Comparison of optimum conditions when extracting PHAs from different waste sludge sources

Biological wastewater treatment plants produce great amounts of sludge daily. It is a very big loading (cost) for treating the waste sludge. Polyhydroxyalkanoates are a family of polyhydroxyesters. The technologies of extracting PHAs from wasted sewage sludges of municipal wastewater, fermentation industry and husbandry were developed in the study. In the NaOCl/SDS extraction technology, the concentration of NaOCl and liquid-solid ratio are two essential factors directly influencing extraction efficiency. The experimental results verified under the optimal conditions for extracting PHAs, the content of recovered PHAs was 44.2±0.89 mgPHA/gVSS and the purity of recovered PHAs was >99.5 wt% for the waste sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants. For fermentation industry sludge, under the adequate extraction conditions for PHAs recovery, the content and purity of recovered PHAs were 18.8±0.66 mgPHA/gVSS and 50.6±6.83 wt%, respectively. For husbandry sludge, the content and purity of recovered PHAs were 33.7±0.16 mgPHA/gVSS and 76.7±5.2 wt%, respectively

Farmland boundary extraction based on the AttMobile-DeeplabV3+ network and least squares fitting of straight lines

The rapid extraction of farmland boundaries is key to implementing autonomous operation of agricultural machinery. This study addresses the issue of incomplete farmland boundary segmentation in existing methods, proposing a method for obtaining farmland boundaries based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing images. The method is divided into two steps: boundary image acquisition and boundary line fitting. To acquire the boundary image, an improved semantic segmentation network, AttMobile-DeeplabV3+, is designed. Subsequently, a boundary tracing function is used to track the boundaries of the binary image. Lastly, the least squares method is used to obtain the fitted boundary line. The paper validates the method through experiments on both crop-covered and non-crop-covered farmland. Experimental results show that on crop-covered and non-crop-covered farmland, the network’s intersection over union (IoU) is 93.25% and 93.14%, respectively; the pixel accuracy (PA) for crop-covered farmland is 96.62%. The average vertical error and average angular error of the extracted boundary line are 0.039 and 1.473°, respectively. This research provides substantial and accurate data support, offering technical assistance for the positioning and path planning of autonomous agricultural machinery

Structure, optical, and magnetic properties of sputtered manganese and nitrogen-codoped ZnOZnO films

To realize the hole-mediated ferromagnetism, manganese and nitrogen-codoped ZnOZnO (Zn1−xMnxO:N)(Zn1−xMnxO:N) films were prepared on sapphire (0001)(0001) by reactive radio-frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering from Zn0.97Mn0.03OZn0.97Mn0.03O ceramic targets using N2N2 gas. X-ray photon spectra reveal that the doped Mn ions are mainly in divalent states and the coexistence of O–ZnO–Zn and N–ZnN–Zn bonds in the films. According to the absorption spectra, the band gap of Zn0.97Mn0.03O:NZn0.97Mn0.03O:N films is about 3.15 eV3.15eV, which is slightly lower than that of ZnOZnO films (3.20 eV)(3.20eV). Compared with Zn0.97Mn0.03OZn0.97Mn0.03O films, ferromagnetic behavior of Zn0.97Mn0.03O:NZn0.97Mn0.03O:N films were significantly changed with a coercivity of about 70 Oe70Oe, a saturation magnetization of 0.92 μB/Mn2+0.92μB∕Mn2+ and a remanance over 0.15 μB/Mn2+0.15μB∕Mn2+ at 300 K300K, while at 10 K10K, they increased to be about 110 Oe110Oe, 1.05 μB/Mn2+1.05μB∕Mn2+ and 0.23 μB/Mn2+0.23μB∕Mn2+, respectively. However, rapid thermal annealing treatment in pure oxygen results in a significant decrease on the magnetic properties of the films.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87789/2/082111_1.pd

The effect and mechanism of volatile oil emulsion from leaves of Clausena lansium (Lour.) Skeels on Staphylococcus aureus in vitro

This study aimed to develop a suitable dosage form of volatile oil from wampee leaves and to explore its antibacterial mechanism in vitro. The chemical composition of the volatile oil from wampee leaves was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Different microemulsion ratios were tested and their stabilities were investigated to determine the optimal ratio. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the wampee leaves volatile oil emulsion (WVOE) against Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were determined using double-dilution and plate-counting methods, respectively. Morphological changes in these two bacteria were observed using scanning electron microscopy. Death, ultrastructural morphology, and biofilm formation were also assessed for S. aureus. Finally, we established an S. aureus-infected Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cell model to evaluate the protective effects of the volatile oil emulsion and the associated mechanisms. The volatile oil extracted from wampee leaves contained 37 compounds, of which 96.49% were aromatic hydrocarbons, terpenoids, and their oxygen-containing derivatives. The emulsion was most stable at 1:1 in the oil phase and 1:9 in the water phase. WVOE had poor antibacterial activity against S. typhimurium, but the MIC and MBC against S. aureus were 312.5 and 2,500 μg/mL, respectively. S. aureus survival rates were 84.6%, 14.5%, and 12.8% in the 1/2, 1, and 4 × MIC groups, respectively, compared with 97.2% in the control group. S. typhimurium survival was not affected by WVOE treatment. WVOE administration induced cavity formation and abnormal binary fission, and significantly inhibited biofilm formation in S. aureus cells. The WVOE notably reduced the number of S. aureus and inhibited TLR4, NLRP3, NF-κB, IL-6, IL-18, and TNF-α gene expression in S. aureus-infected LLC cells. The WVOE had a significant inhibitory effect on S. aureus and altered its cell membrane permeability. Moreover, it alleviated inflammation by inhibiting the NF-κB-NLRP3 pathway in S. aureus-infected LLC cells

Theoretical study of the two-proton halo candidate 17^{17}Ne including contributions from resonant continuum and pairing correlations

With the relativistic Coulomb wave function boundary condition, the energies, widths and wave functions of the single proton resonant orbitals for $^{17}$Ne are studied by the analytical continuation of the coupling constant (ACCC) approach within the framework of the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory. Pairing correlations and contributions from the single-particle resonant orbitals in the continuum are taken into consideration by the resonant Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) approach, in which constant pairing strength is used. It can be seen that the fully self-consistent calculations with NL3 and NLSH effective interactions mostly agree with the latest experimental measurements, such as binding energies, matter radii, charge radii and densities. The energy of $\pi$2s$_{1/2}$ orbital is slightly higher than that of $\pi1d_{5/2}$ orbital, and the occupation probability of the $(\pi$2s$_{1/2})^2$ orbital is about 20%, which are in accordance with the shell model calculation and three-body model estimation

Catalytically efficient Ni-NiOₓ-Y₂O₃ interface for medium temperature water-gas shift reaction

The metal-support interfaces between metals and oxide supports have long been studied in catalytic applications, thanks to their significance in structural stability and efficient catalytic activity. The metal-rare earth oxide interface is particularly interesting because these early transition cations have high electrophilicity, and therefore good binding strength with Lewis basic molecules, such as H2O. Based on this feature, here we design a highly efficient composite Ni-Y2O3 catalyst, which forms abundant active Ni-NiOx-Y2O3 interfaces under the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction condition, achieving 140.6 μmolCO gcat-1 s-1 rate at 300 °C, which is the highest activity for Ni-based catalysts. A combination of theory and ex/in situ experimental study suggests that Y2O3 helps H2O dissociation at the Ni-NiOx-Y2O3 interfaces, promoting this rate limiting step in the WGS reaction. Construction of such new interfacial structure for molecules activation holds great promise in many catalytic systems

Development of a method and an assessment construct for person-centered translation of dementia public stigma scales

BackgroundWith the number of people with dementia dramatically increasing over time and dementia becoming a major health concern worldwide, scales have been developed to assess the stigma socially attached to this neurodegenerative disorder. There are, however, almost no available methods and assessment constructs for person-centered translation of dementia public stigma scales.ObjectiveTo develop such a method and such an assessment construct by translating the Dementia Public Stigma Scale (DPSS) into standard written Chinese.MethodsWe translated the DPSS following three major steps: (1) literal translation and mistranslation identification; (2) panel discussions of items with problematic translations; and (3) the final checking of the translated scale. Informed by the translation and adaptation process, we then developed a method for person-centered translation of dementia public stigma scales. Based on this method and our panel discussions, we finally proposed a tripartite assessment construct for quality evaluation of the translation of dementia public stigma scales.ResultsForward and backward translation did not work sufficiently in dementia public stigma scale translation. Mistranslations were induced by three major causes, including confusion caused by multiple Chinese meanings of the immediate Chinese direct translation, the lack of immediate Chinese direct translation because of varying positive/negative emotions attached to multiple translations, and the lack of culture-specific idioms in Chinese. Based on these factors, we proposed a tripartite dementia translation assessment construct. Following this assessment tool, we determined the best Chinese version that could further be tested for its psychometric properties among the public.ConclusionA method and an assessment construct for person-centered translation of dementia public stigma scales were developed. Such a method and such an assessment construct could be followed in the translation of dementia public stigma scales and the translation evaluation of such scales

Effects of enzymolysis and fermentation of Chinese herbal medicines on serum component, egg production, and hormone receptor expression in laying hens

Objective In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of enzymolysis fermentation of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) on egg production performance, egg quality, lipid metabolism, serum reproductive hormone levels, and the mRNA expression of the ovarian hormone receptor of laying hens in the late-laying stage. Methods A total of 360 Hy-Line Brown laying hens (age, 390 days) were randomly categorized into four groups. Hens in the control (C) group were fed a basic diet devoid of CHMs, the crushed CHM (CT), fermented CHM (FC), and enzymatically fermented CHM (EFT) groups received diets containing 2% crushed CHM, 2% fermented CHM, and 2% enzymatically fermented CHM, respectively. Results Compared with crushed CHM, the acid detergent fiber, total flavonoids, and total saponins contents of fermented CHM showed improvement (p<0.05); furthermore, the neutral and acid detergent fiber, total flavonoids, and total saponins contents of enzymatically fermented CHM improved (p<0.05). At 5 to 8 weeks, hens in the FC and EFT groups showed increased laying rates, haugh unit, albumin height, yolk color, shell thickness, and shell strength compared with those in the C group (p<0.05). Compared with the FC group, the laying rate, albumin height, and Shell thickness in the EFT group was increased (p<0.05). Compared with the C, CT, and FC groups, the EFT group showed reduced serum total cholesterol and increased serum luteinizing hormone levels and mRNA expressions of follicle stimulating hormone receptor and luteinizing hormone receptor (p<0.05). Conclusion These results indicated that the ETF group improved the laying rate and egg quality and regulated the lipid metabolism in aged hens. The mechanism underlying this effect was likely related to cell wall degradation of CHM and increased serum levels of luteinizing hormone and mRNA expression of the ovarian hormone receptor