The correlation between resting EEG power and nonattachment scale

E-Poster: no. 4453INTRODUCTION: Psychological activity is supported by the brain electronic activity, to some extent, recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) (Davidson, et al., 2000). Therefore, it is plausible that some psychological measurements could be correlated with EEG measurements. For example, previous studies have shown that patterns of the frontal and posterior alpha-wave can predict basic dimensions of personality, extraversion and neuroticism (Schmidtke and Heller, 2004). In this paper, we aimed to study the correlations between resting-state EEG and four popular psychological self-reported ...postprin

Use of magnetic powder to effectively improve the performance of sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) in municipal wastewater treatment

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd This study aims to investigate the effect of adding magnetic powder in the sequencing batch reactor (SBR) on the reactor performance and microbial community. Results indicated that, the magnetic activated sludge sequencing batch reactor (MAS-SBR) had 7.76% and 4.76% higher ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies than that of the conventional SBR (C-SBR). The MAS-SBR also achieved 6.86% sludge reduction compared with the C-SBR. High-throughput sequencing demonstrated that the dominant phyla of both SBRs (present as ≥1% of the sequence reads) were Protebacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Saccharibacteria, Chlorobi, Firmicutes, Actinobactoria, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes and unclassified_Bacteria. The relative abundance of Protebacteria and Bacteroidetes simultaneously declined whereas the other 8 phyla increased following the addition of magnetic powder. Adding magnetic powder in the SBR significantly affected the microbial diversity and richness of activated sludge, consequently affecting the reactor performance

Application of disease burden to quantitative assessment of health hazards for a decentralized water reuse system

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. The aim of this article is to introduce the methodology of disease burden (DB) to quantify the health impact of microbial regrowth during wastewater reuse, using the case study of a decentralized water reuse system in Xi'an Si-yuan University, located in Xi'an, China. Based on field investigation findings, Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella and rotavirus were selected as typical regrowth pathogens causing potential health hazards during the reuse of reclaimed water. Subsequently, major exposure routes including sprinkler irrigation, landscape fountains and toilet flushing were identified. Mathematical models were established to build the relationship between exposure dose and disease burden by calculating the disability adjusted life year (DALY). Results of disease burden for this case study show that DALYs attributed to E. coli were significantly greater than those caused by other pathogens, and DALYs associated with sprinkler irrigation were higher than those originating from other routes. A correlation between exposure dose and disease was obtained by introducing a modified calculation of morbidity, which can extend the assessment endpoint of health risk to disease burden from the conventional infection rate

Development of biochars from pyrolysis of lotus stalks for Ni(II) sorption: Using zinc borate as flame retardant

In this work, zinc borate (ZB) was employed as flame retardant for preparation of biochar (BC). A series of BC samples were generated by varying the ZB to lotus stalks (LS) ratio (0.25, 0.5 and 1.0) under different temperatures (300, 350 and 400 °C) for 1 h. The BCs were analyzed for their surface morphologies, surface areas, surface elemental compositions and yields. The results indicated that, after charring, ZB kept the structures of the produced BCs as its starting material (LS), dramatically enhancing their yields, and promoting their surface oxygen content. The BCs were used as adsorbent for removal of Ni(II) from aqueous solutions. Sorption of Ni(II) on the BCs was enhanced about 3-10 times compared with that of BCs derived from pyrolysis of LS without adding ZB. © 2014 Elsevier B.V

Comparative study on microstructure and surface properties of keratin- and lignocellulosic-based activated carbons

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. The paper probed the preparation of activated carbon by potassium silicate (K2SiO3) activation from keratin waste (cowhair waste, CW) and lignocellulosic materials (Cyperus alternifolius, CA) and the comparisons of physicochemical properties of the resulting carbons. These impregnation conditions were as follows: one impregnated at room temperature for 12 h then dipped at high temperature for 30 min; the other was only impregnated at room temperature for 12 h, producing four activated carbons CWAC-1, CWAC-2, CAAC-1, and CAAC-2. The influence of activation time, K2SiO3/precursor weight ratio, and the pre-process on properties of activated carbons was discussed. The CWAC-1 produced at 700°C with the K2SiO3/precursor weight ratio of 2:1 possessed the Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) surface area of 1965 m2/g and total pore volume of 1.345 cm3/g, while CAAC-1 prepared at the same conditions attained the BET surface area of 1710 m2/g and total pore volume of 0.949 cm3/g. The surface area and total pore volume of CAAC increased with the impregnation ratio. Moreover, CWAC-1, CWAC-2, CAAC-1, and CAAC-2 exhibited high portion of micropores, illustrating the role of K2SiO3. The analysis with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer indicates that CWAC has more functional groups than CAAC, as well as CWAC-1 and CWAC-2 which possess similar functional groups

Enhancement of Cr(VI) removal by modifying activated carbon developed from Zizania caduciflora with tartaric acid during phosphoric acid activation

Tartaric acid (TA) was employed to modify Zizania caduciflora (ZC)-based activated carbon during phosphoric acid activation for improving its Cr(VI) removal from aqueous solutions. The original activated carbon (AC) and TA-modified activated carbon (AC-TA) were characterized by N2 adsorption/desorption, Boehm's titration and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The Cr(VI) removal abilities of AC and AC-TA were evaluated by batch sorption experiments. The residual Cr(VI) and total Cr concentration were determined to investigated the "Sorption-coupled reduction" mechanism. Equilibrium data for the Cr(VI) removal on AC and AC-TA were well described by the Freundlich model. The AC-TA exhibited much higher Cr(VI) and total Cr sorption capacities than AC. After blocking of carboxyl and hydroxyl functional groups, the carbons showed obviously higher Cr(VI) and total Cr removal than the original AC and AC-TA, indicating that electrostatic attraction played an important role on Cr(VI) removal. The higher Cr(VI) removal on AC-TA was attributed to its higher amount of oxygen-containing functional groups, which provided more electrons for Cr(VI) reduction and more positive sites for the produced Cr(III) sorption. © 2014 Elsevier B.V

Effect of magnetic powder on membrane fouling mitigation and microbial community/composition in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for municipal wastewater treatment

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd This study aims to investigate the usefulness of magnetic powder addition in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for membrane fouling mitigation and its effect on microbial community and composition. The comparison between the two MBRs (one with magnetic powder (MAS-MBR) and one without magnetic powder (C-MBR)) was carried out to treat synthetic municipal wastewater. Results showed that bioflocculation and adsorption of magnetic powder contributed only minimally to membrane fouling mitigation while the slower fouling rate might be ascribed to magnetic bio-effect. The macromolecules (larger than 500 kDa and 300–500 kDa) of soluble microbial product from the MAS-MBR were reduced by 24.06% and 11.11%, respectively. High-throughput sequencing demonstrated the most abundant genera of biofilm sludge indicated lower abundance in bulk sludge from the MAS-MBR compared to the C-MBR. It is possible that less membrane fouling is connected to reductions in large molecules and pioneer bacteria from bulk sludge