scholarly journals Fungus Aspergillus niger Processes Exogenous Zinc Nanoparticles into a Biogenic Oxalate Mineral

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 210
Author(s):  
Martin Šebesta ◽  
Martin Urík ◽  
Marek Bujdoš ◽  
Marek Kolenčík ◽  
Ivo Vávra ◽  
...  

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) belong to the most widely used nanoparticles in both commercial products and industrial applications. Hence, they are frequently released into the environment. Soil fungi can affect the mobilization of zinc from ZnO NPs in soils, and thus they can heavily influence the mobility and bioavailability of zinc there. Therefore, ubiquitous soil fungus Aspergillus niger was selected as a test organism to evaluate the fungal interaction with ZnO NPs. As anticipated, the A. niger strain significantly affected the stability of particulate forms of ZnO due to the acidification of its environment. The influence of ZnO NPs on fungus was compared to the aqueous Zn cations and to bulk ZnO as well. Bulk ZnO had the least effect on fungal growth, while the response of A. niger to ZnO NPs was comparable with ionic zinc. Our results have shown that soil fungus can efficiently bioaccumulate Zn that was bioextracted from ZnO. Furthermore, it influences Zn bioavailability to plants by ZnO NPs transformation to stable biogenic minerals. Hence, a newly formed biogenic mineral phase of zinc oxalate was identified after the experiment with A. niger strain’s extracellular metabolites highlighting the fungal significance in zinc biogeochemistry.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 810
Author(s):  
Bence Farkas ◽  
Hana Vojtková ◽  
Marek Bujdoš ◽  
Marek Kolenčík ◽  
Martin Šebesta ◽  
...  

Bioleaching of mineral phases plays a crucial role in the mobility and availability of various elements, including selenium. Therefore, the leachability of selenium associated with the surfaces of ferric and manganese oxides and oxyhydroxides, the prevailing components of natural geochemical barriers, has been studied in the presence of filamentous fungus. Both geoactive phases were exposed to selenate and subsequently to growing fungus Aspergillus niger for three weeks. This common soil fungus has shown exceptional ability to alter the distribution and mobility of selenium in the presence of both solid phases. The fungus initiated the extensive bioextraction of selenium from the surfaces of amorphous ferric oxyhydroxides, while the hausmannite (Mn3O4) was highly susceptible to biodeterioration in the presence of selenium. This resulted in specific outcomes regarding the selenium, iron, and manganese uptake by fungus and residual selenium concentrations in mineral phases as well. The adverse effects of bioleaching on fungal growth are also discussed.


Mathematics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wonhee Kim ◽  
Sangmin Suh

For several decades, disturbance observers (DOs) have been widely utilized to enhance tracking performance by reducing external disturbances in different industrial applications. However, although a DO is a verified control structure, a conventional DO does not guarantee stability. This paper proposes a stability-guaranteed design method, while maintaining the DO structure. The proposed design method uses a linear matrix inequality (LMI)-based H∞ control because the LMI-based control guarantees the stability of closed loop systems. However, applying the DO design to the LMI framework is not trivial because there are two control targets, whereas the standard LMI stabilizes a single control target. In this study, the problem is first resolved by building a single fictitious model because the two models are serial and can be considered as a single model from the Q-filter point of view. Using the proposed design framework, all-stabilizing Q filters are calculated. In addition, for the stability and robustness of the DO, two metrics are proposed to quantify the stability and robustness and combined into a single unified index to satisfy both metrics. Based on an application example, it is verified that the proposed method is effective, with a performance improvement of 10.8%.


2005 ◽  
Vol 04 (01) ◽  
pp. 117-126
Author(s):  
N. L. MA ◽  
P. WU

Using density functional theory, we predicted the solution structure of the hydrolyzed 3–aminopropyltriethoxysilane (h–APS), which is a silane coupling agent commonly used in many industrial applications. We have located five stable minima on the potential energy surface of h–APS in which four of them are "neutral", and the remaining one is zwitterionic (dipolar) in nature. Our calculations suggested that the stability of the most stable form of h–APS in water (denoted as II_N) arose from strong intramolecular OH ⋯ N hydrogen bond. The least stable form is the zwitterionic form (I_ZW), which is estimated to be over 90 kJ mol -1 less stable than II_N. The factors governing the relative stabilities of different forms are discussed.


1996 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 533-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Podile ◽  
A. P. Prakash

A biocontrol rhizobacterial strain of Bacillus subtilis AF 1 grown for 6 h was coinoculated with Aspergillus niger at different time intervals and microscopic observations revealed adherence of bacterial cells to the fungal mycelium. Bacterial cells multiplied in situ and colonized the mycelial surface. Growth of AF 1 resulted in damage to the cell wall, followed by lysis. AF 1 inoculation into media containing A. niger at 0, 6, and 12 h suppressed >90% fungal growth, while in 18- and 24-h cultures fungal growth inhibition was 70 and 56%, respectively, in terms of dry weight. In dual culture the fungal growth was not accompanied by formation of spores. The mycelial preparation of A. niger as principal carbon source supported the growth of B. subtilis, as much as chitin. Extracellular protein precipitate from B. subtilis culture filtrate had a significant growth-retarding effect on A. niger. Groundnut seeds bacterized with B. subtilis showed a reduced incidence of crown rot in A. niger infested soil, suggesting a possible role of B. subtilis in biological control of A. niger.Key words: mycolytic bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, Aspergillus niger, biological control.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 2352-2364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arif Iqbal ◽  
Girish Kumar Singh

Owing to the superior properties and stable operation, the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) is preferably used in wide industrial applications. But, the stability of motor is found to be dependent on its initial operating condition, showing the chaotic characteristic. Therefore, this paper addresses the chaos control of PMSM by developing four simple but effective controllers, which are mathematically designed by using the principle of Lyapunov’s method for asymptotic global stability. A comparative performance assessment has been carried out for the developed controllers in terms of settling time and peak over shoot. Furthermore, the concept of conventional proportional-integration type controller has been extended to develop two more controllers for chaos control of PMSM. Numerical simulation has been carried out in Matlab environment for performance evaluation of developed controllers. The obtained analytical results have been validated through experimental implementation in real time environment on Multisim/Ultiboard platform.


Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 983
Author(s):  
Wahhida Latip ◽  
Victor Feizal Knight ◽  
Ong Keat Khim ◽  
Noor Azilah Mohd Kasim ◽  
Wan Md Zin Wan Yunus ◽  
...  

Immobilization is a method for making an enzyme more robust in the environment, especially in terms of its stability and reusability. A mutant phosphotriesterase (YT PTE) isolated from Pseudomonas dimunita has been reported to have high proficiency in hydrolyzing the Sp and Rp-enantiomers of organophosphate chromophoric analogs and therefore has great potential as a decontamination agent and biosensor. This work aims to investigate the feasibility of using Fuller’s earth (FE) as a YT PTE immobilization support and characterize its biochemical features after immobilization. The immobilized YT PTE was found to show improvement in thermal stability with a half-life of 24 h compared to that of the free enzyme, which was only 8 h. The stability of the immobilized YT PTE allowed storage for up to 4 months and reuse for up to 6 times. The immobilized YT PTE showed high tolerance against all tested metal ions, Tween 40 and 80 surfactants and inorganic solvents. These findings showed that the immobilized YT PTE became more robust for use especially with regards to its stability and reusability. These features would enhance the future applicability of this enzyme as a decontamination agent and its use in other suitable industrial applications.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 7765-7774

Today, considerable attention has been drawn to the unique physicochemical and biological properties of zinc nanoparticles. In this study, ZnO-NPs were synthesized using Magnoliae officinalis (MO) aqueous extract as a reducing and capping agent. Characteristics of ZnO-NPs were analyzed using analytical techniques such as UV, FTIR, SEM, XRD, EDX, DLS, and zeta potential. After that, the antibacterial activity of ZnO-NPs against methicilin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was studied. The results of FTIR and UV-vis spectra showed successful biosynthesis of ZnO-NPs, because the absorption peaks and functional groups involved in the synthesis process were well developed. Additionally, the SEM micrograph and the DLS showed that the morphology and size distribution of the ZnO-NPs were spherical with a size of 150 nm. XRD, EDX, and zeta potential indicated crystal form of ZnO-NPs with zinc: oxygen ratio of 72.35:27 and a surface charge of +28 mv. The antibacterial activity of ZnO-NPs with the assessment of the well-diffusion method, MIC and MBC indicated the highest inhibitory effect at a concentration of 300 µg/ml, MIC 250 µg/ml and MBC 300 µg/ml. As regards the desirable antimicrobial activity of biosynthesized ZnO-NPs using MO extract, they may be used for medicinal purposes, in particular as antimicrobials and antiseptic agents.


2020 ◽  
pp. 187-187
Author(s):  
Adnan Qamar ◽  
Attique Arshad ◽  
Zahid Anwar ◽  
Rabia Shaukat ◽  
Muhammad Amjad ◽  
...  

With advancement of nanoscience, ?nanofluids? are becoming quite popular among thermal engineers. High thermal conductivity, relatively less settling speed, and higher surface area of nanoparticles are a few key promoting properties. The last two decades have seen dramatic progress towards using nanoparticles in industrial applications. However, the stability and rheological characteristics of prepared nanofluids have serious effects on their transport characteristics, but unfortunately, this has not found proper attention from researchers. In this study, stability and rheological characteristics of ZnO nanoparticles within deionized water, ethylene glycol, and their blends have been extensively tested. Stability was observed using UV-vis spectroscopy, while the viscosity was measured with the help of a rheometer. The data was collected with 0.011-0.044 wt. % loading of nanoparticles, while experiments were conducted within 15-55oC temperature range. Better stability was recorded when nanofluids were prepared with pure ethylene glycol. Experiments showed that the viscosity increased with particle loading, whereas the effect of surfactants appeared to be insignificant. Research results were used to assess predictions of different viscosity models. Experimental data was overpredicted by Einstein, Brinkman, and Batchelor?s models.


2010 ◽  
Vol 154-155 ◽  
pp. 794-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Jang Lin ◽  
Yan Cherng Lin ◽  
A Cheng Wang ◽  
Der An Wang ◽  
Han Ming Chow

This study investigates the feasibility of EDM for processing ZrO2 and Al2O3 of non-conductive ceramics, which were covered by an assisted conductive material, an adherent copper foil, on the workpiece surface. The conductive material adhered on the surface of the non-conductive ceramics would induce a series of electrical discharges between the tool electrode and the workpiece in the initial stage of the EDM process. Thus, the pyrolytic carbon that cracked from kerosene was formed and deposited on the machined surface to maintain the progress of EDM. In this work, the essential EDM machining parameters were varied to determine the effects on material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR), and surface roughness. The stability of EDM progress and the surface integrities of ZrO2 and Al2O3 machined by EDM were also investigated. The aim of this study is to explore the feasibility and development of an applicable process for processing non-conductive ceramics through EDM. Moreover, the exploitation of this work can be applied to industrial applications and used to develop machining techniques for non-conductive ceramics.


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