Course Descriptions

Fundamentals of Air Quality and Climate Change (9 - 11 September 2013)

This short course is devoted to applications of the reliability theory in analysing engineering systems. The probabilistic concepts of structural reliability are re-examined and their significance for improving system performance or obtaining design solutions for situations not readily provided for in design standards are clarified.

A review of historical development of system design is supplemented by illustrative examples and a critical assessment. Using basic tools of the theory of probability and mathematical statistics fundamental methods of the system reliability are then developed. General links between the probabilistic concepts and operational procedures of partial factor methods are developed and illustrated considering different reliability elements.

The main emphasis of the course is given to the practical application of the principles of system reliability. It is shown that the probabilistic methods of system reliability can be used indirectly, to derive reliability elements for partial factor design procedures, or directly in reliability analysis. Indirect applications include specification of the theoretical models of basic variables and calibration of partial factors and other reliability elements applied in load combination rules and in the determination of engineering systems. The direct applications of the reliability theory in engineering systems are based on definition of appropriate performance functions and theoretical models of basic variables. General procedures are illustrated by practical examples using commercially available software products and special-purpose software tools.

Finally the methods of probabilistic optimisation, systems reliability and risk assessment are introduced briefly as the tools for decisions concerning engineering systems and specification of target reliability levels.

Nitrogen Compounds in the Troposphere (12 September 2013)

Nitrogen is an essential element in governing the development of living organisms, and in determining the pollution climate and influencing climate change of the Earth. Nitrogen in its various chemical forms plays a major role in the great number of environmental issues. It contributes to air pollution, acidification/ eutroplication of the soil, groundwater and surface water, decreasing ecosystem vitality and biodiversity, affecting ground water pollution through nitrate and aluminum leaching and climate change. Nitrogen potentially poses a threat to human and affecting visibility. This course will provide the students with a background in the fundamentals of tropospheric nitrogen compounds, and their reaction rates. Both anthropogenic and natural emissions of volatile reactive nitrogen compounds will be discussed together with their role in ozone and photochemical oxidant/smog formation. Also to be discussed will be reaction products of these compounds, and the recent enhancement of reactive nitrogen compounds in the atmosphere.