The economic and environmental impacts of shared collection service systems for retired electric vehicle batteries.

One of the impending consequences of the rapid penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) is that a substantial amount of expired EV batteries will present an increasing waste collection and management problem, particularly in the urban context. Motivated by a lack of research on this issue, this paper comprehensively evaluates the relative benefits of shared versus non-shared collection systems, where the service outlets are not exclusive to specified automakers. Using a mixed-integer optimization model, the analysis features spatiotemporal and multiple stakeholder complexities. Based on the historical monthly EV sales data from 2016 to 2021, a representative case study of Beijing, China is conducted, including 16 district centers, 32 major automobile manufacturers, 153 collection service outlets and 4 disposal centers. The results show that a shared collection service system leads to higher profitability, higher collection rates, increased environmental benefits and improved facility utilization. Consequently, this research contributes to supply chain liberalization to foster the efficient waste management of EV batteries. With a further model extension, it can also provide decision support for the policy-making of more countries.

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Phthalate Esters in Tea Plants Growing Different Geographical Environments and an Attempt on Their Risk Assessment.

The phthalate esters (PAEs) have become ubiquitous pollutants. In the present work, we investigated their pollution on teas. Dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), and di-(2-ethyl) hexyl phthalate (DEHP) were detected in all fresh tea leaves with DBP being the major congener of PAEs in teas followed by DiBP and DEHP. Seasonal variation, spatial distribution difference, correlationship of environmental factors, and potential health risks of PAEs were analyzed. The PAEs content in one bud and two leaves was lower than that in upper mature leaves in tea plants. The PAEs content in fresh tea leaves was the lowest in spring, while it was high in autumn and winter. The correlation analysis results showed that PAEs had significantly negative correlation with ambient air temperature, while it was positively correlated with the air quality index. PAEs analysis of spring tea in Anhui and Zhejiang provinces further indicated that the factor of provincial regions had little impact on the PAEs pollution level in tea. By contrast, the different environmental areas significantly affected PAE pollution, especially the agricultural areas. The human daily intake-based (13 g/day) risk assessment indicated that both the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks (1.76 × 10-7-6.12 × 10-7) of PAEs via tea consumption were acceptable, with the estrogen equivalence (1.60-6.29 ng E2/kg) being at a medium level. This study provides significant information for pollution control and risk assessment of PAEs in Chinese tea production.

An efficient and cost-effective method for the purification of human basophils.

Human basophils are terminally differentiated granulocytes that are least abundant in the peripheral blood but play important roles in allergic diseases. Studies on human basophils are limited by the high cost on the isolation of human basophils by magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) for negative depletion of non-basophils, followed by CD123-based positive selection of basophils. Moreover, such CD123-based purification of basophils may be limited by blocking of the binding of IL-3/anti-CD123 to the surface CD123. Here we identified SSClow CD4- CD127- HLA-DR- CRTH2high as unique markers for the identification of human basophils through stringent flow cytometric analysis of leukocytes from buffy coat. We established an efficient and cost-effective method for isolating human basophils from buffy coat based on positive magnetic selection of CRTH2+ cells followed by flow cytometric sorting of SSClow CD4- CD127- HLA-DR- CRTH2high cells. Approximately 1 to 1.5 million basophils were isolated from one buffy coat with a purity of >97%. Basophils purified by this method were viable and efficiently responded to key regulators of basophils including IL-3 and anti-IgE. This method can be used for purifying human basophils for subsequent functional studies.

Visible paper chip immunoassay for rapid determination of bacteria in water distribution system.

Paper chips for immunoassay were patterned by screen printing of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or wax pencil drawing. The methods for paper chip patterning are cheap, convenient, rapid and suitable for most laboratories. The whole time for patterning a paper chip is no more than 10 min. Visible immunoassay for the detection of bacteria (Escherichia coli ) has been realized using the paper chip, on which the antibody for capturing E. Coli was immobilized on the detection zones of the paper chip, while the detection antibody was labeled with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as a signal reporter. After an immunological reaction, the AuNPs bound on the paper chip can effectively catalyse the reduction of silver ions during the silver enhancing step, generating a visible result that can be read by naked eyes. The quantitative results can be acquired by scanning the silver stained paper chip with a commercial scanner/or digital camera. The density of E. coli in water samples can be measured after calibrating the gray value of silver stained spots with the logarithmic number of bacteria. The time and reagents consumed on the paper chip immunoassay is much smaller than those of conventional ELISA, while the sensitivity of the paper chip immunoassay is comparable to conventional ELISA. The technology proposed in this work displays a great potential in the in-situ analysis when daily monitoring of water quality are required.