The study investigates the role of surface modification on the adsorption isotherms and kinetics of collectors, aiming to enhance the efficiency of adsorption processes. Surface modification techniques, such as functionalization with various chemical groups, were employed to alter the surface properties of adsorbents. The adsorption behavior of collectors on modified surfaces was examined through a series of batch experiments. Isotherm models, including Langmuir and Freundlich, were applied to describe the equilibrium data, while kinetic models, such as pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order, were used to analyze the adsorption rate. Results indicated that surface modification significantly influences both the isotherm and kinetic parameters, improving the adsorption capacity and rate. The modified surfaces exhibited enhanced interactions with collectors, attributed to increased surface area, improved porosity, and the introduction of functional groups. This study provides valuable insights into optimizing adsorption processes through surface modification, with potential applications in water treatment, pollution control, and resource recovery.

Mining activities, particularly for resources like iron ore [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], significantly alter landscapes and disrupt critical ecosystem functions, most notably impacting soil properties and microbial communities [6, 7, 35, 44, 45]. Ecological restoration is crucial for the recovery of these degraded lands [6, 44, 45], and the re-establishment of healthy soil microbial communities, including fungi, is fundamental to this process [8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 20, 21, 34, 35, 44]. Fungi play diverse and vital roles in soil, including nutrient cycling (e.g., decomposition [43]), plant symbiosis (mycorrhizae [11, 15, 20, 25, 48, 55, 56]), and soil structure formation [8, 12]. Analyzing fungal communities based on their ecological guilds, groups of species performing similar functions [17, 18, 19], provides a powerful lens to assess functional recovery during restoration [19, 40, 41, 45, 46]. Ecological redundancy, where multiple species within a guild perform similar roles, is hypothesized to contribute to ecosystem stability and resilience [39, 57]. This study investigated the composition of fungal functional guilds and explored evidence for ecological redundancy in a revegetated post-mining environment compared to an adjacent unmined area [9]. Soil samples were collected from both sites, fungal communities were characterized using metabarcoding (ITS region) [28, 29, 37, 38], and fungal guilds were assigned using bioinformatic tools [18]. Statistical analysis compared community diversity, composition [31, 37, 39], and guild structure [19, 40, 41, 45, 46], alongside co-occurrence network analysis [49, 50, 51, 52, 56]. Results revealed distinct fungal communities between the sites but suggested a degree of functional convergence or redundancy within key guilds in the restored area. These findings highlight the complex recovery trajectories of soil fungal communities and underscore the importance of considering functional roles in evaluating restoration success in post-mining landscapes.

The effect of retrogression and re-aging (RRA) treatment on the microstructural and mechanical properties of AA7012 aluminum alloy was investigated. AA7012 alloy is widely used in aerospace and automotive applications due to its high strength-to-weight ratio. The alloy was subjected to retrogression at 200°C for various durations, followed by re-aging at 160°C for different times. The evolution of the microstructure was characterized by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Mechanical properties, including hardness, tensile strength, and yield strength, were evaluated. Results indicate that retrogression leads to partial dissolution of strengthening phases, while re-aging enhances precipitation hardening. The alloy exhibited improved mechanical properties after the RRA treatment, with optimized mechanical strength observed for a retrogression time of 5 minutes and re-aging time of 4 hours.