Application of extraction disks in dissolution tests of clenbuterol and levothyroxine tablets by capillary electrophoresis

Sample preparation procedures using octadecyl (C₁₈) extraction disks were developed to obtain accurate and reproducible results for determinations of clenbuterol (20 μg per dose) and levothyroxine (100 μg per dose) in dissolution media of solid oral dosage forms. Preconcentration of samples allowed final concentrations of 1.1 μg/ml of clenbuterol and 4.0 μg/ml of levothyroxine to be reached prior to CE analysis. The results obtained by CE were in good agreement with those of HPLC. The precision of the migration time, peak area, peak height and accuracy were determined in both intea-day (n = 6) and inter-day (n =18) assays. Linearity was demonstrated over the ranges 0.5–80.0 μg/ml of clenbuterol and 1.0–30.0 μg/ml of levothyroxine. The mean recoveries were higher than 94.0%, ranging from 50 to 125% levels with respect to dose potencies. The proposed methodology may be generally applied to determine drugs at ng/ml concentrations.     

Two-dimensional micelle formation of polystyrene-poly(vinylpyridine) diblock copolymers on mice surfaces

We have used atomic force microscopy to study the adsorption of PolyStyrene-Poly(VinylPyridine) (PS-PVP) block copolymers from a selective solvent onto atomically smooth mica surfaces. At certain copolymer concentrations, we observe a highly regular array of spherical surface micelles covering macroscopic areas of the substrate surface. Evidence is given for a thin homogeneous layer underneath the micelles which is probably due to adsorption of free copolymer chains and brush formation prior to the formation of the micellar structures. We discuss the quality of the self-assembled structures regarding different types of defects and try to identify means for improving the long range periodicity of the structures.     

An algorithm for constrained smoothing functions

In this paper we study a method for the approximation by a monotone smooth function of a discrete set of observations. By this method it is possible to obtain a completely automatic program. We show that the solution is monotone with probability tending to one and by the test examples that it is sufficient in the practical case.This work was supported by the Italian M.U.R.S.T.     

Generating well-behaved utility functions for compromise programming

The purpose of this paper is to seek utility functions satisfying a weak condition which guarantees that the utility optimum always belongs to the compromise set. This set is a special subset of the attainable or feasible set, which is generated through the application of the well-known operational research approach called compromise programming. It is shown that there are large families of utility functions satisfying this condition, thus reinforcing the value of compromise programming as a good surrogate of the traditional utility optimum.Thanks are due to the reviewers for their helpful suggestions. The English editing by Ms. Christine Méndez is appreciated. The authors have been supported by the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT), Madrid, Spain.     

Periodic and quasi-periodic solutions of nonlinear wave equations via KAM theory

In this paper the nonlinear wave equation $$u_u - u_{xx} + v(x)u(x,t) + \varepsilon u^3 (x,t) = 0$$ is studied. It is shown that for a large class of potentials,v(x), one can use KAM methods to construct periodic and quasi-periodic solutions (in time) for this equation.     

On the phase structure of the compact abelian lattice Higgs model

This paper studies the vacuum overlap order parameter proposed by Fredenhagen and Marcu in the case of the compactU(1) gauge model with the Wilson action coupled to a Higgs field with fixed length ||=1. The existence of two distinct phases inD space-time dimensions (D4) is established.     

QCD perturbation theory in the temporal gauge

In this paper we present a non-trivial check of the consistency of the quantization of a gauge theory with fermions (QCD) in the temporal gauge. We use the approach based on the finite time Feynman propagation kernel, in which the Gauss law is imposed as a constraint on the states by means of a functional integration over all the time independent gauge transformations acting on the boundary values of the fields. We spell out in detail the “Feynman rules” when fermions are present and we compute, as an example, the gauge invariant correlation function $$\begin{gathered} G(t) = \left\langle {\bar \psi (0,t)(\gamma _5 \gamma _0 )\frac{{1 - \gamma _0 }}{2}P} \right. \hfill \\ \left. { \cdot \exp \left( {ig\int\limits_0^t {A_0 (0,t')dt'} } \right)(\gamma _5 \gamma _0 )^ + (0,0)} \right\rangle \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ up to orderg ², obtaining the expected result.     

Theory of surface spin-exchange recombination of spin-polarized hydrogen

Calculations of the two-atom surface recombination rate for spinpolarized atomic hydrogen are carried out. Both the plane-wave Born approximation (PWBA) and the -dimensional distorted-wave model are employed. The field dependence forB=4 to 10 Tesla, and the temperature dependence for 0.2<T<1 K are examined for systems initially consisting of equal numbers ofa- andb-state atoms. The rates are analyzed with respect to para- and ortho-H₂ production, and to recombination to various vibrational and rotational states of H₂. The PWBA gives reasonable agreement with experiment with respect to the field-dependence and ortho-para production, but predicts an overall rate a factor of 40 above experiment. The -dimensional model underestimates the rate by a factor of 10³ and yields poorer agreement with experiment than the PWBA for the field-dependence and ortho-para production ratio. These results point out the need for a proper many-body treatment.