Validated spectrophotometric methods for the determination of amiodarone hydrochloride in commercial dosage forms using p-chloranilic acid and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone.

Two simple, sensitive and economical spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the determination of amiodarone hydrochloride in pure form and commercial dosage form. These methods (A and B) are based on the reaction of amiodarone base as n-electron donor with p-chloranilic acid and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) as pi-acceptors to give highly colored complex species which absorb maximally at 535 and 570 nm, respectively. Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration ranges 10.0 - 360.0 and 2.0 - 65.0 microg ml(-1) for methods A and B, respectively. Application of the proposed methods to commercial pharmaceutical tablets are presented.     

Optimized LiVOPO4 for cathodes in Li-ion rechargeable batteries

Improvement of the rate properties of orthorhombic LiVOPO₄ by using a milling approach and acetylene black additives as electronic binder is investigated. The average particle size of orthorhombic LiVOPO₄ was reduced from 12.0 μm to 6.1 μm by milling process by which the Li intercalation capacity into LiVOPO₄ increased to 40 mAhg⁻¹ at 0.4 mAcm⁻² (C/5). At an optimized acetylene black amount of 15 wt.%, a better uniformity in particle size distribution and dispersion of the current distribution was obtained. Thus, enhancing the kinetic performance a fairly large reversible intercalation capacity of Li was achieved with values of 100 and 60 mAhg⁻¹ at high rate conditions of C/5 (0.4 mAcm⁻²) and 1C (2 mAcm⁻²), respectively. Paper presented at the International Conference on Functional Materials and Devices 2005, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 6 – 8, 2005.     

Inkjet-like printing of single-cells

Cell sorting and separation techniques are essential tools for cell biology research and for many diagnostic and therapeutic applications. For many of these applications, it is imperative that heterogeneous populations of cells are segregated according to their cell type and that individual cells can be isolated and analysed. We present a novel technique to isolate single cells encapsulated in a picolitre sized droplet that are then deposited by inkjet-like printing at defined locations for downstream genomic analysis. The single-cell-manipulator (SCM) developed for this purpose consists of a dispenser chip to print cells contained in a free flying droplet, a computer vision system to detect single-cells inside the dispenser chip prior to printing, and appropriate automation equipment to print single-cells onto defined locations on a substrate. This technique is spatially dynamic, enabling cell printing on a wide range of commonly used substrates such as microscope slides, membranes and microtiter plates. Demonstration experiments performed using the SCM resulted in a printing efficiency of 87% for polystyrene microbeads of 10 μm size. When the SCM was applied to a cervical cancer cell line (HeLa), a printing efficiency of 87% was observed and a post-SCM cell viability rate of 75% was achieved.     

Dissolution and Delignification of Bamboo Biomass Using Amino Acid-Based Ionic Liquid

In the present work, the dissolution of bamboo biomass was tested using a number of ionic liquids synthesized in laboratory. It was observed that one of the synthesized amino acid-based ionic liquids, namely 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium glycinate, was capable of dissolving the biomass completely. The dissolved biomass was then regenerated using a reconstitute solvent (acetone/water) and was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. The results were compared to preconditioned bamboo biomass. The regenerated biomass was found to have a more homogenous macrostructure, which indicates that the crystalline form and structure of its cellulose has changed from type Ι to type ΙΙ during the dissolution and regeneration process.     

Data envelopment scenario analysis with imprecise data

In the existing DEA models, we have a centralized decision maker (DM) who supervises all the operating units. In this paper, we solve a problem in which the centralized DM encounters limited or constant resources for total inputs or total outputs. We establish a DEA target model that solves and deals with such a situation. In our model, we consider the decrease of total input consumption and the increase of total output production; however, in the existing DEA models, total output production is guaranteed not to decrease. Considering the importance of imprecise data in organizations, we define our model so as to deal with interval and ordinal data. A numerical illustration is provided to show the application of our model and the advantages of our approach over the previous one.     

Target setting in data envelopment analysis using MOLP

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and multiple objective linear programming (MOLP) can be used as tools in management control and planning. The existing models have been established during the investigation of the relations between the output-oriented dual DEA model and the minimax reference point formulations, namely the super-ideal point model, the ideal point model and the shortest distance model. Through these models, the decision makers’ preferences are considered by interactive trade-off analysis procedures in multiple objective linear programming. These models only consider the output-oriented dual DEA model, which is a radial model that focuses more on output increase. In this paper, we improve those models to obtain models that address both inputs and outputs. Our main aim is to decrease total input consumption and increase total output production which results in solving one mathematical programming model instead of n models. Numerical illustration is provided to show some advantages of our method over the previous methods.     

Higher harmonic anisotropic flow measurements of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV

We report on the first measurement of the triangular v3, quadrangular v4, and pentagonal v5 charged particle flow in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We show that the triangular flow can be described in terms of the initial spatial anisotropy and its fluctuations, which provides strong constraints on its origin. In the most central events, where the elliptic flow v2 and v3 have similar magnitude, a double peaked structure in the two-particle azimuthal correlations is observed, which is often interpreted as a Mach cone response to fast partons. We show that this structure can be naturally explained from the measured anisotropic flow Fourier coefficients.     

Centrality dependence of the charged-particle multiplicity density at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s(NN)] = 2.76 TeV

The centrality dependence of the charged-particle multiplicity density at midrapidity in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=2.76 TeV is presented. The charged-particle density normalized per participating nucleon pair increases by about a factor of 2 from peripheral (70%-80%) to central (0%-5%) collisions. The centrality dependence is found to be similar to that observed at lower collision energies. The data are compared with models based on different mechanisms for particle production in nuclear collisions.     

Low fluorine content CO2-philic surfactants

The article addresses an important, and still unresolved question in the field of CO(2) science and technology: what is the minimum fluorine content necessary to obtain a CO(2)-philic surfactant? A previous publication (Langmuir 2002, 18, 3014) suggested there should be an ideal fluorination level: for optimization of possible process applications in CO(2), it is important to establish just how little F is needed to render a surfactant CO(2)-philic. Here, optimum chemical structures for water-in-CO(2) (w/c) microemulsion stabilization are identified through a systematic study of CO(2)-philic surfactant design based on dichain sulfosuccinates. High pressure small-angle neutron scattering (HP-SANS) measurements of reversed micelle formation in CO(2) show a clear relationship between F content and CO(2) compatibility of any given surfactant. Interestingly, high F content surfactants, having lower limiting aqueous surface tensions, γ(cmc), also have better performance in CO(2), as indicated by lower cloud point pressures, P(trans). The results have important implications for the rational design of CO(2)-philic surfactants helping to identify the most economic and efficient compounds for emerging CO(2) based fluid technologies.