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Abstract Microscale Thermoelectric Generators (microTEGs) have a high application potential for energy harvesting for autonomous microsystems. In contrast to conventional thermoelectric generators, microTEGs can only supply small output-voltages. Therefore, voltage converters are required to provide supply-voltages that are sufficiently high to power microelectronics. However, for high conversion efficiency, voltage converters need to be optimized for the limited input voltage range and the typically high internal resistance of microTEGs. To overcome the limitations of conventional voltage converters we present an optimized self-startup voltage converter with dynamic maximum power point tracking. The performance potential of our concept is theoretically and experimentally analyzed. The voltage conversion interface demonstrates energy harvesting from open-circuit voltages as low as 30.7 mV, and enables independent and full start-up from 131 mV. No additional external power supply is required at any time during operation. It can be operated with a wide range of internal resistances from 20.6 to − 4 kΩ with a conversation efficiency between η = 68–79%.

Biomineralization by heavy metal-resistant streptomycetes was tested to evaluate the potential influence on metal mobilities in soil. Thus, we designed an experiment adopting conditions from classical laboratory methods to natural conditions prevailing in metal-rich soils with media spiked with heavy metals, soil agar, and nutrient-enriched or unamended soil incubated with the bacteria. As a result, all strains were able to form struvite minerals (MgNH4PO4• 6H2O) on tryptic soy broth (TSB)-media supplemented with AlCl3, MnCl2 and CuSO4, as well as on soil agar. Some strains additionally formed struvite on nutrient-enriched contaminated and control soil, as well as on metal contaminated soil without addition of media components. In contrast, switzerite (Mn3(PO4)2• 7H2O) was exclusively formed on minimal media spiked with MnCl2 by four heavy metal-resistant strains, and on nutrient-enriched control soil by one strain. Hydrated nickel hydrogen phosphate was only crystallized on complex media supplemented with NiSO4 by most strains. Thus, mineralization is a dominant property of streptomycetes, with different processes likely to occur under laboratory conditions and sub-natural to natural conditions. This new understanding might have implications for our understanding of biological metal resistance mechanisms. We assume that biogeochemical cycles, nutrient storage and metal resistance might be affected by formation and re-solubilization of minerals like struvite in soil at microscale.

L’état d’acidose ruminale latente constitue une des préoccupations majeures de la nutrition moderne des animaux ruminants. En effet, l’accroissement des potentiels de production a entraîné l’apport de rations plus concentrées en énergie. De ce fait, le rumen de ces animaux doit traiter des quantités accrues de matières organiques fermentescibles et les fermentations plus intenses consécutives entraînent un état d’acidose aux effets zootechniques défavorables : interactions digestives négatives, dégradation du taux butyreux du lait, pathologies digestives et métaboliques... L’état d’acidose est également atteint car la sécrétion salivaire qui recycle les tampons ruminaux est insuffisante par rapport aux acides organiques produits par les fermentations. L’état d’acidose est apprécié à travers la mesure du pH de la panse. On estime que le pH moyen au cours d’une journée ne doit pas être inférieur à une valeur approximative de 6,25. Les recherches ont permis de montrer que de nombreuses caractéristiques des rations présentaient une influence sur le pH ruminal. Si on se réfère à la valeur seuil moyenne minimale de 6,25, il est possible de définir des limites pour les différentes caractéristiques mesurées sur les rations. Certaines limites recommandées se présentent sous forme de minima ; ainsi on estime qu’il faut au minimum 35 % de NDF/MS, 25 % de NDF de fourrage/MS, 2,5 mm de taille moyenne des particules de la ration ou 40 % de la MS sous forme de particules de taille supérieure à 2 mm. On sait en outre que l’indice de mastication de la ration doit être supérieur à 40 min/kg MS ingérée. Il existe également des recommandations de seuil maximum à ne pas dépasser. Ainsi la proportion d’aliments concentrés doit rester inférieure à environ 45 %/MS, celle d’amidon à 25 %/MS et celle d’amidon dégradable dans le rumen à 20 %/MS. D’autre part, il est connu que les niveaux élevés d’ingestion vont de pair avec un transit plus rapide et un pH plus faible, ainsi le pH moyen passe en dessous du seuil de 6,25 lorsque la MS ingérée excède environ 2,5 % du poids vif. Enfin les rations peu mastiquées sont ingérées rapidement et sont, de ce fait, acidogènes. On estime ainsi que chez le bovin la vitesse moyenne d’ingestion doit être inférieure à 50 g/min pour que les fermentations ruminales soient normales. En cas de risque avéré d’acidose, il est recommandé d’apporter des substances tampons à la ration, à une dose de l’ordre de 1 à 2 % de la MS ingérée. En conclusion, il est important de chercher à mieux caractériser les rations et aliments offerts aux ruminants en prenant en compte des critères " sécuritaires " en plus des paramètres classiques de valeur nutritive. Un exemple de méthode de prévision du pH à partir de tels critères est présenté.

Single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (spICP-MS) is a well-established technique to characterize the size, particle number concentration (PNC), and elemental composition of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) and colloids in aqueous suspensions. However, a method capable of directly analyzing water-sensitive or highly reactive NPs in alcoholic suspension has not been reported yet. Here, we present a novel spICP-MS method for characterizing the main cement hydration product, i.e., calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) NPs, in ethanolic suspensions, responsible for cement strength. The method viability was tested on a wide range of NP compositions and sizes (i.e., from Au, SiO 2 , and Fe 3 O 4 NP certified reference materials (CRMs) to synthetic C-S-H phases with known Ca/Si ratios and industrial cement hardening accelerators, X-Seed 100/500). Method validation includes comparisons to nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and transmission/scanning electron microscopy (TEM/SEM). Results show that size distributions from spICP-MS were in good agreement with TEM and NTA for CRMs ≥ 51 nm and the synthetic C-S-H phases. The X-Seed samples showed significant differences in NP sizes depending on the elemental composition, i.e. CaO and SiO 2 NPs were bigger than Al 2 O 3 NPs. PNC via spICP-MS was successfully validated with an accuracy of 1 order of magnitude for CRMs and C-S-H phases. The spICP-MS Ca/Si ratios matched known ratios from synthetic C-S-H phases (0.6, 0.8, and 1.0). Overall, our method is applicable for the direct and element-specific quantification of fast nucleation and/or mineral formation processes characterizing NPs (ca. 50-1000 nm) in alcoholic suspensions., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Streptomyces are important soil bacteria used for bioremediation of metal-contaminated soils, however, it is still unknown how metal-selective Streptomyces are and which mechanisms are involved during their capture. In this work, we exposed S. coelicolor spores to environmentally relevant concentrations (0.1, 1, 10, 100 μM) of Ce, U and Cd in solid medium for one week to investigate the uptake behaviour of hyphae in the newly formed spores. Additionally, metal adsorption onto the spores was explored by incubating inactive, ungerminated spores for one day in aqueous metal solution. The spore-washing treatment was key to distinguishing between strongly spore-associated (e.g. incorporation; Tris-EDTA buffer) and weakly spore-associated metals (Tris buffer alone minus Tris-EDTA). Single cell (sc) ICP-MS was used to quantify metal-associated content in individual spores. Our results revealed element-specific adsorption onto inactive spores showing that out of the total metal exposure, both strongly (Ce: 58%; U: 54%; Cd: 28%) and weakly (Ce: 12%; U: 1%; Cd: 18%) adsorbed metals occur. However, scICP-MS showed that from metal-amended solid medium, only Ce and U were strongly spore-associated (averages 0.040 and 0.062 fg spore -1 for 10 μM exposures, respectively) while Cd was below the limit of detection (< 0.006 fg spore -1 ). We propose that hyphae only metabolically interact with Ce in a controlled manner but uncontrolled with U, as 66-73% Ce and only 2-4% U were inherited from adsorbed content. We conclude that Streptomyces spore-metal interaction starts with a relevant adsorption step of Ce, U and Cd as presented for aqueous conditions. If spores start to germinate, hyphae are capable of effectively encapsulating Ce and U, but not Cd. This study brings light into the still unknown field of metal interactions with Streptomyces and applied understanding for more efficient and metal-specific use of Streptomyces in bioremediation of metal-polluted soils., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Steffen Hellmann reports financial support was provided by German Research Foundation (DFG SPP, 2005), Opus Fluidum Futurum (project number 313773090, grant no. SCHA, 18547-1). Paula Garcia-Cancela reports financial support was provided by Government of Principado de Asturias (Severo Ochoa scholarship for predoctoral studies). Sergio Alonso-Fernandez reports financial support was provided by Consejeria de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidad del Principado de Asturias (Severo Ochoa predoctoral grant (grant no. PA-20-PFBP19-006)). If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Elevated levels of particulate matter (PM) in urban atmospheres are one of the major environmental challenges of the Anthropocene. To effectively lower those levels, identification and quantification of sources of PM is required. Biomonitoring methods are helpful tools to tackle this problem but have not been fully established yet. An example is the sampling and subsequent analysis of spider webs to whose adhesive surface dust particles can attach. For a methodical inspection, webs of orb-weaving spiders were sampled repeatedly from 2016 to 2018 at 22 locations in the city of Jena, Germany. Contents of Ag, Al, As, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Rb, S, Sb, Si, Sn, Sr, Th, Ti, V, Y, Zn and Zr were determined in the samples using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) after aqua regia digestion. Multivariate statistical methods were applied for a detailed evaluation. A combination of cluster analysis and principal component analysis allows for the clear identification of three main sources in the study area: brake wear from car traffic, abrasion of tram/train tracks and particles of geogenic origin. Quantitative source contributions reveal that high amounts of most of the metals are derived from a combination of brake wear and geogenic particles, the latter of which are likely resuspended by moving vehicles. This emphasizes the importance of non-exhaust particles connected to road traffic. Once a source identification has been performed for an area of interest, classification models can be applied to assess air quality for further samples from within the whole study area, offering a tool for air quality assessment. The general validity of this approach is demonstrated using samples from other locations., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A multitude of factors contribute to complex diseases and can be measured with 'omics' methods. Databases facilitate data interpretation for underlying mechanisms. Here, we describe the Virtual Metabolic Human (VMH, www.vmh.life) database encapsulating current knowledge of human metabolism within five interlinked resources 'Human metabolism', 'Gut microbiome', 'Disease', 'Nutrition', and 'ReconMaps'. The VMH captures 5180 unique metabolites, 17 730 unique reactions, 3695 human genes, 255 Mendelian diseases, 818 microbes, 632 685 microbial genes and 8790 food items. The VMH's unique features are (i) the hosting of the metabolic reconstructions of human and gut microbes amenable for metabolic modeling; (ii) seven human metabolic maps for data visualization; (iii) a nutrition designer; (iv) a user-friendly webpage and application-programming interface to access its content; (v) user feedback option for community engagement and (vi) the connection of its entities to 57 other web resources. The VMH represents a novel, interdisciplinary database for data interpretation and hypothesis generation to the biomedical community.

Biological Mn oxidation is responsible for producing highly reactive and abundant Mn oxide phases in the environment that can mitigate metal contamination. However, little is known about Mn oxidation in low-pH environments, where metal contamination often is a problem as the result of mining activities. We isolated two Mn(II)-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) at pH 5.5 (Duganella isolate AB&#95;14 and Albidiferax isolate TB-2) and nine strains at pH 7 from a former uranium mining site. Isolate TB-2 may contribute to Mn oxidation in the acidic Mn-rich subsoil, as a closely related clone represented 16% of the total community. All isolates oxidized Mn over a small pH range, and isolates from low-pH samples only oxidized Mn below pH 6. Two strains with different pH optima differed in their Fe requirements for Mn oxidation, suggesting that Mn oxidation by the strain found at neutral pH was linked to Fe oxidation. Isolates tolerated Ni, Cu, and Cd and produced Mn oxides with similarities to todorokite and birnessite, with the latter being present in subsurface layers where metal enrichment was associated with Mn oxides. This demonstrates that MOB can be involved in the formation of biogenic Mn oxides in both moderately acidic and neutral pH environments., (Copyright © 2014, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.)