Antifungal and Bioherbicidal Properties of Essential Oils of Thymus fallax Fish & Mey., Origanum vulgare L. and Mentha dumetorum Schult.

WOS: 000343767000048The chemical composition of the essential oils obtained from the aerial parts of Thymus fallax, Origanum vulgare and Mentha dumetorum was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and the following were found to be the main constituents: T. fallax-thymol (41.48 %), o-cymene (26.75 %), zeta-terpinen (15.84 %), 2-isopropyl-1-methoxy-4-methylbenzene (5.10 %), terpineolene (2.11 %) and carvacrol (1.28 %); O. vulgare-thymol (50.41 %), carvacrol (12.96 %), 2-bornene (11.28 %), zeta-terpinen (8.80 %), o-cymene (6.68 %), alpha-bisabolane (2.19 %) and caryophyllene (1.31 %); and M. dumetorum-carvone (39.64 %), eucalyptol (14.34 %), dihydrocarvone (12.78 %), limonene (7.79 %). The antifungal activities of the oils against Alternaria solani, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani were also evaluated and were found to be toxic to the pathogens. The results revealed that essential oils, especially those of T. fallax and O. vulgare, had a strong antifungal activity with a significant inhibition on the growth of the 3 tested fungi. In contrast, the M. dumetorum oil did not inhibit the growth of Rhizoctonia solani and also exerted a limited inhibitory effect on the mycelial growth of the other two fungi tested. The results of herbicidal assays using these essential oils against four different plant species, Abutilon theophrasti Medik., Agrostemma githago L., Medicago sativa L. and Lepidium sativum L., showed that the oils had inhibitory effects on seed germination and seedling growth. The findings of the present study confirmed that plant essential oils can be used as natural herbicides and fungicides to control weeds and pathogenic fungi, thus, reducing the dependence on synthetic pesticides

Feature-based rationale management system for supporting software architecture adaptation

Each software architecture design is the result of a broad set of design decisions and their justifications, that is, the design rationale. Capturing the design rationale is important for a variety of reasons such as enhancing communication, reuse and maintenance. Unfortunately, it appears that there is still a lack of appropriate methods and tools for effectively capturing and managing the architecture design rationale. In this paper we present a feature-based rationale management approach and the corresponding tool environment ArchiRationale for supporting software architecture adaptation. The approach takes as input an existing architecture and captures the design rationale for adapting the architecture for a given quality concern. For this we define a feature model that includes the possible set of architectural tactics to realize the quality concern. The presented approach captures the rationale for deciding on feature selections and for selecting the corresponding architecture design alternatives. ArchiRationale customizes and integrates the Eclipse plugin tools XFeature, ArchStudio and XQuery to provide tool support for capturing, storing and accessing the design rationale. We illustrate the approach for adapting a software architecture for fault tolerance. © 2012 World Scientific Publishing Company

Crystal structure and computational study of 3,4-dihydroxy-3-hydroxymethyl-9-methyl-6-methylidene-3a,4,5,6,6a,9,9a,9b-octahydroazuleno[4,5-b]furan-2,8(3H,7H)-dione

In the molecule of title compound, C15H20O6, also known as cynarinin A, the cyclopentane ring having twist conformation and a gamma-lactone ring assuming an envelope conformation are trans-and cis-fused, respectively, to a cycloheptane ring adopting a twist-chair conformation. In the crystal, O-H center dot center dot center dot O hydrogen bonds link neighbouring molecules, forming a three-dimensional network. Theoretical calculations of the molecular structure using the CNDO approximation and MOPAC PM3 geometry optimization are in satisfactory agreement with the results of the X-ray structure analysis

Modeling and Reasoning over Distributed Systems using Aspect-Oriented Graph Grammars

Aspect-orientation is a relatively new paradigm that introduces abstractions to modularize the implementation of system-wide policies. It is based on a composition operation, called aspect weaving, that implicitly modifies a base system by performing related changes within the system modules. Aspect-oriented graph grammars (AOGG) extend the classic graph grammar formalism by defining aspects as sets of rule-based modifications over a base graph grammar. Despite the advantages of aspect-oriented concepts regarding modularity, the implicit nature of the aspect weaving operation may also introduce issues when reasoning about the system behavior. Since in AOGGs aspect weaving is characterized by means of rule-based rewriting, we can overcome these problems by using known analysis techniques from the graph transformation literature to study aspect composition. In this paper, we present a case study of a distributed client-server system with global policies, modeled as an aspect-oriented graph grammar, and discuss how to use the AGG tool to identify potential conflicts in aspect weaving

Light engine and optics for HELIUM3D auto-stereoscopic laser scanning display

This paper presents a laser based auto-stereoscopic 3D display technique and a prototype utilizing a dual projector light engine. The solution described is able to form dynamic exit pupils under the control of a multi-user head-tracker. A prototype completed recently is able to provide a glasses-free solution for a single user at a fixed position. At the end of the prototyping phase it is expected to enable a multiple user interface with an integration of the pupil tracker and the spatial light modulator

Perceptually guided computer-generated holography

Computer-Generated Holography (CGH) promises to deliver genuine, high-quality visuals at any depth. We argue that combining CGH and perceptually guided graphics can soon lead to practical holographic display systems that deliver perceptually realistic images. We propose a new CGH method called metameric varifocal holograms. Our CGH method generates images only at a user’s focus plane while displayed images are statistically correct and indistinguishable from actual targets across peripheral vision (metamers). Thus, a user observing our holograms is set to perceive a high quality visual at their gaze location. At the same time, the integrity of the image follows a statistically correct trend in the remaining peripheral parts. We demonstrate our differentiable CGH optimization pipeline on modern GPUs, and we support our findings with a display prototype. Our method will pave the way towards realistic visuals free from classical CGH problems, such as speckle noise or poor visual quality