Ozonation of trace organic compounds in different municipal and industrial wastewaters : kinetic-based prediction of removal efficiency and ozone dose requirements

For the wide application of ozonation in (industrial and municipal) wastewater treatment, prediction of trace organic compounds (TrOCs) removal and evaluation of energy requirements are essential for its design and operation. In this study, a kinetics approach, based on the correlation between the second order reaction rate constants of TrOCs with ozone and hydroxyl radicals ((OH)-O-center dot) and the ozone and (OH)-O-center dot exposure (i.e., integral (sic)O-3(sic)dt and integral [(OH)-O-center dot]dt, which are defined as the time integral concentration of O-3 and (OH)-O-center dot for a given reaction time), was validated to predict the elimination efficiency in not only municipal wastewaters but also industrial wastewaters. Two municipal wastewater treatment plant effluents from Belgium (HB-effluent) and China (QG-effluent) and two industrial wastewater treatment plant effluents respectively from a China printing and dyeing factory (PD-effluent) and a China lithium-ion battery factory (LZ-effluent) were used for this purpose. The (OH)-O-center dot scavenging rate from the major scavengers (namely alkalinity, effluent organic matter (EfOM) and NO2-) and the total (OH)-O-center dot scavenging rate of each effluent were calculated. The various water matrices and the (OH)-O-center dot scavenging rates resulted in a difference in the requirement for ozone dose and energy for the same level of TrOCs elimination. For example, for more than 90% atrazine (ATZ) abatement in HB-effluent (with a total (OH)-O-center dot scavenging rate of 1.9 x 10(5) s(-1)) the energy requirement was 12.3 x 10(-2) kWh/m(3), which was lower than 30.1 x 10(-2) kWh/m(3) for PD-effluent (with the highest total (OH)-O-center dot scavenging rate of 4.7 x 10(5) s(-1)). Even though the water characteristics of selected wastewater effluents are quite different, the results of measured and predicted TrOCs abatement efficiency demonstrate that the kinetics approach is applicability for the prediction of target TrOCs elimination by ozonation in both municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plant effluents

The Runoff Changes and Influential Factors Analysis of Wulanmulun River

In the past 60 years, climate change and increasingly extensive human activities have greatly altered the runoff in Wulanmulun River basin. Based on the climate and hydrological data in Wangdaohengta station during 1959 - 2015, runoff variation characteristics and the influencing factors were studied. Mann - Kendall trend analysis, statistic analysis, R / S analysis, and double mass curve were used comprehensively in the study. The results indicated that the multi - year change of runoff had a decreased tendency in all, and this trend was the most evident since the end of the twentieth century. The runoff affected by rainfall and human activities appeared three change periods in which the turning years were 1980 and 1995 respectively. The effect of precipitation on runoff decreased, and the influence rate reduced from 18.77% in 1980 - 1995 to 8.48% in 1995 - 2015. The influence of human activities on runoff gradually increased, the influence rate increased from 81.23% in 1980 - 1995 to 91.52% in 1995 - 2015. The Hurst index was 0.3533 for the Wangdaohengta station which indicates that the runoff of Wulanmulun River will have a raise trend in the future

Study on the Variation of Annual Runoff and Influencing Factors in Kuye River during the Past 60 Years

In this study, observed runoff series from a hydro-station respectively named Wenjiachuan station in the Kuye river was manipulated for monthly annual variation analysis assisted by using nonuniformity coefficient and concentration degree(period).the cumulative filter methods was employed to detect the trend of inner-annual runoff. Based on meteorological and hydrological data of the Wenjiachuan hydrologic station from 1955 to 2015, the paper studied the variation tendency, the abrupt and periodic changes of annual runoff using the Mann-Kendall non-parametric test and accumulation anomaly curve. Double mass curve was used to estimate the impact of human activities and climate change on the runoff variation. The curve of seasonal runoff distribution for Wenjiachuan station appeared two peak patterns. The annual runoff declined markedly, the effect of climate on runoff decreased, the influence of human activities on runoff gradually increased the human activities are the primary factors leading to the reduction of annual runoff. In human activities, large-scale water and soil conservation measures and high-strength coal mining have produced significant effects on the annual runoff reduction in Kuye River

Robust model of fresh jujube soluble solids content with near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy

A robust partial least square (PLS) calibration model with high accuracy and stability was established for the measurement of soluble solids content (SSC) of fresh jujube using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopytechnique. Fresh jujube samples were collected in different areas of Taigu and Taiyuan cities, central China in 2008 and 2009. A partial least squares (PLS) calibration model was established based on the NIR spectra of 70 fresh jujube samples collected in 2008. A good calibration result was obtained with correlation coefficient (Rc) of 0.9530 and the root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC) of 0.3951 °Brix. Another PLS calibration model was established based on the NIR spectral of 180 samples collected in 2009; it resulted in the Rc of 0.8536 and the RMSEC of 1.1410 °Brix. It could be seen that the accuracy of established PLS models were different when samples harvested in different years were used for the model calibration. In order to improve the accuracy and robustness of model, different numbers (5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40) of samples harvested in 2008 were added to the calibration sample set of the model with samples harvested in 2009, respectively. The established PLS models obtained Rc with the range of 0.8846 to 0.8893 and RMSEC with the range of 1.0248 to 0.9645 °Brix. The obtained results werebetter than the result of the model which was established only with samples harvested in 2009. Moreover, the models established using different numbers of added samples had similar results. Therefore, it was concluded that adding samples from another harvest year could improve the accuracy and robustness of the model for SSC prediction of fresh jujube. The overall results proved that the consideration of samples from different harvest places and years would be useful for establishing an accuracy and robustness spectral model.Keywords: Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, Huping jujube, soluble solids content (SSC), partial least squares (PLS), accuracy, stabilit

Oscillation-specific nodal alterations in early to middle stages Parkinsons disease.

Background: Different oscillations of brain networks could carry different dimensions of brain integration. We aimed to investigate oscillation-specific nodal alterations in patients with Parkinsons disease (PD) across early stage to middle stage by using graph theory-based analysis. Methods: Eighty-eight PD patients including 39 PD patients in the early stage (EPD) and 49 patients in the middle stage (MPD) and 36 controls were recruited in the present study. Graph theory-based network analyses from three oscillation frequencies (slow-5: 0.01-0.027 Hz; slow-4: 0.027-0.073 Hz; slow-3: 0.073-0.198 Hz) were analyzed. Nodal metrics (e.g. nodal degree centrality, betweenness centrality and nodal efficiency) were calculated. Results: Our results showed that (1) a divergent effect of oscillation frequencies on nodal metrics, especially on nodal degree centrality and nodal efficiency, that the anteroventral neocortex and subcortex had high nodal metrics within low oscillation frequencies while the posterolateral neocortex had high values within the relative high oscillation frequency was observed, which visually showed that network was perturbed in PD; (2) PD patients in early stage relatively preserved nodal properties while MPD patients showed widespread abnormalities, which was consistently detected within all three oscillation frequencies; (3) the involvement of basal ganglia could be specifically observed within slow-5 oscillation frequency in MPD patients; (4) logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses demonstrated that some of those oscillation-specific nodal alterations had the ability to well discriminate PD patients from controls or MPD from EPD patients at the individual level; (5) occipital disruption within high frequency (slow-3) made a significant influence on motor impairment which was dominated by akinesia and rigidity. Conclusions: Coupling various oscillations could provide potentially useful information for large-scale network and progressive oscillation-specific nodal alterations were observed in PD patients across early to middle stages

The Ventral Intermediate Nucleus Differently Modulates Subtype-Related Networks in Parkinson’s Disease

Background: Posture instability gait difficulty-dominant (PIGD) and tremor-dominant (TD) are two subtypes of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The thalamus is involved in the neural circuits of both subtypes. However, which subregion of the thalamus has an influence on the PD subtypes remains unclear.Objective: To explore the core subregion of the thalamus showing a significant influence on the PD subtypes and its directional interaction between the PD subtypes.Methods: A total of 79 PD patients (43 TD and 36 PIGD) and 31 normal controls (NC) were enrolled, and the gray matter volume and perfusion characteristics in the thalamus were compared between the three groups. The subregion of the thalamus with significantly different perfusion and volume among three groups was used as the seed of a Granger causality analysis (GCA) to compare the causal connectivity between different subtypes.Results: Perfusion with an increased gradient among the three groups (TD > PIGD > NC) in the bilateral ventral intermediate nucleus (Vim) was observed, which was positively correlated with the clinical tremor scores. The GCA revealed that TD patients had enhanced causal connectivity from the bilateral Vim to the bilateral paracentral gyrus, M1 and the cerebellum compared with the NC group, while the PIGD subtype revealed an increased causal connectivity from the bilateral Vim to the bilateral premotor cortex (preM) and putamen. Additionally, there were positive correlations between the tremor scores and a causal connectivity from the Vim to the cerebellum. The connectivity from the right Vim to the right preM and the right putamen was positively correlated with the PIGD scores.Conclusion: This multilevel analysis showed that the Vim had a significant influence on the PD subtypes and that it differentially mediated the TD and PIGD-related causal connectivity pattern in PD

A Mutational Analysis of Residues Essential for Ligand Recognition at the Human P2Y 1 Receptor

We conducted a mutational analysis of residues potentially involved in the adenine nucleotide binding pocket of the human P2Y1 receptor. Mutated receptors were expressed in COS-7 cells with an epitope tag that permitted confirmation of expression in the plasma membrane, and agonist-promoted inositol phosphate accumulation was assessed as a measure of receptor activity. Residues in transmembrane helical domains (TMs) 3, 5, 6, and 7 predicted by molecular modeling to be involved in ligand recognition were replaced with alanine and, in some cases, by other amino acids. The potent P2Y1 receptor agonist 2-methylthio-ATP (2-MeSATP) had no activity in cells expressing the R128A, R310A, and S314A mutant receptors, and a markedly reduced potency of 2-MeSATP was observed with the K280A and Q307A mutants. These results suggest that residues on the exofacial side of TM3 and TM7 are critical determinants of the ATP binding pocket. In contrast, there was no change in the potency or maximal effect of 2-MeSATP with the S317A mutant receptor. Alanine replacement of F131, H132, Y136, F226, or H277 resulted in mutant receptors that exhibited a 7–18-fold reduction in potency compared with that observed with the wild-type receptor. These residues thus seem to subserve a less important modulatory role in ligand binding to the P2Y1 receptor. Because changes in the potency of 2-methylthio-ADP and 2-(hexylthio)-AMP paralleled the changes in potency of 2-MeSATP at these mutant receptors, the β- and γ-phosphates of the adenine nucleotides seem to be less important than the α-phosphate in ligand/P2Y1 receptor interactions. However, T221A and T222A mutant receptors exhibited much larger reductions in triphosphate (89- and 33-fold versus wild-type receptors, respectively) than in diphosphate or monophosphate potency. This result may be indicative of a greater role of these TM5 residues in γ-phosphate recognition. Taken together, the results suggest that the adenosine and α-phosphate moieties of ATP bind to critical residues in TM3 and TM7 on the exofacial side of the human P2Y1 receptor