Exact boundary observability for nonautonomous quasilinear wave equations

By means of a direct and constructive method based on the theory of semiglobal $C^2$ solution, the local exact boundary observability is shown for nonautonomous 1-D quasilinear wave equations. The essential difference between nonautonomous wave equations and autonomous ones is also revealed.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Lentil-barley mixed cropping with different lentil varieties and sowing dates

In den letzten 50 Jahren gab es nahezu keinen Linsenanbau mehr in Deutschland. Die Stickstofffixierung der Leguminose Linse, der Mischanbau und die hohe ernährungsphysiologische Wertigkeit machen den Linsenanbau attraktiv für den ökologischen Landbau. Anbautechnisch bereitet die Linse noch Probleme, z. B hinsichtlich geeigneter Sorten und optimaler Saatzeiten. Eine frühe Aussaat könnte die Vegetationsperiode verlängern und den Ertrag erhöhen, doch entfällt damit die Beikrautregulierung durch mehrfaches Abschleppen vor der Saat Auf der Versuchsstation für Ökologischen Landbau Kleinhohenheim der Universität Hohenheim wurden daher im Jahr 2009 vier Genotypen im Mischanbau mit Nacktgerste und drei Saatzeiten im Frühjahr geprüft. Linsen und die Stützfrucht Gerste erzielten den höchsten Ertrag (bis 3 t Trockenmasse (TM) ha-1 Linsen und rund 1 t TM ha-1 Gerste) bei frühestmöglichem Aussaattermin. Der Beikrautdruck war an diesem Termin mit rund 30 g TM m-2 signifikant niedriger als bei den späteren Saatterminen. Die im Versuch ertragreichste Sorte ist derzeit schon in Süddeutschland im Anbau, eine frühe Aussaat wäre in Erwägung zu ziehen

Stimulation of TRPV1 by green laser light

Low-level laser irradiation of visible light had been introduced as a medical treatment already more than 40 years ago, but its medical application still remains controversial. Laser stimulation of acupuncture points has also been introduced, and mast-cells degranulation has been suggested. Activation of TRPV ion channels may be involved in the degranulation. Here, we investigated whether TRPV1 could serve as candidate for laser-induced mast cell activation. Activation of TRPV1 by capsaicin resulted in degranulation. To investigate the effect of laser irradiation on TRPV1, we used the Xenopus oocyte as expression and model system. We show that TRPV1 can functionally be expressed in the oocyte by (a) activation by capsaicin (K 1/2 = 1.1 μM), (b) activation by temperatures exceeding 42°C, (c) activation by reduced pH (from 7.4 to 6.2), and (d) inhibition by ruthenium red. Red (637 nm) as well as blue (406 nm) light neither affected membrane currents in oocytes nor did it modulate capsaicin-induced current. In contrast, green laser light (532 nm) produced power-dependent activation of TRPV1. In conclusion, we could show that green light is effective at the cellular level to activate TRPV1. To which extend green light is of medical relevance needs further investigation

Characterization of Volatile and Non-Volatile Compounds and Classification of Different Cultivars of Chinese \u3ci\u3eZiziphus jujuba\u3c/i\u3e Mill. Fruits

Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) is a desirable fruit that is widely grown in China. Also, it has been used as an herbal medicine and a functional food simultaneously for a very long time. In this study, 15 cultivars of jujube that were collected from a same farm in Shanxi Province, China, were analyzed in terms of their non-volatile components, including reducing sugars, organic acids, fatty acids, amino acids, minerals and antioxidants, and volatile compounds, in an effort to investigate their nutritional values, and the similarity between the cultivars so as to classify the cultivars based on their chemical composition. The results showed that, in generally speaking, there were significant differences in the chemical compositions among the cultivars (p\u3c0.05). The content of glucose varied from 85.87 to 1004.95 mg/100g FW; malic acid and citric acid were main organic acids, of which the contents ranged from 120.15–508.67 mg/100g FW and 29.40–180.69 mg/100g FW, respectively. Jujube fruits contained a variety of polyunsaturated fatty acids, including linoleic acid, linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, arachidonic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid. In addition, the fruits were rich of lauric acid (967.20–4035.78 μg/kg DW), palmitic acid (685.68–1936.91 μg/kg DW), myristoleic acid (1718.96–5862.64 μg/kg DW), oleic acid (427.87–2864.98 μg/kg DW), linoleic acid (533.34–7330.05 μg/kg DW). Besides, iron (52.72–125.16 mg/kg DW), calcium (162.29–287.53 mg/kg DW) and magnesium (511.77–699.77 mg/kg DW) were also determined as the main minerals in the fruit. By using the hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis, the 15 cultivars, based on the contents of reducing sugars, were classified into 6 groups, including group A (PZ and DB), group B (NP and LZ), group C (YZ, LB, XZ, HP, BJ and JB), group D (YL, JS, JD), group E (BZ) and group F (PB). Except the group E and group F, the other groups can be differientated from each other. Antioxidants including cAMP, ascorbic acid, triterpenes, and the total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, as well as the antioxidant capacity (i.e., FRAP, DPPH, ABTS, HRSA) were also analyzed in this study. According to the results, the content of cAMP was in a range of 66.33 to 2716.88 μg/100g FW; the content of ascorbic acid ranged from 317.9 to 679.6 mg/100g FW. In addition, jujube contained a low content of triterpenes (6.66 to 18.19 mg/100g FW). The total phenolic content was determined in a range from 330.74 to 571.44 mg gallic acid /100g FW, while the total flavonoids content varied from 43.14 to 154.09 mg rutin/100g FW. The range of antioxidant capacity such as DPPH, ABTS, FRAP and HRSA were determined to range from 0.603 to 1.842 mmol Trolox/100g FW, 2.276 to 2.786 mmol Trolox/100g FW, 1.228 to 3.823 mmol Trolox/100g FW, and 1.353 to 3.560 mmol Trolox/100g FW, respectively. All the 15 cultivars were classified into five clusters based on hierarchical cluster analysis. As a result, the cultivars of NP, JS, YZ were categorized in the same cluster, which contained relatively high contents of antioxidant components and strong antioxidant capacity. Solid phase micro extraction method (SPME) was used to extract the volatile compounds of jujube, which were further identified by GC–MS. The identified volatiles included aldehydes, alcohols, acids, ketones and esters. Among them, hexanal (276.5 to 1314 μg/100g FW), (E)-2-hexanal (145.1 to 1876 μg/100g FW), nonanal (188.2 to 1047 μg/100g FW), and n-decanoic acid (58.42 to 1268 μg/100g FW) were found to be the main volatile compounds in fresh jujube. Based on the contents of the volatile components, the jujube fruits were classified into five clusters, including cluster 1 (LB, HP, LZ, NP, JS, PZ, and YL), cluster 2 (BJ, DB), cluster 3 (PB, BZ, JD and XZ), cluster 4 (JB) and cluster 5 (YZ). Cluster 1, cluster 2 and cluster 3 were found to be crossed over together in the two-dimension plot, which means they could not be discriminated from each other based on contents of volatile compounds. However, the cluster 4 and cluster 5 could be separated very well from each other and from the other clusters. Moreover, two extraction methods, SDE and SPME, were compared in regards of their efficiency of extracting volatile compounds from the dried jujube fruits. (E)-2-Hexenal and hexanal were found to be the major aldehyde compounds in the SDE extract, while nonanal and benzaldehyde were major aldehyde compounds extracted by the SPME method