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1. Evaluation of biofilm scouring methods on the nitrification efficiency in a pilot‐scale membrane‐aerated biofilm reactor

   https://doi.org/10.1002/wer.70044  

   Ali, Priyanka; Reeve, Matt; Carlson‐Stadler, Russell; Vela, Jeseth Delgado; Liu, Lu; Christenson, Dylan; Shaw, Andrew; Stadler, Lauren B (March 2025, Water Environment Research)

   Membrane‐aerated biofilm reactors (MABRs) are being increasingly being implemented at full‐scale for domestic wastewater treatment and effective biofilm control is critical to their performance. This study investigated the impact of three biofilm scouring strategies on nitrogen removal performance of a pilot‐scale MABR operated in Houston, TX: (1) regular air scouring, (2) high intensity air scouring, and (3) high liquid flow scouring. Normal and high intensity air scouring regimes and a high liquid flow scour (10× baseline flow) were each tested sequentially. High NH₄⁺‐N removal efficiency of 52% in flow‐through mode was observed post‐high liquid flow scouring, which was comparable to the performance during the intense scouring regime. The absolute abundance ofamoAgene for ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) increased significantly by over 200%, between pre‐ and post‐high liquid flow scouring. The energy consumption was 43% lower for the combination of high liquid flow scouring with regular air scouring as compared to the intense air scouring. This study showed that high liquid flows may be utilized as an energy‐efficient biofilm control strategy in nitrifying MABR systems. Practitioner PointsPilot‐scale MABR reactors were operated with different scouring settings: regular aeration, intense aeration, and high liquid flow.High liquid flow scouring improved nitrification efficiency, comparable to intense scouring.High liquid flow scouring selected for nitrifiers as seen by an increase in AOB quantified asamoAgene abundance.Using high liquid flow with regular aeration scouring reduces electrical energy consumption by 43% as compared to intense aeration scouring.High liquid flows may be used as an energy‐efficient biofilm control strategy to improve nitrification performance in MABR systems. 

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2. The We All Speak Math Campaign for Meaningful Discourse

   https://doi.org/10.5951/MTLT.2024.0029  

   High_School_Visions_Design_Team, NC2ML (October 2024, Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12)

   Improving mathematical discourse in high school classrooms through a statewide campaign draws on the images of high-quality instruction promoted inPrinciples to Actions. The High School Visions Design Team of the North Carolina Collaborative for Mathematics Learning 

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3. Illuminating inequality in access: Variation in enrollment in undergraduate engineering programs across Virginia's high schools

   https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20352  

   Knight, David B.; Grohs, Jacob R.; Bradburn, Isabel S.; Kinoshita, Timothy J.; Vaziri, Stacey; M. Matusovich, Holly; Carrico, Cheryl (October 2020, Journal of Engineering Education)

   Abstract BackgroundDetermining the root causes of persistent underrepresentation of different subpopulations in engineering remains a continued challenge. Because place‐based variation of resource distribution is not random and because school and community contexts influence high school outcomes, considering variation across those contexts should be paramount in broadening participation research. Purpose/HypothesisThis study takes a macroscopic systems view of engineering enrollments to understand variation across one state's public high school rates of engineering matriculation. Design/MethodThis study uses a dataset from the Virginia Longitudinal Data System that includes all students who completed high school from a Virginia public school from 2007 to 2014 (N= 685,429). We explore geographic variation in four‐year undergraduate engineering enrollment as a function of gender, race/ethnicity, and economically disadvantaged status. Additionally, we investigate the relationship between characteristics of the high school and community contexts and undergraduate engineering enrollment across Virginia's high schools using regression analysis. ResultsOur findings illuminate inequality in enrollment in engineering programs at four‐year institutions across high schools by gender, race, and socioeconomic status (and the intersections among those demographics). Different high schools have different engineering enrollment rates among students who attend four‐year postsecondary institutions. We show strong associations between high schools' engineering enrollment rates and four‐year institution enrollment rates as well as moderate associations for high schools' community socioeconomic status. ConclusionsStrong systemic forces need to be overcome to broaden participation in engineering. We demonstrate the insights that state longitudinal data systems can illuminate in engineering education research. 

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4. miniMDS: 3D structural inference from high-resolution Hi-C data

   https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btx271  

   Rieber, Lila; Mahony, Shaun (July 2017, Bioinformatics)

   Abstract MotivationRecent experiments have provided Hi-C data at resolution as high as 1 kbp. However, 3D structural inference from high-resolution Hi-C datasets is often computationally unfeasible using existing methods. ResultsWe have developed miniMDS, an approximation of multidimensional scaling (MDS) that partitions a Hi-C dataset, performs high-resolution MDS separately on each partition, and then reassembles the partitions using low-resolution MDS. miniMDS is faster, more accurate, and uses less memory than existing methods for inferring the human genome at high resolution (10 kbp). Availability and implementationA Python implementation of miniMDS is available on GitHub: https://github.com/seqcode/miniMDS. Supplementary informationSupplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. 

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5. Real-time MRI of the moving wrist at 0.55 tesla

   https://doi.org/10.1259/bjr.20230298  

   Chaudhari, Abhijit J; Lim, Yongwan; Cui, Sophia X; Bayne, Christopher O; Szabo, Robert M; Boutin, Robert D; Nayak, Krishna S (November 2023, The British Journal of Radiology)

   Objectives:Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using 1.5T or 3.0T systems is routinely employed for assessing wrist pathology; however, due to off-resonance artifacts and high power deposition, these high-field systems have drawbacks for real-time (RT) imaging of the moving wrist. Recently, high-performance 0.55T MRI systems have become available. In this proof-of-concept study, we tested the hypothesis that RT-MRI during continuous, active, and uninterrupted wrist motion is feasible with a high-performance 0.55T system at temporal resolutions below 100 ms and that the resulting images provide visualization of tissues commonly interrogated for assessing dynamic wrist instability. Methods:Participants were scanned during uninterrupted wrist radial-ulnar deviation and clenched fist maneuvers. Resulting images (nominal temporal resolution of 12.7–164.6 ms per image) were assessed for image quality. Feasibility of static MRI to supplement RT-MRI acquisition was also tested. Results:The RT images with temporal resolutions < 100 ms demonstrated low distortion and image artifacts, and higher reader assessment scores. Static MRI scans showed the ability to assess anatomical structures of interest in the wrist. Conclusion:RT-MRI of the wrist at a high temporal resolution, coupled with static MRI, is feasible with a high-performance 0.55T system, and may enable improved assessment of wrist dynamic dysfunction and instability. Advances in knowledge:Real-time MRI of the moving wrist is feasible with high-performance 0.55T and may improve the evaluation of dynamic dysfunction of the wrist. 

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