Evaluating cost impacts on reverse logistics using an Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model with environmental and social considerations

Central European Journal of Operations Research - Societal awareness and legislation changes concerning sustainability have affected how organizations generate value for stakeholders, as well as...     

A Hybrid Improvement Heuristic for the One-Dimensional Bin Packing Problem

We propose in this work a hybrid improvement procedure for the bin packing problem. This heuristic has several features: the use of lower bounding strategies; the generation of initial solutions by reference to the dual min-max problem; the use of load redistribution based on dominance, differencing, and unbalancing; and the inclusion of an improvement process utilizing tabu search. Encouraging results have been obtained for a very wide range of benchmark instances, illustrating the robustness of the algorithm. The hybrid improvement procedure compares favourably with all other heuristics in the literature. It improved the best known solutions for many of the benchmark instances and found the largest number of optimal solutions with respect to the other available approximate algorithms.     

A common motif in G-protein-coupled seven transmembrane helix receptors

Summary G-protein-coupled receptors all share the seven transmembrane helix motif similar to bacteriorhodopsin. This similarity was exploited to build models for these receptors. From an analysis of a multi-sequence alignment of 225 G-protein-coupled receptors belonging to the rhodopsin-like superfamily, conclusions could be drawn about functional residues. Seven residues in the transmembrane regions are conserved throughout all aligned receptors. These residues cluster at the cytosolic side of the transmembrane helices and are for all rhodopsin-like G-protein-coupled receptors implied in signal transduction. An analysis of correlated mutations reveals a number of residues, both in the helices and in the cytosolic loops, that might be important in the signal transduction pathway in subfamilies of this receptor family.     

Imidazol(in)ium carboxylates as N-heterocyclic carbene ligand precursors for Suzuki-Miyaura reactions

Simple catalysts formed in situ from palladium acetate and a variety of imidazolium and imidazolinium carboxylates and dithiocarboxylates have been screened in the coupling of aryl halides with trans-2-phenylvinylboronic acid. Imidazol(in)ium carboxylates show an excellent activity, which compares to that displayed by the parent imidazol(in)ium chlorides, whereas imidazol(in)ium dithiocarboxylates are poorly efficient. Interestingly, the base employed exerts a profound influence on the trans/cis stereochemistry of the coupling product.     

On the piezoelectricity of anionic collagen films

In this paper, we report results of a study of the physicochemical, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of anionic and native collagen films, considering the development of new biomaterials which have potential applications in coating of cardiovascular prostheses, support for cellular growth and in systems for controlled drug delivery. The piezoelectric strain tensor element d₁₄, the elastic constant s₅₅, and the dielectric permittivity ?₁₁ were measured for the anionic and native collagen films. It was observed that the collagen samples submitted to the alkaline treatment present lower thermal stability than those made from native collagen. However, the treated samples present a higher piezoelectricity compared with the native collagen. The frequency constant fL and the piezoelectric strain element d₁₄, obtained for the alkaline-treated sample (72 h), present the highest values for the samples under study (444.1 kHz m and 0.079 pC/N, respectively). We believe that the alkaline treatment led to an increase of the organization of the microscopic fiber structure of the sample, which could result in an increase of the piezoelectricity.     

Study of interactions of various ionic species with solvents toward the design of receptors

In earlier studies, the interactions of isolated ionic species with various solvents were investigated using ab initio calculations. The ionic species investigated included cations (proton, hydronium, ammonium, and metal cations) and anions (single electron, hydroxide, and halide anions). However in the present study, we investigate the interactions of these ionic species with the solvent in the presence of other competing ionic species. We also elaborate on how the information obtained from these extensive studies have been employed in designing and synthesizing various kinds of novel ionophores and receptors.     

Purification and partial characterization of two lectin isoforms fromCratylia mollis mart. (camaratu bean)

Two additional electrophoretically distinct molecular forms, isoforms (iso) 2 and 3, with lectin properties were isolated fromCratylia mollis Mart, seeds (FABACEAE), by extraction with 0.15M NaCl and ammonium sulfate fractionation, followed by chromatography on Sephadex G-75 and Bio-Gel P-200 (iso 2), as well as CM-Cellulose and Sephadex G-75 (iso 3). Both isoforms were human group nonspecific and showed distinct specificity. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis resolved iso 2 and 3 in polypeptides of apparent mol wts 60 and 31 kDa, respectively; a distinct isoelectric focusing pattern was obtained for iso 2 and 3, under denaturing and reducing conditions.     

Synthesis and N.m.r. studies of bis-trisubstituted phosphine platinum(o) and palladium(o) complexes with push-pull olefins

Summary Platinum(0) and palladium(0) complexes of the type: P₂M(R₁R₂C=CR₃R₄) (P=trisubstituted phosphine; R₁, R₂, R₃ and R₄ are different groups having electron acceptor or electron donor properties; M=Pt or Pd) with so called pushpull olefins, have been prepared and characterized. In some cases unusual patterns in the n.m.r. spectra of olefinic protons were observed. The spectra were analyzed by computer simulation and general rules for ABMX patterns for this type of complexes are given.     

Screening and analytical confirmation of sulfonamide residues in milk by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

A new methodology is proposed to automate the monitoring of sulfonamide residues in milk samples. It combines a screening unit for the total amount of sulfonamide with capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) equipment for processing the samples containing a detectable level of sulfonamide. The screening unit consists of continuous-flow system (CFS) to precipitate the proteins connected on-line to the CE-MS equipment, in which a common characteristic ion of all sulfonamides was monitored with the MS detector by flushing the sample through the capillary. The confirmatory method is based on the purification and preconcentration of sulfonamides in a CFS unit and posterior analysis by CE-MS. The sample treatment unit was also on-line connected to the CE-MS equipment. In order to increase sensitivity, the flow rate of the sheath liquid was diminished from 0.5 to 0.2 microL.min(-1) by increasing the content in water from 0 to 50% and the formic acid from 0.5 to 1.5% in this liquid and by applying an overimposed pressure of 5 mbar during the electrophoretic separation. The method allowed the analysis of 30 samples per hour.