Filter Unit Research Articles

Utilization the Aquatic Plants as a Filtration Media in A Closed Bio-Aquatic System to Improve Water Quality and Common carp Growth Performance

The experiment was conducted in the animal production field, College of Agriculture, Tikrit University, for the period from 14/6/2022 to 14/8/2022 inside a semi-exposed building with three treatments. Each treatment included three replicates, and each replicate included (6) fish in a closed bio-aquatic system, by weight 13.75±1.09, a filtration tank representing the mechanical and biological filter in an intensive aquatic system with a capacity of 100 liters each, two aquatic plants were grown Water thyme (Hydrilla Verticillata), Torpedo grass (Panicum Repens), except for the control treatment, which was similar to all treatments except for the presence of aquatic plants. The water was treated in a mechanical filter unit through sponge layer, then directing the water to the biological treatment by means of crushed gravel, in addition to the aquatic plants to filter the dissolved organic pollutants. The results showed a significant effect of aquatic plants at (p ≤0.05) on pH, Cloredait (Cl) nitrate (NO3,) nitrite (NO2), and ammonia. Water properties reflect to the biological system of organisms. There was a significant improvement in gain weight (G.W), specific growth rate (SGR), and feed conversion efficiency (FCR) for treatments T2 and T3 compared with control treatment. While, the result of the correlation or interactions between water characteristics with growth parameters for Common carp fish showed significant effects at (P ≤0.05) and (P ≤0.01) level.

Investigation of high-turbidity tap water problem in Najaf governorate/middle of Iraq

Abstract Turbidity is a fundamental measure for assessing the quality of water supplied by water treatment plants (WTPs) employing a conventional treatment process. If it is present in amounts exceeding the permitted limit, disinfectants are less effective in killing microorganisms and the water becomes unsafe to drink. This article is a part of a comprehensive study that aims to investigate the high-turbidity problem of tap water in two cities of Najaf governorate and offer suitable measures to solve this problem. The purpose of this study was to determine how WTPs impact the turbidity of tap water. The work covered two main WTPs located in Najaf governorate: Unified Najaf and The Old Kufa. It included the collection of water samples from three locations in each plant: the influent of flash mix unit (raw water samples), the effluent of clariflocculation unit (settled water samples), and the effluent of filtration unit (filtered water samples). The samples were analyzed for turbidity using a turbidity meter. The efficacy of each plant's treatment units was revealed by monitoring the turbidity of the water inside each facility. For the Unified Najaf WTP, out of 99 TRE readings, there were 3, 92, and 60 positive values for TREc, TREf, and TREp, respectively. The maximum values of TREc, TREf, and TREp were 22.3, 86.5, and 61.5%, respectively. The performance of Old Kufa WTP was worse than that of Unified Najaf WT. Out of 99 TRE values, the number of positive values was 6, 76, and 31 for TREc, TREf, and TREp, respectively. They also showed that only 26 out of 99 and 9 out of 99 effluent turbidity readings in Unified Najaf and Old Kufa WTPs, respectively, satisfy Iraqi standards for tap water turbidity. The bad performance of the WTPs was the main reason behind the high-turbidity tap water in Najaf governorate. This study identified the causes of that performance and proposed solutions.

Performance of a new family of modular, bed-supported, chromatography devices.

Prepacked chromatography columns and cassette filtration units offer many advantages in bioprocessing. These include reduced labor costs and processing times, ease of storage, and enhanced process flexibility. Rectangular formats are particularly attractive as they can be easily stacked and multiplexed together for continuous processing. Cylindrical chromatography beds have dominated bioprocessing even though their bed support and pressure-flow performance vary with bed dimensions. This work presents the performance of novel, rhombohedral chromatography devices with internally supported beds. They are compatible with existing chromatography workstations and can be packed with any standard commercial resin. The devices offer pressure-flow characteristics independent of container-volume, simple multiplexing, and separation performance comparable to cylindrical columns. Their bi-planar, internal bed support allows mechanically less-rigid resins to be used at up to four times higher maximal linear velocities, and productivities approaching 200 g/L/h for affinity resins, compared to the 20 g/L/h typical of many column-based devices. Three 5 L devices should allow processing of up to 3 kg of monoclonal antibody per hour.

Assessment of the reliability оf operation of water purification system units in transitional modes

Ensuring uninterrupted and reliable operation of water treatment systems is a priority task of the industrial complex of Ukraine. For effective reliability management in water treatment systems, it is necessary to analyze potential failures and determine the probability of their occurrence. For the purpose of research to determine the probability of the occurrence of risks as a result of failures of various units of the water purification system, using the example of the operation of a column-type electrocoagulator, it is proposed to use the structural and functional block diagram of water purification systems to obtain generalized patterns, which makes it possible to reduce the entire system to several interdependent units, namely: 1) fine-cleaning filtration unit; 2) a unit for cleaning from soluble impurities; 3) a unit for cleaning coarse impurities; 4) pipe-pump unit. When the water treatment system is operating, taking into account the ranking of the reliability of the units, it can be stated that the 1st unit may fail at the beginning, followed by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th units. It is established that if all the units of the system are working, the system is in the S0 state. When other blocks fail, in the same sequence, the system will be in states S1, S2, S3 and S4. The most interesting are the states of the system, in which block failures do not cause shutdown of the entire system, but only its off-duty operation, which is manifested only as a result of the deterioration of the quality of treated water. Analyzing the obtained results, it can be asserted that during the operation of the water treatment system, the highest probability of failure is in unit 1. After the unit is restored and during further operation of the system, the highest probability of failure is unit 2, then unit 4 and unit 3. The failure probabilities of the units are the probabilities of risks, moreover, the physical value generated by these risks (the amount of polluted water that entered the ecosystem or the boiler unit) will be greater, the longer the unit failure detection period. When the water treatment system operates for a long enough time, a probabilistic constant mode of transition from state to state is established in it according to the scheme «working state of all blocks - failure of one or several blocks - repair - working state of all blocks». The probability of the sequence and duration of these events can be determined, which makes it possible, on the one hand, to assess the risks arising during operation and to determine a management strategy to minimize these risks.

#5919 PATIENT-SPECIFIC HUMAN INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL (HIPSC)-DERIVED PODOCYTES

Abstract Background and Aims Podocytes typically represent a distinct morphology with long, interdigitating primary and secondary foot processes wrapping around glomerular capillaries forming the filtration unit of the kidney. In glomerular diseases like genetic focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), podocyte alterations are often related to dysfunction of the glomerular filtration barrier and the development of proteinuria. Genetic mutations in podocyte relevant genes, important for foot process or actin cytoskeleton dynamics, are known to induce severe podocyte injury. Analysis of podocyte alterations ex vivo is limited because of their inability to proliferate due to their terminal differentiated state and limited access to primary podocytes. Instead, immortalized podocytes regained proliferation capacity by insertion of a thermosensitive SV40 large T antigen and are useful for many research questions. However, these podocytes usually do not express all podocyte marker and foot process development is often restricted. Since we aim to characterize personalized podocytes from patients suffering from genetic FSGS ex vivo, we generated podocytes from dermal fibroblasts via reprogramming into hiPSCs and subsequent differentiation into hiPSC-derived podocytes keeping the patients’ genetic background. Method Dermal fibroblasts were outgrown from a skin punch biopsy from a patient or a healthy donor and subsequently reprogrammed into hiPSCs by electroporation of the common OKSM plasmids and finally differentiated into podocytes. Cells were characterized phenotypically regarding morphology and marker expression using RNA bulk sequencing, western blot, qPCR and immunofluorescence staining. Potential functional alterations of diseased podocytes regarding actin cytoskeleton were assessed by actin polymerization assay. Results Patient-specific podocytes could be generated ex vivo by reprogramming dermal fibroblasts into hiPSCs and subsequently differentiating them into mature podocytes representing the patients’ background. During this process, cell morphology changed from spindle-like fibroblasts to small and round hiPSCs growing in colonies and representing a high nuclei-to body ratio as well as high proliferation rate. During differentiation, hiPSCs were induced into intermediate mesoderm, resulting in increased cell size and decreased proliferation rate terminating in 300 nm large star-shaped podocytes developing a distinct network of long primary and secondary foot processes. Patient-derived hiPSC-podocytes with a mutation in the INF2 gene lacked filamentous actin and only develop a limited number of only short foot processes compared to hiPSC-podocytes derived from a healthy control donor. Moreover, expression of actin cytoskeleton associated genes like SYNPO, ACTN4 and CD2AP was decreased while other actin isoforms, cortactin and the GTPase RhoA were increased in diseased patient-specific podocytes. Actin polymerization assay showed that polymerization process itself was not altered in healthy and diseased hiPSC-podocytes. Conclusion Analysis of patient-specific podocytes is possible ex vivo via differentiation of hiPSCs, generated from patients’ dermal fibroblasts by episomal reprogramming, into hiPSC-derived podocytes, with the potential to study alterations of disease-specific mutations regarding phenotypical and functional behavior in a personalized manner. The use of hiPSCs bypasses the limitation of restricted podocyte cell number and has the advantage of maintaining the patients’ genetic background at podocyte cell level. This enables future large-scale experiments regarding intercell-cell communication and interaction in glomerular three-dimensional co-cultures or via treatment with therapeutic substances or stress factors.

The value of sonication in the differential diagnosis of septic and aseptic femoral and tibial shaft nonunion in comparison to conventional tissue culture and histopathology: a prospective multicenter clinical study

BackgroundSeptic and aseptic nonunion require different therapeutic strategies. However, differential diagnosis is challenging, as low-grade infections and biofilm-bound bacteria often remain undetected. Therefore, the examination of biofilm on implants by sonication and the evaluation of its value for differentiating between femoral or tibial shaft septic and aseptic nonunion in comparison to tissue culture and histopathology was the focus of this study.Materials and methodsOsteosynthesis material for sonication and tissue samples for long-term culture and histopathologic examination from 53 patients with aseptic nonunion, 42 with septic nonunion and 32 with regular healed fractures were obtained during surgery. Sonication fluid was concentrated by membrane filtration and colony-forming units (CFU) were quantified after aerobic and anaerobic incubation. CFU cut-off values for differentiating between septic and aseptic nonunion or regular healers were determined by receiver operating characteristic analysis. The performances of the different diagnostic methods were calculated using cross-tabulation.ResultsThe cut-off value for differentiating between septic and aseptic nonunion was ≥ 13.6 CFU/10 ml sonication fluid. With a sensitivity of 52% and a specificity of 93%, the diagnostic performance of membrane filtration was lower than that of tissue culture (69%, 96%) but higher than that of histopathology (14%, 87%). Considering two criteria for infection diagnosis, the sensitivity was similar for one tissue culture with the same pathogen in broth-cultured sonication fluid and two positive tissue cultures (55%). The combination of tissue culture and membrane-filtrated sonication fluid had a sensitivity of 50%, which increased up to 62% when using a lower CFU cut-off determined from regular healers. Furthermore, membrane filtration demonstrated a significantly higher polymicrobial detection rate compared to tissue culture and sonication fluid broth culture.ConclusionsOur findings support a multimodal approach for the differential diagnosis of nonunion, with sonication demonstrating substantial usefulness.Level of Evidence: Level 2Trial registration DRKS00014657 (date of registration: 2018/04/26)

Reduction of Total Harmonic Distortion of Bus Voltage in a Single-Phase Long-Distance Distribution Lines by a Z-Source Harmonic Power Filter Unit

Reduction of Total Harmonic Distortion of Bus Voltage in a Single-Phase Long-Distance Distribution Lines by a Z-Source Harmonic Power Filter Unit

Spatiotemporal analysis and forecasting of air quality in the greater Dhaka region and assessment of a novel particulate matter filtration unit.

Bangladesh is one of the most polluted nations in the world, with an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 161 in 2021; its capital, Dhaka, has the worst air quality of any major city in the world. The present study aims to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution of air quality indicators in the greater Dhaka region, forecast weekly AQI, and assess the performance of a novel particulate matter filtration unit in removing particulate matter. Air quality indicators remained highest during the dry season with an average of 128.5μm/m3, while the lowest concentration was found in the monsoon season with an average of 19.096μm/m3. Analysis revealed a statistically significant annual increasing trend of CO, which was associated with the growing number of brick kilns and usage of high-sulfur diesel. Except for the pre-monsoon AQI, concentrations of both seasonal and yearly AQI and PM2.5 showed decreasing trend, though predominantly insignificant, demonstrating the improvement in air quality. Prevailing winds influenced the seasonal distribution of tropospheric CO & NO2. The study also employed a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model to forecast weekly AQI values. ARIMA (3,0,4) (3,1,3) at the 7-periodicity level performed best forecasting the AQI values among all developed models with low root mean square error (RMSE)-29.42 and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE)-13.11 values. The predicted AQI values suggested that the air quality would remain unhealthy for most weeks. The experimental simulation of the particulate matter filtration unit, designed in the shape of a road divider, generated substantial cyclonic motion while maintaining a very minimal pressure drop. In the real-world scenario, using only cyclonic separation and dry deposition, the suggested air filtration system removed 40%, 44%, and 42% of PM2.5, PM10, and TSP, respectively. Without employing filters, the device removed significant amounts of particulate matter, implying enormous potential to be used in the study area. The study could be useful for policy makers to improve urban air quality and public health in Bangladesh and in other developing countries.

Numerical Investigation of using FDCU on Temperature Distribution in Non-Unidirectional Cleanrooms

Cleanrooms are used in a lot of industrial applications, one of which is the field of electronic industries. Manufacturing process tools that equip the cleanroom and are used in this field dissipate a lot of heat in all room areas. This work presents a 3D numerical simulation for a recently published experimental work that proposes an innovative fan dry coil unit (FDCU) return air system. This system consists of ceiling supply fan filter units and ceiling return fan coils. Throughout the research, a comparison of temperature distribution between the FDCU return air system and the traditional wall return air system is presented. Moreover, the effect of changing the FDCU location on the cleanroom ceiling is investigated. To validate the numerical simulation results, a direct comparison is performed with the experiment data, and the numerical model shows good agreement. The results show that FDCU ARR-3 is the best arrangement compared to other models, namely wall-return, ARR-1, and ARR-2. The AVG local air temperature index Θ through the cleanroom was reduced by 77% compared to wall return and 33% compared to ARR-1. Moreover, the AVG local air temperature index Θ above the process tool was reduced by 28% compared to a wall return and 23% compared to ARR-1.

Influence of secretome obtained from preovulatory follicular fluid on energy metabolism and meiotic competence of equine cumulus–oocyte complexes

Secretome is composed by proteins and microvesicles secreted by the granulosa cells that line the follicular wall. These bioactive compounds promote follicular growth and oocyte maturation, influencing oocyte metabolism. Hence, we hypothesized that addition of secretome from preovulatory follicular fluid (FF) to maturation medium may influence the meiotic competence and metabolism of cumulus-oocyte-complexes (COCs) obtained post mortem. FF was retrieved from preovulatory follicles (2 mares) after 32h of hCG administration. Three ml of FF from both mares were pooled, diluted 1:1 in PBS and centrifuged (4000g, 1h at 4°C) using a 10K Amicon® Ultra-15 Centrifugal Filter Unit and protein concentration was measured. A total of 186 COCs were retrieved from post mortem ovaries and were subjected to in vitro maturation (IVM) in TCM-199 medium, 10% of FBS and 5 mU/ml of FSH (Control; 59 oocytes) or with 20 µg/ml of secretome (Secretome20; 66 oocytes) or with 40 µg/ml of secretome (Secretome40; 61 oocytes) for 28 h in 5% CO2/95% air at 38.2°C. Oocytes were denuded, fixed in 4% formaldehyde and stained with Hoechst 33342 to assess chromatin conformation by fluorescence microscopy. Also, selected metabolites of the maturation medium prior to andafter IVM were assessed by magnetic proton nuclear resonance spectroscopy. After IVM, a trend towards glucose consumption and pyruvic acid production was observed compared to their controls prior IVM; a significant increase in lactic acid production in all treatments was observed (Table 1; p < 0.05). Our results show a tendency for quicker meiosis resumption in COCs incubated with Secretome40 (Table 2). In conclusion, secretome obtained from preovulatory follicular fluid added during IVM does not change COCs’ energy metabolism nor maturation rate of equine cumulus-oocyte complexes in our in vitro culture system. Funding: MCCIN/AEI (PID2020-112723RB-I00; RYC-2017-21545; RYC2020-028915-I), Junta de Extremadura-FEDER (IB20005).

Effects of portable air filtration on submicrometer- and micrometer-sized particle deposition and concentration in a natural ventilated skilled nursing facility

Older adults are highly vulnerable to respiratory diseases. Effective engineering controls are critical to reduce transmission risk via airborne particles, particularly in spaces where older adults reside (e.g., skilled nursing facilities; SNF). We thus investigated how recirculating portable air filtration (PAF) units and natural ventilation influenced airborne particle travel via the direct aerosol (i.e., representing airborne transmission) and indirect aerosol (i.e., representing fomite transmission) routes. A breathing simulator atomized fluorescein-tagged submicrometer- (0.6–0.7 μm) and micrometer-sized (2 μm) particles simultaneously utilizing a physiologically-correct inhalation-exhalation waveform, with the breathing simulator outlet connected to an anatomically-correct respiratory manikin. Experiments involved two SNF resident rooms, the ‘infector’ and ‘susceptible’ rooms, with the former room containing the breathing simulator (i.e., proxy infected resident) and the latter room representing a susceptible resident's room. Observations revealed that despite PAF units enhancing deposition velocities for submicrometer- and micrometer-sized particles, effective deposition fluxes of submicrometer-sized particles were significantly lower during PAF use versus the Baseline Condition. Further, PAF units increased the effective air exchange rate by ∼3.7–4.5x for submicrometer- and micrometer-sized particles, respectively, resulting in significantly lower particle concentrations (>60%) for these particle sizes versus the Baseline Condition. While natural ventilation significantly reduced submicrometer- and micrometer-sized particle concentration and deposition, cross contamination between rooms was identified when natural ventilation was the singular ventilation solution. Observations validated our previous studies in that particle deposition is non-negligible in smaller rooms with poor ventilation and that PAF units are recommended to supplement natural ventilation and best limit airborne particle concentration and deposition.

(503) The Impact of HEPA/Ultraviolet air recirculation system (HUAIRS) During Penile Prosthesis Surgery

Abstract Introduction Airborne bacteria are a major source of wound contamination during penile prosthesis surgery. 80% of bacteria found in the wound after surgery comes from the air. Crystalline ultraviolet C (C-UVC) filter units were designed to disinfect and recirculate the air in the operating room (OR). Objective We assess the particle-reducing capacity of C-UVC units in a highly controlled operating room setting in the office and surgery center during penile prosthesis surgery. Methods A particle counter was deployed in a positive-pressure operating room and a standard office HVAC system to measure total and viable particle counts (TPC). A HEPA/Ultraviolet air recirculation system (HUAIRS) was purchased and placed into the ORs in both locations. Weekly particle count experiments were performed for 6 months in both office OR and surgery center OR settings. A C-UVC unit was kept 4 meters from the door in both settings and the particle counter was used near the operative field. Results After 6 months of weekly office-based procedure collection of data using a particle counter an 83.4% particle reduction was seen at the 5 micron level. Initially, reads were 14,143 particles and after implementation of the HUAIRS, a total particle count was 2,299 during office penile prosthesis. In the OR at the surgery center, the same weekly data collection was employed. The initial 5 micron particle count dropped 81.74% from 6,143 particles to 1,122 once the HUAIRS system was employed. Conclusions C-UVC units have shown to be capable of significantly reducing TPC in the office and operating room setting. Reducing airborne particles using C-UVC units may reduce infection rates following penile prosthesis surgery. Disclosure Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Coloplast.

Modeling and Simulation of Precipitation Process of Various Salt Components during Sea Salt Production

Salt is commonly produced from seawater by conventional solar evaporation process in Indonesia. Some of the salt produced has not been able to meet the standard requirement especially for industrial uses and make Indonesia still importing salt. This study aims to develop a precipitation model of various salt components during seasalt production from seawater by varying the brine input and output concentration on the crystallization table using the concept of solubility. The evaporation and precipitation processes during the salt production were modeled using a series of separator and filter units and carried out by making use of the electrolyte wizard in Aspen Plus®. In this simulation, 9 variation were carried out by varying the brine input at concentration 20 ºBe, 23 ºBe, and 25 ºBe and output at concentration 29 ºBe, 30 ºBe, and 31 ºBe on the crystallization table. It is shown that the purity of NaCl salt is significantly influenced by the the brine input concentration to and the brine output concentration from the crystallization table. The percentage of calcium impurity increases when the brine input concentration to the crystallization table is lower while the percentage of magnesium impurity increases when the brine output concentration from the crystallization table is higher. The percentage of sulfate impurity increases when both the brine input concentration to and the brine output concentration from the crystallization table is lower. In practice, it is advisable that the crystallization in the salt table is carried out from 25 to 29 ºBe to limit the amount of magnesium impurity that can cause salt to taste bitter. Conducting the crystallization in this concentration range would give the purity of NaCl salt of 94.049%, which is in accordance with SNI standard for consumption salt, and the yield of NaCl salt of 78.83%. Further study needs to be done to provide a workable solution on how to make the purity of NaCl salt higher such as by using suitable precipitating agents in the salt production to help the precipitation process of various salt impurities.

An eco-friendly strategy for recovery of H2-CH4-rich syngas, benzene-rich tar and carbon nanoparticles from surgical mask waste using an updraft gasifier system

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has created a new type of waste (surgical mask waste “WMs”) that presents a major challenge now and in the future, given the strong possibilities of similar epidemics to reoccur. In order to find an effective industrial solution to the millions of WMs produced daily, this research aims to develop a new eco-friendly strategy to convert WMs into H2-CH4-rich syngas, carbon nanoparticles (CNPs), and benzene-rich tar using an updraft gasifier system. The experiments started with the preparation of WM granules using shredding followed by granulation processes. Subsequently, the granules were processed in a lab-scale reactor with a capacity of 0.9–1 kg/h and consisted of a continuous WM feed system, a gasifier, a sampling system for syngas and tar, a ceramic filtration unit for separating the CNPs against the synthesis gas, and a burner. The gasification experiments were performed in ambient air with different air−fuel equivalence ratios (ER: 0.21, 0.25, and 0.29) and temperatures (700°C, 800°C, and 900°C) to determine the optimal conditions that yield the maximum amount of H2-CH4-rich syngas and CNPs with less impurities. The chemical composition and morphology of the obtained gasification products (syngas, tar, and CNPs) were observed using GC-FID, FTIR, and SEM. The results showed that the maximum production of syngas (4.29 ± 0.16 kg/h with HHV of 3804 kJ/kg) and CNPs (0.14 ± 0.011 kg/h) accompanied by a moderate tar rate (0.123 ± 0.009 kg/h with HHV of 41,139.88 kJ/kg) could be obtained at 900°C and ER = 0.29, while the highest H2 (16.93 ± 1.7 vol.%) and CH4 (10.44 ± 0.85 vol.%) contents in syngas product were synthesized at 900°C and ER = 0.19. Benzene and toluene were the major GC-FID compounds in the formulated tar product with abundance up to 25.6% and 11%, respectively. Meanwhile, gasification conditions of 900°C and ER = 0.24 allowed the best morphology to be formulated for spherical-shaped CNPs with a diameter of less than 200 nm.

Experimental Study of a PowerCore Filter Bed Operating in a Two-Stage System for Cleaning the Inlet Air of Internal Combustion Engines

Small dust grains cause a higher intensity of increase in the flow resistance of the fibrous filter bed, which, due to the established value of the permissible resistance, results in a shorter period of operation of the air filter and the vehicle. At the same time, the mass of dust per unit of filtration area takes on smaller values. Such a phenomenon occurs in the two-stage “multicyclone-baffle filter” engine inlet air filtration system. The main objective of this study was to experimentally determine the mass of dust retained per unit of filtration area (dust absorption coefficient km) of the PowerCore filter bed operating under two-stage filtration conditions, which cannot be found in the available literature. The original methodology and conditions for determining the dust absorption coefficient km of a PowerCore filter bed operating under two-stage filtration conditions are presented. Tests were carried out on the characteristics of filtration efficiency and accuracy, as well as on the flow resistance of a filtration unit consisting of a single cyclone and a PowerCore test filter with an appropriately selected surface area of filter material. During the tests, conditions corresponding to the actual conditions of vehicle use and air filter operation were maintained, including filtration speed and the dust concentration in the air. The experimentally determined dust absorption coefficient of the PowerCore research filters operating in a two-stage filtration system took on values in the range of km = 199–219 g/m2. The dust absorption coefficient km of the PowerCore research filter operating under single-stage filtration conditions reached a value of km = 434 g/m2, which is twice as high. Prediction of the mileage of a car equipped with a single-stage and two-stage “multi-cyclone-partition” filtration system was carried out, showing the usefulness of the experimentally determined dust absorption coefficients km.

The Pathophysiological Role of Thymosin β4 in the Kidney Glomerulus.

Diseases affecting the glomerulus, the filtration unit of the kidney, are a major cause of chronic kidney disease. Glomerular disease is characterised by injury of glomerular cells and is often accompanied by an inflammatory response that drives disease progression. New strategies are needed to slow the progression to end-stage kidney disease, which requires dialysis or transplantation. Thymosin β4 (Tβ4), an endogenous peptide that sequesters G-actin, has shown potent anti-inflammatory function in experimental models of heart, kidney, liver, lung, and eye injury. In this review, we discuss the role of endogenous and exogenous Tβ4 in glomerular disease progression and the current understanding of the underlying mechanisms.

Optimized Algorithms and Hardware Implementation of Median Filter for Image Processing

Image processing algorithms are essential for clarifying the image and improving the ability to recognize distinct characteristics of the image. The field of digital image processing is widespread in several research and technology applications. In many of these applications, the existence of impulsive noise in the obtained images is one of the most frequent problems. The median filter is a strong method to remove the impulsive noise; it effectively eliminates salt and pepper noise from the image. The main target of this paper is to investigate efficient median filter units to be connected to a general-purpose processor (GPP) for FPGA-based embedded systems. The paper exposes three novel techniques, two of them specially for median filtering techniques and the third one is used to get the maximum number of any 9 elements array. The proposed algorithms are inspired by the Median Of Median (MOM) algorithm. The first two techniques are tested for filtering 3 times 3 image windows and optimized for producing the expected result in high accuracy, short time, and reduced number of comparisons. The last technique is tested for a 9 elements array for extracting the maximum number in same high efficiency manner. Furthermore, the three proposed techniques are implemented leveraging the advantage of the parallel processing and the FPGA flexible resources to satisfy the real-time processing constraints. A comparison between the first two proposed filtering units and their counterparts in the literature is included. The comparison reveals the superiority of the first technique in terms of accuracy with fewer comparators than previously published techniques. Besides, the paper illustrates how the concept beyond the proposed techniques can be used to perform the maximum pooling for convolution neural networks.

Study of Water Filtration Without Chemical Pre-Treatment

This research work focused on studying water purification without chemical pre-treatment. In the studies, alternative approaches were carried out to develop a filter bed suitable for filtering water without the use of chemical treatments that is also cost effective. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes (100 × 1700) mm were used as filter boxes. The experiment carried out during the study was divided into two major parts; that is slow sand and rapid sand filter parameters. The slow sand filter consisted of two filter pipes, one consisting of a stratified layer of sand of size range of 0.20 – 0.60 mm with a depth of 700 mm as filter medium. The turbidity, filtration rate and head loss of the effluent across the filter were monitored for 15 days. It was found that slow sand filter plus granular activated carbon (GAC) and rapid sand filter plus GAC were more effective in the removal of turbidity. Turbidity reduced with the increase in time. Rapid sand filter was found to be the least effective in the removal of bacteria while slow sand filter plus GAC was the most effective. The slow sand filter unit gave a very high coliform count compared to other filter units. It was found that the filtration rate plays a vital role in the mechanism of filtration.

Quantification and characterization of microplastics in surface water samples from the Northeast Atlantic Ocean using laser direct infrared imaging

15 filtration samples were collected at eight locations onboard the RV Sonne (cruise SO279 in 2020) from 6 m water depth using a fractionated stainless-steel filtration unit. The size fraction > 300 μm was visually examined and potential microplastic particles were analyzed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The treatment of size class 20 μm < d < 300 μm was based on enzymatic-oxidative microwave-assisted “one-pot” matrix digestion in conjunction with analysis of the microplastics by time-efficient LDIR imaging.Total number concentrations ranged from 47 to 2154 microplastic particles per m3 (average for all stations: 500 ± 700 microplastic particles m−3 (1 SD; n = 8)). In total, 20 polymer types were identified. The most common polymer types were polyethylene terephthalate (20 %) and acrylates/polyurethane/varnish (15 %). 93 % of the detected microplastics were smaller than 100 μm in length. Analysis of sample replicates indicates high spatio-temporal variations in microplastic pollution within the investigated region.

Air filtration mitigates aerosol levels both during and after endoscopy procedures.

Upper gastrointestinal endoscopies are aerosol-generating procedures, increasing the risk of spreading airborne pathogens. We aim to quantify the mitigation of airborne particles via improved ventilation, specifically laminar flow theatres and portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, during and after upper gastrointestinal endoscopies. This observational study included patients undergoing routine upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in a standard endoscopy room with 15-17 air changes per hour, a standard endoscopy room with a portable HEPA filtration unit, and a laminar flow theatre with 300 air changes per hour. A particle counter (diameter range 0.3μm-25μm) took measurements 10cm from the mouth. Three analyses were performed: whole procedure particle counts, event-based counts, and air clearance estimation using post-procedure counts. Compared to a standard endoscopy room, for whole procedures we observe a 28.5x reduction in particle counts in laminar flow (p < 0.001) but no significant effect of HEPA filtration (p = 0.50). For event analysis, we observe for lateral flow theatres reduction in particles >5μm for oral extubation (12.2x, p < 0.01), reduction in particles <5μm for coughing/gagging (6.9x, p < 0.05), and reduction for all sizes in anesthetic throat spray (8.4x, p < 0.01) but no significant effect of HEPA filtration. However, we find that in the fallow period between procedures HEPA filtration reduces particle clearance times by 40%. Laminar flow theatres are highly effective at dispersing aerosols immediately after production and should be considered for high-risk cases where patients are actively infectious or the supply of personal protective equipment is limited. Portable HEPA filers can safely reduce the fallow time between procedures by 40%.