Hyperinols A and B, chymotrypsin inhibiting triterpenes from Hypericum oblongifolium

Hyperinols A (1) and B (2) are new taraxastane type triterpenes which have been isolated from the chloroform soluble fraction of Hypericum oblongifolium and their structures elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. Both showed significant inhibitory activity against chymotrypsin enzyme.     

Modeling auditory-nerve responses for high sound pressure levels in the normal and impaired auditory periphery

This paper presents a computational model to simulate normal and impaired auditory-nerve (AN) fiber responses in cats. The model responses match physiological data over a wider dynamic range than previous auditory models. This is achieved by providing two modes of basilar membrane excitation to the inner hair cell (IHC) rather than one. The two modes are generated by two parallel filters, component 1 (C1) and component 2 (C2), and the outputs are subsequently transduced by two separate functions. The responses are then added and passed through the IHC low-pass filter followed by the IHC-AN synapse model and discharge generator. The C1 filter is a narrow-band, chirp filter with the gain and bandwidth controlled by a nonlinear feed-forward control path. This filter is responsible for low and moderate level responses. A linear, static, and broadly tuned C2 filter followed by a nonlinear, inverted and nonrectifying C2 transduction function is critical for producing transition region and high-level effects. Consistent with Kiang's two-factor cancellation hypothesis, the interaction between the two paths produces effects such as the C1/C2 transition and peak splitting in the period histogram. The model responses are consistent with a wide range of physiological data from both normal and impaired ears for stimuli presented at levels spanning the dynamic range of hearing.     

Exact Analysis of Level-Crossing Statistics for (d+1)-Dimensional Fluctuating Surfaces

We carry out an exact analysis of the average frequency ν⁺ _αxi in the direction x _i of positiveslope crossing of a given level α such that, h(x, t) − = α, of growing surfaces in spatial dimension d. Here, h(x, t) is the surface height at time t, and is its mean value. We analyze the problem when the surface growth dynamics is governed by the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation without surface tension, in the time regime prior to appearance of cusp singularities (sharp valleys), as well as in the random deposition (RD) model. The total number N ⁺ of such level-crossings with positive slope in all the directions is then shown to scale with time as t ^d/2 for both the KPZ equation and the RD model. PACS number(s): 52.75.Rx, 68.35.Ct     

Mechanical Modeling of Particle-Droplet Interaction Motivated by the Study of Self-Cleaning Mechanisms

Motivated by the study of self-cleaning surfaces, the interaction between a spherical solid particle and a water droplet is studied on the microsale level, in terms of the balance forces and the surface properties. To define the forces acting on the solid-liquid interface, the meniscus depression is computed from the Young-Laplace equation, using a non-linear finite element formulation. The equilibrium force is derived in terms of the contact angle, particle size, and the penetration. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

ChemInform Abstract: Band Edge Electronic Structure of BiVO4: Elucidating the Role of the Bi s and V d Orbitals.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.     

Common fixed point results for new Ciric-type rational multivalued <Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis>-contraction with an application

In this article, common fixed point theorems for a pair of multivalued mappings satisfying a new Ciric-type rational F-contraction condition in complete dislocated metric spaces are established. An example is constructed to illustrate our results. An application to the system of integral equations is presented to support the usability of proved results. Our results combine, extend and infer several comparable results in the existing literature.     

Synthesis of 1,4-diaryl-2-naphthoates based on site-selective Suzuki-Miyaura reactions

The palladium(0)-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction of the bis(triflates) of phenyl 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoate afforded various 1,4-diaryl-2-naphthoates. The reactions proceeded with very good site-selectivity. Due to electronic reasons, the first attack occurred at the sterically more hindered position C-1.     

New ceramides from Platytaenia multicaule

Phytochemical investigation of Platytaenia multicaule resulted in the isolation of two new ceramides, N-triacontylpentadecanamide and 1,3,4-trihydroxy-2,dodecanoylamino-(24E)-unacotenene, along with two known compounds, beta-sitosterol and beta-sitosterol glycoside. The structure elucidation of the isolated compounds was based primarily on 1D and 2D NMR analyses, including COSY, NOESY, HMQC, and HMBC correlations.