Kamel, S.H., R.F. Al-Jassani and H.A. Al-Shammari. 2022. Effects of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus thuringiensis tenebrionis Isolates and Biologically Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles on Cellulase Enzyme Activity in Workers' Digestive System of the Termite Microcerotermes diversus Silv. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 40(4): 315-324. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-40.4.315324 The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different bacterial isolates of P. fluorescens and B. t. tenebrionis and silver nanoparticles on the activity of the cellulase enzyme in termites' middle digestive system and its role in glucose release by treating cellulose media with bacterial strains and nanoparticles. Ultraviolet spectroscopy results revealed that silver nanoparticles synthesized by P. fluorescens isolated from termites, commercial P. fluorescens, and local B.t. tenrbrionis had the highest absorption at 385, 324, and 324 nm wave length, respectively. Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that ketons, amines, alkanes, and alcohols were among the groups that contributed to silver ions reduction, capping and stabilizing nanoparticles. The particle diameters were measured using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and found to be on average 32.43, 63.19, and 57.62 nm. The highest concentration of liberated glucose was recorded after 24 hours, which ranged between 0.453 and 1.285 mg/ml when treated with silver nanoparticles prepared from a commercial isolate of P. fluorescens bacteria and when treated with a bacterial isolate P. fluorescens, respectively. Only when treated with synthesized silver nanoparticles and when treated with commercial P. fluorescens isolates did the lowest concentrations of liberated sugar reached between 0.037 and 0.730 mg/ml after 72 hours, respectively. The high quantity of liberated sugar in the control treatment was constant, reaching 1.70 and 2.33 mg/ml after 24 and 72 hours, respectively. In addition to the variation in cellulase enzyme inhibition rates in termite digestive systems due to the effect of different treatments, it was discovered that the local isolate of B. t. tenrbrionis was better than the rest of the isolates in affecting the enzyme, causing inhibition rates of 71.42%. Furthermore, silver nanoparticles synthesized from a commercial isolate of P. fluorescens outperformed other treatments in inhibiting enzyme activity, with an inhibition rate of 78.57% . Keywords: Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus thuringiensis tenebrionis, silver nanoparticles, Microcerotermes diversus
In this paper, chip and powder copper are used as reinforcing phase in polyester matrix to form composites. Mechanical properties such as flexural strength and impact test of polymer reinforcement copper (powder and chip) were done, the maximum flexural strength for the polymer reinforcement with copper (powder and chip) are (85.13 Mpa) and (50.08 Mpa) respectively was obtained, while the maximum observation energy of the impact test for the polymer reinforcement with copper (powder and chip) are (0.85 J) and (0.4 J) respectively
In this study, the potential of adsorption of amoxicillin antibiotic (AMOX) from aqueous solutions using prepared activated carbon (AC) was studied. The used AC was prepared from an inexpensive and available precursor (sunflower seed hulls (SSH)) and activated by potassium hydroxide (KOH). The prepared AC was examined for its ability to remove AMOX from aqueous contaminated solutions and characterized with the aid of N2 -adsorption/desorption isotherm Brunauer–Emmett– Teller, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared. Zeta potential of the prepared activated carbon from sunflower seed hulls (SSHAC) were studied in relation to AMOX adsorption. The physical and chemical propert
... Show MoreDuring COVID-19, wearing a mask was globally mandated in various workplaces, departments, and offices. New deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) based classifications were proposed to increase the validation accuracy of face mask detection. This work introduces a face mask model that is able to recognize whether a person is wearing mask or not. The proposed model has two stages to detect and recognize the face mask; at the first stage, the Haar cascade detector is used to detect the face, while at the second stage, the proposed CNN model is used as a classification model that is built from scratch. The experiment was applied on masked faces (MAFA) dataset with images of 160x160 pixels size and RGB color. The model achieve
... Show MoreDouble-layer micro-perforated panels (MPPs) have been studied extensively as sound absorption systems to increase the absorption performance of single-layer MPPs. However, existing proposed models indicate that there is still room for improvement regarding the frequency bands of absorption for the double-layer MPP. This study presents a double-layer MPP formed with two single MPPs with inhomogeneous perforation backed by multiple cavities of varying depths. The theoretical formulation is developed using the electrical equivalent circuit method to calculate the absorption coefficient under a normal incident sound. The simulation results show that the proposed model can produce absorption coefficient with wider absorption bandwidth compared w
... Show MoreAdsorption of lead ions from wastewater by native agricultural waste, precisely tea waste. After the activation and carbonization of tea waste, there was a substantial improvement in surface area and other physical characteristics which include density, bulk density, and porosity. FTIR analysis indicates that the functional groups in tea waste adsorbent are aromatic and carboxylic. It can be concluded that the tea waste could be a good sorbent for the removal of Lead ions from wastewater. Different dosages of the adsorbents were used in the batch studies. A random series of experiments indicated a removal degree efficiency of lead reaching (95 %) at 5 ppm optimum concentration, with adsorbents R2 =97.75% for tea. Three mo
... Show MoreWater pollution as a result of contamination with dye-contaminating effluents is a severe issue for water reservoirs, which instigated the study of biodegradation of Reactive Red 195 and Reactive Blue dyes by E. coli and Bacillus sp. The effects of occupation time, solution pH, initial dyes concentrations, biomass loading, and temperature were investigated via batch-system experiments by using the Design of Experiment (DOE) for 2 levels and 5 factors response surface methodology (RSM). The operational conditions used for these factors were optimized using quadratic techniques by reducing the number of experiments. The results revealed that the two types of bacteria had a powerful effect on biodegradable dyes. The regression analysis reveale
... Show MoreIn this work, multilayer nanostructures were prepared from two metal oxide thin films by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. These metal oxide were nickel oxide (NiO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2). The prepared nanostructures showed high structural purity as confirmed by the spectroscopic and structural characterization tests, mainly FTIR, XRD and EDX. This feature may be attributed to the fine control of operation parameters of dc reactive magnetron sputtering system as well as the preparation conditions using the same system. The nanostructures prepared in this work can be successfully used for the fabrication of nanodevices for photonics and optoelectronics requiring highly-pure nanomaterials.