International LCA literature indicates that little data is available pertaining to potable water production and supply, in particular with respect to the environmental burdens generated within the system. This study aims to investigate and assess the environmental burdens associated with the potable water supply to an industrial area (Rosslyn, north of Pretoria, in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality). The procedure, as well as the assessment of the environmental impacts of a life cycle, is dependent on a comprehensive life cycle inventory (LCI) of the evaluated system. Water use is included in LCIs, which are incorporated into the LCIA procedure, as it reflects a direct extraction from available resources. The water supply system diagram has been developed and data was collected, treated and analysed in the inventory analysis phase. The study closely followed the four phases as stipulated in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 14040 series of standards) for conducting LCAs, including: -- goal and scope definition; -- LCI analysis; -- LCIA; and -- interpretation, conclusions and recommendations. The methodology used in the impact assessment phase was the introduced LCIA framework for South Africa in order to determine the extent of different environmental impacts. The inventory analysis, conforming to the scope of the study, provided an overall inventory of energy and other resource requirements, emissions to water and air, dust fallouts and solid or liquid wastes for the system under study. By using this methodology and by tracing all unit processes involved in the potable water supply system, the main contribution to the environmental burdens imposed on the potable water supply system was found to be the extraction of the required water from nature to supply potable water to Rosslyn. The toxicity potential impacts on water resources, mainly due to the electricity required for the water supply system, are of minor importance. This conclusion is valid for the system investigated, and as a result, the recommendations for environmental improvements should focus on water losses that must be addressed foremost. What is required at this stage is strategic planning regarding the extraction, use and conservation of water resources. Furthermore, to optimise all processes of water extraction, and to make them more efficient, electricity and other energy inputs are also of importance, albeit to a lesser extent. / Dissertation (M (Applied Sciences : Environmental Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

The thesis describes conditions for carrying out cabotage in road freight transport, in comparison to current and past development at the EU level, and in transport policy of the EU described in the primary law. The most current changes at the field of cabotage are a good precondition for the future growth of this type of transport. The issue of cabotage could be described in three groups of topics, the first being the unified EU regulations of cabotage and conditions set for carrying out cabotage, the second concerns topics, that are similar in every EU country due to harmonization of national law, for example the payment of VAT, admission to the occupancy of road haulier or technical conditions for vehicles. The third group deals with matters that are different in every EU country, e.g. toll systems. Carrying out cabotage is therefore to be adjusted to all aforesaid conditions, which have a direct influence to the economical background of cabotage transports.

Der Vortrag beschreibt, wie mittels des Kontaktmodells mit endlicher Reibung in Creo Simulate 3.0 ein Schwungrad mit axial verschraubtem mit Kegel-Presssitz berechnet werden kann. Da in Creo Simulate 3.0 des Softwareentwicklers PTC das Kontaktmodell mit endlicher Reibung nur für die Theorie großer Verformungen implementiert ist, nicht jedoch für einfache Analysen mit kleinen Deformationen, muss der Anwender einige softwareseitige Einschränkungen geschickt umgehen. Es werden Vorgehensweisen vorgeschlagen, wie der Anwender dies bewerkstelligen kann. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf der Modellierung von Schrauben sowie der Einstellung der Schraubenvorspannung. Rechenergebnisse des Programms werden mit analytischen Lösungen verglichen. / The presentation describes how to analyze a flywheel with axially bolted hub-shaft- connection using a conical press fit with help of the finite friction contact model in Creo Simulate 3.0. Since Creo Simulate 3.0 from PTC offers a finite friction contact model implementation just for large displacement analysis, but not for simple analyses with small displacements, the user has to work around a couple of code specific limitations. Best practices are proposed how to do this. Special attention is paid on bolt modeling and preload adjustment. Analysis results are compared with analytical solutions.

Given the current state of input/output (I/O) and storage devices in petascale systems, incremental solutions would be ineffective when implemented in exascale environments. According to the "The International Exascale Software Roadmap", by Dongarra, et al. existing I/O architectures are not sufficiently scalable, especially because current shared file systems have limitations when used in large-scale environments. These limitations are: Bandwidth does not scale economically to large-scale systems, I/O traffic on the high speed network can impact on and be influenced by other unrelated jobs, and I/O traffic on the storage server can impact on and be influenced by other unrelated jobs. Future applications on exascale computers will require I/O bandwidth proportional to their computational capabilities. To avoid these limitations C. Filippidis, C. Markou, and Y. Cotronis proposed the IKAROS framework. In this thesis project, the capabilities of the publicly available elastic-transfer (eT) module which was directly derived from the IKAROS, will be expanded. The eT uses Google’s Gmail service as an utility for efficient meta-data management. Gmail is based on the IMAP protocol, and the existing version of the eT framework implements the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) client-server connection through the ‘‘Inbox’’ module from the Node Package Manager (NPM) of the Node.js programming language. This module was used as a proof of concept, but in a production environment this implementation undermines the system’s scalability and there is an inefficient allocation of the system’s resources when a large number of concurrent requests arrive at the eT′s meta-data server (MDS) at the same time. This thesis solves this problem by adopting an asynchronous non-blocking event driven approach to implement the IMAP client-server connection. This was done by integrating and modifying the ‘‘Imap’’ NPM module from the NPM repository to suit the eT framework. Additionally, since the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format has become one of the most widespread data-interchange formats, eT′s meta-data scheme is appropriately modified to make the system’s meta-data easily parsed as JSON objects. This feature creates a framework with wider compatibility and interoperability with external systems. The evaluation and operational behavior of the new module was tested through a set of data transfer experiments over a wide area network environment. These experiments were performed to ensure that the changes in the system’s architecture did not affected its performance. / Givet det nuvarande läget för input/output (I/O) och lagringsenheter för system i peta-skala, skulle inkrementella lösningar bli ineffektiva om de implementerades i exa-skalamiljöer. Enligt ”The International Exascale Software Roadmap”, av Dongarra et al., är nuvarande I/O-arkitekturer inte tillräckligt skalbara, särskilt eftersom nuvarande delade filsystem har begränsningar när de används i storskaliga miljöer. Dessa begränsningar är: Bandbredd skalar inte på ett ekonomiskt sätt i storskaliga system, I/O-trafik på höghastighetsnätverk kan ha påverkan på och blir påverkad av andra orelaterade jobb, och I/O-trafik på lagringsservern kan ha påverkan på och bli påverkad av andra orelaterade jobb. Framtida applikationer på exa-skaladatorer kommer kräva I/O-bandbredd proportionellt till deras beräkningskapacitet. För att undvika dessa begränsningar föreslog C. Filippidis, C. Markou och Y. Cotronis ramverket IKAROS. I detta examensarbete utökas funktionaliteten hos den publikt tillgängliga modulen elastic-transfer (eT) som framtagits utifrån IKAROS. Den befintliga versionen av eT-ramverket implementerar Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) klient-serverkommunikation genom modulen ”Inbox” från Node Package Manager (NPM) ur Node.js programmeringsspråk. Denna modul användes som ett koncepttest, men i en verklig miljö så underminerar denna implementation systemets skalbarhet när ett stort antal värdar ansluter till systemet. Varje klient begär individuellt information relaterad till systemets metadata från IMAP-servern, vilket leder till en ineffektiv allokering av systemets resurser när ett stort antal värdar är samtidigt anslutna till eT-ramverket. Denna uppsats löser problemet genom att använda ett asynkront, icke-blockerande och händelsedrivet tillvägagångssätt för att implementera en IMAP klient-serveranslutning. Detta görs genom att integrera och modifiera NPM:s ”Imap”-modul, tagen från NPM:s katalog, så att den passar eT-ramverket. Eftersom formatet JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) har blivit ett av de mest spridda formaten för datautbyte så modifieras även eT:s metadata-struktur för att göra systemets metadata enkelt att omvandla till JSON-objekt. Denna funktionalitet ger ett bredare kompatibilitet och interoperabilitet med externa system. Utvärdering och tester av den nya modulens operationella beteende utfördes genom en serie dataöverföringsexperiment i en wide area network-miljö. Dessa experiment genomfördes för att få bekräftat att förändringarna i systemets arkitektur inte påverkade dess prestanda.

The thesis is focused on some questions stemming from the limitations of the right to free access to information in connection with the implementation of classified information protection in the context of activities of state security organizations. The basic legislation covering this area has been summarized. Further, the thesis explores theoretical as well as practical procedures and principles aimed at minimization of both real and potential threats to individual rights and basic principles of the open society in cases of performance of such sorts of limitations. Besides, some examples of the solutions carried out in certain countries and in addition several decisions of the European Court on Human Rights are mentioned. Finally, the contemporary status of the matter in the Czech Republic is examined.

There has existed for many years a memory enhancement technique ("memory pegs") that although having dramatic demonstrable success in some individual cases has not been generally applied in education. The emergence of constructivist epistemology has emphasised the notion that learning occurs as a result of connecting new material with previously learnt concepts. There is, therefore, the implication that effective learning requires some previous knowledge upon which to attach new concepts - and thus realisation of the importance of learning with respect to acquiring factual information as a prerequisite to learning new processes and/or skills. This issue has focussed my attention on the need to ensure that the more physiological skills of accessing 'memory', both for learning and recall, are optimised for maximum learning. Further, there are some indications that the physiological skills of memory access (storage and retrieval) may respond favourably to training and 'exercise'. This study was designed to find out whether or not a repeated 'exercise' using a simple memory enhancement technique would lead to a determinable and statistically significant increase in overall performance in a range of cognitive skills (as indicated by science and mathematics examination results), whether learning such a technique would affect a student's attitudes towards science, whether there was a relationship between the amount of time spent practicing the technique and the degree of effect, and whether the memory technique did actually improve the ability to recall lists of objects.

The aim of the diploma thesis is construction-technological project of the whole construction focusing on the main building object - Apartment building, which is based on large-diameter drilling piles. The basis of the work is the budget of the main building and its timetable. Part of the thesis is a solution of organization of construction and design of building site equipment, technological regulation of selected activities, quality control and solution of transport relations including oversized transport. In addition, the design of the machine assembly, assessment of lifting mechanisms, safety and health protection and protection of the environment are solved.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis analyzes the relationship between Flanner House, an African American settlement house, and Planned Parenthood of Central Indiana to determine why Flanner House director Cleo Blackburn would not allow a birth control clinic to be established at the Herman G. Morgan Health Center in 1951. Juxtaposing the scholarship of African Americans and birth control with the historiography of black settlement houses leads to the conclusion that Blackburn’s refusal to add birth control to the health center’s services had little to do with the black Indianapolis community’s opinions on birth control; instead, Flanner House was confined by conservative limitations imposed on it by white funders and organizations. The thesis examines the success of Blackburn and Freeman B. Ransom, Indianapolis’s powerful black leaders, in working within the system of limitations to establish the Morgan Health Center in 1947. Ransom and Blackburn received monetary support from the United Fund, the Indianapolis Foundation, and the U.S. Children’s Bureau, which stationed one of its physicians, Walter H. Maddux, in Indianapolis. The Center also worked as a part of the Indianapolis City Board of Health’s public health program. These organizations and individuals did not support birth control at this time and would greatly influence Blackburn’s decision about providing contraceptives. In 1951, Planned Parenthood approached Blackburn about adding birth control to the services at Morgan Health Center. Blackburn refused, citing the Catholic influence on the Flanner House board. While acknowledging the anti-birth control stance of Indianapolis Catholics, the thesis focuses on other factors that contributed to Blackburn’s decision and argues that the position of Flanner House as a black organization funded by conservative white organizations had more impact than any religious sentiment; birth control would have been a liability for the Morgan Health Center as adding contraceptives could have threatened the funding the Center needed in order to serve the African American community. Finally, the position of Planned Parenthood and Flanner House as subordinate organizations operating within the limitations of Indianapolis society are compared and found to be similar.

Extracellular neuroelectronic interfacing has important applications in the fields of neural prosthetics, biological computation and whole-cell biosensing for drug screening and toxin detection. While the field of neuroelectronic interfacing holds great promise, the recording of high-fidelity signals from extracellular devices has long suffered from the problem of low signal-to-noise ratios and changes in signal shapes due to the presence of highly dispersive dielectric medium in the neuron-microelectrode cleft. This has made it difficult to correlate the extracellularly recorded signals with the intracellular signals recorded using conventional patch-clamp electrophysiology. For bringing about an improvement in the signalto-noise ratio of the signals recorded on the extracellular microelectrodes and to explore strategies for engineering the neuron-electrode interface there exists a need to model, simulate and characterize the cell-sensor interface to better understand the mechanism of signal transduction across the interface. Efforts to date for modeling the neuron-electrode interface have primarily focused on the use of point or area contact linear equivalent circuit models for a description of the interface with an assumption of passive linearity for the dynamics of the interfacial medium in the cell-electrode cleft. In this dissertation, results are presented from a nonlinear dynamic characterization of the neuroelectronic junction based on Volterra-Wiener modeling which showed that the process of signal transduction at the interface may have nonlinear contributions from the interfacial medium. An optimization based study of linear equivalent circuit models for representing signals recorded at the neuron-electrode interface subsequently iv proved conclusively that the process of signal transduction across the interface is indeed nonlinear. Following this a theoretical framework for the extraction of the complex nonlinear material parameters of the interfacial medium like the dielectric permittivity, conductivity and diffusivity tensors based on dynamic nonlinear Volterra-Wiener modeling was developed. Within this framework, the use of Gaussian bandlimited white noise for nonlinear impedance spectroscopy was shown to offer considerable advantages over the use of sinusoidal inputs for nonlinear harmonic analysis currently employed in impedance characterization of nonlinear electrochemical systems. Signal transduction at the neuron-microelectrode interface is mediated by the interfacial medium confined to a thin cleft with thickness on the scale of 20-110 nm giving rise to Knudsen numbers (ratio of mean free path to characteristic system length) in the range of 0.015 and 0.003 for ionic electrodiffusion. At these Knudsen numbers, the continuum assumptions made in the use of Poisson-Nernst-Planck system of equations for modeling ionic electrodiffusion are not valid. Therefore, a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) based multiphysics solver suitable for modeling ionic electrodiffusion at the mesoscale neuron-microelectrode interface was developed. Additionally, a molecular speed dependent relaxation time was proposed for use in the lattice Boltzmann equation. Such a relaxation time holds promise for enhancing the numerical stability of lattice Boltzmann algorithms as it helped recover a physically correct description of microscopic phenomena related to particle collisions governed by their local density on the lattice. Next, using this multiphysics solver simulations were carried out for the charge relaxation dynamics of an electrolytic nanocapacitor with the intention of ultimately employing it for a simulation of the capacitive coupling between the neuron and the v planar microelectrode on a microelectrode array (MEA). Simulations of the charge relaxation dynamics for a step potential applied at t = 0 to the capacitor electrodes were carried out for varying conditions of electric double layer (EDL) overlap, solvent viscosity, electrode spacing and ratio of cation to anion diffusivity. For a large EDL overlap, an anomalous plasma-like collective behavior of oscillating ions at a frequency much lower than the plasma frequency of the electrolyte was observed and as such it appears to be purely an effect of nanoscale confinement. Results from these simulations are then discussed in the context of the dynamics of the interfacial medium in the neuron-microelectrode cleft. In conclusion, a synergistic approach to engineering the neuron-microelectrode interface is outlined through a use of the nonlinear dynamic modeling, simulation and characterization tools developed as part of this dissertation research.