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The nitritation-anammox process is an efficient and cost-effective approach for biological nitrogen removal, but its application in treating mainstream wastewater remains a great challenge. The key objectives of this dissertation are to develop nitritation-anammox process to treat wastewater with low-nitrogen strength, understand the fundamental microbiology, and optimize its operation through experimental studies and mathematic modeling. Chapter 2 showed that the nitritation-anammox process has been successfully developed in an upflow membrane-aerated biofilm reactor, where pure oxygen was delivered via gas-permeable membrane module. Chapter 3 demonstrated that hybrid anaerobic reactor (HAR) could be an effective pretreatment method to provide a relatively low COD/N ratio for nitritation-anammox reactor. In Chapter 4, a novel mathematical model has been proposed to evaluate the minimum DO requirement for the nitritation-anammox reactor to achieve the maximum TN removal under various COD/N scenarios (controlled by HRTHAR). Chapters 5 and 6 designed an OsAMX system by linking nitritation-anammox to forward osmosis to remove the reverse-fluxed ammonium while using ammonium bicarbonate as a draw solute. The microbial community structures and dynamics, spatial distributions in these bioreactors were characterized by high-throughput sequencing and fluorescent in situ hybridization techniques. The studies in this dissertation have demonstrated that nitritation-anammox process is a promising alternative for sustainable mainstream treatment with the appropriate pretreatment approach and operation optimization. / PHD / Eutrophication due to the discharge of excessive N and P concentrations into water bodies is pervasive in the United States. The increasingly stringent nitrogen discharge criteria with minimized energy consumption and carbon footprint has become a great challenge for wastewater treatment facilities. Compared with nitrification-denitrification process, nitritation-anammox process is a cost-effective technology because it significantly decreases oxygen and organic carbon consumption. In Chapter 2, the nitritation-anammox process has been demonstrated for the first time to treat low nitrogen strength wastewater in an upflow membrane-aerated biofilm reactor with pure oxygen supply. The membrane aeration with upflow pattern have shown to promote oxygen mass transfer and biomass retention through the formation of biofilm and granules. Chapter 3 demonstrated that hybrid anaerobic reactor could be an effective method to pre-remove most organic matters for nitritation-anammox reactor so that anammox and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria can outcompete heterotrophic organisms. A mathematical model has also been developed in Chapter 4 to evaluate the effects of COD/N ratio on minimum DO requirement and microbial distributions in the nitritation-anammox reactor. Chapters 5 and 6 investigated the potential application of nitritation-anammox to remove reverse-fluxed ammonium leaked by forward osmosis using ammonium bicarbonate as a draw solute. These studies collectively showed that nitritation-anammox process could create opportunities for achieving sustainable wastewater treatment with minimum input of resources.

A common problem in regression analysis is that some covariates are measured with errors. In this dissertation we present simulation-based approach to estimation in two popular regression models with a categorical response variable and classical measurement errors in covariates. The first model is the regression model with a binary response variable. The second one is the proportional odds regression with an ordinal response variable. In both regression models we consider method of moments estimators for therein unknown parameters that are defined via minimizing respective objective functions. The later functions involve multiple integrals and make obtaining of such estimators unfeasible. To overcome this computational difficulty, we propose Simulation-Based Estimators (SBE). This method does not require parametric assumptions for the distributions of the unobserved covariates and error components. We prove consistency and asymptotic normality of the proposed SBE's under some regularity conditions. We also examine the performance of the SBE's in finite-sample situations through simulation studies and two real data sets: the data set from the AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG175) study for our logistic and probit regression models and one from the Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALL) Survey for our regression model with the ordinal response variable and mismeasured covariates. / October 2016

The thesis deals with the use of cloud computing to solve computationally intensive task. Simulation methods are employed to analyze the operation of the proposed system before putting it into operation. Cloud computing makes the functionality of modern data centers accessible to small businesses, cloud allows scaling up and scaling down of resource usage on an as-needed basis; moreover, without high initial investments and long-term commitments. The paper examines in detail the ways to adapt the currently most popular cloud environment of Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud to the specific requirements of custom applications and suggests ways to automate the process of creation and customization of instance images. The automation and management of running applications in cloud environment is demonstrated on the example of geographic data processing and map generation application. The simulation model for running applications in the cloud is built and exploited to verify the ability of the proposed solutions to succeed in a production deployment.

This study investigated the influences of sea-land breezes (SLBs) and northeastern monsoon (NEM) on the transportation and dispersion of air pollutants over coastal region in southern Taiwan. The physicochemical properties of particulate matter (PM) was simultaneously sampled and analyzed at both inland and offshore sites during eight intensive sampling periods. This study further used a SURFER 2-D plotting software, a backward trajectory model, a 3-D meteorological model (MM5), and a comprehensive air quality model (CAMx) to simulate surface wind fields and spatial distribution of air pollutants over the coastal region during the intensive sampling periods of SLBs and NEM. According to the meteorological condition and the synoptic weather patterns of the observation data showed that the SLBs sampling periods commonly occurred the weather patterns were zone of low pressure, pacific high pressure, and west stretch of the pacific high pressure when the main prevailing wind direction were west wind and southwest wind. During the NEM sampling periods, the weather patterns were strong northeastern monsoon, standard northeastern monsoon, and outflow rebound with high pressure in southern Taiwan, and then the main prevailing wind direction were northwest wind and northeast wind. However, during the MIX sampling periods, the weather patterns were outflow circulation of typhoon, weak northeastern monsoon, and outflow rebound with high pressure, while the wind directions didn¡¦t change regular. Thus, at coastal sites, the sea-land breezes induce an inland transport of air pollutants during the daytime and a seaward return of air pollutants at nighttime, causing a recirculation of air pollutants back to inland regions each day during the SLBs sampling periods. During the NEM sampling period was mainly brought from the northeastern wind which transported air pollutants from the northern region to Kaohsiung metropolitan area. The results of PM concentration and size distribution indicated that the inland sites had a higher fraction of fine particles (PM2.5), whereas the offshore sites had a higher fraction of coarse particles (PM2.5-10). These phenomena were attributed to the fact that marine aerosols are generally abundant in the coarse particles. PM concentration is relatively higher during the NEM sampling periods than during the SLBs and MIX sampling periods. For PM concentration, the order of secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA) was NEM > MIX > SLBs, while the SIA/Ions ratio of PM2.5 were approximately 50% during sampling periods. The [NO3-]/[SO42-] ratios of PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 during the SLBs sampling periods were always lowest than those during the NEM and MIX sampling periods. It is suggested that the PM concentrations during the SLBs sampling periods were highly influenced by stationary sources emissions. The crustal elements indicated that the Al, Ca, Fe, and K contributed major composition of particles. Artificial metals, such as Mg, Pb, V, and Zn were also enriched in the atmospheric PM during the NEM sampling periods. In addition, the higher concentration of Fe was attributed to local anthropogenic emission and weak northeastern monsoon during the MIX sampling periods. Regardless of inland or offshore sites, a high concentration of secondary organic carbon (SOC) during the NEM and MIX sampling periods was consistent with OC/EC ratio higher than 2.2 indicates the potential formation of secondary aerosols. Chloride deficit of PM at inland sites were lost easily for approximately 40.28% during the NEM sampling periods. Moreover, the lowest [Cl-]/[Na+] ratio occurred during the sampling periods when the chloride deficit was relative high at inland sites. According to the results of neutralization ratio (NR), regardless of the periods (SLBs, NEM, and MIX), the particulates of inland and offshore sites were both acid. During the NEM and MIX sampling periods, sulphur oxidation ratio (SOR) of PM2.5 over coastal region in southern Taiwan were above 0.25. It is suggested that the results of SOR during those sampling periods were highly influenced by long transportation. In addition, the nitrogen oxidation ratio was lower influenced than SOR over coastal region in southern Taiwan. It is suggested that air quality of Kaohsiung metropolitan area were influenced by the industrial source emissions. During the SLBs sampling period, sea breezes blown in the morning transported the offshore PM10 back to the inland sites in the Kaohsiung metropolitan area. In contrast, the air mass observed during the NEM sampling period was brought to the Kaohsiung metropolitan area mainly by a northerly wind which transported air mass originating in the northern region (i.e. Chiayi counties). The backward trajectory modeling of the MIX sampling periods suggested that the winds were dominated by the Northeastern Monsoon, and as such, likely inhibited the influences of sea-land breezes. Local surface air mass circulation over southern Taiwan obtained from MM5 model influenced by the southwestern monsoon during the SLBs sampling period. The weather in southern Taiwan during the NEM intensive sampling period was occasionally influenced by the Northeastern Monsoon as well as by complex terrain. During the MIX sampling periods, air mass recirculation was frequently observed in the coastal region of southern Taiwan. The results of CAMx model showed that air pollutions were occurred apparent sea breezes in the afternoon and land breezes at night during the SLBs sampling period. During the NEM sampling period, a strong Northeastern Monsoon blew air pollutions from the north to the southern region. We have compared the model simulation with field measured O3 and PM10 concentrations for inland and offshore regions. The order of correlation coefficients of ¬the model simulation and the measurement for O3¬ and PM10 in sampling periods is SLBs>MIX>NEM and NEM>MIX>SLBs, respectively. Overall, the correlation coefficients of the model simulation and the measurement were middle and high correlation.

A dynamic flight model of a jet trainer aircraft is developed in MATLAB-SIMULINK. Using a six degree of freedom mathematical model, non-linear simulation is used to observe the longitudinal and lateral-directional motions of the aircraft following a pilot input. The mathematical model is in state-space form and uses aircraft stability and control derivatives calculated from the aircraft geometric and aerodynamic characteristics. The simulation takes the changes in speed and altitude into consideration due to pilot input and demonstrates the non-linearity of the aircraft motion. The results from the simulation are compared with the results from flight characteristics manual of the actual aircraft to validate the mathematical model used. The simulation is carried out for a number of airspeed and altitude combinations to examine the effect of changing speed and altitude on the aircraft dynamic response.

Zugl.: Dresden, Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.

Este trabalho é um estudo da aplicação de um sistema que utiliza a cogeração para hotéis localizados na cidade de Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Foi analisada a implantação desse tipo de sistema, também chamado de CHP (Combined Heat and Power), de um ponto de vista econômico e energético. A questão econômica foi determinada pela viabilidade através de métodos de análise quantitativa, neste caso, dando enfoque ao tempo de retorno do investimento. Para a análise energética foi realizado o estudo dos consumos e demandas anuais da operação do prédio através da ferramenta de simulação térmo-energética de edificações. O software escolhido foi o EnergyPlus. Essas análises, energéticas e econômicas, foram realizadas através de uma comparação entre o hotel sem o sistema de CHP e o hotel com o sistema de CHP. O hotel hipotético simulado foi definido através de um levantamento de informações a respeito do desempenho energético de hotéis que funcionam em Porto Alegre. Além dos estudos energéticos e econômicos, foram realizadas variações em parâmetros do hotel para tentar abranger uma série de possíveis cenários e verificar suas viabilidades econômicas. Foi visto que a cogeração pode trazer redução de custo operacional mesmo não tendo um menor consumo energético anual. Em alguns cenários o tempo de retorno do investimento apresentou valor abaixo dos seis anos, sendo considerado como uma boa opção de investimento. / This work is a study of the application of a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) system in hotels built in the city of Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. This system was analyzed from an economic and energetic point of view. The economic matter on its viability perspective was determined through quantitative methods, in this case, with the focus on the time frame for the investment's return. For the energetic analysis, a annual energy consumption and demand study was performed utilizing a whole-building energy model with computer simulation. The chosen software was EnergyPlus. The analyses, energetic and economic, were performed through a comparison between the hotel without the CHP system and with the CHP system. The hypothetic simulated hotel was determined by a data survey on the energetic performance of hotels build in Porto Alegre. In addition to the energetic and economic studies, some parametric variations to the hotel were made to include a series of possible scenarios and check their economic viability. It was observed that the CHP can provide some operational cost reductions even without presenting a lower annual energetic consumption. In some scenarios, the time to return the investment showed figures lower than six years, being considered a good investment option.

The thesis focuses on the analysis of a Behavioral New Keynesian DSGE model. In particular, various specifications of the model are collected from the existing literature and their combinations are simulated. The specifications include heuristics for forecasting output gap, sets of estimated or calibrated parameters and model structures. The resulting simulated output and inflation gap series are compared with the macroeconomic stylized facts and real world data from the US and Euro area based on their distributional characteristics and autocorrelation structures. In addition, a comparison of various simulated model specifications is performed based on the level of correlation between fractions of agents following a specific heuristic and the resulting output and inflation gap values. The distributional characteristics of the US output gap seem to be matched the best by the specifications with unbiased and extrapolative output gap heuristics generating series with higher levels of variance and kurtosis. Contrarily, the Euro output gap is best matched by specifications with optimistic, pessimistic and unbi- ased heuristics producing series with lower levels of variance and kurtosis. Second, the autocorrelation structure of the simulated series tends to mirror the stylized facts as opposed to the...

Este trabalho é um estudo da aplicação de um sistema que utiliza a cogeração para hotéis localizados na cidade de Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Foi analisada a implantação desse tipo de sistema, também chamado de CHP (Combined Heat and Power), de um ponto de vista econômico e energético. A questão econômica foi determinada pela viabilidade através de métodos de análise quantitativa, neste caso, dando enfoque ao tempo de retorno do investimento. Para a análise energética foi realizado o estudo dos consumos e demandas anuais da operação do prédio através da ferramenta de simulação térmo-energética de edificações. O software escolhido foi o EnergyPlus. Essas análises, energéticas e econômicas, foram realizadas através de uma comparação entre o hotel sem o sistema de CHP e o hotel com o sistema de CHP. O hotel hipotético simulado foi definido através de um levantamento de informações a respeito do desempenho energético de hotéis que funcionam em Porto Alegre. Além dos estudos energéticos e econômicos, foram realizadas variações em parâmetros do hotel para tentar abranger uma série de possíveis cenários e verificar suas viabilidades econômicas. Foi visto que a cogeração pode trazer redução de custo operacional mesmo não tendo um menor consumo energético anual. Em alguns cenários o tempo de retorno do investimento apresentou valor abaixo dos seis anos, sendo considerado como uma boa opção de investimento. / This work is a study of the application of a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) system in hotels built in the city of Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. This system was analyzed from an economic and energetic point of view. The economic matter on its viability perspective was determined through quantitative methods, in this case, with the focus on the time frame for the investment's return. For the energetic analysis, a annual energy consumption and demand study was performed utilizing a whole-building energy model with computer simulation. The chosen software was EnergyPlus. The analyses, energetic and economic, were performed through a comparison between the hotel without the CHP system and with the CHP system. The hypothetic simulated hotel was determined by a data survey on the energetic performance of hotels build in Porto Alegre. In addition to the energetic and economic studies, some parametric variations to the hotel were made to include a series of possible scenarios and check their economic viability. It was observed that the CHP can provide some operational cost reductions even without presenting a lower annual energetic consumption. In some scenarios, the time to return the investment showed figures lower than six years, being considered a good investment option.