The Details of Multi-elemental Analysis and 2D Image Mapping within Roots, Leaves, and Seeds from Oryza glaberrima: Application of the Micro-PIXE Technique | Chapter 3 | Scientific Research, New Technologies and Applications Vol. 7

The Oryza glaberrima Steud (OG) plant was domesticated 3,500 years ago in the inland delta of the upper Niger River in present-day Mali. From there, it spread across all of West Africa and adapted to very different environments from the desert region of Mali to the humid forests of Sierra Leone. Understanding metal accumulation at the organ level in roots, leaves and seeds in O. gla-berrima (OG) is crucial for improving physiological and metabolic aspects in growing Asian and African rice in salted areas. The micro-analytical imaging techniques are required to reveal its accumulation and distribution within plant tissues. The aim of the study is to investigate the metal accumulation at the organ level in roots, leaves, and seeds in African rice by performing 2D elemental image mapping and by determining their elemental composition. PIXE studies were performed to determine different elements in rice plants. The existing microbeam analytical technique at the iThemba LABS applied for the 2D image mapping of fresh rice tissues to perform a concentration of low atomic mass elements (such as Al, Si, P, S, Cl, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Br, Zn and K) with detection limits of typically 1-10µg/g. Comparison of the distribution of the elements between leaves, root and seed samples using uptake and distribution of elements in particular environmental conditions with potential amount of salt in water was done. The results showed that there were significant correlations among most of the mineral element contents. Ca, Al, Si, Cl, K, S, and P contents were significantly correlated with most of the other mineral element contents, while Br, Cu, Zn, Ti, Mn, and Fe content showed significantly negative associations with the S, Cl and Ca contents of rice side leaves. The study also indicated metal exclusion as a salt tolerance strategy from leaves, root, and seed compartments using matrix correlation between samples and between elements on rice species. The study concluded that Micro PIXE analysis has shown the elemental distribution of Cl, Si, and K are localized on the epicuticular surface of the flag leaves, whereas other elements S, Zn, Cu, P, Mn, Ca, and Ti are on the cytoplasm.  

 

Author (s) Details

Alassane Traore
Department de Physique, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal.

 

Anna Ndiaye
Department de Chimie, Faculté Des Sciences et Techniques Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal.

 

Christopher Bongani Mtshali
Tandetron laboratory – IBA group iThemba LABS, Cape Town, South Africa.

 

Manneh Baboucarr
Africa Rice Center, St Louis, Senegal.

 

Jean Paul Latyr Faye
Department de Physique, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal.

 

Daouda Mbodj
Africa Rice Center, St Louis, Senegal.

 

Kandiaba Traore
Africa Rice Center, St Louis, Senegal.

 

Tapha Gueye
Africa Rice Center, St Louis, Senegal.

 

Ababacar Sadikhe Ndao
Department de Physique, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/srnta/v7/2477

Development of Mathematical Model for Predicting the Efficiency of Oil-water Separation | Chapter 3 | Contemporary Perspective on Science, Technology and Research Vol. 8

Petroleum is vital to many industries and in the manufacture of a wide variety of materials. It also accounts for a large percentage of the world’s energy needs and thus it is a critical concern for many nations.

 

The study anchors on developing a mechanistic model for oil- water separation. Over the years, researchers have been working on how to improve the quality of produced water effluent, especially from oil and gas operations sent to the receiving waters. Despite the standard set for compliance by regulatory bodies like united nation agency, ministry, departments and other agencies both state and federal government including non-governmental agencies the problem of meeting stipulated benchmarks still persist. This study however looks into some variables perceived as being relative to improving or affecting produced water effluent from oil-water separator. Modelling of oil-water separation was based on the philosophy that a mathematical model can be established for the physical problems under investigation. These mathematical problems formulated were based on laws of conservation. The model under study, where the total mass and energy cannot be generated neither do they disappear, so that mass balance would give an ordinary differential equation. Solving the model equation analytically however, poses some problems. Hence they were solved by simulation using the computer software SIMULINK a graphical extension of MATLAB with positive outcomes since it can model non-linear systems. From the simulated analysis, increased flow rate creates turbulence in the system with resultant poor effluent quality. Whereas from the simulated analysis, gradual temperature increases improve oil- water separation from lower temperature of the fluid upstream thereby aiding improvement in effluent quality.

Author(s) Details:

Emmanuel Ewa Ekeng,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.

Jonah Chukwuemeka Agunwamba,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/CPSTR-V8/article/view/14050

The Third Chapter of Yoga Sūtras: A Problematic Text with a Discussion of Powers | Chapter 1 | Recent Updates in Disease and Health Research Vol. 2

The aim of this study is to discuss the problematic nature of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutras. An early discussion of the importance of ascetic powers in the West was offered by Charles Rockwell Lanman of Harvard University in 1917 for the American Philological Association. Because the Yoga Sūtras compiled by Patañjali devote one entire chapter to siddhas (powers) in a text of only four chapters this has caused scholars to offer various reasons for this problematic aspect of the text. After critically reviewing the opinions of scholars with respect to the imbalance in the text to understand Patañjali’s decision, this essay places the text within the historical context of asceticism in India in order to grasp developments that might have shaped the compiler’s mind. The historical development of asceticism in India was also accompanied by many narratives that stressed the importance of ascetic powers and helped to shape Patañjali’s decision to make a quarter of his text about powers, even though these powers were acknowledged to be a hindrance to an aspirant’s final goal.

Around the fourth century CE, the legendary Patañjali, compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, collected elements associated with ascetic practices in order to serve as a guidebook for others. In his attempt to bring unity to the various pre-existing yogic traditions, Patañjali gathered together various elements into aphoristic, cryptic, and esoteric statements (sūtras) that lent themselves more to remembrance and oral transmission. Because the text was incomprehensible, it invited commentaries from authorities with the intention of rendering the text comprehensible to the uninitiated. The Yoga Sūtras consisted of four parts with about three-quarters of the text focusing on technique and the third part of the text concerned with powers gained by yogis practicing the various disciplines. Hence a quarter of the text was concerned with these various supernatural powers called in the introduction to chapter three vibhūtis, but called siddhas in the remainder of the chapter.

According to the contents of the Yoga Sūtras and its third chapter, these powers include the ability to know, for example, the past and future, awareness of past rebirths, ability to read the mind of another person, awareness of the approach of one’s death, intuiting the location of hidden objects, and intuiting the presence of the puruṣa (self). These are examples of cognitive (jñāna) powers. Powers (Siddhas) that are more physical in nature include, for instance, the ability for a yogi to become invisible, have the strength of an elephant, ability to enter the body of another person, levitation, acute hearing, the ability to fly, become disembodied, and gain a perfected body. These various forms of mental and physical powers also find their way into Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain narratives that will be illustrated later in this essay.

A reader of the Yoga Sūtras is informed that these powers are a result of practicing the final three parts (samyama) of the path to liberation that begins with concentration (dhāranā) and includes meditation (dhyāna), and absorption (samādhi), and all major commentators agree that the various powers are results of practicing yoga, and are not the goal of the yogic path. In addition, practitioners are warned not to become attached to the powers gained by yogis because they are a trap that keeps a yogi attached to the world. Nonetheless, within the context of a “how to manual,” it is curious that an entire quarter of the book is devoted to powers (siddhas). Patañjali obviously considered the acquisition of powers to be an essential aspect of the yogic path. This apparent oddity of the text has puzzled scholars, and various attempts have been made by scholars of yoga to attempt to make sense of this feature of the text. This essay proposes to reconsider and attempt to understand what might have motivated Patañjali to devote an entire chapter of his four-chapter text to the subject of yogic powers. To meet this purpose of the essay, it is advisable to review interpretations of these powers by different scholars and then to place these powers into their historical context. Thirdly, examples of yogis/ascetics using powers in various narratives will be included because these stories are part of the cultural milieu in which Patañjali worked on the text. Because the yogi has been an ascetic figure traditionally in Indian culture, I have used the terms yogi and ascetic interchangeably.

Author(s) Details:

Carl Olson,
Allegheny College, USA.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/RUDHR-V2/article/view/13499

Fundamentals of Yoga Meditation: Physical and Mental Benefits | Chapter 7 | Recent Trends in Arts and Social Studies Vol. 5

Yoga is a psycho-somatic-spiritual discipline for achieving union and harmony between our mind, body, and soul and the ultimate union of our individual consciousness with the universal consciousness. There are certain elements of meditation which should be achieved before sitting for meditation and are described. Transcendental meditation (TM) is one of the techniques of meditation, which involves allowing the mind to dwell on a series of words (called a mantra) given by the meditation teacher, with no effort. If the attention wanders it is allowed to wander till it returns to the mantra. A mantra is a sacred word or phrase that is chanted repeatedly in order to alter one's state of mind and have miraculous religious and spiritual effects on the mind. When mantras are recited during meditation, people enter a higher state of consciousness. It is believed that chanting mantras opens the gates to the absolute. The sound of mantras is associated with a state of tranquil meditation which generates calmness, quietness, and peace in the mind and relaxes the muscles and tones the nervous system and becomes the cause for lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and rate of breath. This creates brain waves which deal with stress and its consequences. The opinion of several yoga masters and distinguished medical experts who worked on meditation for decades is expressed.

Author(s) Details:

Wazir C. Vasudeva,

Department of Chemistry, University of Khartoum, Sudan.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/RTASS-V5/article/view/11373

Possible Anti-cardiovascular Boosting Properties of Sphenostylis stenocarpa Seed Oil and Milk on Salt Loading-induced Hypertension in Rats | Chapter 06 | Current Topics on Chemistry and Biochemistry Vol. 1

 Legumes have been demonstrated to have high nutraceutical potential, making them a good source of nutrients that are good for human health. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), which have been one of the leading causes of death in middle and high-income countries, can be avoided by protecting the heart from malfunctioning. In 2015, 82 percent of the 17 million early deaths (before the age of 70) owing to noncommunicable illnesses occurred in middle and high income nations, with CVDs accounting for 37 percent. The primary prevention of risk factors is the most effective method for preventing cardiovascular disease. Most cardiovascular illnesses can be avoided by implementing population-wide programmes to address behavioural risk factors such cigarette use, poor diet and obesity, physical inactivity, and problematic alcohol consumption. People who have cardiovascular diseases or are at high cardiovascular risk (due to the existence of one or more risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, or previously established disease) require early detection and therapy, which may include counselling and medications. Sphenostylis stenocarpa (Hochst. ex. A. Rich) Harms is an orphan legume crop whose oil and milk considerably (p 0.05) reduced the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), a robust marker for predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease, when given to hypertensive albino rats. Rats were given a saturated NaCl solution to produce hypertension. The rats were given varied concentrations of the extracted oil and milk. It was discovered that Sphenostylis stenocarpa seed has a low glycaemic index and that it reduced AIP considerably (p 0.05) at various doses and times.

Author(S) Details

Nwankwo Michael Olisa
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.

Ogbonna Innocent Okonkwo
Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria.

Yila Lakabra David
Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria.

View Book:- https://stm.bookpi.org/CTCB-V1/article/view/6525

Use and Efficiency of Alginic Acid to Remove Some Heavy Elements from Pollutant Water | Chapter 11 | New Innovations in Chemistry and Biochemistry Vol. 3

 Heavy metals (Pb, Cr, Co, and Fe) were removed from polluted water in this study utilising a chemical approach that included the inclusion of a biological polymer (alginic acid). Different concentrations (0.5,1,1.50,2 ppm) were present for each element. The pH 5 and duration of the test were assessed after 72 hours, and the leftover amounts of the indicated components were detected using the atomic absorption spectrometry technique. The findings revealed that the extraction of the components under investigation was acidic. Lead concentrations were highest at 2ppm, followed by 1.5ppm chromium, 0.5ppm iron, and 0.5ppm cobalt. Finally, because of its easy availability and manufacture, we encourage scholars to conduct research on alginic acid.

Author(S) Details

Nibras Mohammed Abdulrasool Alsaffar
Market Research and Consumer Protection Center/ University of Baghdad/ Baghdad/ Iraq.

View Book:- https://stm.bookpi.org/NICB-V3/article/view/4015

Impacts of Pollution: Leaking Septic Tanks on Groundwater Quality in Owerri Southeastern, Nigeria | Chapter 8 | Current Approaches in Science and Technology Research Vol. 5

 The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of leaking septic tanks on groundwater quality in Owerri Municipal. The study was conducted at the Department of Geosciences at the Federal University of Technology Owerri and the Department of Chemistry at the Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria, from January 2013 to May 2014.

Methodology: Chemical and geophysical analyses were used to conduct geophysical and geochemical analyses. Longitudes 6o59'E to 7o06'E and Latitudes 5o33'N define Owerri Municipal. It is located in the sands of the coastal plains. The quality of groundwater was determined by collecting samples from three different locations, Amakohia, Naze, and Nekede, and performing physiochemical analyses on each to determine the nature of dissolved substances in the groundwater. The samples' physiochemical parameters, such as bulk density, porosity, and permeability, were also determined. The vertical electrical sounding method was used to obtain a description of the lithology and aquifer parameters. The sample density ranged from 1.49 to 1.98 mg/L, the porosity values ranged from 0.20 to 0.38, and the permeability ranged from 0.053 mg/L to 2.49 mg/L. The chemical analysis revealed that some heavy metals had concentrations that exceeded WHO standards. Iron ranges from 18.6 to 63.9 mg/L, nickel is 7.5 mg/L, and manganese is 0.46 mg/L. The topsoil resistivity ranges from 618 m to 3800 m. A layer of low resistivity indicating clay and clayey sand extends to 60 m at Naze, 60 m at Nekede, and 50 m at Amakohia, with an average resistivity range of 7500 m. Beyond these depths, resistivity is high, with an average depth of 3500 m. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the subsurface is permeable, implying that traces of heavy metals present in the samples are contained in leachets from surrounding environments, such as septic tanks or industrial activities on the surface. Groundwater quality in this environment can be improved by recommending boreholes drilled from 70 m, where leachet permeability is negligible. The high concentration of some heavy metals is suspected to be present in the leachets, which could have infiltrated the environment as a result of human deposits and industrial activities.

Author (s) Details

V. N. Nwugha
Department of Geosciences, Federal University of Technology, P. M. B. 1526 Owerri, Imo State Nigeria and Department of Basic Sciences, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, P.M.B. 1033 Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.

P. I. Okeke
Department of Basic Sciences, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, P.M.B. 1033 Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.

U. R. Emeronye
Department of Basic Sciences, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, P.M.B. 1033 Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.

View Book :- https://stm.bookpi.org/CASTR-V5/article/view/1617