Membrane techniques for removal detergents and petroleum products from carwash effluents: a review

One of the most significant urban services is the carwash, which generates large amounts of wastewater containing a variety of pollutants, including sand, gravel, suspended solids, surfactants, oil products, diesel cleaners, etc., that may cause environmental pollution when transferred to the sewage system without any treatment. The effective treatment is crucial to prevent environmental pollution as well as to recycle the water source. Contaminants are removed from carwash effluent using a variety of treatment technologies. This review focuses on identifying and comparing efficiency of using advanced commercial and modified membrane filtration techniques, meeting discharge standard regulations, to treat carwash impurities, especially detergents/surfactants (anionic surfactant) and petroleum products (oil/grease). The results of this review indicate that ultrafiltration membrane (UF) is the most common membrane filtration technology for carwash wastewater treatment. Additionally, the adoption of traditional pre-treatment processes may be advantageous before utilization of membrane process for treating carwash wastewater; although conventional treatment processes can produce a high quality of effluent, they are less effective than membrane systems

STEAM-Education as Innovative Technology for Industry 4.0

The article is devoted to the development of STEAM-education design model, which is based on project training in the so-called “creative spaces.” “Creative spaces” are integration platforms for schoolchildren, students and postgraduates working in the format of joint work on projects initiated by various structures of society and business. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that among the skills necessary for successful professional activity in the era of the digital industry, according to experts, the ability to artistic creativity takes a special place. The analysis of the experience of various countries in the implementation of STEM and STEAM-education is made and effective ways of structuring technical disciplines, art and creative activity in a single integration program are identified. The article presents the results of experimental work on determining the level of formation of such competencies as the ability to manage projects and processes, system thinking, the ability to artistic creativity, the ability to work with teams, groups and individuals, the ability to work in a mode of high uncertainty and rapid change of conditions of tasks. It is shown that the use of “creative spaces” for the implementation of project activities of schoolchildren and students, the inclusion of the category “art” in its content allows students to form skills and competencies necessary for industry 4.0, that is, the proposed model can be considered as a universal tool for high-quality training of schoolchildren and students for professional activities in modern conditions

The Harm of Alcohol to Human Health

Употребление горячительных напитков неизбежно наносит вред человеческому здоровью, как в физическом, так и в психическом плане. Зачастую, злоупотребители не осознают масштаб последствий своей плохой привычки. Человек, употребляющий алкоголь, разъедает себя изнутри, разъедает все вокруг себя, пресекает возможность иметь здоровое и развитое потомство.The use of strong drinks inevitably harms human health, both physically and mentally. Oftentimes, abusers are unaware of the magnitude of the consequences of their bad habit. A person who drinks alcohol eats away at himself from the inside, eats away at everything around him, prevents the possibility of having healthy and developed offspring

A Mini-Review of Enhancing Ultrafiltration Membranes (Uf) for Wastewater Treatment: Performance and Stability

The scarcity of freshwater resources in many regions of the world has contributed to the emergence of various technologies for treating and recovering wastewater for reuse in industry, agriculture, and households. Deep wastewater treatment from oils and petroleum products is one of the difficult tasks that must be solved. Among the known technologies, UF membranes have found wide industrial application with high efficiency in removing various pollutants from wastewater. It is shown that the search for and development of highly efficient, durable, and resistant to oil pollution UF membranes for the treatment of oily wastewater is an urgent research task. The key parameters to improve the performance of UF membranes are by enhancing wettability (hydrophilicity) and the antifouling behavior of membranes. In this review, we highlight the using of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes primarily to treat oily wastewater. Various methods of polymer alterations of the UF membrane were studied to improve hydrophilicity, the ability of antifouling the membrane, and oil rejection, including polymer blending, membrane surface modification, and the mixed membrane matrix. The influence of the type and composition of the hydrophilic additives of nanoparticles (e.g., Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), graphene oxide (GO), zinc oxide (ZnO), and titanium dioxide (TiO2 ), etc.) was investigated. The review further provides an insight into the removal efficiency percent. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Влияние конкуренции на региональную продовольственную безопасность (пример рынка молока и молочной Республики Татарстан)

Дата поступления 7 июня 2019 г.; дата принятия к печати 3 сентября 2019 г.Received June 7, 2019; accepted September 03, 2019.Regional food markets are important structural elements of the national market. Development of the market environment is one of the key methods of stimulating food production. As the agro-industrial policy changes its focus from import substitution towards export-oriented production, the role of competition in the agricultural sphere becomes particularly prominent. The authors propose a new indicator characterizing the level of concentration of producers on the market – the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) for the share of gross profit of economic entities. This article is aimed at giving a theoretical justification of this approach and at providing practical recommendations for the development of regional food markets based on the regulation of food producer concentration levels. Multi-dimensional statistical calculations were used to test the hypothesis that the development of large economic entities (including monopolies) has a positive impact on the affordability and accessibility of locally produced foods. The authors measured the strength of the correlation between the socio-economic indicators that affect regional food security by using the case of the milk and dairy market in the Republic of Tatarstan. The proposed methodology is based on the decision matrix method applied to analyze the situation in local food markets, which gives us a better understanding of the situation in the whole region regarding the accessibility and affordability of foods. The correlation-regression analysis enabled us to integrate the indicators that show the impact of competition on affordability of foods with those that show the impact of producers’ efficiency on accessibility of foods in the region. The proposed approach considers profitability of economic entities, accessibility of foods and competition on the producer market and can thus be used to enhance food security by revealing the optimal priority areas for governmental policies and programs on the national, regional and local levels.Региональные продовольственные рынки являются важными структурными элементами национального рынка. Развитие рыночной среды является одним из ключевых способов стимулирования производства продуктов питания. Поскольку агропромышленная политика меняет фокус с импортозамещения на экспортно-ориентированное производство, роль конкуренции в сельскохозяйственной сфере становится особенно заметной. Авторы предлагают новый показатель, характеризующий уровень концентрации производителей на рынке, – индекс Херфиндаля-Хиршмана (HHI) для доли валовой прибыли хозяйствующих субъектов. Цель данной статьи – дать теоретическое обоснование этого подхода и дать практические рекомендации по развитию региональных продовольственных рынков на основе регулирования уровней концентрации производителей продуктов питания. Многомерные статистические расчеты использовались для проверки гипотезы о том, что развитие крупных экономических субъектов (включая монополии) оказывает положительное влияние на доступность продуктов местного производства. Авторы измерили степень корреляции между социально-экономическими показателями, влияющими на региональную продовольственную безопасность, на примере рынка молока и молокопродуктов в Республике Татарстан. Предлагаемая методология основана на методе матрицы решений, применяемом для анализа ситуации на местных продовольственных рынках, что позволяет нам лучше понять ситуацию во всем регионе в отношении доступности продуктов питания. Корреляционно-регрессионный анализ позволил нам объединить показатели, которые показывают влияние конкуренции на доступность продуктов питания, с показателями, которые показывают влияние эффективности производителей на доступность продуктов питания в регионе. Предлагаемый подход учитывает прибыльность хозяйствующих субъектов, доступность продуктов питания и конкуренцию на рынке производителей и, таким образом, может использоваться для повышения продовольственной безопасности путем выявления оптимальных приоритетных областей государственной политики и программ на национальном, региональном и местном уровнях

Groundwater Hydrogeochemical and Quality Appraisal for Agriculture Irrigation in Greenbelt Area, Iraq

This study highlights the groundwater hydrogeochemical characteristics and processes (hydrochemistry characteristics, ion exchange, and salinization) and quality suitability assessment for irrigation purposes from five wells in the Greenbelt area located in northwestern Al‐Najaf Gov-ernorate, Iraq. The suitability of groundwater for irrigation was assessed based on the irrigation water quality index (IWQI) for thirteen parameters and groundwater quality indices such as total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), soluble sodium percent (SSP), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), total hardness (TH), permeability index (PI), potential salinity (PS), Kelley’s ratio (KR), and magnesium hazard ratio (MHR). The IWQI’s average values ranged between 76–139. The results of IWQI for the first and second sampling sites showed values of 139 and 104, respectively, indicating that the groundwater was unsuitable and unsafe for irrigation. In contrast, the IWQI for the third, fourth, and fifth sites were 83, 97, and 76, respectively, indicating that the groundwater was safe and possibly used for irrigation. The EC, TDS, PS, and MHR indices were all found to be unsuitable for irrigation in all five sites, and the KR index was also found to be unsuitable for agricultural irrigation in about 80% of the sites, while it was found that the indices of SAR, SSP, RSC, PI, and TH for all sites were suitable and safe for irrigation. As a result of this study, it has been determined that groundwater in the study area is unsuitable for agricultural irrigation. For sustainable groundwater exploitation, it is advised that a continuous water‐quality‐monitoring program should be implemented, as well as the development of suitable management practices. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

МОДЕЛЬ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ РАННЕЙ ДИАГНОСТИКИ РАКА ПОЧКИ

 Challenges of early kidney cancer detection and screening significantly increase morbidity and mortality rates, thus dictating the need to improve prevention, early diagnosis and organization of medical care for the population of primorsky Krai. The aim of the study was to create a model for improving early diagnosis of kidney cancer in the primorsky Krai using the program for assessing the risk of kidney cancer (ARKC). The model included a population questionnaire to identify risk factors and algorithm of patient routing («roadmap») with suspected kidney cancer for in-depth examination and treatment. Material and Methods. 2982 residents of the primorsky Krai (women – 1950, men – 1032) in the age range 29–75 took part in the questionnaire survey using the ARKC program. Results. No risk factors were identified in 1879 (63.0 %) individuals. All patients at high risk for kidney cancer (656 – 22.0 %) and patients of the uncertainty group (447 – 15.0 %) were referred for physical and ultrasound examination to exclude kidney tumors. Non-tumor pathology of the kidneys was revealed in 156 (14.0 %) patients. Renal mass suspicious for renal cell carcinoma was revealed in 21 (1.9 %) patients (later confirmed in 17 patients with stage I–II cancer, in 3 patients with stage III, in 1 patient with stage IV). According to the results of the factor analysis, two main groups of factors had a predominant effect on the rise in the overall kidney cancer incidencer. The first group of factors (65.0 %) is caused by smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, overweight, unbalanced nutrition, and the influence of carcinogens. The second group of factors (35.0 %) is caused by problems of a medical and social nature: the low material and technical base of primary care medical organizations, the insufficient professional training of medical workers on the issues of cancer prevention and treatment, including kidney cancer.Conclusion. To improve the early detection of kidney cancer, a prognostic model with computer program for assessing the individual risk of developing kidney cancer was developed. population survey using the ARKC computer program allowed us to narrow the diagnostic search, form risk groups and effectively route patients with suspected kidney cancer for in-depth examination in accordance with the «road map».  Проблема ранней диагностики и скрининга рака почки существенным образом влияет на запущенность и смертность от данной патологии, что диктует необходимость решения проблем профилактики, улучшения ранней диагностики и организации медицинской помощи населению Приморского края при злокачественных новообразованиях (ЗНО) почки. Целью исследования явилось создание модели совершенствования ранней диагностики ЗНО почки в Приморском крае на основе разработки и внедрения в практику компьютерной программы оценки риска рака почки – «ОРРП». Эта модель включает в себя анкетирование (опрос) населения на выявление факторов риска и алгоритм маршрутизации пациентов («дорожная карта») с  подозрением на рак почки для углубленного обследования и лечения.Материал и методы. Объектом исследования было население Приморского края. Проведено анкетирование по программе «ОРРП», в котором приняли участие 2982 жителя в возрасте от 29 до 75 лет (женщин – 1950, мужчин – 1032). С целью поиска научных решений по снижению уровнясмертности от новообразований проведен анализ причин  роста онкологической заболеваемости и смертности населения Приморского края с использованием  медицинских карт пациентов, результатов ведомственных экспертиз медицинских организаций, противораковых комиссий, коллегий, аппаратных совещаний, мониторинга показателей государственной программы «Развитие здравоохранения Приморского края», «Плана мероприятий по снижению смертности населения от новообразований, втом числе злокачественных». Результаты. По результатам опроса у 1879 (63,0 %) лиц не выявлено факторов риска, им рекомендовано пройти контрольное анкетирование через 3 года. Пациенты группы высокого риска (656 – 22,0 %) были направлены к урологу для углубленного обследования. Пациенты группы неопределенности (447 – 15,0 %) были направлены на осмотр участкового терапевта. Всем пациентам групп неопределенности и высокого риска назначалось ультразвуковое исследование для исключения новообразования почек. У 156 (14,0 %) пациентов выявлена неопухолевая патология почек, у 21 (1,9 %) пациента – подозрение на ЗНО почек, которое позже подтвердилось (у 17 пациентов I–II стадии, у 3 пациентов – III стадии, у 1 пациента – IV стадии). По результатам анализа анкет на рост показателей заболеваемости раком почек оказали преимущественное влияние две основные группы факторов. Первая группа факторов (65,0 %) обусловлена курением,  чрезмерным употреблением алкоголя, избыточной массой  тела, несбалансированным питанием, влиянием  канцерогенов. Вторая группа факторов (35,0 %) обусловлена проблемами медико-социального характера: низкая материально-техническая база медицинских организаций  первичного звена, недостаточная профессиональная  подготовка медицинских работников по вопросам  профилактики, своевременной диагностики и лечения онкологических заболеваний, в том числе рака почки. Заключение. Для осуществления мероприятий по улучшению ранней диагностики ЗНО почек разработана прогностическая модель на основе компьютерной программы для оценки индивидуального риска развития ЗНО почек у населения  Приморского края. Анкетирование населения с использованием компьютерной программы «ОРРП» как первого этапа популяционного скрининга позволило сузить диагностический поиск, сформироватьгруппы риска и осуществить эффективную маршрутизацию пациентов с подозрением на ЗНО почки для углубленного обследования.

Professional competences in STEM education

© 2020, Kassel University Press GmbH. The ongoing changes in the modern world - represented with nano-, bio-, info- and cognitive technological development - requires a certain skill set, mastering of which is necessary for any professional and above all - a STEM-specialist. Thus, alongside the technological advancement, leading global corporations seek to employ candidates exhibiting particular soft-skills, among which leadership and emotional intellect are in especially high demand. The purpose of the article is to formulate a comprehensive STEM portfolio, consisting of soft, emotional and leadership skills (SELS). Consequently, a new method of developing leadership skills in the STEM educational process is offered. As opposed to traditional methods of management, the new approach is based on the principle of emotional intellect, thus allowing to influence employees on a level that engages them personally, hence more effectively. The offered methodology is applicable in both educational and corporate spheres of professional STEM activity

Professional competences in STEM education

The ongoing changes in the modern world - represented with nano-, bio-, info- and cognitive technological development - requires a certain skill set, mastering of which is necessary for any professional and above all - a STEM-specialist. Thus, alongside the technological advancement, leading global corporations seek to employ candidates exhibiting particular soft-skills, among which leadership and emotional intellect are in especially high demand. The purpose of the article is to formulate a comprehensive STEM portfolio, consisting of soft, emotional and leadership skills (SELS). Consequently, a new method of developing leadership skills in the STEM educational process is offered. As opposed to traditional methods of management, the new approach is based on the principle of emotional intellect, thus allowing to influence employees on a level that engages them personally, hence more effectively. The offered methodology is applicable in both educational and corporate spheres of professional STEM activity. © 2020, Kassel University Press GmbH

Studying abrasive wear of materials for direct and indirect restorations with increased dental abrasion

Strength characteristics of restoration materials, namely their resistance to abrasive wear, are of great importance in choosing a treatment method for increased dental abrasion. The purpose of this study was to research the abrasive wear of materials for direct and indirect dental restorations in patients with increased dental abrasion by measuring areas of the teeth occlusion using computer occlusiograms. Patients who underwent direct restorations with nanocomposite and indirect restorations with lithium disilicate ceramic restorations as a treatment for increased dental abrasion were underwent occlusiography by using TScan III (Tekscan, USA) 1 month and 24 months after the treatment was completed, to measure the area of teeth occlusion in the IP position (a multi-point occlusal contact position). The degree of dental abrasion of restoration materials provided judging on changing the area of occlusal contacts in the same patient over time and in compared with the area of occlusal contacts in the control group. The results of the study shown that the resistance to abrasive wear of ceramic restorations is in consistent with a tooth enamel, and nanocomposite materials, despite their durability, are prone to abrasion as well. Therefore, indirect ceramic restorations should be in preference in treatment of increased dental abrasion, in which an increased occlusive load is one of the clinical manifestations