This report details the study of a freshwater stream carrying high doses of heavy metals into an already affected fjord. The purpose is to find out how the measured levels of heavy metals vary across the industrial area, and if these levels are posing an environmental or health threat to the surroundings. According to the water directive of the European Union, all waters should be protected in order to reach ’good status’, and deterioration should be prevented. To keep track of the status of waters, environmental quality standards (limit values known as EQS) are used by Norwegian environmental authorities to indicate pollution levels. All measured contents in this report are therefore compared with EQS or similar limit values. New water samples were taken along the stream and in the soil and sediments during the spring of 2016. The measured levels were then compared with older water samples, and showed clear variations across the industrial area for most of the substances. For some substances, high levels of pollution were found in the soil, sediment and water. Despite this, most measured heavy metals pose no threat environmentally or health-wise due to the very alkaline water in the stream, likely to leave most metals nonbioavailable. Although the stream is heavily loaded with various heavy metals, its lack of finer matter prevents metals from binding to organic ligands, allowing the stream to become more of a transportation means than a place for accumulating metals in the soil and sediments.

The purpose of this study was (1) to study the proportion (X) of the flow in a watercourse that consists of urban runoff during a rain event and (2) to evaluate the risk that a few chosen pollutants, transported by urban runoff, exceed the maximum allowed concentration in the watercourse according to the environmental quality standards (MAC-EQS). The Fyris river in Uppsala, Sweden, was selected as a case study. Urban runoff quickflow was estimated with a water balance model using precipitation data and flow data from three stations. Precipitation data was used to identify 31 rain events with a minimum rain volume of 10 mm and at least a maximum rain intensity of three mm/h during the study period 2017-2020. Pollutants in urban runoff were sampled during the winter of 2020-2021. The highest concentrations obtained during sampling were used to estimate momentary pollution concentration and to evaluate the risk of exceeding MAC-EQS. The highest X found during a rain event was 71%. Low flow conditions in the river prior to a rain event in summertime are circumstances when X can be expected to be high. It is therefore advised to include rain events under such circumstances when monitoring MAC-EQS or sampling momentary pollution concentrations in the Fyris river. The pollutant category polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and especially the pollutant fluoranthene, showed risk of momentary pollution concentration exceeding MAC-EQS. Therefore, the author recommends that future studies of urban runoff should include PAHs. / Syftet med denna studie var (1) att studera hur stor andel (X) av flödet i ett vattendrag som utgörs av dagvatten vid ett regntillfälle, och (2) att utvärdera risken att ett utvalt antal föroreningar som transporteras med dagvattnet överskrider maximal tillåten koncentration enligt miljökvalitetsnormerna för vatten (MAC-MKN). Fyrisån i Uppsala, Sverige, valdes som fallstudie. Snabbt dagvattenflöde (quickflow) uppskattades med en vattenbalansmodell som använde nederbördsdata samt vattenföring från tre stationer. Nederbördsdata användes för att identifiera 31 regntillfällen med en minsta regnvolym på 10 mm och minst en maximal regnintensitet på tre mm/h under perioden 2017-2020. Föroreningar i dagvatten provtogs under vintern 2020-2021. De högsta koncentrationerna som påträffades vid provtagningen användes för att uppskatta momentan föroreningskoncentration och för att utvärdera risken att MAC-MKN överskrids. Det högsta X som beräknades under ett regntillfälle var 71%. Lågt flöde i Fyrisån innan ett regntillfälle under sommartid är omständigheter när X kan förväntas vara högt. Det rekommenderas därför att inkludera regntillfällen under sådana omständigheter när MAC-MKN övervakas eller när momentana föroreningskoncentrationer i Fyrisån provtas. Föroreningskategorin polycykliska aromatiska kolväten (PAH), och särskilt föroreningen fluoranten, uppvisade risker för att MAC-MKN skulle överskridas. Därför rekommenderas att framtida studier av dagvatten bör inkludera PAH:er.

Heidelberg, Univ., Dipl.-Arb. 2007.

No description available.

This research presented in this study demonstrates that county level population growth, economic growth, and localized social structure are interrelated. An analysis of the spatial distribution of these factors in the Southeast Region of the United States during the period of 1995-2000 also indicates the importance of differences in rural versus urban and coastal versus non-coastal areas as well as the importance of such factors as highways, large cities, and universities in economic, population, and social structure interrelationships. An extensive dataset is used in the analysis as a number of analysis tools including statistical analysis, econometric models, spatial econometric models, structural equation models, and GIS mapping.

<p dir="ltr">Decades of semiconductor technology scaling and breakthroughs in communication technology have miniaturized computing, embedding it everywhere, enabling the development of smart things connected to the internet, forming the Internet of Things. Further miniaturization of devices has led to an exponential increase in the number of devices in and around the body in the last decade, forming a subset of IoT which is increasingly becoming popular as the Internet of Bodies (IoB). The gradual shift from the current form of human-electronics coexistence to human-electronics cooperation, is the vision of Internet of Bodies (IoB). This vision of a connected future with devices in and around our body talking to each other to assist their day-to-day functions demands energy efficient means of communication. Electro-Quasistatic Human Body Communication (EQS-HBC) has been proposed as an exciting alternative to traditional Radio Frequency based methodologies for communicating data around the body. In this dissertation, we expand the boundaries of wearable and implantable IoB nodes using Electro-Quasistatic Human Body Communication and Powering by developing advanced channel models and demonstrating novel applications.</p><p dir="ltr">Leveraging the advanced channel models developed for wearable EQS-HBC, we demonstrate wearable applications like ToSCom which extend the use cases of touchscreens to beyond touch detection and location to enable high-speed communication strictly through touch. We further demonstrate an application of EQS Resonant Human Body Powering to demonstrate Step-to-Charge, allowing mW-scale wireless power transfer to wearable devices. With increasing connected implanted healthcare devices becoming a part of the IoB space, we benchmark RF-based technologies for In-Body to Out-of-Body (IBOB) communication using novel in-vivo experiments. We then explore EQS-HBC in the realm of IBOB communication using advanced channel modeling, revealing its potential for low-power and physically secure data transfer from implantable devices to wearable nodes on the body, demonstrating its potential in extending the battery life span of implantable nodes. Finally, an overview of the potential of IoB devices is analyzed with the use of EQS-HBC where we propose a human-inspired distributed network of IoB nodes which brings us a step closer to the potential for perpetually operable devices in and around the body.</p>