Male Involvement in the Maternal Health Care: Expectations of Pregnant Women in Bolgatanga Municipality in the Upper East Region of Ghana

Background: Male involvement during pregnancy and childbirth is very important as it has been shown to increase the number of times a pregnant woman undertakes antenatal care visits before delivery. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between the background characteristics of participants and their male partners’ involvement in maternal health care in the Bolgatanga Municipality of Upper East Region. Methods: The study design employed was a facility-based cross-sectional study design in 9 health facilities in the Bolgatanga municipality. The study populations for this study consisted of pregnant women using antenatal services in the health facilities before the commencement of this current study and are residents of the Bolgatanga municipality. A multistage sampling strategy was used in the sampling of participants for this study with an estimated sample size of 422. Results: Findings show that the majority of 403 (95.5%) of the participants expect their male partner accompanies them during the antenatal care clinic. The chi-square test revealed that marital status had a significant influence on male partners’ support in house chore and support in antenatal care service (P-value of 0.001 and 0.002, Conclusion: This study’s findings showed that pregnant women always want their male partners to accompany them to antenatal care and during labour and delivery. The pregnant women expected their male partners to be educated on the effects of pregnancy, how to take care of a pregnant woman, how to tolerate their partners, Sex during pregnancy, and how to prepare for emergencies (blood donation, transportation and finance).

Scabies-Related Factors in Children Aged 0 - 15 Years in a Southern Benin Municipality, 2023

Introduction: Scabies is a neglected tropical disease with little attention from the international community. This study aimed to investigate the associated factors of scabies within Lalo municipality in Benin in 2023. Methods: This was a case-control study. The sampling size, calculated using OPEN EPI software, was 226 children. Cases were selected exhaustively, and matched to controls by age and village, on a 1:1 basis, using two-stage random sampling. Data were collected from mothers or babysitters by means of a questionnaire. McNemar’s Chi 2 test was used to compare cases and controls. Factors associated with scabies were identified using conditional logistic regression. Results: Overall, 122 cases and 122 controls with a mean age of 5.02 ± 3.01 years were involved in the study. Shared bunks (ORa [95% CI] = 6.32 [1.30;30.82]), household size (ORa [95% CI] = 2.76 [1.05;7.29]), scabies awareness (ORa [95% CI] = 3.27 [1.68;6.38]) and personal hygiene (ORa [95% CI] = 3.08 [1.02;9.25]) were associated with the occurrence of scabies in Lolo’s municipality, Benin, in 2023. Conclusion: The identified associated factors show that scabies are indeed linked to poverty, but also to behavioral factors that could be changed through communication.

Static aerobic composting of municipal sewage sludge with forced ventilation:Using matured compost as bulking conditioner

Static aerobic composting of municipal sewage sludge with forced ventilation or air ventilation using matured compost as bulking conditioner was investigated. Physical and chemical parame ,eters, e.g., temperature, moisture content, VSS, CODcr, pH, and germination index （GI）, were analyzed to characterize the composting process. Fermentation starts quickly in both forced and air ventilation compost heaps and reaches high-temperature stage after 2 d, owing to the bulking function of matured compost. Compared to air ventilation, however, forced ventilation enables the high-temperature stage to last longer for approximately 7 d. The moisture content of both compost bodies decreases from 62% to about 50% as a result of evaporation, and it decreases slightly faster in forced ventilation compost heap after 13 d due to the higher temperature and better ventilation condition. Although no obvious differences of VSS and pH are observed between both compost heaps, the soluble CODcr and GI show differences during the second half period of fermentation. In forced ventilation compost, the soluble CODcr has a small rebound after 13 d, and GI decreases from 46% to 35% but then increases. These results show that in general, the matured compost is a good conditioner and force ventilation with a proper air supply strategy can be more efficient than air ventilation.

Energy Savings in Municipal Road Lighting： The Case of the Municipality of Hersonissos

In an era governed by economic crisis, deep recession and lack of funds, the perspective of sustainable development drives local government to a more focused and constant effort to adapt to their daily requirements not only in respect to the central state but also towards the growing needs of the local society. As the need for planning actions in accordance with the principles of sustainable energy remains urgent, municipalities continue to envision and to respond to their role in helping to create a better future for generations to come. Thereupon the vision of the Municipality of Hersonissos, as firstly recorded in its Business Plan for 2011-2014, was, and still is, its＇ development in an Economic, Tourist and Cultural pole by adopting and applying the basic principles of sustainable development. At the same time the Municipality＇s rigid vision, planning, and evaluation, oriented by environmental protection, highlighted the need for networking on European level as although cities are different, their problems are often common. Thus on April 18, 2011, the Municipality of Hersonissos, joined the European Union initiative ＂Covenant of Mayors＂ [1] with the common aim of the fight against climate change. This article presents the significant initiatives taken in this direction in the last decade and their results not only on economical level but also along their social impact. It also aims to point out a municipality＇s vital role in knowledge and technology diffusion within the local society as sustainable energy development can be deployed not only by the private sector but also by the public.

A preliminary study on total removal efficiency of organic pollutants in sewage by Harbin municipal sewage treatment plant

To evaluate the removal efficiency of organic pollutants in the sewage by Harbin municipal sewage treatment plant, the influent and effluent samples from the plant were pretreated by liquid-liquid extraction （LLE） under conditions of acidity, neutrality and alkaleseence in sequence, and then were analyzed by gas chromatograph-mass spectrum （GC-MS） procedures. Results indicate that there are 70 species of organic pollutants in the influent sample of the plant, which mainly consist of alkyls, benzene series, esters, and heteroeyclic compounds. Some of these organic pollutants are biotoxie and belong to persistent organic pollutants （POPs）. Four species among them are on the list of Prior Pollutants of Environmental Protection Agency of USA （USEPA）. However, 7 species of organic pollutants appearing in the effluent sample mainly include alkyls of multi-carbons and phthalate esters. The removal efficiency of phthalates is poor because of their poor biodegradability. The sewage treatment technique is effective in removing most＋of organics pollutants.

Research on Contribution ofPhosphate-based Detergent toMunicipal Sewage in Beijing

Based on the latest study of phosphate detergent ban and restrict, the phosphorus discharge from detergent in Beijing has been investigated. According to the status of wastewater treatment plants and its practical function, phosphate-based detergent's contribution to the municipal sewage is calculated to be 8.41%, which is less than the average (20% ) in most other cities of China.

Roadmap for Data-Driven Real Estate Management in the Municipality of Groningen

In order to achieve its objectives and to handle its real estate in a professional manner, the real estate company of the municipality of Groningen would like to begin managing the social real estate portfolio in an innovative way. The use of data and information technologies, or data-driven working and managing, provides insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of the portfolio. This roadmap includes, in addition to a theoretical framework, a step-by-step plan describing the process towards data-driven real estate management. The starting point here is to invent step by step, because data-driven real estate management requires a different way of thinking and doing. Actionable insights are created so that strategic management becomes possible. The data model to be developed forms the basis for entering into dialogue, taking decisions and drawing up long-term goals. The outcome is a data model for a proactive, agile, future-proof organization that is capable of responding to a changing environment and manages for the highest possible social return.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation for advanced municipal wastewater treatment: is it feasible?

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation（ANAMMOX） is a recently developed process to treat ammonia-rich wastewater. There were numerous articles about the new technology with focus on the ammonium-rich wastewater treatment, but few on advanced municipal wastewater treatment. The paper studied the anaerobic ammonium oxidation （ANAMMOX） process with a down flow anoxic biofilter for nitrogen removal from secondary clarifier effluent of municipal wastewater with low COD/N ratio. The results showed that ANAMMOX process is applicable to advanced wastewater treatment with normal temperature as well as ammonia-rich high temperature wastewater treatment. The results indicated that ammonia removal rate was improved by raising the nitrite concentration, and the reaction rate reached a climax at 118.4 mgN/L of the nitrite nitrogen concentration. If the concentration exceeds 118.4 mgN/L, the ANAMMOX process was significantly inhibited although the ANAMMOX bacteria still showed a relatively high reactivity. The data also indicated that the ratio of NO2^- -N：NH4 ＊ -N = 1.3：1 in the influent was appropriate for excellent nitrogen removal. The pH increased gradually along the ANAMMOX biofilter reactor. When the ANAMMOX reaction was ended, the pH was tend to calm. The data suggested that the pH could be used as an indicator to describe the course of ANAMMOX reaction.

Enhanced primary treatment of low-concentration municipal wastewater by means of bio-flocculant Pullulan

Jar tests were conducted to investigate the performance of enhanced primary treatment processes for low-concentra-tion municipal wastewater from South China by using composite flocculant combined with bio-flocculants Pullulan and poly-aluminum-chloride (PAC). The optimum dosage for composite flocculant and conditions for flocculation were determined. The experimental results indicated that composite flocculant had high efficiency for removing over 95% of turbidity, over 58% of CODCr (chemical oxygen demand determined with potassium dichromate), over 91% of TP (total phosphate), and over 15% of NH3-N. Moreover, it could improve sludge settling and dehydration properties, and decrease the treatment cost.

Immunizing Vulnerable Populations Like Rag Pickers, Garbage Collectors, Municipality Workers and Newspaper Hawkers against Rabies in Shimla Municipality, HP, India

Background: Rabies is a zoonotic disease and many vulnerable sections like rag pickers and municipality workers neglect animal bites due to ignorance of their potential deadly outcomes. Stray dogs abound in garbage pits and this population is exposed to their attacks. It should be a mandate for municipalities to help protect their sanitary workforce, especially rag pickers, from deadly infectious diseases such as Rabies, Hepatitis-B, HIV, Tetanus etc. Objectives: Objective of this study was to study methods to provide pre-exposure Rabies vaccination for such highly exposed populations by engaging them and understanding their perception of this disease through a constant dialogue with them. Methods: We started by engaging with the rag pickers to know how best to entice them to get themselves immunized. We then attempted to search literature for the most practical methods likely to succeed in reducing risk of rabies deaths in this population. Results: WHO approved 3 injections of 0.1 ml tissue culture vaccine on days 0, 7 and 21 were tried but were shown to result in many dropouts among rag pickers for repeat injections. We then followed a method where 0.1 ml of rabies vaccine was injected at 4 different anatomical sited in one setting. This proved acceptable and relatively inexpensive. A small number of subjects were studied by determination of neutralizing antibody by RFFIT, which proved immunogenic having anamnestic response on boosters given single IM or at 4 sites ID subsequently, implying that short schedule rabies pre-exposure vaccination can be done in high risk groups and may save lives if applied to the poorest that are highly exposed.

Advanced nitrogen removal via nitrite from municipal landfill leachate using a two-stage UASB–A/O system

A system consisting of a two-stage up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket （UASB） reactor and an anoxic/aerobic （A/O） reactor was used to treat municipal landfill leachate. Denitrification took place in the first stage of the UASB reactor （UASB1）. The chemical oxygen demand of the UASB1 effluent was further decreased in the second stage （UASB2）. Nitrification was accomplished in the A/O reactor. When diluted with tap water at a ratio of 1：1, the ammonia nitrogen concentration of the influent leachate was approximately 1200 mg· L^-1, whereas that of the system effluent was approximately 8-11 mg· L^-1, and the corresponding removal efficiency is about 99.08%. Stable partial nitrification was achieved in the A/O reactor with 88.61%-91.58% of the nitrite accumulation ratio, even at comparatively low temperature （ 16℃）. The results demonstrate that free ammonia （FA） concentrations within a suitable range exhibit a positive effect on partial nitrification. In this experiment when FA was within the 1-30 mgmg· L^-1 range, partial nitrification could be achieved, whereas when FA exceeded 280 mgmg· L^-1, the nitrification process was entirely inhibited. Temperature was not the key factor leading to partial nitrification within the 16-29 ℃ range. The inhibitory influence of free nitrous acid （FNA） on nitrification was also minimal when pH was greater than 8.5. Thus, FA concentration was a major factor in achieving partial nitrification.

Sero-Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Infection among Blood Donors: A Retrospective Study in the Kintampo Municipal Hospital, Ghana

Background: Hepatitis B virus is one of the transfusion transmission infectious agents of public health relevance. Its prevalence varies across the globe. Establishing the sero-prevalence of the disease is critical to informing the direction of preventive and control strategies. Objective: The aim of this study therefore was to establish the hepatitis B surface antigen sero-prevalence among blood donors in the Kintampo municipality of Ghana. Methodology: This three-year hospital based retrospective study was conducted at the laboratory unit of the Kintampo Municipal Hospital. The laboratory uses one step immunochromatographic test kits to detect the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen in the sera of blood donors. Records on blood donors were reviewed for hepatitis B sero-positivity. Results: A total of 3402 blood donors were studied, out of which 3238 (95.2%) were males and 164 (4.8%) were females. The overall sero-prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen was 9.6% (327/3402). Majority of the sero-positive donors were less than 40 years, with higher prevalence of 16.4% (35/214) in donors less than 20 years. The sero-prevalence in males and females was 9.7% (313/3238) and 8.5% (14/164) respectively. Conclusion: The Kintampo municipality has a relatively high prevalence of hepatitis B among blood donors. The probability of hepatitis B viral infection was age inclined as the youth seem to be at greater risk of contracting the disease.

UV-TiO_2 photocatalytic disinfection and photoreactivation of pathogenic bacterium in municipal wastewater

The disinfected bacteria will be a photoreactivation under the irradiation of the sunlight,and the light intensity plays an important role in the bacteria resurrection.The effect of light intensity on photoreactivation of Escherichia coli(E.coli) and Enterococcus faecalis(E.faecalis) in secondary effluents which were disinfected respectively by pure UV and UV-TiO_2 was investigated.The results show that the disinfection efficiency of UV-TiO_2 is much higher than that of the pure UV disinfection.The photoreactivation rate of E.coli is much higher in pure UV disinfection than in UV-TiO_2 photocatalytic disinfection.Under high light intensity in UV-TiO_2 disinfection,high resurrection rate can be induced.However,a higher resurrection rate can be introduced even under low light intensity in pure UV disinfection alone.Meanwhile,UV-TiO_2 disinfection has a strong inhibition effect on E.faecalis photoreactivation.When the light intensity is lower than 21 μW/cm^2,nearly no resurrection of E.faecalis occurs after 72 h resurrection irradiation,and a little resurrection rate is observed only under a strong photoreactivating light intensity.

Technological Feasibility of Biodiesel Production from Bioaugmented Hydrolysate of Waste Sludge in a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant

The hydrolysate of waste sludge was used as the feedstock of biodiesel production,and its technological feasibility was investigated.Waste sludge,collected from No.3 Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant of Xi’an,was hydrolyzed in two parallel reactors firstly.Yeast was added into one reactor for bioaugmentation,and the other reactor without yeast was used as a control.Then an acid-catalyzed in situ esterification process was carried out to convert the hydrolysate to biodiesel.The results of hydrolysis showed that the reactor bioaugmented with yeast could promote hydrolysis compared with the control one because of an obvious variance in total suspended solid(TSS),volatile suspended solid(VSS)and soluble chemical oxygen demand(SCOD).Furthermore,gas chromatography(GC)analysis exhibited that the total volatile fatty acid(VFA)was low in the hydrolysate of bioaugmentation reactor;however,its yield of the fatty acid methyl esters(FAMEs)by in situ esterification was obviously higher when compared with the control one.Therefore,it may be inferred that the hydrolysate of bioaugmentation was mainly inclined to longer-chain fatty acid rather than to VFA.Anyway,an FAMEs yield of 9.24%(wt%)from dried sludge was attained after the 12-d bioaugmentation hydrolysis and succedent esterification.This value was not only higher than that of the control one but also higher than that reported in previous literature.The above results illuminated that it was feasible to produce biodiesel from the bioaugmented hydrolysate of waste sludge.

Full scale application of combined SBF-AS process for municipal wastewater treatment in small towns and cities in China

The combined submerged biofilm （ SBF）-activated sludge （AS） process for treatment of municipal wastewater in a small city in China is described in this paper. The process exhibited high removal efficiencies for carbonaceous substances, nitrogen and phosphorus which mainly took place in the combined SBF-AS biore- actor. The SBF-AS bioreactor was divided into pre-anoxic, anaerobic, anoxic and aerobic zones from inlet to outlet, in which fixed biofilm carriers were packed. Excellent performance had been obtained under normal operating conditions in more than one year of operation in Dong＇ e municipal WWTP, Shandong province, with mean removal efficiencies of BOD5 93.4%, COD 88%, SS 92%, NH4 - N 82. 1%, TP 75% and TN 66.7%, and quite high effluent quality such as BOD5 6 to 10 rag/L, COD 20 to 40 rag/L, SS 5 to 10 rag/L, TN 10 to 20 rag/L, NH4 - N 4 to 8 mg/L and TP 0. 6 to 1.0 mg/L. The effluent was reused multi-purposely, such as toilet flushing, green belt watering and artificial lake pounding. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification took place due to the DO gradient in biofilm in aerobic zone of the SBF-AS bioreactor, which made TN removal efficiency improved remarkably in system. Some activated sludge was returned from final clarifiers to the bioreactor for phosphorus removal. The process had the advantages of low investment and low operational/ maintenance （O/M） costs, low sludge yield and was preferably employed in small towns and cities.

Incident analyses of frost heaving failure of municipal underground gas pipelines in cold regions of northern China

In the cold regions of northern China, incidents of municipal underground gas pipeline rupture and leakage occur quite fi-equently, aaost often in winter. To prevent harm to citizen safety and property, analysis of the causes of such cracking and leakage is therefore valuable. Two incident analyses are discussed here and the reasons why most of these types of cases occur dttring winter are clarified. Fhe effects of vehicle loadings above buried pipelines are calculated and compared with the effects and calculations of frost heaving forces. We demonstrate thtit when the soil layer above a pipeline freezes rapidly, the soil generates repeated frost heaving, which exerts heaving forces on the pipeline that can result in fatigue crack propagation and ultimate pipeline failure. Therefore, the incident induced 9y frost heaving is one of the primary reasons of gas pipeline failure. Based on these analyses, we present some recommendations pertaining to the proper design, construction, and management of gas pipelines.

A Municipal Management Plan for Urban Groundwater Investigation and Remediation

The project MAGPIan, funded by the European Commission under the program LIFE＋2008, aims to develop and implement an optimal strategy for integral groundwater investigation and efficient remediation of key sources of pollution for the whole inner city area. The first investigations included descriptions of the complex hydro-geological system of the eight aquifers, drilling of monitoring wells and set up of the conceptual contaminant model. A conceptual contaminant model was developed to describe the status quo of the present contaminant distribution, as well as the basic processes controlling contaminant migration within the observed aquifers. This included the characterization of redox conditions and natural chlorinated hydrocarbons degradation processes, as well as age dating, forensic interpretations with respect to the contaminant origin, and determination of radioactive and stable isotopes. Further on, a numerical unsteady groundwater flow and contaminant transport model were developed, which enabled a quantitative description of the mass balance within the project area. The unsteady numerical model provided detection of migration paths in the valley of Stuttgart and identification of key sources of pollution.

Experimental Study on Anaerobic Digestion of Remaining Sludge in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant

Along with the development and progress of environmental protection management,it is necessary to pay full attention to the disposal of excess sludge in the process of urban sewage treatment plant management.It is necessary to ensure effective integration of management mechanisms and management paths.To a certain extent,it can improve the actual efficiency of digestion and treatment work and lay a foundation for the optimal operation of environmental protection management.In this paper,the treatment of excess sludge in a sewage treatment plant is studied.The method and results of anaerobic digestion test of excess sludge in a sewage treatment plant are discussed for reference only.

Safety and Tolerability of a 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugated Vaccine Distributed in the Public Immunization Program of the Municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

From september to december, 2010, we have assessed the frequency and occurrence of adverse events to Pneumo-coccal conjugated 13-valent vaccine (PCV-13) in the Public vaccination program of the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, State of Rio de Janeiro, the unique city in Brazil that has introduced this vaccine in it’s immunization schedule. This study analyzed 1001 toddlers who have received PCV-13 at 3, 5 and 7 months and a booster dose at 12 months. We observed a total of 514 local and systemic events in 303 subjects (30.2% of 1001 infants). The most reported systemic events were irritability (18.8%) and fever or = 38.5°C (8.8%), loss of appetite (8.4%). Erythema (11.2%) and local pain (9.4%) were the most reported local events. Other events reported were diarrhea (6.2%), increased sleep (5.1%), edema and induration (4.8%), decreased sleep (4.3%), vomiting (1.4%), eruption (1.2%) urticaria (0.8%), prurience (0.8%), lymphadenopathy (0.2%) and hypersensitivity reaction (0.2%). There wasn’t any reported case of convulsion or Hospital admission. When stratified by each dose, irritability (systemic) and erythema (local) were the most common events reported at the first and fourth dose, although fever < 38.5°C (systemic) and pain (local) were the most common at second and third doses. Results were close to those encountered in product monograph. In our study, PCV-13 was secure in pneumococcal disease prevention and well tolerated.

Acute Appendicities in the Reference Health Center of Municipality II of Bamako District

This was a prospective study from January 2019 to December 2019 in the reference health center of municipality II of the Bamako district. During this period, we operated on 73 patients for acute appendicitis, including 51 men and 22 women, for a sex ratio of 1.7. The average age was 25.5 with extremes of 1 and 40 years. Abdominal pain was the main reason for consultation. The physical signs were dominated by the positivity of the Blumberg sign in 97.3% of the cases, the defense of the right iliac fossa in 79.5%, and the Rovsing sign in 61.6% of the cases. This physical examination made it possible to make the diagnosis in the majority of cases. In the face of some doubtful cases, we requested an abdominal ultrasound. Locoregional anesthesia was the most used anesthesia technique at 72.6%. The classic anterograde appendectomy with stump burial by Mac Burney was the most commonly used technique, respectively. The postoperative consequences were straightforward in 87.6%. Anatomopathology examination was performed on 69 surgical specimens and 4 appendectomy specimens were not subjected to an anatomo-pathological examination. Phlegmonous appendicitis was the most common at 63% of cases. Appendicitis remains the most common surgical emergency in a community setting. The early diagnosis and the speed of treatment guarantee improvements in the prognosis. The treatment is mainly surgical.