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In this work, particles of activated carbon supported by Fe-N-TiO2 (Fe-N-TiO2/AC) were synthesized and used as the three-dimensional (3D) particle electrode for folic acid wastewater treatment in the 3D electrolysis and photocatalysis coupling process. The structure, morphology, and physical and electrochemical properties of the Fe-N-TiO2/AC particles were characterized, and the results showed that Fe-N-TiO2 was bound on the surface of AC particles by chemical attachment, and the Fe-N-TiO2/AC particles had better capability of adsorption and charge transfer as compared with the TiO2/AC particles. The effects of key operating parameters in the reaction process, including the current density (optimum 0.6 mA/cm2), aeration (optimum 5 L/min), pH value (optimum 5) and the ratio of Fe-N-TiO2/AC particles to cellulose acetate film coating AC particles (optimum 4:1), were optimized regarding the total oxygen carbon (TOC) removal. Under the optimum conditions, TOC removal from folic acid wastewater reached 82.4% during 120 min photoelectrocatalysis. The kinetic analysis and mechanism study showed that the degradation process fitted to the second-order kinetic model better than to the first-order, and the system exhibited synergistic effects in inhibiting photogenic electron–hole recombination and improving electrolytic efficiency. At the same time, this system has the ability to overcome the interference of the strong ionic strength in folic acid wastewater.

Membrane fouling is still the main obstacle for the wider application of membrane processes. In this study, different amounts of silver modified graphitic carbon nitride (Ag/g-C3N4) were firstly introduced into polyethersulfone (PES) membranes by blending via a phase-inversion method. The impacts of Ag/g-C3N4 addition on the membrane morphology, filtration and photocatalysis antifouling properties of Ag/g-C3N4/PES nanocomposite membranes were systematically studied. The results illustrated that the addition of Ag/g-C3N4 could make the finger-like voids in Ag/g-C3N4 nanocomposite membrane longer and wider, increasing the hydrophilicity and filtration property of the nanocomposite membrane. Also the addition of Ag/g-C3N4 nanosheets could endow the nanocomposite membranes with excellent antibacterial, photocatalytic dye degradation and antifouling properties under visible light irradiation.

To better understand the role of integrin subunit alpha 9 (ITGA9) gene polymorphism in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), we investigated the distribution of ITGA9 gene polymorphisms (rs2212020 and rs189897) and revealed whether these polymorphisms were associated with a curative effect in EOC. It was found that rs2212020 and rs189897 were correlated significantly with EOC incidence. The frequency of the C allele of rs2212020 was significantly higher in EOC patients than in the control group (P = 0.009, χ2 = 6.857). The population with the C allele of rs2212020 had a higher EOC risk than the population with the T allele (hazard ratio = 1.97, 95.0% CI = 1.178-3.299). Further, our results showed that the CC genotype was a risk factor for EOC. Regarding the association between ITGA9 and the sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy in EOC, there were no statistically significant differences in the frequencies of the rs189897 and rs2212020 polymorphisms between the chemosensitive group and the control group. In multivariate analysis, the patients with the TT genotype of rs189897 had longer progression free survival (PFS) than the patients without this genotype (P = 0.010, OR = 2.491). The AT genotype of rs189897 was a risk factor for PFS in EOC. These findings suggested that rs189897 and rs2212020 could play important roles in EOC diagnosis and prognosis.

In smart grid era, electric load is becoming more stochastic and less predictable in short horizons with more intermittent energy and competitive electricity market transactions. As a result, short-term probabilistic load forecasting (STPLF) is becoming essential for energy utilities because it helps quantify the risks of decision-making for power systems operation. Currently, probabilistic load forecasts (PLF) are commonly produced from three single components, namely input, model and output. Nevertheless, whether integrating two components to represent dual uncertainties of electric load is practical and able to improve STPLF attracts little regards. To address this issue, this paper proposes three integrated methods by pairwise combination of single representative component, i.e. uniform-biased temperature scenarios (UBTS), quantile regression (QR) and logarithmic residual empirical simulation (LRES). Case study on real utility data demonstrates the superiority of the integrated methods and excavates the relationship between predictive model class and specific integrated method.

An improved photocatalytic microfiltration membrane was successfully prepared by the impregnation method with nitrogen-doped TiO2/graphene oxide (GO) (NTG). By utilizing the unique role of N and GO, the photocatalytic activity of the membrane in UV and sunlight was improved. Compared with the Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) microfiltration membrane which was modified by TiO2, N-TiO2 (NT) and TiO2-GO (TG), the NTG/PVDF membrane exhibited high photocatalytic efficiency and significantly improved photodegradation power to the methylene blue (MB) solution under ultraviolet light and sunlight, with the photocatalytic efficiency reaching 86.5% and 80.6%, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to analyze the morphology, crystal structure and chemical bonds of the membrane surface. The hydrophilicity of the modified PVDF microfiltration membrane was significantly improved, the flux of the pure water membrane reached 1672 Lm&minus, 2h&minus, 1, the flux of the MB solution was also significantly improved due to photodegradation. Therefore, the nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide graphene oxide PVDF microfiltration membrane (NTG/PVDF membrane) has great development prospects in sustainable water treatment.