This study presents a novel strategy to accelerate the start-up of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) system and ensure the nutrient removal during cultivation. This new method consists of preparing the chitosan-based sludge aggregates outside the reactor and then seeding the reactor with such sludge aggregates. To prepare chitosan-based sludge aggregates, chitosan was dissolved in acetic acid solution acting as a cationic flocculant to bind negatively charged sludge together, and then the dissolved chitosan was in situ precipitated by readjusting pH to form stable sludge aggregates. The chitosan-induced charge neutralization and water-insolubility of chitosan were the two main reasons for the super-rapid formation of chitosan-based sludge aggregates. The as-prepared chitosan-based sludge aggregates had a much lower sludge volume index at 30 min (SVI30) (90.1 mL/g) than the original sludge (SVI30 = 328.0 mL/g). They also had some AGS-like characteristics such as large particle size (1300 μm) and fast settling velocity (23.8 m/h). Consequently, short settling time can be achieved and excessive biomass wash-out can be avoided in the rapid start-up of AGS system with chitosan-based sludge aggregates as inoculant, which was beneficial to accelerating sludge granulation while maintaining nutrient removal. Additionally, the abundances of filamentous bacteria and Candidatus Accumulibacter and the content of extracellular polymeric substances increased during cultivation, which could also contribute to the AGS formation. By seeding chitosan-based sludge aggregates in the anaerobic/oxic sequencing batch reactor, complete granulation was rapidly achieved in 10 days, and good removals of nitrogen and phosphorus was obtained after 14-18 days of cultivation.Understanding the metabolic function of psychrophilic electroactive bacteria is important for the investigation of extracellular electron transfer (EET) mechanisms under low temperatures (4-15 °C). In this study, Raman activated cell ejection coupled high throughput sequencing was used to accurately generate a mini-metagenome of psychrophilic bacterial community. Hierarchical cluster analysis of the Raman spectrum could accurately select the target Geobacter cluster. The high relative abundance of the membrane transport functional genes ftsEX in the biofilm community indicated an adaptation to reduced temperature, which aided survival of the electroactive bacteria under low temperature. The basal metabolism such as citrate cycle and glycolytic pathway maintained the electron pool for the EET process. The identification of iron (III) transport system genes in high abundance indicated their presence in an active metabolic reaction for potential electron transfer process. It showed the potential involvement c-type cytochromes (coxA and cox1) activity in EET. These results indicated that psychrophilic Geobacter had effective EET mediated by c-type cytochromes at low temperatures.Microplastic plastics (MPs) is an increasingly widely serious global environment problem, which severely threats aquatic organisms and even human beings. However, the potential change trend of MPs abundance over time in natural aquatic ecosystems and the cumulative effects through food webs are unclear. In this research, the model of accumulation effect of MPs through aquatic food webs was established in the example Baiyangdian Lake (China) using the contaminant tracer module Ecotracer in the Ecopath modelling software. The results indicated that the MPs spread and accumulate throughout the food-web fast, and finally to the high trophic level aquatic organisms, Snakehead. The abundance of MPs in aquatic environment and organisms varies periodically with rainfall. The abundance of MPs in snakehead, mandarin fish, common carp, crucian carp, chub, fingerling, grass carp, mollusc, microzoobenthos, zooplankton increased about 3.97, 2.87, 2.35, 1.8, 1.48, 1.8, 1.86, 1.98, 1.99, 3.49 times of the initial abundance of MPs in them, respectively. Since snakehead exists in the highest trophic level in Baiyangdian Lake ecosystem, the cumulative effect of MPs is the most serious through food web. Furthermore, the accumulation of MPs in different trophic levels has a time delay effect, and the higher the nutrient level is, the more obvious the delay effect is. The results also showed that Ecotracer is a good model to explore the enrichment effect of MPs in food web, the accumulation of MPs through food webs is serious, and the phenomenon should arouse serious attention.This commentary is intended to provide a research roadmap for utilizing recent chemical and molecular-biological technological advances for addressing dampness and mold in buildings. The perspective is unique in that both the mold industry practitioners and academic researchers drive the questions. Research needs were derived from a 2018 international workshop attended by practitioners, researchers and governmental representatives, where challenges and opportunities in the mold remediation and restoration field were discussed focusing on the need to develop new tools that improve building diagnosis and clearance certification for mold inspectors and remediators. Suggestions are made on how new technologies surrounding DNA-based sequence analysis for fungal and bacterial identification and real-time chemical sensor technology can be leveraged by practitioners to improve inspection and remediation. The workshop put into effect a logical progression to distill and extract practice-based implications and encourage the process of transfer of the science to practice. Goals for the workshop, and this subsequent paper, are also centered on encouraging US government-funding agencies to better position and define research on the built environment geared for end-user scientists and practitioners to better explore practical solutions to dampness and mold in indoor environments. By facilitating the workshop forum and targeting industry, field practitioners, and government agencies, a sharing of needed commonalities may be infused into future research agendas and outreach efforts.The analysis of the sustainability should be addressed with a holistic approach that facilitates an integral analysis of the social, economic, institutional and environmental factors and their interactions characterizing complex socio-ecological systems (SES). Nevertheless, despite the increasing acknowledgment about the need for such systemic approaches, their application in real SES are less frequent than desirable. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/ten-010.html Among the difficulties behind this, the need for a new conceptual perspective concerning the relationships between science and the management of real SES, as well as the lack of tools to manage the inherent complexity of such systems should be emphasized. In this work, we further discuss these difficulties and propose an integral methodological framework for the assessment of SES sustainability, with the following key components i) The hierarchical definition of sustainability goals and indicators. ii) A dynamic system model taking into account the key socio-economic and environmental factors and their interactions, in which the most representative indicators and their sustainability thresholds are integrated.