Perfecting the Condominium as a Housing Tool: Innovations in Tort Liability and Insurance

Sludge disposal is a worldwide problem due to increasing volumes and respective environmental regulations. Currently the most common ways to dispose sludge are agricultural use, disposal in landfills, incineration and sea dumping. By drying sludge volumes can be decreased and the respective heating value increased. Sludge mainly originates from wastewater treatment. The Swedish pulp and paper mills produce approximately 400 000 - 500 000 metric tons of dry sludge each year. This includes roughly 60 000 metric tons of dry biosludge which mainly consists of bacteria and is difficult to dry due to high amounts of intercellular water. New drying methods for biosludge are hence needed. The purpose of this project is to investigate the possibility to dry biosludge in a high-velocity cyclone dryer since the technology has been shown to be able to handle sticky materials. The sludge used in this project originates from the biological wastewater treatment at the pulp and paper mill Metsä Board Husum, located in Husum, Sweden. The achieved dry matter contents and the specific energy consumption have been examined and compared with established drying methods.  Design of experiments has been used during the trials for optimizing the information attained from a limited number of trials including effects of inlet air temperature, sludge feeding rate and recycling of drying air. The respective factors were varied in three steps and relevant temperature, pressure, humidity, flow and material mass values were measured for analysing the process.  Models for attained dry matter content, specific energy consumption (total and of the fan), removed water and fan power were developed and had high statistical significance. The models showed that sludge dry matter content up to 80% could be achieved. The total specific energy consumption was over 1.6 kWh/kg H2O, which is higher than for established drying methods, but the specific energy consumption of the fan was as low as 0.7 kWh/kg H2O. The specific energy consumption of the fan was used to approximate dryer operation with excess heat during which it could compete with all established drying methods. A case where the excess heat available at Metsä Board Husum would be used to dry generated biosludge was investigated and supported a need for a priority order between maximizing sludge dry matter content and minimizing specific energy consumption of sludge drying. If sludge dry matter content is prioritised alternative drying methods may prove more suitable. To attain a better understanding of the high-velocity cyclone dryer and drying of biosludge the evaporation energy of sludge at different dry matter contents, the effects of various sludge inflow temperatures and the effect of fan rotation speed should be included future investigations.Bortskaffande av slam har blivit ett världstäckande problem på grund av stora volymer och miljöreglering. De vanligaste sätten att bortskaffa slam är genom markanvändning, deponering, förbränning och dumpning i haven. Genom att torka slammet minskar volymen och värmevärdet ökar. Slammet har sitt ursprung i vattenrenings processer och svenska pappers- och pappersmassabruk producerar ungefär 400 000 – 500 000 ton slam per år i torrvikt. Av dessa är ungefär 60 000 ton biologiskt slam som till största del består av bakterier och är svårtorkat på grund av den höga andelen intercellulärt vatten. För att torka biologiskt slam behövs nya torkmetoder och syftet med detta projekt vara att undersöka möjligheten att torka biologiskt slam i en cyklontork då cyklontorken kan hantera kladdiga material. Slammet som använts under projektet kommer från pappersbruket Metsä Board Husum. Torrhalten som kunde uppnås och den specifika energin har undersökt och jämförts med etablerade torkmetoder. Design of experiments användes för att optimera informationen som går att få ut från ett begränsat antal försök och påverkan av inluftstemperaturen, matningshastigheten av slammet och positionen av spjället i luftåtervinningssystemet har undersökts. Faktorerna varierades i tre steg och temperaturer, tryck, luftfuktigheter, flöden och vikter har mätts för att analysera processen.  Modeller för torrhalten, den specifika energin (totalt och för fläkten), avdrivet vatten och fläkteffekten har beräknats med hög statistisk signifikans. Modellerna visar att upp till 80 % torrhalt kan nås. Den totala specifika energin ligger över 1.6 kWh/kg H2O vilket är högre än den specifika energin för etablerade torkmetoder men den specifika energin för fläkten kan understiga 0.7 kWh/kg H2O. Den specifika energin för fläkten kan approximera att torken körs med överskottsvärme och det är fallet kan cyklontorken konkurer med de etablerade torkmetoderna. Möjligheten att använda sig av överskottsvärmen på pappersbruket Metsä Board Husum för att torka deras biologiska slam har undersökts och en prioritering mellan hög torrhalt och låg specifik energi kommer behöva göras. Om hög torrhalt prioriteras kan andra torkmetoder vara att föredra. För att öka förståelsen för cyklontorken och torkning av biologiskt slam kan förångningsenergin för slammet vid olika torrhalter, effekten på torkresultaten från olika temperaturer på slammet in i cyklonen och effekten av olika effekter på fläkten undersökas

Course Syllabus for The Role of the Supervisor, 1978

Training material published by the West Coast Industrial Relations, Center for Management and Development, in 1978

Session 2-3-F: Gaming Applications of a Forgotten Distribution

Introduction The bonus game has become a very important part of the slot machine, as indicated by a large number of patent applications and patents (Bennett, 2000; Slomiany and Grupp, 2000; Vancurra, 2000; Baerlocher et al, 2002; Jaffe et al, 2002; Cannon and Donovan, 2003; Dickerson, 2005). Therefore, probability distributions suitable for developing games are very much in need. In this study, we illustrate how a forgotten discrete probability distribution, viz. the negative hypergeometric distribution, can be used to develop bonus games for slot machines, and also to analyze existing bonus games. The mean and the variance for this distribution were not readily available. However, these measures were recently computed using a new technique (Jones, 2013) and are available at present. The mean of the probability distribution is needed to compute to the house advantage or par of a slot game, and the variance is needed for calculating the variance of the slot game payout distribution. The variance of a slot game significantly impacts the ‘time on device’ that a player gets (Lucas et al, 2007; Lucas and Singh, 2008) from the slot game, and therefore is an important parameter of a slot game

Practical guidelines for modelling post-entry spread in invasion ecology

In this article we review a variety of methods to enable understanding and modelling the spread of a pest or pathogen post-entry. Building upon our experience of multidisciplinary research in this area, we propose practical guidelines and a framework for model development, to help with the application of mathematical modelling in the field of invasion ecology for post-entry spread. We evaluate the pros and cons of a range of methods, including references to examples of the methods in practice. We also show how issues of data deficiency and uncertainty can be addressed. The aim is to provide guidance to the reader on the most suitable elements to include in a model of post-entry dispersal in a risk assessment, under differing circumstances. We identify both the strengths and weaknesses of different methods and their application as part of a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to biosecurity research