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Water pollution can come from industrial waste containing various toxic pollutants, one of which is dye. Hazardous dyes are stable and resistant to biodegradation due to their complex aromatic structure, so dyes need to be treated. Metanil Yellow is a dye that is harmful to aquatic life and the human body. One method that can be used is adsorption with the batch method because it has the advantage of low cost and simple processing. Flavonoid extracts have high potential to be used as biosorbents because they have hydroxyl and carbonyl groups. This study aims to determine the potential of flavonoid extracts to adsorb metanil yellow dye using optimum pH and solution concentration and to determine its absorption capacity. The results showed that the optimum pH obtained was at pH 2 and the optimum solution concentration was at 150 ppm with an absorption capacity of 9.22078 mg/g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Precious Metals / Guijinshu is the property of Precious Metals Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ferumoxytol injection, also known as Feraheme®, is an approved IV injectable iron supplement and an experimental MRI contrast agent. Initially, it was approved as an IV bolus agent, but its use was later limited to a slow infusion drip due to high levels of infusion reactions. We collected various batches of ferumoxytol with expiration dates ranging from 2010 to 2025 and compared their size and zeta potential. Since nanoparticle surface properties can affect infusion reactions, we conducted a dot blot immunoassay to measure complement C3 opsonization with ferumoxytol preparations. We observed differences in nanoparticle size and zeta potential between batches and a 2.5-fold variation in complement activation. Interestingly, older batches from 2010 showed more uniform size distribution and lower complement activation than some of the newer batches. This finding may be valuable to the nanomedicine community and regulatory authorities.

Ferumoxytol injection, also known as Feraheme®, is an approved IV injectable iron supplement and an experimental MRI contrast agent. Initially, it was approved as an IV bolus agent, but its use was later limited to a slow infusion drip due to high levels of infusion reactions. We collected various batches of ferumoxytol with expiration dates ranging from 2010 to 2025 and compared their size and zeta potential. Since nanoparticle surface properties can affect infusion reactions, we conducted a dot blot immunoassay to measure complement C3 opsonization with ferumoxytol preparations. We observed differences in nanoparticle size and zeta potential between batches and a 2.5-fold variation in complement activation. Interestingly, older batches from 2010 showed more uniform size distribution and lower complement activation than some of the newer batches. This finding may be valuable to the nanomedicine community and regulatory authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The microbial chiral product (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (3-HB) is a gateway to several industrial and medical compounds. Acetyl-CoA is the key precursor for 3-HB, and several native pathways compete with 3-HB production. The principal competing pathway in wild-type Escherichia coli for acetyl-CoA is mediated by citrate synthase (coded by gltA), which directs over 60% of the acetyl-CoA into the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Eliminating citrate synthase activity (deletion of gltA) prevents growth on glucose as the sole carbon source. In this study, an alternative approach is used to generate an increased yield of 3-HB: citrate synthase activity is reduced but not eliminated by targeted substitutions in the chromosomally expressed enzyme. Results Five E. coli GltA variants were examined for 3-HB production via heterologous overexpression of a thiolase (phaA) and NADPH-dependent acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (phaB) from Cupriavidus necator. In shake flask studies, four variants showed nearly 5-fold greater 3-HB yield compared to the wild-type, although pyruvate accumulated. Overexpression of either native thioesterases TesB or YciA eliminated pyruvate formation, but diverted acetyl-CoA towards acetate formation. Overexpression of pantothenate kinase similarly decreased pyruvate formation but did not improve 3-HB yield. Controlled batch studies at the 1.25 L scale demonstrated that the GltA[A267T] variant produced the greatest 3-HB titer of 4.9 g/L with a yield of 0.17 g/g. In a phosphate-starved repeated batch process, E. coli ldhA poxB pta-ackA gltA::gltA [A267T] generated 15.9 g/L 3-HB (effective concentration of 21.3 g/L with dilution) with yield of 0.16 g/g from glucose as the sole carbon source. Conclusions This study demonstrates that GltA variants offer a means to affect the generation of acetyl-CoA derived products. This approach should benefit a wide range of acetyl-CoA derived biochemical products in E. coli and other microbes. Enhancing substrate affinity of the introduced pathway genes like thiolase towards acetyl-CoA will likely further increase the flux towards 3-HB while reducing pyruvate and acetate accumulation.

Photocatalytic degradation of benzene is a viable and environmentally friendly method with significant economic advantages. In this study, a composite photocatalyst consisting of TiO2 and Fe3O4 supported by bentonite was synthesized for benzene degradation. The objective was to assess the impact of critical parameters in both batch and continuous systems. The results showed that in batch system, the effects of initial benzene concentration and pH were explored, showing optimal degradation at an initial concentration of 400 ppm and pH 5. Under these conditions, an impressive % removal value of 95.334 % was achieved. Meanwhile, continuous system analysis showed a negative correlation between feed flow rate and % removal, with the most effective degradation occurring at a flow rate of 15 mL/min. The study also delivered into the kinetics of benzene degradation in batch system, obtaining a first-order reaction based on Langmuir-Hinshelwood model with a reaction rate constant (kr) of 85.68175 mg/(L.min) and an adsorption rate constant (K) of 0.0003002 L/mg. The adsorption model was observed to follow the Langmuir model. These results contributed to the optimization of photocatalytic benzene degradation processes, offering insights into the critical factors affecting efficiency in both batch and continuous systems. The established optimum conditions and kinetic parameters provided a foundation for future advancements in the design and application of composite photocatalysts for benzene remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser-inscribed graphene (LIG) is an emerging material for micro-electronic applications and is being used to develop supercapacitors, soft actuators, triboelectric generators, and sensors. The fabrication technique is simple, yet the batch-to-batch variation of LIG quality is not well documented in the literature. In this study, we conduct experiments to characterize batch-to-batch variation in the manufacturing of LIG electrodes for applications in electrochemical sensing. Numerous batches of 36 LIG electrodes were synthesized using a CO2 laser system on polyimide film. The LIG material was characterized using goniometry, stereomicroscopy, open circuit potentiometry, and cyclic voltammetry. Hydrophobicity and electrochemical screening (cyclic voltammetry) indicate that LIG electrode batch-to-batch variation is less than 5% when using a commercial reference and counter electrode. Metallization of LIG led to a significant increase in peak current and specific capacitance (area between anodic/cathodic curve). However, batch-to-batch variation increased to approximately 30%. Two different platinum electrodeposition techniques were studied, including galvanostatic and frequency-modulated electrodeposition. The study shows that formation of metallized LIG electrodes with high specific capacitance and peak current may come at the expense of high batch variability. This design tradeoff has not been discussed in the literature and is an important consideration if scaling sensor designs for mass use is desired. This study provides important insight into the variation of LIG material properties for scalable development of LIG sensors. Additional studies are needed to understand the underlying mechanism(s) of this variability so that strategies to improve the repeatability may be developed for improving quality control. The dataset from this study is available via an open access repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The microbial chiral product (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (3-HB) is a gateway to several industrial and medical compounds. Acetyl-CoA is the key precursor for 3-HB, and several native pathways compete with 3-HB production. The principal competing pathway in wild-type Escherichia coli for acetyl-CoA is mediated by citrate synthase (coded by gltA), which directs over 60% of the acetyl-CoA into the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Eliminating citrate synthase activity (deletion of gltA) prevents growth on glucose as the sole carbon source. In this study, an alternative approach is used to generate an increased yield of 3-HB: citrate synthase activity is reduced but not eliminated by targeted substitutions in the chromosomally expressed enzyme. Results: Five E. coli GltA variants were examined for 3-HB production via heterologous overexpression of a thiolase (phaA) and NADPH-dependent acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (phaB) from Cupriavidus necator. In shake flask studies, four variants showed nearly 5-fold greater 3-HB yield compared to the wild-type, although pyruvate accumulated. Overexpression of either native thioesterases TesB or YciA eliminated pyruvate formation, but diverted acetyl-CoA towards acetate formation. Overexpression of pantothenate kinase similarly decreased pyruvate formation but did not improve 3-HB yield. Controlled batch studies at the 1.25 L scale demonstrated that the GltA[A267T] variant produced the greatest 3-HB titer of 4.9 g/L with a yield of 0.17 g/g. In a phosphate-starved repeated batch process, E. coli ldhA poxB pta-ackA gltA::gltA[A267T] generated 15.9 g/L 3-HB (effective concentration of 21.3 g/L with dilution) with yield of 0.16 g/g from glucose as the sole carbon source. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that GltA variants offer a means to affect the generation of acetyl-CoA derived products. This approach should benefit a wide range of acetyl-CoA derived biochemical products in E. coli and other microbes. Enhancing substrate affinity of the introduced pathway genes like thiolase towards acetyl-CoA will likely further increase the flux towards 3-HB while reducing pyruvate and acetate accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MCS initiative was first introduced in 2013. Since then, two MCS papers have been published: the first proposing a structured approach to consider the impact of drug substance physical properties on manufacturability and the second outlining real world examples of MCS principles. By 2023, both publications had been extensively cited by over 240 publications. This article firstly reviews this citing work and considers how the MCS concepts have been received and are being applied. Secondly, we will extend the MCS framework to continuous manufacture. The review structure follows the flow of drug product development focussing first on optimisation of API properties. The exploitation of links between API particle properties and manufacturability using large datasets seems particularly promising. Subsequently, applications of the MCS for formulation design include a detailed look at the impact of percolation threshold, the role of excipients and how other classification systems can be of assistance. The final review section focusses on manufacturing process development, covering the impact of strain rate sensitivity and modelling applications. The second part of the paper focuses on continuous processing proposing a parallel MCS framework alongside the existing batch manufacturing guidance. Specifically, we propose that continuous direct compression can accommodate a wider range of API properties compared to its batch equivalent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of the laundry business increases every year along with population growth, however the laundry waste produced is generally thrown straight into the drain and flows into water bodies without prior treatment. The threshold limits for laundry wastewater quality standards for phosphate content, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solid (TSS) are 10 mg/L, 250 mg/L and 100 mg/L respectively based on East Java Governor Regulation No. 72 of 2013. Disposing of laundry waste directly in large quantities into water bodies can have negative effects on the ecosystem in water bodies and water pollution problems. This research aims to determine the efficiency of using GAC and zeolite adsorbents in reducing phosphate, COD and TSS levels in laundry liquid waste. Based on the impact that can pollute water bodies, it is necessary to process laundry liquid waste. One of the processing methods used is the adsorption method, the adsorption process is carried out using granular activated carbon (GAC) and zeolite with a batch system. This research uses liquid wastewater samples from laundry businesses. The variations used in this research are the adsorbent mass, and contact time. The results obtained from this research include Scanning Electron Microscope test results and the percentage reduction in phosphate, COD and TSS levels using GAC and zeolite adsorbents in batch systems. The research results show that the optimum adsorbent mass is 12 grams of adsorbent mixed with GAC and zeolite with a contact time of 150 minutes with a percentage reduction in phosphate levels of 57.14%, a percentage reduction in COD levels of 63.11% and a percentage reduction in TSS levels of 53.11%. The phosphate, COD and TSS values of laundry liquid waste after processing with adsorbent mass, adsorbent composition and optimum contact time are 6.5 mg/L and 383.5 mg/L and 84.5 mg/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to prepare an adsorbent material from eggshells of chicken banished to the ambient as wastes to satisfy the ecological requirements of sustainable. The preparation process based on the extraction of calcium ions from eggshells and these ions must be reacted with iron to form nanoparticles of (Ca/Fe)-layered double hydroxides (LDHs) which immobilized as Na-alginate beads. Molar ration of calcium to iron, pH and dosage of LDH nanoparticles must be equal to 1, 12 and 5 g/100 mL to ensure that the prepared beads have highest ability to remove of Amoxicillin (AMOX) antibiotic with removal efficiency equal to 32% for operational conditions of Co=100 mg/L, beads dosage=0.5 g/50 mL, speed=200 rpm, pH=7 for 3 hrs. To increase this efficiency to ≥ 90%, best conditions must be time 90 min, pH 7, and beads mass 1.2 g/ 50 mL for Co 100 mg/L at 200 rpm in the batch mode. The Pseudo second order has high capability in the description of such tests with coefficient of determination (R2 ) ≥ 0.9924 and sum of squared error (SSE) ≤ 0.1287. Hence, the sorption of AMOX onto beads is governed by the chemisorption process. The reflections of XRD analysis proved the presence of (Ca/Fe)-LDH nanoparticles with size of 13.49 nm, calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water accounts for 70 % - 90 % of the total mass of food waste, and the contents of organic matter, oil, and salt in the waste are high. These conditions are highly suitable for the growth and reproduction of bacteria and other microorganisms. Therefore, anaerobic digestion is a common approach to treat food waste. Despite its long history, the research on anaerobic digestion has gradually developed with the progress in science and technology. This study aimed to explore the influence of temperature fluctuation on the anaerobic digestion characteristics of food waste by performing batch experiments; also, the characteristics were analysed from a microscopic perspective. The anaerobic digestion process was subjected to the interactions between various microorganisms and enzymes. The experimental results indicated that the activity of bacteria belonging to the phyla such as Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi was relatively high at a constant temperature. In contrast, the activity of the bacteria belonging to the phyla such as Bacteroidota and Acidobacteriota was relatively high at regulated temperatures. The activity of cellulase and lipase increased whereas that of protease decreased at a constant temperature. Regardless of the fluctuation mode of temperature, the activity of amylase did not obviously alter. These microorganisms with different responses to temperature fluctuation had unique functions in the anaerobic digestion process, and they participated in different anaerobic digestion stages. Therefore, based on the attribute of kitchen waste, an appropriate temperature mode can be selected to make anaerobic digestion more efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aimed to modify activated carbon into oxidated activated carbon because it can effectively remove diclofenac sodium (DCF) and increase the adsorption capability. In this study of the several variations of initial concentration and contact time, those variations affected the optimal result. To determine, the removal efficiency of diclofenac sodium used Golden Shower Activated Carbon based on the contact time variation and the optimum contact time compared to Golden Shower Oxidated Activated Carbon as adsorbent on the batch method and to know the isotherm model and the kinetic model of the adsorbent on the adsorption in diclofenac sodium solution. The pHPZC for GSHAC and GSHOAC were 2.4 and 9.3. The optimum contact time for GSHAC was 225 min with the capacity (qt = 184.71 mg/g). The optimum contact time for GSHOAC was 169 min with the capacity (qt = 188.34 mg/g). The Isotherm model, kinetics model, and the physical characterization of the biosorbent were thoroughly investigated. The isotherm model chosen in the adsorption process for GSHAC and GSHOAC was the Langmuir model (R2 = 0.985 and R2 = 0.973). The pseudo‐second‐order for GSHAC and GSHOAC was confirmed to be a kinetic pseudo‐second‐order model of the adsorption with R2 values of 0.9566 and 0.9986. The model represents that the reaction from the adsorbent to the solution was double the initial concentration. Based on SEM analysis after the adsorption process, it was found that flakes of adsorbent before adsorption had many layers of pores, causing an irregular texture after adsorption showed that GSHAC and GSHOAC were fragmented and had many layers of pores that were closed and tight because it adsorbed DCF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of sago bark for Cd(II) ions removal in the aqueous solution has been investigated using the batch method. The sago bark was facile-treated using HNO3 0.01 M and its ability on Cd(II) removal was evaluated under specific parameters such as pH, contact time, agitation speed, temperature, initial concentration, and adsorbent mass. The adsorption capacity of sago bark was found to be 2.473 mg/g. The Langmuir isotherm model corresponding to the monolayer adsorption process described the adsorption data well. The kinetic and thermodynamic evaluation confirmed that the Cd(II) ion sorption followed a pseudo-second-order model and endothermic. The adsorption capacity decreased after three times adsorption-desorption cycles. This result showed that the treated sago bark could be a good candidate as an adsorbent for Cd(II) removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of the laundry business increases every year along with population growth, however the laundry waste produced is generally thrown straight into the drain and flows into water bodies without prior treatment. The threshold limits for laundry wastewater quality standards for phosphate content, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Suspended Solid (TSS) are 10 mg/L respectively based on East Java Governor Regulation No. 72 of 2013. Disposing of laundry waste directly in large quantities into water bodies can have negative effects on the ecosystem in water bodies and water pollution problems. This research aims to determine the efficiency of using GAC and zeolite adsorbents in reducing phosphatelevels in laundry liquid waste. Based on the impact that can pollute water bodies, it is necessary to process laundry liquid waste. One of the processing methods used is the adsorption method, the adsorption process is carried out using Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) and zeolite with a batch system. This research uses liquid wastewater samples from laundry businesses. The variations used in this research are the adsorbent mass, and contact time. The results obtained from this research include SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopes) test results and the percentage reduction in phosphatelevels using GAC and zeolite adsorbents in batch systems. The research results show that the optimum adsorbent mass is 12 grams of adsorbent mixed with GAC and zeolite with a contact time of 150 minutes with a percentage reduction in phosphate levels of 57.14%. The phosphate values of laundry liquid waste after processing with adsorbent mass, adsorbent composition and optimum contact time are 6.5 mg/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental pollution from chemicals utilized in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and chemical process industries is of serious concern nowadays due to the contamination that ensues when these chemicals are discharged into water bodies. Activated carbon adsorption provides an efficient and economically viable means for mitigation of toxic chemicals (i.e., heavy metals, dyes, pharmaceutics, and antibiotics). However, the exorbitant cost of commercial activated carbons has resulted in the search for low-cost alternatives for the treatment of contaminated effluents. An exhaustive literature survey in this area is necessary to know the extent of work done in this area and seek out the gaps that future research will provide answers to. In this review, various works on activated carbon utilization, batch adsorption, fixed-bed adsorption (experimental and numerical studies) are summarized. This review elucidates the different kinetic and isotherm models of agrowastes-derived activated carbon materials in context with pollutants (dyes, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, miscellaneous adsorbates) removal through batch and column methods. In addition, fixed-bed column adsorption/regeneration methods using various activated carbons derived from agrowastes are discussed. Among these methods, heavy metal adsorption from aqueous solutions by the activated carbons is the most efficient. The deployment of mathematical and machine learning approaches (ANN and novel GMDH algorithms) in optimization of batch and continuous adsorption processes are also highlighted. Numerical simulation of fixed-column adsorption systems for more improved industrial-scale column designs is described. Conclusions and future challenges of chemicals removal from polluted wastewater utilizing agrowaste-derived activated carbons are also presented.

The need to replace conventional fuels with renewable sources is a great challenge for the science community. H2 is a promising alternative due to its high energy density and availability. H2 generation from formic acid (FA) decomposition occurred in a batch and a packed-bed flow reactor, in mild conditions, using a 2% Pd6Zn4/HHT (high heated treated) catalyst synthesised via the sol-immobilisation method. Experimental and theoretical studies took place, and the results showed that in the batch system, the conversion was enhanced with increasing reaction temperature, while in the continuous flow system, the conversion was found to decrease due to the deactivation of the catalyst resulting from the generation of the poisoning CO. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies were developed to predict the conversion profiles, which demonstrated great validation with the experimental results. The model can accurately predict the decomposition of FA as well as the deactivation that occurs in the continuous flow system. Of significance was the performance of the packed-bed flow reactor, which showed improved FA conversion in comparison to the batch reactor, potentially leading to the utilisation of continuous flow systems for future fuel cell applications for on-site H2 production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the awareness on the importance of using biogas produced from various biomasses that were previously considered as wastes, the fact remains that its applicability or usage in domestic purposes such as cooking stoves has not really gained attention especially in developing countries. Based on this reason, this research designed a batch system biogas generating facility that will serve the energy needed for cooking meals by a family size of six members, using rumen contents of cattle (Bos indicus) as biomass. The results made known that an anaerobic digester having a capacity of 2.7m³ will perfectly serve for such facility to meet its intended use when fed with 72kg of substrate per batch, while the gas holder volume should be 0.527m³. Necessary appurtenances including water jacket were designed and detailed dimensions, drawings as well as costing of the entire facility were provided to ease fabrication and possibly adjustment in the future if the need arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel type of ion exchanger polymer nanocomposite was achieved and applied for the removal of Cs+ ions from aqueous media. The ion exchanger polymer nanocomposite was prepared based on natural polymer with some chemical modification. The reaction was followed by three steps to prepare the ion exchanger, the first step including the preparation of O-carboxymethyl chitosan (O-CMC), while the second step is the formation of copper potassium hexacyanoferrates nanoparticles (CuKHCF). Finally, the prepared CuKHCF was introducing through polymer matrix of O-CMC to obtain CuKHCF/O-CMC. By Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, the composition of the prepared compounds was elucidated. The surface morphology of nanoparticles of CuKHCF and ion exchanger was reported by scanning electron microscopy. Also, transmission electron microscopy was used to report the morphology. Also, the thermal stability was studied using thermogravimetric analysis. A sorption behavior of the ion exchanger toward removal of Cs+ ions from aqueous media was studied at different solution pH, different initial concentration of Cs+ ions, time that Cs+ ions contact with ion exchanger and temperature of solution through batch experiments. From obtained results, the highest capacity was 1.71 mmol/g for Cs+ ions at initial concentration 10 mmol/L and shaking time 2 h at temperature 25°C. By studying the adsorption isotherms and the kinetics, Langmuir model and pseudo-second-order were fitted with this process. Through the data obtained thermodynamic parameters, the nature of sorption process is spontaneous and also endothermic. Also, the sorption process was also achieved by column technique. At pH 7 and an initial concentration of 4 mmoL, the impact of bed depth and flow rate on the adsorption properties of the composite was investigated. Models of Thomas and Yoon-Nelson were employed to assess the performance of the column adsorption. Additionally, it has been shown that 2.0 M KCl may successfully desorb loaded Cs+. Lastly, the synthetic composite was applied successfully five times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Chinese Journal of Inorganic Analytical Chemistry / Zhongguo Wuji Fenxi Huaxue is the property of Beijing Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy Technology Group and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We consider batch scheduling on m machines to minimize the makespan. Each job has a given set of machines to be assigned. Each machine can process several jobs simultaneously as a batch, and the machines may have different batch capacities. We study two models: (i) scheduling on equal-speed batch machines under a nested processing set restriction, where the machines have the same processing speed, and (ii) scheduling on uniform batch machines under a tree-hierarchical processing set restriction, where the machines have different processing speeds. For both models we design polynomial-time approximation algorithms to solve them. The algorithms have a worst-case ratio of 2 for non-identical batch capacities and a worst-case ratio of 2 - 1 / m for identical batch capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research presents the efficiency of surfactant-modified (SMNZ) and unmodified natural-zeolite (UNZ) in the immobilization of Cr3+, Pb2+, and Cd2+ in the soil system. Phillipsite is identified as a major component of the host zeolite. Soil mixed with 20% UNZ retained the highest amount of all metals on the top layer of the soilzeolite column. The lowest transfer of metals into the maize crop was observed at 30 mg of UNZ/kg soil. The experimental conditions such as pH, dose, stirring speed, contact time, and initial metal ions concentration showed significant effect on adsorption of Cr3+, Pb2+, and Cd2+ onto both unmodified and modified zeolite (phillipsite). The maximum adsorption (mg/kg) onto control soil, soil mixed with SMNZ and UNZ was 67.1, 90.9, 151.5 for Cr3+, 84.8, 120.5, 238.1 for Pb2+, 83.3, 116.3 and 212.8 for Cd2+ respectively. Thus, the use of natural zeolite, particularly UNZ has an important role in controlling the mobility of Cr3+, Pb2+, and Cd2+ metal ions in the soil system and thus their transfer to plant system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a hierarchical‐linked batch‐to‐batch optimization based on transfer learning is proposed to realize the effective optimization of a new synthesis process. Optimization efficiency is especially crucial for batch processes to improve the product quality and maximize the economic benefits. The traditional hierarchical optimization method can achieve a better effect, but it may lead to low efficiency since it requires more iterations. To further improve the optimization efficiency of a new batch process with high operational cost, a hierarchical‐linked batch‐to‐batch optimization based on transfer learning is proposed in this work. By introducing the linkage between hierarchies, the available information transmitting between hierarchies is addressed to assist and accelerate the modelling and optimization process. A performance assessment criterion based on the prior knowledge of similar processes is also proposed to further improve the optimization effect. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is verified through a simulation study of the cobalt oxalate synthesis process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser-inscribed graphene (LIG) is an emerging material for micro-electronic applications and is being used to develop supercapacitors, soft actuators, triboelectric generators, and sensors. The fabrication technique is simple, yet the batch-to-batch variation of LIG quality is not well documented in the literature. In this study, we conduct experiments to characterize batch-to-batch variation in the manufacturing of LIG electrodes for applications in electrochemical sensing. Numerous batches of 36 LIG electrodes were synthesized using a CO2 laser system on polyimide film. The LIG material was characterized using goniometry, stereomicroscopy, open circuit potentiometry, and cyclic voltammetry. Hydrophobicity and electrochemical screening (cyclic voltammetry) indicate that LIG electrode batch-to-batch variation is less than 5% when using a commercial reference and counter electrode. Metallization of LIG led to a significant increase in peak current and specific capacitance (area between anodic/cathodic curve). However, batch-to-batch variation increased to approximately 30%. Two different platinum electrodeposition techniques were studied, including galvanostatic and frequency-modulated electrodeposition. The study shows that formation of metallized LIG electrodes with high specific capacitance and peak current may come at the expense of high batch variability. This design tradeoff has not been discussed in the literature and is an important consideration if scaling sensor designs for mass use is desired. This study provides important insight into the variation of LIG material properties for scalable development of LIG sensors. Additional studies are needed to understand the underlying mechanism(s) of this variability so that strategies to improve the repeatability may be developed for improving quality control. The dataset from this study is available via an open access repository.

This study introduces a scheduling model for a two-machine flow shop batch system to minimize the actual flow time. In this system, two machines are responsible for processing raw materials and producing finished products, with a single bottleneck machine. The entity overseeing the manufacturing process organizes demand units into batches, ensures the accurate and timely arrival of raw materials, and delivers all finished products punctually to meet an expected due date. The study addresses crucial challenges, including determining the optimal number of batches, sizes, and sequences to achieve the specified objective. The analysis adopted an algorithm grounded in the Lagrange relaxation method to tackle these challenges. Moreover, the algorithm is operated by identifying the bottleneck machine as a scheduling reference and determining the appropriate number of batches and sizes. The analysis showed the efficacy of the developed algorithm by using Johnson's rule for making batch sequence decisions through numerical experiments conducted across 1000 cases. The results showed a 1.44% to 4.43% improvement in efficiency compared to previous research, accompanied by a 2–8 times reduction in computational time.

A sustainable industrial future involves the exploitation of renewable resources to obtain a wide diversity of products and energy and the decrease of waste generation. Primary sludge (PS) from pulp and paper mills is a lignocellulosic residue mainly consisting of cellulose and hemicelluloses that can be converted to bioethanol. In the present work, bioethanol was produced from untreated PS by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). Studies were carried out on initial solid concentration, yeast inoculum percentage, cellulolytic enzyme dosage, and co-application of two enzyme complexes (cellulolytic NS 22192 and xylanolytic Cellic® HTec2, Bagsværd, Denmark). Increasing solid content up to 22% improved ethanol concentration (59.1 g L−1), productivity (1.97 g L−1 h−1), and yield (86.3%); however, at the maximum solid concentration (28%), both yield and productivity decreased. At the highest solid concentration, a decrease of 33% in the cellulolytic enzyme dosage was observed (compared to reference enzyme loadings). The co-application of the two enzyme complexes had a positive effect on PS conversion efficiency. When a preliminary scale-up strategy was implemented from 50 mL to 2.5 L at 22% solids concentration, similar results were obtained despite the initial mixing difficulties of the heterogeneous system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microsatellites, also known as SSRs or STRs, are polymorphic DNA regions with tandem repetitions of a nucleotide motif of size 1-6 base pairs with a broad range of applications in many fields, such as comparative genomics, molecular biology, and forensics. However, the majority of researchers do not have computational training and struggle while running command-line tools or very limited web tools for their SSR research, spending a considerable amount of time learning how to execute the software and conducting the post-processing data tabulation in other tools or manually--time that could be used directly in data analysis. We present EasySSR, a user-friendly web tool with command-line full functionality, designed for practical use in batch identifying and comparing SSRs in sequences, draft, or complete genomes, not requiring previous bioinformatic skills to run. EasySSR requires only a FASTA and an optional GENBANK file of one or more genomes to identify and compare STRs. The tool can automatically analyze and compare SSRs in whole genomes, convert GenBank to PTT files, identify perfect and imperfect SSRs and coding and non-coding regions, compare their frequencies, abundancy, motifs, flanking sequences, and iterations, producing many outputs ready for download such as PTT files, interactive charts, and Excel tables, giving the user the data ready for further analysis in minutes. EasySSR was implemented as a web application, which can be executed from any browser and is available for free at https://computationalbiology.ufpa.br/easyssr/. Tutorials, usage notes, and download links to the source code can be found at https://github.com/engbiopct/EasySSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Using a digital process that leverages electronic health records (EHRs) can ease many of the challenges presented by the traditional enrollment process for clinical trials. We tested if automated batch enrollment using a technology-enabled subject recruitment system (TESRS) enhances recruitment while preserving representation of research subjects for the study population in our study setting. Methods: An ongoing community-based prospective adult cohort study was used to randomize 600 subjects who were eligible by age and residential address to TESRS (n = 300) and standard mailing method (n = 300), respectively, for 3 months. Then, TESRS was initiated and included automatic identification of patients' preference for being contacted (online patient portal vs postal mail) from EHRs and automatic sending out of invitation letters followed by completion of a short online survey for checking eligibility and the digital consent process if eligible. We compared (1) median time to consent from invitation sent out per subject and total subjects recruited after a 3-month recruitment period, (2) the estimated study staff's time, and (3) representation of sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex, race, SES measured by HOUSES index, and rural residence) between subjects recruited via TESRS and those via traditional mailing methods. Results: Median age of randomized subjects (n = 600) was 63 years with 52.0% female and 89.2% non-Hispanic White. Over a 3-month period, results showed consent rate via TESRS was 13% (39/297) similar to 11% (31/295) via standard mailing. However, recruitment was significantly faster with the TESRS approach (median 7 vs 26 days) given the study staff's effort. Study staff's time saved by using TESRS compared to standard mailing approach was estimated at 40 min per subject (equivalent to 200 h for 300 subjects). No significant differences in characteristics of research subjects from the study population were found. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated the utility of TESRS as a subject recruitment digital technology which significantly enhanced the recruitment effort while reducing the study staff burden of recruitment while maintaining the consistency of characteristics of recruited subjects. The strategy and support for implementing and testing TESRS in other study settings should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, ruthenium-containing solution was obtained by using ruthenium acetate waste residue as raw material by alkali melting and water immersion in flux. Then the ruthenium solution was oxidized to RuO4 by oxidation distillation with sulfuric acid as medium. An appropriate amount of sodium hydroxide and tetrapropyl ammonium hydroxide were dissolved in an appropriate amount of water at low temperature, and then RuO4 gas was added to obtain green solid tetra-n-propylammonium perruthenate(VII), the yield of which was more than 99.76% based on ruthenium. The preparation method realizes the recycling of waste liquid, can greatly reduce the cost, easy to operate, high yield, and easy to achieve industrial mass production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new ruthenium (triphenylphosphine) dichloride was synthesized by using hydrated ruthenium trichloride and triphenylphosphine as raw materials under the protection of argon gas and methanol as solvent. The optimum batch preparation method was obtained by optimizing the molar ratio and reaction time of the synthetic material. The chemical structure of the synthetic material was characterized by elemental analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy. The synthesis method has the advantages of simple operation and high yield, and is suitable for mass production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: This study examined the relationships between 13 novel blood‐plasma biomarkers and dementia‐related demographic and health factors in a cohort of 237 cognitively normal research volunteers whose average age was ≈82 years and who were 63% female. METHODS: We regressed each biomarker on selected covariates to explore the associations between the biomarkers and selected factors to assess whether they may contribute to biomarker values. Post hoc sensitivity analyses were done with updated data and consistent variable sets for robustness and batch effects. RESULTS: Biomarker concentrations were largely not associated with demographics or health conditions, but some expected associations (e.g., apolipoprotein E [APOE] status with amyloid beta [Aβ]42/Aβ40) were observed. Post hoc results remained similar to those of the main analysis. DISCUSSION: The absence of strong associations between the biomarkers with age, gender, or medical conditions suggests that changes in these biomarkers, when observed, may be attributable to neuropathological changes. Highlights: Among N = 237 cognitively normal adults, we studied candidate Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) plasma biomarkers.Biomarkers were largely not associated with demographic or health factors.Apolipoprotein E (APOE) status was associated with amyloid beta (Aβ)42/Aβ40 ratio.These results support hypotheses that plasma biomarkers are informative for ADRD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under support of industry 4.0, researchers have shown an increased interest in MapReduce scheduling problems to process big data. However, very few studies investigate MapReduce scheduling problems under parallel batch machine environment, which is also common in practice. Motivated by this, we study a parallel batch machine scheduling problem in which all the jobs are belonging to MapReduce type. The objective of the considered problem is of minimizing the total weighted tardiness. For solving this problem, we first establish a mixed integer linear programming model, and then a rule-based genetic algorithm is developed to solve it. Numerical experiments are also conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An anionic surfactant, Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), was applied to remove Cd ions as contaminants on the sand surface. The remediation operation approach was used, such as batch, flushing column without foam, and with foam of SDS solution. Increasing the SDS concentration is possible to improve the removal ability of Cd ions from the sand surface. For batch, the operation performs the higher removal ability by increasing the shaking rotation per minute (rpm). Fluctuation of the percentage removal efficiency (% RE) was shown by using a flushing column without foam at each flow rate variation. The channeling effect during flushing in the column was proved to be the cause of fluctuation in the removal efficiency. Flushing with foam is possible to increase the removal efficiency from 10% by batch and flushing without foam to about 70% with foam. The increasing flow rate of surfactant SDS solution is possible to increase the removal efficiency and flow to the intra-particle area of sand and then decrease the channeling effect. Flushing in column approach with foam by anionic surfactant SDS shows the higher ability and more efficiency in the removal of Cd ions on the sand surface.

A reliable and environmental analytical method was developed for the direct determination of tetracycline using flow injection analysis (FIA) and batch procedures with spectrophotometric detection. The developed method is based on the reaction between a chromogenic reagent (vanadium (III) solution) and tetracycline at room temperature and in a neutral medium, resulting in the formation of an intense brown product that shows maximum absorption at 395 nm. The analytical conditions were improved by the application of experimental design. The proposed method was successfully used to analyze samples of commercial medications and verified throughout the concentration ranges of 25–250 and 3–25 µg/mL for both FIA and batch procedures, respectively. The limits for quantification and detection were 37 and 11 µg/mL for the FIA procedure, respectively, while were 5 and 1.5 µg/mL for the batch procedure, respectively. The commercial samples were also subjected to an HPLC analysis, and the outcomes were in high agreement with the developed method using suggested procedures. The proposed FIA and batch procedures can be immediately employed in the pharmaceutical sector for quality control of tetracycline during the production processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]