Influence of growth phase on the essential oil composition and antimicrobial activities of Satureja hortensis

The variations in quantity and quality of essential oils (EOs) from the aerial parts of cultivated Satureja hortensis were determined at different stages of harvesting. The EOs of air-dried samples were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The antimicrobial activity of the EOs was investigated by broth microdilution methods. The amount of EOs (w/w, %) were 2.3, 2.5, 2.0, and 1.8% at floral budding, full flowering, immature fruit, and ripened fruit stages, respectively. gamma-Terpinene was the major compound of the EO at all developmental stages, except the ripened fruit stage when it was replaced by carvacrol (46.4%). The EOs exhibited strong antibacterial activities against the tested bacteria. Moreover, the EOs either inhibited or killed the examined yeasts at concentrations ranging from 0.03-8.0 microL/mL. Considering the wide range of antimicrobial activities of the examined EOs, they might have potential to be used in the management of infective agents.     

Synthesis and characterization of 2-phenylaniline cyclopalladated complexes

Reaction of the dinuclear complex [Pd{κ2-N2′,C1-2-(2′-NH₂C₆H₄)C₆H₄}Cl]₂ (1) with ligands (L = 4-picoline, sym-collidine) gave the six-membered palladacycles [Pd{κ2-N2′,C1-2-(2′-NH₂C₆H₄)C₆H₄}Cl(L)] (2). The complex 1 reacted with AgX (X = CF₃SO₃, BF₄) and bidentate ligands [L–L = phen (phenanthroline), dppe (bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane), bipy(2,2′-bipyridine) and dppp (bis(diphenylphosphino)propane)] giving the mononuclear orthopalladated complexes [Pd{κ2-N2′,C1-2-(2′-NH₂C₆H₄)C₆H₄}(L–L)] (3) [L–L = phen, dppe, bipy and dppp]. These compounds were characterized by physico-chemical methods, and the structure of [Pd{κ2-N2′,C1-2-(2′-NH₂C₆H₄)C₆H₄}Cl(L)] (L = sym-collidine) was determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis.     

Removal, preconcentration and spectrophotometric determination of U(VI) from water samples using modified maghemite nanoparticles

Arsenazo III modified maghemite nanoparticles (A-MMNPs) was used for removing and preconcentration of U(VI) from aqueous samples. The effects of contact time, amount of adsorbent, pH and competitive ions was investigated. The experimental results were fitted to the Langmuir adsorption model in the studied concentration range of uranium (1.0 × 10^?4–1.0 × 10^?2 mol L^?1). According to the results obtained by Langmuir equation, the maximum adsorption capacity for the adsorption of U(VI) on A-MMNPs was 285 mg g^?1 at pH 7. The adsorbed uranium on the A-MMNPs was then desorbed by 0.5 mol L^?1 NaOH solution and determined spectrophotometrically. A preconcentration factor of 400 was achieved in this method. The calibration graph was linear in the range 0.04–2.4 ng mL^?1 (1.0 × 10^?10–1.0 × 10^?8 mol L^?1) of U(VI) with a correlation coefficient of 0.997. The detection limit of the method for determination of U(VI) was 0.01 ng mL^?1 and the relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) for the determination of 1.43 and 2.38 ng mL^?1 of U(VI) was 3.62% and 1.17% (n = 5), respectively. The method was applied to the determination of U(VI) in water samples.     

A very simple method to synthesize nano-sized manganese oxide: an efficient catalyst for water oxidation and epoxidation of olefins

Nano-sized particles of manganese oxides have been prepared by a very simple and cheap process using a decomposing aqueous solution of manganese nitrate at 100 °C. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction spectrometry have been used to characterize the phase and the morphology of the manganese oxide. The nano-sized manganese oxide shows efficient catalytic activity toward water oxidation and the epoxidation of olefins in the presence of cerium(iv) ammonium nitrate and hydrogen peroxide, respectively.     

A bi‐level neural‐based fuzzy classification approach for credit scoring problems

The credit scoring is a risk evaluation task considered as a critical decision for financial institutions in order to avoid wrong decision that may result in huge amount of losses. Classification models are one of the most widely used groups of data mining approaches that greatly help decision makers and managers to reduce their credit risk of granting credits to customers instead of intuitive experience or portfolio management. Accuracy is one of the most important criteria in order to choose a credit‐scoring model; and hence, the researches directed at improving upon the effectiveness of credit scoring models have never been stopped. In this article, a hybrid binary classification model, namely FMLP, is proposed for credit scoring, based on the basic concepts of fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks (ANNs). In the proposed model, instead of crisp weights and biases, used in traditional multilayer perceptrons (MLPs), fuzzy numbers are used in order to better model of the uncertainties and complexities in financial data sets. Empirical results of three well‐known benchmark credit data sets indicate that hybrid proposed model outperforms its component and also other those classification models such as support vector machines (SVMs), K‐nearest neighbor (KNN), quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Therefore, it can be concluded that the proposed model can be an appropriate alternative tool for financial binary classification problems, especially in high uncertainty conditions. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 18: 46–57, 2013     

Adsorption studies of β-naphthol by untreated and treated activated carbon [optimizing of adsorption by central composite design (CCD)]

In the present work the adsorption of aromatic compound, namely ??-naphthol (BN) by two granular activated carbons, one untreated and the other treated with HNO₃ carried out under controlled conditions. The effects of experimental parameters on adsorption process such as pH, contact time and adsorbent dosage have been investigated. Experimental design methodology was applied to optimize the removal of ??-naphthol. The effect of various experimental parameters was investigated using five-level three-factorial central composite design (CCD). The relationship between the parameters and the response for model optimization was found and optimum conditions were obtained by CCD. In the optimum conditions obtained by response surface modeling, 100% BN was adsorbed on the carbons. Treatment with HNO₃ led to a decrease in the point of zero charge and the adsorption capacity (Q _max) of the activated carbon. The adsorption capacity of the carbons was determined using Freundlich and Langmuir homogenous equation. The variation of the model parameters with the solution pH was also studied. The fitted parameters obtained from both models showed the Q _max value decrease with increasing of pH.     

Experimental study of slot jet impingement heat transfer on a wedge-shaped surface

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the convective heat transfer rate from a wedge-shaped surface to a rectangular subsonic air jet impinging onto the apex of the wedge. The jet Reynolds number, nozzle-to-surface distance and the wedge angle were considered as the main parameters. Jet Reynolds number was ranged from 5,000 to 20,000 and two dimensionless nozzle-to-surface distances h/w?=?4 and 10 were examined. The apex angle of the wedge ranged from 30° to 180° where the latter case corresponds with that of a flat surface. Velocity profile and turbulence intensity were provided for free jet flow using hot wire anemometer. Local and average Nusselt numbers on the impinged surface are presented for all the configurations. Based on the results presented, the local Nusselt number at the stagnation region increases as the wedge angle is decreased but, it then decreases over the remaining area of the impinged surface. Average Nusselt number over the whole surface is maximum when the wedge angle is 180° (i.e. plane surface) for any jet and nozzle-to-surface configuration.     

Nanofluid flow and MHD mixed convection inside a vertical annulus with moving walls and transpiration considering the effect of Brownian motion and shape factor

In the present study, the exact solution of a nanofluid flow and mixed convection within a vertical cylindrical annulus with suction/injection, which is adjacent to the radial magnetic field, is presented with regard to the motion of cylinders’ walls. The impact of Brownian motion and shape factor on the thermal state of CuO–water nanofluid is also considered. The influence of such parameters as Hartmann number, mixed convection parameter, suction/injection, volume fraction of nanoparticles and motion of cylinders’ walls on flow and heat transfer is probed. The results show that the shape of the nanoparticles could change the thermal behavior of the nanofluid and when the nanoparticles are used in the shape of a platelet, the highest Nusselt number is obtained (about 2.5% increasement of Nusselt number on internal cylinders’ wall comparison to spherical shape). The results shed light on the fact that if, for example, the external cylinder is stationary and the internal cylinder moves in the direction of z axis, the maximum and minimum heat transfer take place on the walls of internal and external cylinders, respectively (for η?=?300, about 15% increasement of Nusselt number on internal cylinders’ wall). Furthermore, the enhancement of radius ratio between two cylinders increases the rate of heat transfer and decreases the shear stress on the internal cylinder’s wall.

     

Solvation thermodynamics of neutral and charged solutes using the solvation-layer interface condition continuum dielectric model

We demonstrate that the solvation-layer interface condition (SLIC) continuum dielectric model for molecular electrostatics, combined with a simple solvent-accessible-surface-area (SASA)-proportional model for nonpolar solvent effects, accurately predicts solvation entropies of neutral and charged small molecules. The SLIC/SASA model has only seven fitting parameters in total and achieves this accuracy using a training set with only 20 compounds. Despite this simplicity, solvation free energies and entropies are nearly as accurate as those predicted by the more sophisticated Langevin dipoles solvation model. Surprisingly, the model automatically reproduces the negligible contribution of electrostatics to the solvation of hydrophobic compounds. Opportunities for improvement include nonpolar solvation, anion solvation entropies, and heat capacities. More molecular realism may be needed for these quantities. To enable a future, explicit-solvent-based assessment of the SLIC/SASA implicit-solvent model, we predict solvation entropies for the Mobley test set, which are available as Supporting Information.     

A Modified Quantum Search Algorithm

We show that by adding a workspace qubit to Ahmed Younes, et al. algorithm (Younes et al. AIP Conf. Proc. 734:171, 2004, 2008), and applying newly defined partial diffusion operators on subsystems, the algorithm’s performance is improved. We consider an unstructured list of N items and M matches, 1 ≤ M ≤ N.