Contaminated water treatment

Method and system for processing of a liquid ("contaminant liquid") containing water and containing urine and/or other contaminants in a two step process. Urine, or a contaminated liquid similar to and/or containing urine and thus having a relatively high salt and urea content is passed through an activated carbon filter to provide a resulting liquid, to remove most of the organic molecules. The resulting liquid is passed through a semipermeable membrane from a membrane first side to a membrane second side, where a fortified drink having a lower water concentration (higher osmotic potential) than the resulting liquid is positioned. Osmotic pressure differential causes the water, but not most of the remaining inorganic (salts) contaminant(s) to pass through the membrane to the fortified drink. Optionally, the resulting liquid is allowed to precipitate additional organic molecules before passage through the membrane

The evolution and energetics of large amplitude nonlinear internal waves on the Portuguese shelf

Intensive in-situ observations of nonlinear internal waves on the Portuguese shelf were made in August 1994, including measurements of the same wavepacket at three locations as it propagated on-shelf. The waves were characterized by sudden isotherm depressions of up to 45 m lasting 10-35 minutes, accompanied by current surges of up to 0.45 m s-1 and shears of up to 0.7 m s-1 over 60 m. The waves propagated away from the shelf break with an estimated phase speed of 0.57 m s-1. The amplitude of the waves was comparable to the theoretical maximum. The kinetic and potential energies of the waves were calculated directly from the observed current and density structures. Individual waves were associated with a total energy of up to approximately 3.0 M J m-1 per unit crest length. The depth integrated on-shelf internal wave energy flux approached 2000 W m-1 per unit crest length near the shelf break and decreased on-shore at a depth integrated rate of approximately 7.7 × 10-2 W m-2. The internal waves provided an important source of vertical mixing where they occurred on the Portuguese shelf throughout most of August 1994, represented by a sustained vertical eddy diffusivity profile which peaked at Kz ≈ 2.2 × 10-3 m2 s-1 at 30 m depth. Internal mixing would have to be parameterized by such a Kz profile in any model of the Portuguese shelf in which the stratification were to be accurately represented

Time-Lapse Acoustic Imaging of Mesoscale and Fine-Scale Variability within the Faroe-Shetland Channel

We describe and analyze the results of a three‐dimensional seismic (i.e. acoustic) reflection survey from the Faroe‐Shetland Channel that is calibrated with near‐coincident hydrographic and satellite observations. 54 vertical seismic transects were acquired over a period of 25 days. On each transect, a 250‐‐400 m band of reflections is observed within the water column. Hydrographic measurements demonstrate that this reflective band is caused by temperature variations within the pycnocline that separates warm, near‐surface waters of Atlantic origin from cold, deep waters which flow southward from the Nordic Seas. Tilting of reflective surfaces records geostrophic shear between these near‐surface and deep waters. Measurements of temporal changes of pycnoclinic depth and of reflection tilt are used to infer the existence of an anticyclonic vortex that advects northeastward. Comparison with satellite measurements of sea‐surface temperature and height suggests that this vortex is caused by meandering of the Continental Slope Current. A model of a Gaussian vortex is used to match seismic and satellite observations. This putative vortex has a core radius of 20—30 km and a maximum azimuthal velocity of 0.3‐‐0.4 m s‐1. It translates at 0.01‐‐0.1 m s‐1. Within the pycnocline, diapycnal diffusivity, K , is estimaed by analyzing the turbulent spectral subrange of tracked reflections. K varies between 10‐5.7 and 10‐5.0 m 2 s‐1 in a pattern that is broadly consistent with translation of the vortex. Our integrated study demonstrates the ability of time‐lapse seismic reflection surveying to dynamically resolve the effects that mesoscale activity has upon deep thermohaline structure on scales from meters to hundreds of kilometers.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Engineering and Physical Science Research Council 794 Program Grant EP/K034529/

Water Walls for Life Support

A method and associated system for processing waste gases, liquids and solids, produced by human activity, to separate (i) liquids suitable for processing to produce potable water, (ii) solids and liquids suitable for construction of walls suitable for enclosing a habitat volume and for radiation shielding, and (iii) other fluids and solids that are not suitable for processing. A forward osmosis process and a reverse osmosis process are sequentially combined to reduce fouling and to permit accumulation of different processable substances. The invention may be used for long term life support of human activity

Transition induced by linear and nonlinear perturbation growth in flow past a compressor blade

Flow past a NACA 65 blade at chord-based Reynolds number 138;500 is studied using stability analysis, generalised (spatially weighted) transient growth analysis and direct numerical simulations (DNS). The mechanisms of transition on various sections of the blade observed in previous work (Zaki et al. 2010) are examined, with a focus on the pressure side around the leading edge. In this region, the linearly most energetic perturbation has spanwise wavenumber 40π (five boundary layer thicknesses) and is tilted against the mean shear to take advantage of the Orr mechanism. In a DNS, the nonlinear development of this optimal perturbation induces ˄ structures, which are further stretched to hairpin vortices before breaking down to turbulence. At higher spanwise wavenumber, e.g. 120π, a free-stream optimal perturbation is obtained upstream of the leading edge, in the form of streamwise vortices. During its nonlinear evolution, this optimal perturbation tilts the mean shear and generates spanwise periodic high and low-speed streaks. Then through a nonlinear lift-up mechanism, the low-speed streaks are lifted above the high speed ones. This layout of streaks generates a mean shear with two in inflectional points, and activates secondary instabilities, namely inner and outer instabilities previously reported in the literature

Identifying factors that predict attrition among first year physiotherapy students: a retrospective analysis

New Knowledge This was the first study to look at the percentage drop-out and causes of attrition among first year physiotherapy students in the UK A high percentage drop-out was identified Attrition in first year was particularly high among students from ethnic minority backgrounds and students who lived off-campus Key Messages Effective strategies to retain students from ethnic minority backgrounds in physiotherapy programmes need to be identified. Assessment results should be analysed by ethnic group and placed in the public domain Further qualitative research is required to understand the reasons why students from ethnic minority backgrounds and students who live off campus are more likely to drop-out of physiotherapy programmes in their first yea

Hypervelocity Stars from the Andromeda Galaxy

Hypervelocity stars (HVSs) discovered in the Milky Way (MW) halo are thought to be ejected from near the massive black hole (MBH) at the galactic centre. In this paper we investigate the spatial and velocity distributions of the HVSs which are expected to be similarly produced in the Andromeda galaxy (M31). We consider three different HVS production mechanisms: (i) the disruption of stellar binaries by the galactocentric MBH; (ii) the ejection of stars by an in-spiraling intermediate mass black hole; and (iii) the scattering of stars off a cluster of stellar-mass black holes orbiting around the MBH. While the first two mechanisms would produce large numbers of HVSs in M31, we show that the third mechanism would not be effective in M31. We numerically calculate 1.2*10^6 trajectories of HVSs from M31 within a simple model of the Local Group and hence infer the current distribution of these stars. Gravitational focusing of the HVSs by the MW and the diffuse Local Group medium leads to high densities of low mass (~ solar mass) M31 HVSs near the MW. Within the virialized MW halo, we expect there to be of order 1000 HVSs for the first mechanism and a few hundred HVSs for the second mechanism; many of these stars should have distinctively large approach velocities (< -500 km/s). In addition, we predict ~5 hypervelocity RGB stars within the M31 halo which could be identified observationally. Future MW astrometric surveys or searches for distant giants could thus find HVSs from M31.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, changed to match version accepted by MNRA