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Chenopodium quinoa is an emerging halophyte plant that has gained significant attention from researchers in recent years due to its high nutritional value and resilience to environmental stress. This plant serves as an excellent substitute for rice and wheat. However, there has been limited research on it, leaving many of its genes still unidentified. The objective of this research was to identify gene patterns and conduct a bioinformatics analysis across various fields. The expression sequence of the betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) gene was predicted using bioinformatics software such as PlantCARE and PlantPan. The findings indicated that different cultivars provide valuable information regarding resistance to the binding sites of MYB transcription factors, hormone response regions, and both promoter and enhancer regions, which contain 32 cis-regulatory elements. This emphasized the role of the BADH gene in responding to abiotic stress. Additionally, the research revealed that the BADH gene activates oxidoreductase activity across different cultivars, influencing NAD or NADP receptors that contribute to stress resistance. The protein lengths identified were 454 and 500 amino acids, respectively. Chloroplast analysis revealed that the GC content for the BADH gene was 37%. From this analysis, it was determined that out of 128 distinct functional genes in the genome, approximately 84 are protein-coding genes. An examination of the domains and motifs in the target genes showed that they contain two conserved sequences: Aldedh and DUF1487. Furthermore, miRNA analysis and promoter investigations indicated that the BADH gene plays a vital role in activating processes related to arginase, protein kinases, superoxide dismutase, tubulins, and membrane proteins. The gene is also crucial for activating nuclear transcription factors through receptor activation. In conclusion, the results suggest that BADH genes contribute to the plant's resistance to salt stress through various mechanisms. Stress acts as a trigger for the activation of this gene, effectively safeguarding the plant against the detrimental effects of environmental stresses.

Background

Globally and regionally, nations are going through a period of important changes determined by the climate and environmental challenges in the context of the transition towards green economy, by the energy crisis caused by the Russian–Ukrainian war started in 2022, as well as the economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemics, which all affect economic growth. Providing a sustainable development capable of contributing to the increase of welfare and life longevity requires high rates of economic growth as well as a healthy living environment. At present, boosting the transition to the green economy is considered as an alternative. Based on a multivariable linear regression model, this study aims to analyze the connection and influence of five macroeconomic indicators, on Romania’s economic growth over a period of 16 years (2006–2021), where the indicators are considered to be representative for green economy.

Results

The results pinpoint both the existence of a positive and long-term relation among the total greenhouse gas emissions, the value of the production of environmental goods and services, the total environmental taxes and real GDP, and the negative impact of the total generation of renewable electricity and investments for environmental protection upon real GDP. These results provide a relevant picture of the complex interdependences between the environmental indicators and economic growth, amid the significant challenges determined by the implementation of sustainability strategies.

Conclusions

Romania’s transition towards green economy not only represents an initiative based on the obligations resulting from joining the European Union’s Green Agenda, but also results from acknowledging the consequences of climate change; in accordance, our analysis intends to empower policy makers in intensifying the current levels of the total generation of renewable energy and the investments for environmental protection, so that these might reach the thresholds required to transform them into decisive factors of economic growth.

Background

Microorganism bioflocculants are the large molecules released by microbes during growth and lysis. Bioflocculants are used in remediation wastewater and are thought to be more environmentally friendly. In the present study, 16 bacteria were isolated from hydrocarbons contaminated soil, sludge, and wastewater from different locations (Washing and lubrication stations of Zubair, Qurna, and Jazira, Beach of Shatt Al -Arab, and Al-Shuaiba Refinery) in Basrah city, south of Iraq. The isolates were identified by 16S rDNA gene sequencing analysis. All isolated bacteria were subjected to a flocculants production test using a mineral salt medium. Bioflocculant activity was determined using kaolin clay and enhanced by addition cation (CaCl₂).

Result

The results showed that bacterial isolates were under 10 genera (Alishewanella, Stutzerimonas, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Pantoe, Acinetobacter, Escherichia, Exiguobacterium, Franconibacter, Lysinibacillus), and nine isolates were recorded as new strains. Besides, the Phylogenetic tree was constructed to evaluate their close relationship and evolution between them. Alishewanella sp. was the most diverse and dominant genus among sixteen isolated bacteria. The isolates Shewanella chilikensis, Exiguobacterium profundum, and Alishewanella jeotgali were the most effective producing bioflocculant, where the flocculation activity recorded at 92.40%, 92.25%, and 91.65%, respectively. The ion Ca²⁺ removes most large molecules and reduces solution absorption from 1.918 (kaolin clay) to 1.258.

Conclusion

The contaminated environments harbor a diverse bioflocculant producing bacteria. The capacity of bacterial genera to produce bioflocculants varies, requiring the selection of optimal bacteria for bioflocculant production and their application in water treatment as effective alternatives to synthetic flocculants. The considerable flocculation activity seen suggests a potential for industrial applications. Moreover, more research on the process parameters is required to determine the possibility of large-scale production and to identify a compound responsible for flocculation activity.

Recycling of thermosetting material with low energy is still a significant challenge due to their stable and strong chemical bonds existed. In this work, we proposed a super-pressure microchannel liquid collision approach that combined microchannel with super-pressure driving and liquid collision to explore the physical and chemical change of crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE), by which the large bond breaking energy can be obtained and imposed on XLPE particles. Here, a super-pressure microchannel liquid collision generator (SP-MLCG) with 300 MPa input pressure and ~600 m/s output speed was designed to obtain the promising collision energy that calculated from the required energies of breaking the crosslinked bonds in XLPE. The particle size, the surface morphology, the molecular weight, the thermal stability, and the melting properties were evaluated step-by-step by optical image, SEM, GPC, TG, and DSC. By using the SP-MCLG, the size of XLPE particles decreased to ~50 μm. Meanwhile, SP-MLCG can lead to the decrease in the proportion of chains with high molecular weight, and in turn produce the reduction of thermal stable, glass transition temperature and melting temperature of XLPE particles. Especially, melt enthalpy can decrease from −89.65 to −64.14 J·g⁻¹. Hence, our proposed technique might be regarded as a promising method that is able to achieve the recycling and reuse of XLPE due to the considerable transformation of its physical and chemical properties.

This experimental investigation focuses on understanding the influence of perturbations due to short-duration energy deposition on the shock train structure and flow dynamics in an axisymmetric over-expanded Mach 2.52 jet. The flow is perturbed by localized laser-induced breakdown at various locations within the jet, creating a shock wave and a high-temperature plasma zone in the shock train. A high-speed self-aligning focusing schlieren system is used to visualize the flow and characterize the shock train dynamics and the flow structure recovery process by measuring the distance to the first shock reflection point from the nozzle exit. The response of the jet flow is similar for cases with the perturbation at the nozzle exit and the pre-reflection point across a range of jet total pressures, but the response is qualitatively different when the perturbation occurs downstream of the first shock reflection in the jet, with the flow structures being forced upstream toward the nozzle. The frequency of the oscillations of the shock height is found to be the same for all cases, approximately 10 kHz, independent of the jet total pressure, laser energy, and deposition location. The oscillations reduce in magnitude over time, and the damping ratio for cases with the energy deposition at the pre-reflection point and nozzle exit is found to be nearly constant with respect to jet total pressure and deposition energy, varying within the range of 0.06–0.12, whereas it is dependent on the jet chamber pressure for the post-reflection case, varying from 0.07 to 0.14.

The single-stage floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (SS-FCCVD) method using the ferrocene route (e.g., ferrocene: catalyst and camphor: carbon source) offers significant but largely unexplored versatility for the production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Our study used the SS-FCCVD method to grow vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) on an alumina ceramic reactor surface at 850 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere. The experimental setup included a camphor/ferrocene ratio of 20:1 and a specific temperature gradient of 21 °C/cm. To minimize the catalyst agglomeration, we positioned the chemical sources at a distance of 15 cm from the inlet of the CVD reactor. Alumina ceramic surfaces proved highly effective for VACNT production, showing minimal agglomeration of iron particles, facilitating the formation of reactive sites essential for VACNT growth. The VACNTs grew readily on alumina ceramic surfaces, forming bundled, forest-like structures with segment lengths up to 1.2 mm and diameters around 60 nm. When compared to conventional substrates, the surface area of the reaction zone substrate increases by up to 705%, resulting in a significant boost in VACNT yield. A detailed evaluation of characterization results confirmed the growth mechanism and behavior of Fe particles such that carbon-encapsulated particles are attached to the inner and outer surfaces of the CNTs. These VACNT surfaces exhibited superhydrophobic properties, similar to the lotus leaf effect. The synthesized iron-dispersed CNTs exhibit exceptional efficiency in Chromium (VI) removal, with an impressive adsorption capacity of 0.206 mmol/m², positioning them as a promising solution for effective water treatment. This scalable SS-FCCVD method using the ferrocene route achieved the longest VACNTs reported to date.