Validation and quantification of neonicotinoid insecticide residues in rice whole grain and rice straw using LC-MS/MS

An efficient analytical method was developed and validated using a modified QuEChERS method and LC-MS/MS for the detection and quantification of neonicotinoid insecticide residues in rice whole grain and rice straw. The samples were extracted using acetonitrile and cleaned up by dispersive solid-phase extraction. Validation based on five fortification levels showed good recoveries of neonicotinoids ranging from 75% to 116 % and 60% to 105 % for rice whole grain and straw, respectively. The precision ranged between 3% and 17 %, and 2% and 10 % for grain and straw, respectively. The limit of detection was from 0.007 to 0.0084 mg kg^?1 and 0.005 to 0.15 mg kg^?1 and the limit of quantification was in the range of 0.024–0.028 mg kg^?1 and 0.016–0.051 mg kg^?1 for rice whole grain and rice straw, respectively. Monitoring of farm gate samples indicated that, out of 24 samples, 1 rice whole grain sample was contaminated with thiamethoxam residues (0.07 mg kg^?1).     

Dynamics of a neuron exposed to integer- and fractional-order discontinuous external magnetic flux

We propose a modified Fitzhugh-Nagumo neuron (MFNN) model. Based on this model, an integer-order MFNN system (case A) and a fractional-order MFNN system (case B) were investigated. In the presence of electromagnetic induction and radiation, memductance and induction can show a variety of distributions. Fractional-order magnetic flux can then be considered. Indeed, a fractional-order setting can be acceptable for non-uniform diffusion. In the case of an MFNN system with integer-order discontinuous magnetic flux, the system has chaotic and non-chaotic attractors. Dynamical analysis of the system shows the birth and death of period doubling, which is a sign of antimonotonicity. Such a behavior has not been studied previously in the dynamics of neurons. In an MFNN system with fractional-order discontinuous magnetic flux, different attractors such as chaotic and periodic attractors can be observed. However, there is no sign of antimonotonicity.

     

Dye-tolerant marine Acinetobacter baumannii-mediated biodegradation of reactive red

The objective of this study was to isolate a potent dye-degrading microbe that can be used to reduce the pollution caused by industrial dyes.Reactive red 198 is an extensively used textile dye and is a major environmental pollutant in water bodies. In this study, a bacterial strain was isolated from sea sediments and identified as Acinetobacter baumannii with 16S rRNA sequencing. The isolated bacteria were immobilized in calcium alginate and decolorization studies were carried out to determine the optimum pH, temperature, dye concentration, inoculum volume,and static/agitated condition using the one factor at a time(OFAT) approach. The Box-Behnken design, a type of response surface methodology,was adopted to improve the degradation efficiency. At 37℃ using an inoculum volume of six beads, 96.20% decolorization was observed in 500 mg/L of reactive red 198 after 72 h. Dye degradation was confirmed with UV-visible spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared(FTIR)spectroscopy studies of the dye and degraded metabolites. Microbial toxicity studies using Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and phytotoxicity studies using Vigna radiata proved that the toxicity of the dye was significantly reduced after degradation. We can conclude that the isolated A. baumannii strain is an efficient dye-degrading microbe that can be used to reduce the pollution caused by industrial dyes.     

Secret Image Communication Scheme Based on Visual Cryptography and Tetrolet Tiling Patterns

Visual cryptographic scheme is specially designed for secret image sharing in the form of shadow images. The basic idea of visual cryptography is to construct two or more secret shares from the original image in the form of chaotic image. In this paper, a novel secret image communication scheme based on visual cryptography and Tetrolet tiling patterns is proposed. The proposed image communication scheme will break the secret image into more shadow images based on the Tetrolet tiling patterns. The secret image is divided into 4×4 blocks of tetrominoes and employs the concept of visual cryptography to hide the secret image. The main feature of the proposed scheme is the selection of random blocks to apply the tetrolet tilling patterns from the fundamental tetrolet pattern board. Single procedure is used to perform both tetrolet transform and the scheme of visual cryptography. Finally, the experimental results showcase the proposed scheme is an extraordinary approach to transfer the secret image and reconstruct the secret image with high visual quality in the receiver end.     

Design of a compact orthogonal fed self‐diplexing bowtie‐ring slot antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide

In this article, a novel design of compact cavity‐backed slot antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology is presented for dual‐frequency communication services. A single layer printed circuit board is applied to implement the proposed antenna. The bowtie‐ring slot engraved on the SIW square cavity is excited using two orthogonal microstrip feed lines to operate at two distinct frequencies (6.62 GHz and 11.18 GHz). The proposed antenna allows each of these frequencies to be designed independently. A prototype of the proposed cavity‐backed antenna that radiates at both 6.62 GHz and 11.18 GHz is fabricated and measured. The port isolation better than 29.3 dB is achieved by utilizing the transmission zeros (TZs), which are produced due to the orthogonal feed lines, TE₁₁₀ mode and coupling between the TE₁₂₀ and TE₂₁₀ modes. The measured peak gains of the proposed diplexing antenna are 5.77 dBi and 5.81 dBi at lower and upper resonating frequencies, respectively. The proposed dual‐frequency antenna exhibits the front‐to‐back‐ratio (FTBR) and cross‐polarization level greater than 26 dB and 21 dB, respectively, at both resonating frequencies.     

On the existence of weak solutions of nonlinear degenerate parabolic system with variable exponents

The main goal of the present paper is establishing the existence and uniqueness of weak solutions for the nonlinear degenerate reaction–diffusion system with variable exponents. A model also is proposed to characterize the invasion of cancer cells towards healthy cells with acidification environment. Moreover, the main results of this paper are obtained using regularization problem, the Faedo–Galerkin approximation method, some apriori estimates, compactness results and the Gronwall Lemma.     

SALDEFT: Self-Adaptive Learning Differential Evolution Based Optimal Physical Machine Selection for Fault Tolerance Problem in Cloud

Wireless Personal Communications - In recent years, cloud computing plays a significant role in offering several applications with high-level reliability, availability, and security as well as...     

Cationized milled pine bark as an adsorbent for orthophosphate anions

More efficient adsorption media are needed for removing dissolved phosphorus in surface water runoff. We studied the use of cationized pine bark as a sorbent for dissolved phosphorus in water. Cationized pine bark was prepared by treating extracted milled pine bark with polyallylamine hydrochloride (PAA HCl) and epichlorohydrin (ECH) in aqueous medium. Attachment of PAA HCl to the bark was monitored by percentage of weight gain and nitrogen content. Changes in bark surface chemistry were characterized by zeta potential and inverse gas chromatography measurements. Energy dispersive x‐ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy were used to determine changes in chemical composition and morphology of the cationized bark. The cationized bark showed a decrease in the dispersive component of the surface energy and a barely measurable change in the surface acid–base properties. In the pH range 2.5 to 7.9, the cationized bark showed a positive zeta potential, which changed to negative at pH 7.9 or higher. By comparison, the zeta potential of control extracted bark remained negative throughout the pH range of 2.5 to 9. We propose that the reaction of bark with PAA HCl results in a surface network of fixed cationic sites of quaternary ammonium that have mobile chloride ions as counter anions. Preliminary results from batch adsorption experiments indicate that cationized milled bark has an estimated maximum adsorption capacity of approximately 12.65 mg phosphate/g, which compares favorably with that of other well‐known phosphorus sorbents. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 1577–1583, 2004     

Investigation on Maximizing Packet Delivery Rate in WSN Using Cluster Approach

Wireless Personal Communications - Wireless Sensor Network plays a vital role and part of real time communication applications. Location of unknown node is difficult to find in the presence of...