Potential of Biochar as Cost Effective Adsorbent in Removal of Heavy Metals Ions From Aqueous Phase: A Mini Review

Due to industrialization and increasing population, wastewater treatment has become a big challenge. There are numerous techniques such as ion-exchange, adsorption, membrane filtration, coagulation, flocculation, floating and electrochemical approach developed for the remediation of contaminants from wastewater. But, now it is necessary to develop an approach which should has high efficiency, less expensive and environmental friendly, so that limitation of existing techniques can be overcome. Recent developments of biochar have attracted the researchers into this area. Different methods are discovered to synthesized biochar for the removal of pollutants from wastewater. In this review, biochar are elaborated and critically discussed which have reported for the removal of metallic pollutants present in waste water

Decreasing Mortality and Hospitalizations with Rising Costs Related to Gastric Cancer in the USA: An Epidemiological Perspective

BACKGROUND: There is no convincing data on the trends of hospitalizations, mortality, cost, and demographic variations associated with inpatient admissions for gastric cancer in the USA. The aim of this study was to use a national database of US hospitals to evaluate the trends associated with gastric cancer. METHODS: We analyzed the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database for all patients in whom gastric cancer (ICD-9 code: 151.0, 151.1, 151.2, 151.3, 151.4, 151.5, 151.6, 151.8, 151.9) was the principal discharge diagnosis during the period, 2003-2014. The NIS is the largest publicly available all-payer inpatient care database in the US. It contains data from approximately eight million hospital stays each year. The statistical significance of the difference in the number of hospital discharges, length of stay, and hospital costs over the study period was determined by regression analysis. RESULTS: In 2003, there were 23,921 admissions with a principal discharge diagnosis of gastric cancer as compared to 21,540 in 2014 (P \u3c 0.01). The mean length of stay for gastric cancer decreased by 17% between 2003 and 2014 from 10.9 days to 8.95 days (P \u3c 0.01). However, during this period, the mean hospital charges increased significantly by 21% from $75,341 per patient in 2003 to$ 91,385 per patient in 2014 (P \u3c 0.001). There was a more significant reduction in mortality over a period of 11 years from 2428 (10.15%) in 2003 to 1345 (6.24%) in 2014 (P \u3c 0.01). The aggregate charges (i.e., national bill ) for gastric cancer increased significantly from 1.79 bn $to 1. 96 bn$ (P \u3c 0.001), despite decrease in hospitalization (inflation adjusted). CONCLUSION: Although the number of inpatient admissions for gastric cancer have decreased over the past decade, the healthcare burden and cost related to it has increased significantly. Inpatient mortality is decreasing which is consistent with overall decrease in gastric cancer-related deaths. Cost increase associated with gastric cancer contributed significantly to the national healthcare bill

Vision, challenges and opportunities for a Plant Cell Atlas

With growing populations and pressing environmental problems, future economies will be increasingly plant-based. Now is the time to reimagine plant science as a critical component of fundamental science, agriculture, environmental stewardship, energy, technology and healthcare. This effort requires a conceptual and technological framework to identify and map all cell types, and to comprehensively annotate the localization and organization of molecules at cellular and tissue levels. This framework, called the Plant Cell Atlas (PCA), will be critical for understanding and engineering plant development, physiology and environmental responses. A workshop was convened to discuss the purpose and utility of such an initiative, resulting in a roadmap that acknowledges the current knowledge gaps and technical challenges, and underscores how the PCA initiative can help to overcome them.</jats:p

Kinetics of propellant decomposition

Equations for solid-state decompositions which are controlled by the phase-boundary movement and nucleation have been examined using ammonium perchlorate/polystyrene propellant decomposition at 503 K and 533 K. It was found that 3 different equations governed by the nucleation process show a good fit of data at these temperatures. However, the best fit was obtained for the following Avrami-Erofeev equation, [-In (1 - &#945;)]1/4=kt

Assessment of Phytoremediation Potential of Chara vulgaris to Treat Toxic Pollutants of Textile Effluent

Textile effluent released into water bodies is prone to be toxic for aquatic flora and fauna. In the present study, the phytoremediation potential of Chara vulgaris (C. vulgaris) is investigated for treatment of textile effluent. The highly concentrated and toxic textile effluent is diluted to different concentrations 10%, 25%, 50%, and 75% to check the accessibility of macroalgae to bear pollutant load of textile effluent. The toxicity of textile effluent is analysed by determining different water quality parameters, namely, pH, TDS, BOD, COD, and EC. The maximum reductions in TDS (68%), COD (78%), BOD (82%), and EC (86%) were found in the 10% concentrated textile effluent after 120 h of treatment. The highly concentrated textile effluent showed its toxic effect on macroalgae and it was found unable to show a remarkable change in water quality parameters of 75% and 100% textile effluent. The correlation coefficient values are determined using correlation matrix to identify the high correlation between different water quality parameters. The removal of toxic organic pollutants by C. vulgaris was confirmed by using UV-visible absorption spectra. Typical X-ray spectra recorded using EDXRF technique indicated the presence of heavy metals Cd in the dried sample of macroalgae after treatment which show its capability to remove toxic heavy metals from textile effluent. The reliability model has been proposed for treated textile effluents to identify percentage level of toxicity tolerance of waste water by macroalgae

Furniture Reuse Enterprise

Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”Business, Sauder School ofUnreviewedGraduat

Synthesis of MoS2@TiO2 Nanosheets by Liquid Exfoliation Method for Wastewater Treatment

383-389Molybdenum Disulphide (MoS2) based materials in pure form or composites are known for their photocatalytic activity including wastewater treatment and purification. In the present study, pristine MoS2nanosheets and MoS2@TiO2 composite nanosheets are synthesized via grinding-assisted sonication process with N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent. TiO2 being environment friendly with high photochemical stability, provides a suitable reinforcement material for photocatalytic applications. The prepared dispersions are characterized by UV-Vis, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy for structural and optical properties. These nanosheets are tested for methylene blue dye degradation in dark and in the presence of sunlight at intervals of 30 minutes. The MoS2@TiO2nanosheets show enhanced degradation efficiency in comparison to the pristine MoS2nanosheets. These composite nanosheets are potential materials in tackling dye pollutants for application in wastewater treatment plants and purification

Parametric Optimization of Self-Switching Diode

Parametric optimization of a novel nano diode called self-switching device has been demonstrated using Silvaco TCAD simulator. The device exhibits non-linear characteristics analogous to a conventional diode without requiring any p-n junction. The cut-in voltage can be tuned by varying channel width of the device. The increase in channel doping concentration exhibits velocity saturation, hence, leading to the saturation of output current at higher voltages. The low subthreshold swing of about 100 mV/decade suggests potential utilization of SSDs in high on-off ratio, low power and low voltage electronic applications