The beet armyworm (BAW), Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a highly destructive pest of vegetables and field crops. Management of beet armyworm primarily relies on synthetic pesticides, which is threatening the beneficial community and environment. Most importantly, the BAW developed resistance to synthetic pesticides with making it difficult to manage. Therefore, alternative and environment-friendly pest management tactics are urgently required. The use of pesticidal plant extracts provides an effective way for a sustainable pest management program. To evaluate the use of pesticidal plant extracts against BAW, we selected six plant species (Lantana camara, Aloe vera, Azadirachta indica, Cymbopogon citratus, Nicotiana tabacum ,

The present work reports the performance of three types of polyethersulfone (PES) membrane in the removal of highly polluting and toxic lead Pb2+ and cadmium Cd2+ ions from a single salt. This study investigated the effect of operating variables, including pH, types of PES membrane, and feed concentration, on the separation process. The transport parameters and mass transfer coefficient (k) of the membranes were estimated using the combined film theory-solution-diffusion (CFSD), combined film theory-Spiegler-Kedem (CFSK), and combined film theory-finely-porous (CFFP) membrane transport models. Various parameters were used to estimate the enrichment factors, concentration polarization modulus, and Péclet number. The pH values signif

In this study, a low-cost biosorbent, dead mushroom biomass (DMB) granules, was used for investigating the optimum conditions of Pb(II), Cu(II), and Ni(II) biosorption from aqueous solutions. Various physicochemical parameters, such as initial metal ion concentration, equilibrium time, pH value, agitation speed, particles diameter, and adsorbent dosage, were studied. Five mathematical models describing the biosorption equilibrium and isotherm constants were tested to find the maximum uptake capacities: Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, Sips, and Khan models. The best fit to the Pb(II) and Ni(II) biosorption results was obtained by Langmuir model with maximum uptake capacities of 44.67 and 29.17 mg/g for these two ions, respectively, w

Developing routes to produce cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) from high-lignin wood residues is essential for expanding sustainable nanocellulose feedstocks. In this work, Meranti (Shorea sp.) sawdust was valorized into CNCs by integrating ammonium persulfate (APS) pretreatment with subsequent sulfuric acid hydrolysis. To establish a severity map and define an operating window, APS pretreatment severity was systematically varied by adjusting APS concentration and the sawdust-to-APS (solid-to-liquid) ratio, and its influence on CNC structural properties was evaluated. APS pretreatment partially disrupted and oxidized the lignocellulosic matrix, enabling acid hydrolysis to liberate crystalline cellulose domains. XRD analysis confirmed th

The aim of the current study was to develop a nanostructured double-layer for hydrophobic molecules delivery system. The developed double-layer consisted of polyethylene glycol-based polymeric (PEG) followed by gelatin sub coating of the core hydrophobic molecules containing sodium citrate. The polymeric composition ratio of PEG and the amount of the sub coating gelatin were optimized using the two-level fractional method. The nanoparticles were characterized using AFM and FT-IR techniques. The size of these nano capsules was in the range of 39-76 nm depending on drug loading concentration. The drug was effectively loaded into PEG-Gelatin nanoparticles (≈47%). The hydrophobic molecules-release characteristics in terms of controlled-releas

Promoting the production of industrially important aromatic chloroamines over transition-metal nitrides catalysts has emerged as a prominent theme in catalysis. This contribution provides an insight into the reduction mechanism of p-chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB) to p-chloroaniline (p-CAN) over the γ-Mo2N(111) surface by means of density functional theory calculations. The adsorption energies of various molecularly adsorbed modes of p-CNB were computed. Our findings display that, p-CNB prefers to be adsorbed over two distinct adsorption sites, namely, Mo-hollow face-centered cubic (fcc) and N-hollow hexagonal close-packed (hcp) sites with adsorption energies of −32.1 and −38.5 kcal/mol, respectively. We establish that the activation of nit

The current study  was carried out at the Fields belongs of Horticulture  Department, Collage of Agricultural Engineering Science, University of  Baghdad, Al-Jadiriyah for the spring season 2016 -2017 to study the effect for  inoculation mycorrhizae and  folair application  with bio stimulators and their interaction in the growth characters of  (local okra  ptera). A factorial experiment  (2  in randomized complete block design (RCBD), the experiment included (12) treatment  Distributed  in three  replicates. The three factors used in this experiment included . The inoculation with control (C) Mycorrhizae  ( M ) , Biozyme  (B ) ( B1 2cm3.L-1), ( B2 4cm1-.L-1) , Phosphalas (P) (P 2cm3.L-1),  ( M + B1), ( M + B2), (P +

Background: The world is in front of two emerging problems being scarceness of virgin re-sources for bioactive materials and the gathering of waste production. Employment of the surplus waste in the mainstream production can resolve these problems. The current study aimed to prepare and characterize a natural composite CaO-SiO2 based bioactive material derived from naturally sustained raw materials. Then deposit this innovative novel bioactive coating composite materials overlying Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia substrate. Mate-rials and method; Hen eggshell-derived calcium carbonate and rice husk-derived silica were extracted from natural resources to prepare the composite coating material. The manufac-tured powder was characterized

Ag-doped NiO thin films were fabricated by dip coating and subsequently annealed at 373, 473, 573, and 673 K to elucidate the influence of annealing temperature on their structural, morphological, optical, and NO2-sensing characteristics. X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of polycrystalline Ag/NiO films, with progressively improved crystallinity and larger crystallite size at elevated annealing temperatures. Atomic force microscopy revealed a homogeneous surface morphology with grain growth, with the average grain diameter increasing from 26.40 to 34.2 nm. Optical analysis showed high visible-region transmittance (65–70%) and a gradual reduction in the optical band gap from 2.75 to 2.07 eV with increasing annealing temperature. Ga