Pesticide Residues in Vegetables and Fruits from Farmer Markets and Associated Dietary Risks

The use of pesticides leads to an increase in agricultural production but also causes harmful effects on human health when excessively used. For safe consumption, pesticide residues should be below the maximum residual limits (MRLs). In this study, the residual levels of pesticides in vegetables and fruits collected from farmers’ markets in Sharkia Governorate, Egypt were investigated using LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS. A total number of 40 pesticides were detected in the tested vegetable and fruit samples. Insecticides were the highest group in detection frequency with 85% and 69% appearance in vegetables and fruits, respectively. Cucumber and apple samples were found to have the highest number of pesticide residues. The mean residue levels ranged from 7 to 951 µg kg⁻¹ (in vegetable samples) and from 8 to 775 µg kg⁻¹ (in fruit samples). It was found that 35 (40.7%) out of 86 pesticide residues detected in vegetables and 35 (38.9%) out of 90 pesticide residues detected in fruits exceeded MRLs. Results for lambda-cyhalothrin, fipronil, dimothoate, and omethoate in spinach, zucchini, kaki, and strawberry, respectively, can cause acute or chronic risks when consumed at 0.1 and 0.2 kg day⁻¹. Therefore, it is necessary for food safety and security to continuously monitor pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables in markets.     

A Silicon-Based Arrayed Waveguide Grating Operating in Two Communication Channels

Abstract

This article proposes a silicon-based arrayed waveguide grating operating in two wavelength bands simultaneously with central wavelengths of 1,550.12 nm and 1,310.12 nm. If input light to an arrayed waveguide grating consists of wavelengths around 1,550.12 nm, the proposed system will act as a four-channel demultiplexer with channel spacing of 0.8 nm. On the other hand, when input wavelengths are distributed around 1,310.12 nm, the same arrayed waveguide grating will divide the input to seven channels with channel spacing of 0.33 nm.     

Predicted rate enhancements of dephosphorylation in functional oximate comicelles

The rate enhancements of dephosphorylation of p-nitrophenyldiphenyl phosphate by comicelles of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide with a functional cosurfactant are due wholly to increased concentration of the nucleophile in the micelle.     

Iron‐Mediated Cleavage of C?C Bonds in Vicinal Tricarbonyl Compounds in Water

Drei von einer Sorte : Vicinale Tricarbonyl‐Verbindungen gehen Eisen(III)‐vermittelte C‐C‐Spaltungen ein (siehe Schema). Die Ergebnisse sind relevant für den Aminosäurenachweis durch Ninhydrin und für den Vitamin‐C‐Stoffwechsel.

     

Operator maps of Jensen-type

Let \(\mathbb {B}_J({\mathcal {H}})\) denote the set of self-adjoint operators acting on a Hilbert space \(\mathcal {H}\) with spectra contained in an open interval J. A map \(\Phi :\mathbb {B}_J({\mathcal {H}})\rightarrow {{\mathbb {B}}}({\mathcal {H}})_\text {sa} \) is said to be of Jensen-type if

$$\begin{aligned} \Phi (C^*AC+D^*BD)\le C^*\Phi (A)C+D^*\Phi (B)D \end{aligned}$$

for all \( A, B \in \mathbb {B}_J({\mathcal {H}})\) and bounded linear operators C, D acting on \( \mathcal {H} \) with \( C^*C+D^*D=I\), where I denotes the identity operator. We show that a Jensen-type map on an infinite dimensional Hilbert space is of the form \(\Phi (A)=f(A)\) for some operator convex function f defined in J.

     

A Genetically Encoded,Phage‐Displayed Cyclic‐Peptide Library

Superior to linear peptides in biological activities, cyclic peptides are considered to have great potential as therapeutic agents. To identify cyclic‐peptide ligands for therapeutic targets, phage‐displayed peptide libraries in which cyclization is achieved by the covalent conjugation of cysteines have been widely used. To resolve drawbacks related to cysteine conjugation, we have invented a phage‐display technique in which its displayed peptides are cyclized through a proximity‐driven Michael addition reaction between a cysteine and an amber‐codon‐encoded N^?‐acryloyl‐lysine (AcrK). Using a randomized 6‐mer library in which peptides were cyclized at two ends through a cysteine–AcrK linker, we demonstrated the successful selection of potent ligands for TEV protease and HDAC8. All selected cyclic peptide ligands showed 4‐ to 6‐fold stronger affinity to their protein targets than their linear counterparts. We believe this approach will find broad applications in drug discovery.     

Stability and bifurcations in oscillations of composite laminates with curvilinear fibres under a supersonic airflow

Nonlinear Dynamics - Nonlinear flutter of variable stiffness composite plates—using a reduced-order model benefiting from a large-enough number of modes or degrees of freedom—is the...     

Bending and vibration analyses of coupled axially functionally graded tapered beams

The nonlinear bending and vibrations of tapered beams made of axially functionally graded (AFG) material are analysed numerically. For a clamped–clamped boundary conditions, Hamilton’s principle is employed so as to balance the potential and kinetic energies, the virtual work done by the damping, and that done by external distributed load. The nonlinear strain–displacement relations are employed to address the geometric nonlinearities originating from large deflections and induced nonlinear tension. Exponential distributions along the length are assumed for the mass density, moduli of elasticity, Poisson’s ratio, and cross-sectional area of the AFG tapered beam; the non-uniform mechanical properties and geometry of the beam along the length make the system asymmetric with respect to the axial coordinate. This non-uniform continuous system is discretised via the Galerkin modal decomposition approach, taking into account a large number of symmetric and asymmetric modes. The linear results are compared and validated with the published results in the literature. The nonlinear results are computed for both static and dynamic cases. The effect of different tapered ratios as well as the gradient index is investigated; the numerical results highlight the importance of employing a high-dimensional discretised model in the analysis of AFG tapered beams.     

Nonlinear vibration behavior and resonance of a Cartesian manipulator system carrying an intermediate end effector

This paper studied the nonlinear vibration and resonance of a Cartesian manipulator system carrying an intermediate end effector under mixed excitations. The multiple scales method is applied to get the approximate solutions of this system of the second-order differential equation. Furthermore, the analytical solution obtained the amplitudes and phases of the response from the first-order differential equation governing. We extracted all worst resonance cases and studied it numerically. The numerical solutions and response amplitude of this system are also studied and discussed. We analyzed the stability of the steady-state solution of a Cartesian manipulator system using frequency response equations and phase plane technique at the worst resonance cases. Comparison between analytical and numerical solutions is obtained. We determined both bifurcation diagrams and stability using Poincaré maps. Also, the numerical results are obtained using MAPLE and MATLAB algorithms.