No / This paper examines the way in which the distributional impact of projects has been treated in the cost±bene®t analysis literature. It is suggested that excessive emphasis has been given to the estimation of distribution weights in the context of single ®gure measures of project worth and that more attention should be paid to estimation of the distribution e ects themselves. If projects really are to have some impact on poverty it is important that some attempt is made to measure what that impact is. Such an attempt requires both systematic measurement of direct income e ects as well as the possibility of measuring indirect e ects where these are expected to be important. An approach is suggested in which direct measurement of income e ects can be adjusted using shadow price estimates to determine indirect income e ects. The approach is illustrated with the example of a district heating project in the Republic of Latvia.

Small (48-54 g) and large (58-64 g) or low (≤1.070) and high specific gravity (≥1.080) eggs from broiler breeder flocks were used. The hatching sequence was divided into four periods with 25% of the chicks being hatched in each period. One-half of each group was weighed and returned to the hatcher and the remainder were placed in floor pens. Hatch-held chicks were removed at 21 days, l2 hrs, weighed and placed in floor pens. Effect of two post-hatch holding times (0 and 30 hrs) on bursa and spleen weights were measured through 35 days of age. Hematocrits, heterophil/lymphocyte ratios, plasma proteins and glucose were measured through 11 days of age. Broilers from large vs small eggs were 10% heavier and had lower mortality at 49 days of age. Chicks that were held for extended time in the hatcher had lower body weights throughout the growing period. Held chicks had 1.6% (Exp 1) and 2.1% (Exp 2) lighter body weights at 49 days of age than removed chicks. No effect on body weight was observed for egg specific gravity. Relative bursa and spleen weights were lower in held chicks through 14 days of age. Total plasma protein (TPP) and glucose levels were higher in the held chicks at 1, but lower at 3 days of age. Heterophil/lymphocyte ratios were higher in held females at 3 and 5 days and males at 3 days of age. Females had higher TPP levels through 5 days and hematocrits through 11 days of age. / Master of Science

The thermal conductivities of polystyrene in benzene solutions at concentrations of 0.l to 15 weight percent were measured at 25° C and atmospheric pressure. Osmotic pressure measurements and information supplied by the manufacturer indicated number average molecular weights (M̅_N) of 21,000, 264,000, and 660,000 for the three polystyrene polymers studied. The following equation was obtained by regression analysis of the results and predicts the measured thermal conductivity within ± 2 percent in the range of variables studied. K = 0.1088 - 0.1311 C + 0.57629 C² - 6.40 x 10⁻⁵ (M̅_N x 10⁻⁵)² - 4.2 x 10⁻³ C(M̅_N x 10⁻⁵) where: K = thermal conductivity of solution, Btu/hr-ft-°F C = weight fraction polymer M̅_N = number average molecular weight The conductivities were measured in a steady-state concentric cylinder apparatus developed for measuring the thermal conductivity of viscous liquids. The annular gap was 0.052 inches and guard heaters were employed to minimize end losses and distortion of the steady-state temperature distribution at the ends. The apparatus was calibrated with three liquids of known thermal conductivity, water, cyclohexanol and ethylene glycol. The calibration factor was found to be constant to within experimental error (± 3 percent) over the range of measurements. / Master of Science

The Suwannee River natural organic matter (SRNOM) was fractionated by preparative size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) into seven molecular weight (MW) fractions. The SRNOM and its MW fractions were subsequently analyzed for their concentrations of acidic functional groups by direct titrations, average MWs and MW distributions by semi-analytical SEC, and charge-to-MW distributions by capillary electrophoresis. Carboxyl concentrations in the MW fractions were inversely proportional to their average MWs. Conversely, the phenolic concentrations, though smaller than the carboxyl concentrations, were proportional to average MWs. Hysteresisthe non-overlap between sequential forward and reverse titrationswas observed for the SRNOM and its MW fractions, where the reverse titrations predicted a greater concentration of carboxylic acid groups than the forward titration. Because hysteresis is thought to be caused by the base-catalyzed hydrolysis of esters, this suggests that ester groups in the SRNOM are distributed over all MWs. Data for direct titrations, MW distributions, and capillary electrophoresis were evaluated by a computational scheme that solves for the most probable distribution of acidic functional groups and charges on solutes in the SRNOM and the MW fractions as a function of pH. Depending on the MW ranges of the samples, solutes in the SRNOM and the MW fractions are predicted to have from one to a maximum of 25 carboxyl groups per solute. Most phenolic groups are predicted to be on solutes that have a minimum of two carboxyl groups. At low pH, all samples have high relative abundances of solutes with the lowest charges. The charges of solutes are predicted to increase with increasing pH due to the sequential ionization of acidic functional groups. Depending on the MW ranges of the samples, the maximum probable charges of solutes in the SRNOM and the fractions at high pH are -12 to -30. By knowing the most probable distribution of charge and abundances of acidic functional groups, researchers will make better estimates of thermodynamic parameters and models that describe equilibria between metals and natural organic matter in the environment.

Šiame darbe nagrinėjami dviejų sumų santykio kalibruotieji įvertiniai, kuriuose panaudojama daugiau negu po vieną kiekvieno tyrimo kintamojo papildomąjį kintamąjį. Naudojant skirtingas kalibravimo lygtis ir atstumo funkcijas čia sukonstruoti šeši tokio tipo įvertiniai. Taikant Teiloro ištiesinimo, visrakčio ir atsitiktinių grupių metodus sukonstruoti keleto naujų santykio įvertinių dispersijos įvertiniai. Modeliuojant nauji santykio įvertiniai lyginami tarpusavyje bei su standartiniu ir A. Plikuso įvertiniais. Tiriama, kaip įvertiniu tikslumą įtakoja imties dydis ir laisvai pasirenkami svoriai, kai koreliacija tarp tyrimo ir papildomų kintamųjų yra stipri. Keičiant imties dydį pastebėjome, kad daugeliu atvejų nauji santykio įvertiniai yra tikslesni už A. Plikuso įvertini. Taip pat pastebėjome, kad parenkant skirtingus laisvai pasirenkamus svorius įvertinių tikslumas išlieka panašus. Atliekant sukonstruotų santykio įvertinių dispersijų įvertinių tikslumo tyrimą, kai keičiamas imties elementų skaičius, pastebėjome, kad visrakčio metodu gautieji dispersijos įvertiniai yra tikslesni už Teiloro ištiesinimo ar atsitiktinių grupių metodais gautus dispersijos įvertinius. Visi matematinio modeliavimo eksperimentai atlikti, naudojant matematinių uždavinių paketą MATLAB 7.10.0. / In this work we analyze the calibrated estimators of the ratio of two totals, which use more than one auxiliary variable for each study variable. Using different calibration equations and distance functions, we construct here six new estimators of the ratio. The estimators of the variance of some estimators of the ratio are constructed using Taylor linearization, jackknife and random groups methods. A simulation study is performed to compare new estimators of the ratio with the standard estimator and estimators, introduced by A. Plikusas. It is analyzed, how the characteristics of accuracy of estimators depend on the sample size and free additional weights when auxiliary variables are well correlated with study variables. The simulation results show that for some populations new estimators are more accurate than those, introduced by A. Plikusas. During the simulation, we observed, that the estimators of the variance of the estimators of the ratio that are constructed using jackknife method are more accurate than those that are constructed using Taylor linearization and random groups methods. The simulation results are obtained using the computer program that was made using the Language of Technical Computing MATLAB 7.10.0.

Rådande situation med klimatförändringar och oroligheter i Europa kräver åtgärder för att kunna skifta från fossila bränslen och energikällor till mer hållbara alternativ. Elförbrukningen väntas öka signifikant i Sverige och ett alternativ för att tillgodose hållbar energi och klimatmål är utvecklingen av vindkraft. Satsningar sker alltmer på havsbaserad vindkraft eftersom det är goda vindförhållanden och mindre påverkan för människor i närområdet eftersom vindkraftverken kan placeras långt från kusten. I många fall är det projekteringsföretag, kommuner och politiker som beslutar placeringen av vindkraftverken. Ett problem som uppstår är när allmänheten anser att det uppstår störningar på grund av att vindkraftverken placeras i dess närhet och att de inte får deltaga i planeringsprocessen. Studien syftar till att hitta lämpliga platser för havsbaserad vindkraft utifrån metoderna medborgardialog och multikriterie-analys för att kunna integrera medborgarinflytande i planeringsprocessen. ”Mjuka kriterier” som ofta tas upp i sammanhang om vindkraft har tagits i beaktning och har skickats ut i en enkätundersökning för att få in vad som är viktigast för invånare i Gävle kommun. Dessa innefattar hur stor påverkan respondenterna uppfattas kunna påverkas av som till exempel ljud, utsikt och buller. Utifrån dessa kriterier fick respondenterna rangordna samtliga för att skapa en viktning till multikriterie-analysen. Beskrivande statistik på vad respondenterna är oroliga för att påverkas av vid byggnation av havsbaserad vindkraft togs fram för att styrka studiens legitimitet. Resultatet visar att det är en stor majoritet av respondenter som är positivt inställd mot vindkraft och att respondenter inte uttrycker någon signifikant oro. Metoden MKA med viktning av rank sum weights användes för att skapa olika kartor faktor- och restriktionskartor baserat på respondenternas svar samt en teknisk analys utifrån en omfattande litteraturstudie. Den tekniska analysen använder kriterier som havsdjup, avstånd till kraftstationer och hamnar som inte klassas som ”mjuka kriterier”. Resultatet visar att medborgardialogen påverkar vilken lokalisering vindkraftverken får jämfört med den tekniska analysen. En slutgiltig karta skapades för att visa var någonstans vindkraftparken kan hamna om båda delarna tillgodoses. Studien tyder på att ett större underlag för medborgardialog kunnat ge ett tydligare resultat samt att viss typ av data hade krävts för en ordentlig teknisk analys. Det nya som denna studie har utvecklat är en metod för att föra en medborgardialog gällande havsbaserad vindkraft och kvantifierat invånarnas åsikter till geografiska data. / The current situation with climate change and unrest in Europe requires measures to be able to switch from fossil fuels and energy sources to more sustainable alternatives. Electricity consumption is expected to increase significantly in Sweden and an alternative for meeting sustainable energy and climate goals is the development of wind power. Investments are increasingly being made in offshore wind power because it has adequate wind conditions and less impact for people in the immediate area since the turbines can be located far from the shore. In many cases, it is corporations, municipalities and politicians who decide on the location of the wind turbines. A problem that arises is when the public considers that disturbances occur due to the fact that the wind turbines are located in their vicinity and that they are not offered the possibility to participate in the planning process. The study aims to find suitable places for offshore wind power based on the methods citizen dialogue and multi-criteria analysis to be able to integrate citizen influence in the planning process. "Soft criteria" that are often raised in the context of wind power was taken into account and was included in a survey to address what is important for residents of Gävle municipality. These include how much impact the respondent is perceived to be affected by, such as sound, view and noise. Based on these criteria, the respondents were allowed to rank all of them in order to create a weighting for the multi-criteria analysis. Descriptive statistics based on what the respondents are worried about being affected by during the construction of offshore wind power were produced to prove the legitimacy of the study. The results show that a large majority of respondents are positive towards wind power and that respondents do not express any significant concern regarding the construction of offshore wind power. The MCA method with weighting method rank sum weights was used to create different factor and constraint maps based on the survey answers and a technical analysis based on an extensive literature study. The technical analysis uses criteria such as bathymetry, distance to power stations and ports that are not classified as "soft criteria". The results show that the citizen dialogue affects the location of the wind turbines compared to the technical analysis. A final map was created to show where the wind farm could end up if both parts are met. The study indicates that a more comprehensive citizen dialogue could have given a more concise result and that a certain type of data had been required for a more thorough technical analysis. The new thing that this study has developed is a method for conducting a citizen dialogue regarding offshore wind power and quantifying the inhabitants' opinions to geographical data.

Composite indicators, also called indices, are widely used synthetic measures for ranking and benchmarking alternatives across complex concepts. The aim of constructing a composite indicator is, among other things, to simplify and condense the information of a plurality of underlying indicators. However, to avoid misleading results, it is important to ensure that the construction is performed in a transparent and representative manner. To this end, this thesis aims to aid the construction of the Electricity Supply Resilience Index (ESRI) – which is a novel energy index, developed within the Future Resilient Systems (FRS) programme at the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) – by looking at the complementary and fundamental component of index aggregation, namely the weighting of the indicators. Normally, weights are assigned to reflect the relative importance of each indicator, based on stakeholders’ or decision-makers’ preferences. Consequently, the weights are often perceived to be importance coefficients, independent from the dataset under analysis. However, it has recently been shown that the structure of the dataset and correlations between the indicators often have a decisive effect on each indicator’s importance in the index. In fact, their importance rarely coincides with the assigned weights. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as implicit weights. The aim of this thesis is to assess the implicit weights in the aggregation of ESRI.  For this purpose, a six-step analytical framework, based on a novel variance-based sensitivity analysis approach, is presented and applied to ESRI. The resulting analysis shows that statistical dependencies between ESRI’s underlying indicators have direct implications on the outcome values – the equal weights assigned a-priori do not correspond to an equal influence from each indicator. Furthermore, when attempting to optimise the weights to balance the contribution of each indicator, it is found that this would require a highly unbalanced set of weights and come at the expense of representing the indicators in an effective manner. Thereby, it can be concluded that there are significant dependencies between the indicators and that their correlations need to be accounted for to achieve a balanced and representative index construction. Guided by these findings, this thesis provides three recommendations for improving the statistical representation and conceptual coherence of ESRI. These include: (1) avoid aggregating a negatively correlated indicator – keep it aside, (2) remove a conceptually problematic indicator – revise its construction or conceptual contribution, and (3) aggregate three collinear and conceptually intersecting indicators into a sub-index, prior to aggregation – limit their overrepresentation. By revising the index according to these three recommendations, it is found that ESRI showcases a greater conceptual and statistical coherence. It can thus be concluded that the analytical framework, proposed in this thesis, can aid the development of representative indices. / Kompositindikatorer (eller index) är populära verktyg som ofta används vid rankning och benchmarking av olika alternativ utifrån komplexa koncept. Syftet med att konstruera ett index är, bland annat, att förenkla och sammanfatta informationen från ett flertal underliggande indikatorer. För att undvika missvisande resultat är det därmed viktigt att konstruera index på ett transparent och representativt sätt. Med detta i åtanke, avser denna uppsats att stödja konstruktionen av Electricity Supply Resilience Index (ESRI) – vilket är ett nyutvecklat energiindex, framtaget inom Future Resilient Systems (FRS) programmet på Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC). Detta görs genom att studera ett vanligt fenomen (s.k. implicita vikter) som gör sig gällande i ett av konstruktionsstegen, då de underliggande indikatorerna ska viktas och aggregeras till ett index. I detta steg tilldelas vanligtvis vikter till de enskilda indikatorerna som ska spegla deras relativa betydelse i indexet. Det har dock nyligen visats att datastrukturen och korrelationer mellan indikatorerna har en avgörande påverkan på varje indikators betydelse i indexet, vilket ibland kan vara helt oberoende av vikten de tilldelats. Detta fenomen kallas ibland för implicita vikter, då de ej är explicit tilldelade utan uppkommer från datastrukturen. Syftet med denna uppsatts är således att undersöka de implicita vikterna i aggregationen av ESRI.  För detta ändamål sker en tillämpning och utökning av en nyutvecklad variansbaserad känslighetsanalys, baserad på olinjär regression, för bedömning av implicita vikter i kompositindikatorer. Resultaten från denna analys visar att statistiska beroenden mellan ESRIs underliggande indikatorer har direkt inverkan på varje indikators betydelse i indexet. Detta medför att vikterna ej överensstämmer med indikatorernas betydelse. Följaktligen utförs en vikt-optimering, för att balansera bidraget från varje indikator. Utifrån resultaten av denna vikt-optimering kan det konstateras att det inte är tänkbart att balansera bidraget från varje indikator genom att justera vikterna. Om så görs, skulle det ske på bekostnad av att kunna representera varje indikator på ett effektivt sätt. Därmed kan slutsatsen dras att det finns tydliga beroenden mellan indikatorer och att deras korrelationerna måste tas i hänsyn för att uppnå en balanserad och representativ indexkonstruktion. Utifrån dessa insikter presenteras tre rekommendationer för att förbättra den statistiska representationen och konceptuella samstämmigheten i ESRI. Dessa innefattar: (1) Undvik att aggregera en negativt korrelerad indikator - behåll den vid sidan av, (2) ta bort en konceptuellt problematisk indikator - revidera dess konstruktion eller konceptuella bidrag, och (3) sammanställ tre kollinära och konceptuellt överlappande indikatorer i ett sub-index, före aggregering - begränsa deras överrepresentation. När dessa rekommendationer implementerats står det klart att den reviderade ESRI påvisar en förbättrad konceptuell och statistisks samstämmighet. Därmed kan det fastställas att det analytiska verktyg som presenteras i denna uppsats kan bidra till utvecklingen av representativa index.

Organic π-conjugated Donor-Acceptor copolymers are emerging as potential candidate materials for organic field effect transistor (OFET) and organic photovoltaic (OPV) applications. The electron-deficient benzothiadiazole group coupled with an electron-rich oligothiophene to form donor-acceptor copolymers has attracted significant attention. These low optical band gap materials absorb photons in the range of 400-800 nm and exhibit good thermal stability. In particular, poly(benzothiadiazole-sexithiophene) (PBT6) exhibits excellent performance in optoelectronic devices and high thermal stability. Here, we present the chemical synthesis and characterization of the polymer, PBT6. Three samples of PBT-6 with differing molecular weights in the range of Mn 18000-45000 Da were synthesized. Each polymer was characterized with respect to its photophysical, thermal properties and field-effected mobility was determined. Devices were prepared by drop-casting polymer solutions in 1,2-dichlorobenzene (DCB) onto an OFET (bottom gate/bottom contact) substrate and the devices were used to examine the charge transport properties of each polymer system. The optimal solvent to be used for processing technique was determined and surface techniques using OTS-8 and OTS-18 were compared through contact angle measurements. The measured charge carrier mobilities were in the range of 0.45-0.6 cm² / V.s. Polymer films prepared via drop-casting and which were thermal annealed exhibit mobilities as high as 0.825 cm² / V.s. This work examines the effect of molecular weight on the charge carrier transport properties and demonstrates the correlation of performance with molecular ordering. Drop-casted films of PBT-6 exhibit highly ordered crystalline lamellar structure with high degree of π- π stacking with edge-on orientation on the substrate. The longer conjugation lengths promote intrachain charge transfer. This high degree of molecular ordering in high MW samples of PBT6 improves the interchain and intrachain charge transfer leading to enhanced mobilities. The increased molecular weight (MW) facilitates in forming more uniform thin films which is vital in processing and application of polymer thin film technologies. These results and observations clearly demonstrate the potential of PBT-6 as a semiconducting material for Optoelectronic devices.

This research evaluates four options to produce quality axle load data for pavement design: piezoelectric WIM sites (corrected and uncorrected data), static weigh scales, and a piezo-quartz WIM site. The evaluation applies four data quality principles: data validity, spatial coverage, temporal coverage, and data availability. While all principles are considered, the research contributes in the development and application of an integrated and sequential approach to assess data validity of the options by performing analyses to determine the precision and accuracy of axle load measurements. Within the context of Manitoba, the evaluation reveals that data produced by piezo-quartz and static weigh scales have superior validity, with piezo-quartz data offering better temporal coverage, data availability, and future geographic coverage. Ultimately, the selection of the best option for providing quality axle load data depends on the relative importance of data quality principles for producing data supporting sound pavement designs and infrastructure management decisions. / May 2017

The final disposal location for used nuclear fuel in the U.S. remains unresolved. A major complication in resolving this issue has historically been the lack of public acceptance. This motivates the creation of a decision making model for selecting a nuclear fuel cycle in the U.S. that incorporates the preferences of the public. A model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was created, tested, and shown to be problematic in incorporating public opinion into decision objectives. A new model based on Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) has been created. This model contains the fundamental objectives for both technical and non-technical factors in both the short and long term for the decision. Additionally, the relevant subject matter experts involved in a nuclear fuel cycle selection are evaluated based on the public's perception of their qualifications, and environmental scientists are found to be considered equally as qualified as nuclear engineers and scientists.