Analysis of terpenoic composition of conifer needle oils by steam distillation/extraction,gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Summary The essential oils of Estonian spruce and pine needles have been analysed by a combination of steam distillation/extraction, GC and GC-MS. According to their monoterpene composition Estonian pines belong to a high carene chemotype with monoterpenes representing up to 85% of total oil. Estonian spruce needle oil contains up to 70% of oxygenated terpenes and more limonene and 1,8-cineole than the same spruce species [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] from other localities.A total of 60 components were identified. Coefficients of variation describe the range of component contents in individual trees within the population.     

The Regularity of Stochastic Convolution Driven by Tempered Fractional Brownian Motion and Its Application to Mean-field Stochastic Differential Equations

In this paper, some properties of a stochastic convolution driven by tempered fractional Brownian motion are obtained. Based on this result, we get the existence and uniqueness of stochastic mean-field equation driven by tempered fractional Brownian motion. Furthermore, combining with the Banach fixed point theorem and the properties of Mittag-Leffler functions, we study the existence and uniqueness of mild solution for a kind of time fractional mean-field stochastic differential equation driven by tempered fractional Brownian motion.     

冠心苏合丸中挥发性组分的分析及主成分冰片的测定

采用同时蒸馏-萃取法提取冠心苏合丸中的挥发性组分,测得两种冠心苏合丸中的挥发性组分含量分别为14％和9．8％。利用GC-MS方法对两种冠心苏合丸所得的挥发性组分进行分析,通过检索NIST98谱图库,并结合标准谱图库和有关文献,从冠心苏合丸的挥发性组分中分别确定出14、19种化学成分,分别占挥发性组分总检出量的97．24％和98．76％。用峰面积归一化法,得出各化学成分在挥发性组分中的相对百分含量。主要挥发性组分是冰片。并采用气相色谱法对冠心苏合丸中冰片的含量进行了测定冰片质量浓度在1．0～5、0mg／mL范围内成良好的线性关系,冰片的平均回收率为98％～106％。     

Characterization of the volatile fraction emitted by Pinus spp. by one- and two-dimensional chromatographic techniques with mass spectrometric detection

The chemical composition of the needles of P. pinea, P. pinaster, P. halepensis, P. nigra, P. brutia, P. patula, P. radiata, P. taeda, P. elliotti, P. kesiya, P. sylvestris and P. eldarica was investigated. Headspace solid-phase microextraction and steam distillation extraction were used to collect the volatile fractions. Samples were analyzed using one-dimensional gas chromatography (1D-GC) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) associated with a quadrupole and a time-of-flight mass detectors. Results showed that the analytical capabilities of 1D-GC are partially limited by the separation power of the columns. The higher sensibility and the absence of peak skewing of the time-of-flight mass analyzer, with the use of automated peak finding and deconvolution algorithms, allowed for the detection of trace components with qualitative full spectra and the extraction of true mass spectra from coeluting compounds, promoting their reliable identification and thus significantly improving results obtained by 1D-GC/MS, when using a quadrupole mass analyzer. The use of GC × GC resulted in enhanced separation efficiency and increased signal to noise ratio (sensitivity) of the analytes, maximizing mass spectra quality and improving compound detection and identification. This work shows the use of 1D-GC/ToFMS for the analysis of pine needles volatiles, achieving the detection of 177 compounds, that is more than twice the number previously identified by standard 1D-GC/MS. The analysis by GC × GC for the same sample allowed the detection of 212 compounds. The enantioselective GC × GC analysis performed for all the Pinus spp. under study achieved the detection of 422 different compounds. Cross-over phenomena according to operational conditions are highlighted and discussed.     

General construction of mean-field potential and its application to the multiphase equations of state of tin

The mean-field potential (MFP) approach is an efficient way to evaluate the free energy contribution of ion motions for both solid and liquid states. In this paper the MFP is generally constructed with a volume-dependent term and a shape function. The former is derived in accordance with quasi-harmonic approximation. The latter is given semi-empirically. Application to multiphase equations of state for β-, γ- and liquid-tin has been examined. The theoretical phase diagram and thermodynamic properties of isotherm, thermal expansion, heat capacity, Hugoniot states as well as phase transitions are all in excellent agreement with experiments.     

The ambivalent effect of lattice structure on a spatial game

The evolution of cooperation is studied in lattice-structured populations, in which each individual who adopts one of the following strategies ‘always defect’ (ALLD), ‘tit-for-tat’ (TFT), and ‘always cooperate’ (ALLC) plays the repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma game with its neighbors according to an asynchronous update rule. Computer simulations are applied to analyse the dynamics depending on major parameters. Mathematical analyses based on invasion probability analysis, mean-field approximation, as well as pair approximation are also used. We find that the lattice structure promotes the evolution of cooperation compared with a non-spatial population, this is also confirmed by invasion probability analysis in one dimension. Meanwhile, it also inhibits the evolution of cooperation due to the advantage of being spiteful, which indicates the key role of specific life-history assumptions. Mean-field approximation fails to predict the outcome of computer simulations. Pair approximation is accurate in two dimensions but fails in one dimension.     

Backward stochastic differential equations associated with the vorticity equations

In this paper we derive a non-linear version of the Feynman–Kac formula for the solutions of the vorticity equation in dimension 2 with space periodic boundary conditions. We prove the existence (global in time) and uniqueness for a stochastic terminal value problem associated with the vorticity equation in dimension 2. A particular class of terminal values provide, via these probabilistic methods, solutions for the vorticity equation.     

Prediction of protein structure using a knowledge-based off-lattice united-residue force field and global optimization methods

A united-residue model of polypeptide chains developed in our laboratories with united side-chains and united peptide groups as interaction sites is presented. The model is designed to work in continuous space; hence efficient global-optimization methods can be applied. In this work, we adopted the distance-scaling method that is based on continuous deformation of the original rugged energy hypersurface to obtain a smoothed surface. The method has been applied successfully to predict the structures of simple motifs, such as the three-helix bundle structure of the 10-58 fragment of staphylococcal protein A in de novo folding simulations and more complicated motifs in inverse-folding simulations. Received: 24 April 1998 / Accepted: 4 August 1998 / Published online: 2 November 1998     

Monte Carlo simulations of oscillations, chaos and pattern formation in heterogeneous catalytic reactions

Experimental studies employing surface science methods indicate that kinetic oscillations, chaos, and pattern formation in heterogeneous catalytic reactions often result from the interplay of rapid chemical reaction steps and relatively slow complementary processes such as oxide formation or adsorbate-induced surface restructuring. In general, the latter processes should be analysed in terms of theory of phase transitions. Therefore, the conventional mean-field reaction–diffusion equations widely used to describe oscillations in homogeneous reactions are strictly speaking not applicable. Under such circumstances, application of the Monte Carlo method becomes almost inevitable. In this review, we discuss the advantages and limitations of employing this technique and show what can be achieved in this way. Attention is focused on Monte Carlo simulations of CO oxidation on (1 0 0) and (1 1 0) single-crystal Pt and polycrystal Pt, Pd and Ir surfaces and of NO reduction by CO and H₂ on Pt(1 0 0). CO oxidation on supported nanometre-sized catalyst particles and NO reduction on composite catalysts are also discussed. The results show that with current computer facilities the MC technique has become an effective tool for analysing temporal oscillations and pattern formation on the nanometre scale in catalytic reactions occurring on both single crystals and supported particles.     

Convergence of a non-failable mean-field particle system

The existing literature contains many examples of mean-field particle systems converging to the distribution of a Markov process conditioned to not hit a given set. In many situations, these mean-field particle systems are failable, meaning that they are not well defined after a given random time. Our first aim is to introduce an original mean-field particle system, which is always well defined and whose large number particle limit is, in all generality, the distribution of a process conditioned to not hit a given set. Under natural conditions on the underlying process, we also prove that the convergence holds uniformly in time as the number of particles goes to infinity. As an illustration, we show that our assumptions are satisfied in the case of a piece-wise deterministic Markov process.