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Under the climate change scenario, constructed wetlands (CWs) as an engineered system for treating domestic wastewater will face different challenges. Some of them are: (a) the increase of pathogens concentration in wastewater due to the rise of global temperature; (b) higher precipitation that can cause an increase of pathogens due to runoff; (c) the reuse of treated wastewater related to the water scarcity. These problems can affect the capacity of CWs for removal pathogens. In this context, the objective of this review is to provide an overview of the influence of design and operational parameters on pathogens reduction in CWs. To accomplish with this purpose, the published information (> 30 studies) about the reduction of pathogens and the operational and design parameters in different CWs configurations and were gathered. With this data, statistical analyses were performed considering the most relevant variables which significantly influence the removal of pathogens in CWs. For this, principal component analyses (PCA) were achieved for determining, separately, the correlation of operational parameters with fecal coliform (FC) and total coliform (TC) removal. The results of PCA showed that FC and TC were correlated positively with mass removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen Demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS) removal and the size of support medium. This study is the first approach that analyzes together the design and operational parameters which influence the pathogen removal in CWs. For this reason, these parameters and the increase on microorganism concentrations due to the climate change have to be considered for the future design of CWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During wastewater treatment, most organic matter is transferred to a solid phase commonly known as sludge or biosolids. The high cost of sludge management and the growing interest in alternative energy sources have prompted proposals for different strategies to optimize biogas production during anaerobic sludge treatment. Because of the high solid content and complex structure of sludge-derived organic matter, methane production during digestion is limited at the hydrolysis step. Therefore, large digester volume and long retention times of over 20 days are necessary to achieve adequate stabilization. Pre-treatments can be used to hydrolyze sludge and consequently improve biogas production, solids removal and sludge quality after digestion. This paper reviews the main pre-treatment processes, with emphasis on the most recent developments. An overview of the different technologies is presented, discussing their effects on sludge properties and anaerobic digestion. Future challenges and concerns related to pre-treatment assessment and implementation are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose algorithms, based on the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz, to obtain the ground state of quantum critical systems in the presence of boundaries, impurities, or interfaces. By exploiting the theory of minimal updates (Evenbly and Vidal, arXiv:1307.0831, ), the ground state is completely characterized in terms of a number of variational parameters that is independent of the system size, even though the presence of a boundary, an impurity, or an interface explicitly breaks the translation invariance of the host system. Similarly, computational costs do not scale with the system size, allowing the thermodynamic limit to be studied directly and thus avoiding finite size effects e.g. when extracting the universal properties of the critical system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topological phases in frustrated quantum spin systems have fascinated researchers for decades. One of the earliest proposals for such a phase was the chiral spin liquid, a bosonic analogue of the fractional quantum Hall effect, put forward by Kalmeyer and Laughlin in 1987. Elusive for many years, recent times have finally seen this phase realized in various models, which, however, remain somewhat artificial. Here we take an important step towards the goal of finding a chiral spin liquid in nature by examining a physically motivated model for a Mott insulator on the Kagome lattice with broken time-reversal symmetry. We discuss the emergent phase from a network model perspective and present an unambiguous numerical identification and characterization of its universal topological properties, including ground-state degeneracy, edge physics and anyonic bulk excitations, by using a variety of powerful numerical probes, including the entanglement spectrum and modular transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution and availability of copper and zinc in a constructed wetland fed with treated swine slurry from an anaerobic lagoon was studied. The methodology regarded the seasonal distribution of metals inside Schoenoplectus californicus (C.A. Méyer) Sójak, Typha angustifolia (L.), soil and liquid phase. The metals availability was measured in the soil as soluble-exchangeable, bounded to organic matter, bounded to carbonates and residual fraction. Findings shown by the liquid phase metals removal efficiency was above 90 % due to fact that metals were precipitating (over 60 %) onto the first 5 cm soil. During spring, vegetal uptake reached between 7 and 27 % (22-50 % aboveground) so that soil exchangeable fraction did not exceed 7 %. In fall, the accretion was incorporating 12 and 41 % more copper and zinc onto soil, while aboveground uptake decreased between 28 and 98 %. Bounded metals to organic matter (over 50 %) were always the dominant soil fraction. Vegetal uptake was influenced by metal availability (Zn > Cu) and plant type ( Typha > Schoenoplectus). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pig slurry is characterized by showing high concentration of total nitrogen (0.5-4.0 g l), organic matter (20-110 g l COD), fecal coliforms (10-10 CFU ml), and liquid phase content (around 90 %). The high total nitrogen and liquid phase content, makes its use as biofertilizer very interesting. However, in order to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, transformation of organic matter into methane by anaerobic technology comes to be essential. On the other hand, groundwater microbiological contamination by soil transport of pathogens from excreta makes slurry treatment very important. The aim of this study was to evaluate anaerobic technology influence on biofertirrigation onto silty soil using raw and anaerobically treated pig slurry, considering lactose (+) enteric bacteria as main indicators of fecal contamination. Total nitrogen load rates of 350 and 700 kg N ha year were used. The experimental design consisted in soil immobilized in columns. The system fed with raw pig slurry of 700 kg N ha year showed 99 % of bacterial retention, while the system fed with anaerobic effluent of 350 kg N ha year presented a retention of 86.2 %. A positive relation between bacterial retention and organic matter content in slurry was observed. On the other hand, almost the whole amount of the total nitrogen from the leachates corresponded to soil nitrates, and 99.46 %, 99.51 %, 99.35 %, and 99.29 % of ammonium fed was retained in the systems of raw pig slurry of 700 kg N ha year, anaerobic effluent of 700 kg N ha year, raw pig slurry of 350 kg N ha year, and anaerobic effluent of 350 kg N ha year, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two kraft pulp mill effluents were compared in terms of their chronic toxicity to Daphnia magna. One resulted from pulping Pinus radiata and the other came from a parallel processing of Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus globulus (mixed kraft pulp mill effluent) . The concentration of phytosterols found in the mixed kraft pulp mill effluent was higher than in the effluent from Pinus radiata, with values of 0.1082 and 0.02 μg/L, respectively. The phytosterols per se are responsible for 12.9% and 8.1% of the deviation from the natural shape, while the kraft pulp mill effluents account for 25.6%-27.8% of shape deviation. The role of β-sitosterol and stigmasterol is discussed in relation to endocrine disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensor network states are used to approximate ground states of local Hamiltonians on a lattice in D spatial dimensions. Different types of tensor network states can be seen to generate different geometries. Matrix product states (MPS) in D=1 dimensions, as well as projected entangled pair states (PEPS) in D>1 dimensions, reproduce the D-dimensional physical geometry of the lattice model; in contrast, the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA) generates a ( D+1)-dimensional holographic geometry. Here we focus on homogeneous tensor networks, where all the tensors in the network are copies of the same tensor, and argue that certain structural properties of the resulting many-body states are preconditioned by the geometry of the tensor network and are therefore largely independent of the choice of variational parameters. Indeed, the asymptotic decay of correlations in homogeneous MPS and MERA for D=1 systems is seen to be determined by the structure of geodesics in the physical and holographic geometries, respectively; whereas the asymptotic scaling of entanglement entropy is seen to always obey a simple boundary law-that is, again in the relevant geometry. This geometrical interpretation offers a simple and unifying framework to understand the structural properties of, and helps clarify the relation between, different tensor network states. In addition, it has recently motivated the branching MERA, a generalization of the MERA capable of reproducing violations of the entropic boundary law in D>1 dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Setting-up a controlled or synchronized state in a space-time chaotic structure targeting an unstable periodic orbit is a key feature of many problems in high dimensional physical, electronics, biological and ecological systems (among others). Formerly, we have shown numerically and experimentally that phase synchronization [M.G. Rosenblum, A.S. Pikovsky, J. Kurths, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4193 (1997)] can be achieved in time dependent hydrodynamic flows [D. Maza, A. Vallone, H.L. Mancini, S. Boccaletti, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5567 (2000)]. In that case the flow was generated in a small container with inhomogeneous heating in order to have a single roll structure produced by a Bénard-Marangoni instability [E.L. Koshmieder, Bénard Cells and Taylor Vortices (Cambridge University Press, 1993)]. Phase synchronization was achieved by a small amplitude signal injected at a subharmonic frequency obtained from the measured Fourier temperature spectrum. In this work, we analyze numerically the effects of driving two previously synchronized chaotic oscillators by an external signal. The numerical system represents a convective experiment in a small container with square symmetry, where boundary layer instabilities are coupled by a common flow. This work is an attempt to control this situation and overcome some difficulties to select useful frequency values for the driving force, analyzing the influence of different harmonic injection signals on the synchronization in a system composed by two identical chaotic Takens-Bogdanov equations (TBA and TBB) bidirectionally coupled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estrogenic activity of kraft pulp mill effluents ( P. radiata, E. globulus and mixed −50% E. globulus and 50% P. radiata) was evaluated by the yeast estrogen screen assay. The estrogenic activity values were relatively low, ranking between 1.475 and 0.383 ng/L of EE2 eq. (Estrogenic equivalent of 17 α-ethynylestradiol), where the highest value corresponds to the E. globulus effluent and the lowest value to the P. radiata effluent. Analysis by solid phase extraction (SPE) and gas chromatography—mass spectrometry (GC-MS) of chemical compounds present in all three effluents detected at least five major groups of organic compounds, corresponding to fatty acids, hydrocarbons, phenols, sterols and triterpenes. Comparison of analytical and biological data suggests that sterols could be the cause of the estrogenic activity in the evaluated effluent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We targeted LYN, a src-tyosine kinase involved in B-cell activation, in case–control association studies using populations of European-American, African-American and Korean subjects. Our combined European-derived population, consisting of 2463 independent cases and 3131 unrelated controls, shows significant association with rs6983130 in a female-only analysis with 2254 cases and 2228 controls (P=1.1 × 10−4, odds ratio (OR)=0.81 (95% confidence interval: 0.73–0.90)). This single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is located in the 5′ untranslated region within the first intron near the transcription initiation site of LYN. In addition, SNPs upstream of the first exon also show weak and sporadic association in subsets of the total European-American population. Multivariate logistic regression analysis implicates rs6983130 as a protective factor for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) susceptibility when anti-dsDNA, anti-chromatin, anti-52 kDa Ro or anti-Sm autoantibody status were used as covariates. Subset analysis of the European-American female cases by American College of Rheumatology classification criteria shows a reduction in the risk of hematological disorder with rs6983130 compared with cases without hematological disorders (P=1.5 × 10−3, OR=0.75 (95% CI: 0.62−0.89)). None of the 90 SNPs tested show significant association with SLE in the African American or Korean populations. These results support an association of LYN with European-derived individuals with SLE, especially within autoantibody or clinical subsets.Genes and Immunity (2009) 10, 397–403; doi:10.1038/gene.2009.19; published online 16 April 2009 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with highly variable clinical presentation. Patients suffer from immunological abnormalities that target T-cell, B-cell and accessory cell functions. B cells are hyperactive in SLE patients. An adapter protein expressed in B cells called BANK1 (B-cell scaffold protein with ankyrin repeats) was reported in a previous study to be associated with SLE in a European population. The objective of this study was to assess the BANK1 genotype–phenotype association in an independent replication sample. We genotyped 38 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in BANK1 on 1892 European-derived SLE patients and 2652 European-derived controls. The strongest associations with SLE and BANK1 were at rs17266594 (corrected P-value=1.97 × 10−5, odds ratio (OR)=1.22, 95% CI 1.12–1.34) and rs10516487 (corrected P-value=2.59 × 10−5, OR=1.22, 95% CI 1.11–1.34). Our findings suggest that the association is explained by these two SNPs, confirming previous reports that these polymorphisms contribute to the risk of developing lupus. Analysis of patient subsets enriched for hematological, immunological and renal ACR criteria or the levels of autoantibodies, such as anti-RNP A and anti-SmRNP, uncovers additional BANK1 associations. Our results suggest that BANK1 polymorphisms alter immune system development and function to increase the risk for developing lupus.Genes and Immunity (2009) 10, 531–538; doi:10.1038/gene.2009.18; published online 2 April 2009 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to recover and reuse water in the Kraft mill process, evaluation of separate streams is required to identify toxic compounds or microcontaminants. The stage E1 Kraft effluent, corresponding to the first extraction step of the bleaching Kraft mill process, provides the main toxic compounds found in the final process effluent. This paper uses the toxicity identification evaluation (TIE) procedure for the physicochemical and ecotoxicological characterization of the E1 Kraft effluent. To distinguish the most important toxic compounds, a physicochemical characterization and Phase I of the TIE procedure were performed. The acute toxic effect of the E1 Kraft effluent and treated fraction was performed on Daphnia magna. Results show that untreated E1 Kraft effluent exerts an acute toxic effect on D. magna (24 h LC50 = 27.6%), where the E1 Kraft effluent is characterized by pH 10.5, chemical organic demand (COD) 1,348.8 mg/l, and biological organic demand (BOD5) 397.5 mg/l, while total phenolic compounds and color are 853.7 mg/l and 0.204 1 × 1 cm, respectively. Additionally, Cu+2 (0.51 mg/l) and Fe+2 (0.64 mg/l) were detected. With respect to different treatments, our results indicate that activated carbon, anionic and cationic exchange treatments were able to reduce more that 45% of E1 Kraft effluent's acute toxicity and that the ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid treatment was able to reduce the E1 Kraft effluent's acute toxicity to around 75% and the Cu+2 concentration to 0.019 mg/l. Moreover, specific analysis of heavy metals and organic compounds by GC-MS show that the main compound responsible for the toxicity was Cu+2, whose tolerance level on D. magna of the 0.12 mg/l. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the normal breast, ERBB4 regulates epithelial differentiation and functions as a nuclear chaperone for signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 5A, thereby stimulating milk-gene expression. In addition, ERBB4 functions as a proapoptotic protein, suppressing the growth of malignant cells. We hypothesize that these ERBB4 activities can be marshaled to suppress the growth of breast tumors. To this end, we have created an ERBB4 allele harboring an activating transmembrane mutation (ERBB4-CA) by substituting isoleucine 658 for glutamic acid. This base substitution forms a valine-glutamic acid-glycine activation domain first identified in oncogenic ERBB2/HER2/Neu. Ectopic expression of ERBB4-CA in HEK293T cells resulted in a fivefold increase in receptor tyrosine phosphorylation. Functionally, ERBB4-CA exhibited higher levels of nuclear translocation than wild-type ERBB4, leading to significantly enhanced ERBB4-induced STAT5A simulation of the β-casein promoter. Activated ERBB4 has been demonstrated to induce cell killing of breast tumor cells. Significantly, ERBB4-CA potentiated the proapoptotic function of ERBB4 in each breast, prostate and ovarian cancer cell line tested. Untransformed cell lines were resistant to both ERBB4 and ERBB4-CA-mediated apoptosis underscoring the potential utility of active ERBB4 signaling for the therapeutic intervention of human cancer.Oncogene (2007) 26, 462–466. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1209794; published online 10 July 2006 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No abstract available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No abstract available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Allophanic soil, natural and activated by acidification or calcination was used to adsorb organic recalcitrant compounds (lignin and chlorophenols) from biologically pre-treated kraft mill effluent. A synthetic non crystalline aluminosilicate like allophane coated with iron oxide (Al-Si-Fe) was used as control for comparison purposes. It was observed that the adsorption capacity of the allophanic soil increased at higher solid/solution ratio, and at lower pH values. The highest total phenolic compounds removal was obtained between pH 4.0 and 4.5 for natural and activated soil using a solid/solution ratio of 1:5, and for synthetic aluminosilicate using 300 mg in 30 mL of effluent solution. Soil activated by calcination procedure presented the highest total phenolic compounds adsorption capacity (71–85%) for untreated and aerobic or anaerobic pre-treated effluent. The specific chlorophenols analysis indicated that pentachlorophenol (PCP) was almost completely adsorbed onto the allophanic soil (> 99%), and that over 79% of the 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol (TeCP) was adsorbed, independent of the biological pre-treatment type and the soil activation procedure. On the other hand, 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP) coming from both aerobic and anaerobic treated effluent was poorly removed (24–30%) when natural soil was used for adsorption; whereas in calcinated and acidified soil DCP removal was more than 71%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the sorptive behavior of chrorophenols on river volcanic sediment. Features of interaction between river volcanic-sediment and pentachlorophenol (PCP) and trichlorophenol (TCP) compounds; Granulometric distribution of the sediment samples; Physical and chemical characteristics of the sediment.

Bleached Kraft mill effluent was treated in an activated sludge reactor followed by an allophanic soil adsorption system (ASAS). Under aerobic conditions, removal efficiencies of biological oxygen demand (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) varied between 57.7–96.5% and 30.3–57.0%, respectively, depending on the hydraulic retention time (HRT). On the other hand, tannin-lignin and phenolic compounds removal efficiencies attained values between 13.2–51.2 and 3.6–33.5%, respectively. An allophanic soil adsorption system was designed for color and phenolic compounds removal. Three different types of soils were used: Natural allophanic soil as the control compared, with calcinated and acidified allophanic soil. The initial removal efficiencies for phenolic compounds varied between 72 an 87% for activated soils, while color initial removal efficiencies were between 95 and 99%. Moreover, COD and tannin-lignin initial removal efficiencies reached maximum values of 74 and 87%, respectively, for calcinated soil. Design parameters show that there is an enhancement factor in adsorption capacities for both activated soils. In fact, phenolic compounds breakpoint adsorption capacity increased 5.3 times for calcinated soil and 17.6 times for acidified soil, while saturation capacity increased between 2.2 and 3.2 times. In addition, color breakpoint adsorption capacity increased 2.8 times for calcinated soil and 10.4 times for acidified soil, while saturation capacity increased between 3.2 and 5.5 times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on alkaline pretreatment of kraft mill sludge to improve its anaerobic digestion. Aerobic processes are the most common technologies used in wastewater treatment plants, particularly in the pulp and paper industry. The activated sludge process presents a high biological oxygen demand removal efficiency, but generates 0.5 kg dry weight excess sludge. This excess sludge must be treated for stabilization and mineralization of the organic matter present otherwise it creates a major atmospheric hazard. The main objective of this article is to study the alkaline pretreatment of the excess sludge produced in the aerobic kraft mill wastewater treatment process, for further enhancement of anaerobic digestion.

The article discusses the 2,4,6-trichiorophenol degradation by river sediment exposed to bleached kraft mill discharge. Chiorophenol compounds are toxic, persistent, bioaccumulable environment pollutants which are secondarily produced by bleach kraft pulp mills. The bleaching processes of these types of mill can use chlorine and/or chlorine dioxide in the oxidative stage. Effluents arising from the bleaching process contain several organochlorine compounds, which are discharged into the environment. Some of these chlorophenols are included in the list of Toxic and Recalcitrant Compounds supplied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In particular 2,4,6- trichlorophenol is found as a major component of kraft pulp mill effluents.

An anaerobic reactor and a fixed-bed adsorption sequential system (FBAS) were applied to remove color from kraft mill effluent. Under anaerobic conditions, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5) removal was between 84 to 90% w/w, while Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal ranged between 46 to 55% w/w. Total phenolic compounds were poorly removed (8 to 15% w/w) whereas the color was not removed by anaerobic digestion. For the FBAS system, three different columns were packed with natural and activated (calcinated and acidified) allophanic soil and fed with kraft mill anaerobic effluent. In activated soil columns, color and total phenolic compounds removal were around 95% w/w, whereas in the natural soil column the values were 87% w/w and 81% w/w, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the paper "The Early Fossil and Geological Records--An Overview," by G. Vidal presented at the triennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL) in July 1996 in Orléans, France is provided.

A correction to the article "Genetic associations of LYN with systemic lupus erythematosus," that was published in previous issue is presented.