Reaction Kinetics of Ozone with Selected Pharmaceuticals and Their Removal Potential from a Secondary Treated Municipal Wastewater Effluent in the Great Lakes Basin

Oxidation kinetics of selected pharmaceutical compounds and their degradation during ozonation of secondary treated municipal wastewater effluent (MWWE) was investigated. The apparent second-order rate constants for the reaction between chlorotetracycline (CTC), enrofloxacin (ENR), gemfibrozil (GEM) and ozone ranged between 6.82 – 52.7 × 10⁴ M^?1s^?1. The measured second-order hydroxyl radical rate constants were several orders of magnitude higher at 8.4 × 10⁹ – 13.1 × 10⁹ M^?1s^?1 with a reactivity sequence of GEM > CTC > ENR. Overall degradation of CTC, ENR and GEM in secondary treated municipal wastewater effluent was >76 % at ozone doses of 0.33 mg O₃/mg DOC or higher.     

Synthesis and characterization of smoke-like porous sol–gel indium tin oxide coatings on glass

A precursor for porous indium tin oxide (ITO) coatings with smoke-like surface feature was prepared from the hydrated metal [In(III)/Sn(IV)] salts and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solvated in a mixed aqueous-organic medium. Films were prepared by dip coating and cured at four temperatures (60 °C, 150 °C, 250 °C and 400 °C) where different surface features and morphological properties were obtained. The thickness of the films ranged from 0.5 to 1.2 μm. After the 60 °C cure, the surface showed a unique “smoke-like” feature of combustion products of PVA-ITO precursor. Increasing the cure temperature to 150 °C led to the development of In(III) and Sn(IV) moieties incorporated in crystalline PVA having the shape close to the hexagonal. Study of thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis of the material suggests that the gel to oxide transformation occurs by the removal of physisorbed water, PVA and nitrate ion followed by the condensation of hydroxide groups. Electrical parameters such as resistivity, conductivity, sheet resistance were evaluated by two- and four-point probe methods. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies of the sample cured at 400 °C showed that the films were a porous network containing 5–40 nm clusters of ITO.     

Bacterial growth phase influences methylmercury production by the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132

The effect of bacterial growth phase is an aspect of mercury (Hg) methylation that previous studies have not investigated in detail. Here we consider the effect of growth phase (mid-log, late-log and late stationary phase) on Hg methylation by the known methylator Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132. We tested the addition of Hg alone (chloride-complex), Hg with Suwannee River natural organic matter (SRNOM) (unequilibrated), and Hg equilibrated with SRNOM on monomethylmercury (MMHg) production by ND132 over a growth curve in pyruvate-fumarate media. This NOM did not affect MMHg production even under very low Hg:SRNOM ratios, where Hg binding is predicted to be dominated by high energy sites. Adding Hg or Hg-NOM to growing cultures 24 h before sampling (late addition) resulted in ~ 2× greater net fraction of Hg methylated than for comparably aged cultures exposed to Hg from the initial culture inoculation (early addition). Mid- and late-log phase cultures produced similar amounts of MMHg, but late stationary phase cultures (both under early and late Hg addition conditions) produced up to ~ 3× more MMHg, indicating the potential importance of growth phase in studies of MMHg production.     

Improved Transformation and Regeneration of Indica Rice: Disruption of SUB1A as a Test Case via CRISPR-Cas9

Gene editing by use of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) has become a powerful tool for crop improvement. However, a common bottleneck in the application of this approach to grain crops, including rice (Oryza sativa), is efficient vector delivery and calli regeneration, which can be hampered by genotype-dependent requirements for plant regeneration. Here, methods for Agrobacterium-mediated and biolistic transformation and regeneration of indica rice were optimized using CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing of the submergence tolerance regulator SUBMERGENCE 1A-1 gene of the cultivar Ciherang-Sub1. Callus induction and plantlet regeneration methods were optimized for embryogenic calli derived from immature embryos and mature seed-derived calli. Optimized regeneration (95%) and maximal editing efficiency (100%) were obtained from the immature embryo-derived calli. Phenotyping of T₁ seeds derived from the edited T₀ plants under submergence stress demonstrated inferior phenotype compared to their controls, which phenotypically validates the disruption of SUB1A-1 function. The methods pave the way for rapid CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing of recalcitrant indica rice cultivars.     

Fundamental solution of steady oscillations equations in nonlocal thermoelastic medium with voids

Abstract

A new nonlocal theory of generalized thermoelasticity with voids based on Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity is established. The propagation of plane harmonic waves in nonlocal thermoelastic medium with voids is investigated in the context of dual-phase-lag model of generalized thermoelasticity. There exist three longitudinal waves, namely elastic (E-mode), thermal (T-mode) and volume fraction (V-mode) in addition to transverse waves which get decoupled from the rest of motion and not affected by thermal and volume fraction fields. The fundamental solution of the system of differential equations in case of steady oscillations in terms of the elementary functions has been constructed. The effect of nonlocal parameter and the effect of voids on phase velocities, attenuation coefficients and penetration depths are presented graphically.