Improvement methodologies

Staff have received adequate training in continuous improvement methodologies. 

Milanko OS, Milinkovic SA, Rajakovic LV. 1992. Improved methodology for testing and characterization of piezoelectric gas sensors. Anal Chim Acta 264(l) 43-52. 

Kolachana BS, Saunders RC, Weinberger DR. 1994. An improved methodology for routine in vivo microdialysis in non-human primates. J Neurosci Methods 55(1) 1-6. 

More recently, an improved methodology for the preparation of secondary organozincs was introduced by Marek, Knochel and coworkers13. Reaction of a 1,1-diiodoalkane 24 with diethylzinc (1.2 equivalents) at —50 °C in a mixture of THF and N-methylpyrrolidi-none (NMP) and warming to room temperature produced a new secondary organozinc 26 which could be trapped with various electrophiles to give a range of compounds 27 (equation 11). 

Guidry, A. J. and Pearson, R. E. 1979. Improved methodology for quantitative determination of serum and milk proteins by single radial immuno-diffusion. J. Dairy Sci. 62, 1252-1257. 

The adoption of NMR methods as a standard way to measure SFC is largely due to the work of the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS). Over the past decades they have conducted a series of interlaboratory collaborative trials to revise and improve methodologies and have published their recommendations as Official Methods and Recommended Practices of the AOCS (Firestone, 1998). The methods described here were based on methods Cd 16b-93 and Cd 16-81 of this book, and readers are encouraged to consult the original text. The important advantages of NMR for this application are that it can rapidly and nondestructively measure the number of hydrogen nuclei in the solid or liquid phase and thus the ratio of the amounts of each phase. 

The production of alcohols by the reduction of aldehydes and ketones is probably one of the most useful and fundamental steps in the synthetic chemist s arsenal. Although there are many well developed methods for the reduction of ketones and aldehydes to alcohols, there is still much interest in developing new or improved methodologies which are milder and can be brought about under special conditions, especially in the presence of other reducible functional groups. Of particular interest to the modern synthetic organic chemist are the aldehyde and ketone reductions which are accomplished in an enantioselective fashion. Advances in this field up to 1992 have been the subject of a review by Singh198. The present section covers very recent work in this area. 

A study of the natural radiocarbon (14C) in the acorn worm Saccoglossus bromophenolosus, which was collected off the Maine coast, revealed that the 2,4-dibromophenol produced by these worms is of recent origin, in contrast to that from petroleum-derived anthropogenic 2,4-dibromophenol (1746). Thus, this result combined with the earlier study (1223) supports a natural source of 2,4-dibromophenol in these animals. It should be noted that the more recent radiocarbon work utilizes improved methodology (1746). 

Carotenoids are typically detected at the wavelength of maximum absorption of 450-470 nm. The detection and quantification of carotenoids at very low levels, especially in biological samples, require the development of improved methodology... 

The metabolism of triazine herbicides in plants has been diligently studied since their introduction. Much of what is currently known about the metabolic pathways was obtained only after newer and more advanced methods of chromatography and spectral analysis were discovered. The study of triazine herbicides has resulted in improved methodologies and understanding of plant proteins, biochemistry, and metabolic pathways. These pathways will serve as a reference point for future researchers in their quest for a complete understanding of plant metabolic chemistry. 

In short, much future research on kinetics of soil chemical processes is needed. Areas worthy of investigation include improved methodologies, increased use of spectroscopic and rapid kinetic techniques to determine mechanisms of reactions on soils and soil constituents, kinetic modeling, kinetics of anion reactions, redox and weathering dynamics, kinetics of ternary exchange phenomena, and rates of organic pollutant reactions in soils and sediments. 

Metabolomics has proven to be a useful and efficient approach for the discovery of enzyme-substrate interactions, metabolites, and protein-metabolite interactions. As a result, these metabolomics approaches have proven useful functional proteo-mics tools, especially when coupled to methods like ABPP. The continued use of these methods should result in improved methodology and validation of the efficiency of these approaches. 

Wen, L., Santschi, P.H., Gill, G.A., and Tang, D. (2002) Silver concentrations in Colorado, USA, watersheds using improved methodology. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 21, 2040-2051. 

Ensure that time is the driving force not budgets. To achieve this make sure that non-value added activities are eliminated. Going faster on every topic will not be enough there will be a need to eliminate the less fruitful activities. Whilst this is happening, quality or safety must not be compromised. The procedures inherent in the continuous improvement methodology of TQM should be employed wherever possible. 

R.M. Black and R.W. Read, Improved methodology for the detection and quantitation of urinary metabolites of sulfur mustard using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, J. Chromatogr., B, 665, 97-196 (1995). 

Figure 6. GC/MS/SIM (upper) and GC/MS/MS/MRM (lower) chromatograms for reduced f5-lyase metabohtes, showing a >50-fold improvement in signal-to-noise ratio using GC/MS/MS. (Reprinted from Journal of Chromatography B, 665, R.M. Black and R.W. Read, Improved methodology for the detection and quantitation of urinary metabohtes of sulphur mustard using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, pp. 97-105 (1995), with permission from Elsevier)...

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