This work is to evaluate pilot-scale Revolving Algal Biofilm (RAB) reactors of two heights (0.9-m and 1.8-m tall) to treat supernatant from sludge sedimentation at Metropolitan Water Reclamation ...District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) for removing nutrients (N and P) as well as various metals. The RAB reactors demonstrated a superior performance in N and P removal as compared to control raceway ponds. Taller 1.8-m RAB reactors performed better than 0.9-m RAB reactors in terms of total nutrient removal and algal biomass productivity. At 7-day HRT, total P (TP) and Total Kjeldahl N (TKN) removal efficiency reached to 80% and 87%, respectively, while ortho-P and ammonia removal efficiency reached to 100%. Decreasing HRT led to an enhanced TP and TKN removal rate and nutrient removal capacity. At HRT of 1.3-day, the TP removal per footprint of 1.8-m tall RAB reactors was around 7-times higher than the open pond system. The RAB reactors also showed certain capabilities of removing metals from wastewater. The study demonstrated that RAB-based treatment process is an effective method to recover nutrients from municipal wastewater.
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•A Revolving Algal Biofilm (RAB) reactor was used to treat municipal wastewater.•The RAB reactors had a superior performance of removing nitrogen and phosphorus relative to open raceway ponds.•The algae in the RAB reactors effectively removed most metals from wastewater.
Partisan conflicts have been frequently analysed in comparative political science research. Yet little is known about the dimensions of political conflict at the local level in multi-level ...democracies. This article contributes to the literature on the estimation and analysis of party positions by first presenting a new dataset of more than 800 local party manifestos in Germany that allows for a systematic analysis of the dimensions of political conflict at the German local level. Secondly, it is demonstrated that (semi-)automatic content analysis of these texts offers a promising approach for gaining new insights into local party positions. Thirdly, the empirical analysis of German local party manifestos shows that partisan conflicts are not only structured along the left-right dimension but also along a dimension which distinguishes between parties addressing 'local' and 'national' issues to a varying degree in their manifestos, due to the different behaviour of established and populist parties.
Aromatase activity has commonly been associated with male infertility characterized by testicular dysfunction with low serum testosterone and/or testosterone to estradiol ratio. In this subset of ...patients, and particularly in those with hypogonadism, elevated levels of circulating estradiol may establish a negative feedback on the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis by suppressing follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) production and impaired spermatogenesis. Hormonal manipulation via different agents such as selective estrogen modulators or aromatase inhibitors to increase endogenous testosterone production and improve spermatogenesis in the setting of infertility is an off-label option for treatment. We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature of the past 30 years in order to evaluate the benefits of the use of aromatase inhibitors in the medical management of infertile/hypoandrogenic males. Overall, eight original articles were included and critically evaluated. Either steroidal (Testolactone) or nonsteroidal (Anastrozole and Letrozole) aromatase inhibitors were found to statistically improve all the evaluated hormonal and seminal outcomes with a safe tolerability profile. While the evidence is promising, future prospective randomized placebo-controlled multicenter trials are necessary to better define the efficacy of these medications.
Celebrating 50 years of penile implants Wilson, Steven K; Gross, Martin S
International journal of impotence research,
11/2023, Volume:
35, Issue:
7
Journal Article
This article introduces the thesis of threatened social identities as a new explanatory approach to the emergence of populist attitudes and tests it explicitly for the first time using quantitative ...data. We examine whether SIT indicators explain populist attitudes directly and influence effects of indicators of two established approaches: the losers of modernization thesis (LOM) and the cultural backlash thesis (CBT). We use a sample representative for the German labor force. Furthermore, we developed items to quantify the recognition of social identities for the first time with respect to social class and occupational identities. All four of our SIT indicators—recognition of social class, recognition of an East or West German identity, political recognition of occupational groups, and identity insecurity—are significant predictors of populist attitudes. Based on SEMs, we also conclude that these variables are important antecedents of previously established indicators of LOM and CBT on populist attitudes. Overall, we conclude that SIT adds to the literature on the emergence of populism as another complementary explanatory approach. In addition to being effective as an explanation in its own right, this thesis can also fill theoretical and empirical gaps of the established LOM and CBT.
Despite potentially life-threatening symptoms of disordered breathing in severe cerebral illness, there are no clear recommendations on diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for these patients.
To ...identify types of breathing disorders observed in severely neurological comprised patients, to direct further research on classification, pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment for disordered breathing in cerebral disease.
Data including polygraphy, transcutaneous capnometry, blood gas analysis and radiological examinations of patients with severe cerebral illness and disordered breathing admitted to the neurological intensive care were analyzed.
Patients (15) presented with acquired central hypoventilation syndrome (ACHS), central bradypnea, central tachypnea, obstructive, mixed and central apneas and hypopneas, Cheyne Stokes respiration, ataxic (Biot's) breathing, cluster breathing and respiration alternans.
Severe cerebral illness may result in an ACHS and in a variety of disorders of the respiratory rhythm. Two of these, abrupt switches between breathing patterns and respiration alternans, suggest the existence of a rhythmogenic respiratory network. Polygraphy, transcutaneous capnometry, blood gas analysis and MRI are promising tools for diagnosis and research alike.
•Disordered breathing in severe cerebral illness can be diagnosed by polygraphy, transcutaneous capnometry and blood gas analysis.•Cerebral illness can cause disorders of the hypercapnic respiratory drive and of the respiratory rhythm.•Severe disorders of the respiratory rhythm are bradypnea/tachypnea, ataxic breathing, cluster breathing and respiration alternans.•Cerebral illness can result in abrupt switches between different breathing patterns.•These findings support the existence of a network of generators of the respiratory rhythm in humans.
Social recognition is introduced as an explanatory factor for support for climate change mitigation measures to complement already existing research. Drawing on social identity theory, it is ...established that respect emanating from being part of a generation and social class increases support for climate policies through positive influence on self-assessed financial situation, trust in political institutions, generalized trust, and solidarity. Considering the costs and benefits of climate policies, it is assumed that the importance of respect varies between generations and social classes. Analyses are based on data which were collected via online survey (n = 3046) in September and October 2022 that are representative of the German resident population. Results from linear regressions and structural equation modeling corroborate that the influence of social recognition varies between generations and that it operates through the suggested mechanisms. The most important of these mechanisms is the strengthening of solidarity and trust in political institutions by social recognition.
We propose a theoretical framework to capture incremental solutions to cardinality constrained maximization problems. The defining characteristic of our framework is that the cardinality/support of ...the solution is bounded by a value
k
∈
N
that grows over time, and we allow the solution to be extended one element at a time. We investigate the best-possible competitive ratio of such an incremental solution, i.e., the worst ratio over all
k
between the incremental solution after
k
steps and an optimum solution of cardinality
k
. We consider a large class of problems that contains many important cardinality constrained maximization problems like maximum matching, knapsack, and packing/covering problems. We provide a general 2.618-competitive incremental algorithm for this class of problems, and we show that no algorithm can have competitive ratio below 2.18 in general. In the second part of the paper, we focus on the inherently incremental greedy algorithm that increases the objective value as much as possible in each step. This algorithm is known to be 1.58-competitive for submodular objective functions, but it has unbounded competitive ratio for the class of incremental problems mentioned above. We define a relaxed submodularity condition for the objective function, capturing problems like maximum (weighted)
d
-dimensional matching, maximum (weighted) (
b
-)matching and a variant of the maximum flow problem. We show a general bound for the competitive ratio of the greedy algorithm on the class of problems that satisfy this relaxed submodularity condition. Our bound generalizes the (tight) bound of 1.58 slightly beyond sub-modular functions and yields a tight bound of 2.313 for maximum (weighted) (b-)matching. Our bound is also tight for a more general class of functions as the relevant parameter goes to infinity. Note that our upper bounds on the competitive ratios translate to approximation ratios for the underlying cardinality constrained problems, and our bounds for the greedy algorithm carry over both.
•The male breadwinner model is critical in explaining just gender pay gaps in Germany.•For childless women and men, equal earnings are considered just.•For men with children, earnings that are ...approximately 8 % higher than those of women and childless men are considered just.•There is a just gender pay gap of about 6 % in the western states of Germany, while there is no gap in the eastern states.•Regional differences in the relevance of the male breadwinner model tend to be reflected in different just gender pay gaps.
Despite recent advances, women still earn less than men, and this gap is considerable. Moreover, even after accounting for differences in education, occupation, experience and performance, many people think that this gap is justified, which leads to a so-called just gender pay gap (JGPG). Research thus far has not been able to explain this JGPG. In this paper, we use a factorial survey experiment conducted with a population-representative sample in Germany (SOEP-Pretest 2008, 1066 persons, 26,650 vignette ratings) to test if the male breadwinner model (MBM)—the belief that fathers should be gainfully employed to provide for the material needs of their family while mothers attend to the unpaid family work—can account for this JGPG. Based on the MBM explanation, we expect that the JGPG is larger if there are children in a family. To account for the multistep rating process of the factorial survey in the SOEP-Pretest 2008, we develop and implement a new, highly flexible factorial survey model: the generalized Craggit model. Our results clearly indicate that the MBM is a critical factor driving the JGPG in Germany. While respondents think that childless women and men should be paid equally, they consider it just if men with children earn approximately 8 % more than women with children or childless persons earn. Moreover, our analyses based on the generalized Craggit model demonstrate a lower JGPG and less relevance of the MBM in the eastern federal states than in the western federal states.
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