Microcalorimetric investigation of water vapor adsorption on silica gel

In this study, the activities of four ginsenosides Rc, Re, Rd, and Rf on splenic lymphocytes growth were studied by microcalorimetry. Some qualitative and quantitative information, such as the metabolic power–time curves, growth rate constant k, maximum heat-output power of the exponential phase P _max and the corresponding appearance peak time t _max, total heat output Q _t, and promotion rate R _p of splenic lymphocytes growth affected by the four ginsenosides were calculated. In accordance with thermo-kinetic model, the corresponding quantitative relationships of k, P _max, t _max, Q _t, R _p, and c were established, . Also, the median effective concentration (EC₅₀) was obtained by quantitative analysis. Based on both the quantitative quantity–activity relationships (QQAR) and EC₅₀, the sequence of promotion activity was Rc > Re > Rd > Rf. The analysis of structure–activity relationships showed that the number, type, and position of sugar moieties on the gonane steroid nucleus had important influences on the promotion activity of Rc, Re, Rd, and Rf on splenic lymphocytes growth. Microcalorimetry can be used as a useful tool for determining the activity and studying the quantity–activity relationship of drugs on cell.     

Synthesis, characterization and fluorescent property evaluation of 1,3,5-triaryl-2-pyrazolines

A series of 1,3,5-triaryl-2-pyrazolines was synthesized by dissolving the corresponding 4-alkoxychalcones in glacial acetic acid containing a few drops of concentrated hydrochloric acid. This step was followed by the addition of (3,4-dimethylphenyl) hydrazaine hydrochloride. Finally the target compounds were precipitated by pouring the reaction mixture onto crushed ice. The structures of the synthesized compounds were established by physicochemical and spectroscopic methods. The 1,3,5-triaryl-2-pyrazolines bearing homologous alkoxy groups were found to possess fluorescence properties in the blue region of the visible spectrum when irradiated with ultraviolet radiation. The fluorescent behavior of these compounds was studied by UV-Vis and emission spectroscopy, performed at room temperature.     

A Three-Channel Spectrometer for Wide-Field Imaging of Anisotropic Plasmonic Nanoparticles

A three-channel spectrometer (3CS) based on a commercial digital camera was developed to distinguish among tens of large (>100 nm), anisotropic plasmonic particles with various shapes, orientations, and compositions on a surface simultaneously. Using band pass filters and polarizers, the contrast of 3CS images could be enhanced to identify specific orientation and composition characteristics of gold and gold-silver nanopyramids and as well as the direction of the longest arm of gold nanostars.     

In vitro antiprotozoal activity of extracts of five Turkish Lamiaceae species

The in vitro antiprotozoal activities of crude methanolic extracts from the aerial parts of five Lamiaceae plants (Salvia tomentosa, S. sclarea, S. dichroantha, Nepeta nuda subsp. nuda and Marrubium astracanicum subsp. macrodon) were evaluated against four parasitic protozoa, i.e. Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, T. cruzi, Leishmania donovani and Plasmodium falciparum. The cytotoxic potentials of the extracts on L6 cells were also evaluated. Melarsoprol, benznidazole, miltefosine, chloroquine and podophyllotoxin were used as reference drugs. All crude MeOH extracts showed antiprotozoal potential against at least three parasites, so they were dispersed in water and partitioned against n-hexane and chloroform to yield three subextracts that were screened in the same test systems. The n-hexane extract of N. nuda was the most active against T. brucei rhodesiense while the CHCl3 extracts of S. tomentosa and S. dichroantha showed significant activity against L. donovani. All organic extracts displayed in vitro antimalarial and moderate trypanocidal activities against T. cruzi with the n-hexane extract of S. sclarea being the most active against the latter. The extracts displayed low or no cytotoxicity towards mammalian L6 cells.     

Adaptive finite-time stabilization of uncertain non-autonomous chaotic electromechanical gyrostat systems with unknown parameters

This paper deals with the problem of robust finite-time stabilization of non-autonomous chaotic gyrostat systems. It is assumed that the parameters of the gyrostat system are completely unknown in advance and the system is perturbed by unknown uncertainties and disturbances. Some update laws are proposed to estimate the unknown parameters. Based on the finite-time control idea and the update laws, appropriate control laws are designed to ensure the stabilization of the closed-loop system in a finite time. The finite-time stability and convergence of the closed-loop system are analytically proved. A numerical simulation is given to demonstrate the applicability and robustness of the proposed finite-time controller and to verify the theoretical results.     

Second law analysis of water flow through smooth microtubes under adiabatic conditions

In the study, a second law analysis for a steady-laminar flow of water in adiabatic microtubes has been conducted. Smooth microtubes with the diameters between 50 and 150 μm made of fused silica were used in the experiments. Considerable temperature rises due to viscous dissipation and relatively high pressure losses of flow were observed in experiments. To identify irreversibility of flow, rate of entropy generation from the experiments have been determined in the laminar flow range of Re = 20-2200. The second law of thermodynamics was applied to predict the entropy generation. The results of model taken from the literature, proposed to predict the temperature rise caused by viscous heating, correspond well with the experimental data. The second law analysis results showed that the flow characteristics in the smooth microtubes distinguish substantially from the conventional theory for flow in the larger tubes with respect to viscous heating/dissipation (temperature rise of flow) total entropy generation rate and lost work.     

A multilateral Bailey lemma and multiple Andrews–Gordon identities

A multilateral Bailey lemma is proved, and multiple analogues of the Rogers–Ramanujan identities and Euler’s pentagonal theorem are constructed as applications. The extreme cases of the Andrews–Gordon identities are also generalized using the multilateral Bailey lemma where their final form are written in terms of determinants of theta functions.     

Robust Necessary Optimality Conditions for Nondifferentiable Complex Fractional Programming with Uncertain Data

Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications - In this paper, we study robust necessary optimality conditions for a nondifferentiable complex fractional programming with uncertain data. A robust...