Water Treatment Goes Underground

This is an invited paper to 'The Chemical Engineer' published by IChemE (UK). The paper summarises the technology on arsenic removal from groundwater, which has been recognised by prestigious Ambani Prize of IChemE (UK).

Saturated-unsaturated flow through leaky dams

This research investigated seepage flow through leaky dams using the well known finite-element method. Different areas, locations, and hydraulic conductivities of leaks were examined. An area of leak, equal to 4.4% of the core area, increased the seepage flow through the dam to be about 9.5 times the seepage flow through tight (nonleaky) core. This happened for a dam having a downstream horizontal drainage filter. When the drainage filter did not exist, the increase of flow because of the same area of leak was about seven times the flow through a tight core. When the leak existed at the centerline of the core in the out-of-plane direction, its impact was slightly greater than when it existed at the edge of the core. Moreover, as the location of the leak moved up vertically, its impact was observed to be less. It was also observed that when the leak existed in curtain wall driven into underneath the dam, its impact was not significant compared with the case when it existed in the core.

Stochastic analysis of free surface flow through earth dams

This research investigated the unconfined flow through dams. The hydraulic conductivity was modeled as spatially random field following lognormal distribution. Results showed that the seepage flow produced from the stochastic solution was smaller than its deterministic value. In addition, the free surface was observed to exit at a point lower than that obtained from the deterministic solution. When the hydraulic conductivity was strongly correlated in the horizontal direction than the vertical direction, the flow through the dam has markedly increased. It is suggested that it may not be necessary to construct a core in dams made from soils that exhibit high degree of variability.

Compost city: underground music, collapsoscapes and urban regeneration

This paper looks at the recent history of Hulme, Manchester, which during the 1980s was home to many of the most successful bands of the post-punk era. This flourishing of underground music was not planned, however. It emerged, through a complex network of urban forces, some physical, some social. The paper develops the concept of the ‘compost city’ a laissez-faire approach to the management of urban culture, which is oppositional to the current vogue for more hands-on cultural industries management.

Review of: Whitehouse, R. 1993 Underground Religion: cult and culture in prehistoric Italy. Accordia Specialist Studies on Italy 1. London, University of London.

Malone , C., . Antiquity, 1993. 67(256): p. 686-7.

Environmental Aspects of Underground Construction and Exploration of Underground Structure – State of the Art

An underground work (such as a tunnel or a cavern) has many, well known, environmental qualities such as: no physical barriers crossing the land, less maintenance costs than an analogous surface structure, less expenses for heating and conditioning; a localized emission of noise, gas, dust during operation and, finally, a better protection against seismic actions.
It cannot be forgotten, anyway, that some negative environmental features are present such as, for example, : perturbation, pollution and drainage of the groundwater; settlements; disposal of waste rock.
In the paper the above mentioned concepts are discussed and analysed to give a global overview of all this aspects.

Right-Wing Violence in Germany: Assessing the Objectives, Personalities and Terror Trail of the National Socialist Underground and the State's Response to It

In the last five years the forces of organised right-wing extremism have made electoral advances across many states in contemporary Europe. Germany has not been immune and the extreme right party, the National Democratic Party of Germany won its first seat in the European Parliament since 1989. The recent successes of the extreme right pose issues for European society about tolerance and immigration policy, but this scene has also been associated with an upsurge in racially motivated political violence and acts of right-wing terrorism. Much of this violence is perpetrated by small neo-Nazi styled groups. This paper looks at the most notorious and recent of such groups to emerge in Germany, the National Socialist Underground. The paper explores the origins and personalities behind this terror cell, provides derails of its criminal activities and murder spree, and questions why it took so long for the authorities to identify the NSU.

Conflict Management in Public-Private Partnerships: The Case of the London Underground

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have become common inter-organizational arrangements associated with “new public management.” Discussion about their effective operation has often focused on successful management methods, with less discussion about how these arrangements specifically overcome obstacles and problems. In this article, we seek to address this deficiency in the literature by analyzing the conflict management system employed within the London Underground PPP (when it was still in operation). We conclude by identifying several lessons from this case that we believe should inform the design of such systems, one of which is the role of knowledge management.

Influence of individual predisposition, maternal experience and lactation environment on the responses of pigs to weaning at two different ages

This study assessed the effect of predisposition to perform harmful social behaviour, maternal rearing environment, and lactation environment on the responses of pigs to weaning at 3 or 5 weeks of age. Predisposed and non-predisposed gilts were selected as dams for this study at 7 weeks of age. Selection was based on behaviour in a

Mole-rats from higher altitudes have greater thermoregulatory capabilities

Subterranean mammals (those that live and forage underground) inhabit a challenging microenvironment, with high levels of carbon dioxide and low levels of oxygen. Consequently, they have evolved specialised morphological and physiological adaptations. For small mammals that inhabit high altitudes, the effects of cold are compounded by low oxygen partial pressures. Hence, subterranean mammals living at high altitudes are faced with a uniquely demanding physiological environment, which presumably necessitates additional physiological adjustments. We examined the thermoregulatory capabilities of two populations of Lesotho mole-rat Cryptomys hottentotus mahali that inhabit a 'low' (1600 in) and a 'high' (3200 m) altitude. Mole-rats from the high altitude had a lower temperature of the lower critical point, a broader thermoneutral zone, a lower thermal conductance and greater regulatory non-shivering thermogenesis than animals from the lower altitude. However, minimum resting metabolic rate values were not significantly different between the populations and were low compared with allometric predictions. We suggest that thermoregulatory costs may in part be met by animals maintaining a low resting metabolic rate. High-altitude animals may adjust to their cooler, more oxygen-deficient environment by having an increased non-shivering thermogenesis whilst maintaining low thermal conductance. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.