Chemical composition and possible in vitro phytotoxic activity of Helichrsyum italicum (Roth) Don ssp. italicum

The chemical composition of the essential oil of Helichrysum italicum (Roth) Don ssp. italicum, collected in the National Park of Cilento and Diano Valley, Southern Italy, was studied by means of GC and GC/MS. Forty four compounds of 45 constituents were identified in the oil, mainly oxygenated sesquiterpenes. The essential oil was evaluated for its potential in vitro phytotoxic activity against germination and early radicle elongation of radish and garden cress. The radicle elongation of radish was significantly inhibited at the highest doses tested, while germination of both seeds was not affected.     

Influence of Coupling Delay on Noise Induced Coherent Oscillations in Excitable Systems

Influence of small time-delays in coupling between noisy excitable systems on the coherence resonance and self-induced stochastic resonance is studied. Parameters of delayed coupled deterministic excitable units are chosen such that the system has only one attractor, namely the stationary state, for any value of the coupling and the time-lag. Addition of white noise induces qualitatively different types of coherent oscillations, and we analyzed the influence of coupling time-delay on the properties of these coherent oscillations. The main conclusion is that time-lag τ≥1, but still smaller than the refractory period, and sufficiently strong coupling drastically change signal to noise ratio in the quantitative and qualitative way. An interval of noise values implies quite large signal to noise ratio and different types of noise induced coherence are greatly enhanced. We also observed coincident spiking for small noise intensity and time-lag proportional to the inter-spike interval of the coherent spike trains. On the other hand, time-lags τ<1 and/or weak coupling induce negligible changes in the properties of the stochastic coherence.     

Coherence properties of individual femtosecond pulses of an x-ray free-electron laser

Measurements of the spatial and temporal coherence of single, femtosecond x-ray pulses generated by the first hard x-ray free-electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source, are presented. Single-shot measurements were performed at 780?eV x-ray photon energy using apertures containing double pinholes in "diffract-and-destroy" mode. We determined a coherence length of 17 μm in the vertical direction, which is approximately the size of the focused Linac Coherent Light Source beam in the same direction. The analysis of the diffraction patterns produced by the pinholes with the largest separation yields an estimate of the temporal coherence time of 0.55?fs. We find that the total degree of transverse coherence is 56% and that the x-ray pulses are adequately described by two transverse coherent modes in each direction. This leads us to the conclusion that 78% of the total power is contained in the dominant mode.     

Salting-in effect of ionic liquids on poly(N-vinylimidazole) hydrogels

This work attempts to study the interaction of two ionic liquids (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tosylate and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride) with chemically crosslinked poly(N-vinylimidazole) in aqueous media, and to compare it with that of NaCl, a typical salting-out electrolyte. The three salts show a salting-in effect whose intensity was measured on the basis of the decrease of the polymer–solvent interaction parameter and the increase of swelling with increasing ionic strength. It was thus found that the salting-in effect is the same for the two salts with the same anion (chloride), while the intensity of the salting-in effect exerted by the tosylate ionic liquid is larger. The coefficient of selective sorption, which expresses the salt excess inside the swollen gel with respect to the external solution was determined by comparing the initial and equilibrium compositions of the immersion bath. These results are discussed in terms of the hydrophobic character of the ions involved.     

Determination of Trace Metals in Woodlice and their Skins with Particular Emphasis on Quality Control

AI, Fe, Mn and Zn were determined in two ditTerent species of woodlouse: Porcellio scaber and Porcellio dilalalus. Both species were cultivated under standardized conditions in a climatic chamber. Moreover, skins of the cultivated animals were collected and analyzed separately to examine a possible way of decontamination by moulting. To obtain enough sample material for each species, IS animals of the same age and size were pooled. For skin analysis, 10–12 skins were collected and pooled. The animals and their skins were dried, ground and digested in pure concentrated nitric acid using multiwave-assisted high-pressure digestion and. finally, analyzed by ICP-OES. Special emphasis was given to quality control: the reference materials Dorm-2, Dogfish Muscle (Squalus acanthias) and SRM 1577b Bovine Liver, were used to evaluate the whole analytical process including sample digestion. These reference materials of animal origin were selected to match the matrix of the samples as closely as possible. While concentrations of Fe. Mn and Zn were traced to both reference materials, the concentration of AI was checked by Dorm-2 only. Analyses of the elements in the reference materials were carried out using four ditTerent wavelengths for each element simultaneously. aiming at the determination of the best suited wavelength for each element. Analyses of woodlouse samples and their skins were finally carried out using the wavelengths with the highest sensitivities after absence of spectral interferences had been demonstrated.     

Surface plasmon resonance, fluorescence, and circular dichroism studies for the characterization of the binding of BACE-1 inhibitors

The mechanism of action underlying β-secretase 1 (BACE-1) inhibition was characterized by a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) method using primary amino groups to immobilize OM99-2, a well-known highly potent peptidic BACE-1 inhibitor, on the carboxyl groups of the dextran layer of a sensor chip. The diluted BACE-1 was mixed with buffer or the test compound and the mixture was flushed through the chip. BACE-1 binding to the immobilized peptide inhibitor was quantified. This SPR method was used to identify BACE-1 inhibitor binding sites and the mechanism of action (competitive/noncompetitive) and to validate findings of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) inhibition studies. To support this, a multimethodological approach (circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy) was applied in parallel to FRET inhibition studies to characterize the binding modes of peptidic and nonpeptidic BACE-1 inhibitors. Circular dichroism spectroscopy served to correlate the conformation of BACE-1 with enzymatic activity and to monitor secondary structure changes upon ligand binding. In a complementary approach, direct fluorescence spectroscopy was used to characterize different BACE-1 inhibitor binding sites. The influence of pH and inhibitors on BACE-1 secondary structure was also elucidated. This multimethodological approach was applied to identify binding modes of bis(7)-tacrine and myricetin in comparison with well-known peptidic inhibitors.

Furan-based Polysemiacylcarbazides by Polyaddition of Bis(furanic hydrazide)s with Diisocyanates

A solution polyaddition procedure was applied to prepare furanic polyacylsemicarbazides based on 2,2′-isopropylidene-bis(5-(2-furoyl) hydrazide) and aliphatic or aromatic diisocyanates. Model compounds were prepared to facilitate the synthesis and the characterization of the polymers. A systematic study of reaction parameters (the nature of the organic phase, the temperature, the reaction time, and the concentration of monomers) was carried out. High MW polymers were obtained after 12 h reaction at 20°C with 0.2 M monomer solutions in dimethylacetamide. In fact, the polyacylsemicarbazides obtained had inherent viscosities ranging from 0.63 to 0.85 dL/g. There showed good solubility in aprotic polar solvents. The ¹H and ¹³C-NMR spectra were consistent with the expected structures. These furan-based polyacylsemicarbazides are thermally stable up to 290°C, but exhibit a complex thermal behavior. This was explained by the cyclohydration of acylsemicarbazide groups into NH-substituted oxadiazoles, resulting in rigid and high melting polymers, less stable, however, than conventional aromatic polyoxadiazoles.     

Unusual mixed solvent supramolecular crystal framework formed of a new tecton-like tetracarboxylic building block

A new tecton-like tetracarboxylic compound 1 featuring two isophthalic acid groups attached to both ends of a rigid 1,3-butadiyne spacer unit is synthesised using acetylene blocking/deblocking and coupling techniques. Crystallisation of 1 from DMSO-chloroform solution gives rise to the formation of an unusual mixed solvent crystalline framework structure 1a containing DMSO and chloroform as secondary and tertiary components in 1:2:1 stoichiometric ratio. The X-ray crystal structure of 1a shows interesting stacking mode and hydrogen-bonded, 3D network architecture with the two solvent species being involved in different behaviour pattern.     

Thermo-mechanical computation of inelastic pavement structures under rolling tire loads

A realistic and numerically efficient computation of the tire-pavement interaction is essential for the investigation of the structural behavior of pavements under rolling tire load as base of the development of more durable pavement structures. The paper presents a thermo-mechanical coupled simulation model based on an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulation that considers the inelastic and temperature dependent material properties of asphalt. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Isotope analyses of the lake sediments in the Plitvice Lakes,Croatia

The analyses of radioactive isotopes ¹⁴C, ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb, and stable isotope ¹³C were performed in the sediment cores, top 40 cm, taken in 2011 from karst lakes Pro??e and Kozjak in the Plitvice Lakes National Park, central Croatia. Frozen sediment cores were cut into 1 cm thick layers and dried. ¹⁴C activity in both carbonate and organic fractions was measured using accelerator mass spectrometry technique with graphite synthesis. ¹³⁷Cs, ²¹⁰Pb, ²¹⁴Pb and ²¹⁴Bi were measured by low level gamma spectrometry method on ORTECHPGe detector with the efficiency of 32%. Distribution of ¹⁴C activity from both lakes showed increase of the ¹⁴C activity in the top 10–12 cm in both carbonate and organic fractions as a response to thermonuclear bomb-produced ¹⁴C in the atmosphere in the sixties of the 20th century. Anthropogenically produced ¹³⁷Cs was also observed in sediment profiles. Sedimentation rates for both lake sediments were estimated based on the unsupported ²¹⁰Pb activity. Different ¹⁴C activity of the carbonate fraction (63–80 pMC, percent of modern carbon) and organic fraction (82–93 pMC) is the result of geochemical and biological processes of the sediment precipitation in the lake waters. This is also confirmed by the δ ¹³ C values of both fractions. Carbon isotope composition, a ¹⁴ C and δ ¹³ C, was compared with the lake sediments from the same lakes collected in 1989 and 2003.