Turning waste to wealth-biodegradable plastics polyhydroxyalkanoates from palm oil mill effluent – a Malaysian perspective

Palm oil industries have been contributing significantly towards the country’s economy and increase standard of living among Malaysians. However, it has also been identified as the major contributor for discharging the largest pollution load throughout the country. Owing to high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), the palm oil mill effluent (POME) cannot be discharged directly into the environment. Thus, palm oil industries are facing tremendous challenges in order to comply with environmental regulations. While anaerobic digestion has been employed by most mills as primary treatment, POME can also be a potential source of degradable organic material which can be converted into value-added products and fine chemicals. Organic acids generated during acid-phase anaerobic digestion of POME could be a potential carbon source for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA)- a biodegradable thermoplastic material of microbial origin. This paper aims at understanding how organic acids from POME may serve as a renewable feedstock for the biosynthesis of PHA.     

Pinch analysis approach to carbon-constrained planningfor sustainable power generation

A graphical pinch-based methodology for planning retrofits for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the power generation sector is presented in this work. CCS is widely seen as one of the essential interim technologies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, while still being able to utilize fossil fuels, which are relatively inexpensive and reliable in comparison to inherently low-carbon renewable resources. However, retrofitting power plants for CCS entails major capital costs as well as a reduction of thermal efficiency and power output. Thus, it is essential for planning purposes to implement the minimal extent of CCS retrofit that meets the sectoral carbon footprint targets. At the same time, it is necessary to plan for additional power generation capacity or efficiency enhancements to compensate for energy losses resulting from CCS retrofits. The simple graphical approach used in this paper is designed to determine such targets, and shares the same intuitive, insight-driven characteristics of pinch analysis techniques. A case study is shown to illustrate the methodology.     

安徽省土地利用现状及趋势分析

1980～1999年的20年间，安徽人口增长了1313万，耕地面积却减少了20万hm^2，森林面积略有增加，人均耕地和资源面积持续下降，这种趋势若得不到控制，将影响我省土地的可地续利用，必须依靠农业科学技术，提高耕地生产率，以及继续控制人口增长，来抵消土地利用变化所带来的压力。     

Do brain parasites alter host personality? — Experimental study in minnows

Despite that the existence of animal personalities is widely recognized, no consensus has been reached on the relative importance of different ecological factors behind their expression. Recently, it has been suggested that parasites may have a crucial role in shaping animal personalities, but only a very few studies have experimentally tested the idea. We infected Eurasian minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) with the brain-encysted trematode parasite, Diplostomum phoxini, and studied whether infection could modify the personality of their hosts. Our results show that D. phoxini infection did not affect the mean levels of boldness, activity or exploration, but infected minnows showed higher repeatability in boldness and activity, and reduced repeatability in exploration. We also found that D. phoxini may be able to break the associations (behavioral syndromes) between behavioral traits, but that this effect may be dependent on parasite intensity. Furthermore, the effect of D. phoxini infection on personality of the hosts was found to be nonlinearly dependent on infection intensity. Taken together, our results suggest that D. phoxini parasites may shape the personality of their hosts, but that behavioral consequences of ecologically relevant infection levels may be rather subtle and easily remain undetected if only the mean trait expressions are compared.     

基于RS与GIS混合编程的公路水毁灾情信息提取

研究了基于高分辨率卫星遥感影像的公路水毁灾情信息提取模型,通过解决跨软件环境的开发问题,实现了基于遥感与地理信息系统混合编程的公路水毁灾情信息提取系统。使用高分辨率卫星遥感数据形成融合数据,通过分析融合图像的光谱、几何、纹理特征,建立了公路信息提取规则,构建了面向对象的公路信息提取模型。根据水在近红外和中红外波长范围内反射率极低的特性,同时考虑不同环境背景造成的信息提取复杂性,研究了具有自适应特点的水面提取模型。通过建立组件式地理信息系统和遥感应用环境之间的通信和数据共享机制,实现了模型运行的交互式用户界面,并提供叠置空间分析功能,从灾后公路边界提取结果中去除水面部分,获得公路水毁信息。实际应用表明,系统可以满足相关工作对公路水毁灾情信息提取技术的要求。     

Kinetics of acetyl CoA: Arylamine N‐acetyltransferase from rapid and slow acetylator fish tissues

N‐acetyltransferase (NAT) activity was determined in 100 fish (Oreochromis mossambicus) livers using 2‐aminofluorene and p‐aminobenzoic acid as substrates. Overall, the liver NAT activity of the 50 females was higher than the liver NAT activity of the 50 males. The activities (mean ± SD) of NAT from kidney, blood, intestine, and liver of males was 0.42 ± 0.11, 0.12 ± 0.03, 0.12 ± 0.08, and 1.56 ± 0.54 nmol/min/mg protein for the acetylation of 2‐aminofluorene and 0.36 ± 0.09, 0.09 ± 0.01, 0.11 ± 0.04, and 0.46 ± 0.15 nmol/min/mg protein for the acetylation of p‐aminobenzoic acid. In kidney, blood, intestine, and liver from female fish, the activities obtained were 1.60 ± 0.12, 0.35 ± 0.07, 0.15 ± 0.09, and 1.89 ± 0.50 nmol/min/mg protein for 2‐aminofluorene and 0.95 ± 0.11, 0.27 ± 0.03, 0.13 ± 0.09, and 0.57 ± 0.12nmol/min/mg protein for p‐aminobenzoic acid. Kinetic constants for arylamine N‐acetyltransferase activity in kidney, blood, intestine, and liver from fish with rapid, intermediate, and slow acetylator activity were determined. Apparent K _m and V _max values for 2‐aminofluorene were 5.5 and 7‐fold higher for liver than for the other tissues. Apparent K _m and V _max values for p‐aminobenzoic acid were 3.5 and 4.7‐fold higher for liver than for the other tissues. Based on the 2‐aminofluorene NAT activity of liver, there appears to be a polymorphism in NAT activity with 16 rapid, 28 intermediate, and 56 slow acetylators among the 100 fish assayed. This is the first demonstration of acetyl CoA: arylamine N‐acetyltransferase activity in fresh water fish and could lead to the development of a fish model for monitoring the effect of pollution of water environments on native species.     

电动力修复铅镉复合污染土壤

采用电动力修复技术处理Pb、Cd复合污染土壤,考察了柠檬酸和乙二胺四乙酸二钠（EDTA）作为电解液对棕壤（ZR）和红壤（HR）两种我国典型壤质中Pb、Cd去除效果的影响。实验结果表明：在电压梯度为2 V/cm,修复时间为4 d的条件下,ZR的最佳电解液为EDTA,Pb、Cd平均去除率为13.2%和17.8%,HR的最佳电解液为柠檬酸,Pb、Cd的平均去除率为20.0%和33.8%;延长修复时间至10 d能显著提高HR中Pb、Cd的去除率,电解液为柠檬酸时Cd平均去除率达91.1%,电解液为EDTA时Pb平均去除率达63.2%,修复后土壤中Cd和Pb含量均低于建筑用地土壤污染风险筛选值。综合考虑能耗及修复效果,EDTA是高效且经济的修复电解液。     

Budgets of turbulent kinetic energy,Reynolds stresses,and dissipation in a turbulent round jet discharged into a stagnant ambient

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - This paper presents a set of stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) measurements of a turbulent round water jet (jet exit Reynolds number $$Re = 2679$$ and...     

Expression and regulation of the shikimic acid pathway gene DHD/SDH in tea plant (Camellia sinensis)北大核心CSCD

3-Dehydroquinic acid dehydrase/shikimate dehydrogenase (DHD/SDH) is the only bifunctional enzyme in the shikimic acid pathway. It can catalyze the generation of shikimic acid and gallic acid. To investigate the expression and regulation patterns of DHD/SDH in tea, we aimed to determine (1) the miRNA-mediated cleavage of DHD/SDH involved in the shikimic acid pathway, (2) the expression pattern of miRNA and their targets, and (3) the expression pattern of three DHD/SDH genes in tea plant (Camellia sinensis) with different hormone treatments via online prediction, RLM-RACE, and qPCR. Based on the miRNAs obtained, we identified four miRNAs that regulated CsDHD/SDH in tea. CsDHD/SDH2 was targeted by miR5180b, miR1510b-5p, and miR24; CsDHD/SDH3 was targeted by miR868-5p. We also found that CsDHD/SDH2 and CsDHD/SDH3 have a similar expression pattern under different hormone treatments, and they were synergistic with each other. CsDHD/SDH1 exhibited an expression pattern opposite to that of the other two homologues, and increased expression of CsDHD/SDH1 reduced the expression of the other two genes. © 2018 Science Press. All rights reserved.