐h time course. Sample process recoveries, matrix effect and analyte stability were determined. The linearity for warfarin and 7‐hydroxy warfarin was from 5 to 2000 ng/mL in blank SD rat plasma. Correlation coefficients (r²) for standard calibration curves were >.98 and analytes quantified within ±15% of target at all calibrator concentrations. The average percent accuracy and precision for intra‐ and inter‐day were 93.7%–113.8% and ≤12.1%, respectively, for warfarin and 7‐hydroxy warfarin, across the quality control standards (5, 10, 500, 1800 and 2000 ng/mL). Acceptable analytical recovery (>55%) was achieved with process efficiencies >41.5% and matrix effects <139.9% over the analytical range. Both analytes were stable in stock solution, autosampler, benchtop and three cycles of freeze–thaw with percent accuracy ≥90.2% and precision (percent relative standard deviation) ≤14%. The validated method was successfully applied to a pre‐clinical bioavailability study of crystalline and amorphous warfarin sodium formulations in SD rats.     

On the Discrete Criteria and JØ rgensen Inequalities for SL(m,F((t)))

In this paper, the author gives the discrete criteria and J\o rgensen inequalities of subgroups for the special linear group on $\overline{\mathrm{F}}((t))$ in two and higher dimensions.     

Facile Synthesis of Ultra-Small Few-Layer Nanostructured MoSe2 Embedded on N,P Co-Doped Bio-Carbon for High-Performance Half/Full Sodium-Ion and Potassium-Ion Batteries

Sodium/potassium-ion batteries (SIBs/PIBs) arouse intensive interest on account of the natural abundance of sodium/potassium resources, the competitive cost and appropriate redox potential. Nevertheless, the huge challenge for SIBs/PIBs lies in the scarcity of an anode material with high capacity and stable structure, which are capable of accommodating large-size ions during cycling. Furthermore, using sustainable natural biomass to fabricate electrodes for energy storage applications is a hot topic. Herein, an ultra-small few-layer nanostructured MoSe₂ embedded on N, P co-doped bio-carbon is reported, which is synthesized by using chlorella as the adsorbent and precursor. As a consequence, the MoSe₂/NP-C-2 composite represents exceedingly impressive electrochemical performance for both sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs). It displays a promising reversible capacity (523 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹ after 100 cycles) and impressive long-term cycling performance (192 mAh g⁻¹ at 5 A g⁻¹ even after 1000 cycles) in SIBs, which are some of the best properties of MoSe₂-based anode materials for SIBs to date. To further probe the great potential applications, full SIBs pairing the MoSe₂/NP-C-2 composite anode with a Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃ cathode also exhibits a satisfactory capacity of 215 mAh g⁻¹ at 500 mA g⁻¹ after 100 cycles. Moreover, it also delivers a decent reversible capacity of 131 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ even after 250 cycles for PIBs.     

Parallel Translation on K¨ahler Manifolds

In this paper, the author establishs a real-valued function on K¨ahler manifolds by holomorphic sectional curvature under parallel translation. The author proves if such functions are equal for two simply-connected, complete K¨ahler manifolds, then they are holomorphically isometric.