In this study, we tested the utility of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) as the barcode region to deal with taxonomical problems of Polypedilum (Tripodura) non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae). The 114 DNA barcodes representing 27 morphospecies are divided into 33 well separated clusters based on both Neighbor Joining and Maximum Likelihood methods. DNA barcodes revealed an 82% success rate in matching with morphospecies. The selected DNA barcode data support 37-64 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) based on the methods of Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD) and Poisson Tree Process (PTP). Furthermore, a priori species based on consistent phenotypic variations were attested by molecular analysis, and a taxonomical misidentification of barcode sequences from GenBank was found. We could not observe a distinct barcode gap but an overlap ranged from 9-12%. Our results supported DNA barcoding as an ideal method to detect cryptic species, delimit sibling species, and associate different life stages in non-biting midges.

DNA barcodes and morphology recognize a new non-biting midge within the genus Polypedilum (Diptera: Chironomidae). Polypedilum (Cerobregma) heberti Lin et Wang sp. n. is described and illustrated based on an adult male from Gaoligong Mountains, Yunnan, China. Key to adult males of the subgenus Cerobregma is given.

The subgenus Tripodura Townes of Polypedilum Kieffer from China including 26 species is reviewed. Eleven new species, named P. (T.) absensilobum Zhang & Wang sp. n., P. (T.) apiculusetosum Zhang & Wang sp. n., P. (T.) arcuatum Zhang & Wang sp. n., P. (T.) bilamella Zhang & Wang sp. n., P. (T.) conghuaense Zhang & Wang sp. n., P. (T.) dengae Zhang & Wang sp. n., P. (T.) mengmanense Zhang & Wang sp. n., P. (T.) napahaiense Zhang & Wang sp. n., P. (T.) parallelum Zhang & Wang sp. n., P. (T.) pollicium Zhang & Wang sp. n. and P. (T.) trapezium Zhang & Wang sp. n. are described and illustrated based on male imagines. Three species, P. (T.) quadriguttatum Kieffer, P. (T.) unifascia (Tokunaga) and P. (T.) udominutum Niitsuma are firstly recorded in China. A key to known male imagines of Chinese species and an updated world checklist of subgenus Tripodura are presented.

A huge amount of brine purification sludge (BS) is discharged from soda plants every year, which results in serious environmental pollution and resource waste. In this work, a modified brine purification route is proposed. First, the brine is purified by adding lime, sodium sulfate, and soda ash sequentially to remove magnesium and calcium ions; meanwhile, the BS is produced. Then, CO2 is mineralized by the sludge through the carbonation reaction. Finally, magnesium sulfate, the product of the carbonation reaction, is used to produce hydromagnesite. The optimal reaction conditions were investigated, under which the magnesium ion leaching efficiency can reach up to 95.54% in the carbonation reaction step and the magnesium ion utilization efficiency can reach up to 99.05% in the hydromagnesite production step. The characterization results indicated that high-purity calcite and hydromagnesite were obtained. Based on the optimal operational condition, the economic analysis for the process was completed and the results showed that the modified route was economically feasible.

Base scale entropy analysis (BSEA) is a nonlinear method to analyze heart rate variability (HRV) signal. However, the time consumption of BSEA is too long, and it is unknown whether the BSEA is suitable for analyzing pulse rate variability (PRV) signal. Therefore, we proposed a method named sliding window iterative base scale entropy analysis (SWIBSEA) by combining BSEA and sliding window iterative theory. The blood pressure signals of healthy young and old subjects are chosen from the authoritative international database MIT/PhysioNet/Fantasia to generate PRV signals as the experimental data. Then, the BSEA and the SWIBSEA are used to analyze the experimental data; the results show that the SWIBSEA reduces the time consumption and the buffer cache space while it gets the same entropy as BSEA. Meanwhile, the changes of base scale entropy (BSE) for healthy young and old subjects are the same as that of HRV signal. Therefore, the SWIBSEA can be used for deriving some information from long-term and short-term PRV signals in real time, which has the potential for dynamic PRV signal analysis in some portable and wearable medical devices.