The correlation of metal content in medicinal plants and their water extracts

The quality of some medicinal plants and their water extracts from South East Serbia is determined on the basis of metal content using atomic absorption spectrometry. The two methods were used for the preparation of water extracts, to examine the impact of the preparation on the content of metals in them. Content of investigated metals in both water extracts is markedly lower then in medicinal plants, but were higher in water extract prepared by method (I), with exception of lead content. The coefficients of extraction for the observed metal can be represented in the following order: Zn > Mn > Pb > Cu > Fe. Correlation coefficients between the metal concentration in the extract and total metal content in plant material vary in the range from 0.6369 to 0.9956. This indicates need the plants to be collected and grown in the unpolluted area and to examine the metal content. The content of heavy metals in the investigated medicinal plants and their water extracts is below the maximum allowable values, so they are safe to use

A Matlab/Simulink 3D Model of Metal Rings and Discs for Ultrasonic Sandwich Transducer Design

Metal-endings are integral part of different ultrasonic sandwich transducers. In this paper a new Matlab/Simulink 3D model of of the finite metal rings and discs of various dimensions is realized. With this model, which describes both the thickness and the radial resonant modes, and the coupling between them, mechanical impedance of the sample can be easily computed. Resonance frequency-length curves for rings and disks with various materials and for different selected dimensions are given. Also, comparisons of the different approaches in determining of their resonant frequencies are shown. The proposed Matlab/Simulink model requires simpler implementation than other analytical models. That enabled modifying of 1D theory and simplified modelling and projecting of the ultrasonic sandwich transducers with short-endings. Finally, the computed and experimental results are compared

Identification of synthetic cannabinoid methyl 2-{[1-(cyclohexylmethyl)-1H-indol-3-yl] formamido}-3-methylbutanoate using modern mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques

The samples of plant material suspected to contain new psychoactive substances are very often the subject of chemical-toxicological analyses. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (MS), liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight-MS, and liquid chromatography-tandem MS were applied with the aim to identify synthetic cannabinoid, methyl 2-{[1-(cyclohexylmethyl)-1H-indol-3-yl] formamido}-3-methylbutanoate (MMB-CHMICA) without the analytical standard, which is very often the case when a new drug arrives. The structure of compound was also confirmed by one-dimensional and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and conformational analysis. After identification, methanolic extract of plant material containing MMB-CHMICA was successfully used for developing a multiple reaction monitoring method on liquid chromatography-tandem MS instrument. The optimization procedure is shown in detail. The complete fragmentation pattern and also the optimization of the extraction procedure of MMB-CHMICA from plant material were shown. The obtained data are useful for forensic, toxicological, and clinical purposes

Fractals and ceramics materials characterization

Large part of powder based materials; especially ceramics are porous in more or less percentage. For such materials, two separated spaces are present. The “positive” space is made by grains or particles, while the “negative” space is “reserved” for pores. Formally speaking, the bulk of material space, V can be written as an union of “positive” and “negative” space which otherwise have no common points. Pores and grains share same surfaces, and since grains have fractal nature, with fractal interior and fractal boundary surfaces, the pores also have fractal “walls”. This implies two conclusions: the pores should be treated as the fractal objects, i.e., the objects having non-fractal interior, and fractal surface with dimension equal to grain’s fractal dimension. Suppose that the morphology of materials changes through time for the consideration process. By box counting methods fractal dimension definition, it follows that three sintering phase formulae based on the union described above, the sintering initial phase, the Frenkel formula takes corrected form including fractal dimension value. In this paper we applied four methods: Cube counting, Triangulation, Variance and Power spectrum method. All of these are very important and quite a different then the other, Ceramic Characterization Classic methods, what is opening new frontiers in material science characterization

The importance of a strategic partnership for bilateral relations

This paper aims to determine a way how to assess the impact of a strategic partnership on bilateralism and check that impact. In that sense, the strength of strategic partnership influence on bilateralism areas has been probed. In order to check the impact the research has been conducted on the case of the strategic partnership between the Republic of Serbia and six countries. Under those circumstances, different methods have been applied: expert-based evaluation method, DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Method) and statistical method. Some data has been collected by a survey questionnaire on 15 specialists, but the main data is accurate data from statistical yearbooks. There are two general results of this research. One of them is the model of the assessment of the strategic partnership impact on bilateralism. The second result is the confirmation of the strategic partnership impact on bilateralism. That impact varies from zero to perfect impact depending on a strategic partner and bilateralism area. The original purpose of the model is to assess bilateralism and the strategic partnership impact. In addition, the model is multipurpose and can be used to assess different relationships in public and private sector. The research results can help to understand cooperation in general and relationship between different areas. This study extends prior researches by examining the comprehensive process of bilateralism scope assessment. On the basis of the research results, implementation of the comprehensive process has been confirmed and improved

Phenolics content and antioxidant capacity of commercial red fruit juices

The content of phenolics: total phenols (TP), flavonoids (TF), anthocyanins (TA) and hydroxicinnamic acid as well as the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in nine commercial red fruit juices (sour cherry, black currant, red grape) produced in Serbia were evaluated. The total compounds content was measured by spectrophotometric methods, TAC was determined using DPPH assays, and individual anthocyanins and hydroxycinnamic acids was determined using HPLC-DAD methods. Among the examined fruit juices, the black currant juices contained the highest amounts of all groups of the phenolics and exhibited strong antioxidant capacity. The amount of anthocyanins determined by HPLC method ranged from 92.36 to 512.73 mg/L in red grape and black currant juices, respectively. The anthocyanins present in the investigated red fruit juices were derivatives of cyanidin, delphinidin, petunidin, peonidin and malvidin. The predominant phenolic acid was neoclorogenic acid in sour cherry, caffeic acid in black currant, and p-coumaric acid in black grape juices. Generally, the red fruit juices produced in the Serbia are a rich source of the phenolic, which show evident antioxidant capacity

Polyphenol content and antioxidant activity of sour cherries from Serbia

The aim of this study is to evaluate the content of phenolics: the total phenols (TP), flavonoids (TF), anthocyanins (TA), as well as the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in three sour cherry cultivars (Prunus cerasus L.) introduced to the southeast Serbia climate conditions. Among the researched sour cherries, ‘Oblacinska’ cultivar contained the highest amounts of all groups of phenolics, followed by ‘Cigancica’ > ‘Marela’. A significant difference were observed in the phenolic content among different cultivars and growing seasons (p<0.05), and the phenolic compounds were significantly higher in the growing season 2009. The examined cultivars possess a high antioxidant capacity, and all phenolics of highy correlation with TAC. The following compounds were identified and quantified using HPLC-DAD: 4 anthocyanins, the most abundant of which was cyaniding-3-glucoside in ‘Marela’ and ‘Oblacinska’, and cyanidin-3-glucosylrutinoside in ‘Cigancica’, and 4 hydroxycinnamic acids, the most abundant of which was neochlorogenic acid in all sour cherry cultivars. The growing and ripening process on the tree of sour cherry cv. Oblacinska was evaluated, also. The results showed significant increases in total phenols during the ripening, the total anthocyanins and total antioxidant capacity and 4 quantified anthocyanins, however the neochlorogenic acid decreased during the ripening. The study indicated that the growing and climate conditions in southeast Serbia are convenient for introducing sour cherry cultivars

TOTAL PHENOL, FLAVONOID AND HEAVY METAL CONTENT AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF SOLVENT EXTRACTS OF ORIGANUM VULGARE L.

Water, ethanol and water-ethanol (1:1, v/v) extractsofthe (ethno)pharmacologically valued plant species Origanum vulgare L. were studied for the total phenol (TP), flavonoid (TF) and heavy metal (HM; Zn, Fe, Cu, and Mn) content. All three prepared extracts contained a rather high amount of phenolics (23.6-75.2 mg gallic acid equivalents/g) and a low amount of flavonoid compounds (1.0-2.1 mg quercetin equivalents/g). In addition, the content of (toxic) metals (Zn, Fe, Cu, and Mn) was low (0.4-153 mg/kg). Antioxidant potential of the extracts was determined using a DPPH assay and correlated with TP, TF and HM. According to the obtained results, the high observed radical scavenging activity (75.1-93.8%) is mostly related to the presence of flavonoid and other phenolic compounds. SADRŽAJ UKUPNIH FENOLA, FLAVONOIDA I TEŠKIH METALA, KAO I ANTIOKISIDATIVNA AKTIVNOST EKSTRAKATA BILJNE VRSTE ORIGANUM VULGARE L. U ovom radu su izloženi rezultati ispitivanja sadržaja ukupnih fenola (TP), flavonoida (TF) i teških metala (HM; Zn, Fe, Cu i Mn) u vodenom, etanolnom i vodeno-etanolnom (1:1, v/v) ekstraktu (etno)farmakološki cenjene biljne vrste Origanum vulgare L. U svim ispitivanim ekstraktima  je utvrđeno prisustvo relativno visoke koncentracije fenolnih jedinjenja (23,6-75,2 mg ekvivalenata galne kiseline/g) i niske koncentracije flavonoida (1,0-2,1 mg ekvivalenata kvercetina/g). Pored toga, sadržaj (toksičnih) metala (Zn, Fe, Cu i Mn) je bio relativno nizak (0,4-153 mg/kg). Antioksidativni potencijal ispitivanih ekstrakata je određen DPPH metodom i korelisan sa TP, TF i HM. Na osnovu dobijenih rezultata, jaka antioksidativna aktivnost (75,1-93,8%) ekstrakata je uglavnom posledica prisustva flavonoida i drugih fenolnih jedinjenja

Model of scenario development in defense planning: Integration of scenario and decision: Making methods

It is almost impossible to predict the future environment today, so instead of using prediction different methods of scenario development are used. Scenario as a hypothetical situation for future environment enables exploration of different possibilities of environment development in the future. Many methods based on a morphological analysis are used to develop scenarios. Numerous configurations of morphological fields prevent further use of scenarios and a practical description of the various scenarios. It is possible to reduce the number of configuration of morphological fields, classify configuration according to the different scenario classes and determine the representative configuration for the worst and best scenario case for each class of scenarios by integrating the method for scenario development with the decision-making methods. In this way further processing and description of scenarios is enabled, thus fulfilling a practical role of scenarios in the planning process

Determination of defence capability requirements

A capability-based planning approach provides defence system with adequate response in facing uncertainty, economic constraints and risks. Determination of required defence capabilities is the most important and complex phase in capability-based planning process. The result of this phase is the list of required capabilities of the defence system. The paper presents method of determination of defence capability requirements and describes practical tools for the identification and the description of required defence capabilities. The capability requirements are identified by perceiving relationships among operational objectives, effects tasks. The capability requirement description contains standards and conditions that clarify necessary capability