Twofold-broken rational tori and the uniform semiclassical approximation

We investigate broken rational tori consisting of a chain of four (rather than two) periodic orbits. The normal form that describes this configuration is identified and used to construct a uniform semiclassical approximation, which can be utilized to improve trace formulae. An accuracy gain can be achieved even for the situation when two of the four orbits are ghosts. This is illustrated for a model system, the kicked top. Received 3 August 1999     

Aqueous chromatographic system for the quantification of propofol in biological fluids using a temperature-responsive polymer modified stationary phase

A new method for the quantitative analysis of monkey serum propofol, which is widely used as an anaesthetic agent, was developed by utilizing a temperature-responsive polymer of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and butyl methacrylate (BMA) as the stationary phase of HPLC–fluorescence detection. This poly(NIPAAm-co-BMA) copolymer undergoes a reversible phase transition from a hydrophilic to a hydrophobic microstructure when triggered by change in the temperature. Also this chromatographic system is possible to separate the analytes by using only water as a mobile phase. A pretreatment of the serum (80 μL) was only solid-phase extraction, and the recovery rate of propofol and internal standard was more than 77%, respectively. This method covered the calibration range from 0.5 μg/mL to 10 μg/mL and allowed a reproducible quantification of the serum propofol in administrated monkey serum. The intra- and inter-assay relative standard deviations were less than 14.1%. In addition, there was good relationship of the quantification values between the developed method and the widely used reversed-phase HPLC method. Our developed method has proven to be useful for a simple analysis of propofol in clinical practice, because the avoidance of complicated mobile phase preparation was possible, and only temperature changing could regulate the retention time of the analyte. In addition, by using water instead of fossil fuel, it is the ideal analytical method according to green chemistry.     

HPLC and RIA procedure for cyclosporine A determination compared with clinical background

Summary The aim of our study was to monitor Cyclosporine A (CA) during a long-term period and to determine whether the whole-blood levels, estimated by HPLC and radio-immunoassay (RIA), provide a relevant indicator of the toxic effect of CA, of the interference of endogenous substances with CA and of interactions of erythromycin and ketoconazole with CA metabolims. The ratios of CA concentrations, estimated by RIA and by HPLC were calculated in order to analyse changes in CA metabolism. A decrease in this ratio was observed in these patients during periods of erythromycin and ketoconazole therapy deteriorating hepatic function. We observed unusual higher CA concentrations measured by HPLC compared with RIA in heart transplant patient with marked renal insiffuciency after one-year follow-up period of treatment of CA. The comparison of CA whole-blood levels estimated using HPLC and RIA makes it possible to analyse the individual biotransformation of CA to its metabolites, and interference of endogenous substance in special clinical situations.     

Towards understanding the critical heat flux for industrial applications

Understanding CHF is of an upmost importance in many industries, especially in the design and operation of boilers, nuclear power plants, cryogenic systems, etc. Due to safety issues related to the nuclear power plants, and the adaptation of CHF as the limiting criterion of power generation, it is important to understand the mechanisms of CHF relevant to nuclear systems operation. Moreover, CHF is expected to occur during transients than steady-state conditions. Therefore, knowledge of transient CHF is of great importance for the safety evaluation of nuclear reactors under transient condition. In this paper, the existing CHF experimental and modeling studies are discussed in order to understand the phenomena leading to CHF. Also, the effect of transient conditions on CHF for nuclear fuels has been evaluated.     

Recent advances in photofunctional polymorphs of molecular materials

Crystalline polymorph is an intriguing phenomenon that the presence of multiple packing and aggregate architectures of the same molecular system.In this review,we focus on the recent progress in various feasible methods of molecule-based crystalline polymorphism growth,their adjustable photofunctional properties and multifunctional applications,which will help to illustrate the structure-property relationship.     

Laccase‐catalyzed polymerization of lignocatechol and affinity on proteins of resulting polymers

For the synthesis of a new biologically functional polymer from a natural resource by an environment‐friendly method, the laccase‐catalyzed polymerization of a lignin‐based macromonomer, lignocatechol, was carried out for the first time in ethanol–phosphate buffer solvent system to give crosslinked polymers in good yields. Lignocatechol was prepared by the phase separation system of lignin and catechol in aqueous sulfuric acid. The copolymerization was also performed with urushiol to afford the corresponding copolymers in high yields. The polymerization mechanism was estimated by the IR and pyrolysis GC‐MS measurements, suggesting that the polymerization proceeded mainly at the catechol ring through a quinone radical intermediate. The thermal properties were measured by the DSC, TG, and TMA analyses, indicating that the polymers had high thermal stabilities because of the crosslinked structures. In addition, it was found that the resulting polymers had the affinity of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and glucoamylase. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 824–832, 2009     

Evaluation of the quality of clinical laboratories in the Slovak Republic: conceptual and contextual remarks

The paper demonstrates conceptual parallels and relationships between intellectual capital measurement methods and the evaluation of quality in clinical laboratories in the Slovak Republic. It explores further the contextual links of those parallels with the tangibility (or intangibility) of quality indicators of laboratory diagnostics. It also highlights the problems which laboratory staff in Slovakia are confronted with. Presented at the conference Quality in the Spotlight, March 2007, Antwerp, Belgium.     

Fermion gases in magnetic fields: a semiclassical treatment

The study of quantum degenerate gases has received much interest in these last years essentially thanks to the extremely important experimental results of the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation of atoms and, very recently, of almost complete degeneracy of atomic fermion gases. Here we want to present the results of a semi-analytical method for the study of an interacting degenerate fermion gas based on semiclassical kinetic theory; special care has been devoted to the study of a rotating electron gas, in a cylindrically symmetrical configuration, radially confined by a uniform magnetic field. The model will lead to a particular Thomas-Fermi equation which is generalized to take into account finite temperature and average velocity of the gas, and which is further developed to consider the effects of external fields. Received 10 March 2000     

Solving nonlinear integer programs with large-scale optimization software

This paper describes recent experience in tackling large nonlinear integer programming problems using the MINOS large-scale optimization software. A technique is presented for extending the constrained search approach used in MINOS to exploring integer-feasible solutions once a continuous optimal solution is obtained. Computational experience with this approach is described for two classes of problems: quadratic assignment problems and pipeline network design problems.