Disinfection of wastewater using ultraviolet radiation

The disadvantages associated with the use of chlorine for disinfection, in conjunction with improvements in ultraviolet radiation disinfection technologies have led to the recent increased use of ultraviolet radiation to provide disinfection of effluents from wastewater treatment plants. The theory of ultraviolet radiation and the engineering design of the ultraviolet disinfection system are discussed in depth. The operational history and records of two wastewater treatment plants that use ultraviolet radiation for disinfection were analyzed in an attempt to develop correlations on the factors that affect ultraviolet radiation disinfection efficiency and to investigate as to whether disinfection with ultraviolet radiation is a legitimate alternative to disinfection with chlorine. One facility is a tertiary wastewater treatment plant while the other is a secondary facility. A high level of disinfection was consistently observed at the tertiary case study facility under the range of operating conditions encountered since the ultraviolet radiation system was put on-line in January 1991. The ultraviolet disinfection system at the secondary case study facility in general provided a satisfactory level of disinfection; however, it was subject to poor disinfection efficiencies upon high plant flows. Based on the performance of the two case study facilities, ultraviolet radiation disinfection systems can be successfully used to disinfect treated wastewater effluents from both secondary and tertiary facilities. Ultraviolet radiation does represent a reliable, safe and practical alternative to disinfection with chlorine

Particle size characterization of SCMs by mercury intrusion porosimetry

Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) is widely used for the microstructural characterisation of porous solids. Comparatively few studies have employed the technique to characterise the size of particles within powdered samples. The present study uses the MIP technique to characterise the particle sizes of contemporary supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), and in particular uses the technique to present particle size distributions, rather than a single mean size. Representivity of the technique for known limitations of non-spherical and porous particles are checked using the Scanning Electron Microscope. The findings indicate that the MIP affords a good approximation of particle sizes, including distributions, of spherical and non-spherical particles. The technique was also found to provide reasonable accuracy for estimating the particle sizes of highly porous particles, where distinction between inter-particle and intra-particle porosity was made

Symmetry-surfing the moduli space of Kummer K3s.

A maximal subgroup of the Mathieu group M24 arises as the combined holomorphic symplectic automorphism group of all Kummer surfaces whose Kaehler class is induced from the underlying complex torus. As a subgroup of M24, this group is the stabilizer group of an octad in the Golay code. To meaningfully combine the symmetry groups of distinct Kummer surfaces, we introduce the concepts of Niemeier markings and overarching maps between pairs of Kummer surfaces. The latter induce a prescription for symmetry-surfing the moduli space, while the former can be seen as a first step towards constructing a vertex algebra that governs the elliptic genus of K3 in an M24-compatible fashion. We thus argue that a geometric approach from K3 to Mathieu Moonshine may bear fruit.Comment: 20 pages; minor changes; accepted for publication in the Proceedings Volume of String-Math 201

Probing the Enhancon via Calculations in Supersymmetric Gauge Theory

We consider the N=2 gauge theory on N D7-branes wrapping K3, with D3-brane probes. In the large N limit, the D7-branes blow up to form an enhancon shell. We probe the region inside and outside the enhancon shell using the D3-branes, and compute the probe metric using the Seiberg-Witten formalism. Supergravity arguments suggest a flat interior up to 1/N corrections, and indeed our results for the D3-brane probes are consistent with that. By including the dynamics of the branes, these results, together with those of hep-th/0204050, demonstrate the robustness of the enhancon mechanism beyond patching together of supergravity solutions with D-brane source junction conditions.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, minor correction

N=2 Supersymmetric Gauge Theories, Branes and Orientifolds

Starting with configurations of fourbranes, fivebranes, sixbranes and orientifolds in Type IIA string theory we derive via M-theory the curves solving N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories with gauge groups SO(N) and Sp(2N). We also obtain new curves describing theories with product gauge groups. A crucial role in the discussion is played by the interaction of the orientifolds with the NS-fivebranes.Comment: 37 pages (harvmac b-mode), 7 figures, derivation of the Seiberg-Witten differential included, minor changes in text, references adde

Epidemic Anthrax in the Eighteenth Century, the Americas

Anthrax has been described as a veterinary disease of minor importance to clinical medicine, causing occasional occupational infections in single cases or clusters. Its potential for rapid and widespread epidemic transmission under natural circumstances has not been widely appreciated. A little-known 1770 epidemic that killed 15,000 people in Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti) was probably intestinal anthrax. The epidemic spread rapidly throughout the colony in association with consumption of uncooked beef. Large-scale, highly fatal epidemics of anthrax may occur under unusual but natural circumstances. Historical information may not only provide important clues about epidemic development but may also raise awareness about bioterrorism potential

Integrated, portable, tunable, and coherent terahertz sources and sensitive detectors based on layered superconductors

Current compact emitter and receiver technologies are generally inefficient and impractical at terahertz (THz) frequencies between 0.1 and 10 THz. Hence, a gap exists between mature microwave and developed optical technologies. On-chip, integrated broadly tunable and powerful quantum sources that coherently radiate THz waves between 0.1 and 11 THz (potentially extendable to 15 THz) and with potential output power of >1 mW can be achieved based on quantum tunneling of electron pairs across the stack of intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) naturally present in a single crystal of the layered high-Tc superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (BSCCO). Such devices have been found to be especially promising solid-state THz sources capable of bridging the entire THz gap, as their wide-frequency tunability range is superior to that obtained from their semiconducting-based rivals, either single resonant-tunneling diodes (RTDs) or THz-quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Due to the unique electrodynamics of BSCCO, they can also be operated as switching current detectors, paving the way for the realization of on-chip THz-integrated circuits for applications in ultrahigh-speed telecommunications, quantum information, on-chip spectroscopy, and nondestructive sensing, testing, and imaging. This article reviews the history and recent advances in THz sources and detectors based on IJJs with a focus on the application of IJJ THz devices in THz spectroscopy and various types of THz imaging systems such as reflection, transmission, and computed tomography. We show that compact IJJ THz devices with sub-centimeter-sized modules are easy to use in many applications, as they can be regarded as pocket quantum THz torches