Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of Lavandula coronopifolia essential oil against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

The aim of this study was to analyse the composition of the essential oil (EO) of Lavandula coronopifolia from Morocco and to evaluate its in vitro antibacterial activity against antibiotic-resistant bacteria isolated from clinical infections. The antimicrobial activity was assessed by a broth micro-well dilution method using multiresistant clinical isolates of 11 pathogenic bacteria: Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae, Klebsiella ornithinolytica, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Providencia rettgeri, Citrobacter freundii, Hafnia alvei, Salmonella spp., Acinetobacter baumannii and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The main compounds of the oil were carvacrol (48.9%), E-caryophyllene (10.8%) and caryophyllene oxide (7.7%). The oil showed activity against all tested strains with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranging between 1% and 4%. For most of the strains, the MIC value was equivalent to the minimal bactericidal concentration value, indicating a clear bactericidal effect of L. coronopifolia EO.     

Continuity in law with respect to the Hurst index of some additive functionals of sub-fractional Brownian motion

In this article, first, we prove some properties of the sub-fractional Brownian motion introduced by Bojdecki et al. [Statist. Probab. Lett. 69(2004):405–419]. Second, we prove the continuity in law, with respect to small perturbations of the Hurst index, in some anisotropic Besov spaces, of some continuous additive functionals of the sub-fractional Brownian motion. We prove that our result can be obtained easily, by using the decomposition in law of the sub-fractional Brownian motion given by Bardina and Bascompte [Collect. Math. 61(2010):191–204] and Ruiz de Chavez and Tudor [Math. Rep. 11(2009):67–74], without using the result of Wu and Xiao [Stoch. Proc. Appl. 119(2009):1823–1844] by connecting the sub-fractional Brownian motion to its stationary Gaussian process through Lamperti’s transform. This decomposition in law leads to a better understanding and simple proof of our result.     

Analysis of hydrodynamic and thermal dispersion in porous media by means of a local approach

A pore scale analysis is implemented in this numerical study to investigate the behavior of microscopic inertia and thermal dispersion in a porous medium with a periodic structure. The macroscopic characteristics of the transport phenomena are evaluated with an averaging technique of the controlling variables at a pore scale level in an elementary cell of the porous structure. The Darcy–Forchheimer model describes the fluid motion through the porous medium while the continuity and Navier–Stokes equations are applied within the unit cell. An average energy equation is employed for the thermal part of the porous medium. The macroscopic pressure loss is computed in order to evaluate the dominant microscopic inertial effects. Local fluctuations of velocity and temperature at the pore scale are instrumental in the quantification of the thermal dispersion through the total effective thermal diffusivity. The numerical results demonstrate that microscopic inertia contributes significantly to the magnitude of the macroscopic pressure loss, in some instances with as much as 70%. Depending on the nature of the porous medium, the thermal dispersion may have a marked bearing on the heat transfer, particularly in the streamwise direction for a highly conducting fluid and certain values of the Peclet number.     

Friedel-Craft acylation of ar-himachalene: synthesis of acyl-ar-himachalene and a new acyl-hydroperoxide

Friedel-Craft acylation at 100 °C of 2,5,9,9-tetramethyl-6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-5H-benzocycloheptene [ar-himachalene], a sesquiterpenic hydrocarbon obtained by catalytic dehydrogenation of α-, β- and γ-himachalenes, produces a mixture of two compounds: (3,5,5,9-tetramethyl-6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-5H-benzocyclohepten-2-yl)-ethanone (2, in 69% yield), with a conserved reactant backbone, and 3, with a different skeleton, in 21% yield. The crystal structure of 3 reveals it to be 1-(8-ethyl-8-hydroperoxy-3,5,5-trimethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydronaphthalen-2-yl)-ethanone. In this compound O-H…O bonds form dimers. These hydrogen-bonds, in conjunction with weaker C-H…O interactions, form a more extended supramolecular arrangement in the crystal.     

Ni(0)-CMC-Na - nickel colloids in sodium carboxymethyl-cellulose: catalytic evaluation in hydrogenation reactions

A recyclable catalyst, Ni(0)-CMC-Na, composed of nickel colloids dispersed in a water soluble bioorganic polymer, sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC-Na), was synthesized by a simple procedure from readily available reagents. The catalyst thus obtained is stable and highly active in alkene hydrogenations.     

Twisted internal charge transfer fluorescence of para-N,N-dimethylaminobenzonitrile in rigid matrix at room temperature

The dual fluorescence of para-N,N-dimethylaminobenzonitrile is observed for the first time in a rigid matrix at room temperature (polyvinylalcohol). A relationship between the twisted internal charge transfer (TICT) fluorescence and the formation of a ground-state hydrogen bonded complex is shown.     

Study of the critical current density and the thermodynamic critical field in deuterated κ-(BEDT-TTF)2Cu[N(CN)2]Br organic superconductor

ABSTRACT

We have studied the reversible and irreversible part of the hysteresis loops as a function of slow cooling rate through the order–disorder transformation near 80?K for the deuterated (κ-D₈-Br) κ-(BEDT-TTF)₂Cu[N(CN)₂]Br organic superconductor. We estimated the critical current density J_C and the thermodynamic critical field H_C from the magnetic hysteresis loops. Temperature dependence of the critical current density derived from the irreversible part using Bean’s model. The thermodynamic critical field H_C has been obtained from the reversible part of the hysteresis loops.     

On the integro-differential equations with reflection

In this paper, by developing important properties on the composition of functions with reflection, using some exponential dichotomy properties and an application of the fixed-point theorem, several new sufficient conditions for the existence and the uniqueness of an pseudo almost automorphic solutions with measure for some general-type reflection integro-differential equations. We suppose that the nonlinear part is measure pseudo almost automorphic and in which we distinguish the two constant and variable cases for the Lipschitz coefficients of the functions associated with this part. It is assumed that the linear part of the equation considered admits an exponential dichotomy. Finally, an application is given on the very interesting model of Markus and Yamabe.