Capillary electrophoresis determination of six bioactive constituents in San-huang-hsieh-hsin-tang

A capillary electrophoretic method for simultaneous determination of six bioactive ingredients (berberine, palmatine, baicalin, sennoside B, emodin, and sennoside A) in the Chinse herbal formula San-huang-hsieh-hsin-tang was established. A carrier composed of aqueous buffer solution (50 mM sodium cholate, 15 mM sodium dihydrogen phosphate, and 4.25 mM sodium borate)-acetonitrile (3:2) was found to be the most suitable electrolyte for this separation. Contents of these constituents in a non-pretreated methanol-water extract of San-huang-hsieh-hsin-tang sample could be easily determined within 20 min. The effects of borate, cholate, and organic modifier (acetonitrile) concentration of the carrier on the migration behavior of the solutes were also studied.     

Effects of 2‐hydroxyalkyl methacrylates on the styrene miniemulsion polymerizations stabilized by SDS and alkyl methacrylates

The effects of 2‐hydroxyalkyl methacrylates (HEMA and HPMA) on the styrene miniemulsion polymerizations stabilized by SDS/lauryl methacrylate (LMA) or SDS/stearyl methacrylate (SMA) were investigated. A mixed mode of particle nucleation (monomer droplet nucleation and homogeneous nucleation) is operative during polymerization. Homogeneous nucleation plays a crucial role in the polymerizations stabilized by SDS/LMA, whereas monomer droplet nucleation becomes more important in the polymerizations stabilized by SDS/SMA. The polymerization kinetics is insensitive to the type of 2‐hydroxyalkyl methacrylates, but the difference in the relative importance of monomer droplet nucleation and homogeneous nucleation is detected. Incorporation of 1‐pentanol (C₅OH) into the reaction mixture also shows a significant influence on the polymerizations stabilized by SDS/LMA or SDS/SMA. This is attributed to the formation of a close‐packed structure of SDS and C₅OH on the droplet surface, which acts as a barrier to the incoming oligomeric radicals. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 3188–3199, 2000     

Silica‐supported metallocenes: effect of the preparation procedure on the morphology of polyethylene particles

Polyethylene (PE) particles are produced by a catalyst prepared by contacting a (C₄H₉Cp)₂ZrCl₂/MAO pre‐mixing solution with SiO₂ support. These particles have a large granular size and very few fine particles compared with those derived from a catalyst prepared by adsorption of (C₄H₉Cp)₂ZrCl₂ onto methylaluminoxane modified SiO₂. The amount of Al in the pre‐mixing catalyst has an important effect on its activity and the PE particle size distribution. The optimal concentration is about 30 wt.‐%. The PE particles produced using a pre‐mixing catalyst consist of globules with randomly oriented fiber structure on the surface, whereas those produced using adsorption catalysts have worm‐like fibrils protruding from the PE globule surface.     

A hybrid fuzzy-optimization approach to customer grouping-based logistics distribution operations

This paper presents an integrated fuzzy-optimization customer grouping based logistics distribution methodology for quickly responding to a variety of customer demands. The proposed methodology involves three main mechanisms: (1) pre-route customer classification using fuzzy clustering techniques, (2) determination of customer group-based delivery service priority and (3) en-route goods delivery using multi-objective optimization programming methods. In the process of pre-route customer classification, the proposed method groups customers’ orders primarily based on the multiple attributes of customer demands, rather than by static geographic attributes, which are mainly considered in classical vehicle routing algorithms. Numerical studies including a real-world application are conducted to illustrate the applicability of the proposed method and its potential advantages over existing operational strategies. Using the proposed method, it is shown that the overall performance of a logistics distribution system can be improved by more than 20%, according to the numerical results from the case studied.     

Generic Algorithm for Generalized Fractional Programming

We propose a unified framework to study various versions of Dinkelbach-type algorithms for solving the generalized fractional programming problem. Classical algorithms used carefully selected iterate points and incorporated subtle convergence proofs. Our generic algorithm, however, is natural and simple. Moreover, the convergence analysis can be carried out through geometric observations and fundamental properties of convex functions. Consequently, the classical results are either refined or strengthened with new insights.     

Economic optimization of off-line inspection with rework consideration

This paper addresses issues relating to off-line inspection with rework consideration. We develop a mathematical model to determine the first unit inspected and the average number to be inspected in a batch, assuming the involvement of a quality-control department with a standard procedure. Numerical analyses are used to simulate the effect of changes in the various parameters on the optimal solution when the probability of a transition between states follows the discrete Weibull distribution.     

Ultrasound Promoted 1, 3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Reactions of Nitrile Oxides with α, β-Unsaturated Acetals

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrile oxides and α,β-unsaturated 1,3-dioxolanes were effectively accelerated by ultrasound irradiation to give the A²-isoxazolines with yields and regioselectivities surpassing those of the corresponding thermal reactions.     

Oxidative modification of neurogranin by nitric oxide: an amperometric study

Neurogranin (Ng) is a neuron-specific protein kinase C (PKC) substrate, which contains four cysteine (Cys) residues. Recently, it has been shown that Ng is a redox-sensitive protein and is a likely target of nitric oxide (NO) and other oxidants [F.-S. Sheu, C.W. Mahoney, K. Seki, K.-P. Huang, Nitric oxide modification of rat brain neurogranin affects its phosphorylation by protein kinase C and affinity for calmodulin, J. Biol. Chem. 271 (1996) 22407-22413: J. Li, J.H. Pak, F.L. Huang, K.-P. Huang, N-methyl-D-aspartate induces neurogranin/RC3 oxidation in rat brain slices, J. Biol. Chem. 274 (1999) 1294-1300]. In this study, we directly examine the redox reactions between dissolved NO and Cys as well as between NO and bacterial expressed Ng in its reduced form, at concentrations approximate to the physiological levels in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) under aerobic conditions. The reaction kinetics are measured directly by our newly developed electrochemical sensor. Our sensor is based on the chemical modification of electrode with immobilized nanoparticles of transition metal palladium (Pd) which serves as catalytic centers for the electrochemical oxidation of thiol and NO selectively and quantitatively at different potentials. It detects Cys and Ng in a linear range from nano to micromolar concentration at + 450 mV, vs. a saturated calomel reference electrode (SCE), while the detection of NO at the sensor can be optimally achieved at + 700 mV (vs. SCE) with a linear current-to-concentration range of nM to microM. It thus provides a selective control to monitor two reactants independently. With this sensor as a detector, we found that (1) the oxidation of either Cys or Ng by NO is a fast reaction which reaches a near completion within 1-2 min at its physiological concentration; and (2) after the completion of reaction, NO is mostly, if not all, regenerated, an observation consistent with the reaction mechanism involving the formation of S-nitrosothiol as an intermediate. The reaction kinetics of both NO to Cys and NO to Ng implies that NO can achieve local action on cellular proteins in addition to its effect on targets located in neighboring cells via concentration-gradient-dependent diffusion.     

Minimum-weight design with piecewise constant specific stiffness

Much of the literature on minimum-weight design is concerned with structures with continuously varying dimensions. Structures of this kind achieve an absolute minimum of weight and thereby provide a useful standard of comparison, but their manufacturing cost is prohibitive in most applications. As a step toward the establishment of optimality conditions for more practical structures, the present paper discusses optimal design of sandwich beams and frames with segmentwise constant cross sections. Optimality is shown to require that the mean square stress in the face sheets has the same value for all segments. The use of the optimality condition is illustrated by examples.This research was supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency, Project DEFENDER, and was monitored by the US Army Research Office-Durham, Contract No. DA-31-124-ARO-D-257.     

Study on the stevioside analogues of steviolbioside, steviol, and isosteviol 19-alkyl amide dimers: synthesis and cytotoxic and antibacterial activity

A new group of steviolbioside amide dimers 2a-g, derivatives 2h-i and their related steviol and isosteviol amide dimers 3a and 4a were prepared by reacting aliphatic alkylamine and alkyldiamines with PyBOP and DIEA. The synthesized compounds had cytotoxic effects on cancer and human embryonic lung cells. Compounds 3a, 4a, 2b and 2h were cytotoxic to cancer cells and to a lesser extent to human embryo lung cells. Compounds 2f, 2g and 4 of this series had favorable antibacterial effects, and were superior to penicillin G at inhibiting growth of Bacillus subtilis (BCRC 10029). The cytotoxicity and antibacterial effects may depend on the dimerization and derivative moieties in relation to the respective aglycons.