Investigation of biodegradable and biocompatible castor oil poly(mannitol-citric-sebacate) polyester as a drug carrier

Castor oil-based poly(mannitol-citric sebacate) was synthesized by simple, catalyst-free melt condensation process using monomers having potential to be metabolized in vivo. The polymer was characterized using various techniques and the tensile and hydration properties of the polymers were also determined. The biocompatibility of the polymer was tested using human foreskin fibroblasts cells. The in vitro degradation studies show that the time for complete degradation of the polymer was more than 21 days. The usage of castor oil polyester as a drug carrier was analysed by doping the polymer with 5-fluorouracil model drug and the release rate was studied by varying the percentage loading of drugs and the pH of the PBS solution medium. The cumulative drug-release profiles exhibited a biphasic release with an initial burst release and cumulative 100% release within 42 h. To understand the role of the polymer as a drug carrier in the release behaviour, drug-release studies were conducted with another drug, isoniazid. The release behaviour of isoniazid drug from the same polymer matrix followed an nth order kinetic model and 100% cumulative release was achieved after 12 days. The variation in the release behaviour for two model drugs from the same polymer matrix suggests a strong interaction between the polymer and the drug molecule.

Trade determination in multi-attribute exchanges

Electronic exchanges are double-sided marketplaces that allow multiple buyers to trade with multiple sellers, with aggregation of demand and supply across the bids to maximize the revenue in the market. Two important issues in the design of exchanges are (1) trade determination (determining the number of goods traded between any buyer-seller pair) and (2) pricing. In this paper we address the trade determination issue for one-shot, multi-attribute exchanges that trade multiple units of the same good. The bids are configurable with separable additive price functions over the attributes and each function is continuous and piecewise linear. We model trade determination as mixed integer programming problems for different possible bid structures and show that even in two-attribute exchanges, trade determination is NP-hard for certain bid structures. We also make some observations on the pricing issues that are closely related to the mixed integer formulations.

Comparative statistical aging studies on an oil-pressboard insulation model

Accelerated aging experiments have been conducted on a representative oil-pressboard insulation model to investigate the effect of constant and sequential stresses on the PD behavior using a built-in phase resolved partial discharge analyzer. A cycle of the applied voltage starting from the zero of the positive half cycle was divided into 16 equal phase windows (Φ1 to Φ16) and partial discharge (PD) magnitude distribution in each phase was determined. Based on the experimental results, three stages of aging mechanism were identified. Gumbel's extreme value distribution of the largest element was used to model the first stage of aging process. Second and subsequent stages were modeled using two-parameter Weibull distribution. Spearman's non-parametric rank correlation test statistic and Kolmogrov-Smirnov two sample test were used to relate the aging process of each phase with the corresponding process of the full cycle. To bring out clearly the effect of stress level, its duration and test procedure on the distribution parameters and hence of the aging process, non-parametric ANOVA techniques like Kruskal-Wallis and Fisher's LSD multiple comparison tests were used. Results of the analysis show that two phases (Φ13 and Φ14) near the vicinity of the negative voltage peak were found to contribute significantly to the aging process and their aging mechanism also correlated well with that of the corresponding full cycle mechanism. Attempts have been made to relate these results with the published work of other workers

Evolutionary Algorithm for the Determination of Optimal Mode of Bioreactor Operation

Stirred tank bioreactors, employed in the production of a variety of biologically active chemicals, are often operated in batch, fed-batch, and continuous modes of operation. The optimal design of bioreactor is dependent on the kinetics of the biological process, as well as the performance criteria (yield, productivity, etc.) under consideration. In this paper, a general framework is proposed for addressing the two key issues related to the optimal design of a bioreactor, namely, (i) choice of the best operating mode and (ii) the corresponding flow rate trajectories. The optimal bioreactor design problem is formulated with initial conditions and inlet and outlet flow rate trajectories as decision variables to maximize more than one performance criteria (yield, productivity, etc.) as objective functions. A computational methodology based on genetic algorithm approach is developed to solve this challenging multiobjective optimization problem with multiple decision variables. The applicability of the algorithm is illustrated by solving two challenging problems from the bioreactor optimization literature.

Determination of MBE grown wurtzite GaN/Ge3N4/Ge heterojunctions band offset by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Hexagonal Ge3N4 layer was prepared on Ge surface by in situ direct atomic source nitridation and it is promising buffer layer to grow GaN on Ge (111). The valence band offset (VBO) of GaN/Ge3N4/Ge heterojunctions is determined by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The valence band (VB) of Ge3N4 is found to be 0.38?+/-?0.04?eV above the GaN valance band and 1.14?+/-?0.04?eV below the Ge. The GaN/Ge3N4 and Ge3N4/Ge are found type-II and type-I heterojunctions, respectively. The exact measurements of the VBO and conduction band offset (CBO) are important for use of GaN/Ge3N4/Ge (111) heterosystems.

Chemically functionalized glassy carbon spheres: a new covalent bulk modified composite electrode for the simultaneous determination of lead and cadmium

A new type of covalent bulk modified glassy carbon composite electrode has been fabricated and utilized in the simultaneous determination of lead and cadmium ions in aqueous medium. The covalent bulk modification was achieved by the chemical reduction of 2-hydroxybenzoic acid diazonium tetrafluroborate in the presence of hypophosphorous acid as a chemical reducing agent. The covalent attachment of the modifier molecule was examined by studying Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the surface morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy images. The electrochemistry of modified glassy carbon spheres was studied by its cyclic voltammetry to decipher the complexing ability of the modifier molecules towards Pb2+ and Cd2+ ions. The developed sensor showed a linear response in the concentration range 1-10 mu M with a detection limit of 0.18 and 0.20 mu M for lead and cadmium, respectively. The applicability of the proposed sensor has been checked by measuring the lead and cadmium levels quantitatively from sewage water and battery effluent samples.

Determination of alpha(s)(M-tau(2)) from improved fixed order perturbation theory

We revisit the extraction of alpha(s)(M-tau(2)) from the QCD perturbative corrections to the hadronic tau branching ratio, using an improved fixed-order perturbation theory based on the explicit summation of all renormalization-group accessible logarithms, proposed some time ago in the literature. In this approach, the powers of the coupling in the expansion of the QCD Adler function are multiplied by a set of functions D-n, which depend themselves on the coupling and can be written in a closed form by iteratively solving a sequence of differential equations. We find that the new expansion has an improved behavior in the complex energy plane compared to that of the standard fixed-order perturbation theory (FOPT), and is similar but not identical to the contour-improved perturbation theory (CIPT). With five terms in the perturbative expansion we obtain in the (MS) over bar scheme alpha(s)(M-tau(2)) = 0.338 +/- 0.010, using as input a precise value for the perturbative contribution to the hadronic width of the tau lepton reported recently in the literature.

Sensitive Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method for the Determination of Olanzapine in Human Urine

A sensitive and selective liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS-MS) method was developed to determine olanzapine (OLZ) in human urine. After solid-phase extraction with SPE cartridge, the urine sample was analysed on a C-18 column (Symmetry 3.5 mu m, 50 x 4.6 mm i.d) interfaced with a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer. Positive electrospray ionization was employed as the ionization source. The mobile phase consisted of ammonium acetate (pH 7.8)-acetonitrile (10:90, v/v). The method was linear over a concentration range of 1-100 ngml(-1). The lower limit of quantitation was 1 ngml(-1). The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviation across three validation runs over the entire concentration range was < 11.5 %. The accuracy determined at three concentrations (8.0, 50.0 and 85.0 ngml(-1) OLZ) was within +/- 1.21 % in terms of relative errors.

Determination of C-13 Chemical Shift Anisotropy Tensors and Molecular Order of 4-Hexyloxybenzoic Acid

4-Alkoxy benzoic acids belong to an important class of thermotropic liquid crystals that are structurally simple and often used as starting materials for many novel mesogens. 4-Hexyloxybenzoic acid (HBA) is a homologue of the same series and exhibits an enantiotropic nematic phase. As this molecule could serve as an ideal model compound, high resolution C-13 NMR studies of HEA in solution, solid, and liquid crystalline phases have been undertaken. In the solid state, two-dimensional separation of undistorted powder patterns by effortless recoupling (2D SUPER) experiments have been carried out to estimate the magnitude of the components of the chemical shift anisotropy (GSA) tensor of all the aromatic carbons. These values have been used subsequently for calculating the orientational order parameters in the liquid crystalline phase. The GSA values computed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations showed good agreement with the 2D SUPER values. Additionally, C-13-H-1 dipolar couplings in the nematic phase have been determined by separated local field (SLF) spectroscopy at various temperatures and were used for computing the order parameters, which compared well with those calculated by using the chemical shifts. It is anticipated that the CSA values determined for MBA would be useful for the assignment of carbon chemical shifts and for the study of order and dynamics of structurally similar novel mesogens in their nematic phases.

Effect of Interfacial Microstructure of Adsorbed Poly(ethylene glycol) Monooleate on Steel Substrate on Sliding Friction in Oil in Water Emulsion

The concentration of a nonionic surfactant and water pH were varied in an oil-in-water emulsion to minimize the friction coefficient between a steel ball sliding on a steel flat. At a surfactant concentration near the CMC (critical micelle concentration) the oil droplet size was found to be minimum. In this paper we study the microstructure of the surfactant molecules self-assembled on the steel substrate in water to comment on the ability of the surfactant aggregate to attract and retain oil. We find that a near semicylindrical hemimiceller microstructure with hydrocarbon tails projecting into bulk water as obtained at CMC in near neutral water is best able to capture and retain oil in yielding a low coefficient of friction.

H-1, C-13, N-15 assignment and secondary structure determination of glutamine amido transferase subunit of gaunosine monophosphate synthetase from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii

Sequence specific resonance assignments have been obtained for H-1, C-13 and N-15 nuclei of the 21 kDa (188 residues long) glutamine amido transferase subunit of guanosine monophosphate synthetase from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii. From an analysis of H-1 and C-13(alpha), C-13(beta) secondary chemical shifts, (3) JH(N)H(alpha) scalar coupling constants and sequential, short and medium range H-1-H-1 NOEs, it was deduced that the glutamine amido transferase subunit has eleven strands and five helices as the major secondary structural elements in its tertiary structure.