Effect of chemical modification of palygorskite and sepiolite by 3-aminopropyltriethoxisilane on adsorption of cationic and anionic dyes

[EN]A study has been performed on the removal of representative cationic and anionic dyes, methylene blue and metanil yellow, from aqueous solutions using fibrous clay minerals grafted with amine groups using (3- aminopropyl)triethoxysilane as functionalizing agent. Parameters affecting dye uptake, including contact time and dye concentration, the desorption process, pH and the recovery of both the dyes and the adsorbents, were evaluated. The adsorption capacities were 49.48 and 47.03 mg/g for grafted palygorskite and 60.00 and 59.78 mg/g for grafted sepiolite, for methylene blue and metanil yellow dyes, respectively. Adsorption of the anionic dye was enhanced by the grafting process. Grafted clay mineral adsorbents proved to be efficient to remove the contaminants from a real wastewater from textile industry within 30 min. Both adsorbents showed good reusability and the maximum adsorption capacity was maintained stable after a 2-cycle test. Thus, hybrid adsorbents based on fibrous clay minerals can efficiently be applied in adsorption/desorption cycles for removal of dye

Global Production Increased by Spatial Heterogeneity in a Population Dynamics Model

Spatial and temporal heterogeneity are often described as important factors having a strong impact on biodiversity. The effect of heterogeneity is in most cases analyzed by the response of biotic interactions such as competition of predation. It may also modify intrinsic population properties such as growth rate. Most of the studies are theoretic since it is often difficult to manipulate spatial heterogeneity in practice. Despite the large number of studies dealing with this topics, it is still difficult to understand how the heterogeneity affects populations dynamics. On the basis of a very simple model, this paper aims to explicitly provide a simple mechanism which can explain why spatial heterogeneity may be a favorable factor for production.We consider a two patch model and a logistic growth is assumed on each patch. A general condition on the migration rates and the local subpopulation growth rates is provided under which the total carrying capacity is higher than the sum of the local carrying capacities, which is not intuitive. As we illustrate, this result is robust under stochastic perturbations

Randomly barcoded transposon mutant libraries for gut commensals II: Applying libraries for functional genetics.

The critical role of the intestinal microbiota in human health and disease is well recognized. Nevertheless, there are still large gaps in our understanding of the functions and mechanisms encoded in the genomes of most members of the gut microbiota. Genome-scale libraries of transposon mutants are a powerful tool to help us address this gap. Recent advances in barcoded transposon mutagenesis have dramatically lowered the cost of mutant fitness determination in hundreds of in vitro and in vivo experimental conditions. In an accompanying review, we discuss recent advances and caveats for the construction of pooled and arrayed barcoded transposon mutant libraries in human gut commensals. In this review, we discuss how these libraries can be used across a wide range of applications, the technical aspects involved, and expectations for such screens

Analytical and numerical investigation of escape rate for a noise driven bath

We consider a system-reservoir model where the reservoir is modulated by an external noise. Both the internal noise of the reservoir and the external noise are stationary, Gaussian and are characterized by arbitrary decaying correlation functions. Based on a relation between the dissipation of the system and the response function of the reservoir driven by external noise we numerically examine the model using a full bistable potential to show that one can recover the turn-over features of the usual Kramers' dynamics when the external noise modulates the reservoir rather than the system directly. We derive the generalized Kramers' rate for this nonequilibrium open system. The theoretical results are verified by numerical simulation.Comment: Revtex, 25 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Precipitation regionalization, anomalies and drought occurrence in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

© 2020 The Authors. International Journal of Climatology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the Royal Meteorological Society. Climate change projections have identified the Yucatan Peninsula as being vulnerable to increasing drought. Understanding spatial and temporal precipitation variability and drought occurrence are therefore important. Drought monitoring in Mexico has been carried out only relatively recently and often without considering the long-term variability in both droughts and precipitation. This research explores the spatio-temporal variability of precipitation and occurrence of droughts at a much finer spatial resolution and over a longer temporal period than previous studies. Using statistical (cluster analysis and standardized precipitation index) and geostatistical (kriging) techniques, maps of precipitation and droughts are generated for the period 1980–2011. These show that whilst many previous studies have regarded the Yucatan Peninsula as a homogenous region with respect to precipitation, there are actually four distinctive clusters of precipitation amount, showing climatic variability across the Peninsula. The analyses also show that droughts in the Peninsula are regionalised. Twelve-month Standardized Precipitation Indices (SPI), calculated for individual stations and for precipitation surfaces, reveal distinct patterns of spatial and temporal variability. SPI surfaces indicate the occurrence of major droughts in 1981, 1986–1987, 1994, 1996, 2003, 2004 and 2009, but these rarely affect the whole Yucatan Peninsula uniformly. Wetter years, such as 1983, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 2002 and 2005 sometimes reflect the impact of individual extreme events, such as hurricane Isidore in 2002. Our results show that drought can be regionalised, thus enhancing the quality of information about droughts in the area and providing evidence and support for future drought mitigation and environmental protection. These methods could usefully be applied elsewhere

Learning difficulties : a portuguese perspective of a universal issue

In this article we present findings of a study that was conducted with the purpose of deepening the knowledge about the field of learning difficulties in Portugal. Therefore, within these findings we will discuss across several cultural boundaries, themes related with the existence of learning difficulties as a construct, the terminology, the political, social and scientific influences on the field, and the models of identification and of ongoing school support for students. While addressing the above-mentioned themes we will draw attention to the different, yet converging, international understandings of learning difficulties

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV using 35 pb-1 of ATLAS data

A measurement of the differential cross-section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges |eta|<1.37 and 1.52<=|eta|<2.37 in the transverse energy range 45<=E_T<400GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The yields of the signal photons are measured using a data-driven technique, based on the observed distribution of the hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate and the photon selection criteria. The results are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and found to be in good agreement over four orders of magnitude in cross-section.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 4 tables, final version published in Physics Letters