SOURCE TERM IDENTIFICATION WITH DISCONTINUOUS DUAL RECIPROCITY APPROXIMATION AND QUASI-NEWTON METHOD FROM BOUNDARY OBSERVATIONS

This paper deals with discontinuous dual reciprocity boundary element method for solving an inverse source problem.The aim of this work is to determine the source term in elliptic equations for nonhomogenous anisotropic media,where some additional boundary measurements are required.An equivalent formulation to the primary inverse problem is established based on the minimization of a functional cost,where a regularization term is employed to eliminate the oscillations of the noisy data.Moreover,an efficient algorithm is presented and tested for some numerical examples.     

Novel Foaming-Agent Free Insulating Geopolymer Based on Industrial Fly Ash and Rice Husk

This study highlights the synthesis of a new thermal insulating geopolymer based on the alkaline activation of fly ashes. A porous geopolymer material can be prepared without the addition of a foaming agent, using high ratio solution/ashes (activating solutions used are water, sodium or potassium hydroxide). In order to increase the porosity of the material and to make it more ecological, rice husks are incorporated into the formulation. The geopolymer materials were prepared at room temperature and dried at moderate temperature (105 °C) by a simple procedure. The microstructural characteristics of these new porous geopolymers were assessed by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to confirm the geopolymerisation. The effect of the ratio solution/ashes and the percentage of the rice husk addition on thermal and mechanical analysis was evaluated. An insulating material for a solution/ashes ratio of 0.9 and a rice husk content of 15% having a λ value of 0.087 W/(m·K), a porosity of 61.4% and an Rc value of 0.1 MPa was successfully prepared.     

Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Properties of Total Polyphenols of Anchusa italica Retz

Anchusa italica Retz has been used for a long time in phytotherapy. The aim of the present study was to determine the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of extracts from the leaves and roots of Anchusa italica Retz. We first determined the content of phenolic compounds and flavonoids using Folin–Ciocalteu reagents and aluminum chloride (AlCl₃). The antioxidant activity was determined using three methods: reducing power (FRAP), 2.2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), total antioxidant capacity (TAC). The antimicrobial activity was investigated against four strains of Escherichia coli, two strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, and one fungal strain of Candida albicans. The results showed that the root extract was rich in polyphenols (43.29 mg GAE/g extract), while the leave extract was rich in flavonoids (28.88 mg QE/g extract). The FRAP assay showed a strong iron reduction capacity for the root extract (IC₅₀ of 0.11 µg/mL) in comparison to ascorbic acid (IC₅₀ of 0.121 µg/mL). The DPPH test determined an IC₅₀ of 0.11 µg/mL for the root extract and an IC₅₀ of 0.14 µg/mL for the leaf extract. These values are low compared to those for ascorbic acid (IC₅₀ of 0.16 µg/mL) and BHT (IC₅₀ 0.20 µg/mL). The TAC values of the leaf and root extracts were 0.51 and 0.98 mg AAE/g extract, respectively. In vitro, the extract showed inhibitory activity against all strains studied, with diameters of zones of inhibition in the range of 11.00–16.00 mm for the root extract and 11.67–14.33 mm for the leaf extract. The minimum inhibitory concentration was recorded for the leaf extract against E. coli (ATB:57), corresponding to 5 mg/mL. Overall, this research indicates that the extracts of Anchusa italica Retz roots and leaves exert significant antioxidant and antibacterial activities, probably because of the high content of flavonoids and polyphenols.     

Antioxidant,Antimicrobial, and Insecticidal Properties of a Chemically Characterized Essential Oil from the Leaves of Dittrichia viscosa L.

Since some synthetic insecticides cause damage to human health, compounds in plants can be viable alternatives to conventional synthetic pesticides. Dittrichia viscosa L. is a perennial Mediterranean plant known to possess biological activities, including insecticidal properties. The chemical composition of an essential oil (EOD) from D. viscosa, as well as its antioxidant, antimicrobial, and insecticidal effects on the cowpea weevil (Callosobruchus maculatus) were determined. Forty-one volatile compounds were identified in EOD, which accounted for 97.5% of its constituents. Bornyl acetate (41%) was a major compound, followed by borneol (9.3%), α-amorphene (6.6%), and caryophyllene oxide (5.7%). EOD exhibited significant antioxidant activity in all tests performed, with an IC₅₀ of 1.30 ± 0.05 mg/mL in the DPPH test and an EC₅₀ equal to 36.0 ± 2.5 mg/mL in the FRAP assay. In the phosphor-molybdenum test, EOD results ranged from 39.81 ± 0.7 to 192.1 ± 0.8 mg AAE/g E. EOD was active on E. coli (9.5 ± 0.5 mm), S. aureus (31.0 ± 1.5 mm), C. albicans (20.4 ± 0.5 mm), and S. cerevisiae (28.0 ± 1.0 mm), with MICs ranging from 0.1 mg/mL to 3.3 mg/mL. We found that 1 µL of EOD caused 97.5 ± 5.0% insect mortality after 96 h in the inhalation test and 60.0 ± 8.3% in the ingestion assay. The median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) was 7.8 ± 0.3 μL EO/L, while the effective concentration in the ingestion test (LC₅₀) was 15.0 ± 2.1 μL EO/L. We found that 20 µL of EOD caused a reduction of more than 91% of C. maculatus laid eggs.     

Antibacterial Activity of a Novel Oligosaccharide from Streptomyces californics against Erwinia carotovora subsp. Carotovora

The present study aims to characterize and predict models for antibacterial activity of a novel oligosaccharide from Streptomyces californics against Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system and an artificial neural network. The mathematical predication models were used to determine the optimal conditions to produce oligosaccharide and determine the relationship between the factors (pH, temperature, and time). The characteristics of the purified antibacterial agent were determined using ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV/Vis), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H- and ¹³C-NMR), and mass spectrometry (MS). The best performances for the model were 39.45 and 35.16 recorded at epoch 1 for E. carotovora Erw₅ and E. carotovora EMCC 1687, respectively. The coefficient (R²) of the training was more than 0.90. The highest antimicrobial production was recorded after 9 days at 25 °C and a pH of 6.2, at which more than 17 mm of the inhibition zone was obtained. The mass spectrum of antimicrobial agent (peak at R.T. = 3.433 of fraction 6) recorded two molecular ion peaks at m/z = 703.70 and m/z = 338.30, corresponding to molecular weights of 703.70 and 338.30 g/mol, respectively. The two molecular ion peaks matched well with the molecular formulas C₂₉H₅₃NO₁₈ and C₁₄H₂₆O₉, respectively, which were obtained from the elemental analysis result. A novel oligosaccharide from Streptomyces californics with potential activity against E. carotovora EMCC 1687 and E. carotovora Erw₅ was successfully isolated, purified, and characterized.     

Fractal analysis of hydroxyapatite from nitrogen isotherms

Samples of calcium hydroxyapatite, CaHap, were prepared via a wet method and subjected to thermal treatment in air in the temperature range 100-900 degrees C. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms were obtained on different samples, and their data points were used to analyze the fractal properties of the obtained solids. Both FHH and Neimark's equations were used for such purpose, and the agreement or disagreements between obtained results on using both equations are discussed. Considering the appropriate values of the obtained surface fractal dimensions D, it was concluded that an appreciable defractalization of the prepared hydroxyapatite is only noted upon calcinations at 900 degrees C. Below this temperature the loss in surface area and pore volume result from simultaneous bulk and surface mass transport, which conserve the initial surface roughness and average pore radius. Calcination at 900 degrees C caused sintering to proceed via bulk mass transport, with a consequent pore widening and a decrease in surface roughness.     

Recoil spectrometry: Ion accelerator based elemental characterisation of surface layers

Recoil Spectrometry covers a group of techniques that are very similar to the well known Rutherford backscattering Spectrometry technique, but with the important difference that one measures the recoiling target atom rather than the projectile ion. This makes it possible to determine both the identity of the recoil and its depth of origin from its energy and velocity, using a suitable detector system. The incident ion is typically high-energy (30–100MeV)³⁵C1,⁸¹Br or¹²⁷I. Low concentrations of light elements such as C, O and N can be profiled in a heavy matrix such as Fe or GaAs. Here we present an overview of mass and energy dispersive recoil Spectrometry and illustrate its successful use in some typical applications.     

Utilization of charge-transfer complexation in the spectrophotometric determination of some monosaccharides through their osazone intermediates

Monosaccharide osazones are utilized in the spectrophotometric determination of their parent compounds though charge-transfer complexation with two-electron acceptor reagents. The molar combining ratio and the optimum complexation conditions have been studied. The method has been used to analyse for glucose and fructose and in determining blood glucose.     

Thermal and temperature dependence of electrical conductivity studies on Zn,Cd and Hg hydrazone complexes

The complexes of Zn, Cd and Hg of isatin isonicotinoyl hydrazone were prepared at two differentpHs. Their thermal studies (TG, DTG and DTA) have been made and the DC electrical conductivity of compressed powder samples as a function of temperature was investigated. The activation energies (E) were calculated for the ligand and the complexes which showed that the ligand has a lower value of E than the complexes. The magnitude of E was found to be affected by the nature of the metal and thepH of preparation.

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Zusammenfassung Bei zwei verschiedenenpH-Werten wurden die Zn-, Cd- und Hg-Komplexe von Isatinisonicotinoylhydrazon hergestellt. Diese wurden thermisch untersucht (TG, DTG, DTA) und die Gleichstromleitfähigkeit von gepreßten Pulverproben als eine Funktion der Temperatur untersucht. Sowohl für die Liganden als auch für die Komplexe wurden die Aktivierungsenergien (E) berechnet, wobei sich für die Liganden niedrigere Werte ergaben. Man fand, daß die Größe von E durch die Art des Metalles und denpH-Wert bei der Herstellung beeinflußt wird.

     

Comparative Study of Surface Functionalization of Hydroxyapatite by One‐pot Grafting of Organophosphonates Species

The ability to graft apatite surface by specific ligand fields creates powerful new technology applications. Thus, grafted organophosphonate can provide an effective route to modify the surface properties of apatite materials. The ability to decorate the apatite surface with the desired functionality requires covalent attachment to solid interface; most commonly achieved using organophosphonate self‐assembly. The current study shows that various phosphonates can react with calcium ions and control the formation of the porous apatite with high surface areas as well as the porosity. The structural and surface properties are given some importance in this review.