A posteriori error analysis of a quadratic finite volume method for nonlinear elliptic problems

In this article, we construct and analyze a residual-based a posteriori error estimator for a quadratic finite volume method (FVM) for solving nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. We shall prove that the a posteriori error estimator yields the global upper and local lower bounds for the norm error of the FVM. So that the a posteriori error estimator is equivalent to the true error in a certain sense. Numerical experiments are performed to illustrate the theoretical results.     

Simultaneous determination of cinnamaldehyde and its metabolite in rat tissues by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Cinnamaldehyde (CA), an active ingredient isolated from the traditional Chinese medicine Cortex Cinnamomi, has a wide range of bioactivities. To clarify the distribution characteristics of CA, a selective and sensitive method utilizing gas chromatography–mass spetrometry was initially developed for simultaneously determining the concentration of CA and its metabolite cinnamyl alcohol in rat tissues. Selected ion masses of m/z 131, 105 and 92 were chosen, and separation of the analytes was performed on a DB‐5 ms (30 m × 0.25 mm, 0.25 µm, thickness) capillary column by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The calibration curves demonstrated good linearity and reproducibility over the range of 20–2000 and 20–4000 ng/mL for various tissue samples. Recoveries ranged from 86.8 to 107.5%, while intra‐ and interday relative standard deviations were all <11.3%. The analysis method was successfully applied in tissue distribution studies for CA and cinnamyl alcohol. As CA and cinnamyl alcohol may inter‐convert to one another, simultaneous determination of both analytes provides a comparative and accurate data for tissue study. The concentrations of CA and cinnamyl alcohol remaining in spleen were the highest among the main organs, including heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and brain. In addition, there was no long‐term accumulation of CA in rat tissues. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Studies on metabolism of total glucosides of paeony from Paeoniae Radix Alba in rats by UPLC‐Q‐TOF‐MS/MS

Total glucosides of paeony are the active constituents of Paeoniae Radix Alba. In this study, a novel strategy was proposed to find more metabolites and the differences between paeoniflorin, albiflorin and total glucosides of paeony (TGP). This strategy was characterized as follows: firstly, the animals were divided into three groups (paeoniflorin, albiflorin and TGP) to identify the source of TGP metabolites from paeoniflorin or albiflorin; secondly, a generic information‐dependent acquisition scan for the low‐level metabolites was triggered by the multiple mass defect filter and dynamic background subtraction; thirdly, the metabolites were identified with a combination of data‐processing methods including mass defect filtering, neutral loss filtering and product ion filtering; finally, a comparative study was used in the metabolism of paeoniflorin, albiflorin and TGP. Based on the strategy, 18 metabolites of TGP, 10 metabolites of paeoniflorin and 13 metabolites of albiflorin were identified respectively. The results indicated that the hydrolysis, conjugation reaction and oxidization were the major metabolic pathways, and the metabolic sites were the glycosidic linkage, the ester bond and the benzene ring. This study is first to explore the metabolism of TGP, and these findings enhance our understanding of the metabolism and the interactions of paeoniflrin and albiflorin in TGP. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two inequalities involving Hadamard products of positive semi-definite Hermitian matrices

We extend two inequalities involving Hadamard products of positive definite Hermitian matrices to positive semi-definite Hermitian matrices. Simultaneously, we also show the sufficient conditions for equalities to hold. Moreover, some other matrix inequalities are also obtained. Our results and methods are different from those which are obtained by S. Liu in [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 243:458–463(2000)] and B.-Y. Wang et al. in [Lin. Alg. Appl. 302–303: 163–172(1999)].     

非傍轴平顶高斯光束M2因子两种定义的比较研究

基于功率密度的二阶矩方法,推导出了非傍轴平顶高斯(FG)光束束宽和远场发散角的解析表达式·研究表明,当w0/λ→0时,远场发散角趋于渐近值θmax=63.435°,与阶数无关·使用非傍轴高斯光束代替傍轴高斯光束作为理想光束,研究了非傍轴FG光束的M2因子,并与传统定义的M2因子作了比较·在非傍轴范畴,非傍轴FG光束的M2因子不仅与阶数N有关,而且与w0/λ有关·按照定义,当w0/λ→0时,非傍轴FG光束的M2因子不等于0,对阶数N=1,2,3时,M2因子分别趋于0.913,0.882和0.886·当N→∞时,M2因子取最小值M2min=0.816·     

Synthesis and biological activity of S-oxo-[(methylthio)-methyl]cysteinols

A convenient route was developed to synthesize S-oxo-[(methylthio)-methyl]cysteinols on a large scale from cheap l-serine as the starting material. The structures of diastereoisomers were determined by NMR, CD spectra, and X-ray diffraction analysis. All four diastereoisomers were examined for their ability to inhibit certain bacteria from growing.     

Fluoroalkylation of aromatics: An intramolecular radical cyclization of 4-chloro-1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4-octafluorobutylbenzenes

In the presence of sodium dithionite and DMSO, the intramolecular radical cyclization of 4-chloro-1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4-octafluorobutylbenzenes is achieved to give the corresponding cyclic compounds in moderate to good yields.