Experiments with gas-filled triodes

Summary In this paper experiments are described showing the different types of electrical discharges in a gas-filled triode. The determining parameters are the following: the cathode emission, the spacing of cathode, grid and anode, the diameter of the meshes of the grid, the potentials of the grid and the anode, the gas pressure and the differential ionization function of the gas. The anode voltage may be concentrated in a space charge sheath. If this space charge sheath is located at the grid, the anode current may be modulated with moderate grid potentials. If not, much larger voltages are required for modulation.     

Well-tuned algorithms for the Team Orienteering Problem with Time Windows

The Team Orienteering Problem with Time Windows (TOPTW) is the extension of the Orienteering Problem (OP) where each node is limited by a predefined time window during which the service has to start. The objective of the TOPTW is to maximize the total collected score by visiting a set of nodes with a limited number of paths. We propose two algorithms, Iterated Local Search and a hybridization of Simulated Annealing and Iterated Local Search (SAILS), to solve the TOPTW. As indicated in multiple research works on algorithms for the OP and its variants, determining appropriate parameter values in a statistical way remains a challenge. We apply Design of Experiments, namely factorial experimental design, to screen and rank all the parameters thereby allowing us to focus on the parameter search space of the important parameters. The proposed algorithms are tested on benchmark TOPTW instances. We demonstrate that well-tuned ILS and SAILS lead to improvements in terms of the quality of the solutions. More precisely, we are able to improve 50 best known solution values on the available benchmark instances.     

Determination of pesticides in vegetables using large-volume injection column liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

Direct injection of a large volume (900 microl) of a sample extract onto a liquid chromatographic (LC) column, LC separation and electrospray tandem mass spectrometric detection were used for the quantitative analysis of a wide polarity range of pesticides in carrots and potatoes. Rapid sample preparation involved extraction of a small amount of sample (2 g) with a small volume of organic solvent (3 ml), clean-up over a filter and dilution of the organic extract with the aqueous LC eluent. The extraction efficiency for the selected pesticides was studied using methanol, acetone and acetonitrile as solvents. Evaluation of the performance of the overall method, using extraction with acetonitrile and detection in the selected-reaction-monitoring mode, showed excellent linearity in the range of 2-100 microg/kg with limits of detection of 0.5-2 microg/kg for both types of vegetable. With relative standard deviations of the MS peak area measurements of less than 6.5% (n=8) the repeatability of the method was fully satisfactory.     

Effect of food: Microorganism ratio in activated sludge foam control

Foaming is a common operational problem in activated sludge processes that often adversely affects the quality of the treated effluent. Overgrowth of the filamentous Nocardia spp. in the microbial ecosystem was previously identified as the cause of foaming. In the present study, the specific growth rate of Nocardia amarae was found to be much higher than that of nonfilamentous bacteria under food:microorganism (F:M) ratios lower than 0.5 mg of biological oxygen demand (BOD)/(mg of mixed liquor suspended solids [MLor]·d). This indicated that filamentous overgrowth may occur in normal activated sludge processes that are continually operated under the usual F:M range of 0.2–0.6 mg of BOD/(mg of MLSS·d). A novel two-component feast-fast operation (FFO) that capitalized on the sensitivity of filamentous bacteria to F:M ratio was designed to prevent and control foaming problems. The F:M ratio in the “feasting” aeration unit was 0.8 mg of BOD/(mg of MLSS·d) whereas that in the “fasting” aeration unit was 0.2 mg of BOD/(mg of MLSS·d). The FFO resulted in an overall process F:M ratio that still remained within the normal range, while avoiding prolonged exposure of the activated sludge ecosystem to an F:M ratio below 0.5 mg of BOD/(mg of MLSS·d). The FFO suppressed the over growth of filamentous bacteria without adversely affecting the organic treatment efficiency of the modified process.     

5′‐Allyl‐2′‐benzoyloxy‐3′‐methoxy‐4‐nitroazobenzene

The structure of the title compound, 4‐allyl‐2‐methoxy‐6‐[(4‐nitrophenyl)diazenyl]phenyl benzoate, C₂₃H₁₉N₃O₅, displays the characteristic features of azobenzene derivatives. The azobenzene moiety of the molecule has a trans configuration and in this moiety, average C—N and N=N bond lengths are 1.441 (3) and 1.241 (3) Å, respectively.     

Self‐assembly of 2‐pivaloyl‐6‐chloro­pterin

In the title compound, N‐(6‐chloro‐4‐oxo‐3,4‐di­hydro­pteridin‐2‐yl)­‐2,2‐di­methyl­propan­amide, C₁₁H₁₂ClN₅O₂, the rings in the pterin moiety are planar. The amide carbonyl O atom is in syn‐periplanar conformation while the C—N—C—C propanamide linkage is antiperiplanar. The N—H?N and N—H?O intermolecular hydrogen bonds transform the mol­ecules into infinite chains.     

4‐Hydro­xy‐3‐methoxy­benz­aldehyde 4,5‐di­azafluoren‐9‐yl­idene­hydrazone

The whole mol­ecule of the title compound, C₁₉H₁₄N₄O₂, is essentially planar, with a highly conjugated π system. In the crystal, the mol­ecules are packed as chains along the [011] direction connected by O—H?N intermolecular hydrogen bonds.     

N‐Propionyl‐1,2‐benzisoselenazol‐3(2H)‐one

The title compound, C₁₀H₉NO₂Se, crystallizes as flat mol­ecules linked by selenium–oxy­gen interactions [Se?O = 3.189 (4) Å] into a linear chain along the a axis of the triclinic cell. The bond dimensions that are derived from ab initio geometry optimization calculations are similar to those determined from the diffraction measurements.     

A donor–acceptor compound composed of a di­nuclear zinc(II) complex of a Robson macro­cycle with 8‐methyl­quino­line

A donor–acceptor compound, di­aqua‐1κO,2κO‐[μ‐11,23‐dimethyl‐3,7,15,19‐tetra­aza­tri­cyclo­[19.3.1.1^9,13]hexacosa‐1(25),2,7,9,11,13(26),14,19,21,23‐decaene‐25,­26‐diolato‐1κ⁴N³,N⁷,O²⁵,O²⁶:­2κ⁴N¹⁵,N¹⁹,O²⁵,O²⁶]­dizinc(II) diperchlorate bis(8‐methyl­quinoline) ethanol disolvate, [Zn₂(C₂₄H₂₆N₄O₂)(H₂O)₂](ClO₄)₂·2C₁₀H₉N·2C₂H₆O, obtained by the reaction of a dinuclear zinc(II) complex of a Robson macrocycle (acceptor) and 8‐methyl­quinoline (donor), lies about an inversion centre and the coordination about the unique Zn atom is a distorted square pyramid. The fifth coordination site is occupied by the water mol­ecule, Zn—O = 2.016 (2) Å, and the average macrocyclic Zn—O and Zn—N distances are 2.059 (6) and 2.059 (3) Å, respectively.     

New detection modes for the determination of cephalosporins and their decomposition products

Summary The feasibility of using fluorescence and electrochemical detection after high performance liquid chromatography separation is investigated for a sensitive and selective determination of cephalosporins and their decomposition products. The sensitivity and detectability of fluorescence and electrochemical detection are compared to those of UV absorption detection. The methods have been validated for the determination of cephalosporins in biological fluids and for stability studiesin vitro.