•Comparative LCA is applied for decentralized greywater treatment systems.•Community scale greywater treatment with water reuse performs best.•Environmental benefits of greywater reuse are ...significant.•Amount of reused water and electricity technology shares affect scenario preference.
Decentralized source-separated wastewater treatment systems offer an attractive alternative to conventional centralized wastewater treatment systems in various regions, yet few system analyses specifically address decentralized greywater treatment over different scales. Here we present a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) and focus on global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication potential (EUP) and human health – carcinogenic potential (HHCP) of decentralized greywater management systems at different scales for a hypothetical community in a cold (winter) region. To provide a comparison between nature-based and engineered greywater treatment solutions, constructed wetlands (CW) and membrane bioreactors (MBR), respectively, were investigated at three different scales; community (3500 person equivalent PE), neighborhood (350 PE) and household (a single household up to 5 PE). Conventional centralized wastewater treatment was also included as a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. In the MBR scenarios, greywater reuse was also considered for multiple non-potable applications due to its high-quality effluent and subsurface garden irrigation was considered for reuse in the CW scenarios. For scenarios with the same treatment technology, larger scales reduced GWP, EUP and HHCP up to 57 kg CO2-eq.PE−1.y−1, 0.2 kg N-eq.PE−1.y−1 and 5.3E-6 CTUh.PE−1.y−1, respectively, despite the need for more extensive wastewater networks. The CW scenarios at community and neighborhood scales outperformed the MBR and BAU scenarios for greywater treatment, while the community-scale MBR scenario may be environmentally preferable when large amount of greywater can be reused. The scale of decentralized systems, quantity of water reused and mix of electricity technologies all played important roles in determining GWP, EUP and HHCP values.
Broflanilide (1), discovered by Mitsui Chemicals Agro, Inc., has a unique chemical structure characterized as a meta-diamide and exhibits high activity against various pests, including Lepidopteran, ...Coleopteran, and Thysanopteran pests. Because broflanilide has a novel mode of action, the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) categorized it as a member of a new group: Group 30. The meta-diamide structure was generated via drastic structural modification of a lead compound, flubendiamide (2), and the subsequent structural optimization of meta-diamides on each of its three benzene rings led to the discovery of broflanilide. In the present study, the details of the generation of meta-diamides from the lead compound and the structural optimization of meta-diamides are described.
In mid-September 2019, a teenage Chinese male student and part-time waiter in Tokyo was diagnosed with multidrug-resistant (MDR) sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). This study ...describes the outbreak investigation of his friends and colleagues at the restaurant. We investigated 6 friends and 15 colleagues; 5 friends and 13 colleagues underwent interferon-γ release assay (IGRA). Of these, 3 friends (60.0%) and 4 colleagues (30.8%) were IGRA-positive. Each of the friends and colleagues was found to have MDR-TB (20% and 7.7%, respectively). Challenges during the investigation were the unavailability of regimens for latent TB infection (LTBI) for contacts with MDR-TB, budgetary constraints concerning implementing computed tomography (CT) scans for the contacts, frequent address changes of foreign-born patients and contacts, investigation during the coronavirus disease pandemic, and variations of alphabetical expression of the names of the patients and contacts, particularly for those from China. It is recommended that the national government officially adopt prophylaxis regimens for LTBI with MDR-TB, address the budgetary constraints regarding CT scans, and deploy liaison officers for coordinating investigations involving many foreign-born patients and contacts scattered in multiple municipalities. The names of foreign-born persons could more accurately be identified using both the alphabet and Chinese characters.
We report a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior of binary systems consisting of poly(benzyl methacrylate) (PBnMA) and solvate ionic liquids: equimolar mixtures of triglyme (G3) or ...tetraglyme (G4) and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide. We evaluated the critical temperatures (T cs) using transmittance measurements. The stability of the glyme–Li+ complex (Li(G3 or G4)+) in the presence of PBnMA was confirmed using Raman spectroscopy, pulsed-field gradient spin–echo NMR (PGSE-NMR), and thermogravimetric analysis to demonstrate that the complex was not disrupted. The interaction between glyme–Li+ complex and PBnMA was investigated via 7Li NMR chemical shifts. Upfield shifts originating from the ring-current effect of the aromatic ring within PBnMA were observed with the addition of PBnMA, indicating localization of the glyme–Li+ complex above and below the benzyl group of PBnMA, which may be a reason for negative mixing entropy, a key requirement of the LCST.
We report a new approach for investigating polymer structures in solution systems, including polymer–solvent interactions at the molecular level. The solvation structure of poly(benzyl methacrylate) ...(PBnMA) in an imidazolium-based ionic liquid (IL) has been investigated at the molecular level using high-energy X-ray total scattering (HEXTS) with the aid of all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The X-ray radial distribution functions derived from both experimental HEXTS and theoretical MD (G exp(r) and G MD(r), respectively) were in good agreement in the present PBnMA/IL system. The G(r) functions were successfully separated into two components for the inter- and intramolecular contributions. Here, the former corresponds to polymer solvation (or polymer–solvent interactions) and the latter to polymer structure, such as conformation and interactions between side chains (benzyl groups) in PBnMA. The intermolecular G MD inter(r) revealed that the side chains are preferentially solvated by imidazolium cations rather than anions. On the other hand, the intramolecular G MD intra(r) suggested that PBnMA is also stabilized by interactions among the aromatic side chains (π–π stacking). Thus, polymer (benzyl group)–cation interactions and benzyl group stacking within a PBnMA chain coexist in the PBnMA/IL system to give a more ordered solution structure. This behavior might be ascribed to negative mixing entropy in the solution state, which is key to the lower critical solution temperature (LCST)-type phase behavior in the PBnMA/IL solutions.
In mid-September 2019, a teenage Chinese male student and part time waiter in Tokyo was diagnosed with multidrug-resistant (MDR) sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). This study ...describes the outbreak investigation of his friends and colleagues at the restaurant. We investigated six friends and 15 colleagues, of whom five friends and 13 colleagues underwent interferon-ã release assay (IGRA). Of these, three friends (60.0%) and four colleagues (30.8%) were IGRA-positive. Each one of the friends and colleagues was found to have MDR-TB (20% and 7.7%, respectively). Challenges during the investigation were the unavailability of regimens for latent TB infection (LTBI) for contacts with MDR-TB, budgetary constraints concerning implementing computed tomography (CT) scans for the contacts, frequent address changes of foreign-born patients and contacts, investigation during the coronavirus disease pandemic, and variations of alphabetical expression of the names of the patients and contacts, particularly for those from China. It is recommended that the national government officially adopt prophylaxis regimens for LTBI with MDR-TB, address the budgetary constraints regarding CT-scans, and deploy liaison officer(s) for coordinating investigations involving many foreign-born patients and contacts scattered in multiple municipalities. The names of foreign-born persons could more accurately be identified using both the alphabet and Chinese characters.
We report the solvation structure of a lower critical solution temperature (LCST)-type thermoresponsive polymer in a solvate ionic liquid (SIL, i.e., an ionic liquid comprising solvate ions) to ...elucidate the predominant interaction for the dissolution of the thermoresponsive polymer in SIL at low temperatures. The solvation structure of poly(benzyl methacrylate) (PBnMA) and a model compound of its monomer in a typical glyme-based SIL, Li(G4)TFSA (G4: tetraglyme; TFSA: bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide), have been investigated using high-energy X-ray total scattering and all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. In the model compound/SIL system, the intermolecular components extracted from the total G(r)s revealed that the ester moiety of BnMA is preferentially solvated by Li cations through a cation–dipole interaction, which induces slight desolvation of the G4 molecules, and the aromatic ring of BnMA is secondarily solvated by the Li(G4) cation complex through a cation−π interaction with maintaining the complex structure. In contrast, TFSA anions are attracted only by the Li(G4) cation. These interactions result in the formation of a solvation layer of SILs around the aromatic ring, which plays a key role in the negative entropy and enthalpy of mixing. Meanwhile, in the polymer solution, the coordination number of the Li cation around the ester moiety significantly decreased. This could be ascribed to the steric effect of the bulky side chains, preventing the approach of the Li(G4) cation complex to the ester moiety located near the main chain. These solvation structures lead to small absolute values of negative entropy and enthalpy of mixing, which together are key factors to understand the LCST-type phase behavior in the IL system.
Instead of the reported photoinduced lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase transition behavior in ionic liquids (ILs) achieved by photofunctional polymers, this study reports the facile ...photoinduced LCST phase behavior of nonfunctionalized polymers (poly(benzyl methacrylate) (PBnMA) and poly(2‐phenylethyl methacrylate) (PPhEtMA)) in mixed ILs (1,3‐dimethylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide; C1mimNTf2 and a newly designed functionalized IL containing an azobenzene moiety (1‐butyl‐3‐(4‐phenylazobenzyl)imidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide; AzoNTf2)) as a small‐molecular photo trigger. Interestingly, the length of the alkyl spacer between the ester and aryl groups, which is the only structural difference between the two polymers, leads to two different photoresponsive LCST phase transition behaviors. On the basis of spectroscopic studies, the different phase transition behaviors of PBnMA and PPhEtMA may attribute to the different cooperative interactions between the polymers and C1mimNTf2.
A photoresponsive ionic liquid (AzoNTf2) is synthesized and successfully used as a small‐molecular trigger to control the photoinduced phase transition behavior of thermoresponsive polymers in ionic liquids. Poly(2‐phenylethyl methacrylate)‐based mixtures rich in cis‐AzoNTf2 show lower clouding temperatures than those rich in trans‐AzoNTf2, while poly(2‐benzyl methacrylate) exhibits opposite trends.
The South Fossa Magna region, central Japan, has been an active collision zone between the Honshu Arc and the Izu-Bonin Arc since the middle Miocene and provides an excellent setting for ...reconstructing the earliest stages of continent formation. Multi-system geo-thermochronometry was applied to different domains of the South Fossa Magna region, together with some previously published data, to reveal mountain formation processes, i.e., vertical crustal movements. Nine granitic samples yielded zircon U–Pb ages of 10.2–5.8 Ma (n = 2), apatite (U–Th)/He (AHe) ages of 42.8–2.6 Ma (n = 7), and apatite fission-track (AFT) ages of 44.1–3.0 Ma (n = 9). Thermal history inversion modeling based on the AHe and AFT data suggests rapid cooling events confined within the study region at ~6–2 Ma. The Kanto Mountains may have undergone a domal uplift in association with their collision with the Tanzawa Block at ~5 Ma. However, this uplift may have slowed down following the southward migration of the plate boundary and late Pliocene termination of the Tanzawa collision against Honshu Island. The Minobu Mountains and adjacent mountains may have been uplifted when motion of the Philippine Sea plate changed from northward to northwestward at ~3 Ma. Therefore, mountain formation in the South Fossa Magna region was mainly controlled by collisions of the Tanzawa and Izu Blocks and motional change of the Philippine Sea plate. Earlier collisions of the Kushigatayama Block at ~13 Ma and Misaka Block at ~10 Ma appear to have had little effect on mountain formation. Together with a clockwise rotation of the Kanto Mountains at 12–6 Ma, these observations suggest that horizontal deformation predominated during the earlier stage of arc-arc collision, and vertical movements due to buoyancy of the accreted crust resulting from crustal shortening and thickening developed at a later stage.
•Low-temperature thermochronology in an active arc-arc collision zone•Rapid cooling/exhumation events coeval with collision event and plate motion change•Mountain formation controlled by collision events and plate motions
Small angle neutron scattering has been used to probe the self-assembled structures formed by novel block copolymers in water and two protic ionic liquids (ILs), ethylammonium nitrate (EAN) and ...propylammonium nitrate (PAN). The block copolymers consist of solvophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) tethered to either poly(ethyl glycidyl ether) (PEGE) or poly(glycidyl propyl ether) (PGPrE) solvophobic blocks. Four block copolymers (EGE109EO54, EGE113EO115, EGE104EO178, and GPrE98EO260) have been investigated between 10 and 100 °C, showing how aggregate structure changes with increasing the EO block length, by changing the insoluble block from EGE to the more bulky, hydrophobic GPrE block, and with temperature. EO solubility mainly depends on the hydrogen bond network density, and decreases in the order H2O, EAN, and then PAN. The solubility of the EGE and GPrE blocks decreases in the order PAN, EAN then water because the large apolar domain of PAN increase the solubility of the solvophobic blocks more effectively than the smaller apolar domains in EAN, and water, which is entirely hydrophilic; GPrE is less soluble than EGE because its larger size hinders solubilization in the IL apolar domains. Large disk-shaped structures were present for EGE109EO54 in all three solvents because short EO chains favor flat structures, while GPrE98EO260 formed spherical structures because long EO chains lead to curved aggregates. The aggregate structures of EGE113EO115 and EGE104EO178, which have intermediate EO chain lengths, varied depending on the solvent and the temperature. Solubilities also explain trends in critical micelle concentrations (cmc) and temperatures (cmt).
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