Inhibeeriva ja raskestilaguneva reovee töötlemise uuringud

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneMeie kodudes tekib iga päev olmereovesi, mis sisaldab erinevaid saasteaineid. See suunatakse reoveepuhastisse, kus mikroorganismid tarbivad reovees sisalduvaid saasteaineid oma elutegevuse käigus. Sageli jõuab olmereoveepuhastitesse ka tööstuslik reovesi, mis võib sisaldada reovett puhastavate mikroorganismide ainevahetust pärssivaid saasteaineid, põhjustades puhastusprotsesside inhibitsioone. Seeläbi väheneb reovee puhastamise efektiivsus ning saasteained võivad jõuda keskkonda. Reovee inhibeerivate omaduste vähendamiseks on saadaval erinevad tehnoloogiad, kuid igale põhilisele aktiivmudaprotsessile rakendatavat ja usaldusväärset metoodikat inhibeeriva mõju hindamiseks ei leitud. Lisaks võib tööstusliku päritoluga reovesi sisaldada bioloogiliselt mittelagunevaid orgaanilisi ühendeid ning seetõttu vajada aktiivmudaprotsessist tõhusamate puhastustehnoloogiate rakendamist. Üheks selliseks protsessiks on näiteks Fenton, mis põhineb keemilisel oksüdeerimisel. Fentoni protsessi kasutamist limiteerib suurest kemikaalitarbest tulenev opereerimise kõrge hind ning ohtliku rauarikka jääkmuda teke. Selle doktoritööga lahendati kolm olulist probleemi raskestilaguneva ja inhibeeriva reovee puhastamisel. Esiteks, leiti optimaalsed tingimused inhibitsioonitestidele hindamaks reovee või ohtliku ühendi mõju aktiivmudaprotsessidele, millele usaldusväärsed standardmetoodikad puudusid – aktiivmuda tõhustatud bioloogilisele fosforiärastusele ning lämmastikuärastuse teisele etapile, denitrifikatsioonile. Inhibitsiooniteste rakendatakse reovee sobivuse hindamiseks töötlemiseks aktiivmudaprotsessiga või reoveepuhastile probleeme tekitava sissevoolu päritolu tuvastamiseks. Teiseks, testiti aktiivmuda- ja füüsikalis-keemiliste protsesside kombinatsioone nelja erineva keeruliste omadustega reovee puhastamiseks arvestas inhibitsiooni ja biolagundatavuse testidest saadavad teavet. Kombineeritud töötlemine suurendas keeruliste omadustega reovee puhastamise tõhusust ja vähendas puhastamise hinda. Kolmandaks, Fentoni protsessi opereerimist muudeti viisil, milles ei teki rauarikast jääkmuda ja vähenes kemikaalikulu ning seeläbi ka opereerimise hind.Municipal wastewater containing different pollutants is produced in our homes every day. It is subjected to wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), where microorganisms consume these pollutants. Industrial wastewater containing inhibitory substances is frequently subjected to municipal WWTP-s, which causes the inhibition of wastewater treatment processes. Consequently, wastewater treatment efficiency decreases and pollutants may be subjected to the water bodies. Different technologies are available for inhibition removal, but there were no applicable and reliable methods found for all main wastewater treatment processes. Additionally, industrial wastewater may contain biorefractory organic substances and thereby require application of advanced treatment methods, e.g. the Fenton process. The Fenton process is an advanced oxidation process which application is limited by high operational costs due to high chemical consumption and production of hazardous ferric waste sludge. Three significant problems of inhibitory and recalcitrant wastewater treatment were solved with this thesis. Firstly, optimal conditions for inhibition tests were found to estimate the impact of wastewater or inhibitory substance on wastewater treatment processes for which no reliable standard methods were found – activated sludge enhanced biological phosphorus removal and for the second step of nitrogen removal, denitrification. Inhibition tests are applied to estimate the feasibility of activated sludge processes to treat a certain wastewater and to identify the origin of wastewater causing wastewater treatment problems. Secondly, combined activated sludge and physical-chemical treatment of complex wastewater was tested considering results from preliminary inhibition and biodegradability studies, which increased the treatment efficiency and reduced cost of complex wastewater treatment. Thirdly, operation the Fenton process was modified to reduce the production of ferric waste sludge and consumption for chemicals.https://www.ester.ee/record=b542144

HHV-8 encoded LANA-1 alters the higher organization of the cell nucleus

The latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA-1) of Human Herpes Virus 8 (HHV-8), alternatively called Kaposi Sarcoma Herpes Virus (KSHV) is constitutively expressed in all HHV-8 infected cells. LANA-1 accumulates in well-defined foci that co-localize with the viral episomes. We have previously shown that these foci are tightly associated with the borders of heterochromatin [1]. We have also shown that exogenously expressed LANA-1 causes an extensive re-organization of Hoechst 33248 DNA staining patterns of the nuclei in non-HHV-8 infected cells [2]. Here we show that this effect includes the release of the bulk of DNA from heterochromatic areas, in both human and mouse cells, without affecting the overall levels of heterochromatin associated histone H3 lysine 9 tri-methylation (3MK9H3). The release of DNA from the heterochromatic chromocenters in LANA-1 transfected mouse cells co-incides with the dispersion of the chromocenter associated methylcytosin binding protein 2 (MECP2). The localization of 3MK9H3 to the remnants of the chromocenters remains unaltered. Moreover, exogeneously expressed LANA-1 leads to the relocation of the chromocenters to the nuclear periphery, indicating extensive changes in the positioning of the chromosomal domains in the LANA-1 harboring interphase nucleus. Using a series of deletion mutants we have shown that the chromatin rearranging effects of LANA-1 require the presence of a short (57 amino acid) region that is located immediately upstream of the internal acidic repeats. This sequence lies within the previously mapped binding site to histone methyltransferase SUV39H1. We suggest that the highly concentrated LANA-1, anchored to the host genome in the nuclear foci of latently infected cells and replicated through each cell generation, may function as "epigenetic modifier". The induction of histone modification in adjacent host genes may lead to altered gene expression, thereby contributing to the viral oncogenesis

Microbiota and Metabolite Profiling as Markers of Mood Disorders: A Cross-Sectional Study in Obese Patients

Obesity is associated with an increased risk of several neurological and psychiatric diseases, but few studies report the contribution of biological features in the occurrence of mood disorders in obese patients. The aim of the study is to evaluate the potential links between serum metabolomics and gut microbiome, and mood disturbances in a cohort of obese patients. Psychological, biological characteristics and nutritional habits were evaluated in 94 obese subjects from the Food4Gut study stratified according to their mood score assessed by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The fecal gut microbiota and plasma non-targeted metabolomics were analysed. Obese subjects with increased negative mood display elevated levels of Coprococcus as well as decreased levels of Sutterella and Lactobacillus. Serum metabolite profile analysis reveals in these subjects altered levels of several amino acid-derived metabolites, such as an increased level of L-histidine and a decreased in phenylacetylglutamine, linked to altered gut microbiota composition and function rather than to differences in dietary amino acid intake. Regarding clinical profile, we did not observe any differences between both groups. Our results reveal new microbiota-derived metabolites that characterize the alterations of mood in obese subjects, thereby allowing to propose new targets to tackle mood disturbances in this context. Food4gut, clinicaltrial.gov: NCT03852069

Pharmacokinetic aspects of retinal drug delivery

Drug delivery to the posterior eye segment is an important challenge in ophthalmology, because many diseases affect the retina and choroid leading to impaired vision or blindness. Currently, intravitreal injections are the method of choice to administer drugs to the retina, but this approach is applicable only in selected cases (e.g. anti-VEGF antibodies and soluble receptors). There are two basic approaches that can be adopted to improve retinal drug delivery: prolonged and/or retina targeted delivery of intravitreal drugs and use of other routes of drug administration, such as periocular, suprachoroidal, sub-retinal, systemic, or topical. Properties of the administration route, drug and delivery system determine the efficacy and safety of these approaches. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic factors determine the required dosing rates and doses that are needed for drug action. In addition, tolerability factors limit the use of many materials in ocular drug delivery. This review article provides a critical discussion of retinal drug delivery, particularly from the pharmacokinetic point of view. This article does not include an extensive review of drug delivery technologies, because they have already been reviewed several times recently. Instead, we aim to provide a systematic and quantitative view on the pharmacokinetic factors in drug delivery to the posterior eye segment. This review is based on the literature and unpublished data from the authors' laboratory.Peer reviewe

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe