Degradation of AB25 dye in liquid medium by atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasma and plasma combination with photocatalyst TiO2

In this work, degradation of the anthraquinonic dye Acid Blue 25 by non-thermal plasma at atmospheric pressure with and without photocatalyst is investigated. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is used as a photocatalyst. The dye degradation by plasma in the presence of TiO2 is investigated as a function of TiO2 concentration, dye concentration and pH. The degradation rate is higher in acidic solutions with pH of 2 to 4.3, especially at pH 2, and decreases to 0.38 mg L-1 min(-1) with the increase of pH from 2 to 5.65. A similar effect is observed in basic media, where a higher degradation rate is found at pH = 10.3. The degradation rate increases in the presence of TiO2 compared to the discharge without photocatalysis. The results show that the degradation of the dye increases in the presence of TiO2 until the catalyst load reaches 0.5 g L-1 after which the suppression of AB25 degradation is observed. The results indicate that the tested advanced oxidation processes are very effective for the degradation of AB25 in aqueous solutions

Caring for our country: wind erosion extent and severity maps for Australia, final report

The Wind Erosion Extent and Severity Maps (WEESMAP) project for Australia has been completed. As a result of the project significant improvements were made to both the soil and vegetation input data. These improvements include: • A new dynamic erodibility mask was created for the model,based on Fractional Cover Index (FCI) of Guerschman et al. (2009). • Increasing the soil descriptions available from 12 to 29 soils. • Replacing LAI GIS layer with the MODIS LAI layer, which no longer uses empirical relationships developed for AVHRR NDVI product. • The model was extend to a 10km resolution for the whole of the continent. Statistical comparison of the CEMSYS model before (Version 5) and after the soil/vegetation improvements (Version 6) shows that the model over estimated daily dust concentrations at 26 of the DustWatch nodes in 2009 by approximately 3 fold for V5 and underestimated it by 0.6 for V6. The mean error between modelled and observed dust levels was reduced for V6 (0.0227 to 0.0084). Finally V6 explained twice the level of variability in the observed data compared to V5 (0.2292 to 0.3956). Given the result was comparing 26 stations over 365 days, V6 appears extremely robust over the yearly period. In addition, the time series of available data was extended significantly. At the end of the project data the following data is available: • Version 650 km data is available from March2000–June2012. • Version 510 km dat is available for NSW/Victoria from February2000–June2012. • Version 610 km data is available nationally for 2002,2008,and 2009. Finally several other coding improvements were made to the model to increase performance. Consequently, it is now possible to produce 50 km and 10 km maps within 10 days of the external MODIS and Atmospheric data becoming available. This means it is now possible to use the CEMSYS in monthly reporting products

Effect of spin-orbit coupling on the excitation spectrum of Andreev billiards

We consider the effect of spin-orbit coupling on the low energy excitation spectrum of an Andreev billiard (a quantum dot weakly coupled to a superconductor), using a dynamical numerical model (the spin Andreev map). Three effects of spin-orbit coupling are obtained in our simulations: In zero magnetic field: (1) the narrowing of the distribution of the excitation gap; (2) the appearance of oscillations in the average density of states. In strong magnetic field: (3) the appearance of a peak in the average density of states at zero energy. All three effects have been predicted by random-matrix theory.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

How Advanced Change Patterns Impact the Process of Process Modeling

Process model quality has been an area of considerable research efforts. In this context, correctness-by-construction as enabled by change patterns provides promising perspectives. While the process of process modeling (PPM) based on change primitives has been thoroughly investigated, only little is known about the PPM based on change patterns. In particular, it is unclear what set of change patterns should be provided and how the available change pattern set impacts the PPM. To obtain a better understanding of the latter as well as the (subjective) perceptions of process modelers, the arising challenges, and the pros and cons of different change pattern sets we conduct a controlled experiment. Our results indicate that process modelers face similar challenges irrespective of the used change pattern set (core pattern set versus extended pattern set, which adds two advanced change patterns to the core patterns set). An extended change pattern set, however, is perceived as more difficult to use, yielding a higher mental effort. Moreover, our results indicate that more advanced patterns were only used to a limited extent and frequently applied incorrectly, thus, lowering the potential benefits of an extended pattern set

Human Intestinal Organoids and Microphysiological Systems for Modeling Radiotoxicity and Assessing Radioprotective Agents

Radiotherapy is a commonly employed treatment for colorectal cancer, yet its radiotoxicity-related impact on healthy tissues raises significant health concerns. This highlights the need to use radioprotective agents to mitigate these side effects. This review presents the current landscape of human translational radiobiology, outlining the limitations of existing models and proposing engineering solutions. We delve into radiotherapy principles, encompassing mechanisms of radiation-induced cell death and its influence on normal and cancerous colorectal cells. Furthermore, we explore the engineering aspects of microphysiological systems to represent radiotherapy-induced gastrointestinal toxicity and how to include the gut microbiota to study its role in treatment failure and success. This review ultimately highlights the main challenges and future pathways in translational research for pelvic radiotherapy-induced toxicity. This is achieved by developing a humanized in vitro model that mimics radiotherapy treatment conditions. An in vitro model should provide in-depth analyses of host-gut microbiota interactions and a deeper understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms of radioprotective food supplements. Additionally, it would be of great value if these models could produce high-throughput data using patient-derived samples to address the lack of human representability to complete clinical trials and improve patients’ quality of life

Gene expansion and positive selection as bacterial adaptations to oligotrophic conditions

We examined the genomic adaptations of prevalent bacterial taxa in a highly nutrient- and ion-depleted freshwater environment located in the secondary cooling water system of a nuclear research reactor. Using genome-centric metagenomics, we found that none of the prevalent bacterial taxa were related to typical freshwater bacterial lineages. We also did not identify strong signatures of genome streamlining, which has been shown to be one of the ecoevolutionary forces shaping the genome characteristics of bacterial taxa in nutrient-depleted environments. Instead, focusing on the dominant taxon, a novel Ramlibacter sp. which we propose to name Ramlibacter aquaticus, we detected extensive positive selection on genes involved in phosphorus and carbon scavenging pathways. These genes were involved in the high-affinity phosphate uptake and storage into polyphosphate granules, metabolism of nitrogen-rich organic matter, and carbon/energy storage into polyhydroxyalkanoate. In parallel, comparative genomics revealed a high number of paralogs and an accessory genome significantly enriched in environmental sensing pathways (i.e., chemotaxis and motility), suggesting extensive gene expansions in R. aquaticus. The type strain of R. aquaticus (LMG 30558(T)) displayed optimal growth kinetics and productivity at low nutrient concentrations, as well as substantial cell size plasticity. Our findings with R. aquaticus LMG 30558(T) demonstrate that positive selection and gene expansions may represent successful adaptive strategies to oligotrophic environments that preserve high growth rates and cellular productivity. IMPORTANCE By combining a genome-centric metagenomic approach with a culture-based approach, we investigated the genomic adaptations of prevalent populations in an engineered oligotrophic freshwater system. We found evidence for widespread positive selection on genes involved in phosphorus and carbon scavenging pathways and for gene expansions in motility and environmental sensing to be important genomic adaptations of the abundant taxon in this system. In addition, microscopic and flow cytometric analysis of the first freshwater representative of this population (Ramlibacter aquaticus LMG 30558(T)) demonstrated phenotypic plasticity, possibly due to the metabolic versatility granted by its larger genome, to be a strategy to cope with nutrient limitation. Our study clearly demonstrates the need for the use of a broad set of genomic tools combined with culture-based physiological characterization assays to investigate and validate genomic adaptations

AstroPix: investigating the potential of silicon pixel sensors in the future of gamma-ray astrophysics

This paper details preliminary photon measurements with the monolithic silicon detector ATLASPix, a pixel detector built and optimized for the CERN experiment ATLAS. The goal of this paper is to determine the promise of pixelated silicon in future space-based gamma-ray experiments. With this goal in mind, radioactive photon sources were used to determine the energy resolution and detector response of ATLASPix; these are novel measurements for ATLASPix, a detector built for a ground-based particle accelerator. As part of this project a new iteration of monolithic Si pixels, named AstroPix, have been created based on ATLASPix, and the eventual goal is to further optimize AstroPix for gamma-ray detection by constructing a prototype Compton telescope.The energy resolution of both the digital and analog output of ATLASPix is the focus of this paper, as it is a critical metric for Compton telescopes. It was found that with the analog output of the detector, the energyresolution of a single pixel was 7.69 +/- 0.13% at 5.89 keV and 7.27 +/- 1.18% at 30.1 keV, which exceeds the conservative baseline requirements of 10% resolution at 60 keV and is an encouraging start to an optimistic goal of<2% resolution at 60 keV. The digital output of the entire detector consistently yielded energy resolutions that exceeded 100% for different sources. The analog output of the monolithic silicon pixels indicates that thisis a promising technology for future gamma-ray missions, while the analysis of the digital output points to the need for a redesign of future photon-sensitive monolithic silicon pixel detectors

Molecular clusters of hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium: especially cationic species H3+(H2)m: m=2, 5 and 14

Presentado a la Conferencia "Nanotechnology: Power of Computation for Nanotechnology" celebrada en Gran Canaria (España) el 19 de mayo de 2003.Two recent experimental studies by Zweiback et al. and by Gobet et al. have motivated us to study the ground-state geometry and the consequent electronic structure of the singly-charged cationic hydrogen cluster H3+(H2)m for m=2,5 and 14, using at first the Hartree-Fock approximation. For the H+7 cluster the fully optimized ground-state geometry yeilds an isosceles triangle H3, with charge ~ 0.85(e), and sides 0.852 and 0.884 Å flanked by two H2 molecules lying parallel to each other, wiht bond lengths of 0.740 Å. In contrast, for the H+13 cluster, the central 'building block' is equilateral H3 with bond length 0.861 Å, and with charge ~0.815(e). This configuration of H3 is flanked by three almost-parallel H2 molecules with bond length 0.739 A. MP2 refinements of geometry, charge distribution and normal mode vibrational frequencies of the cationic tritium cluster T+7 and the corresponding deuterium cluster D+13 are also reported. Finally, Hartree-Fock and MP2 results are recorded for H+13.KVA thanks the University of Antwerp for financial support under grant GOA-BOF-UA nr 23. This work received financial support from MCyT of Spain Grants MAT2001-04499 and MAT2001-0946 and the EC-RTN program NANOPHASE (contract HPRN-CT-2000-00167), Basque Country University and Basque Hezkuntza Saila.Peer reviewe