Search

[Display omitted] • Food waste anaerobic digestion based on nitrogen-carbon separation was investigated. • Three-phase separation redistributed carbon and nitrogen before anaerobic digestion. • 78.4% of C and 48.3% of N in food waste were separated in the centrifugation. • The main endpoints for C, N, and P are crude oil, fine slag, and biogas slag. • Separation utilization of carbon and nitrogen improve resource recovery level. Anaerobic digestion of food waste can recover carbon in the form of biogas, while the high concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the digestion effluent becomes troublesome. Therefore, some new treatment plants use three-phase centrifugation to separate homogenized food waste into nitrogen-rich fine slag for insect cultivation and carbon-rich liquid for anaerobic digestion. To analyze the effects of the carbon–nitrogen separation, an upgraded plant's material and elementary flows were investigated. The three-phase separation process redistributed carbon and nitrogen, and the biogas slurry was the primary output. The principal endpoint for C was the crude oil, capturing 57.1 ± 13.1 % of the total input; the find slag collected 48.3 ± 6.9 % of the total N input, and the biogas slag accepted 52.9 ± 4.4 % of the P input. The carbon–nitrogen separation strategy can improve digestion efficiency and increase treatment benefits significantly, marking a promising direction for future developments in food waste utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We surveyed the practices and abilities of 103 students at 4 universities in China to write from sources in English, documenting in their first and second years of Bachelors’ and Masters’ programs (longitudinally and cross-sectionally): (a) students’ self-reported approaches to writing from sources and instruction that had helped them; (b) the frequency, accuracy, and functions of citations in samples of their course papers; and (c) their abilities to summarize a reading passage under test-like conditions. The students wrote with some proficiency in English and emerging competencies in writing from academic sources, confirming, in this context where English is a foreign language, tendencies such as nascent senses of authorial identities and patchwriting documented in prior case studies of Chinese and other students writing at English-dominant universities internationally. Limited evidence for development from the first to second year appeared in undergraduate students increasing the frequency, accuracy, and functions of their citations, moving toward the tendencies maintained by graduate students in both years’ course papers. In their second years, most students also reported greater success in acknowledging source materials and focus on formal aspects of writing course papers. Only half the students indicated they had taken courses that helped them to write from sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative case study explored the extent to which learners' L2 writing concepts changed across different collaborative writing tasks, and how languaging helped learners make meaning between scientific and spontaneous concepts. Four first-year MA students from a Chinese university formed a study group and engaged in collaborative writing tasks as required by an Academic English Reading and Writing course. Multiple sources of data were collected, including audio-taped group discussions, group writings, individual reflections, and course-related documents. Data analysis demonstrated the microgenetic evolving trajectories of the rhetorical modes of "maintaining the flow of information". The participants progressed from spontaneous knowledge of those concepts to a scientific system through languaging about a text containing these conceptual features. Learners' conscious usage of scientific terms, constant revisiting to their prior knowledge, and critical reading of the academic text highlight the mediating role of languaging in empowering the dynamic interaction between scientific reasoning and spontaneous thinking. This study suggests that the integration of stylistic analysis tasks, peer collaboration, and rhetorical concepts may facilitate the transformation of students' thinking patterns as well as the development of their L2 academic literacies. • Languaging mediates the dynamics between learners' spontaneous thinking and scientific reasoning. • Languaging empowers learners' conceptual development. • The integration of stylistic analysis, peer work, and genric concepts may facilitate L2 academic literacy development. • Learners' scientific concepts develop across the several collaborative writing tasks executed repeatedly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] L1 mediated the process of group writing of the three groups to varying degrees. [•] Each individual member's particular education experiences had shaped his or her unique capacity in the L2, which in turn shaped his or her performance in their group work as well as the performance of the whole group. [•] A number of rules emerged, evolving in response to the immediate demands of collaborative writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the practice of collective lesson planning involving one expatriate and five local instructors as they taught English argumentative writing at a university in Mainland China. By conceptualizing ‘a teacher group’ as a community of practice (CoP), the study illustrates how the observed collective lesson-planning conferences carried on a local tradition to guide students in taking a morally acceptable stand in their writing and how the more and less experienced teachers worked together toward a shared understanding of how to teach. The participating teachers, with unequal statuses and experiences, not only worked collaboratively to sustain a community coherence of pedagogical practice but also negotiated to develop a diversity of individual practices in the collective lesson-planning conferences. The study suggests that collective lesson planning is more than a ‘joint enterprise’ with ‘mutual engagement’ to achieve a ‘shared repertoire’ but a contact zone of power relationships among members labeled as old-timers or newcomers, expatriate or local teachers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Biogas slurry recirculation enhanced lactic acid fermentation of food waste. • Carbohydrate was the primary substrate for lactic acid fermentation. • Biogas slurry recirculation increased the pH and maintained anaerobic environments. • Microbial number and diversity were improved due to the biogas slurry addition. • A maximum yield of 0.42 g/g VS was achieved at a mixing ratio of 0.2 in feedstock. It is a promising method to recover lactic acid from food waste (FW) fermentation, but the bottleneck problem is the low yield when using mixed inoculation. In this study, laboratorial biogas slurry (LBS) and industrial biogas slurry (IBS) were used as the additive in semi-continuous FW fermentation, aiming to promote the production of lactic acid. According to the research results, the addition of LBS or IBS promoted the production of lactic acid significantly from FW, especially carbohydrate, because it increased the pH values, maintained low OPR levels, and increased microbial number and diversity in the fermentation systems. IBS performed better than LBS because of higher pH, more diverse microbial community and more functional microorganisms. The best ratio of IBS to feedstock was 0.2, and the lactic acid yield reached 0.42 g/gVS added. An excessively high dose would alter the fermentation pathways, reduce the ratio of lactic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explored the summary writing processes of six first-year MBA (Master of Business Administration) students in a North American university. The participants, three Chinese who speak English as a Second Language (ESL) and three native-English-speaking (NES), each completed a course-related summary task while thinking aloud. The analyses of the think-aloud protocols, retrospective interviews, and written drafts reveal similarities and differences in the writing processes of the participants. Depending on their perceptions of the nature of the writing task, business employment background or related writing experiences, the participants either wrote confidently or struggled through the writing processes, relying to varied degrees on such strategies as verbalizing what is being written, planning content, referring to the sources, reading what has been written, reviewing and modifying one''s writing, and commenting on the source texts. The study highlights the role of students’ previous writing expertise in learning disciplinary writing, the complexity of a course-related assignment in terms of its unclear and inexplicit expectations perceived by students, and the need to identify key strategies for good summary writing across and within disciplines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Food waste (FW) is a significant component of municipal solid waste (MSW) with high recycling value. In FW treatment plants, FW is separated into crude oil, liquid part and solid residue (SR) after pretreatment. Crude oil is used to process biodiesel, liquid part is sent to Anaerobic digestion (AD), but there are different technical options for SR utilization. In this study, four common methods, incineration, AD, composting, and feed processing, are compared in terms of carbon emissions and economic performance. The results show that AD is the best treatment choice for the lowest net carbon emission of −79.28 to −118.73 kg CO 2 -eq/t SR because of its high efficiency of electricity generation. Composting of SR has the highest net carbon emission with 19.24–116.40 kg CO 2 -eq/t SR because the carbon reduction effect from compost replacing chemical fertilizers is less than the direct greenhouse gas emissions. Feed processing remains almost all the biogenic carbon in the product, and hence it is the priority option if taking the short-term contribution of biogenic sources to carbon emissions. As for economic performance, feed processing is the best choice with a benefit of 225 CNY/t SR, while incineration of SR results in a high expenditure. From a comprehensive point of view, feed processing and AD are the best choices due to their carbon reduction effects and relatively low treatment cost. These results provide an essential reference for the decision making of FW treatment processes. • Solid residue from food waste pretreatment is evaluated in different utilization ways. • Anaerobic digestion of solid residue leads to the most negative carbon emission. • Feed processing of solid residue is the best choice concerning biogenic carbon fixation. • Incineration causes carbon emission reduction but needs a high operational cost. • Greenhouse gas leakage is the factor limiting composting of solid residue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We developed a strategy comprising antiviral treatment for detectable hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive donors, passive immunity in HBsAg– recipients, and prophylactic antiviral treatment of HBsAg+ recipients to deal with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) accepting stem cells from HBsAg+ donors. • Groups of recipients accepting cells from HBsAg+ and HBsAg– donors showed a similar incidence of HBV-related hepatitis. • The strategy may increase the treatment options for patients in need of allo-HSCT in HBV-endemic areas by expanding the donor pool to including HBsAg+ individuals. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is increasingly being applied globally. Cases in which healthy HSCT donors are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) are relatively common in areas where HBV is endemic. Recipients of stem cells from such hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive donors are at risk of viral infection, and thus may develop HBV-related hepatitis. Given the lack of standardized approach to minimizing the risk of such infections from HBsAg+ donors during HSCT, we conducted this study with the aim of developing an efficient strategy to address this challenge. A strategy comprising antiviral treatment for detectable HBV-DNA in HBsAg+ donors, hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) administration in HBsAg– recipients with passive immunity, and prophylactic antiviral treatment for HBsAg+ recipients was developed. The strategy was validated using a case-control study of 40 recipients who received stem cells from HBsAg+ donors (group A) and 40 pair-matched controls who received stem cells from HBsAg– donors (group B). The cumulative incidence of HBV-related hepatitis was relatively similar in the 2 groups (group A: 8.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], -.9% to 17.9%; group B: 7.9%; 95% CI, -.9% to 16.7%; P =.939). In HBsAg– recipients who received passive immunity from HBIG treatment, a significant negative linear correlation was observed between HBsAb titer in vivo and time in the first year after allo-HSCT (R 2 =.23; P <.001). This method was cost-effective, with a median cost of all HBV management of USD 332.1 (range, 172.7 to 1985.3), compared with USD 1464.9 (range 409.9 to 1985.3) for conventional strategies (P <.001). The novel strategy presented in here is robust in preventing HBV-related hepatitis after allo-HSCT with stem cells from HBsAg+ donors. This is important for the effective application of allo-HSCT in HBV-endemic areas without precluding the use of HBsAg+ donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]