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Phosphorus (P) is a finite and essential resource, and its linear movement from mines to waste streams may result in shortages. This has encouraged efforts to recover P from sewage systems for reuse. This study developed a new electrochemical P precipitation system for the subnatant of the sludge flotation thickening process, in which drifting Corbicula shells are added to provide a supply of calcium ions (Ca2+) to promote P precipitation. However, adding Corbicula shells to coexisting suspended solids (SS) and coagulant resulted in adsorption of the shells in the neutralized and hydrophobized floc clusters, which limited their electrochemical dissolution. Adding Corbicula shells after SS removal by flotation with electrochemically generated gases resulted in their successful electrochemical dissolution, which enhanced phosphate-P removal. Increasing the amount of Corbicula shells enhanced the phosphate-P removal to a point, after which further addition simply increased Ca2+. The consumption of H+ generated near the anode for the dissolution of Corbicula shells increased the pH of the bulk solution, which enabled P precipitation not only onto the cathode but also in the bulk solution. Analysis of chemical composition in the generated particles suggests that they can be used as a slow P-release fertilizer and soil conditioner.

In teaching sophomore level aural skills, I have dealt with students with absolute pitch do poorly in my courses, particularly in harmonic dictation. They can identify triads; however, identifying quality of seventh chords or chromatic chords poses serious challenges. Most often, they need to spell all the pitches before identifying the chord qualities and Roman Numerals. Growing up in a country where acquiring absolute pitch is considered essential, I started my early music training with fixed do system at age three and learned all my music with solfege. When I was assigned as a TA in aural skills courses at graduate school in US, I had to learn relative pitch quickly. My survival method was listening to music with absolute pitch first, then quickly "translate" to relative pitch. In teaching my courses, I have been using chord progressions (5-8 chords total), in which students are asked to sing chord arpeggiation with movable do solfege. I use same progressions for harmonic dictation; I hoped that students learn to incorporate singing and listening skills by overlapping same materials. This method has proven to be successful for most students; in particular, it has helped students with absolute pitch to hear chord quality and function. Although original progressions are written in C as a tonic, they can identify chords in harmonic dictation in other keys as well. In short, I believe singing chord progression with movable do arpeggiation helps students with absolute pitch to improve hearing function and quality of chords in harmonic dictation.

Objectives: Bacterial meningitis remains a life-threatening public health risk in Meknes with the lethality ratio surprisingly increasing from 12. 7%, 18.8% to 23.2% in 2007-2009, 2010-2012 and 2013-2015 respectively. However, to our knowledge, there are no published studies analyzing predictor factors of mortality explaining this increase in meningitis-induced mortality in Meknes. Hence, the objective was to identify the predictor factors of mortality of bacterial meningitis in Meknes in order to enhance the case management system. Study Design: Case series study. Methods:We conducted a case series study of surveillance data from Meknes collected in 2004-2015 and performed analysis by using Epi-Info 7 and Excel 2007. The outcome variable of interest was death. Univariate analysis and logistic regression were conducted to identify vital prognostic factors. The statistical significance of the results obtained was assessed using confidence interval of the estimated odds ratios and the Pearson chi-squared test. Results:The total number of reported meningitis cases was 271. The median age was 6 years. The sex ratio male/female was 1.4. The average case fatality rates per 100.000 populations were 0. 35, 0.43 and 0.78 between 2007-2009, 2010-2012 and 2013-2015 respectively. The vital prognostic factors are conscious alterations (AOR: 5.36; p=0.003), probable meningococcal meningitis (AOR: 6.42, p=0.004) and coma (AOR: 21.76, p<0.0001). Conclusions:All vital prognostic factors we identified are late factors. Unfortunately, the delay before admission to the hospital is reported in days in our current surveillance program and was not found to be a vital prognostic factor. This is probably introducing a limit in the analysis. Hence, to better characterize the underlying factors leading to death, we propose to adjust our management of cases by ensuring delays before admission are shortened and reported within hours and not days. We propose to tackle meningitis by: (i) shortening admission delays, (ii) improving early case management; (iii) strengthening prevention efforts.