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The promotion of parent-child shared book reading for the development of children's literacy is a vital component of early literacy evidence-based recommendations. A robust body of research demonstrates that, regardless of socioeconomic status, parent-child shared book reading promotes monolingual children's literacy. However, despite the growing population of heritage language learners in the United States, those who grow up in homes where a familial language is spoken but receive English instruction at school, parent-child shared book reading research among heritage language learners remains scarce. Further, the impact of parent-child shared book reading is likely to alter the influence of family's socioeconomic status on heritage language learners' emergent literacy development. Here, parent-child shared book reading and children's emergent literacy were examined using latent variable path analyses in a national sample of 965 heritage language learners ages 2 to 6 years old. Parent-child shared book reading mediated the effect of socioeconomic status on heritage language learners' emergent literacy.

Background Systemic corticosteroids for the treatment of COPD exacerbations decrease treatment failure and shorten the length of hospitalization. However, the optimal dose is unclear. Research Question Is personalized-dose corticosteroid administered according to a dosing scale more effective than fixed-dose corticosteroid administration in hospitalized patients with COPD with exacerbations? Study Design and Methods This was a prospective, randomized, open-label trial. In-hospital patients with COPD with exacerbations were randomly assigned at a 1:1 ratio to either the fixed-dose group (receiving the equivalent of 40 mg of prednisolone) or the personalized-dose group for 5 days. The primary end point was a composite measure of treatment failure that included in-hospital treatment failure and medium-term (postdischarge) failure. Secondary end points were length of stay and cost. Results A total of 248 patients were randomly assigned to the fixed-dose group (n = 124) or personalized-dose group (n = 124). One patient in each group was not included in the intention-to-treat population because of incorrect initial COPD diagnosis. Failure of therapy occurred in 27.6% in the personalized-dose group, compared with 48.8% in the fixed-dose group (relative risk, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.24-0.68; P = .001). The in-hospital failure of therapy was significantly lower in the personalized-dose group (10.6% vs 24.4%; P = .005), whereas the medium-term failure rate, adverse event rate, hospital length of stay, and costs were similar between the two groups. After treatment failure, a lower additional dose of corticosteroids and a shorter duration of treatment were needed in the personalized-dose group to achieve control of the exacerbation. In the personalized-dose cohort, those receiving 40 mg or less had an average failure rate of 44.4%, compared with 22.9% among those receiving more than 40 mg (P = .027). Interpretation Personalized dosing of corticosteroids reduces the risk of failure because more patients were provided with a higher initial dose, especially > 60 mg, whereas 40 mg or less was too low in either group. Clinical Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov ; No.: NCT02147015; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov

Background Moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) affects 33 million children annually. Investments in formulations of corn-soy blended flours and lipid-based nutrient supplements have effectively improved MAM recovery rates. Information costs and cost-effectiveness differences are still needed. Objectives We assessed recovery and sustained recovery rates of MAM children receiving a supplementary food: ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF), corn soy whey blend with fortified vegetable oil (CSWB w/oil), or Super Cereal Plus with amylase (SC + A) compared to Corn Soy Blend Plus with fortified vegetable oil (CSB+ w/oil). We also estimated differences in costs and cost effectiveness of each supplement. Methods In Sierra Leone, we randomly assigned 29 health centers to provide a supplement containing 550 kcal/d for ∼12 wk to 2691 children with MAM aged 6–59 mo. We calculated cost per enrollee, cost per child who recovered, and cost per child who sustained recovery each from 2 perspectives: program perspective and caregiver perspective, combined. Results Of 2653 MAM children (98.6%) with complete data, 1676 children (63%) recovered. There were no significant differences in the odds of recovery compared to CSB+ w/oil [0.83 (95% CI: 0.64–1.08) for CSWB w/oil, 1.01 (95% CI: 0.78–1.3) for SC + A, 1.05 (95% CI: 0.82–1.34) for RUSF]. The odds of sustaining recovery were significantly lower for RUSF (0.7; 95% CI 0.49–0.99) but not CSWB w/oil or SC + A [1.08 (95% CI: 0.73–1.6) and 0.96 (95% CI: 0.67–1.4), respectively] when compared to CSB+ w/oil. Costs per enrollee [US dollars (USD)/child] ranged from $105/child in RUSF to $112/child in SC + A and costs per recovered child (USD/child) ranged from $163/child in RUSF to $179/child in CSWB w/oil, with overlapping uncertainty ranges. Costs were highest per sustained recovery (USD/child), ranging from $214/child with the CSB+ w/oil to $226/child with the SC + A, with overlapping uncertainty ranges. Conclusions The 4 supplements performed similarly across recovery (but not sustained recovery) and costed measures. Analyses of posttreatment outcomes are necessary to estimate the full cost of MAM treatment. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03146897.

Sepsis is a multiple organ dysfunction elicited by the dysregulated host immune response to microbial infection. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a serious and acute inflammatory lung injury resulting from sepsis and other severe diseases. The present study aims to investigate the role of S100A12, a pro-inflammatory factor, in the pathophysiologic mechanism underlying the process in sepsis-induced ARDS. In present study, Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) Staining was performed to observe pathological changes. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was employed to analyze the levels of inflammatory cytokines. Western blot, immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining and reverse-transcriptase quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) were performed to determine target gene and protein expression. TUNEL assay and flow cytometry were performed to assay cell apoptosis. We found that the levels of S100A12 and soluble receptor for advanced glycation end-products (sRAGE) are upregulated in the serum of patients with Sepsis-induced ARDS and sepsis mice. Furthermore, higher cell apoptosis rate was observed in lung tissue of sepsis mice. In addition, S100A12 resulted in excessive mucins and the secretion of inflammatory cytokines secretion, and promoted the expression of chemokines and cell adhesion molecules via activating nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (Nod) -like receptor (NLR) P3 inflammasome pathway in NHBE cells. Finally, S100A12 increased oxidative stress status and cell apoptosis in NHBE cells. Generally, the present study provides evidence that S100A12 is closely related to pathogenesis of sepsis-induced ARDS. Hence, S100A12 may be a useful biomarker of pulmonary injuries for clinical diagnosis of sepsis-induced ARDS.

Endometrial hyperplasia is caused by an excess of estrogen unopposed by progesterone. Oral progestogens are traditionally used for endometrial hyperplasia without atypia. However oral progestogen is not always successful at causing regression of endometrial hyperplasia. In addition, cyclic progestogens are less effective in delivering progestogen to the endometrium. Therefore, the levonorgestrel-intrauterine device (LNG-IUD), as an alternative option of delivery progestogen has been introduced in clinical practice. The effectiveness of LNG-IUD in causing regression of endometrial hyperplasia in the short-term had moderate-quality evidence, but the long-term (13 months to two years) effectiveness had low-quality evidence. In this study with relatively large sample size, we compared the effectiveness in the regression of endometrial hyperplasia without atypia for short-term and long-term between the treatment with LNG-IUD and oral progestogens or no treatment. Data on histology or ultrasound from 466 cases who received either LNG-IUD or oral progestogens or were untreated were collected. The primary treatment with LNG-IUD showed a 93% regression rate of endometrial hyperplasia, which was significantly higher than oral progestogens showing a 66% regression rate. The odds ratio of regression of endometrial hyperplasia in cases with LNG-IUD treatment was 7.128 (95%CI: 2.94, 16.76, p0.0001), compared to the cases with oral progestogen treatment. The regression rate in untreated cases was 16%. In addition, cases without regression by oral progestogens who then received the alternative treatment option by LNG-IUD also showed a 93% regression rate. While continuously receiving oral progestogens showed a 55% regression rate of endometrial hyperplasia, which was significantly lower than LNG-IUD treatment as an alternative option. Our data reports a significant response on regression of endometrial hyperplasia after LNG-IUD treatment in comparison with oral progestogen treatment.

Background Uncomplicated episodes of prolonged acute cough are usually viral and self-limited, but despite evidence and recommendations to the contrary, they are often treated with antibiotics. Methods Mixed cross-sectional and prospective observational study of adults 18 years or older presenting to two urgent care centers with a cough of 7 to 56 days as their chief complaint. Factors associated with cough duration and clinical decisions were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results Of the 125 enrolled patients, 118 (94%) received an antibiotic, 97 (78%) a cough suppressant, 87 (70%) a systemic corticosteroid, and 39 (31%) a chest X-ray (CXR). Longer duration of cough was associated with the presence of self-reported wheezing or noises (adjusted odds ratio 6.29, 95% CI 1.36–29.16) while the presence of both wheezing and crackles on a clinician chest exam was associated with shorter duration (aOR 0.03, 95% CI 0.00–0.27). A clinician was more likely to order a CXR in patients with dyspnea (aOR 3.01, 95% CI 1.21–7.49), less likely to prescribe a systemic corticosteroid in patients with crackles (aOR 0.27, 95% CI 0.09–0.82), and more likely to prescribe a cough suppressant to older patients (1.04 per additional year of age, 95% CI 1.01–1.07). Conclusions Systemic corticosteroids and cough suppressants are being prescribed at high rates in patients with uncomplicated acute cough in the urgent care setting. Additional studies to determine if similar rates are seen in other urgent care centers, or in other contemporary ambulatory settings are warranted.

Rapid depletion of fossil fuel and CO2 mitigation are two major challenges in the modern society. CO2 gasification of carbon-neutral biomass could be an attractive technology to cope up these two emerging problems. Replacing conventional gasifying agent air with CO2 could reduce the fraction of undesired N2 in the gas products because CO2 behaves as inert gasifying agent under low temperature and could be converted to CO at high temperature range. However, most researches on CO2 gasification are limited at the lab-scale level due to the endothermic feature of Boudouard reaction. In this work, a feasibility study of small-scale autothermal gasification using 15% CO2 and 85% air was conducted and compared with traditional air gasification. Prior to that, a lab-scale study of gasification behaviors, under N2, air and CO2 agents, were performed. It was found that using CO2 as gasification oxidant could produce comparable energy (6.67 kJ/g feedstock) to air gasification (7.45 kJ/g feedstock) at equivalent condition (800 °C, 40 min). The pH of biochar obtained under CO2 condition at 800 °C was measured to be 10.63 while the pH of biochar derived by air gasification at the same temperature could reach 12.32. In addition, a small-scale gasification experiment with 15% CO2 addition was successfully conducted in a downdraft autothermal reactor. The results showed CO production was greatly enhanced while CH4 generation was suppressed owing to Boudouard reaction and CO2 dry reforming. Cold gas efficiency and carbon conversion efficiency were both enhanced by 5.8% and 6%, respectively, with CO2 addition. Meanwhile, particulate matters (PM) emitted from both air gasification and 15% CO2 gasification experiments were measured. It was found that under the same equivalence ratio (ER), 75.4% less particle number concentration was emitted during 15% CO2 gasification compared to air gasification.

Online measurements of key information such as the decomposition stages of biomass gasification/pyrolysis in a fixed-bed reactor is currently limited with existing technologies. In this study a proof of concept for using Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) for monitoring the decomposition stages of woody biomass is done. In practice, ECT measures the permittivity of the material under test. Therefore, the relation between the permittivity of the biomass in terms of the extent of thermal treatment is essential. Pyrolysis and gasification experiments were conducted to different extent of time and temperatures at a lab scale gasifier using wood chips. The permittivity of the samples was measured in-vitro using impedance analyzer at different excitation frequencies (20 kHz to 3 MHz). At a critical pyrolysis temperature of 700 °C the permittivity starts to increase significantly. In addition, for air-aided gasification the permittivity was found to reach its maximum in holding time of 10 or 30 min. Further examination of these samples in an ECT sensor revealed the same trend, implying that the permittivity results can be used for converting ECT reading to decomposition state. Chemical characterizations were done via elemental, thermogravimetry analysis, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy. It was found that graphitization of the material is a prominent factor that control the increase of the permittivity. Analyzing quantitatively the aromatic and aliphatic carbon from the FTIR results disclose that it has a strong relation to the permittivity change when the aromatic carbon is higher than 95%. Therefore, in this range, it was possible to correlate these two parameters by an inverse relation which lead to a good match under frequencies higher than 200 kHz.

A granular composite sorbent (LC-CF) was synthesized from acid-leached carbon waste using chitosan and FeCl3, and its feasibility for nitrate and phosphate removal was investigated in this study. The sorption data was well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and the maximum sorption capacity of LC-CF predicted by Langmuir model for nitrate and phosphate were 41.90 mg g−1 and 62.72 mg g−1, respectively. In comparison, LC-CF had a greater affinity for phosphate and exhibited a better reusability for nitrate removal during the sorption-desorption cycles. Ion exchange, electrostatic interaction, and hydrogen bond are the potential sorption mechanisms. In light of the cost-benefit analysis, the proposed treatment of carbon waste was more economically feasible as compared with existing incineration scheme. These results illuminated that synthesis of granular sorbent with carbon waste could achieve the harmless disposal of hazardous industrial waste as well as the production of value-added sorbent for water treatments.

The objective of this study that was conducted with 1077 hotel managers in 11 countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, was to identify the effects of technological, organizational, and environmental (TOE) factors on hotel managers’ intentions to adopt robotic technologies in their hotels. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the study hypotheses. The results indicated that hotel managers’ intention to adopt robotic technologies were positively influenced by their perceived relative advantage, competitive pressure and top management support and negatively influenced by their perceived complexity of the technology. The study results further demonstrated that the impacts of relative advantage, complexity, top management support, and competitive advantage on intention to adopt were moderated by innovativeness. The current study also addressed the theoretical and practical implications to existing knowledge and practice in the hotel industry. 2021-22

To investigate the effects of biodegradation of guar gum and its products on the production of biogas from coal, experiments on biogas production from coal were carried out using guar gum at different concentrations. The effects of the changes in biogas production, the biodegradation characteristics of guar gum, and the structure of microbial community on coal-to-biogas conversion were investigated. When both coal and guar gum were used for fermentation, the biomethane production was >79.10% higher than the sum of biomethane produced using each of the substrates. The biodegradation of guar gum caused the dissolved organic matter in the reaction system to increase. After biodegradation, some of the functional groups such as OH, C H, and C C were dissociated from guar gum, resulting in the increase of the surface roughness. Moreover, the contents of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen decreased from 6.82%, 43.03%, and 42.46% to below 3%, 18%, and 28%, respectively. Desulfovibrio has a certain negative effect on the biodegradation, but the addition of guar gum could reduce its amount in the reaction system. In addition, guar gum was found to be beneficial to the growth and reproduction of hydrogenotrophic methanogens. The pathway for methane production was converted from acetic acid or methyl reduction to CO2 reduction. This work provides significant information on the gel breaking of guar gum fracturing fluid by microorganisms in in situ coal seam.

Ticks and tick-borne pathogens threaten the health of both domestic animals and humans, and are associated with a high economic burden in many countries. Tick control can be achieved with chemical acaricides, but issues remain regarding their safety as well as emerging tick resistance. Propylene glycol alginate (PGA) is a food additive commonly used in China. It has been used to kill whiteflies in agriculture as an environmentally friendly insecticide. The aims of this study were to (i) explore the efficacy of PGA to kill Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks and (ii) assess the potential to develop a new tick control acaricide containing PGA and a reduced amount of synthetic pyrethroid. Beta-cypermethrin was chosen as the reference pyrethroid in this study. PGA, beta-cypermethrin and mixes (PGA and beta-cypermethrin formulated in proportions of A = 2:1, B = 1:1, and C = 1:2) were compared for efficacy to kill larval and adult H. longicornis ticks. Overall, we found no statistically significant differences in the killing efficacy of PGA as compared to beta-cypermethrin across examined time-points post-tick exposure. At 24 h post-tick exposure, similar killing efficacy for H. longicornis larvae was recorded for beta-cypermethrin alone, PGA alone, and mixed formulations B and C. Mixed formulation C had the strongest killing effect when compared to PGA alone or mixed formulation B. Similar outcomes were observed in experiments with adult H. longicornis ticks. Based on these findings, we propose that PGA can be useful as a tick control acaricide, either as a single active ingredient or formulated together with a pyrethroid.

We describe a sensor for measuring the electrical resistance of a conducting thin-film material as a function of temperature and composition. The sensor has excellent sensitivity and can be used at temperatures as high as the melting temperature of the material of interest. The sensor is fabricated by applying a simple lift-off process to a thin film. By combining combinatorial sputtering to fabricate composition spreads with arrays of sensors, the phase transformation behavior of complex alloys can be mapped. We demonstrate this capabilities by using the sensor to determine the glass transition and crystallization temperatures of several PdSiCu-based metallic glasses. We found that in two glass-forming systems, PdCuSi and NiZr, the ratio of the resistance of the crystallized to as-deposited material is correlated with the glass-forming ability. The ability to readily determine glass forming ability, suggests that the sensor is a powerful tool for measuring the glass-forming ability in a high-throughput manner over large compositional spaces.

A life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to determine the best solution for dealing with the food waste (FW) generated in Singapore eateries. Since the representativeness of the life cycle inventory (LCI) data determined the overall quality of the LCA, this study made a significant endeavor to capture the local specificities, such as waste composition, water supply and treatment plant operation. Characterization data showed that eatery FW from Singapore contained 16% non-biodegradable impurities (such as plastic and metal) and a higher methane generation potential was found in FW from the dining table than in FW from the kitchen. Based on the FW chemical element composition, mass balances were established for the four examined scenarios, including incineration (Inci), anaerobic digestion (AD) followed by composting (ADcom), AD followed by incineration (ADinci) and AD followed by gasification (ADgas). Because of the environmental benefits from compost production in addition to electricity generation, ADcom outperformed other scenarios in all impact categories except Eutro (eutrophication), GW (global warming) and POC (photochemical ozone creation). The best score of GW was observed in ADgas, mainly ascribed to the highest electricity output and the carbon sequestration of biochar. The disadvantages of the AD scenarios in Eutro and POC were associated with NOx and CO emissions from the biogas engine. Finally, the sensitivity analysis demonstrated that better environmental profiles could be achieved if improvements can be made by minimizing water usage, mitigating gas engine pollution, and diverting as much FW as possible from incineration plants to AD plants. However, based on the local context, source separation was not an urgent issue for improving the sustainability of eatery FW management.

Phytoremediation is increasingly recognized as a cost-effective approach for remediation of heavy metal (HM) contaminated soils, whereas the derived HM-enriched hyperaccumulators must be properly harvested and disposed. In this study, gasification of Sedum alfredii was performed at a temperature series (300–900 °C) with different gasifying agents (N2, CO2 and air), then the transfer behaviors of zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) and the characteristics of the derived biochar and syngas were investigated. The high gasification temperatures and reducing atmosphere (N2) effectively enhanced the volatilization of Zn, Cd, and Pb, and the results from toxicity characteristic leaching process indicate that gasification greatly enhanced the stability and reduced the availability of HMs in S. alfredii. The CO2-derived biochars had moderate pH and greater stability, while the N2-derived biochars showed better energy density. The evolution of functional groups and crystalline phases in biochars were both influenced by the temperature, and the role of atmosphere was increasingly obvious at temperatures above 600 °C. As expected, biochars derived under N2 and CO2 both showed considerable sorption capacity for Pb (134.2–198.8 mg g−1) and Cd (38.1–186.8 mg g−1). CO2 atmosphere greatly enhanced the production of CO at higher temperatures (>700 °C), while N2 atmosphere favored the yield of H2 and CH4. These results imply that gasification could be a promising technique to achieve the separation of HMs from hyperaccumulator as well as the production of energy and multifunctional material, and this process is greatly affected by the gasification temperature and atmosphere.

Domestic tourism in Canada has seen a significant increase in recent years; however, surprisingly little attention has been paid to it. Immigrants are an important part of the Canadian population and bring both opportunities and challenges to its tourism industry. Yet they have seldom been studied in previous research, and their heterogeneity is usually neglected. Canadians of Chinese origin are the largest non-European ethnic group in Canada, and therefore represent an increasingly important segment. This study examines the tourist behaviors of three ethnic Chinese groups based on their birthplace: Canada, Hong Kong and Mainland China. The findings show that they do not represent a homogeneous segment in the Canadian domestic market, although the tourist behaviors of Caucasian Canadians are similar to Chinese born in the country, suggesting a certain assimilation by the second generation. This research enables destination management organizations to understand the differences between the three Chinese groups and provides insights into potential marketing approaches to better attract and satisfy these segments.

In this study, three-phase flow model together with a thermal-equilibrium model was developed to study the operation of downdraft biomass gasifiers. Gasification experiments were conducted to obtain pyrolysis kinetics and validate the models. A good agreement was found between experiment data and model predictions, in terms of syngas composition and temperature, respectively. Kinetics based on experimental study improves the accuracy of simulation. The thermal-equilibrium model was applied to study the effects of air to biomass ratio on gas composition, LHV (lower heating value), and temperature. The 3D multiphase flow model was applied to investigate the spatial distributions of various parameters (i.e. pressure, gas velocity, temperature, and gas composition) inside the gasifier that are critical to the design of gasifier. A rough division of four gasification zones was determined based on temperature profile. It was also found that the cold gas efficiency was around 63% based on CFD (computational fluid dynamic) simulation. The temperature distributions could be used to guide the application of heat resistant materials inside the gasifier. In addition, the simulation results indicated that blockage of the gasifier has a high chance to occur at the top of reduction bell when using feedstock of high metal contents. Effects of reduction bell dimension and operation conditions on the temperature distribution and syngas production were also investigated by the 3D CFD model, which sheds light on the improvement of the design and operation of reactor. The syngas production could be enhanced by varying the size of reduction bell.

A combined cooling, heating, and power system based on biomass gasification is modeled via experiment and its performance is evaluated. The system operation is simulated using load data of small offices located in different climate zones in the U.S. The operation strategy comprises following the electric load (FEL) and following the thermal load (FTL). Based on the operation data, energetic, economic, environmental, and overall performances of the system are evaluated. Results show that the annual integrated performance (Swhole) of the system ranges from 0.229 to 0.473 in FEL mode and from 0.067 to 0.457 in FTL mode, in different regions. The system has a better performance in FEL mode, and is more attractive to install in the regions with more thermal load. Furthermore, the match degree of heat to power ratio between load and output also has an effect on the system performance. Sensitivity analysis shows that the system performance is more sensitive to the cost of biomass, cost of grid electricity and CO2 emission rate of the grid in both modes, and COP of thermally activated chiller in FTL mode. By changing the above-mentioned parameters, Swhole can be improved by up to 13.7%, 8.2%, 11.0%, and 19.7% respectively.

Orthographic depth, the consistency and complexity of grapheme-phoneme correspondence, influences brain activation in multilinguals' first (L1) and second language (L2). The intrinsic functional connectivity of cross-language transfer was investigated between two groups of multilinguals, those whose L2 orthography is deeper than their L1 (S-to-D group) and those whose L2 orthography is shallower than their L1 (D-to-S group). Based on previous reports, we focused on two seed regions: the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA) and the left posterior supramarginal gyrus (pSMG). Group comparisons revealed stronger connectivity for the D-to-S group between the left pSMG and the right precuneus/cuneal cortex and the right SMG/angular gyrus. Moreover, we found that the greater the linguistic orthographic distance-the less similar in orthographic depth two languages are-the greater the negative connectivity between the left pSMG and the right pSMG, middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and frontal pole, and a cluster that included the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) pars opercularis, frontal operculum, and insular cortex. When linguistic distance was greater, there was also greater negative connectivity between the VWFA and the left precuneus. Furthermore, stronger connectivity was found between the left pSMG and the right precuneus in multilinguals who spoke at least three languages (trilinguals) compared to those who only spoke two languages (bilinguals). Follow-up analyses revealed that this difference was driven by stronger intrinsic connectivity in D-to-S trilinguals compared to the S-to-D trilinguals. Taken together, the findings of this study suggest that multilinguals' intrinsic functional connectivity is shaped by the orthographic depth of their L2 in relation to L1, as well as differences between bilingualism and trilingualism.

In order to increase the utilization of coal slime, achieve efficient utilization of resources and protect the environment, the changes in speciation transformation and bioavailability of heavy metals during the biomethane conversion process from coal slime were explored. The transformation of heavy metal speciation and bioavailability in different coal slimes during biomethane conversion were analyzed using biogas production simulations; fluorescence spectroscopy; determination and speciation of heavy metals; and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results show that the organic matter in various coal slimes could be converted to biomethane. After biodegradation, the dissolved organic matter content dropped significantly. In addition, the concentrations of heavy metals in different coal slimes were significantly different. Among them, Zn, Ni, Cd and As were mainly found in the reducible fraction (F2); Cu was mainly found in the oxidizable fraction (F3); and Pb occurred predominantly in the residual fraction (F4). The biogas production process in coal slime had a great influence on the speciation of heavy metals. This research deepens the understanding of heavy metal migration in coal slime during biogas production, and provides a reference for clean utilization of coal slime and environmental protection.

The solar/autothermal hybrid gasifier (SAHG) is an attractive approach to provide continuous production of the syngas via coupling autothermal and solar gasification together, where the SAHG mainly includes fully solar, hybrid, and fully autothermal modes. An ICE CCHP system driven by the SAHG with an indirectly irradiative two-cavity reactor introduced conceptually and investigated thermodynamically. Considering the effects of solar flux inputs and various reactant ratios, a zero-dimensional steady-state model of the SAHG was established by using Gibbs free energy minimization, and was validated with the reported data. The optimal steam-to-feedstock and oxygen-to-feedstock ratios has been achieved based on the restrictions of temperature over 1000 K and minimization of steam input. The results of two consecutive days indicate mole flow rates of H 2 and CO were increased by over 38.8% and 11.8%, respectively, leading to an increment in LHV s by 51.7%. An increment in primary energy ratio by 11.5% can be achieved by using the SAHG-CCHP system. The yearly assessment of the SAHG-CCHP system shows that the yearly average increments in heat, power, and cooling for the SAHG system were reached by 19.5%, 23.8%, and 4.5%, respectively. A yearly average increment of 14.2% in primary energy ratio can be obtained under the solar radiation condition of Singapore.