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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005. / "December 2005." Includes bibliographical references. Online version available on the World Wide Web.

The submitted paper covers manganese comprehensively. The introduction provides an overview of its basic physical and chemical properties. Its compounds are discussed individually, including their preparation, production, and practical uses. Furthermore, a list of analytical methods in which manganese is involved in the form of its compounds as reagents is included. The same section includes an overview of analytical methods whereby manganese and its compounds are detected, primarily in water industry processes. Attention is paid to manganese as a non-negligible constituent of the various parts of the environment. The section on manganese’s biogenic properties is interesting from the viewpoint of its toxicity as well as its role as an important biogenic element, indispensable primarily for mammals. The subsequent chapters discuss the various methods which are suitable, under specific conditions, for separation in the treatment of surface and underground water aimed at producing drinking, process, or industrial water, where a minimal concentration of this metal is required. The impact of the physical/chemical conditions which influence the efficiency of separation in a manner ranging from non-negligible to principal, is discussed further on. Given the specifics of treatment of surface [and] underground water, the chapters provide more details on the processes suitable for specific types of matrix and specific conditions. Next chapters sum up many years of the author’s observations and experiences in the various parts of the water management system, from the raw water source to treatment to distribution, focusing on surface and underground water separately. Last chapter describes the construction of a water treatment plant model, its launch and calibration, and the tests focused on separating manganese by way of coagulation using aluminium and iron sulphate.

According to the statistics about civil transportation aircraft Environmental Control system (ECS), the three-wheel high pressure water separation system (HPWS) and low pressure water separation system (LPWS) are the most common choices for the 150-seat airliners. Although the former has become the mainstream configuration for air conditioning pack, the latter is still used on Boeing 737-600/700. In order to compare the two configurations and choose the better one for a specific aircraft, simulation and analysis are done. The cabin heat load is calculated at first in order to calculate required engine bleed air mass flow. Then a specific aircraft is defined so that required structural dimensions and cabin comfort indexes can be obtained based on Airbus 320. Thirdly, the component models are built by Matlab/Simulink according to the fundamental knowledge of heat transfer and aerodynamics, the working principles and mechanical dimensions of the components, the ambient environmental parameters and some data from Airbus 320. Consequently, the complete system model can be assembled. After confirming the validity of the model by checking the required ram air mass flow and temperature deviation of the state points referred to Airbus 320, the simulation model is used to do analyze the specific aircraft. Finally, through comparing the different values of ram air mass flow and turbine expansion ratio, as well as the system mass, economic cost and reliability, the better configuration is selected. It can be summarized that the three-wheel LPWS requires less ram air mass flow (0.012kg/s) and a little lower expansion ratio (0.02) than the HPWS, and it also has lower weight (63% of HPWS), lower (83% of HPWS) cost and higher reliability (140% of HPWS), thus it is the suitable configuration for the specific aircraft.

The separation of water and fat from multi-echo images is a classic problem in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a wide range of important clinical applications. For example, removal of fat signal can provide better visualization of other signal of interest in MRI scans. In other cases, the fat distribution map can be of great importance in diagnosis. Although many methods have been proposed over the past three decades, robust fat water separation remains a challenge as radiological technology and clinical expectation continue to grow. The problem presents three key difficulties: a) the presence of B0 field inhomogeneities, often large in the state-of-the-art research and clinical settings, which makes the problem non-linear and ill-posed; b) the ambiguity of signal modeling in locations with only one metabolite (either fat or water), which can manifest as spurious fat water swaps in the separation; c) the computational expenditure in fat water separation as the size of the data is increasing along with evolving MRI hardware, which hampers the clinical applicability of the fat water separation. The main focus of this thesis is to develop novel graph based algorithms to estimate the B0 field inhomogeneity maps and separate fat water signals with global accuracy and computational efficiency. We propose a new smoothness constrained framework for the GlObally Optimal Surface Estimation (GOOSE), in which the spatial smoothness of the B0 field is modeled as a finite constraint between adjacent voxels in a uniformly discretized graph. We further develop a new non-equidistant graph model that enables a Rapid GlObally Optimal Surface Estimation (R-GOOSE) in a subset of the fully discretized graph in GOOSE. Extensions of the above frameworks are also developed to achieve high computational efficiency for processing large 3D datasets. Global convergence of the optimization formulation is proven in all frameworks. The developed methods have also been extensively compared to the existing state-of-the-art fat water separation methods on a variety of datasets with consistent performance of high accuracy and efficiency.

The biological treatment of metalworking fluids (MWFs) is a cost effective alternative to conventional waste disposal processes. While research has proven that this process is capable of treating large volumes of wastes with high organic concentrations, there are uncertainties about the mechanisms by which the treatment occurs, and there are limitations that must be overcome. There is a need to understand the importance of the mechanisms by which carbon (and hence COD) is removed from the wastewater. This will allow for waste practitioners to make better decisions for optimizing the process, and for disposing of waste (i.e sludge) that is generated. The biological treatment process is also susceptible to biocides present within formulations. These compounds either need to be removed before the treatment process, or the bioreactors need to be made more resistant to them to ensure that their presence does not hinder the reactor functioning. This study aims to answer the uncertainties about the carbon removal mechanisms involved in the treatment of oil-containing MWFs. In the first experimental chapter, it is shown that the predominant mechanism of carbon removal is oil/water separation induced by emulsifier degradation, and hence the bioprocess treatment rate is significantly affected by the biodegradability of surfactants and by the presence of cations found naturally in the water that used to prepare the emulsions. The study then provides insights into the potential that coagulation and coalescence has for removing inhibitory components commonly found in MWFs. Coagulation and coalescence is shown to effectively remove biocides with low aqueous solubility (iodopropynyl butylcarbamate) and those that partition themselves into the oil phase (o-phenyl phenate and its sodium salt). Finally, to improve the resistance of reactors to inhibitory compounds, factors influencing the development of fixed-film reactors are investigated. A micro-cosmic system is used to study the both physico-chemical effects and nutritional factors on the development of biofilm reactors. It is shown that biofilm yields can be controlled through pH adjustment, and that these yields are maximized with phosphate stimulation and ammonium limitation. It is then shown that fixed-film reactors are able to treat metalworking fluids even under conditions deemed to be inhibitory. In summary, this project provides insights into further understanding and enhancing the biological treatment of MWFs.

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People with cerebral palsy (CP) may develop muscle contractures, which are defined as a loss of joint range due to an increase in passive muscle stiffness [1]. Computer models suggest that intramuscular fat can increase muscle stiffness [2]. There is evidence that children with spastic CP have elevated intramuscular fat fractions, but quantitative estimations of the intramuscular fat fraction are variable [1]. Therefore, a reliable method for in vivo quantification of intramuscular fat is required. The aim of this thesis was to compare two- and three-point Dixon fat-water separation methods, as well as the IDEAL algorithm for intramuscular fat quantification of the gastrocnemius medialis, for both children with CP and typically developed peers. As a reference standard, the water- and fat-only maps resulting from the Philips mDIXONXD turbo-spin-echo sequence were used (Ingenia CX, Philips Healthcare, The Netherlands). It was found that neither of the methods can compare to the reference standard, which is probably due to poor performance of the phase unwrapping algorithm applied on this data. Further studies need to be done in order to better quantify the phase error in multi-echo Dixon MRI.

Produced water (PW) is an oil and gas extraction byproduct that contains a variety of contaminants. PW was traditionally disposed of in deep injection wells or released into the environment. However, these practices may have environmental consequences. The reuse of PW for power water injection (PWI) can help to reduce these impacts by providing a renewable source of water that can be used to maintain production pressure and increase oil recovery. Additionally, the reuse of PW can save oil companies money on water treatment, transporting and disposal costs. Ultrafiltration membranes are used to separate oil from water in produced water. However, ultrafiltration membranes are susceptible to severe fouling by oil molecules, which can reduce their performance. This research investigated the use of Pebax® coating to improve the performance of ultrafiltration membranes for oily-water mixture. The results showed that Pebax® coating can enhance the resistance of membranes to fouling to fouling. The optimal balance between fouling resistance and water flux was found to be achieved by applying very thin coating layers and using appropriate solvents (e.g., n-Butanol). The Pebax® coating creates an essentially defect-free layer on the membrane surface, as seen by the SEM images. Additionally, the coated membranes outperformed the untreated membranes in terms of fouling resistance. This result demonstrated that oil molecules showed less adhesion on the surface and penetration inside membrane pores, thus reducing fouling. Overall, the findings of this research point to PEBAX® coating as a potential means of enhancing the ability of ultrafiltration membranes to resist fouling in the process of separating oil from water. To analyze the long-term performance of coated membranes and to optimize the coating procedure, additional research is required.

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