Evaluating the financial performance of bank branches

We evaluate the financial performance of most of the branch offices of a large European savings bank for a recent accounting period. We employ a complementary pair of nonparametric techniques to evaluate their financial performance, in terms of their ability to conserve on the expenses they incur in building their customer bases and providing customer services. We find variation in the ability of branch offices to perform this task, and agreement on the identity of the laggard branches. We then employ parametric techniques to determine that the list of indicators on which their financial performance is evaluated can be reduced without statistically significant loss of information to bank management. Both findings suggest ways in which the bank can increase the profitability of its branch network. A previous version of this paper was presented at CORE, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, where we received many helpful comments from the audience. We are grateful to three referees for their helpful comments as well.     

Drug metabolite cluster centers-based strategy for comprehensive profiling of Neomangiferin metabolites in vivo and in vitro and network pharmacology study on anti-inflammatory mechanism

Neomangiferin (NMF) is an extremely special xanthone that could be simultaneously attributed to C-glycoside and O-glycoside with a variety of biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antipyretic, and so on. So far as we know, the metabolism profiling has been insufficient until now. Herein, Drug Metabolite Cluster Centers (DMCCs)-based Strategy has been developed to profile the NMF metabolites in vivo and in vitro. Firstly, the DMCCs was proposed depending on literature-related and preliminary analysis results. Secondly, the specific metabolic rule was implemented to screen the metabolites of candidate DMCCs from the acquired Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography Quadrupole Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS) data by extracted ion chromatography (EIC) method. Thirdly, candidate metabolites were accurately and tentatively identified according to the pyrolysis law of mass spectrometry, literature reports, comparison of reference substances, and especially the diagnostic product ions (DPIs) deduced preliminarily. Finally, network pharmacology was adopted to elucidate the anti-inflammatory action mechanism of NMF on the basis of DMCCs. As a result, 3 critical metabolites including NMF, Mangiferin (MF) and Norathyriol (NA) were proposed as DMCCs, and a total of 61 NMF metabolites (NMF included) were finally screened and characterized coupled with 3 different biological sample preparation methods including solid phase extraction (SPE), acetonitrile precipitation and methanol precipitation. Among them, 32 metabolites were discovered in rat urine, 30 in rat plasma, 12 in rat liver, 9 metabolites in liver microsomes and 8 in rat faeces, respectively. Our results also illustrated that NMF primarily underwent deglucosylation, glucuronidation, methylation, sulfation, dihydroxylation and their composite reactions in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, network pharmacology analysis based on DMCCs revealed 85 common targets of disease-metabolites, and the key targets were TNF, EGFR, ESR1, PTGS2, HIF1A, IL-2, PRKCA and PRKCB. They exerted anti-inflammatory effects mainly through the pathways of inflammatory response, calcium-dependent protein kinase C activity, nitrogen metabolism, pathways in cancer and so on. In general, our study constructed a novel strategy to comprehensive elucidate the biotransformation pathways of NMF in vivo and in vitro, and provided vital reference for further understanding its anti-inflammatory action mechanism. Moreover, the established strategy could be generalized to the metabolism and action mechanism study of other natural products.     

Cellulase Activity in Different Buffering Media During Waste Paper Hydrolysis by HPLC

The activity of cellulase has traditionally been described by pH and temperature; however, the buffering medium is also an important factor, Taking plain water as a reference medium, three kinds of buffer including KH₂PO₄/K₅HPO₄, citric acid/sodium citrate, and acetic acid/sodium acetate were adopted to survey their effects on the activity of cellulase. Chromatographic assays indicated that xylose, glucose, and cellobiose were the major products and that minor products such as cellotriose and cellotetraose were present in some cases. The activities of cellulase based on glucose production showed that the phosphate buffer acted as a deactivator for cellulase and each of the two organic acid buffers acted as activators for cellulase. The concentration of activation buffer should be high to reach a high cellulase activity; however, this effect would be compensated for by the product inhibition of cellulase. The highest activity obtained was 4.16 ± 0.08 (× 10^?3) IU mg^?1 for the citric acid/sodium citrate buffer under pH 4.80, 40 °C and an agitation speed of 150 rpm.     

Selecting parameters and limits for equipment operational qualification

While operational qualification (OQ) is a well-established term within equipment qualification, users of equipment often become unsure when it comes to implementation. The biggest problem is how to select procedures and acceptance criteria. Should these be the vendor's specifications or should the users define their own limits, and, if so, how? Should all instruments of the same type have the same values or should these be optimized for each individual instrument? This article will provide an overall strategy and specific examples for HPLC on how to select procedures and acceptance limits that are based on efficient use of resources, on practicality and on the intended use of the equipment.     

高效液相色谱法测定紫杉醇含量

报道了用高效液相色谱法测定紫杉醇粗品中紫杉醇和长嘴蕨碱的含量,采用ＹＭＣ ｐａｃｋＣＮ色谱柱,甲醇：水（４５／５５）作流动相,检测波长２２７ｎｍ,流速为１ｍｌ／ｍｉｎ。该方法简单、快速、准确。     

Unraveling the mystery of efficacy in Chinese medicine formula: New approaches and technologies for research on pharmacodynamic substances

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is the key to unlock treasures of Chinese civilization. TCM and its compound play a beneficial role in medical activities to cure diseases, especially in major public health events such as novel coronavirus epidemics across the globe. The chemical composition in Chinese medicine formula is complex and diverse, but their effective substances resemble “mystery boxes”. Revealing their active ingredients and their mechanisms of action has become focal point and difficulty of research for herbalists. Although the existing research methods are numerous and constantly updated iteratively, there is remain a lack of prospective reviews. Hence, this paper provides a comprehensive account of existing new approaches and technologies based on previous studies with an in vitro to in vivo perspective. In addition, the bottlenecks of studies on Chinese medicine formula effective substances are also revealed. Especially, we look ahead to new perspectives, technologies and applications for its future development. This work reviews based on new perspectives to open horizons for the future research. Consequently, herbal compounding pharmaceutical substances study should carry on the essence of TCM while pursuing innovations in the field.     

Comparison of particle size and flow rate optimization for chromatography using one-monomer molecularly imprinted polymers versus traditional non-covalent molecularly imprinted polymers

The dependence of enantio-selective chromatographic performance on particle size, as measured by separation factor, was investigated for one-monomer molecularly imprinted polymers (OMNiMIPs) compared to traditionally formed EGDMA/MAA molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). Five particle size ranges were compared (<20 μm, 20-25 μm, 25-38 μm, 38-45 μm, and 45-63 μm), revealing that the particle sizes above 25 μm provided the highest separation factor, and thus the best enantiomer separation, for both imprinted polymers. Other chromatographic parameters such as the number of theoretical plates and resolution exhibited only minor changes for the OMNiMIPs as the particle size changed, except for particles 20 μm and below. However, the number of theoretical plates and resolution for EGDMA/MAA are higher for particles in the 20-25 μm range. Thus, chromatographic factors for the EGDMA/MAA polymers are better in this range, despite better enantioselectivity for particle sizes above 25 μm. In contrast, OMNiMIPs generally show the most favorable performance for particle sizes in the 38-45 μm range. It was also found that decreasing flow rate resulted in improved enantioselectivity for both MIPs for all particle sizes.     

关于先履行抗辩权的几个问题--从一起办公自动化系统建设合同纠纷案谈起

当事人约定一方的履行为另一方履行的条件的，可适用先履行抗辩权制度予以调整。先履行抗辩权的成立应以先履行方可能履行为要件。先履行抗辩权行使的限度应依诚实信用原则进行解释，并结合后履行方合同目的的实现程度进行具体判断。     

严重非均质油藏高含水期剩余油分布研究进展

目前，我国东部大多数油田在经过长期注水开发后己进入高－特高含水采油阶段，但油藏内仍然有约５０％的可采储量，它们的分布日趋分散、复杂，开采难度越来越大，其中一个最主要的原因是油藏（或储层）的严重非均质性，文章对国内外剩余油分布状况进行了详细分析。针对我国东部老油田的开发现状，从开发地质的角度出发，详细论述了严重非均质油藏剩余油分布及其动态预测的研究内容和方法，并指出了相应的研究思路和技术关键。重建适合开发后期的具有预测功能的储层地质模型，对稳定东部，改善油田开发效果，提高油田最终采收率具有重大的意义。     

蒙特卡罗模拟方法对EAS阵列性能分析与优化设计的研究

建立了快速计算机阵列性能分析程序，由此阵列性能进行快速分析，对种种阵列设计方案进行比较搜寻，本文介绍其基本定理，方法、程序设计及部分计算结果。