The Synthesis and Bioactivity Study of Anthraquinones, And the Isolation of Bioactive Compounds from Leea Indica (Burm.F.) Merr.

Damnacanthal and nordamnacanthal were synthesized due to their interesting property as cytotoxic agents against several cancer cell-lines. Friedel-Craft condensation reaction has been used to prepare anthraquinone back-bone in view of its less stringent requirements with regards to reaction conditions (such as humidity), highly reactive reagents and lower cost. Various other synthetic methods were used to prepare their derivatives. A total 43 derivatives of anthraquinone have been successfully synthesized including damnacanthal and nordamnacanthal. A new rearrangement was observed when phthalic anhydride reacted with different halophenols leading to a few rearrangement products depending on the types of halophenol used. All the synthesized compounds were subjected to cytotoxicity assay against different cancer cell lines and antioxidant activities. A total 22 anthraquinone derivatives showed the cytotoxicity against the cell-lines used. Among the compounds, 2-bromomethyl-l,3-dimethoxyanthraquinone (A-34) was found as most cytotoxic against all the cell-lines. 3-Acetoxy-2-bromomethyl-1- methoxyanthraquinone (A-42) and damnacanthal (A-46) also showed strong cytotoxicity against different cancer cell-lines. On the other hand, only two synthesized anthraquinones, damnacanthal (A-46) and nordamnacanthal (A-37) showed strong antioxidant activity comparable with vitamin E. A preliminary antioxidant and nitric oxide inhibition activities screening of seven medicinal plants including Lasianthus oblongus, Psychotria rostrata, Spermacoce exilis, Chasalia chartacea, Hedyotis verticillata, Spermacoce articularis and Leea indica have been conducted properly. Leea indica (family: Leeaceae) has been selected for further investigation. Phytochemical study on this plant has resulted the isolation of a novel carotenoid, leeatene (L-7) and nine other known compounds including squalene (L- 1), hexadecanoyl-0-amyrin (L-2), vitamin E (L-3), 1 - tetratriacontanol (L-4), P-amyrin (L-5), 3-hydroxy-12-oleanen-28-oic acid (L-6), Psitosteryl- P-D-glucopyranoside (L-8), 2a,3a,23-trihydroxy-12-oleanen-28-oiacc id (L-9) and phloridzin (L-10). The chemical structure of the compounds was established based on spectral studies including ultraviolet-visible, infrared, one and two dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopies. All isolated compounds were tested for their antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. Three compounds including vitamin E (L-3), leeatene (L-7) and phloridzin (L-10) showed antioxidant activity whereas squalene (L-1), hexadecanoyl-P-arnyrin (L-2), 1- tetratriacontanol (L-4), 3-hydroxy- 12-oleanen-28-oic acid (L-6), leeatene (L-7), Psitosteryl- P-D-glucopyranoside (L-8), 2a,3a,23-trihydroxy-12-oleanen-28-oica cid (L-9) were found cytotoxic against different cancer cell lines

Convergence of joint moments for independent random patterned matrices

It is known that the joint limit distribution of independent Wigner matrices satisfies a very special asymptotic independence, called freeness. We study the joint convergence of a few other patterned matrices, providing a framework to accommodate other joint laws. In particular, the matricial limits of symmetric circulants and reverse circulants satisfy, respectively, the classical independence and the half independence. The matricial limits of Toeplitz and Hankel matrices do not seem to submit to any easy or explicit independence/dependence notions. Their limits are not independent, free or half independent.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOP597 the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

AR(1) sequence with random coefficients: Regenerative properties and its application

Let $\{X_n\}_{n\ge0}$ be a sequence of real valued random variables such that $X_n=\rho_n X_{n-1}+\epsilon_n,~n=1,2,\ldots$, where $\{(\rho_n,\epsilon_n)\}_{n\ge1}$ are i.i.d. and independent of initial value (possibly random) $X_0$. In this paper it is shown that, under some natural conditions on the distribution of $(\rho_1,\epsilon_1)$, the sequence $\{X_n\}_{n\ge0}$ is regenerative in the sense that it could be broken up into i.i.d. components. Further, when $\rho_1$ and $\epsilon_1$ are independent, we construct a non-parametric strongly consistent estimator of the characteristic functions of $\rho_1$ and $\epsilon_1$

Fluctuations of Linear Eigenvalue Statistics of Random Band Matrices

In this paper, we study the fluctuation of linear eigenvalue statistics of Random Band Matrices defined by $M_{n}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{b_{n}}}W_{n}$, where $W_{n}$ is a $n\times n$ band Hermitian random matrix of bandwidth $b_{n}$, i.e., the diagonal elements and only first $b_{n}$ off diagonal elements are nonzero. Also variances of the matrix elmements are upto a order of constant. We study the linear eigenvalue statistics $\mathcal{N}(\phi)=\sum_{i=1}^{n}\phi(\lambda_{i})$ of such matrices, where $\lambda_{i}$ are the eigenvalues of $M_{n}$ and $\phi$ is a sufficiently smooth function. We prove that $\sqrt{\frac{b_{n}}{n}}[\mathcal{N}(\phi)-\mathbb{E} \mathcal{N}(\phi)]\stackrel{d}{\to} N(0,V(\phi))$ for $b_{n}>>\sqrt{n}$, where $V(\phi)$ is given in the Theorem 1.Comment: In this version we have corrected several typos and slightly changed the Proposition

Evaluation of Vibration Profiles for ULD Dollies at Air-Cargo Sorting Hubs

This study measured and analyzed the vibration characteristics of an important component of the air package shipping environment which has not been previously studied or included in the pre-shipment testing of packages. This is the movement of packages between aircraft after they are flown in to an airport-hub and being taken into a facility to conduct a sort, or after being sorted as they are transferred back on to aircraft. These transfers at airport-hubs between trucks, building sortation facilities and aircraft are done using material handling equipment called “dollies” or carts. These carts often are connected with each other into small trains and then pulled by tug motors on aircraft tarmacs. This study measured the vibration levels experienced by these carts or dollies with and without packages placed in dollies in two different sizes of carts. The data was analyzed to determine the vibration characteristics. Results show that existing vibration test methods do not cover the significant high levels of vibration that are used to simulate truck and aircraft shipments in accordance with existing vibration test methods developed by American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) and International Safe Transit Association (ISTA). This paper provides new data on package handling and movement at airport facilities and tarmacs

Evaluation of Stability of Unit Loads for Tilt and Shock Events During Distribution

Initiatives to lightweight and reduce packaging materials to achieve sustainability goals have created unit load stability challenges in the transportation and handling of palletized packaged goods. Consequently, an increased focus is being placed on evaluating how current pre-shipment performance tests evaluate load stability. This study was undertaken to address the current need for establishing test methodologies towards observing a unit load’s overall stability during transportation and handling related activities commonly experienced in the distribution environment. With this goal, this study developed two test methods as well as apparatus/measuring tool to observe a palletized load’s overall stability. The experimentation involved unit loads of bottled water assembled using two commonly used stacking and stretch wrap patterns. Testing conditions for existing test procedures as well as personnel safety issues during testing were also considered and all tests were conducted in triplicate. The test methods developed included a “tilt test” which was designed to replicate the gravitational forces exerted on the unit load and an “incline impact test” designed to replicate the effect of short duration shocks experienced by unit loads. Collectively, the two test methods provide valuable test procedures and insight towards understanding a unit load’s response to shocks and shifts commonly experienced during distribution related activities. The data collected from these tests should contribute to potential revisions for International Safe Transit Association’s (ISTA) Procedures 3B and 3E testing requirements. Packaging engineers should be able to appropriately develop and/or validate unit loads of packaged goods utilizing the new test methods