Removal of Congo Red dye from its aqueous solution using natural coagulants

AbstractThe textile dyeing industry consumes large quantities of water and produces large volumes of wastewater from different processes in dyeing and finishing processes. The low-cost, easily available naturally prepared coagulants like Surjana seed powder (SSP), Maize seed powder (MSP) and Chitosan as an ideal alternative to recent expensive coagulant methods for Congo Red (CR) dye removal has been investigated in this study. Various process parameters like pH, coagulant dose, flocculation time and temperature and also its optimization were exploited. The maximum percentage CR removal was found to be 98.0, 94.5 and 89.4 for SSP, Chitosan and MSP, respectively, at pH 4.0, coagulant dose of 25 mg/l, flocculation time 60 min and temperature of 340 K. The Sludge Volume Index (SVI) and turbidity were calculated for these parameters including process optimization. SSP found more preferable for CR removal and Chitosan was a better coagulant, which corresponds to SVI than the other coagulants investigated

Virus and prokaryote enumeration from planktonic aquatic environments by epifluorescence microscopy with SYBR Green I

Viruses are the most abundant biological entities in aquatic environments, typically exceeding the abundance of bacteria by an order of magnitude. The reliable enumeration of virus-like particles in marine microbiological investigations is a key measurement parameter. Although the size of typical marine viruses (20-200 nm) is too small to permit the resolution of details by light microscopy, such viruses can be visualized by epifluorescence microscopy if stained brightly. This can be achieved using the sensitive DNA dye SYBR Green I (Molecular Probes-Invitrogen). The method relies on simple vacuum filtration to capture viruses on a 0.02-μm aluminum oxide filter, and subsequent staining and mounting to prepare slides. Virus-like particles are brightly stained and easily observed for enumeration, and prokaryotic cells can easily be counted on the same slides. The protocol provides an inexpensive, rapid (30 min) and reliable technique for obtaining counts of viruses and prokaryotes simultaneously

VEGAS as a Platform for Facile Directed Evolution in Mammalian Cells

Directed evolution, artificial selection toward designed objectives, is routinely used to develop new molecular tools and therapeutics. Successful directed molecular evolution campaigns repeatedly test diverse sequences with a designed selective pressure. Unicellular organisms and their viral pathogens are exceptional for this purpose and have been used for decades. However, many desirable targets of directed evolution perform poorly or unnaturally in unicellular backgrounds. Here, we present a system for facile directed evolution in mammalian cells. Using the RNA alphavirus Sindbis as a vector for heredity and diversity, we achieved 24-h selection cycles surpassing 10−3 mutations per base. Selection is achieved through genetically actuated sequences internal to the host cell, thus the system's name: viral evolution of genetically actuating sequences, or “VEGAS.” Using VEGAS, we evolve transcription factors, GPCRs, and allosteric nanobodies toward functional signaling endpoints each in less than 1 weeks’ time. © 2019 Elsevier Inc.The VEGAS system is a platform for directed evolution, a method for engineering DNA sequences, in mammalian cells. The system is highly mutagenic, facile, and self-contained, requiring no in vitro handling during evolution cycles. As a result, robust evolution campaigns can be run within the context of a mammalian cell signaling environment. We perform three such campaigns as a proof-of-concept: evolving a transcription factor, a G-protein coupled receptor, and llama-derived nanobodies toward specific in vivo activities. © 2019 Elsevier Inc

Erratum: VEGAS as a Platform for Facile Directed Evolution in Mammalian Cells (Cell (2019) 178(3) (748–761.e17), (S0092867419306221), (10.1016/j.cell.2019.05.051))

(Cell 178, 748–761.e1–e17; July 25, 2019) In our recent article reporting a platform for directed evolution in mammalian cells, we inadvertently failed to cite a paper that also reports a method for evolving biomolecules in mammalian cells (Berman et al., 2018). We have corrected the online version of our paper to cite this work, and we apologize for the omission. © 2019 Elsevier Inc

Explanation for the increase in high altitude water on Mars observed by NOMAD during the 2018 global dust storm

The Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery (NOMAD) instrument on board ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) measured a large increase in water vapor at altitudes in the range of 40‐100 km during the 2018 global dust storm on Mars. Using a three‐dimensional general circulation model, we examine the mechanism responsible for the enhancement of water vapor in the upper atmosphere. Experiments with different prescribed vertical profiles of dust show that when more dust is present higher in the atmosphere the temperature increases and the amount of water ascending over the tropics is not limited by saturation until reaching heights of 70‐100 km. The warmer temperatures allow more water to ascend to the mesosphere. Photochemical simulations show a strong increase in high‐altitude atomic hydrogen following the high‐altitude water vapor increase by a few days

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) of Three Spectrometers for the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) package is an element of the Russian contribution to the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission. ACS consists of three separate infrared spectrometers, sharing common mechanical, electrical, and thermal interfaces. This ensemble of spectrometers has been designed and developed in response to the Trace Gas Orbiter mission objectives that specifically address the requirement of high sensitivity instruments to enable the unambiguous detection of trace gases of potential geophysical or biological interest. For this reason, ACS embarks a set of instruments achieving simultaneously very high accuracy (ppt level), very high resolving power (>10,000) and large spectral coverage (0.7 to 17 μm—the visible to thermal infrared range). The near-infrared (NIR) channel is a versatile spectrometer covering the 0.7–1.6 μm spectral range with a resolving power of ∼20,000. NIR employs the combination of an echelle grating with an AOTF (Acousto-Optical Tunable Filter) as diffraction order selector. This channel will be mainly operated in solar occultation and nadir, and can also perform limb observations. The scientific goals of NIR are the measurements of water vapor, aerosols, and dayside or night side airglows. The mid-infrared (MIR) channel is a cross-dispersion echelle instrument dedicated to solar occultation measurements in the 2.2–4.4 μm range. MIR achieves a resolving power of >50,000. It has been designed to accomplish the most sensitive measurements ever of the trace gases present in the Martian atmosphere. The thermal-infrared channel (TIRVIM) is a 2-inch double pendulum Fourier-transform spectrometer encompassing the spectral range of 1.7–17 μm with apodized resolution varying from 0.2 to 1.3 cm−1. TIRVIM is primarily dedicated to profiling temperature from the surface up to ∼60 km and to monitor aerosol abundance in nadir. TIRVIM also has a limb and solar occultation capability. The technical concept of the instrument, its accommodation on the spacecraft, the optical designs as well as some of the calibrations, and the expected performances for its three channels are described

Investigations of the Mars Upper Atmosphere with ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

The Martian mesosphere and thermosphere, the region above about 60 km, is not the primary target of the ExoMars 2016 mission but its Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) can explore it and address many interesting issues, either in-situ during the aerobraking period or remotely during the regular mission. In the aerobraking phase TGO peeks into thermospheric densities and temperatures, in a broad range of latitudes and during a long continuous period. TGO carries two instruments designed for the detection of trace species, NOMAD and ACS, which will use the solar occultation technique. Their regular sounding at the terminator up to very high altitudes in many different molecular bands will represent the first time that an extensive and precise dataset of densities and hopefully temperatures are obtained at those altitudes and local times on Mars. But there are additional capabilities in TGO for studying the upper atmosphere of Mars, and we review them briefly. Our simulations suggest that airglow emissions from the UV to the IR might be observed outside the terminator. If eventually confirmed from orbit, they would supply new information about atmospheric dynamics and variability. However, their optimal exploitation requires a special spacecraft pointing, currently not considered in the regular operations but feasible in our opinion. We discuss the synergy between the TGO instruments, specially the wide spectral range achieved by combining them. We also encourage coordinated operations with other Mars-observing missions capable of supplying simultaneous measurements of its upper atmosphere

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe