Performance of a Sequential Reactive Barrier for Bioremediation of Coal Tar Contaminated Groundwater

Following a thorough site investigation, a biological Sequential Reactive Barrier (SEREBAR), designed to remove Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and BTEX compounds, was installed at a Former Manufactured Gas Plant (FMGP) site. The novel design of the barrier comprises, in series, an interceptor and six reactive chambers. The first four chambers (2 nonaerated-2 aerated) were filled with sand to encourage microbial colonization. Sorbant Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) was present in the final two chambers in order to remove any recalcitrant compounds. The SEREBAR has been in continuous operation for 2 years at different operational flow rates (ranging from 320 L/d to 4000 L/d, with corresponding residence times in each chamber of 19 days and 1.5 days, respectively). Under low flow rate conditions (320-520 L/d) the majority of contaminant removal (>93%) occurred biotically within the interceptor and the aerated chambers. Under high flow rates (1000-4000 L/d) and following the installation of a new interceptor to prevent passive aeration, the majority of contaminant removal (>80%) again occurred biotically within the aerated chambers. The sorption zone (GAC) proved to be an effective polishing step, removing any remaining contaminants to acceptable concentrations before discharge down-gradient of the SEREBAR (overall removals >95%).

Inhuman and Degrading Punishment, Dignity, and the Limits of Retribution

The recent judgment of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Vinter and others v United Kingdom provides a much needed clarification of the parameters of the prohibition on inhuman and degrading punishment under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as it applies to whole life orders of imprisonment under mandatory life sentences – essentially, life imprisonment without parole. The Grand Chamber’s judgment refines Strasbourg doctrine on life imprisonment and the prospect of release and illuminates key principles concerning inhuman and degrading punishment under Article 3 of the ECHR. This article considers the judgment’s profound significance in relation to both human rights and penology.

Remote control of the activity of a Pt catalyst supported on a mixed ionic electronic conducting membrane

A novel configuration for the in situ control of the catalytic activity of a polycrystalline Pt catalyst supported on a mixed ionic electronic conducting (MIEC) substrate is investigated. The modification of the catalytic activity is achieved by inducing the reverse spillover of oxygen promoting species from the support onto the catalyst surface, thus modifying the chemisorptive bond energy of the gas phase adsorbed reactants. This phenomenon is known as Electrochemical Promotion of Catalysis (EPOC). In this work we investigate the use of a wireless system that takes advantage of the mixed ionic electronic conductivity of the catalyst support (internally short-circuiting the system) in a dual chamber reactor. In this wireless configuration, the reaction takes place in one chamber of the membrane reactor while introduction of the promoting species is achieved by the use of an appropriate sweep gas (and therefore control of the oxygen chemical potential difference across the membrane) on the other chamber. Experimental results have shown that the catalytic rate can be enhanced by using an oxygen sweep, while a hydrogen sweep can reverse the changes. Total rate enhancement ratios of up to 3.5 were measured. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Bouyid v Belgium: The “minimum level of severity” and Human Dignity's Role in Article 3 ECHR

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights recently delivered an important judgment on Article 3 ECHR in the case of Bouyid v Belgium. In Bouyid, the Grand Chamber was called upon to consider whether slaps inflicted on a minor and an adult in police custody were in breach of Article 3 ECHR, which provides that ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’. Overruling the Chamber judgment in the case, the Grand Chamber ruled by 14 votes to 3 that there had been a substantive violation of Article 3 in that the applicants had been subjected to degrading treatment by members of the Belgian police; it found that there had been a breach of the investigative duty under Article 3 also. In this comment, I focus on the fundamental basis of disagreement between the majority of the Grand Chamber and those who found themselves in dissent, on the question of whether there had been a substantive breach of Article 3. The crux of the disagreement lay in the understanding and application of the test of ‘minimum level of severity’, which the ECtHR has established as decisive of whether a particular form of ill-treatment crosses the Article 3 threshold, seen also in light of Article 3’s absolute character, which makes it non-displaceable – that is, immune to trade-offs of the type applicable in relation to qualified rights such as privacy and freedom of expression. I consider the way the majority of the Grand Chamber unpacked and applied the concept of dignity – or ‘human dignity’ – towards finding a substantive breach of Article 3, and briefly distil some of the principles underpinning the understanding of human dignity emerging in the Court’s analysis.

Measurement of electromagnetic pulses generated during interactions of high power lasers with solid targets

A target irradiated with a high power laser pulse, blows off a large amount of charge and as a consequence the target itself becomes a generator of electromagnetic pulses (EMP) owing to high return current flowing to the ground through the target holder. The first measurement of the magnetic field induced by the neutralizing current reaching a value of a few kA was performed with the use of an inductive target probe at the PALS Laser Facility (Cikhardt et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85 (2014) 103507). A full description of EMP generation should contain information on the spatial distribution and temporal variation of the electromagnetic field inside and outside of the interaction chamber. For this reason, we consider the interaction chamber as a resonant cavity in which different modes of EMP oscillate for hundreds of nanoseconds, until the EMP is transmitted outside through the glass windows and EM waves are attenuated. Since the experimental determination of the electromagnetic field distribution is limited by the number of employed antennas, a mapping of the electromagnetic field has to be integrated with numerical simulations. Thus, this work reports on a detailed numerical mapping of the electromagnetic field inside the interaction chamber at the PALS Laser Facility (covering a frequency spectrum from 100 MHz to 3 GHz) using the commercial code COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2. Moreover we carried out a comparison of the EMP generated in the parallelepiped-like interaction chamber used in the Vulcan Petawatt Laser Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, against that produced in the spherical interaction chamber of PALS.

E-Commerce Innovations in the Personal Tax System of the United Kingdom

This study finds evidence that attempts to reduce costs and error rates in the Inland Revenue through the use of e-commerce technology are flawed. While it is technically possible to write software that will record tax data, and then transmit it to the Inland Revenue, there is little demand for this service. The key finding is that the tax system is so complex that many people are unable to complete their own tax returns. This complexity cannot be overcome by well-designed software. The recommendation is to encourage the use of agents to assist taxpayers or simplify the tax system. The Inland Revenue is interested in saving administrative costs and errors by encouraging electronic submission of tax returns. To achieve these objectives, given the raw data it would seem clear that the focus should be on facilitating the work of agents.

Risk assessment of E-Commerce projects using evidential reasoning

The purpose of this study is to develop a decision making system to evaluate the risks in E-Commerce (EC) projects. Competitive software businesses have the critical task of assessing the risk in the software system development life cycle. This can be conducted on the basis of conventional probabilities, but limited appropriate information is available and so a complete set of probabilities is not available. In such problems, where the analysis is highly subjective and related to vague, incomplete, uncertain or inexact information, the Dempster-Shafer (DS) theory of evidence offers a potential advantage. We use a direct way of reasoning in a single step (i.e., extended DS theory) to develop a decision making system to evaluate the risk in EC projects. This consists of five stages 1) establishing knowledge base and setting rule strengths, 2) collecting evidence and data, 3) determining evidence and rule strength to a mass distribution for each rule; i.e., the first half of a single step reasoning process, 4) combining prior mass and different rules; i.e., the second half of the single step reasoning process, 5) finally, evaluating the belief interval for the best support decision of EC project. We test the system by using potential risk factors associated with EC development and the results indicate that the system is promising way of assisting an EC project manager in identifying potential risk factors and the corresponding project risks.

In situ measurement of UHF wearable antenna radiation efficiency using a reverberation chamber

The radiation efficiency and resonance frequency of five compact antennas worn by nine individual test subjects was measured at 2.45 GHz in a reverberation chamber. The results show that, despite significant differences in body mass, wearable antenna radiation efficiency had a standard deviation less than 0.6 dB and the resonance frequency shift was less than 1% between test subjects. Variability in the radiation efficiency and resonance frequency shift between antennas was largely dependant on body tissue coupling which is related to both antenna geometry and radiation characteristics. The reverberation chamber measurements were validated using a synthetic tissue phantom and compared with results obtained in a spherical near field chamber and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation.

Increasing the size of a small peripheral iridotomy widens the anterior chamber angle:An ultrasound biomicroscopy study

Purpose: A peripheral iridotomy (PI) is the treatment of choice for pupillary block. In this study we investigated the effect of enlarging the size of a small PI on the anterior chamber angle in patients with angle closure using ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM). Patients and Methods: Patients who had been treated with laser peripheral iridotomy for angle closure and were identified to have a small patent PI (<100 µm) with still appositionally closed anterior chamber angle were selected prospectively. The anterior chamber angle was assessed using UBM. The angle opening distance 500 µm from the scleral spur (AOD500) as well as the anterior and posterior chamber depth (ACD and PCD) 1000 µm from the scleral spur was measured. In addition, the ACD/PCD ratio was calculated. Afterwards, the PI was enlarged using an Nd: YAG laser and the UBM measurements were repeated as described above. Results: Six eyes of six patients were examined. After the enlargement of the PI the average AOD500 increased from 109 µm (±36) to 147 µm (±40) (p