Modelling and Digital Mapping of the Infiltration Characteristics of Major Agricultural Soils

A study was attempted to assess the infiltration characteristics of major soils of Sohag governorate, Egypt. Twelve soil profiles were exposed and morphologically examined to represent the soils of the study area. Horizon-wise soil samples were taken and analyzed for physical and chemical properties. The infiltration field measurements were made for five hours using a double-ring infiltrometer, and the empirical Kostiakov’s infiltration model was applied. The results indicated that the soils were classified as Aridisols, Entisols, and Vertisols. Initial infiltration rates ranged between 0.80 and 6.67 m/day. The highest values (6.47 and 6.67 m/day) were observed in locations No. 11 and 12, where the coarse texture prevailed. The fine texture soils recorded the lowest values (0.80, 0.81, and 0.82 m/day) in locations No. 8, 4, and 7, respectively. Infiltration rate is classified as very rapid, rapid, moderately rapid, and moderate. A correlation was found between steady infiltration rates and sand, hydraulic conductivity, CaCO3 content, and organic carbon in order r=0.95, 0.93, 0.74, and 0.79. However, were found to be negatively correlated with the infiltration rates (r= -0.80, -0.91, -0.95, -0.97, -0.64, -0.91, respectively. Whereas bulk density showed an insignificant relationship (p=0.05) with infiltration rates in the order of r=0.13. GIS environment was used to generate different maps of soil parameters, and finally, the infiltration map was produced for the study area

Optical Properties of Bismuth Borate Glasses Doped with Zinc and Calcium Oxides

Some bismuth-borate oxide glass' samples were prepared by the fast quenching method, where B2O3 was replaced with equal concentrations of ZnO and CaO. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to examine the internal structure and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) to identify building units and bonds throughout the studied structural matrices. XRD showed that all samples have short range order structural nature, while FTIR demonstrated some of Zn2+ acted as glass network formers and all Bi3+ acted as glass. UV-visible measurements and calculations showed a decreasing in the energy band gap from 3.83 eV to 1.73 eV with decreasing B2O3 content. Also with decreasing B2O3 content, both real refractive index and metallization factor decreased from 3.1 to 1.9 and from 0.56 to 0.71, respectively. For the studied glass' samples, density and molar volume showed inverted behaviors, where the density decreased while the molar volume increases with decreasing B2O3

CaO impregnated highly porous honeycomb activated carbon from agriculture waste: symmetrical supercapacitor study

This study presents the electrochemical studies of activated carbon prepared from palm kernel shell (ACPKS), with CaO impregnation. The CaO is obtained from chicken eggshell waste to produce CaO/ACPKS, which shows highly porous honeycomb structure with homogeneous distribution of CaO nanoparticles (30–50 nm in size). The prepared materials are evaluated as supercapacitor electrodes by testing their electrochemical characteristics. A high specific capacitance value of 222 F g−1 at 0.025 A g−1 is obtained for CaO/ACPKS, which is around three times higher than that for ACPKS (76 F g−1). In addition, electrochemical impedance data show lower impedance for CaO/ACPKS. Lastly, a practical symmetrical supercapacitor is fabricated by CaO/ACPKS and its performance is discussed

Magnetic Electrodeposition of the Hierarchical Cobalt Oxide Nanostructure from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries: Its Application as a Supercapacitor Electrode

In this study, electrodeposition of cobalt oxide (Co3O4) from spent lithium-ion batteries is successfully enhanced by the magnetic field effect. In the presence of magnetic field, well-defined hierarchical Co3O4 nanostructures with higher electroactive surface area are formed during the electrodeposition process. Electrochemical analysis shows that the enhanced Co3O4 nanostructures exhibit excellent charge storage capabilities of 1273 F g–1 at 1 A g–1, approximately 4 times higher than the electrodeposited Co3O4 that is formed without magnetic field effect. It also reveals the high cycling stability of enhanced Co3O4 nanostructures, with 96% capacitance retention at 5000 charge discharge cycles. The results manifest the enhancement of Co3O4 recovery from spent lithium-ion batteries, which can be the potential electrode material for supercapacitor application

Design and synthesis of (2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinolin-4-yl)-1,2,3-triazole derivatives via click reaction: Potential apoptotic antiproliferative agents

A mild and versatile method based on Cu-catalyzed [2+3] cycloaddition (Huisgen-Meldal-Sharpless reaction) was developed to tether 3,3’-((4-(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)phenyl)methylene)bis(4-hydroxyquinolin-2(1H)-ones) with 4-azido-2-quinolones in good yields. This methodology allowed attaching three quinolone molecules via a triazole linker with the proposed mechanism. The products are interesting precursors for their anti-proliferative activity. Compound 8g was the most active one, achieving IC$_{50}$ = 1.2 ± 0.2 µM and 1.4 ± 0.2 µM against MCF-7 and Panc-1 cell lines, respectively. Moreover, cell cycle analysis of cells MCF-7 treated with 8g showed cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase (supported by Caspase-3,8,9, Cytochrome C, BAX, and Bcl-2 studies). Additionally, significant pro-apoptotic activity is indicated by annexin V-FITC staining

Probabilistic Model Checking for Energy Analysis in Software Product Lines

In a software product line (SPL), a collection of software products is defined by their commonalities in terms of features rather than explicitly specifying all products one-by-one. Several verification techniques were adapted to establish temporal properties of SPLs. Symbolic and family-based model checking have been proven to be successful for tackling the combinatorial blow-up arising when reasoning about several feature combinations. However, most formal verification approaches for SPLs presented in the literature focus on the static SPLs, where the features of a product are fixed and cannot be changed during runtime. This is in contrast to dynamic SPLs, allowing to adapt feature combinations of a product dynamically after deployment. The main contribution of the paper is a compositional modeling framework for dynamic SPLs, which supports probabilistic and nondeterministic choices and allows for quantitative analysis. We specify the feature changes during runtime within an automata-based coordination component, enabling to reason over strategies how to trigger dynamic feature changes for optimizing various quantitative objectives, e.g., energy or monetary costs and reliability. For our framework there is a natural and conceptually simple translation into the input language of the prominent probabilistic model checker PRISM. This facilitates the application of PRISM's powerful symbolic engine to the operational behavior of dynamic SPLs and their family-based analysis against various quantitative queries. We demonstrate feasibility of our approach by a case study issuing an energy-aware bonding network device.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

One-step production of pyrene-1-boronic acid functionalized graphene for dopamine detection

A facile molecular wedging method is used to exfoliate graphite flakes into graphene sheets, with concurrent functionalization to form pyrene-1-boronic acid functionalized graphene (PBA/G). Different techniques are used to characterize the prepared materials such as field emission scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray analyzer, Raman, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy to evaluate their structural and morphological characteristics. The intercalation of PBA into graphite sheets, followed by exfoliation can be observed under the electron microscope. Elemental analyses show that the PBA acts more than intercalant, it is functionalized onto the graphene sheets upon exfoliation to form PBA/G. Raman analysis indicates PBA/G has a lower number of graphene layers as a result of successful exfoliation by PBA. Electrochemical impedance studies show that the PBA/G possesses high affinity for dopamine through the diol groups interaction, which renders it to have enhanced detection for dopamine

Design, synthesis, docking and mechanistic studies of new thiazolyl/thiazolidinylpyrimidine-2,4-dione antiproliferative agents

In this article, we display on the synthesis and biological evaluation of a new series of thiazolylpyrimidine 3a-l and thiazolidinylpyrimidine derivatives 5a-e. The structures of the new compounds were confirmed by using different spectral techniques including NMR, IR, mass spectroscopy in addition to elemental analyses. The cell viability of the new compounds was assessed against normal human mammary gland epithelial (MCF-10A) cell line. Data revealed that none of the compounds examined exhibited cytotoxic effects, and the cell viability for the compounds examined at 50 µM was greater than 87%. The antiproliferative activity of 3a-l and 5a-e was evaluated against four human cancer cell lines where the compounds showed promising activity. The most potent derivatives were compounds 3a, 3c, 3f, 3i, and 5b with GI$_{50}$ values ranging from 0.90 µM to 1.70 µM against the four cancer cell lines in comparison to doxorubicin (GI$_{50}$ = 1.10 µM). Compounds 3a, 3c and 3i showed potent antiproliferative activity with dual inhibitory action against EGFR and BRAF$^{V600E}$. Compounds 3a, 3c, and 3i demonstrated promising AutoDock scores towards EGFR and BRAF$^{V600E}$ with values of − 9.1 and − 8.6, −9.0 and − 8.5, and − 8.4 and − 8.0 kcal/mol, respectively. The physicochemical and pharmacokinetic characteristics of 3a, 3c, and 3i were anticipated, demonstrating their oral bioavailability

Ferrocene functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes as supercapacitor electrodes

Modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) functionalized by a redox-active ferrocene (Fc-MWCNTs) were successfully synthesized to enhance the electrochemical performance of MWCNTs for supercapacitor application. The ferrocene moieties were attached to the surface of MWCNTs via a thiourea linker with anions-interacting capability. The Fc-MWCNTs were characterized using XPS, FTIR, SEM, TGA, DTG, and XRF methods. The electrochemical performance details were investigated using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The Fc-MWCNTs electrode showed excellent capacity retention (90.8% over 5000 cycles) and a specific capacitance of 50 F g−1 at 0.25 A g−1 that is several times higher as compared to the pristine MWCNTs. The fabricated Fc-MWCNTs is proposed to be a suitable and promising candidate for energy storage material. de