Novel cycloartane saponins from Corchorus depressus L

Two novel bidesmosidic cycloartane-type glycosides, depressosides C and D were isolated from Corchorus depressus L. Their structures were elucidated as (22R)-16beta,22-epoxy-3beta,26-dihydroxy-9,19-cyclolanost-++ +24E-ene 3, 26-di-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside and (22R,24S)-22,25-epoxy-3beta,16beta,24-trihydroxy-9,19-cyclolano stane 3, 24-di-O-beta-glucopyranoside, respectively on the basis of chemical evidence and detailed spectroscopic studies.     

On the local stability of limit cycles

Orbital stability of limit cycles is the result of the competing local tendencies of perturbations from the cycle to decay (during phases of local stability) and to grow (during phases of local instability), averaged over a cycle. We examine this coexistence of attractive and repulsive phases on limit cycles, including the local rates of expansion and contraction of phase space volumes. This is done in a frame of reference that moves along the orbit, to partially decouple motions tangential and perpendicular to the cycle. Dynamical systems used for illustration are the generalized Bonhoeffer-van-der-Pol and Rossler models, both far from and near to different types of bifurcations. Finally, it is shown that the nonuniformity of local stability in phase space affects the response of limit cycle oscillators to perturbations and gives rise to their phase-dependent response. (c) 1999 American Institute of Physics.     

Study of the kinetics and activation parameters of reduction of Mn(III) to Mn(II) by SO3 2− ion in (MnSiW11O40H2)5- heteropoly ion

In order to gain an insight into the mechanism of reduction of Mn(III) heteropoly ions, and also to establish the conditions for use of some of these ions as oxidizing agent, following measurements have been made. The pseudo-first order rate constants, k_obs, have been determined and specific rate constants, k, were calculated from the plots of k_obs against SO₃ ^2? concentrations. A plot of ln(k₂/T) against inverse temperature gives enthalpy of activation as 10.67 kJ mol^?1 and entropy of activation as ?237.90 J K^?1 mol^?1. Effects of ionic strength and pH have also been studied over a limited range.     

Kinetic studies on the reduction of a nickel (III) oxime-imine complex by sulphur(IV) and selenium(IV)

The kinetics of the reduction of [Ni^III(L¹)]²⁺ (where HL¹ = 15-amino-3-methyl-4,7,10,13-tetraazapentadec-3-en-2-one oxime) by sulphur(IV) and selenium (IV) over the regions pH 2.50–8.02 and 2.01–4.00 respectively have been investigated at 30°C. Attempts were made to evaluate the reactivity of all the reacting species, of sulphur(IV) and selenium(IV) by considering suitable pH ranges. The oxidation of SC₂·H₂O and HSO ₃ ⁻ is proposed to proceed through the formation of a hydrogen-bonded adduct. The reaction with SO ₃ ²⁻ seems to follow a direct outer-sphere route which is well supported by Marcus crossrelation calculation. The oxidation of HSeO _l3 ⁻ is ≈ 10³ times slower than that of H₂SeO₃. The kinetic data indicate that the oxidation of sulphur(IV) by [Ni^IIIL¹)]²⁺ is much more favourable as compared to the corresponding oxidation of selenium(IV).     

An extension of the Brown-Robinson equivalence theorem

In this paper we present an extension of the Brown–Robinson equivalence theorem on the core and competitive allocations of a nonstandard exchange economy. This has, as its implication, a corresponding extension of their result on the cores of large but finite economies. The extension is based on a result which shows that the core allocations of a nonstandard exchange economy with “integrable” endowments are “integrable.”     

Die gas-chromatographische Bestimmung von Fettalkoholen in Lanette N® und Lanette E®

Summary A simple gas chromatographic method for the quantitative determination of fatty alcohols in the emulsifying cetylstearylalcohol (Lanette N) and the sodium salt of cetylstearylsulphate (Lanette E) is described. Columns packed with 2.5% diethyleneglycol succinate on Chromosorb G and 10% EGSS-X on Gas-Chrom P achieved good separations and satisfactory results which are tabulated.      

Xenibellols A and B, new diterpenoids from the formosan soft coral Xenia umbellata

Xenibellols A (1) and B (2), possessing an unprecedented diterpenoid skeleton, were isolated from the soft coral Xenia umbellata. The structures of xenibellols A and B were established by extensive analysis of spectroscopic data.     

Using a Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm to Minimize Variance in Response Time for Multimedia Object Requests

This research addresses the scheduling problem of multimedia object requests, which is an important problem in information systems, in particular, for World Wide Web applications. The performance measure considered is the variance of response time which is crucial as end users expect fair treatment to their service requests. This problem is known to be NP-hard. The literature survey indicates that two heuristics have been proposed to solve the problem. In this paper, we present a new heuristic, a hybrid evolutionary heuristic, which is shown to perform much better than the two existing ones, e.g., the overall average errors of the existing ones are 1.012 and 2.042 while the error of the proposed hybrid evolutionary heuristic is 0.154.