Assessment of Chemical Composition and Anti-Penicillium Activity of Vapours of Essential Oils from Abies Alba and Two Melaleuca Species in Food Model Systems

The possibilities of the practical utilization of essential oils (EOs) from various plant species in the food industry have attracted the attention of the scientific community. Following our previous studies, the antifungal activities of three further commercial EOs, Melaleuca armillaris subsp. armillaris (rosalina; REO), Melaleuca quinquenervia (niaouli; NEO), and Abies alba (fir; FEO), were evaluated in the present research in respect to their chemical profiles, over four different concentrations, 62.5 μL/L, 125 μL/L, 250 μL/L, and 500 μL/L. The findings revealed that the major compounds of REO, NEO, and FEO were linalool (47.5%), 1,8-cineole (40.8%), and α-pinene (25.2%), respectively. In vitro antifungal determinations showed that the inhibition zones of a Penicillium spp. mycelial growth ranged from no inhibitory effectiveness (00.00 ± 00.00 mm) to 16.00 ± 1.00 mm, indicating a very strong antifungal activity which was detected against P. citrinum after the highest REO concentration exposure. Furthermore, the in situ antifungal efficacy of all EOs investigated was shown to be dose-dependent. In this sense, we have found that the highest concentration (500 µL/L) of REO, NEO, and FEO significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the growth of all Penicillium strains inoculated on the bread, carrot, and potato models. These results indicate that the investigated EOs may be promising innovative agents in order to extend the shelf life of different types of food products, such as bread, carrot and potato.     

Mathematical Models for Unstable Quantum Systems and Gamow States

We review some results in the theory of non-relativistic quantum unstable systems. We account for the most important definitions of quantum resonances that we identify with unstable quantum systems. Then, we recall the properties and construction of Gamow states as vectors in some extensions of Hilbert spaces, called Rigged Hilbert Spaces. Gamow states account for the purely exponential decaying part of a resonance; the experimental exponential decay for long periods of time physically characterizes a resonance. We briefly discuss one of the most usual models for resonances: the Friedrichs model. Using an algebraic formalism for states and observables, we show that Gamow states cannot be pure states or mixtures from a standard view point. We discuss some additional properties of Gamow states, such as the possibility of obtaining mean values of certain observables on Gamow states. A modification of the time evolution law for the linear space spanned by Gamow shows that some non-commuting observables on this space become commuting for large values of time. We apply Gamow states for a possible explanation of the Loschmidt echo.     

Configuration Design Sensitivity Analysis of Kinematic Responses of Mechanical Systems∗

Abstract

A continuum-based configuration design sensitivity analysis method is presented for kinematically driven mechanical systems. Configuration design variable for mechanical systems are defined. The 3-1-3 Euler angle is used as the orientation design variable. The reassembly process for a mechanical system after a configuration design change is eliminated by imposing kinematic admissibility conditions of the velocity field. The direct differentiation method is used to derive design sensitivity equations. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Electron-phonon coupling in cuprate and iron-based superconductors revealed by Raman scattering

Electron-phonon coupling （EPC） in cuprate and iron-based superconducting systems, as revealed by Raman scat- tering, is briefly reviewed. We introduce how to extract the coupling information through phonon lineshape. Then we discuss the strength of EPC in different high-temperature superconductor （HTSC） systems and possible factors affecting the strength. A comparative study between Raman phonon theories and experiments allows us to gain insight into some crucial electronic properties, especially superconductivity. Finally, we summarize and compare EPC in the two existing HTSC systems, and discuss what role it may play in the HTSC.     

SPONTANEOUS TRANSFORMATIONS OF NANOCLUSTERS

It is well-known that nano-systems can have properties which are distinctly different from macroscopic systems. In this study we point out the following specific behaviour: if the particle number is decreased so that the size of the system is in the nanometer-realm, new effects emerge which reflect certain features of biological systems although the system is inorganic in nature. This behaviour is shown by realistic molecular dynamics calculations in connection with aluminum-nanoclusters at various temperatures. The clusters can transform without external influence from a metastable into a stable state, and there can be more than one stable state, that is, we observe a bifurcation in the sense of chaos-theory. The stable states can differ in both the atomic structure and the outer shape.     

Universality in the length spectrum of integrable systems

The length spectrum of periodic orbits in integrable hamiltonian systems can be expressed in terms of the set of winding numbers {M ₁,…,M _f} on thef-tori. Using the Poisson summation formula, one can thus express the density, Σδ(T−T _M), as a sum of a smooth average part and fluctuations about it. Working with homogeneous separable potentials, we explicitly show that the fluctuations are due to quantal energies. Further, their statistical properties are universal and typical of a Poisson process as in the corresponding quantal energy eigenvalues. It is interesting to note however that even though long periodic orbits in chaotic billiards have similar statistical properties, the form of the fluctuations are indeed very different.