Electro-microbiology as a promising approach towards renewable energy and environmental sustainability

Microbial electrochemical technologies provide sustainable wastewater treatment and energy production. Despite significant improvements in the power output of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), this technology is still far from practical applications. Extracting electrical energy and harvesting valuable products by electroactive bacteria (EAB) in bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) has emerged as an innovative approach to address energy and environmental challenges. Thus, maximizing power output and resource recovery is highly desirable for sustainable systems. Insights into the electrode-microbe interactions may help to optimize the performance of BESs for envisioned applications, and further validation by bioelectrochemical techniques is a prerequisite to completely understand the electro-microbiology. This review summarizes various extracellular electron transfer mechanisms involved in BESs. The significant role of characterization techniques in the advancement of the electro-microbiology field is discussed. Finally, diverse applications of BESs, such as resource recovery, and contributions to the pursuit of a more sustainable society are also highlighted

Anticipatory anti-colonial writing in R.K. Narayan's Swami and Friends and Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable

This article uses the term “anticipatory anti-colonial writing” to discuss the workings of time in R.K. Narayan’s Swami and Friends and Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable. Both these first novels were published in 1935 with the support of British literary personalities (Graham Greene and E.M. Forster respectively) and both feature young protagonists who, in contrasting ways, are engaged in Indian resistance to colonial rule. This study examines the difference between Narayan’s local, though ironical, resistance to the homogenizing temporal demands of empire and Anand’s awkwardly modernist, socially committed vision. I argue that a form of anticipation that explicitly looks forward to decolonization via new and transnational literary forms is a crucial feature of Untouchable that is not found in Swami and Friends, despite the latter’s anti-colonial elements. Untouchable was intended to be a “bridge between the Ganges and the Thames” and anticipates postcolonial negotiations of time that critique global inequalities and rely upon the multidirectional global connections forged by modernism

Cost-effectiveness analysis of two integrated early childhood development programs into Bangladeshi primary health-care services

Objectives: This study presents results of a cost and cost-effectiveness analysis of two parenting interventions (group-based and pairs) integrated into primary health care centers in rural Bangladesh. Methods: A within-trial cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted for two trials of parenting interventions aiming tosupport child development through play and interactions. Eligible participants for both trials were underweight children aged 5–24 months. Participants in the control arms in both trials received standard health services. Intervention costs were estimated rom the provider perspective over the time horizon of each study (21 months for the group-based intervention; 24 months for the pair-based intervention). Incremental cost effectiveness ratios were estimated for all primary child development outcomes and presented in terms of cost per standard deviation improvements in the outcomes. A series of cost scenario analyses were conducted to assess the effect of changing cost assumptions on the cost and cost-effectiveness results. All results are presented in 2022 USD. Results: Total provider costs in the within-trial analysis were US$67,668 for the group-based intervention and US$ 117,028 for the pair intervention. Estimated cost per child covered by the interventions was US$156 for the group intervention and US$136 for the pair intervention, reflecting likely economies of scale in delivery of the pair intervntion. An additional US$100 expenditure on the group intervention is estimated to lead to a 0.55 SD improvement in cognition, 0.44 SD in language development and 0.33 SD in motor development. For the pair intervention, the corresponding estimates are improvements of 0.95 SD, 0.81 SD, and 0.88 SD, respectively. Under potential scale up scenarios, the economic cost per child could reduce substantially to US$61 and US$77 for group and pair interventions, respectively. Conclusion: The findings indicates that cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness results for both interventions are comparable with the results from limited similar interventions in LMICs. However, implementation costs of the interventions will be substantially lower at scale due to lower monitoring costs, economies of scale, and full integration into the public health system.<br/

Editors’ Introduction: An Overview of the Educational Administration and Leadership Curriculum: Traditions of Islamic Educational Administration and Leadership in Higher Education

This chapter provides an overview of several topics relevant to constructing an approach to teaching educational administration and leadership in Muslim countries. First, it places the topic in the context of the changing nature and critiques of the field that argue for a greater internationalisation to both resist some of the negative aspects of globalisation and to represent countries’ traditions in the professional curriculum. Then, it identifies literature that presents the underlying principles and values of Islamic education that guide curriculum and pedagogy and shape its administration and leadership including the Qur’an and Sunnah and the classical educational literature which focuses on aims, values and goals of education as well as character development upon which a ‘good’ society is built. This is followed by a section on the Islamic administration and leadership traditions that are relevant to education, including the values of educational organisations and how they should be administered, identifying literature on the distinctive Islamic traditions of leadership and administrator education and training as it applies to education from the establishment of Islam and early classical scholars and senior administrators in the medieval period who laid a strong foundation for a highly sophisticated preparation and practice of administration in philosophical writings and the Mirrors of Princes writings, and subsequent authors who have built upon it up to the contemporary period. The final section provides an overview of the chapters in this collection

DNAqua-Net: Developing new genetic tools for bioassessment and monitoring of aquatic ecosystems in Europe

The protection, preservation and restoration of aquatic ecosystems and their functions are of global importance. For European states it became legally binding mainly through the EU-Water Framework Directive (WFD). In order to assess the ecological status of a given water body, aquatic biodiversity data are obtained and compared to a reference water body. The quantified mismatch obtained determines the extent of potential management actions. The current approach to biodiversity assessment is based on morpho-taxonomy. This approach has many drawbacks such as being time consuming, limited in temporal and spatial resolution, and error-prone due to the varying individual taxonomic expertise of the analysts. Novel genomic tools can overcome many of the aforementioned problems and could complement or even replace traditional bioassessment. Yet, a plethora of approaches are independently developed in different institutions, thereby hampering any concerted routine application. The goal of this Action is to nucleate a group of researchers across disciplines with the task to identify gold-standard genomic tools and novel eco-genomic indices for routine application in biodiversity assessments of European fresh- and marine water bodies. Furthermore, DNAqua-Net will provide a platform for training of the next generation of European researchers preparing them for the new technologies. Jointly with water managers, politicians, and other stakeholders, the group will develop a conceptual framework for the standard application of eco-genomic tools as part of legally binding assessments

Water resources management policies in Pakistan

In Le Moigne, G.; Barghouti, S.; Feder, G.; Garbus, L.; Xie, M. (Eds.) Country experiences with water resources management: Economic, institutional, technological and environmental issues. Washington, DC, USA: World Ban

Catalytic conversion of sucrose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in green aqueous and organic medium

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is one of the promising chemicals, which can serve as a platform chemical to produce various energy chemicals. HMF can be produced from different lignocellulosic biomass derived sugars employing different catalytic processes. In this study, the synthesis of HMF was investigated from excessively available sucrose using environment friendly and cost-effective technology. Among the various solvents applied, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was found as an efficient organic solvent medium. The results elucidated the combination of p-toluenesulfonic acid (pTSA) and chromium chloride (CrCl3.6H2O) as the best dehydrating catalyst. A relatively higher HMF yield of 55% was achieved at a lower temperature (120 ℃) while at 150 ℃ (higher temperature) oxalic acid with higher concentration of CrCl3.6H2O gave a maximum yield of 59.21%. The time, temperature, and concentrations affected the yields. The positive impact was found with a rise in temperature from 100 - 120 ℃ in pTSA while oxalic acid affected the yield until 150 ℃. HMF yields were reported in descending order as pTSA>oxalic acid> maleic acid> malonic acid >succinic acid > blank at 120 ℃. It was observed that the isomerization of glucose to fructose is the major barrier to achieve the high process yield. Therefore, more efforts should be made to achieve the high rate of isomerization of glucose (part of sucrose disaccharide) in order to improve the HMF selectivity by depressing the humin formation

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