A study of triangular membership function and multiple regressions to calculate the MSW compost index

The municipal solid waste compost consists of elements with a varied composition, including light and heavy metal elements. For MSW compost to act as a soil conditioner, and to ensure agricultural stakeholders to believe in its use for crops production, validation of elements is obligatory. The triangular membership function evaluates each element of a fuzzy set for both discrete and continuous values, and regression analysis estimates the relationship between values. In this paper, a triangular membership function (μf) is studied and used to characterize the effect of individual elements available in the compost sample. The characterization determines the variation in the composition of elements in the compost sample and accordingly calculates its scorei. Furthermore, a reinvestigation is done by applying multiple regression analysis, especially on heavy metals, to compare their composition with light mineral nutrients and other supplementary elements. A relationship between R=4.12 and R2=0.067498635 is derived to determine the predicted value and defines the composition of heavy metals as attributed to another mineral nutrients. Furthermore, a correlation (Co) is derived to find the performance of the compost sample todecide whether both light and supplementary mineral nutrients are capable of minimizing the effect of heavy metals. A gratuity score (Gsi) is added to each heavy metal depending on the correlation value to form a composti. The scorei=88.11 and composti = 9.12 obtained, was summated to derive Ci=97.23, stating that the increase in score value declares that the compost sample is mature enough to be used for agriculture and enhance crops productivity.

Reduction of synthetic fertilizer application and heavy metal absorption on oil palm nursery related to the application of humic substances

Humic acid with amorphous and colloidal characteristics can improve soil chemical properties, especially tropical soil with lower fertility. To contribute to an environmentally friendly farming system, the capacity of humic acid to reduce the consumption of synthetic fertilizer on nursery oil palm was tested in this experiment. The experiment’s purpose was to confirm the minimizing fertilizer application and reduce the heavy metal absorption in oil palm nurseries without any deterioration effects on the growth performance. Varied composition types of humic substance products were applied, i.e., in combination with fish meal, seaweed, and chicken manure.The concentration of heavy metals Ba, Cd, Ba and the absorption of macroelements N, P, K, Ca, and Mg in the growing plants was also observed. It showed that humic acid in the dosage of 40 g/plant in the main nursery was capable of reducing the application of mineral fertilizer by 25% base on recommended standard application and at the same time reducing heavy metal Ba and Cd absorption by the plant.

Tree Species and Epiphyte Taxa Determine the “Metabolomic niche” of Canopy Suspended Soils in a Species-Rich Lowland Tropical Rainforest

Tropical forests are biodiversity hotspots, but it is not well understood how this diversity is structured and maintained. One hypothesis rests on the generation of a range of metabolic niches, with varied composition, supporting a high species diversity. Characterizing soil metabolomes can reveal fine-scale differences in composition and potentially help explain variation across these habitats. In particular, little is known about canopy soils, which are unique habitats that are likely to be sources of additional biodiversity and biogeochemical cycling in tropical forests. We studied the effects of diverse tree species and epiphytes on soil metabolomic profiles of forest floor and canopy suspended soils in a French Guianese rainforest. We found that the metabolomic profiles of canopy suspended soils were distinct from those of forest floor soils, differing between epiphyte-associated and non-epiphyte suspended soils, and the metabolomic profiles of suspended soils varied with host tree species, regardless of association with epiphyte. Thus, tree species is a key driver of rainforest suspended soil metabolomics. We found greater abundance of metabolites in suspended soils, particularly in groups associated with plants, such as phenolic compounds, and with metabolic pathways related to amino acids, nucleotides, and energy metabolism, due to the greater relative proportion of tree and epiphyte organic material derived from litter and root exudates, indicating a strong legacy of parent biological material. Our study provides evidence for the role of tree and epiphyte species in canopy soil metabolomic composition and in maintaining the high levels of soil metabolome diversity in this tropical rainforest. It is likely that a wide array of canopy microsite-level environmental conditions, which reflect interactions between trees and epiphytes, increase the microscale diversity in suspended soil metabolomes.

Pengaruh Oleamida Terhadap Karakteristik Pematangan Karet Alam Terisi Silika

The purpose of this study was as a feasibility study of the utilization of oleamide as a new additive for natural rubber (NR) filled with silica using the semi-efficient vulcanization system. Silica fillers used as much as 30 parts per hundred parts rubber (phr). Oleamide was obtained from the synthesis of oleic acid with urea. Oleamide was inserted into the silica filled NR compounds with the varied composition of 0.0 phr; 2.0 phr; 4.0 phr; 6.0 phr, and 8.0 phr. The influence of oleamide on the curing characteristic of the silica filled NR compounds was observed. It was obtained that the oleamide functions as a curative and also a plasticizer. The greater the levels of oleamide added, the shorter the scorch time and optimum curing time were. Oleamide also decreased the minimum torque with addition up to 8.0 phr. The greater the levels of oleamide was, the lower the minimum torque was. Oleamide also increased the maximum torque and torque difference of the silica-filled NR composites at the addition of 2.0 phr. The 2.0 phr was the optimum composition of the oleamide.

Electrospinning/Electrospray of Ferrocene Containing Copolymers to Fabricate ROS-Responsive Particles and Fibers

We demonstrate an electrospray/electrospinning process to fabricate stimuli-responsive nanofibers or particles that can be utilized as stimuli-responsive drug-loaded materials. A series of random copolymers consisting of hydrophobic ferrocene monomers and hydrophilic carboxyl groups, namely poly(ferrocenylmethyl methacrylate-r-methacrylic acid) [poly(FMMA-r-MA)] with varied composition, was synthesized with free radical copolymerization. The morphologies of the resulting objects created by electrospray/electrospinning of the poly(FMMA-r-MA) solutions were effectively varied from particulate to fibrous structures by control of the composition, suggesting that the morphology of electrosprayed/electrospun copolymer objects was governed by its composition and hence, interaction with the solvent, highlighting the significance of the balance of hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of the copolymer chain to the assembled structure. Resulting particles and nanofibers exhibited largely preserved responsiveness to reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the deposition process, opening up the potential to fabricate ROS-sensitive material with various desirable structures toward different applications.

MICROSTRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION AND STRENGTH PROPERTIES OF CLAY STABILIZED WITH CEMENT, RICE HUSK ASH AND PROMOTER

A clay soil, classified as Clay of High plasticity (CH) according to Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) was stabilized with cement, Rice Husk Ash (RHA) and promoter. The mineralogy of the clay soil and the morphology of the clay and clay specimens admixed with varied composition of cement, RHA and promoter were evaluated in order to determine effect of the RHA on promoter stabilization of cement based clay soil. The promoter used in this study consists of calcium chloride and sodium hydroxide in the ratio of 1:1. The clay was remolded at standard Proctor compaction energy and the specimens were mixed with 0, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0% cement, admixed with 1.0, 2.0, 3.0% RHA each, and 0.3, 0.6, 1.0% promoter each. The molded specimens were cured for 1, 7, 14, 28, 60 and 90days before testing for Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) and consequently the modulus of elasticity. The UCS of specimens without cement increased from 20 kN/m2 for the natural clay soil to 95 kN/m2 on addition of 3% RHA and 1.0% promoter after 28 days of curing, representing 475% increase in the UCS. This increase was confirmed by morphology of the clay soil mixed with RHA and promoter only, which showed presence of calcium silicate hydrate. Addition of 3.0% cement with 3 and 1.0% RHA and promoter respectively, increased the UCS from 220 to 375kN/m2 after 28 days of curing, which was also confirmed by the morphology of the specimens. The highest elastic modulus of 48.3 MPa was observed at specimens containing 3% cement, 3% RHA and 1.0% promoter.

Metagenomic Diversity of Gut Microbiota of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus of Pregnant Women

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is defined as a condition in which a woman without diabetes develops abnormal glucose tolerance that is first recognized during pregnancy. GDM is a significant public health problem with an incidence of 1.9 – 3.6% of all pregnancies in Indonesia. Additionally, women with GDM during pregnancy have a high risk of developing diabetes when they are not pregnant, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). One alternative variable in the management of T2D globally is gut microbiota. Here, to find out the role of gut microbiota in pregnancy, we characterized the stools of 30 pregnant women, each consisting of fifteen GDM-detected pregnant women, and healthy pregnant women using metagenomic approach with genome analysis by directly isolating genomic DNA from the microbiota ecosystem that occupies the digestive tract. DNA sequencing results were analyzed by MEGA 6 software with the BLASTn algorithm in NCBI. Thus fifteen GDM-detected showed high nucleotide sequence homology with the Proteobacteria at phylum level, and Escherichia, Orchobacterium, Cronobacter, Shigella, Salmonella, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Kosakonia, Vibrio dan Gamma-Proteobacterium at genus level compared to the healthy pregnant women which found by Firmicutes at phylum level and Ruminococcus, Clostridium, Clostridiales, Lachnospiraceae, Roseburia, Weisella, Eubacterium at genus level had a higher abundance in healthy pregnant women. In this result, we found also one of the fifteen healthy pregnant women showed differential abundance with enrichment of Prevotella species. Gut microbiota of GDM-diagnosed pregnant women has more varied composition, and dominated by the phylum Proteobacteria than in normal pregnant women.

Effects of Structure and Constituent of Prussian Blue Analogs on Their Application in Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The importance of advanced energy-conversion devices such as water electrolysis has manifested dramatically over the past few decades because it is the current mainstay for the generation of green energy. Anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water splitting is one of the biggest obstacles because of its extremely high kinetic barrier. Conventional OER catalysts are mainly noble-metal oxides represented by IrO2 and RuO2, but these compounds tend to have poor sustainability. The attention on Prussian blue (PB) and its analogs (PBA) in the field of energy conversion systems was concentrated on their open-framework structure, as well as its varied composition comprised of Earth-abundant elements. The unique electronic structure of PBA enables its promising catalytic potential, and it can also be converted into many other talented compounds or structures as a precursor. This undoubtedly provides a new approach for the design of green OER catalysts. This article reviews the recent progress of the application of PBA and its derivatives in OER based on in-depth studies of characterization techniques. The structural design, synthetic strategy, and enhanced electrochemical properties are summarized to provide an outlook for its application in the field of OER. Moreover, due to the similarity of the reaction process of photo-driven electrolysis of water and the former one, the application of PBA in photoelectrolysis is also discussed.