Solubility data of trisodium citrate hydrates in aqueous solution and crystal‐solution interfacial energy of the pentahydrate

In this paper, the solubility of trisodium citrate dihydrate and trisodium citrate pentahydrate in water was experimentally determined. From solubility data, it was found that the relationship between trisodium citrate dihydrate and trisodium citrate pentahydrate is enantiotropic with a transition temperature at 315.4±1.0 K. Different hydrates can be isolated safely by controlling the crystallization temperature. The induction periods of trisodium citrate pentahydrate in aqueous solution were measured at different temperatures. The crystal–solution interfacial energy was calculated by using classical nucleation (CL) theory, mononuclear (MN) and polynuclear (PL) mechanisms through the relationship between induction period and supersaturation. It was found that the interfacial energy values calculated by using the CL theory and the MN model are nearly the same while interfacial energy calculated by PN model are about 40% higher. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Electrogenerated upconverted emission from doped organic nanowires

The electrogenerated upconversion was achieved in the uniformly doped organic nanowires based on triplet energy transfer from tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) to 9,10-diphenylanthracene.     

Sol–gel template synthesis and characterization of VO2 nanotube arrays

In this paper, we report on the obtention of highly ordered VO₂ nanotube arrays synthesized by the simple sol?Cgel template method. Techniques of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the as-synthesized nanotube arrays. It is found that the size of the as-obtained nanotubes has the dimension of 180?C220?nm in outer diameter, 110?C140?nm in inner diameter and up to 10???m in length. The results show that as-synthesized sample is assigned to VO₂ (B) phase in expected V/O ratio with V existing in the +4 oxidation state.     

Ionic liquid magnetic bar microextraction and HPLC determination of carbamate pesticides in real water samples

We have developed a simple method for the microextraction of the carbamate pesticides carbofuran, pirimicarb, and carbaryl. It is termed ionic liquid magnetic bar microextraction (ILMB-ME) and based on an ionic liquid deposited on a magnetic stirrer bar placed in a sealed short PCR tube into which microholes where pinned. When placed in a vial containing the aqueous sample solution, the ILMB tumbles freely in the aqueous solution and the carbamates are extracted into the ionic liquid phase which then was determined by HPLC. The enrichment factors for carbofuran, pirimicarb, and carbaryl are 107, 94, 95, respectively. The limits of detection, calculated as three times the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N), are 1.4?μg?L^?1 for carbofuran, 3.4?μg?L^?1 for pirimicarb, and 1.7?μg?L^?1 for carbaryl. The repeatability, carried out by extracting water samples spiked with carbamate levels of 200?μg?L^?1, yielded relative standard deviations between 2.9 and 6.0?%, (for n?=?5). The recoveries of all the three fungicides from tap, lake and rain water samples at spiking levels of 5 and 50?μg?L^?1 are in the range from 86 to 98?%, and from 80 to 96?%, respectively. We conclude that this is a simple, practical and efficient method for the determination of fungicide residues in real water samples.

Approximate dynamic programming algorithms for optimal dosage decisions in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation

In the controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) treatment, clinicians monitor the patients’ physiological responses to gonadotropin administration to tradeoff between pregnancy probability and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). We formulate the dosage control problem in the COH treatment as a stochastic dynamic program and design approximate dynamic programming (ADP) algorithms to overcome the well-known curses of dimensionality in Markov decision processes (MDP). Our numerical experiments indicate that the piecewise linear (PWL) approximation ADP algorithms can obtain policies that are very close to the one obtained by the MDP benchmark with significantly less solution time.     

Measuring the subprime crisis contagion: Evidence of change point analysis of copula functions

In this paper, we first determine the existence of structural changes in the dependence between time series of equity index returns of two markets using the change point testing method. The method is based on Archimedean copula functions, which are able to comprehensively describe dependence characteristics of random variables. The degree of financial contagion between markets is subsequently estimated using the tail dependence coefficient of copula functions before and after the change point. We empirically test our method by investigating financial contagion during the subprime crisis between the US S&P 500 index and five Asian markets, namely China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Our results show that a statistically significant change point exists in the dependence between the US market and all Asian stock markets except Taiwan. The upper tail dependence is larger after the time of change, implying the existence of contagion during the banking crisis between the US and the Asian economies. The degree of financial contagion is also estimated and found to be consistent with market events and media reports during that period.     

Studies of the Rate Constant of l-DOPA Oxidation and Decarboxylation by HPLC

The objective of current investigation was to study the degradation behavior of l-DOPA under different conditions by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and to develop and validate a stability-indicating HPLC method. The developed RP-HPLC method was validated with respect to linearity, accuracy, precision and specificity. Oxidation was found to occur in alkaline and to some extent in thermal conditions, while the drug was stable when incubated at acidic conditions and under photolytic stress. The oxidation of l-DOPA was observed to follow first-order kinetics. The degradation rate constants and half-life were calculated. The cytotoxicity and enzymatic degradation of l-DOPA was examined using the human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells. The drug was rapidly decarboxylated by aromatic amino acid decarboxylase to dopamine. The conversion of l-DOPA to dopamine was dose- and time-dependent.     

Fabrication of Fe3O4/SiO2 core/shell nanoparticles attached to graphene oxide and its use as an adsorbent

Thermoresponsive gelling behavior of concentrated alumina suspensions with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and triblock copolymer (PEO(101)-PPO(56)-PEO(101), Pluronic F127) was investigated as a function of PAA concentration (0.4-1.2 mass%) for ceramic solid free forming. The copolymer species assemble into micelles at temperatures above 15°C, yielding aqueous physical gel. In this study, the concentrated alumina aqueous suspensions (φ=35 vol%) were first prepared using the anionic dispersant of PAA, and then the copolymer species (10 mass%) were dissolved at a cooled temperature at 10°C. The addition of the copolymer species had a negligible influence on the adsorption state of PAA onto the alumina surfaces. The PAA concentration needed for the saturation adsorption on the alumina surfaces was ~0.6 mass%. When the PAA concentration was this value or slightly less, the suspension became gel state at 30°C from low viscous state at 10°C. The thermally induced alumina gel had excellent viscoelastic properties, and thereby the three dimensional periodic ceramic structures were successfully fabricated by a direct colloidal printing method that using the gels as "solid" inks at the room temperature. On the other hand, when it exceeded the saturation adsorption limit, the gelling behavior was not observed, indicating that the non-adsorbing PAA species may partly suppress the micellization of the copolymer on the heating.     

Synthesis of MCM-22 zeolite using rice husk as a silica source under varying-temperature conditions

In this study, rice husk, an abundant agricultural byproduct, was utilized as an alternative silica source for the synthesis of MCM-22. The zeolite with high crystalline was synthesized using a three-stage varying-temperature hydrothermal method. The prepared silica and MCM-22 were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the duration required for zeolite crystallization was significantly decreased under varying-temperature conditions. The MCM-22 was in the form of thin platelet-like crystals, and no amorphous material existed in the framework of the MCM-22 after calcination and ammonium exchange. Cationic brilliant red 5GN, a basic dye used in the wool and blanket factories for fiber dyeing, was selected as the adsorptive to study the adsorption performance of the MCM-22. Adsorption experiments indicated that the maximum extent of adsorption was obtained at pH of 10, contact time of 60 min, and MCM-22 dose of 1.0 g/L. The adsorption kinetic has been described by first-order and pseudo-second-order models. It was observed that the rate of dye adsorption followed pseudo-second-order model.