Scheduling with a due-window for acceptable lead-times

Due-dates are often determined during sales negotiations in two stages: (i) in the pre-sale stage, the customer provides a time interval (due-window) of his acceptable due-dates, (ii) in the second stage, the parties agree on the delivery penalties. Thus, the contract reflects penalties of both parts of the sales negotiations: earliness/tardiness penalties of the due-dates (as a function of the deviation from the agreed upon due-window), and earliness/tardiness penalties of the actual delivery times (as a function of the deviation from the due-dates). We model this setting of a two-stage negotiation on a single machine, and reduce the problem to a well-known setting of minimizing the weighted earliness/tardiness with a given (fixed) due-window. We adopt (and correct) a pseudo-polynomial dynamic programming algorithm for this NP-hard problem. The algorithm is extended to a setting of parallel identical machines, verifying that this case remains NP-hard in the ordinary sense. Moreover, an efficient greedy heuristic and a tight lower bound are introduced and tested. Extremely small optimality gaps are obtained in our numerical tests.     

Target cell extraction coupled with LC‐MS/MS analysis for screening potential bioactive components in Ginkgo biloba extract with preventive effect against diabetic nephropathy

A rapid and useful approach for screening potential bioactive components in Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) with preventive effect against diabetic nephropathy (DN) was developed using mesangial cells extraction coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) analysis. Mesangial cells were first divided into two groups according to their treatments with high glucose or high glucose plus GBE. After incubation for 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 48 h, the cells were harvested and extracted with 40% acetic acid in water before LC‐MS/MS analysis. Then, 19 compounds and five metabolites were found to selectively combine with mesangial cells. Notably, compounds including quercetin and rutin were identified or tentatively characterized according to the results of retention time and MS spectra, which is highly consistent with our previous reports that quercetin and rutin are potent protective agents against glomerulosclerosis in DN. Therefore, all these results indicate that target cell extraction coupled with LC‐MS/MS analysis can be successfully applied for predicting the bioactive components in GBE with preventive effect against DN. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于波长调制-直接吸收光谱方法的CO分子1567 nm处谱线参数高精度标定

直接吸收光谱(DAS)可直接测量分子吸收率函数,并通过拟合吸收率函数确定待测气体参数.波长调制-直接吸收光谱(WM-DAS)在DAS基础上,结合了波长调制光谱(WMS)中谐波分析思想,利用傅里叶变换复现吸收率函数,可有效提高吸收率函数的测量精度.本文利用WM-DAS方法结合长光程气体吸收池,在室温低压条件下,对CO分子1567 nm处R5-R11近红外弱吸收谱线吸收率函数进行了精确复现,其拟合残差标准差低至3×10^-5,随后根据测得的吸收率函数对谱线的碰撞展宽、Dicke收敛以及速度依赖的碰撞展宽系数等光谱参数进行了高精度标定,并将其与高灵敏度的连续波腔衰荡光谱(CW-CRDS)测量结果进行了比较,实验结果表明该方法与CW-CRDS测量结果具有高度一致性,更具有系统简单、测量速度快、对环境要求低等优点.     

Facile preparation of boronic acid‐functionalized magnetic nanoparticles with a high capacity and their use in the enrichment of cis‐diol‐containing compounds from plasma

The use of bronate affinity adsorbents is a new separation method that appeared recently with great potential for specific extraction of cis‐diol‐containing compounds. In this work,a new strategy for the facile construction of boronic acid‐functionalized Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄@FPBA MNPs) with a high capacity was described. The extraction capacity of the Fe₃O₄@FPBA MNPs was determined to be 66.0 ± 2.7 µmol/g for catechol and 80.6 ± 2.0 µmol/g for dopamine, being higher than that for the reported methods. The Fe₃O₄@FPBA MNPs were used to extract four cis‐diol drugs: caffeic acid isopropyl ester, caffic acid bornyl ester, isopropyl 3‐(3,4‐dihydroxyphenyl)‐2‐hydroxypropanoate and 3‐(3, 4‐dihydroxyphenyl)‐2‐hydroxylpropionic acid – from the spiked rabbit plasma, and the recoveries of four drugs were between 87.29 and104.37% with relative standard deviations ranging from 1.34 to 8.81%. Under the most favorable conditions, the solid‐phase extraction combined with HPLC‐UV for the analysis of four drugs in plasma could eliminate interferences from endogenous components of the biological fluids and exhibited sufficient precision and accuracy. These results showed that the prepared Fe₃O₄@FPBA MNPs were qualified for efficiently enriching and determining the trace cis‐diol substances from biological samples. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crystallization of Poly(ethylene adipate) within γ-Phase Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Matrix

The effects of PEA on the γ-phase PVDF crystal structure and the crystallization of PEA within the pre-existing γ-phase PVDF spherulites have been investigated by optical microscopy(OM), infrared spectroscopy(IR) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). The results demonstrate that the γ-phase PVDF spherulites consist of the lamellae exhibiting a highly curved scroll-like morphology and develop preferentially in PEA-rich blend. With increasing PEA concentration, the scroll diameter increases and the scrolls are better separated from each other. PEA crystallizes first in the interspherulitic region and transcrystalline layer develops. Subsequently, the transcrystalline layer of PEA continues to grow within the γ-phase PVDF spherulites, e.g., in the region between the scrolls, until impinging on other PEA transcrystalline layers or spherulites. The crystallization kinetics results indicate that the growth rate of PEA crystals in the intraspherulitic region of γ-phase PVDF shows a positive correlation with content of PEA, but a negative one with the crystallization temperature of γ-phase PVDF.