Chemical Composition, Larvicidal and Molluscicidal Activity of Essential Oils of Six Guava Cultivars Grown in Vietnam.

Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and snails cause a large burden of disease in less developed countries, especially those with low-income levels. An approach to control vectors and intermediate hosts based on readily available essential oils, which are friendly to the environment and human health, may be an effective solution for disease control. Guava is a fruit tree grown on a large scale in many countries in the tropics, an area heavily affected by tropical diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and snails. Previous studies have reported that the extracted essential oils of guava cultivars have high yields, possess different chemotypes, and exhibit toxicity to different insect species. Therefore, this study was carried out with the aim of studying the chemical composition and pesticide activities of six cultivars of guava grown on a large scale in Vietnam. The essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus for 6 h. The components of the essential oils were determined using gas-chromatography-mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Test methods for pesticide activities were performed in accordance with WHO guidelines and modifications. Essential oil samples from Vietnam fell into two composition-based clusters, one of (E)-ß-caryophyllene and the other of limonene/(E)-ß-caryophyllene. The essential oils PG03 and PG05 show promise as environmentally friendly pesticides when used to control Aedes mosquito larvae with values of 24 h LC50-aegypti of 0.96 and 0.40 µg/mL while 24 h LC50-albopictus of 0.50 and 0.42 µg/mL. These two essential oils showed selective toxicity against Aedes mosquito larvae and were safe against the non-target organism Anisops bouvieri. Other essential oils may be considered as molluscicides against Physa acuta (48 h LC50 of 4.10 to 5.00 µg/mL) and Indoplanorbis exustus (48 h LC50 of 3.85 to 7.71 µg/mL) and with less toxicity to A. bouvieri.

Chemistry and Bioactivity of Croton Essential Oils: Literature Survey and Croton hirtus from Vietnam.

Using essential oils to control vectors, intermediate hosts, and disease-causing microorganisms is a promising approach. The genus Croton in the family Euphorbiaceae is a large genus, with many species containing large amounts of essential oils, however, essential oil studies are limited in terms of the number of Croton species investigated. In this work, the aerial parts of C. hirtus growing wild in Vietnam were collected and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). A total of 141 compounds were identified in C. hirtus essential oil, in which sesquiterpenoids dominated, comprising 95.4%, including the main components ß-caryophyllene (32.8%), germacrene D (11.6%), ß-elemene (9.1%), α-humulene (8.5%), and caryophyllene oxide (5.0%). The essential oil of C. hirtus showed very strong biological activities against the larvae of four mosquito species with 24 h LC50 values in the range of 15.38-78.27 µg/mL, against Physella acuta adults with a 48 h LC50 value of 10.09 µg/mL, and against ATCC microorganisms with MIC values in the range of 8-16 µg/mL. In order to provide a comparison with previous works, a literature survey on the chemical composition, mosquito larvicidal, molluscicidal, antiparasitic, and antimicrobial activities of essential oils of Croton species was conducted. Seventy-two references (seventy articles and one book) out of a total of two hundred and forty-four references related to the chemical composition and bioactivity of essential oils of Croton species were used for this paper. The essential oils of some Croton species were characterized by their phenylpropanoid compounds. The experimental results of this research and the survey of the literature showed that Croton essential oils have the potential to be used to control mosquito-borne and mollusk-borne diseases, as well as microbial infections. Research on unstudied Croton species is needed to search for species with high essential oil contents and excellent biological activities.

Force Optimization of Elongated Undulating Fin Robot Using Improved PSO-Based CPG.

Biorobotic fishes have a huge impact on the development of underwater devices due to both fast swimming speed and great maneuverability. In this paper, an enhanced CPG model is investigated for locomotion control of an elongated undulating fin robot inspired by black knife fish. The proposed CPG network includes sixteen coupled Hopf oscillators for gait generation to mimic fishlike swimming. Furthermore, an enhanced particle swarm optimization (PSO), called differential particle swarm optimization (D-PSO), is introduced to find a set of optimal parameters of the modified CPG network. The proposed D-PSO-based CPG network is not only able to increase the thrust force in order to make the faster swimming speed but also avoid the local maxima for the enhanced propulsive performance of the undulating fin robot. Additionally, a comparison of D-PSO with the traditional PSO and genetic algorithm (GA) has been performed in tuning the parametric values of the CPG model to prove the superiority of the introduced method. The D-PSO-based optimization technique has been tested on the actual undulating fin robot with sixteen fin-rays. The obtained results show that the average propulsive force of the untested material is risen 5.92%, as compared to the straight CPG model.

Reinforcement learning-based optimization of locomotion controller using multiple coupled CPG oscillators for elongated undulating fin propulsion.

This article proposes a locomotion controller inspired by black Knifefish for undulating elongated fin robot. The proposed controller is built by a modified CPG network using sixteen coupled Hopf oscillators with the feedback of the angle of each fin-ray. The convergence rate of the modified CPG network is optimized by a reinforcement learning algorithm. By employing the proposed controller, the undulating elongated fin robot can realize swimming pattern transformations naturally. Additionally, the proposed controller enables the configuration of the swimming pattern parameters known as the amplitude envelope, the oscillatory frequency to perform various swimming patterns. The implementation processing of the reinforcement learning-based optimization is discussed. The simulation and experimental results show the capability and effectiveness of the proposed controller through the performance of several swimming patterns in the varying oscillatory frequency and the amplitude envelope of each fin-ray.

Energy-Efficient Clustering Multi-Hop Routing Protocol in a UWSN.

Underwater wireless sensor networks are currently seeing broad research in various applications for human benefits. Large numbers of sensor nodes are being deployed in rivers and oceans to monitor the underwater environment. In the paper, we propose an energy-efficient clustering multi-hop routing protocol (EECMR) which can balance the energy consumption of these nodes and increase their network lifetime. The network area is divided into layers with regard to the depth level. The data sensed by the nodes are transmitted to a sink via a multi-hop routing path. The cluster head is selected according to the depth of the node and its residual energy. To transmit data from the node to the sink, the cluster head aggregates the data packet of all cluster members and then forwards them to the upper layer of the sink node. The simulation results show that EECMR is effective in terms of network lifetime and the nodes' energy consumption.

Synthesis, structure and in vitro cytotoxicity testing of some 1,3,4-oxadiazoline derivatives from 2-hydroxy-5-iodobenzoic acid.

The syntheses of nine new 5-iodosalicylic acid-based 1,3,4-oxadiazoline derivatives starting from methyl salicylate are described. These compounds are 2-[4-acetyl-5-methyl-5-(3-nitrophenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6a), 2-[4-acetyl-5-methyl-5-(4-nitrophenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6b), 2-(4-acetyl-5-methyl-5-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)-4-iodophenyl acetate, C19H17IN2O4 (6c), 2-[4-acetyl-5-(4-fluorophenyl)-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate, C19H16FIN2O4 (6d), 2-[4-acetyl-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate, C19H16ClIN2O4 (6e), 2-[4-acetyl-5-(3-bromophenyl)-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6f), 2-[4-acetyl-5-(4-bromophenyl)-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6g), 2-[4-acetyl-5-methyl-5-(4-methylphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6h) and 2-[5-(4-acetamidophenyl)-4-acetyl-5-methyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl]-4-iodophenyl acetate (6i). The compounds were characterized by mass, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectroscopies. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies were also carried out for 6c, 6d and 6e. Compounds 6c and 6d are isomorphous, with the 1,3,4-oxadiazoline ring having an envelope conformation, where the disubstituted C atom is the flap. The packing is determined by C-H...O, C-H...π and I...π interactions. For 6e, the 1,3,4-oxadiazoline ring is almost planar. In the packing, Cl...π interactions are observed, while the I atom is not involved in short interactions. Compounds 6d, 6e, 6f and 6h show good inhibiting abilities on the human cancer cell lines KB and Hep-G2, with IC50 values of 0.9-4.5 µM.

Crystal structure and Hirshfield surface analysis of 4-phenyl-3-(thio-phen-3-ylmeth-yl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5(4H)-thione.

In the title compound, C13H11N3S2, the phenyl ring is twisted from the 1,2,4-triazole plane by 63.35 (9)° and by 47.35 (9)° from the thio-phene plane. In the crystal, chains of mol-ecules running along the c-axis direction are formed by N-H⋯S inter-actions [graph-set motif C(4)]. The 1,2,4-triazole and phenyl rings are involved in π-π stacking inter-actions [centroid-centroid distance = 3.4553 (10) Å]. The thio-phene ring is involved in C-H⋯S and C-H⋯π inter-actions. The inter-molecular inter-actions in the crystal packing were further analysed using Hirshfield surface analysis, which indicates that the most significant contacts are H⋯H (35.8%), followed by S⋯H/H⋯S (26.7%) and C⋯H/H⋯C (18.2%).

Rhenium and technetium complexes with N,N-dialkyl-N'-benzoylthioureas.

N,N-Dialkyl-N'-benzoylthioureas, HR(1)R(2)btu, react under single deprotonation and form air-stable chelate complexes with common rhenium or technetium complexes such as (NBu(4))[MOCl(4)] (M = Re, Tc) or [ReOCl(3)(PPh(3))(2)]. Compositions and molecular structures of the products are strongly dependent on the precursors used and the reaction conditions applied. Reactions with [ReOCl(3)(PPh(3))(2)] in CH(2)Cl(2) give complexes of the general formula [ReOCl(2)(R(1)R(2)btu)(PPh(3))] (3), with the benzoyl oxygen atom of the chelating benzoylthiourea being trans to the oxo ligand, and/or Re(III) complexes of the composition [ReCl(2)(R(1)R(2)btu)(PPh(3))(2)] (4) with the PPh(3) ligands in trans positions to each other. In polar solvents such as MeOH, EtOH or acetone, corresponding reactions without addition of a supporting base only result in intractable brown solutions, from which no crystalline complexes could be isolated. The addition of NEt(3), however, allows the isolation of the bis-chelates [ReOCl(R(1)R(2)btu)(2)] (1) in good yields. In this type of complex, one of the chelating R(1)R(2)btu- ligands coordinates equatorially, while the second occupies the position trans to the oxo ligand with its oxygen atom. The latter compounds can also be prepared from (NBu(4))[ReOCl(4)] in MeOH when no base is added, while the addition of NEt(3) results in the formation of [ReO(OMe)(R(1)R(2)btu)(2)] (5) complexes with the methoxo ligand trans to O(2-). Compounds of the type 5 can alternatively be prepared by heating 1 in MeOH with addition of NEt(3). A reversible conversion of 5 into oxo-bridged dimers of the composition [{ReO(R(1)R(1)btu)(2)}(2)O] (6) is observed in water-containing solvents. Starting from (NBu(4))[TcOCl(4)], a series of technetium complexes of the type [TcOCl(R(1)R(2)btu)(2)] (2) could be prepared. The structures of such compounds are similar to those of the rhenium analogues 1. Reduction of 2 with PPh(3) in CH(2)Cl(2) gives Tc(III) complexes of the composition [TcCl(R(1)R(2)btu)(2)(PPh(3))] (7) having the chloro and PPh(3) ligands in cis positions. When this reaction is performed in the presence of excess chelating ligand, the Tc(III) tris-chelates [Tc(R(1)R(2)btu)(3)] (8) are formed.