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Reconstructing ancient tectonic environments is inherently difficult and requires the integration of many datasets. Here we attempt to reconstruct the tectonic setting of a Proterozoic magmatic rock suite from the Archean to Mesoproterozoic Gawler Craton, South Australia. We evaluate previous models of subduction or non-subduction tectonics for the St Peter Suite through field observations coupled with geochemical and isotopic data. Field observations indicate the presence of mafic magma chambers, felsic plutons and zones of mixing represented by multiphase plutons and zones of magma transfer. Syn-magmatic and solid-state deformation fabrics suggest magmatism was associated with a compressional tectonic regime, at least during some stages of magmatism. Zircon U–Pb geochronology suggests magmatism occurred between ca 1633 and ca 1608 Ma, an interval of ca 25 Myr. Mafic rocks are tholeiitic and enrichment in high field strength and light rare earth elements supports a modified mantle source region. Mafic rocks have εNd1620 Ma values around 0, and zircon εHf(t) values around 4, supporting minor crustal contamination. Felsic plutons have a geochemical signature similar to average continental crust, εNd1620 Ma between –3.7 and 0.4, and zircon Lu–Hf isotopic compositions that yield to εHf(t) values between –1.8 and 7.7, suggesting they were derived from fractionation of enriched tholeiitic parent magmas. A model for the formation of the St Peter Suite that is most consistent with the available data is one that places the magmatism in a broadly continental magmatic arc setting, albeit one in which little or no Archean crust was involved. Potentially this magmatic arc could have been built on a thinned, or hyper-extended continental margin. The integration of structural, geochemical and isotopic constraints has provided a more holistic view of the St Peter Suite petrogenesis than previously available. Evaluation of models of subduction vs non-subduction tectonics for formation of Paleoproterozoic magmatic suite Evidence for syn-magmatic compression and mafic–felsic magma mingling Isotopically juvenile (Nd--Sr--Hf) with mantle-like zircon δ18O values Continental arc setting proposed, possibly on hyper-extended continental margin [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to update and validate a prediction rule for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalization in preterm infants 33-35 weeks gestational age (WGA).The RISK study consisted of 2 multicenter prospective birth cohorts in 41 hospitals. Risk factors were assessed at birth among healthy preterm infants 33-35 WGA. All hospitalizations for respiratory tract infection were screened for proven RSV infection by immunofluorescence or polymerase chain reaction. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to update an existing prediction model in the derivation cohort (n = 1,227). In the validation cohort (n = 1,194), predicted versus actual RSV hospitalization rates were compared to determine validity of the model.RSV hospitalization risk in both cohorts was comparable (5.7% versus 4.9%). In the derivation cohort, a prediction rule to determine probability of RSV hospitalization was developed using 4 predictors: family atopy (OR 1.9; 95%CI, 1.1-3.2), birth period (OR 2.6; 1.6-4.2), breastfeeding (OR 1.7; 1.0-2.7) and siblings or daycare attendance (OR 4.7; 1.7-13.1). The model showed good discrimination (c-statistic 0.703; 0.64-0.76, 0.702 after bootstrapping). External validation showed good discrimination and calibration (c-statistic 0.678; 0.61-0.74).Our prospectively validated prediction rule identifies infants at increased RSV hospitalization risk, who may benefit from targeted preventive interventions. This prediction rule can facilitate country-specific, cost-effective use of RSV prophylaxis in late preterm infants.

The use of purified hydrocolloids extracted from waste-activated sludge has significant potential for preventing seed deterioration caused by aging. In this study, we compared the advantages and disadvantages of 3 types of purified hydrocolloid seed coatings from different waste sludges and one commercial seed coating at different spraying times (2, 4, 6, and 8). Compared with coated maize seeds, uncoated maize seeds underwent significant functional changes during the aging process according to the infrared spectroscopy results. Subsequent pot experiments were conducted at 4 days after aging. The average germination rate of the coated maize seeds was greater than that of the uncoated seeds at all spraying times. In terms of antioxidant enzyme activities, seeds treated with different coatings presented an increasing trend with increasing spraying time, indicating a difference between different spraying times. Principal component analysis revealed that the optimum number of sprays to achieve the results of carboxymethyl cellulose seed coating was 8 for the Xiaohongmen Wastewater Treatment Plant, 6 for the Dongba Wastewater Treatment Plant, and 4 for the Nanyang Wastewater Treatment Plant. The number of sprays applied in practice is an important determining factor during seed storage., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest ☒ The authors 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 © 2025. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Excessive organic matter in the anaerobic ammonia oxidation (Anammox) leads to the growth of a large number of heterotrophic bacteria, which disrupts the anaerobic ammonia oxidation. The adsorption-anaerobic ammonia oxidation process can effectively reduce excessive organic matter, capturing it instead of consuming it, which is a sustainable development technology. In this study, utilizing the excellent adsorption performance of aerobic granular sludge (AGS), an adsorption-regeneration process was employed to remove organic matter at the front end of the Anammox process through bio-adsorption in an artificial simulated domestic sewage environment, and it was successfully used for denitrification. Stirring rate is a key factor affecting sludge granulation. As a parallel experiment of sludge granulation, two Sequencing Batch Reactors (SBRs) (R1 and R2) were operated simultaneously at different stirring rates. After 153 days, the particle size of the two reactors was analyzed, revealing that the proportion of particles larger than 200 μm was over 50%, and granular sludge was successfully formed in both reactors. Long-term operational results indicate that at a temperature of 16.5 ± 1 °C, varying initial pH levels (6.5, 6.7, 7.2, and 8.5) significantly affect the removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD). COD is rapidly adsorbed and removed within a short period. Among the tested initial pH values, a pH of 6.7 yielded the best total chemical oxygen demand (tCOD) removal efficiency, achieving up to 95%. Additionally, the study examined the effects of different carbon sources on denitrification, revealing that under carbon-rich conditions, the denitrification rate was highest, reaching 1.44 mg N/(g VSS·h). Compared to endogenous denitrification, the denitrification rate increased by 40%, and the nitrate (NO₃⁻-N) removal efficiency reached 100%., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Vanadium (V) and chromium (Cr) are key resources widely used in industrial production. However, mining causes V(V) and Cr(VI) contamination in groundwater, posing health and environmental risks. Straw is an important byproduct and considered waste, however, it could be a solid carbon source. Therefore, the feasibility of V(V) and Cr(VI) bioremediation in groundwater was determined using straw as the carbon source in this study. A continuous-flow reactor able to resist fluctuations in pollutant concentrations in groundwater was constructed. V(V) and Cr(VI) were completely removed (100%, 10-34 d) in the reactor, and the maximum Cr(VI) removal rate from effluent was 1.19 mg/(L·h) (34-64 d). After long-term reactor operation (114 d), the V(V) and Cr(VI) removal rates reached almost 100%. Moreover, the formation of humus and tryptophan contributed to V(V) and Cr(VI) bioremediation. The extracellular polymeric substance content increased from 108.28 to 113.98 mg/g VSS, and combined with V(V) and Cr(VI) to reduce their concentrations. Moreover, functional microbes associated with heavy metal removal (Bacillus and Pseudobacteroides) and straw decomposition (Paludibacter) were found. The findings of this study offer empirical evidence that support the utilization of straw for mitigating composite heavy metal pollution, thereby laying a foundation for its practical engineering applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

An interesting and potential property of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) is the hydrogel formation with calcium ions. Aiming at understanding the significant difference in the hydrogel formed between EPS from flocculent and granular sludge, a targeted investigation of the lipopolysaccharides (LPS), one of the important EPS components, was performed. LPS was isolated from the EPS of flocculent and granular sludge, and both the glycan and the lipid A parts of LPS were characterized and compared. The morphology of LPS-calcium (LPS-Ca) aggregates were visualized by the polymyxin B-based fluorescent probe. The LPS constituted about 25 % and 15 % of the EPS from flocculent and granular sludge, respectively. The flocculent sludge LPS showed a lower amount of glycans, shorter glycan chain length, lower molecular weight, and higher possibility of containing unsaturated lipids than the granular sludge EPS. The flocculent sludge LPS-Ca aggregates demonstrated invert structures with the water phase in between, contributing to the fluid-like property of the respect EPS-Ca. In contrast, with the remarkably different chemical structure, LPS-Ca aggregates from granular sludge displayed bilaminar multilayered morphology, contributing to the solid, self-standing hydrogel of EPS-Ca., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Climate change and carbon emissions are increasingly becoming a global concern, and thus wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are also receiving extensive attention due to direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O). Although there have been many emission factors (EFs) of CH 4 and N 2 O in literature, they are changeful due to different processes and boundaries, which limits their values for reference and comparison. With this study, in situ monitored CH 4 and N 2 O data reported in literature were retrieved for recalculating their EFs. The average EFs are found to be 0.0011 g CH 4 /g BOD 5-influent , and 0.0017 g N 2 O-N/g TN influent , based on the secondary treatment. Subsequently, the data were analyzed using multivariate linear regression and neural network. The results indicate that BOD 5 is the first factor affecting the EF of CH 4 , revealing a negative correlation and that TN is the second factor affecting the EF of CH 4 , but having a positive correlation. On the other hand, the neural network is a powerfully predictive and generalizable tool for EF N2O . BOD 5 is negatively correlated with EF N2O , and EF N2O reaches to its maximum value at TN = 35 mg/L. Overall, the direct GHG emission intensity is the lowest in the AAO and AO processes, or with the BOD 5 /TN ratio between 2.5 and 4.9. Medium-sized WWTPs and the Oceania region exhibit the highest GHG emission intensity. With this study, an approximate approach is established to estimate the EFs of CH 4 and N 2 O, which can facilitate to account the carbon footprint of WWTPs and also to aid in optimizing their operational schemes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Carbon capture performance is a key factor determining the chemical energy recovery potential of the high-rate contact stabilization (HiCS) process. However, the mechanisms of organic carbon capture are complex, involving surface adsorption, extracellular adsorption, and intracellular storage. A unique characteristic of the HiCS process is its low sludge residence time (SRT). Unfortunately, the influence of SRT on carbon capture has not been thoroughly studied, especially in terms of the underlying mechanisms. In this study, the microscopic changes in carbon capture performance during the transition from a conventional contact stabilized (CS) system to a high-rate mode of operation were demonstrated using intracellular carbon sources, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), signaling molecules, and microbial community assays. The results showed that the extracellular carbon adsorption and intracellular carbon storage performance increased, and the microbial community structure changed significantly with converting the CS system to the high-rate operation mode. The enhancement of extracellular carbon adsorption performance mainly relied on the growth of EPS, which was accomplished by the strong growth of the relative abundance of the dominant bacterial group Cloacibacterium within the HiCS system, offsetting the negative effect produced by the decline of acyl-homoserine lactones. 98 mgCOD/gSS, 343 mgCOD/gSS, and 500 mgCOD/gSS of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) per sludge unit were obtained at SRT-24d, 8d, and 2d, respectively, suggesting that the HiCS system is more advantageous for rapid PHAs production., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

As a significant structure in activated sludge, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) hold considerable value regarding resource recovery and applications. The present study aimed to elucidate the relationship between the microbial community and the composition and properties of EPS. A biological nutrient removal (BNR) reactor was set up in the laboratory and controlled under different solid retention times (SRT), altering microbial species within the system. Then EPS was extracted from activated and analyzed by chemical and spectroscopic methods. High-throughput sequencing and metagenomic approaches were employed to investigate bacterial community and metabolic pathways. The results showed that lower SRT with a higher abundance of the family-level Proteobacteria (27.7%-53.5%) favored EPS synthesis, while another dominant group Bacteroidetes (20.0%-32.6%) may not significantly affect EPS synthesis. Furthermore, the abundance of alginates-producing bacteria including Pseudomonas spp. and Azotobacter vinelandii was only 2.53%-6.76% and 1.98%-6.34%, respectively. The alginate synthesis pathway genes Alg8 and Alg44 were also present at very low levels (0.05‱-0.11‱, 0.01‱-0.02‱, respectively). Another important gene related to alginates operons, AlgK, was absent across all the SRT-operated reactors. These findings suggest an impossible and incomplete alginate synthesis pathway within sludge. In light of these results, it can be concluded that EPS does not necessarily contain alginate components., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To provide the necessary nitrite for the Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation (ANAMMOX) process, the effect of nitrite accumulation in the partial sulfide autotrophic denitrification (PSAD) process was investigated using an SBR reactor. The results revealed that the effectiveness of nitrate removal was unsatisfactory when the S/N ratio (mol/mol) fell below 0.6. The optimal conditions for nitrate removal and nitrite accumulation were achieved within the S/N ratio range of 0.7-0.8, resulting in an average Nitrate Removal Efficiency (NRE) of 95.84%±4.89% and a Nitrite Accumulation Rate (NAR) of 75.31%±6.61%, respectively. It was observed that the nitrate reduction rate was three times faster than that of nitrite reduction during a typical cycle test. Furthermore, batch tests were conducted to assess the influence of pH and temperature conditions. In the pH tests, it became evident that the PSAD process performed more effectively in alkaline environment. The highest levels of nitrate removal and nitrite accumulation were achieved at an initial pH of 8.5, resulting in a NRE of 98.30%±1.93% and a NAR of 85.83%±0.47%, respectively. In the temperature tests, the most favourable outcomes for nitrate removal and nitrite accumulation were observed at 22±1 ℃, with a NRE of 100.00% and a NAR of 81.03%±1.64%, respectively. Moreover, a comparative analysis of 16S rRNA sequencing results between the raw sludge and the sulfide-enriched culture sludge sample showed that Proteobacteria (49.51%) remained the dominant phylum, with Thiobacillus (24.72%), Prosthecobacter (2.55%), Brevundimonas (2.31%) and Ignavibacterium (2.04%) emerging as the dominant genera, assuming the good nitrogen performance of the system.

Phosphorus (P) recovered from sludge-incinerated ash (SIA) could be applied to synthesize highly added-value products (FePO 4 and LiFePO 4 ) with in situ Fe in SIA. Indeed, LiFePO 4 is a future of rechargeable batteries, which makes lithium (Li) highly needed. Alternatively, Li could also be extracted from concentrated brines to face a potential crisis of Li depletion on lands. Based on H 3 PO 4 and Fe 3+ co-extracted from the acidic leachate of SIA by tributyl phosphate (TBP), FePO 4 (31.2 wt% Fe, 17.6 wt% P and the molar ratio of Fe/P = 0.98) was easily formed only adjusting pH of the stripping solution to 1.6. Interestingly, the organic phase from the first-stage co-extraction process of Fe 3+ and H 3 PO 4 could be utilized for Li-extraction from salt-lake brine, based on the TBP-FeCl 3 -kerosene system, and a good performance (78.7%) of Li-extraction and separation factors (β) (186.0-217.4) were obtained. Furthermore, the compounds with Li-extraction are complex, possibly LiFeCl 4 ∙2TBP, in which Li + could be stripped to form Li 2 CO 3 by 4.0 M HCl (with a stripping rate up to 83%). Besides, Li 2 CO 3 could also be obtained from desalinated brine by adsorption with manganese oxide ion sieve (HMO) and desorption with HCl. In the two cases, almost pure Li 2 CO 3 products were obtained, up to 99.7 and 99.5 wt% Li 2 CO 3 respectively, after further purification and concentration. Finally, recovered FePO 4 and extracted Li 2 CO 3 were synthesized for producing LiFePO 4 that had a similar electrochemical property (69.5 and 77.8 mAh/g of the initial discharge capacity) to those synthesized from commercial raw materials., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Vanadium (V) contamination posed a significant environmental challenge, while phytoremediation offered a sustainable solution. Phytoremediation performance was often limited by the slow growth cycles of traditional plants. A novel approach to enhancing V phytoremediation by integrating coffee grounds with fast-growing plants such as barley grass, wheat grass, and ryegrass was investigated in this study. The innovative use of coffee grounds leveraged not only their nutrient-rich composition but also their ability to reduce oxidative stress in plants, thereby significantly boosting phytoremediation efficiency. Notably, ryegrass achieved 48.7% V 5+ removal within 6 d with initial 20 mg/L V 5+ (0.338 mg/L·d·g ryegrass). When combined with coffee grounds, V 5+ removal by using wheat grass increased substantially, rising from 30.51% to 62.91%. Gradient Boosting and XGBoost models, trained with optimized parameters including a learning rate of 0.1, max depth of 3, and n_estimators of 300, were employed to predict and optimize V 5+ concentrations in the phytoremediation process. These models were evaluated using mean squared error (MSE) and coefficient of determination (R 2 ) metrics, achieving high predictive accuracy (R 2  = 0.95, MSE = 1.20). Feature importance analysis further identified the initial V 5+ concentration and experimental duration as the most significant factors influencing the model's predictions. The addition of coffee grounds not only mitigated the stress of heavy metals on ryegrass, leading to significant reductions in CAT (87.2%), POD (98.8%), and SOD (39.2%) activities in ryegrass roots, but also significantly altered the microbial community abundance in the plant roots. This research provided an innovative enhancement to traditional phytoremediation methods, and established a new paradigm for using machine learning to predict and optimize V 5+ remediation outcomes. The effectiveness of this technology in multi-metal polluted environments warrants further investigation in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The high-rate contact stabilization (HiCS) process, a variant of high-rate activated sludge, has gained attention for its superior energy recovery and enhanced biosorption capabilities. The need for efficient energy recovery in HiCS necessitates a high settling efficiency to minimize resource loss due to endogenous sludge consumption. However, the low sludge retention time (SRT) required for HiCS can significantly affect sludge floc stability and flocculation performance, warranting a deeper analysis of the factors influencing these characteristics. This study investigates the impact of SRT reduction on sludge performance, focusing on energy potential, viscoelasticity, and critical pressure. The analysis was conducted using rheological tests, contact angle measurements, zeta potential analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, XDLVO theory, and the PARAFAC model. Results indicate that due to the contribution of hydrophobicity, the HiCS system maintained the large flocs morphology of the sludge even when the SRT was maintained for 2d. However, a combination of aerobic microbial activity, high concentrations of loosely bound extracellular polymeric substances, and the presence of the filamentous bacterium Thiothrix contributed to reduced flocculation performance., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The interaction between extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in municipal sludge and antibiotics in wastewater is critical in wastewater treatment, resource recovery, and sludge management. Therefore, it is increasingly urgent to investigate the distribution coefficient (Log K) of sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs) in EPS, particularly in sludge-derived dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and aqueous phase systems. Herein, through balance experiments, the concentrations of SAs were determined using alkaline extraction EPS (AEPS) and alginate-like extracellular polymer (ALE) systems, and the Log K DOC values were determined. The results showed that the Log K DOC of AEPS was higher than that of ALE, which exhibited a negative K DOC value, indicating an inhibitory effect on dissolution. For the three SAs studied, the Log K DOC values were in the following order: sulfamethoxazole > sulfapyridine > sulfadiazine. This order can be attributed to the differing physicochemical properties, such as polarity, of the SAs. Three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectra and fitting results indicated a lack of aromatic proteins dominated by tryptophan and humus-like substances in ALE. Meanwhile, the hydrophobic interaction of aromatic proteins dominated by tryptophan was the main driving force in the binding process between AEPS and SAs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors 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 © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)