Specific moving bed biofilm reactor in nutrient removal from municipal wastewater

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.Wastewater treatment technology has been improved and modified to get higher removal efficiency and to meet the stringent effluent regulations. However, from a worldwide perspective, wastewater treatment process is facing many challenges, especially nutrients removal, thereby resulting in the serious concern for enhancement and modification of the existing wastewater treatment processes to achieve better removal efficiency. Nutrient and organic removal from wastewater is becoming an important priority for wastewater treatment plants due to the detrimental impact of these components on the receiving bodies. Therefore my research study aims to evaluate a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) system for effective nutrient and organic removal from municipal wastewater which has promising prospects in terms of achieving high nutrient removal efficiency by reducing the operating cost. This study puts forward a systematic study on the effect of polyethylene (PE) carriers filling rates, the influence of aeration rate and different hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the organic and nutrient removal from municipal wastewater using continuously operated MBBR system in order to determine the optimum operating condition. To further verify the feasibility of MBBR system operated at optimum condition, this system was combined with a membrane filtration system to investigate the performance of the combined system in terms of organic and nutrient removal efficiency. My research activities during my research period were mainly focused on literature review in this field and lab scale investigations. This report compiles introduction of the study, literature review, materials and methodologies used, all the specific experimental results, findings and conclusion drawn from the whole study period

Gait Analysis of Horses for Lameness Detection with Radar Sensors

This paper presents the preliminary investigation of the use of radar signatures to detect and assess lameness of horses and its severity. Radar sensors in this context can provide attractive contactless sensing capabilities, as a complementary or alternative technology to the current techniques for lameness assessment using video-graphics and inertial sensors attached to the horses' body. The paper presents several examples of experimental data collected at the Weipers Centre Equine Hospital at the University of Glasgow, showing the micro- Doppler signatures of horses and preliminary results of their analysis

Reaction diffusion processes on random and scale-free networks

We study the discrete Gierer-Meinhardt model of reaction-diffusion on three different types of networks: regular, random and scale-free. The model dynamics lead to the formation of stationary Turing patterns in the steady state in certain parameter regions. Some general features of the patterns are studied through numerical simulation. The results for the random and scale-free networks show a marked difference from those in the case of the regular network. The difference may be ascribed to the small world character of the first two types of networks.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

A systematic review of current knowledge of HIV epidemiology and of sexual behaviour in Nepal

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review information on HIV epidemiology and on sexual behaviour in Nepal with a view to identifying gaps in current knowledge. METHODS: Systematic review covering electronic databases, web-based information, personal contact with experts and hand searching of key journals. RESULTS: HIV-1 seroprevalence has been rising rapidly in association with high-risk behaviours, with current levels of 40% amongst the nation's injecting drug users and approaching 20% amongst Kathmandu's female commercial sex workers (FCSWs). HIV seroprevalence remains low in the general population (0.29% of 15–49 year olds). There are significant methodological limitations in many of the seroprevalence studies identified, and these estimates need to be treated with caution. There are extensive migration patterns both within the country and internationally which provide the potential for considerable sexual networking. However, studies of sexual behaviour have focused on FCSWs and the extent of sexual networks within the general population is largely unknown. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst some of the ingredients are present for an explosive HIV epidemic in Nepal, crucial knowledge on sexual behaviour in the general population is missing. Research on sexual networking is urgently required to guide HIV control in Nepal. There is also a need for further good-quality epidemiological studies of HIV seroprevalence

Bricks in the wall: A review of the issues that affect children of in‐country seasonal migrant workers in the brick kilns of Nepal

This paper explores experiences of Nepalese children of seasonal migrant workers in brick kilns and the particular vulnerabilities they face, as child labourers, as unpaid workers engaging informally in brick production or household work to the support family economy, or as children left behind in poor communities with varying support. The review provides a thematic analysis from child labour and migration literature from Nepal and South Asia from 2010–2020 to explore issues that affect children of families who internally migrate within Nepal to work in brick kilns. Two key themes and eight subthemes consistently emerged across the papers: Seasonal in‐country migration to brick kilns and impacts on children (reasons for children to enter into migrant work; left‐behind children; remittances; the role of gender on work and education) and the situation of children working in Nepalese brick kilns (living conditions; working conditions and occupational ill‐health; psychosocial distress; child protection). The review found that literature on Nepalese children from brick kiln working families is subsumed into wider studies on migration with impacts on children's lives often reported as outcomes of findings rather than a main focus of studies. Furthermore, there is minimal recent empirical research with such families and children. This may be due to ethical dilemmas of doing research with children and difficulties in maintaining contact with families that move frequently

Inter-ethnic Fertility Spillovers and the Role of Forward-looking Behavior: Evidence from Peninsular Malaysia

Demographic pressures can create competition for limited private and public resources and exacerbate pre-existing inter-ethnic tensions. At the same time, inter-ethnic competition may influence individual fertility decisions. Using the variation in birth rates in Malaysia induced by the Chinese lunar calendar, we document a 12.7-percent rise in births among ethnic Chinese in dragon years, which are considered auspicious. We find a negative fertility response from Malays – for every additional Chinese new-born child, Malays reduced their fertility by 0.30 children. We estimate the elasticity of this inter-ethnic fertility spillover (-0.15), and we find strongly suggestive evidence that pressure on resources was an important driver of these spillovers. The Malay response was greatest in areas where resources were more limited, and in areas with lower public investments. These results suggest that households are forward-looking in their fertility decisions, and they point to the potential role of governments in reducing ethnic tension through policies that increase private and public resources

Fragmentation, domain formation and atom number fluctuations of a two-species Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice

We theoretically study the loading of a two-species Bose-Einstein condensate to an optical lattice in a tightly-confined one-dimensional trap. Due to quantum fluctuations the relative inter and intra species phase coherence between the atoms and the on-site atom number fluctuations are reduced in the miscible regime. For the immiscible case the fluctuations are enhanced and the atoms form metastable interleaved spatially separated domains where the domain length and its fluctuations are affected by quantum fluctuations.Comment: 32 page