Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction Followed by Solid-Phase Extraction Followed by Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction for the Sensitive Determination of Diazinon and Chlorpyrifos in Rice

Selectivity of solid-phase extraction (SPE) was combined with the concentration power of dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) to obtain a sensitive, low solvent consumption method for high-performance liquid chromatography determination of diazinon and chlorpyrifos in rice. In this method, rice samples were extracted by ultrasound-assisted extraction followed by SPE. Then, the SPE eluent was used as a disperser solvent in the next dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction step for further purification and enrichment of diazinon and chlorpyrifos. Under the optimal conditions, the linear range was from 5.0 to 250 μg kg^?1 for diazinon and from 2.5 to 250 μg kg^?1 for chlorpyrifos. Limits of detection of diazinon and chlorpyrifos were 1.5 and 0.7 μg kg^?1, respectively. Limits of quantitation of diazinon and chlorpyrifos were 5.5 and 3.0 μg kg^?1, respectively. The precisions and recoveries also were investigated by spiking 10 μg kg^?1 concentration in rice. The recoveries obtained were over 90 % with relative standard deviation (RSD%) below 9.0 %. The new approach was utilized to successfully detect trace amounts of diazinon and chlorpyrifos in different Iranian rice samples.     

Catalytic chemical vapour deposition synthesis of carbon spheres

Carbon spheres (CSs) were successfully grown in the presence of cobalt-silicon-mesoporous aluminum silicate (Co-Si-MAS) by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) using C₂H₂ as the source of carbon at 850 °C. The Co-Si-MAS catalysts with Si/Al molar ratios of 25, 50, 100 and 150 were synthesized by sol-gel preparation and followed by anchoring process. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images and Raman spectroscopy experiments showed that the obtained CSs possess nearly perfect spheres with diameters range from 650 to 1000 nm. It was found that CSs were fabricated under a thin film that was deposited during the catalytic reaction. On the basis of qualitative analysis it was revealed that the film included cobalt, silicon and aluminum elements. This thin film was applied as a catalyst for the synthesis of CSs.     

Biological activity of camel milk casein following enzymatic digestion

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of enzymatic hydrolysis with digestive enzymes of camel whole casein and beta-casein (β-CN) on their antioxidant and Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory properties. Peptides in each hydrolysate were fractionated with ultra-filtration membranes. The antioxidant activity was determined using a Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) scale. After enzymatic hydrolysis, both antioxidant and ACE-inhibitory activities of camel whole casein and camel β-CN were enhanced. Camel whole casein and β-CN showed significant ACE-inhibitory activities after hydrolysis with pepsin alone and after pepsinolysis followed by trypsinolysis and chymotrypsinolysis. Camel β-CN showed high antioxidant activity after hydrolysis with chymotrypsin. The results of this study suggest that when camel milk is consumed and digested, the produced peptides start to act as natural antioxidants and ACE-inhibitors.     

A systematic literature review of flying ad hoc networks: State-of-the-art,challenges, and perspectives

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, communicate, collaborate, and form flying ad hoc networks (FANETs) to perform many different missions, ranging from delivery tasks to agriculture applications. Recently, FANETs have been integrated with different technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, and Internet of Things. Such new avenues for the use of UAVs directly impact the research on FANETs and cause some major challenges, such as security and physical layer issues, resource management, and UAV positioning issues that need to be addressed. Several researchers have been working for the last few years to propose AI and machine learning (ML)-based solutions for different use cases in UAV-based networks. They present the limitations of the existing research work and highlight some possible future works on FANETs. However, exhibiting the trends in the UAV research papers in a quantitative manner is still required to motivate researchers to rethink the research on FANETs. Therefore, this study covers more than 170 scientific publications extracted from five trusted academic databases published from 2013 to 2021 to provide a thorough overview of the main research and development statistics in the area of FANETs, the open challenges existing in this area and the ML-based solutions to solve these challenges. In addition, the investigation of emerging technologies integrated with FANETs, as well as the simulation tools employed for evaluating FANETs' performance are discussed. Moreover, the future research directions in the area of FANETs are considered within a prospective vision discussion.     

Impact of Silicon Foliar Application on the Growth and Physiological Traits of Carthamus tinctorius L. Exposed to Salt Stress

Silicon - Althought safflower is a tolerant crop against many environmental stresses, but its yield and performance reduce under stress. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of...     

Advanced testing and debugging support for reactive executable DSLs

Software and Systems Modeling - Executable Domain-Specific Languages (xDSLs) allow the definition and the execution of behavioral models. Some behavioral models are reactive, meaning that during...     

Integrating life cycle assessment (LCA) with boundary line analysis (BLA) to reduce agro-environmental risk of crop production: a case study of soybean production in Northern Iran

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Increasing the yield of oilseeds is considered an important plan and strategy in different countries such as Iran. With limited available arable land,...