The Fifty Percent Machines—A Short History of Influence Machines and an Elementary Theory of Their Efficiency: An Attempt

Presenting the devices invented by Toepler, Holtz, Wimshurst, and Wommelsdorf, the history of the influence machines, the progress made, and the remaining deficits are discussed. The theoretical considerations published in the literature lack generalizable statements on the efficiency. Based on R. W. Pohl's model (1927), an elementary analysis is made, with the result that the upper limit of the theoretically achievable efficiency of influence machines is only 50%.     

The impact of insecticides containing deltamethrin and cyfluthrin on the composition of surface compounds in the larvae,females and males of Tenebrio molitor

This paper presents the effect of insecticides on the composition of the surface compounds of one of the most harmful insects, Tenebrio molitor, by analysis using GC–MS. As a result of the use of insecticides, the composition of the chemical compounds on the surface of insects changes, depending on the insecticides used. The most numerous groups of the marked compounds were fatty acids, alkanes, esters and sterols. The content of the identified compounds in the larvae increased at both 24 and 48 h after the application of insecticides, in comparison with the control samples. The content of identified compounds in the samples taken from the females increased 24, 48 and 72 h after the application of insecticides in comparison with the control samples. By contrast, in samples prepared from males, the content of identified compounds decreased 24 h after the application of insecticides, compared with the control samples. The highest content of chemical compounds was for fatty acids and alkanes after the use of insecticides. The content of fatty acids after the application of the insecticide with deltamethrin was 62.1 ± 3.3–466.9 ± 5.9 μg/g, and after the application of the insecticide with cyfluthrin was 49.9 ± 1.9–458.3 ± 4.2 μg/g. However, the content of alkanes after the use of deltamethrin was 115.6 ± 4.2–4672.0 ± 32.1 μg/g, and after the use of cyfluthrin was 189.4 ± 3.8–3975.0 ± 10.2 μg/g.     

LC-MS-based multi-omics analysis of brain tissue for the evaluation of the anti-ischemic stroke potential of Tribulus terrestris L. fruit extract in MCAO rats

This study aimed to investigate the chemical composition of Tribulus terrestris L. fruit (TT) extract named TT15 and its protective effect against ischemic stroke (IS) as well as corresponding mechanisms. The chemical composition of TT15 was analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), and the compound identification was conducted via searching the in-house database. The LC-MS-based multi-omics approach was applied to search the differential metabolites and differential proteins in rat brain tissue and to explore the biomarker and molecular mechanism of TT15 against middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). A total of 20 compounds were identified from TT15, mainly including alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, quinones, and esters. These 20 compounds significantly affected the metabolism of 44 metabolites and the expression of 51 proteins. Joint pathway analysis showed that these metabolites and proteins were mainly involved in the response to elevated platelet cytosolic Ca²⁺ and platelet activation, which inferred that TT15 may exert a protective effect against cerebral ischemic injury via regulating platelet function. This study provides useful information for further exploration of the mechanisms of TT extract against IS.     

Periodicity of Two-Dimensional Bonding of Main Group Elements

In the periodic table the position of each atom follows the ‘aufbau’ principle of the individual electron shells. The resulting intrinsic periodicity of atomic properties determines the overall behavior of atoms in two-dimensional (2D) bonding and structure formation. Insight into the type and strength of bonding is the key in the discovery of innovative 2D materials. The primary features of 2D bonding and the ensuing monolayer structures of the main-group II–VI elements result from the number of valence electrons and the change of atom size, which determine the type of hybridization. The results reveal the tight connection between strength of bonding and bond length in 2D networks. The predictive power of the periodic table reveals general rules of bonding, the bonding-structure relationship, and allows an assessment of published data of 2D materials.     

Versatile Near-Infrared Super-Resolution Imaging of Amyloid Fibrils with the Fluorogenic Probe CRANAD-2

CRANAD-2 is a fluorogenic curcumin derivative used for near-infrared detection and imaging in vivo of amyloid aggregates, which are involved in neurodegenerative diseases. We explore the performance of CRANAD-2 in two super-resolution imaging techniques, namely stimulated emission depletion (STED) and single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), with markedly different fluorophore requirements. By conveniently adapting the concentration of CRANAD-2, which transiently binds to amyloid fibrils, we show that it performs well in both techniques, achieving a resolution in the range of 45–55 nm. Correlation of SMLM with atomic force microscopy (AFM) validates the resolution of fine features in the reconstructed super-resolved image. The good performance and versatility of CRANAD-2 provides a powerful tool for near-infrared nanoscopic imaging of amyloids in vitro and in vivo.     

Optimisation of the ultrasound-assisted extraction of betalains and polyphenols from Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. Nutrisol

The present study optimised the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of bioactive compounds from Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. Nutrisol. Influence of temperature (25.86–54.14 °C) and ultrasonic power densities (UPD) (76.01–273.99 mW/mL) on total betalains (BT), betacyanins (BC), betaxanthins (BX), total polyphenols (TP), antioxidant activity (AA), colour parameters (L*, a*, and b*), amaranthine (A), and isoamaranthine (IA) were evaluated using response surface methodology. Moreover, betalain extraction kinetics and mass transfer coefficients (K_La) were determined for each experimental condition. BT, BC, BX, TP, AA, b*, K_La, and A were significantly affected (p < 0.05) by temperature extraction and UPD, whereas L*, a*, and IA were only affected (p < 0.05) by temperature. All response models were significantly validated with regression coefficients (R²) ranging from 87.46 to 99.29%. BT, A, IA, and K_La in UAE were 1.38, 1.65, 1.50, and 29.93 times higher than determined using conventional extraction, respectively. Optimal UAE conditions were obtained at 41.80 °C and 188.84 mW/mL using the desired function methodology. Under these conditions, the experimental values for BC, BX, BT, TP, AA, L*, a*, b*, K_La, A, and IA were closely related to the predicted values, indicating the suitability of the developed quadratic models. This study proposes a simple and efficient UAE method to obtain betalains and polyphenols with high antioxidant activity, which can be used in several applications within the food industry.     

Decay rate for viscoelastic wave equation of variable coefficients with delay and dynamic boundary conditions

In this paper, we consider a viscoelastic wave equation of variable coefficients in the presence of past history with nonlinear damping and delay in the internal feedback and dynamic boundary conditions. Under suitable assumptions, we establish an explicit and general decay rate result without imposing restrictive assumption on the behavior of the relaxation function at infinity by Riemannian geometry method and Lyapunov functional method.