Quantity Of Products Research Articles

Microbial forensics: are we going on right path for management of crops biosecurity in Pakistan?

In any country biological terrorism outbreaks on crops could reduce the quality and quantity of agricultural products, which in turn decreases the consumer’s confidence, nutrition loss, resulting in worse impacts on the nation’s economy, international souks and is subsequently harmful for the environment. Awareness for a crop bioterror incident begins with the start of the threat symptoms, which must lead to the progress of a plan to thwart. However, most of Pakistani scientists and crop producers have not focused on the option of deliberative plant pathogen introduction but instead they use their expertise for the prevention of natural introductions and the improvement of cost-effective strategies for disease management. It is also an interesting fact that under the mask of genetically modified feeds, high yield varieties and hybrids; we are also importing bio terrorism. Are we going on the right path? So, it is time that we should review the global microbial knowledge and should apply it according to our needs. In ongoing topics of present article, we will review the microbial forensics status globally in comparison with Pakistan. We will also suggest how to fill these gaps. Keywords: Biological terrorism; Microbial forensics; Pathogen; Plants; Crops; Biosecurity

Continuous Flow Approach for Benzylic Photo-oxidations Using Compressed Air.

A continuous flow approach for the aerobic photo-oxidation of benzylic substrates to ketone and aldehyde products is presented. The resulting process exploits UV-A LEDs (375 nm) in combination with a Corning AFR reactor that ensures effective gas-liquid mixing and leads to short residence times of 1 min. A variety of benzylic substrates are converted to their corresponding carbonyl products, and scalability is demonstrated to produce multigram quantities of products within a few hours. Overall, this continuous flow approach offers several improvements over alternative oxidation methods due to the combined use of air as an oxidant and SAS (sodium anthraquinone-2 sulfonate) as a water-soluble photocatalyst. The use of greener and safer conditions together with process intensification principles renders this flow approach attractive for further industrial applications.

Potential applicability of calcium phosphate modified portland cement paste for geologic sequestration of CO2

In order to increase the integrity of the wellbore which is used to prevent the leakage of supercritical CO2, it is necessary to develop a concrete that is strongly resistant to carbonation. In an environment where the concentration of CO2 is exceptionally high, Ca2+ concentration in portland cement concrete drops significantly due to the rapid consumption of calcium hydroxide, which decreases the stability of the calcium silicate hydrate. In this work, it is hypothesized that if fairly large quantity of the hydration product becomes more thermodynamically stable than calcite, the damage caused by rapid carbonation will certainly be minimized. For this purpose, portland cement system was modified by monocalcium, dicalcium and tricalcium phosphates to produce hydroxyapatite in portland cement paste. According to the experimental results, addition of calcium phosphate produced hydroxyapatite. Among three different calcium phosphates, monocalcium phosphate showed the most significant impact on hydration. It caused faster stiffening and delayed calcium silicate hydration. Although cement pastes modified by calcium phosphates showed less compressive strength than plain cement paste, they showed an excellent durability after exposure to supercritical CO2. It is clear from the results that the potential applicability of calcium phosphate modification in portland cement for geologic sequestration of CO2 was successfully proven.

Application of Protein Hydrolysate Improved the Productivity of Soybean under Greenhouse Cultivation

Protein hydrolysates are plant biostimulants containing amino acids, oligopeptides, and peptides in their composition. When supplied to plants, protein hydrolysates (HPs) have been identified to improve nitrogen metabolism, enhance the activity of antioxidant enzymes, boost plant defense response to stresses, and positively impact the quantity and quality of products. Soybean is a crucial global commodity, with nitrogen being the primary nutrient for crop development as it directly affects productivity. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of an HP-based biostimulant on the N metabolism in nodulated soybean plants and their productivity. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to test two modes of application of the 0.20% HP-based biostimulant. Soybean plants, growing in pots, were treated with 0.20% HP either via seed treatment or foliar application (at growth stages V3 and V5). Activities of enzymes and compounds related to N metabolism, gene expression, and productivity components were analyzed. It was observed that the mode of application did not significantly influence the results. The application of HPs increased the concentration of nitrate, amino acids, and ureides in soybean leaves. It also positively altered the expression of genes such as nitrate reductase, urease, and asparagine. Additionally, it enhanced productivity, resulting in plants with a greater number and weight of pods and grains. Therefore, it is possible to consider HPs as a stimulator for increasing soybean productivity, even under non-stressing conditions.

Solidification of heavy metal in municipal solid waste incineration fly ash and performance evolution of alkali-activated foam concrete

The heavy metals in municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWIFA) limit its large-scale application. To improve the utilization ratio of MSWIFA, a slag-MSWIFA-fly ash alkali-activated foam concrete (ASFC) was prepared in this study. The influence of MSWIFA content on the performances of ASFC and the solidification effect of heavy metals in MSWIFA by alkali-activated materials were studied. The results show that the performance of ASFC was directly related to the pore structure, which was affected by the fluidity and setting time of the paste, as well as the quantity and type of hydration products. When the MSWIFA substitution rate was 25–50 %, the fluidity of the paste was better, the pore diameter decreased, and the number of closed pores increased. The compressive strength of ASFC at 28 d was 1.72–2.01 MPa, and the thermal conductivity was 0.1305–0.1340 W/(m∙k). The leaching concentrations of the six heavy metal elements in the 28 d hardened paste of ASFC were all lower than 0.04 mg/L, and the solidification efficiencies of Pb and Zn, the two heavy meta elements with higher concentrations in MSWIFA, were both greater than 90 %. This study provides a technical and theoretical reference for applying MSWIFA in alkali-activated foam concrete.

Carbide slag and sodium metasilicate synergistic activation of sludge ash-based alkali-activated materials: Towards a cleaner activation approach

Traditional activators such as sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate are commonly used in the preparation of alkali-activated materials; however, their significant environmental impact, high cost, and operational risks limit their sustainable use in treating solid waste. This study explores the innovative use of carbide slag (CS) and sodium metasilicate (NS) as alternative activators in the production of sewage sludge ash-based alkali-activated materials (SSAM) with the aim of reducing the carbon footprint of the preparation process. The results demonstrate that CS effectively activates the sewage sludge ash, enhancing the compressive strength of the SSAM to 40 MPa after curing for 28 d. When used in conjunction with NS, it synergistically improves the mechanical properties. Furthermore, the microstructure and phase composition of the SSAM are characterized. Increasing the quantities of CS and NS accelerates the dissolution of the precursor materials, promoting the formation of a higher quantity of hydration products. This significantly reduces the number of voids and defects within the samples, further enhancing the densification of the microstructure. Environmental assessments reveal that CS and NS offer substantial sustainability benefits, confirming the feasibility of activating SSAM using these materials. This approach provides a less energy-intensive and more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional activation methods and presents an effective strategy for managing large volumes of sewage sludge ash and CS.

Sosialisasi Konsep Pertanian Berkelanjutan Di Kampung Napua Distrik Napua Kabupaten Jayawijaya

Traditional agriculture implemented in Napua Village, Napua, Jayawijaya indirectly has a negative impact on the environment and the sustainability of food production. Socialization and assistance regarding the concept of sustainable agriculture is important to increase farmers' awareness in implementing more environmentally friendly and sustainable agricultural practices. This service activity aims to provide farmers with an understanding of the concept of sustainable agriculture. The implementation method is socialization in the form of delivering material about sustainable agriculture and assistance to farmer groups in practicing the concept of sustainable agriculture. The results of this socialization activity are the emergence of farmer awareness about the factors causing the decline in the quality and quantity of agricultural products in Napua Village and increased knowledge about the concept of sustainable agriculture as a solution to the problems.

An Industrial Perspective for Sustainable Polypropylene Plastic Waste Management via Catalytic Pyrolysis—A Technical Report

Recycling plastics on an industrial scale is a key approach to the circular economy. This study presents a techno-economic analysis aimed at recycling polypropylene waste, one of the main consumer plastics. Specifically, it evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of achieving a large-scale cracking process that converts polypropylene waste into an alternative fuel. Pyrolysis is considered as a promising technique to convert plastic waste into liquid oil and other value-added products, with a dual benefit of recovering resources and providing a zero-waste solution. This study concerns a fast catalytic pyrolysis in a fluidized bed reactor, with the presence of a fluid catalytic cracking catalyst of low acidity for high heat transmission, for an industrial plant with a capacity of 1 t/h of polypropylene waste provided by the Greek Petroleum Industry. From the international literature, the operational conditions were chosen pyrolysis temperature at 430 °C, pressure at 1atm, heating rate at 5 °C/min, and yields of products to 71, 14, and 15 wt.%, for liquid fuel, gas, solid product, respectively. The plant design includes a series of apparatuses, with the main one to be the pyrolyzer. The catalytic method is selected over the non-catalytic because the presence of catalyst increases the quantity and quality of the liquid product, which is the main product of the plant. The energy loops of recycling pyrolysis gas and char as a low-carbon fuel in the plant were considered. The production cost, annual revenue, for 2023, are anticipated to reach €13.7 million (115 €/t) and €15 million (15 €/t), respectively, with an estimated investment equal to €5.3 million. The Payback Time is estimated to 2.4 years to recover the cost of investment. The endeavor is rather economically sustainable. A critical parameter for large scale systems is securing feedstock with low or negligible price.

Total Synthesis of a Peptide Diatom Sex Pheromone Bearing a Sulfated Aspartic Acid.

The peptide sex-inducing pheromone SIP+ (1) bearing an unusual sulfated aspartic acid residue induces sexual reproduction in diatom populations. Herein, we report the first total synthesis of SIP+ using both a sulfated building block approach and a solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS)-compatible late-stage sulfation strategy to assemble the natural product. The modular approaches provide concise routes to useful quantities of the natural product for future structure activity relationship studies examining the role of SIP+ in diatom biology.

Removal of calcium and magnesium ions from reverse osmosis concentrate using a two-stage precipitation with carbonation process.

The reverse osmosis (RO) technique has been extensively employed in the advanced treatment of industrial water and wastewater. However, this process results in the production of a significant quantity of reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC), which contains high levels of salinity and organic contaminants, thereby posing serious environmental problems. This study reported a two-stage precipitation process utilizing quicklime (CaO) and caustic soda (NaOH) in conjunction with air blowing (carbonation) for the removal of Ca2+ and Mg2+ from real brackish water ROC of factory. In stage I, the CaO precipitation-carbonation process was employed to eliminate the majority of Ca2+ from the ROC, while leaving Mg2+ virtually unaffected, yielding high-purity CaCO3 precipitates. In stage II, the NaOH precipitation method was utilized to eliminate the remaining Ca2+ and Mg2+ from the ROC. It was demonstrated that under optimal conditions, the removal rates of Ca2+ and Mg2+ exceeded 97%. Finally, the characterization of precipitates demonstrated the generation of high-purity CaCO3 precipitates in stage I, as well as the formation of CaCO3 and Mg(OH)2 precipitates in stage II. The results confirmed the feasibility of employing the two-stage precipitation with carbonation process to economically treat ROC and enable its reuse, offering valuable insights for the treatment of industrial wastewater.

Improving the triphenylphosphine/triphenylphosphine oxide (TPP/TPPO)‐based method for the absolute and accurate quantification by FTIR‐ATR of hydroperoxides in oils or lipid extracts

AbstractResearch on natural sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) for both food and nutraceutical prospects has significantly grown in recent years. Some plant oils and lipid extracts contain carotenoids, xanthophylls, sterols, and/or phenolic compounds that can provoke a lipid hydroperoxides (LOOHs) overestimation when quantifying them using nonselective colorimetric assays. Herein, we have optimized a mid‐infrared method using Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy coupled with attenuated total reflectance (ATR) to quantify LOOHs in oils or lipid extracts. This method is based on the conversion of triphenylphosphine (TPP) to triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO) in the presence of hydroperoxides, with a direct assessment of TPPO levels following the formation of an oil film on the ATR crystal's surface, allowing for a low detection limit of 0.5 mmol of LOOH kg−1. The concentration of oil and TPP, as well as the reaction time, were optimized. It was demonstrated that the presence of pigments, unsaponifiable compounds, phenolics, and/or PUFAs on oils, do not disrupt the analysis. Furthermore, the stoichiometry of the TPP/LOOH reaction was examined, confirming the reliability of the method in detecting various forms of hydroperoxides. An accelerated oxidation study was carried out and the hydroperoxide contents measured using TPP/TPPO were found to be comparable to those obtained using the ferric thiocyanate method. Our method offers a fast, simple, robust, and sensitive approach to accurately quantify hydroperoxides, regardless of the chemical composition of oil or lipid extracts.Practical Application: The hydroperoxide assay method outlined in this study allows for the rapid and straightforward detection of hydroperoxides in pure oil matrices. The method's elevated sensitivity facilitates the early identification of oxidation indicators in oils, especially those with significant carotenoid or xanthophyll contents since these compounds may affect the results when using methods based on colorimetric quantification of hydroperoxides. This accurate, precise, and reproducible approach requires only small quantities of test samples and chemical products, making it well suited to routine application in laboratories and industrial environments.

Research on the Aging Judgment Method of Electrical Performance of C4F7N/CO2 Mixed Gases

Abstract Perfluoroisobutyronitrile (C4F7N) gas exhibits favorable environmental characteristics and excellent electrical performance, which renders it a prominent subject of research in the development of new environmentally friendly insulation materials as a substitute for SF6 gas. In this study, the decomposition products of a gas mixture comprising 15% C4F7N and 85% CO2 were investigated within a 12kV ring main unit. A total of 140 arc tests were conducted on the gas mixture, allowing for the identification of the relationship between the generation of decomposition products and the number of arc tests. Through the determination of the proportional relationship between the different types and quantities of products, a novel method for assessing the extent of electrical performance aging in C4F7N/CO2 gas was developed, thus serving as a valuable reference for gas aging assessment. This study is of great significance for promoting the application of C4F7N/CO2 mixed gas in power systems.

Application of M‐RCNN for prompt segmentation between infected tomato leaves and healthy tomato leaves

AbstractPlant diseases have become a problem, as both the quality and quantity of agricultural products can be significantly reduced. The goal of the research is to detect the infection in the plant leaf so that it can be cured before spreading of disease to other plants. The aim of the research is to find out the severity of the leaf disease so that it can be cured based on the level of severity. Also, crop loss can be predicted by using the severity loss. For object localization, we utilize 10,640 tomato leaf images of various classes from the PlantVillage standard repository. As a baseline for future work, we propose a model based on the Mask R‐CNN architecture with ResNet‐50 as the backbone that effectively performs instance segmentation for these six diseases. The dataset is annotated by using the VGG annotator tool and this annotated dataset would have been used to train the ‘Mask R‐CNN model’ and the ResNet50 backbone, fine‐tuning the network's weights to accurately detect and segment diseased regions on leaves. The outcomes of the suggested model achieved an average accuracy of 91.3% by using multiple performance indicators like accuracy, precision and F1 score and Recall. Based on the outcome, the severity of the disease is being identified on a scale of 0, 1, 2 and 3.

Education to Strengthen the Economy of the Utilization of Aren Nira Producing Bioetanol in Lonuo Village, Bone Bolango District

This economic education activity for palm sap farmers aims to provide economic strengthening and build awareness among the public, especially palm sap farmers, that palm sap water can be utilized and made into several products with high economic value, for example bioethanol products. Apart from that, it can also minimize the negative impact of the production of alcoholic drinks made from palm sap in Lonuo village. This activity uses educational methods, socialization and community assistance for sugar palm sap farmers. Empowering sugar palm farmers through product diversification is the key to increasing the quality and quantity of sugar palm sap products into various marketable products such as bioethanol. This economic education activity for palm sap farmers has had a positive impact and response from the Lonuo village community. This can be seen from the enthusiasm of the community in participating in activities at the village office. The community received education well and smoothly and increased public understanding regarding the use of palm sap into products of high economic value such as bioethanol.

An Experimental Study on Concrete by Using E-Waste as Partial Replacement of Coarse Aggregate

Abstract: The world population been growing rapidly and the urbanization spreading widely throughout the world. These been cause remarkable increase in the development of the construction industry which causing a huge demand for concrete and it is resulting in exceeding generation of natural resources. Therefore an alternative source is essential to replace the materials used in concrete. In other hand, Electronics industries also been growing rapidly and the electronic products have became integral part of daily life of people throughout the world. This is causing the rapid production of electronic products and this resulting the production of a huge quantity of E-waste every year throughout the world. These E-wastes have serious human health concerns and required extreme care in it's disposal to avoid any adverse impact. Disposal or dumping of these also cause major issues because it is highly complex to handle and they contain highly toxic chemicals. But many studies say that the E-wastes can be incorporated in concrete and it helps to make a sustainable environment. Therefore This project explores the feasibility and Impact of incorporating electronic waste (E- waste) as partial replacement of coarse aggregate in traditional cement concrete. In this experimental research we are replacing the coarse aggregate by E-Waste by 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of the volume of course aggregate in M20 Concrete and Hence test it for Compressive strength and uniformity. The tests are conducted on the 7th, 14th and 28th day of Curing

Divergent synthesis of complex withanolides enabled by a scalable route and late-stage functionalization.

Withanolides are a group of naturally occurring C28 steroids based on an ergostane skeleton. They have a high degree of polyoxygenation, and the abundance of O-functional groups has enabled various natural alterations to both the carbocyclic skeleton and the side chain. Consequently, these molecules have intricate structural features that lead to their highly varied display of biological activities including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulating properties. Despite being intriguing leads for further discovery research, synthetic access to the withanolides remains highly challenging-compounds for current biological research are mainly isolated from plants, often inefficiently. Here, we report the divergent synthesis of 11 withanolides in 12 to 20 steps, enabled by a gram-scale route and a series of late-stage functionalizations, most notably a bioinspired photooxygenation-allylic hydroperoxide rearrangement sequence. This approach enables further biological research disconnected from a reliance on minute quantities of the parent natural products or their simple derivatives.

Fauna of ectoparasites of fur-bearing animals in fur farms of the Tver region

Fur farming is a branch of agriculture that specializes in breeding fur-bearing animals in order to obtain valuable fur skins from them. An important task of fur farming is to increase the quantity and quality of products obtained through intensification of production. This may lead to an increase in the number of outbreaks of infectious and invasive diseases. Ectoparasites negatively affect the quality of fur and can lead to the death of young animals. We conducted a study of the ectoparasite fauna in fur farms of the Tver region: «Savvatyevo» and «Mekha». We examined three types of furbearing animals: fox, American mink, and ferret. We performed a clinical examination of the animals; we examined the fur to detect fleas; we examined parasitological material from the auricle and external auditory canal under a microscope, we caught and determined the type of zoophilic flies. Ear mites O. cynotis have been reported in foxes and polecats. In foxes, infection rates: age 5 months – prevalence of infection 80,95%, intensity of infection 20,00 copies, at the age of 1 year – 86,67% and 6,67 copies, at the age of 2 years – 100,00% and 8,10 copies. For ferrets: age 3 months - no ear mites detected, age 1-year prevalence of infection 86,67%, intensity of infection 2,50 copies, age 2 years – 100,00% and 14,20 copies. Taking these data into account, all age groups of foxes support the invasive potential of O. cynotis equally, being a source of infection of new animals and a reservoir of the pathogen. Fleas C. (M.) s. sciurorum have been recorded in minks. The average prevalence of infection in adult males and females is 63,3%, the average intensity of infection is 11.6 specimens. The prevalence of infection of zoophilic flies was: M. domestica – 45,1%, L. caesar – 28,6%, P. regina – 11,9%, C. uralensis – 9,6%, F. canicularis – 4,8%. The number of flies in the shad was up to 30 individuals/m2. The data obtained indicate the wide distribution of arachnoenthomosis among fur-bearing animals in fur farms of the Tver region, which makes it urgent to introduce new schemes for the control and prevention of ectoparasites.

Order or Collaborate? Manufacturers Utilize 3D-Printed Parts to Sustainably Facilitate Increased Product Variety

3D printing (3DP) has garnered significant attention from industries, prompting traditional manufacturers to adopt 3DP to sustainably facilitate increased product variety. Observing manufacturers’ two adoption strategies, ordering parts and collaboratively printing 3DP parts, in a real-world setting, we utilize a wholesale price contract and a Nash Bargaining contract to describe these two strategies and then develop a supply-chain model including a 3DP supplier (Supplier) and a traditional manufacturer (Manufacturer). Further, we employ backward induction to solve the subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium for the model to reveal differences between these two strategies and the impact of 3DP’s improved resource efficiency. According to equilibrium outcomes, analytical results show that first, as long as the unit cost of each 3DP part is not overly high and 3DP’s resource efficiency is not extremely low, the Manufacturer is willing to implement 3DP to increase product variety. Second, a rise in the resource efficiency can create a “win-win” scenario for the Manufacturer and the Supplier. Third, supply-chain collaboration can be achieved when the Manufacturer’s and the Supplier’s bargaining powers approach equality. Interestingly, a Nash bargaining contract can incentivize the manufacturer to substitute a base product with a variety of products, a change facilitated by an increase in the retail price of this base product. The managerial implication of this research is that enhanced resource efficiency can lead to less environmental pollution in the collaboration model by resulting in the sale of lower quantities of the base product, which would otherwise consume more resources and generate greater environmental pollution.

Highly Electroactive Co2+-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks as an Efficient Coreaction Accelerator for Amplifying Near-Infrared Electrochemiluminescence of Gold Nanoclusters in Biomarkers Immunoassay.

Metal nanoclusters (NCs) as a new kind of luminophore have acquired sufficient interest, but their widespread application is restricted on account of their relatively low electrochemiluminescence (ECL) efficiency. Then, aqueous metal NCs with high ECL efficiency were strongly anticipated, especially for the ultrasensitive analysis of biomarkers. Herein, a near-infrared (NIR) ECL biosensing strategy for the test of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) was proposed by utilizing N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC)- and cysteamine (Cys)-stabilized gold NCs (NAC/Cys-AuNCs) as ECL emitters with the NIR ECL emission around 860 nm and a metal-organic framework/palladium nanocubes (ZIF-67/PdNCs) hybrid as the coreaction accelerator through their admirable electrocatalytic activity. The NIR emission would reduce photochemical injury to the samples and even realize nondestructive analysis with highly strong susceptibility and suitability. Furthermore, the utilization of ZIF-67/PdNCs could improve the ECL response of NAC/Cys-AuNCs by facilitating the oxidation of the coreactant triethylamine (TEA), leading to the production of a larger quantity of reducing intermediate radical TEA•+. Consequently, NAC/Cys-AuNCs with ZIF-67/PdNCs displayed 2.7 fold enhanced ECL emission compared with the single NAC/Cys-AuNCs using TEA as the coreactant. In addition, HWRGWVC (HWR), a heptapeptide, was introduced to immobilize antibodies for the specially binding Fc fragment of the antibodies, which improved the binding efficiency and sensitivity. As a result, a "signal-on" immunosensor for NSE analysis was obtained with an extensive linear range of 0.1 to 5 ng/mL and a low limit of detection (0.033 fg/mL) (S/N = 3). This study provides a wonderful method for the development of an efficient nondestructive immunoassay.

Filamentous morphology: a new frontier for genetic modification of filamentous fungal cell factories

Filamentous fungi are a group of eukaryotic microorganisms widely found in nature. Some filamentous fungi have been developed as "cell factories" and extensively used for the production of recombinant proteins, organic acids, and secondary metabolites due to their strong protein secretion capabilities or effective synthesis of many natural products. The growth morphology of filamentous fungi significantly influences the quality and quantity of fermented products. Previous research conducted by the authors' group revealed that an increase in hyphal branches leads to enhanced protein secretion during liquid fermentation. With the development of morphological engineering of filamentous fungi, an increasing number of studies have focused on modifying fungal mycelium morphology to improve the yield of target metabolites during fermentation. While there have been a few reviews on the relationship between fungal fermentation morphology and productivity, research in this area is rapidly developing and requires updates. The paper presents a comprehensive review of domestic and international research reports, along with the authors' own research findings, to systematically review the morphological patterns of filamentous fungi, the impact of fungal morphology on industrial fermentation, as well as methods and strategies for regulating mycelial morphology. The aim of this review is to enhance the understanding of relevant domestic scholars regarding the morphological development of filamentous fungi and provide ideas for the rational engineering of fungal strains suitable for industrial fermentation.