PPLICATION OF TRICKLING FILTER WITH HYBRID BIOFILM SUPPORT MEDIA IN THE TREATMENT OF PETROLEUM EFFLUENT

The use of biological trickling filter (TF) system in the treatment of petroleum effluent using Luffa cylindrica-polystyrene hybrid as biofilm support medium for microbiological growth was evaluated. The efficiency of the treatment process was measured in terms of turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD5). The TF was set up with Luffa cylindrica-polystyrene hybrid biofilm support. The pilot scale trickling system was performed at an ambient temperature and the effluent from the system was measured for turbidity, COD and BOD5. The result showed that the turbidity of the effluent was reduced to 94 % at a hydraulic retention time of 6 hrs. The COD was also reduced from 327-26 mg/l at 6 hrs. representing 92 % reduction in the COD value. The results obtained also showed that the TF achieved 78 % reduction in BOD5.Therefore, the biological trickling filter treatment process appears to be a promising wastewater treatment method for petroleum effluent with respect to the turbidity, COD and BOD5 remova

Validity Evidence for Progress Monitoring With Star Reading: Slope Estimates, Administration Frequency, and Number of Data Points

The increasing use of computerized adaptive tests (CATs) to collect information about students' academic growth or their response to academic interventions has led to a number of questions pertaining to the use of these measures for the purpose of progress monitoring. Star Reading is an example of a CAT-based assessment with considerable validity evidence to support its use for progress monitoring. However, additional validity evidence could be gathered to strengthen the use and interpretation of Star Reading data for progress monitoring. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to focus on three aspects of progress monitoring that will benefit Star Reading users. The specific research questions to be answered are: (a) how robust are the estimation methods in producing meaningful progress monitoring slopes in the presence of outliers; (b) what is the length of the time interval needed to use Star Reading for the purpose of progress monitoring; and (c) how many data points are needed to use Star Reading for the purpose of progress monitoring? The first research question was examined using a Monte Carlo simulation study. The second and third research questions were examined using real data from 6,396,145 students who took the Star Reading assessment during the 2014–2015 school year. Results suggest that the Theil-Sen estimator is the most robust estimator of student growth when using Star Reading. In addition, it appears that five data points and a progress monitoring window of approximately 20 weeks appear to be the minimum parameters for Star Reading to be used for the purpose of progress monitoring. Implications for practice include adapting the parameters for progress monitoring according to a student's current grade-level performance in reading

Nash Equilibrium and the Evolution of Preferences

A population of players of players is randomly matched to play a normal form game G. The payoffs in this game represent the fitness associated with the various outcomes. Each individual has preferences over the outcomes in the game and chooses an optimal action with respect to those preferences. However, these preferences needn't coincide withe the fitness payoffs. When evolution selects individuals on the basis of the fitness of the actions they choose, the distribution of aggregate play must be a Nash equilibrium of G. Weak additional assumptions on the evolutionary process imply perfect equilibrium.

Схемотехническое моделирование и синтез активных СВЧ-фильтров на полевых транзисторах Шоттки

Разработаны схемы активных СВЧ-фильтров, пригодных для исполнения в виде гибридной или полупроводниковой микросхемы

Investigating Measurement Invariance Assumption Using Item Parameter Drift Across Grade Levels and ELL Groups

Stanke, Luke; Palma, Jose; Bulut, Okan; Rodriguez, Michael C.. (2013). Investigating Measurement Invariance Assumption Using Item Parameter Drift Across Grade Levels and ELL Groups. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/194901

Papers please: Predictive factors of national and international attitudes toward immunity and vaccination passports. Online representative surveys

BACKGROUND: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are introducing digital passports that allow citizens to return to normal activities if they were previously infected with (immunity passport) or vaccinated against (vaccination passport) SARS-CoV-2. To be effective, policy decision-makers must know whether these passports will be widely accepted by the public and under what conditions. This study focuses attention on immunity passports, as these may prove useful in countries both with and without an existing COVID-19 vaccination program; however, our general findings also extend to vaccination passports. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess attitudes toward the introduction of immunity passports in six countries, and determine what social, personal, and contextual factors predicted their support. METHODS: We collected 13,678 participants through online representative sampling across six countries—Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom—during April to May of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and assessed attitudes and support for the introduction of immunity passports. RESULTS: Immunity passport support was moderate to low, being the highest in Germany (775/1507 participants, 51.43%) and the United Kingdom (759/1484, 51.15%); followed by Taiwan (2841/5989, 47.44%), Australia (963/2086, 46.16%), and Spain (693/1491, 46.48%); and was the lowest in Japan (241/1081, 22.94%). Bayesian generalized linear mixed effects modeling was used to assess predictive factors for immunity passport support across countries. International results showed neoliberal worldviews (odds ratio [OR] 1.17, 95% CI 1.13-1.22), personal concern (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.00-1.16), perceived virus severity (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01-1.14), the fairness of immunity passports (OR 2.51, 95% CI 2.36-2.66), liking immunity passports (OR 2.77, 95% CI 2.61-2.94), and a willingness to become infected to gain an immunity passport (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.51-1.68) were all predictive factors of immunity passport support. By contrast, gender (woman; OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.82-0.98), immunity passport concern (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.57-0.65), and risk of harm to society (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.67-0.76) predicted a decrease in support for immunity passports. Minor differences in predictive factors were found between countries and results were modeled separately to provide national accounts of these data. CONCLUSIONS: Our research suggests that support for immunity passports is predicted by the personal benefits and societal risks they confer. These findings generalized across six countries and may also prove informative for the introduction of vaccination passports, helping policymakers to introduce effective COVID-19 passport policies in these six countries and around the world