In traditional medicine Thymus serpyllum L. (wild thyme) herb represents a part of a large number of herbal medicinal formulations such as syrups, tinctures, infusions, teas, and decoctions. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in testing the biological properties of wild thyme, because the plant is a high-quality raw material, rich in essential oil and pharmacologically active polyphenolic compounds, which can be included in various formulations in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food, and chemical industries. Wild thyme extracts and essential oil have shown significant nitric oxide, ABTS and DPPH radicals scavenging potential, ferrous ion chelating property, reducing activity and ability to inhibit peroxidation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), proteins and lipids. Wild thyme extracts exerted antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus, Enterococcus faecalis, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Yersinia enterocolitica, as well as Lactic acid bacteria. Wild thyme essential oil has shown antibacterial potential against E. coli, L. monocytogenes, P. aeruginosa, S. enteritidis, S. aureus, Streptococcus salivariu, S. mutans, S. sanguinis, S. pyogenes, E. feacalis, B. cereus, B. subtilis, B. pumilis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella choleraesuis, and Salmonella poona. T. serpyllum extract possesses antifungal activity against Fusarium solani, F. moniliforme, Aspergillus flavus, Microsporum canis, Alternaria species, Candida albicans, and C. glabarata. The essential oil efficiently inhibited the growth of C. albicans, C. glabrata and Aspergillus fungi. Depending on the concentration, wild thyme extract significantly relaxed spontaneous contractions, as well as acetylcholine-, potassium chloride-, barium chlorideand calcium chloride-induced contractions of the isolated rat ileum. The extract significantly reduced the expression of the inducible enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 and inhibited acetylcholinesterase, myeloperoxidase and α-glucosidase activity. T. serpyllum extract has shown cytotoxic activity on human breast cancer cell lines, while essential oil has shown the antitumor potential in human cell lung cancer, colon, cervical, hepatocellular, prostate, and breast adeno-carcinoma.

Controlling the temperature of electronic components is a major interest for the electronics industry. Indeed, the lifetime of the components is directly dependent on the temperature levels reached in the electronic boards. Then, it is essential to predict the chip temperature evolution in order to maximize their lifespan. The electronic boards are more and more complex. They are multi-layers composed of different materials. The numerical resolution of the heat transfer equations in these systems requires very fine meshes and therefore very high computation times. It is possible to standardize the characteristics of these multilayer boards in order to treat them as a homogeneous material. The study presented in this work uses this approach and deals with the transient thermal behaviour of a substrate and its chip. The entire surface of the electronic board is cooled by convection. The developed model assumes that the surface convection coefficient is known, constant and uniform. The heat transfer by conduction in the substrate is based on an axisymmetric assumption on the longitudinal dimensions of the exchange surface (r, theta) and an assumption of semi-infinite medium in the transversal direction of the plate (thickness z). These assumptions are verified if, on the one hand, the activation times of the electronic chips are low enough and the dimensions of the chip is small compared to the electronic board. In these conditions, a fully analytical model is developed considering two successive integral transforms: a Laplace transform for the temporal variable, and a Hankel transform for the radial variable. An explicit expression of the temperature of the surface heated by the component is established, requiring very short computation times compared to numerical simulations. This model can be easily incorporated into a dimensioning code for electronic devices to predict their temperature.  It can also be used as a direct model in an inverse procedure for identifying parameters on electronic boards.

Development of a food product requires integrated scientific and professional knowledge on the technological process, the final product and, the quality of the ingredients and their interaction. This research examined the effect of formulation variables on the sensory quality of a thermo-reversible sour cherry fruit filling, as well as the modelling and optimization of the variables for achieving the quality suitable for filling frozen semi-finished bakery products in industrial conditions. Each formulation for 15 model-samples was successively corrected, to achieve the appropriate sensory quality of the filling in finished products after baking. Their quality was evaluated by descriptive sensory and physico-chemical methods of analysis and compared. The basic formulation for the filling was defined after the successive production of 7 model-samples in laboratory conditions, their use in industrial conditions (puff pastry filling, shaping, quick freezing, storage for at least 24 hours at -18°C, baking and cooling to room temperature) and analysing their quality. Further formulation optimization included selecting: the type and amount of fruits (sour cherry, apple), food additives and cherry flavour for 8 new model-samples. The formulation and ingredients for the fruit filling production (30% sour cherry fruit, 30% apple puree, 58% sugar, 2% starch, 1% pectin, 0.03% firming agent E509, 0.03% acidity regulator E331, 0.025% cherry flavour) and quality parameters (dry matter 65%, acidity 0.85%, pH = 3.2-3.4) were defined. The fruit filling had appropriate sensory quality before and after baking of filled puff pastry: clear cherry-red colour, moderately firm consistency and stable volume, rich fruity aroma, and refreshing sweet-sour taste. The results also confirmed that the product was suitable for manual or machine filling of raw dough.