Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Toronto, 1998. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

[pt] Este trabalho analisará uma das maiores emissões de bonds de todos os tempos, a emissão de USD 11 bilhões de bonds da Petrobras que aconteceu em maio de 2013. Além de ser a maior transação da história para países emergentes até hoje, a emissão também foi feita em hora oportuna quando a Petrobras aproveitou uma excelente janela e mercado para fazer a emissão. A repercussão da transação também foi excelente tendo sido veiculada em vários meios de comunicação. O trabalho relatará do anúncio, precificação e lançamento da emissão que foi muito bem recebida pelo mercado financeiro. / [en] This paper will examine one of the largest bond issue ever, the USD 11 billion Petrobras bonds issue by Petrobras, the brazilian oil company, held in May 2013. Besides being the largest transaction in history for emerging countries until today, the issue has also been taken in proper time when Petrobras took an excellent market window to make the issue. The effect of the transaction was also great having been conveyed in various media vehicles. The work will speak with the market s announce, pricing and launch the issue which was very well received by the financial market.

The aim of this thesis is to study the effects of turbulent flow on a fixed pitch tidal current turbine from the perspective of turbine design and operation. A prototype turbine, Deltastream as it is known, is being developed by Tidal Energy Ltd for deployment in Ramsey Sound, Wales. It is well known that turbulence plays an important role in the fatigue life of marine turbines. Field measurements of tidal flow at the turbine site were analysed to establish the velocity spectra and turbulence intensity. This revealed a wide range of anisotropic turbulence which is dependent upon the tidal direction with intensities ranging from 5-20%. A numerical turbine model based on momentum theory was constructed in a time marching formulation that accounts for the effects of dynamic inflow and rotationally augmented airfoil stall delay properties. The turbine rotor design allows for load alleviation by regulation of the turbine tip speed ratio. At flow velocities above the rated velocity the tip speed ratio can be increased to reduce turbine loads. The model has been combined with a novel rotor speed control algorithm that estimates unsteady turbine inflow velocity from turbine loading without the requirement for external sensing of flow speed. When the turbine is subjected to three dimensional turbulent inflow the rotor speed controller has been shown to significantly reduce the fatigue effect of unsteady, turbulent flow. The turbine blade design has been developed using the model established. Experimental validation studies were carried out at 1/16th scale in turbulent conditions. Studies using the model have; identified the relationship between turbulence intensity and turbine fatigue load, established a controller schedule to significantly reduce fatigue loading and determined the blading fatigue life in realistic turbulent flows.

Dissertation deals with the food industry. First, the economy of the sector in the branch structure and size of businesses is evaluated. The main attention is paid to the drawing subsidies by the food industry in the context of EU funds. The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate the effect of the subsidies on the economy of the food business. For the analysis fixed effect model was used. According to the results, there are significant differences in the impact of subsidies on the individual branches of the food industry. In most fields was demonstrated their ineffective use to increase business performance.

Effective treatment of wastewater is an important process in reducing the environmental impact of industry and human activity. Although conventional water treatment systems can adequately remove the principle components of waste (i.e. substances that can be represented the majority of biological and chemical oxygen demand) several materials are poorly or slowly removed. Tertiary treatment polishing processes are therefore required to remove these contaminants to ensure complete wastewater treatment. This thesis reports investigations made using film reactors that are used to remove recalcitrant materials such as ammonia- nitrogen and endocrine disrupters that although present in low concentrations, if left untreated can have a strong impact on the environment. Film reactors potentially offer several process advantages over conventional activated sludge treatments systems as they allow very long residence time and contact with high concentrations of fixed microbes with the low concentrations of pollutants so enhancing kinetic performance and efficiency of the process. Two reactor configurations, a partial fixed bed (PFBR) and moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR) were investigated. A thirty liter reactor with a working volume of 16 liters was constructed and contained fixed microbial films on either free suspended or fixed beds plastic packing (K2 AnoxKaldnes). The investigation of ammonia-nitrogen oxidation showed that after a suitable acclimation period (2 weeks) that ammonia was oxidise rapidly reducing the feed concentrations of 35 mg/L to < 2 mg/L in the effluent. To assess the performance for ammonia-nitrogen removal the reactors operated for long periods (up to 3 months) with continuous feed using the reactor in either PFBR or MBBR modes in addition of 17alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE2) and mestranol (MeEE2), the endocrine disrupting compounds commonly found in municipal wastewater. These substances is derived from a synthetic hormones if found in the natural environment can reduced the productivity of the fish as this can cause feminization in aquatic organisms with disastrous consequences on fish populations. The MBBR and PFBR systems were used to investigate the co-metabolism of ammonia-nitrogen, 17alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE2) and mestranol from model waste water feed containing 35 mg/L of ammonia-nitrogen and 100 mug/L of 17alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE2) and mestranol (MeEE2). A kinetic analysis of the systems were made and for the PFBR reactor, the specific growth rate, mumax of 7.092 d-1 with saturation constants, Ks of 1.574 mg/L. The kinetic analysis for the MBBR system was 6.329 d-1 for the mumax with the K.S of 0.652 mg/L. When the PFBR was used removal of EE2 represents 70% MeEE2 was removed. MBBR were shown to be more effective and efficient in removing ammonia-nitrogen reducing the levels under good conditions to > 2 mg/L while the PFBR could also achieve 2 mg/L. The MBBR system was also more competent in the removal of 17alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE2) and mestranol compared to PFBR. This work demonstrates that there are considerable advantages to using thin film reactors as polishing step for the tertiary treatment of waste waters when to compared to other processes in reducing the inorganic pollutants as endocrine disrupting compounds. The significance of these results is discussed in this context.

To handle a great demand for biomass, alternative biomasses beyond stem wood are being introduced into the solid fuel combustion market, fuels with generally higher (&gt;0,5 wt-%) ash content and different fuel ash compositions compared to stem wood, such as forest residue, bark, grass and straw. Unfortunately, combustion of these alternative fuels often causes more ash related problems such as fouling, slagging and higher particle emissions compared to combustion of stem wood. Many research studies have been conducted regarding ash melting and ash sintering in biomass combustion. However, literature discussing slagging of biomass ash is rather scarce, especially relating to fixed bed combustion. The majority of the biomass fuels available on the market today are phosphorus-poor and this thesis emanates from those. The overall objective was to obtain knowledge of slag formation in fixed-bed combustion of phosphorus-poor biomass, based on bench- and full-scale experiments, chemical analysis of produced ash fractions, chemical equilibrium calculations, viscosity estimations and statistical evaluations.   This thesis investigates slagging of [phosphorus-poor] biomass in fixed bed combustion. 85 fuels and 10 different burner/boiler technologies were utilized. The results in this thesis highlight the importance of the ash forming elements Si, Ca, K and Alin the slag formation process in fixed bed combustion of phosphorus-poor biomass. Increased Ca/Si ratios in the fuel reduce slag formation due to formation of more temperature stable phases, i.e. Ca/Mg-oxides and/or formation of carbonate melts with lower viscosity (not sticky) that are less prone to forming slag. A high Al/Si ratio increases the possibility of forming solid and thermally stable K−Al silicates that can reduce slag formation.   The fraction of ash melt, along with viscosity, are critical for slag formation and these parameters vary between different fuels. Four classes were defined according to their slagging potential; 1) No slag: fuel composition and the bottom ash contains low Si and K contents and higher Ca content. Fuel examples: non-contaminated stem- and pulpwood/energy wood, 2) Minor slagging tendency: fuel compositions show increased Si compared to non-slagging fuels and the bottom ash contains lower Ca, but increased Si content and approximately unchanged K content compared to the former category. Fuel examples: stem wood, bark and logging residue with increased Si-content due to light contamination. 3) Moderate slagging tendency: fuel composition contains further increased Si content. Increased share of formed silicate melt and higher viscosity (more sticky) compared to minor slagging fuels. Fuel examples: mostly contaminated woody fuels and grass and straws with relatively high amount of Ca. and 4) Major slagging tendency: Fuel composition contains high Si and K content. Sticky K-silicates causes major increase in slagging tendency. Fuel examples: different types of grass and straw fuels.   The burner/boiler technology can affect whether slagging will induce major problems in the burner or not. However, long residence times and high temperatures for the combustion residues in the hot part of the fuel bed are technical prerequisite for increased slag formation.   This thesis developed two qualitative fuel indices for predicting slagging in fixed bed combustion of phosphorus-poor biofuels – one index for fraction of fuel ash that forms slag and one index for sintering category of the formed slag. Both novel indices deliver acceptable results and are more reliable than previous indices found in the literature. Importantly, the fraction of fuel ash that forms slag index outperforms the sintering category for qualitative prediction of the problematic slagging potential of a certain fuel. Additional work is needed to further widen the compositional range as well as to fine tune the indices’ boundaries.

The economic downturn and ageing population has caused a rethink of a number of services: social housing providers are, as a result of the Coalition’s housing strategy (mainly enacted by the Localism Act 2011), not only considering who should be given low cost and secure housing, but for the first time, how long people should be housed. Demand is high for social properties and providers are urged to use their scare resources wisely; however, social housing is popularly viewed as a tenancy of last resort. This thesis explores a new phenomenon: why will the introduction of a policy to fix the term (length) of a tenancy be effective when social housing is considered not only to be the least desirable tenancy, but one that causes personal, economic and social difficulty. Surely, these issues alone would be enough of a stimulus for tenants to leave without any further limitations set by the State or the housing provider, if they were able to? This thesis uses the case study method to look at, in a highly qualitative way, the lived experiences of a number of tenants who have resided in their social homes for five years on traditional social tenancies. Fixed term tenancies will typically be five years in length and we are still a number of years away from being able to study what the actual impact will be. The issue is explored by understanding what would be the outcomes if the participants were on fixed term tenancies. As a result, a hermeneutic methodology was required. The study found that, good thing or not, fixed term tenancies are not shunned by likely applicants who, at the point of allocation, are not concerned about what might happen in five years’ time. In addition, an acute shortage of housing (across all tenures) is reducing the expectations of newly-forming households. Few tenants would not be offered a further tenancy (at the same or smaller property) at the end of five years as their circumstances are likely to remain largely unchanged.

In this thesis, we first obtain coincidence and common fixed point theorems for a pair of generalized non-expansive type mappings in a normed space. Then we discuss two types of convergence theorems, namely, the convergence of Mann iteration procedures and the convergence and stability of fixed points. In addition, we discuss the viscosity approximations generated by (ψ ,ϕ)-weakly contractive mappings and a sequence of non-expansive mappings and then establish Browder and Halpern type convergence theorems on Banach spaces. With regard to iteration procedures, we obtain a result on the convergence of Mann iteration for generalized non-expansive type mappings in a Banach space which satisfies Opial's condition. And, in the case of stability of fixed points, we obtain a number of stability results for the sequence of (ψ,ϕ)- weakly contractive mappings and the sequence of their corresponding fixed points in metric and 2-metric spaces. We also present a generalization of Fraser and Nadler type stability theorems in 2-metric spaces involving a sequence of metrics.

The objectives of this paper are twofold: the first is to illustrate the potential of the World Wide Web as a new or complementary resource for researching various linguistic phenomena, while the second objective is to apply the idea of the “Web as corpus” to a concrete example – in this case, the study of lexical variation in French idiomatic expressions. The first part of this paper examines the idea of using the World Wide Web as an exploitable corpus for linguistic research and provides an overview of related theoretical and practical issues. The major advantages and drawbacks of using the Web as a linguistic corpus are surveyed. Two different approaches to using the Web for corpus linguistics are also described. The latter half of the paper presents results of a small-scale study conducted to investigate lexical variation in seven selected French idiomatic expressions. An online concordancing tool called WebCorp is used to search the Web and generate concordances for analysis. The theory behind the notions of lexical frozenness and variation are also briefly discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

A fixed point of a mapping is an element in the domain of the mapping that is mapped into itself by the mapping. The study of fixed points has been a field of interests to mathematicians since the discovery of the Banach contraction theorem, i.e. if is a complete metric space and is a contraction mapping (i.e. there exists such that for all ), then has a unique fixed point. The Banach contraction theorem has found many applications in pure and applied mathematics. Due to fixed point theory being a mixture of analysis, geometry, algebra and topology, its applications to other fields such as physics, economics, game theory, chemistry, engineering and many others has become vital. The theory is nowadays a very active field of research in which many new theorems are published, some of them applied and many others generalized. Motivated by all of this, we give an exposition of some generalizations of fixed point theorems in metric fixed point theory, which is a branch of fixed point theory about results of fixed points of mappings between metric spaces, where certain properties of the mappings involved need not be preserved under equivalent metrics. For instance, the contractive property of mappings between metric spaces need not be preserved under equivalent metrics. Since metric fixed point theory is wide, we limit ourselves to fixed point theorems for self and non-self-mappings on Banach and metric spaces. We also take a look at some open problems on this topic of study. At the end of the dissertation, we suggest our own problems for future research.