Immobilized mesoporous materials for carvacrol delivery to the germination and early growth of tomato plants (Solanum Lycopersicum).

The immobilization of TiO2-SiO2 (TSO) materials on seed mats stands as a practical way to help the germination and early growth of tomato plants (Solanum Lycopersicum). Mesoporous materials are functionalized with triethanolamine (TEA) and loaded with the biocide molecule of carvacrol (CAR). The effect of CAR on the parameters of germination percentage, germination time, root, shoot length, and chlorophyll content of seeds and/or tomato seedlings are investigated. The germination experiments were carried out using seed mats coated with the TSO materials, also TSO powdered materials were put directly on the tomato seeds to study their effect on germination. Direct deposition of TSO composites achieved the complete germination and longer shoots due to the cooperative interactions among nanomaterials, carvacrol, and the tomato seed. However, the handling of the seeds and the detrimental effect of powder in the germination system made difficult the application with agricultural purposes. The plastic seed mats provide a practical system with lower germination, but more homogenous growth of root/shoot is possible. Surprisingly, in this methodology the carvacrol presents a detrimental effect on germination due to less interaction with the seeds. The handling of seeds and recover of the nanomaterials and its reuse are advantages of the plastic seed mats, which together with less wastage of seeds suggest a potential use in agriculture. The as-synthetized TSO NPs, together with the functionalization of triethanolamine and carvacrol used to promote the health germination of the seeds, allows the control of the time for seed germination, germination %, and length for the root/shoot of seed tomato germination. The immobilization of mesoporous materials results in an alternative to help the germination and early growth of agricultural plants searching to avoid the lixiviation of nanomaterials to the environment.

Newton's laws of motion in the form of a Riccati equation.

We discuss two applications of a Riccati equation to Newton's laws of motion. The first one is the motion of a particle under the influence of a power law central potential V(r)=kr(epsilon). For zero total energy we show that the equation of motion can be cast in the Riccati form. We briefly show here an analogy to barotropic Friedmann-Robertson-Lemaitre cosmology where the expansion of the universe can be also shown to obey a Riccati equation. A second application in classical mechanics, where again the Riccati equation appears naturally, are problems involving quadratic friction. We use methods reminiscent to nonrelativistic supersymmetry to generalize and solve such problems.