Simultaneous analysis of four diuretic drugs by HPLC and its application to health food supplements advertising weight reduction

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the simultaneous analysis of triamterene, trichlormethiazide, furosemide and spironolactone is presented for application in the examination of health food supplements advertising weight reduction and in the analysis of pharmaceuticals. The HPLC assay was performed under gradient conditions using a Wakosil ODS 5C18 column (5 microns, 150 x 4.6 mm i.d.). The mobile phase consisted of a gradient program with a mixture of water and acetonitrile containing 0.1% triethylamine adjusted with phosphoric acid to pH 3.0: from 0 to 6 min, 15% acetonitrile; from 6 to 20 min, linear gradient from 15 to 50% acetonitrile; and from 20 to 40 min, 50% acetonitrile. The column effluent was monitored from 0 to 20 min at 260 nm and from 20 to 40 min at 235 nm. The calibration curves of the four drugs showed good linearity and the correlation coefficients were better than 0.999 in all cases. The lower limits of detection were approximately 40 ng for each drug. Commercially available health food supplements and pharmaceuticals were analyzed after extraction with a mixture of methanol and acetic acid (99:1). The procedure described here is suitable for the screening of four diuretic drugs in adulterated supplements and for the quality control of pharmaceuticals with minimal sample preparation.     

128×128 three-dimensional MEMS optical switch module with simultaneous optical path connection for optical cross-connect systems

A 128×128 three-dimensional MEMS optical switch module and a switching-control algorithm for high-speed connection and optical power stabilization are described. A prototype switch module enables the simultaneous switching of all optical paths. The insertion loss is less than 4.6 dB and is 2.3 dB on average. The switching time is less than 38 ms and is 8 ms on average. We confirmed that the maximum optical power can be obtained and optical power stabilization control is possible. The results confirm that the module is suitable for practical use in optical cross-connect systems.     

Evaluation of Suitable Material Properties of Sludge for Electroosmotic Dewatering

To estimate suitable material properties of sludge for electroosmotic dewatering, we experimentally measured the electrical and physical properties of a sludge bed. The use of an upper electrode that had a smaller area than the cross-sectional area of the bed was also investigated with the aim of reducing the electrical contact resistance between the electrode and the bed caused by dewatering. We found that sludge with a lower specific electrical resistance and a higher hydrodynamic compressibility in cake filtration provided greater electroosmotic dewatering performance. However, such a sludge was not necessarily available for using a smaller-area upper electrode.     

ALE finite element method for gas–liquid two-phase flow including moving boundary based on an incompressible two-fluid model

This paper proposes an ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian) finite element method for gas–liquid two-phase flow, based on an incompressible two-fluid model, to analyze the two-phase flow including moving boundaries. The basic equations are derived by describing the two-fluid model in the ALE form. The solution algorithm is parallel to a fractional step method, and the Galerkin method is employed for the formulation. A quadrilateral element with four nodes is used for the discretization of the computational domain. The present method is also applied to calculate the flow around a circular cylinder, which is forced to oscillate in a quiescent air–water two-phase mixture. The drag coefficients of the cylinder exhibit periodical change in accordance with the variation of the flow around the cylinder. The time variations of the flow field and drag coefficients are discussed in relation to the oscillation of the cylinder.     

Efficiency evaluation of lightning fault inspection in 66‐kV transmission line

A transmission line must be immediately inspected when it is struck by lightning, and damaged parts must be found and changed promptly if the damage is serious. However, such cases are now uncommon owing to the effective design of the lightning protection system now in use. Therefore, it is important to compare data on past lightning events and on transmission lines and to formulate criteria for deciding more precisely in which cases an actual inspection should be carried out. The criteria identified are as follows: (1) the insulator voltage exceeds the critical voltage; (2) the arc current and arc duration exceed the characteristic of insulator breakdown; (3) the number of accident phases is more than 3 ground faults per circuit; (4) the tower foot resistance is 10 ohms or more; (5) the lightning current has a positive characteristic. By using these criteria, the number of lightning fault inspections was reduced by 34%. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 166(2): 15–22, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20724     

二垩英与资源回收-Ⅱ燃烧过程二垩英抑制和生成基础研究

氯来源、种类和燃烧物中氯浓度对燃烧过程中二垩英生成有重要影响.在实验燃烧炉中研究1 073K温度下上述三种因素对燃烧过程二垩英生成的影响.二垩英生成浓度在相同氯源和种类条件下与燃烧物中氯含量几乎成正比,且受氯源明显影响.如有机氯化合物或无机氯化物.即使对无机氯化物,在有活性氯存在时也会生成高浓度二垩英,如由盐和面粉形成的水化物中的活性氯.     

Implantable cardioverter defibrillator in maintenance hemodialysis patients with ventricular tachyarrhythmias: A single-center experience

Patients with hemodialysis (HD) are at risk of death due to cardiac arrhythmias, worsening congestive heart failure (CHF), and noncardiac causes. This study reviews our experience with the use of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) in patients with ventricular tachycardia who are under maintenance HD. We retrospectively reviewed 71 consecutive patients who underwent an ICD implantation in our hospital. There were 11 patients under maintenance HD and 60 patients without HD. The group of patients with HD (HD group) was compared with the patients without HD (control group). The mean follow-up period was 30±9 vs. 39±4 months in the HD group vs. the control group, respectively. Among these patients, 6 in the HD group and 26 in the control group received appropriate ICD therapies. There was no difference in appropriate ICD therapy, time to the first therapy, and electrical storm between the 2 groups. In the HD group, 1 patient underwent surgical removal of the ICD system due to infective endocarditis. There were 5 deaths in the HD group (4 from CHF) and 8 deaths in the control group (4 from CHF). There were no sudden cardiac deaths or arrhythmic deaths in both groups of patients during the follow-up period. However, the overall death rate was significantly higher in the HD group (P<0.01). In HD patients, ICD therapy prevented arrhythmic death, but their rate of nonarrhythmic adverse outcomes was high. This risk-benefit association should be considered before implantation of the device.     

Dieless incremental micro-forming of miniature shell objects of aluminum foils

Single-point incremental forming of thin aluminum foils, which did not require any die and any backing plate, was developed for fabricating customized parts of thin shell miniature objects. Thin aluminum foils were deformed incrementally using a round-tip single point tool on a desktop type of milling machine controlled with a personal computer. It was found that an aluminum foil 12 μm thick was much smaller in forming limit than an aluminum foil 50 μm thick when a single point tool with a tip radius of 0.5 mm was not rotated, but its forming limit was improved greatly by rotating the tool up to 20,000 rpm. Measured forming forces revealed that the tool rotation decreases the in-plane forces by approximately 50%. Hydrodynamic lubrication at the interface between a rotating tool and aluminum foil must have had a direct and favorable influence on the forming process, while increasing the forming limit of the thinner foil. It was also found that the optimum stepwise axial feed was found to be around the value of foil thickness. Then, incremental forming of arrays of dots 0.1 mm in diameter, miniature pyramids, a miniature car and miniature letters was performed successfully under the optimized conditions at arbitrary positions of 12-μm-thick foils.     

An experimental validation of the guideline for inelastic design analysis through structural model tests

In this paper, the inelastic analysis procedures recommended to use in the advanced elevated temperature structural design guide under development in Japan for the improved design of future fast breeder reactors were validated through the structural model tests and the evaluation of the experimental results by the inelastic analyses. First, a thermal fatigue test of a 316FR hollow cylinder with two longitudinal weldments was conducted under the condition of combined constant axial load and cyclic movement of axial temperature distribution, which simulated the loading condition near the free surface of coolant sodium in the main vessel of fast breeder reactors (FBRs). In the experiments, longitudinal and radial ratcheting deformation were measured and crack initiation life was also examined. Second, the inelastic analyses were carried out in accordance with the recommended procedure by using the measured results of oscillating temperature distribution. Finally, the results of inelastic analyses were compared with the experimental results and it was validated that the recommended practice gave a conservative result for the deformation and a good estimation of strain range for the fatigue life evaluation.