Abstract The High Energy Cosmic Radiation Detector (HERD) is an experiment designed for direct measurement of cosmic rays on the Chinese Space Station in 2027. Its goals include precise measurements ...of cosmic ray energy spectra, mass composition, electron/positron spectra, cosmic rays anisotropy, gamma ray astronomy and indirect searches for Dark Matter. HERD features a 55X 0 , homogeneous, 3D segmented imaging calorimeter and can detect particles from the top and four lateral sides, providing precise energy measurements and electron/proton separation for a wide field of view. A key detector in HERD is the Silicon Charge Detector (SCD). SCD measures the charge of particles before interaction with other materials, minimizing cosmic rays nuclei fragmentation and reducing systematics on nuclei flux measurement. Thorough studies, TCAD and/or SPICE simulations, and accelerator tests on prototypes have been conducted to evaluate the tracking and charge resolution capabilities of the SCD. Further testing with 300 μm detectors is planned in the coming months to fully characterize the SCD's performance. This paper presents the results of the simulation studies and of the measured performance with particles.
Objective
For a long time, return to work (RTW) has been neglected in patients harboring a diffuse low-grade glioma (LGG). However, a majority of LGG patients worked at time of diagnosis. Moreover, ...these patients now live longer given current treatment paradigms, especially thanks to early maximal surgery.
Methods
We systematically searched available medical databases for studies that reported data on RTW in patients who underwent resection for LGG.
Results
A total of 30 studies were selected: 19 considered RTW (especially rate and timing) as an outcome and 11 used scales of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) which included work-related aspects. Series that considered RTW as a main endpoint were composed of 1014 patients, with postoperative RTW rates ranging from 31 to 97.1% (mean 73.1%). Timing to RTW ranged from 15 days to 22 months (mean 6.3 months). Factors related to an increased proportion of RTW were: younger age, better neurologic status, having a white-collar occupation, working pre-operatively, being the sole breadwinner, the use of awake surgery, and greater extent of resection. Female sex, older age, poor neurologic status, pre-operative history of work absences, slow lexical access speed, and postoperative seizures were negatively related to RTW. No studies that used HRQoL scales directly investigated RTW rate or timing.
Conclusions
RTW was scarcely analyzed in LGG patients who underwent resection. However, because they are usually young, with no or only mild functional deficits and have a longer life expectancy, postoperative RTW should be assessed more systematically and accurately as a main outcome. As majority (61.5–100%) of LGG patients were working at time of surgery, the responsibility of neurosurgeons is to bring these patients back to their previous activities according to his/her wishes. RTW might also be included as a critical endpoint for future prospective studies and randomized control trials on LGGs.
•Between 39% and 79% of WWTP energy requirements could be fulfilled by the biogas produced.•Payback period of a biogas CHP engine is <2years if energy price is ⩾216€kJ−1.•34% of the wastewater energy ...content is recovered into biogas.•Elemental composition is a good tool to estimate energy content of WWTP streams.
Nowadays, energy consumption is one of the major concerns of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Time ago, anaerobic digestion was usually implemented for sewage sludge stabilization but energy recovery optimization has recently gained importance. The energy balance of five WWTPs located in Catalonia revealed that depending on the configuration of the plant and its operation, between 39% and 76% of the total electric energy consumed in the WWTP could be supplied by the biogas produced. In the second part of this work, a carbon, nitrogen and sulphur flux analysis was carried out, together with an energy content evaluation for each stream in the WWTP. Results showed that 37% of the carbon found in the raw wastewater was removed during the active sludge process and 24% was transformed into biogas. The remaining carbon was found in the anaerobic dewatered sludge (22%) and in the treated water (19%). As a result, 34% of the initial energy was recovered in the form of biogas.
•Thermophilic sewage sludge co-digestion with glycerine showed great instability.•Glycerine addition (1% v/v) at mesophilic range showed 148% CH4 yield increase.•Glycerine addition promotes H2 and ...propionate specific activity of the biomass.•The use of glycerine as co-substrate worsens digestate dewaterability.
The effect of adding crude glycerine during continuous sewage sludge anaerobic digestion was investigated under thermophilic and mesophilic temperatures. Addition of CGY at thermophilic temperature range showed a negative impact on stability and performance of the process, even at low doses. The extreme pH values of CGY, together with the rapid release of VFA, causes SS alkalinity fail to control pH drop. On the contrary, at mesophilic temperature range the process performs steadily, with 148% increase in methane production when CGY represented 1% v/v of the influent (27% of influent COD). Further CGY percentages did not show any added improvement; the biomass shift, due to a high C/N ratio, could explain this behaviour. Results suggested that CGY can be used as co-substrate of SS anaerobic digestion though, depending on the characteristics of CGY, and on operational conditions, different parameters should be taken into account to achieve a steady and consistent operation.
We performed a theoretical investigation of the structural and electronic properties of (i) pristine and (ii) superlattice structures of borophene. In (i), by combining first-principles calculations, ...based on the density functional theory (DFT), and simulations of the X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) spectra we present a comprehensive picture connecting the atomic arrangement of borophene and the X-ray absorption spectra. Once we characterized the electronic properties of the pristine systems, we next examined the electronic confinement effects in 2D borophene superlattices (BSLs) (ii). Here, the BSL structures were made by attaching laterally two different structural phases of borophene. The energetic stability and the electronic properties of these BSLs were examined based on total energy DFT calculations. We find a highly anisotropic electronic structure, characterized by the electronic confinement effects, giving rise to "electronic stripes", and metallic channels ruled by the superlattices. Combining DFT and the Landauer-Büttiker formalism, we investigated the electronic transport properties in BSLs. Our results of the transmission probability reveal that the electronic transport is ruled by π or a combination of π and
σ
transmission channels, depending on the atomic arrangement and periodicity of the superlattices. Finally, we show that there is a huge magnification of the directional dependence of the electronic transport properties in BSLs, in comparison with the pristine borophene phase. These findings indicate that BSLs are quite interesting systems in order to design conductive nanoribbons on a 2D platform.
(Left) Localization of the electronic states near the Fermi level, and the electronic band structure projected on the S1 and S2 stripes. (Right) Transmission probabilites parallel (y) and perpendicular (x) to the S1/S2 borophene superlattice.
Palmitic acid (PA), a saturated fatty acid enriched in high-fat diet, has been implicated in the development of sarcopenic obesity. Herein, we chose two non-cytotoxic concentrations to better ...understand how excess PA could impact myotube formation or diameter without inducing cell death. Forty-eight hours of 100 µM PA induced a reduction of myotube diameter and increased the number of type I fibers, which was associated with increased miR-206 expression. Next, C2C12 myotube growth in the presence of PA was evaluated. Compared to control cells, 150 µM PA reduces myoblast proliferation and the expression of
and miR-206 and miR-133a expression, leading to a reduced number and diameter of myotubes. PA (100 µM), despite not affecting proliferation, impairs myotube formation by reducing the expression of Myf5 and miR-206 and decreasing protein synthesis. Interestingly, 100 and 150 µM PA-treated myotubes had a higher number of type II fibers than control cells. In conclusion, PA affects negatively myotube diameter, fusion, and metabolism, which may be related to myomiRs. By providing new insights into the mechanisms by which PA affects negatively skeletal muscle, our data may help in the discovery of new targets to treat sarcopenic obesity.
•Thermophilic anaerobic codigestion of sewage sludge and grease waste (GW) doubles methane yield.•High GW doses in the influent leads to instability and LCFA accumulation in the effluent.•GW addition ...promotes acetoclastic activity whilst worsening the hydrogenothrophic activity.•The mesophilic codigestion with GW performs better than the thermophilic one.
Thermophilic co-digestion of sewage sludge with three different doses of trapped grease waste (GW) from the pre-treatment of a WWTP has been assessed in a CSTR bench-scale reactor. After adding 12% and 27% of grease waste (on COD basis), the organic loading rate increased from 2.2 to 2.3 and 2.8kgCODm−3d−1 respectively, and the methane yield increased 1.2 and 2.2 times. Further GW increase (37% on COD basis) resulted in an unstable methane yield and in long chain fatty acids (LCFA) accumulation. Although this inestability, the presence of volatile fatty acids in the effluent was negligible, showing good adaptation to fats of the thermophilic biomass. Nevertheless, the presence of LCFA in the effluent worsens its dewatering properties. Specific methanogenic activity tests showed that the addition of grease waste ameliorates the acetoclastic activity in detriment of the hydrogenotrophic activity, and suggests that the tolerance to LCFA can be further enhanced by slowly increasing the addition of lipid-rich materials.
The higher heating value (HHV) is an important parameter to indicate the energetic potential of biomass from different sources. Bomb calorimeter is the standard to obtain this data; however, in the ...absence of this equipment, estimative through proximate analysis aided with multiple regression formulas is an acceptable alternative. Still, this is a time-consuming technique and highly dependable of operator skills. In this context, thermogravimetric analysis has been used to obtain proximate analysis results with higher precision and demanding a small amount of samples. Here, a simple and effective method to estimate HHV from data obtained by thermogravimetric analysis using different sources of biomass is presented. The proposed method showed to be more accurate to estimate HHV than proximate analysis laboratory procedure. Greater correlation was observed between the HHV values obtained from calorimeter–thermogravimetry than the ones obtained from calorimeter–proximate analysis. Multiple regression analysis indicated that fixed carbon and ashes have an inverse influence over HHV, while the former is responsible for high calorific value and the latter affects energy release. Finally, the proposed method showed to be fast and accurate to estimate HHV of biochar samples and should be easily adaptable to other studies that require fast assessment of calorific value from biochar.
► Trapped grease waste is a suitable co-substrate to sewage sludge anaerobic digestion. ► Co-digestion of SS and GW increases biogas production more than two times. ► Specific activity test are a ...good tool to understand biomass adaptation process. ► Acclimatization of biomass brought about by slowly increasing the grease waste dose. ► SS and GW co-digestion improves the overall WWTP management.
The feasibility of sewage sludge co-digestion using intermediate waste generated inside a wastewater treatment plant, i.e. trapped grease waste from the dissolved air flotation unit, has been assessed in a continuous stirred lab reactor operating at 35
°C with a hydraulic retention time of 20
days. Three different periods of co-digestion were carried out as the grease waste dose was increased. When the grease waste addition was 23% of the volatile solids fed (organic loading rate 3.0
kg
COD
m
−3
d
−1), an increase in methane yield of 138% was reported. Specific activity tests suggested that anaerobic biomass had adapted to the co-substrate. The adapted inoculum showed higher acetoclastic methanogenic and β-oxidation synthrophic acetogenic activities but lower hydrogenotrophic methanogenic activity. The results indicate that a slow increase in the grease waste dose could be a strategy that favours biomass acclimation to fat-rich co-substrate, increases long chain fatty acid degradation and reduces the latter’s inhibitory effect.
The development of electronic devices based on the functionalization of (nano)cellulose platforms relies upon an atomistic understanding of the structural and electronic properties of a combined ...system, cellulose/functional element. In this work, we present a theoretical study of the nanocellulose/graphene interfaces (nCL/G) based on first-principles calculations. We find that the binding energies of both hydrophobic/G (nCL
phob
/G) and hydrophilic/G (nCL
phil
/G) interfaces are primarily dictated by the van der Waals interactions, and are comparable with those of their 2D interface counterparts. We verify that the energetic preference of nCL
phob
/G has been reinforced by the inclusion of an aqueous medium
via
an implicit solvation model. Further structural characterization was carried out using a set of simulations of the carbon K-edge X-ray absorption spectra to identify and distinguish the key absorption features of the nCL
phob
/G and nCL
phil
/G interfaces. The electronic structure calculations reveal that the linear energy bands of graphene lie in the band gap of the nCL sheet, while depletion/accumulation charge density regions are observed. We show that external agents,
i.e.
, electric field and mechanical strain, allow for tunability of the Dirac cone and charge density at the interface. The control/maintenance of the Dirac cone states in nCL/G is an important feature for the development of electronic devices based on cellulosic platforms.
The development of electronic devices based on the functionalization of (nano)cellulose platforms relies upon an atomistic understanding of the structural and electronic properties of a combined system, cellulose/functional element.
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