Technological characterization and environment-friendly possibilities to reuse water treatment sludge in building materials.

Water treatment plants (WTPs) produce thousands of tons of sludge annually, which is destined for landfill disposal, an environmentally and economically impractical alternative. Chemical, mineralogical, and morphological characterization besides environmental classification has been performed for WTP sludge and it was evaluated application potential in building materials, from a literature review. The characterization was carried out by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy analysis, and leaching and solubilization tests.

Typical values of z-resolution for different Digital Breast Tomosynthesis systems evaluated in a multicenter study.

Purpose: The aim of the present study, conducted by a working group of the Italian Association of Medical Physics (AIFM), was to define typical z-resolution values for different digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) models to be used as a reference for quality control (QC). Currently, there are no typical values published in internationally agreed QC protocols.

Methods: To characterize the z-resolution of the DBT models, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the artifact spread function (ASF), a technical parameter that quantifies the signal intensity of a detail along reconstructed planes, was analyzed.

Xylanase and beta-glucanase improve performance parameters and footpad dermatitis and modulate intestinal microbiota in broilers under an Eimeria challenge.

Coccidiosis is an enteric disease of poultry worldwide that compromises gut health and growth performance. The current research investigated the effects of 2 doses of a multienzyme preparation on broilers' performance, gut health, and footpad dermatitis (FPD) under an Eimeria challenge. A total of 512 mixed-sex day-old chicks (Cobb 500) were randomly allocated to 4 treatments of 8 replicates.