An Expert System for Managing an Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Plant

A diagnostic expert system for an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant has been designed to link with a relational database management system for obtaining operational parameter values that are used by the program to diagnose operational problems that may occur in the process. The problems that are dealt with by the system are bulking sludge, floating sludge, defloculation, ashing, solids washout, foaming problems, high soluble effluent BOD and problems in the aeration system. The link between the expert system and the database is accomplished via programming that is initiated by the expert system program. The operator of the system is not required to perform any action in order for the appropriate retrievals of operational parameter values to occur. The system is designed such that parameter values are retrieved from the database if such a database exists and contains appropriate values and, if no such database exists or if the appropriate values are not present, the operator is queried for the parameter values. Since many wastewater treatment plants maintain database management systems for operational parameter values, such an expert system has advantages over stand alone systems. However, an override of the database query is possible, making the system useful for experimental queries and for training

An Evaluation of the Effect of Discharging a High Quality Effluent into a Small Ozark Mountain Stream

Recently the newly constructed Fayetteville wastewater treatment plant went on line and directed a portion of its discharge to a point in the Mud Creek drainage basin that had previously not received any effluent. Prior to the discharge, a background study had been performed to establish the water quality in the basin. The background data, when compared to the data collected by this study, allowed any alteration of the stream water quality to be evaluated. Also the modeling procedure used to set the effluent limits for the treatment plant was analyzed. All stream data were compared to the limits set forth for surface water quality by the Department of Pollution Control and Ecology. The new discharge had some effect on the receiving stream, however, the stream still meets Arkansas water quality standards for all parameters

Red abalone size data from Johnsons Lee, Santa Rosa Island, collected from 1978 to 1984

Red abalone, Haliotis rufescens, were collected at Johnsons Lee, Santa Rosa Island, in the summers of 1978 through 1982, and in 1984, to obtain data for determining various fishery population parameters. Annual visits to the study site were made at yearly intervals to simplify growth calculations. During the first four visits, 2145 red abalones were tagged, measured, and replaced. Shell damage, soft tissue injuries, and causes of mortality were noted. The method of tagging is described. Recovery of first tagged abalone after one year was approximately 30%. Analysis of variance of the annual samples indicated that the samples were, with one exception, not different. Summaries are presented of the number of abalone collected and tagged by year, frequencies of shell damage, soft tissue injury, predatory sponge infestation, and total mortality. Appendices include a listing of the raw size data and various codes for each tagged abalone. (56pp.

Bayesian Optimal Design for Ordinary Differential Equation Models

Bayesian optimal design is considered for experiments where it is hypothesised that the responses are described by the intractable solution to a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Bayesian optimal design is based on the minimisation of an expected loss function where the expectation is with respect to all unknown quantities (responses and parameters). This expectation is typically intractable even for simple models before even considering the intractability of the ODE solution. New methodology is developed for this problem that involves minimising a smoothed stochastic approximation to the expected loss and using a state-of-the-art stochastic solution to the ODEs, by treating the ODE solution as an unknown quantity. The methodology is demonstrated on three illustrative examples and a real application involving estimating the properties of human placentas

Local Water Resource Information Management System

A Beaver Lake water quality database has been designed as a relational database. It has been implemented using software called R:base 5000, a system available for microcomputers using MS- or PC- DOS operating systems. The data in the database include that concerned with the author(s), title, date of publication, agency doing the study, agency funding the study and complete reference for the document. Other aspects of the database are designed to allow retrievals based on any author, study dates, parameters measured and keywords

Use of Microcomputers to Aid Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations

This report presents the development of a microcomputer based data management system for wastewater treatment plants. The relational database model was shown to be well suited for data management applications in wastewater treatment plants. A general data management system was developed for use with a microcomputer using a commercially available relational database management system. Use of the developed system requires no special computer training. The system was tailored for use at the wastewater treatment plant at Springdale, Arkansas. The capabilities of the system were demonstrated with actual data from the Springdale plant

Curvilinear ridges and related features in southwest Cydonia Mensae, Mars

Examined is a region on Mars in southwest Cydonia Mensae (32 deg lat., 17 deg long.) just northwest of the lowland/upland boundary escarpment. The dominant morphological features in this region are the clusters of large massifs and plateau outliers (PI), knobby material (K), and smooth lowland plains (Ps). Surrounding the clusters and linking many isolated knobs is a system of curvilinear ridges and arcuate terrain boundaries which tend to separate the massifs and knobs from the smooth plains. Curvilinear ridges are arcuate to nearly linear and smoother in plan than wrinkle ridges and show no apparent correlation with regional structural grain. They are typically 5 to 10 km long but can range from as little as 2 or 3 km to greater than 50 km long. The widths vary from about 100 m to as much as 2 km. Curvilinear ridges are most numerous within 100 km of the lowland/upland boundary escarpment and are associated with massifs and knobby terrain. Arcuate terrain boundaries appear between units of different apparent albedo or arcuate breaks in slope

Geomorphic evidence for ancient seas in west Deuteronilus Mensae, Mars-2: From very high resolution Viking Orbiter images

Very high resolution Viking Orbiter images of the Martian surface, though rare, make it possible to examine specific areas at image scales approaching those of high altitude terrestrial aerial photographs. Twenty three clear images lie within west Deuteronilus Mensae. The northernmost images which constitute an almost unbroken mosaic of the west wall of a long fingerlike canyon are examined. Morphological details on the plateau surface within zone B, not detectable at low resolution, make it possible to divide the zone into two distinct subzones separated by an east-west escarpment. The morphology of the canyon floor is described in detail

Geomorphic evidence for ancient seas on Mars

Geomorphic evidence is presented for ancient seas on Mars. Several features, similar to terrestrial lacustrine and coastal features, were identified along the northern plains periphery from Viking images. The nature of these features argues for formation in a predominantly liquid, shallow body of standing water. Such a shallow sea would require either relatively rapid development of shoreline morphologies or a warmer than present climate at the time of outflow channel formation