Essential (Mg,Fe, Zn and Cu) and Non-Essential (Cd and Pb) Elements in Predatory Insects (Vespa crabro and Vespa velutina): A Molecular Perspective

The recent introduction of the Asian yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, into Europe has raised concern regarding the threat to honeybees and the competition with the European hornet, Vespa crabro. The aim of this study was to investigated essential (Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu) and non-essential (Cd and Pb) elements in these two species. Element concentrations were determined in the whole body and separately in the head, thorax and abdomen using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The changes in essential element concentration and speciation during metamorphosis were also studied using size exclusion chromatography followed by AAS and proteomic analysis. In both species, the essential elements were more concentrated in the abdomen due to the presence of fat bodies. Magnesium, Fe and Zn concentrations were significantly higher in V. crabro than in V. velutina and could have been related to the higher aerobic energy demand of the former species required to sustain foraging flight. Low concentrations of Cd and Pb were indicative of low environmental exposure. The concentration and speciation of essential elements, particularly Fe, varied among the developmental stages, indicating a modification of ligand preferences during metamorphosis. Overall, the results in the present study provide a better understanding of the hornet metal metabolism and a foundation for additional studies.     

Effects on the crystallite growth behavior of LaPO4 nanopowders and its mechanical properties

The effects of pH of the reaction solution and the concentration of phosphoric acid on the crystal growth behavior of LaPO₄ crystallites were investigated and the mechanical properties of rare-earth phosphates were compared. As a result, the concentration of phosphoric acid of 10% was beneficial to the crystal growth of LaPO₄ nanocrystalline. When the pH value of the reaction solution was 2, the size of LaPO₄ crystallites increased gradually with the increasing reaction temperature, and the smallest crystallite size of 43.27 nm was obtained after heat-treatment at 1000 °C. Simultaneously, the activation energy for crystal growth of LaPO₄ nanocrystalline was relatively lower (26.82 kJ mol⁻¹). With the decreasing radii of rare-earth ions, the hardness, Young's modulus and fracture toughness of the bulk rare-earth phosphates exhibited a reduced tendency, resulted from the increase of porosity under the same preparation process.     

Extraction and characterization of hydroxyapatite-based materials from grey triggerfish skin and black scabbardfish bones

The conversion of food industry by-products to compounds with high added value is nowadays a significant topic, for social, environmental, and economic reasons. In this paper, calcium phosphate-based materials were obtained from black scabbardfish (Aphanopus carbo) bones and grey triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) skin, which are two of the most abundant fish by-products of Madeira Island. Different calcination temperatures between 400 and 1000°C were employed. Materials obtained from calcination of bones of black scabbard fish were composed by homogeneous mixtures of hydroxyapatite (Ca₁₀(PO4)₆(OH)₂, HAp) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-Ca₃(PO₄)₂, β-TCP). Because of the high biocompatibility of HAp and the good resorbability of β-TCP, these natural biphasic materials could be very relevant in the field of biomaterials, as bone grafts. The ratio between HAp and β-TCP in the biphasic compound was dependent on the calcination temperature. Differently, the material obtained from skin of grey triggerfish contained HAp as the main phase, together with small amounts of other mineral phases, such as halite and rhenanite, which are known to enhance osteogenesis when used as bone substitutes. In both cases, the increase of calcination temperature led to an increase in the particles size with a consequent decrease in their specific surface area. These results demonstrate that from the fish by-products of the most consumed fishes in Madeira Island it is possible to obtain bioceramic materials with tunable composition and particle morphology, which could be promising materials for the biomedical field.     

Enhancement in the osteogenesis and angiogenesis of calcium phosphate cement by incorporating magnesium-containing silicates

Based on the good osteogenic and angiogenic effects of silicon and magnesium elements, three types of micro-nano magnesium-containing silicates (MS), including akermanite (Ake, Ca₂MgSi₂O₇), diopside (Dio, CaMgSi₂O₆) and forsterite (For, Mg₂SiO₄), were incorporated into calcium phosphate cement (CPC) to improve its osteogenic and angiogenic performances for clinical application. In this present work, the physicochemical properties, osteogenesis and angiogenesis of MS/CPCs (Ake/CPCs, Dio/CPCs and For/CPCs) were investigated systematically and comparatively. The results showed that all MS/CPCs had good biomineralization and significantly stimulated the osteogenic differentiation of mBMSCs and angiogenic differentiation of HUVECs, respectively. Besides, the stimulating effects were related to not only the category of MS, but also the content of MS. The For/CPCs had a good angiogenic property but their initial setting times were beyond 60 min. The Dio/CPCs showed the lowest biological performance among the three groups of MS/CPCs due to the lower ion release (Si and Mg). The Ake was the ideal modifier that could provide CPC with appropriate physicochemical properties, better osteogenesis and angiogenesis. Simultaneously, a higher addition (10 wt%) of akermanite resulted in the best potential to bone regeneration. Taken together, this research provides an effective approach to improve the overall performance of CPC, and 10Ake/CPC is of great promising prospect in bone repair.     

聚乙烯催化剂用烷氧基镁载体的研究进展

基于烷氧基镁载体的Ziegler-Natta聚乙烯催化剂具有活性高、氢调性能好等优点,是目前聚烯烃工业中的研究热点。介绍了烷氧基镁载体的发展进程,综述了烷氧基镁载体的制备及改进方法,分析了烷氧基镁载体在催化剂制备过程中的作用,并对开发适用于乙烯聚合的烷氧基镁载体提出了展望。     

Preparation of biphasic hydroxyapatite/ β-tricalcium phosphate foam using the replication technique

Biphasic hydroxyapatite/β-tricalcium phosphate foams were prepared using the replication technique starting from a precipitated hydroxyapatite (Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂: HAP) powder, and sodium glycerophosphate (GP). The effect of the grinding time, solid loading, dispersant amount, and etching, replication, and sintering processes were investigated. The SEM, OEM and FTIR analyses proved that the surface of the polyurethane template must be treated with NaOH solution to make it more hydrophilic prior to the coating process. With a solid loading of 40 wt-%, the slurries prepared from the precipitated hydroxyapatite presented a shear thinning behavior, which was useful for the coating process. The SEM analysis of the foams showed that the optimum number of coating layers to obtain foam with an identical structure with the template was limited to three. The use of GP and the optimized preparation parameters helped to decrease the consolidation temperature of the ceramic foams to 1000 °C. The XRD and FTIR analyses of the prepared foams showed that the thermal treatment of the GP and the HAP mixture led to a partial decomposition of the HAP to tricalcium phosphate. The fitting of the XRD patterns and the obtained lattice parameters proved that the decomposition was accompanied by the insertion of sodium from GP toward the lattice of tricalcium phosphate and the formation of Na-β-tricalcium. The results of the SEM analysis, the pore size distribution and the mechanical strength showed that the presence of the Na-β-tricalcium reduced the pore size distribution from 500-2700 to 100–1700 μm, decreased slightly the total porosity from 80 vol-% to 70 vol-%; and improved the mechanical strength of the obtained foam from 1.56 MPa to 2.60 MPa.     

磷酸高效分解磷矿实验研究

为改进湿法磷酸生产工艺,提高副产石膏的品质,减少湿法磷酸固体副产物磷石膏堆存产生的经济和环保压力,进行了磷酸分解磷矿制磷酸的实验研究。采用贵州某磷矿为主要原料,研究了湿法磷酸预分解磷矿的反应条件。通过单因素实验确定了湿法磷酸分解磷矿最优反应条件：反应温度为75 ℃,磷酸与磷矿的质量比（液固比）为9,反应时间为3 h,磷酸质量分数为30%（以五氧化二磷计）。在此条件下,磷矿的分解率为98.62%。     

水热法一步合成磷酸铁锂及其性能研究

为优化液相法一步制备磷酸铁锂（LiFePO₄）技术,以七水合硫酸亚铁、磷酸二氢铵、一水合氢氧化锂为原料,通过添加十二烷基苯磺酸钠（SDBS）作为表面活性剂,采用液相水热法合成技术,一步合成了LiFePO₄正极材料。研究了水热法一步合成技术对LiFePO₄材料的组成、结构、形貌、粒度等的影响,通过电感耦合等离子体发射光谱仪（ICP-OES）、X射线衍射仪（XRD）、扫描电镜（SEM）、粒度分析仪等对材料进行了表征分析,并测试了材料的电化学性能。研究结果表明,合成得到的LiFePO₄材料为微米级球形颗粒形貌的正交晶系非化学计量比的Li_1.02Fe_0.994PO₄材料。电化学性能测试结果表明,在0.1C倍率下首次充、放电比容量分别为162.0、159.9 mA·h/g,库伦效率达到98.7%、倍率性能（以1C/0.1C保持率计）为92.3%,0.1C倍率循环100次容量保持率为96.4%,展现出良好的电化学性能。     

Corrosion of hot-dip-galvanised steel and zinc alloy-coated steel in ammonia and ammonium chloride

There are many potential causes of corrosion in animal buildings. Animals exhale large quantities of moisture into the air creating high relative humidity in the building if the moisture is not properly vented. High humidity increases the potential for condensation. In addition, ammonia may be found in large quantities in animal buildings. Ammonia is released from manure and urine. In addition, ammonium chloride is used as a nitrogen source in fertilisers. In this study, the atmospheric corrosion of hot-dip-galvanised steel and zinc alloy-coated steel such as zinc–aluminium and zinc–aluminium–magnesium has been studied in atmospheres containing different levels of ammonia. Investigations have also been conducted at different levels of ammonium chloride. The results are discussed in view of the mechanisms of corrosion of zinc and zinc alloy-coated steel in ammonia and ammonium chloride-containing environments.     

镁改性活性炭强化活性污泥处理混合污水研究

基于序批式活性污泥法(SBR)工艺,将镁盐改性活性炭(MgO-PAC)与传统活性炭(PAC)混合而成MPAC材料,用于处理生活与工业混合污水。通过连续30 d的运行实验,探讨了MPAC材料对生活与工业混合污水中COD、NH4^+-N和TP的去除效果以及对污泥的比耗氧速率、沉降性能和微生物多样性的影响。结果表明,投加MPAC材料对污水中COD的去除率提升了12.7百分点,对TP的去除率提升了17.5百分点,对NH4^+-N的去除率超过86.4%。投加MPAC后处理效果更好的重要原因,在于MPAC使得活性污泥的沉降性能和比耗氧速率得到明显改善,也提升了污泥的微生物丰度。MPAC对活性污泥处理生活与工业混合污水具有强化作用。