Remediation of Cu in the Contaminated Soil by Using Equisetum Debile (Horsetail)*

Paddy fields in the Rancaekek area, Bandung Regency-Indonesia, has been contaminated by textile wastewater. The area needs to recover back to its normal condition and function. Several compounds were found in the soil, such as Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Co, Ni, and Cr. Phytoremediation was selected as a site remediation strategy, which employs plants to remove non-volatile and immiscible soil contents. The objective of the study was to determine the ability of Equisetum debile to absorb Cu from the contaminated soil. Cu measurement was conducted by using the AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer) method. The study has shown that Equisetum debile can absorb Cu concentrations of up to 25.3 ppm in 60 days after initial planting. However, the Enrichment Coefficient value (0.392) indicated that Equisetum debile was not efficient as a hyperaccumulator plant

Hubungan Persepsi Pajak Dan Tanggung Jawab Kepatuhan Wajib Pajak Restoran Di Kota Tangerang

Taxes have an important role in the implementation of development, because regional development is very dependent on the acquisition of local taxes, the optimization of local tax revenues depends on taxpayer compliance. Objectives: (1). To analyze the relationship between tax perception and restaurant taxpayer compliance (2). To analyze the relationship between responsibility and obedience to restaurant taxpayers (3). Analyzing the relationship of responsibility with restaurant taxpayer compliance. Method with quantitative approach. The technique of collecting is through the distribution of questionnaires, survey study documentation. Respondents amounted to 94 people. Analysis using multiple linear regression. The conclusion shows that (1). Tax perception in taxpayer obedience (2). Responsibility with taxpayer obedience 3) Tax perception and citizen responsibility simultaneously with restaurant taxpayer obedience in Tangerang City.  Keywords: Tax Perception, Responsibility, Compliance, Restauran

Regular and chaotic states in a local map description of sheared nematic liquid crystals

We propose and study a local map capable of describing the full variety of dynamical states, ranging from regular to chaotic, obtained when a nematic liquid crystal is subjected to a steady shear flow. The map is formulated in terms of a quaternion parametrization of rotations of the local frame described by the axes of the nematic director, subdirector, and the joint normal to these, with two additional scalars describing the strength of ordering. Our model yields kayaking, wagging, tumbling, aligned, and coexistence states, accommodated in a phase diagram which closely resembles phase diagrams obtained using representations of the dynamics which are based on ordinary differential equations. We also study the behavior of the map under periodic perturbations of the shear rate. Such a map can serve as a building block for the construction of lattice models of the complex spatiotemporal states predicted for sheared nematics

Redox regulation of type-I inositol trisphosphate receptors in intact mammalian cells.

A sensitization of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP3R)-mediated Ca2+ release is associated with oxidative stress in multiple cell types. These effects are thought to be mediated by alterations in the redox state of critical thiols in the IP3R, but this has not been directly demonstrated in intact cells. Here, we utilized a combination of gel-shift assays with MPEG-maleimides and LC-MS/MS to monitor the redox state of recombinant IP3R1 expressed in HEK293 cells. We found that under basal conditions, ∼5 of the 60 cysteines are oxidized in IP3R1. Cell treatment with 50 μm thimerosal altered gel shifts, indicating oxidation of ∼20 cysteines. By contrast, the shifts induced by 0.5 mm H2O2 or other oxidants were much smaller. Monitoring of biotin-maleimide attachment to IP3R1 by LC-MS/MS with 71% coverage of the receptor sequence revealed modification of two cytosolic (Cys-292 and Cys-1415) and two intraluminal cysteines (Cys-2496 and Cys-2533) under basal conditions. The thimerosal treatment modified an additional eleven cysteines, but only three (Cys-206, Cys-767, and Cys-1459) were consistently oxidized in multiple experiments. H2O2 also oxidized Cys-206 and additionally oxidized two residues not modified by thimerosal (Cys-214 and Cys-1397). Potentiation of IP3R channel function by oxidants was measured with cysteine variants transfected into a HEK293 IP3R triple-knockout cell line, indicating that the functionally relevant redox-sensitive cysteines are predominantly clustered within the N-terminal suppressor domain of IP3R. To our knowledge, this study is the first that has used proteomic methods to assess the redox state of individual thiols in IP3R in intact cells. © 2018 Joseph et al

A critical look at an Islamic Gold investment account

This article assesses an Islamic gold investment account offered by an Islamic bank in Malaysia and analyses its pros and cons. We look into the product’s relative advantages and disadvantages compare to some other Islamic deposit products and conventional gold accounts. In process of the assessment we also come across some Shari’ah compliance related issues and some practices which needs to be scrutinized from Shari’ah, economic and social perspectives. Overall, our findings suggest the account to be worthwhile investment instrument for long-term saving instrument and promising venture at times of boom in gold prices. However, the account is considered as a risky and unfavorable investment when gold price is on fall or if the customer intends to keep his deposits for a brief period. Finally, we pose some questions to the reader to ponder upon about some possible implication of the product for the Islamic bank, its customer or the society at large

Wettability Alteration Induced by Surface Roughening During Low Salinity Waterflooding

Wettability alteration during low salinity waterflooding (LSW) is expected to be one of the prominent reasons for enhanced oil recovery. However, the underlying mechanisms of improved oil recovery in sandstone during LSW are not entirely clear. Thus, a series of experiments was carried out to investigate the underlying mechanisms that drive the wettability alteration. FTIR spectroscopy was combined with thermogravimetric analysis to quantify the amount of adsorbed hydrocarbon components in sandstone with various clay contents. Afterward, the time-dependent contact angle in fabricated sandstone substrate (RMS roughness 9.911.31) was observed with various clay and brine contents to monitor the wettability alteration during LSW. The existence of divalent ions (Ca2+ and Mg2+) was found to stabilize the sandstone and prevent it from swelling. Surprisingly, with the presence of divalent ions, the rate of contact angle change was insignificant (, even though a reduction of divalent ions occurred and the rate of contact angle change with the sole presence of NaCl was notably altered (. Furthermore, the presence of higher clay content showed an increased contact angle alteration. We propose that these phenomena are partially driven by macroscopic phenomena of clay swelling, which leads to surface roughening and enhances the water-wetness

A Coupled Map Lattice Model for Rheological Chaos in Sheared Nematic Liquid Crystals

A variety of complex fluids under shear exhibit complex spatio-temporal behaviour, including what is now termed rheological chaos, at moderate values of the shear rate. Such chaos associated with rheological response occurs in regimes where the Reynolds number is very small. It must thus arise as a consequence of the coupling of the flow to internal structural variables describing the local state of the fluid. We propose a coupled map lattice (CML) model for such complex spatio-temporal behaviour in a passively sheared nematic liquid crystal, using local maps constructed so as to accurately describe the spatially homogeneous case. Such local maps are coupled diffusively to nearest and next nearest neighbours to mimic the effects of spatial gradients in the underlying equations of motion. We investigate the dynamical steady states obtained as parameters in the map and the strength of the spatial coupling are varied, studying local temporal properties at a single site as well as spatio-temporal features of the extended system. Our methods reproduce the full range of spatio-temporal behaviour seen in earlier one-dimensional studies based on partial differential equations. We report results for both the one and two-dimensional cases, showing that spatial coupling favours uniform or periodically time-varying states, as intuitively expected. We demonstrate and characterize regimes of spatio-temporal intermittency out of which chaos develops. Our work suggests that such simplified lattice representations of the spatio-temporal dynamics of complex fluids under shear may provide useful insights as well as fast and numerically tractable alternatives to continuum representations.Comment: 32 pages, single column, 20 figure

Dephasing of a Qubit due to Quantum and Classical Noise

The qubit (or a system of two quantum dots) has become a standard paradigm for studying quantum information processes. Our focus is Decoherence due to interaction of the qubit with its environment, leading to noise. We consider quantum noise generated by a dissipative quantum bath. A detailed comparative study with the results for a classical noise source such as generated by a telegraph process, enables us to set limits on the applicability of this process vis a vis its quantum counterpart, as well as lend handle on the parameters that can be tuned for analyzing decoherence. Both Ohmic and non-Ohmic dissipations are treated and appropriate limits are analyzed for facilitating comparison with the telegraph process.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY TECHNIQUE FOR DETECTION OF HONEY AUTHENTICATION

Physico-chemical properties of honey and honey samples adulterated with glucose or sucrose were determined. Total soluble solids (TSS), pH and electrical conductivity of honey and its adulterated samples ranged between (84.10-84.50%), (3.80-4.63) and (11.73 – 232.32µS), respectively. Sensory properties of honey and its adulterated samples showed that, no differences in the sensorial properties were found in authentic honey and honey adulterated with 25% sucrose or 25% glucose. Increasing adulteration ratio to 50% glucose decreased taste, flavor, color and general appearance, while adulterated honey with 50% sucrose caused significant decrease in taste and general appearance. The possibility of using HPLC to detect adulteration of honey through determining their sugars content was evaluated. The obtained results indicated that, authentic honey was characterized with its higher fructose/glucose ratio (1.21) compared to adulterated honey samples (ranged between 0.35 - 0.94). FT-IR spectroscopic technique was used to evaluate honey quality. Reliability FT-IR for quantitative and qualitative analysis of sucrose, glucose and fructose were evaluated.  The main FT-IR spectral bands of sucrose, glucose and fructose were identified at different concentration levels. The relationship between sugars concentration (sucrose, glucose and fructose) and its spectral bands absorbance (peak height) were evaluated to prepare sugars standard curves and their linear equations. Selected main peaks of sucrose, glucose and fructose provide the best calibration model with correlation coefficient (r2) higher than (0.9). Honey samples adulterated with glucose were characterized with specific spectral peaks, in which the absorbance was increased by increasing the ratio of adulteration with glucose at 1087, 1105, 1189 and 984 cm-1, while the adulteration with sucrose lead to increase in the absorbance of spectral bands of sucrose as 1054, 1149 and 984 cm-1 especially in honey adulterated with 50 % sucrose