Microbiome structure and function in parallel full-scale aerobic granular sludge and activated sludge processes

Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) and conventional activated sludge (CAS) are two different biological wastewater treatment processes. AGS consists of self-immobilised microorganisms that are transformed into spherical biofilms, whereas CAS has floccular sludge of lower density. In this study, we investigated the treatment performance and microbiome...

Impact of random variation in albuminuria and estimated glomerular filtration rate on patient enrolment and duration of clinical trials in nephrology

Aim: To test whether a screening approach with more flexible urinary albumin creatinine ratio (UACR) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) thresholds would decrease screen failure rate without negatively impacting on the event rate and overall study duration. Methods: We performed a post-hoc analysis of the ALTITUDE trial. We selected...

Full-scale aerobic granular sludge for municipal wastewater treatment - granule formation, microbial succession, and process performance

Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) plants have gained growing interest and application due to their low energy demand, small footprint, and low operational costs. However, the fulfilment of strict discharge limits for nitrogen and phosphorus, vast seasonal temperature variations, and large peaks in influent flows may pose challenges to the...

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy sensor to differentiate between glial tumor and healthy brain tissue: A proof-of-concept study

Glial tumors grow diffusely in the brain. Survival is correlated to the extent of tumor removal, but tumor borders are often invisible. Resection beyond the borders as defined by conventional methods may further improve prognosis. In this proof-of-concept study, we evaluate diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) for discrimination between...

Development of a CT-compatible anthropomorphic skull phantom for surgical planning, training, and simulation

Neurosurgical training is performed on human cadavers and simulation models, such as VR platforms, which have several drawbacks. Head phantoms could solve most of the issues related to these trainings. The aim of this study was to design a realistic and CT-compatible head phantom, with a specific focus on endo-nasal skull-base surgery and...

River Flood Detection Using Passive Microwave Remote Sensing in a Data-Scarce Environment: A Case Study for Two River Basins in Malawi

Detecting and forecasting riverine floods is of paramount importance for adequate disaster risk management and humanitarian response. However, this is challenging in data-scarce and ungauged river basins in developing countries. Satellite remote sensing data offers a cost-effective, low-maintenance alternative to the limited in-situ data when...

Automated classification of brain tissue: Comparison between hyperspectral imaging and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

In neurosurgery, technical solutions for visualizing the border between healthy brain and tumor tissue is of great value, since they enable the surgeon to achieve gross total resection while minimizing the risk of damage to eloquent areas. By using real-time non-ionizing imaging techniques, such as hyperspectral imaging (HSI), the spectral...

Fusion of augmented reality imaging with the endoscopic view for endonasal skull base surgery: a novel application for surgical navigation based on intraoperative cone beam computed tomography and optical tracking

OBJECTIVE: Surgical navigation is a well-established tool in endoscopic skull base surgery. However, navigational and endoscopic views are usually displayed on separate monitors, forcing the surgeon to focus on one or the other. Aiming to provide real-time integration of endoscopic and diagnostic imaging information, we present a new...

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy accurately identifies the pre-cortical zone to avoid impending pedicle screw breach in spinal fixation surgery

Pedicle screw placement accuracy during spinal fixation surgery varies greatly and severe misplacement has been reported in 1-6.5 % of screws. Diffuse reflectance (DR) spectroscopy has previously been shown to reliably discriminate between tissues in the human body. We postulate that it could be used to discriminate between cancellous and...

Electrically conducting fibres for e-textiles: An open playground for conjugated polymers and carbon nanomaterials

Conducting fibres and yarns promise to become an essential part of the next generation of wearable electronics that seamlessly integrate electronic function into one of the most versatile and most widely used form of materials: textiles. This review explores the many types of conducting fibres and yarns that can be realised with conjugated...

Charting the complete elastic properties of inorganic crystalline compounds

International comparison for RF power in the frequency range up to 18 GHz

Pressure distribution and shock shape on a pyramidal body in a supersonic flow. Laboratory for High Speed Aerodynamics