An investigation into the relationship between process kinetics and microbial community dynamics in a lactate-fed sulphidogenic CSTR as a function of residence time and sulphate loading

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-212).The treatment of acid mine drainage and other sulphate-laden wastewaters usingbiological sulphate reduction technology has been shown to offer several advantages.This process effectively removes the following toxicants: sulphate, heavy metals andacidity. Previous studies have also revealed that the sub-process, sulphate reduction, isinfluenced by the choice of electron donor, constituents of the microbial populationmediating the process, the feed sulphate concentration and other operationalparameters. The current work investigated the potential of an ecological approach inthe treatment of sulphate-laden wastewaters. This was based on the relationshipbetween the structure and function of the sulphate-reducing bacterial population. Themain objective was to examine the effects of feed sulphate concentration andresidence time on the kinetics of biological sulphate reduction and the communitystructure of the microbial system involved

How Resilient Is the U.S. Economy to Foreign Disturbances?

This is the final version. Available from MDPI via the DOI in this record. Data Availability Statement: The data used for this study are publicly available at the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), and Energy Information Administration (EIA)We assess the relative importance of domestic and foreign disturbances in explaining fluctuations in key macroeconomic variables and find that both types of shocks are equally important. We reach this conclusion within a constructed two-sector open economy DSGE model context, where we isolate the relative contributions of each group of disturbances to post-WWII U.S. business cycles. Our approach is to apply the indirect inference method to test the model’s fit against a four-equation VAR(1) of output, real exchange rate, energy use, and consumption. Our main result is that foreign disturbances are pivotal to driving movements in these home variables; accounting for 38% of the variability in aggregate output, 73% of the variation in the real exchange rate, 45% of the variance of energy use, and 84% of the volatility of consumption. Further, foreign disturbances are also identified to be crucial for some other home macroeconomic variables, explaining larger fractions in changes to investment, labour hours, and real interest rate. However, the U.S. economy appears to be resilient to foreign disturbances with respect to certain macroeconomic variables; in particular, exports, imports, real wages, and domestic absorption

Geology and Geochemistry of Sediments from Lewumeji and Idogun Wells, Eastern Dahomey Basin Southwestern Nigeria

Selected composited samples from Lewumeji (0-111m) and Idogun (0- 54m) Abeokuta Group, Eastern Dahomey Basin, were subjected to detailed lithologic and geochemical studies. The studies aimed at determining the lithological sequence, paleoenvironments of deposition, tectonic settings, provenance, weathering history and the classification of sediments. The core samples were subjected to lithological description and geochemical analysis were done following standard procedure through the use of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) through lithium metaborate fusion method.The lithologies from both wells consist of reddish to brown colour, rounded to sub rounded sandstone, brownish clay, and dark grey shale denoting possibly fluvial, brackish, lagoonal and marine environments. The sandstone revealed dominance of quartz which were classified as quartz arenites to sublitharenite and subarkoses, this suggests a recycled orogen source for the sandstones. Shale in the study area shows patches of CaCO3 indicating the presence of biogenic materials. And the reddish brown colouration of clay suggests ferruginization.  The geochemistry revealed low values for K2O/Al2O3 ratio coupled with high average values of Plagioclase Index of Alteration (81.64% and 73.80%), Chemical Index of Alteration (79.22% and 71.52%) and Chemical Index of Weathering (82.41 % and 75.03%) for Idogun and Lewumeji wells respectively. This values indicate intense weathering condition. The plots of Log (Fe2O3/K2O) against Log (SiO2/Al2O3) revealed sediments dominated by Fe - sand and Fe - shale. Also, Al2O3-(K2O+CaO+MgO)-(Fe2O3+MgO), (AKF) ternary plots reveals that the sediments are derived from continental environment. The Log (K2O/Na2O) against SiO2 and the discriminant function plots indicate sediments deposited within the passive margin. Also, the Trace elements ternary plots of Th-Sc-Zr/10 and Th-Co-Zr/10 reveal deposition within Continental Island Arc and Passive Margin. The discriminant function plots characterized the sediments as Mafic Igneous rock and quartoze sedimentary provenances with minor input from Intermediate and felsic igneous provenances. The chondrite normalized REE plots show enrichment of Light REE over Heavy REE in the study area with negative Europium and Cerium anomalies greater than 1. This indicated an oxidising and a shallow marine environments. The REE pattern is similar to those for the Upper Continental Crust sediments (UCC).  Conclusively, the study shows that the sediments in the study area have multiple provenances subjected to high weathering conditions and were deposited within an oxidizing and continental to shallow marine settings. Keywords: Dahomey Basin, lithostratigraphy, paleoenvironment, Provenance, Tectonic setting. DOI: 10.7176/JEES/10-5-03 Publication date:May 31st 202

Selecting SaaS CRM Solution for SMEs

The use of CRM system has helped many organisations to manage and analyze business interaction with customers in several ways. However, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are often struggling to find an optimal solution to fit their business and financial conditions. When faced with different SaaS-based CRM solutions, SMEs need to save investments in IT infrastructure, the cost of CRM deployment, and the maintenance cost. To select the best solution for the SME is critical for the business. This paper look at What systematic approach SMEs needs to follow when choosing the best SaaS CRM solution that would suit their company business strategy? To answer this question, this study presents a comprehensive decision-making framework for SaaS CRM evaluation and selection approach using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP). The proposed selection approach is also applied to an SME, Biyemfat Enterprise, a small private real estate company. A case study of selecting a SaaS CRM solution for Biyemfat Enterprise is presented with an evaluation of the cost-benefit analysis

ATP-sulphurylase: An enzymatic marker for biological sulphate reduction

Adenosine triphosphate-sulphurylase (ATPS) plays a major role in dissimilatory sulphate reduction. In this study, the level of ATPS activity was monitored in a time course study using a biosulphidogenic batch bioreactor system. A coincident decrease in ATPS activity with a decline in sulphate concentration and an increase in sulphide concentration as biosulphidogenesis proceeded was observed. Flask studies further showed sulphate to be stimulatory to ATPS, while sulphide proved to be inhibitory. The effect of ions (Ca^(2+), Cl^(−), Fe^(2+) and Zn^(2+)) on the ATPS activity was also investigated. Most of the ions studied (Ca^(2+), Cl^(−) and Fe^(2+)) were stimulatory at lower concentrations (40–120 mg/l) but proved toxic at higher concentrations (>120 mg/l). In contrast, Zn^(2+) was inhibitory even at low concentrations ( 40 mg/l). ATPS may potentially be used as an enzymatic marker for biological sulphate reduction in sulphate-rich wastewaters and natural environments (anaerobic systems such as soils and sediments found in freshwater and marine systems), providing all residual sulphide and interfering ions are removed using a simple preparative step

Oleochemicals from Palm Oil for the Petroleum Industry

Waste vegetable oils as a sustainable, low-cost and low-toxicity feedstock are attracting more interests for the production of oleochemicals that are excellent substitutes for petroleum-based chemicals widely used in the petroleum industry. The compounds resulting from transesterification-epoxidation-sulfonation of waste vegetable oils have great potential as bio-based surface active agents with extensive application in the petroleum industry. The oleo-surfactant from vegetable oils is gaining increasing attention as alternative to the costlier and non-biodegradable petrochemical-based surfactants currently in use. This chapter reports on cost-effective processes to convert waste palm oil into high-grade surfactants aiming at its filed application in petroleum production to enhance recovery of crude oils from reservoir. The first section focused on the formulation of a high-performance bifunctional solid catalyst with basic and acidic sites that are able to mediate simultaneous esterification and transesterification reactions. In the second part, the methyl esters were epoxidized and then sulfonated to produce the anionic surfactant. The feedstock and the methyl ester produced were analyzed with gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometer (GC-MS) and the sulfonated functional group (S═O) was detected using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis

God’s not dead, just overregulated: state history and the regulation of religion at various stages of development

Intensity of governmental interference with religion differs extensively across the world. We suggest that part of this variation is entrenched in the historical development of statehood, which has played a crucial role in shaping many aspects of modern-day society, and propose that this further depends on a country’s relative stage of economic development. Using data on a cross-section of countries, our indicator of state history reveals a substantially positive effect on measures of current religious regulation. In addition to this persistent influence, we show that state history exhibits differential effects on religious regulations across countries. The empirical results indicate that the state history - religious regulation nexus is strongest in middle-income countries, followed by low-income countries. However, this association is rarely observed amid high-income countries