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A comprehensive characterization of regulatory elements in the chicken genome across tissues will have substantial impacts on both fundamental and applied research. Here, we systematically identified and characterized regulatory elements in the chicken genome by integrating 377 genome-wide sequencing datasets from 23 adult tissues. In total, we annotated 1.57 million regulatory elements, representing 15 distinct chromatin states, and predicted about 1.2 million enhancer-gene pairs and 7662 super-enhancers. This functional annotation of the chicken genome should have wide utility on identifying regulatory elements accounting for gene regulation underlying domestication, selection, and complex trait regulation, which we explored. In short, this comprehensive atlas of regulatory elements provides the scientific community with a valuable resource for chicken genetics and genomics.

Toxic heavy metal containing Cd(II) species is a serious threat for ecological environmental and many aquatic organisms. This work is aimed at evaluating the performance of Cd(II) and nitrate removal by Pseudomonas sp. H117. Response surface methodology (RSM) experiments showed that the maximum Cd(II) removal efficiency of 85.67% was obtained under the optimum conditions: temperature of 30.48 °C, Mn(II) concentration of 52.13 mg L−1 and Cd(II) concentration of 12.78 mg L−1. The mechanism of Cd(II) removal was investigated, the results indicated that MnO2 adsorption and pH value increase were the main contributor to remove Cd(II). Moreover, meteorological chromatography analysis indicated that the characteristics of gas composition could be influenced by Cd(II). Sequence amplification identified the presence of the MCO (multicopper oxidase) gene in strain H117, indicating that the strain has the capacity to oxidize the Mn(II). XRD and SEM analysis confirmed that the oxide of Mn(II) was MnO2. XPS spectra indicated that the Cd(II) was adsorbed onto MnO2. These results indicated that strain H117 has the ability to perform simultaneous remove nitrate, Cd(II) and Mn(II), the process provided a potential for the treatment of complex polluted water.

Due to global climate change, the world has been experiencing significant increases in average temperatures and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heatwaves. The overheating problem in indoor spaces of buildings has become a concern to the comfort and health of building occupants, especially vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children, or the sick. A field monitoring network consisting of rooftop weather stations and indoor sensors has been set up on 11 buildings of different types in Montreal, Canada. This paper presents the results of field measurements of indoor thermal conditions of six school buildings to assess the risks of summertime overheating. These six primary school buildings were built in 1930-1966 with window-wall-ratios between 10-30% and limited mechanical ventilation. The indoor dry-bulb air temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 concentrations are measured by indoor wireless sensors. The weather conditions, including dry-bulb temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, rainfall, wind speed, and wind direction, are measured by rooftop weather stations. Measurements presented in this paper are collected from July to September 2020, which include four different time intervals: (a) during two heatwaves, (b) during summer break when schools were closed, and (c) when schools were reopened, and windows were intermittently opened. Data analysis shows that the indoor and outdoor temperature difference has a strong linear correlation with the outdoor temperature observed for all school buildings. This correlation is also affected by building operations, such as opening windows, closing blinds, and the micro-climate of their surroundings., 8th International Building Physics Conference (IBPC 2021); August 25-27, 2021, Copenhagen, Denmark

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) removal in conventional bioretention systems is highly variable. Therefore, five novel experimental columns with different media configurations and constituents, and incorporating a saturated zone were developed and assessed to optimize the removal of N, P and other nutrients. Three types of media composed of the conventional mixed sand and soil media (T1), biochar-amended media (T2), and iron-coated biochar (ICB)-amended media (T3) were evaluated. Two of the experimental columns were designed with double-layer configurations, while the other three were of a single-layer structure. Removal efficiencies of nutrients in the experimental columns were evaluated and compared using simulated runoff. Also, the effect of media depth on the retention of P and denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA) in the bioretention columns were evaluated. The experimental column only filled with T3 showed the best performance for COD, ammonia (NH4+-N) and total phosphorus (TP) removal (94.6%, 98.3% and 93.70%, respectively), whereas columns filled with T2 performed poorly for TP removal (57.36%). For the removal of nitrate (NO3−-N) and total nitrogen (TN), the columns using a single-layer and only filled with either T3 or T2 exhibited the best performance (93% and 97% TN removal, respectively). Overall, this study demonstrates that our proposed single-layered bioretention cell only filled with T3 and incorporating a saturated zone effectively improves the runoff quality, and can provide a new bioretention cell configuration for efficient stormwater treatment.