Determination of sulfa antibiotic residues in river and particulate matter by field-amplified sample injection-capillary zone electrophoresis

In the present research, field-amplified sample injection–CZE (FASI–CZE) coupled with a diode array detector was established to determine trace level sulfa antibiotic. Sulfathiazole, sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine, sulfadimethoxine, sulfamethoxazole, and sulfisoxazole were selected as analytes for the experiments. The background electrolyte solution consisted of 70.0 mmol/L borax and 60.0 mmol/L boric acid (including 10% methanol, pH 9.1). The plug was 2.5 mmol/L borax, which was injected into the capillary at a pressure of 0.5 psi for 5 s. Then the sample was injected into the capillary at an injection voltage of –10 kV for 20 s. The electrophoretic separation was carried out under a voltage of +19 kV. The capillary temperature was maintained at 20˚C throughout the analysis, and six sulfonamides were completely separated within 35 min. Compared with pressure injection-CZE, the sensitivity of FASI-CZE was increased by 6.25–10.0 times, and the LODs were reduced from 0.2–0.5 to 0.02–0.05 μg/mL. The method was applied to the determination of sulfonamides in river water and particulate matter samples. The recoveries were 78.59–106.59%. The intraday and interday precisions were 2.89–7.35% and 2.77–7.09%, respectively. This provides a simpler and faster method for the analysis of sulfa antibiotic residues in environmental samples.     

Scattering of Laser Light from Mixed Micelles

Dynamic and static scattering of light was employed to investigate mixed micelles of two homologous anionic surfactants-sodium octyl sulfate and sodium hexadecyl sulfate, above the phase boundary temperature and critical micelle concentrations (cmc). The results indicate that the mixed micelles change from prolate to sphcrical as the molar ratio SOS/SHS increases from 1 to 8. Below 1 or above 8, the formation of micelles is due to one surfactant dissolving the other.     

Using rank-1 lift-and-project closures to generate cuts for 0–1 MIPs, a computational investigation

Various techniques for building relaxations and generating valid inequalities for pure or mixed integer programming problems without special structure are reviewed and compared computationally. Besides classical techniques such as Gomory cuts, Mixed Integer Rounding cuts, lift-and-project and reformulation–linearization techniques, a new variant is also investigated: the use of the relaxation corresponding to the intersection of simple disjunction polyhedra (i.e. the so-called elementary closure of lift-and-project cuts). Systematic comparative computational results are reported on series of test problems including multidimensional knapsack problems (MKP) and MIPLIB test problems. From the results obtained, the relaxation based on the elementary closure of lift-and-project cuts appears to be one of the most promising.     

Sparse graph certificates for mixed connectivity

We give a short proof for the Mixed Connectivity Certificate Theorem of Even, Itkis and Rajsbaum and provide an upper bound on the edge number of a certificate of local T-mixed connectivity up to k.     

Experimental analysis, modeling, and theoretical design of McMaster pore-filled nanofiltration membranes

A side-by-side comparison of the performance of McMaster pore-filled (MacPF) and commercial nanofiltration (NF) membranes is presented here. The single-salt and multi-component performance of these membranes is studied using experimental data and using a mathematical model. The pseudo two-dimensional model is based on the extended Nernst–Planck equation, a modified Poisson–Boltzmann equation, and hydrodynamic calculations. The model includes four structural properties of the membrane: pore radius, pure water permeability, surface charge density and the ratio of effective membrane thickness to water content. The analysis demonstrates that the rejection and transport mechanisms are the same in the commercial and MacPF membranes with different contributions from each type of mechanism (convection, diffusion and electromigration). Solute rejection in NF membranes is determined primarily by a combination of steric and electrostatic effects. The selectivity of MacPF membranes is primarily determined by electrostatic effects with a significantly smaller contribution of steric effects compared to commercial membranes. Hence, these membranes have the ability to reject ions while remaining highly permeable to low molecular weight organics. Additionally, a new theoretical membrane design approach is presented. This design procedure potentially offers the optimization of NF membrane performance by tailoring the membrane structure and operating variables to the specific process, simultaneously. The procedure is validated at the laboratory scale.     

Resistivity－temperature characteristics of sol gel YBa2Cu3Oy samples synthesized in flowing oxygen atmosphere

The relationship of resistivity versus synthesizing temperature of sol gel YBa_2Cu_3O_y samples was studied when prepared under flowing oxygen conditions. A set of high-temperature ρ－T curves was obtained for the whole process. After the sample finished the test measuring, its resistivity was ρ_{300}=9.83×10^{-3 }Ω·cm at room temperature. The ρ－T curve also showed that the orthorhombic－tetragonal phase transformation of sol-gel YBa_2Cu_3O_y sample occurred at 581℃ for the sample in the rising temperature process, but at 613℃ in the cooling process, lower than that of the samples made by using the conventional powder metallurgy methods.     

Spectrofluorimetric Method for the Determination of Aluminum with Alizarin Red PS

 A simple and direct spectrofluorimetric method has been developed for the determination of aluminum using alizarin red PS (1,2,4-trihydroxy 9,10-anthraquinone-3-sulfonic acid). The method is based on the strong fluorescence (480/564 nm) of Al³⁺ and alizarin red. Experimental parameters such as pH, concentration of the ligand, ionic strength of the solution, reaction time and temperature were optimized in order to maximize the analytical signal. Interferences of several ions (anions and cations) were studied and evaluated. The linear range of the method extends from 3 to 100 μg L⁻¹. Limit of detection (3s_b) was 0.9 μg L⁻¹. The method was tested with a silicate certified reference material. Interferences were eliminated by a liquid extraction with cupferron. Author for correspondence. E-mail: aucelior@rdc.puc-rio.br Received September 10, 2002; accepted January 15, 2003 Published online May 5, 2003     

An Application of Branch and Cut to Open Pit Mine Scheduling

The economic viability of the modern day mine is highly dependent upon careful planning and management. Declining trends in average ore grades, increasing mining costs and environmental considerations will ensure that this situation will remain in the foreseeable future. The operation and management of a large open pit mine having a life of several years is an enormous and complex task. Though a number of optimization techniques have been successfully applied to resolve some important problems, the problem of determining an optimal production schedule over the life of the deposit is still very much unresolved. In this paper we will critically examine the techniques that are being used in the mining industry for production scheduling indicating their limitations. In addition, we present a mixed integer linear programming model for the scheduling problems along with a Branch and Cut solution strategy. Computational results for practical sized problems are discussed.     

Luminescence and lifetime characteristics of microphases in KCl:KI:Pb mixed crystals

Absorption and luminiscence measurements were performed on lead-doped KCl:KI mixed single crystals. Strong differences were found between as-grown and quenched samples. New bands were observed in the absorption spectra of unquenched samples in the spectral region between the limit positions of the A bands, corresponding to chloride or iodide lattices. The strong band at 449 nm dominates the luminescence of these samples at low temperatures. Its kinetics have a complicated form and the decay time is in the interval from ns to ms. Quenched samples have a well-known luminescence spectrum caused by octahedral lead impurity centres in KCl single crystals. The kinetics, however, also indicate mixed chlorine and iodine coordination of lead in the investigated crystals.     

色质联用技术在毒物分析中的应用

从生物样品中检测未知物,一直以来是毒物分析中的一个难点。如何有效地提取目标化合物,并选择适合的检测手段将未知物筛选出来,GC-MS方法是快速筛选多种毒物和药物的一个简便、可靠的手段。随着MS技术的不断发展,更灵敏、更准确的特性将使其成为药物和毒物分析中必不可少的一门技术。