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An optical storage technique based on the characteristic absorption bands of J aggregates of organic dyes is reported. The information is written by disordering the regular structures of cyanine dye J aggregates with a laser beam. This technique gives high recording sensitivity, and the disordered dye molecules can be made to reform the J aggregate, which indicates that the recording process is reversible. The J aggregates of cyanine dyes were formed by incorporating them in Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films. The advantages of the narrow absorption bands of J aggregates and of the controlled multilayer forming capability of LB films were combined to demonstrate multiple wavelength optical recording using two recording layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the anammox process, maintaining a high anammox activity at low water temperatures for stable nitrogen removal is a challenge. In this study, to verify the adaptability of anammox to low water temperatures, we investigated effects of annual temperature fluctuations on nitrogen removal in a full-scale swine wastewater treatment plant, where anammox bacteria accumulated. Annual quarters were defined as L-1 (November-January), L-2 (February-April), H-1 (April-July), and H-2 (July-October). The total nitrogen removal rate was stable at 0.08-0.11 kg-N/m 3 /d, even during temperature fluctuations. Removal efficiencies of biochemical oxygen demand and total nitrogen were consistently high at 95-99% and 69-81%, respectively. The anammox activity and abundance of anammox bacteria were highest in granule L-1 and lowest in granule H-2. The optimal temperature for anammox activity shifted from 35 °C in granules H-1 and H-2 to 30 °C in granules L-1 and L-2, while the latter maintained a moderate activity compared to the former at low temperature. Candidatus Jettenia asiatica was predominant, especially in granule L-2, accounting for up to 54% of the microbial community composition at the genus level. The high specific anammox activity in granule L-2 was considered to be due to the abundance of anammox bacteria and the adaptation of Ca. Jettenia asiatica to low temperature. The anammox granules adapted well to low temperatures and demonstrated high efficiency in the simultaneous partial nitrification anammox and denitrification process without heating. Thus, constructing an energy-saving and cost-effective nitrogen removal system can be considered., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Spatially controlling the Fermi level of topological insulators and keeping their electronic states stable are indispensable processes to put this material into practical use for semiconductor spintronics devices. So far, however, such a method has not been established yet. Here we show a novel method for doping a hole into n-type topological insulators Bi 2 X 3 (X= Se, Te) that overcomes the shortcomings of the previous reported methods. The key of this doping is to adsorb H 2 O on Bi 2 X 3 decorated with a small amount of carbon, and its trigger is the irradiation of a photon with sufficient energy to excite the core electrons of the outermost layer atoms. This method allows controlling the doping amount by the irradiation time and acts as photolithography. Such a tunable doping makes it possible to design the electronic states at the nanometer scale and, thus, paves a promising avenue toward the realization of novel spintronics devices based on topological insulators.

A full-scale swine-wastewater activated sludge treatment plant that contains naturally enriched anammox biofilms was investigated for 2 years. Red biofilm in this system included Planctomycetes at a maximum of 62.5% of the total bacteria diversity, including Candidatus Jettenia and Candidatus Brocadia. The plant was operated with an influent containing 1,104 ± 513 mg/L biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and 629 ± 198 mg/L total nitrogen (TN) (BOD/N of 1.78 ± 0.58) at a volumetric BOD loading rate of 0.32 ± 0.12 kg/m 3 /d. Notwithstanding drastically varying influent concentrations, BOD removal efficiency was stable at 95 ± 4%. However, TN removal fluctuated at 75 ± 14%. Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in the aeration tank were 0.06-2.0 mg/L. DO concentration greatly affected nitrogen removal, e.g. when DO was lower than 0.3 mg/L, total inorganic nitrogen removal was 61 ± 14% (≤20 °C), 78 ± 16% (20-30 °C), and 75 ± 12% (≥30 °C), whereas at higher DO concentrations, removal rates were 47 ± 13%, 55 ± 16%, and 68%, respectively. As BOD concentration in the influent was limited compared to nitrogen concentration, nitrogen was likely removed by simultaneous nitrification, anammox, and denitrification (SNAD) under microaerobic conditions. Maintaining low DO concentrations would therefore be a simple method to improve nitrogen removal during SNAD processes for swine-wastewater treatment with fluctuating influent.

We investigated anammox with a focus on biofilm in 10 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) that use activated sludge treatment of swine wastewater. In three plants, we found red biofilms in aeration tanks or final sedimentation tanks. The biofilm had higher anammox 16S rRNA gene copy numbers (up to 1.35 × 10 12 copies/g-VSS) and higher anammox activity (up to 295 μmoL/g-ignition loss/h) than suspended solids in the same tank. Pyrosequencing analysis revealed that Planctomycetes accounted for up to 17.7% of total reads in the biofilm. Most of them were related to Candidatus Brocadia or Ca. Jettenia. The highest copy number and the highest proportion of Planctomycetes were comparable to those of enriched anammox sludge. Thus, swine WWTPs that use activated sludge treatment can fortuitously acquire anammox biofilm. Thus, concentrated anammox can be detected by focusing on red biofilm., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The year is quickly coming to an end and your schedule is wide open, plus the goals for practice productivity have not been achieved, which naturally means the collections are behind too. You know that all year long you have informed patients of the dentistry they need, the decay they have, the fractured teeth, the broken cusps, etc., and they still haven't gone forward with their care. You have asked the business team to call all of these patients and they say they have without much success.

Cardiac function was studied with Scintiview in 107 cases, 24 normal and 83 affected cases, and the following results were obtained. 1. Better data were obtained with converging collimeter than with parallel collimeter in cardiac study. (2) Red blood cells were sufficiently labeled with 99mTc using stannous chloride as reductant, and it was proven to be applicable to measurement of circulation blood volume. (3) Pulmonary circulation time and the systemic circulation time calculated from time activity curve, greater than 9.0 seconds and greater than 25 seconds, respectively, were considered abnormal prolongation. (4) Cardiac output index (cardiac output/circulation blood volume), less than 1.10 was considered decreased cardiac output. (5) Stroke volume index ((stroke volume/circulation blood volume)x 100, less than 1.70 was considered decreased stroke volume. (6) Ejection fraction, less than 60% was considered decreased left ventricular wall motion. (7) Cardiac function index (cardiac output index X ejection fraction), less than 80 was considered decreased cardiac performance.

A remarkable resemblance between the appearance of opacity in lysozyme--salt water mixtures and the development of opacity in cold cataract in the young rat lens is strong evidence that cold cataract is fundamentally a phase separation of the "protein-water binary mixture" in the lens.

We have determined the age dependence of the characteristics of the cytoplasmic phase separation of lenses from normal and galactosemic young rats. In the normal lens, the temperature at which the phase separation occurs decreases monotonically with age. In the lenses of rats fed with a high galactose diet, the phase separation temperature becomes increasingly higher with the development of galactosemia. When the phase separation temperature becomes higher than the ocular temperature, the nuclear opacity appears in vivo. The opacity is the result of light scattering by spatial fluctuations of the refractive index formed by interspersed regions of two separated phases in the fiber cell cytoplasm. This shows that the nuclear opacity that develops in the lens of galactosemic rats is the manifestation of phase separation of the lens fiber cytoplasm.

We report the in vivo observation of protein diffusivity in rabbit lenses with the use of laser light-scattering spectroscopy. Levels of laser light irradiation, which we estimate to correspond to a level less than that used in routine ophthalmoscopy, were adequate for observation. The in vivo measurements agreed with measurements on the same lens after excision from the animal. Since changes in protein diffusivity reflecting even very small degrees of protein aggregation can be observed by this method, it should make possible quantitative studies of incipient lens opacification.