ABSTRACT
Nowadays, in the clinical, pharmaceutical, and environmental sectors, the development of facile and sensitive analytical methods and/or innovative devices for the follow-up and detection of antibiotics and pharmaceutical formulations, in general, are urgently needed and still challenging. This work declared three vital applications for broad-spectrum nitrofurantoin (macrofuran) antibiotic detection and quantification: A colorimetric method, a coated paper strip-based nano-lanthanum complex prototype and fabrication of smart electronic color sensor device-based coated paper strips. The colorimetric method showed a significant response upon increasing the concentration of the nitrofurantoin in a range between (1.0-100.0 ng/mL) via a visual color change from orange-yellow to red colors degree with detection and quantification limits of 0.175 and 0.53 ng/mL, respectively, whereas the nano-lanthanum complex coated paper strip prototype showed qualitative on-site sensing for nitrofurantoin via naked eye color changes which can be detected anywhere. Moreover, a smart prototype for detecting macrofuran in the means of paper color change in the RGB color component extraction algorithm and the grayscale projection value processing algorithm was fabricated. The change in RGB color on the coated paper strip was detected using an electronic color sensor device. The developed colorimetric method, coated paper strip, and the electronic color sensor device prototype exhibited fast, simple, costless, and selective towards macrofuran over the competing analyzed. As well as, showed good applicability in the different real samples spiked with different concentrations of macrofuran.
Subject(s)
Colorimetry , Nitrofurantoin , Colorimetry/methods , Electronics , Pharmaceutical PreparationsABSTRACT
This article investigates the impact of the heat treatment, and lubricant wear measurements at 5 wt % NaCl solution, mechanical and radiation shielding properties of three grades of stainless steels: SS316, M303, and SS201. The obtained results showed that heat-treated martensitic stainless-steel grade has improved mechanical and tribological properties while heat-treated austenitic stainless-steel grades showed deteriorated wear resistance. The radiation shielding parameters of the studied grades are comparable. The effectiveness of heat treatment in the presence of NaCl solution is verified.
ABSTRACT
Nowadays renewable energy with low prices is a global target that has taken the attention to compare alternatives energy sources with fossil fuels. Therefore, this study was established to find suitable and sustainable alternative low-cost fuels source. Cooking oil waste (COW) was mixed with non-pretreated citrus tree fibers (CTF) (0.5 mL to 1 g ratio) and pressed to formulate coal (CTF/COW). Otherwise, this mixture was subjected to in situ fungal pretreated using Aspergillus flavus isolate to simplify the mixture composition and pressed to offer in a usable form with enhancing their heating value for the first time. CTF/COW was characterized using attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and thermal analysis (TGA) before and after treatment. The fungal isolate was observed with enzyme productivity and activity of CMCase, avicelase, xylanase, mannanase, α-glucosidase, ß-glucosidase, lignin peroxidase and lipase according to enzyme assays and the chemical compositions of CTF before and after fungal treatment, where the best PH for enzymes extraction was between 5 and 7. The fungal enzymes increased the heating value by about two and half folds in comparison with non-pretreated coal. Moreover, the calorific value of tCTF/COW was 43,422 kJ/kg, which was higher than CTF recorded 18,214 kJ/kg and COW recorded 39,823 kJ/kg. Our result suggests that fungal treatment of the mixture of citrus trees and cooking oil waste presents as a promising low-cost and eco-friendly coal.
