scholarly journals Development of treatment media for advanced stormwater treatment at an industrial site

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-87
Author(s):  
R. E. Pitt ◽  
S. E. Clark ◽  
B. Steets

Abstract The Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) occupies about 2,850 acres and is located in Ventura County, California. The site is jointly owned by the Boeing Company and the federal government (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration administers the federal portion of the property). Much of the site was historically used as a rocket engine testing and energy research facility from 1949 to 1998. The site stormwater discharges are permitted by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board through an individual industrial NPDES permit that includes numeric effluent limits for a wide range of constituents, including dioxins and metals. A large portion of the site uses distributed source stormwater controls with natural treatment systems utilizing chemically active media. As part of this approach, extensive research was conducted to develop a robust media for use in these controls to meet the discharge objectives. This paper describes the development of the media and its characteristics.

Author(s):  
Alan Kelly

What is scientific research? It is the process by which we learn about the world. For this research to have an impact, and positively contribute to society, it needs to be communicated to those who need to understand its outcomes and significance for them. Any piece of research is not complete until it has been recorded and passed on to those who need to know about it. So, good communication skills are a key attribute for researchers, and scientists today need to be able to communicate through a wide range of media, from formal scientific papers to presentations and social media, and to a range of audiences, from expert peers to stakeholders to the general public. In this book, the goals and nature of scientific communication are explored, from the history of scientific publication; through the stages of how papers are written, evaluated, and published; to what happens after publication, using examples from landmark historical papers. In addition, ethical issues relating to publication, and the damage caused by cases of fabrication and falsification, are explored. Other forms of scientific communication such as conference presentations are also considered, with a particular focus on presenting and writing for nonspecialist audiences, the media, and other stakeholders. Overall, this book provides a broad overview of the whole range of scientific communication and should be of interest to researchers and also those more broadly interested in the process how what scientists do every day translates into outcomes that contribute to society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8552
Author(s):  
Vahid Alimohammadi ◽  
Mehdi Maghfouri ◽  
Delaram Nourmohammadi ◽  
Pejman Azarsa ◽  
Rishi Gupta ◽  
...  

Clean water is a vital need for all living creatures during their lifespan. However, contaminated stormwater is a major issue around the globe. A wide range of contaminants, including heavy metals, organic and inorganic impurities, has been discovered in stormwater. Some commonly utilized methods, such as biological, physical and chemical procedures, have been considered to overcome these issues. However, these current approaches result in moderate to low contaminant removal efficiencies for certain classes of contaminants. Of late, filtration and adsorption processes have become more featured in permeable concretes (PCs) for the treatment of stormwater. As nanoparticles have vast potential and unique characterizations, such as a higher surface area to cure polluted stormwater, employing them to improve permeable concretes’ capabilities in stormwater treatment systems is an effective way to increase filtration and adsorption mechanisms. The present study reviews the removal rate of different stormwater contaminants such as heavy metals, organic and other pollutants using nanoparticle-improved PC. The application of different kinds of nanomaterials in PC as porous media to investigate their influences on the properties of PC, including the permeability rate, compressive strength, adsorption capacity and mix design of such concrete, was also studied. The findings of this review show that different types of nanomaterials improve the removal efficiency, compressive strength and adsorption capacity and decrease the infiltration rate of PC during the stormwater treatment process. With regard to the lack of comprehensive investigation concerning the use of nanomaterials in PC to treat polluted stormwater runoff, this study reviews 242 published articles on the removal rate of different stormwater contaminants by using PC improved with nanoparticles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarunabh Khaitan

AbstractMany concerned citizens, including judges, bureaucrats, politicians, activists, journalists, and academics, have been claiming that Indian democracy has been imperilled under the premiership of Narendra Modi, which began in 2014. To examine this claim, the Article sets up an analytic framework for accountability mechanisms liberal democratic constitutions put in place to provide a check on the political executive. The assumption is that only if this framework is dismantled in a systemic manner can we claim that democracy itself is in peril. This framework helps distinguish between actions that one may disagree with ideologically but are nonetheless permitted by an elected government, from actions that strike at the heart of liberal democratic constitutionalism. Liberal democratic constitutions typically adopt three ways of making accountability demands on the political executive: vertically, by demanding electoral accountability to the people; horizontally, by subjecting it to accountability demands of other state institutions like the judiciary and fourth branch institutions; and diagonally, by requiring discursive accountability by the media, the academy, and civil society. This framework assures democracy over time – i.e. it guarantees democratic governance not only to the people today, but to all future peoples of India. Each elected government has the mandate to implement its policies over a wide range of matters. However, seeking to entrench the ruling party’s stranglehold on power in ways that are inimical to the continued operation of democracy cannot be one of them. The Article finds that the first Modi government in power between 2014 and 2019 did indeed seek to undermine each of these three strands of executive accountability. Unlike the assault on democratic norms during India Gandhi’s Emergency in the 1970s, there is little evidence of a direct or full-frontal attack during this period. The Bharatiya Janata Party government’s mode of operation was subtle, indirect, and incremental, but also systemic. Hence, the Article characterizes the phenomenon as “killing a constitution by a thousand cuts.” The incremental assaults on democratic governance were typically justified by a combination of a managerial rhetoric of efficiency and good governance (made plausible by the undeniable imperfection of our institutions) and a divisive rhetoric of hyper-nationalism (which brands political opponents of the party as traitors of the state). Since its resounding victory in the 2019 general elections, the Modi government appears to have moved into consolidation mode. No longer constrained by the demands of coalition partners, early signs suggest that it may abandon the incrementalist approach for a more direct assault on democratic constitutionalism.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1525
Author(s):  
Sergey Vorobyev ◽  
Elena Vishnyakova ◽  
Maxim Likhatski ◽  
Alexander Romanchenko ◽  
Ivan Nemtsev ◽  
...  

Carey Lea silver hydrosol is a rare example of very concentrated colloidal solutions produced with citrate as only protective ligands, and prospective for a wide range of applications, whose properties have been insufficiently studied up to now. Herein, the reactivity of the immobilized silver nanoparticles toward oxidation, sulfidation, and sintering upon their interaction with hydrogen peroxide, sulfide ions, and chlorocomplexes of Au(III), Pd(II), and Pt(IV) was investigated using SEM and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The reactions decreased the number of carboxylic groups of the citrate-derived capping and promoted coalescence of 7 nm Ag NPs into about 40 nm ones, excluding the interaction with hydrogen peroxide. The increased nanoparticles form loose submicrometer aggregates in the case of sulfide treatment, raspberry-like micrometer porous particles in the media containing Pd(II) chloride, and densely sintered particles in the reaction with inert H2PtCl6 complexes, probably via the formation of surface Ag-Pt alloys. The exposure of Ag NPs to HAuCl4 solution produced compact Ag films along with nanocrystals of Au metal and minor Ag and AgCl. The results are promising for chemical ambient temperature sintering and rendering silver-based nanomaterials, for example, for flexible electronics, catalysis, and other applications.


Information ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 275
Author(s):  
Peter Cihon ◽  
Jonas Schuett ◽  
Seth D. Baum

Corporations play a major role in artificial intelligence (AI) research, development, and deployment, with profound consequences for society. This paper surveys opportunities to improve how corporations govern their AI activities so as to better advance the public interest. The paper focuses on the roles of and opportunities for a wide range of actors inside the corporation—managers, workers, and investors—and outside the corporation—corporate partners and competitors, industry consortia, nonprofit organizations, the public, the media, and governments. Whereas prior work on multistakeholder AI governance has proposed dedicated institutions to bring together diverse actors and stakeholders, this paper explores the opportunities they have even in the absence of dedicated multistakeholder institutions. The paper illustrates these opportunities with many cases, including the participation of Google in the U.S. Department of Defense Project Maven; the publication of potentially harmful AI research by OpenAI, with input from the Partnership on AI; and the sale of facial recognition technology to law enforcement by corporations including Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft. These and other cases demonstrate the wide range of mechanisms to advance AI corporate governance in the public interest, especially when diverse actors work together.


Author(s):  
John A. Harrison

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 required the U.S. Department of Transportation to evaluate the commercial feasibility of high-speed ground transportation—a family of technologies ranging from incremental rail improvements to high-speed rail and magnetic levitation (Maglev) systems—in selected urban corridors. The evaluation involved estimating travel times, capital costs, operation and maintenance costs, and ridership for proposed service frequencies and then computing the potential return on investment from fares and other potential revenues. The results are documented in a U.S. Department of Transportation report generally referred to as the commercial feasibility study (CFS). Two elements of the CFS are addressed here: travel times and capital costs in four illustrative corridors—Chicago to St. Louis; Los Angeles to San Francisco; Eugene, Oreg., to Vancouver, B.C.; and Miami to Tampa via Orlando. Analysis of the results reveals common cost trends: for average speeds up to about 200 km/hr (125 mph), the initial investment required is generally in the range $1.6 to $3 million per route-kilometer ($2.6 to 4.8 million per route-mile). Above this speed regime (which varies by corridor), the initial investment increases steadily with speed, generally reaching $10 to $12 million per route-km ($16 to $19 million per route-mi) for very-high-speed rail systems and from $14 to $19 million per route-km ($23 to $31 million per route-mi) for Maglev systems. Analysis of the capital cost estimates reveals that despite the wide range of initial costs for the high-speed options, the cost per minute of trip time saved is remarkably consistent in corridors of similar length and with similar terrains. Cost-effectiveness plots are provided, allowing the reader to compare the performance of each of the four corridors in terms of trip time savings and cost per route-kilometer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariya Yatsymirska ◽  

The article investigates functional techniques of extralinguistic expression in multimedia texts; the effectiveness of figurative expressions as a reaction to modern events in Ukraine and their influence on the formation of public opinion is shown. Publications of journalists, broadcasts of media resonators, experts, public figures, politicians, readers are analyzed. The language of the media plays a key role in shaping the worldview of the young political elite in the first place. The essence of each statement is a focused thought that reacts to events in the world or in one’s own country. The most popular platform for mass information and social interaction is, first of all, network journalism, which is characterized by mobility and unlimited time and space. Authors have complete freedom to express their views in direct language, including their own word formation. Phonetic, lexical, phraseological and stylistic means of speech create expression of the text. A figurative word, a good aphorism or proverb, a paraphrased expression, etc. enhance the effectiveness of a multimedia text. This is especially important for headlines that simultaneously inform and influence the views of millions of readers. Given the wide range of issues raised by the Internet as a medium, research in this area is interdisciplinary. The science of information, combining language and social communication, is at the forefront of global interactions. The Internet is an effective source of knowledge and a forum for free thought. Nonlinear texts (hypertexts) – «branching texts or texts that perform actions on request», multimedia texts change the principles of information collection, storage and dissemination, involving billions of readers in the discussion of global issues. Mastering the word is not an easy task if the author of the publication is not well-read, is not deep in the topic, does not know the psychology of the audience for which he writes. Therefore, the study of media broadcasting is an important component of the professional training of future journalists. The functions of the language of the media require the authors to make the right statements and convincing arguments in the text. Journalism education is not only knowledge of imperative and dispositive norms, but also apodictic ones. In practice, this means that there are rules in media creativity that are based on logical necessity. Apodicticity is the first sign of impressive language on the platform of print or electronic media. Social expression is a combination of creative abilities and linguistic competencies that a journalist realizes in his activity. Creative self-expression is realized in a set of many important factors in the media: the choice of topic, convincing arguments, logical presentation of ideas and deep philological education. Linguistic art, in contrast to painting, music, sculpture, accumulates all visual, auditory, tactile and empathic sensations in a universal sign – the word. The choice of the word for the reproduction of sensory and semantic meanings, its competent use in the appropriate context distinguishes the journalist-intellectual from other participants in forums, round tables, analytical or entertainment programs. Expressive speech in the media is a product of the intellect (ability to think) of all those who write on socio-political or economic topics. In the same plane with him – intelligence (awareness, prudence), the first sign of which (according to Ivan Ogienko) is a good knowledge of the language. Intellectual language is an important means of organizing a journalistic text. It, on the one hand, logically conveys the author’s thoughts, and on the other – encourages the reader to reflect and comprehend what is read. The richness of language is accumulated through continuous self-education and interesting communication. Studies of social expression as an important factor influencing the formation of public consciousness should open up new facets of rational and emotional media broadcasting; to trace physical and psychological reactions to communicative mimicry in the media. Speech mimicry as one of the methods of disguise is increasingly becoming a dangerous factor in manipulating the media. Mimicry is an unprincipled adaptation to the surrounding social conditions; one of the most famous examples of an animal characterized by mimicry (change of protective color and shape) is a chameleon. In a figurative sense, chameleons are called adaptive journalists. Observations show that mimicry in politics is to some extent a kind of game that, like every game, is always conditional and artificial.


2018 ◽  
Vol 170 ◽  
pp. 04008
Author(s):  
Nadezhda Kurepina ◽  
Irina Rybkina

Geoinformation systems (GIS) are actively used in modern scientific research, including the field of Urban Territories’ management. The lack of a universal methodology for their application requires an individual approach in the study of water management and water and environmental problems in the region. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate concrete examples of GIS successful use in solving some water supplying problems. One of the leading research methods is geoinformation-cartographic modeling, which has a wide range of possibilities and contributes to the effective solution of water-related and water-ecological regional problems. The developed algorithm for GIS using in solving regional water, a step-by-step procedure organizes for carrying out research work, the presented structure of the thematic database facilitates the systematizatin of thematic data large volume with the base a GIS project is created, where information is integrated, calculations, and a cartographic model is created that visualizes the regional water management and water-e logical situation. The research examples carried out in the Institute of Hydrometeorology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Siberian Branch) on regional water management and water ecological problems by means of GIS and using the method of geoinformation-cartographic modeling considered in this paper prove the effectiveness and their use expediency.


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