Rapeseed is considered as one of the most important oilseed crops in the world. Vegetable oil obtained from rapeseed is a valuable raw material for the food and energy industry as well as for industrial applications. Compared to other vegetable oils, it has a lower concentration of saturated fatty acids (5%–10%), a higher content of monounsaturated fatty acids (44%–75%), and a moderate content of alpha-linolenic acid (9%–13%). Overall, rapeseed is grown in all continents on an industrial scale, so there is a growing need to predict yield before harvest. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data were used in this work in order to build three independent prediction models, on the basis of which yield simulations were carried out. Empirical data collected during field tests carried out in 2008–2015 were used to build three models, QQWR15_4, QQWR31_5, and QQWR30_6. Each model was composed of a different number of independent variables, ranging from 21 to 27. The lowest MAPE (mean absolute percentage error) yield prediction error corresponded to QQWR31_5, it was 6.88%, and the coefficient of determination R2 was 0.69. As a result of the sensitivity analysis of the neural network, the most important independent variable influencing the final rapeseed yield was indicated, and for all the analyzed models it was “The kind of sowing date in the previous year” (KSD_PY).

This article aims to present the results of research on anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste wafers (WF-control) and co-substrate system—waste wafers and cheese (WFC-control), combined with digested sewage sludge. The aim of this study was to assess the physicochemical parameters of the diatomaceous earth/peat (DEP; 3:1) carrier material and to verify its impact on the enzymatic activity and the process performance. The experiment was conducted in a laboratory, in a periodical mode of operation of bioreactors, under mesophilic conditions. The results of analyses of morphological-dispersive, spectroscopic, adsorption, thermal, and microbiological properties confirmed that the tested carrier material can be an excellent option to implement in biotechnological processes, especially in anaerobic digestion. As part of the experiment, the substrates, feedstock, and fermenting slurry were subjected to the analysis for standard process parameters. Monitoring of the course of AD was performed by measuring the values of key parameters for the recognition of the stability of the process: pH, VFA/TA ratio (volatile fatty acids/total alkalinity), the content of NH4+, and dehydrogenase activity, as an indicator of the intensity of respiratory metabolism of microorganisms. No significant signals of destabilization of the AD process were registered. The highest dehydrogenase activity, in the course of the process, was maintained in the WFC + DEP system. The microbial carrier DEP, used for the first time in the anaerobic digestion, had a positive effect on the yield of methane production. As a result, an increase in the volume of produced biogas was obtained for samples fermented with DEP carrier material for WF + DEP by 13.18% to a cumulative methane yield of 411.04 m3 Mg−1 VS, while for WFC + DEP by 12.85% to 473.91 m3 Mg−1 VS.

We study scaling of the ground-state fidelity in neighborhoods of quantum critical points in a model of interacting spinful fermions -a BCS-like model. Due to the exact diagonalizability of the model, in one and higher dimensions, scaling of the groundstate fidelity can be analyzed numerically with great accuracy, not only for small systems but also for macroscopic ones, together with the crossover region between them. Additionally, in one-dimensional case we have been able to derive a number of analytical formulae for fidelity and show that they accurately fit our numerical results; these results are reported in the article. Besides regular critical points and their neighborhoods, where well-known scaling laws are obeyed, there is the multicritical point and critical points in its proximity where anomalous scaling behavior is found. We consider also scaling of fidelity in neighborhoods of critical points where fidelity oscillates strongly as the system size or the chemical potential is varied. Our results for a one-dimensional version of a BCS-like model are compared with those obtained by Rams and Damski [11] in similar studies of a quantum spin chain -an anisotropic XY model in transverse magnetic field. IntroductionIn the last decade quantum phase transitions and quantum critical phenomena continue to be a subject of great interest, vigorously studied in condensed matter physics. Both, experimental and theoretical developments point out to the crucial role that quantum phase transitions play in physics of high-T c superconductors, rare-earth magnetic systems, heavyfermion systems or two-dimensional electrons liquids exibiting fractional quantum Hall effect [1], [2]. The so called classical, thermal phase transitions originate from thermal fluctuations and are mathematically manifested as singularities in temperature and other thermodynamic parameters of various thermodynamic functions, and such correlation quantities like the correlation length, at nonzero temperatures. In contrast, quantum phase transitions originate from purely quantum fluctuations and are mathematically manifested as singularities in system parameters of the ground-state energy density, which is also the zero-temperature limit of the internal energy density. Naturally, singularities of thermodynamic functions appear only in the thermodynamic limit. The importance of quantum phase transitions for physics and the related wide interest in such transitions stems from the fact that, while a quantum 1

The article aims to present results of research on anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste wafers (WF-control) and co-substrate system–waste wafers and cheese (WFC-control), combined with digested sewage sludge, as inoculum. The purpose of this paper is to confirm the outcome of adding silica/lignin (S/L; 4:1) material, as a microbial carrier, on the process performance and genetic diversity of microbial communities. The experiment was conducted in a laboratory under mesophilic conditions, in a periodical operation mode of bioreactors. Selected physicochemical parameters of the tested carrier, along with the microstructure and thermal stability, were determined. Substrates, batches and fermenting slurries were subjected to standard parameter analysis. As part of the conducted analysis, samples of fermented food were also tested for total bacterial count, dehydrogenase activity. Additionally, DNA extraction and next-generation sequencing (NGS) were carried out. As a result of the conducted study, an increase in the volume of produced biogas was recorded for samples fermented with S/L carrier: in the case of WF + S/L by 18.18% to a cumulative biogas yield of 833.35 m3 Mg−1 VS, and in the case of WFC + S/L by 17.49% to a yield of 950.64 m3 Mg−1 VS. The largest total bacterial count, during the process of dehydrogenase activity, was maintained in the WFC + S/L system. The largest bacterial biodiversity was recorded in samples fermented with the addition of cheese, both in the case of the control variant and in the variant when the carrier was used. In contrast, three phyla of bacteria Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria predominated in all experimental facilities.

Samołęskie Lake is situated in the Poznań Lakeland in Greater Poland Voivodeship, Szamotuły County, Wronki District. The lake adjoins a little village of Samołęż of about 500 residents. The glacial waterbody of over 30ha acreage is a typical tunnelvalley lake having a maximum depth of over 22 meters. It predominantly serves fishing and recreation purposes offering a beach and a sailing center. Near the coastline (not in the direct vicinity) there is a farmland. The objective of the dissertation was to assess the quality of Samołęskie Lake waters that was delivered based on the studies carried out in spring and summer, when the waterbody demonstrates excessive fertility. The studies covered the analysis of the basic physical and chemical parameters of the lake water. The measurement was carried out on a fortnight basis by means of a measurement apparatus such as the photometer and the Secchi disc. The collected results are presented with the use of figures later in this paper, whereas their in-depth analysis allowed to compile and formulate conclusions. The results of studies and analyses lay the foundations to state that the quality of Samołęskie Lake waters requires continuous monitoring and application of remedial and rehabilitation measures.

The management of waste polylactide (PLA) in various solutions of thermophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) is problematic and often uneconomical. This paper proposes a different approach to the use of PLA in mesophilic AD, used more commonly on the industrial scale, which consists of assigning the function of a microbial carrier to the biopolymer. The study involved the testing of waste wafers and waste wafers and cheese in a co-substrate system, combined with digested sewage sludge. The experiment was conducted on a laboratory scale, in a batch bioreactor mode. They were used as test samples and as samples with the addition of a carrier: WF—control and WFC—control; WF + PLA and WFC + PLA. The main objective of the study was to verify the impact of PLA in the granular (PLAG) and powder (PLAP) forms on the stability and efficiency of the process. The results of the analysis of physicochemical properties of the carriers, including the critical thermal analysis by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), as well as the amount of cellular biomass of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens obtained in a culture with the addition of the tested PLAG and PLAP, confirmed that PLA can be an effective cell carrier in mesophilic AD. The addition of PLAG produced better results for bacterial proliferation than the addition of powdered PLA. The highest level of dehydrogenase activity was maintained in the WFC + PLAG system. An increase in the volume of the methane produced for the samples digested with the PLA granules carrier was registered in the study. It went up by c.a. 26% for WF, from 356.11 m3 Mg−1 VS (WF—control) to 448.84 m3 Mg−1 VS (WF + PLAG), and for WFC, from 413.46 m3 Mg−1 VS, (WFC—control) to 519.98 m3 Mg−1 VS (WFC + PLAG).

Biorefining and biorefineries are the future of industry and energy. It is still a long way to complete its implementation, but small biorefineries focused mainly on the production of fuels and energy are more and more frequent in rural areas and large areas located near big cities in which, in addition to fuels and energy, various organic substances of high market value are also produced. In order to optimize biogas production and to control methane fermentation processes, fast and accurate identification of carboxylic acid concentrations, including propionic acid as a precursor to acetic acid, is needed. In this study, a process quality control method was developed to evaluate the propionic acid content of an aqueous solution from the fermentation mass. The proposed methodology is based on near infrared spectroscopy with multivariate analysis and stochastic metamodeling with a denoising procedure based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). The proposed methodology uses the Bayesian theory, which provides additional information on the magnitude of the correlation between state and control variables. The calibration model was, therefore, constructed by using Gaussian Processes (GP) to predict propionic acid content in the aqueous solution using an NIR-Vis spectrophotometer. The design of the calibration model was based on absorbance spectra and calculation data from selected wavelength ranges from 305 nm to 2210 nm. Measurement data were first denoised and truncated to build a fast and reliable metamodel for precise identification of the acid content of an aqueous solution at a concentration from 0 to 5.66%. The mean estimation error generated by the metamodel does not exceed 0.7%.

Few publications report the occurrence of bacteria associated with fungal cells. The presence of bacteria associated with one strain of Pleurotus ostreatus (Fr.) P. Kumm. was described in the literature. We describe the biodiversity of bacteria associated with eight oyster mushroom strains from Japan, Poland, and the USA. The presence of microorganisms associated with all tested P. ostreatus strains was confirmed using fluorescent microscopy. Among 307 sequences, 233 of clones representing 34 genera and 74 sequences were identified as Bacteria. Most of the bacteria associated with the strain PUSAS were related to E. coli and two clones were related to Cupriavidus genus. The biodiversity of clones isolated from fungal strains originating from Japan and Poland ranged from 15 to 32 different bacterial clones. The most often the bacteria related to genus Curvibacter, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Cupriavidus, Pelomonas, and Propionibacterium were associated with the strains of fungi mentioned above. Laccase-like (LMCO) genes were identified in whole bacterial DNA isolated from the associated bacteria but β-glucosidase and β-xylanase genes were not detected.