Selective Rejection Research Articles

Biochemical-free enrichment or depletion of RNA classes in real-time during direct RNA sequencing with RISER

The heterogeneous composition of cellular transcriptomes poses a major challenge for detecting weakly expressed RNA classes, as they can be obscured by abundant RNAs. Although biochemical protocols can enrich or deplete specified RNAs, they are time-consuming, expensive and can compromise RNA integrity. Here we introduce RISER, a biochemical-free technology for the real-time enrichment or depletion of RNA classes. RISER performs selective rejection of molecules during direct RNA sequencing by identifying RNA classes directly from nanopore signals with deep learning and communicating with the sequencing hardware in real time. By targeting the dominant messenger and mitochondrial RNA classes for depletion, RISER reduces their respective read counts by more than 85%, resulting in an increase in sequencing depth of 47% on average for long non-coding RNAs. We also apply RISER for the depletion of globin mRNA in whole blood, achieving a decrease in globin reads by more than 90% as well as an increase in non-globin reads by 16% on average. Furthermore, using a GPU or a CPU, RISER is faster than GPU-accelerated basecalling and mapping. RISER’s modular and retrainable software and intuitive command-line interface allow easy adaptation to other RNA classes. RISER is available at https://github.com/comprna/riser.

Dual 2D nanosheets with tunable interlayer spacing enable high-performance self-cleaning thin-film composite membrane

Interlayered thin-film composite (TFC) membranes are promising in overcoming the permeability-selectivity tradeoff of conventional membranes. However, fabricating high-performance TFC membranes with tunable interlayer spacing and antifouling properties remains challenging. Here we develop a high-performance self-cleaning TFC graphene oxide (GO) membrane by employing multifunctional bismuthyl bromide (BiOBr) nanosheets to construct a unique photocatalytic GO@BiOBr interlayer. BiOBr has multiple functions, including regulating the GO nanosheet spacing (i.e., the channel size), mediating the surface properties of the interlayer to enable a desirable selective layer during interfacial polymerization, and imparting photocatalytic properties to the TFC membrane. Because of the dimensional difference between GO and BiOBr nanosheets, the spacing of the dual 2D nanosheets (GO and BiOBr) can be finely tailored by adjusting BiOBr loading. Coupling of the 2D nanosheets enables tunable interlayer properties and a highly thin and selective rejection layer, leading to significantly enhanced separation performance of the TFC membrane. The GO@BiOBr interlayered TFC membrane shows a water permeability of 29.9 L·m−2·h−1·bar−1, which is six times higher than the TFC membrane without an interlayer. The GO@BiOBr interlayered TFC membrane displays 100% rejections to various small molecules (e.g., Rhodamine B, Basic Blue 26 and Ofloxacin). The rise of BiOBr loading in the GO@BiOBr composite increases the interlayer spacing of the dual 2D nanosheets, likely leading to more monomer diffusion and eruptive interfacial polymerization. As a result, thicker and rougher polyamide layers are formed, resulting in decreased water permeability of the TFC membrane. This study presents a viable approach for engineering the next generation of high-performance self-cleaning TFC membranes for reverse osmosis, forward osmosis and nanofiltration within the realm of water treatment.

Intercalation of HKUST-1: A strategy for conferring GOM with accurate size-sieving, self-cleaning, and antibacterial multi-functionalities

Precise regulation of pore sizes and fouling issues related to filter cake formation and bacterial growth continue to impede the practical application of GOMs. Though metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with specific structures and semiconductor features are a potential candidate for addressing the above issues, it is still difficult to accurately control the GOM pore with MOFs, due to the difficulty of removing interfacial gaps. In this study, we successfully employed the specific pore size of HKUST-1 (Cu-BTC, BTC: benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) to control the channel size of GOMs by self-assembling a pH-regulated HKUST-1/GO dispersion, followed by moderate- to high-temperature vacuum drying. Consequently, the incorporation of HKUST-1 dramatically influenced the rejection performance of GOMs, enabling the selective rejection of molecules larger than 9 Å (e.g., Rh B, CV, and TB) while effectively separating sub-9 Å impurities (e.g., MB and NaCl), and resulting in a nearly 14-fold increase in water flux. Moreover, the photodegradation and Cu2+ release properties of HKUST-1 endowed the GO@HKUST-1 membrane (GHM) with remarkable self-cleaning, antibacterial and long-term stable characteristics. Our approach provides a simple and universal method for conferring GOM with accurate size-sieving, self-cleaning, and antibacterial multi-functionalities, thereby enabling high-quality and sustainable molecular separation and dye desalination.

FROM “PERESTROIKA” TO “NEW CONSTITUTIONALISM”: TRAVEL NOTES

Using examples of understanding the nature of constitutional principles and the application of the comparative legal method to the study of constitutionalism in the states of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the article shows the possibilities of the methodology of combining the techniques of “calculating” thinking and “comprehending re ection” proposed by M. Heidegger in research activities. In particular, the structure of the content of constitutional and legal principles (semantic core and periphery) and their dual regulatory impact on social relations (as basic guidelines for the activities of public authorities and additional tools for the protection of rights - along with detailed norms) is considered. The importance of conscious perception of the national experience of constitutional and legal construction as a basis for a more accurate choice of the direction of comparative legal research is shown by the example of the approach of Chinese authors. The nature of the “trap of simple choice” is revealed in relation to constitutional and legal values and paradigms of the development of constitutionalism. In particular, by limiting oneself to the ideological alternative of choosing between socialist and liberal values, the researcher can avoid understanding the true nature of constitutionalism. The main aspects of the movement of the CEE countries towards “new constitutionalism”, signi cant for the national doctrine and practice, are presented. The commentary and assessment of the transformation of attitudes towards liberal constitutional values in CEE (from full acceptance to selective rejection) are given, which should be taken into account in connection with the transformations of Russian constitutional law.

Ion adsorption on nanofiltration membrane surface and its effect on rejection of charged solutes: A zeta potential approach

The net charge on nanofiltration (NF) membrane surface, which differs from the inherent fixed charges due to the adsorption of ions from the feed water, has a great effect on the rejection selectivity of the membrane. In this study, by taking advantage of the electric double layer theory, streaming zeta potentials of the membrane varying with solution composition and concentration were utilized to investigate the characteristics and mechanisms of ion adsorption on the typical negatively charged NF membrane surface, which were then utilized to interpret the (selective) rejection behaviors for different solutes. Results showed that the cation adsorption all followed the Langmuir isotherm, indicative of monolayer adsorption mechanism. Both Langmuir adsorption fitting results and Gibbs free energy calculation showed that the cation adsorption is primarily of Coulomb force origin, rather than the chemical complexation. In addition, Ca2+ and Mg2+ could occupy the membrane surface much more facilely than Na+, with the adsorption of divalent cations reaching near saturation at relatively low concentrations in the magnitude of 1 mmol L−1. Contrary to the original presumption, no remarkable difference was observed between the adsorptions of Ca2+ and Mg2+, as was also the case between -COOH and -SO3H, the two common types of acidic functional groups on membrane surface for cation adsorption. These mechanisms of ion adsorption, when incorporated with the existing NF theory, could well interpret the seemingly “strange” rejection behaviors including the counter-ion competition effect. This study evidenced that zeta potential measurements could act as a useful approach for the study of ion adsorption on NF membrane surface and selective rejection mechanisms of NF membranes as well.

Підвищення стійкості цифрових водяних знаків у потокових відеозаписах на основі диференціального вбудовування енергії (DEW)

In connection with the continuous growth of the amount of digital information and the wider use of the Internet, today’s urgent task is the protection of copyright with the help of steganography. In particular, the technologies of digital watermarks (DWM) are successfully used to solve the problems of confirming copyright in relation to digital files, controlling their use by authorized users and other persons, confirming the authenticity and reliability of copies of software and multimedia objects used. An algorithm for embedding digital watermarks based on the idea of a differential energy watermark (DEW) was chosen for research and further improvement in the work, and is a method of embedding a digital watermark based on the selective rejection of a part of the high-frequency coefficients of the discrete cosine transform (DCT) compressed images and videos. Based on the results of the work carried out, this article describes the improvement of the method for copyright protection of streaming video (MPEG2 and MPEG4 formats) by embedding a digital watermark only in the low-frequency coefficients of the discrete-cosine transformation and applying the Canni’s segmentation method, which uses a multi-level computational approach to the detection of the segment boundaries in the image and helps to reduce the visual changes of the container. In order to study the practical results of the improved method, it was implemented in the developed online service and applied to video files, which made it possible to evaluate the performance and compare it with other methods of embedding the DW in terms of visual impact indicators (SSIM, SNR, PSNR, AD, NAD, IF) and resistance to attacks. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that in general, the application of the improved method allows to increase the stability indicators of DW in streaming video by approximately 12%. The digital watermark embedded in the video file did not have a significant impact on it, and the embedding of data in low-frequency coefficients made it possible to increase resistance to attacks.

In Memoriam : Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021): It All Started with Ants.

In Memoriam : Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021): It All Started with Ants.

Loose nanofiltration membranes for selective rejection of natural organic matter and mineral salts in drinking water treatment

Loose nanofiltration (LNF) is a promising technology for advanced treatment of drinking water, primarily owing to the potentially high rejection of natural organic matter (NOM) and high passage of mineral salts, particularly divalent cations, along with the low operating pressure. This study was devoted to relating the performance with the properties of LNF membranes, and obtaining the membrane properties most suitable for drinking water treatment. Cluster analysis indicated that the commercially available LNF membranes would behave quite differently, mainly depending on the molecular weight cut-off (MWCO). By using a treated natural water as the feed, a best-performing membrane had a mineral salts rejection lower than 30% and an NOM rejection higher than 70%, with the membrane water permeance at ∼17 L/m2/h/bar. The LNF membranes with high mineral salts/NOM selectivity should have an MWCO of around 1000 Da, sufficiently uniform pore sizes, and high surface negative charge density. The rejection characteristics for mineral ions by LNF membranes were similar with the relatively dense conventional NF membranes, but with a lower rejection difference among the ions, manifesting less strong co-ion and counter-ion competition effects. The LNF membranes with an MWCO of ∼1000 Da could satisfactorily remove (>80%) disinfection byproduct precursors, with small-sized protein-like and other substances remaining in the permeate water. This study helps to understand the rejection characteristics and mechanisms of LNF membranes, which will benefit the synthesis of high-performance LNF membranes for drinking water treatment and other applications.

FAKTOR PENENTU KRITERIA PENOLAKAN SELEKSI UMUM PENDONOR BERDASARKAN HASIL PEMERIKSAAN KESEHATAN

Background: Blood donors who will donate blood must meet general selection criteria such as: age, weight, blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, hemoglobin, interval since the last donation, appearance of the donor, health history and lifestyle-related risks.
 Objective: to analyze the determinants of the criteria for rejection of the general selection of prospective donors.
 Methods: This type of research is descriptive with a cross sectional research design. The population is all the number of blood donors who did not pass the initial selection. The sampling technique using purposive sampling obtained a sample of 353 respondents, the data analysis technique used was univariate which was presented in the form of a frequency distribution table.
 Results: Donors did not pass the initial selection who did not meet the criteria because the highest Hb level was in January as many as 98 respondents (31.4%), blood pressure factors in March 23 respondents (7.4%), and other factors in March 18 respondents (5.8%).
 Conclusion: Some of the criteria for prospective donors that are not included in the general selection criteria are due to hemoglobin levels, blood pressure and other factors.
 
 Keywords: Deciding Criteria for Rejection, General Selection, Donor

Validation of Recycled Nanofiltration and Anion-Exchange Membranes for the Treatment of Urban Wastewater for Crop Irrigation.

One of the alternative sources to tackle the problem of water shortage is the use of reclaimed water from wastewater treatment plants for irrigation purposes. However, when the wastewater has a high conductivity value, it becomes unusable for crop irrigation and needs a more specific treatment. In this work, recycled nanofiltration (rNF) membranes and anion-exchange membranes (rAEMs) obtained from end-of-life RO membranes were validated to evaluate their application capability in saline wastewater treatment. The use of recycled membranes may represent an advantage due to their lower cost and reduced environmental impact associated with their production, which integrates membrane-based technology into a circular economy model. Both recycled membranes were tested in crossflow filtration and electrodialysis (ED) systems. The results of the rNF membrane showed a high selective rejection of divalent ions (SO42− (>96%) and Ca2+ and Mg2+ (>93%)). In the case of the ED process, the comparison between rAEMs and commercial membranes showed an appropriate demineralization rate without compromising the power consumption. Finally, the quality of both system effluents was suitable for irrigation, which was compared to the WHO guideline and validated by the 7-week lettuce crop study.

Approximately 1 nm-sized artificial tunnels in wrinkled graphene-graphene oxide composite membranes for efficient dye/dye separation and dye desalination

Efficient separation of solutes by nanofiltration membranes (NMs) is the key to the utilization of wastewater and sustainable economic development. However, the establishment of dense and narrow-dispersed artificial tunnels in NMs remains a challenge, leading to impractical water permeability and solutes selectivity for real-world applications. In this work, we construct approximately 1 nm-sized artificial tunnels within the GO-based membranes (GOMs) to balance the water permeation and nanofiltration performances, by intercalating the three-dimensional wrinkled graphene (WG) sheets with surface functional groups manipulated. Such peculiar nanotunneled structure in the WG/GO composite membrane, at the optimized WG/GO ratio of 1:2, is revealed by the selective filtration of large-sized PEG gel particles over sub-nm-sized counterparts, leading to a selective rejection of >1 nm-sized molecules (e.g. CV, CR, and TB) over sub-nm-sized impurities (e.g. NR, MB, NaCl, and Na2SO4) with excellent mechanical stability and anti-fouling property. More importantly, the dense nanotunneled structure enables the composite membrane with an increased water flux of 65.68 L m-2h−1 bar−1, which is ∼48 times enhanced compared to that of pure GOM. Our strategy enables the precise engineering of artificial nanotunnels within compact GOM for high-performance dye/dye separation and dye desalination applications.

Membranes based on porous hexagonal boron nitride nanorods for ultrafast and effective molecular separation

Effective and ultrafast molecular separation capable of exclusively transporting target molecules is highly desirable for the sustainable development of the ecosystem. Ensuring both high permeability and selective rejection is particularly challenging, especially, for long-term service in a harsh environment. Herein, we demonstrate the simultaneously functionalized hexagonal boron nitride nanorods (BNNDs) with ultrahigh porosity (specific surface area 1437 m2 g−1) that can be assembled into supported membranes for high-performance molecular separation. The BNNDs membranes with controllable thicknesses exhibit abundant nanochannel network and superhydrophilic that render ultrafast water permeance (326 L m−2 h−1) without pressure drive and efficiently selective molecular screening in both aqueous and organic solutions. In addition, the membranes possess the flexibility and high tolerance to acidic, alkaline media for over one month. Such fast permeability and excellent separation performance offer these porous BNNDs membranes promising opportunities for practical molecular separation and purification applications.

Outlier-Robust Filtering for Nonlinear Systems With Selective Observations Rejection

Considering a common case where measurements are obtained from independent sensors, we present a novel outlier-robust filter for nonlinear dynamical systems in this work. The proposed method is devised by modifying the measurement model and subsequently using the theory of Variational Bayes and general Gaussian filtering. We treat the measurement outliers independently for independent observations leading to selective rejection of the corrupted data during inference. By carrying out simulations for variable number of sensors we verify that an implementation of the proposed filter is computationally more efficient as compared to the proposed modifications of similar baseline methods still yielding similar estimation quality. In addition, experimentation results for various real-time indoor localization scenarios using Ultra-wide Band (UWB) sensors demonstrate the practical utility of the proposed method.

Loose Nanofiltration Membranes for Selective Rejection of Natural Organic Matter and Mineral Salts in Drinking Water Treatment

Loose Nanofiltration Membranes for Selective Rejection of Natural Organic Matter and Mineral Salts in Drinking Water Treatment

Highly Robust Interfacially Polymerized PA Layer on Thermally Responsive Semi-IPN Hydrogel: Toward On-Demand Tuning of Porosity and Surface Charge.

Hydrogel composites with skin layer that allows fast and selective rejection of molecules possess high potential for numerous applications, including sample preconcentration for point-of-use detection and analysis. The stimuli-responsive hydrogels are particularly promising due to facile regenerability. However, poor adhesion of the skin layer due to swelling-degree difference during continuous swelling/deswelling of the hydrogel hinders its further development. In this work, a polyamide skin layer with strong adhesion was fabricated via gel-liquid interfacial polymerization (GLIP) of branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on a cross-linked N-isopropyl acrylamide hydrogel network containing dispersed poly sodium acrylate (PSA), while the traditional m-phenylenediamine (MPD)-TMC polyamide layer readily delaminates. We investigated the mechanistic design principle, which not only resulted in strong anchoring of the polyamide layer to the hydrogel surface but also enabled manipulation of the surface morphology, porosity, and surface charge by tailoring interfacial reaction conditions. The polyamide/hydrogel composite was able to withstand 100 cycles of swelling/deswelling without any delamination or a significant decrease in its rejection performance of the model dye, i.e., methylene blue. Regeneration can be done by deswelling the swollen beads at 60 °C, which also releases any loosely bound molecules together with absorbed water. This work provides insights into the development of a physically and chemically robust skin layer on various types of hydrogels for applications such as preconcentration, antifouling-coating, selective compound extraction, etc.

Coupled catalytic dephosphorylation and complex phosphate ion-exchange in networked hierarchical lanthanum carbonate grafted asymmetric bio-composite membrane

The remediation of non-reactive phosphate pollutants in the aquatic system is essential for protecting the ecological niche. In this work, a highly robust protein nanoparticles networked rare-earth metal carbonate-grafted bio-composite membrane (abbreviated as REMC) was fabricated via chemical crosslinking of three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical lanthanum carbonate (mREM) and casein nanoparticles (CsNPs) for selective rejection of non-reactive phosphates. The main components of the REMC membrane are mREM and CsNPs, which were prepared via SDS/CTAB templated homogeneous precipitation and the coacervation/desolvation hybrid method, respectively. The active lanthanum ion (La3+) on the 3D spherulitic surface of mREM exhibited excellent phosphate adsorption capacity (maximum adsorption capacity was 358 mg.g−1) across a wide pH range and in a multi-ionic environment. A series of batch testing and characterizations revealed that the active La3+ and dominating phosphate centers in the REMC membrane framework enable non-enzymatic phosphatase-like activity, cleaving the phosphate ester bond of organic phosphates and releasing free phosphate anions. These released phosphate ions are retained in the REMC membrane via an ion exchange mechanism, where they contribute to improved phosphate removal capacities. Furthermore, CsNPs have a dual function in the membrane, acting as a matrix in the REMC membrane framework and contributing to phosphate ion sequestrations in a synergistic manner. The catalysis of para-nitrophenyl phosphates (pNPP) to paranitrophenol (pNP) in a sequential dephosphorylation by REMC offers an estimate of reaction kinetics and elucidates the underlying mechanism of improved phosphate selectivity in a multi-ionic environment. Furthermore, phosphate specificity, homogeneous binding capacity, reusability, and visual observation of REMC membrane saturation binding direct it's useful economic, industrial applications in aqueous phosphate contaminant removal, which could be beneficial for the active recovery of the aquatic ecosystem.

High performance graphene-oxide doped cellulose acetate based ion exchange membrane for environmental remediation applications

ABSTRACT This study illustrates the preparation of graphene oxide (GO) impregnated cellulose acetate (CA) ion exchange membrane (IEM). The compositional ratio of GO/CA/polyethylene glycol for preparing cation exchange membranes was optimised for ion exchange capacity (IEC), fixed charged density, water uptake, swelling degree and proton conductivity. Proton conductivity of 0.273 S cm−1 and IEC of 1.08 m mol/g at 30°C was obtained for the membrane with highest GO% (CAG3). The modified CAG3 membrane had better hydrophilicity with a contact angle of 53.4°. Based on the ion exchange property, the membrane was utilised to study the rejection behaviour of both cationic and anionic dyes along with its acid recovery performance in the presence of different salts. It was observed for highest GO-incorporated membrane CAG3 that the acid recovery increased to 61% (1.78 × 102 moles H+ ions/m2h). Low rejection rate for cationic dye (~20%) and high rejection for anionic dye (~92.5%) was obtained. The selective higher rejection of anionic dye along with better acid recovery confirms the formation of a better IEM with enhanced proton conductivity. Furthermore, on analysing for real-life water samples, obtained results showed that the rejection percentage and H+ ion molar flux rate decreased to 1.7% and 17.4%, respectively.

The Ionic Liquid-H2O Interface: A New Platform for the Synthesis of Highly Crystalline and Molecular Sieving Covalent Organic Framework Membranes.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are highly porous crystalline polymers with uniform pores and large surface areas. Combined with their modular design principle and excellent properties, COFs are an ideal candidate for separation membranes. Liquid-liquid interfacial polymerization is a well-known approach to synthesize membranes by reacting two monomers at the interface. However, volatile organic solvents are usually used, which may disturb the liquid-liquid interface and affect the COF membrane crystallinity due to solvent evaporation. Simultaneously, the domain size of the organic solvent-water interface, named the reaction zone, can hardly be regulated, and the diffusion control of monomers for favorable crystallinity is only achieved in the water phase. These drawbacks may limit the widespread applications of liquid-liquid interfacial polymerization to synthesize diverse COF membranes with different functionalities. Here, we report a facile strategy to synthesize a series of imine-linked freestanding COF membranes with different thicknesses and morphologies at tunable ionic liquid (IL)-H2O interfaces. Due to the H-bonding of the catalysts with amine monomers and the high viscosity of the ILs, the diffusion of the monomers was simultaneously controlled in water and in ILs. This resulted in the exceptionally high crystallinity of freestanding COF membranes with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area up to 4.3 times of that synthesized at a dichloromethane-H2O interface. By varying the alkyl chain length of cations in the ILs, the interfacial region size and interfacial tension could be regulated to further improve the crystallinity of the COF membranes. As a result, the as-fabricated COF membranes exhibited ultrahigh permeance toward water and organic solvents and excellent selective rejection of dyes.

Mediator effect-assisted dual superlyophobic surface: PPY@Ni–Co LDH@PEEK textile for high performance separation of oil/water mixtures and immiscible organic liquids

Dual superlyophobic surface is of great value for selective rejections of oil and water, but it is still a formidable task. In this work, we develop a PPY and polygonal Ni–Co LDH nanosheets modified PEEK textile with dual superlyophobicity and great switchable stability. The membrane can separate not only oil/water mixtures but also immiscible organic liquids with different PSE. Moreover, attributed to the ‘mediator effect’ of ethanol, the membrane exhibits ultra-high rejection heights for low PSE organic liquids (80 cm for n-hexane). Last but not least, the membrane remained the high strengths, good solvent resistances, corrosion preventions and thermal stabilities of PPY and PEEK fibre.

Fabricating novel high-performance thin-film composite forward osmosis membrane with designed sulfonated covalent organic frameworks as interlayer

Herein, a novel highly selective thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane with high water flux (Jw) and low reverse salt flux (Js) was fabricated with a rationally designed sulfonated covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as an interlayer. This membrane was designed to be negatively charged, hydrophilic and has the synergistic effect of the selective rejection ability of the COFs. The sulfonation of the COFs enhanced its hydrophilicity, offered negative charges and narrowed its pore size, benefiting the salt rejection. Hydrolyzed nylon membrane support with freed surface amino groups was firstly reacted with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) to become hydrophilic and negatively charged. The sulfonated COFs was then firmly mounted on the modified support via H-bonding. A PA layer was finally formed on the support via interfacial polymerization. The prepared TFC-FO membrane overcame the trade-off between Jw and Js with an enhanced FO permeation and superior selectivity (Jw/Js = 24.7 L/g) in FO mode. Both the sulfonated COF interlayer and TMC modification of nylon support were tested to be crucial to the high performance. The new strategy reported here paves a way for taking the advantages of COFs for preparing high-performance FO membranes.