A down-flow hanging Sponge (DHS) reactor has been developed for sewage treatment, mainly in developing countries. This novel reactor employs polyurethane Sponge material as a support medium, which promises a proliferation of a large amount of biomass, offering excellent pollutant removal capability. Three types of Sponge medium were evaluated with respect to water distribution and oxygen mass transfer. Water was supplied to the device, which consisted of 40 pieces of Sponge media connected in series, and a tracer experiment was carried out. The ratios of actual hydraulic retention time (HRT) to theoretical HRT were in the range of 25-67% depending on the type of support medium. By supplying deoxygenated water from the top of the device, the overall volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient, KLa, was evaluated. Despite the non-aerated conditions, theKLa values of the support media were very high, in the range of 0.56-4.88 (1/min), surpassing those of other mechanically aerated processes. Furthermore, it was found that the suspended solids (SS) concentration in the influent played a role in increasing the actual HRT/theoretical HRT ratio, suggesting that managing the influent SS concentration is prerequisite for preventing clogging problems in the DHS.

Introduction: Wound debridement is necessary before skin grafting or wound closure. Inappropriate wound bed preparation will led to graft rejection and sometimes catastrophic results, especially in large wounds, . Usage of popular debridement and excision devices such as dermatomes has some difficulties and disadvantages. In this study we will introduce metallic scrub Sponge as a safe and effective debridement device. Methods: The surgeon usually uses a sterile metallic scrub Sponge over the wound with transverse or rotational repeated movement. Wound preparing with metallic Sponge should be stopped when pinpoint bleeding occurs. We used sterile metallic Sponge for more than 2500 burn patients. Results: The results are excellent for deep second degree burn (and deeper burns at least 5-10 days after burn when some eschar loosening occurs). Work with scrub Sponge was effective, fast and safe. Discussion: Metallic scrub Sponge is a useful device for wound preparation due to its some special characteristics. Debridement of the burn wound with metallic Sponge can preserve the spontaneous epithelialization potential of skin in second degree burns and reduce additional injury to the viable tissue that is inevitable by surgical debridement. Cost effectiveness, easy accessibility, safety, softness, inertness and some others are among the other advantages of metallic Sponge usage for wound preparation. Conclusion: Due to metallic Sponge’ s simplicity and capability to remove necrotic loose tissues and easy accessibility everywhere and minimal adverse effects, it is a good first line tool for wound preparation and debridement.

Okara is by-product of soy milk and tofu production with exclusive nutritional value and functional properties that is not sufficiently applied in food industry. The purpose of present study was optimization of Sponge cake formulation with okara (0-66% of wheat flour) and kiwi (0-25% of wheat flour) as an enzymatic improver with response surface methodology. Rregarding to the most important qualitative parameters of Sponge cake such as moisture, density, porosity, color and textural profile, the best quantities of okara and kiwi in formulation were considered %29.7 and %12.45 respectively. According to the results, retrogradiation progress in optimized sample with okara and kiwi is significantly lower than control and cohesiveness of texture in 14 days shelf life is maintained. While in control sample, cohesiveness is reduced significantly in storage time. Furthermore, the springiness of its texture shows significant increase in storage time. Therefore, the use of optimal amounts of okara and also kiwiin in Sponge cake formulations in addition of improving nutritional value, have considerable impact on reducing rate of retrogradiation process of products.