Evaluation of antioxidant activities of the edible and medicinal Acacia albida organs related to phenolic compounds

This study compared phenolic contents and antioxidant activity in different organs of Acacia albida (leaves and bark) and focuses on identification of phenolic compounds of leaves by HPLC-DAD. The analysed organs exhibited differences in total polyphenol contents (100 and 59.5 mg GAE g^? 1 DW). Phenolic contents of leaves were two times higher than those in bark. Ethanolic extracts exhibited good antioxidant activities with IC₅₀ = 26 μg mL^? 1 for DPPH and EC₅₀ = 50 μg mL^? 1 for FRAP. Identification by HPLC-DAD revealed the presence of nine phenolic compounds known for their high antioxidant activity. The results suggested that this species can be used as source of natural antioxidants.     

A Highly Sensitive and Selective Non-enzymatic Hydrogen Peroxide Sensor Based on Nanostructured Co3O4 Thin Films Using the Sol-gel Method

In this work we report an easy and efficient way to fabricate nanostructured cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄) thin films as a non-enzymatic sensor for H₂O₂ detection. Co₃O₄ thin films were grown on ITO glass substrates via the sol-gel method and characterized with several techniques including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and optical absorbance. The Co₃O₄ thin films’ performance regarding hydrogen peroxide detection was studied in a 0.1 M NaOH solution using two techniques, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometry. The films exhibited a high sensitivity of 1450 μA.mM⁻¹.cm⁻², a wide linear range from 0.05 μM to 1.1 mM, and a very low detection limit of 18 nM. Likewise, the Co₃O₄ thin films produced showed an exceptional stability and a high selectivity.     

Probing defect species on real surfaces from the analysis of the spectral profile of admolecules

The analysis of changes in the vibrational spectrum of infrared active molecules adsorbed on a ionic surface containing point or extended defects can be an efficient method to determine the nature and density of surface defects. We study the infrared response of ammonia molecules deposited on a ionic surface of MgO containing charge vacancies and dipolar defects in various concentrations and distributions and show significant changes assigned to the defects signature. A Monte Carlo approach is used to randomly deposit the probe molecules on the surface displaying random or regularly arranged defects at low temperature.     

Periodic schedules for linear precedence constraints

We consider the computation of periodic cyclic schedules for linear precedence constraints graphs: a linear precedence constraint is defined between two tasks and induces an infinite set of usual precedence constraints between their executions such that the difference of iterations is a linear function. The objective function is the minimization of the maximal period of a task.We recall first that this problem may be modelled using linear programming. A polynomial algorithm is then developed to solve it for a particular class of linear precedence graphs called unitary graphs. We also show that a periodic schedule may not exist for unitary graphs. In the general case, a decomposition of the linear precedence graph into unitary components is computed and we assume that a periodic schedule exists for each of these components. Lower bounds on the periods are exhibited and we show that an optimal periodic schedule may not achieve them. The notion of quasi-periodic schedule is then introduced and we prove that this new class of schedules always reaches these bounds.     

Un théorème limite pour les covariances des spins en deux sites dans le modèle de Sherrington–Kirkpatrick avec champ externe

We give some properties of spin covariances in the case of the Sherrington–Kirkpatrick model with an external field; a non Gaussian limit theorem for those covariances is proved. To cite this article: A. Hanen, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 342 (2006).     

Films courbés minces ferromagnétiques

We consider a thin curved ferromagnetic film not submitted to an external magnetic field. The behavior of the film is described by an energy depending on the magnetization of the film verifying the saturation constraint. The energy is composed of an induced magnetostatic energy and an energy term with density including the exchange energy and the anisotropic energy. We study the behavior of this energy when the thickness of the curved film goes to zero. We show with Γ-convergence arguments that the minimizers of the free energy converge to the minimizers of a local energy depending on a two-dimensional magnetization. To cite this article: H. Zorgati, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 340 (2005).     

Essential oils of Daucus carota subsp. carota of Tunisia obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction

The essential oils and supercritical CO2 extracts of wild Daucus carota L. subsp. carota from two different sites in Tunisia were investigated. The main components of the essential oil of the flowering and mature umbels with seeds from Sejnane were eudesm-7(11)-en-4-ol (8.2 - 8.5%), carotol (3.5 - 5.2%), sabinene (12.0 -14.5%), a-selinene (7.4 - 8.6) and 11-alpha-(H)-himachal-4-en-1-beta-ol (12.7 - 17.4%), whereas the oils from Tunis were predominantly composed of elemicin (31.5 - 35.3%) and carotol (48.0 - 55.7%). The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils were assayed by using the broth dilution method on Escherichia coli ATCC 35218 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 43300, and clinical strains of Candida albicans and C. tropicalis 1011 RM. The MIC values obtained were all > 2.5% (v/v).     

Regularized formulation of the variational brittle fracture with unilateral contact: Numerical experiments

This paper presents a modified regularized formulation of the Ambrosio-Tortorelli type to introduce the crack non-interpenetration condition in the variational approach to fracture mechanics proposed by Francfort and Marigo [1998. Revisiting brittle fracture as an energy minimization problem. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 46 (8), 1319-1342]. We focus on the linear elastic case where the contact condition appears as a local unilateral constraint on the displacement jump at the crack surfaces. The regularized model is obtained by splitting the strain energy in a spherical and a deviatoric parts and accounting for the sign of the local volume change. The numerical implementation is based on a standard finite element discretization and on the adaptation of an alternate minimization algorithm used in previous works. The new regularization avoids crack interpenetration and predicts asymmetric results in traction and in compression. Even though we do not exhibit any gamma-convergence proof toward the desired limit behavior, we illustrate through several numerical case studies the pertinence of the new model in comparison to other approaches.