Significance of Primary Treatment Selection in the Efficiency of Wastewater Treatment in Constructed Wetlands (CWs)

This research explores strategies to enhance the efficiency of secondary treatment in Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands (CW) in Montenegro. The focus is on selecting appropriate primary treatment methods alongside three distinct substrate types to improve wastewater treatment efficacy. The study examines the combination of two primary treatments with different substrate types in constructed wetlands (CW1, CW2, and CW3). The primary treatments include the existing wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Podgorica, involving coarse material removal through screens, inert material separation in aerated sand traps, and sediment and suspended matter removal in primary sedimentation tanks. The Extreme Separator (ExSep) was employed to evaluate its efficacy as a primary treatment method. The research demonstrates that the efficiency of CW can be significantly enhanced by selecting suitable primary treatment methods and substrates in Podgorica’s conditions. The most promising results were achieved by combining ExSep as a primary treatment with secondary treatment in CW-3. The removal efficiencies after CW3 for COD, BOD, and TSS exceeded 89%, 93%, and 91%, respectively. The outcomes underscore the significance of primary treatment in mitigating pollutant loads before discharge into the constructed wetlands, emphasizing potential areas for further optimization in wastewater treatment practices to enhance environmental sustainability and water quality management.

Current systemic treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma:A review of the literature

Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is the fifth most common form of human cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths. The strategies of various treatments for HCC depend on the stage of tumor,the status of patient's performance and the reserved hepatic function. The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer(BCLC) staging system is currently used most for patients with HCC. For example,for patients with BCLC stage 0(very early stage) and stage A(early stage) HCC,the curable treatment modalities,including resection,transplantation and radiofrequency ablation,are taken into consideration. If the patients are in BCLC stage B(intermediate stage) and stage C(advanced stage) HCC,they may need the palliative transarterial chemoembolization and even the target medication of sorafenib. In addition,symptomatic treatment is always recommended for patients with BCLC stage D(end stage) HCC. In this review,we will attempt to summarize the historical perspective and the current developments of systemic therapies in BCLC stage B and C in HCC.

Progress in the Treatment of Fungal Infections of the Central Nervous System

HThe incidence of fungal infections of the central nervous system(CNS) has gradually increased in recent years. Intracranial fungal infection can be classified as diffuse and focal infections. The clinical manifestations of these infections include fever and cranial pressure caused by meningitis or meningoencephalitis, and focal neurological defects caused by lesions in the intracranial space. Diagnosing fungal infections of the CNS requires the comprehensive analysis of the patient's medical history, epidemiology, underlying disease, clinical manifestation, imaging manifestations, and various laboratory test results. The identification of fungal bodies or structures in brain tissue or cerebrospinal fluid specimens is the golden standard of diagnosis. The principles for the treatment of the fungal infections of the CNS are the effective control of pathogenic risk factors, use of effective antifungal drugs, and the active implementation of surgical intervention for fungal abscesses and granuloma. In the meantime, new diagnoses and treatments should be actively explored to improve the prognosis of patients.

Development of materials database system for cae system of heat treatment based on data mining technology

Computer simulation for materials processing needs a huge database containing a great deal of various physical properties of materials. In order to employ the accumulated large data on materials heat treatment in the past years, it is significant to develop an intelligent database system. Based on the data mining technology for data analysis, an intelligent database web tool system of computer simulation for heat treatment process named as IndBASEweb-HT was built up. The architecture and the arithmetic of this system as well as its application were introduced.

Influence Factors of Phosphorus Removal by Chemical Method in Sewage Treatment System

[Objective] The research aimed to study influence factors of phosphorus removal by chemical method in sewage treatment system. [ Method] In different reaction systems, removal effect of the phosphorus in sewage by dosing lime and influence of the constraint factor were stud- ied. [ Result] Lime precipitation method treating high-concentration phosphorus wastewater could not only decline cost of phosphorus removal by chemical method, but also reach better treatment effect under suitable stirring and precipitation conditions by controlling alkalinity and pH. Phosphor- us content of chemical sludge after treatment could reach 9% -12%, with higher recyclable value. E Conclusion] Lime method treating phosphorus- rich sewage was more economic than low-concentration phosphorus sewage, and had very great potential for recycling phosphorus.

C-Language Programming for Development of Conventional Water Treatment Plants Decision Support System

Water-Decision Support System (DSS) tools enhance decision-makings towards improved water supply in a given region. The rigours of manual design of the conventional water treatment plants are easily eliminated with the use of softwares as in the case of DSS. Therefore, this paper focuses on the development of a Water-DSS for design of treatment plant in Karkala Town, Udupi District of India. A four-decade population projection was made using the baseline data of 1971 till date. The manual computation for water demand, unit operations and adjoining facilities was carried out and later coded in C-programming language for development of a DSS for easier design and process selection. Data validation was done and results from the two approaches were compared. With the C-programming technique, a decision support tool for design and process selection of drinking water treatment plant using conventional method has been developed and named Water-DSS1. The designed tool is simple, accurate, flexible, efficient and universal, easily adaptable to any similar conventional treatment plant. Water-DSS1 is thus recommended for general use in ultimately alleviating water supply challenges.

MALODOR POLLUTION FROM REFINERY SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM AND TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY

Main malodor pollutants from oil separator of Refinery A are hydrocarbons and a small quantity of sulfides. Main malodor pollutants from surface aeration tank of Refinery B are sulfides, especially CH 3SH. And main malodor pollutants from bubbling aeration tank of Refinery C are also sulfides, of which H 2S concentration is the highest. Catalytic combustion technology is applied to treat malodorous gas from oil separator of Refinery A, in which the total hydrocarbon removal was over 97%. The purified gas meets the national standard. Activated carbon adsorption is used to treat malodorous gas from surface aeration tank of Refinery B, and main pollutant CH 3SH removal reached up to 98%～100%. As for malodorous gas from bubbling aeration tank of Refinery C, bio packing tower is used and the removals of hydrogen sulfide, organic sulfides and benzene series reached up to 80%～98%.

Study of prediction for groundwater contamination in wastewater land treatment system

This paper uses a prediction model of groundwater pollution based on the experiments in the laboratory and in field .The model, which was tested and calibrated by the field observated data ,satisfactorily simulated the field conditions in land treatment system of wastewater . Particularly , the model can provide the reliable pollution prediction of heavy metals , organisms and nitrogen . The model was used to predict the groundwater pollution caused by the land treatment system in the region of North China . The calibration of the model showed that correlation coefficients between the tested and predictive data of Cr6+. As3+, organism and NH4+ could reach 0.990, which proved that the model possessed the realistic instructive significance for design and use of wastewater land treatment systems .

Techno-economic analysis of municipal wastewater land treatment systems in China

This paper analyses the capital costs, power consumption and operation costs of municipal wastewater land treatment systems, including rapid infiltration, slow-rate infiltration, overflow and constructed wetland, by means of series engineering design. The results show that land treatment can save 50-70% of capital costs, 80-90% of power and 75-85% of operation costs when compared with secondary treatment.

Application of an expert system using neural network to control the coagulant dosing in water treatment plant

The coagulation process is one of the most important stages in water treatment plant, which involves many complex physical and chemical phenomena. Moreover, coagulant dosing rate is non-linearly correlated to raw water characteristics such as turbidity, conductivity, PH, temperature, etc. As such, coagulation reaction is hard or even impossible to control satisfactorily by conventional methods. Based on neural network and rule models, an expert system for determining the optimum chemical dosage rate is developed and used in a water treatment work, and the results of actual runs show that in the condition of satisfying the demand of drinking water quality, the usage of coagulant is lowered.

Treatment Patterns and Economic Assessment of Systemic Therapy for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. The goal of this study was to understand treatment patterns, biomarker testing practices, treatment adherence, and the clinical and economic outcomes associated with chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Methods and Materials: We retrospectively examined electronic health records of patients with metastatic CRC who initiated chemotherapy between 01 January 2007 and 30 June 2011, with follow-up to 30 June 2012. Parameters analyzed included demographics and clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, clinical outcomes, and health care resource utilization. Results: In the analysis, 756 patients were included;median age was 61 years (55% male) at start of first line therapy. The most commonly used regimens in the first, second, and third line were FOLFOX + bevacizumab (46%), FOLFIRI + bevacizumab (23%), and irinotecan + cetuximab (23%) respectively. Adherence to guidelines decreased with increasing line of therapy. When assessed by treatment backbone categories in the third line, outcome measures including overall survival (OS), and time to treatment discontinuation (TTD) were not statistically different between groups. In the multivariable model, body mass index (BMI), performance status, and KRAS were significant predictors of survival. Conclusions: This study provides insight into patterns of care and outcomes of mCRC patients for the aforementioned time period. As treatment options for mCRC evolve, it is valuable to understand the continuum of care to help inform future treatment among candidates for continued therapy.

A Practical Method to Evaluate and Verify Dose Calculation Algorithms in the Treatment Planning System of Radiation Therapy

Purpose: To introduce a practical method of using an Electron Density Phantom (EDP) to evaluate different dose calculation algorithms for photon beams in a treatment planning system (TPS) and to commission the Anisotropic Analytical Algorithm (AAA) with inhomogeneity correction in Varian Eclipse TPS. Methods and Materials: The same EDP with various tissue-equivalent plugs (water, lung exhale, lung inhale, liver, breast, muscle, adipose, dense bone, trabecular bone) used to calibrate the computed tomography (CT) simulator was adopted to evaluate different dose calculation algorithms in a TPS by measuring the actual dose delivered to the EDP. The treatment plans with a 6-Megavolt (MV) single field of 20 × 20, 10 × 10, and 4 × 4 cm2 field sizes were created based on the CT images of the EDP. A dose of 200 cGy was prescribed to the exhale-lung insert. Dose calculations were performed with AAA with inhomogeneity correction, Pencil Beam Convolution (PBC), and AAA without inhomogeneity correction. The plans were delivered and the actual doses were measured using radiation dosimetry devices MapCheck, EDR2-film, and ionization chamber respectively. Measured doses were compared with the calculated doses from the treatment plans. Results: The calculated dose using the AAA with inhomogeneity correction was most consistent with the measured dose. The dose discrepancy for all types of tissues covered by beam fields is at the level of 2%. The effect of AAA inhomogeneity correction for lung tissues is over 14%. Conclusions: The use of EDP and Map Check to evaluate and commission the dose calculation algorithms in a TPS is practical. In Varian Eclipse TPS, the AAA with inhomogeneity correction should be used for treatment planning especially when lung tissues are involved in a small radiation field.

Construction of a New Water Treatment System Based on Material Circulation

A new water treatment system based on material circulation was constructed for purification of naturally polluted pond water in an aquarium. The water treatment system consisted of microbial columns with different flow rates (1.8 L/min/column in 6-columns unit and 2.9 L/min/column in 3-columns unit). Two hundred liters of water from a naturally polluted pond were treated for 14 days using the water treatment system. After treatment, the COD, TC, and TN had been reduced by up to 19.2%, 14.4%, and 20.1%, respectively. The bacterial biomass in the 3-columns unit was 7-fold higher than that in the 6-columns unit, and PCR-DGGE analysis showed slightly different bacterial communities between the two columns (<86%). The new water treatment system also worked efficiently in a fish-cultivated aquatic environment, with TC and TN removal rates of 190 mg/week and 260 mg/week, respectively.

Nitrogen Removal Efficiency of the Reclaimed Water by Land Treatment System

[Objective] The research aimed to study nitrogen removal effect of the land treatment process on reclaimed water. [Method] By using land treatment system, reclaimed water which reached one-level A standard was conducted advanced processing, and nitrogen removal efficiency of the effluent was inspected. [ Result] There was a positive correlation between organic matter content of the soil medium and nitrogen removal effect. With appropriate soil medium, TN and NH3-N could obtain the removal efficiency of more than 90% and 75% respectively, and they could be removed at 30 and 10 cm height of soil medium respectively with land treatment system to treat reclaimed water. [ Conclusion ] The research provid- ed theoretical basis for application of the land treatment system into nitrogen removal of the reclaimed water.

Ecological engineering land treatment systems──A new development in China

This paper elucidated the necessity and possibility of developing the technology of land treatment on the basis of the analysis of shortage and pollution status of water resources in China.The historical development of this technology in the world was briefly reviewed and the distinction between land treatment and conventional wastewater irrigation was discussed in details. The fundamental characteristics and functions as well as the integrity and compatibility of this ecological engineering were also summarized. It was finally concluded that this technology for wastewater treatment has broad prospects of application in China.

Estimating Benefits from Immunesuppressive Treatment in Diffuse Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis: Data from the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group

Objective: To determine the efficacy of immunesuppressive treatment over 1 year in early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc). Methods: dcSSc patients with less than 3 years disease duration and at least one year of data enrolled in the CSRG database were included. Regression analyses for achieving at least minimal important differences (MID) for 5 outcomes over one year were done to determine baseline predictors of change and if immunesuppressive treatment yielded the attainment of the MID. Results: 124 patients (mean age 52.3 years;79.2% female) were included. Variables associated with MID at one year were often the baseline variable and for some outcomes, age, sex, smoking, restrictive lung disease and treatment type. Treatment with immunesuppressive was not found to be associated with achieving MIDs in multivariate analyses. Conclusion: Treatment was associated with achieving a MID change at 1 year using univariate statistics, but not in multivariate models. These observational data do not support improvement with immunesuppressives over one year but there could be confounding or biases comparing with those prescribed immunesuppressives vs. those who don’t.

Dose Distributions in Simulated Electron Radiotherapy with Intraoral Cones Using Treatment Planning System

Aim: This study aims to evaluate the difference between depth data from an intraoral cone and a conventional irradiation tube calculated using a treatment planning system (TPS), and that measured using an intraoral cone for electron radiotherapy. Background: A TPS is only compatible with conventional irradiation tubes. However, such systems are not suitable for determining dose distributions when a special cone is employed. Materials and Methods: Dose distributions were calculated using the beam data for mounted intraoral cones using a TPS. Then, the dose distribution by field size was calculated for a low-melting-point lead alloy using the beam data for a mounted conventional tube. The calculated data were evaluated against the measured intraoral-cone depth data based on the dose and depth differences. Results: The calculated data for the intraoral cone case did not match the measured data. However, the depth data obtained considering the field size determined for the lead alloy using the conventional tube were close to the measured values for the intraoral cone case. The difference in the depth at which the absorbed dose was 50% of the maximum value of the percentage depth dose was less than ±4 mm for the generalized Gaussian pencil beam convolution algorithm and less than ±1 mm for the electron Monte Carlo algorithm. Conclusion: It was found that the measured and calculated dose distributions were in agreement, especially when then electron Monte Carlo algorithm was used. Thus, the TPS can be employed to determine dose distributions for intraoral cone applications.

分级诊疗体系医生协作共生效应测评问卷研制及维度内在关系研究

目的研制分级诊疗体系医生协作共生效应测评问卷,剖析并验证医生协作共生效应的结构维度及其内在逻辑关系。方法采用文献资料及专题小组讨论法阐释分级诊疗体系医生协作共生效应的概念内涵及构成要素,研制其测评问卷。采用多阶段抽样对1959名医生进行现场问卷调查。结果医生协作共生效应测评问卷包括协作认知、协作信任、协作意愿、协作行为4个维度,共10个条目。问卷总体及4个维度的Cronbach’sα系数均大于0.7。探索性因子分析提取4个公因子,方差累计贡献率为86.7%;验证性因子分析结果显示,医生协作共生效应测评问卷4个维度的组成信度均大于0.7,平均方差萃取量均大于0.5。协作认知通过协作信任与协作意愿的链式中介作用影响协作行为。结论研制的医生协作共生效应测评问卷信效度较好,其各维度契合了“知”“情”“意”“行”相互影响的结构关系,可作为分级诊疗体系不同医疗机构间医生协作共生效应及程度评价的参考工具。

基于演化博弈的我国分级诊疗策略分析

目的在分级诊疗制度中涉及政府、医院和患者之间的利益关系,探讨三方动态博弈策略,有利于完善分级诊疗的理论范式和政策逻辑。方法构建政府、医院和患者三方模型,分析其策略选择及演化路径,求解三方演化博弈的稳定策略,探究如何进行利益平衡和合作以实现三方共赢。另外,利用Matlab R2018b对模型进行仿真,进一步分析三方主体的演化路径以及不同策略选择对分级诊疗制度推广的影响。结果政府、医院和患者3个主体的决策行为之间相互影响,最终将演化至点(1,1,1)的理想稳定状态。增大政府补贴会加速医院和患者的初始参与概率值收敛至1,但过多的补贴会使政府逐渐背离鼓励分级诊疗的策略。结论政府应在成本范围内加大对医院优质医疗资源下沉的专家补贴力度,并加强政府监管。大型医院和基层医疗卫生机构重要的是实现医生资源的自由流动和合理分布。患者还需转变固有的就医观念,才能最终实现有序就医。

Effect of Heat-Treatment Process on Properties of Rare Earth Mg-Based System Hydrogen Storage Alloys with AB_3-Type

The effect of heat-treatment process on the properties of Mm0.8Mg0.2(NiCoAlMn)3.5 hydrogen storage alloy was discussed . The electrochemical properties such as cycling stability, activation property, and the plateau voltage of the alloy which was heat-treated in various temperatures and times had different changes during the cycle process, the optimum heat-treatment conditions of this alloy were determined by this work.