Comprehensive investigation and optimisation of the main experimental variables in stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE)-thermal desorption-capillary gas chromatography (TD-CGC)

A chemometric study has been completed in order to investigate the relative contributions and interactions between the many experimental variables involved in SBSE-TD-CGC. The study was centered on data after extraction and analysis of important organophosphorous pesticides from water under different controlled conditions. An enhanced flame photometric detector was used for target compound area response. The seemingly independent operations of extraction with the stir bar followed by thermal transfer of the absorbed compounds to the chromatographic system are usually studied by independent designs for the corresponding blocks of variables. In this work all variables are treated at the same time in a single design to study the interactions and give a more robust model while requiring a lower number of experiments. The relative importance of contributing variables was clearly established and an optimum set of conditions was established for more uniform enrichment in a single analysis for a test mix of compounds with wide ranging polarities.     

Investigation of the quantitative properties of the quadrupole orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometer with electrospray ionisation using 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine

This paper describes the investigation of the potential of a quadrupole orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Q-TOF) equipped with an atmospheric pressure ionisation interface for quantitative measurements of small molecules separated by reversed phase liquid chromatography. To this end, the detection limits and linear dynamic range in particular were studied in an LC/MS/MS experiment using 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine standards and 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine for internal standardisation. In a second phase, the experiment was repeated with real biological extracts (whole blood, serum, and vitreous humour). A calibration for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and its metabolite 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine was prepared in each of these matrices again using 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine as internal standard. The resulting quantitative data were compared with those obtained by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection for the same extracts. The Q-TOF results revealed excellent sensitivity and a linear dynamic range of nearly four decades (2-10 000 pg on-column, r(2) = 0.9998, 1/x weighting). Furthermore, all the calibration curves prepared in biological material were superimposable, LC/MS/MS and LC-fluorescence, and the quantitative results for actual samples compared very favourably. It was concluded that the Q-TOF achieves a linear dynamic range for quantitative LC/MS/MS work exceeding that of fluorescence detection and at much better absolute sensitivity. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the connectedness of isomorphism classes

This paper is concerned with some topological properties of a notion of distance between normed linear spaces which is due to Banach and Mazur [1], We are interested in a pseudometric space associated naturally with this notion of distance, and our main result is that this pseudometric space is always pathwise connected.The results in this paper were taken from the author's doctoral dissertation written at the University of Maryland under the direction of Robert Whitley. The research was partially supported by the N.S.F.     

Effectiveness of solar disinfection using batch reactors with non-imaging aluminium reflectors under real conditions: Natural well-water and solar light

Inactivation kinetics are reported for suspensions of Escherichia coli in well-water using compound parabolic collector (CPC) mirrors to enhance the efficiency of solar disinfection (SODIS) for batch reactors under real, solar radiation (cloudy and cloudless) conditions. On clear days, the system with CPC reflectors achieved complete inactivation (more than 5-log unit reduction in bacterial population to below the detection limit of 4CFU/mL) one hour sooner than the system fitted with no CPC. On cloudy days, only systems fitted with CPCs achieved complete inactivation. Degradation of the mirrors under field conditions was also evaluated. The reflectivity of CPC systems that had been in use outdoors for at least 3 years deteriorated in a non-homogeneous fashion. Reflectivity values for these older systems were found to vary between 27% and 72% compared to uniform values of 87% for new CPC systems. The use of CPC has been proven to be a good technological enhancement to inactivate bacteria under real conditions in clear and cloudy days. A comparison between enhancing optics and thermal effect is also discussed.     

Fabrication of a modular tissue construct in a microfluidic chip

By combining microfluidics and soft-lithographic molding of gels containing mammalian cells, a device for three-dimensional (3D) culture of mammalian cells in microchannels was developed. Native components of the extracellular matrix, including collagen or Matrigel, made up the matrix of each molded piece (module) of cell-containing gel. Each module had at least one dimension below approximately 300 microm; in modules of these sizes, the flux of oxygen, nutrients, and metabolic products into and out of the modules was sufficient to allow cells in the modules to proliferate to densities comparable to those of native tissue (10(8)-10(9) cells cm(-3)). Packing modules loosely into microfluidic channels and chambers yielded structures permeated with a network of pores through which cell culture medium could flow to feed the encapsulated cells. The order in the packed assemblies increased as the width of the microchannels approached the width of the modules. Multiple cell types could be spatially organized in the small microfluidic channels. Recovery and analysis of modules after 24 h under constant flow of medium (200 microL h(-1)) showed that over 99% of encapsulated cells survived this interval in the microfluidic chamber.     

Strongly extreme points in Banach spaces

In this paper some properties of a special type of boundary point of convex sets in Banach spaces are studied. Specifically, a strongly extreme point x of a convex set S is a point of S such that for each real number r>0, segments of length 2r and centered x are not uniformly closer to S than some positive number d(x,r). Results are obtained comparing the notion of strongly extreme point to other known types of special boundary points of convex sets. Using the notion of strongly extreme point, a convexity condition is defined on the norm of the space under consideration, and this convexity condition makes possible a unified treatment of some previously studied convexity conditions. In addition, a sufficient condition is given on the norm of a separable conjugate space for every extreme point of the unit ball to be strongly extreme.