Background: Plasma-activated water (PAW) is considered one of the emerging strategies that has been highlighted recently in the food industry for microbial decontamination and mycotoxin detoxification, due to its unique provisional characteristics. Aim: The effectiveness of PAW for aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin A (OTA), and fumonisin B1 (FB1) detoxification in naturally contaminated poultry feeds with its impacts on the feed quality were inspected. Methods: PAW-30 and PAW-60 were utilized for feed treatment for six time durations (5, 10, 15, 20, 40 and 60 min) each. The alterations in the physicochemical properties of PAW after different time durations of plasma inducement and treatment with and without feed samples were monitored. Competitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was employed for estimation of mycotoxin levels and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was utilized for results confirmation. Feed composition analyses with peroxide values (PVs) estimation were implemented according to standard analytical methods. Results: The physicochemical properties of PAW showed a significant decrease (P<0.05) in pH value from 6.72 to 2.68 and a significant increase (P<0.05) in oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), electrical conductivity (EC) and temperature from 235 mV, 5.1 μS/cm and 20.5 °C to 499.2 mV, 727.6 μS/cm and 26.8 °C, respectively after 60 min of plasma inducement in a time-dependent manner. The mycotoxins decay kinetics after PAW application were illustrated. Mycotoxins degradation efficiency significantly increased (P<0.05) with increasing water activation time. A significant increase (P<0.05) in AFB1, OTA and FB1 degradation levels was reported mainly during the first 10 min of treatment for AFB1 and the first 15 min for OTA and FB1 to record values of 28.33, 32.14 and 34.62% and 33.80, 40.70 and 43.38% after 60 min of feed exposure to PAW-30 and PAW-60, respectively. Significant differences (P<0.05) between examined mycotoxins in their degradation levels were recorded, where FB1 exhibited the highest degradation levels. Generally, feed compositions were slightly affected by PAW and fats were still having good quality. Conclusion: The possibility of PAW for degrading more than a quarter to a third of the original quantity of targeted mycotoxins in poultry feeds after 10 min of treatment with a slight effect on feed quality.
Cluster analysis (clustering) is mainly concerned with dividing a number of data elements into clusters. The paper applies this method to create a gathering of symmetrical government agencies with the aim to classify them and understand how far they are close to each other in terms of administrative and financial corruption by means of five variables representing the prevalent administrative and financial corruption in the state institutions. Cluster analysis has been applied to each of these variables to understand the extent to which these agencies are close to other in each of the cases related to the administrative and financial corruption.
Non-additive measures and corresponding integrals originally have been introduced by Choquet in 1953 (1) and independently defined by Sugeno in 1974 (2) in order to extend the classical measure by replacing the additivity property to non-additive property. An important feature of non –additive measures and fuzzy integrals is that they can represent the importance of individual information sources and interactions among them. There are many applications of non-additive measures and fuzzy integrals such as image processing, multi-criteria decision making, information fusion, classification, and pattern recognition. This paper presents a mathematical model for discussing an application of non-additive measures and corresp
... Show MoreFusarium pseudograminearum and Fusarium graminearum commonly cause crown rot (FCR) and head blight (FHB) in wheat, respectively. Disease infection and spread can be reduced by the deployment of resistant cultivars or through management practices that limit inoculum load. Plants deficient in micronutrients, including zinc, tend to be more susceptible to many diseases. On the other hands, and zinc deficiency in cereals is widespread in Australian soils. Zinc deficiency may have particular relevance to crown rot, the most important and damaging Fusarium disease of wheat and barley in Australia. Four wheat genotypes; Batavia, Sunco and two lines from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) were tested for response
... Show MoreA total of 20 raw milk samples were used as the fouling agent for evaluating the bacteriological effectiveness of cleaning and sanitizing of domestic milking equipment by using ozonated water at 0.5 ppm comparing to the warm water at 55! for 5 minutes respectively. The mean values of total aerobic bacteria, Coliform and E.coli that present on the plastic and stainless-steel containers after using the raw milk as fouling agent were 3.4×10-6 , 6.7x10-5 and 5.8×10-3 cfu/cm2 respectively , after cleaning the stainless steel containers by the ozonated water the mean values of total aerobic bacterial counts, Coliforms and E.coli bacteria were reduced to 1.2×10-6, 4.7×10-5 and 3.3×10-3 CFU/cm2 respectively. while after cleaning by the warm wa
... Show MoreIn this study, composite materials were prepared using unsaturated polyester resin as binder with two types of fillers (sawdust and chopped reeds). The molding method is used to prepare sheets of UPE / sawdust composite and UPE / chopped reeds composite. The mechanical properties were studied including flexural strength and Young's modulus for the samples at normal conditions (N.C). The Commercial wood, UPE and its composite samples were immersed in water for about 30 days to find the weight gain (Mt%) of water for the samples, also to find the effect of water on their flexural strength and Young's modulus. The results showed that the samples of UPE / chopped reeds composite gained highest values of flexural strength (24.
... Show MoreA comparative study was carried out on ecological and genetical adaptation of three Iraqi
freshwater snails, Physa acuta, Melanopsis buccinoidea and Melanoides tuberculata, in
respect to acute toxicity of heavy metals (Zn, Cd and Hg). Longevity are used as poisoning
tolerance criterion. LT 50 and LT 100 were determined for the studied snails at (0.5, 1, 5, and
10 ppm), for the three metals. Results indicated that Physa acuta had a higher tolerance than
Melanopsis buccinoidea and Melanoides tuberculata, which was the lower one. Previous
exposure to heavy metals in the original habitat was affecting on experimental tolerance and
no relationships of physical and chemical factors (total hardness, temperature, D. O. and
In this work, radius of shock wave of plasma plume (R) and speed of plasma (U) have been calculated theoretically using Matlab program.
A new scheme of plasma-mediated thermal coupling has been implemented which yields the temporal distributions of the thermal flux which reaches the metal surface, from which the spatial and temporal temperature profiles can be calculated. The model has shown that the temperature of evaporating surface is determined by the balance between the absorbed power and the rate of energy loss due to evaporation. When the laser power intensity range is 107 to108 W/cm2 the temperature of vapor could increase beyond the critical temperature of plasma ignition, i.e. plasma will be ignited above the metal surface. The plasma density has been analyzed at different values of vapor temperature and pressure using Boltzmann’s code for calculation of elec
... Show MoreThis research aims to know the effect of the strategy of map bubbles on developing the skills of science operations among 5th grade literary students in the subject of rhetoric and application, and the design of the experimental and control groups with the pre and post-tests was used. The research sample consisted of (50) students divided into two groups, an experimental group of which reached the number of its members is (25) students and studied using the strategy of map bubbles, and a control group of its members reached (25) students and studied in the traditional (standard) method. The researchers prepared a multiple-choice achievement test with several (30) paragraphs, and its validity and consistency were extracted. Then the test was
... Show MoreAs an alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), the alkali-activated binders have been developed with better technical characteristics and more extended durability. The Alkali-Activated Iraqi Natural Pozzolans (AANP) could produce geopolymer cementation building materials and make them ecologically acceptable. The primary advantage of geopolymer cement is that it has a lower environmental effect that contributes to it. The engineering characteristics of geopolymer concrete produced using activated Iraqi natural Pozzolan are summarized in this research. The mechanical properties, modulus of elasticity, and ultrasonic pulse velocity of various concrete mixes were determined via exp