A new minor butenolide from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Machilus odoratissima</Emphasis>

A new butenolide, designated odoratinolide (1), was isolated from the bark of the Vietnamese medicinal plant Machilus odoratissima. Its structure was determined by spectroscopic analyses.     

On global existence of solutions to a cross-diffusion system

We consider a strongly coupled nonlinear parabolic system which arises in population dynamics in n-dimensional domains (n?1). We prove the global existence of classical solutions to the system for n<10.     

Two acridones and two coumarins from the roots of Paramignya trimera

Two acridones, paratrimerins C (1) and D (2), and two coumarins, paratrimerins E (3) and F (4), were isolated from the CHCl₃ and EtOAc extracts of Paramignya trimera (Rutaceae), together with twelve known compounds (5–16). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. All isolated compounds possessed significant α-glucosidase inhibitory activity in a concentration-dependent manner, and showed more potent inhibitory activity, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 14.6 to 112.2 μM, than the positive control acarbose (IC₅₀, 214.5 μM). The biosynthesis of the isolated coumarins and acridones was proposed.     

Copper ferrite superparamagnetic nanoparticles as a heterogeneous catalyst for directed phenol/formamide coupling

The copper ferrite-catalyzed, directed coupling of ortho-arylated phenols and dialkylformamides in the presence of a peroxide oxidant is described. Acyclic and cyclic amides were compatible with the reaction conditions. The copper ferrite catalyst is heterogeneous since substantial leaching was not detected and re-use of the catalyst for 9 consecutive reactions proceeded without a significant decrease in yield. To the best of our knowledge, this transformation has not been previously performed under heterogeneous catalysis conditions.     

Channel effect in isomeric ratio of 137m,gCe produced in different nuclear reactions

This work presents the experimental study of the isomeric ratio of ^137mCe–^137gCe produced in ¹³⁸Ce(γ, n) ^137m,gCe photonuclear reaction, in neutron capture reaction ¹³⁶Ce(n, γ) ^137m,gCe and in the two simultaneous reactions ¹³⁸Ce(γ, n) ^137m,gCe and ¹³⁶Ce(n, γ) ^137m,gCe in the mixed photon—neutron field by the activation method. The investigated samples were irradiated at the bremsstrahlung photon flux, in the epithermal and thermal-epithermal neutron beam and in the mixed photon-neutron field constructed at the electron accelerator Microtron MT-25 of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reaction, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia. The results were analyzed, discussed and compared with those of other authors to examine the role of the channel effect in nuclear reaction and provide the nuclear data for theoretical model interpretation of nuclear reactions.

     

Impact of M1A1 main battle tank disturbance on soil quality, invertebrates, and vegetation characteristics

Military training commonly results in land degradation, but protocols for assessing and predicting long-term environmental impact are lacking. An ability to assess the impact of repeated disturbance and subsequent recovery is needed to balance training requirements against environmental quality. To develop methodology for assessing soil quality, a study evaluating disturbance resulting from tank maneuvers was initiated on Fort Riley Military Installation, Kansas. The objectives were to identify and quantify soil-quality indicators on two soil types exposed to controlled tank traffic. We examined physical, chemical, and biotic indicators after treatments were applied during wet and dry soil conditions. A randomized complete-block design, with three blocks per soil type and three treatments per block, was used. Treatments consisted of disturbance created by a 63-ton M1A1 tank making five passes in a figure-8 pattern during either dry or wet soil conditions. The M1A1 was operated at a speed of approximately 8 km/h. Control plots received no tank traffic. Soil-quality indicators evaluated were soil compaction, soil penetration resistance, rut depth, soil bulk density, soil texture, soil chemical composition, plant biomass, soil microbial diversity, and nematode and earthworm taxa. Soil-quality indicators were sampled within one week after tank disturbance. Preliminary data indicate soil-texture-dependent treatment effects (p  0.05) for bulk density and porosity. Bulk density increased and porosity decreased on trafficked areas, in the silt loam soil, but showed no change in the silty clay loam soil. Disturbance during wet soil conditions raised penetrometer resistance and gravimetric water content more than disturbance during dry soil conditions (p  0.05). A significant difference in disturbance was measured between the outside and inside portion of the same track (p  0.01 and 0.001, respectively). The outside track caused the greatest amount of disturbance, as measured by the height of the disturbed soil ridge above the track bed. Tank disturbance significantly reduced total vegetative biomass (p  0.05) compared with that of un-trafficked areas. Disturbance under wet soil conditions significantly reduced grass biomass (p = 0.040), whereas disturbance under dry soil conditions significantly reduced forb biomass (p = 0.0247) compared to un-trafficked areas. Total earthworm abundance (p = 0.011) was reduced by 82% when disturbance occurred during wet soil conditions regardless of soil type.     

An oxacalix[2]arene[2]pyrimidine-bis(Zn-porphyrin) tweezer as a selective receptor towards fullerene C70

An oxacalix[2]arene[2]pyrimidine-bis(Zn^II-porphyrin) conjugate was readily prepared via nucleophilic aromatic substitution of a phenolic AB₃-Zn-porphyrin on the upper rim of a (1,3-alternate) 5,17-bis(methylsulfonyl)oxacalix[4]arene precursor. Efficient 1:1 complex formation between the ‘jaws’ bisporphyrin tweezer and fullerene C₇₀ was evidenced by ¹H NMR titrations (K = 3.0 × 10⁴ M⁻¹), while no detectable complexation could be observed with C₆₀. On the other hand, an analogous oxacalix[4]arene-bis(Cu-corrole) conjugate did not show any measurable (C₆₀ or C₇₀) fullerene binding.     

On an optimal robust digital image watermarking based on SVD using differential evolution algorithm

It is shown that the optimal robust digital image watermarking based on singular value decomposition using differential evolution algorithm proposed by Veysel Aslantas [Opt. Commun. 282(5):769-777 (2009)] has a serious fundamental flaw and should not be used for proof of ownership application.     

Projected viscosity subgradient methods for variational inequalities with equilibrium problem constraints in Hilbert spaces

In this paper, we introduce and study some low computational cost numerical methods for finding a solution of a variational inequality problem over the solution set of an equilibrium problem in a real Hilbert space. The strong convergence of the iterative sequences generated by the proposed algorithms is obtained by combining viscosity-type approximations with projected subgradient techniques. First a general scheme is proposed, and afterwards two practical realizations of it are studied depending on the characteristics of the feasible set. When this set is described by convex inequalities, the projections onto the feasible set are replaced by projections onto half-spaces with the consequence that most iterates are outside the feasible domain. On the other hand, when the projections onto the feasible set can be easily computed, the method generates feasible points and can be considered as a generalization of Maingé’s method to equilibrium problem constraints. In both cases, the strong convergence of the sequences generated by the proposed algorithms is proven.