Toxic dyes must be removed from waste water coming from the textile and paint industries. Adsorption is one possible method of removing dyes under ‘soft’ conditions, without the generation of secondary hazardous materials. The present study used the carbonate-containing layered double hydroxides (LDH), Mg-Al and Mg-Zn-Al (with a M2+/M3+ ratio of 3), as adsorbents to remove two industrial colorants, Astrazon Remazol Brilliant Blue and Direct Red, present in low concentrations in aqueous solutions. The physicochemical properties of adsorbents at the surfaces of LDH, as well as the properties of the solutions containing the dyes control how the colorants are removed. Both fresh and calcined LDH were effective in the removal experiments, with effectiveness ranging from 50 to 100%. Analysis of kinetic data demonstrated that the adsorption process fitted the pseudo-second-order model better than the pseudo-first order model, information which is useful for system design in the treatment of wastes from the textile industry. Parameters such as pH of solutions and concentration of dye in solution influenced mainly the initial adsorption rate.

The present study investigated the use of local and affordable clinoptilolite for the removal of persistent dyes from water. To improve its adsorption capacity, Na-clinoptilolite was modified chemically with two N-terminated siloxanes (molar mass: 2600 and 11000 g/mol) and used to adsorb the dye phenol red. The results of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that N-terminated siloxanes were grafted successfully onto clinoptilolite. Examination by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy supported the suggestion of modifications observed by FTIR. The modified clinoptilolite showed improved adsorption properties for phenol red: up to 0.32 mg of phenol red were removed per g of clinoptilolite modified with N-terminated siloxanes from water, while HCl-treated clinoptilolite removed only 0.15 mg after 4 h. Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to obtain isotherm parameters. Results (with R2 > 0.84) from pseudo-first and pseudo-second order equations suggested that adsorption could have involved chemisorption and physisorption, probably because of the mineral-organic nature of the materials prepared.

The clay fractions of Jurassic marls in the Great Estuarine Group in southern Isle of Skye are composed of mixed-layered illite-smectite (I-S) with large percentages (>85%) of illite layers, kaolinite, and generally smaller amounts of chlorite. These marls have not been buried to the depths normally required to convert smectite to illite-rich I-S, so it is possible that the conversion was in response to heat and hydrothermal fluids from nearby early Tertiary igneous activity ∼55 Ma ago. The large percentages of illite layers in I-S, the Środoń intensity ratios, and the Kübler index values appear to be consistent with the formation of diagenetic I-S as a result of relatively brief heating caused by igneous activity. The Jurassic rocks in southern Skye contain a secondary chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) that resides in magnetite and formed at approximately the same time as the Tertiary igneous rocks on Skye. K-Ar age values for I-S based on illite age analysis have been determined to test the hypothesis that the CRM was acquired coincidently with the smectite-to-illite conversion. However, linear extrapolation of K-Ar age vs. percentage of 2M1 polytype (detrital illite) from one marl (EL-6) yields an estimate for the age of diagenetic illite of 106 Ma, which is close to the measured age of the finest subfraction (108 Ma). These estimated and measured age values, however, could be substantially greater than the true age of the diagenetic illite in I-S because of the presence of detrital 1Md illite that was recycled from early Paleozoic shales and whose abundance relative to the diagenetic I-S may have been enhanced because the diagenetic fluid had a low K/Na ratio, limiting the amount of diagenetic illite formed. Nevertheless, most of the illite in the Elgol marls (80% or more in the finest fractions) must be diagenetic and probably formed in response to the early Tertiary magmatism.

A set of 99 samples covering the whole range of low- and very low-grade metamorphic conditions has been used to compare Kübler index (KI) values measured on the illite 10 Å reflection (KI10 Å) with those obtained from the 5 Å reflection (KI5 Å). Evaluation of peak widths have been carried out both graphically on the recorded peak profiles from chart-strip X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and with the WINFIT computer program (Krumm, 1996) on fitted and decomposed profiles. All the measurements were performed both on air-dried and glycolated preparations. The data collected show that in the rock samples where illite is associated with significant amounts of I-S interstratified minerals, and/or K/Na intermediate micas, paragonite and other interfering phases, full width at half-maximum (FWHM) measurements on the 5 Å peak in fitted and decomposed XRD profiles from glycolated mounts give more reliable KI values than those obtained from the 10 Å peak. This is because of the easier and more complete de-summation of the illite second reflection from the contributions of all the interfering phases. In each sample population in which the rocks have the same metamorphic grade, KI5 Å values from fitted and decomposed profiles show much lower scattering in comparison with KI10 Å values and appear consistent with the values measured in lithologies without interfering phases.

The relationship between KI10 Å and KI5 Å appears very close to a 1:1 linear relationship; nevertheless, the conversion from KI5 Å to KI10 Å through the appropriate equation (KI10 Å = KI5 Å × 0.965 + 0.023°2θ) is recommended in order to avoid a small, but systematic, error.

In the range from late diagenesis to middle anchizone, where several phases may give diffraction effects interfering with illite peaks, the proposed procedure (i.e. FWHM measurements on the 5 Å peak in fitted and decomposed XRD profiles from glycolated mounts) seems to allow better estimates of the metamorphic grade than those obtained through traditional KI measurements.

DNA manipulation is crucial for many biotechnological prospects and for medical applications such as gene therapy. This requires the amplification and extraction of DNA from bacteria and the transfer of these DNA molecules into cells, including bacterial and mammalian cells. The capacity of the natural magnesium silicate clay mineral sepiolite to bind to DNA makes it a potentially useful tool for biotechnological/medical strategies. In addition, sepiolite is inexpensive and classified as non-toxic and non-carcinogenic. This review will first describe the physicochemical interactions between sepiolite and DNA. Then, the leverage of sepiolite/DNA interactions for DNA extraction from bacteria, to optimize DNA transfer into bacteria and DNA transfection into mammalian cells, are presented. Finally, the putative toxicity of sepiolite and its advantages and perspectives for future prospects, such as the improvement of immunotherapy, are also discussed.

The relevance of the topic lies in the fact that, despite the high standards established by Ukraine's criminal justice policy for the activities of law enforcement agencies, the situation in the field of criminal proceedings has several negative phenomena. Comparative legal analysis allows for the assessment of national criminal legislation development by comparing the norms of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and the criminal codes of other countries. Particularly, an examination of current legislation in post-Soviet and foreign countries leads to the conclusion that the institution of criminal responsibility is regulated differently in different countries and in different legal systems. The findings of this study could aid in the development of appropriate models for improving the national legal system and developing a systematic approach to the theory and practice of applying these norms.

The preparation and characterization of intercalated kaolinite is important for industries such as those using nanocomposites, but the number of compounds that can be intercalated into these clay minerals is rather limited. The purpose of this study was to expand the range of possible intercalants by developing intercalation precursors using both single and multiple (co-intercalation) precursor agents. Characterization of the resulting precursors was by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The results show that the most successful single intercalation agent was DMSO and, among the co-intercalation agents, the DMSO/CH3OH system was the best. The preparation and characterization of kao-DMSO-KAc showed that the displacement reaction is the most efficient way to expand the interlayer spacing of kaolinite. At the same time, the lateral-bilayer arrangement of the Ac− in the interlayers was proven by study of de-intercalation of kao-KAc under high temperature.

The adsorption of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) on montmorillonites saturated with calcium (Ca-Mt) and sodium (Na-Mt) as a function of the pH value and PVA concentration in aqueous solution was studied. Owing to the binding effect of the bivalent cation, the adsorption of PVA on Ca-Mt decreases as the pH of the suspension increases, whereas adsorption on Na-Mt is unaffected by the suspension pH. The adsorption maximum of PVA (pH 6) on Ca-Mt was 151.2 mg of PVA g−1 of clay, which is considerably lower than that on Na-Mt (496.2 mg g−1). These adsorption data coincide with the basal spacings obtained for the clays: 1.72 and 2.26 nm for Ca-Mt and Na-Mt, respectively. Sodium permits a greater separation between the clay laminae than calcium, but in both clays the presence of the polymer gives rise to a material in which PVA is intercalated between the laminae and is also adsorbed on the external surface. Adsorption is a slow process and is irreversible in both clays.

We propose a reformulation of the ideal $\mathcal {N}$ of Lebesgue measure zero sets of reals modulo an ideal J on $\omega $, which we denote by $\mathcal {N}_J$. In the same way, we reformulate the ideal $\mathcal {E}$ generated by $F_\sigma $ measure zero sets of reals modulo J, which we denote by $\mathcal {N}^*_J$. We show that these are $\sigma $-ideals and that $\mathcal {N}_J=\mathcal {N}$ iff J has the Baire property, which in turn is equivalent to $\mathcal {N}^*_J=\mathcal {E}$. Moreover, we prove that $\mathcal {N}_J$ does not contain co-meager sets and $\mathcal {N}^*_J$ contains non-meager sets when J does not have the Baire property. We also prove a deep connection between these ideals modulo J and the notion of nearly coherence of filters (or ideals).

We also study the cardinal characteristics associated with $\mathcal {N}_J$ and $\mathcal {N}^*_J$. We show their position with respect to Cichoń’s diagram and prove consistency results in connection with other very classical cardinal characteristics of the continuum, leaving just very few open questions. To achieve this, we discovered a new characterization of $\mathrm {add}(\mathcal {N})$ and $\mathrm {cof}(\mathcal {N})$. We also show that, in Cohen model, we can obtain many different values to the cardinal characteristics associated with our new ideals.

This study is aimed to evaluate the effect and underling mechanism of dietary supplementation with pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) disodium on improving inflammatory liver injury in piglets challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). A total of seventy-two crossbred barrows were allotted into four groups as follows: the CTRL group (basal diet + saline injection); the PQQ group (3 mg/kg PQQ diet + saline injection); the CTRL + LPS group (basal diet + LPS injection) and the PQQ + LPS group (3 mg/kg PQQ diet + LPS injection). On days 7, 11 and 14, piglets were challenged with LPS or saline. Blood was sampled at 4 h after the last LPS injection (day 14), and then the piglets were slaughtered and liver tissue was harvested. The results showed that the hepatic morphology was improved in the PQQ + LPS group compared with the CTRL + LPS group. PQQ supplementation decreased the level of serum inflammatory factors, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine transaminase, and increased the HDL-cholesterol concentration in piglets challenged with LPS; piglets in the PQQ + LPS group had lower liver mRNA level of inflammatory factors and protein level of α-smooth muscle actin than in the CTRL + LPS group. Besides, mRNA expression of STAT3/TGF-β1 pathway and protein level of p-STAT3(Tyr 705) were decreased, and mRNA level of PPARα and protein expression of p-AMPK in liver were increased in the PQQ + LPS group compared with the CTRL + LPS group (P < 0·05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation with PQQ alleviated inflammatory liver injury might partly via inhibition of the STAT3/TGF-β1 pathway in piglets challenged with LPS.