Bioactive isocoumarins from a terrestrial Streptomyces sp. ANK302

Four isocoumarins have been isolated from the terrestrial Streptomyces sp. ANK302, namely 6,8-dimethoxy-3-methylisocoumarin (1), 6,8-dihydroxy-3-methylisocoumarin (2), 6,8-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-3-methylisocoumarin (3), and 6,7,8-trimethoxy-3-methylisocoumarin (4). Compound 1 is a new naturally-occurring isocoumarin, and 2 was isolated as a new bacterial product. The structures 1-4 were deduced from high resolution mass, 1D and 2D NMR spectra and by comparison with related compounds from the literature. Compound 2 showed a strong zoosporicidal activity at a concentration of 5 microg/mL against a phytopathogenic oomycete, Plasmopara viticola, and 1 was active against     

Mössbauer study of ultrafine amorphous Fe−B alloys

The chemical composition of ultrafine amorphous Fe−B powders prepared by a chemical reduction depends on the mixed molar ratio of KBH₄ to Fe ions. We propose the following reaction processes for the formation of ultrafine Fe−B powders: (1) 4Fe²⁺+2BH₄₋+6OH⁻→2Fe₂B+6H₂O+H₂ and (2) 4Fe²⁺+2BH₄₋+7OH⁻→2Fe₃B+Fe+BO₂+5H₂O+5/2H₂.     

Mössbauer study of amorphous Fe2RE (RE=Ce,Er) alloys

Among amorphous Fe₂RE (RE=Er, Ce, Gd, La, Pr, Sm, Dy, Ho) alloys, Fe₂Ce exhibits a tendency toward short range order, while the other Fe₂RE compounds show clustering. However, we have almost no information about environments around Fe atoms. Using Mössbauer spectroscopy we have determined the quadrupole splitting distributionsP(QS) of two representative amorphous Fe₂RE (RE=Ce, Er) alloys, leading to local environments of Fe atoms. The analysis of the mixed magnetic dipole and quadrupole interactions in Fe₂Er shows two kinds of electrical field gradients (EFT) with the positive and negative signs in the sample, indicating a random packing of Fe atoms. Furthermore, the analyzed quadrupole splitting distributionP(QS) of Fe₂Er also supports random packing in this amorphous alloy. On the other hand, the amorphous Fe₂Ce alloy shows two kinds of distributions of quadrupole splitting; the major component indicating random packing and the minor component Ce-rich Ce-Fe clusters.     

Efficiency analysis in two-stage structures using fuzzy data envelopment analysis

Two-stage data envelopment analysis (TsDEA) models evaluate the performance of a set of production systems in which each system includes two operational stages. Taking into account the internal structures is commonly found in many situations such as seller-buyer supply chain, health care provision and environmental management. Contrary to conventional DEA models as a black-box structure, TsDEA provides further insight into sources of inefficiencies and a more informative basis for performance evaluation. In addition, ignoring the qualitative and imprecise data leads to distorted evaluations, both for the subunits and the system efficiency. We present the fuzzy input and output-oriented TsDEA models to calculate the global and pure technical efficiencies of a system and sub-processes when some data are fuzzy. To this end, we propose a possibilistic programming problem and then convert it into a deterministic interval programming problem using the α-level based method. The proposed method preserves the link between two stages in the sense that the total efficiency of the system is equal to the product of the efficiencies derived from two stages. In addition to the study of technical efficiency, this research includes two further contributions to the ancillary literature; firstly, we minutely discuss the efficiency decompositions to indicate the sources of inefficiency and secondly, we present a method for ranking the efficient units in a fuzzy environment. An empirical illustration is also utilised to show the applicability of the proposed technique.     

Pure parametric excitation of a micro cantilever beam actuated by piezoelectric layers

This paper deals with the stability analysis of transverse motions of a cantilever microbeam sandwiched by two piezoelectric layers located on the lower and upper surfaces of the microbeam. Application of same DC and AC voltages to the upper and lower piezoelectric layers creates an axial force with steady and time-varying components. The eigenfunction expansion of the transverse motion equation leads to the creation of a Mathieu type parametric equation which is mostly seen in the stability analysis of the structures in the literature; using Floquet theory for single degree of freedom systems the stable and unstable regions of the problem are investigated. The effect of viscous damping and DC voltage on the stability region of the problem is also studied. The results show the stabilizing effect of the viscous damping and positive DC voltage on the behavior of the microbeam. The achieved results are finally compared with those reported in the literature.     

Non-autonomous periodic systems with Allee effects

A new class of maps called unimodal Allee maps are introduced. Such maps arise in the study of population dynamics in which the population goes extinct if its size falls below a threshold value. A unimodal Allee map is thus a unimodal map with three fixed points, a zero fixed point, a small positive fixed point, called threshold point, and a bigger positive fixed point, called the carrying capacity. In this paper, the properties and stability of the three fixed points are studied in the setting of non-autonomous periodic dynamical systems or difference equations. Finally, we investigate the bifurcation of periodic systems/difference equations when the system consists of two unimodal Allee maps.     

Nano‐WO3‐SO3H as a New Photocatalyst Insight Through Covalently Grafted Brønsted Acid: Highly Efficient Selective Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohols to Aldehydes

Modification of nano‐WO₃ with ?SO₃H groups as a covalently grafted solid acid reduced its band‐gap energy from 2.8 to 2.4 eV and made it an ideal nominee for photocatalytic reaction under visible light irradiation. This nano‐photocatalyst has been successfully used for the selective oxidation of different benzyl alcohols to corresponding aldehydes under blue LED irradiation. The reaction became approximately two times faster with excellent yields. It has shown that the nitrobenzene as an available industrial oxidant is applicable for photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol; remarkably high yield and selectivity have been observed.     

Ring-expansion polycondensation of 2-stanna-1,3-dioxepane (or 1,3-dioxepene) with dicarboxylic acid chlorides

2,2-Dibutyl-2-stanna-1,3-dioxepane 1 (or 1,3-dioxepene 2) were prepared from 1,4-butane (or 1,4-butene) diol and dibutyltin dimethoxide. They were polycondensed at 80°C in n-heptane with adipoyl-, suberoyl, sabacoyl chloride and with decane-1,10-dicarbonyl chloride. In the case of suberoyl chloride and 2,2-dibutyl-2-stanna-1,3-dioxepane reaction time, temperature and stoichiometry were varied to optimize both the molecular weight and the fraction of cyclic polyesters. With a slight excess of the dicarboxylic acid chlorides, only macrocyclic polyesters were obtained in all cases. The resulting cyclic polyesters were characterized by viscosity measurements, by ¹H and ¹³C NMR and by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.     

A study on the limitations of a vane rheometer for mineral suspensions using image processing

This study presents the results from the rheological measurement of clay suspensions using vane geometry in a wide gap configuration. It focuses on how measurement of viscosity cannot be effective for two reasons: the limits of the vane geometry itself and the limits of the material depending on its content of solid particles. Image analysis of the flow while shearing the material is carried out to relate the flow behavior. Several approaches to compute the shear flow curve from torque-rotational velocity data are used. The results demonstrate that the applied setpoint while applying a logarithmic shear rate ramp can be very different from the calculated shear rate from existing theories. Depending on the solid volume fraction of the particles in the mixture, we relate the macroscopic behavior using image analysis and the shear flow curves to the rheophysical regime of the flow of the suspensions. Therefore, this paper has two simultaneous goals: the first one is to describe the physical phenomena which control macroscopic behavior and the second one is to highlight the limits of the vane geometry for viscosity measurement of mineral suspensions like kaolinite pastes.