Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-87).

Thesis (M.Sc. (Industrial Ecology and Environment))--Mahidol University, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Flinders University, School of Medicine, Dept. of Environmental Health. / Typescript bound. Includes bibliographical references: (leaves 650-698) Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Environmental Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-100). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11861

Thesis (MTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007 / In order to develop an effective control strategy for the activated sludge process of a wastewater treatment plant, an understanding of the nature of the influent load disturbances to the wastewater treatment plant is necessary. Biological systems are among the most difficult to control and predict. Due to the complex biological reaction mechanisms, the highly time-varying, and multivariable aspects of the wastewater treatment plant ('MNTP), the diagnosis of the 'MNTP are still difficult in practice. The application of intelligent techniques, which can analyse the multi-dimensional nonlinear process data using a visualisation technique, can be useful for analysing and diagnosing the activated-sludge process in the VVVVTP. This complex capability for nonlinearity representation combined with the fact that no model exists for the WVVTP influent dynamics to a WVVTP, makes neural networks an ideal choice for a solution. Forecasting the behaviour of complex systems has been a broad application area for neural networks. Applications such as economic forecasting, electricity load I demand forecasting, and forecasting natural and physical phenomena have been extensively studied, hence the numerous papers presented at annual conferences in this focus area. The cognitive ability of artificial neural networks to map' nonlinear complex input-output relationships, which would allow for better prediction and corrective control of processes, make them particularly attractive. The values of the influent disturbances are usually measured off-line in ~ laboratory, as there are still no reliable on-line sensors available. This work presents the development of a neural network model for prediction of the values of the influent disturbances based on historical plant and weather data, which ultimately affect the activated sludge process. Three different neural networks including the multilayer perceptron, recurrent and radial basis functions neural network are developed for the prediction of the influent disturbances of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) and influent flow rate respectively. The application area is the prediction of the influent variables at a local municipal wastewater treatment plant. The forecast result is used for the determination of the setpoint to a controller, in order to• optimize plant performance. The results are first applied to a pilot wastewater treatment plant. Much hype exists surrounding the subject of neural networks, and they are sometimes described as 'computers that think'. This sort of definition creates unrealistic expectations and is one of the reasons why it is discredited. The results obtained will hopefully present helpful insights as to the scope and possibilities as to the application for neural networks, but also present the practical challenges which neural network practitioners and designers of intelligent systems face. The solution of the problem for development of the mathematical model for dynamic behaviour of the influent disturbances according to the influence of the weather conditions and the season of the year is the first attempt in the scientific and research literature so far.

Thesis (MTech (Biomedical Sciences))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are designed to remove/decrease conventional pollution parameters from the wastewater influent, so that the final effluent (run off) does not compromise the receiving surface water source. However, as hospital and clinical effluent may form part of the initial influent at a WWTP, bacteria may be exposed to various antibiotics or pharmaceuticals throughout the various stages of primary, secondary and tertiary processes utilised to remove or reduce the level of pollutants. Numerous studies have then indicated that WWTPs have become potential reservoirs for antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and due to ineffective treatment practices, antibiotics are being released into the environment. Consequently, research has shown that relatively low concentrations of these compounds still promotes the development of bacterial resistance, which potentiates the rapid spread of ARB in the environment. The primary aim of this study was thus to identify and trace the antibiotic resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) throughout the Stellenbosch WWTP. This was done in order to determine the persistance of the ARB organisms at the various stages of treatment and to ascertain which identification and antibiotic resistance detection methods are ideal for the routine application and detection of these organisms. / National Research Foundation

(DTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009. / The problem for effective and optimal control of wastewater treatment plants is very important recently because of the increased requirements to the quality of the effluent. The activated sludge process is a type of wastewater process characterized with complex dynamics and because of this proper control design and implementation strategies are necessary and important for its operation. Since the early seventies, when a major leap forward was made by the widespread introduction of dissolved oxygen control, little progress has been made. The most critical phase in the solution of any control problem is the modelling stage. The primary building block of any modern control exercise is to construct and identify a model for the system to be controlled. The existing full Activated Sludge Model 1 (ASM1) and especially University of Cape Town (UCT) models of the biological processes in the activated sludge process, called in the thesis biological models, are highly complex because they are characterised with a lot of variables that are difficult to be measured on-line, complex dependencies and nonlinear interconnections between the biological variables, many kinetic parameters that are difficult to be determined, different time scales for the process dynamics. The project considers reduction of the impact of the complexity of the process model over the methods for control design and proposes a solution to the above difficulties by development of a reduced model with small number of variables, but still with the same characteristics as the original full model for the purposes of real time control design. Then the research problem can be stated in the following way: To develop mathematical methods, algorithms and programmes for transformation of the complex biological and mass balance models of the activated sludge process into simpler reduced models of the process convenient to be used for optimal parameter estimation, control design and control implementation in real- time.

This study documents that external and internal forces were causes of change at VCWTP. External forces caused. Fort Worth to reorganize and introduce new management at VCWTP after 1982. These improvements led to VCWTP being selected best managed wastewater treatment plant in the nation by EPA in 1988. This study first analyzes external and internal forces responsible for changes at VCWTP. A history of plant operations also is reviewed. Personnel interviews were conducted of perceptions of employees. Finally, statistics obtained of the plant operation from 1969 to 1988 are compared with personal interviews. Five forces effect change at VCWTP; population, regulatory requirements, political conflicts, an organizational and managerial factors. Turnaround occurred as external and internal corrections were made.

Ph.D. (Chemistry) / Phosphorus in the form of phosphate needs to be removed from the aqueous environment as it is primarily responsible for eutrophication of water bodies. In an attempt to limit the discharged of phosphorus into the aqueous environment, the phosphate discharge limits for wastewater treatment plants have been decreased. These limits are not easily or economically met by current phosphorus removal technologies. In addition phosphorus is a non-renewable resource. To ensure the ongoing quality of water bodies and security of food production it is vital that phosphate in water be removed and recovered. In order to address these issues, novel hybrid metal oxide ion exchange resins based on Fe(III), Cu(II), Mn(IV and Ti(IV) oxides have been prepared and their phosphate adsorption characteristics determined.

This dissertation explores architectural building types as critical components of, and unique points of interface with, three infrastructural systems, built or re-built in New York City in the decades after World War II. While contemporary infrastructure is enmeshed in regional and global networks far beyond the administrative bounds of the five boroughs, an architectural focus reveals these systems as inescapably local, tied to political struggles surrounding the siting, design, and construction of buildings; to socio-technical imperatives of density; to material consequences like traffic and air pollution; and to aesthetic effects like beauty, monotony, and monumentality. Three case studies—in food distribution, telephone service, and sewage treatment—explore different spatial techniques involved in the management of commodities, information, and waste. Reading each through the social history of technology, as well as the disciplinary tools of architectural history, brings to light unique aspects of architecture’s participation in the political, social, and technological landscapes of the contemporary city. This dissertation looks closely at the prewar roots and postwar creation of New York’s present-day systems: the adoption of the infrastructural buildings we see today, and the rejection of alternatives in design, values, and policies. It argues that the city’s vital systems, and their architectural manifestations, were largely designed according to the needs of various elite groups, in ways that supported the long-term deindustrialization and stratification of urban existence, though not according to a consistent or coherent plan. Well-studied postwar phenomena such as decentralization, automation, demographic change, and “urban crisis” take on different casts as familiar characters like politicians, property owners and architects are joined by monopoly corporations, technicians, and neighborhood organizers. Granular study of the processes that led to the adoption of particular plans, and the rejection of alternatives, reveals the city’s visual and functional landscape as one shaped by a wide—though far from democratic—range of actors. Today, these same infrastructures, physically durable even as their social use has been redirected or transformed, continue to participate in an ostensibly postindustrial and rapidly gentrifying city. By reexamining the narratives of these systems’ design and construction, the study of infrastructural architecture illuminates this inequitable history, while revealing moments of resistance and supporting calls for the further democratization of urban life by those whose needs have been discounted.