Fluorescence spectroscopy for wastewater monitoring: A review

© 2016. Wastewater quality is usually assessed using physical, chemical and microbiological tests, which are not suitable for online monitoring, provide unreliable results, or use hazardous chemicals. Hence, there is an urgent need to find a rapid and effective method for the evaluation of water quality in natural and engineered systems and for providing an early warning of pollution events. Fluorescence spectroscopy has been shown to be a valuable technique to characterize and monitor wastewater in surface waters for tracking sources of pollution, and in treatment works for process control and optimization. This paper reviews the current progress in applying fluorescence to assess wastewater quality. Studies have shown that, in general, wastewater presents higher fluorescence intensity compared to natural waters for the components associated with peak T (living and dead cellular material and their exudates) and peak C (microbially reprocessed organic matter). Furthermore, peak T fluorescence is significantly reduced after the biological treatment process and peak C is almost completely removed after the chlorination and reverse osmosis stages. Thus, simple fluorometers with appropriate wavelength selectivity, particularly for peaks T and C could be used for online monitoring in wastewater treatment works. This review also shows that care should be taken in any attempt to identify wastewater pollution sources due to potential overlapping fluorophores. Correlations between fluorescence intensity and water quality parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total organic carbon (TOC) have been developed and dilution of samples, typically up to ×10, has been shown to be useful to limit inner filter effect. It has been concluded that the following research gaps need to be filled: lack of studies on the on-line application of fluorescence spectroscopy in wastewater treatment works and lack of data processing tools suitable for rapid correction and extraction of data contained in fluorescence excitation-emission matrices (EEMs) for real-time studies

DEL10.10.02.D03 HF Baseline Requirements Document

The purpose of this document in the SESAR context is to provide the first baseline of Human Factors requirements, which can be used for further development of Human Factor requirements and as a baseline for the development of the prototype. Additionally it provides a traceability of how existing standards, guidelines and examples can help to improve the man‐machine interaction by taking selected requirements into account. The next step of processing the requirements is to filter it against duplications and contradictions and to map it to the operational requirements. This is performed within T10.10.02‐005 Human Factors Design Document STEP

The Sixth Sense of an Air Traffic Controller

The project Sixth Sense postulates that the users body language is different at "good" and "bad" decisions. Therefore, in Sixth Sense we are looking for patterns or hidden data signs that allow us to detect moments of bad and good decisions that could be incorporated in an automated system in order to detect and eventually predict the next actions of a user. In our case the user is an Air Traffic Controller (ATCO). Specifically, we intend to analyse the correlation between the change in the ATCO's behaviour - expressed through his body language - and the quality of his/her decision. For that, an experiment was set up to collect, explore and analyse data about the user behaviour. The results of our work may be used for early warnings for upcoming "bad" situations or decision aids for ATCOs

The Sixth Sense of an Air Traffic Controller

The project Sixth Sense postulates that the users body language is different at "good" and "bad" decisions. Therefore, in Sixth Sense we are looking for patterns or hidden data signs that allow us to detect moments of bad and good decisions that could be incorporated in an automated system in order to detect and eventually predict the next actions of a user. In our case the user is an Air Traffic Controller (ATCO). Specifically, we intend to analyse the correlation between the change in the ATCO's behaviour - expressed through his body language - and the quality of his/her decision. For that, an experiment was set up to collect, explore and analyse data about the user behaviour. The results of our work may be used for early warnings for upcoming "bad" situations or decision aids for ATCOs

Ontology for Transcription of ATC Speech Commands of SESAR 2020 Solution PJ.16-04

Nowadays Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) applications are increasingly successful in the air traffic (ATC) domain. Paramount to achieving this is collecting enough data for speech recognition model training. Thousands of hours of ATC communication are recorded every day. However, the transcription of these data sets is resource intense, i.e. writing down the sequence of spoken words, and more importantly, interpreting the relevant semantics. Many different approaches including CPDLC (Controller Pilot Data Link Communications) currently exist in the ATC community for command transcription, a fact that e.g. complicates exchange of transcriptions. The partners of the SESAR funded solution PJ.16-04 are currently developing on a common ontology for transcription of controller-pilot communications, which will harmonize integration of ASR into controller working positions. The resulting ontology is presented in this paper

Human Factors Design Document TMA/En-Route

The Human Factors Design Document supports the prototype development, bringing in Human Factors considerations based on following sources: 1. Human Factors requirements derived by these standards, guidelines and examples, 2. Human Factors requirements derived by the operational project 5.

DEL10.10.02.D032 Available Technology Screening Document

This document contains a list of available / new technologies for monitors, touch displays and interaction modules. The technologies are described and specifications are listed. Their potential use within a future TMA/ACC ICWP has been analyzed and technologies showing high potential have been selected for a more thorough examination including feedback obtained from user tests. Based on analysis of the specifications and the evaluation results, recommendations have been developed for each technology

DEL10.10.02.D93 Innovation Analysis Report 2013

ATCOs spend a significant amount of their time interacting or inputting data into the system. With the increase in the level of traffic, the time spent inputting data may reach a point where it is no more compatible with the time pressure of the job. Looking for innovative interaction means for easing the interactions and reducing the duration of the inputs is thus a challenge that should be taken over for preparing the future of the ATM. This document addresses this challenge by looking at three technologies: multi-touch screens, eye-tracking and handwriting recognition. The approach taken for analysing these technologies is a combination of literature reviews and experiments. Experiment results are used for underlining the benefits of the technologies, and the guidelines for deploying them. The overall assessment of the investigation comparing multi-touch vs. mouse revealed a trend that further developing of controller working positions with multi-touch interaction philosophy is worth to follow up. 2 proposals were evaluated. The technology was found to be quick and efficient. The results offer a valuable baseline for further developments. Other evaluations are required to compare the solutions and assess the impacts on the KPI. The accuracy and efficiency of the eye-tracking was assessed. Eye-tracking offers a promising interaction mean for speeding up the selection of aircraft and some actions such as assuming an aircraft. The accuracy is compatible with the size of track labels. Pointing smaller graphical objects should not be considered. Experiments on the benefits related to the decrease in the duration of the inputs underline a tendency to reduce by an average of 30 % the duration of the assume action. This experiment should be replicated to ensure the validity of the results. Last, hand writing recognition, the ability to read characters and translate them into some form of code, provides a natural way of entering information into the system and could increase the human machine symbiosis. This report proposes criteria for selecting the appropriate hand-writing recognition engine. An experiment was performed with four hand writing products to assess their accuracy. Results highlight that one product is particularly above the others with a mean recognition rate of 93%. Some improvements are still required on the recognition rate before using it on a controller working position. All these technologies have interesting benefits. The fact of integrating several of these technologies on the same position could be the solution for building a new HMI concept to face the future challenges of ATM

Seasonal Dynamics of Glyphosate and AMPA in Lake Greifensee: Rapid Microbial Degradation in the Epilimnion during Summer

Occurrence and fate of glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, and its main metabolite AMPA was investigated in Lake Greifensee, Switzerland. Monthly vertical concentration profiles in the lake showed an increase of glyphosate concentrations in the epilimnion from 15 ng/L in March to 145 ng/L in July, followed by a sharp decline to <5 ng/L in August. A similar pattern was observed for AMPA. Concentrations of glyphosate and AMPA in the two main tributaries generally were much higher than in the lake. Simulations using a numerical lake model indicated that a substantial amount of glyphosate and AMPA dissipated in the epilimnion, mainly in July and August, with half-lives of only ≈2–4 days which is ≫100 times faster than in the preceding months. Fast dissipation coincided with high water temperatures and phytoplankton densities, and low phosphate concentrations. This indicates that glyphosate might have been used as an alternative phosphorus source by bacterio- and phytoplankton. Metagenomic analysis of lake water revealed the presence of organisms known to be capable of degrading glyphosate and AMPA.ISSN:0013-936XISSN:1520-585

Ontology for Transcription of ATC Speech Commands of SESAR 2020 Solution PJ.16-04

Nowadays Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) applications are increasingly successful in the air traffic (ATC) domain. Paramount to achieving this is collecting enough data for speech recognition model training. Thousands of hours of ATC communication are recorded every day. However, the transcription of these data sets is resource intense, i.e. writing down the sequence of spoken words, and more importantly, interpreting the relevant semantics. Many different approaches including CPDLC (Controller Pilot Data Link Communications) currently exist in the ATC community for command transcription, a fact that e.g. complicates exchange of transcriptions. The partners of the SESAR funded solution PJ.16-04 are currently developing on a common ontology for transcription of controller-pilot communications, which will harmonize integration of ASR into controller working positions. The resulting ontology is presented in this paper