GDDP: Generalized Dual Dynamic Programming Theory

This document presents theoretical considerations about the solution of dynamic optimization problems integrating the Benders Theory, the Dynamic Programming approach and the concepts of Control Theory. The so called Generalized Dual Dynamic Programming Theory (GDDP) can be considered as an extension of two previous approaches known as Dual Dynamic Programming (DDP): The first is the work developed by Pereira and Pinto [3–5], which was revised by Velásquez and others [8,9]. The second is the work developed by Read and others [2,6,7].     

Determination of venlafaxine and O-desmethylvenlafaxine in dried blood spots for TDM purposes,using LC-MS/MS

Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling and quantitative analyses of many current therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)-guided drugs are advantageous because of the minimal invasive sampling strategy. Here, a fast and robust LC-MS/MS method was developed and analytically validated for simultaneous determination of venlafaxine (VEN) and O-desmethylvenlafaxine (ODV) in DBS. Six-millimeter circles were punched out from DBS collected on Whatman DMPK-C paper, and the DBS was extracted with acetonitrile/methanol at 1:3. The total run time was 4.8 min. The assay was linear in the range of 20–1,000 μg/L for both VEN and ODV. Assay accuracy and precision was well within limits of acceptance (LLOQ?=?20 μg/L). Normal hematocrit concentrations (0.30–0.50) did not influence the results neither did a normal spot volume (40–80 μL). Punch position at the perimeter instead of the center of the blood spot gave a bias ranging from 2.4 to 10.4 %. Correlation between plasma and spiked DBS samples was high. The concentrations found in spiked DBS samples were higher than those in plasma, indicating that a conversion factor for translation of DBS to plasma values is needed. This analytically validated method is suitable for determination of VEN and ODV in DBS and applicable for TDM. The method will be used for TDM of VEN in the Dutch CYSCE multicenter trial (NCT01778907).     

Weighted Shift Operators Which are m-Isometries

We give a characterization of m-isometric operators on a separable Hilbert space. Moreover, we characterize the unilateral weighted shift operators which are m-isometries.     

Emerging approaches to estimate retention factors in high performance liquid chromatography

The retention factor is one of the most universally used parameters in chromatography. The errors associated with the conventional ways to determine the retention factor of compounds in liquid chromatography are studied and compared with those corresponding to new approaches. The later avoid the use of extra-column time and hold-up time values, which have proven to be tedious and ambiguous. Simulations and real data, used to examine the accuracy of four different approaches (two classic and two new), suggest that the new approaches could be considered more satisfactory than the classic ones.     

On a third‐order Newton‐type method free of bilinear operators

This paper is devoted to the study of a third‐order Newton‐type method. The method is free of bilinear operators, which constitutes the main limitation of the classical third‐order iterative schemes. First, a global convergence theorem in the real case is presented. Second, a semilocal convergence theorem and some examples are analyzed, including quadratic equations and integral equations. Finally, an approximation using divided differences is proposed and used for the approximation of boundary‐value problems. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Existence of a solution for a thermoelectric model with several phase changes and a Carathéodory thermal conductivity

We present an existence result for the time domain eddy current model for electromagnetic field, coupled with a Stefan problem for temperature. We have extended the existence result proved by Bermúdez et al. (2005) [40] to the case of materials with several phase changes and thermal conductivity depending on both position and temperature.The new proof starts from a totally implicit time discretization of a truncated system. The thermal part can be rewritten as a variational inequality of the second kind. Then, a priori estimates independent of the truncation parameter are obtained for the solution of the truncated problem, using a technique that adapts the method of Boccardo and Gallouët (1989)  [28] to the case of materials with several phase changes.