INTRODUCTION: More than 2.2 million people die each year from diarrheal disease. Most cases of diarrheal disease can be linked with a lack of access to clean water and sanitation. The proper usage of sanitation, hygiene and safe drinking water are all mechanisms by which to prevent or limit fecal contamination, and in turn, reduce the risk of diarrheal disease. As a result, it is imperative to examine and understand risk factors for fecal contamination of drinking water in the home. One way to assess fecal contamination is to use indicator bacteria such as E. coli. These bacteria can be easily measured and have been weakly associated with increased risk of gastrointestinal illness. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if characteristics of household drinking water storage containers impacted the concentration of total coliforms and E. coli in the stored household drinking water in rural Dominican Republic communities. METHODS: The data were collected through a cross-sectional survey and from a four month prospective cohort study in rural communities in the Dominican Republic during 2005. Data analysis was conducted using STATA 10. Descriptive statistics were calculated and reported as percentages. Bivariate statistics were carried out to test independent associations between container characteristics and E. coli. In addition, t-tests were used to examine differences in concentrations of E. coli and total coliforms as well as other household and water characteristics that may play an important role in household drinking water management and practice and contamination. RESULTS: After testing independent potential risk factors for E. coli contamination, it was determined that household storage practices have a significant impact on drinking water quality. More specifically, households that stored drinking water in containers with narrow openings (typically < 2 inches in diameter) had lower concentrations of E. coli. The water was more likely to remain protected from additional contamination once stored in the home. DISCUSSION: The association with household storage practices with E. coli contamination reveals the importance of point of drinking water management in the home. Specifically, we documented simple storage practices (commonly practiced in homes in the Dominican Republic) that can protect or reduce drinking water from contamination once in the home. While previous literature has been unable to identify a single most important risk factor of E. coli contamination in drinking water, findings from this study and previous studies indicate that more research is needed to further elucidate the role of household drinking water storage techniques in protecting household members and reducing risk of disease.

The main aim of this work was to develop a method of screening HgCdTe materials for carrier concentration and mobility using Faraday rotation θ and absorption α. Faraday rotation provides N/m*2, where N is the carrier concentration and m* is the effective mass. Since m* was not known in HgCdTe, a Faraday rotation spectrometer was developed to systematically measure it as a function of temperature and Cd mole fraction. Effective masses in n-InSb, and n-GaAs were measured and compared with known values in the literature to validate the method. Mobility is proportional to θ/α. The proportionalities were determined in HgCdTe, n-InSb, and n-GaAs at infrared wavelengths. The dissertation consists of the preface, introduction, three chapters, summary and main conclusions, references, list of publications and abstract (in Lithuanian).

The main aim of this work was to develop a method of screening HgCdTe materials for carrier concentration and mobility using Faraday rotation θ and absorption α. Faraday rotation provides N/m*2, where N is the carrier concentration and m* is the effective mass. Since m* was not known in HgCdTe, a Faraday rotation spectrometer was developed to systematically measure it as a function of temperature and Cd mole fraction. Effective masses in n-InSb, and n-GaAs were measured and compared with known values in the literature to validate the method. Mobility is proportional to θ/α. The proportionalities were determined in HgCdTe, n-InSb, and n-GaAs at infrared wavelengths.

Entering the informal domain may be considered contrary to a formal understanding of architecture yet it is within this context that many architectural strategies are being resolved. Unbound by law and tradition, informal settlements allow for creative solutions that would otherwise not be explored. Such unconventional solutions speak to the discourse of architecture and planning, challenging ideas of public space and private ownership. The goal of this thesis is to investigate how public space is achieved in established informal houseboat communities using off-grid systems and salvaged material. An investigation of the houseboat community in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and the Narrow boats in London, England are case studies in this process. This thesis seeks to identify how the city of West Kelowna, the Westbank First Nation and the Central Okanagan Regional District of British Columbia can be agents of an informal intervention on the Okanagan Lake in British Columbia.

The noise coming from wind power development can be an environmental impact forthe surrounding communities. It is well known that the main wind turbine noise iscaused by the movement of the turbine wings through the air. However, there areuncertainties about the importance of machinery sounds and possible variations amongwind turbines. A high resolution acquisition system was used to perform a fieldexperiment comparison of the noise spectra from some wind turbines at Laholm(Sweden). The results have shown different band spectra peaks associated to machinerysounds among wind turbines from the same model and also from those of differentmanufactures. Maintenance conditions of these wind turbines could explain thedifferences in intensity and frequency locations of the band spectra peaks found. Inorder to know the importance for human audition of these peaks, listening test or doseresponsestudies would be needed to provide relevant information in this regard. Themethodology developed in this study is suggested to be useful for identifying certainmachinery failures which could corrupt the noise sounds emitted at certain wind turbinelocations.

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Remote measurement of electric field generated by lightning has played a major role in understanding the lightning phenomenon. Even though other measurements such as photographic and channel base current have contributed to this research field, due to practical reasons remote measurements of electric field is considered as the most useful tool in lightning research. This thesis discusses the remotely measured radiation field component of electric field generated by cloud flashes (ICs) and narrow bipolar pulses (NBPs). The associated HF radiation of these events at 3 MHz and 30 MHz are also discussed. To understand the initiation process of these discharges, a comparative study of the initial pulse of cloud flashes against the initial pulse of cloud to ground flashes was conducted. The result suggests that both discharges might have been initiated by similar physical processes inside the thunderclouds. Comparing the features of initial pulse of cloud and ground flashes with that of pulses that appeared in the later stages of cloud flashes suggests that the initiation process involved in both flashes are not very much different from the initiation of cloud flashes at the later stage. The average spectral amplitudes of electric field of full duration cloud flashes (180 ms) showed f  -1 frequency dependence within the interval of 10 kHz to approximately 10 MHz. This is in contrast to the standard f  -2 decrement (or even steeper ) at high frequency region for other lightning processes such as return strokes. It was suggested that small pulses which repeatedly appeared at the later stage of cloud flashes might have contributed to enhance the spectral amplitude at higher frequencies. Electric fields generated by Narrow Bipolar Pulses (NBPs), which are considered as one of the strongest sources of HF radiation, were measured in the tropics of Malaysia and Sri Lanka.  Their features were also studied and show a good agreement with previously published observations of NBPs from other geographical regions. Thorough analyses and observations of these pulses found previously unreported sharp, fine peaks embedded in the rising and decaying edge of the electric field change of NBPs. Therefore it was suggested that these fine peaks are mostly responsible for the intense HF radiation at 30 MHz.

We consider the motion of a Brownian particle trapped in an arbitrary bounded two or three-dimensional domain, whose boundary is reflecting except for a small absorbing window through which the particle can escape. We use the method of matched asymptotic expansions to calculate the mean first passage time, defined as the time taken for the Brownian particle to escape from the domain through the absorbing window. This is known as the narrow escape problem. Since the mean escape time diverges as the window shrinks, the calculation is a singular perturbation problem. We extend our results to include N absorbing windows of varying length in two dimensions and varying radius in three dimensions. We present findings in two dimensions for the unit disk, unit square and ellipse and in three dimensions for the unit sphere. The narrow escape problem has various applications in many fields including finance, biology, and statistical mechanics.

Copies of author's previously published articles inserted. / Bibliography: leaves 118-126. / 160 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / The subject of this thesis is the improvement of the design of High fidelity (HF) Radio modems by interpreting the high fidelity radio channel from a signal design perspective. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 1996?

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.