Two New Acylated Tridesmosidic Saponins from Astragalus armatus

Two new tridesmosidic glycosides of (3β,6α,16β,20R,24S)‐20,24‐epoxycycloartane‐3,6,16,25‐tetrol (=cycloastragenol), armatosides I and II ( 1 and 2 , resp.), were isolated from the roots of Astragalus armatus (Fabaceae) as well as the known bidesmosidic glycosides of cycloastragenol, trigonoside II ( 3 ) and trojanoside H ( 4 ). Their structures were elucidated as (3β,6α,16β,20R,24S)‐3‐O‐(2,3‐di‐O‐acetyl‐β‐D ‐xylopyranosyl)‐20,24‐epoxy‐25‐O‐β‐D ‐glucopyranosyl‐6‐O‐β‐D ‐xylopyranosylcycloartane‐3,6,16,25‐tetrol ( 1 ), and (3β,6α,16β,20R,24S)‐3‐O‐(2‐O‐acetyl‐β‐D ‐xylopyranosyl)‐20,24‐epoxy‐25‐O‐β‐D ‐glucopyranosyl‐6‐O‐β‐D ‐xylopyranosylcycloartane‐3,6,16,25‐tetrol ( 2 ). These structures were established by extensive NMR and MS analyses and by comparison with literature data.     

Ultratrace-level determination of N-Nitrosodimethylamine,N-Nitrosodiethylamine,and N-Nitrosomorpholine in waters by solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

N-nitrosamines are a new class of emerging nitrogenous drinking water disinfection by-products. These compounds are probably carcinogenic which could seriously affect the safety of drinking water consumers. The aim of this study is to develop a simple, fast, and specific analytical method for the routine determination of low part per trillion levels of N-nitrosamines in waters. An ultra high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC/MS/MS) method was developed for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of N-nitrosamines in waters. N-nitrosamines were extracted, purified and concentrated from water samples in one step using a solid-phase extraction (SPE). The compounds were detected in multiple reaction monitoring via electrospray ionisation source with positive ionisation mode. To achieve symmetrical peak shapes and a short chromatographic analysis time, the mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile, water and formic acid (60:40:0.1, v/v/v) was used in the experiment. Chromatographic separation of N-nitrosamines was done in less than two minutes. All calibration curves had good linearity (r²≥ 0.9989). The intra- and inter-day precision of the assay ranged from 0.59% to 3.11% and accuracy ranged from 99.66% to 104.1%. The mean recoveries of N-nitrosamines in spiked water were 98%-101%. The reproducability was acceptable with relative standard deviations of less than 3.53%. The proposed method yielded detection limits very low which ranges from 0.04 to 0.16 ng L^?1. Finally, the developed analytical method was successfully applied to the analysis of N-nitrosamines in natural water sample     

Preparative capillary zone electrophoresis using a dynamic coated wide-bore capillary

Preparative capillary zone electrophoresis separations of cytochrome c from bovine and horse heart are performed efficiently in a surfactant-coated capillary. The surfactant, dimethylditetradecylammonium bromide (2C(14)DAB), effectively eliminated protein adsorption from the capillary surface, such that symmetrical peaks with efficiencies of 0.7 million plates/m were observed in 50-microm id capillaries when low concentrations of protein were injected. At protein concentrations greater than 1 g/L, electromigration dispersion became the dominant source of band broadening and the peak shape distorted to triangular fronting. Matching of the mobility of the buffer co-ion to that of the cytochrome c resulted in dramatic improvements in the efficiency and peak shape. Using 100 mM bis(2-hydroxyethyl)imino-tris(hydroxymethyl)methane phosphate buffer at pH 7.0 with a 100-microm id capillary, the maximum sample loading capacity in a single run was 160 pmol (2.0 microg) of each protein.     

Bidimensional near-field sampling spectrometry

We report on a concept of compact optical Fourier-transform spectrometer based on bidimensional (2D) spatial sampling of a confined interferogram. The spectrometer consists of a nanostructured glass surface on which two light beams interfere in total internal reflection. Subwavelength spatial sampling of the interferogram near field is achieved by introducing a tilt angle between a 2D array of optical nanoantennas and the interferogram pattern. The intensity distribution of the scattered light is recorded on a 2D CCD camera, and a one-dimensional Fourier transform of the interferogram is used to recover the input light spectrum. Experimental results show a wide spectral bandwidth in the visible range, down to 380 nm, with spectral resolution of 1.6 nm around 780 nm.     

A new efficient short-step projective interior point method for linear programming

In this paper, we are interested in the performance of Karmarkar’s projective algorithm for linear programming. We propose a new displacement step to accelerate and improve the convergence of this algorithm. This purpose is confirmed by numerical experimentations showing the efficiency and the robustness of the obtained algorithm over Schrijver’s one for small problem dimensions.     

Super-twisting algorithm with time delay estimation for uncertain robot manipulators

Nonlinear Dynamics - In a small tubular neighborhood of the heteroclinic orbits, we establish a local coordinate system by using the foundational solutions of the linear variational equation of the...     

Network Decontamination with a Single Agent

Faults and viruses often spread in networked environments by propagating from site to neighboring sites. We model this process of network contamination by graphs. Consider a graph \(G=(V,E)\), whose vertex set is contaminated and our goal is to decontaminate the set \(V\) using mobile decontamination agents that traverse along the edge set of \(G\). Temporal immunity, \(\tau (G) \ge 0\), is defined as the time that a decontaminated vertex of \(G\) can remain continuously exposed to some contaminated neighbor without getting infected itself. The immunity number of \(G\), \(\iota _k(G)\), is the least \(\tau (G)\) that is required to decontaminate \(G\) using \(k\) agents. We study immunity number for some classes of graphs corresponding to network topologies and present upper bounds on \(\iota _1(G)\), in some cases, with matching lower bounds. Variations of this problem have been extensively studied in literature, but proposed algorithms have been restricted to monotone strategies, where a vertex, once decontaminated, may not be recontaminated. We exploit nonmonotonicity to give bounds which are strictly better than those derived using monotone strategies.     

Effective Mass and Pseudoscalar Interaction in the Dirac Equation with Woods–Saxon Potential

We consider the one-dimensional Dirac equation with the Woods–Saxon potential in the Framework of position dependent mass and pseudoscalar interaction. By imposing appropriate constraints on the mass function and the pseudoscalar term new exact solvable models are obtained. A detailed study of the scattering and bound-states problems for these models is presented. Meanwhile, we work out the exact expressions for the transmission and reflection probabilities of scattered states and obtain the exact equation for the energy eigenvalues associated to bound states. In particular, transmission resonance at zero-momentum is observed for supercritical states.     

Facile and rapid one-pot microwave-assisted synthesis of Pd-Ni magnetic nanoalloys confined in mesoporous carbons

An easy and rapid one-pot microwave-assisted soft-template synthesis method for the preparation of Pd-Ni nanoalloys confined in mesoporous carbon is reported. This approach allows the formation of mesoporous carbon and the growth of the particles at the same time, under short microwave irradiation (4 h) compared to the several days spent for the classical approach. In addition, the synthesis steps are diminished and no thermopolymerization step or reduction treatment being required. The influence of the Pd-Ni composition on the particle size and on the carbon characteristics was investigated. Pd-Ni solid solutions in the whole composition range could be obtained, and the metallic composition proved to have an important effect on the nanoparticle size but low influence on carbon textural properties. Small and uniformly distributed nanoparticles were confined in mesoporous carbon with uniform pore size distribution, and dependence between the nanoparticle size and the nanoalloy composition was observed, i.e., increase of the particle size with increasing the Ni content (from 5 to 14 nm). The magnetic properties of the materials showed a strong nanoparticle size and/or composition effect. The blocking temperature of Pd-Ni nanoalloys increases with the increase of Ni amount and therefore of particle size. The magnetization values are smaller than the bulk counterpart particularly for the Ni-rich compositions due to the formed graphitic shells surrounding the particles inducing a dead magnetic layer.

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Graphical abstract PdNi nanoalloys confined in mesoporous carbon exhibiting magnetic properties dependent on thealloys composition and size were synthesized by a fast microwave approach