A Composite Index of Compliance for Chronic In‐Center Hemodialysis Patients

We developed a composite compliance index as the sum of the compliance scores for interdialytic weight gain (IDWG), pre‐dialysis serum potassium and phosphorus concentrations (each scored from zero to 3, with 3 indicating the poorest compliance), and skipping hemodialysis sessions (scored from zero to 9, with 9 indicating the poorest compliance). We used this composite score to prospectively evaluate compliance in 25 prevalent hemodialysis patients over a period of 1 year. We then followed these patients for another 3.5 years. The patients studied were divided into two groups: group A (poor compliance) consisted of 9 subjects with composite score ≥ 9 (13.2 ± 3.2); group B (better compliance) consisted of 16 subjects with composite score < 9 (4.7 ± 1.8). Age, duration of hemodialysis, and frequency of diabetes mellitus did not differ between the groups. Group A contained higher fractions of subjects with history of alcoholism (66.7% vs 12.5%, p = 0.010), other substance addiction (44.4% vs 0%, p = 0.010), and severe psychosocial problems (88.9% vs 18.8%, p = 0.002). Mean survival from the beginning of observation, estimated by actuarial life‐table survival analysis, was 1.19 years in group A and 2.60 years in group B (p = 0.0265). A composite compliance index incorporating domains indicating adherence to diet, medications, and dialysis schedule identified other behavioral problems in poorly compliant patients. Hemodialysis patients characterized by this composite index as poorly compliant had shortened survival.     

The effects of deep zones on wetland nitrogen processing.

Twelve research wetlands were operated under varying conditions at a site west of the city of Phoenix. These were constructed as a triplicated design, with zero, one, two and three internal deep zones, all containing an inlet distribution and an outlet collection deep zone, together comprising 12.5-35% of the wetland areas. The water supply was partially nitrified effluent from a city wastewater treatment plant. Total nitrogen was reduced by about 50%, from inflow concentrations between 6 and 8 mg/L. Speciation of the inflow was approximately 25% organic nitrogen, 25% ammonium nitrogen and 50% nitrate nitrogen. Typical outflow concentrations were about 1.2 mg/L organic, 0.5 mg/L ammonium and 0.0-2.5 mg/L nitrate. Rate constants for total nitrogen were 15-20 m/year at 20 degrees C, and 20-30 m/year for nitrate, which agree well with other project reports. Temperature factors averaged 1.100 for total nitrogen, and 1.184 for nitrate. There were no differences in the internal hydraulics with deep zone numbers. Deep zone numbers in the wetlands did not affect nitrogen treatment performance. No differences with deep zone numbers were found for temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, or nitrogen removals or rate constants. In conjunction with other reported results, there appears to be no large treatment benefit or detriment of incorporating internal deep zones in free water surface wetlands.     

Factors affecting the activity of anammox bacteria during start up in the continuous culture reactor.

Factors affecting cultivation of extremely slow-growing bacteria (anaerobic ammonium oxidiser, doubling time 11 days) were investigated by using upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors which can maintain high solid retention time. The effects of concentrations of DO, free ammonia (FA), and nitrite on activation of anammox activity were tested during the start-up period. The reactor was inoculated with granular sludge collected from a full-scale UASB reactor used for treating brewery wastewater, and sludge from a piggery wastewater treatment plant and rotating biological contactor treating sewage. Results of continuous operation showed that concentrations of DO, free ammonia (FA) and nitrite in the reactors played a key role in stimulating the anammox activity during start-up period. It is crucial to keep DO below 0.2 ppm, FA below 2 mg/L and nitrite nitrogen below 35 mg/L to cultivate anammox cells in the continuous bioreactor. When the levels of DO, FA and nitrite in the influent were controlled at less than the inhibition levels, the anammox activity increased gradually in the anaerobic condition. Addition of hydrogen sulphide into the reactor enhanced anammox activity in the continuous culture. Through the SEM, TEM and FISH analysis, anammox bacteria were detected in the granular sludge after 3 months of continuous operation.     

Colloidal silica removal in coagulation processes for wastewater reuse in a high-tech industrial park.

Four experiments of coagulation and flocculation were conducted to investigate the characteristics of colloidal silica removal in a high-tech industrial wastewater treatment plant for reclamation and reuse of the effluent. Experimental results illustrated that poly-aluminium chloride (PACl) showed higher performances on colloidal silica removal than alum. Interestingly, the two coagulants demonstrated the same capacity on silica removal. The specific silica removal capacity was approximately 0.135 mg SiO2/mg Al2O3 when the dosage of coagulants was in the range 30-150 mg/L Al2O3. In addition, the silica was reduced significantly at the condition of pH above 8. Experimental data implied that precipitation of aluminium flocs was the major mechanism for colloid silica removal in PACl and alum coagulation, besides, charge adsorption was also important for improving removal efficiency. Moreover, the addition of polyacrylic acid (PAA) as a flocculant could slightly advance silica removal in the PACl coagulation. The combined PACl/PAA/flocs coagulation was effective for the removal of colloidal silica, soluble COD, and turbidity and also suitable as a pretreatment unit in wastewater reclamation and reuse processes.     

Mössbauer spectroscopic studies of Fe-substituted YIG

Compositional dependence of hyperfine parameters, determined through Mössbauer spectral analysis has been studied for Y_3−xFe_5+xO₁₂ (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) garnet system at 300 K. The Mössbauer spectra have been fitted with three sextets in the ferrimagnetic state corresponding to Fe³⁺ ions at tetrahedral (d), octahedral (a) and dodecahedral (c) sites of the crystal structure. It is observed that isormershift, quadrupole shift and hyperfine field of d-site show no significant variation with Fe³⁺ concentration. The change in hyperfine fields of a- and c-sites with composition (x) has been explained on the basis of strength of exchange integrals, change in isomershift can be understood due to s-electron charge distribution and asymmetric displacement of oxygen ions surrounding the a- and c-sites seems to be responsible for observable quadrupole shift. The magneton number values obtained from magnetization and Mossbauer data are in agreement to those calculated using Neel's three sublattice model of ferrimagnetism.     

Investigation of the geothermal anomaly of Travale (Tuscany) by telluric, magnetotelluric and geomagnetic deep sounding measurements

As part of the European Community research programme telluric, magnetotelluric and geomagnetic deep sounding measurements were undertaken at 40 sites within the geothermal area of Travale. In the period range of 6–10,000 s the telluric field inside the Travale graben is strongly polarized and directed, independent of the period, about parallel to the graben strike. The lateral variation of the telluric field amplitude is determined mainly by the distribution of the rocks (e.g. the central part of the geothermal anomaly inside the graben is correlated with a horst structure of resistive rocks) and an influence of the geothermal anomaly on the telluric field distribution cannot be observed. The apparent resistivity, as well as the phase curves, are rather similar at all sites within the graben, exhibiting 4–40 ohm · m for periods of 10 s and 50–500 ohm · m for periods of 10,000 s in E-polarization. In the period range of 10–100 s the E- and B-polarization of magnetotelluric measurements can be interpreted by the 2-D effect of the Travale graben, while with increasing period the induced current system becomes more and more 3-D below all sites. This limits the determination of the sedimentary cover thickness (max. 2500 m) by 1-D and 2-D model calculations to periods of less than 100 s.     

Integrated-optic device for a fibre laser Doppler velocimeter

We first demonstrate an integrated-optic device for a fibre laser Doppler velocimeter, which consists of a waveguide interferometer and a frequency shifter in z-propagation Ti-diffused LiNbO3. The device is also pigtailed with a single-mode fibre to pick up a Doppler-shifted signal. Using the fabricated device, the velocity of a moving object was successfully heterodyne-detected with a signal/noise ratio of 30dB.     

A Graphene Field-Effect Device

In this letter, a top-gated field-effect device (FED) manufactured from monolayer graphene is investigated. Except for graphene deposition, a conventional top-down CMOS-compatible process flow is applied. Carrier mobilities in graphene pseudo-MOS structures are compared to those obtained from the top-gated Graphene-FEDs. The extracted values exceed the universal mobility of silicon and silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs     

Sensitivity analysis of the scattering parameters of microwave filters using the adjoint network method

A novel approach is presented to calculate the sensitivities of the scattering parameters of microwave filters obtained with the full‐wave mode‐matching (MM) technique. Using only the MM simulation of the original network, the sensitivities of the scattering parameters with respect to all designable parameters are obtained. The adjoint network method (ANM) is applied to the generalized scattering matrices of the different filter components. This guarantees good accuracy of the calculated sensitivities. The implementation details are discussed for N‐resonator ridge waveguide filters. Excellent agreement is obtained between the sensitivities calculated using ANM and those obtained using the expensive central differences. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2006.