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Creating a schedule to perform certain actions in a realworld environment typically involves multiple types of uncertainties. To create a plan which is robust towards uncertainties, it must stay flexible while attempting to be reliable and as close to optimal as possible. A plan is reliable if an adjustment to accommodate for a new requirement causes only a few disruptions. The system needs to be able to adapt to the schedule if unforeseen circumstances make planned actions impossible, or if an unlikely event would enable the system to follow a better path. To handle uncertainties, the used methods need to be dynamic and adaptive. The planning algorithms must be able to re-schedule planned actions and need to adapt the previously created plan to accommodate new requirements without causing critical disruptions to other required actions.
Vast amounts of oily wastewater are byproducts of the petrochemical and the shipping industry and to this day frequently discharged into water bodies either without or after insufficient treatment. To alleviate the resulting pollution, water treatment processes are in great demand. Bubble column humidifiers (BCHs) as part of humidification–dehumidification systems are predestined for such a task, since they are insensitive to different feed liquids, simple in design and have low maintenance requirements. While humidification in a bubble column has been investigated plentiful for desalination, a systematic investigation of oily wastewater treatment is missing in literature. We filled this gap by analyzing the treatment of an oil–water emulsion experimentally to derive recommendations for future design and operation of BCHs. Our humidity measurements indicate that the air stream is always saturated after humidification for a liquid height of only 10 cm. A residual water mass fraction of 3.5 wt% is measured after a batch run of six hours. Furthermore, continuous measurements show that an increase in oil mass fraction leads to a decrease in system productivity especially for high oil mass fractions. This decrease is caused by the heterogeneity of the liquid temperature profile. A lower liquid height mitigates this heterogeneity, therefore decreasing the heat demand and improving the overall efficiency. The oil content of the produced condensate is below 15 ppm, allowing discharge into various water bodies. The results of our systematic investigation prove suitability and indicate a strong future potential for the use of BCHs in oily wastewater treatment.
Das Modellprojekt „Caritas Care – Betreuung zuhause“ wurde 2012 in einer Kooperation der Caritas Schweiz und der Caritas Alba Iulia (Transsylvanien/Rumänien) ins Leben gerufen. Damit sollte ein Modell geschaffen werden, welches einerseits dem wachsenden Markt der „Betreuung zuhause“ in der Schweiz entgegenkommt, aber andererseits fairere Arbeitsbedingungen für die Betreuungspersonen vorsieht. Fairness sollte durch einen Versicherungsschutz der Arbeitskräfte, Weiterbildungsmöglichkeiten und ein Entgelt, das mit anderen Arbeitsverhältnissen vergleichbar ist, sowie dank klar abgegrenzter Arbeits-, Präsenz- und Freizeit erreicht werden. Die Umsetzung erfolgt folgendermaßen: Angestellte Betreuungs- und Pflegefachkräfte der Caritas Alba Iulia können für sechs Wochen bis zu drei Monaten in die Schweiz gehen, um dort in Privathaushalten hilfsbedürftige Menschen zu unterstützen (Live-in-Betreuungen). Sie werden während dieser Zeit von der Caritas Schweiz angestellt. Danach kehren die Betreuenden wieder in ihr Anstellungsverhältnis bei der Caritas Alba Iulia zurück. Es wird sozusagen Personal „verliehen“. Damit soll einem Verlust von qualifiziertem Betreuungs- und Pflegepersonal durch Abwanderung aus Rumänien entgegengewirkt werden. Im Rahmen des studiengangsübergreifenden, interdisziplinären Kontextstudiums der Masterstudiengänge der Fachhochschule Vorarlberg (Österreich) hat sich eine Gruppe Forschender zum Ziel gesetzt, dieses Modellprojekt forscherisch zu erkunden. Wir wollten wissen, wie dieses Live-in-Betreuungsangebot nach zehn Jahren Laufzeit funktioniert. Insbesondere interessierten uns die Erfahrungen der rumänischen Betreuer:innen und ihrer Angehörigen sowie der projektverantwortlichen Leitungspersonen in der Caritas Alba Iulia und der Caritas Schweiz. Im Rahmen einer Feldforschungswoche im Juli 2022 in Transsylvanien/Siebenbürgen wurden 28 formelle Interviews mit Projektverantwortlichen, Betreuern/Betreuerinnen und deren Angehörigen durchgeführt. Zusätzlich wurden Dokumente und Feldnotizen sowie Gedächtnisprotokolle von informellen Gesprächen mit Personen der extramuralen Einrichtungen in Rumänien in die Auswertung integriert. Die Auswertung erfolgte inhaltsanalytisch.
Organic acidurias (OAs), urea-cycle disorders (UCDs), and maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) belong to the category of intoxication-type inborn errors of metabolism (IT-IEM). Liver transplantation (LTx) is increasingly utilized in IT-IEM. However, its impact has been mainly focused on clinical outcome measures and rarely on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Aim of the study was to investigate the impact of LTx on HrQoL in IT-IEMs. This single center prospective study involved 32 patients (15 OA, 11 UCD, 6 MSUD; median age at LTx 3.0 years, range 0.8–26.0). HRQoL was assessed pre/post transplantation by PedsQL-General Module 4.0 and by MetabQoL 1.0, a specifically designed tool for IT-IEM. PedsQL highlighted significant post-LTx improvements in total and physical functioning in both patients' and parents' scores. According to age at transplantation (≤3 vs. >3 years), younger patients showed higher post-LTx scores on Physical (p = 0.03), Social (p < 0.001), and Total (p =0.007) functioning. MetabQoL confirmed significant post-LTx changes in Total and Physical functioning in both patients and parents scores (p ≤ 0.009). Differently from PedsQL, MetabQoL Mental (patients p = 0.013, parents p = 0.03) and Social scores (patients p = 0.02, parents p = 0.012) were significantly higher post-LTx. Significant improvements (p = 0.001–0.04) were also detected both in self- and proxy-reports for almost all MetabQoL subscales. This study shows the importance of assessing the impact of transplantation on HrQoL, a meaningful outcome reflecting patients' wellbeing. LTx is associated with significant improvements of HrQol in both self- and parentreports. The comparison between PedsQL-GM and MetabQoL highlighted that MetabQoL demonstrated higher sensitivity in the assessment of diseasespecific domains than the generic PedsQL tool.
Highly-sensitive single-step sensing of levodopa by swellable microneedle-mounted nanogap sensors
(2023)
Microneedle (MN) sensing of biomarkers in interstitial fluid (ISF) can overcome the challenges of self-diagnosis of diseases by a patient, such as blood sampling, handling, and measurement analysis. However, the MN sensing technologies still suffer from poor measurement accuracy due to the small amount of target molecules present in ISF, and require multiple steps of ISF extraction, ISF isolation from MN, and measurement with additional equipment. Here, we present a swellable MN-mounted nanogap sensor that can be inserted into the skin tissue, absorb ISF rapidly, and measure biomarkers in situ by amplifying the measurement signals by redox cycling in nanogap electrodes. We demonstrate that the MN-nanogap sensor measures levodopa (LDA), medication for Parkinson disease, down to 100 nM in an aqueous solution, and 1 μM in both the skin-mimicked gelatin phantom and porcine skin.
The production of liquid-gas mixtures with desired properties still places high demands on process technology and is usually realized in bubble columns. The physical calculation models used have individual dimensionless factors which, depending on the application, are only valid for small ranges consisting of flow velocity, nozzle geometry and test setup. An iterative but time-consuming design of such dispersion processes is used in industry for producing a liquid-gas mixture according to desired requirements. In the present investigation, we accelerate the necessary design loops by setting up a physical model, which consists of several subsystems that are enriched by dedicated experiments to realize liquid-gas dispersions with low volume fraction and small air bubble diameters in oil. Our approach allows the extraction of individual dimensionless factors from maps of the introduced subsystems. These maps allow for targeted corrective measures of a production process for keeping the quality. The calculation-based approach avoids the need for performing iterative design loops. Overall, this approach supports the controlled generation of liquid-gas mixtures.