Volatile organic compounds in an urban environment: a comparison among Belgium,Vietnam and Ethiopia

The effects of urban and indoor air pollution on human health are a major environmental concern for all, but not much has been researched in the developing world. Specifically, quantitative data on the occurrence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – main contributors to air pollution – in Asia and Africa are scarce compared to the availability of data in the developed world. This paper presents one of the first studies focusing on the analysis and occurrence of VOCs in Vietnam and Ethiopia, which constitutes part of the novelty of this work. A spectrum of 34 VOCs was measured at eight different urban sites in Ghent (Belgium), Hanoi (Vietnam), Jimma and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) during three sampling campaigns from September 2008 to September 2010. Sampling was done in an active way by means of sorbent tubes filled with Tenax TA. The analysis was done by TD-GC-MS using internal standard calibration. Data were interpreted and compared in terms of (i) individual, subgroup and total VOCs concentration (TVOCs), (ii) indoor-to-outdoor (I/O) concentration ratios, (iii) source identification by diagnostic ratio and/or correlation coefficients, and (iv) ozone formation potential (OFP) at outdoor sites based on up-to-date maximum incremental reactivity (MIR). I/O concentration ratios varied between 0.2 and 30, with big differences noticed with respect to the type of VOC(s) considered and the type of outdoor sampling location. The highest TVOC concentrations were measured in street samples with maximum values of 54?µg/m³ in Ghent, 507?µg/m³ in Hanoi and 318?µg/m³ in Addis Ababa illustrating the large difference in ambient air quality levels. This is also reflected in the arithmetic mean OFP values (µg/m³) of 82, 1308 and 596 in Ghent, Hanoi and Addis Ababa, respectively. Results of this study could be helpful to support formulation of national policy with regard to ambient air quality.     

Non-thermal Plasma Activated Water for Increasing Germination and Plant Growth of Lactuca sativa L

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - Non-thermal plasma is widely considered as an effective technology for applications in agriculture. Particularly, numerous reports studies have highlighted...     

Triterpene glycosides from the Vietnamese sea cucumber Holothuria edulis

Abstract

From the MeOH extract of the Vietnamese sea cucumber Holothuria edulis, eight triterpene glycosides (1–8), including one new compound namely holothurin A₅ (1), were isolated by using various chromatographic separations. Their structures were established by spectroscopic experiments including 1D, 2D NMR and HR-ESI-MS. Holothurin A₅ (1) has a hydroperoxy group at C-25. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of this group in triterpene saponins obtained from sea cucumbers to date. In addition, the in vitro cytotoxicity against five human cancer cell lines (HepG2, KB, LNCaP, MCF7 and SK-Mel2) of all isolated compounds was also evaluated using SRB assays.     

Perfect impedance-matched left-handed behavior in combined metamaterial

Matching the impedance of a medium to free space, which is usually not available in natural materials, is an important advance in metamaterials. In this paper, we present a simple mechanism for a perfect impedance-matched left-handed metamaterials, that reveals a nearly zero reflection over operating frequency. This finding is based on the independent manipulation of the electric response without any effect on the magnetic one.     

Globally solving a nonlinear UAV task assignment problem by stochastic and deterministic optimization approaches

In this paper, we consider a task allocation model that consists of assigning a set of m unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to a set of n tasks in an optimal way. The optimality is quantified by target scores. The mission is to maximize the target score while satisfying capacity constraints of both the UAVs and the tasks. This problem is known to be NP-hard. Existing algorithms are not suitable for the large scale setting. Scalability and robustness are recognized as two main issues. We deal with these issues by two optimization approaches. The first approach is the Cross-Entropy (CE) method, a generic and practical tool of stochastic optimization for solving NP-hard problem. The second one is Branch and Bound algorithm, an efficient classical tool of global deterministic optimization. The numerical results show the efficiency of our approaches, in particular the CE method for very large scale setting.     

The challenge in managing new financial risks: adopting an heuristic or theoretical approach

The financial crisis began with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subprime asset backed securities debacle. Credit risk was turned into liquidity risk, resulting in a lack of confidence among financial institutions. In this article, we will propose a way to model liquidity risk and the credit risk in best practices. We will show that liquidity risk is a new type of risk and the current way to deal with it is based solely on observed variables without any theoretical link. We propose an heuristic approach to combine the numerous liquidity risk indicators with a logistic regression for the first time. In regards to credit risk, several articles prove that the best practice is to use an option model to appreciate this risk. We will present our methodology using stochastic diffusion for the interest rate because currently the yield curves aren’t liquid. This approach is more relevant because the basis model in prior publications has a constant interest rate or a forward rate. Both models allow a better understanding of liquidity and credit risks and the further development of research deals with the link between these two financial risks.     

Structural studies of the chemical constituents of Tithonia tagetiflora Desv. (Asteraceae)

Tithonia tagetiflora Desv. (Asteraceae) is a widespread plant in Vietnam, and the species of Tithonia are known as plants containing many biologically active compounds. However, T. tagetiflora's chemical composition remains mostly unknown. Therefore, we now report the structural elucidation of two new sesquiterpene lactones, 8‐angeloyloxy‐2,14‐epoxygermacra‐4,10(1),11(13)‐trien‐6,12‐olide (1) and 6‐angeloyloxy‐1‐hydroxy‐3,4‐epoxygermacra‐9,11(13)‐dien‐8,12‐olide (2), together with three known compounds, including two norisoprenoids, (6S,9S)‐vomifoliol or (6R,9R)‐vomifoliol (3) and (6S,9S)‐roseoside (4), and one glutinane type triterpene, epi‐glutinol (5), from the leaves of T. tagetiflora. Their structures are established by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, as well as ESI‐MS analysis and comparison with literature data. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meromorphic solutions of equations over non-Archimedean fields

In this paper, we give some conditions to assure that the equation P(X)=Q(Y) has no meromorphic solutions in all K, where P and Q are polynomials over an algebraically closed field K of characteristic zero, complete with respect to a non-Archimedean valuation. In particular, if P and Q satisfy the hypothesis (F) introduced by H. Fujimoto, a necessary and sufficient condition is obtained when deg P=deg Q. The results are presented in terms of parametrization of a projective curve by three entire functions. In this way we also obtain similar results for unbounded analytic functions inside an open disk.      

Electrochemical Characterization of the Interaction of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes with Doxorubicin

It has been suggested that multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) interacting with pharmaceutics may be introduced into the body as nanocarriers. To deliver the anticancer drugs, covalent or noncovalent functionalization of MWCNTs is required. In this study, the influence of oxidation on MWCNTs in the interaction with chemotherapeutic drug, doxorubicin, was characterized. The binding of doxorubicin with MWCNTs decreased rapidly with the increasing oxidation period with sulfuric acid. However, with nitric acid, the interaction increased initially and slowly decreased with time. The best results were obtained for sulfuric and nitric acid following 1 and 3?h of oxidation, respectively. The results show that sulfuric acid provided more favorable interaction for MWCNTs with doxorubicin than nitric acid.     

Value sharing problems for differential and difference polynomials of meromorphic functions in a non-Archimedean field

In this paper we discuss the uniqueness problem for differential and difference polynomials of the form (f ^nm (z)f ^nd (qz + c))^(k) for meromorphic functions in a non-Archimedean field.