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To develop a novel ultrasound (US) plane to diagnose palatine tonsillar hypertrophy objectively in children.Tonsillar ultrasonography of children (age 2-14 years) who had a clinical diagnosis of tonsillar hypertrophy or not were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical data (including gender, age, body mass index (BMI)), and volume (V) of tonsils measured by the US, were recorded. Furthermore, we found a new US plane to diagnose tonsillar hypertrophy and named it the submental oblique cross-section. In this plane, diameters of the left tonsil, right tonsil, and central oropharynx were designated as T1, T2, and O. Then, we calculated the ratio by the formula (T1 + T2)/O.A total of 172 cases (85 hypertrophy and 87 non-hypertrophy) were included in this study. There were no significant differences in gender (P = .844), age (P = .666), and BMI (P = .089) between the groups. In the non-hypertrophy group, the V of both sides had a positive linear correlation with age or BMI. In contrast, there was no linear correlation between ratio and age or BMI. The area under the curve (AUC) of ratio and V was 0.970 (95%CI: 0.947-0.993) and 0.835 (95%CI: 0.778-0.893) by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, respectively. The optimal cutoff value of ratio for diagnosis of tonsillar hypertrophy was 2.293 (sensitivity = 88.2%, specificity = 95.4%).We established a new US section to evaluate tonsillar hypertrophy. This approach could be easily acquired and provide a reference value to guide clinical practice.

A heterotrophic nitrifying aerobic denitrifying (HN-AD) strain HY-1 with excellent capacity, identified as Paracoccus denitrificans, was isolated from activated sludge. HY-1 was capable of removing NH

Carriers strengthened duckweed treatment system (CDW), duckweed treatment system (DW) and water hyacinth treatment system (WH) were developed to treat rural wastewater in Dianchi Lake basin. Results showed that adding microbial carrier did not affect the growth and biomass components of duckweed. The following features were discovered in the CDW system. First, the NO3--N and TN removal efficiencies were the highest among three systems, reaching 80.02% and 56.42%, respectively. Secondly, Illumina sequencing revealed the highest microbial diversity. Thirdly, a distinct succession of microbial community was observed. Rhodobacter, Bacteria vadinCA02, C39 and Flavobacterium dominated in the start-up stage, and contributed to biofilm formation and pollutants degradation. Acinetobacter, Planctomyces and Methylibium significantly increased in the stable stage, and contributed to nitrogen removal. Finally, highly abundant plant growth-promoting bacteria were found. Comprehensive analysis indicated that the functional bacteria community was closely related to the pollutant removals, plant growth and system operating status.

The polyculture of different duckweed species is likely to integrate their advantages in removing pollutants and starch accumulation. Here, pilot-scale comparisons of three duckweed species (Spirodela polyrhiza K1, Lemna minor K2 and Landoltia punctata K3) in monoculture and polyculture were investigated. Results showed that the TN (total nitrogen) and TP (total phosphorus) in wastewater decreased from 6.0 and 0.56 mg L−1 to below 0.5 and 0.1 mg L−1, respectively. Namely, the water quality improved to Grade II under the Chinese standard. The highest TN and TP removal efficiencies were found to be 99.1% and 90.8% in the polyculture. Besides, the starch content of S. polyrhiza K1, L. minor K2, L. punctata K3 and the polyculture reached 24.8%, 32.3%, 39.3% and 36.3%, respectively. Accordingly, their average starch accumulation rates were 1.65, 2.15, 3.11 and 2.72 g m−2 d−1, respectively. Our results suggested that L. punctata K3 was a promising energy feedstock due to it having the highest starch production. The advantages of different duckweed species were investigated. In the polyculture, the pollutants were efficiently removed from wastewater, with a high starch accumulation. This study supplies a new insight into the application of duckweed in eutrophic water advanced treatment coupled with starch production.

The fungal community and the population of 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA and cellulose-degrading genes during the 30-day composting process of Chinese medicinal herbal residues were investigated using Illumina MiSeq and quantitative real-time PCR. An obvious succession of fungal communities occurred during the composting process. Unidentified fungi predominated in the raw materials. As composting progressed, Ascomycota became the most dominant phylum, with Aspergillus being the most dominant genus, and Aspergillus fumigatus making up 99.65% of that genus. Because of the inoculation of cellulolytic fungi in the mature stage, the cellulose degradation rate in inoculation groups was faster and the relative abundances of Aspergillus and the glycoside hydrolase family 7 genes were significantly higher than those in the control groups. These indicated that the fungal inoculants facilitated the degradation of cellulose, increased cellulolytic fungi and optimized the community structure.

The Activated Sludge Model No. 3 (ASM3) was modified by considering the simultaneous storage and growth, heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification processes. The model was used to simulate the biological process of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) treating high COD and nitrogen piggery wastewater without any pretreatment. In the model, the AGS utilizes readily biodegradable substrates for simultaneous storage, growth and metabolism during the feast phase. It further utilizes storage products for secondary growth and metabolism during the famine phase. Finally, it produces inert organic carbon through the decay. For nitrogen removal, nitrification process is mainly heterotrophic nitrification. Denitrification is completed by a combined process of anoxic and aerobic denitrification. The comparison between simulation results and experimental data shows that the modified model satisfactorily simulated the organic substrates degradation, nitrification and denitrification processes of treatment of high-concentration piggery wastewater by AGS.

An actively Q-switched all-fiber laser operating at the wavelength of 1920 nm is experimentally demonstrated based on a readily accessible commercial Tm-doped silica fiber. The Q-switching is achieved by polarization modulation through the stress-induced birefringence using a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) as the Q-switcher. The pulsed fiber laser can be operated with the repetition rates ranging from tens of kilohertz to nearly two hundreds kilohertz with milliwatt average output power.

The polyculture of different duckweed species is likely to integrate their advantages in removing pollutants and starch accumulation. Here, pilot-scale comparisons of three duckweed species (

Polycrystalline materials of REVO4 (RE = Y, Lu, Yb) were synthesized by liquid-phase reaction. An Yb-doped Yb:Y0.71Lu0.29VO4 crystal was grown by the Czochralski method. Dislocations and low-angle boundaries were revealed by chemical etching and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Continuous-wave (cw) laser action was achieved in the range of 1020.7–1029.0 nm by using a high-power diode laser as the pump source. A cw laser output power of 1.09 W with a slope efficiency of 21.6% was demonstrated for this 0.5 at.% Yb-doped Yb:Y0.79Lu0.21VO4 mixed crystal.

Yb: YVO4 single crystals with low doping concentrations of Yb3+ less than 0.3 at% were grown using the Czochralski method. The polarized absorption spectra were measured at room temperature. Strong anisotropy exists in the absorption spectra, resulting in almost entirely different features for π-polarization and σ-polarization. The laser emission spectrum and relationship curve between the output power and absorbed pump power (Pabs) were measured. The continuous-wave laser action of Yb: YVO4 single crystal in a range of 1020.4–1026.3 nm was realized by using a high-power diode laser as the pump source.

Continuous-wave (CW) and passively Q-switching laser performance of the Yb:CNGG and Yb:CLNGG disordered garnet crystals are compared. CW output powers of 6.3 and 7.5 W are generated from the Yb:CNGG and Yb:CLNGG lasers, with slope efficiencies measured to be 63 and 74 %, respectively. In passively Q-switched operation, the average output power reaches 2.0 and 3.1 W, with slope efficiencies of 56 and 65 %, for the Yb:CNGG and Yb:CLNGG lasers, respectively. Laser pulses of 9.5 ns in duration are generated with the two Yb lasers, with the highest pulse energy and peak power amounting to 166.7 μJ and 17.5 kW for the Yb:CNGG laser, and 133.0 μJ and 14.0 kW for the Yb:CLNGG laser. In respects of efficient laser operation and power scaling, the Yb:CLNGG proves to be advantageous over Yb:CNGG, whereas the Yb:CNGG is superior to Yb:CLNGG in energy storage capacity.

We report on a significant improvement in cw laser performance of the disordered Yb:CNGG crystal. Very efficient cw laser operation is demonstrated at room temperature with a 3.5 mm thick crystal end pumped by a diode laser, generating an output power of 5.15 W with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 46%, whereas the slope efficiency amounts to 80%.