<p>Many believe that the current application of modern logistics solutions in general and centralisation of distribution systems in particular is damaging from an environmental perspective. The reason for this claim is that when a distribution system is centralised, products need to be shipped over greater distances. This causes an increase in transport work, which in turn is believed to cause an increase in emissions. Further, the decision to centralise distribution can be characterised as a structural decision and earlier research has helped illustrate how such decisions have greater impact on the overall performance of a distribution system than decisions taken at subsequent levels (tactical and operative). The reason for this is that structural decisions help create new opportunities to make other logistical decisions that are beneficial for the performance of a distribution system, as measured in terms of costs and service.</p><p>It is also acknowledged that there is a lack of research illustrating the actual environmental effects of centralisation. This area is the theme of this thesis and the overall purpose is to describe and analyse how centralisation of a distribution system can affect the environment. This purpose has been divided into two research questions, where the first one reads:</p><p>- How does physical centralisation of a distribution system influence the environment?</p><p>This question aims at investigating what effect centralisation has on the amount of emissions that are caused by transport in a distribution system. One of the main advantages with a centralised distribution system is that emergency deliveries are expected to decrease. This type of transport is often performed by airfreight, which is a mode of transport that is regarded to cause the largest amount of environmental stress among the four most commonly used transport modes. The argument that is made is that even though centralisation causes an increase in transport work, this must not necessarily mean that emissions increase.</p><p>As indicated above, earlier studies on structural changes in distribution systems have shown that this type of decision creates new opportunities to make other decisions that are beneficial for the performance of a distribution system, albeit in terms of costs and service. The aim of the second research question is consequently to study this issue, but from an environmental perspective. This question therefore reads:</p><p>- How do structural decisions in logistics create new opportunities to improve on the environmental performance of a distribution system?</p><p>The results of the study show that it is not sufficient to only consider transport work and emergency deliveries when the environmental effect of a centralisation is to be evaluated. It has also been concluded that centralisation creates an opportunity to make improvements within the distribution system that can prove beneficial from an environmental perspective. In summary, three characteristics besides transport work and emergency deliveries were identified as being of importance when considering the environmental effects of a centralisation. These included centralised flow, modal change, and bargaining power.</p><p>This model (<em>see full pdf</em>) does not aim to include all characteristics that can be relevant in an environmental evaluation of a centralisation, but rather those that have been found significant in this study. However, the model helps illustrate that there are many aspects that need to be considered in such an evaluation and that depending on the characteristics of the distribution system at hand the results can vary quite extensively.</p>

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<p>The weather environment has a significant impact on the reliability of a power system due to its effect on the system failure mechanisms of overhead circuits and on the operational ability of an electric power utility. The physical stresses created by weather increase the failure rates of transmission or distribution lines operating in adverse weather conditions, resulting in increased coincident failures of multiple circuits. Exceptionally severe weather can cause immense system damages and significantly impact the reliability performance. Recognition of the pertinent weather impacts clearly indicates the need to develop appropriate models and techniques that incorporate variable weather conditions for realistic estimation of reliability indices.</p> <p>This thesis illustrates a series of multi-state weather models that can be utilized for predictive reliability assessment incorporating adverse and extremely adverse weather conditions. The studies described in this thesis are mainly focused on the analyses using the three state weather model. A series of multi-state weather models are developed and utilized to assess reliability performance of parallel redundant configurations. The application of weather modeling in reliability evaluation is illustrated using a practical transmission system. The thesis presents an approach to identify weather specific contributions to system reliability indices and illustrates the technique by utilizing a test distribution system. The analysis of a range of reliability distributions with regard to major event day segmentation is presented.</p><p>The research work illustrated in this thesis clearly illustrates that reliability indices estimated without recognition of weather situations are unrealistic and that at minimum the three state weather model should be applied in reliability evaluation of systems residing in varying weather environments. The conclusions, concepts and techniques presented in this thesis should prove useful in practical application.</p>

Content distribution systems are essentially content protection systems that protect premium multimedia content from being illegally distributed. Physical content distribution systems form a subset of content distribution systems with which the content is distributed via physical media such as CDs, Blu-ray discs, etc. This thesis studies physical content distribution systems. Specifically, we concentrate our study on the design and analysis of three key components of the system: broadcast encryption for stateless receivers, mutual authentication with key agreement, and traitor tracing. The context in which we study these components is the Advanced Access Content System (AACS). We identify weaknesses present in AACS, and we also propose improvements to make the original system more secure, flexible and efficient.

Content distribution systems are essentially content protection systems that protect premium multimedia content from being illegally distributed. Physical content distribution systems form a subset of content distribution systems with which the content is distributed via physical media such as CDs, Blu-ray discs, etc. This thesis studies physical content distribution systems. Specifically, we concentrate our study on the design and analysis of three key components of the system: broadcast encryption for stateless receivers, mutual authentication with key agreement, and traitor tracing. The context in which we study these components is the Advanced Access Content System (AACS). We identify weaknesses present in AACS, and we also propose improvements to make the original system more secure, flexible and efficient.

<p>The weather environment has a significant impact on the reliability of a power system due to its effect on the system failure mechanisms of overhead circuits and on the operational ability of an electric power utility. The physical stresses created by weather increase the failure rates of transmission or distribution lines operating in adverse weather conditions, resulting in increased coincident failures of multiple circuits. Exceptionally severe weather can cause immense system damages and significantly impact the reliability performance. Recognition of the pertinent weather impacts clearly indicates the need to develop appropriate models and techniques that incorporate variable weather conditions for realistic estimation of reliability indices.</p> <p>This thesis illustrates a series of multi-state weather models that can be utilized for predictive reliability assessment incorporating adverse and extremely adverse weather conditions. The studies described in this thesis are mainly focused on the analyses using the three state weather model. A series of multi-state weather models are developed and utilized to assess reliability performance of parallel redundant configurations. The application of weather modeling in reliability evaluation is illustrated using a practical transmission system. The thesis presents an approach to identify weather specific contributions to system reliability indices and illustrates the technique by utilizing a test distribution system. The analysis of a range of reliability distributions with regard to major event day segmentation is presented.</p><p>The research work illustrated in this thesis clearly illustrates that reliability indices estimated without recognition of weather situations are unrealistic and that at minimum the three state weather model should be applied in reliability evaluation of systems residing in varying weather environments. The conclusions, concepts and techniques presented in this thesis should prove useful in practical application.</p>

A direct and rigid algorithm approach based on Equivalent Current Injection (ECI) for large-scale distribution power flow analysis is proposed in this dissertation. This algorithm used two primary matrices: BI and ZV-BC. Two matrices, which are built from the topological characteristics of distribution networks, are used to achieve the power flow solutions. BI matrix is the bus injection to branch current matrix and the ZV-BC matrix describes the relationship between the bus voltage mismatches and the branch current. The building algorithm is easily programmable and can be accomplished by a simple search technique with the two proposed matrices. Four connected cases are considered in this dissertation. The proposed algorithm is robust and accurate. Test results demonstrate the potential and validity of the proposed algorithm in distribution applications. Secondly, this thesis also presents a fault analysis with hybrid compensation for unbalanced distribution systems is proposed. The method employs the unbalanced three-phase model to analyze faults. BI and ZV-BC matrices containing information of the topological characteristics of distribution networks were built along with the proposed hybrid compensation method for analysis. Appropriate boundary conditions can be obtained for a fault to solve various types of single or simultaneous faults. The time-consuming LU decompositions, the Jacobian matrix, or the Y admittance matrix, required in the traditional algorithms, are not needed in the new development. Test results show that the proposed method is efficient, easy to program, also with advantages of high speed, robustness, improved accuracy, and lower memory requirements. This thesis also presents a hybrid programming (HP) technique to solve the reconfiguration problem for loss reduction and service restoration in Smart Grid application.

This dissertation examines the interdependence between urban water distribution systems and urban fire response. The focus on interdependent critical infrastructures is driven by concern for security of water systems and the effects on related infrastructures if water distribution systems are damaged by terrorist attack or natural disaster. A model of interdependent infrastructures (principally water distribution systems and fire response) is developed called the Model of Urban Fire Spread (MUFS). The model includes the capacity to simulate firefighting water demands in a community water system hydraulic model, building-to-building urban fire spread, and suppression activities. MUFS is an improvement over previous similar models because it allows simulation of urban fires at the level of individual buildings and it permits simulation of interdependent infrastructures working in concert. MUFS is used to simulate a series of multi-mode attacks and failures (MMAFs) – events which disable the water distribution system and simultaneously ignite an urban fire. The consequences of MMAF scenarios are analyzed to determine the most serious modes of infrastructure failure and urban fire ignition. Various methods to determine worst-case configurations of urban fire ignition points are also examined. These MMAF scenarios are used to inform the design of potential mitigation measures to decrease the consequences of the urban fire. The effectiveness of mitigation methods is determined using the MUFS simulation tool. Novel metrics are developed to quantify the effectiveness of the mitigation methods from the time-series development of their consequences. A cost-benefit analysis of the various mitigation measures is conducted to provide additional insight into the methods’ effectiveness and better inform the decision-making process of selecting mitigation methods. Planned future work includes further refinement of the representation of fire propagation and suppression in MUFS and investigation of historical MMAF events to validate simulation predictions. Future efforts will continue development of appropriate optimization methods for determining worst-case MMAF scenarios. This work should be of interest to water utility managers and emergency planners, who can adapt the methodology to analyze their communities’ vulnerability to MMAFs and design mitigation techniques to meet their unique needs, as well as to researchers interested in infrastructure modeling and disaster simulation.

Cheng-Ching Lake water treatment plant (CCLWTP), the largest water treatment plant in southern Taiwan serving the Kaoping region, uses the Kaoping River water as the source water. The plant has encountered both technical and managerial challenges to implement advanced water treatment system since 2004 in order to provide high quality drinking water to the residents living in the Kaoping metropolitan area and to meet future stringent drinking water standards. Granular activated carbon (GAC), derived from wood, bituminous coal, lignite, or other carbon-containing materials, and is the most widely utilized adsorbent for treating water and wastewater. It is usually used after the sand filtration process in water or wastewater treatment plant; the exhausted GAC is re-activated by a combustion process. Moreover, biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration (biofiltration) has become one of the advanced treatment techniques applied in the water treatment plant. In general, BAC offers a large internal surface area for the adsorption of taste, odor, and color compounds, excess chlorine, toxic and mutagenic substances (e.g., bromide, chlorinated organic compounds, including trihalomethanes), trihalomethane precursors, pesticides, phenolic compounds, dyes, toxic metals, and substances that cause biological after growth. After the biofiltration process, a final disinfection is necessary to ensure the microbial quality of the treated water. Because biofiltration is usually not capable of removing biorefractory substances, pre-oxidation with ozone is usually applied for oxidizing the most biorefractory organic matters and also improving their biodegradability before the water is treated in the BAC process. Hence, using ozone pre-oxidation will greatly enhances the effectiveness of the subsequent BAC process. The CCLWTP effluent meets the current drinking water quality established by Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA). However, the microbial regrowth due to the residual minute quantity of organic carbons causes pipe corrosion, and the formation of disinfectant by-products (DBPs) in the distribution system leading to potential contaminations of the clean water after it enters into the distribution system. Thus, monitoring the water quality in water distribution systems necessity to develop appropriate strategies for managing both the treatment plant and following distribution systems. Chlorine is often used in municipal water treatment plant for disinfecting drinking water; it can react with naturally occurring organic matter to form trihalomethanes (THMs), e.g. chloroform, bromodichloromethane, chlorodibromomethane and bromoform that causes long-term health hazards to consumers through oral ingestion, dermal absorption and inhalation. The lifetime cancer risk and the hazard index of THMs through oral ingestion, dermal absorption, and inhalation exposure from tap water in 9 districts in Kaohsiung City are estimated. In the first part of this study, water samples were periodically collected from each treatment process of Cheng-Ching Lake Water Treatment Plant (CCLWTP) to assess the AOC (assimilable organic carbon) removal. In the second part of this study, the role of BAC filtration used in advanced water treatment plant and its capability to remove pollutants (AOC, bromide, bromate, and iron) were evaluated. Additionally, the efficiency of biofiltration process using GAC and anthracite as the fillers was also assessed with a bench-scale GAC adsorption column. In third part of the study, the distribution system of CCLWTP was selected for conducting the case study for understanding the fate and transport of water quality indicators in the distribution system. The last part of the study concentrated on undertaking multipathway exposure assessment based on the concentrations of various THMs found in the water samples collected at various locations of Kaohsiung City water supply system. The AOC removal efficiency of the advanced water treatment processes of the CCL was assessed using data collected in the field during the first phase of this study. However, the effect of two different filling materials on the efficiency of biofiltration process was evaluated using a laboratory bench-scale column study. Results of both laboratory study and field investigation show that a significant AOC removal efficiency was achieved by the BAC system implemented in CCLWTP. Conclusions of this study are summarized as follows: 1. Significant AOC removal efficiency was achieved in CCLWTP and the AOC concentrations in the effluent could meet the current established standards. 2. The increased AOC concentrations after the treatment of preozonation and chlorination may be caused by the oxidation of organic matters to more biodegradable and assimilable products. 3. The removal of AOC is correlated with the decrease in concentrations of other drinking water indicators, e.g., coliform, TPC, TDS, and particle counts). 4. The addition of sodium thiosulfate in water samples could enhance the performance of the AOC analysis (the accuracy and reliability). 5. The BAC filtration has been demonstrated to play an important role in the removal of the trace AOC. Thus, the application of BAC for AOC removal is feasible and should be included as a required treatment unit in the advanced WTP. The field study completed in the second part assessed the removal efficiencies of AOC and other water quality indicators in CCLWTP, while the effects of using two different filling materials on the efficiency of biofiltration process and microorganisms growing were evaluated using a laboratory bench-scale column study. Conclusions of this study include the following: 1. The BAC filtration system is capable of removing trace pollutants including organics and metals. 2. Significant overall treatment efficiency can be achieved in the CCLWTP, and concentrations of the water quality indicators in the effluent will meet the drinking water standards established by TEPA. 3. The increased AOC concentrations after ozonation and chlorination processes may be caused by the oxidation of organic matters into more biodegradable and assimilable organic products. 4. GAC is a more appropriate filling material than anthracite in the biofiltration system for the removal of AOC. 5. More microorganisms were observed in GAC column than in BAF column. This may be due to the effect that GAC has more specific surface area than anthracite. Additionally, more microbial growth was observed at depth of 5 cm than 0 and 40 cm in both columns indicating that 5 cm below the column surface is rich in both dissolved oxygen and biodegradable that causes higher microbial populations. 6. The BAC filtration plays an important role in the removal of the trace AOC; it should be included as a required treatment unit in future advanced WTP. Additionally, the BAF filtration column filled with anthracite is not as effective as the GAC-filled column in removing AOC. Thus, GAC should be used for the proposed BAF filtration unit. 7. The oxidation process using ozone will increase the amount of carbonyl group organics in the oxidized water leading to poor biological stability. Therefore, the oxidation should be combined with a subsequent GAC or biological process to minimize the AOC formation potential. The third study, Using the oxidation/reduction potential (ORP) along with other water quality parameters to indicate the water quality in the CCLWTP distribution systems was assessed and focused. Behavior of water quality parameters by monitor and investigate was made a replacement of corrosive pipe line. The results reveal that the treated water leaving CCLWTP (clear water) meets the drinking water standards in Taiwan. However, the water is re-contaminated by a number of factors including the corrosion of old pipes while it is flowing in the distribution system. Major conclusions of this study are summarized in the following sections: 1. The free residual chlorine concentration in CCLWTP distribution system is adequate to meet the drinking water standards established by TEPA. 2. The residual AOC concentration is well correlated with the TOC concentration in the samples collected at various sites in different administrative areas. 3. Ratios of AOC/TOC in six administrative areas were higher than 9%, indicating that the biofilms were fall and increased organic matter of tap water distribution systems. 4. The average AOC concentrations were increased with followed variations of UV-254 value. 5. A number of factors (AOC, pH, redox potential, TOC, UV-254, and chlorine residual) control the growth of microorganisms on pipe surfaces. 6. DO have a negative relationship between THMs and HAAs concentrations. Because that oxygen have higher electronegative than chlorine and bromine, and apt utilization of organic carbon. 7. Results were shown of pH, DO and ORP had a positive relationship (Need to be more specific about the correlationship. 8. Major chemical reactions in the distribution system involve both electrons and protons transfers; they are pH- and Eh (ORP)-dependent. Therefore, chemical reactions in pipe net often can be characterized by pH and Eh together with the activity of dissolved chemical species. 9. The results reveal that the non-scaling water in LSI of distribution systems of CCL close to saturation (LSI = 0) (Cannot be understood). As show the other results, located K and M1 areas in LSI¡@were -0.002 and -0.012, respectively. The appearance of the pipe in K and M1 areas were corrosion and undersaturated with CaCO3 (needs to be re-written). 10. The RSI value was between 7.0 and 7.5 showing potential corrosion and prioritizes replacement of the pipe. 11. The DO value has a correlation with the reverse in Fe and Fe3+ concentrations. 12. High oxidation conditions and elevated Fe3+ concentrations of exist inside the corrosion scales of the corroded water distribution pipes. 13. The Fe concentrations in the samples collected in various administrative areas exceed the TEPA drinking water standards. 14. The appearance of CCL distribution system of shows severe corrosive and oxidized conditions. The last part of this study concentrated on evaluating the association between trihalomethanes (THMs) exposure through three different pathways and long-term health risks. The results show that the consumer has a higher risk of cancer through Inhalation route. This is different from the results reported by other research. Because most residents living in Taiwan are accustomed to drinking boiled water, the lifetime cancer risks through oral ingestion of water-borne CHBrCl2, and CHBr2Cl in tap water in all 9 districts were higher than 10-6. By oral ingestion the lifetime cancer risk for total THMs was highest in the 7th district, while the lowest lifetime cancer risk for total THMs was in the 4th district. Chloroform poses a higher cancer risk to Kaohsiung City residents through dermal exposure than the other three THMs. This study showed that residents in 7th district had the highest cancer risk through inhalation of chloroform among the 9 districts, and the residents in 6th district had the least cancer risk. Residents in 7th district has the highest risk of cancer due to exposure of THMs during showering and bathing as compared with residents in 4th district Males have a higher cancer risk than females through dermal absorption when exposed to THMs. The results of noncarcinogenic risk assessment for THMs indicate that if the main pathways are through oral ingestion and dermal absorption, 7th district has the highest hazard index of the four chemicals, while 4th district has the lowest hazard index. According to the above results, the quality of drinking water in Kaohsiung City is in general in accordance with the guidelines for drinking water quality as recommended by the World Health Organization. A better drinking water quality can be achieved by reducing the quantity of disinfection by-products (DBPs) through the removal of DBP precursors using modified treatment practices. Coagulation, granular activated carbon, membranes and ozone-biofiltration can all remove natural organic matter. Additionally, source water protection and control are effective non-treatment alternatives to control water-borne precursors. Optimized applications of disinfectants as primary and secondary disinfectants can further be implemented to control DBPs. Although research efforts continue to develop new treatment methods that will reduce the levels of DBPs during disinfection, it is generally accepted that risks to health caused by water-borne DBPs in drinking water are relative small in comparison with risks associated with water-borne diseases due to inadequate disinfection. Thus, it is important that the disinfection process should not be compromised in attempting to control water borne DBPs. The predominant DBPs group has been shown to be THMs, with chloroform and BDCM as the most dominant THMs. Although THMs are only one subgroup of the many DBPs formed during chlorination, they are useful as indicators of the overall DBP formation. It is concluded that, given the current state of knowledge, a risk assessment based on THMs would provide the greatest level of confidence regarding the ability of a drinking water guideline to protect against risks of cancer and other long-term health hazards. In conclusion, in order to reduce the cancer risk and hazard as indexed by THM concentrations in the drinking water, some methods could be used including controlling to reduce THMs precursors and microbial contaminants in raw water, and aged pipeline, optimizing all treatment processes to ensure that concentrations of disinfectant are adequate, using alternative disinfectants and reducing water age in distribution system. The potential human risks associated with drinking water disinfection are largely unknown, even though some information is available from toxicological and epidemiological studies. More research is needed to determine the risks associated with DBPs. The next progress will facilitate a more realistic assessment of risk due to drinking water contaminants without increasing the levels of uncertainty in risk estimates.

No description available.