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16Blast-furnace slag and metakaolin were geopolymerised, modified with barium or treated with a 17 combination of these methods in order to obtain an efficient SO 4 2-sorbent for mine water treatment. 18Of prepared materials, barium-modified blast-furnace slag geopolymer (Ba-BFS-GP) exhibited the 19 highest SO 4 2-maximum sorption capacity (up to 119 mg g -1 ) and it compared also favourably to 20 materials reported in the literature. Therefore, Ba-BFS-GP was selected for further studies and the 21 factors affecting to the sorption efficiency were assessed. Several isotherms were applied to describe

Ammonium [Formula: see text] removal from municipal wastewater poses challenges with the commonly used biological processes. Especially at low wastewater temperatures, the process is frequently ineffective and difficult to control. One alternative is to use ion-exchange. In the present study, a novel [Formula: see text] ion-exchanger, metakaolin geopolymer (MK-GP), was prepared, characterised, and tested. Batch experiments with powdered MK-GP indicated that the maximum exchange capacities were 31.79, 28.77, and 17.75 mg/g in synthetic, screened, and pre-sedimented municipal wastewater, respectively, according to the Sips isotherm (R ≥ 0.91). Kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order rate equation in all cases (k = 0.04-0.24 g mg min, R ≥ 0.97) and the equilibrium was reached within 30-90 min. Granulated MK-GP proved to be suitable for a continuous column mode use. Granules were high-strength, porous at the surface and could be regenerated multiple times with NaCl/NaOH. A bench-scale pilot test further confirmed the feasibility of granulated MK-GP in practical conditions at a municipal wastewater treatment plant: consistently <4 mg/L [Formula: see text] could be reached even though wastewater had low temperature (approx. 10°C). The results indicate that powdered or granulated MK-GP might have practical potential for removal and possible recovery of [Formula: see text] from municipal wastewaters. The simple and low-energy preparation method for MK-GP further increases the significance of the results.

Summary1. Aposematic animals advertise their defences to predators via warning signals that often are bright colours combined with black patterns. Predation is assumed to select for large pattern elements and conspicuousness of warning signals because this enhances avoidance learning of predators. However, conspicuousness of the colour pattern can vary among individuals of aposematic species, suggesting that warning signal expression may be constrained by opposing selection pressures. If effective warning signals are costly to produce, variation in signal expression may be maintained via physiological trade-offs. To understand the costs of signalling that might underlay both physiological and ecological trade-offs, it is crucial to identify the pigments involved in aposematic traits, how they or their precursors are acquired and how their production and ⁄ or deposition interact with other physiological processes. 2. We characterized the pigments responsible for the genetically and phenotypically variable orange-black warning signal of the hairy larvae of an Arctiid moth, Parasemia plantaginis. We tested orange and black coloured hairs for the presence of six candidate pigment types using high-performance liquid chromatography, spectral and solubility analyses. 3. After excluding the presence of carotenoids, ommochromes, pterins and pheomelanins in orange hairs, our results suggest that tiger moth larvae produce their orange warning signal by depositing both diet-derived flavonoids and trace levels of synthesized eumelanin in their hairs. The nearby black hairs are coloured by eumelanin. 4. In light of previous studies, we conclude that although a large orange patch increases the 1larvae's antipredator efficacy, variation in the size of orange patches within a population can be driven by scarcity of flavonoids in diet. However, traces of eumelanin found in the orange hairs of the larvae may also play a significant role in the maintenance of the signal pattern on poor quality diets. 5. The goal of the future studies will be to test the condition dependence of pigment deposition in aposematic colour patterns by directly manipulating relevant nutritional parameters such as dietary flavonoid or nitrogen content (i.e. amino acid content).