Validated Stability-Indicating GC-MS Method for Characterization of Forced Degradation Products of Trans-Caffeic Acid and Trans-Ferulic Acid

When dealing with simple phenols such as caffeic acid (CA) and ferulic acid (FA), found in a variety of plants, it is very important to have control over the most important factors that accelerate their degradation reactions. This is the first report in which the stabilities of these two compounds have been systematically tested by exposure to various different factors. Forced degradation studies were performed on pure standards (trans-CA and trans-FA), dissolved in different solvents and exposed to different oxidative, photolytic and thermal stress conditions. Additionally, a rapid, sensitive, and selective stability-indicating gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method was developed and validated for determination of trans-CA and trans-FA in the presence of their degradation products. Cis-CA and cis-FA were confirmed as the only degradation products in all the experiments performed. All the compounds were perfectly separated by gas chromatography (GC) and identified using mass spectrometry (MS), a method that additionally elucidated their structures. In general, more protic solvents, higher temperatures, UV radiation and longer storage times led to more significant degradation (isomerization) of both trans-isomers. The most progressive isomerization of both compounds (up to 43%) was observed when the polar solutions were exposed to daylight at room temperature for 1 month. The method was validated for linearity, precision as repeatability, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ). The method was confirmed as linear over tested concentration ranges from 1−100 mg L⁻¹ (r²s were above 0.999). The LOD and LOQ for trans-FA were 0.15 mg L⁻¹ and 0.50 mg L⁻¹, respectively. The LOD and LOQ for trans-CA were 0.23 mg L⁻¹ and 0.77 mg L⁻¹, respectively.     

Comparison of two models for managing reliability growth during product design

Relying on reliability growth testing to improve system designis neither usually effective nor efficient. Instead it is importantto design in reliability. This requires models to estimate reliabilitygrowth in the design that can be used to assess whether goalreliability will be achieved within the target timescale forthe design process. Many models have been developed for analysisof reliability growth on test, but there has been much lessattention given to reliability growth in design. This paperdescribes and compares two models: one motivated by the practicalengineering process; the other by extending the reasoning ofstatistical reliability growth modelling. Both models are referencedin the recently revised edition of international standard IEC61164. However, there has been no reported evaluation of theirproperties. Therefore, this paper explores the commonalitiesand differences between these models through an assessment oftheir logic and their application to an industrial example.Recommendations are given for the use of reliability growthmodels to aid management of the design process and to informproduct development.     

Five Novel Taccalonolides from the Roots of the Vietnamese Plant Tacca paxiana

Chemical investigation of the roots of the Vietnamese plant Tacca paxiana resulted in the isolation of five new steroidal compounds, taccalonolide R ( 6 ), S ( 7 ), T ( 8 ), U ( 9 ), and V ( 10 ). Their structures were established on the basis of NMR and mass‐spectral data. In addition, the five known taccalonolides A ( 1 ), B ( 2 ), E ( 3 ), K ( 4 ), and N ( 5 ) were also isolated and identified.     

Expressive equivalence of least and inflationary fixed-point logic

We study the relationship between least and inflationary fixed-point logic. In 1986, Gurevich and Shelah proved that in the restriction to finite structures, the two logics have the same expressive power. On infinite structures however, the question whether there is a formula in IFP not equivalent to any LFP-formula was left open.

In this paper, we answer the question negatively, i.e. we show that the two logics are equally expressive on arbitrary structures. We give a syntactic translation of IFP-formulae to LFP-formulae such that the two formulae are equivalent on all structures.

As a consequence of the proof we establish a close correspondence between the LFP-alternation hierarchy and the IFP-nesting depth hierarchy. We also show that the alternation hierarchy for IFP collapses to the first level, i.e. the complement of any inflationary fixed point is itself an inflationary fixed point.     

Correlated polarization propagator calculations of static polarizabilities

We present a systematic comparison of the correlation contribution at the level of the second-order polarization propagator approximation (SOPPA ) and MP 2 to the static dipole polarizability of (1) Be, BeH^?, BH, CH⁺, MgH^?, AIH, SiH⁺, and GeH⁺; (2) BH₃, CH₄, NH₃, H₂O, HF, BF, and F₂; and (3) N₂, CO, CN^?, HCN, C₂H₂, and HCHO . Fairly extended basis sets were used in the calculations. We find that the agreement with experimental values is improved in SOPPA and MP .2 over the results at the SCF level. The signs and magnitudes of the correlation contribution in SOPPA are similar to those obtained in analytical derivative MP 2 calculations. However, it is not possible to say, in general, which method gives the largest correlation contribution or the best agreement with experiment, nor is it possible to make a priori prediction of the sign of the correlation contribution. For the first group of molecules, which have a quasi-degenerate ground state, additional CCDPPA and CCSDPPA calculations were performed and compared with polarizabilities obtained as analytical/numerical derivatives of the CCD and CCSD energies. The CCSDPPA results were found to be in better agreement with other calculations than were the SOPPA results, demonstrating the necessity of using methods based on infinite-order perturbation theory for these systems. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A mixed‐FEM formulation for nonlinear incompressible elasticity in the plane

This article deals with an expanded mixed finite element formulation, based on the Hu‐Washizu principle, for a nonlinear incompressible material in the plane. We follow our related previous works and introduce both the stress and the strain tensors as further unknowns, which yields a two‐fold saddle point operator equation as the corresponding variational formulation. A slight generalization of the classical Babu?ka‐Brezzi's theory is applied to prove unique solvability of the continuous and discrete formulations, and to derive the corresponding a priori error analysis. An extension of the well‐known PEERS space is used to define an stable associated Galerkin scheme. Finally, we provide an a posteriori error analysis based on the classical Bank‐Weiser approach. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 18: 105–128, 2002     

Characteristics of Nd：GdVO4 Laser with Different Nd-Doping Concentrations

We report the properties of a compact diode-pumped continuous-wave Nd：GdV04 laser with a linear cavity and different Nd-doped laser crystals. In a 0.2at.% Nd-doped Nd：GdVO4 laser, 1.54 W output laser power is achieved at 912nm wavelength with a slope efficiency of 24.8% at an absorbed pump power of 9.4W. With 0.3at.% Nd-doping concentration, we can obtain the either single-wavelength emission at 1064nm or 912nm or the dual-wavelength emission at 1064nm and 912nm by controlling the incident pump power. From an incident pump power of 11.6 W, the 1064nm emission between ^4Fa/2 and ^4I11/2 is suppressed completely by the 912nm emission between ^4Fa/2 and ^4I9/2. We obtain 670 mW output of the 912nm single-wavelength laser emission with a slope efficiency of 5.5% by taking an incident pump power of 18.4 W. Using a Nd：GdV04 laser with 0.4at.% Nd-doping concentration, we obtain either the single-wavelength emission at 1064nm or the dual-wavelength emission at both 1064nm and 912nm by increasing the incident pump power. We observe a strong competition process in the dualavelength laser.     

Weighted Coorbit Spaces and Banach Frames on Homogeneous Spaces

This article is concerned with frame constructions on domains and manifolds. The starting point is a unitary group representation which is square integrable modulo a suitable subgroup and therefore gives rise to a generalized continuous wavelet transform. Then generalized coorbit spaces can be defined by collecting all functions for which this wavelet transform is contained in a weighted L_p-space. Moreover, we show that a judicious discretization of the representation leads to an atomic decomposition and to Banach frames for these coorbit spaces.