CROSSFLOW FILTRATON: LITERATURE REVIEW

As part of the Filtration task EM-31, WP-2.3.6, which is a joint effort between Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), tests were planned to evaluate crossflow filtration in order to the improve the use of existing hardware in the waste treatment plants at both the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) and Hanford Site. These tests included experiments to try different operating conditions and additives, such as filter aids, in order to create a more permeable filter cake and improve the permeate flux. To plan the SRNL tests a literature review was performed to provide information on previous experiments performed by DOE laboratories, and by academia. This report compliments PNNL report (Daniel, et al 2010), and is an attempt to try and capture crossflow filtration work performed in the past that provide a basis for future testing. However, not all sources on crossflow filtration could be reviewed due to the shear volume of information available. In this report various references were examined and a representative group was chosen to present the major factors that affect crossflow filtration. The information summarized in this review contains previous operating conditions studied and their influence on the rate of filtration. Besides operating conditions, other attempted improvements include the use of filter aids, a pre-filtration leaching process, the backpulse system, and various types of filter tubes and filter coatings. The results from past research can be used as a starting point for further experimentation that can result in the improvement in the performance of the crossflow filtration. The literature reviewed in this report indicates how complex the crossflow issues are with the results of some studies appearing to conflict results from other studies. This complexity implies that filtration of mobilized stored waste cannot be explained in a simple generic sense; meaning an empirical model develop from one waste-filter combination will more than likely not be applicable to another combination. It appears that filtration performance varies as wide as the range of the types of slurry wastes that exist. However, conclusions can be elicited from existing information so that filter performance can be better understood, and hopefully improved. Those conclusions and recommendations for the planned tests are listed

Undergraduate work placement and academic performance: an investigation into the relationship between learning transfer and the architecture of the internship in a business undergraduate programme

Universities in response to government initiatives, have engaged with the vocalisation of Higher Education. This has included the extension of placement opportunities in the belief that this will imbue undergraduate teaching with enhanced relevance to the world beyond the university while increasing the employability of graduates. Among a range of claimed benefits for internships, it has been asserted that there will be enhanced academic performance; to date there has been virtually no published empirical evidence on this relationship. This thesis addresses this lacuna. A set of investigations was designed to test for enhanced academic performance post-placement, with differences in the architecture of the placement as intervening variables. It was found that under work environment architecture, there was no significant difference between the academic performance of placement undergraduates on return to academic studies and that of their non-placement peers; under learning environment architecture there was a significant difference between those who had taken placement and their non-placement peers. There was evidence of prior-selection: students who were academically stronger tended to undertake placement. There was indications that in the learning environment architecture, those who had taken an internship did not add value to their academic performance, whereas their non-intern peers did. There was some evidence that academic motivation in the immediate post-internship period was diminished. In accounting for the findings, the processes of transfer of learning are considered as well as sub-issues including the role of contracts and motivation in transfer of learning. Consideration is taken of the implications of the findings for the constituent stakeholder groups. Issues relating to the public policy are considered and directions for further research are suggested. The results support the view that internships can be designed to promote academic values and learning; they should not be seen merely as vehicles for promoting the learning of skills and competencies which are not readily produced in the universities

A Problem-Based Learning Approach to Continuing Professional Education for Pre-School Officers in the Early Childhood Care and Education Sector in Ireland: Rationale and Curriculum Design

This study explores the potential of Problem-Based-Learning (PBL) as a teaching and learning strategy and curriculum design, in a continuing professional education course for a group of Pre-School Officers in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) sector in Ireland. A rationale for the adoption of PBL is presented. This rationale is based on the symmetry between PBL as a teaching and learning strategy and the professional practice model of the ECCE sector in Ireland. It is also grounded in the correspondence between established criteria for effective continuing professional education and PBL theory and practice. A qualitative research design is employed to ascertain the continuing professional education needs of the Pre-School officers. Focus group data reveals that Pre-School Officers require continuing professional education that will enable them to meet the challenges of rapid change and development that characterises the ECCE sector in Ireland. The practice narratives of the participants are used to develop a sample Problem-Based Learning curriculum to meet their expressed continuing professional education n

Visitor (im)mobility, leisure consumption and mega-event impact: the territorialisation of Greenwich and small business exclusion at the London 2012 Olympics

Focusing on the London 2012 Olympic Games, we investigate the impact of mega-sport events’ spatial transformations on visitor mobility, local leisure consumption and resulting small business trade. Olympic territorialisation, we argue, is a highly contentious and vitally important aspect of leisure studies warranting on-going and further examination. Our case study draws on 43 in-depth interviews with local authorities, governmental and non-governmental project actors, and small-local leisure and visitor economy businesses (retail and hospitality) located at the heart of a ‘Host Event Zone’ in Greenwich, London. We supplement and triangulate subjective accounts with a documentary analysis of 35 policy reports, media, and archival material as the basis for our empirical analysis. Our findings reveal a major dichotomy between the ‘rhetoric’ of inclusion and local ‘realities’ of exclusion as security planning and spatial controls served to close off public spaces and local attractions: diverting visitor flows and leisure consumption toward official event sites, away from local businesses. We illustrate how such urban processes effectively render a vibrant business community invisible and visitors immobile to explore local community spaces during the live staging periods. We close with implications for event organisers, managers and policy makers focused on re-configuring the socio-spatial elements of Olympic organisation and re-direct and mobilise visitor economy flows toward more open civic and leisure spaces in the hope of better (re)distributing consumption into host communities

The London 2012 cultural programme: A consideration of Olympic impacts and legacies for small creative organisations in east London

This study investigates the impacts of the London 2012 Olympic Games and their related cultural programme on local small creative organisations in East London. It contributes to unpacking the elusive concept of legacy through an in-depth analysis of creative organisations’ stories and experiences, combined with an analysis of policy documents and interviews with key informants, over a four-year period (2010-2014). A range of potential impacts of mega-events for creative organisations are identified and systematically discussed. The results highlight a gap between Olympic rhetoric and local reality. Problems include inadequate local consultation, barriers to accessing opportunities and inability to leverage effectively. The study also explores the role of cultural tourism in delivering an Olympic legacy for the local creative industry. It finds that opportunities to showcase deprived – but creative – areas in East London, and foster the development of creative forms of tourism, were missed

Occupational Health and Safety in New Zealand: Problems and Solutions

An economic climate which promotes cost cutting, lack of resources for regulation) agencies, enforcement bodies which are reticent to enforce, legislation which is unco-ordinated and not communicated to those who need it, information which is available in university departments but not on the shop floor, and no effective sanctions in terms of penalties and increased levies against negligent employers all threaten the health and safety of New Zealand workers. These problems are outlined and improvements such as more resources for regulatory bodies, a more positive policing role for enforcement agencies, integration of legislation and administration, better information flow, effective sanctions against employers and particularly more worker involvement in occupational health and safety are proposed