Development and Application of a User-Friendly Decision Support Tool for Optimization of Wastewater Treatment Technologies in India

This is the author accepted manuscriptThe selection of suitable wastewater treatment solutions is a complex problem that requires the careful consideration of many factors. With water at a premium and water consumption increasing, India is facing a challenging time ahead, requiring effective water treatment solutions. The Wastewater Decision Support Optimiser (WiSDOM) presented here is a user-friendly software package designed to aid in the formulation and configuration of wastewater systems in developing countries such as India. WiSDOM employees advanced multi-objective optimisation and decision analysis techniques to identify optimal wastewater treatment options. It has been demonstrated that WiSDOM can adapt to a wide array of scenarios, considering a range of contributing factors (technical, environmental, economic and social), enabling an engineer to make more informed decisions

Optimising wastewater treatment solutions for the removal of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs): A case study for application in India

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IWA Publishing via the DOI in this record.The aim of this study was to produce optimal wastewater treatment solutions to calculate the removal of different CECs found in developing countries. A new methodology was developed for a decision support tool (WiSDOM), which focuses on producing treatment solutions suited to treating water for reuse to Indian Water Quality Standards. WiSDOM-CEC analyses the removal of CECs through different treatment solutions and was also used to evaluate the performance of each treatment train solution in terms of removal of conventional pollutants using multi-objective optimisation and multi criteria decision analysis. Information was collected on different CECs across different regions of India, and the removal of eighteen different CECs through 42 wastewater treatment unit processes for five different regions of India was analysed. Comparisons between similar categories of CECs, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory showed that emerging contaminants all react differently to individual treatment options. For example, the removal of Ibuprofen (IBP) and Naproxen (NPX) varied from >80% and 0%, respectively, for a solution in Karnataka involving sedimentation, submerged aerated filter, ultra-filtration and Nano filtration. In Tamil Nadu results ranged from 36.8% to 72% for Diclofenac, 10.7% to 66.5% for IBP and 0% for NPX.European CommissionNatural Environment Research Council (NERC)Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

A Diameter Probability Distribution Genetic Algorithm for Least-cost Water Distribution Network Design

Extended abstractThis is the author accepted manuscriptEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

User-Friendly Decision Support Tool for the Selection of Wastewater Treatment Technologies for the Removal of Emerging Contaminants

This is the author accepted manuscript.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of Indi

Migraine and sleep apnea in the general population

Objective is to investigate the relationship between migraine and obstructive sleep apnea in the general population. A cross-sectional population-based study. A random age and gender stratified sample of 40,000 persons aged 20–80 years residing in Akershus, Hedmark or Oppland County, Norway, were drawn by the National Population Register. A postal questionnaire containing the Berlin Questionnaire was used to classify respondents to be of either high or low risk of obstructive sleep apnea. 376 persons with high risk and 157 persons with low risk of sleep apnea aged 30–65 years were included for further investigations. They underwent an extensive clinical interview, a physical and a neurological examination by physicians, and in-hospital polysomnography. Those with apnea hypopnoea index (AHI) ≥5 were classified with obstructive sleep apnea. Migraine without aura (MO) and migraine with aura (MA) was diagnosed according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders. MO and MA occurred in 12.5 and 6.8% of the participants with obstructive sleep apnea. The logistic regression analyses showed no relationship between the two types of migraine and obstructive sleep apnea, with adjusted odds ratios for MO 1.15 (0.65–2.06) and MA 1.15 (0.95–2.39). Further, estimates using cutoff of moderate (AHI ≥ 15) and severe (AHI ≥ 30) obstructive sleep apnea, did not reveal any significant relationship between migraine and the AHI. Migraine and obstructive sleep apnea are unrelated in the general population

Tension-type headache and sleep apnea in the general population

The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between tension-type headache and obstructive sleep apnea in the general population. The method involves a cross-sectional population-based study. A random age and gender stratified sample of 40,000 persons aged 20–80 years residing in Akershus, Hedmark or Oppland County, Norway were drawn by the National Population Register. A postal questionnaire containing the Berlin Questionnaire was used to classify respondents to be of either high or low risk of obstructive sleep apnea. Included in this study were 297 persons with high risk and 134 persons with low risk of sleep apnea, aged 30–65 years. They underwent an extensive clinical interview, a physical and a neurological examination by physicians, and in-hospital polysomnography. Those with apnea hypopnoea index (AHI) ≥5 were classified with obstructive sleep apnea. Tension-type headache was diagnosed according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders. Results showed the prevalence of frequent and chronic tension-type headache was 18.7 and 2.1% in the participants with obstructive sleep apnea. The logistic regression analyses showed no significant relationship between tension-type headache and obstructive sleep apnea, with adjusted odds ratios for frequent tension-type headache of 0.95 (0.55–1.62) and chronic tension-type headache of 1.91 (0.37–9.85). The results did not change when using cut-off of moderate (AHI ≥15) and severe (AHI ≥30) obstructive sleep apnea. Thus, we did not find any significant relationship between tension-type headache and the AHI. The presence and severity of sleep apneas seem not to influence presence and attack-frequency of tension-type headache in the general population

A Single-Stranded DNA Aptamer That Selectively Binds to Staphylococcus aureus Enterotoxin B

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is a common foodborne pathogen capable of secreting a cocktail of small, stable, and strain-specific, staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs). Staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP) results when improperly handled food contaminated with SEs is consumed. Gastrointestinal symptoms of SFP include emesis, diarrhea and severe abdominal pain, which manifest within hours of ingesting contaminated food. Immuno-affinity based methods directly detect, identify, and quantify several SEs within a food or clinical sample. However, the success of these assays depends upon the availability of a monoclonal antibody, the development of which is non-trivial and costly. The current scope of the available immuno-affinity based methods is limited to the classical SEs and does not encompass all of the known or emergent SEs. In contrast to antibodies, aptamers are short nucleic acids that exhibit high affinity and specificity for their targets without the high-costs and ethical concerns of animal husbandry. Further, researchers may choose to freely distribute aptamers and develop assays without the proprietary issues that increase the per-sample cost of immuno-affinity assays. This study describes a novel aptamer, selected in vitro, with affinity to staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) that may be used in lieu of antibodies in SE detection assays. The aptamer, designated APTSEB1, successfully isolates SEB from a complex mixture of SEs with extremely high discrimination. This work sets the foundation for future aptamer and assay development towards the entire family of SEs. The rapid, robust, and low-cost identification and quantification of all of the SEs in S. aureus contaminated food is essential for food safety and epidemiological efforts. An in vitro generated library of SE aptamers could potentially allow for the comprehensive and cost-effective analysis of food samples that immuno-affinity assays currently cannot provide

A reversal of climatic trends in the North Atlantic since 2005

In the mid-1990s the North Atlantic subpolar gyre warmed rapidly, which had important climate impacts, such as increased hurricane numbers, and changes to rainfall over Africa, Europe and North America. Evidence suggests that the warming was largely due to a strengthening of the ocean circulation, particularly the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Since the mid-1990s direct and indirect measurements have suggested a decline in the strength of the ocean circulation, which is expected to lead to a reduction in northward heat transport. Here we show that since 2005 a large volume of the upper North Atlantic Ocean has cooled significantly by approximately -0.45C or 1.5x10^22 J, reversing the previous warming trend. By analysing observations and a state-of-the-art climate model, we show that this cooling is consistent with a reduction in the strength of the ocean circulation and heat transport, linked to record low densities in the deep Labrador Sea. The low density in the deep Labrador Sea is primarily due to deep ocean warming since 1995, but a long-term freshening also played a role. The observed upper ocean cooling since 2005 is not consistent with the hypothesis that anthropogenic aerosols directly drive Atlantic temperatures

Ratio of the Isolated Photon Cross Sections at \sqrt{s} = 630 and 1800 GeV

The inclusive cross section for production of isolated photons has been measured in \pbarp collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 630$ GeV with the \D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The photons span a transverse energy ($E_T$) range from 7-49 GeV and have pseudorapidity $|\eta| < 2.5$. This measurement is combined with to previous \D0 result at $\sqrt{s} = 1800$ GeV to form a ratio of the cross sections. Comparison of next-to-leading order QCD with the measured cross section at 630 GeV and ratio of cross sections show satisfactory agreement in most of the $E_T$ range.Comment: 7 pages. Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 251805, (2001