Treatment of heavy-metal pollution in both point-of-use water and industrial wastewater is critical in protecting human health and the environment. Current methods for heavy-metal treatment in both sources have limitations. For point-of-use water, current methods usually suffer from limited capacity and difficulties in spontaneously removing multiple heavy metals. For industrial wastewater, current methods greatly reduce the value of heavy metal by precipitating them as sludge which requires further treatment. Here we developed an electrochemical method that can treat both low-concentration and high-concentration heavy-metal pollution using either direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) electrodeposition with graphene-oxide-modified carbon felt electrode (CF-GO). The graphene oxide provides a high density of surface functional groups to assist the electrodeposition. The electrodeposition method showed 2 orders of magnitude higher capacity (>29 g heavy metal for 1 g of graphene oxide) compared with traditional adsorption methods. For low levels of heavy-metal pollution in point-of-use water, DC electrodeposition with a CF-GO electrode can reduce single heavy-metal ion pollution (Cu, Cd, and Pb) as well as multiple ion mixtures to below safe water drinking levels. This method can tolerate a much wider range of heavy-metal pollution in point-of-use water than traditional adsorption methods. For high-level pollution in industrial wastewater, AC electrodeposition can recover >99.9% heavy-metal ions. By tuning the AC frequency and voltage, the electrodeposition method can further selectively recover Cu, Cd, and Pb separately, which adds values to the heavy-metal removal process.

(1) Background: China has the highest number of rural-to-urban floating women in the world, and the majority of them are of childbearing age. However, few studies have focused on maternal self-efficacy (MSE) for these women. This research aims to explore MSE and its influencing factors for primiparous women among the rural-to-urban floating population in China. (2) Methods: A quantitative longitudinal study was conducted, and primiparous women from the floating population were recruited in China. Face-to-face demographic questionnaires were collected from obstetric wards by the researchers, three days postpartum. The 6-week and 12-week questionnaires, including the Self-efficacy in Infant Care Scale (SICS), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Postpartum Social Support Scale (PSSS), were sent to participants by wechat or email to measure MSE, postnatal depression, and social support, respectively. The completed 6-week and completed 12-week questionnaires were returned to the researchers. (3) Results: The mean MSE scores at 6 and 12 weeks postpartum were 67.16 (SD = 14.35) and 68.71 (SD = 15.00). The variables of social support, postnatal depression, whether women attended parenting training, baby fussiness, baby health, maternal educational level, occupation, and family income affected MSE at the two time points. (4) Conclusions: Primiparous women among the rural-to-urban floating population had a low MSE level. As a vulnerable and special group, more attention should be paid to the negative parenting status of floating women by health workers and family members. Effective measures must be taken to improve the floating women’s accessibility to parenting training from health services to strengthen their social support and alleviate postpartum depression. Health professionals should be more concerned with floating women with relatively low MSE levels, such as new mothers with lower education, poor working and living conditions, unhealthy babies, and babies with fussy temperaments.

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The physiological performance of a mid-intertidal limpet Cellana toreuma was determined to study the physiological adaptation of intertidal animals to rapid changes and extreme temperatures during emersion. The relationship between the Arrhenius breakpoint temperature (ABT) and in situ operative body temperature was studied to predict the possible impact of climate change on the species. The temperature coefficient (Q10) of emersed animals was higher than that of submersed animals and the ratio of aerial: aquatic heart rate rose with increasing temperature. The ABTs of submersed and emersed animals were 30.2 and 34.2°C, respectively. The heart rate and levels of molecular biomarkers (hsps, ampkα, ampkβ and sirt1 mRNA) were determined in 48 h simulated semi-diurnal tides. There were no obvious changes of heart rate and gene expression during the transition between emersion and submersion at room temperature, although expressions of hsp70 and hsp90 were induced significantly after thermal stress. These results indicate that C. toreuma can effectively utilize atmospheric oxygen, and the higher Q10 and ABT of emersed animals are adaptations to the rapid change and extreme thermal stress during emersion. However, the in situ operative body temperature frequently exceeds the aerial ABT of C. toreuma, indicating the occurrence of large-scale mortality of C. toreuma in summer, and this species should be sensitive to increasing temperature in the scenario of climate change.

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