Ornamental Plant Efficiency for Heavy Metals Phytoextraction from Contaminated Soils Amended with Organic Materials

Accumulation of heavy metals (HMs) by ornamental plants (OPs) from contaminated agriculture soils is a unique technique that can efficiently reduce the metal load in the food chain. Amaranthus tricolor L. has attractive characteristics acquiring a higher growth rate and large biomass when grown at heavy metal contaminated soils. Site-specific detailed information is not available on the use of A. tricolor plant in metal phytoremediation from the polluted sites. The study aimed to enhance the uptake of HMs (Pb, Zn, and Cu) via amending poultry litter extract (PLE), vinasse sugarcane (VSC), and humic acid (HA) as natural mobilized organic materials compared to ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), as a common mobilized chemical agent by A. tricolor plant. The studied soils collected from Helwan, El-Gabal El-Asfar (Cairo Governorate), Arab El-Madabeg (Assiut Governorate), Egypt, and study have been conducted under pot condition. Our results revealed all organic materials in all studied soils, except EDTA in EL-Gabal El-Asfar soil, significantly increased the dry weight of the A. tricolor plant compared to the control treatment. The uptake of Pb and Zn significantly (p > 0.05) increased due to applying all organic materials to the studied soils. HA application caused the highest uptake as shown in Pb concentration by more than 5 times in Helwan soil and EDTA by 65% in El-Gabal El-Asfar soil while VSC increased it by 110% in El-Madabeg soil. Also, an increase in Zn concentration due to EDTA application was 58, 42, and 56% for Helwan, El-Gabal El-Asfar, and El-Madabeg soil, respectively. In all studied soils, the application of organic materials increased the remediation factor (RF) than the control. El-Madabeg soil treated with vinasse sugarcane gave the highest RF values; 6.40, 3.26, and 4.02% for Pb, Zn, and Cu, respectively, than the control. Thus, we identified A. tricolor as a successful ornamental candidate that, along with organic mobilization amendments, most efficiently develop soil health, reduce metal toxicity, and recommend remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils. Additionally, long-term application of organic mobilization amendments and continued growth of A. tricolor under field conditions could be recommended for future directions to confirm the results.     

Transport of Carbamazepine,Ciprofloxacin and Sulfamethoxazole in Activated Carbon: Solubility and Relationships between Structure and Diffusional Parameters

The transport of carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin and sulfamethoxazole in the different pores of activated carbon in an aqueous solution is a dynamic process that is entirely dependent on the intrinsic parameters of these molecules and of the adsorbent. The macroscopic processes that take place are analyzed by interfacial diffusion and reaction models. Modeling of the experimental kinetic curves obtained following batch treatment of each solute at 2 µg/L in tap water showed (i) that the transport and sorption rates were controlled by external diffusion and intraparticle diffusion and (ii) that the effective diffusion coefficient for each solute, with the surface and pore diffusion coefficients, were linked by a linear relationship. A statistical analysis of the experimental data established correlations between the diffusional parameters and some geometrical parameters of these three molecules. Given the major discontinuities observed in the adsorption kinetics, the modeling of the experimental data required the use of traditional kinetic models, as well as a new kinetic model composed of the pseudo first or second order model and a sigmoidal expression. The predictions of this model were excellent. The solubility of each molecule below 60 °C was formulated by an empirical expression.     

Exogenous Sodium Nitroprusside Mitigates Salt Stress in Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) by Affecting the Growth,Yield, and Biochemical Properties

Soil salinity disrupts the physiological and biochemical processes of crop plants and ultimately leads to compromising future food security. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a contributor to nitric oxide (NO), holds the potential to alleviate abiotic stress effects and boost tolerance in plants, whereas less information is available on its role in salt-stressed lentils. We examined the effect of exogenously applied SNP on salt-stressed lentil plants by monitoring plant growth and yield-related attributes, biochemistry of enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD)) amassing of leaf malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Salinity stress was induced by NaCl application at concentrations of 50 mM (moderate salinity) and 100 mM (severe salinity), while it was alleviated by SNP application at concentrations of 50 µM and 100 µM. Salinity stress severely inhibited the length of roots and shoots, the relative water content, and the chlorophyll content of the leaves, the number of branches, pods, seeds, seed yield, and biomass per plant. In addition, MDA, H₂O₂ as well as SOD, CAT, and POD activities were increased with increasing salinity levels. Plants supplemented with SNP (100 µM) showed a significant improvement in the growth- and yield-contributing parameters, especially in plants grown under moderate salinity (50 mM NaCl). Essentially, the application of 100 µM SNP remained effective to rescue lentil plants under moderate salinity by regulating plant growth and biochemical pathways. Thus, the exogenous application of SNP could be developed as a useful strategy for improving the performance of lentil plants in salinity-prone environments.     

slow release rubber formulations containing ZnSO4

Styrene butadiene (SBR) and natural rubber (NR) can be used as binding matrices to control the release of zinc (Zn) which is a micro-nutrient for plants. The leaching rate of zinc in an aqueous medium depends on the concentration of zinc sulphate loaded in the two types of rubber used, the temperature of the surrounding environment and the pH of the aqueous medium. Water uptake was increased with increasing concentration of ZnSO₄. The sustained release of zinc ions from the investigated formulations was prolonged for over five months. The mechanical properties of the vulcanizates were affected as the concentration of zinc sulphate changed.     

The Space of Bounded Spherical Functions on the Free 2-Step Nilpotent Lie Group

Let N be a connected and simply connected 2-step nilpotent Lie group and let K be a compact subgroup of Aut(N). We say that (K, N) is a Gelfand pair when the set of integrable K-invariant functions on N forms an abelian algebra under convolution. In this paper we construct a one-to-one correspondence between the set Δ(K, N) of bounded spherical functions for such a Gelfand pair and a set of K-orbits in the dual of the Lie algebra for N. The construction involves an application of the Orbit Method to spherical representations of K ⋉ N. We conjecture that the correspondence is a homeomorphism. Our main result shows that this is the case for the Gelfand pair given by the action of the orthogonal group on the free 2-step nilpotent Lie group. In addition, we show how to embed the space Δ(K, N) for this example in a Euclidean space by taking eigenvalues for an explicit set of invariant differential operators. These results provide geometric models for the space of bounded spherical functions on the free 2-step group.     

Influence of strain/stress on the nonlinear-optical properties of sprayed deposited ZnO:Al thin films

Nanocrystalline ZnO:Al thin films were deposited by reactive chemical pulverization spray pyrolysis technique on heated glass substrates at 450 °C to study their crystalline structure, composition, strain, stress, roughness characteristics and nonlinear optical susceptibility as a function of Al concentration (0, 2, 3, 5 at.%). The films were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), EDAX 9100 analyser, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and third harmonic generation (THG). The Al (3 at.%) doped ZnO thin films exhibited the lower strain/stress than undoped films. The nonlinear properties of the ZnO:Al thin films have been found to be influenced by the films strain/stress.     

Pulsed KrF excimer laser induced degradation of cellulose based insulating paper

We report on the accelerated ageing of cellulose based insulating paper by means of pulsed UV laser irradiation (λ = 248 nm) under various experimental conditions including paper composition, background gas (He, N₂ and air) and moisture content of the paper. The temperature reached by the paper samples during their laser irradiation was monitored by means of real-time IR imaging. It is shown that the equilibrium temperature (T _eq) reached by the paper increases from ~30 to ~270 °C when the laser energy density was raised from 15 to 550 mJ cm⁻². The laser irradiated samples were systematically characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations and degree of polymerization (DP_v) measurements. Interestingly, it is found that, for a given moisture content, the degradation level of the cellulose is mainly triggered by the T _eq value reached during the laser irradiation. Moreover, their moisture content was found to influence significantly the number of laser produced bond scissions (it doubles when the moisture content is increased from 0.5 to 6%); the paper degradation is apparently not affected by the presence of oxygen as the background gas. These results suggest that the laser induced cellulose degradation occurs through a direct photolysis (i.e. direct breakage of C–C, C–O and C–H bonds), leading to radicals formation, which, in turn, are believed to induce the acid hydrolysis degradation mechanism, the latter being moisture dependent. The activation energy (E _a) of each gaseous species collected after the laser degradation was estimated. Their E _a values were found to be in good agreement with the one associated to the laser depolymerisation of cellulose (i.e. ~56 kJ mol⁻¹), suggesting thereby a direct correlation between the cellulose degradation and the formation of the detected gaseous species. Finally, the pulsed laser irradiation can be seen as an attractive tool to identify primarily generated molecules, on a very short time scale, that can be used as relevant chemical markers for the monitoring of the ageing of transformers materials with cellulose.     

Physico-Chemical and Phytochemical Characterization of Moroccan Wild Jujube “Zizyphus lotus (L.)” Fruit Crude Extract and Fractions

Wild jujube “Ziziphus lotus (L.) Desf.” belongs to the Rhamnaceae family and is a traditionally herbaceous medicinal plant. It is very common in arid and semi-arid regions and is currently used for its antidiabetic, sedative, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and hypoglycemic activities. The aim of the present work was to characterize the physico-chemical properties and the phytochemical profile of wild jujube sample collected from the Guercif region, in order to determine the polyphenolic compounds and the antioxidant ability Analyses were carried out directly after the harvest for the determination of pH, refractive index, total soluble solid (°Brix), dry matter, sugar/acidity, total sugars, reducing sugars, as well as lipid and protein content. Results showed that the investigated fruit is acidic (pH 4.9 ± 0.23) and rich in sugars (80.2 g/100 g ± 3.81). The GC-MS analysis of the fruit revealed a number of volatile compounds, as many as 97, belonging to different chemical classes. The HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS analysis showed the presence of a total of 20 polyphenolic compounds in both EtOAc and MeOH-water extracts. Among them, p-Hydroxybenzoic acid was the most abundant in the EtOAc extract (185.68 µg/100 mg ± 0.5) whereas Quercetin 3-O-rhamnoside-7-O-glucoside was found in higher amounts in the MeOH-water extract (25.40 µg/100 mg ± 0.5). These components have medical interest, notably for human nutrition, as well as health benefits and therapeutic effects. Therefore, Moroccan jujube “Zizyphus lotus (L.)” fruit may have potential industrial applications for food formulations.     

The ternary system H2O–Fe(NO3)3–Co(NO3)2 isotherms 0 and 15 °C

The solid–liquid equilibria of the ternary system H₂O–Fe(NO₃)₃–Co(NO₃)₂ were studied by using a synthetic method based on conductivity measurements.

Two isotherms were established at 0 and 15 °C, and the stable solid phases which appear are the iron nitrate nonahydrate (Fe(NO₃)₃·9H₂O), the iron nitrate hexahydrate (Fe(NO₃)₃·6H₂O), the cobalt nitrate hexahydrate (Co(NO₃)₂·6H₂O) and the cobalt nitrate trihydrate (Co(NO₃)₂·3H₂O).