Potential of Steinernema carpocapsae(Weiser) as a biological control agent against potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella(Zeller)(Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

The entomopathogenic nematode,Steinernema carpocapsae,was evaluated for control of the potato tuber moth,Phthorimaea operculella,under laboratory conditions.We evaluated different concentrations of S.carpocapsae for control of 2 nd,3 rd,and 4 th instar P.operculella.The median lethal concentration(LC50)of S.carpocapsae infective juveniles(IJs)to 2 nd,3 rd and 4 th instar larvae of P.operculella was 200,363,181 IJs mL–1,respectively.With the extension of treatment time,the cumulative mortality increased for 2 nd,3 rd,and 4 th instar larvae and pupae of P.operculella.Fourth instars were the most susceptible for all observation periods.Therefore,our results suggest that S.carpocapsae could be an effective biological control agent for P.operculella.

Treatment performance of integrated biological aerated filter by orthogonal experiments

Biological aerated filters have many advantages such as small volume and high treatment efficiency. This research focused on sewage treatment performance of integrated biological aerated filter (IBAF) under different conditions such as aeration, hydraulic retention time and the height of fillers layer, to identify the turn of marked affecting factor of removal performance through orthogonal experiments, optimize the function parameter of IBAF, reveal the regularity of sewage treatment of IBAF under different conditions, and adopt suitable measures to guarantee excess water quality of IBAF.

Characteristics of integrated biological aerated filter in municipal wastewater treatment

In this paper, the characteristics of integrated biological aerated filter (IBAF) applied to municipal wastewater treatment were studied in a pilot scale experiment. The experimental results showed that IBAF has high efficiencies in removing organic pollutants, such as CODCr and SS, in municipal wastewater. The removal rates of CODCr and SS can reach over 90% and 80%, respectively, when COD and SS in the influent are 234 mg L1 and 112 mg L1, hydraulic retention time (HRT) is 8 h, and the aerated intensity is in the range of (0.5 to 0.6) L m2 s1.

Purification and reclamation of wastewater by an integrated biological pond system

The feasibility of an inexpensive wastewater treatment system is evaluated in this study.The experiment was conducted in 3 phases with different treatment combinations for testing theirpurification efficiencies. The pond system was divided into 3 functional regions: influentpurification, efficient upgrading and multi-utilization. Various kinds of aquatic organisms, wereeffectively cooperated in this system. The system attained high reduction of BOD_5, COD, TSS, TN,TP and other pollutants. The mutagenic effect and number of bacteria and virus significantly de-clined during the process of purifieation. After the wastewater flowed through the upgrading zone,the concentrations of pollutants and algae evidently decreased. Plant harvesting did not yield drama-tic effects on reductions of the main pollutants, through it did affect remarkably the biomassproductivity of the macrophytes. The wastewater was reclaimed for various purposes.

High Optical Magnification Three-Dimensional Integral Imaging of Biological Micro-organism

A high optical magnification three-dimensional imaging system is proposed using an optic microscope whose ocular （eyepiece） is retained and the structure of the transmission mode is not destroyed. The elemental image array is captured through the micro lens array. Due to the front diffuse transmission element, each micro lens sees a slightly different spatial perspective of the scene, and a different independent image is formed in each micro lens channel. Each micro lens channel is imaged by a Fourier lens and captured by a CCD. The design translating the stage in x or y provides no parallax. Compared with the conventional integral imaging of micro-objects, the optical magnification of micro-objects in the proposed system can enhanced remarkably. The principle of the enhancement of the image depth is explained in detail and the experimental results are presented.

Impact of TI Programmes Intervention under National AIDS Control Programme among Female Sex Workers in India: Evidence from Integrated Biological and Behavioural Survey, 2014-15

Background: A better understanding of the impact of Targeted Interventions (TI) services on Female Sex Worker (FSW) behaviours can help in informing and strengthening future TI efforts under National AIDS Control Programme (NACP). Methods: National Integrated Biological and Behavioural Survey (IBBS) 2014-15 has been analysed in the paper. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to understand factors affecting condom use. Propensity score matching (PSM) was done to understand the impact of the TI services on condom use at the last act and consistent condom use in the last three months among FSWs. Results: Younger FSWs aged 15 - 25 years were 1.4 times (95% CI: 1.04 - 1.77) more likely to use consistent condoms in the last three months compared to older over 45 years after controlling for other socio-economic and programme variables. The matched samples estimate ATET i.e. the average treatment effect on treated for consistent condom use in the last three months shows that a 6.0% (CI: 4.7 - 7.3) increase in consistent condom use in the last three months in the FSWs who received information on STI/HIV from peer educator and outreach worker. There is also a 6.0% (4.7 - 7.2) increase in condom use in the last act for FSWs who received the referral services at STI clinics, HIV testing, and detox centres. Conclusions: It is evident that the TI programme has a positive impact on behavior change among FSWs which can prove beneficial to curtail the spread of HIV to the partners and onward transmission to the general population.

Coping with the environmental effects of point-source discharges

Current methods for assessing the environmental impact of point source discharges in the United States are reviewed. The emphasis of many assessments of damage from pollution is shifting from chemical or technological standards to biological standards, i.e., the protection of biological integrity in the receiving system. The importance of integrating information from chemical measurements, toxicity tests, and field surveys in impact assessment is re-emphasized. Ways in which environmental professionals can improve methods for assessing damage from pollution and its control are discussed.

Evaluating a river's ecological health: A multidimensional approach

Evaluating the health of river surface water is essential,as rivers support significant biological resources and serve as vital drinking water sources.While the Water Quality Index(WQI)is commonly employed to evaluate surface water quality,it fails to consider biodiversity and does not fully capture the ecological health of rivers.Here we show a comprehensive assessment of the ecological health of surface water in the lower Yangtze River(LYR),integrating chemical and biological metrics.According to traditional WQI metrics,the LYR's surface water generally meets China's Class II standards.However,it also contains 43 high-risk emerging contaminants;nitrobenzenes are found at the highest concentrations,representing 25e90%of total detections,while polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons present the most substantial environmental risks,accounting for 81e93%of the total risk quotient.Notably,the plankton-based index of biological integrity(P-IBI)rates the ecological health of the majority of LYR water samples(59.7%)as‘fair’,with significantly better health observed in autumn compared to other seasons(p<0.01).Our findings suggest that including emerging contaminants and P-IBI as additional metrics can enhance the traditional WQI analysis in evaluating surface water's ecological health.These results highlight the need for a multidimensional assessment approach and call for improvements to LYR's ecological health,focusing on emerging contaminants and biodiversity rather than solely on reducing conventional indicators.

Study on Integral Dissolution Model Based on Biological Potency for Compound Chinese Materia Medica

Objective To investigate the integral dissolution model based on biological potency in order to evaluate the dissolution of Compound Chinese materia medica（CCMM） in vitro. Methods The contents of paeoniflorin, phillyrin, ginsenoside Rg1, and adenosine of ten batches of Compound Biejia Ruangan Tablet（CBRT） were determined at different times. The self-defined weighting coefficient based on the contents has been created to establish the integral dissolution model. In addition, the biological potency of CBRT was measured by MTT assay. Then, the f2 similar factor was used to evaluate the similarity of the batches. Results Compared with batch a, some batches’ f2 values of paeoniflorin and adenosine were less than 50, while f2 values of ginsenoside Rg1, phillyrin, and integral component were more than 50. Likewise, ginsenoside Rg1, phillyrin, and integral component were all in good correlation with biological dissolution. Conclusion The results of the integral dissolution based on biological test of CBRT demonstrate that the bioassay method may be a promising supplement for its quality evaluation.

Bioinformatics Data Distribution and Integration via Web Services and XML

It is widely recognized that exchange, distribution, and integration of biological data are the keys to improve bioinformatics and genome biology in post-genomic era. However, the problem of exchanging and integrating biological data is not solved satisfactorily. The extensible Markup Language (XML) is rapidly spreading as an emerging standard for structuring documents to exchange and integrate data on the World Wide Web (WWW). Web service is the next generation of WWW and is founded upon the open standards of W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). This paper presents XML and Web Services technologies and their use for an appropriate solution to the problem of bioinformatics data exchange and integration .

An innovative integrated system utilizing solar energy as power for the treatment of decentralized wastewater

This article reports an innovative integrated system utilizing solar energy as power for decentralized wastewater treatment, which consists of an oxidation ditch with double channels and a photovoltaic （PV） system without a storage battery. Because the system operates without a storage battery, which can reduce the cost of the PV system, the solar radiation intensity affects the amount of power output from the PV system. To ensure that the power output is sufficient in all different weather conditions, the solar radiation intensity of 78 W/m 2 with 95% confidence interval was defined as a threshold of power output for the PV system according to the monitoring results in this study, and a step power output mode was used to utilize the solar energy as well as possible. The oxidation ditch driven by the PV system without storage battery ran during the day and stopped at night. Therefore, anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic conditions could periodically appear in the oxidation ditch, which was favorable to nitrogen and phosphate removal from the wastewater. The experimental results showed that the system was efficient, achieving average removal efficiencies of 88% COD, 98% NH 4 ＋ -N, 70% TN and 83% TP, under the loading rates of 140 mg COD/（g MLSS·day）, 32 mg NH 4 ＋ -N/（g MLSS·day）, 44 mg TN/（g MLSS·day） and 5 mg TP/（g MLSS·day）.

Continuous desulfurization and bacterial community structure of an integrated bioreactor developed to treat SO_2 from a gas stream

Sulfide dioxide（SO2） is often released during the combustion processes of fossil fuels. An integrated bioreactor with two sections, namely, a suspended zone（SZ） and immobilized zone（IZ）, was applied to treat SO2 for 6 months. Sampling ports were set in both sections to investigate the performance and microbial characteristics of the integrated bioreactor. SO2 was effectively removed by the synergistic effect of the SZ and IZ, and more than 85%removal efficiency was achieved at steady state. The average elimination capacity of SO2 in the bioreactor was 2.80 g/（m3·hr） for the SZ and 1.50 g/（m3· hr） for the IZ. Most SO2 was eliminated in the SZ. The liquid level of the SZ and the water content ratio of the packing material in the IZ affected SO2 removal efficiency. The SZ served a key function not only in SO2 elimination, but also in moisture maintenance for the IZ. The desired water content in IZ could be feasibly maintained without any additional pre-humidification facilities. Clone libraries of 16 S r DNA directly amplified from the DNA of each sample were constructed and sequenced to analyze the community composition and diversity in the individual zones.The desulfurization bacteria dominated both zones. Paenibacillus sp. was present in both zones, whereas Ralstonia sp. existed only in the SZ. The transfer of SO2 to the SZ involved dissolution in the nutrient solution and biodegradation by the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria.This work presents a potential biological treatment method for waste gases containing hydrophilic compounds.

Characteristics and removal mechanism of the precursors of N-chloro-2,2-dichloroacetamide in a drinking water treatment process at Taihu Lake

N-chloro-2,2-dichloroacetamide(N-Cl-DCAM)is an emerging nitrogenous disinfection by-product(N-DBP)which can occur in drinking water.In this study,an analytical method based on liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS)was developed to validate the concentration of N-Cl-DCAM,which was found to be 1.5µg/L in the effluent of a waterworks receiving raw water from Taihu Lake,China.The changes of N-Cl-DCAM formation potential(N-Cl-DCAMFP)in the drinking water treatment process and the removal efficiency of its precursors in each unit were evaluated.Non-polar organics accounted for the majority of N-Cl-DCAM precursors,accounting for 70%of the N-Cl-DCAM FP.The effect of conventional water treatment processes on the removal of N-Cl-DCAM precursors was found to be unsatisfactory due to their poor performance in the removal of low molecular weight(MW)or non-polar organics.In the ozonation integrated with biological activated carbon(O_(3)-BAC)process,the ozonation had little influence on the decrease of N-Cl-DCAM FP.The removal efficiency of precursors by a new BAC filter,in which the granular activated carbon(GAC)had only been used for four months was higher than that achieved by an old BAC filter in which the GAC had been used for two years.The different removal efficiencies of precursors were mainly due to the different adsorption capacities of GAC for individual precursors.Low MW or non-polar organics were predominantly removed by GAC,rather than biodegradation by microorganisms attached to GAC particles.