Beyond Discharge Disposition: A Scoping Review on Sociodemographic Disparities in Rehabilitation Use After Hip and Knee Arthroplasty.

Objective: The aims of this scoping review were to summarize the evidence regarding sex, racial, ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomic disparities in post-acute rehabilitation following total hip arthroplasty (THA) and knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Methods: Literature searches were conducted in Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and PEDro. Studies were included if they were original research articles published 1993 or later; used data from the US; included patients after THA and/or TKA; presented results according to relevant sociodemographic variables, including sex, race, ethnicity, geography, or socioeconomic status; and studied the utilization of post-acute rehabilitation as an outcome.

Demonstrating Compliance with Stringent Nitrogen Limits Using a Biological Nutrient Removal Process in California's Central Valley.

The Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (District) must be compliant with stringent nitrogen limits by 2021 that the existing treatment facilities cannot meet. An 11-month pilot study was conducted to confirm that these limits could be met with an air activated sludge biological nutrient removal (BNR) process. The pilot BNR treated an average flow of 946 m(3)/d and demonstrated that it could reliably meet the ammonia limit, but that external carbon addition may be necessary to satisfy the nitrate limit.

Process Performance of Secondary Effluent Granular Media Filtration with and without Preozonation.

A 10-month pilot study compared the performance of conventional granular media filtration (CGMF) with granular media filtration with preozonation (OGMF) to determine the effects of preozonation on filter performance. Filtration recoveries were lower for OGMF compared to CMGF when operated at a loading rate of 18.3 m/h.

A critical review of nuisance foam formation and biological methods for foam management or elimination in nutrient removal facilities.

The classifying selector was introduced to the wastewater industry in 2001, after several successful full-scale applications. The classifying selector concept distinguishes itself from the earlier surface foam wasting schemes in that negative selection pressure is maintained so that nuisance foam-causing organisms cannot gain a foothold in sufficient numbers to cause nuisance foams. The propensity of the nuisance-causing organism to attach to bubbles and establish a rising velocity is used to enrich them in a surface mixed liquor layer, where they are wasted.

Analysis of organic nitrogen removal in municipal wastewater by reverse osmosis.

The results of a pilot study that was conducted to determine the total nitrogen removal by the reverse osmosis process are presented. The organic nitrogen removal rates are compared with removals observed from three full-scale reverse osmosis facilities and four pilot studies. The results of this analysis suggest that organic nitrogen removal is variable and that reverse osmosis may not consistently produce total nitrogen levels less than 1.

WEF/WERF study of BNR plants achieving very low N and P limits: evaluation of technology performance and process reliability.

The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) funded a two-year comprehensive study of nutrient removal plants designed and operated to meet very low effluent total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations. WERF worked with the Water Environment Federation (WEF) to solicit participation of volunteers and provide a forum for information exchange at workshops at its annual conferences. Both existing and new technologies are being adapted to meet requirements that are as low as 3.

Introduction of new process technology into the wastewater treatment sector.

Innovative wastewater treatment technologies are developed to respond to changing regulatory requirements, increase efficiency, and enhance sustainability or to reduce capital or operating costs. Drawing from experience of five successful new process introductions from both the inventor/developer's and adopter's viewpoints coupled with the application of marketing analysis tools (an S curve), the phases of new technology market penetration can be identified along with the influence of market drivers, marketing, patents and early adopters. The analysis is used to identify measures that have increased the capture of benefits from new technology introduction.

Performance of a pilot-scale continuous flow microbial electrolysis cell fed winery wastewater.

A pilot-scale (1,000 L) continuous flow microbial electrolysis cell was constructed and tested for current generation and COD removal with winery wastewater. The reactor contained 144 electrode pairs in 24 modules. Enrichment of an exoelectrogenic biofilm required ~60 days, which is longer than typically needed for laboratory reactors.

The effect of degree of recycle on the nitrifier growth rate.

The nitrifier maximum specific growth rate, mu(A),max, is a critical parameter for the design and performance of nitrifying activated sludge systems. Although many investigations studied mu(A),max, only a few have dealt with the effect of the reactor configuration on this important kinetic parameter. Bench- and full-scale trials were devised to study the effect of the internal mixed-liquor recycle (IMLR) on the nitrifier growth rate constant.

Analyzing wet weather flow management using state of the art tools.

Optimal secondary clarifier performance is crucial to meet treatment requirements, especially when treating peak wet weather flows (PWWFs), to prevent high effluent suspended solids (ESS) concentrations and elevated sludge blankets. A state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was successfully used as a design and diagnostic tool to optimize performance for municipal wastewater treatment plants subject to significant PWWFs. Two case studies are presented.

Effect of operational parameters on the removal of particulate chemical oxygen demand in the activated sludge process.

The removal of particulate material in the aeration basin of the activated sludge process is mainly attributed to bioflocculation and hydrolysis of particulate substrate. The bioflocculation process in the aeration tank of the activated sludge process occurs only under favorable conditions in the system, and several common operational parameters affect its performance. The principal objective of this research was to observe the effect of mixed liquor suspended solids, solids retention time (SRT), and extracellular polymer substances on the removal of particulate substrate by bioflocculation.

Kinetics of removal of particulate chemical oxygen demand in the activated-sludge process.

The existing theories incorporated to state-of-the-art, activated-sludge-consensus models indicate that the removal of particulate substrate from the liquid in the activated-sludge process is a two-step process: instantaneous enmeshment of particles and hydrolysis followed by oxidation. However, experimental observations indicate that the removal of particles is not instantaneous and needs a more accurate description. This removal process can actually be described as a three-step process: flocculation, hydrolysis, and oxidation.

Quantification of denitrification potential in carbonaceous trickling filters.

Biofilm samples from a carbonaceous trickling filter (TF) were evaluated in bench scale reactors to determine their maximum potential denitrification rates. Intact, undisturbed biofilms were placed into 0.6 L bench-scale reactors filled with sterilized, primary clarifier effluent spiked with nitrate to a final concentration of 16-18 mg/L as N.

Making classifying selectors work for foam elimination in the activated-sludge process.

Classifying selectors are used to control the population of foam-causing organisms in activated-sludge plants to prevent the development of nuisance foams. The term, classifying selector, refers to the physical mechanism by which these organisms are selected against; foam-causing organisms are enriched into the solids in the foam and their rapid removal controls their population at low levels in the mixed liquor. Foam-causing organisms are wasted "first" rather than accumulating on the surface of tanks and thereby being wasted "last", which is typical of the process.

A new process for enriching nitrifiers in activated sludge through separate heterotrophic wasting from biofilm carriers.

A new process, the biofilm-activated sludge innovative nitrification (BASIN) process, consisting of a moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) with separate heterotrophic wasting, followed by an activated-sludge process, has been proposed to reduce the volumetric requirements of the activated-sludge process for nitrification. The basic principle is to remove chemical oxygen demand on the biofilm carriers by heterotrophic organisms and then to waste a portion of the heterotrophic biomass before it can be released into the activated-sludge reactor. By this means, the amount of heterotrophic organisms grown in the activated-sludge reactor is reduced, thereby reducing the volume of that tank needed for nitrification.