Additional Source Research Articles

Sources of atmospheric light-absorbing fine aerosols: Insights from optical source apportionment utilizing measurements made during COVID-19 lockdowns at a COALESCE network site - Bhopal, India

The source-related optical characteristics of carbonaceous aerosols which absorb light are not well-known as they can be generated by a variety of sources. In this study, specific source-related optical properties of carbonaceous aerosols and mineral dust were investigated using a two-year dataset of absorption at multiple wavelengths and chemical species measured at Bhopal, India. A receptor model (Positive Matrix Factorization PMF5) was applied to the combined dataset to achieve optical source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols and mineral dust. PMF resolved six factors accounting for carbonaceous aerosols and dust particulate matter (CDPM), which were identified as coal combustion, traffic exhaust, biomass burning, mineral dust, industry, and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) factors. The average contributions of these factors to the total CDPM mass were 29 % (coal combustion), 20 % (SOA), 16 % (traffic exhaust), 15 % (industry), 14 % (biomass burning), and 6 % (mineral dust (MD)) during the study period. The dominant contributors (at 405 nm) to aerosol light absorption were coal combustion (33 %), traffic exhaust (30 %), and biomass burning (29 %) factors. Specific source-related absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) values indicated that black carbon (BC) was the dominant light absorber in the coal and traffic emission factors. However, brown carbon (BrC) was present in the biomass-burning emissions. The specific source-related mass absorption cross section (MAC) for BC from coal combustion was higher at 635 nm than for MACBC from biomass burning, industry, and traffic exhaust factors. Overall, this study helped in the identification of additional light-absorbing sources of CDPM such as MD and SOA, and differentiate between optical parameters (AAE and MAC) of light-absorbing species in these sources.

Essential role of liquid phase on melt-processed GdBCO single-grain superconductors

We systematically investigated the role of additional liquid source (LS) which creates a liquid-rich nucleation environment and influences the growth kinetic energy. It enables a significant decrease in maximum processing temperature (Tmax) even close to the peritectic decomposition temperature (Tp), hence optimizing the distribution and size of the Gd2BaCuO5 (Gd211) particles. By exploiting this combined LS and low Tmax (LS+LTmax) growth method, the performance of GdBa2Cu3O7-δ (GdBCO) single-grain superconductors has been greatly improved. Therefore, the maximum trapped magnetic fields reach 0.746 T and 1.140 T for the 18- and 25-mm-diameter samples at 77 K. Meanwhile, superior flux pinning performance has been observed at the growth section boundaries (GSBs) with a decreased density of Gd211 particles in the LS+LTmax samples. These results indicate that the LS+LTmax technology can fabricate high-performance single-grain superconductors with improved reliability which is considered important for engineering applications.

A Two-Phase Qualitative Enquiry Into Storytelling's Potential to Support Palliative Care Patient-Led Change, Using a Systematic Review Approach.

A terminal diagnosis can diminish an individual's sense of agency and identity. Leading change appears to restore a sense of agential self. The first phase of this literature review explores factors influencing patient-led change across the palliative care ecosystem. The second phase illuminates how storytelling can support palliative care patients in leading ecosystem-wide change. 35 studies were identified in Phase 1 and 36 in Phase 2. This research highlights the need to situate patient leadership activity within a palliative care ecosystem to understand factors likely to support or hinder patient leadership activity within it. The evidence indicates the potential use of storytelling to support patients with a life-limiting illness to lead change across the palliative care ecosystem. This challenges current conceptualisations of such patients and offers them instead as an additional source of palliative care support.

Biomass characterization and solvent extraction as tools to promote phenol production from urban pruning

Nowadays, leaves, bark, and branches are generated from the tree-pruning process in urban places, where their management is a problem because of the necessity of disposal. These wastes are lignocellulosic biomasses with poor properties for use in biofuel production, but with interesting projections for building block products such as phenol compounds. Therefore, extensive biomass characterization of urban pruning from Liquidambar styraciflua L. was developed to evaluate its composition as a tool for phenol production through thermal processing, in which solvent extraction is a complementary tool for selectivity improvement. The results showed high lignin content in bark and leaves at 45 and 28 %, respectively, compared with that in branches (14 %). Additionally, high extractives in leaves (14 %) could be an additional source of phenols. The lignin units were analyzed by Raman dispersion, revealing p–hydroxyphenyl (H) units in the bark, guaiacyl (G) units in the bark and leaves, and syringyl (S) units only in the branches. Furthermore, the micropyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry assay realized at 600 °C showed high presence of phenolic compounds in the three biomass investigated, where a high phenol concentration was identified in leaves, probably due to the S unit degradation during pyrolysis. With these results, an assay for bio-oil production was performed in a low-temperature pyrolysis reactor using leaves as feedstock, reaching a low bio-oil yield with high water content favored for the high inorganic content of leaves (13 %). The produced bio-oil was used for liquid–liquid extraction evaluation, where 1-octanol and methyl isobutyl ketone were identified as interesting solvents for catechol and phenol extraction, respectively. This article presents the challenge of characterizing each part of urban trees, which could be a tool to promote the use of urban pruning by studying the thermal degradation mechanism to implement processes for high-value products, such as phenols produced from L. styraciflua L.

‘… And We have made from water every living thing’: water conservation and the Holy Qur’an

SummaryWater conservation is of particular importance for arid regions, including many Muslim-majority countries. With the added pressures of human population growth and expansion and global climate change, water conservation efforts are imperative to extending the life of current water supplies as well as to sourcing water treatment methods that are religiously congruent. We review Qur’anic verses that address water usage and conservation. We searched the English translations of the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an and the King Saud University Electronic Moshaf Project for Qur’anic scripture related to water and water conservation. A total of 25 verses were found that related to creation, water usage for agriculture and food provision/production and as a common resource for humanity. Qur’anic scripture encourages gratitude for water and wise stewardship of this resource. Specific prohibitions against the reuse of water (e.g., treated water) were not found, and recent Islamic literature supports the use of cleansed greywater. Treated greywater may thus be an additional source for agricultural needs, thus reducing the stress placed on already limited water supplies. Water conservation falls within Qur’anic scripture.

High temporal resolution of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) dynamics during heat stress does not support a causative role in coral bleaching

Human-induced climate change is causing ocean warming that triggers the breakdown of the coral–algal symbiosis. The proximate cause of this phenomenon, known as coral bleaching, is commonly attributed to the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by the thermally stressed photosynthetic algal symbionts. However, direct evidence that algal ROS production (e.g., in the form of H2O2) and coral physiological stress are the ultimate cause of bleaching remains ambiguous. Here, we investigated the temporal dynamics of H2O2 and oxygen (O2) concentrations during thermally induced coral bleaching to disentangle cause from consequence. Microsensors at the tissue interface of Pocillopora damicornis measured H2O2 and O2 concentrations while exposing single nubbins to baseline temperatures (30 °C) and to minor (33 °C), moderate (36 °C), and high (39 °C) levels of acute heat stress using the Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (CBASS). We show that a temporary decline in O2 concentration, accompanied by a declining photosynthetic efficiency and loss of Symbiodiniaceae and pigmentation, is the initial response to moderate thermal stress. This response was neither provoked nor followed by an increased H2O2 concentration at the coral tissue interface. A steady light-independent increase of H2O2 was only detected during high heat stress, resulting in the complete and permanent loss of photosynthetic activity. Our findings do not support a direct connection between algal photodamage and an increase in H2O2 concentration during thermally induced bleaching and suggest that more research on the function of H2O2 is warranted. This notion is further substantiated by the observation of an additional source of H2O2, likely oxidative bursts, that were common at the baseline temperature and under minor heat stress, while their occurrence decreased at moderate and high heat stress. Resolving the multifaceted and dynamic roles of H2O2 in coral bleaching is critical to better understand the response of the coral holobiont to thermal stress and identifying the processes underlying the breakdown of the coral–algal symbiosis.

Racial differences in parent response to COVID schooling policies.

This paper examines whether school COVID-19 policies influenced enrollment differently by student age and race/ethnicity. Unlike much prior research, we i) analyze enrollments for virtually the entire U.S. public school population for both the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, ii) compare enrollment trends within districts in order to isolate subgroup heterogeneity from district characteristics, and iii) account for district selection into preferred learning modes. Analyzing data on over 9,000 districts that serve more than 90% of public school students in the United States, we find enrollment responses to COVID policies differed notably. We find that White enrollments declined more than Black, Hispanic, and Asian enrollments in districts that started the 2020-2021 school year virtually, but in districts that started in-person the reverse was true: Non-White enrollments declined more than White enrollments. Moreover, Black, Hispanic, and Asian families responded more than White families to higher COVID-19 death rates in the months preceding the start of the 2021 school year. In 2021-2022, enrollment differences by the previous year's learning mode persisted. Racial/ethnic differences did not vary by whether the district required masking in classrooms. These findings are consistent with the greater risk faced by communities of color during the pandemic and demonstrate an additional source of disparate impact from COVID policies.

Synergistic effect of LDHs/loofah composites for in-situ remediation of nitrate in contaminated groundwater

Permeable reaction barrier (PRB) is an innovative technology for in-situ remediation of nitrate-contaminated groundwater. In this study, layered double hydroxides (LDHs)/loofah composites were prepared and used as active fillers for PRB to facilitate nitrate removal from groundwater. Under the conditions of initial nitrate concentration of 5 mg/L, a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4 h, and without additional carbon source, the nitrate removal rates of the natural loofah, MgAl-LDHs, and CaMgAl-LDHs composite were 69.31 %, 85.35 %, and 97.82 %, respectively. The CaMgAl-LDHs composite exhibits the highest denitrification capacity, attributed to the presence of Ca2+and Mg2+. Ca2+ and Mg2+is an essential element for the structural integrity of microbial cells, which demonstrated that Ca2+ reduces the surface charge of bacteria, leading to hydrophobicity and facilitating biofilm formation. Electrochemical tests demonstrate that LDHs with distinctive two-dimensional layered structure, contribute to the augmentation of electron transfer during denitrification. LDHs can also promote the formation of highly active biofilms and the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on the surface of loofah, thereby enhancing the metabolic activity of microorganisms. Metagenomic analysis revealed that LDHs enhance the enrichment of denitrifying bacteria and the activity of key enzymes involved in denitrification. Therefore, the adsorption-biological coupled degradation of the LDHs/loofah composites have great potential to enhance the efficiency of biological denitrification, making it promising filling materials for PRB technology applied in groundwater remediation.

THE PROBLEMS OF THE FUNCTIONING OF THE STOCK MARKET OF UKRAINE UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF WAR STATE

Introduction. The stock market is a multifunctional system that contributes to: accumulation of capital for investment in the production and social spheres; structural reorganization of the economy; positive dynamics of the social structure of society; improving the welfare of citizens, due to the ownership and free disposal of securities. The Russian Federation's full-scale war with Ukraine, which has lasted for more than a year and a half, has brought Ukraine large-scale financial and economic instability, which is manifested in the deterioration of the socio-economic condition and the deterioration of the state of the financial system, regarding its performance of its functions. The purpose of the article is to understand the processes of development and analysis the main trends of the current state and to identify the problems of the functioning of the stock market of Ukraine under martial. The results. The main ways of attracting funds on the stock market are: 1) covering the shortage of money for financing activities; 2) restarting and modernization of existing capacities; 3) replenishment of working capital, restructuring of indebtedness; 4) development of core activities and maintenance of production level; 5) development of innovative projects and diversification of activities; 6) creation of an enterprise, subsidiary companies and structural units; 7) development of financial infrastructure; 8) formation of exchange history. During the studied period, the stock market in Ukraine consisted only of DGB, the rest of the instruments were small deals that did not have a significant impact on liquidity. In order to restore Ukraine in the post-war period, business development requires the involvement of additional sources of financing. Therefore, planning and preparing new financing mechanisms today will increase the chances of success on the stock market. Among the main problems that have arisen acutely on the way to the recovery and development of the stock market are: insufficient legislative regulation; low liquidity (in the event of a crisis situation on the stock market, as well as when investors wish to sell their own securities, the market is unable to fully absorb the volume being sold, as a result, sellers significantly reduce prices and the market falls; lack of new financial instruments (a low share of shares the stock market of Ukraine in the pre-war period and the dominance of bonds in the conditions of military aggression). Conclusions. The main priorities for the development of the Ukrainian stock market are: - the creation of an appropriate legal framework that will regulate the rights and obligations of all participants in the stock market and ensure the creation of an appropriate system for the protection the rights of investors and securities owners; - integration of the domestic stock market into international financial markets; - the development of the stock market infrastructure and the development of a wide range of tools, the availability of effective mechanisms for the interaction market participants; - formation of a new infrastructure of the stock market (a new model) that meets the norms of the international market; development of financial market segments (banking, insurance, pension sector, etc.); - increasing the investment literacy of the population.

Isotropization and complexity shift of gravitationally decoupled charged anisotropic sources

This article focuses on investigating the role of decoupling in isotropizing anisotropic, self-gravitational charged sources with spherical symmetry through a well-known gravitational technique, known as minimal geometric deformation (MGD). This technique separates the given system into two gravitational systems: the Einstein-Maxwell system and the gravitational system governed by additional source. We employ novel approaches, including the zero complexity factor and isotropization techniques, to construct various charged compact star models using the Tolman IV as the seed source within the framework of the MGD scheme. The term complexity factor emerges as one of the structure-defining scalar quantities resulting from the orthogonal splitting of the Riemann–Christoffel curvature tensor, as proposed by Herrera (Phys Rev D 97(4):044010, 2018). This scalar function, denoted as YTF\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$Y_{TF}$$\\end{document}, is associated with the fundamental structural characteristics of self-gravitational compact configurations. Our approach is innovative in that it derives the deformation functions by imposing the requirement of YTF=0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$Y_{TF}=0$$\\end{document} and employs isotropization techniques for electrically charged anisotropic configurations.

Factors Affecting Smallholder Farmers' Adoption of Soybean Production Technologies in Kondala District Oromia Western Ethiopia

This study examines on the adoption and intensity of soybean production technology in the Kondala district. A two-stage sampling procedure was followed to select the sample households for the study. The study is based on primary data collected from 185 sample-selected households. Four rural kebeles were selected by using simple random sampling. The semi-structured interview schedule was developed, for collecting the essential quantitative data for the study and secondary data were used as additional data sources. Descriptive statistics and the Tobit model were used to analyse the data. This study also identifies soybean production technologies such as recommended seeding rate, recommended fertilizer applications, land allocation. The result of the descriptive statistics showed that the majority of farmers 57.3% were adopters and the remaining 42.7% were non adopters. In terms of land allocation and use of technologies there was a statistical significance difference in technology usage between adopters and non-adopters. The Tobit model results indicated that household ages, education level, farm experience, membership in cooperatives, access to agricultural inputs, participation in non-farm activities, and frequency of extension contact positively and significantly influenced the adoption and intensity of the use of soybean technologies. Whereas, distance from the market centre showed, a negative relationship with the adoption and intensity of adoption of soybeans production technology. The overall finding of the study underlined the high importance of institutional support in the areas of extension; membership in cooperatives and market to enhance the adoption of an improved soybean production package. Therefore, policy and development interventions should give emphasis to the improvement of such institutional support so as to achieve wider adoption which increases the productivity and income of smallholder farmers.

Monsoon-driven changes in aeolian and fluvial sediment input to the central Red Sea recorded throughout the last 200 000 years

Abstract. Climatic and associated hydrological changes controlled the transport processes and composition of the sediments in the central Red Sea during the last ca. 200 kyr. Three different source areas for mineral dust are identified. The dominant source is located in the eastern Sahara (Sudan and southernmost Egypt). We identify its imprint on Red Sea sediments by high smectite and Ti contents, low 87Sr / 86Sr, and high εNd. The availability of deflatable sediments was controlled by the intensity of tropical rainfall and vegetation cover over North Africa linked to the African monsoon. Intense dust input to the Red Sea occurred during arid phases, and low input occurred during humid phases. A second, less significant source indicated by palygorskite input is probably located on the eastern Arabian Peninsula and/or Mesopotamia, while the presence of kaolinite suggests an additional minor dust source in northern Egypt. Our grain size data reflect episodes of fluvial sediment discharge to the central Red Sea and document the variable strength in response to all of the precession-paced insolation maxima during our study interval including both those that were strong enough to trigger sapropel formation in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and those that were not. The African humid period most strongly expressed in our Red Sea record was the one during the Eemian last interglacial at ca. 125 ka (when the Baraka River was far more active than today), followed by those at 198, 108, 84, and 6 ka.

Knowledge, risk perception and information needs of general practitioners regarding potential health effects of electromagnetic fields: A scoping review of the scientific literature

We aimed to summarise the evidence regarding the knowledge, risk perception and information needs of general practitioners (GPs) regarding electromagnetic fields (EMF). To achieve this aim, we searched for relevant articles in PubMed and additional sources, screened them based on the inclusion criteria and extracted relevant information from the eligible articles. Included manuscripts were summarised via narrative synthesis. Out of 274 records, nine articles from five different studies (all from Europe) were included. All studies reported considerable concern about the possible negative health-effects caused by EMF among GPs. In most of the studies GPs, indicated insufficiently covered information needs concerning EMF. Four studies reported that GPs were consulted by patients regarding potential health effects of EMF. The level of concern regarding health effects of EMF among GPs is high, while their information needs are insufficiently satisfied. It remains unclear what factors determine this concern. Likewise, there is little data on GPs’ actual level of knowledge on EMF and health. Future studies may take new perspectives such as concepts from communication science and use additional methods like qualitative techniques. Moreover, the communication of scientific evidence about EMF towards GPs needs to be improved in order to enable them to provide evidence-based counselling.

ІННОВАЦІЙНІ ІНСТРУМЕНТИ ЗЕЛЕНОГО ФІНАНСУВАННЯ ДЛЯ УКРАЇНИ

The expansion of financing sources holds particular importance in the context of implementing the European Green Deal in Ukraine. Given the escalating climate and environmental threats, the pursuit of new green financing mechanisms for countries burdened with high levels of debt persists. Amidst the full-scale war in Ukraine, the options for state financing of environmental projects and programs are significantly restricted. The article examines the formation of additional financing sources aimed at restoring ecosystems and ecological infrastructure damaged by the war in Ukraine. Drawing upon an overview of international practices, this study elucidates innovative approaches to environmental financing, which involve exchanging a part of the state's external debt for commitments to invest in nature conservation programs and achieve climate neutrality. The analysis highlights significant variations in the implementation of green debt swaps across different countries, underscoring the need to assess the feasibility of adopting such mechanisms in Ukraine, especially given its heightened reliance on debt. Utilizing multi-criteria analysis, a comparative evaluation of key "green debt conversion" instruments was conducted, encompassing Bilateral Debt-for-Nature Initiatives, Debt-for-Nature Swaps, and Debt-for-Climate Swaps. A comparative table has been compiled to illustrate the key characteristics of these instruments and to assess the potential impact of their use in Ukraine. The benefits of exchanging debt for investments in environmental recovery, as outlined in Ukraine's National Recovery Plan, are delineated. The primary sources for accumulating funds to meet the state's obligations resulting from the adoption of green debt swaps have been identified. Recommendations for the implementation of green debt swaps in Ukraine have been provided. It has been concluded that green debt swaps could be employed in Ukraine to finance specific environmental or climate-related projects and initiatives, establishing conservation and climate funds through contributions from both domestic and international ESG investors. To protect against “greenwashing”, it is advisable to bolster oversight of financial transactions and to expand the list of key performance indicators (KPI) used to evaluate investment decisions, considering ESG factors.

Effect of Sardar Amin Granules and Bentonite Sulfur on the Productivity of Maize-based Cropping System in a Sandy-loam Soil

Maize among one of staple cereal accounting major proportion of human diet accounting 42% of worlds’ food calorie and 37% of protein intake. However, there is a need to optimize its nutrient content due to deficiencies in soil. The application of nutrient additives helps in supplementing the soil with these essential nutrients and ensures crops’ optimum growth. Purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of Sardar amin granules (SAG) and bentonite sulfur in various proportions to improve nutrient uptake by sown crops. A three-year field experiment study (2018-21) was conducted on maize based cropping systems viz. Maize-wheat, Maize-potato-onion, and Maize-potato-summer moong at research farm, department of soil science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. At the end of two-year field experiment, the results revealed numerical increase in yield of maize, wheat, onion and summer moong grown in rotation and products were recommended as additional fertilizers sources over the recommended dose of fertilizers considering the type of regional soil.

Screening of Factors Influencing Keratinase Fermentation from Bacillus Haynesii BK1H using The Plackett-Burman Design (PBD)

Keratinase is a class of proteases that degrade keratin into polypeptides and amino acids by breaking peptide and disulfide bonds in keratinous proteins. Protease is one of the largest industrial enzymes, the global protease market is increasing rapidly every year. In previous studies, a keratinase-producing microbe was isolated from Bleduk Kuwu which was identified as Bacillus haynesii BK1H. However, further study needs to be done to optimize the production by observing microenvironmental factors that influence keratinase production. In this study, screening some microenvironmental factors is reported. Screening factors including carbon sources, type and concentration of metal ions, agitation speed, amount of inoculum, pH, and temperature. Screening for these factors was started with the One Factor at A Time (OFAT) method and followed by the Plackett-Burman Design (PBD) method. In this study, sequential work was done: (1) Regeneration of Bacillus haynesii BK1H Microbes, (2) Preparation of Tyrosine Standard Series Solutions, (3) Screening of Factors Affecting Protease Fermentation of Bacillus haynesii BK1H using the One Factor at A Time (OFAT) method. ), and (4) Maintaining Significantly Influential Factors by Using Plackett-Burman Design (PBD). The results of the OFAT approach showed that the best condition for keratinase production was achieved at rice husk concentration, additional carbon source, of 1%; pH of 7; a temperature of 35°C; the amount of inoculum of 1%; agitation speed of 150 rpm; magnesium sulfate concentration of 0.04 g/mL, and calcium chloride concentration of 0.0005 g/m. Justification of those factors using PBD confirmed that only additional rice husk, magnesium sulfate and calcium chloride concentration, and agitation speed were significantly important toward keratinase production at selected experiment level limits.

Hybrid Recommender Systems based on Content Feature Relationship

Recommendation systems get ever-increasing importance due to their applications in both academia and industry. The most popular type of these systems, known as collaborative filtering algorithms, employ user-item interactions to perform the recommendation tasks. With growth of additional information sources other than the rating (or purchase) history of users on items, such as item descriptions and social media information, further extensions of these systems have been proposed, known as hybrid recommendation algorithms. Hybrid recommenders use both user-item interaction data and their contextual information. In this work, we propose new hybrid recommender algorithms by considering the relationship between content features. This relationship is embedded into the hybrid recommenders to improve their accuracy. We first introduce a novel method to extract the content feature relationship matrix, and then the collaborative filtering recommender is modified such that this relationship matrix can be effectively integrated within the algorithm. The proposed algorithm can better deal with the cold-start problem than the state-of-art algorithms. We also propose a novel content-based hybrid recommender system. Our experiments on a benchmark movie dataset show that the proposed approach significantly improves the accuracy of the system, while resulting in satisfactory performance in terms of novelty and diversity of the recommendation lists.

Anode biomass rather than soluble organic matter is fuel for electricity production in microbial fuel cell at longer hydraulic retention time

This study presents a novel method for independently calculating organic matter (OM) removal and electricity generation in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) treating sewage. This methodology used OM concentration as the exclusive variable for input, facilitating the prediction of electricity generation with variable Coulombic efficiency. The employed MFC, of tubular design, incorporates an air core surrounded by a carbon-based cathode, an anion exchange membrane, nonwoven graphite fabric, and encircled by twelve carbon brush anodes. This setup successfully reduced chemical oxygen demand (COD) from 180 to 50 mg L−1 and biological oxygen demand (BOD) from 84 to 15 mg L−1 within a 35 h hydraulic retention time (HRT). The resulting effluent BOD satisfies Japanese wastewater treatment standards. In the early HRT phase, the MFC exhibited rapid OM reduction, followed by a stabilization of OM concentration. Despite varying HRTs and the sustained OM levels at prolonged HRTs, the MFC consistently generated 0.29 ± 0.14 A m−2. This apparent contradiction prompted the consideration of additional OM sources from the anode biomass (Cb). Calculating electricity production based on OM concentration rather than OM degradation was achieved by assessing anode resistance (RAn) across different levels of OM supplementation, employing the Butler–Volmer equation. This approach, incorporating considerations for Cb and RAn, accurately reproduced MFC performance. It was observed that OM supplementation from Cb constituted 50% at 11 h HRT and escalated to 90% at 27 h HRT. Further analysis, including 16S rRNA gene-based microbial community profiling, indicated that higher cathode resistance (RCat) at 1.0 Ω m2, compared to a minimum RAn of 0.10 Ω m2, favored methanogenesis over electrogenesis on the carbon brushes. This finding underscores the importance of reducing RCat and minimizing electrode distance, coupled with enhancing the specific surface area of both electrodes, as crucial factors for the advancement of MFC technology.

Recent Progress in Self-Powered Sensors for Structural and Human Monitoring Systems Using Thermoelectric Energy Harvesters

With the evolution of Internet of Things (IoT), it has become essential to build systems that enable real-time monitoring of structures, the environment, and the human body. Among them, various studies have identified self-powering of real-time monitoring systems as one of the most important technologies . Thermoelectric generators are reported to be one of the most suitable power sources for real-time monitoring systems because they have the advantage of converting thermal energy into electrical energy through temperature gradients without using additional power sources. In this review, we will discuss structural/environmental and human health monitoring systems utilizing thermoelectric generators (TEGs). First, we will introduce the type of thermoelectric generators. Then, we will provide an overview of the thermoelectric generators utilized in structural/environmental monitoring and biomonitoring systems. The latest applications of thermoelectric generator-based systems will also be introduced to showcase their potential in industrial applications.

Ductile adhesive elastomers with force-triggered ultra-high adhesion strength.

Elastomers play a vital role in many forthcoming advanced technologies in which their adhesive properties determine materials' interface performance. Despite great success in improving the adhesive properties of elastomers, permanent adhesives tend to stick to the surfaces prematurely or result in poor contact depending on the installation method. Thus, elastomers with on-demand adhesion that is not limited to being triggered by UV light or heat, which may not be practical for scenarios that do not allow an additional external source, provide a solution to various challenges in conventional adhesive elastomers. Herein, we report a novel, ready-to-use, ultra high-strength, ductile adhesive elastomer with an on-demand adhesion feature that can be easily triggered by a compression force. The precursor is mainly composed of a capsule-separated, two-component curing system. After a force-trigger and curing process, the ductile adhesive elastomer exhibits a peel strength and a lap shear strength of 1.2 × 104 N m-1 and 7.8 × 103 kPa, respectively, which exceed the reported values for advanced ductile adhesive elastomers. The ultra-high adhesion force is attributed to the excellent surface contact of the liquid-like precursor and to the high elastic modulus of the cured elastomer that is reinforced by a two-phase design. Incorporation of such on-demand adhesion into an elastomer enables a controlled delay between installation and curing so that these can take place under their individual ideal conditions, effectively reducing the energy cost, preventing failures, and improving installation processes.