Abstract
This article examines the reporting by China’s most important newspaper,
People’s Daily
, on the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The 1999 intervention was significant in China, as its ...embassy in Belgrade was bombed. The author looks at the newspaper’s bombardment-related reports of and commentaries on Yugoslavia, NATO, Russia, and China, as well as other countries, and its reporting on the embassy bombing itself. The author shows that there was clear sympathy for Yugoslavia and “the Yugoslav people”, a term used synonymously with Serbs. The 1999 conflict was portrayed as a struggle between
good
(peace and independence) and
evil
(hegemonism and power politics). Contrary to most Western societies, the image of Yugoslavia/Serbia in China was largely positive. This image informed the build-up of a narrative of a shared victimhood between China and Yugoslavia/Serbia, which has remained a topos in their bilateral relations until today.
Soybean straw was pretreated with either liquid hot water (LHW) (170–210
°C for 3–10
min) or alkaline soaking (4–40
g NaOH/100
g dry straw) at room temperature to evaluate the effects on cellulose ...digestibility. Nearly 100% cellulose was recovered in pretreated solids for both pretreatment methods. For LHW pretreatment, xylan dissolution from the raw material increased with pretreatment temperature and time. Cellulose digestibility was correlated with xylan dissolution. A maximal glucose yield of 70.76%, corresponding to 80% xylan removal, was obtained with soybean straw pretreated at 210
°C for 10
min. NaOH soaking at ambient conditions removed xylan up to 46.37% and the subsequent glucose yield of pretreated solids reached up to 64.55%. Our results indicated LHW pretreatment was more effective than NaOH soaking for improving cellulose digestibility of soybean straw.
Adsorption cooling is getting huge attention from last few years due to environment-friendly and thermally-driven technology. Many systems designs based on various adsorbent-adsorbate pairs are ...investigated worldwide to develop a cost-effective and high-performance system. Until now, performance of the systems is lower as compared to conventional compressor-based systems. Performance of the adsorption systems mainly depends on adsorption equilibrium, adsorption kinetics, isosteric heat of adsorption, and thermo-physical/chemical properties of assorted adsorbent-refrigerant pairs. Thereby, the present study aims to review and compare the physical properties (surface area, pore volume/size etc.) of adsorbents and adsorption equilibrium (adsorption isotherm) by various types of adsorbent-adsorbate pairs available in the literature. Amount of adsorbate adsorbed per unit mass of adsorbent has been critically reviewed and compared accordingly. Highest adsorption uptake was attributed in case of R-32 adsorption onto phenol resin-based activated carbon i.e. 2.23 kg/kg (excess adsorption) and 2.34 kg/kg (absolute adsorption) at 30 °C and 1670 kPa. Activated carbon of type Maxsorb-III being highly microporous possesses high surface area and shows good adsorption uptakes for most of the adsorbates including ethanol, methanol R-134a, CO2, R-507A and n-butane. In addition, fundamentals, principle and features of adsorption cooling systems are discussed. Adsorption equilibrium models used to express the adsorption mechanics of adsorbent-adsorbate pairs are explored, and the models’ parameters are collectively listed and discussed. The review is useful to prioritize available adsorbent-adsorbate pairs for adsorption based heat transformation applications. The study is useful for researchers working for the development of adsorbent materials for various applications and conditions.
•Physical/porous properties of adsorbent-adsorbate pairs are reviewed and compared.•Adsorption equilibrium data is compared & isotherm models are discussed accordingly.•General review is made on adsorbent suitability for adsorption cooling application.•Top adsorption capacity adsorbents are explored for heat transformation application.
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•A new strain of algae was isolated from fresh water.•This novel strain was identified as Desmodesmus sp. by 18s rRNA and ITS1 analysis.•This strain could grow in anaerobic digestion ...wastewater (ADW).•Maximum nutrients removal was observed at 10.0% ADW.•This strain could remove 100% NH4–N, TP and PO4–P, and 75.50% TN at 10.0% ADW.
Anaerobic digestion wastewater (ADW), which contains large amount of nitrogen and phosphorus, particularly high concentration of ammonium, might lead to severely environmental pollution. A new unicellular green microalgae species from a wetland at the Olympic Forest Park, Beijing, China was screened based on its growth rates and nutrients removal capability under ADW. Results of 18s rDNA and ITS1 analysis indicated that this strain have a close relationship with Desmodesmus sp., named as EJ9-6. Desmodesmus sp. EJ9-6 could remove 100% NH4–N (68.691mg/L), TP (4.565mg/L) and PO4–P (4.053mg/L), and 75.50% TN (84.236mg/L) at 10.0% ADW, which the highest biomass production was 0.412g/L after 14d cultivation. Maximum nutrients removal was observed at 10.0% ADW with daily removal rates of TN, NH4–N, TP and PO4–P at 4.542, 5.284, 0.326 and 0.290mg/L/d, respectively.
Abstract
Taxonomic and functional research of microorganisms has increasingly relied upon genome-based data and methods. As the depository of the Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (GCM) 10K ...prokaryotic type strain sequencing project, Global Catalogue of Type Strain (gcType) has published 1049 type strain genomes sequenced by the GCM 10K project which are preserved in global culture collections with a valid published status. Additionally, the information provided through gcType includes >12 000 publicly available type strain genome sequences from GenBank incorporated using quality control criteria and standard data annotation pipelines to form a high-quality reference database. This database integrates type strain sequences with their phenotypic information to facilitate phenotypic and genotypic analyses. Multiple formats of cross-genome searches and interactive interfaces have allowed extensive exploration of the database's resources. In this study, we describe web-based data analysis pipelines for genomic analyses and genome-based taxonomy, which could serve as a one-stop platform for the identification of prokaryotic species. The number of type strain genomes that are published will continue to increase as the GCM 10K project increases its collaboration with culture collections worldwide. Data of this project is shared with the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration. Access to gcType is free at http://gctype.wdcm.org/.
Mice are widely used as experimental models for gut microbiome (GM) studies, yet the majority of mouse GM members remain uncharacterized. Here, we report the construction of a mouse gut microbial ...biobank (mGMB) that contains 126 species, represented by 244 strains that have been deposited in the China General Microorganism Culture Collection. We sequence and phenotypically characterize 77 potential new species and propose their nomenclatures. The mGMB includes 22 and 17 species that are significantly enriched in ob/ob and wild-type C57BL/6J mouse cecal samples, respectively. The genomes of the 126 species in the mGMB cover 52% of the metagenomic nonredundant gene catalog (sequence identity ≥ 60%) and represent 93-95% of the KEGG-Orthology-annotated functions of the sampled mouse GMs. The microbial and genome data assembled in the mGMB enlarges the taxonomic characterization of mouse GMs and represents a useful resource for studies of host-microbe interactions and of GM functions associated with host health and diseases.
Direct combustion of solid biomass fuel is one of the most common energy sources in developing countries. Evaluation of technology for household biomass pellet fuel combustion is critical, since ...promoting poorly designed devices may have risks due to exposure to high levels of emissions. This study evaluated the effects of various testing conditions on a top-lit forced-up-draft semi-gasifier cooking stove. An orthogonal test was designed with different fuel masses, chamber heights, air supply rates, and ending points. The investigation showed that using forced secondary air and more fuel tended to improve both thermal and gas emissions performance. The ending points did not have significant effects on thermal efficiency or the carbon dioxide emission factor, but did affect particulate matter emission. A relatively lower chamber height demonstrated better performance on thermal metrics. However, a taller flame had better performance on particulate matter emission factors. The results of the indicators reported by different bases, such as fuel mass-based or useful energy-based were also quite different. The study showed that different testing conditions had significant effects on combustion performances. Testing sequences and emission factors should be reviewed and defined clearly when forming testing methods and standards for biomass pellet fuel combustion.
Developing a green and sustainable method to upgrade biogas wastes into high value-added products is attracting more and more public attention. The application of solid residues as a performance ...enhancer in the manufacture of biofilms is a prospective way to replace conventional plastic based on fossil fuel. In this work, solid digestates from the anaerobic digestion of agricultural wastes, such as straw, cattle and chicken manures, were pretreated by an ultrasonic thermo-alkaline treatment to remove the nonfunctional compositions and then incorporated in plasticized starch paste to prepare mulching biofilms by the solution casting method. The results indicated that solid digestate particles dispersed homogenously in the starch matrix and gradually aggregated under the action of a hydrogen bond, leading to a transformation of the composites to a high crystalline structure. Consequently, the composite biofilm showed a higher tensile strength, elastic modulus, glass transition temperature and degradation temperature compared to the pure starch-based film. The light, water and GHG (greenhouse gas) barrier properties of the biofilm were also reinforced by the addition of solid digestates, performing well in sustaining the soil quality and minimizing N
O or CH
emissions. As such, recycling solid digestates into a biodegradable plastic substitute not only creates a new business opportunity by producing high-performance biofilms but also reduces the environmental risk caused by biogas waste and plastics pollution.
Abstract
Background
In gut microbiome studies, the cultured gut microbial resource plays essential roles, such as helping to unravel gut microbial functions and host-microbe interactions. Although ...several major studies have been performed to elucidate the cultured human gut microbiota, up to 70% of the Unified Human Gastrointestinal Genome species have not been cultured to date. Large-scale gut microbial isolation and identification as well as availability to the public are imperative for gut microbial studies and further characterizing human gut microbial functions.
Results
In this study, we constructed a human Gut Microbial Biobank (hGMB; homepage:
hgmb.nmdc.cn
) through the cultivation of 10,558 isolates from 31 sample mixtures of 239 fresh fecal samples from healthy Chinese volunteers, and deposited 1170 strains representing 400 different species in culture collections of the International Depository Authority for long-term preservation and public access worldwide. Following the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, 102 new species were characterized and denominated, while 28 new genera and 3 new families were proposed. hGMB represented over 80% of the common and dominant human gut microbial genera and species characterized from global human gut 16S rRNA gene amplicon data (
n
= 11,647) and cultured 24 “most-wanted” and “medium priority” taxa proposed by the Human Microbiome Project. We in total sequenced 115 genomes representing 102 novel taxa and 13 previously known species. Further in silico analysis revealed that the newly sequenced hGMB genomes represented 22 previously uncultured species in the Unified Human Gastrointestinal Genome (UHGG) and contributed 24 representatives of potentially “dark taxa” that had not been discovered by UHGG. The nonredundant gene catalogs generated from the hGMB genomes covered over 50% of the functionally known genes (KEGG orthologs) in the largest global human gut gene catalogs and approximately 10% of the “most wanted” functionally unknown proteins in the FUnkFams database.
Conclusions
A publicly accessible human Gut Microbial Biobank (hGMB) was established that contained 1170 strains and represents 400 human gut microbial species. hGMB expands the gut microbial resources and genomic repository by adding 102 novel species, 28 new genera, 3 new families, and 115 new genomes of human gut microbes.
This article summarizes the recent progress of nutrient removal from wastewater via microalgae. Removal of nitrogen and phosphorous compounds from wastewater are of great importance, while those ...compounds are suitable for growth of some microalgae species. Such a combination provides more opportunities for anaerobic digestion facilities, which are producing large amount of wastewater with high nitrogen and phosphorous contents. However, in order to optimize and maximize the performance and durability of the nutrient removal process, it is suggested that the basic principles about nitrogen and phosphorous migration should be investigated thoroughly, especially from the fundamentals of substance transfer mechanism between water environment and algal cells.
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