The goals of the study were to determine the effectiveness of a laboratory-scale biofilter on the removal of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and investigate the operating parameter effects on biofilter performance. The experimental results show that average MTBE removals of 53.6-93.2% were observed at loads of 2.5-20.1 gm −3 h −1 and an empty-bed residence time of three minutes, after continuous operation for four months throughout the biofilter acclimation period. After a one-day recovery period operation, the biofilter system recovered from the introduction of a shock load. More than 99% removal efficiencies were achieved for the inlet MTBE concentration at 50 ppmv and with the highest residence time. MTBE removals at the bottom section of the biofilter were consistently lower than for the top section, which was attributed to insufficient microorganism growth in the bottom section. The parameters estimated by using the Michaelis-Menten equation were 1.116 ± 0.51 ppmv s −1 for the maximum removal rate (V m ), and 26.38 ± 17.21 ppmv for the half-saturation constant (K s ), evaluated at the biofilter exit.

Aims To develop a clinical medical material management App for nurses, in order to reduce their workload and improve the efficacy of medical material management. Design The single-group pre- and post-test experimental design was adopted. Methods The subjects were nurses in the intensive care units of a regional hospital in Hsinchu City enrolled by purposive sampling. Single-group pre-tests and post-tests were conducted. The research period was from November 2019 to March 2020. The workload, stress, and information acceptance of 57 nurses before and after the intervention of the Medical Equipment App were collected. The research tools included a structured questionnaire, which includes open questions that cover the aspects of workload, stress, and information acceptance intention of nurses, as well as a demographic questionnaire, which collects the basic personal data, including gender, age, years of service, educational level, nursing ability level, use ability of IT products, and unit type. The results were analyzed and compared using SPSS, APP Inventor, and data mining modeling to determine the effects of the App. Results After employing the Shift Check App, the average workload of nurses was effectively reduced, in particular, the workload reduction of the N1 level nursing ability was greater than that of N2. In addition to satisfaction, the scores of information acceptance intention in all aspects, including behavioral intention, technology use intention, and contributing factors, all increased. Conclusion The use of information technology products to assist medical material management in clinical practice has a significant effect on the load reduction of nurses and improvement of satisfaction. Clinical relevance The App developed in this study can improve nurses’ work satisfaction, quality of care and workload reduction.

The influence of deicing chemicals on alkali reactivity of aggregates is still an area of active research. The potential alkali reactivity of aggregates is often tested using the ASTM C1260 method. This research used the modified ASTM C1260 to test the potential alkali reactivity of aggregates. The modification included replacing the standard 1N sodium hydroxide (NaOH) used in ASTM C1260 with eutectic concentrations of the three common chloridebased deicing chemicals: sodium chloride (NaCl), magnesium chloride (MgCl 2 ), and calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ). The results showed that the mortar bars with reactive aggregate (Jobe sand) stored in NaCl solution developed higher expansion than those stored in MgCl 2 and CaCl 2 solutions. It seems NaCl can initiate (or accelerate) the alkali silica reaction (ASR), while MgCl 2 and CaCl 2 do not seem to contribute to ASR. In addition, after about 100-120 days of exposure, irrespective of whether they contained reactive (Jobe sand) or nonreactive (Ottawa sand) aggregates, the mortar bars submerged in the MgCl 2 solution started to crack and disintegrate. This implies that the observed expansions should be attributed solely to the effect of these deicers on the cement paste itself rather than to their effects on aggregates. The proposed modified test method produced conclusive results within a relatively short testing time (~28 days).

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