High performance of membrane capacitive deionization with ZnS/g-C3N4 composite electrodes.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is considered a promising technology for desalination of sea or brackish water. In this study, a ZnS/g-C3N4 composite was synthesized through a one-step high-temperature method and used as the main material to fabricate CDI electrodes. The results of SEM and TEM showed that spherical-like nanoparticles of ZnS were uniformly distributed on the g-C3N4 sheet. The g-C3N4 phase facilitates the ZnS particles precipitate and restrain their agglomeration, which contributes to a high specific surface area of ZnS. Furthermore, the electrochemical test results indicated that ZnS/g-C3N4 composite had a good capacitance characteristic, low resistance, and high electrochemical stability. Finally, the desalinization performance of the ZnS/g-C3N4 composite electrodes was tested in traditional mode and membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) mode. The results showed that ZnS/g-C3N4//ZnS/g-C3N4 (MCDI) exhibited an optimal desalination capacity. The adsorption amount was 27.65, 50.26, and 65.34 mg/g for NaCl initial concentration of 200, 400, and 600 mg/L, respectively, with the voltage of 1.2 V and flow rate of 5 mL/min. Increasing initial concentration enhanced the conductivity and ion migration rate so as to increase the NaCl adsorption amount. ZnS/g-C3N4 composite can be used as potential electrode material for high performance of MCDI.

Flagellar Phenotypes Impact on Bacterial Transport and Deposition Behavior in Porous Media: Case of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium.

Bacterial contamination of groundwater has always been an ecological problem worthy of attention. In this study, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium with different flagellar phenotypes mainly characterized during host-pathogen interaction were analyzed for their transport and deposition behavior in porous media. Column transport experiments and a modified mobile-immobile model were applicated on different strains with flagellar motility (wild-type) or without motility (ΔmotAB), without flagella (ΔflgKL), methylated and unmethylated flagellin (ΔfliB), and different flagella phases (fliCON, fljBON). Results showed that flagella motility could promote bacterial transport and deposition due to their biological advantages of moving and attaching to surfaces. We also found that the presence of non-motile flagella improved bacterial adhesion according to a higher retention rate of the ΔmotAB strain compared to the ΔflgKL strain. This indicated that bacteria flagella and motility both had promoting effects on bacterial deposition in sandy porous media. Flagella phases influenced the bacterial movement; the fliCON strain went faster through the column than the fljBON strain. Moreover, flagella methylation was found to favor bacterial transport and deposition. Overall, flagellar modifications affect Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium transport and deposition behavior in different ways in environmental conditions.

Effects of Personality Characteristics of Different Genders and Quality of Life Analysis on Risk Factors for Suicide in Depressive Patients.

OBJECTIVE: The study was to explore the roles of personality characteristics of different genders and analyze the risk factors of quality of life (QOL) analysis in suicide among depressive patients. METHODS: One hundred and eighty-six depressive patients from January 2018 to March 2019 in the Department of Psychiatry of our hospital were enrolled and divided into Groups A and B considering whether they had a suicidal tendency or not. Among them, 90 in Group A had a suicidal tendency and consisted of 42 males and 48 females, while 96 in Group B had no suicidal tendency and consisted of 44 males and 52 females. Forward and backward selection and then backward selection were performed on all the variables of gender characteristic factors and QOL factors that may cause suicide, on which stepwise regression was finally conducted. Next, univariate logistic regression analysis was first performed to select important variables from the related risk factors that may cause suicide, and then, the multivariate logistic regression model was used to select important independent risk factors. Results and Conclusion. The age of onset, degree of anxiety, moral support, positive mental attitude, and family independence were the independent risk factors that may cause a suicidal tendency for male depressive patients. The age of onset, degree of anxiety, negative life events, moral support, positive mental attitude, family intimacy, psychoticism, and neuroticism were the independent risk factors for female depressive patients. Physiological function, role physical, bodily pain, social function, and emotional role in QOL may be the independent risk factors for a suicidal tendency.

Transport and retention of bacteria through a filtration system consisting of sands and geotextiles.

Water-saturated column experiments were conducted to study the effect of nonwoven geotextiles on bacteria transport and deposition through two sandy porous media with grain sizes 1.05 and 3.25 mm. The breakthrough curves (BTCs) of tracer for the all porous media exhibited an asymmetrical shape with a substantial tailing, indicating that non-equilibrium and dispersive flow patterns in these porous media. The mass recovery of the bacteria from the effluent (Meff) increased with grain size. The retention profiles (RPs) exhibited hyper-exponential behavior, especially in the finer sand. The presence of the geotextiles increased bacteria retention rate. For a given geotextile, greater retention was observed in the surrounding region close to the geotextile. Moreover, the retention of bacteria became more significant in the geotextile with a lower porosity. Results demonstrated that model simulations of bacteria transport and fate need to accurately account for both observed BTC and RP behaviors and also the geotextile placement can impact mechanisms of retention.

Bacteria transport and deposition in an unsaturated aggregated porous medium with dual porosity.

Bacterial transport and deposition play an important role in the assessment and prediction of subsurface pollution risks. Bacteria transport experiments were performed under unsaturated flow conditions in an aggregated porous medium at the laboratory column scale, to investigate how the inter- and intra-aggregated pore space of this medium could affect transport and deposition under unsaturated flow conditions, where inter- and intra-pore spaces are not fully activated. The results obtained through experimental observations and numerical simulations showed that some intra- and inter-pore space of this medium was excluded from bacteria transport and retention, as confirmed by the non-uniform transport of bacteria pathways in the aggregated porous media under unsaturated flow conditions. Capillary energy was higher the than other forces acting at bacteria air-water-solid interfaces. If this energy should contribute in increasing bacteria deposition under unsaturated conditions, similar to what has been reported for sandy media, similar overall retention of E. coli and R. rhodochrous was obtained under unsaturated flow conditions, suggesting that capillary energy was not the driving force for bacteria deposition.

DLVO, hydrophobic, capillary and hydrodynamic forces acting on bacteria at solid-air-water interfaces: Their relative impact on bacteria deposition mechanisms in unsaturated porous media.

Experimental and modeling studies were performed to investigate bacteria deposition behavior in unsaturated porous media. The coupled effect of different forces, acting on bacteria at solid-air-water interfaces and their relative importance on bacteria deposition mechanisms was explored by calculating Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) and non-DLVO interactions such as hydrophobic, capillary and hydrodynamic forces. Negatively charged non-motile bacteria and quartz sands were used in packed column experiments. The breakthrough curves and retention profiles of bacteria were simulated using the modified Mobile-IMmobile (MIM) model, to identify physico-chemical attachment or physical straining mechanisms involved in bacteria retention. These results indicated that both mechanisms might occur in both sand. However, the attachment was found to be a reversible process, because attachment coefficients were similar to those of detachment. DLVO calculations supported these results: the primary minimum did not exist, suggesting no permanent retention of bacteria to solid-water and air-water interfaces. Calculated hydrodynamic and resisting torques predicted that bacteria detachment in the secondary minimum might occur. The capillary potential energy was greater than DLVO, hydrophobic and hydrodynamic potential energies, suggesting that film straining by capillary forces might largely govern bacteria deposition under unsaturated conditions.

Bacteria cell properties and grain size impact on bacteria transport and deposition in porous media.

The simultaneous role of bacteria cell properties and porous media grain size on bacteria transport and deposition behavior was investigated in this study. Transport column experiments and numerical HYDRUS-1D simulations of three bacteria with different cell properties (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, and Rhodococcus rhodochrous) were carried out on two sandy media with different grain sizes, under saturated steady state flow conditions. Each bacterium was characterized by cell size and shape, cell motility, electrophoretic mobility, zeta potential, hydrophobicity and potential of interaction with the sand surface. Cell characteristics affected bacteria transport behavior in the fine sand, but similar bacteria breakthroughs and retardation factors observed in the coarse sand, indicated that bacteria transport was more depended on grain size than on bacteria cell properties. Retention decreased with increasing hydrophobicity and increased with increasing electrophoretic mobility of bacteria for both sand. The increasing sand grain size resulted in a decrease of bacteria retention, except for the motile E. coli, indicating that retention of this strain was more dependent on cell motility than on the sand grain size. Bacteria deposition coefficients obtained from numerical simulations of the retention profiles indicated that straining was an important mechanism affecting bacteria deposition of E. coli and Klebsiella sp., in the fine sand, but the attachment had the same importance as straining for R. rhodochrous. The results obtained in the coarse sand did not permit to discriminate the predominant mechanism of bacteria deposition and the relative implication of bacteria cell properties of this process.

Adsorption of neutral red and malachite green onto grapefruit peel in single and binary systems.

This study characterized the properties of NaOH-modified grapefruit peel (MGP) and investigated its adsorption properties, specifically the adsorption of the synthetic dyes neutral red (NR) and malachite green (MG) onto MGP, in single and binary systems by means of batch techniques. The adsorption equilibrium data of NR onto MGP fit well with both the Langmuir and Koble-Corrigan models, while the Koble-Corrigan and Dubinin-Radushkevich models seemed to agree better with MG adsorption. The maximum equilibrium quantities of NR and MG from the Langmuir model were 640.3 and 314.9 mg/g at 298 K, respectively. The Elovich model was a better fit with the kinetic process, which suggested that ion exchange was one of the main mechanisms at work. The thermodynamic parameters of adsorption systems indicated spontaneous and endothermic processes. In the binary system experiments, NR and MG exhibited competitive adsorption. The quantity of MG adsorbed was more strongly influenced by NR, due to the higher affinity of MGP for the latter.

Biological Synthesis of Size-Controlled Cadmium Sulfide Nanoparticles Using Immobilized Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

Size-controlled cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by immobilized Rhodobacter sphaeroides in the study. The dynamic process that Cd(2+) was transported from solution into cell by living R. sphaeroides was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Culture time, as an important physiological parameter for R. sphaeroides growth, could significantly control the size of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles. TEM demonstrated that the average sizes of spherical cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were 2.3 +/- 0.15, 6.8 +/- 0.22, and 36.8 +/- 0.25 nm at culture times of 36, 42, and 48 h, respectively. Also, the UV-vis and photoluminescence spectral analysis of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were performed.

Bioremediation of cadmium by growing Rhodobacter sphaeroides: kinetic characteristic and mechanism studies.

The removal kinetic characteristic and mechanism of cadmium by growing Rhodobacter sphaeroides were investigated. The removal data were fitted to the second-order equation, with a correlation coefficient, R2=0.9790-0.9916. Furthermore, it was found that the removal mechanism of cadmium was predominantly governed by bioprecipitation as cadmium sulfide with biosorption contributing to a minor extent. Also, the results revealed that the activities of cysteine desulfhydrase in strains grown in the presence of 10 and 20 mg/l of cadmium were higher than in the control, while the activities in the presence of 30 and 40 mg/l of cadmium were lower than in the control. Content analysis of subcellular fractionation showed that cadmium was mostly removed and transformed by precipitation on the cell wall.

Biological synthesis of semiconductor zinc sulfide nanoparticles by immobilized Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

A novel, clean biological transformation reaction by immobilized Rhodobacter sphaeroides has been developed for the synthesis of zinc sulfide (ZnS) nanoparticles with an average diameter of 8 nm. The nanoparticles were examined by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive analyses of X-rays, UV-vis optical absorption and photoluminescence spectra. The average diameter of ZnS nanoparticles varied according to the culture time.