Disease epidemics may spread quickly and easily throughout nations and continents in our current global environment, having a devastating effect on public health and the world economy. There are over 513 million people worldwide who have been infected, and more than 6.2 million have died due to SARS-CoV-2. There are treatments but no cures for most viruses. Nevertheless, the spread of viruses can be limited by introducing antiviral coatings on public area surfaces and personal protective equipment (e.g., face masks). This work aims to fabricate a polymer-based coating with acrylic resin as a binder that possesses great antiviral activity against the Feline coronavirus (FCov). The chosen polymer, polyethylene glycol (PEG), is used as an antiviral agent because it contains “green” chemistry benefits such as non-toxicity, being inexpensive, readily recyclable, safe, natural, non-flammable, biocompatible, and biodegradable. The PEG/acrylic coating systems of different weight percentages were coated on the glass substrates by the spray-coating method and cured at room temperature for 24 hours. The developed PEG/acrylic coating system that contains 20 wt% of PEG exhibits the highest anti-viral activities (99.9% against FCov) compared to the other weight percentages. From this study, it has been observed that the hydrophilicity of the coating plays an important role in its antiviral activity. The developed coating has a hydrophilic property, in which the contact angle was measured at 83.28 ± 0.5°. The FTIR reveals that there are no existing toxic components or new components contained in the coating samples.
The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of single and mixed infections of nematode (Meloidogyne javanica), fungus (Fusarium oxysporum) and bacterium (Xanthomonas axonopodis) on nodulation and pathological parameters of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterrenea (L.) Verdc.) in field condition. Nematode infested field was used while other pathogens were obtained from diseased plants. The Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was adopted in a 5 × 9 × 5 factorial design (5 blocks, 9 treatments and 5 replicates per treatments) resulting in 225 experimental units. In each experimental unit, three seeds were sown to a depth of 5cm and thinned to one plant per planting hole after germination at day 7. Treatments were inoculated into test plant following standard methods. As a result, the control treatment recorded the highest number of nodules (64.0 ± 6.91), followed by bacterium (45.2 ± 5.11) while N + F + B had the lowest number of root nodules (23.4 ± 2.42). Simultaneous treatment (N + F + B) gave the highest percentage reduction in nodulation (63.44%), followed by treatment N + F7 (56.25%). Fungus treatment recorded the highest mean wilted plants (3.8 + 0.20) followed by N + F7 treatment (3.40 + 0.40). Gall formation in the nematode treatment increased proportionately by 56.33% as the highest recorded, followed by treatment N + F7 with 50.0%. Treatment N + F7 had the highest reproduction factor (Rf) value of 9.30 followed by nematode (8.30), N + B7 (7.40), N + F + B (6.80) and N + F14 (6.50). Zero (0) Rf value was recorded in fungus, bacterium and control treatments. The observed differences in nodulation and pathological parameters among the treatments are significant (P < 0.05). The data provided in this work is important in the control of the three pathogens affecting the productivity of Bambara nut. Formulation of a single protectant should be designed to have potent effects on the three pathogens to achieve effective protection and good production of Bambara nut.
"Physics Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2011 Edition)" requires that physics teaching in junior high schools should focus on the development of students' scientific abilities, including the development of scientific knowledge and skills, scientific methods and attitudes. In view of the problems existing in middle school physics teaching such as being out of touch with real life, lack of interest, and traditional indoctrination teaching, integrating STEAM education concepts into physics experiment courses can greatly improve the interest of physics teaching and put students first. , teachers as instructors and assistants to improve the existing problems in the current physics teaching. Therefore, how to reasonably apply the STEAM education concept to the physical experiment course is a question worth exploring. I take "the design and production of floating sinks" as an example. The general idea is to build the main line of classroom teaching: the smoothness of knowledge logic, the progress of students' cognitive laws, the smooth design of teaching activities, and how to learn buoyancy and explore objects. To better understand the floating and sinking of objects when floating and sinking, interspersed with the educational concept of STEAM.
This paper aims to investigate local communities’ participation in eco-tourism projects by using the community of Situ Cisanti located in Tarumajaya Village, West Java as a case. Data were gathered through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation analysis. Observations and in-depth interviews were conducted simultaneously for two months, from September to October 2021. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 informants from the elements; village government officials of Tarumajaya, Perhutani, and local communities who participated in the Situ Cisanti eco-tourism project, which was completed through a documents analysis. According to the findings, local community participation in Situ Cisanti eco-tourism consists of conservation and economic participation. Conservation participation is demonstrated by their participation in restoration and greening activities such as reforestation, etc. in Situ Cisanti and its surroundings, whereas economic participation is demonstrated by the establishment of stalls, culinary, coffee, souvenir, and homestay businesses as a result of Situ Cisanti eco-tourism. Furthermore, the existence of this eco-tourism has empowered women because new business opportunities that arise are not only run by men but also by women. As a result, this study implies that the participation of local eco-tourism communities not only has an impact on empowering conservation knowledge and economics, but it can also imply women empowerment.
Endosulfan (6,7,8,9,10,10-Hexachloro-1,5,5a,6,9,9a-hexahydro-6,9-methano-2,4,3-benzodioxathiepine-3-oxide) is an off-patent insecticide used in agricultural farms. Its usage as a pesticide has become highly controversial over the last few decades. This is due to its reported hazardous nature to health and side effects like growth retardation, hydrocephalus, and undesired changes in the male and female hormones leading to complications in sexual maturity. Endosulfan is the main culprit among all pesticide poisoning incidents around the world. Though the usage of this dreaded pesticide is banned by most countries, the high stability of this molecule to withstand degradation for a long period poses a threat to mankind even today. So, it has become highly essential to detect the presence of this poisonous pesticide in the drinking water and milk around these places. It is also advisable to check the presence of this toxic material in the blood of the population living in and around these places so that an early and appropriate management strategy can be adopted. With this aim, we have developed a sensor for endosulfan that displayed high selectivity and sensitivity among all other common analytes in water and biological samples, with a wide linear concentration range (2 fM to 2 mM), a low detection limit (2 fM), and rapid response. A citrate-functionalized cadmium-selenium quantum dot was used for this purpose, which showed a concentration-dependent fluorescence enhancement, enabling easy and sensitive sensing. This sensor was utilized to detect endosulfan in different sources of water, human blood serum, and milk samples with good recoveries. It is also noted that the quantum dot forms a stable complex with endosulfan and is easy to separate from the contaminated source, paving the way for purifying the contaminated water. More detailed tests and validation of the sensor are needed to confirm these observations.
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