Chemical composition and in vitro antifungal and antioxidant activity of the essential oil and methanolic extract of Teucrium sauvagei Le Houerou

The chemical composition and the in vitro antifungal and antioxidant activity of the essential oil and the methanolic leaf extracts of Teucrium sauvagei Le Houerou, an endemic medicinal plant growing in Tunisia, have been studied. More than 35 constituents having an abundance >or=0.2% were identified in the oil. beta-Eudesmol, T-cadinol, alpha-thujene, gamma-cadinene, and sabinene were the prevalent constituents. Results of the antifungal activity tests indicated that the methanolic extract inhibited the in vitro growth of seven dermatophytes, whereas the essential oil showed average inhibition against only three dermatophytes. In vitro antioxidant properties of the essential oil and the methanolic extract were determined by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid)) assays and compared to those of the synthetic antioxidant Trolox. Due to their antifungal and antioxidant properties, the essential oil and the methanolic extract of T. sauvagei may be of use as natural preservative ingredients in food and/or pharmaceutical industries.     

Antioxidant activity and two new flavonoids from Washingtonia filifera

Two new flavonoids, 8-hydroxyisoscoparin (1) and luteolin 7-O-glucoside 4'-sulfate (2), along with eight known flavonoids, including luteolin 7-O-glucoside 2'-sulfate, were isolated and identified from Washingtonia filifera. All compounds were characterized by (1)H-NMR, (13)C-NMR, CI-MS, FABMS and UV. The antioxidant activities of various W. filifera extracts were determined.     

High-energy femtosecond photonic crystal fiber laser

We report the generation of high-energy high-peak power pulses in an all-normal dispersion fiber laser featuring large-mode-area photonic crystal fibers. The self-starting chirped-pulse fiber oscillator delivers 11 W of average power at 15.5 MHz repetition rate, resulting in 710 nJ of pulse energy. The output pulses are dechirped outside the cavity from 7 ps to nearly transform-limited duration of 300 fs, leading to pulse peak powers as high as 1.9 MW. Numerical simulations reveal that pulse shaping is dominated by the amplitude modulation and spectral filtering provided by a resonant semiconductor saturable absorber.     

Analytical solution of time‐fractional Navier–Stokes equation in polar coordinate by homotopy perturbation method

In this letter, we implement a relatively new analytical technique, the homotopy perturbation method (HPM), for solving linear partial differential equations of fractional order arising in fluid mechanics. The fractional derivatives are described in Caputo derivatives. This method can be used as an alternative to obtain analytic and approximate solutions of different types of fractional differential equations applied in engineering mathematics. The corresponding solutions of the integer order equations are found to follow as special cases of those of fractional order equations. Some numerical examples are presented to illustrate the efficiency and reliability of HPM. He's HPM, which does not need small parameter is implemented for solving the differential equations. In this method, a homotopy is introduced to be constructed for the equation. The initial approximations can be freely chosen with possible unknown constants that can be determined by imposing the boundary and initial conditions. It is predicted that HPM can be found widely applicable in engineering. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 2010     

Experimental Investigation,Viscoelastic-Plastic Modelling and Parameter Identification for Different Batches of 51CrV4 Steel

In this paper, differences of the mechanical behaviour of several batches of 51CrV4 are shown in elongational controlled tests. The consequences of modelling the behaviour are treated with a viscoelastic-plastic model. For each batch, a new parameter set was obtained using an evolution based optimization strategy. Here, the average parameter set is shown to be inaccurate in case of using it for all batches. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On Symmetric Boundary Conditions in the Context of Viscoelastic Fluid Flows

In order to reduce the numerical cost of three dimensional flow problems with geometrical symmetry, the use of symmetric boundary conditions is standard. For Newtonian fluid flow problems this approximation is usually appropriate, particularly when the Reynolds number is small. In the case of viscoelastic fluid flow simulations with stabilization techniques, such as the so-called DEVSS and/or Log-Conformation tensor methods, at high Deborah number flows this implementation is not straightforward, as in the Newtonian case. It is well known that viscoelastic models (e.g. Maxwellian models), show (purely) elastic flow instabilities when the Deborah number is increased above a critical value, even under creeping flow conditions. In this work we present numerical simulations with different stabilization techniques and different differential viscoelastic models at high Deborah number flows. As a test-case, we compare the flow in a full two-dimensional cross-slot geometry to show the asymmetrical behavior of the viscoelastic fluid flow. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The busy period of an M/M/1 queue with balking and reneging

It has been shown by (R.O. Al-Seedy, A.A. El-Sherbiny, S.A. El-Shehawy, S.I. Ammar, Transient solution of the M/M/c queue with balking and reneging, Comput. Math. Appl. 57 (2009) 1280–1285) that a generating function technique can be successfully applied to derive the transient solution for an M/M/c queueing system. In this paper, we further illustrate how this technique can be used to obtain the busy period density function of an M/M/1 queue with balking and reneging. Finally, numerical calculations are presented.     

Beta Stirling refrigerator performance using a tubular heat exchanger with elliptical tube layouts and a cylinder with different bores

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The Stirling cycle is regarded as one alternative to the compressive cooling cycle. The current study examines the performance of a beta Stirling...     

LC–DAD/ESI–MS/MS characterization of phenolic constituents in Rosa canina L. and its protective effect in cells

In an aim to prove the efficiency of polyphenols of Rosa canina fruits in promoting human health. A methanolic extract of R. canina fruits was prepared by successive maceration with solvents of increasing polarity. The polyphenol composition was analyzed by HPLC–DAD–ESI–MS. The biological activity of this extract on SH-SY5Y cells and HepG2 cells was then studied. The antioxidant activity was tested by various in vitro tests such as DPPH-radical-scavenging activity, FRAP assay, hydroxyl radical scavenging assay and total antioxidant capacity. The subacute toxicity of R. canina was tested on female rats by repeated intraperitoneal administration of various doses. The phenolic profiles showed 25 antioxidants distributed into three classes of phenolic compounds: glycosylated and agglomerated flavonoids/isoflavonoids, tannins and phenanthrenes. Qualitative phytochemical analyses showed that this extract lacks alkaloids. The methanolic extract of R. canina fruits has a total antioxidant capacity of 82.69 ± 1.18 μg EAA/mg of methanol extract and the IC₅₀ of the methods used is in the following increasing order: FRAP assay (61.88 μg/ml), then hydroxyl radical scavenging assay (67.45 μg/ml) and then DPPH radical-scavenging activity (129.81 μg/ml). The extract of R. canina did not cause any phenotypic signs of toxicity or mortality during and after treatment. The LD₅₀ was >5,000 mg/kg, hence, R. canina was considered nontoxic. An in vivo study proved the protective effect of R. canina against cardiac and hepato-renal toxicities. These results drew the importance of a healthy diet, where diets rich in R. canina fruits can be used as a rich natural source of antioxidants and anticarcinogenic phenolic compounds.     

An overview on synthetic strategies to coumarins

Coumarins units have recently emerged as a hot topic of research due to their diverse applications. Their synthesis is partly based on classical methodologies such as Pechmann reaction or Knoevenagel condensation, but it also sparked the discovery of completely new pathways. In very recent years so-called vertically expanded coumarins were synthesized, effectively expanding the portfolio of existing architectures. This review serves as a guide through synthesis strategies to coumarins.