Hydrophobicity properties of graphite and reduced graphene oxide of the polysulfone (PSf) mixed matrix membrane

Hydrophobicity properties of graphite and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) (from exfoliated graphite/rGO) towards PSf polymer membrane characteristic and properties at different additives weight concentrations (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 wt. %) were investigated. Both PSF/graphite and PSf/rGO membranes were characterized in term of hydrophobicity, surface bonding, surface roughness and porosity. FTIR peaks revealed that membrane with graphite and reduced graphene oxide nearly diminished their O-H bonding which was opposite to the graphene oxide peak that shows a strong O-H bonding as increased exfoliated times. These results were in line with the contact angle results that showed strong hydrophobicity of graphite and reduced graphene oxide membranes as increased these additives concentration. The effect of strong hydrophobicity in these membranes also has resulted in smoother surface roughness compared to pristine PSf membrane. Further investigation of the performance of water flux also proved that both above membranes have strong hydrophobic effect, with the lowest pure water flux rate (L/m2h) was given by PSf/rGO 3% membrane at 19.2437 L/m2h

Online scrutiny of people with nice cars: A comparative analysis of Chinese, Russian, and Anglo-American outrage

Connected by platforms and equipped with mobile recording devices, social media users are able to conduct near-constant mutual scrutiny. Such mediated scrutiny sometimes escalates to public denunciations online and even mediated or embodied interventions. A recurring theme of such scrutiny can be observed not only on Chinese social media but also on platforms in Russia and elsewhere, in which hostility is openly expressed towards people with nice cars (i.e. late model, luxury, foreign vehicles). In these cases, nice cars are not merely a fact provided by participants in their denunciations; they also serve as an implication of the privileges the owners might possess. By juxtaposing cases in China against other sociopolitical contexts, the research intends to achieve a better understanding of how and why nice cars are rendered meaningful by participants via mediated scrutiny on social media in China and beyond. The research collects and analyses relevant social media discourses on platforms including Sina Weibo (China), YouTube (Russia), and Facebook (United Kingdom; Australia; United States). Comparing and contrasting cases in different countries, the research demonstrates various forms of critic

L-Tryptophan as Fluorescent Probe for Determination of Folic Acid in Some Pharmaceutical Products

A new fluorescent probe L-Tryptophan was reported for the determination of folic acid (FA), based on its quenching effect of the fluorescence intensity of L-Tryptophan. The concentration of folic acid was proportional to the quenched fluorescence intensity of L-Tryptophan at an emission wavelength of 365 nm in Britton– Robinson (BR) buffer solution of pH 7. Optimized conditions of pH, time, order of addition of the reagent, potential interferences, concentrations of L-Tryptophan and buffer were investigated. Folic acid was determined in a linear range of 2.0 to 16.0 μg ml-1 with a correlation coefficient R2 0.9974. The limits of detection LOD and quantification LOQ values were 0.09 μg ml-1 and 0.27 μg ml-1, respectively. The standard deviation (RSD) values for five replicated measurements of 2, 8, 16 μg ml-1 folic acid were between 0.23 % and 1.07%. This method is efficient for routine analysis and quality control assay as it is relatively interferences free

Distribution of Various Mycotoxins in Compound Feed, Total Mix Ration and Silage

Present study was planned to assess the spectrum of natural occurrence of aflatoxins, zearalenone, ochratoxin A and A-B trichothecenes in dairy feed, silage and total mixed rations. One hundred and seventy one samples were analyzed by chromatographic technique. In cattle compound feed, there was a high incidence of aflatoxin B1 (97.3%) followed by aflatoxin B2 (50.3%), aflatoxin G1 (10.7%), aflatoxin G2 (1.5%), zearalenone (39.3%), ochratoxin A (37.5%) and deoxynivalenol (2.9%) with average values of 29, 8, 21, 10, 862, 64 and 813 ng/g respectively. Nine samples were found tainted with T-2 toxin (282ng/g), nivalenol (285ng/g) and fusarenon-x (1625ng/g) respectively. However, frequency distribution showed that positive seventy-seven (51.6%)samples found to be contaminated with aflatoxin B1 levels higher than permissible level of European Commission (<20ng/g). For zearalenone, forty-four (32.5%) samples were tainted with levels ranging from ≥500 to 3750ng/gi.e. higher than recommendations by European commission (<500ng/g). In contrast to compound feed, mycotoxin analysis in silage samples demonstrated the high prevalence of ochratoxin A (77.8 %) followed by AFB1 (25%) with mean of 53 and 8.71ng/g respectively. A scrutiny of mycotoxin for total mixed ration depicted that all samples were contaminated with aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A with an average of 30 and 48.5ng/g respectively. As far as multi-mycotoxin co-existence is concerned, compound feed was concurrently contaminated with two, three and four types of mycotoxins

An overview of enhancing drought tolerance in cotton through manipulating stress resistance genes

Drought stress affects the normal growth of plant by influencing Physiological, morphological molecular and biochemical traits at cellular level. It is a polygenic trait, controlled by multiple genes, which makes its manipulation difficult by genetic engineering. It seems drought could be major threat in future to high yield of cotton in Pakistan as well around the globe because it is spontaneous and cannot be controlled with manuring and skilled agricultural practices. Gene manipulation could be a solution of this threat by producing transgenic cotton plants. As it is polygenic trait, so, understanding about cellular mechanism of drought tolerance is crucial to impart tolerance by controlling gene expression under stressed conditions. Universal Stress Proteins (USP) genes have already been identified in drought stressed leaves of Gossypium arboreum which make this variety of cotton a rich source of stress tolerance genes. USP genes could be manipulated for drought tolerant transgenic cotton with high yielding as well and it is most important family of proteins in this regard. This family encompasses a conserved group of proteins that has been reported in different organisms which are activating under various abiotic stress conditions. USP is also a regulatory protein; its activity can be increased by manipulating its interactions

Mediated Visibility as Making Vitriol Meaningful

When engaged in vitriol through digital media, users harm their peers not only through the caustic nature of their words, but also by the way in which they can make their targets visible to public scrutiny. Social platforms and mobile devices enable individuals to author commentary about their targets, but also compel other types of actors to join in (or to contest, appropriate or derail) malicious exchanges. By focusing on highly visible yet comparatively mundane forms of denunciation in China, Russia and the United Kingdom, this chapter considers how vitriol can be manifest as a form of civic engagement. These cases provide insight about a more prevalent form of vigilantism that may be located at the margins of what is considered acceptable in their respective social contexts

Evolutionary bi-stability in pathogen transmission mode

Many pathogens transmit to new hosts by both infection (horizontal transmission) and transfer to the infected host's offspring (vertical transmission). These two transmission modes require speci®c adap- tations of the pathogen that can be mutually exclusive, resulting in a trade-off between horizontal and vertical transmission. We show that in mathematical models such trade-offs can lead to the simultaneous existence of two evolutionary stable states (evolutionary bi-stability) of allocation of resources to the two modes of transmission. We also show that jumping between evolutionary stable states can be induced by gradual environmental changes. Using quantitative PCR-based estimates of abundance in seed and vege- tative parts, we show that the pathogen of wheat, Phaeosphaeria nodorum, has jumped between two distinct states of transmission mode twice in the past 160 years, which, based on published evidence, we interpret as adaptation to environmental change. The ®nding of evolutionary bi-stability has impli- cations for human, animal and other plant diseases. An ill-judged change in a disease control programme could cause the pathogen to evolve a new, and possibly more damaging, combination of transmission modes. Similarly, environmental changes can shift the balance between transmission modes, with adverse effects on human, animal and plant health

Silver nanoparticles embedded in polyvinyl alcohol based passive saturable absorber

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP), a novel candidate of noble metal nanoparticles, which has great potential for pulsed laser applications due to strong saturation absorption behaviour. This study demonstrated the passively Q-switched laser operating within an Erbium-doped fibre laser cavity using AgNP saturable absorber (SA). The AgNP was synthesized via the chemical reduction method and the average size of nanoparticles was around 52.39 nm. The AgNP was incorporated with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer to form an AgNP-PVA composite SA. The proposed experimental works generated single pulse energy and peak power of about 66.14 nJ and 18.71 mW corresponds to the repetition rate and pulse width of 62.89 kHz and 3.32 µs