Protecting Privacy When Sharing and Releasing Data with Multiple Records per Person

This study concerns the risks of privacy disclosure when sharing and releasing a dataset in which each individual may be associated with multiple records. Existing data privacy approaches and policies typically assume that each individual in a shared dataset corresponds to a single record, leading to an underestimation of the disclosure risks in multiple records per person scenarios. We propose two novel measures of privacy disclosure to arrive at a more appropriate assessment of disclosure risks. The first measure assesses individual-record disclosure risk based upon the frequency distribution of individuals’ occurrences. The second measure assesses sensitive-attribute disclosure risk based upon the number of individuals affiliated with a sensitive value. We show that the two proposed disclosure measures generalize the well-known k-anonymity and l-diversity measures, respectively, and work for scenarios with either a single record or multiple records per person. We have developed an efficient computational procedure that integrates the two proposed measures and a data quality measure to anonymize the data with multiple records per person when sharing and releasing the data for research and analytics. The results of the experimental evaluation using real-world data demonstrate the advantage of the proposed approach over existing techniques for protecting privacy while preserving data quality

Learning from microorganisms: using new insights in microbial physiology for sustainable nitrogen management

Diverse nitrogen-transforming microorganisms with a widevariety of physiological properties are employed for biologicalnitrogen removal from wastewater. There are manytechnologies that achieve the required nitrogen dischargestandards; however, greenhouse gas emissions and energyconsumption constitute the bulk of the environmental footprintof wastewater treatment plants. In this review, we highlightcurrent and proposed approaches aiming to achieve moreenergy-efficient and environment-friendly biological nitrogenremoval, discuss whether new discoveries in microbialphysiology of nitrogen-transforming microorganisms could beused to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and summarizerecent advances in ammonium recovery from wastewater

Representative volume element (RVE) based crystal plasticity study of void growth on phase boundary in titanium alloys

Author is thankful to University of Aberdeen for the award of Elphinstone Scholarship which covers the tuition fee of PhD study of author.Peer reviewedPostprin

Investigating of Mechanical Properties of Mortars Based on Fly Ash and Blast Furnace Slag Activated with Alkali

Alkali activated mortars obtained from granulated blast furnace slag and fly ash were used instead of Portland cement by activating with alkali. Sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide were activated blast furnace slag and fly ash. Mortar samples were prepared 40x40x160 mm as prismatic samples according to TS EN 196-1 and they were cured at room temperature. Compressive and flexural strength of the mortar samples including blast furnace slag and fly ash were investigated by experimenting

Modelling Hydrogen Induced Stress Corrosion Cracking in Austenitic Stainless Steel

The authors are thankful to the University of Aberdeen and Apache North Sea for their support for this project.Peer reviewedPostprin

Simultaneous Anaerobic and Aerobic Ammonia and Methane Oxidation under Oxygen Limitation Conditions

Methane and ammonia have to be removed from wastewater treatment effluent in order to discharge it to receiving water bodies. A potential solution for this is a combination of simultaneous ammonia and methane oxidation by anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) bacteria and nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (N-damo) microorganisms. When applied, these microorganisms will be exposed to oxygen, but little is known about the effect of a low concentration of oxygen on a culture containing these microorganisms. In this study, a stable coculture containing anammox and N-damo microorganisms in a laboratory scale bioreactor was established under oxygen limitation. Membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) was used to directly measure the in situ simultaneous activity of N-damo, anammox, and aerobic ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms. In addition, batch tests revealed that the bioreactor also harbored aerobic methanotrophs and anaerobic methanogens. Together with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis and metagenomics, these results indicate that the combination of N-damo and anammox activity under the continuous supply of limiting oxygen concentrations is feasible and can be implemented for the removal of methane and ammonia from anaerobic digester effluents. IMPORTANCE Nitrogen in wastewater leads to eutrophication of the receiving water bodies, and methane is a potent greenhouse gas; it is therefore important that these are removed from wastewater. A potential solution for the simultaneous removal of nitrogenous compounds and methane is the application of a combination of nitrite/ nitrate-dependent methane oxidation (N-damo) and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (annamox). In order to do so, it is important to investigate the effect of oxygen on these two anaerobic processes. In this study, we investigate the effect of a continuous oxygen supply on the activity of an anaerobic methane- and ammonia-oxidizing coculture. The findings presented in this study are important for the potential application of these two microbial processes in wastewater treatment

Complexome analysis of the nitrite - dependent methanotroph Methylomirabilis lanthanidiphila

The atmospheric concentration of the potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide (N2O) has increased drastically during the last century. Methylomirabilis bacteria can play an import role in controlling the emission of these two gases from natural ecosystems, by oxidizing methane to CO2 and reducing nitrite to N2 without producing N2O. These bacteria have an anaerobic metabolism, but are proposed to possess an oxygen-dependent pathway for the activation of methane. Methylomirabilis bacteria reduce nitrite to NO, and are proposed to dismutate NO into O2 and N2 by a putative NO dismutase (NO-D). The O2 produced in the cell can then be used for the activation of methane by a particulate methane monooxygenase. So far, the metabolic model of Methylomirabilis bacteria was based mainly on (meta)genomics and physiological experiments. Here we applied a complexome profiling approach to determine which of the proposed enzymes are actually expressed in Methylomirabilis lanthanidiphila. To validate the metabolic model, we focused on enzymes involved in respiration, and nitrogen and C1 transformation. All complexes proposed to be involved in nitrite-dependent methane oxidation, were identified in M. lanthanidiphila, including the putative NO-D. Furthermore, several complexes involved in nitrate reduction/nitrite oxidation and NO reduction were detected, which likely play a role in detoxification and redox homeostasis. In conclusion, complexome profiling validated the expression and composition of enzymes proposed to be involved in the energy, methane and nitrogen metabolism of M. lanthanidiphila, thereby further corroborating the metabolically unique and environmentally relevant process of nitrite-dependent methane oxidation

Smart Cities: Towards a New Citizenship Regime? A Discourse Analysis of the British Smart City Standard

Growing practice interest in smart cities has led to calls for a less technology-oriented and more citizen-centric approach. In response, this articles investigates the citizenship mode promulgated by the smart city standard of the British Standards Institution. The analysis uses the concept of citizenship regime and a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods to discern key discursive frames defining the smart city and the particular citizenship dimensions brought into play. The results confirm an explicit citizenship rationale guiding the smart city (standard), although this displays some substantive shortcomings and contradictions. The article concludes with recommendations for both further theory and practice development

Spor yaralanmaları üst ekstremite yaralanmaları kapsamında omuz yaralanmaları ve tedavi yöntemleri

Her spor dalında sporcu yaralanma ile karşılaşmaktadır. Spor yaralanması çeşitlidir. Yaralanma vücudun her bölgesinde meydana gelebilir. Spor yaralanması hem sporcunun geleceği, hem de tıbbi açıdan önemsenmelidir. Yaralanma riski, sporcuların uygun forma ve kondisyona sahip olmasıyla ve sezon dışında, öncesinde ve içindeki önleyici yaklaşımlarla asgari düzeye indirilebilir. Bu bildiride sporcuların yaralanması sonucu üst ekstremite kapsamında omuz yaralanmaları ve tedavi yöntemlerinin araştırılması amaçlanmıştır. Omuz ekleminin anatomik yapısı ve sık kullanılan bir eklem olması yaralanmaya zemin hazırlamaktadır. Bu durum, kişinin hayat kalitesini ve iş gücünü azaltması bakımında toplumsal bir sorun olabilmektedir. Omuz yaralanmalarının tedavisinde birçok metod bulunmaktadır. Bunların bazıları klinik pratikte gelenekselleşmiş durumda iken (fizik tedavi modaliteleri, enjeksiyon vb.) bazıları son yıllarda oldukça popüler hale gelmiştir

Discovery of a new genus of anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria with a mechanism for oxygen tolerance

In the past 20 years, there has been a major stride in understanding the core mechanism of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria, but there are still several discussion points on their survival strategies. Here, we discovered a new genus of anammox bacteria in a full-scale wastewater-treating biofilm system, tentatively named “Candidatus Loosdrechtia aerotolerans”. Next to genes of all core anammox metabolisms, it encoded and transcribed genes involved in the dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), which coupled to oxidation of small organic acids, could be used to replenish ammonium and sustain their metabolism. Surprisingly, it uniquely harbored a new ferredoxin-dependent nitrate reductase, which has not yet been found in any other anammox genome and might confer a selective advantage to it in nitrate assimilation. Similar to many other microorganisms, superoxide dismutase and catalase related to oxidative stress resistance were encoded and transcribed by “Ca. Loosdrechtia aerotolerans”. Interestingly, bilirubin oxidase (BOD), likely involved in oxygen resistance of anammox bacteria under fluctuating oxygen concentrations, was identified in “Ca. Loosdrechtia aerotolerans” and four Ca. Brocadia genomes, and its activity was demonstrated using purified heterologously expressed proteins. A following survey of oxygen-active proteins in anammox bacteria revealed the presence of other previously undetected oxygen defense systems. The novel cbb3-type cytochrome c oxidase and bifunctional catalase-peroxidase may confer a selective advantage to Ca. Kuenenia and Ca. Scalindua that face frequent changes in oxygen concentrations. The discovery of this new genus significantly broadens our understanding of the ecophysiology of anammox bacteria. Furthermore, the diverse oxygen tolerance strategies employed by distinct anammox bacteria advance our understanding of their niche adaptability and provide valuable insight for the operation of anammox-based wastewater treatment systems