21 research outputs found
Diversity of allochtonous substances detected in bee pollen pellets
Received: 2016-08-07 | Accepted: 2016-09-13 | Available online: 2017-09-30http://dx.doi.org/10.15414/afz.2017.20.03.60-65This paper quantifies the diversity of natural and artificial allochthonous materials in bee pollen pellets and assesses their impact on potential applications. Bee products used in medicine, pharmacology and food products contain honey bee wax, propolis and flower pollens, and bee pollen pellet composition is dependent on the flower’s locality and methods used in technological preparation and storage. The quality of commercially available pollen and its positive and negative mode-of-actions are significantly influenced by natural and artificial allochthonous substances. The flower pollen pellets for this study were obtained from the Levice district in the Slovak Republic and analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). These visual and chemical analyses confirmed; (i) 4 different botanical pollen species were present in the pellets, (ii) minimal harmful substances were detected; with bee fragments and dead fungal hyphae biomass noted, (iii) different types of soil particles/aggregates were adsorbed; mainly Fe, Si oxides, silicates and alumosilicates and (iv) analysis revealed one artificial Ti-Mn-Fe grain, but this was most likely a residue from technological processes. Determination of all hazardous substances is necessary for bee pollen to be widely commercially available as food nutritional and energy supplements, and this can be achieved by microscopic study and the wide range of current analytical techniques.Keywords: bee pollen, food sources, pollen pellets, soil particles, artificial contaminantsReferencesAlmeida-Muradian, L.B. et al. (2005) Chemical composition and botanical evaluation of dried bee pollen pellets. 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In Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. Animal Science and Biotechnologies, vol. 67, no. (1-2), pp. 254 −259.Miklós, L. et al. (2002) Landscape atlas of the Slovak Republic. Bratislava: Ministerstvo životného prostredia SR.Nogueira, C. et al. (2012) Commercial bee pollen with different geographical origins: A comprehensive approach. In International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 13, pp. 11173−11187.Ormstad, H., Johansen, B.V. and Gaarder, P.I. (1998) Airborne house dust particles and diesel exhaust particles as allergen carriers. In Clinical and Experimental Allergy, vol. 28, pp. 702−708.Punt, W. et al. (2007) Glossary of pollen and spore terminology. In Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, vol. 143, pp. 1−81.Ruby, M.V. et al. (1999) Advances in evaluating the oral bioavailability of inorganics in soil for use in human health risk assessment. In Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 33, pp. 3697−3705.Schulte, F. et al. (2008) Chemical characterization and classification of pollen. In Analytical Chemistry, vol. 80, pp. 9551−9556.Schulz, S. et al. (2000) Composition of lipids from sunflower pollen (Helianthus annuus). In Phytochemistry, vol. 54, pp. 325−336.ŠTRBA, P. and KOSÁR, G. (2012) Diversity of vascular plants in agricultural landscape of central part of Žitný ostrov region. In Biodiversity in agricultural landscape and ecosystem. International conference of the project REVERSE-INTERREG IVC. Piešťany: 13th of June 2012. Piešťany: Centre of Plant Production Piešťany, pp. 13−16 (in Slovak).Villanueva, M.T.O. et al. (2002) The importance of bee-collected pollen in the diet: A study of its composition. In International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, vol. 53, pp. 217−224
Bflier's: A Novel Butterfly Inspired Multi-robotic Model in Search of Signal Sources
The diversified ecology in nature had various forms of swarm behaviors in
many species. The butterfly species is one of the prominent and a bit
insightful in their random flights and converting that into an artificial
metaphor would lead to enormous possibilities. This paper considers one such
metaphor known as Butterfly Mating Optimization (BMO). In BMO, the Bfly follows
the patrolling mating phenomena and simultaneously captures all the local
optima of multimodal functions. To imitate this algorithm, a mobile robot
(Bflybot) was designed to meet the features of the Bfly in the BMO algorithm.
Also, the multi-Bflybot swarm is designed to act like butterflies in nature and
follow the algorithm's rules. The real-time experiments were performed on the
BMO algorithm in the multi-robotic arena and considered the signal source as
the light source. The experimental results show that the BMO algorithm is
applicable to detect multiple signal sources with significant variations in
their movements i.e., static and dynamic. In the case of static signal sources,
with varying initial locations of Bflybots, the convergence is affected in
terms of time and smoothness. Whereas the experiments with varying step-size
leads to their variation in the execution time and speed of the bots. In this
work, experiments were performed in a dynamic environment where the movement of
the signal source in both maneuvering and non-maneuvering scenarios. The
Bflybot swarm is able to detect the single and multi-signal sources, moving
linearly in between two fixed points, in circular, up and down movements.To
evaluate the BMO phenomenon, various ongoing and prospective works such as
mid-sea ship detection, aerial search applications, and earthquake prediction
were discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figure
Field application of ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticles on agricultural plants
Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) have potential application in precision farming and sustainable agriculture. Studies have shown that ENPs enhance the efficiency of the delivery of agrochemicals and thus, have the potential to positively affect the environment, thereby improving the growth and health of the crops. However, the majority of the research on the effects of ENPs on plants and in agricultural applications have been limited to controlled laboratory conditions. These conditions do not fully consider various aspects inherent to the growth of agricultural plants in fields under changing weather and climate. Some of the most investigated ENPs in the agricultural research area are ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs). ZnO NPs have the potential to increase crop production and stress resistance, mainly by the slow release of Zn ions to crops. Unlike ZnO NPs, TiO2 NPs have less well-understood means of action, and are generally considered as plant growth promoter. This mini review presents information compiled for ZnO and TiO2 NPs(,) their influence on agricultural plants with emphasis on particularly effect on plant growth, nutrient distribution and pollution remediation under field conditions. It is concluded that in order to gain a broader perspective, more field studies are needed, particularly multigeneration studies, to fully understand the effects of the ENPs on agricultural plants' growth and improvement of their health.Web of Science1111art. no. 228
Significance of phosphate nano-fertilizers foliar application : a brief real-field study of quantitative, physiological parameters, and agro-ecological diversity in sunflower
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS : FIGURE S1: X-ray diffraction powder patterns of hydroxylapatite formed from Sheelavati fish bone; FIGURE S2: X-ray diffraction powder patterns the mixture of parascholzite and calcium zinc phosphate (nano/macro-ZnPhos) formed by chemical co-precipitation method; TABLE S1: Basic values of electrical conductivity and the pH of applied nano-fertilizers compared to applied water as a control variant; TABLE S2: Comparison of monthly temperature and precipitation characteristics during the vegetation season of 2022 with the longterm norm from 1991 to 2020; TABLE S3: Abundance and dominance of the Coleoptera family in the studied treatments with sunflower at the Nitra-Dolná Malanta locality during vegetation season 2022. TABLE S4: Abundance and dominance of the Carabidae species in the studied treatments with sunflower at the Nitra-Dolná Malanta locality during vegetation season of 2022.One of the challenges in agriculture practices is guaranteeing an adequate and bioavailable
phosphorus supply for plants on phosphorus-deficient soils. A promising alternative lies in the
utilization of phosphate nano-fertilizers (NFs) through spray applications. Therefore, this short-term
study aimed to investigate the yet undetermined widespread impact of P-NFs on crops characterized
by broad leaves, an intensive rate of photosynthesis, and belonging to the oilseed plant, sunflower
(Helianthus annuus L.). To achieve this, NFs were applied at lower concentrations of various phosphatebased
NFs, including (i) nano-hydroxylapatite (nano-Hap) and (ii) a mixture of nano-calcium zinc
phosphate and macro-sized parascholzite (nano/macro-ZnPhos), in comparison to the NF-free
control. The study was carried out under authentic field conditions during the 2022 vegetation
season at the Dolná Malanta site within the Central European Region. The empirical evidence
presented herein indicates that the utilization of biocompatible and bioactive nano-Hap, initially
engineered for biomedical applications, and nano/macro-ZnPhos, now foliarly applied at reduced
concentrations, elicited a statistically significant elevation in quantitative parameters and seasonal
physiological responses. The parameters analyzed included head diameter, dry head weight, seed
yield per hectare, nutritional seed oiliness, etc. as well as the physiological normalized difference
vegetation index (NDVI), stomatal conductance index (Ig), and crop water stress index (CWSI). In
terms of agro-ecological terrestrial bio/diversity, it was evident that the nano/macro-ZnPhos was the
most hospitable variant for the terrestric insect community, but surprisingly, the agronomically more
popular nano-Hap showed only statistically insignificant changes in the diversity of the detected
communities. However, the relevance of outcomes highlighted using nano-fertilizers, supporting the
concept of precision and sustainable agriculture under field conditions.The Grant Agency of the Slovak Republic Ministry of Education, the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and by the European Union foundation (Erasmus Plus Programme for academic staff mobility) and postgraduate program sponsored by the National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic trough SAIA Organization.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomyam2024ChemistrySDG-15:Life on lan
pH sensitive smart gels of cetylpyridinium chloride in binary solvent mixtures: phase behaviour, structure and composition
Cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) gels from binary solvent mixtures of chlorinated solvents in the presence of water at a specific composition ratio have been studied. A transparent gel has been formed from CPC with dichloromethane, while a turbid gel with chloroform and a very weak opaque gel with carbon tetrachloride were observed in the presence of water. The CPC gel in a binary solvent mixture at a critical solvent composition of 3 : 1 v/v CHCl3 : H2O has been investigated as a function of pH between 4.1–11.8. The self-assembly of CPC and its morphology was found to be dependent on the solvent polarity/dielectric constant and pH of the medium. The absorption and emission characteristics of the CPC gel showed a significant response in a highly alkaline medium. The microstructure of the CPC gels in various chlorinated solvent combinations was proposed based on spectroscopic and microscopic investigations.Web of Science562503115030
Phase evolution, structural characteristics and mechanism of vesicle formation from a synthetic amphiphile : controlled morphology by tuning solution phase parameters
We report herein, the aggregation behavior of 3, 4-di(dodecyloxy)benzoic acid-4-hydroxy phenyl ester (DDBE), a synthetic amphiphile and a true non-ionic surfactant system as per the geometrical considerations. The true surfactant nature of the system stems from its hydrophilic-lipophilic-balance (HLB = 4.7), comparable to that of Span-60, also a true non-ionic surfactant. This compound undergoes spontaneous vesicle formation in THF:water binary solvent mixtures which further underwent fission at lower DDBE concentrations and fusion at higher concentrations, leading to giant vesicles of the order of 3000 nm. These vesicles are sensitive to the polarity of their environment. The predominant mode of interaction as observed from the molecular dynamics simulations were found to be π-π stacking with the phenyl rings of the molecule. Further, the system, upon complete extraction into water, formed spherical aggregates of size 50 nm based on the good solvent-poor solvent combination as the necessary condition for the vesicle formation.Supporting Information: Visual snaps, Solvent polarity towards aggregation plots, geometry opti-mized structure of DDBE, MD Calculations, Dynamic light scattering plot. This material is available online free of charge via Figshare.The UP staff exchange programme 2016.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ldis20hj2020Chemistr
Novel Two-Component Gels of Cetylpyridinium Chloride and the Bola-amphiphile 6-Amino Caproic Acid: Phase Evolution and Mechanism of Gel Formation
A two-component gel resulting from the amphiphilic cationic
surfactant cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) in the presence of a structure-forming
bola-amphiphilic additive 6-aminocaproic acid (6-ACA) was realized
and investigated. At a critical 6 wt % of 1:1 CPC:6-ACA, the yellow
colored gel resulted from a 3:1 v/v CHCl<sub>3</sub>:H<sub>2</sub>O critical binary solvent composition. The mixed amphiphilic system
formed a 1:1 complex with a binding constant ∼0.83 × 10<sup>4</sup> M<sup>–1</sup>. Phase evolution and mechanism of gelation
in the mixed CPC:6-ACA system was unraveled upon investigating the
gel microstructure, based on spectroscopic, microscopic, and small-angle
X-ray scattering (SAXS) investigations. The gel assembled as a lamellar
organization, maintaining a loosely interdigitated bilayer structure
of CPC and 6-ACA molecules through predominant charge transfer, H-bonding,
and hydrophobic and intercomplex interactions. The SAXS pattern indicated
a semicrystalline form to be the stable phase with alternating crystalline
and amorphous layers; a novel mode of gelation with a widely disparate
semicrystalline form of the lamellar gel was thus indicated, where
the lamellar structure was deduced from the interplanar spacings.
A transition from low viscosity reverse micellar solution to a yellow
rigid gel upon aging was thus comprehended. The mixed amphiphile in
varying polarity organic solvents in the presence of water indicated
the nonconducive nature of gelation in very highly polar solvents,
methanol, and DMF or, in very low polarity solvents, such as, cyclohexane
and carbon tetrachloride
Structural, magnetic, optical, and magneto-optical properties of CoFe2O4 thin films fabricated by a chemical approach
Homogeneous, smooth, and partially transparent nanocrystalline thin films of CoFe2O4 were fabricated using a chemical solution approach with additional annealing for 2 h in a temperature range of 300 degrees C to 600 degrees C. Structural properties investigated by X-ray diffraction showed a single-phase spinel structure with a random crystallographic orientation for samples annealed above 400 degrees C. The ferromagnetic nature of prepared films was established from combined substrate with film hysteresis loops measured using a vibrating sample magnetometer. Optical and magneto-optical spectroscopic measurements revealed an improvement in the structural quality of the films after annealing up to 600 degrees C.Web of Science1171029