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Two anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) equipped with different membrane pore size (0.4 or 0.05 µm) were operated at 25˚C and fed with domestic wastewater. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the reactors was shortened. The microbial communities of the two AnMBRs were investigated by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to see the effects of HRT. The predominant Archaea was an aceticlastic methanogen Methanosaeta. The composition of hydrogenotrophic methanogens changed with the HRTs: the population of Methanobacterium was higher for longer HRTs, whereas the population of unclassified Methanoregulaceae was higher for shorter HRTs. The Anaerolineae, Bacteroidia and Clostridia bacteria were dominant in both of the reactors, with a combined relative abundance of over 55%. The relative abundance of Anaerolineae was proportional to the biogas production performance. The change in the population of hydrogenotrophic methanogens or Anaerolineae can be used as an indicator for process monitoring. The sum of the relative abundance of Anaerolineae and Clostridia fluctuated slightly with changes in the HRT in both AnMBRs when the reactor was stably operated. The co-occurrence analysis revealed the relative abundance of the operational taxonomic units belonging to Anaerolineae and Clostridia was functionally equivalent during the treatment of real domestic sewage. A principal coordination analysis revealed that the changes in the microbial community in each reactor were consistent with the change of HRT. In addition, both the HRT and the stability of the process are important factors for maintaining microbial community structures.

In order to solve the problem of reciprocating seal for hydraulic cylinder, a new structure of Magnetorheological fluid (MRF) reciprocating seal with increasing width of pole teeth and pole piece was designed. The theoretical analysis of MRF reciprocating seal is carried out. The magnetic field intensity distribution in the sealing gap of MRF reciprocating seal was analyzed by finite element method. According to the pressure capability formula of MRF, the theoretical pressure capability is calculated. The influences of structure parameters such as the number of magnetic sources, sealing gap height, pole teeth length, the ratio of permanent magnet height to its length, the ratio of pole piece height to shaft radius on the sealing capabilities were studied. The results showed that the pressure capability of MRF reciprocating seal increases with the increase of the number of magnetic sources and with the decrease of the sealing gap height. With the increase of the pole tooth length, the pressure capability of the reciprocating seal increases. With the increase of the ratio of permanent magnet height to its length, the pressure capability of the reciprocating seal increases first and then decreases. With the increase of the ratio of the pole piece height to shaft radius, the pressure capability of the MRF reciprocating seal increases first and then decreases.

Indoor map is a fundamental element of indoor location-based services (ILBS). However, traditional indoor mapping techniques are labor-intensive and time-consuming. The advancement of smartphones offers great opportunities for crowdsourcing-based indoor mapping, which is one of the most promising applications due to its low cost and flexibility. Over the last decade, many crowdsourcing-based indoor mapping solutions using smartphones have been proposed. This article provides a systematic review of these works. Different from former surveys, we classify the indoor mapping process by the stage of map construction. In particular, we highlight the two key steps, geospatial-element acquisition, and indoor-map construction, and provide state-of-the-art techniques on these topics. Then, we systematically review the crowdsourcing-based indoor mapping solutions under grid-based, landmark-based, and semantic maps. In addition to covering the principles, benefits, and challenges, these systems are compared in terms of sensors, participation, output, experimental environment, and reported accuracy. Besides these existing performance criteria, we extract quantitative performance criteria that are suitable to evaluate crowdsourcing-based indoor mapping solutions. Finally, we present open issues and future research directions.

Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that is widely present in modern industrial production. It is a known, highly toxic environmental endocrine disruptor. Long-term exposure to Cd can cause varying degrees of damage to the liver, kidney, and reproductive system of organisms, especially the male reproductive system. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of Cd toxicity in the male reproductive system during puberty. Eighteen healthy 6-week-old male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups (control group, low-dose group, and high-dose group) according to their body weight, with six in each group. Cd (0, 1, and 3 mg/kg/day) was given by gavage for 28 consecutive days. The results showed that Cd exposure to each dose group caused a decrease in the testicular organ coefficient and sperm count, compared with the control group. Cd exposure resulted in significant changes in testicular morphology in the 3 mg/kg/day Cd group. In the 1 and 3 mg/kg/day Cd groups, serum testosterone decreased and apoptosis of testicular cells increased significantly ( p < 0.05). In addition, compared with the control group, the activity of glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase in each Cd exposure dose group decreased, but the content of malondialdehyde in the high-dose, 3 mg/kg/day Cd treatment group significantly increased ( p < 0.05). Although Cd exposure caused an increase in the messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 in the testicular tissues ( p < 0.05), Bcl-2 expression was unchanged ( p > 0.05). The expression level of Akt mRNA in testicular tissue of rats in the high-dose 3 mg/kg/day Cd group was increased ( p < 0.05). Our data suggest that Cd affected testosterone levels, and apoptosis was observed in spermatids.

Fe(II) is one of the commonly used additives in wastewater treatment and proved to be beneficial for promoting microbial activity. In this study, the effects of Fe(II) on the specific anammox activity (SAA) and reactor performance were proved to be concentration-dependent. In the short-term experiment, low concentration of Fe(II) (5-80 mg/L) significantly enhanced the SAA, while high concentration of Fe(II) (120-300 mg/L) inhibited the SAA. It was confirmed that anammox can be domesticated after long-term exposure to low Fe(II) concentration, and the SAA could be further enhanced by higher Fe(II) concentration in the following phases. In addition, as an important factor for anammox granulation and maintaining the SAA, the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) was also affected by Fe(II) addition. In spite of the effects on SAA and EPS, Fe(II) was proved to be the key factor that enhances the N2 O emission via abiotic pathway in the anammox reactor. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Low Fe(II) concentrations enhanced SAA, while high concentrations inhibited SAA. Long-term acclimatization by Fe(II) improved the tolerance of anammox to Fe(II). Fe(II) affects the amount and constituent of EPS and the performance of anammox granules. Accumulation of Fe(II) in the AAFEB reactor promoted the N2 O emission.

Localization techniques are becoming key to add location context to the Internet-of-Things (IoT) data without human perception and intervention. Meanwhile, the newly emerged low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) and 5G technologies have become strong candidates for mass-market localization applications. However, various error sources have limited localization performance by using such IoT signals. This article reviews the IoT localization system through the following sequence: IoT localization system review, localization data sources, localization algorithms, localization error sources and mitigation, and localization performance evaluation. Compared to the related surveys, this article has a more comprehensive and state-of-the-art review on IoT localization methods, an original review on IoT localization error sources and mitigation, an original review on IoT localization performance evaluation, and a more comprehensive review of IoT localization applications, opportunities, and challenges. Thus, this survey provides comprehensive guidance for peers who are interested in enabling localization ability in the existing IoT systems, using IoT systems for localization, or integrating IoT signals with the existing localization sensors.

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), is native to the Americas. It has rapidly invaded 47 African countries and 18 Asian countries since the first detection of invasion into Nigeria and Ghana in 2016. It is regarded as a super pest based on its host range (at least 353 host plants), its inherent ability to survive in a wide range of habitats, its strong migration ability, high fecundity, rapid development of resistance to insecticides/viruses and its gluttonous characteristics. The inherently superior biological characteristics of FAW contribute to its invasiveness. Integrated pest management (IPM) of FAW has relied on multiple applications of monitoring and scouting, agricultural control, chemical pesticides, viral insecticides, sex attractants, bio-control agents (parasitoids, predators and entomopathogens) and botanicals. Knowledge gaps remain to be filled to: (1) understand the invasive mechanisms of S. frugiperda; (2) understand how to prevent its further spread and (3) provide better management strategies. This review summarizes the biological characters of FAW, their association with its invasiveness and IPM strategies, which may provide further insights for future management.

High Fischer ratio peptides have been used in many kinds of foods due to their special amino acid composition and health-promotion functions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the optimal enzymes for hydrolysis and activated carbon for adsorption during the preparation of high Fischer ratio peptides from soybean protein. Three and two enzymes were tried with different combinations for the first and second hydrolysis steps respectively. Eight types of activated carbon were tested for their adsorption capacity. Our results show that, after evaluating the branched-chain amino acids retention and Fischer ratio computation, double enzyme hydrolysis steps with alcalase and flavorzyme followed with powdered activated carbon adsorption could raise Fischer ratio from 2.96 to 18.9 though branched-chain amino acids dropped around 80%. By further comparing six different candidate carbons, AK-220 activated carbon was comparatively premium in terms of branched-chain amino acids retention, aromatic amino acids removal and total protein loss rate and its adsorption conditions were optimized as pH 5.5, carbon-hydrolysate ratio 0.1 and adsorption time of 3 h. Overall, our findings demonstrate that, after the sequential treatments of two enzymatic hydrolysis (alcalase and flavorzyme) and activated carbon (AK220) adsorption respectively, branched-chain amino acids could be maintained at around 60% while Fischer ratio was elevated about 4 times comparing with the untreated soybean protein. This study could pave the way for widening the value and application of soybean peptides with high Fischer ratio which would very likely be further used as food or medicine supplement.

Milk protein is beneficial for the health of infants and is mainly derived from bovine, sheep, goat or camel milk. High Fischer ratio peptides usually comprise two to nine amino acid residues. The ratio is computed as a molar ratio between branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) over aromatic amino acids (AAAs) with various claimed health-promoting functions. In this Lilliput review, the classification and nutritional functions of milk proteins are discussed, the physiological functions and preparation methods of high Fischer ratio peptides are introduced, and the application of oligopeptide with unique amino acid composition and physiological functions in infant formula milk powder are reviewed. The development status of relevant industry is also summarized with future prospects. It is concluded that application of high Fischer ratio peptides prepared from milk protein in infant formula food is of great significance and requires further studies.

We studied the cascade nucleophilic addition reactions of 1,2,3-triazines with activated acetonitriles or ketones, which were used to construct highly substituted pyridines that are not easily accessed by conventional methods. The strategy addressed some structural diversity issues currently facing medicinal chemistry, and the resulting pyridines could be used as convenient precursors for the synthesis of related pharmaceuticals. In particular, our method was applied to the syntheses of the marketed drug etoricoxib and several biologically important molecules in a few steps.

An accurate assessment of bifacial solar cells under concurrent bifacial illumination is critical to evaluate their real photovoltaic performance. In this work, we demonstrate bifacial perovskite solar cells with bifacial equivalent power conversion efficiencies of 21% and 26% under concurrent bifacial illumination with an albedo of 0.2 and 0.5, respectively. A detailed balance efficiency limit analysis further reveals the full potential of bifacial perovskite solar cells.

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT), the ability to transform H2O2 into a highly toxic hydroxyl radical (˙OH) through a Fenton or Fenton like reaction to kill cancer cells, enables selective tumor therapy. However, the effect is seriously limited by the insufficiency of endogenous H2O2 in cancer cells. Additionally, the specific recognition of epitope imprinting plays an important role in targeting cancer cell markers. In this work, we prepared H2O2 self-supplying degradable epitope molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) for effective CDT, employing fluorescent calcium peroxide (FCaO2) as an imaging probe and a source of H2O2, the exposed peptide in the CD47 extracellular region as the template, copper acrylate as one of the functional monomers and N,N‘-bisacrylylcystamine (BAC) as a cross-linker. MIP with recognition sites can specifically target CD47-positive cancer cells to achieve fluorescence imaging. Under the reduction of glutathione (GSH), the MIP were degraded and the exposed FCaO2 reacted with water to continuously produce H2O2 in the slightly acidic environment in cancer cells. The self-supplied H2O2 produced ˙OH through a Fenton like catalytic reaction mediated by copper ions in the MIP framework, inducing cancer cell apoptosis. Therefore, the MIP nano-platform, which was capable of specific recognition of the cancer cell marker, H2O2 self-supply and controlled treatment, was successfully used for targeted CDT.

Using ultrasound to image small vessels in the neonatal brain can be difficult in the presence of strong clutter from the surrounding tissue and with a neonate motion during the scan. We propose a coherence-based beamforming method, namely the short-lag angular coherence (SLAC) beamforming that suppresses incoherent noise and motion artifacts in Ultrafast data, and we demonstrate its applicability to improve detection of blood flow in the neonatal brain. Instead of estimating spatial coherence across the receive elements, SLAC utilizes the principle of acoustic reciprocity to estimate angular coherence from the beamsummed signals from different plane-wave transmits, which makes it computationally efficient and amenable to advanced beamforming techniques, such as f-k migration. The SLAC images of a simulated speckle phantom show similar edge resolution and texture size as the matching B-mode images, and reduced random noise in the background. We apply SLAC power Doppler (PD) to free-hand imaging of neonatal brain vasculature with long Doppler ensembles and show that: 1) it improves visualization of small vessels in the cortex compared to conventional PD and 2) it can be used for tracking of blood flow in the brain over time, meaning it could potentially improve the quality of free-hand functional ultrasound.

This paper investigates the hydrodynamic characteristic of a single-stage centrifugal pump with inlet inducer and outlet Radial Guided Vanes (RGVs) influenced by the clocking effect for the first time. Different from general ones, the outlet RGVs in this paper have specificities. The hydraulic performance and dynamic characteristics of the centrifugal pump are numerically studied and validated by experiments. The results indicate that there is an optimum position of RGVs that can not only increase the pump head and efficiency but also reduce the pressure fluctuation intensity. A non-dimensional parameter describing the velocity non-uniformity of the impeller outlet is first proposed, which is negatively related to the pump’s hydraulic performance. The clocking position of the RGVs will affect the velocity homogeneity at the impeller outlet, and further influence the hydraulic characteristics of the pump. Besides, the clocking effect of outlet RGVs mainly affects the amplitudes of BPF for both the pressure fluctuation and radial force, and the most obvious frequency of pressure pulsation and radial force is 3 BPF correlating with the inlet inducer. It is recommended to install the volute-tongue tip near the middle of two vanes.

In this paper we study the global regularity for the solution to the Dirichlet problem of the equation of minimal graphs over a convex domain in hyperbolic spaces. We find that the global regularity depends only on the convexity of the domain but independent of its smoothness. Basing on the invariance of the problem under translation and rotation transforms, we construct the super-solution to the problem, by which we prove the optimal and accurate global regularity for this problem.

Ambrosia beetles in the subtribe Hyorrhynchini are one example of an entire ambrosia beetle lineage whose fungi have never been studied. Here, we identify one dominant fungus associated with a widespread Asian hyorrhynchine beetle Sueus niisimai. This fungus was consistently isolated from beetle galleries from multiple collections. Phylogenetic analyses of combined ITS rDNA and β-tubulin sequences identified the primary fungal symbiont as Diatrypella japonica Higuchi, Nikaido & Hattori (Diatrypaceae, Xylariales, Sordariomycetes), which was recently described as a pathogen of sycamore (Platanus spp.) in Japan. To assess the invasion potential of this beetle-fungus interaction into the U.S., we have investigated the pathogenicity of two D. japonica strains on four species of healthy landscape trees native to the southeastern United States. Only Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii) responded with lesions significantly greater than the control inoculations, but there was no observable dieback or tree mortality. Although disease symptoms were not as prominent as in previous studies of the same fungus in Japan, routine reisolation from the inoculation point suggests that this species is capable of colonizing healthy sapwood of several tree species. Our study shows that the geographical area of its distribution is broader in Asia and potentially includes many hosts of its polyphagous vector. We conclude that the Sueus-Diatrypella symbiosis has high invasion potential but low damage potential, at least on young trees during the growing season.

High-performance perovskite/perovskite tandem solar cells require high-efficiency and stable low-bandgap perovskite subcells. State-of-the-art low-bandgap mixed tin–lead iodide perovskite solar cells exhibit either a high power-conversion efficiency or improved stability, but not both. Here we report a two-step bilayer interdiffusion growth process to simultaneously meet both requirements for formamidinium-based low-bandgap mixed tin–lead iodide perovskite solar cells. The bilayer interdiffusion growth process allows for the formation of high-quality and large-grained perovskite films with only 10 mol% volatile methylammonium. Additionally, one-dimensional pyrrolidinium perovskite was applied to passivate the perovskite film and improve the junction quality, which resulted in a carrier lifetime of 1.1 μs and an open circuit voltage of 0.865 V for our perovskite film and device with a bandgap of 1.28 eV. Our strategies enabled a power-conversion efficiency of 20.4% for low-bandgap perovskite solar cells under AM 1.5G illumination. More importantly, an encapsulated device can retain 92% of its initial efficiency after 450 h of continuous 1 sun illumination. Low-bandgap tin–lead perovskites are key to all-perovskite tandem solar cells but simultaneous improvement in efficiency and stability has proven challenging. Now, Li et al. fabricate tin–lead perovskite cells with reduced methylammonium content that are 20.4% efficient and stable under illumination for 450 h.

Among recent measures for risk management, value at risk (VaR) has been criticized because it is not coherent and expected shortfall (ES) has been criticized because it is not robust to outliers. Recently, [Math. Oper. Res., 38, 393–417 (2013)] proposed a risk measure called median shortfall (MS) which is distributional robust and easy to implement. In this paper, we propose a more generalized risk measure called quantile shortfall (QS) which includes MS as a special case. QS measures the conditional quantile loss of the tail risk and inherits the merits of MS. We construct an estimator of the QS and establish the asymptotic normality behavior of the estimator. Our simulation shows that the newly proposed measures compare favorably in robustness with other widely used measures such as ES and VaR.

Lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries demonstrate great promise for efficient energy storage systems once the lithium polysulfide (LPS) shuttling and sluggish redox kinetics can be well addressed. Herein, we developed a sea urchin-structured oxygen-deficient titanium dioxide semiconductor anchored with cobalt nano-dots (Co@TiO2-x) as a high-performance multifunctional sulfur host material for Li-S batteries. The sea urchin-structured Co@TiO2-x offers strong structural stability and strengthened chemical interaction towards LPS. Meanwhile, the incorporation of Co nano-dots into TiO2 leads to increased oxygen vacancies, which augments the electrical conduction and benefits LPS conversion acceleration as well. As a result, the oxygen vacancy-rich Co@TiO2-x composite exhibits excellent conductivity, strong LPS confinement and promoted sulfur electrochemical kinetics, rendering enhanced LPS shuttling inhibition and rapid redox reaction. Attributed to these features, the Co@TiO2-x/S cathode exhibits a discharge capacity of 803 mAh g-1 at 1 C and a good cyclic stability upon 500 cycles with a low capacity fading rate of 0.07% per cycle. This synergistic design of conductive multifunctional LPS barrier is also promising to enlighten the material engineering in other energy storage applications.

Thick plate bending process (warm bending and tempering) has a profound impact on the material strength distribution (MSD) in hydrogenation reactor shells. To date, few studies have studied the thick plate bending process. In this work, an artificial neural network (ANN) combined with finite element analysis (FEA) was utilized to investigate the impact of thick plate bending on the MSD of reactor shells. First, tensile tests of 0-10% pre-strained 2.25Cr-1Mo-0.25 V specimens were subjected to 390 to 510 °C. The results obtained from this experiment were used to develop ANN with two inputs (temperature and plastic strain) to predict the strength of pre-deformed steel. Subsequently, the plastic strain distribution of reactor shells after warm bending was obtained via FEA. We then inputted the FEA results into well-established ANN to predict the MSD of un-tempered reactor shells. The MSD of an actual tempered reactor shell was measured to study the synergic effect of warm bending and tempering on MSD variation. Results showed that the average absolute relative errors between the proposed ANN and tensile test results were below 4%. The absolute relative errors of the proposed prediction method varied from 0.24 to 7.88%. The proposed method is therefore reliable in the lightweight design of the hydrogenation reactor.

An earthquake catalog based on a unified magnitude scale is an important prerequisite for analyses of seismic activities and seismic hazards. To unify the magnitude scales of earthquakes in China’s seas and neighboring regions, we developed conversion relationships between surface- and body-wave magnitudes and the global centroid moment tensor (GCMT) and National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) moment magnitudes for shallow and intermediate- and deep-focus earthquakes in China’s seas and adjacent areas. We employed data collected by the Chinese Earthquake Network Center, GCMT, and NIED for earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 and higher in China’s seas and neighboring regions from 1976 to 2018. We used the linear least squares regression method and the orthogonal regression method to fit the seismic data under different magnitude ranges and different focal depth ranges. The results provided empirical formulas to unify magnitude scales for the earthquakes in China’s seas and neighboring regions and also provided an important basis for seismic catalog integrity analyses and seismic activity studies for this area. The results are significant for seismic hazard analyses, seismic zoning, and mid- and long-term forecast analyses of seismic activities in the area.

In this paper we are concerned with the global regularity of solutions to the Dirichlet problem for a class of Monge-Ampere type equations. By employing the concept of (a, η) type domain, we emphasize that the boundary regularity depends on the convexity of the domain in nature. The key idea of our proof is to provide more effective global Holder estimates of convex solutions to the problem based on carefully choosing auxiliary functions and constructing sub-solutions.

A new filler for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was synthesized by doping carbon black (CB) with nanosilver. Images taken from energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry and X-ray diffraction validated the synthesis of the filler (nanosilver-doped CB (CB-Ag)). We evaluated the effect of CB-Ag on the mechanical, thermal, and antibacterial properties of the nanocomposites (CB-Ag/PET). Thermogravimetric analyses, morphology, and tensile tests indicated that thermodegradation, crystallization rate, and tensile strength were all improved as a result of filling PET with CB-Ag. Excellent antibacterial properties were imparted to PET nanocomposites, which would be useful for a wide array of industrial applications.

Location is key to spatialize internet-of-things (IoT) data. However, it is challenging to use low-cost IoT devices for robust unsupervised localization (i.e., localization without training data that have known location labels). Thus, this paper proposes a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based unsupervised wireless-localization method. The main contributions are as follows. (1) This paper proposes an approach to model a continuous wireless-localization process as a Markov decision process (MDP) and process it within a DRL framework. (2) To alleviate the challenge of obtaining rewards when using unlabeled data (e.g., daily-life crowdsourced data), this paper presents a reward-setting mechanism, which extracts robust landmark data from unlabeled wireless received signal strengths (RSS). (3) To ease requirements for model re-training when using DRL for localization, this paper uses RSS measurements together with agent location to construct DRL inputs. The proposed method was tested by using field testing data from multiple Bluetooth 5 smart ear tags in a pasture. Meanwhile, the experimental verification process reflected the advantages and challenges for using DRL in wireless localization.

This research paper was to investigate the influence of soybean peptides addition on viable count of lactic acid bacteria, physicochemical parameters, flavor, and sensory evaluation of yoghurt. The number of fermenting strains (Streptococcus thermophilus + Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus) cells in yoghurt (stored at 4 °C for 19 days) added with 0.2% (w/v) of soybean peptides (808.34 Da) reached 1.4 times higher bacterial number than in the control group. A total of 34 volatile substances were detected in this study, while there were 22 volatiles occurred in the control group yoghurt, 30 volatiles were detected in yoghurt added with 0.2% soybean peptides. There was no significant difference in sensory evaluation (p > 0.05) between the yoghurt with and without soybean peptides. In our study, the addition of soybean peptides (0.2%) can be effective both in maintaining the viable bacterial count and yoghurt quality.

Targeting enrichment of nanocarriers at tumor sites and effective drug release are critical in cancer treatment. Accordingly, we used fluorescent zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 nanoparticles loaded with doxorubicin (FZIF-8/DOX) as the core and a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as the shell to synthesize tumor-sensitive biodegradable FZIF-8/DOX-MIP nanoparticles (FZIF-8/DOX-MIPs). The MIP prepared with the epitope of CD59 cell membrane glycoprotein as the template allowed FZIF-8/DOX-MIPs to be enriched to tumor sites by actively targeting recognition of MCF-7 cancer cells (CD59-positive). Moreover, using N,N'-diacrylylcystamine as the cross-linker and dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate as the main monomer, the MIP's framework will be broken under the stimulation of a tumor microenvironment (high-concentration glutathione and weakly acidic), so that the internal FZIF-8/DOX is exposed to a microacidic environment to release DOX through further degradation. More importantly, the ability of FZIF-8/DOX-MIPs in targeted fluorescence imaging and effective drug release has been validated both in vitro and in vivo. Compared to other cells and nanoparticles, FZIF-8/DOX-MIPs were more capable of being phagocytosed by MCF-7 cells and were more lethal to MCF-7 cells. In the comparative experiments carried out on tumor-bearing mice, FZIF-8/DOX-MIPs had the best inhibitory effect on the growth of MCF-7 tumors. Furthermore, the FZIF-8/DOX-MIPs can serve as a diagnostic agent because of the active targeting of MCF-7 cells and the stronger red fluorescence of the embedded carbon quantum dots. Because of the active targeting ability, good biocompatibility, tumor-sensitive biodegradability, and effective drug release performance, FZIF-8/DOX-MIPs can be widely used in tumor imaging and treatment.

As one important member of the two-pore-domain potassium channel (K 2P ) family, potassium channel subfamily K member 3 (KCNK3) has been reported for thermogenesis regulation, energy homeostasis , membrane potential conduction, and pulmonary hypertension in mammals. However, its roles in fishes are far less examined and published. In the present study, we identified two kcnk3 genes (kcnk3a and kcnk3b ) in an euryhaline fish, Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ), by molecular cloning , genomic survey and laboratory experiments to investigate their potential roles for osmoregulation . We obtained full-length coding sequences of the kcnk3a and kcnk3b genes (1209 and 1173 bp), which encode 402 and 390 amino acids, respectively. Subsequent multiple sequence alignments , putative 3D-structure model prediction, genomic survey and phylogenetic analysis confirmed that two kcnk3 paralogs are widely presented in fish genomes. Interestingly, a DNA fragment inversion of a kcnk3a cluster was found in Cypriniforme in comparison with other fishes. Quantitative real-time PCRs demonstrated that both the tilapia kcnk3 genes were detected in all the examined tissues with a similar distribution pattern, and the highest transcriptions were observed in the heart. Meanwhile, both kcnk3 genes in the gill were proved to have a similar transcriptional change pattern in response to various salinity of seawater, implying that they might be involved in osmoregulation. Furthermore, three predicted transcription factors (arid3a, arid3b, and arid5a) of both kcnk3 genes also showed a similar pattern as their target genes in response to the various salinity, suggesting their potential positive regulatory roles. In summary, we for the first time characterized the two kcnk3 genes in Nile tilapia , and demonstrated their potential involvement in osmoregulation for this economically important fish.

Chronic wounds are one of the most serious complications of diabetes mellitus. Even though utilizing nitric oxide (NO) as a gas medicine to repair diabetic wounds presents a promising strategy, controlling the NO release behavior in the affected area, which is vital for NO-based therapy, still remains a significant challenge. In this work, a copper-based metal-organic framework, namely, HKUST-1, has been introduced as a NO-loading vehicle, and a NO sustained release system with the core-shell structure has been designed through the electrospinning method. The results show that the NO is quantificationally and stably loaded in the HKUST-1 particles, and the NO-loaded HKUST-1 particles are well incorporated into the core layer of the coaxial nanofiber. Therefore, NO can be controllably released with an average release rate of 1.74 nmol L-1 h-1 for more than 14 days. Moreover, the additional copper ions released from the degradable HKUST-1 play a synergistic role with NO to promote endothelial cell growth and significantly improve the angiogenesis, collagen deposition as well as anti-inflammatory property in the wound bed, which eventually accelerate the diabetic wound healing. These results suggest that such a copper-based metal-organic framework material as a controllable NO-releasing vehicle is a highly efficient therapy for diabetic wounds.

The two-step solution-based process has demonstrated substantial success in fabricating high-efficiency perovskite solar cells in recent years. Despite the high performance, the underlying mechanisms that govern the formation of perovskite films and corresponding device performance are yet to be fully understood. Particularly, organic cation composition used in the two-step solution processing of mixed-cation lead halide perovskite solar cells plays a critical role in the perovskite film formation and the resultant device performance. However, little is understood about the impacts of organic cation composition on the current density-voltage (

To determine the optimal harvest period for alligator weed used in fermentation-based gaseous biofuel production, the effects of harvest months on the biochemical composition and fermentative hydrogen and methane co-production from alligator weed were evaluated. Compositional analysis indicates that alligator weed harvested in September was most suitable for fermentative hydrogen production because it exhibited an appropriate carbon to nitrogen molar ratio (26.75), the highest cellulose content (20.34%) and the lowest weight ratio of ash to volatiles (0.09). Biohydrogen production was significantly affected by the harvest month, peaking at 48.4 mL/g VS in September. Microbial community analysis suggests that the abundance of Clostridium sensu stricto, the dominating hydrogen producer in dark fermentation reactors, was greatly enriched with feedstock harvested in September. Moreover, the expression levels of functional genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and microbial proliferation were highest in the reactor fed with feedstock harvested in September. During the second-stage anaerobic digestion (AD), biomethane yield mainly depended on the soluble COD content in the hydrogenogenic effluent and was highest in August (214.6 mL/g VS). A maximum total energy conversion efficiency of 44.8% was obtained in September through two-stage process combining dark fermentation and AD.

A new complex formulated as [Mn(H2O)6][Mn2(ett)6]·0.5H2O (1) has been synthesized from 5-(ethylthio)-1H-tetrazole) (Hett) andMn(OAc)2·4H2O. The crystal structure is composed of one [Mn(H2O)6] 2+ cation and an [Mn2(ett)6] 2– anionic chain. Two Mn(II) ions are bridged by μ2-ett – ligands to give [Mn2(ett)6] 2– anionic chains, which is balanced by cationic part of [Mn(H2O)6] 2+ in charge. The hydrogen bonds between anionic/cationic units play an important role in the formation of three-dimensional (3-D) supramolecular structure of 1. Magnetic measurements of 1 exhibit an interesting spin canting behavior and long-range magnetic ordering.

Magnetic Ni(1-x-y)CoyZnxFe2O4 nanoparticles are prepared via the rapid-combustion process, which are characterized by XRD, VSM, SEM, EDS and FTIR, and the effects of absolute alcohol volume and the calcination temperature on the properties of magnetic Ni–Co–Zn ferrite nanoparticles are also investigated. To obtain the maximum adsorption capacity, Ni0.3Co0.4Zn0.3Fe2O4 nanoparticles calcined at 400 °C for 2 h with 20 mL of absolute alcohol are selected to adsorb methyl blue (MB). The adsorption results illustrate that pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir isotherm model are the best fit, which indicates that the adsorption of MB onto the nanoparticles is the monolayer chemical adsorption. The effect of the pH value on the adsorption and the recycling performance of Ni0.3Co0.4Zn0.3Fe2O4 nanoparticles are investigated. When the initial concentration of MB is 300 mg/L and the pH value is 5, the adsorption capacity of MB onto Ni0.3Co0.4Zn0.3Fe2O4 nanoparticles reaches 101.1 mg/g, while the adsorption capacity amounts to 71.7% of the first time after 8 recycles. The electrochemical performances of MB onto Ni0.3Co0.4Zn0.3Fe2O4 nanoparticles before and after adsorption are analyzed by CV and EIS.

At present, simulation on reservoir evolution under normal pressure is common while that under abnormal pressure is rare. In this paper, the Miocene “high-temperature and overpressure” reservoir in the Ledong–Lingshui Sag of the Qiongdongnan Basin was taken as the research object to quantitatively define the effects of high pressure and overpressure on the evolution of reservoir pores. After the temperature and pressure field in this area was divided in the setting of sedimentation and diagenesis, the evolution characteristics of pores in different temperature and pressure field were analyzed by means of natural analogy and physical simulation experiment. Then, the effects of overpressure and fluids on the evolution of reservoir pores were discussed. Finally, the main factors controlling the development of high-quality reservoirs were determined. And the following research results were obtained. First, the temperature and pressure field of the Miocene reservoir in the Ledong–Lingshui Sag can be divided into three zones, i.e., high temperature and normal pressure zone, high temperature and overpressure zone, and high temperature and super overpressure zone. Second, overpressure and super overpressure can provide some preservation on primary pores. In the same diagenetic stage, the plane porosity of overpressure and super overpressure reservoirs is 1.23–6.74% higher than that of normal pressure reservoirs. Once the reservoir pressure in overpressure and super overpressure areas is higher than hydrostatic pressure by 8 MPa and 4 MPa, respectively, about 1% primary pores are preserved. Third, the dissolution of organic acid makes greater contribution to the secondary pores in reservoirs and its plane porosity is 0.96–7.38% higher than that of normal compaction reservoirs. Fourth, the leaching effect of meteorological water on reservoir physical properties is slight, and its plane porosity is only 0.19% higher than that of normal compaction reservoirs. In conclusion, the dissolution of organic acid is the most constructive effect for the reservoirs in high temperature and normal pressure. In addition, preservation of primary pores by overpressure is the most constructive effect for the reservoirs in high temperature and (super) overpressure, and the higher the overpressure is, the more preservation effect it provides on pores. Keywords: Overpressure pore preservation, Dissolution of organic acid, Secondary pore, Pore evolution, Control factor, Qiongdongnan basin, Ledong–Lingshui sag, Miocene

Aiming at the high demand of close-range photogrammetry for the object control points and the inconvenient carrying of digital camera to take photogrammetry in the field, a method of detail survey based on PhotoModeler Scanner software is proposed. USB camera combines with the centering rod, USB camera captures image data, Total station obtains the coordinates of the centering rod, the coordinate of projective center is calculated by using the coordinate of the centering rod, PhotoModeler Scanner software processes image data and coordinate data. Ultimately, image stereo measurement of the no object control point was realized. The experimental results showed that the error of the plane position of the solved target point was less than 10cm at a shooting distance of about 10m, and it met the accuracy requirements of detail survey. Therefore, the method can reduce the workload of field detail survey, reduce the cost and volume of the photographic equipment, and has certain application value.

Indoor localization using magnetic and inertial sensors has shown its effectiveness due to the pervasiveness of magnetic fields and independence from external infrastructure. However, when massive crowdsourced data are obtained in mass-market applications, new issues occur and degrade the magnetic matching (MM) performance. To alleviate these issues, an orientation-aided stochastic MM method is presented. First, orientation-aided magnetic fingerprints are applied to effectively improve fingerprint fidelity when massive data are used. Second, this paper characterizes crowdsourced magnetic fingerprints and reveals that the stochastic magnetic components may have different histograms, such as the symmetric, left-skewed, bimodal, and irregular ones. Based on such outcome, Gaussian distribution and histogram model based stochastic MM methods are presented to mitigate the degradation from stochastic magnetic components, which have not been involved in the existing MM methods such as nearest neighbor and dynamic time warping. Compared to the deterministic MM methods, this research provides a deeper insight into the use of magnetic fingerprints and more accurate MM and MM/dead-reckoning integrated localization solutions.

Among the various anaerobic digestion technologies developed for wastewater treatment and resource recovery, the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) stands out as a viable alternative to traditional processes. However, the practical use of the AnMBR to treat a huge amount of low to moderate strength wastewater, like municipal wastewater (MWW), at ambient temperature, remains a challenge due to the membrane fouling issue and a low bioenergy recovery efficiency. In this review, the basics of the AnMBR process regarding membrane and bioreactor configurations are introduced. Then, the performance of the AnMBR with regard to pollutant removal and biogas production is discussed with special emphasis on analyzing the origin and fate of multicomponent biogas in the liquid–gaseous phases based on theoretical predictions and reported experimental results. A review of the studies on the mechanisms of membrane fouling is included together with an overview of the commonly used fouling control measures to support long-term sustainable AnMBR operation. Lastly, the technical challenges in enhancing AnMBR development from a number of different perspectives are pointed out. Applying AnMBR for the treatment of low-strength wastewater should be further optimized to enhance the techno-economic feasibility for full-scale operation, and more research attention should be given to the redirection of organics and nutrients to achieve a more economical process with improved environmental benefits.

Cold expansion is widely used to improve the fatigue life of fastener holes. However, fatigue crack often initiates at the entrance edge of the hole due to lower compressive or tensile residual stress as a result of cold expansion. In the current study, the entrance edge of the cold expanded hole has been ultrasonically impacted with a specially designed pin, and comparative fatigue tests are performed to evaluate the influence of the ultrasonic impact treatment on the fatigue performance of the cold expanded holes. The findings show that the ultrasonic impact treatment imparted a larger compressive residual stress and created a fillet arc at the entrance edge, which resulted in an obvious reduction in the fatigue crack propagation rate in the earlier stage of the fatigue crack growth and extended the fatigue life of the cold expanded holes further.

In this study, the potential of dual-phase composite adsorbent to determine the removal efficiency of organic compounds such as COD, BOD, TP, and TN was investigated. The combination ratio of cockleshell and natural zeolite was optimized using D-optimal mixture design (DMD). The generated ratio was tested using run test in Easy Care PipeSystem (ECPS). Breakthrough curve was plotted to determine the total removal by composite adsorbent. In addition, linearization of the breakthrough curve by dynamic models was implemented to characterize the adsorption process by the composite adsorbent in ECPS column model. The linearization of breakthrough curve was done using mathematical models, Adam-Bohart, Yoon-Nelson and Thomas model. It was found that the optimal mixture ratio was at 75% cockleshells and 25% natural zeolite. Based on the experiments, the composite adsorbent showed high tendency to higher removal by 90% of targeted value. Based on the results, the composite adsorbent was fitted better with Yoon-Nelson and Thomas model rather than Adam-Bohart model. The generated models were able to characterize the adsorption process using composite adsorbent in the ECPS column system. Keywords: Composite adsorbents, Cockleshells, Natural zeolites, Adsorption, Mathematical model

Electro-optic (EO) polymers, possessing high EO coefficient and low dielectric constant, are considered to be a new generation of nonlinear optical materials that have great application prospect in photo-communication, information storage, and data processing. The host-guest structure of EO polymers is the most typical one in this field. However, the phase separation during polarization between the host polymer and the guest nonlinear optical molecule (NLO) limits potential applications of the material. To solve the problem, a new synthetic method was designed in this paper. First, 2,4-dinitroaniline was grafted to phenol polyphosphazene by chemical method for polar improvement of the main chain. Then, another small NLO molecule was mixed into the polymer by physical method for further improvement of EO coefficient. The preparation process was studied and the structure of the product was characterized. The effects of different NLO mixing proportions and different polarizing temperatures on EO coefficient were investigated in details. Orientation stability of the sample was tested. Experimental results show that our products possess not only high EO coefficient but also good phase stability, which makes them good candidates for the application in information technology.

The industrial effluents recently have become more complex and a constant health hazard polluting and contaminating water, soil and air. In this study, it is important to obtain high performance for the treatment of recalcitrant and toxic azo dyes being caused by textile industries and deal with inhibitory factors. For this aim, a continuous two-stage mesophilic anaerobic system has been employed to treat synthetic textile wastewater contained C. I. Acid Red 88 dye. A laboratory-scale of acidogenic continuous stirred tank reactor followed by methanogenic upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactor was operated at hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 48, 24 and 12 h. The acidogenic reactor was able to remove 50.3% of the total COD added and 90.3% of the color at HRT of 12 h. However, the maximum bio-hydrogen conversion as COD was 30.7% with acetate and butyrate as main by-products at HRT of 24 h. The second stage showed a total of 94.8% COD removal and 97.2% decolorization at HRT of 12 h with maximum methane production of 1.01 l/l/day. The experimental results showed that the changing in the soluble by-product could explain the effect of HRT and the maximum total hythane energy produced was 121.5 MJ/m3.

In this work, an all-solid-state biomaterial electrolyte derived from phthaloyl starch and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was introduced. Phthaloyl starch (PS) was prepared with the starch and the phthalic anhydride via a chemical method. The introduction of C=O group through the starch esterification improved the migration of the lithium ions in the all-solid-state electrolyte membrane. The AC impedance test revealed that the addition of the phthaloyl starch promoted the conductivity of electrolytes, which can reach up to 2.04 × 10−4 S cm−1 at room temperature, and the electrochemical stability window (ESW) can achieve 4.20 V. Herein, the phthaloyl starch-PVDF–based electrolyte membrane possessed the lithium-ion transference number of 0.396. The half-cell Li/SPE/LiFePO4 had a better charge and discharge performance, that is, 93.9 mAh g−1 and 92.2 mAh g−1 after the 50th cycle at 0.5 C and at room temperature.

The efficiency of single-stage biohythane production from synthetic cellulosic wastewater under mesophilic temperature was investigated. A lab-scale continuously stirred tank reactor was conducted at a hydraulic retention time of 10 days using mixed microflora without pretreatment. The experimental results show that a stable methane and hydrogen yields of 18.2 ± 0.16 and 5.6 ± 0.31 L/kg VS were maintained for 240 days, respectively with acetate/butyrate ratio of 0.39 as the main byproducts. Based on COD mass balance, more than 45% of the decomposed COD converted to bio-hythane, which means that the setting temperature 37 °C and pH improved the conditions of degradation efficiency. The energy recovery calculations indicated that the total net energy was 4.54 MJ/m3 of cellulosic wastewater. This work contributes to the limited knowledge on continuous cellulosic-hythane conversion into a safe and clean form of energy.

© 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC The effect of substrate concentrations (0, 7.5, 15, 22.5, 30, and 37.5 g-VS/L) on hydrogen production from heat-treated and fresh food waste (FW) using untreated inoculums was investigated in this work. The highest hydrogen yield (75.3 mL/g-VS) was obtained with heat-treated FW at 15 g-VS/L. Lower substrate content could not provide enough organic matter for hydrogen fermentation, while higher substrate concentrations shifted the metabolic pathways from hydrogen fermentation to lactic acid fermentation by enriching the lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which lowered the slurry pH and decreased enzyme activity, resulting in a lower chemical oxygen demand (COD), volatile solid (VS), carbohydrate removal rate, and hydrogen yield. Compared with fresh FW, heat-treated FW is preferred for biohydrogen process with acetate as the main organic product. Additionally, at the optimal concentration (15 g-VS/L) using fresh FW, lactic acid is first accumulated and then degraded to produce hydrogen with butyrate as the main metabolite.

Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from a full-scale contact oxidation emergency sewage treatment plant (STP) in Japan that was damaged by an earthquake and a tsunami were measured. The open chamber (OC) and closed chamber (CC) methods were used to sample the gases emitted in the aeration tank and the settler, respectively. The dissolved gases were measured using the headspace method, and the major emissions sources in wastewater treatment were identified. The results indicated that the GHG emissions from the wastewater were 58.6 g-CO2/m3 (equivalent per cubic meter of wastewater). The CH4 emissions showed a strong negative correlation with the dissolved oxygen (DO) content. More than 98% of the GHGs were produced and stripped by the aeration tank. The CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions accounted for 73.0% (21,781 mL/m3), 17.1% (669 mL/m3) and 9.9% (10.9 mL/m3), respectively, of all GHG emissions. Approximately 1.06% of the incoming chemical oxygen demand (COD) was emitted as CH4, and 0.147% of the removed nitrogen was emitted as N2O.

Exotic diseases and pests of trees have caused continental-scale disturbances in forest ecosystems and industries, and their invasions are considered largely unpredictable. We tested the concept of preinvasion assessment of not yet invasive organisms, which enables empirical risk assessment of potential invasion and impact. Our example assesses fungi associated with Old World bark and ambrosia beetles and their potential to impact North American trees. We selected 55 Asian and European scolytine beetle species using host use, economic, and regulatory criteria. We isolated 111 of their most consistent fungal associates and tested their effect on four important southeastern American pine and oak species. Our test dataset found no highly virulent pathogens that should be classified as an imminent threat. Twenty-two fungal species were minor pathogens, which may require context-dependent response for their vectors at North American borders, while most of the tested fungi displayed no significant impact. Our results are significant in three ways; they ease the concerns over multiple overseas fungus vectors suspected of heightened potential risk, they provide a basis for the focus on the prevention of introduction and establishment of species that may be of consequence, and they demonstrate that preinvasion assessment, if scaled up, can support practical risk assessment of exotic pathogens.

A multi-potential step method is proposed for constructing flexible PPy/Rh film electrodes. The obtained PPy/Rh films exhibit excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic performance and can be used as flexible electrodes that maintain their initial catalytic performance after bending. Characterization shows that the active sites of the catalyst are due to electron transfer between Rh and PPy.

The gut microbiome plays an important role in a host’s development and adaption to its dietary niche. In this study, a group of bamboo-feeding insects are used to explore the potential role of the gut microbiota in the convergent adaptation to extreme diet specialization. Specifically, using a 16S rRNA marker and an Illumina sequencing platform, we profiled the microbial communities of 76 gut samples collected from nine bamboo-feeding insects, including both hemimetabolous (Orthoptera and Hemiptera) and holometabolous (Coleoptera and Lepidoptera) species, which are specialized in three distinct dietary niches: bamboo leaf, shoot, and sap. The gut microbiota of these insects were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes and were clustered into solid (leaf and shoot) and liquid (sap) dietary niches. The gut bacterial communities of insects feeding on solid diet overlapped significantly, even though these insects belong to phylogenetically distant lineages representing different orders. In addition, the presence of cellulolytic bacterial communities within the gut microbiota allows bamboo-feeding insects to adapt to a highly specialized, fiber-rich diet. Although both phylogeny and diet can impact the structure and composition of gut microbiomes, phylogeny is the primary driving force underlying the convergent adaptation to a highly specialized diet, especially when the related insect species harbor similar gut microbiomes and share the same dietary niche over evolutionary timescales. These combined findings lay the foundation for future research on how convergent feeding strategies impact the interplays between hosts and their gut microbiomes and how the gut microbiota may facilitate convergent evolution in phylogenetically distant species in adaptation to the shared diet.

The effect of trace metal supplementation on the methane fermentation of fish processing wastewater (FPW) was studied in both batch and continuous experiments using a self-agitated anaerobic baffled reactor (SA-ABR). In the batch experiments, a single supplementation of Ca2+, Co2+ and Fe2+ was show to have a significant positive impact on the performance of methane fermentation. The continuous experiment results showed that supplementation with 1.5 g-Ca2+/L-substrate remarkably enhanced the performance of methane fermentation of the SA-ABR in treating FPW with the optimal organic loading rate achieved at 7.62 g-COD/L/d. During the steady states (stages 2 to 5), the average removal efficiencies of COD, protein, carbohydrate and lipid were 89, 85, 80 and 91%, respectively. The biogas conversion rates were in the range of 0.39 to 0.45 L-biogas/g-COD with a high methane content of 74%. Besides, Ca2+ supplementation also improved the resistance of the methane fermentation system to ammonia inhibition.

At present, strategies for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic have made significant and strategic strides, however, and the large quantities of healthcare treatment waste have become another important “battlefield”. For example, in Wuhan, the production rate of healthcare waste in hospitals, communities, temporary storage, and other units was much faster than the disposal rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Improving the efficiency of healthcare waste transfer and treatment has become an important task for government health and environmental protection departments at all levels. Based on the situation of healthcare waste disposal in Wuhan during the critical period of the pandemic, this paper analyzes and studies green governance principles and summarizes the problems that exist in the current healthcare waste management system. Through the establishment of temporary storage facilities along transit routes, digital simulation and bionic experiments were carried out in the Hongshan District of Wuhan to improve the efficiency of healthcare waste transfer. Furthermore, this study discusses the coordination and cooperation of government, hospitals, communities, and other departments in the healthcare waste disposal process and provides guiding suggestions for healthcare waste disposal nationwide in order to deal with potential risks and provide effective references in all regions.