Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) has been applied extensively in predicting toxicity of Disinfection By-Products (DBPs) in drinking water. Among many toxicological properties, acute and chronic toxicities of DBPs have been widely used in health risk assessment of DBPs. These toxicities are correlated with molecular properties, which are usually correlated with molecular descriptors. The primary goals of this thesis are: 1) to investigate the effects of molecular descriptors (e.g., chlorine number) on molecular properties such as energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (ELUMO) via QSAR modelling and analysis; 2) to validate the models by using internal and external cross-validation techniques; 3) to quantify the model uncertainties through Taylor and Monte Carlo Simulation. One of the very important ways to predict molecular properties such as ELUMO is using QSAR analysis. In this study, number of chlorine (NCl) and number of carbon (NC) as well as energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (EHOMO) are used as molecular descriptors. There are typically three approaches used in QSAR model development: 1) Linear or Multi-linear Regression (MLR); 2) Partial Least Squares (PLS); and 3) Principle Component Regression (PCR). In QSAR analysis, a very critical step is model validation after QSAR models are established and before applying them to toxicity prediction. The DBPs to be studied include five chemical classes: chlorinated alkanes, alkenes, and aromatics. In addition, validated QSARs are developed to describe the toxicity of selected groups (i.e., chloro-alkane and aromatic compounds with a nitro- or cyano group) of DBP chemicals to three types of organisms (e.g., Fish, T. pyriformis, and P.pyosphoreum) based on experimental toxicity data from the literature. The results show that: 1) QSAR models to predict molecular property built by MLR, PLS or PCR can be used either to select valid data points or to eliminate outliers; 2) The Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation procedure by itself is not enough to give a reliable representation of the predictive ability of the QSAR models, however, Leave-Many-Out/K-fold cross-validation and external validation can be applied together to achieve more reliable results; 3) ELUMO are shown to correlate highly with the NCl for several classes of DBPs; and 4) According to uncertainty analysis using Taylor method, the uncertainty of QSAR models is contributed mostly from NCl for all DBP classes.

The presence of various impairments in fiber channel has forced researchers to uncover solutions to minimize those effects. With the advancement of technology, optical solutions were finally easier to implement in the system. To this day, optical compensation methods are still found to be as the best way to minimize fiber impairments. With the development of digital signal processing (DSP) and FIR techniques, coherent detection with digital signal processing (DSP) is developed, analyzed theoretically and numerically and experimentally demonstrated in long-haul high speed fiber‐optic transmission system. The use of DSP in conjunction with coherent detection unleashes the benefits of coherent detection which rely on the preservation of full information of the transmitted field. These benefits include high receiver sensitivity, the ability to achieve high spectral‐efficiency and the use of advanced modulation formats. The local oscillator (LO) of coherent receiver alleviates the need for hardware phase‐locking and polarization tracking, which can now be achieved in the digital domain. The computational complexity previously associated with coherent detection is hence significantly diminished and coherent detection is once again considered a feasible detection alternative. In this thesis, an optical fiber communication scheme using the coherent detection method is simulated. Firstly, at the beginning of each chapter, we introduce the various compensation methods for certain optical fiber impairments which is developed by the pioneers. However, such technique does introduce enormous complexity to the system, in addition to a large cost. For that reason, the main focus had to shift to an alternative method. DSP techniques has enabled simple techniques to mitigate various impairments in fiber-optical systems. In this thesis, the background knowledge about the structure of fiber-optical transmission system is provided. After the mathematical analysis of the various impairments (laser noise, chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion and nonlinearity) in fiber-optical links, the compensation methods by using DSP techniques are provided. By the methods of fourth-power carrier recovery algorithm and feedforward carrier recovery algorithm, the phase rotation in constellation due to laser noise is compensated in QPSK systems and QAM systems, respectively. The feedforward carrier recovery algorithm has a high tolerance for laser linewidth in high-order QAM system. As for PMD compensation, on the basis of adaptive equalizers in both time domain and frequency domain achiever by the pioneers, a novel LMS algorithm is proposed in this thesis. It has a fair comparative and steady computational complexity with the increase in the number of training blocks. The last part is the nonlinearity compensation. The DBP compensation is a popular method for nonlinearity compensation but its computational complexity is fair high (Shao J, Kumar S and Liang X., 2013). We adopt two kinds of fold-DBP which are distance-folded DBP and dispersion-folded DBP to compensate the joint impairments of chromatic dispersion and nonlinearity in dispersion-managed system. The distance-folded DBP works well in the full compensation dispersion-managed system but in the presence of RDPS, only the dispersion-folded DBP is efficient. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

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Der zweite Teil des Beitrags zum Finanzbinnenmarkt erläutert die zentrale Bedeutung der (2.) Koordinierungsrichtlinie von 1989 und fasst die wesentlichen Aspekte der EG-Bankrechtsharmonisierung zusammen.

Prior to full-scale implementation of process modifications at the Brantford WTP, a pilot-scale treatability study was conducted to investigate intermediate ozonation/AOP and to determine the most suitable granular media (anthracite, GAC, and Filtralite®) for deep-bed biological filtration. The primary objectives of this research were to provide insight into the destruction of natural and synthetic organics and assess ozonated and halogenated DBP formation. Ozone alone was unable to achieve the 1-log removal target for geosmin or MCPA, unless disinfection-level dosages were applied. No improvement was observed when adding hydrogen peroxide. A major obstacle to the implementation of ozonation in bromide-laden source waters is the formation of bromate. There is a direct correlation between ozone dose and bromate formation and by applying ozone dosages at disinfection levels, bromate is likely to exceed regulatory limits. However, adding hydrogen peroxide reduced the amount of bromate formed, and in most cases levels fell below regulatory limits. A linear correlation was established between bromate inhibition and increasing H2O2/O3 ratio at constant ozone dose. Amongst the three filtration media investigated, only GAC achieved 1-log removal for geosmin and MCPA. The superiority of GAC over anthracite and Filtralite® was attributed to its adsorption affinity. Filtralite® and anthracite media were both ineffective for MCPA removal due to its non-biodegradable nature under conventional water treatment conditions. At a 1 mg/L-ozone dose, GAC and Filtralite® filters achieved a 1-log geosmin removal. In contrast, a 1.44 mg/L ozone dose was required to meet this target with anthracite. The tandem of ozone followed by biological filtration was very effective for the control of distribution system TTHM production regardless of filter media, with levels well below current and anticipated provincial regulatory limits. The combination of intermediate ozonation followed by deep-bed biological filtration is well suited for treating Grand River water. Scale-up considerations include pairing the proper filter media to the size of the ozone generator. The best two treatment scenarios were: Option 1: select GAC media and size the ozone generator to produce a 1 mg/L dose. Option 2: select anthracite media and size the ozone generator to deliver a 2 mg/L dose.

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) triclosan and nonylphenol, were investigated throughout wastewater treatment in a publicly owned treatment works (POTW). Both compounds react quickly upon chlorination under laboratory conditions, transforming into mono and dichlorinated species. A novel quantitative analytical method employing mass spectrometry was demonstrated on Delaware POTW wastewater samples. Specific transformation products were not detected and the concentration of precursor analytes was not found to be statistically different after treatment. Under tertiary chlorination conditions, transformation products are not produced. ESI-MS was used to explore triply charged, highly hydrated lanthanide ions and charge reduction was directly observed in the MS collision cell. This process proceeded via proton transfer, proved by a strong correlation between the minimum number of water molecules required to stabilize the Ln3+ and the first hydrolysis constant (R2=0.92). The effect of different solvents on the surface activity of ions under electrospray ionization (ESI) was investigated using dilute ionic liquids and the relative surface activity of a given pair of ions could be reversed by moving from a relatively polar solvent to a relatively non-polar one. / Graduate

The thesis Phthalates in yoghurts during storage focuses on monitoring of phthalic acid esters in yogurt samples in relation to their storage period. The analyzed phthalates are di-2-(ethylhexyl)-phthalate (DEHP) and di-n-butyl-phthalate (DBP), which are among the most commonly used polymeric plasticizers, especially polyvinyl chloride. I analyzed samples of yoghurt with 1 % and 5 % chia and bamboo fiber and then subsequently compared them with natural yogurts. In total, I analyzed 120 samples of yoghurt, for which I measured DBP concentrations ranging from 0.2 mg.kg-1 to 7.7 mg.kg-1 of the original raw material and concentration of undetected values of DEHP in range up to 2.6 mg.kg-1 of the original raw material. While analyzing the yoghurt packaging, I measured average DBP values of 174.1 μg.dm-2 (68.0 μg.g-1 plastic) and DEHP values of 26.2 μg.dm-2 (10.2 μg.g-1 plastic). After prior preparation of samples, I used high performance liquid chromatography to do the phthalates analysis.

The thesis on the topic ''Monitoring of phthalic acid esters in agricultural soil'' is focused on the contamination of the agricultural soils by dibuthyl phtalate (DBP) and di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). This thesis was created in cooperation with the Central Control and Testing Institute of Agriculture as a part of annual soil monitoring of organic contaminants. Forty soil samples were taken in February and March of 2017. The monitoring was carried in twelve regions of the Czech Republic. Samples were extracted using sonication and mixture of acetone-hexane (1:1). Samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography with UV detection. The measured concentrations ranged for DBP from 0,01 to 0,53 mg.kg-1 dry weight and for DEHP from 0,00 to 0,65 mg.kg-1 dry weight. None of these concentration levels exceeded the values set by the Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic and stated in its Guideline, based on the RSL (Regional Screening Levels) published by the United States' Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

The diploma thesis is focused on the determination of the content of phthalates (PAE) in printed and non-printed plastic packaging materials for meat products. There were analyzed 30 package samples. The sample area was 1 dm2. Concentrations of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) ranged from undetectable values (< 0.1) to 72.6 ug.dm-2 of the sample surface in printed packaging materials. In non-printed wraps it was from undetectable values (< 0.1) to 67.7 ug.dm-2 of the sample surface. Concentrations of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) ranged from undetectable values (< 0.1) to 98.7 ug.dm-2 of the sample surface in printed packaging materials. In non-printed wraps it was from undetectable values (< 0.1) to 60.3 ug.dm-2 of the sample surface.