Accumulation and partitioning of total phenols in two varieties of Labisia pumila Benth. under manipulation of greenhouse irradiance

Two varieties of Labisia pumila (var. pumila and alata) were exposed to four levels of greenhouse irradiance (100, 70, 50, 30% of the incoming radiation (IR); equivalent to respective 670, 630, 470, 240 μmol m-2 s -1) in a 2-factorial Randomized Complete Block Design trial with the aim to determine the existence of varietal preferences in total phenols (TP) accumulation and their distribution to different organs (leaf, stem, root) due to manipulation in irradiance levels. TP were determined according to Folin-Ciocalteu method and results expressed in mg Gallic acid g-1 dry weight (DW). Total phenolic content in red var. alata consistently recorded lower values (p≤0.0001) than green var. pumila when exposed to high irradiance (100-70% IR) by 4.5-6.6%. Reducing irradiance to 50% IR; however, increased TP in red higher than green var. by 39.2% (10.96 vs. 7.87 mg GAE g-1 DW) due to marked increase (p≤0.0001) in phenols partitioning to the leaf of red var. compared to green var. (4.6 vs. 3.0 mg g"). Partitioning of phenols to the leaf in red var. alata, although kept increasing (6.5% over green var.), did not continue to enhance plant TP with further decrease in irradiance to 30% IR. Instead TP partitioning to the stem and root in green var. pumila exceeded substantially over red var. alata by 11.8-18.4%, respectively, implying there are varietal preferences between var. pumila and alata in terms of TP accumulation and partitioning related to varying levels of irradiance. Although both varieties are shade loving, var. alata was more sensitive to high irradiance than var. pumila in accumulation of TP in the plants and that manipulation of irradiance in controlled environment agriculture was able to enhance partitioning of phenols to different parts or organs of Labisia pumila for potential niche production of plant parts

Biological effects of background radiation and their risk of humans

Background: Exposure rate measurements of the natural background radiation are found in some selected locations at the university of Kufa in Najaf city, Iraq. Materials and Methods: The experimental results of this study are found using a G-M survey meter [SEI Inspector EXP (Digital Radiation Detector, USA)]. Two radioactive sources (137Cs and 60Co) are used to calibrate the GM tube exposure rate meter. Results: The most frequently recorded readings of the gamma-ray dose rate were observed between 74 and 93 nGy h-1. The absorbed dose rates are found to be from 55 nGyh-1 at Science College (Chemistry Store) to 189 nGy h-1 at Science College (Classroom) (mean= 99 nGyh-1). Conclusions: Meanwhile, absorbed dose rates of background radiation are fell within the range reported in other listed regions worldwide. This finding indicates that selected locations in the present study have normal values and may not be harmful and have not biological effects on people in this region. The university of Kufa classified as an area of normal background radiation

A Review on Honey Adulteration and the Available Detection Approaches

Over the last few decades, the utilization of stingless bees honey product grew significantly due to its natural therapeutic value in honey. These make the demand for honey rises and tends to have a lot of honey product available in the commercial market. However, the purity of honey can be sceptical whenever it turns up to be added or removed with different substances. Recently, adulteration of honey becomes a complex issue because the highly sophisticated adulteration procedures are continually being evolved and the legislative determination of honey quality indicator is incapable to identify most honey adulteration procedures. Therefore, a comprehensive overview of the method of adulterated honey, including direct and indirect adulteration are discussed in this paper. In addition to this, the detection methods approached by most researchers are briefly explained. All these methods contribute to the knowledge about each aspect of honey authenticity and give beneficial information in oncoming works

Analyzing the effect of nozzle diameter in fused deposition modeling for extruding polylactic acid using open source 3D printing

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies. The 3D Printer has been widely used in the fabrication of 3D products. One of the main issues has been to obtain a high quality for the finished parts. The present study focuses on the effect of nozzle diameter in terms of pressure drop, geometrical error as well as extrusion time. While using polylactic acid (PLA) as a material, the research was conducted using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) by manipulating the nozzle diameter, and the pressure drop along the liquefier was observed. The geometrical error and printing time were also calculated by using different nozzle diameters. Analysis shows that the diameter of the nozzle significantly affects the pressure drop along the liquefier which influences the consistency of the road width thus affecting the quality of the product’s finish. The vital aspect is minimizing the pressure drop to be as low as possible, which will lead to a good quality final product. The results from the analysis demonstrate that a 0.2 mm nozzle diameter contributes the highest pressure drop, which is not within the optimum range. In this study, by considering several factors including pressure drop, geometrical error and printing time, a 0.3 mm nozzle diameter has been suggested as being in the optimum range for extruding PLA material using open-source 3D printing. The implication of this result is valuable for a better understanding of the melt flow behavior of the PLA material and for choosing the optimum nozzle diameter for 3D printing

Potential of deep seawater mariculture for economic transformation in Sabah, Malaysia

A Malaysian state of Sabah is blessed with natural deep sea water (DSW). The presence of these DSW's offers a potential for OTEC power plant to be installed and operated using warm surface sea water (SSW) as a heat source and the cold DSW as a heat sink. In the operation, the power plant may need to spend a considerable amount of power to pump up the DSW. The cold DSW, after serving its function as coolant to the condenser of the power plant, apparently appears as cold waste-water and may pose a disposal problem to the environment. However, being very rich in nutrients, the used DSW instead create another valuable potential for secondary commercial activities in industries like mariculture, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, medicinal, temperate crop farming, district cooling, etc. all of which, if fully developed could offer a real economic transformation for the state of Sabah, as that experience by the Japanese Kumejima of Okinawa prefecture. This paper focuses on the discussion on the potential of DSW in enhancing the development of Sabah mariculture industry, party contribution towards accelerating the socioeconomic transformation of the state and the people

Importance of soil temperature for the growth of temperate crops under a tropical climate and functional role of soil microbial diversity

A soil cooling system that prepares soil for temperate soil temperatures for the growth of temperate crops under a tropical climate is described herein. Temperate agriculture has been threatened by the negative impact of temperature increases caused by climate change. Soil temperature closely correlates with the growth of temperate crops, and affects plant processes and soil microbial diversity. The present study focuses on the effects of soil temperatures on lettuce growth and soil microbial diversity that maintains the growth of lettuce at low soil temperatures. A model temperate crop, loose leaf lettuce, was grown on eutrophic soil under soil cooling and a number of parameters, such as fresh weight, height, the number of leaves, and root length, were evaluated upon harvest. Under soil cooling, significant differences were observed in the average fresh weight (P<0.05) and positive development of the roots, shoots, and leaves of lettuce. Janthinobacterium (8.142%), Rhodoplanes (1.991%), Arthrospira (1.138%), Flavobacterium (0.857%), Sphingomonas (0.790%), Mycoplana (0.726%), and Pseudomonas (0.688%) were the dominant bacterial genera present in cooled soil. Key soil fungal communities, including Pseudaleuria (18.307%), Phoma (9.968%), Eocronartium (3.527%), Trichosporon (1.791%), and Pyrenochaeta (0.171%), were also recovered from cooled soil. The present results demonstrate that the growth of temperate crops is dependent on soil temperature, which subsequently affects the abundance and diversity of soil microbial communities that maintain the growth of temperate crops at low soil temperatures

Control of the chirality and polarity of magnetic vortices in triangular nanodots

Magnetic vortex dynamics in lithographically prepared nanodots is currently a subject of intensive research, particularly after recent demonstration that the vortex polarity can be controlled by in-plane magnetic field. This has stimulated the proposals of non-volatile vortex magnetic random access memories. In this work, we demonstrate that triangular nanodots offer a real alternative where vortex chirality, in addition to polarity, can be controlled. In the static regime, we show that vortex chirality can be tailored by applying in-plane magnetic field, which is experimentally imaged by means of Variable-Field Magnetic Force Microscopy. In addition, the polarity can be also controlled by applying a suitable out-of-plane magnetic field component. The experiment and simulations show that to control the vortex polarity, the out-of-plane field component, in this particular case, should be higher than the in-plane nucleation field. Micromagnetic simulations in the dynamical regime show that the magnetic vortex polarity can be changed with short-duration magnetic field pulses, while longer pulses change the vortex chirality.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figure

Development and Validation of Capillary Electrophoresis Method for Simultaneous Determination of Six Pharmaceuticals in Different Food Samples Combining On-line and Off-line Sample Enrichment Techniques

A rapid and highly sensitive capillary electrophoresis method was developed combining on-line and off-line sample enrichment techniques that are capable to determine six widely used pharmaceuticals, viz. amoxicillin, carbamazepine, diclofenac, indomethacin, ibuprofen, and paracetamol from various food samples. A new sample preconcentration technique, i.e., in situ aggregated microextraction, was utilized to extract the analytes from various food samples. The process was carried out by the formation of aggregate phase in situ in the aqueous sample by ion association between oppositely charged surfactants, viz. Tiron® and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The separation and quantification of analytes were carried out in micellar electrokinetic chromatography mode at -20 kV. In short, the uncoated fused silica capillaries were filled with 80 mM phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.0) to act as leading electrolyte, and the samples were dissolved in 100 mM borate buffer and injected by electrokinetic mode applying -10 kV for 600 s. The method showed good linearity in between 0.06 and 50 µg/L for all six pharmaceuticals. Good repeatability and recoveries were obtained for all analytes in the range of 94.45–106.32% using optimized experimental conditions. The limit of detection ranged from 0.02 to 0.08 µg/L, and the limit of quantification ranged from 0.06 to 0.25 µg/L for six pharmaceuticals. The sensitivity of the developed micellar electrokinetic chromatography method was increased about 2500-folds compared to conventional capillary zone electrophoresis method. Finally, the developed analytical procedure was applied successfully for the detection of selected pharmaceuticals in fruits, urine, and river water samples