A method of calculating the second dimension retention index in comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A method was developed to calculate the second dimension retention index of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC/TOF-MS) data using n-alkanes as reference compounds. The retention times of the C(7)-C(31) alkanes acquired during 24 isothermal experiments cover the 0-6s retention time area in the second dimension retention time space, which makes it possible to calculate the retention indices of target compounds from the corresponding retention time values without the extension of the retention space of the reference compounds. An empirical function was proposed to show the relationship among the second dimension retention time, the temperature of the second dimension column, and the carbon number of the n-alkanes. The proposed function is able to extend the second dimension retention time beyond the reference n-alkanes by increasing the carbon number. The extension of carbon numbers in reference n-alkanes up to two more carbon atoms introduces <10 retention index units (iu) of deviation. The effectiveness of using the proposed method was demonstrated by analyzing a mixture of compound standards in temperature programmed experiments using 6 different initial column temperatures. The standard deviation of the calculated retention index values of the compound standards fluctuated from 1 to 12 iu with a mean standard deviation of 5 iu.     

Early development drug formulation on a chip: fabrication of nanoparticles using a microfluidic spray dryer

Early development drug formulation is exacerbated by increasingly poor bioavailability of potential candidates. Prevention of attrition due to formulation problems necessitates physicochemical analysis and formulation studies at a very early stage during development, where the availability of a new substance is limited to small quantities, thus impeding extensive experiments. Miniaturization of common formulation processes is a strategy to overcome those limitations. We present a versatile technique for fabricating drug nanoformulations using a microfluidic spray dryer. Nanoparticles are formed by evaporative precipitation of the drug-loaded spray in air at room temperature. Using danazol as a model drug, amorphous nanoparticles of 20-60 nm in diameter are prepared with a narrow size distribution. We design the device with a geometry that allows the injection of two separate solvent streams, thus enabling co-spray drying of two substances for the production of drug co-precipitates with tailor-made composition for optimization of therapeutic efficiency.     

Design, synthesis, characterization, luminescence and non-linear optical (NLO) properties of multinuclear platinum(II) alkynyl complexes

A series of luminescent multinuclear platinum(II) alkynyl complexes containing triethynylbenzene or 1,4-bis(3,5-diethynylphenyl)buta-1,3-diyne as cores has been successfully synthesized and characterized. The electronic absorption, emission, nanosecond transient absorption and electrochemical properties of these complexes have been reported. These complexes show long-lived emissions in degassed benzene solution and in alcoholic glass at 77 K. Moreover, they are found to exhibit two-photon absorption (2PA) and two-photon induced luminescence (TPIL) properties, and their two-photon absorption cross-sections have been determined to be 6-191 GM upon excitation at 720 nm. Through a systematic comparison, it has been found that tetra- and hexanuclear platinum(II) complexes show better 2PA and TPIL properties than their di- and trinuclear counterparts.     

Microbial electricity generation of diversified carbonaceous electrodes under variable mediators

To evaluate a suitable electrode material for the efficient green energy generation of a bio-fuel cell, carbonaceous based carbon cloth, carbon paper, and carbon felt electrodes were investigated under different mediators. The larger surface area, low resistance, and open network of interwoven fibers of the carbon felt electrode facilitated higher electron transfer from the microbial organisms to the electrode surface than that of other carbonaceous electrodes. Carbon paper electrode exhibited lower fuel cell performances due to its lower roughness and high tortuous nature. The green power generation experiments were also carried out under different mediators such as 2-hydroxy-l,4-naphthoquinone and thionin. The electrons mitigation and power generation was augmented by 2-hydroxy-l,4-naphthoquinone than thionin due to its high solubility, stability, and minimal adsorption characteristic to the electrodes. By the combined efforts of extended electrons generation and transportation, bio-fuel cell performances were extended and endorsed its doable applications in bio-fuel cells.     

Extraction of ketamine from urine using a miniature silica monolithic cartridge followed by quantification with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)

The high surface area monolith with reactive hydroxyl group on its surface enables it to function as a miniature solid‐phase extraction (SPE) cartridge in size of 1 cm in diameter and 0.5 cm in length. The prepared silica monolith was characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Ketamine was selected as model analyte to validate the extraction efficiency of the prepared cartridge. The extracted ketamine from urine sample was quantitated by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) using positive electrospray ionization. The limit of detection and quantification for ketamine was found to be 0.5 and 1.6 ng/mL, respectively. The analysis exhibited linearity in the range of 10–500 ng/mL with coefficient of correlation >0.99. The recovery was found to be in the range of 89–107% with relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 10%. The prepared cartridge was found robust in extracting ketamine efficiently and repeatedly without any significant deterioration in its performance. Moreover, the batch‐to‐batch variations in the performance of the prepared cartridges in terms of % ion suppression of the extracts and recoveries of samples were small, suggesting the consistency in the properties of the monolith.     

Molecular imprinting in ionic liquid-modified porous polymer for recognitive separation of three tanshinones from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge

Five ionic liquid-modified porous polymers with different imidazolium-based functional groups were obtained. A molecular imprinting technique was introduced to form the ordered functional groups in the porous structure. The adsorption isotherm was applied to investigate the interactions between the polymers and target compounds: cryptotanshinone; tanshinone I; tanshinone IIA. Thorough comparison revealed that the polymer with a carboxyl group possessed the highest reorganization of the three compounds. After that, the obtained polymer was applied as the sorbent in the solid-phase extraction process to separate the target compounds from methanol extract. The loading volume of extract solution on the sorbent was determined by adsorption isotherm equation and practical test. Under optimized washing and elution conditions, 0.35 mg/g of cryptotanshinone, 0.33 mg/g of tanshinone I, and 0.27 mg/g of tanshinone IIA from plant were obtained by quantitative HPLC analysis. Moreover, six commercial functional drinks containing tanshinones were purified and analyzed.     

Identities of symmetry for higher-order Euler polynomials in three variables (II)

We derive twenty five basic identities of symmetry in three variables related to higher-order Euler polynomials and alternating power sums. This demonstrates that there are abundant identities of symmetry in three-variable case, in contrast to two-variable case, where there are only a few. These are all new, since there have been results only about identities of symmetry in two variables. The derivations of identities are based on the p-adic integral expression of the generating function for the higher-order Euler polynomials and the quotient of integrals that can be expressed as the exponential generating function for the alternating power sums.     

Valuing Internet companies: a DEA-based Multiple Valuation Approach

The Internet industry has created a great deal of marvels over the past decade. Assessing Internet companies’ values provides an alternative tool to help make better investment decisions. This paper presents a hybrid of both DEA and multiple valuation methods to valuate Internet companies. Four tailored valuation methods were proposed and a sample of 52 firms was tested based on Price-to-Gross Margin ratio. With the focus on the estimation direction (overvalued/undervalued), verified with the real prices, an accuracy rate of approximately 70% on average has been obtained from these four methods. The proposed methods allow investors to have a more accurate estimation of the subject company's current and future stock prices. This implies that the research results could help investors when they are making long-term or short-term investments.     

Efficiency measurement using independent component analysis and data envelopment analysis

Efficiency measurement is an important issue for any firm or organization. Efficiency measurement allows organizations to compare their performance with their competitors’ and then develop corresponding plans to improve performance. Various efficiency measurement tools, such as conventional statistical methods and non-parametric methods, have been successfully developed in the literature. Among these tools, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is one of the most widely discussed. However, problems of discrimination between efficient and inefficient decision-making units also exist in the DEA context (Adler and Yazhemsky, 2010). In this paper, a two-stage approach of integrating independent component analysis (ICA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) is proposed to overcome this issue. We suggest using ICA first to extract the input variables for generating independent components, then selecting the ICs representing the independent sources of input variables, and finally, inputting the selected ICs as new variables in the DEA model. A simulated dataset and a hospital dataset provided by the Office of Statistics in Taiwan’s Department of Health are used to demonstrate the validity of the proposed two-stage approach. The results show that the proposed method can not only separate performance differences between the DMUs but also improve the discriminatory capability of the DEA’s efficiency measurement.