Impact of posture and upper-limb muscle activity on grip strength

Purpose. The current research was carried out to determine grip strength (GS) with change in posture and upper-limb muscle activity of manual workers and investigate the impacts of these changes. Methods. For the current research, 120 male and 80 female participants were selected and GS was assessed using a digital hand grip dynamometer in various conditions. Results. The outcomes showed that male participants had higher GS as compared to female participants. Maximum GS was found in a standing posture with the fixed forward shoulder at 45°, elbow at 90° and a neutral position of the wrist and forearm for all participants. Conclusions. Higher values of GS were attained in standing postures which may result in attainment of higher performance levels by the workers. The outcomes justify the importance of correct postures during manual work in industries employing traditional methods.     

Emerging applications of green coconut: A promising lignocellulosic biomass

Waste accumulation is a grave concern and becoming a transboundary challenge for environment. During Covid-19 pandemic, diverse type of waste were collected due to different practices employed in order to fight back the transmission rate of the virus. Covid-19 was proved to be capricious catastrophe of this 20th century and even not completely eradicated from the world. The havoc created by this imperceptible quick witted, pleomorphic deadly virus can't be ignored. Though a number of vaccines have been developed by the scientists but there is a fear of getting this virus again in our life. Medical studies prove that immunity drinks will help to reduce its reoccurrences. Coconut water is widely used among all drinks available globally. Its massive consumption created an incalculable pile of green coconut shells around the different corners of the world. This practice generating enormous problem of space acquisition for the environment. Both the environment and public health will benefit from an evaluation of quantity of coconut waste that is being thrown and its potential to generate value added products. With this context, present article has been planned to study different aspects like, coconut waste generation, its biological properties and environmental hazards associated with its accumulation. Additionally, this review illustrates, green technologies for production of different value added products from coconut waste.     

Methodological Basis of Ecological Safety Standards for the Technogenic Impact of Mineral Resource Exploitation

A new methodological approach to the development of biological and technological safety standards for the impact of underground mining on the natural biota is proposed.     

不同基质生物炭对厌氧处理餐厨垃圾效能及微生态的影响

探究了剩余污泥（SS）、餐厨垃圾（FW）、玉米芯（CC）、甘蔗渣（BG）4种不同基质生物炭对厌氧生物处理餐厨垃圾效能的影响,对厌氧污泥的关键酶活性、微生物群落分布以及代谢途径等微生态进行了分析.结果表明,厌氧反应器分别加入4种生物炭后,COD平均去除率分别提高了29.49%、23.16%、29.42%、40.32%;傅里叶红外分析表明,投加SS生物炭组出水中羟基、酰胺基以及C-O-C伸缩振动峰减弱.4个厌氧反应器中厌氧污泥的乙酸激酶活性分别为0.40,0.42,0.96,0.98 μmol/g,表明投加CC与BG生物炭促进了餐厨垃圾的厌氧水解酸化过程;厌氧污泥胞外聚合物的蛋白质/多糖之比分别为0.415、0.56、1.89、2.8,投加CC、BG生物炭提高了污泥的稳定性.4个厌氧反应器中拟杆菌门、变形菌门、厚壁菌门为主要菌群,投加BG生物炭促进了变形菌门与厚壁菌门的生长;对于古细菌而言,甲烷杆菌属与甲烷丝菌属为优势种群,SS组的甲烷杆菌属丰度最高（53.48%）,而BG组中甲烷丝菌属丰度最高（42.72%）.KEGG功能分析表明古菌及细菌均以碳水化合物代谢、氨基酸代谢为主;而投加BG与SS生物炭后,微生物膜运输水平得到了提高.     

二氧化钛纳米颗粒对湖滨沼泽土壤氮矿化的影响

二氧化钛纳米颗粒（TiO₂NPs）的广泛应用使其环境释放量不断增加,从而影响到土壤氮的转化过程.然而,目前关于TiO₂NPs对湖滨沼泽土壤氮矿化的影响机制尚不明确.因此,本研究以典型沼泽土壤为研究对象,通过室内培养实验研究不同剂量TiO₂NPs处理（0 mg·kg^-1（CK）、10 mg·kg^-1（A10）、100 mg·kg^-1（A100）、250 mg·kg^-1（A250）、1000 mg·kg^-1（A1000））对土壤理化性质、酶活性和氮矿化过程的影响,探讨TiO₂NPs输入对土壤氮矿化过程影响的内在机制.结果表明：①不同剂量TiO₂NPs处理显著降低了土壤pH和总有机碳（TOC）含量（p<0.05）,A100、A250和A1000处理显著降低了硝态氮（NO₃^--N）含量（p<0.05）.②A250和A1000处理显著抑制了过氧化氢酶活性（p<0.05）;培养7 d,不同剂量TiO₂NPs处理均显著促进了脲酶活性（p<0.05）,抑制了脱氢酶活性（p<0.05）;随着培养时间延长,TiO₂NPs处理对脲酶和脱氢酶活性的抑制作用逐渐减弱,表明TiO₂NPs的负面作用会随时间减弱.③不同剂量TiO₂NPs处理对氨化速率没有显著影响（p>0.05）,A250、A1000处理对硝化和矿化速率有显著抑制作用（p<0.01）.④土壤氮矿化速率与土壤pH、总磷（TP）、NO₃^--N含量呈显著正相关,与脲酶、过氧化氢酶活性呈显著负相关.TiO₂NPs主要通过改变沼泽土壤NO₃^--N含量影响氮矿化过程.本研究可为湖滨湿地保护和TiO₂NPs环境风险评估提供理论依据.     

Long-term effects of silver nanoparticles on performance of phosphorus removal in a laboratory-scale vertical flow constructed wetland

Silver nanoparticles(AgNPs) have been widely used in many fields,which raised concerns about potential threats to biological sewage treatment systems.In this study,the phosphorus removal performance,enzymatic activity and microbial population dynamics in constructed wetlands(CWs) were evaluated under a long-term exposure to Ag NPs(0,50,and 200 μg/L) for 450 days.Results have shown that Ag NPs inhibited the phosphorus removal efficiency in a short-term exposure,whereas caused no obviously negative effects from a long-term perspective.Moreover,in the coexisting CW system of Ag NPs and phosphorus,competition exhibited in the initial exposure phase,however,cooperation between them was observed in later phase.Enzymatic activity of acid-phosphatase at the moderate temperature(10–20°C) was visibly higher than that at the high temperature(20–30℃) and CWs with Ag NPs addition had no appreciable differences compared with the control.High-throughput sequencing results indicated that the microbial richness,diversity and composition of CWs were distinctly affected with the extension of exposure time at different Ag NPs levels.However,the phosphorus removal performance of CWs did not decline with the decrease of polyphosphate accumulating organisms(PAOs),which also confirmed that adsorption precipitation was the main way of phosphorus removal in CWs.The study suggested that Ag NPs and phosphorus could be removed synergistically in the coexistence system.This work has some reference for evaluating the influences of Ag NPs on the phosphorus removal and the interrelation between them in CWs.     

Morphology-dependent interfacial interactions of Fe2O3 with Ag nanoparticles for determining the catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol

In this work,we fabricated three kinds of Ag/Fe_2O_3 model catalysts with different morphologies to study the interfacial interactions between Ag and Fe_2O_3,and how they affected the catalytic activity in hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol was explored.The hydrothermal method was used to synthesize the metal oxide supported silver catalyst,with various morphologies including nanoplates(NPs),nanospheres(NSs),and nanocubes(NCs).The crystal structure,morphology and surface elements of the composite were investigated by various measurements,such as X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS).The catalytic activity was also evaluated by the reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol.It was found that the activities of the above catalysts varied with the morphology of the support.Among them,Ag/Fe_2O_3 NPs promoted the highest performance,Ag/Fe_2O_3 NSs were slightly inferior,and Ag/Fe_2O_3 NCs were the worst.At last,we ascribed the remarkable activity of Ag/Fe_2O_3 NPs to the strong metal-support interactions between Ag and Fe_2O_3.     

石油污染土壤多酚氧化酶的动力学及热力学特征

土壤多酚氧化酶是一种氧化还原酶,能够将土壤中芳香族化合物氧化成醌,促进土壤中石油类物质的分解转化.以距大庆油田工作区不同距离（1、5、15 km）的石油污染地为对象,研究不同温度下石油污染裸地及羊草（Leymus chinensis）修复地的土壤多酚氧化酶活性及其动力学和热力学特征的变化.结果表明:土壤多酚氧化酶活性随温度和底物浓度的增加而逐渐增大,在温度为30℃或40℃、底物浓度为80 mmol/L或160 mmol/L时达到最大值;各样地土壤酶的动力学参数K_m（Mihaelis常数）随温度的变化规律不同,V_max（酶促反应最大速度）和V_max/K_m（催化效率）随温度升高而逐渐增大,均在30℃或40℃时达到最大值;热力学参数Q₁₀（温度系数）、ΔH（活化焓）、ΔS（活化熵）随温度变化差异不显著,ΔG（活化自由能）随温度升高呈逐渐增加趋势.在同一温度下,石油污染裸地土壤多酚氧化酶活性高于羊草修复地;K_m和V_max/K_m在各样地均表现为无规律性变化,V_max最大值出现在距油田工作区5 km处的裸地（BMP）,最小值出现在距油田工作区5 km处的羊草修复地（LMP）;Q₁₀、E_a（活化能）、ΔH、ΔS的最大值均出现在距油田工作区1 km处的裸地（BVP）,最小值均出现在距油田工作区1 km处的羊草修复地（LVP）.研究显示,升温和植物修复对土壤多酚氧化酶活性的反应特征有较大影响.      

Promotive effect of pyridine on indole degradation by activated sludge under anoxic conditions

Batch experiments were carried out to investigate the promotive effect of pyridine on indole degradation under denitrifying conditions. The seed sludge was obtained from a local coal-coking wastewater treatment facility and was acclimated in the laboratory. Indole and pyridine were supplemented to the synthetic wastewater at different ratios. The optimum ratio of chemical oxygen demand (COD) to nitrate (C/N) was 8.4–8.9 for both denitrification and indole and pyridine degradation. At a temperature of 28°C and pH of 7.0–7.5, the nitrate reductase activity (NRA) was in the best state. The addition of pyridine could promote NRA and the degradation of indole. When the initial concentration of indole was 150 mg/L, the concentration ratio of indole to pyridine was in the range of 1–10. Under optimum C/N conditions, the degradation of indole could be described with pseudo-zero-order kinetics. There was no accumulation of nitrite during the reaction. When the concentration ratio of pyridine to indole was less than 0.25 with an increase in the pyridine proportion, there were more significant augment rates for NRA and the degradation of indole than the situation when the concentration ratio was more than 0.25. __________ Translated from Environmental Science, 2006, 27(2): 300–304 [译自: 环境科学]