Validation and statistical analysis of two high performance liquid chromatography methods for the determination of indinavir sulfate raw material and capsules

Two high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods for the quantitative determination of indinavir sulfate were tested, validated and statistically compared. Assays were carried out using as mobile phases mixtures of dibutylammonium phosphate buffer pH 6.5 and acetonitrile (55:45) at 1 mL/min or citrate buffer pH 5 and acetonitrile (60:40) at 1 mL/min, an octylsilane column (RP-8) and a UV spectrophotometric detector at 260 nm. Both methods showed good sensitivity, linearity, precision and accuracy. The statistical analysis using the t-student test for the determination of indinavir sulfate raw material and capsules indicated no statistically significant difference between the two methods.

Performance Indicators in Sourcing : Case: Mainospyörä Ltd

The business environment has rapidly become more global and more competitive. It sets new requirements for the company management. It is not enough to look at the financial information of the company, but one need to analyse also the internal processes as well. Sourcing exists in every company. It is no longer just a supporting function in a company chain of operations. By sourcing company can affect the profitability of the company in both direct and indirect ways The thesis overviewed the role of strategic accounting, sourcing and performance measurements in particularly, in company strategic steering. The study is qualitative, where the meaning was to describe true life. In the same time it is an explanatory case study. The aim of the study was to build up a set of sourcing performance indicators for the case company.

Development and validation of a high performance liquid chromatographic method for determination of cyclosporine-A from biodegradable intraocular implants

An HPLC method was developed and validated aiming to quantify the cyclosporine-A incorporated into intraocular implants, released from them; and in direct contact with the degradation products of PLGA. The separation was carried out in isocratic mode using acetonitrile/water (70:30) as mobile phase, a C18 column at 80 ºC and UV detection at 210 nm. The method provided selectivity based on resolution among peaks. It was linear over the range of 2.5-40.0 µg/mL. The quantitation and detection limits were 0.8 and 1.2 µg/mL, respectively. The recovery was 101.8% and intra-day and inter-day precision was close to 2%.

Development and validation of a High Performance Liquid Chromatographic method for determination of etoposide in biodegradable polymeric implants

A method using HPLC-UV was developed and validated for the determination of etoposide incorporated into polycaprolactone implants. The method was carried out in isocratic mode using a C18 column (250 x 4.6 mm; 5 µm), at 25 ºC, with acetonitrile and acetic acid 4% (70:30) as mobile phase, a flow rate of 2 mL/min, and UV detection at 285 nm. The method was linear (r² > 0.99) over the range of 5 to 65 µg/mL, precise (RSD < 5%), accurate (recovery of 98.7%), robust, selective regarding excipient of the sample, and had a quantitation limit equal to 1.76 µg/mL. The validated method can be successfully employed for routine quality control analyses.

Suorituskyvyn analysointijärjestelmän implementointi ammattikorkeakoulussa

Ammattikorkeakoulu on asiantuntijaorganisaatio, joka tietointensiivisenä organisaationa muodostaa haastavan mittausympäristön. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli rakentaa ammattikorkeakoulun koulutusohjelmille suorituskyvyn analysointijärjestelmä. Tutkimuksen toissijaisena tavoitteena oli suorituskyvyn mittaamisen avulla luoda perusta oikeudenmukaiselle ja tasapuoliselle palkitsemisjärjestelmälle. Tutkimuksessa käytettiin pääasiassa konstruktiivista tutkimusotetta, mutta tutkimusote voidaan nähdä vahvasti myös toiminta-analyyttisenä. Tutkimuksen teoriaosassa käsitellään suorituskyvyn analysointijärjestelmän suunnittelua ja käyttöönottoa asiantuntijaorganisaatiossa. Lisäksi perehdytään suorituskyvyn mittaamisen teoriaan ja asiantuntijaorganisaatioita käsittelevään kirjallisuuteen. Tutkimuksen käytännön osassa suorituskyvyn analysointijärjestelmä rakennettiin ja implementoitiin kolmeen case-organisaation koulutusohjelmaan. Kehitetty suorituskyvyn analysointijärjestelmä koostuu kuudesta mittausnäkökulmasta: uudistuminen ja työkyky, opetus, kansainvälisyys, T&K ja maksullinen palvelutoiminta, talous ja vaikuttavuus. Suorituskyvyn analysointijärjestelmän mittausnäkökulmiin määritettiin 16 kriittistä menestystekijää ja niitä mittaamaan valittiin 25 mittaria. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa löydettiin koulutusohjelman ja henkilöstön oikeudenmukaiseen ja tasapuoliseen palkitsemiseen soveltuvia mittareita.

Harmonized performance measurement system for basic industry's service centers

The objective of this study is to create measurement system that is capable to measure performance in basic industry’s service centers. First it is examined what is performance and how it can be measured. The study also introduces commonly known measurement frameworks. After theory the study investigates how companies in the field of basic industry measure their operations in practise. The investigation is done examining three case examples and by analyzing survey results from basic industry companies. On the survey results focus is on what meters and measurement systems companies use. It is also viewed what measurement problems companies have faced. In the applied part of the study harmonized performance measurement system is created. The framework of the measurement system is introduced and measurement system for the target company is created. The target company felt that the harmonized performance measurement system has good potential and continues to develop it further.

Creating a Performance Measurement System for Accounting Services of Large Paper Company

The main objective of this research is creating a performance measurement system for accounting services of a large paper industry company. In this thesis there are compared different performance measurement system and then selected two systems, which are presented and compared more detailed. Performance Prism system is the used framework in this research. Performance Prism using success maps to determining objectives. Model‟s target areas are divided into five groups: stakeholder satisfaction, stakeholder contribution, strategy, processes and capabilities. The measurement system creation began by identifying stakeholders and defining their objectives. Based on the objectives are created success map. Measures are created based on the objectives and success map. Then is defined needed data for measures. In the final measurement system, there are total just over 40 measures. Each measure is defined specific target level and ownership. Number of measures is fairly large, but this is the first version of the measurement system, so the amount is acceptable.

Application and validation of a warning system for grapevine downy mildew controlusing fungicides

Most warning systems for plant disease control are based on Vinho, in Bento Gonçalves - RS, during the growing seasons 2000/ weather models dependent on the relationships between leaf wetness 01, 2002/03 and 2003/2004, using the grape cultivar Isabel. The duration and mean air temperature in this period considering the conventional system used by local growers was compared with the target disease intensity. For the development of a warning system to new warning system by using different cumulative daily disease severity control grapevine downy mildew, the equation generated by Lalancette values (CDDSV) as the criterion to schedule fungicide application and et al. (7) was used. This equation was employed to elaborate a critical reapplication. In experiments conducted in 2003/04, CDDSV of 12 - period table and program a computerized device, which records, though 14 showed promising to schedule the first spraying and the interval electronic sensors, leaf wetness duration, mean temperature in this between fungicide applications, reducing by 37.5% the number of period and automatically calculates the daily value of probability of applications and maintaining the same control efficiency in leaves infection occurrence. The system was validated at Embrapa Uva e and bunches, similarly to the conventional system.

Kernel-Based Ranking. Methods for Learning and Performance Estimation

Machine learning provides tools for automated construction of predictive models in data intensive areas of engineering and science. The family of regularized kernel methods have in the recent years become one of the mainstream approaches to machine learning, due to a number of advantages the methods share. The approach provides theoretically well-founded solutions to the problems of under- and overfitting, allows learning from structured data, and has been empirically demonstrated to yield high predictive performance on a wide range of application domains. Historically, the problems of classification and regression have gained the majority of attention in the field. In this thesis we focus on another type of learning problem, that of learning to rank. In learning to rank, the aim is from a set of past observations to learn a ranking function that can order new objects according to how well they match some underlying criterion of goodness. As an important special case of the setting, we can recover the bipartite ranking problem, corresponding to maximizing the area under the ROC curve (AUC) in binary classification. Ranking applications appear in a large variety of settings, examples encountered in this thesis include document retrieval in web search, recommender systems, information extraction and automated parsing of natural language. We consider the pairwise approach to learning to rank, where ranking models are learned by minimizing the expected probability of ranking any two randomly drawn test examples incorrectly. The development of computationally efficient kernel methods, based on this approach, has in the past proven to be challenging. Moreover, it is not clear what techniques for estimating the predictive performance of learned models are the most reliable in the ranking setting, and how the techniques can be implemented efficiently. The contributions of this thesis are as follows. First, we develop RankRLS, a computationally efficient kernel method for learning to rank, that is based on minimizing a regularized pairwise least-squares loss. In addition to training methods, we introduce a variety of algorithms for tasks such as model selection, multi-output learning, and cross-validation, based on computational shortcuts from matrix algebra. Second, we improve the fastest known training method for the linear version of the RankSVM algorithm, which is one of the most well established methods for learning to rank. Third, we study the combination of the empirical kernel map and reduced set approximation, which allows the large-scale training of kernel machines using linear solvers, and propose computationally efficient solutions to cross-validation when using the approach. Next, we explore the problem of reliable cross-validation when using AUC as a performance criterion, through an extensive simulation study. We demonstrate that the proposed leave-pair-out cross-validation approach leads to more reliable performance estimation than commonly used alternative approaches. Finally, we present a case study on applying machine learning to information extraction from biomedical literature, which combines several of the approaches considered in the thesis. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part I provides the background for the research work and summarizes the most central results, Part II consists of the five original research articles that are the main contribution of this thesis.

Simulation of the energy performance of maize production integrated to pig farming

The study evaluated the energy performance of pig farming integrated with maize production in mechanized no-tillage system. In this proposed conception of integration, the swine excrement is used as fertilizers in the maize crop. The system was designed involving the activities associated to the pig management and maize production (soil management, cultivation and harvest). A one-year period of analysis was considered, enabling the production of three batches of pigs and two crops of maize. To evaluate the energy performance, three indicators were created: energy efficiency, use of non-renewable resources efficiency and cost of non-renewable energy to produce protein. The energy inputs are composed by the inputs and infrastructure used by the breeding of pigs and maize production, as well as the solar energy incident on the agroecosystem. The energy outputs are represented by the products (finished pigs and maize). The results obtained in the simulation indicates that the integration improves the energy performance of pig farms, with an increase in the energy efficiency (186%) as well as in the use of the non-renewable energy resources efficiency (352%), while reducing the cost of non-renewable energy to produce protein (‑58%).

Energy balance in the poultry-shed system and its influence on broiler performance

ABSTRACTThe objective of this study was to determine the energy balance of the poultry-shed system and its effect on broiler performance during the production cycle. The experimental design was completely random with sub-divided blocks. The blocks were composed of five different types of sheds and the sub-blocks of the evaluation times (00:00 h to 23:00 h), allowing an analysis of variance and a comparison between means with the Tukey test. There were no significant differences between the mean values of the exchanges of sensible, latent and total heat between the poultry sheds but the differences for the evaluation times were significant (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between sheds 1 and 4 for broiler productive performance regarding weight gain, feed consumption and feed conversion. Bird performance was significant (P<0.05) for the remaining poultry sheds. The productive indexes remained below the ranges considered ideal for broilers and values in the final weeks were characterized by the poor installation efficiency in controlling temperature variations and, consequently, the energy balance in the system, which adversely affected bird productive performance.

Developing the measurement and management of knowledge: applying the constructive research approach in a knowledge intensive service environment

Intellectual assets have attained continuous attention in the academic field, as they are vital sources of competitive advantage and organizational performance in the contemporary knowledge intensive business environment. Intellectual capital measurement is quite thoroughly addressed in the accounting literature. However, the purpose of the measurement is to support the management of intellectual assets, but the reciprocal relationship between measurement and management has not been comprehensively considered in the literature. The theoretical motivation for this study rose from this paradox, as in order to maximise the effectiveness of knowledge management the two initiatives need to be closely integrated. The research approach of this interventionist case study is constructive. The objective is to develop the case organization’s knowledge management and intellectual capital measurement in a way that they would be closely integrated and the measurement would support the management of intellectual assets. The case analysis provides valuable practical considerations about the integration and related issues as the case company is a knowledge intensive organization in which the know-how of the employees is the central competitive asset and therefore, the management and measurement of knowledge are essential for its future success. The results suggest that the case organization is confronting challenges in managing knowledge. In order to appropriately manage knowledge processes and control the related risks, support from intellectual capital measurement is required. However, challenges in measuring intellectual capital, especially knowledge, could be recognized in the organization. By reflecting the knowledge management situation and the constructed strategy map, a new intellectual measurement system was developed for the case organization. The construction of the system as well as its indicators can be perceived to contribute to the literature, emphasizing of the importance of properly considering the organization’s knowledge situation in developing an intellectual capital measurement system.

Construction and validation of a surgical skills assessment tool for general surgery residency program

Objective: To develop and validate an instrument for measuring the acquisition of technical skills in conducting operations of increasing difficulty for use in General Surgery Residency (GSR) programs. Methods: we built a surgical skills assessment tool containing 11 operations in increasing levels of difficulty. For instrument validation we used the face validaity method. Through an electronic survey tool (Survey MonKey(r)) we sent a questionnaire to Full and Emeritus members of the Brazilian College of Surgeons - CBC - all bearers of the CBC Specialist Title. Results: Of the 307 questionnaires sent we received 100 responses. For the analysis of the data collected we used the Cronbach's alpha test. We observed that, in general, the overall alpha presented with values near or greater than 0.70, meaning good consistency to assess their points of interest. Conclusion: The evaluation instrument built was validated and can be used as a method of assessment of technical skill acquisition in the General Surgery Residency programs in Brazil.

Quality Indicators of Cervical Cytopathology Tests in the Public Service in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Objective The objective of this study is to assess the performance of cytopathology laboratories providing services to the Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS) in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Methods This descriptive study uses data obtained from the Cervical Cancer Information System from January to December 2012. Three quality indicators were analyzed to assess the quality of cervical cytopathology tests: positivity index, percentage of atypical squamous cells (ASCs) in abnormal tests, and percentage of tests compatiblewith high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs). Laboratories were classified according to their production scale in tests per year≤5,000; from 5,001 to 10,000; from 10,001 to 15,000; and 15,001. Based on the collection of variables and the classification of laboratories according to production scale, we created and analyzed a database using Microsoft Office Excel 97-2003. Results In the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, 146 laboratories provided services to the SUS in 2012 by performing a total of 1,277,018 cervical cytopathology tests. Half of these laboratories had production scales≤5,000 tests/year and accounted for 13.1% of all tests performed in the entire state; in turn, 13.7% of these laboratories presented production scales of > 15,001 tests/year and accounted for 49.2% of the total of tests performed in the entire state. The positivity indexes of most laboratories providing services to the SUS in 2012, regardless of production scale, were below or well below recommended limits. Of the 20 laboratories that performed more than 15,001 tests per year, only three presented percentages of tests compatible with HSILs above the lower limit recommended by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Conclusion The majority of laboratories providing services to the SUS in Minas Gerais presented quality indicators outside the range recommended by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

Experimental validation of a 3-D vision-based measurement system applied to robot calibration

One of the problems that slows the development of off-line programming is the low static and dynamic positioning accuracy of robots. Robot calibration improves the positioning accuracy and can also be used as a diagnostic tool in robot production and maintenance. A large number of robot measurement systems are now available commercially. Yet, there is a dearth of systems that are portable, accurate and low cost. In this work a measurement system that can fill this gap in local calibration is presented. The measurement system consists of a single CCD camera mounted on the robot tool flange with a wide angle lens, and uses space resection models to measure the end-effector pose relative to a world coordinate system, considering radial distortions. Scale factors and image center are obtained with innovative techniques, making use of a multiview approach. The target plate consists of a grid of white dots impressed on a black photographic paper, and mounted on the sides of a 90-degree angle plate. Results show that the achieved average accuracy varies from 0.2mm to 0.4mm, at distances from the target from 600mm to 1000mm respectively, with different camera orientations.