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A series of Sb containing CNTs based MnOx/TiO2 catalysts were prepared by the incipient wetness co-impregnation method and tested for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx with NH3. The Sb loaded MnOx/TiO2-CNTs catalyst showed better performance than the other catalysts tested and presented the highest activity in the temperature regime of 100–400 oC. Interestingly, Sb loaded catalyst exhibited SO2 and H2O resistance with better thermal stability. Physico-chemical characterizations such as SEM, XRD, BET, XPS, NH3-TPD, and H2-TPR were employed to investigate the influence of Sb loading on NOx removal over MnOx/TiO2-CNTs catalysts. A step-wise addition of SO2 into the gas stream disclosed that MnOx-Sb/TiO2-CNTs catalyst has better SO2 resistance by avoiding the sulphur poisoning than the base catalyst MnOx/TiO2. Moreover, the results of SEM and XRD revealed that the dispersion of MnOx on TiO2/CNT surface was more uniform after Sb loading. We evidenced that the decrease in SCR activity of MnOx based catalyst is due to the formation of MnSO4. Indeed, in Sb loaded catalysts, the SOx species react more preferably with SbOx than that of MnOx. This strong interaction of SO2 with SbOx successfully prevents the poisoning of active sites on MnOx from being sulphated. This significantly improved the SO2 tolerance of Sb-loaded catalysts.

International audience; An innovative photoreactor was applied as an emerging advanced oxidation process (AOP) to investigate Paracetamol (PL) degradation under different operating conditions. The system consisted of a textile woven from optical fiber and textile yarn. The luminous fiber textile was coupled to UVA LED, and the photocatalytic textile fibers is impregnated with TiO2. The effectiveness of configuration I, based on a luminous textile with UV LED, was compared with that based of TiO2 immobilized on cellulosic paper (CP) with external UV irradiation (configuration 2). The specific degradation rate obtained with configuration 1 was 40 times higher than that with configuration II. Configuration I also showed efficient performance in mineralization per Watt consumed, with values reaching 81 times higher than those obtained with configuration II. Also, to achieve high removal effi-ciency of the pollutant with the new technology of luminous textiles, the effect of operating parameters, namely pollutant concentration, UV intensity, flow rate and TiO2 mass deposited were discussed. It is worth noting that the optimal conditions for a 95.7 % degradation rate of 1 mg/L of Paracetamol were obtained with 26 g/m2 mass catalyst, 5 W/m2 UV intensity and 52.2 L/h flow rate after 340 min. In addition, upon associating two luminous textiles, the degradation efficiency reached 98.76 % after only 140 min. Besides, by adding hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the optimal conditions with 10 mg/L of Paracetamol concentration, the degradation efficiency reached 98.81 % after 240 min. The excellent performances in terms of degradation rate, mineralization per Watt consumed, and energy consumption make luminous textiles an attractive alternative to conventional photo-catalytic reactors designed for the removal of Paracetamol in water and wastewater.

The conversion of CO2 to CH3OH over binary mixed metal oxides of NiO–Fe2O3 is investigated in the study. A series of catalysts, i.e., NiO, Fe2O3, 5% NiO–Fe2O3 (5NF), 10% NiO–Fe2O3 (10NF), and 15% NiO–Fe2O3 (15NF), was tested for CO2 conversion and CH3OH selectivity performance. The results show that binary mixed metal oxides are more active in comparison to pure metal oxides. Moreover, increasing NiO mixing leads to the agglomeration of NiO particles. At 200 °C, around 1.5%, 2%, and 3.2% CO2 conversion is achieved for 5NF, 10NF, and 15NF, respectively. Interestingly, when cold plasma was ignited at 200 °C, around 5.4%, 6.2%, and 10.2% CO2 conversion was achieved for the 5NF, 10NF, and 15NF catalysts, respectively. 15NF exhibited the highest CO2 conversion, but produced only CH4. Plasma coupling with the catalyst led to an increase in the CH3OH yield, and around an 5.8-fold enhancement was achieved with 10NF at 200 °C compared to thermal catalysis. We showed that the combination of plasma and thermal heating brings about significant changes to the catalyst morphology, which significantly improved the catalytic activity. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterization revealed that plasma treatment leads to the formation of a mixture of spinel compounds (NiO–Fe2O3, NiFe2O4, and Fe3O4).

To produce malic acid from non-oxidative pathway route in Escherichia coli using two key enzymes and synthetic scaffold complex. E. coli was engineered to produce malic acid from glucose by co-localization of two key enzymes phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (Ppc) and malate dehydrogenase (MdhA) with synthetic scaffold complex. Scaffold plasmid has produced the maximum concentration of 3.51 g/L malic acid from 10 g/L glucose in 48 h of culture. pH 5.5 and temperature 30°C were optimum for malic acid production without any engineering of competing metabolic pathways. E. coli mutant strains and different concentrations of glucose also tested. When 50 g/L glucose was used as substrate, 20.4 g/L of malic acid was produced.

In everyday life and culture, music can be encountered and experienced in a variety of forms, and it plays a role in mood swings. Numerous studies have shown that listening to music while exercising increases both the amount of time spent exercising as well as the interest level in the activity. It is hypothesised that instructing pupils in physical activities through the medium of music would have a beneficial effect on them. Fifty-five students from the Faculty of Physical Education were chosen to serve as study subjects in order to investigate the impact that music has on the process of learning and doing the activity. This study was carried out over the course of two days, and the data was gathered by counting the number of footsteps that participants made throughout a period of 20 minutes of instruction with or without music. The exercises were demonstrated to the participants over the course of two days; on the first day, they were demonstrated with music, and on the second day, they were demonstrated without music. According to the findings of this study, there is a discernible contrast between instructing activities with and without the use of music. The topic revealed a tremendous amount of interest and vitality when it was practised with music. The pedometric measure improved with musical training, and males did much better than girls in this regard.

This review provides exhaustive literature on carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, storage and utilization. CO2 is one of the greenhouse gas, emitted into the atmosphere and has reached an alarming level of well above 400 ppm. The consequences of rising CO2 levels and global warming are visual in day today life such as floods, wildfires, droughts and irregular precipitation cycles. Several reviews, focused on a particular topic, have been published since the 19th century and recently. However, in this review, we have attempted to cover all the CO2 mitigation techniques available for their advantages and disadvantages have been discussed. The blooming technology of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the pros and cons of CO2 capture, transportation and storage techniques are showcased. Interestingly the transportation of captured CO2 to the potential storage sites requires more than 50% of the total energy budget, therefore, this review is dedicated to the onsite CO2 conversion into value-added chemicals. Various technological advancements for CO2 conversion into other products by the solar thermochemical, electrochemical and photochemical processes have been analysed. From the extensive literature, it’s demonstrated that NTP (Non-Thermal Plasma) is one of the emerging techniques for the direct conversion of CO2 into value-added products as it is energetically efficient. The mechanisms of CO2 activation by thermal and NTP-catalysis have been discussed. Moreover, the benefits of DBD to obtain oxygenates like methanol, aldehydes, acids, and hydrocarbons from direct one-pot synthesis are discussed. The production of such value-added chemicals from CO2 is of prime importance as it will be our step towards a carbon-neutral economy which is the need of the hour. This review has also attempted to compare the cost-effectiveness of current existing techniques for CO2 capture and utilized solar to fuel efficiency to compare distinct technologies available for the utilization of CO2 to value-added chemicals.

People of Puducherry are multi-national and multi-ethnic by nature and have a cosmopolitan culture but still they have a strong hold to the native tradition of the region. A survey was conducted to know the availability of exotic food in Puducherry and the trends of consumption of exotic foods by people of Puducherry. It was found that Vietnamese, Chinese, European/Continental, Arabian and Malaysian cuisines were being offered in various restaurants. Of the 26 restaurants surveyed, 69 percent were multi cuisine restaurants. Exotic food items like Shawarma, Alfaham, Barbecue chicken, Crunchy chicken cheese balls, Chicken cordon bleu, Chicken lollipop, Dragon chicken were the fast moving dishes. Calamari, Pastas, Chicken milanese, Xtasi pizzas, Thai chicken curry, Helena cheese burger were the trending dishes. Greater awareness of global cuisines combined with a larger disposable income leads many consumers to seek experiential eating or fine dining which has increased the consumption of exotic foods in Puducherry.

Vanadia (V2O5)- and manganese (MnOx)-based catalysts are widely used in the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) process for NOx removal from various sources, particularly in diesel engines. Extensive research has been carried out to modify the traditional V2O5- and MnOx-based SCR catalysts to overwhelm their disadvantages such as low thermal stability, ammonia slip and insufficient Hg0 oxidation. This review focuses on the advancement in the modification of V2O5- and MnOx-based SCR catalysts in different aspects like increasing thermal stability, oxidizing slip ammonia, reducing SO2 oxidation, improving Hg0 oxidation efficiency, enhancing N2 selectivity and expanding the operation temperature window. The performances of various V2O5- and MnOx-based SCR catalysts have been examined in detail and also categorized based on materials such as transition metals, rare earth metals, noble metals and others. According to the previous studies and researcher's perspective, it was noticed that doping of suitable components promotes the overall performance of V2O5- and MnOx-based SCR catalysts. The incorporation of transition metals into V2O5- and MnOx-based catalytic systems has shown a vast potential to control various pollutants in the exhaust gas after-treatment techniques.

We investigated the effect of cell-surface display of glutamate decarboxylase (GadB) on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) production in recombinant Escherichia coli. We integrated GadB from the hyperthermophilic, anaerobic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii to the C-terminus of the E. coli outer membrane protein C (OmpC). After 12 hr of culturing GadB-displaying cells, the GABA concentration in the extracellular medium increased to 3.2 g/l, which is eight times that obtained with cells expressing GadB in the cytosol. To further enhance GABA production, we increased the temperatures of the culture. At 60°C, the obtained GABA concentration was 4.62 g/l after 12 hr of culture, and 5.35 g/l after 24 hr, which corresponds to a yield of 87.7%.

The conversion of CO

This chapter is focused on heterogeneous hydrogenation of CO2 to value-added products such as CO, CH4, and CH3OH, which have high commercial values compared to other hydrocarbons and oxygenated products. The reaction mechanisms of photocatalytic reduction of CO2 are systematically discussed. The effect of loading of transition metals on photocatalytic material for CO2 reduction has also been analyzed. The recent developments in plasma and plasma-catalytic techniques for CO2 hydrogenation are discussed. Indeed, the reaction mechanism of plasma gas phase chemistry has been discussed with complementary numerical simulation methods.

This paper mainly deals with the isovaleraldehyde degradation with the help of a nonthermal plasma surface discharge (NPSD) coupled with photocatalysis. The efficiency of NPSD reactor, for gas treatment, was studied for different binary mixtures: (1) mixture of aldehydes (Isovaleraldehyde and Butyraldehyde) and (2) mixture of aldehyde and amine (Isovaleraldehyde and Trimethylamine). A planar continuous reactor is used to investigate the effect of addition of another pollutant on the performance of oxidation process. A synergetic effect was observed by combining NPSD and photocatalysis for the degradation of mixture of pollutants. In addition, combined NPSD/photocatalysis has significantly enhanced the CO2 selectivity, as compared to NPSD alone. This is attributed to the formation of more reactive species due to the presence of TiO2 in the plasma discharge zone. Moreover, ozone and UV light on TiO2, produced by plasma, have activated the surface leading to enhanced mineralization. In addition, the byproducts of each binary mixture were identified and evaluated.

Weed seedbank was assessed and an integrated weed management package was developed to control Parthenium hysterophorus in vegetable capsicum. Field experiments were conducted simultaneously in a Parthenium-site (PS) and Parthenium-free site (PFS) during two consecutive seasons in a split-plot design replicated three times. Primary tillage (ploughing and manual weeding) were the main plots and sub-plots consisted of post-tillage practices; (a) Oxyfluorfen applied two-days before transplanting the crop (180 g a.i. ha−1), (b) gliricidia leaf mulch applied soon after transplanting (6 t ha−1, 68% moisture), and (c) control. After transplanting, all weeds in PS, except P. hysterophorus, were removed manually in all plots bi-weekly, while weeds were not controlled in PFS. Parthenium hysterophorus in PS and Cyperus rotundus in PFS dominated the soil seedbank in upper 0–5 cm. Soil seedbank of P. hysterophorus in PS was higher in season-1 (March–August) than in season-2 (September–February) and viable even when buried 15 cm deep. Interaction between primary and post-tillage practices was not significant (P > .05) on plant height, canopy width, and yield of the crop. Capsicum yield in PFS was 40% higher in season-1 and 9.5% higher in season-2 compared to those of PS, due to lower weed competition and higher crop growth in the former. Manual weeding or ploughing as primary tillage followed by mulching with gliricidia leaves as a post-tillage practice suppressed P. hysterophorus effectively and enhanced growth and yield of vegetable capsicum.

A series of titania-carbon nanotubes (TiO2-CNTs) supported MnOx-CuO catalysts were prepared and investigated for NH3-SCR of NO at low temperature. It was observed that the addition of Cu and/or CNTs to Mn/TiO2 has a beneficial effect in improving the activity of the catalyst. In addition, the effect of Cu loading was also studied and found that the catalyst with 5 wt% Cu (Mn-Cu5/Ti-CNTs) exhibited the best NH3-SCR performance. Remarkably, the Mn-Cu5/Ti-CNTs showed excellent resistance to SO2/H2O in comparison to the Mn/TiO2 catalyst. The addition of CNTs has increased the specific surface area, total pore volume, and reduced the average pore size of the catalyst. Meanwhile, the Cu loading has enhanced the Mn4+ species and chemisorbed oxygen species on the surface of the catalyst. Besides, the incorporation of both Cu and CNTs have decreased the catalyst reduction temperature and increased the amount and strength of acidic sites on the catalyst. All these factors contributed to the superior NH3-SCR activity and SO2/H2O resistance of the catalyst.

GABA is produced from the decarboxylation of glutamate by glutamate decarboxylase enzyme (GadB). Various hetrologous GadB enzymes has been indentified and introduced in Escherichia coli to improve the productivity of GABA. In this study, cell surface display strategy was employed by displaying Neurospora crassa glutamate decarboxylase (GadB) on the surface of Escherichia coli using OmpC as an anchoring motif. To construct the display system, the GadB was fused to truncated C-terminus of OmpC and expressed in E. coli. The recombinant E. coli displaying GadB has produced 3.03 g/L of GABA from 10 g/L glutamate within 12 h of culture period. When the GadB display system was cultured at high cell density, 100% GABA yeild was achieved from 50 g/L of glutamate. The results suggest that the GadB expression on the E. coli surface is stable and effective on GABA production. The surface display strategy can be applied on other potential enzyme candidates and used in Industry for bulk chemical production.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid is a precursor of nylon-4, which is a promising heat-resistant biopolymer. GABA can be produced from the decarboxylation of glutamate by glutamate decarboxylase. In this study, a synthetic scaffold complex strategy was employed involving the Neurospora crassa glutamate decarboxylase (GadB) and Escherichia coli GABA antiporter (GadC) to improve GABA production. To construct the complex, the SH3 domain was attached to the N. crassa GadB, and the SH3 ligand was attached to the N-terminus, middle, and C-terminus of E. coli GadC. In the C-terminus model, 5.8 g/l of GABA concentration was obtained from 10 g/l glutamate. When a competing pathway engineered strain was used, the final GABA concentration was further increased to 5.94 g/l, which corresponds to 97.5% of GABA yield. With the introduction of the scaffold complex, the GABA productivity increased by 2.9 folds during the initial culture period.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a precursor to pyrrolidone, a monomer used for the production of a biodegradable polymer known as nylon-4. GABA is also widely used in the medical industry to treat conditions such as high blood pressure, anxiety and depression. Generally, GABA is produced from glutamate by the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase (GadB). In this study, a synthetic scaffold complex was introduced between Pyrococcus horikoshii GadB and the GABA antiporter (GadC) from E. coli. P. horikoshii GadB was attached to the N-terminus, C-terminus and middle of E. coli GadC via scaffolding. Among the three scaffold complexes evaluated, the N-terminus scaffold model produced 5.93 g/L of GABA from 10 g/L monosodium glutamate (MSG). When the gabT mutant E. coli XBT strain was used, the highest GABA concentration of 5.96 g/L was obtained, which is 97.8% of GABA yield. In addition to GABA concentration, GABA productivity was increased 3.5 fold via the synthetic scaffold complex.

Air quality is a topic of increasing importance, and pollutant emissions are increasingly limited by regulations. This situation is forcing industrialists to reduce their emissions by either revising their processes, and/or by installing purification systems of their effluents. These are of a great variety, and each has their strengths and weaknesses. The trend is, therefore, to couple different processes to result in more effective treatments. Studies suggest that coupling photocatalysis and plasma in a reactor can provide better VOC removal efficiency while emitting fewer partially oxidized byproducts than that of these individual processes. However, there is a lack of information on the ability of this coupling to deal with varies types of pollutants. In addition, the flow rates treated will be 10–1000 times higher than in previous studies, which represents a clear difference in scale. The process will not be studied from a point of chemical view? Determination of the mechanisms and kinetics of the reactions involved – but from the point of view of process engineering. The objective is to make a review, firstly, the degradation of selected pollutants in plasma alone and in photocatalysis alone, then in a second time to compare these results to those of the coupling. These steps will also determine the influence of the conditions operating – pollutant charge, humidity. If conditions permit, the degradation of these mixed pollutants will then be addressed, the synergy effects and/or competition should not be neglected during treatment industrial effluents polluted by several compounds. Finally, a study will be devoted to the comparison of different configurations of reactors mixing plasma and photocatalysis at industrial scales.

The combined effect of non-thermal plasma treatment of water and seeds on the rate of germination and plants growth of radish (Raphanus sativus), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), and sweet pepper (Capsicum annum) have been investigated using dielectric barrier discharges in air under atmospheric pressure and room temperature. A cylindrical double dielectric barrier discharge reactor is used for water activation and a plate-to-plate double DBD reactor is employed for seed treatment. The activation of water, for 15 and 30 min, lead to acidic solutions (pH ≈ 3) with moderate concentrations of nitrate (NO3−) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Plasma activated water (PAW) has shown a significant impact on germination as well as plant growth for the three types of seeds used. Interestingly, the positive effect, in seed germination and seedling growth, has been observed when the PAW and plasma-treated seeds (10 and 20 min) were combined. In one hand, when the seeds were (tomato and pepper) exposed to 10 min plasma and watered with PAW-15 for first 9 days followed by tap water for 51 days, the stem length is increased about 60% as compared to control sample. On the second hand, for longer exposures of seeds and water to plasma discharges, a negative effect is observed. For instance, plasma-treated seeds watered with PAW-30, the plant growth and vitality were decreased as compared to control sample. These results revealed that the developed cold plasma reactors could be used to significantly improve the seed germination as well as plant growth, nevertheless, the plasma treatment time has to be optimized for each seeds.

Over the last 30 years, several experimental chambers were developed and implemented for indoor air studies. Yet, they were not all representative of real indoor air conditions. Either they did not have sufficient volumes or they were hindered by difficulties to control experimental conditions and air exchange rates. In this context, a 40 m 3 Innovative experimental Room for Indoor Air studies (IRINA) has been developed and validated at Mines Douai (Atmospheric Sciences et Environmental Engineering department (SAGE)) to overcome these drawbacks and above all to perform reproducible indoor air studies avoiding any possible experimental biases. IRINA inner walls are covered with aluminum foils. The room is operated in a closed mode and is equipped with a VOC injection system that relies on the heated and pressurized injection of vaporized VOC. IRINA is also equipped with analytical instruments that allow the analysis of both gas (online and offline measurements) and particle phases. IRINA validation evidenced that: (i) the air exchange rate of the room is well controlled over an one year timespan; (ii) both gaseous and particulate background levels in IRINA remain lower than typical indoor air conditions; (iii) fast homogenization of injected VOC concentrations is reached in the room; (iv) adsorption phenomena on IRINA walls are limited; and (v) there is no VOC matrix impact regarding individual VOC decays. The modelling of VOC natural decay in IRINA based on the new INCA-Indoor model showed that the VOC removal in IRINA is mainly due to the air exchange rate.

International audience; The combination of a sub-microsecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge with Pd/gamma-Al2O3 catalyst was investigated for the oxidation of low concentration of methane, propene, and toluene in air at atmospheric pressure. The systematic comparison of the plasma-catalysis with the thermal-catalysis and the plasma-alone have been made for temperature window of 20–400 C and energy deposition in the range 23–148 J L-1. To emphasis the reactivity of plasma produced species on the activation of the catalyst, two reactor configurations were used [in-plasma catalysis (IPC), and post-plasma catalysis (PPC)]. Fourier transform infrared spectrometer was used to follow the VOCs conversion and to quantify the mineralized products. The plasma-catalyst combination leads to higher VOCs conversion and decreases the catalyst activation temperature in both IPC and PPC configurations. For hybrid system, the light-off temperature is always lower than those observed for catalytic oxidation. In addition, the formation of the by-products such as formaldehyde, formic acid, and ozone was reduced significantly. A significant synergetic effect of hybrid plasma-catalytic system is not really observed in the presence of CH4 and C3H6. However, for C7H8 oxidation the synergetic effect was demonstrated at low temperature (\150 C) for the IPC configuration.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a non-protein amino acid, which is an important inhibitor of neurotransmission in the human brain. GABA is also used as the precursor of biopolymer Nylon-4 production. In this study, the carbon flux from the tricarboxylic acid cycle was directed to the GABA shunt pathway for the production of GABA from glucose. The GABA shunt enzymes succinate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (GabD) and GABA aminotransferase (GabT) were co-localized along with the GABA transporter (GadC) by using a synthetic scaffold complex. The co-localized enzyme scaffold complex produced 0.71 g/l of GABA from 10 g/l of glucose. Inactivation of competing metabolic pathways in mutant E. coli strains XBM1 and XBM6 increased GABA production 13% to reach 0.80 g/l GABA by the enzymes co-localized and expressed in the mutant strains. The recombinant E. coli system developed in this study demonstrated the possibility of the pathway of the GABA shunt as a novel GABA production pathway.

Nylon 4 is a biodegradable polymer which can be produced from the monomer of pyrrolidone. Gammaaminobutyric acid (GABA) is a precursor of pyrrolidone used for the production of bioplastics. In this study, Escherichia coli were engineered to produce gammaaminobutyric acid from glucose via an alternative novel pathway by the introduction of synthetic scaffolds. The GABA pathway constructed contained succinate dehydrogenase, succinate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase and GABA aminotransferase to redirect the Krebs cycle flux to GABA production. By introduction of a synthetic scaffold, production of 0.64 g/L GABA was achieved at 30°C and pH 6.5. Final GABA concentration was increased by 11.3% via the inactivation of competing pathways, and higher initial glucose concentration led to the enhanced final GABA concentration of 1.01 g/L.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an important bio-product, which is used in pharmaceutical formulations, nutritional supplements, and biopolymer monomer. The traditional GABA process involves the decarboxylation of glutamate. However, the direct production of GABA from glucose is a more efficient process. To construct the recombinant strains of Escherichia coli, a novel synthetic scaffold was introduced. By carrying out the co-localization of glutamate synthase, glutamate decarboxylase, and GABA transporter, we redirected the TCA cycle flux to GABA pathway. The genetically engineered E. coli strain produced 1.08 g/L of GABA from 10 g/L of initial glucose. Thus, with the introduction of a synthetic scaffold, we increased GABA production by 2.2-fold. The final GABA concentration was increased by 21.8 % by inactivating competing pathways.

This paper mainly deals with the isovaleraldehyde degradation with the help of a nonthermal plasma surface discharge (NPSD) coupled with photocatalysis. The efficiency of NPSD reactor, for gas treatment, was studied for different binary mixtures: (1) mixture of aldehydes (Isovaleraldehyde and Butyraldehyde) and (2) mixture of aldehyde and amine (Isovaleraldehyde and Trimethylamine). A planar continuous reactor is used to investigate the effect of addition of another pollutant on the performance of oxidation process. A synergetic effect was observed by combining NPSD and photocatalysis for the degradation of mixture of pollutants. In addition, combined NPSD/photocatalysis has significantly enhanced the CO

Peptide-displaying Escherichia coli cells were investigated for use in adsorptive removal of bisphenol A (BPA) both in Luria-Bertani medium including BPA or ATM thermal paper eluted wastewater. Two recombinant strains were constructed with monomeric and dimeric repeats of the 7-mer BPA-binding peptide (KSLENSY), respectively. Greater than threefold increased adsorption of BPA [230.4 µmol BPA per g dry cell weight (DCW)] was found in dimeric peptide-displaying cells compared to monomeric strains (63.4 µmol per g DCW) in 15 ppm BPA solution. The selective removal of BPA from a mixture of BPA analogs (bisphenol F and bisphenol S) was verified in both monomeric and dimeric peptide-displaying cells. The binding chemistry of BPA with the peptide was assumed, based on molecular docking analysis, to be the interaction of BPA with serine and asparagine residues within the 7-mer peptide sequence. The peptide-displaying cells also functioned efficiently in thermal paper eluted wastewater containing 14.5 ppm BPA.

Recently, malic acid has gained attention due to its potential application in food, pharmaceutical, and medical industries. In this study, the synthetic scaffold complex strategy was employed between the two key enzymes pyruvate kinase (PykF) and malic enzyme (SfcA); SH3 ligand was attached to PykF, and the SH3 domain was attached to the C-terminus of ScfA. Synthetic scaffold systems can organize enzymes spatially and temporally to increase the local concentration of intermediates. In a flask culture, the recombinant strain harboring scaffold complex produced a maximum concentration of 5.72 g/L malic acid from 10 g/L glucose. The malic acid production was significantly increased 2.1-fold from the initial culture period. Finally, malic acid production was elevated to 30.2 g in a 5 L bioreactor from recombinant strain XL-1 blue.

Electronic health care record is a growing patient record model that are maintained and stored by third party by which the health record of a patient can be exchanged between doctors, specialist for providing better treatment. At the time of exchanging information security places a vital role in maintaining the patient's data. As the health care system are connected into the network through internet the system is exposed to many security and cyber-attacks. A good security system must not compromise the fundamental security elements such as authentication, confidentiality, integrity, availability and non-repudiation.

Power system stabilizers (PSS) must be capable of providing appropriate stabilization signals over a broad range of operating conditions and disturbances. Traditional PSS rely on robust linear design methods. In an attempt to cover a wide range of operating conditions, expert or rule based controllers have been proposed. Recently, fuzzy logic as a novel robust control design method has shown promising results. In this paper a fuzzy logic based power system stabilizer for stability enhancement of a two-area four machine system are designed. In order to accomplish the stability enhancement, speed deviation (Δω) and active power deviation (ΔP) of the rotor synchronous generator were taken as the inputs to the fuzzy logic controller. These variables take significant effects on damping the generator shaft mechanical oscillations. The stabilizing signals were computed using fuzzy membership function depending on these variables. The performance of the system with fuzzy logic PSS is compared with the conventional PSS and the system without PSS.

Environmental regulation on air quality requires the development of energetic efficient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) abatement techniques. Adsorption, photocatalysis, non-thermal plasma and their combinations have been widely studied for VOC treatment. Even if the plasma – material (sorbent or catalyst) association appears as one of the most efficient configuration for VOC removal, it mainly consists in operating continuously the discharge on the material surface as long as the effluent flows across the reactor. This work aims at investigating another approach of plasma – material association for VOC removal: in a first step, the material is used as a sorbent until the complete coverage of adsorption sites; in a second step, once VOC saturation is achieved, the discharge is ignited on the material surface. During both steps, the influence of air relative humidity (RH) is investigated in order to evaluate its impact on the process. The objectives of our approach are: (i) the reduction of energy consumption; (ii) the increase of sorbent life-times by efficient regeneration; (iii) the investigation of plasma interaction with VOC saturated materials; (iv) the investigation of air RH influence on such VOC treatment process. A packed bed reactor coated with TiO 2 has been designed. IPA is used as a model VOC. First, injected power in the packed-bed reactor is characterized as a function of air RH. Complete coverage of TiO 2 surface over 35% RH is suggested as a significant parameter. Then, adsorption of IPA on TiO 2 was monitored until IPA breakthrough. The amount of IPA adsorbed per TiO 2 surface unit is compared to values reported by other authors. The influence of air RH on reversibly and irreversibly adsorbed IPA fractions is investigated. Over 35% RH irreversible adsorption is favored, adsorption modes are discussed. Plasma regeneration of IPA saturated TiO 2 surface leads simultaneously to IPA desorption and mineralization. Increasing air RH favors IPA mineralization and diminishes acetone production. Carbon balance obtained after 1 h plasma treatment reaches 91% in the presence of 50% RH. A thermal treatment is performed after each plasma treatment in order to evidence plasma insensitive adsorbed species and to restore TiO 2 initial surface state. 97% of the carbon balance is collected under 50% RH after thermal treatment. During the thermal step, acetone and CO 2 are mainly produced, their formation pathways are discussed.

Oxidative decomposition of low concentrations (50–1000 ppm) of diluted benzene in air was carried out in a nonthermal plasma (NTP) dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor with the inner electrode made up of stainless steel fibres (SMF) modified with transition metal oxides in such a way to integrate the catalyst in discharge zone. Typical results indicate the better performance of MnOx and TiO2/MnOx modified systems, which may be attributed to the in situ decomposition of ozone on the surface of MnOx that may lead to the formation of atomic oxygen; whereas ultraviolet light induced photocatalytic oxidation may be taking place with TiO2 modified systems. Water vapour improved the selectivity to total oxidation.

Chilli (Capsicum frutescens L.) is one of the most important cash crop cultivated in the Sri Lanka. Though, chilli cultivation has been tremendously influenced by the adverse climatic conditions and weed infestations. To solve these issues, a field experiment was conducted at Integrated Farm and Training Center, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jaffna, Kanagarayankulam, during February 2017 to July 2017, to evaluate the impact of partial shade and effect of different weeding intervals on growth and yield performance of chilli. The treatments consisted of two shade levels (partial shade and full sun) and four weeding intervals (weeding at one week, two week, three week intervals and no weeding) in split plot arrangement with three replicates. Light intensity was statistically significant (p < 0.05) between shade levels. The lowest light intensity and the highest relative humidity were recorded in partially shaded treatment as 22.50 klux and 85.42 %, respectively at 8.00 a.m. Weed density was significantly (p < 0.05) differed by shade and weeding interval treatments. The lowest weed density was recorded in full sun (control) and weeding at one week interval treatment. Shade treatments and weeding interval treatments have shown a significant (p < 0.05) effect on plant height, leaf numbers, leaf length, fruit length, fruit fresh weight and total yields. Partial shade and weeding at one week interval have shown significantly higher growth and yield performance compared to the other levels of treatment. Therefore, these results can be recommended for adoption by the farmers to improve the performance of chilli.

Oxidative decomposition of a model volatile organic compound (isopropanol, IP) has been carried out in a catalytic dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor, where modified sintered metal fiber (SMF) filter was used as the inner electrode. The SMF was modified with Mn and Co oxides by impregnation, followed by calcination and the performance of the DBD reactor was tested for the oxidation of IP in the specific input energy range 160–720 J/l by varying the high voltage and frequency. It has been observed that SMF modification by MnO x and CoO x not only improved the conversion of isopropanol, but also increased the selectivity towards total oxidation. MnO x modification showed better performance than CoO x , which may be attributed to the formation of atomic oxygen by in situ decomposition of ozone. It has been demonstrated that with MnO x /SMF it is possible to completely oxidize 100 ppm of isopropanol at SIE

In general, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) pathway involves the decarboxylation of glutamate, which is produced from sugar by Corynebacterium fermentation. GABA can be used for the production of pharmaceuticals and functional foods. Due to the increasing demand of GABA, it is essential to create an effective alternative pathway for the GABA production. In this study, Escherichia coli were engineered to produce GABA from glucose via GABA shunt, which consists of succinate dehydrogenase, succinate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase, and GABA aminotransferase. The three enzymes were physically attached to each other through a synthetic scaffold, and the Krebs cycle flux was redirected to the GABA pathway. By introduction of synthetic scaffold, 0.75 g/l of GABA was produced from 10 g/l of glucose at 30 °C and pH 6.5. The inactivation of competing metabolic pathways provided 15.4 % increase in the final GABA concentration.

To direct the carbon flux from Krebs cycle into the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) shunt pathway for the production of GABA by protein scaffold introduction in Escherichia coli. Escherichia coli was engineered to produce GABA from glucose by the co-localization of enzymes succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase (GadD), GABA aminotransferase (PuuE) and GABA transporter (GadC) by protein scaffold. 0.7 g GABA l−1 was produced from 10 g glucose l−1 while no GABA was produced in wild type E. coli. pH 6 and 30 °C were optimum for GABA production, and GABA concentration increased to 1.12 g GABA l−1 when 20 g glucose l−1 was used. When competing metabolic networks were inactivated, GABA increased by 24 % (0.87 g GABA l−1). The novel GABA production system was constructed by co-localization of GABA shunt enzymes.

Oxidative decomposition of chlorobenzene diluted in air was carried out in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor. In order to understand the role of the ground electrode, various reactor configurations were tested. Among silver paste, copper wire and aluminum foil tested as the outer electrodes, typical results indicated the best performance of silver paste, probably due to uniform distribution of microdischarges. Likewise, low flow rates gave better conversion and selectivity to gaseous products.

Impact of weed control methods on the persistence of Parthenium hysterophorus L., and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) yield was studied in two farmer fields i.e. a site heavily infested with P. hysterophorus (Parthenium-site) and Parthenium free site, in the Jaffna peninsula of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The split-plot design consisted of two main plots i.e. manual weeding and ploughing (both followed by harrowing), and three sub-plots i.e. use of a pre-emergent herbicide (Oxyfluorfen; 240 g/L EC at 2 days before planting), mulching [Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth ex Walp. leaves at 12 kg per plot on fresh weight basis], and un-weeded plot after crop establishment (control), in three replicates. The soil seed bank of the Parthenium-site was dominated by P. hysterophorus as expected, and the Parthenium-free site was dominated by the perennial sedge Cyperus rotundus L. At tomato harvest, the un-weeded sub-plots recorded the highest weed densities (pG. sepium coupled with manual weeding during land preparation or ploughing would suppress growth and development of weeds including P. hysterophorus and enhance yield of tomato. Tropical Agricultural Research Vol. 25 (1): 56-68 (2013)

Antibiotics are commonly prescribed drugs in paediatrics. However, the threat of antibiotic resistance among children is a cause for concern. A study of the administration patterns of antibiotics prior to admission was carried out on children admitted to a paediatric ward of Teaching Hospital, Jaffna from June to August 2008, using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Descriptive and basic statistical tests were used to analyse the data. The total number of admissions to the ward was 420 out of which 227 (54%) had been given antibiotics prior to admission. Of this, 53 (23%) were infants. Of the entire cohort, oral antibiotics were given to 214 (94%) and 47 (22%) of them were given two or more antibiotics. Amoxicillin (48%), erythromycin (20%) and cephalexin (16%) were the antibiotics commonly prescribed. Sixty three percent were prescribed antibiotics by general practitioners and 16% were given antibiotics without consulting a doctor. Only 53 (23%) of the parents knew the name and the sideeffects of the antibiotics used on the children. Hospital stay was significantly more for children given prior antibiotics than for those who did not have prior antibiotics (14% against 8% p