Composition and antimalarial activity in vitro of volatile components of Lippia multiflora

The essential oil of Lippia multiflora was prepared by hydrodistillation of leaves and stalks and characterized by GC and mass spectroscopy. The oil was tested for antimalarial activity on in vitro cultures of Plasmodium falciparum (FcB1-Columbia chloroquine-resistant strain and F32-Tanzania chloroquine-sensitive strain). The dilutions inhibiting the in vitro growth of the parasite by 50% 24 and 72 hr after administration of the essential oil to the parasite culture were 1/12,000 and 1/21,000, respectively. When tested on a highly synchronized culture, the essential oil inhibited growth mostly at the trophozoite-schizont step, indicating a potential effect on the first nuclear division of the parasite.     

Experimental study of a mechanically ventilated double-skin façade with venetian sun-shading device: A full-scale investigation in controlled environment

The aim of this article is to present results of an experimental campaign performed on a full-scale facility provided with a double-skin façade. The behaviour of this architectural concept is tested under controlled climatic conditions. A summer case is scrutinised under different configurations: variation of the airflow through the double-skin façade and different angle of the solar shading device. This paper describes the experimental conditions, as well the test facility and the tested façade element. The results show the temperatures of the test cell and the façade and how they depend on the climatic conditions and the sun-shading device blade angles. One objective of this research was to measure and provide extensive data set detailing air and surface temperatures on the double-skin façade, together with airflow rates and air velocities. The experiments are fully described so that the results can be used for the validation of numerical models dealing with ventilated double-skin façades with venetian sun-shading device.     

A Logic for Conditional Local Strategic Reasoning

Journal of Logic, Language and Information - We consider systems of rational agents who act and interact in pursuit of their individual and collective objectives. We study and formalise the...     

Influence of Ultrasonic Oscillation on Static and Sliding Friction

Vibrations of varying frequency and amplitude are used in many technological areas to control and reduce friction. In this study we report the results of systematic high-precision measurements of the static and sliding friction under the influence of ultrasonic oscillations. We investigate the effect of ultrasonic oscillations for in-plane and out-of-plane oscillations in the completely relevant interval of oscillation amplitudes and sliding velocities and for various material pairings. The experimental results are interpreted on the basis of both macroscopic and microscopic models. There are two main effects which are of interest for tribological applications. Firstly, the frictional force typically decreases with increasing oscillation amplitude, with an oscillation amplitude of about 0.1???m typically being sufficient for a significant decrease of frictional force. Secondly, the decrease of force is larger at smaller sliding velocities; therefore, at sufficiently large oscillation amplitudes, the frictional force always increases with sliding velocity. This effect can be used to suppress frictionally induced vibrations.     

A conductimetric method for the study of mixing phenomena in liquids

A new conductimetric microprobe and conductimeter have been designed to study mixing phenomena in fluids of non-uniform composition in turbulent flow. For the case of a parallelepipedic cell with two parallel jets at different salt tracer concentrations, the spatial distribution and the mean and variance of the fluctuation of the tracer are obtained experimentally and used to characterise the state of local mixing.A theoretical expression for the mean concentration is obtained by solving the convective diffusion equation. Comparison of experimental and theoretical results is satisfactory and proves to be a sufficiently good test of the reliability of the apparatus used.     

Characterization of fractured rock in the vicinity of tunnels by the swept impact seismic technique

The diversity of the applications of high-resolution seismics requires investigations in the range of hundreds of meters to be performed in very diverse conditions. We found the swept impact seismic technique (SIST) to be a viable solution for high-resolution surveys in hard rocks. Swept impact seismic technique combines the Vibroseis swept frequency and the Mini-Sosie multi-impact ideas. Several variations of the method have been studied leading to improved resolution and efficiency. The development was partly funded by the Finnish Center for Technical Development (TEKES) and partly by the French National Agency for the Management of Radioactive Waste—ANDRA. A test programme was carried out at the Grimsel test site, operated by NAGRA—the Swiss National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste. Measurements were also carried out with single-pulse sources, but data of acceptable quality could not be obtained. Surface and tunnel-wall, as well as borehole SIST sources have been developed and tested. The ability of the seismic techniques to detect and characterize rock discontinuities was proven by investigating a rock block delimited by two parallel boreholes and a tunnel perpendicular to them, involving source–detector distances of 100–200 m. The characterization included the determination of the 3-D positions and orientations of rock features and the tomographic mapping of seismic velocities.     

A novel approach to piecewise analytic agricultural machinery path reconstruction

Before analysing machinery operation in fields, it has to be coped with the problem that the GPS signals of GPS receivers located on the machines contain measurement noise, are time-discrete, and the underlying physical system describing the positions, axial and absolute velocities, angular rates and angular orientation of the operating machines during the whole working time are unknown. This research work presents a new three-dimensional mathematical approach using kinematic relations based on control variables as Euler angular velocities and angles and a discrete target control problem, such that the state control function is given by the sum of squared residuals involving the state and control variables to get such a physical system, which yields a noise-free and piecewise analytic representation of the positions, velocities, angular rates and angular orientation. It can be used for a further detailed study and analysis of the problem of why agricultural vehicles operate in practice as they do.     

Wetting of Al2O3-Based Oxide Ceramics by Molten Aluminum

The temperature dependence has been determined for the wetting by molten aluminum of materials based on aluminum oxide (polycor and corundum). A temperature range has been identified in which the wetting increases significantly. There is no effect on the wetting characteristics of these oxide materials from the addition to the aluminum of up to 25% silicon, 33% copper, or 6% nickel.