Selection of indicator contaminants of emerging concern when reusing reclaimed water for irrigation — A proposed methodology

Organic and microbial contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), even though not yet regulated, are of great concern in reclaimed water reuse projects. Due to the large number of CECs and their different characteristics, it is useful to include only a limited number of them in monitoring programs. The selection of the most representative CECs is still a current and open question. This study presents a new methodology for this scope, in particular for the evaluation of the performance of a polishing treatment and the assessment of the risk for the environment and the irrigated crops. As to organic CECs, the methodology is based on four criteria (occurrence, persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity) expressed in terms of surrogates (respectively, concentrations in the secondary effluent, removal achieved in conventional activated sludge systems, Log Kow and predicted-no-effect concentration). It consists of: (i) development of a dataset including the CECs found in the secondary effluent, together with the corresponding values of surrogates found in the literature or by in-field investigations; (ii) normalization step with the assignment of a score between 1 (low environmental impact) and 5 (high environmental impact) to the different criteria based on threshold values set according to the literature and experts' judgement; (iii) CEC ranking according to their final score obtained as the sum of the specific scores; and (iv) selection of the representative CECs for the different needs. Regarding microbial CECs, the selection is based on their occurrence and their highest detection frequency in the secondary effluent and in the receiving water, the antibiotic consumption patterns, and recommendations by national and international organisations. The methodology was applied within the ongoing reuse project SERPIC resulting in a list of 30 indicator CECs, including amoxicillin, bisphenol A, ciprofloxacin, diclofenac, erythromycin, ibuprofen, iopromide, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, Escherichia coli, faecal coliform, 16S rRNA, sul1, and sul2.publishedVersio

Boron isotope ratio (delta B-11) measurements in water framework directive monitoring programs: comparison between double focusing sector field ICP and thermal ionization mass spectrometry

International audienceThe aim of our research was to compare delta B-11 measurements performed with thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) and sector field-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) and evaluate the feasibility of implementing stable isotope methods in European water framework directive (WFD) monitoring programs. The comparison was based on delta B-11 measurements of 192 ground-and surface water samples and 15 leachates of nitrate pollution source materials (organic and mineral fertilisers). The precision of delta B-11 measurements attainable with SF-ICP-MS, 2 sigma= +/- 2.6 parts per thousand; (n = 192), is as expected lower than the precision achieved by TIMS, 2 sigma= +/- 0.3 parts per thousand (n=183). However the ease of use, rapidity and availability of SF-ICP-MS on one hand and the observed variability in delta B-11 in ground-and surface water on the other (from -3.4 to +37 parts per thousand), demonstrates that using SF-ICP-MS as an isotopic screening method would promote the use of isotopic methodology for WFD monitoring. Based on the results of the different case studies it is shown that retrieving precise information on the identification of pollution sources from delta B-11 values requires reaching the best analytical precision and accuracy possible. Hence, the superior precision of TIMS advantages tracing of nitrate pollution sources. However for some cases, e. g. trying to decipher contributions between sources with really distinct delta B-11 signatures (e.g. manure and sewage effluent), SF-ICP-MS results lead to the same conclusions and can therefore be used as a first approachable screening method for the determination of delta B-11 in WFD monitoring programs

Group communication in mobile environments : an extension of the group communication paradigm to support mobile applications users

Mit der zunehmenden mobilen Nutzung des Internets steigt auch die Zahl von Anwendungen in mobilen Umgebungen. Diese sind neben ihren spezifischen Anforderungen oft durch eine enge Kooperation ihrer Nutzer gekennzeichnet. Werden mobile verteilte Entscheidungsprozesse modelliert, welche der Bewertung von Sachverhalten oder der Lösung von Aufgaben dienen, so nennt man diese Klasse von Anwendungen mobile kollaborative Anwendungen. Sie werden in dieser Arbeit eingeführt. Ihre Eigenschaften und Besonderheiten werden diskutiert. Die Teilnehmer solcher Anwendungen kollaborieren innerhalb einer geschlossenen Gruppe und bauen ein gemeinsames Wissen auf. Auf dessen Basis kann die Anwendung lokale Entscheidungen treffen, über die in der Gruppe Konsens besteht. Die instabile Kommunikation in mobilen Umgebungen stellt jedoch an die Sicherung der Konsistenz des gemeinsamen Wissens besondere Anforderungen. Da klassische Verfahren zur Konsistenzsicherung in gruppenorientierten Systemen nicht genutzt werden können, ist die Sicherung der Konsistenz des globalen Wissens in mobilen Umgebungen das Leitthema dieser Arbeit. Es wird ein gruppenorientierter Kommunikationsdienst – Moversight genannt – für mobile kollaborative Anwendungen vorgestellt, welcher ihnen ein konsistentes globales Wissen trotz instabilen Kommunikationsumfeldes bereitstellt. Hinzu kommt, dass neben der Konsistenzsicherung die Diensterbringung in einer ressourcenschonenden Art und Weise bei gleichzeitiger kontinuierlicher Adaption der Gruppe an sich ändernde Bedingungen einschließlich der Wartung ihrer Kommunikationsstrukturen gesichert werden müssen. Der Protokollentwurf für Moversight wird in dieser Arbeit vorgestellt. Für Moversight wurden neuartige Funktionen zur Behandlung der Nutzermobilität entwickelt, welche mit den notwendigen Mechanismen zur Sicherung der Konsistenz des gemeinsamen Wissens interagieren. Ohne Gegenmaßnahmen würden häufige Verbindungsunterbrechungen das gemeinsame Wissen der Gruppe zerstören, wodurch diese logisch partitioniert und letztlich die Kollaboration der Nutzer verhindert wird. Grundlage der Sicherung des gemeinsamen Wissens ist die mobile optimistische virtuelle Synchronität (MOVS), welche das übliche gruppenorientierte Modell der Wissenssicherung um eine Behandlung der Nutzermobilität und variierender Verbindungseigenschaften der Gruppenteilnehmer erweitert. Dadurch können Teilnehmer bei Verbindungsproblemen zeitnah in die Gruppe zurückzukehren und ihr Wissen mit dieser abzugleichen. Das vorgestellte Konzept zur Erkennung und Behandlung von Fehlersituationen mit anschließendem Gruppenwiedereintritt ist deutlich leistungsfähiger als das üblicherweise verwendete Verfahren. Dies wird erreicht durch eine leichtgewichtige Fehlerdetektion unter Nutzung einer neuartigen verteilten Latenzschätzung sowie einer kontinuierlichen Adaption der verwendeten Kommunikationstopologie an die sich permanent ändernden Kommunikationsbedingungen. Die entwickelte Optimierung der clusterbasierten Kommunikationstopologie eignet sich für alle gruppenorientierten clusterbasierten Anwendungsszenarien. Darüber hinaus verfügt Moversight über kollaborative Dienste für das Teilen und Vereinigen von Gruppen, wie sie bisher in keinem gruppenorientierten Kommunikationsdienst zu finden sind. Beide Dienste ermöglichen eine anwendungsgetriebene Neustrukturierung der kollaborativen Gruppe bei gleichzeitiger Sicherung des globalen Wissens.With the increasing mobile use of the Internet, the number of applications in mobile environments is increased as well. In addition to their specific requirements, these applications often have a close group-oriented collaboration among their users. If mobile distributed decision processes are modeled that serve to assess issues or solve tasks this class of applications is called mobile collaborative applications. We introduce this class in this work and discuss their characteristics and special features. The participants of such applications collaborate within a closed group and build a global knowledge. On this basis, the application can make local decisions that enable consensus within the group. However, the unstable communication in mobile environments puts special demands on securing the consistency of the global knowledge. Since it is not possible to use the traditional methods for consistency assurance in group-oriented systems, securing the consistency of global knowledge in mobile environments is the guiding theme of this work. With Moversight, we introduce a group-oriented communication service for mobile collaborative applications, which assures a consistent global knowledge despite an unstable communications environment. In addition to consistency assurance, the resource-efficient provisioning of services is essential for mobile applications. Moreover, the group must continually adapted to the changing conditions including the maintenance of its communication structures. We developed for Moversight novel mobility features, which interact with the mechanisms to ensure the consistency of the global knowledge. Without countermeasures, frequent disconnections would destroy the group’s global knowledge, logically partitioning it and ultimately preventing users from collaborating. The basis for securing the global knowledge is Mobile Optimistic Virtual Synchrony (MOVS), which extends the usual group-centric consistency assurance model to include user mobility and handling of different connection properties of the group participants. Thus, in case of connection problems participants can quickly return to the group and synchronize their knowledge with this. The presented concept for the detection and treatment of error situations with subsequent group re-entry is much more efficient than commonly used methods. We accomplish this by a lightweight error detection using a novel distributed latency estimation and continuous adaptation of the communication topology to ever-changing communication conditions. The developed optimization of the cluster-based communication topology is suitable for all group-oriented, clusterbased application scenarios. Furthermore, Moversight provides collaborative services for application-driven splitting and merging of groups as they have yet not been found in any group-based communications service. Both services enable application-driven restructuring of the collaborative group while preserving global knowledge

Einsatzverhalten strukturierter CVD-Diamantbeschichteter Honleisten

Im vorliegenden Beitrag wurde ein neuartiges Werkzeugkonzept mit strukturierten Schneiden für die Honbearbeitung vorgestellt. Hierzu wurden Honleistengrundkörper aus Siliziumnitrid durch Schleifen strukturiert und so definierte Pyramidenstrukturen gefertigt. Nach einer CVD-Beschichtung mit Diamant wurden die Honleisten in Referenz zu konventionellen Honleisten erprobt. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass mit den strukturierten CVD-Diamantbeschichteten Honleisten sehr gleichmäßige Oberflächentexturen im Grauguss und thermischer Spritzschicht entstehen, bei denen sehr gute und vor allem vergleichbare Rauheiten und Zerspanraten wie bei der Bearbeitung mit konventioneller Körnung erreicht werden. Die Aussicht mit den strukturierten CVD-Diamantbeschichteten Honleisten mit geringerem Anpressdruck vergleichbare, charakteristische Zerspanungswerte zu ermöglichen bietet ein hohes Potenzial hinsichtlich der Reduzierung der Bearbeitungsdauer und Honstufenanzahl, insbesondere in Verbindung mit dem geringen Verschleiß der Honleisten

Effects of Staphylococcus aureus-hemolysin A on calcium signalling in immortalized human airway epithelial cells

Part of the innate defence of bronchial epithelia against bacterial colonization is secretion of salt and water which generally depends on coordinated actions of receptor-mediated cAMP- and calcium signalling. The hypothesis that Staphylococcus aureus-virulence factors interfere with endogenous signals in host cells was tested by measuring agonist-mediated changes in [Ca] in S9 cells upon pre-incubation with bacterial secretory products. S9 cells responded to mAChR-activation with calcium release from intracellular stores and capacitative calcium influx. Treatment of cells with culture supernatants of S. aureus (COL) or with recombinant α-hemolysin (Hla) resulted in time- and concentration-dependent changes in [Ca]. High concentrations of Hla (2000 ng/ml) resulted in elevations in [Ca] elicited by accelerated calcium influx. A general Hla-mediated permeabilization of S9 cell membranes to small molecules, however, did not occur. Lower concentrations of Hla (200 ng/ml) induced a reduction in [Ca]-levels during the sustained plateau phase of receptor-mediated calcium signalling which was abolished by pre-incubation of cells with carboxyeosin, an inhibitor of the plasma membrane calcium-ATPase. This indicates that low concentrations of Hla change calcium signalling by accelerating pump-driven extrusion of Ca ions. In vivo, such a mechanism may result in attenuation of calcium-mediated cellular defence functions and facilitation of bacterial adherence to the bronchial epithelium

Self-sustaining cleaning technology for safe water supply and management in rural African areas - SafeWaterAfrica

Water will increasingly become a limited resource and the supply of which will become a major restriction to the future socio-economic development of countries in Africa. This includes both the amount of water available and the quality of what is available. At present, many resources are polluted by industrial effluents, domestic and commercial sewage, acid mine drainage, agricultural runoff and litter. Due to this, a new method for water decontamination is required. One such method is water purification by means of the degradation of contaminants by strong oxidants which are produced electrochemically from the water molecules in the aqueous solution to be treated. This technology of electrochemical advanced oxidation processes by means of diamond electrodes for use in water purification has been previously developed. However, to date only specific large-scale industrial/commercial applications have been developed. Based on the knowledge gained in previous projects, a diamond electrode-based water purification system was developed which was tailored according to the particular needs of the target African groups in rural regions of Mozambique and South Africa. Furthermore, a new seeding technique on large area Silicon substrates prior to the diamond deposition will be shown. With the produced diamond electrodes, in addition to tailored solutions in the fields of water disinfection, waste water treatment, and electrochemical synthesis, a low cost, easy-to-handle and solar-powered water purification solution for the decentralized water treatment and supply of safe water in the rural and peri-urban areas of southern African countries will be shown

Testing of Diamond Electrodes as Biosensor for Antibody-Based Detection of Immunoglobulin Protein with Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy

To control the increasing virus pandemics, virus detection methods are essential. Today’s standard virus detections methods are fast (immune assays) or precise (PCR). A method that is both fast and precise would enable more efficient mitigation measures and better life comfort. According to recent papers, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has proven to detect viruses fast and precise. Boron-doped diamond (BDD) was used as a high-performance electrode material in these works. The aim of this work was to perform an initial test of BDD-based EIS for biosensing. As an easily available standard biomaterial, human immunoglobulin G (IgG) was used as analyte. Niobium plates were coated via hot-filament activated chemical vapor deposition with polycrystalline diamond, and doped with boron for electrical conductivity. An anti-human IgG antibody was immobilised on the BDD electrodes as a biosensing component. Four different analyte concentrations up to 1.1 µg per litre were tested. During EIS measurements, both impedance over frequency curves and Nyquist plot demonstrated no clear sign of a change of the charge transfer resistance. Thus, no positive statement about a successful biosensing could be made so far. It is assumed that these issues need to be investigated and improved, including the relation of BDD electrode size to electrolyte volume, termination of the BDD electrodes (H, O) for a successful functionalisation and EIS frequency range. The work will be continued concerning these improvement issues in order to finally use virus materials as analyte

Scientific Reports / Non-professional marathon running : RAGE axis and ST2 family changes in relation to open-window effect, inflammation and renal function

Conflicting data exist on the relevance of marathon (M) and half marathon (HM) running for health. The number of non-professional athletes finishing M and HM events is steadily growing. In order to investigate molecular changes occurring in amateur athletes, we enrolled 70 non-professional runners finishing a single M (34) or HM (36) event at baseline, the finish line and during recovery, and 30 controls. The measurement of the Receptor for Advanced Glycation Endproducts, Interleukin 1 receptor antagonist, ST2 and cytokeratin 18 was combined with molecules measured during clinical routine. Results were analyzed in the light of blood cell analysis, lactate measurements, correction for changes in plasma volume and body composition assessments. There were intrinsic differences in body mass index, abdominal body fat percentage and training time between M and HM runners. C-reactive protein changes in M and HM runners. While soluble RAGE, AGEs and ST2 increased immediately after the race in HM runners, HMGB1 increased in HM and M after the race and declined to baseline after a recovery period. We give insights into the regulation of various molecules involved in physical stress reactions and their possible implications for the cardiovascular system or renal function.(VLID)468853