Seasonal variation of volatile oil composition and antioxidant property of aerial parts of Syzygium paniculatum Gaertn. grown in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

Syzygium paniculatum Gaertn of the family Myrtaceae is a medicinal and aromatic plant. The hydrodistilled volatile oil (VO) from the aerial parts was characterised by GC-MS and Kovat’s index, while the antioxidant property was investigated using spectrophotometric techniques. Antioxidant capacities of the aerial parts VOs range from 0.12 to 0.93?mg/mL in scavenging 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals (DPPH^?). Overall, 75 and 67 compounds were identified from the summer and winter VOs, respectively. The main compounds were α-pinene (33.13%), n-hexadecanoic acid (19.14%), limonene (14.26%), farnesol (14.21%), β-ocimene (13.04%), citronellol (12.67%), linoleic acid (11.50%), octahydro-1,4-dimethyl azulene (11.57%), citral (9.91%), phytol (5.07%), linolenic acid (4.85%) and thymol (2.23%). The bioavailability of citronellol, thymol, β-ocimene and linoleic acid, used as bactericidal, fungicidal and antioxidant agents in cosmetics and perfumery, suggests S. paniculatum potential as a natural food flavouring and source of antibiotics in this era of emerging multi-drug-resistant pathogens.     

Bioflocculant production by Virgibacillus sp. Rob isolated from the bottom sediment of Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

A bioflocculant-producing marine bacterium previously isolated from marine sediment of Algoa Bay was screened for flocculant production. Comparative analysis of 16S rDNA sequence identified the isolate to have 99% similarity to Virgibacillus sp. XQ-1 and it was deposited in the GenBank as Virgibacillus sp. Rob with accession number HQ537127. The bacterium produced biflocculants optimally in glucose (70.4%) and peptone (70.4%) as sole sources of carbon and nitrogen, alkaline pH (12) (74%); and the presence of Fe2+ (74%). Chemical analysis of the bioflocculant revealed it to be a polysaccharide.     

In-vitro antagonistic characteristics of crude aqueous and methanolic extracts of Garcinia kola (Heckel) seeds against some Vibrio bacteria

The methanolic and aqueous extracts of Garcinia kola seeds were screened for their anti-Vibrio activities against 50 Vibrio isolates obtained from wastewater final effluents in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The crude extracts at 10 mg/mL exhibited appreciable inhibitory activities against most of the test Vibrio isolates, with zones of inhibition ranging from 10-19 mm for methanol extract and 8-15 mm for the aqueous extracts. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the methanol extract varied from 0.313 to 2.5 mg/mL while that for the aqueous extract was 10 mg/mL for all the susceptible Vibrio isolates. Rate of kill assay of the methanolic extracts against three selected Vibrio species showed bacteriostatic activities against all of them achieving 58% and 60% (Vibrio vulnificus AL042); 68% and 69% (Vibrio parahaemolyticus AL049); and 70% and 78% (Vibrio fluvialis AL040) killing of the test bacteria at 3× and 4 ×MIC values, respectively, after 2 h exposure time. We conclude that Garcinia kola seeds hold promise as a potential source of therapeutic compounds of relevance in Vibrio infections management.     

The realization of hyperelliptic curves through endomorphisms of Kronecker modules

Let K be an algebraically closed field and A the Kronecker algebra over K. A general problem is to study the endomorphism algebras of A-modules M that are extensions of finite-dimensional, torsion-free, rank-one A-modules P, by infinite-dimensional, torsion-free, rank-one A-modules N. Such endomorphism algebras can be studied by means of a quadratic polynomial f(Y) in one variable Y over the rational function field K(X). We call this f(Y) the regulator of the extension. We prove that if the regulator has non-zero discriminant, then is a Noetherian, commutative K-algebra. We also prove that, subject to a regulator with non-zero discriminant, is affine over K if and only if End N is affine, in which case is the coordinate ring of a hyperelliptic curve.     

An eigenvalue problem for the numerical range of a bounded linear operator

LetX be a complex Lebesgue space with a unique duality mapJ fromX toX ^*, the conjugate space ofX. LetA be a bounded linear operator onX. In this paper we obtain a non-linear eigenvalue problem for (A)=sup{Re: W(A} whereW(A)={J(x)A(x)) : x=1}, under the assumption that (A) and the convex hull ofW(A) for some linear operatorsA onl _p , 2<p<.     

Analytical Evaluation of Carbamate and Organophosphate Pesticides in Human and Environmental Matrices: A Review

Pesticides are synthetic compounds that may become environmental contaminants through their use and application. The high productivity achieved in the agricultural industry can be credited to the use and application of pesticides by way of pest and insect control. As much as pesticides have a positive impact on the agricultural industry, some disadvantages come with their application in the environment because they are intentionally toxic, and this is more towards non-target organisms. They are grouped into chlorophenols, organochlorines, synthetic pyrethroid, carbamates, and organophosphorus based on their structure. The symptoms of exposure to carbamate (CM) and organophosphates (OP) are similar, although poisoning from CM is of a shorter duration. The analytical evaluation of carbamate and organophosphate pesticides in human and environmental matrices are reviewed using suitable extraction and analytical methods.     

Direct sums and direct products of canonical pencils of matrices

A theorem of Kulikov characterizes the K[x]-modules which are direct sums of finite-dimensional (as a K-vector space) indecomposable modules, where K[x] is the polynomial ring over the field K. In this paper an analogous characterization is given for modules over the ring R, arising from pairs of linear transformations between a pair of complex vector spaces, (V, W). R is a certain subring of the ring of 3 × 3 complex matrices. The equivalence between the category of right R-modules and the category of systems enables one to work entirely in the category of systems. (A pair of complex vector spaces is a system if and only if there is a $\text{C}$-bilinear map from $\text{C}{}^2\text{× V}$ to W). R-modules that are direct sums of finite-dimensional indecomposable subsystems are called pure-projective. The above characterization of pure-projective R-modules is used to prove that an R-module M is projective if and only if Ext(M, R) = 0. Direct products of finite-dimensional indecomposable R-modules are also studied, and a theorem pinpoints those that are pure-projective. An example of an R-module M that is not pure-projective, but with the property that every finite subset of M is contained in a pure-projective direct summand of M, is given. A by-product of this example is a class of matrices that generalizes the Vandermonde matrices.