Cosmogenic beryllium-7 in soil,rainwater and selected plant species to evaluate the vegetal interception of atmospheric fine particulate matter

Beryllium-7 is a radionuclide produced in the upper atmosphere by cosmic-ray spallation with ions of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. It is one of radionuclides that can be used to trace the fine particulate matter of 2.5-µm diameter (PM_2.5) and smaller. In this work, ⁷Be was determined in leaves of 10 plant species collected from streets, parks and open land and in 5 consecutive rains over Alexandria, Egypt. ⁷Be levels were also measured in soil covered by each type of plant as well as in the nearest uncovered soil to be reference values to determine its intercepted amount and consequently PM_2.5. The lowest interception, 17.7?%, was by Ficus elastica L., while Ficus retusa L. intercepted about 45?%. Radiologically, the annual effective dose due to the usage of Thymelea hirsute plant leaves as a medicine and Nicotiana glauca Graham for smoking were 0.013 and 0.66 µSv, respectively. The observed levels in rainwater indicated that ⁷Be decreased consecutively from 3.1 Bq kg^–1 in the first rain to 0.71 Bq kg^–1 in the last one during the 2016/2017 rain season. The wet deposition of ⁷Be is less than 1?% of its total deposition on the ground.     

Short-term carbon dynamics in a temperate grassland and heathland ecosystem exposed to 104 days of drought followed by irrigation

Temperate ecosystems are susceptible to drought events. The effect of a severe drought (104 days) followed by irrigation on the plant C uptake, its assimilation and input of C in soil were examined using a triple ¹³CO₂ pulse-chase labelling experiment in model grassland and heathland ecosystems. First ¹³CO₂ pulse at day 0 of the experiment revealed much higher ¹³C tracer uptake for shoots, roots and soil compared to the second pulse (day 44), where all plants showed significantly lower ¹³C tracer uptake. After the third ¹³CO₂ pulse (day 70), very low ¹³C uptake in shoots led to a negligible allocation of ¹³C into roots and soil. During irrigation after the severe drought, the ¹³C tracer that was allocated in plant tissues during the second and third pulse labelling was re-allocated in roots and soil, as soon as the irrigation started. This re-allocation was higher and longer lasting in heathland compared to grassland ecosystems.     

Definitive Screening Design and Artificial Neural Network for Modeling a Rapid Biodegradation of Date Palm Fronds by a New Trichoderma sp. PWN6 into Citric Acid

Generally, the bioconversion of lignocellulolytics into a new biomolecule is carried out through two or more steps. The current study used one-step bioprocessing of date palm fronds (DPF) into citric acid as a natural product, using a pioneer strain of Trichoderma harzianum (PWN6) that has been selected from six tested isolates based on the highest organic acid (OA) productivity (195.41 µmol/g), with the lowest amount of the released glucose. Trichoderma sp. PWN6 was morphologically and molecularly identified, and the GenBank accession number was MW78912.1. Both definitive screening design (DSD) and artificial neural network (ANN) were applied, for the first time, for modeling the bioconversion process of DPF. Although both models are capable of making accurate predictions, the ANN model outperforms the DSD model in terms of OA production, as ANN is characterized by a higher value of R² (0.963) and validation R² (0.967), and lower values of the RMSE (13.44), MDA (11.06), and SSE (9749.5). Citric acid was the only identified OA as was confirmed by GC-MS and UPLC, with a total of 1.5%. In conclusion, DPF together with T. harzianum PWN6 is considered an excellent new combination for citric acid biosynthesis, after modeling with artificial intelligence procedure.     

Variabilities of measured and simulated soil structures

The macro-structure of tilled soil varies significantly between replicate samples collected from the field. This is illustrated with data from a grey swelling clay from Victoria, Australia. Soil structure was quantified statistically from studies of linear transects on sections cut through impregnated blocks of undisturbed soil as described previously.Simulated soil structures were generated using the mean parameters measured from actual soil structures. The simulated and actual soil structures exhibited similar variabilities. Not all of the statistical parameters are independent, and some covariances of these are examined.The variabilities of some derived structural quantities and dissimilarity coefficients between replicate soil structures are also examined as functions of sample size. Minimum sample sizes are set which are necessary to distinguish between soil structure of various degrees of similarity.     

Urease–glutamic dehydrogenase biosensor for screening heavy metals in water and soil samples

A screen-printed three-electrode amperometric biosensor based on urease and the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogen (NADH)–glutamic dehydrogenase system was developed and applied to the screening of heavy metals in environmental samples. The development of an amperometric sensor for the monitoring of urease activity was feasible by coupling the urea breakdown reaction catalysed by urease to the reductive ammination of ketoglutarate catalysed by glutamic dehydrogenase (GLDH). The ammonia provided by the urea conversion is required for the conversion of ketoglutarate to glutamate with the concomitant oxidation of the NADH cofactor. NADH oxidation is monitored amperometrically at 0.3 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) after urease immobilization onto the screen-printed three-electrode configuration. Immobilization of urease on the surface of screen-printed electrodes was performed by entrapment in alginate gel and adsorption on the electrode in a nafion film. Low sensitivity to inactivation by metals was recorded after urease entrapment in alginate gel with detection limits of 2.9 and 29.8 mg L^–1 for Hg(II) and Cu(II), respectively. The use of the negatively charged nafion film created a more concentrated environment of cations in proximity to the enzyme, thus enhancing the urease inhibition when compared to gel entrapment. The calculated detection limits were 63.6 and 55.3 g L^–1 for Hg(II) and Cu(II), respectively, and 4.3 mg L^–1 for Cd(II). A significant urease inactivation was recorded in the presence of trace amounts of metals (g L^–1) when the enzyme was used free in solution. Analysis of water and soil samples with the developed nafion-based sensor produced inhibition on urease activity according to their metal contents. The obtained results were in agreement with the standard methods employed for sample analysis. Nevertheless, the use of the amperometric assay (with free urease) proved more feasible for the screening of trace amounts of metals in polluted samples.     

Investigation on electromagnetic scattering from rough soil surface of layered medium using the small perturbation method

Electromagnetic scattering from a rough surface of layered medium is investigated, and the formulae of the scattering coefficients for different polarizations are derived using the small perturbation method. A rough surface with exponential correlation function is presented for describing a rough soil surface of layered medium, the formula of its scattering coefficient is derived by considering the spectrum of the rough surface with exponential correlation function; the curves of the bistatic scattering coefficient of HH polarization with variation of the scattering angle are obtained by numerical calculation. The influence of the permittivity of layered medium, the mean layer thickness of intermediate medium, the roughness surface parameters and the frequency of the incident wave on the blstatic scattering coefficient is discussed. Numerical results show that the influence of the permittivity of layered medium, the mean layer thickness of intermediate medium, the rms and the correlation length of the rough surface, and the frequency of the incident wave on the bistatic scattering coefficient is very complex.     

Studies of the uptake and binding of trace metals in fungi. Part I: Accumulation and characterization of mercury and silver in the cultivated mushroom,Agaricus bisporus

The champignon mushroom Agaricus bisporus was cultivated on compost labelled with the radioactive traers ^110mAg and ²⁰³Hg and the uptake of these two metals studied. The radiotracer then served as an aid in elucidation and characterization of the fungal metal–protein species using gel chromatography. In the case of the silver–protein complex, but not of mercury, the majority of the metal was contained in the fractions of intermediate (ca 8000–10000 Da) molecular weight possibly corresponding to metallothioneins (MT) or MT-like species.     

基于非接触电导检测和在线富集技术快速灵敏检测土壤中速效磷

针对土壤中速效磷的快速检测需求,建立了基于非接触电导检测和场放大进样在线富集技术的毛细管电泳分离检测土壤中水溶性磷酸盐的分析方法。对影响分离检测效果的实验条件（电泳运行液组成、pH值、分离电压、进样电压和时间）进行了考察和优化。采用毛细管区带电泳模式,以35 mmol/L乙酸 - 2 mmol/L乙酸铵溶液为电泳运行液,负高压分离（－14 kV）和场放大进样（－11 kV × 10 s）,磷酸根离子在8 min内可获良好分离和灵敏检测,检出限为5 μg/L,线性范围为16～800 μg/L。研究表明放大进样在线富集技术使检测灵敏度得到显著提高,富集因子可达580倍。日内和日间相对标准偏差（RSD）小于5.0%。土壤中共存的常见无机阴离子（Cl－、SO2?442-、NO?33-）、有机基质和浸出液基体颜色不干扰速效磷的测定,表现出较强的抗干扰能力。该方法无需复杂的前处理即可直接进样分析,具有简单快速、灵敏高效、分析成本低的优点。对实际土壤样品和国标土壤样品中的速效磷进行检测,检测结果与标准方法一致。     

用于土壤水分测量的磁共振射频线圈宽频匹配方法

准确检测土壤水分对于改善农业用水管理至关重要.为了实现土壤水分的准确测量,本文设计了一种微型inside-out核磁共振（NMR）传感器（测量区域位于传感器周围）.其中磁体由三个轴向磁化的圆柱磁体组成,射频线圈由四个相同的弧面螺旋线圈串联组成.通过调整圆柱体之间的半径和高度,获得了一个圆周对称恒定梯度场.并利用宽频带匹配方法,增加射频线圈的激励区域,从而提高整体信噪比.将本文设计的传感器用于测量含水量不同的小颗粒沙土和大颗粒石英砂土壤模型样品的CPMG（Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill）信号,通过逆拉普拉斯变换获得了T₂分布谱,并将T₂谱峰面积与称重法获得的含水量进行了相关性分析,探讨了该传感器用于测量土壤水分的可行性.     

CONSTITUTIVE RELATION OF UNSATURATED SOIL BY USE OF THE MIXTURE THEORY (Ⅱ)-LINEAR CONSTITUTIVE EQUATIONS AND FIELD EQUATIONS

The linear constitutive equations and field equations of unsaturated soils were obtained through linearizing the nonlinear equations given in the first part of this work. The linear equations were expressed in the forms similar to Biot’s equations for saturated porous media. The Darcy’s laws of unsaturated soil were proved. It is shown that Biot’s equations of saturated porous media are the simplification of the theory. All these illustrate that constructing constitutive relation of unsaturated soil on the base of mixture theory is rational.