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A series of metal (II) complexes of N‐cyclohexyl amine dithiocarbamate ligand are synthesized and characterized by Fourier transform infrared, 1H, 13C NMR, mass spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. The surface structural pattern of the prepared complexes were investigated by scanning electron microscope and X‐ray diffraction techniques. The prepared complexes possessed crystalline characteristic with size average ranging from 16 to 30 nm. Moreover, the biological activity of the synthesized complexes were tested against Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. Among the prepared complexes, copper (II) complex displayed the highest activity. In addition, molecular docking study was performed against bacterial tyrosinase enzyme which showed good binding interactions and is in agreement with the experimental findings. Furthermore, the in silico toxicity studies reveal that the complexes are mostly non‐irritant with mild toxicity. Different quantum parameters including electron affinity, ionization energy, dipole moment, hardness and vibrational frequencies were calculated for the ligand and its complexes using Gaussian 09 program and B3LYP/SDD level of theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impregnating fabrics with shear thickening fluid (STF) improves impact resistance. In this study modification of polyethylene glycol (PEG 200) was carried out to enhance the thickening behavior of STF. The rheological analysis shows tunned STFs by PEG modification with glutaric acid and oxalic acid increase the maximum viscosity by about 10.33 and 3.28 folds with respect to unmodified STF. Additionally, the alternations of a liquid dispersion medium (PEG) led to higher chain length in STFs, representing superior interaction between media and particles by profuse H-bonding. The results confirmed that increasing the molecular length of PEG-based on STF caused a significant improvement in the knife and spike stabbing impact resistance, quasi-static, and yarn pull-out performance of the neat fabric. In addition, it was realized, by increasing impact velocity the energy absorption ability of STF-treated fabric composite increases. Additionally, a regression analysis using artificial intelligence was applied to study the effect of the pull-out rate on the mechanical response of different materials. Using a third-order polynomial for AI regression model, it turned out that while the pull-out rate has the least influence on untreated E-glass fabrics (UEG) response, for other materials, the behavior changes significantly by increasing the rate from 100 to 400 mm/min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate changes, soil fertility decline, water scarcity, and desertification are expected to generate a great threat to crop production and food security worldwide. Additionally, more food is needed to meet the demand of the world's growing population. Therefore, scientists are searching for innovative strategies to reduce food loss and enhance food security. Utilization of food processing by-products as food or food ingredients is one of the proposed strategies that can contribute to food security. Rice is a major food crop worldwide and there is a great amount of rice bran is produced as a byproduct of rice milling. Bran constitutes about 10% of the rough rice grain and it is rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds. Rice bran protein (RBP) has shown good nutritional and biological values. Therefore, many studies have been carried out to investigate the suitability of RBP for the application in preparing nutritional and healthy foods. Also, hydrolysates and peptides with various biological activities were isolated from RBP and identified. Therefore, this article aimed to review the research advances in extraction, potential health benefits, and food applications of RBP and its derived hydrolysates. Challenges facing the application of RBP in the food industry are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water shortage is a major environmental stress that destructively impacts maize production, particularly in arid regions. Therefore, improving irrigation management and increasing productivity per unit of water applied are needed, especially under the rising temperature and precipitation fluctuations induced by climate change. Laboratory and field trials were carried out in the present study, which were aimed at assessing the possibility of promoting maize germination, growth, grain yield and crop water productivity (CWP) using seed priming under different irrigation regimes. Two seed priming treatments, i.e., hydro-priming and hardening versus unprimed seeds, were applied under four irrigation regimes, i.e., 120, 100, 80 and 60% of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETc). The obtained results indicated that increasing irrigation water from 100% up to 120% ETc did not significantly increase grain yield or contributing traits, while it decreased CWP. Deficit irrigation of 80 and 60% ETc gradually decreased grain yield and all attributed traits. Seed priming significantly ameliorated seedlings’ vigor as indicated by earlier germination, higher germination percentage, longer roots and shoots, and heavier fresh and dry weight than unprimed seeds with the superiority of hardening treatment. Additionally, under field conditions, seed priming significantly increased grain yield, yield contributing traits and CWP compared with unprimed treatment. Interestingly, the results reflect the role of seed priming, particularly hardening, in mitigating negative impacts of drought stress and enhancing maize growth, grain yield and attributed traits as well as CWP under deficit irrigation conditions. This was demonstrated by a significant increase in grain yield and CWP under moderate drought and severe drought conditions compared with unprimed treatment. These results highlight that efficient irrigation management and seed priming can increase maize yield and water productivity in arid environments.

The use of actinomycetes for improving soil fertility and plant production is an attractive strategy for developing sustainable agricultural systems due to their effectiveness, eco-friendliness, and low production cost. Out of 17 species isolated from the soil rhizosphere of legume crops, 4 bioactive isolates were selected and their impact on 5 legumes: soybean, kidney bean, chickpea, lentil, and pea were evaluated. According to the morphological and molecular identification, these isolates belong to the genus Streptomyces. Here, we showed that these isolates increased soil nutrients and organic matter content and improved soil microbial populations. At the plant level, soil enrichment with actinomycetes increased photosynthetic reactions and eventually increased legume yield. Actinomycetes also increased nitrogen availability in soil and legume tissue and seeds, which induced the activity of key nitrogen metabolizing enzymes, e.g., glutamine synthetase, glutamate synthase, and nitrate reductase. In addition to increased nitrogen-containing amino acids levels, we also report high sugar, organic acids, and fatty acids as well as antioxidant phenolics, mineral, and vitamins levels in actinomycete treated legume seeds, which in turn improved their seed quality. Overall, this study shed the light on the impact of actinomycetes on enhancing the quality and productivity of legume crops by boosting the bioactive primary and secondary metabolites. Moreover, our findings emphasize the positive role of actinomycetes in improving the soil by enriching its microbial population. Therefore, our data reinforce the usage of actinomycetes as biofertilizers to provide sustainable food production and achieve biosafety.

The aim of this study is to investigate university students' understanding of referencing conventions and terminological denotations associated with the ethical use of information. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from the final year undergraduate and master's students at a public university in Bangladesh. In addition to demographic and academic information, students were asked to respond to 13 task-based statements to indicate whether referencing are required for them. They were also asked to write down the definitions for 10 terms related to ethical practices of information use. For referencing and definitional tasks, each correct answer or definition was given a score of 1, while each incorrect answer was given a score of 0. The item difficulty index was used for analyzing the correctness score for each referencing and definitional answer. Finally, a negative binomial regression model was used on the total referencing and definitional scores to predict the students' correctness scores. A total of 189 students participated in the survey. It was found that the majority of students never attended library orientations, information literacy instructions and academic writing workshops. The findings showed that students' correctness score for the referencing tasks was relatively high, but their correctness score was poor for the definitional answers. It appeared that students from the engineering and technology faculty and those who were enrolled in the master's programs had significantly higher correctness score. The most common form of unethical practices by students included allowing assignments to be copied by their peers or vice versa. While academic pressure was regarded as one of the main reasons for unethical practices, the majority of students felt guilty for such wrongdoings and committed to be more careful in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomato is a globally important fruit crop, which is easily susceptible to infection by plant-parasitic nematodes during growth. In this study, selenium nanoparticles were biosynthesized through the selenite reduction pathway in a wild-type Pseudomonas stutzeri BB19 and were characterized by uniform nanostructured needle-like forms with an average size of 95.2 nm. The nematicidal effect of biosynthesized selenium nanoparticles (BioSeNPs) at different concentrations (2, 6, and 10 ppm) during the pre- or post-infection of tomato root-knot nematode (RKN), Meloidogyne incognita, was assessed under greenhouse conditions. The BioSeNPs were applied as a foliar spray or a soil drench, compared to ethoprophos nematicide (100 mL/pot). The results showed that the ethoprophos nematicide significantly reduced the number of galls, egg mass, and eggs/egg mass of M. incognita by 94.2, 92.8, and 49.8%, respectively. BioSeNPs, as foliar sprays, significantly reduced the number of galls in post-treated infected tomato plants at 10 ppm and in pre-treated infected tomato plants at 2 ppm by 91.9 and 91.4%, respectively. Concerning the egg mass, BioSeNPs significantly reduced it in pre-treated infected tomato plants at 2 ppm as a foliar spray by 90.9%. Moreover, BioSeNPs significantly reduced the eggs/egg mass in pre-treated infected tomato plants at 2 ppm as a soil drench by 43.3%. On the other hand, the BioSeNPs considerably improved tomato growth, chlorophyll a and b, carotenoid content, and enzymes (i.e., catalase and peroxidase) activity compared to untreated infected tomato plants (negative control). Hence, the BioSeNPs show a significant application potential as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly biocontrol agent for RKN management in tomato plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]