Removal of Hydrophobic Organic Compounds and Surfactants From Wastewater: Polyaphron-Enhanced Solvent Extraction and Biodegradation.

Surfactant based processes are emerging and becoming increasingly important in pollution control. A novel predispersed solvent extraction (PDSE) technique using surfactant based colloidal liquid aphrons (CLAs or polyaphrons) and colloidal gas aphrons (CGAs) for the removal of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) from the aqueous phase was studied. The process involves an extraction of HOCs into CLAs, followed by a flotation using CGAs. Polyaphrons were characterized by a particle size analyzer. The size distribution was found to be bimodal. The effects of surfactant types, surfactant concentrations and storage times on the size distribution were studied. Polyaphrons have long shelf-lives and are dynamically very stable when dispersed in water. Flotation of polyaphrons was deduced to be the result of electrostatic forces between CGAs and polyaphrons. Semibatch PDSE experiments showed that the efficiency of a dye (Solvent Red 27) removal depended not only on the duration of flotation but also on the retention time after flotation. A mathematical model for a continuous countercurrent PDSE process was developed and tested using experimental data. The model predicted that the process efficiency is a function of the flowrates of CGAs and polyaphrons relative to feed water flowrate, the partition coefficient of the solute, relative sizes of polyaphrons to CGAs, and the attachment efficiency of polyaphrons to CGAs. The PDSE process is at the expense of residual surfactants in the effluent water. Therefore, batch shaker-flask experiments were conducted to study the aerobic biodegradation of surfactants and surfactant-laden HOCs in a wastewater collected from a local Superfund site. Results on four commercial surfactants showed that linear primary alkyl sulphates (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS) and linear primary alcohol ethoxylates (Witconol) exhibited better biodegradation potential than linear primary alkylbenzenesulfonates (sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, SDBS) and linear secondary alcohol ethoxylates (Tergitol). Increased surfactant concentrations above the critical micellar concentrations (CMCs) showed inhibitory effects, lower biodegradability and foam degradation. A plant based natural surfactant (Ritha) performed better than commercial surfactants in terms of biodegradability at concentrations above CMC, but exhibited poorer foam degradation. Results indicated that surfactant-laden HOC effluent is nutrient-limiting. Addition of surfactants also enhanced the biodegradation of HOCs

Conditional well-posedness and data-driven method for identifying the dynamic source in a coupled diffusion system from one single boundary measurement

This work considers the inverse dynamic source problem arising from the time-domain fluorescence diffuse optical tomography (FDOT). We recover the dynamic distributions of fluorophores in biological tissue by the one single boundary measurement in finite time domain. We build the uniqueness theorem of this inverse problem. After that, we introduce a weighted norm and establish the conditional stability of Lipschitz type for the inverse problem by this weighted norm. The numerical inversions are considered under the framework of the deep neural networks (DNNs). We establish the generalization error estimates rigorously derived from Lipschitz conditional stability of inverse problem. Finally, we propose the reconstruction algorithms and give several numerical examples illustrating the performance of the proposed inversion schemes.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2307.1434

Potential PAH Release from Contaminated Sediment in Galveston Bay-Houston Ship Channel

pg. 77The work presented herein describes our recent effort in investigating the potential release of PAHs from sediments collected from Houston-Galveston area..... To date no such information is available on the behavior of PAHs in aforementioned water systems. This work was initiated in order to gain a better understanding of the mass transfer of PAHs at the sediment-water interface. In particular, the emphases of this work are to: (1) develop a thermodynamic equilibrium model that describes the extent of PAH exchange between sediment and the overlying water, (2) quantify the kinetic rate of PAH sorption at the water-sediment interfaces and estimate the aqueous flux rate of PAH, (3) elucidate the key factors in contributing elevated PAH concentrations in the aqueous phase

Spatial distribution and introduction pathways of non-native freshwater fish species in China

Non-native freshwater fish species are regarded as a key factor responsible for the degradation of freshwater ecosystems. Although research on China's non-native freshwater fish species has been conducted at the national scale, the spatial distribution and introduction pathways of these species in China remain unclear. To address this knowledge gap, this study compiled a dataset of non-native freshwater fish species across administrative regions in China. We first assessed the number of non-native freshwater fish species by taxonomy, geographical origin, introduction pathway, and province. There were 177 non-native freshwater fish species, belonging to 17 orders, 48 families, and 118 genera. The orders Cypriniformes (33.3%), Perciformes (28.2%), Siluriformes (10.2%), and Salmoniformes (6.2%) accounted for the largest proportion of non-native freshwater fish species. Eighty-nine non-native species were introduced from other countries or regions, mostly from North America (31 species; 34.8%), Asia (20 species; 22.5%), Africa (13 species; 14.6%), Europe (11 species; 12.4%), and South America (10 species; 11.2%). Aquaculture was the most common introduction pathway. Non-native freshwater fish species were more widely distributed in southwest China. Our study showed that there were obvious differences in the number and composition of non-native freshwater fish species across various provinces in China. The variation in the number of non-native freshwater fish species across provinces in China was attributed to distinct geographical features, development of the aquaculture industry, and efforts to study non-native freshwater fish species. Therefore, comprehensive surveys and studies of non-native freshwater fish species are needed, which are of great importance for the management and control of non-native species invasions

Diet-induced bacterial immunogens in the gastrointestinal tract of dairy cows: Impacts on immunity and metabolism

Dairy cows are often fed high grain diets to meet the energy demand for high milk production or simply due to a lack of forages at times. As a result, ruminal acidosis, especially subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA), occurs frequently in practical dairy production. When SARA occurs, bacterial endotoxin (or lipopolysaccharide, LPS) is released in the rumen and the large intestine in a large amount. Many other bacterial immunogens may also be released in the digestive tract following feeding dairy cows diets containing high proportions of grain. LPS can be translocated into the bloodstream across the epithelium of the digestive tract, especially the lower tract, due to possible alterations of permeability and injuries of the epithelial tissue. As a result, the concentration of blood LPS increases. Immune responses are subsequently caused by circulating LPS, and the systemic effects include increases in concentrations of neutrophils and the acute phase proteins such as serum amyloid-A (SAA), haptoglobin (Hp), LPS binding protein (LBP), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in blood. Entry of LPS into blood can also result in metabolic alterations. Blood glucose and nonesterified fatty acid concentrations are enhanced accompanying an increase of blood LPS after increasing the amount of grain in the diet, which adversely affects feed intake of dairy cows. As the proportions of grain in the diet increase, patterns of plasma β-hydoxybutyric acid, cholesterol, and minerals (Ca, Fe, and Zn) are also perturbed. The bacterial immunogens can also lead to reduced supply of nutrients for synthesis of milk components and depressed functions of the epithelial cells in the mammary gland. The immune responses and metabolic alterations caused by circulating bacterial immunogens will exert an effect on milk production. It has been demonstrated that increases in concentrations of ruminal LPS and plasma acute phase proteins (CRP, SAA, and LBP) are associated with declines in milk fat content, milk fat yield, 3.5% fat-corrected milk yield, as well as milk energy efficiency

Open-TransMind: A New Baseline and Benchmark for 1st Foundation Model Challenge of Intelligent Transportation

With the continuous improvement of computing power and deep learning algorithms in recent years, the foundation model has grown in popularity. Because of its powerful capabilities and excellent performance, this technology is being adopted and applied by an increasing number of industries. In the intelligent transportation industry, artificial intelligence faces the following typical challenges: few shots, poor generalization, and a lack of multi-modal techniques. Foundation model technology can significantly alleviate the aforementioned issues. To address these, we designed the 1st Foundation Model Challenge, with the goal of increasing the popularity of foundation model technology in traffic scenarios and promoting the rapid development of the intelligent transportation industry. The challenge is divided into two tracks: all-in-one and cross-modal image retrieval. Furthermore, we provide a new baseline and benchmark for the two tracks, called Open-TransMind. According to our knowledge, Open-TransMind is the first open-source transportation foundation model with multi-task and multi-modal capabilities. Simultaneously, Open-TransMind can achieve state-of-the-art performance on detection, classification, and segmentation datasets of traffic scenarios. Our source code is available at https://github.com/Traffic-X/Open-TransMind

Mechanistic insights into phosphorus transformation mediated by Arthrobacter and Sordariomycetes under long-term high-volume swine manure application in a wheat-rice rotation system

IntroductionUnderstanding the impacts of sustained high-input swine manure on soil phosphorus (P), along with identifying and functionally characterizing P-associated microorganisms, can provide a scientific foundation for effective management of soil P in relation to swine manure application. This study provides novel insights into the functional roles of P-associated microorganisms in mediating phosphorus dynamics under long-term excessive swine manure application.MethodsThe study investigated the prolonged impact of high-volume swine manure application on soil P fractions over an 8-year continuous, randomized field trial involving rotating wheat (wet conditions) and rice (flooded conditions) crops. And the soil treated with the prolonged high- volume swine manure application was selected to isolate and identify specific microorganisms, which were subsequently inoculated into soil previously treated with long-term NPK fertilizer (F) and swine manure application (M) for indoor cultivation and functional characterization verification.ResultsThe sustained high input of swine manure markedly enhanced soil P activity and microbial P content (P < 0.05), specifically extracting P-associated microorganisms, namely Arthrobacter sp. M4 bacteria and Sordariomycetes 2 MS-M4 fungi. Upon separate inoculation of these microorganisms into high-Carbon (C) and high-P soils (M soil, Olsen P > 70 mg kg–1, ROC > 150 mg kg–1), it was observed that both microorganisms effectively converted available P sources (Ca2-P, Ca8-P) into organic P reserves through biological immobilization. Conversely, under conditions of low C and low P (F soil, Olsen P < 10 mg kg–1, ROC < 75 mg kg–1), there was an enhancement in the decomposition and utilization of soil organic C which resulted in increased effective P content via the breakdown of organic phosphates—demonstrating a robust capacity for P transformation. Furthermore, when these phosphate-related microorganisms were introduced to long-term fertilized soils enriched with NPK fertilizer (F), they exhibited a significantly greater enhancement in soil P availability compared to those inoculated into soils subjected to prolonged high inputs of swine manure.DiscussionThe P-related microorganisms Arthrobacter sp. M4 and Sordariomycetes 2 MS-M4 extracted from soils with high P availability were confirmed to have the key functions of enhancing the fixation of inorganic P into organic P (high-C and high-P condition) or promoting the activation of organic P into rapidly available P (low C and low P level). Which may plays an important role in the management of agricultural P nutrients

The trend of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage and the predictive value of short-term postoperative prognosis in patients

BackgroundNeutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) play an important role in the inflammatory response in various diseases, but the role in the course of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is unclear.MethodsThis study retrospectively collected baseline characteristics and laboratory findings, including NLR and PLR at different time points, from spontaneous ICH patients undergoing surgery between January 2016 and June 2021. Patients were scored using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) to evaluate their functional status at 30 days post-operation. Patients with mRS score ≥3 were defined as poor functional status, and mRS score <3 was defined as good functional status. The NLR and PLR were calculated at admission, 48 h after surgery and 3–7 days after surgery, respectively, and their trends were observed by connecting the NLR and PLR at different time points. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of ICH patients at 30 days after surgery.ResultsA total of 101 patients were included in this study, and 59 patients had a poor outcome at 30 days after surgery. NLR and PLR gradually increased and then decreased, peaking at 48 h after surgery. Univariate analysis demonstrated that admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, interval from onset to admission, hematoma location, NLR within 48 h after surgery and PLR within 48 h after surgery were associated with poor 30-day prognosis. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, NLR within 48 h after surgery (OR, 1.147; 95% CI, 1.005, 1.308; P, 0.042) was an independent risk factor for 30-day after surgery prognosis in spontaneous ICH patients.ConclusionIn the course of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, NLR and PLR initially increased and subsequently decreased, reaching their peak values at 48 h after surgery. High NLR within 48 h after surgery was an independent risk factor for poor prognosis 30 days after surgery in spontaneous ICH patients