Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-109). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Wang Yuhang, Committee Chair ; Cunnold Derek, Committee Member ; Weber Rodney, Committee Member ; Nenes Athanasios, Committee Member ; Guillas Serge, Committee Member.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-246). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Teja, Amyn S., Committee Chair ; Frederick, James, Committee Member ; Wine, Paul H., Committee Member ; Eckert, Charles A., Committee Member ; Nenes, Athanasios, Committee Member.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2007. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter B. Knighton. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-145).

Thesis (I.M.E.S.)--Baylor University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-118).

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The ability to quickly and efficiently locate concealed human remains is crucial in forensic investigations and when locating disaster victims. On occasions when human remains are recovered, correctly assigning a postmortem interval (PMI) may become necessary to corroborate statements or make an identification. While Human Remains Detection canines (HRD canines) provide rapid and sensitive searches, the mechanisms behind their sense of smell remain poorly understood. Over the past ten years, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been investigated in an effort to address questions concerning PMI, optimization of training aids, and portable 'sniffing' devices. The approaches taken for investigating VOCs emitted from decomposing tissues buried or otherwise have been diverse. They range from burying entire human bodies and sampling the above-ground volatiles using triple-sorbent traps (TSTs) to isolating small amounts of tissue into glass vials whereby the volatiles are sampled by Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME). The resulting studies have led to large quantities of data that are difficult to interpret and compare between studies. Furthermore, the restrictions surrounding access to human remains have caused many studies to use other animals, (pigs, chickens, cows, and deer) in particular the domestic pig, due to its similarities in hair coverage and tissue ratios. There have been several studies that attempt to address the effects that burial has on the resulting VOCs. However, the addition of a complex matrix to a process that already has many variables has caused difficulty in data interpretation. The purpose of this study was to identify how freezing and the presence of soil affect the VOC profiles of various tissue types (blood, bone, fat, small intestine, muscle, and skin) obtained over six weeks of decomposition. In order to accomplish this, the study was performed in three parts. The first part used fresh pig samples obtained only hours after euthanization, the second part utilized tissues from the same areas of the pig after the samples had been frozen for 6 weeks and the third part combined soil with three of the tissue types (blood, bone, muscle). SPME was employed at room temperature using a 65 µm PDMS/DVB coated fiber as the adsorbent material to extract the VOCs from the headspace. The use of SPME as the extraction method allowed for direct desorption and subsequent analysis into the injection port of the GC/MS. User-defined integration parameters were applied to each resulting chromatogram in an effort to identify what impact, if any, freezing and soil had on the resulting VOC profiles. The results obtained in this study suggest that the freezing and thawing of tissue samples have varying effects on the resulting chromatograms based on the complexity of the tissue-type. This implies that prolonged use and storage of some, commonly utilized, training aids may not be providing the most reliable scent profile for the HRD canines. Results obtained from the soil study were complex, but several overall trends were observed in the release and production of different compound classes. Comparisons to previous studies using similar extraction procedures demonstrate the need for a standardized protocol for future decomposition studies.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) fall under a group of synthetic chemicals known for their persistence in environmental matrices such as soil and water, and are used in industrial, domestic and agricultural applications. Because of their volatility and lipophilicity, POPs can be transported far away from their point sources and bio-accumulate in food and in fatty tissues of humans and animals. In view of their toxicity and carcinogenicity some organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and phenolic derivatives (chlorophenol and nitrophenol) have been classified by United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) as priority pollutants. The present work evaluated the distribution patterns of 19 polychlorinated biphenyls congeners, 17 organochlorine pesticides and selected phenolic derivatives (USEPA 11-priority pollutants) in the Buffalo River, in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa between December 2015 and May 2016. The Liquid-liquid extraction technique was used for PCBs, OCPs and phenolic derivatives in the river water samples. Silica gel and florisil clean up were carried out for PCBs and OCPs samples respectively and analyzed with gas chromatography electron capture detector (GC/ECD). Phenolic compounds were derivatized and analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC/MS). Limits of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ) and relative standard deviation (RSD) for the PCBs were 10 to 330 ng/L, 20 to 1,060 ng/L and 1.18 to 14.1 percent respectively. The LOD, LOQ and RSD for the OCPs were from 20 - 60 ng/L, 110 - 530 ng/L and 0.02 - 0.06 percent, while the corresponding values for the phenolic derivatives were 10 to 70 ng/L, 33 to 222 ng/L and 1.99 - 10.86 percent. In summer, the concentrations of PCBs, OCPs and phenolic derivatives ranged from <LOD to 482 ng/L, <LOD to 4,403 ng/L and <LOD to 1,546 ng/L respectively, while in autumn they were from <LOD to 2,383 ng/L, <LOD to 858 ng/L and <LOD to 713 ng/L in that order. Also, in summer, the level of occurrence of total PCB congeners detected at the various sampling sites were Buffalo River Estuary (BRE) 11 percent, Mdantsane (MSN) 16 percent, Zwelitsha (ZW) 26 percent, King William’s Town (KWT) 47 percent, Izele (IZ) 32 percent, and Maden (MD) 21 percent. The level of occurrence of total OCPs at BRE was 65 percent, at MSN 65 percent, at ZW 82 percent, at KWT 47 percent, at IZ 29 percent, and at MD 18 percent. The level of occurrence of total phenolic derivatives at BRE was 63 percent, at MSN 63 percent, at ZW 54 percent, at KWT 63 percent, at IZ 63 percent, and at MD 54 percent. In autumn, the level of occurrence of total PCBs at BRE was 68 percent, at MSN 16 percent, at ZW 42 percent, at KWT 26 percent, at IZ 47 percent, and at MD 0 percent. The level of occurrence of total OCPs at BRE was 65 percent, at MSN 53 percent, at ZW 41 percent, at KWT 35 percent, at IZ 53 percent, and at MD 18 percent. The level of occurrence of total phenolic derivatives at BRE was 63 percent, at MSN 63 percent, at ZW 54 percent, at KWT 18 percent, at IZ 18 percent, and at MD 45 percent. In summer, the levels of PCBs in all sampling sites were below WHO recommended maximum permissible levels (500 ng/L) for humans but in autumn the levels were above the recommended values in all the sites except MD. The cancer risk assessment values were above permissible 10-6 while hazard quotients were above the USEPA maximum limits of unity. OCPs levels were above the USEPA limits (100 ng/L) in all sampling locations in both seasons. The cancer risk assessment values were below permissible 10-6 but hazard quotients were above the USEPA maximum limits. Phenolic derivatives were also above the USEPA maximum permissible limit (500 ng/L) in most of the sampling locations in summer whereas during autumn the values were notably below the permissible limit at ZW, KWT, IZ and MD. The cancer risk assessment values and hazard quotients were above USEPA maximum limits of 10-6 and unity respectively. Conclusively, the results of this study reveal that the pollutants were present in the river at concentrations higher than the tolerable limit for human and wildlife and thereby may constitute a serious risk to public health. Therefore, it is recommended that proper regulation of the use of the compounds and their safe disposal be ensured to protect aquatic resources and the well-being of humans.