Optimization of tramadol–PVC membrane electrodes using miscellaneous plasticizers and ion-pair complexes

Effect of the ISE membrane composition on the characteristics of the tramadol–PVC-electrodes has been investigated. The parameters studied include the effect of the plasticizer and the effect of the ion-pair complex. The plasticizers used were 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether (2-NPOE), dioctyl phthalate (DOP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEPh), dioctyl sebacate (DOS), tributyl phosphate (TBPh) and dibutyl butyl phosphonate (DBBPh) and the ion-pair complexes were tramadolium–silicotungstate (TD–ST), silicomolybdate (TD–SM). These electrodes were fully characterized in terms of composition, life span, usable pH range and working concentration range. The results showed that the best combination was TD–ST as the ion-pair complex and DBP as the plasticizer that produced the electrode with favorable characteristics. Another electrode using TD–SM was tested and produced close results. The present electrodes show clear discrimination of tramadol hydrochloride from several inorganic, organic ions, sugars and some common drug excipients. The sensors were applied for determination of tramadol hydrochloride in urine, milk and pharmaceutical preparations using potentiometric determination, standard addition and the calibration curve methods. The results obtained were satisfactory with excellent percentage recovery comparable and sometimes better than those obtained by other routine methods for the assay.     

Design of Monolithic Tunable CMOS Band-Pass Filter Using Current Feedback Operational Amplifiers

We propose in this paper a tunable second order band-pass filter based on two CMOS current feedback operational amplifiers (CFOAs). The CFOA includes a novel offset compensation technique. A digital building block is implemented in the proposed band-pass filter to tune its central frequency. An important feature of the adopted tuning procedure is the ability to tune the filter without affecting other characteristics such as gain, phase and quality factor. The band-pass filter topology is validated with a configuration where the central frequency is tuned from 60 MHz to 95 MHz with frequency steps of 5 MHz. Measurements of the offset-compensated CFOA are promising, and simulation results of the CFOA-based band-pass filter using the 0.18 μ m CMOS process confirm our theoretical analysis.     

Scheduling advance reservation requests for wavelength division multiplexed networks with static traffic demands

Telecommunication and grid computing applications demand high bandwidth data channels that offer guarantees with respect to service availability. Such applications include: remote surgery, remote experimentation, video on-demand, teleconferencing and bulk transfers. Furthermore, by forecasting traffic patterns internet service providers attempt to optimise network resources in order to lower operational costs during peak periods of bandwidth consumption. Advance reservation for wavelength division multiplexed networks can address some of these issues by reserving high volume communication channels (i.e. lightpaths) beforehand. The authors develop a mathematical model to solve the problem of scheduling lightpaths in advance. The optimal solution is presented as a mixed integer linear program with the assumption that all traffic is static and the network is centrally controlled. Furthermore, we have developed two novel meta-heuristics based on: 1) a greedy implementation (local search) and 2) simulated annealing. The meta-heuristics have shown to produce good approximate solutions in a reasonable amount of time.     

NiFe2O4 nanomagnets prepared through a microwave autocombustion route as an efficient recoverable adsorbent for 2-nitrophenol removal

Nickel ferrite nanoparticles prepared by a microwave-assisted autocombustion method with different fuels and microwave powers were used as bare adsorbents for 2-nitrophenol removal from aqueous solutions. Characterization of the as-prepared samples revealed a fundamental variety with respect to their size and surface area. Meanwhile, the crystal phase, functional groups, surface polarity, and magnetic properties remained almost the same. After electing the most efficient adsorbent based on batch experiments, pH influence was established and optimized. Afterward, equilibrium studies were conducted. The kinetic models and adsorption isotherms further facilitated a better understanding of the adsorption mechanism that comprised mainly the multilayered condensation of 2-nitrophenol molecules through the hydrogen bonding.     

Synthesis of meso-macro alumina using yeast cells as a bio-template and optimization using a genetic algorithm

Meso-Macro porous alumina was fabricated using yeast cells as a pore-forming agent. Alumina powder synthesis was achieved by a low cost process (recrystallisation of alum).The effect of the pore forming agent on the true porosity, bulk density and thermal conductivity of porous alumina was characterized. The results show that the true porosity increased with the increasi ng addition of yeast cells. The bulk density and thermal conductivity at room temperature decreased with the increasing yeast addition. A genetic algorithm method was used to minimize the thermal conductivity of the macro-porous alumina based on the amount of yeast cells used, the sintering temperature, and the hold time. The genetic algorithm found that the best thermal conductivity achievable was equal to 0.152 Watt/m. °C at 20wt% concentration of yeast, a sintering temperature of 1230°C and 1.5 hours of soaking time. The experimental value was 0.14 Watt/m. °C and the slight variance between these values were postulated to be due to experimental error in the measurements.     

F 11440, a potent, selective, high efficacy 5-HT1A receptor agonist with marked anxiolytic and antidepressant potential

F 11440 (4-methyl-2-[4-(4-(pyrimidin-2-yl)-piperazino)-butyl]-2H, 4H-1,2,4-triazin-3,5-dione) was the outcome of a research effort guided by the hypothesis that the magnitude of the intrinsic activity of agonists at 5-HT1A receptors determines the magnitude of their antidepressant and anxiolytic-like effects. The affinity of F 11440 for 5-HT1A binding sites (pKi, 8.33) was higher than that of buspirone (pKi, 7.50), and somewhat lower than that of flesinoxan (pKi, 8.91). In vivo, F 11440 was 4- to 20-fold more potent than flesinoxan, and 30- to 60-fold more potent than buspirone, in exerting 5-HT1A agonist activity at pre- and postsynaptic receptors in rats (measured by, for example, its ability to decrease hippocampal extracellular serotonin (5-HT) levels and to increase plasma corticosterone levels, respectively). F 11440 did not have detectable antidopaminergic activity (unlike buspirone, which inhibited all of the directly observable behavioral effects of methylphenidate in rats), showed no evidence of antihistaminergic activity (unlike flesinoxan, which protected against the effects of a histamine aerosol in guinea pigs), and had a 70-fold separation between its 5-HT1A agonist and alpha-1 adrenergic antagonist properties (measured as the ability to inhibit the methoxamineinduced increase in blood pressure in rats), unlike flesinoxan, which showed a <3-fold separation. In HeLa cells expressing human 5-HT1A receptors, F 11440 decreased the forskolin-induced increase in AMP, and, based on its maximal effect, was found to have an intrinsic activity of 1.0 relative to that of 5-HT, which was significantly higher than that of buspirone (0.49), ipsapirone (0.46) and flesinoxan (0.93). Consistent with the aforementioned hypothesis, F 11440 produced anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects in animal models (i.e., increased punished responding in a pigeon conflict procedure and decreased immobility in a rat forced swimming test, respectively) that were more substantial than those of buspirone, ipsapirone and flesinoxan. Thus, F 11440, shown here to be a potent, selective, high efficacy 5-HT1A receptor agonist, appears to have the potential to exert marked anxiolytic and antidepressant activity in humans.     

Binary Decision Diagrams and neural networks

This paper describes a neural network approach that gives an estimation method for the space complexity of Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs). A model has been developed to predict the complexity of digital circuits. The formal core of the developed neural network model (NNM) is a unique matrix for the complexity estimation over a set of BDDs derived from Boolean logic expressions with a given number of variables and Sum of Products (SOP) terms. Experimental results show good correlation between the theoretical results and those predicted by the NNM, which will give insights to the complexity of Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI)/Computer Aided Design (CAD) designs. The proposed model is capable of predicting the maximum BDD complexity (MaxBC) and the number of product terms (NPT) in the Boolean function that corresponds to the minimum BDD complexity (MinBC). This model provides an alternative way to predict the complexity of digital VLSI circuits.

A simple dynamic integrated provisioning/protection scheme in IPover WDM networks

This article presents a simple integrated provisioning/protection scheme to dynamically allocate restorable bandwidth guaranteed paths in IP over WDM networks. A guaranteed restorable path implies that a flow of data is successfully routed if both an active path and another alternate link-disjoint path are found at the same time. Unlike the conventional approach, where the IP and WDM layers are not aware of each other, the new scheme takes advantage of the development in generalized multi-protocol label switching (GMPLS) to provide integrated end-to-end survivability by incorporating network state information from both layers (e.g., the cost information in physical links, the bandwidth usage on each lightpath, and intermediate router speed) into protection path allocation. Simulation results are used to evaluate the performance of the new scheme and show that the proposed protection approach can efficiently improve the network utilization, and deliver reliable services