The Waterloo Membrane Sampler (WMS) is a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based permeation passive sampler developed at the University of Waterloo. This sampler has found numerous applications in the sampling of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from air and soil gas. In the presented thesis, studies were conducted to expand the WMS applicability to different environmental matrices. In the first part of this work, a modified version of the sampler, with a smaller area of the sampling surface, was calibrated towards seventeen VOCs listed as sources of concern in guidance documents for vapor intrusion. The calibration constant values obtained at different exposure periods demonstrated high reproducibility and independency of the exposure time. Furthermore, the application of the WMS for VOC sampling from groundwater was examined. This study involved seven VOCs considered as important groundwater pollutants. The performance of the sampler was examined at different concentration levels and for different exposure times. The effects of the sorbent type and bubble formation at the surface of the membrane on the sampling efficiency were evaluated in order to optimize the performance of the WMS. A hypothesis regarding the calibration constant values in water sampling compared to their values in air sampling was examined. The WMS demonstrated linear uptake of the targeted compounds over the studied periods of time and at different concentration levels. Very low detection limits were achieved for all studied compounds. The calibration constant values for the sampler towards the studied compounds were measured with a reasonable reproducibility. Nonetheless, the experimental values of the calibration constants in water sampling did not comply with the theory. Furthermore, a new method of bulk soil sampling was tested. In this approach, the soil sample is enclosed in a container along with the WMS placed in the headspace of the sample. The capability of the WMS to perform exhaustive extraction of volatile organic compounds trapped in the sample was tested in this case. Two compounds, TCE and PCE were used as model compounds to test the introduced method. The initial experiments involved sampling from spiked sand soil as the simplest scenario. The experimental setup was evaluated and modified accordingly to achieve the desired extraction. The effects of the exposure parameters on the extraction efficiency were examined through experimental design starting with extraction from sand followed by extraction from a soil with a high organic content. The three-factor factorial design used for this purpose included the three factors: temperature, water content, and exposure time. The results demonstrated high extraction efficiency achieved when sampling from sand and lower extraction efficiency when sampling from the soil with a high organic content. The recovery was enhanced to a large extent in the latter case at a higher temperature with very low detection limits. The results presented in this thesis indicate that the WMS can be a potential universal tool for sampling from all environmental matrices in vapor intrusion investigations.

100 f. / Submitted by Ana Hilda Fonseca (anahilda@ufba.br) on 2013-04-10T16:12:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO MESTRADO-MARCO AURELIO OLIVEIRA LIMA.pdf: 2334577 bytes, checksum: d3b4b7dd1462c1c2c43d4f128b2c14c1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Hilda Fonseca(anahilda@ufba.br) on 2013-05-10T16:08:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO MESTRADO-MARCO AURELIO OLIVEIRA LIMA.pdf: 2334577 bytes, checksum: d3b4b7dd1462c1c2c43d4f128b2c14c1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-10T16:08:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO MESTRADO-MARCO AURELIO OLIVEIRA LIMA.pdf: 2334577 bytes, checksum: d3b4b7dd1462c1c2c43d4f128b2c14c1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Este estudo teve como principal objetivo desenvolver um amostrador passivo para monitoramento de amônia na atmosfera. A configuração do amostrador passivo (AP) desenvolvido minimiza problemas de turbulência do ar e outras interferências de amostragem: um cilindro de polietileno (21 x 12 mm), fechado no fundo, com uma tela de aço inox (0,08 x 0,125 mm) adaptada na entrada de ar seguida por um filtro de teflon. Após o caminho de difusão (12 mm), encontra-se um filtro (celulose) impregnado com reagente apropriado (C2H2O4, ácido oxálico; C6H8O7, ácido cítrico, solução a 0,3 %) para fixar NH3 gasosa difundida. Após reação com a solução ácida, a concentração de amônia fixada no filtro foi medida por espectrofotometria molecular Visível (λ = 630 nm). O desempenho do amostrador passivo foi avaliado em campo a partir de medidas simultâneas com analisador contínuo para amônia em áreas sob influência industrial próximas ao Pólo Industrial de Camaçari, onde os amostradores passivos foram expostos em estações da Rede de Monitoramento de Ar da Cetrel: Gravatá em Camaçari, Leandrinho em Lamarão do Passé e Concórdia em Dias D´Ávila. Testes para avaliação das soluções absorvedoras utilizando três ácidos (oxálico, cítrico e fosfórico) foram desenvolvidos em diferentes períodos de exposição (1, 3 e 7 dias). As medidas com o AP proposto revelaram exatidão variando entre 2,4 a 13 % usando ácido cítrico como reagente no meio absorvedor, em períodos de exposição até 3 dias, e entre 1,3 a 12% para ácido oxálico com exposição de 7 dias. A precisão das medidas feitas usando conjuntos de 3 a 6 amostradores variou de 6,6 a 16% para o ácido cítrico (tempo de exposição até 3 dias) e de 2,8 a 19% para o ácido oxálico (tempo de exposição de 7 dias). Os limites de detecção para as medidas de NH3 na atmosfera utilizando o AP foram determinados como 0,49 μg m-3 (0,71 ppb) para 1 dia de exposição usando ácido cítrico e 0,071 μg m-3 (0,10 ppb) para 7 dias de exposição usando ácido oxálico, o que mostra sua adequação para medidas em atmosferas com concentração extremamente baixas como a de áreas remotas. A capacidade do amostrador passivo é de 159 e 227 μg de NH3 utilizando-se ácido cítrico e ácido oxálico respectivamente, onde isso mostra que o AP pode ser usado também em ambientes de trabalho onde as concentrações são muitas vezes mais elevadas do que em ambientes externos / Salvador

Detta examensarbete syftar till att utforska användningsmöjligheter för hybridtrummor i olika situationer genom imitation, komposition och improvisation. Under imitationsmomentet så har inlärning och utförandet av befintliga och komplexa trumkomp med hjälp av elektroniska redskap stått i fokus, vilket ställde höga krav på spelteknisk koordination och den grundläggande kunskapen om ljuddesign. Under kompositionsmomentet fick jag ta del av två nyskrivna låtar som båda saknade trumspår där min uppgift var att komponera innovativa trumkomp till musiken med hjälp av hybridtrummorna. På så vis utforskade jag på vilket sätt hybridtrummorna är ett användbart hjälpmedel i den kreativa skapandeprocessen av trumkomp. Med hjälp av de två tidigare momenten så avslutas detta arbete genom att undersöka huruvida hybridtrummorna är ett effektivt redskap under improvisation och om elektroniska redskap kan bredda min vokabulär och öppna upp till fler musikaliska valmöjligheter då jag improviserar.  För att utföra dessa moment har jag använt mig av teknologi som en Roland SPD-sx samplingsplatta samt ett flertal triggers för att förena mitt akustiska trumset med elektroniska sounds. Detta arbete ställde högre krav på de speltekniska svårigheterna än vad jag hade väntat mig. Detta har lett till en förbättrad koordination men också en positiv utveckling i plankning och utförande av avancerade trumkomp. Om dessa modifieringar är avgörande eller nödvändiga för framtidens trumslagare har jag inga svar på, men för mig har detta arbete varit en bra väg för att ta mitt slagverkande till en ny nivå.

No description available.

No description available.

This project addresses the problem of comparing the offensive abilities of players from different eras in Major League Baseball (MLB). We will study players from the perspective of an overall offensive summary statistic that is highly linked with scoring runs, or the Berry Value. We will build an additive model to estimate the innate ability of the player, the effect of the relative level of competition of each season, and the effect of age on performance using piecewise age curves. Using Hierarchical Bayes methodology with Gibbs sampling, we model each of these effects for each individual. The results of the Hierarchical Bayes model permit us to link players from different eras and to rank the players across the modern era of baseball (1900-2004) on the basis of their innate overall offensive ability. The top of the rankings, of which the top three were Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Stan Musial, include many Hall of Famers and some of the most productive offensive players in the history of the game. We also determine that trends in overall offensive ability in Major League Baseball exist based on different rule and cultural changes. Based on the model, MLB is currently at a high level of run production compared to the different levels of run production over the last century.

The evaluation of policy-relevant economic research requires an ethical foundation. Classical liberal theory provides the requisite foundation for this dissertation, which uses various econometric tools to estimate the effects of shifting some of the property tax from buildings to land in 15 cities in Pennsylvania. Economic theory predicts that such a shift will lead to higher building activity. However, this prediction has been supported little by empirical evidence so far. The first part of the dissertation examines the effect of the land-building tax differential on the number of building permits that were issued in 219 municipalities in Pennsylvania between 1972 and 1994. For such count data a conventional analysis based on a continuous distribution leads to incorrect results; a discrete maximum likelihood analysis with a negative binomial distribution is more appropriate. Two models, a non-linear and a fixed effects model, are developed to examine the influence of the tax differential. Both models suggest that this influence is positive, albeit not statistically significant. Application of maximum likelihood techniques is computationally cumbersome if the assumed distribution of the data cannot be written in closed form. The negative binomial distribution is the only discrete distribution with a variance that is larger than its mean that can easily be applied, although it might not be the best approximation of the true distribution of the data. The second part of the dissertation uses a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to examine the influence of the tax differential on the number of building permits, under the assumption that building permits are generated by a Poisson process whose parameter varies lognormally. Contrary to the analysis in the first part, the tax is shown to have a strong and significantly positive impact on the number of permits. The third part of the dissertation uses a fixed-effects weighted least squares method to estimate the effect of the tax differential on the value per building permit. The tax coefficient is not significantly different from zero. Still, the overall impact of the tax differential on the total value of construction is shown to be positive and statistically significant. / Ph. D.

No description available.

Most distribution free nonparametric methods depend on the ranks or orderings of the individual observations. This dissertation develops methods for the situation when there is only partial information about the ranks available. A random-linear-extension exact test and an empirical version of the random-linear-extension test are proposed as a new way to compare groups of data with partial orders. The basic computation procedure is to generate all possible permutations constrained by the known partial order using a randomization method similar in nature to multiple imputation. This random-linear-extension test can be simply implemented using a Gibbs Sampler to generate a random sample of complete orderings. Given a complete ordering, standard nonparametric methods, such as the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, can be applied, and the corresponding test statistics and rejection regions can be calculated. As a direct result of our new method, a single p-value is replaced by a distribution of p-values. This is related to some recent work on Fuzzy P-values, which was introduced by Geyer and Meeden in Statistical Science in 2005. A special case is to compare two groups when only two objects can be compared at a time. Three matching schemes, random matching, ordered matching and reverse matching are introduced and compared between each other. The results described in this dissertation provide some surprising insights into the statistical information in partial orderings. / Statistics

Syftet med detta arbete är att fördjupa min kunskap om hur datorn kan användas som musikaliskt instrument. Datorer kan reproducera och simulera akustiska instrument men likväl kan den även skapa elektroakustiska ljud genom synthesizer och samplers. Inom det moderna musikskapandet är datorn ett ytterst viktigt instrument där den bland annat fungerar som dokumentationsmaskin, det vill säga vår tids bandspelare. Andra användningsområden av datorn i dagens musiklandskap är i ”live-framträdanden”. Med detta arbete vill jag praktisera och fördjupa mina kunskaper om hur datorn kan användas som instrument i mitt eget musicerande. Genom dokumentation i form av loggbok, video och ljudinspelningar kommer jag att analysera min process med avstamp inom det sociokulturella perspektivet. / The purpose of this work is to deepen my knowledge of how the computer can be used as a musical instrument. Computers can reproduce and simulate acoustic instruments but still they can also create electroacoustic sounds through synthesizers and samplers. In modern music creation, the computer is an extremely important instrument where, among other things, it serves as a tape-machine, the tape recorder of our time. Other uses of the computer in today's music landscape are in "live performances".   With this work I want to practice and deepen my knowledge of how the computer can be used as an instrument in my own music making. Through documentation in the form of logbook, video and audio recordings, I will analyze my process with an starting point in the socio-cultural perspective.