The frequent detection and occurrence of micropollutants (MPs) in aquatic ecosystems has raised public health concerns worldwide. In this study, the behavior of 50 MPs was investigated in three different domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Furthermore, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to assess the geographical and seasonal variation of MPs in the WWTPs. The results showed that the concentrations of 43 MPs ranged from less than 0.1 to 237.6 μg L-1, while other seven MPs including 17-ethynylestradiol, 17-estradiol, sulfathiazole, sulfamethazine, clofibric acid, simvastatin, and lovastatin were not detected in all WWTPs. Among the detected MPs, the pharmaceuticals such as metformin, acetaminophen, naproxen, and caffeine were prominent with maximum concentrations of 133.4, 237.6, 71.5, and 107.7 μg L-1, respectively. Most perfluorinated compounds and nitrosamines were found at trace levels of 1.2 to 55.3 ng L-1, while the concentration of corrosion inhibitors, preservatives (parabens), and endocrine disruptors ranged from less than 0.1 to 4310.8 ng L-1. Regardless of the type of biological treatment process such as MLE, A2O, and MBR, the majority of pharmaceuticals (except lincomycin, diclofenac, iopromide, and carbamazepine), parabens (except Methyl paraben), and endocrine disruptors were removed by more than 80%. However, the removal efficiencies of certain MPs such as atrazine, DEET, perfluorinated compounds (except PFHxA), nitrosamines, and corrosion inhibitors were relatively low or their concentration even increased after treatment. The results of statistical analysis reveal that there is no significant geographical difference in the removal efficacy of MPs, but there are temporal seasonal variations in all WWTPs.

A statistical analysis for 3651 genetic resources collected from China (1,542), Japan (1,409), Korea (413), and India (287) was conducted using normal distribution, variability index value (VIV), analysis of variation (ANOVA) and Ducan’s multiple range test (DMRT) based on a data obtained from NIRS analysis. In normal distribution, the average protein content was 8.0%, whereas waxy type amylose and common rice amylose were found to be 8.7% and 22.7%, respectively. The protein contents ranged from 5.4 to 10.6% at the level of 95%. The waxy amylose and common rice amylose ranged from 5.9 to 11.5%, and from 16.9 to 28.5% at 95% confidence level, respectively. The VIV was 0.59 for protein, 0.64 for low amylose, and 0.81 for high amylose contents. The average amylose contents were 18.85% in Japanese, 19.99% in Korean, 20.27% in Chinese, and 25.46% in Indian resources, while the average protein contents were found to be 7.23% in Korean, 7.73% in Japanese, 8.01% in Chinese, and 8.17% in Indian resources. The ANOVA of amylose and protein content showed significant differences at the level of 0.01. The F-test for amylose content was 158.34, and for protein content 53.95 compared to critical value 3.78. The DMRT of amylose and protein content showed significant difference (p<0.01) between resources of different countries. Japanese resources had the lowest level of amylose contents, whereas, the lowest level of protein content was found in Korean resources compared to other origins. Indian resources showed the highest level of amylose and protein contents. It is recommended these results should be helpful to future breeding experiments.

Statistical analysis between operating parameters and effluent quality on advanced wastewater treatment plant was performed. Through factor analysis four factors derived varimax rotation were selected each plant. Four components explained 80%, 82% of the total variance of the process, respectively. The components on MLE plant were identified in the following order：1) HRT increase and BOD load decrease by influent decrease, 2) Biomass, 3) SVI increase by internal return increase, 4) Microbial diversity by SRT increase. On A2O plant, we defined them as follows: factor 1, high MLSS by return rate increase, HRT increase by influent decrease; factor 2, biomass; factor 3, BOD of influent; factor 4 was relate to DO.