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Wastewater surveillance (WWS) of SARS-CoV-2 has become a crucial tool for monitoring COVID-19 cases and outbreaks. Previous studies have indicated that SARS-CoV-2 RNA measurement from testing solid-rich primary sludge yields better sensitivity compared to testing wastewater influent. Furthermore, measurement of pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) signal in wastewater allows for precise normalization of SARS-CoV-2 viral signal based on solid content, enhancing disease prevalence tracking. However, despite the widespread adoption of WWS, a knowledge gap remains regarding the impact of ferric sulfate coagulation, commonly used in enhanced primary clarification, the initial stage of wastewater treatment where solids are sedimented and removed, on SARS-CoV-2 and PMMoV quantification in wastewater-based epidemiology. This study examines the effects of ferric sulfate addition, along with the associated pH reduction, on the measurement of SARS-CoV-2 and PMMoV viral measurements in wastewater primary clarified sludge through jar testing. Results show that the addition of Fe3+ concentrations in the conventional 0 to 60 mg/L range caused no effect on SARS-CoV-2 N1 and N2 gene region measurements in wastewater solids. However, elevated Fe3+ concentrations were shown to be associated with a statistically significant increase in PMMoV viral measurements in wastewater solids, which consequently resulted in the underestimation of PMMoV-normalized SARS-CoV-2 viral signal measurements (N1 and N2 copies/copies of PMMoV). The observed pH reduction from coagulant addition did not contribute to the increased PMMoV measurements, suggesting that this phenomenon arises from the partitioning of PMMoV viral particles into wastewater solids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of wearable bioelectronic systems is a promising approach for optimal delivery of therapeutic treatments. These systems can provide continuous delivery of ions, charged biomolecules, and an electric field for various medical applications. However, rapid prototyping of wearable bioelectronic systems for controlled delivery of specific treatments with a scalable fabrication process is challenging. We present a wearable bioelectronic system comprised of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) device cast in customizable 3D printed molds and a printed circuit board (PCB), which employs commercially available engineering components and tools throughout design and fabrication. The system, featuring solution-filled reservoirs, embedded electrodes, and hydrogel-filled capillary tubing, is assembled modularly. The PDMS and PCB both contain matching through-holes designed to hold metallic contact posts coated with silver epoxy, allowing for mechanical and electrical integration. This assembly scheme allows us to interchange subsystem components, such as various PCB designs and reservoir solutions. We present three PCB designs: a wired version and two battery-powered versions with and without onboard memory. The wired design uses an external voltage controller for device actuation. The battery-powered PCB design uses a microcontroller unit to enable pre-programmed applied voltages and deep sleep mode to prolong battery run time. Finally, the battery-powered PCB with onboard memory is developed to record delivered currents, which enables us to verify treatment dose delivered. To demonstrate the functionality of the platform, the devices are used to deliver H + in vivo using mouse models and fluoxetine ex vivo using a simulated wound environment. Immunohistochemistry staining shows an improvement of 35.86% in the M1/M2 ratio of H + —treated wounds compared with control wounds, indicating the potential of the platform to improve wound healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recurrent influenza epidemics and pandemic potential are significant risks to global health. Public health authorities use clinical surveillance to locate and monitor influenza and influenza-like cases and outbreaks to mitigate hospitalizations and deaths. Currently, global integration of clinical surveillance is the only reliable method for reporting influenza types and subtypes to warn of emergent pandemic strains. The utility of wastewater surveillance (WWS) during the COVID-19 pandemic as a less resource intensive replacement or complement for clinical surveillance has been predicated on analyzing viral fragments in wastewater. We show here that influenza virus targets are stable in wastewater and partitions favorably to the solids fraction. By quantifying, typing, and subtyping the virus in municipal wastewater and primary sludge during a community outbreak, we forecasted a citywide flu outbreak with a 17-day lead time and provided population-level viral subtyping in near real-time to show the feasibility of influenza virus WWS at the municipal and neighbourhood levels in near real time using minimal resources and infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the thermodynamics of spherically symmetric, neutral and non-rotating black holes in conformal (Weyl) gravity. To this end, we apply different methods: (i) the evaluation of the specific heat; (ii) the study of the entropy concavity; (iii) the geometrical approach to thermodynamics known as thermodynamic geometry; (iv) the Poincaré method that relates equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics. We show that the thermodynamic geometry approach can be applied to conformal gravity too, because all the key thermodynamic variables are insensitive to Weyl scaling. The first two methods, (i) and (ii), indicate that the entropy of a de Sitter black hole is always in the interval 2 / 3 ≤ S ≤ 1 , whereas thermodynamic geometry suggests that, at S = 1 , there is a second order phase transition to an Anti de Sitter black hole. On the other hand, we obtain from the Poincaré method (iv) that black holes whose entropy is S < 4 / 3 are stable or in a saddle-point, whereas when S > 4 / 3 they are always unstable, hence there is no definite answer on whether such transition occurs. Since thermodynamics geometry takes the view that the entropy is an extensive quantity, while the Poincaré method does not require extensiveness, it is valuable to present here the analysis based on both approaches, and so we do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of the nonlinear thermal buckling and post-buckling of magneto-electro-thermo-elastic functionally graded porous nanobeams is analyzed based on Eringen's nonlocal elasticity theory and by using a refined beam model. The beams with immovable clamped ends are exposed to the external electric voltages, magnetic potentials, a uniform transverse load and uniform temperature change. For the first time, the four types of porosity distribution in the nanobeam are considered and compared in complex electric–magnetic fields. Besides, the new formula of the effective material properties is proposed in this paper to simultaneously estimate the material distribution and porosity distribution in the thickness direction. The generalized variation principle is used to induce the governing equations, then the approximate analytical solution of the METE-FG nanobeams based on physical neutral surface is obtained by using a two-step perturbation technique. Finally, detailed parametric analyses are performed to get an insight into the effects of different physical parameters, including the slenderness ratio, small-scale parameter, volume fraction index, external electric voltages, magnetic potentials, porosity coefficient and different porosity distributions, for providing an effective way to improve post-buckling strength of porous beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A damage assessment methodology based on the Hashin failure theory for glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite blade is proposed. The typical failure mechanisms including the fiber tension/compression and matrix tension/compression are considered to describe the damage behaviors. To give the flapwise and edgewise loading along the blade span, the Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) is adopted. In conjunction with the hydrodynamic analysis, the structural analysis of the composite blade is cooperatively performed with the Hashin damage model. The damage characteristics of the composite blade, under normal and extreme operational conditions, are comparatively analyzed. Numerical results demonstrate that the matrix tension damage is the most significant failure mode which occurs in the mid-span of the blade. The blade internal configurations including the box-beam, Ibeam, left-C beam and right-C beam are compared and analyzed. The GFRP and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) are considered and combined. Numerical results show that the I-beam is the best structural type. The structural performance of composite tidal turbine blades could be improved by combining the GFRP and CFRP structure considering the damage and cost-effectiveness synthetically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrous oxide (NO) is a stable greenhouse gas that plays a significant role in the destruction of the ozone layer. Soils are a significant source of atmospheric NO. It is important to explore some innovative and effective biology-based strategies for NO mitigation. The enzyme nitrous oxide reductase (NOR), naturally found in soil bacteria, is responsible for catalysing the final step of the denitrification pathway, conversion of NO to dintrogen gas (N). To transfer this catalytic pathway from soil into plants and amplify the abundance of this essential mechanism (to reduce global warming), a mega-cassette of five coding sequences was assembled to produce transgenic plants heterologously expressing the bacterial nos operon in plant leaves. Both the single-gene transformants ( nosZ) and the multi-gene transformants ( nosFLZDY) produced active recombinant NOR. Enzymatic activity was detected using the methyl viologen-linked enzyme assay, showing that extracts from both types of transgenic plants exhibited NO-reducing activity. Remarkably, the single-gene strategy produced higher reductase capability than the whole-operon approach. The data indicate that bacterial NOR expressed in plants could convert NO into inert N without involvement of other Nos proteins. Silencing by homologous signal sequences, or cryptic intracellular targeting are possible explanations for the low activities obtained. Expressing NOR from Pseudomonas stutzeri in single-gene transgenic plants indicated that such ag-biotech solutions to climate change have the potential to be easily incorporated into existing genetically modified organism seed germplasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The heat dipole consists of a heat source and a heat sink. The problem of an interfacial crack of a composite containing a circular inclusion under a heat dipole is investigated by using the analytical extension technique, the generalized Liouville theorem, and the Muskhelishvili boundary value theory. Temperature and stress fields are formulated. The effects of the temperature field and the inhomogeneity on the interfacial fracture are analyzed. As a numerical illustration, the thermal stress intensity factors of the interfacial crack are presented for various material combinations and different positions of the heat dipole. The characteristics of the interfacial crack depend on the elasticity, the thermal property of the composite, and the condition of the dipole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using Fourier transformation the boundary problem of periodical interfacial cracks in anisotropic elastoplastic bimaterial was transformed into a set of dual integral equations and then it was further reduced by means of definite integral transformation into a group of singular equations. Closed form of its solution was obtained and three corresponding problems of isotropic bimaterial, of a single anisotropic material and of a bimaterial of isotropy-anisotropy were treated as the specific cases. The plastic zone length of the crack tip and crack openning displacement (COD) decline as the smaller yield limit of the two bonded materials rises, and they were also determined by crack length and the space between two neighboring cracks. In addition, COD also relates it with moduli of the materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authors in this work investigate nonlinear vibration of different types of functionally graded tube in the theoretical framework of nonlocal strain graded theory. They are tubes with inside-out functionally graded distribution, tubes with circumferential functionally graded distribution and tubes with sinusoidal functionally graded distribution. At the beginning, based on the assumptions and appropriate mathematical models proposed via us, the effective material properties of new functionally graded materials are defined in the form of power-law. Then, a high order shear deformation beam model that can satisfy the stress boundary conditions on inner and outer surfaces is used to analyze respective types of FGM tube. With the aid of the Hamilton' principle, the nonlinear governing equations that include a nonlocal parameter and a material length-scale parameter are acquired, and then are solved via the perturbation method to obtain appropriate analytical solutions. Finally, parametric studies are carried out in detail for three types of functionally graded tube, including the thickness of tube, temperature, nonlocal parameter, strain gradient parameter, scale parameter ratio, slenderness ratio, volume index, different beam models, different kinds of functionally graded distribution and the size of lead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]