Approach on the Electrochemical Reactivity of Poly-L-Glutamic Acid Against Doxorubicin and Its Application in the Development of a Voltammetric Sensor

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Development of a potentiometric flufenamate ISE and its application to pharmaceutical and clinical analyses

The characteristics, performance, and application of an electrode, namely, Pt vertical bar Hg vertical bar Hg-2(FF)(2)vertical bar Graphite, where FF stands for flufenamate ion, are described. This electrode responds to FF with sensitivity of (-58.6 +/- 1.2) mV decade(-1) over the range 1.0 x 10(-6) - 1.0 x 10(-2) mol L-1 at pH 6.0-9.0 and a detection limit of 7.1 x 10(-7) mol L-1. The electrode is easily constructed at a relatively low cost with fast response time (within 10-25 s) and can be used for a period of 5 months without any considerable change in its performance characteristics. The proposed electrode displayed good selectivity for flufenamate in the presence of several substances as well as in the presence of some carboxylate and inorganic anions. The electrode was successfully applied to the determination of flufenamic acid in pharmaceuticals and human serum samples.

Two-way regionalized classification of multivariate datasets and its application to the assessment of hydrodynamic dispersion

Zones of mixing between shallow groundwaters of different composition were unravelled by two-way regionalized classification, a technique based on correspondence analysis (CA), cluster analysis (ClA) and discriminant analysis (DA), aided by gridding, map-overlay and contouring tools. The shallow groundwaters are from a granitoid plutonite in the Funda o region (central Portugal). Correspondence analysis detected three natural clusters in the working dataset: 1, weathering; 2, domestic effluents; 3, fertilizers. Cluster analysis set an alternative distribution of the samples by the three clusters. Group memberships obtained by correspondence analysis and by cluster analysis were optimized by discriminant analysis, gridded memberships as follows: codes 1, 2 or 3 were used when classification by correspondence analysis and cluster analysis produced the same results; code 0 when the grid node was first assigned to cluster 1 and then to cluster 2 or vice versa (mixing between weathering and effluents); code 4 in the other cases (mixing between agriculture and the other influences). Code-3 areas were systematically surrounded by code-4 areas, an observation attributed to hydrodynamic dispersion. Accordingly, the extent of code-4 areas in two orthogonal directions was assumed proportional to the longitudinal and transverse dispersivities of local soils. The results (0.7-16.8 and 0.4-4.3 m, respectively) are acceptable at the macroscopic scale. The ratios between longitudinal and transverse dispersivities (1.2-11.1) are also in agreement with results obtained by other studies.

A Chloro-Bridged Linear Chain Imine-Copper(II) Complex and Its Application as an Enzyme-Free Amperometric Biosensor for Hydrogen Peroxide

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A linearly tunable low-voltage CMOS transconductor with improved common-mode stability and its application to (gm)-C filters

A linearly tunable low-voltage CMOS transconductor featuring a new adaptative-bias mechanism that considerably improves the stability of the processed-signal common,mode voltage over the tuning range, critical for very-low voltage applications, is introduced. It embeds a feedback loop that holds input devices on triode region while boosting the output resistance. Analysis of the integrator frequency response gives an insight into the location of secondary poles and zeros as function of design parameters. A third-order low-pass Cauer filter employing the proposed transconductor was designed and integrated on a 0.8-mum n-well CMOS standard process. For a 1.8-V supply, filter characterization revealed f(p) = 0.93 MHz, f(s) = 1.82 MHz, A(min) = 44.08, dB, and A(max) = 0.64 dB at nominal tuning. Mined by a de voltage V-TUNE, the filter bandwidth was linearly adjusted at a rate of 11.48 kHz/mV over nearly one frequency decade. A maximum 13-mV deviation on the common-mode voltage at the filter output was measured over the interval 25 mV less than or equal to V-TUNE less than or equal to 200 mV. For V-out = 300 mV(pp) and V-TUNE = 100 mV, THD was -55.4 dB. Noise spectral density was 0.84 muV/Hz(1/2) @1 kHz and S/N = 41 dB @ V-out = 300 mV(pp) and 1-MHz bandwidth. Idle power consumption was 1.73 mW @V-TUNE = 100 mV. A tradeoff between dynamic range, bandwidth, power consumption, and chip area has then been achieved.

Escherichia coli phylogenetic group determination and its application in the identification of the major animal source of fecal contamination

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Assessment of business incubators green performance: A framework and its application to Brazilian cases

The lack of proposals to evaluate the greening of business incubators or even of elementary discussions about the relations between incubators and the environment becomes apparent when researching this topic in the most prestigious scientific sources. To address this gap, this article reviews the literature on green management and smaller enterprises, business incubator performance and the greening of business incubators. This conceptual big-picture was used to identify variables relevant to the construction of a framework for assessing business incubators green performance. This framework was applied to six business incubators in Brazil. The results show the appropriated applicability of this framework. Furthermore, the empirical research led to the formulation of environmental maturity levels in order to classify business incubators performance. This paper seeks to offer a starting point for discussion and a proposal regarding the role of business incubators in a more sustainable society. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multilayer perceptron neural networks training through charged system search and its Application for non-technical losses detection

The non-technical loss is not a problem with trivial solution or regional character and its minimization represents the guarantee of investments in product quality and maintenance of power systems, introduced by a competitive environment after the period of privatization in the national scene. In this paper, we show how to improve the training phase of a neural network-based classifier using a recently proposed meta-heuristic technique called Charged System Search, which is based on the interactions between electrically charged particles. The experiments were carried out in the context of non-technical loss in power distribution systems in a dataset obtained from a Brazilian electrical power company, and have demonstrated the robustness of the proposed technique against with several others nature-inspired optimization techniques for training neural networks. Thus, it is possible to improve some applications on Smart Grids. © 2013 IEEE.

Ultrasound-assisted extraction of Na and K from swine feed and its application in a digestibility assay: A green analytical procedure

The study is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) as a simple strategy focused on sample preparation for metal determination in biological samples. The extraction of sodium and potassium extraction was carried out from swine feed followed by determination of the concentration of these metals by flame atomic emission spectrometry (FAES). The experiment was performed to cover the study of the variables influencing the extraction process and its optimal conditions (sample mass, particle size, acid concentration, sonication time and ultrasound power); the determination of these analytical characteristics and method validation using certified reference material; and the analysis of pre-starter diets. The optimal conditions established conditions were as follows: mass: 100 mg, particle size:<60 μm, acid concentration: 0.10 mol L-1 HCl, sonication time: 50 s and ultrasound power: 102 W. The proposed method (UAE) was applied in digestibility assays of those nutrients present in different piglet pre-starter feeds and their results proved to be compatible with those obtained from mineralized samples (P < 0.05). The ultrasound extraction method was demonstrated to be an excellent alternative for handless sampling and operational costs and the method also has the advantage of does not generating toxic residues that may negatively affect human health and contaminate the environment. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Wide dynamic range homodyne interferometry method and its application for piezoactuator displacement measurements

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Electrochemical Properties of the Oxo-Manganese-Phenanthroline Complex Immobilized on Ion-Exchange Polymeric Film and Its Application as Biomimetic Sensor for Sulfite Ions

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Synthesis and characterization of alpha-nickel (II) hydroxide particles on organic-inorganic matrix and its application in a sensitive electrochemical sensor for vitamin D determination

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Voltammetric Behavior of a Chemically Modified Silsesquioxane with 4-Amino-5-Phenyl-4h-[1,2,4]-Triazole-3-Thiol and its Application for Detection of L-Dopamine

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Production of recombinant EMA-1 protein and its application for the diagnosis of Theileria equi using an enzyme immuno assay in horses from São Paulo State, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Swarm-based descriptor combination and its application for image classification

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)