Providing destruction in games is usually achieved by having pre-calculated fracturingpoints, swapping models at appropriate times while hiding the crimes witha puff of smoke or an explosion. An area of continued research is procedural destructionwhere an object will fracture in a realistic way depending on appliedforces such as gravity, explosions or load. This thesis proposes and begins the implementation for a triangle based surfacerepresentation capable of supporting procedural destruction in real-time for anunderlying point-based simulation; deriving the methodology from the paper byM. Pauly et al [12]. Too wide project scoping prevented the implementation from fully realising theinitial goals; where the surface and physics simulations was never married intoa single simulation. It is one half of a larger project on procedural destruction,focusing primarily on the surface representation where the second half is detailedin the report by C. Stegmayr [14]. Even without a complete simulation, performance is an evidently limiting factor.For more detailed simulations, with a simple test mesh and a small step size whenpropagating a fracture, frame times quickly raise up to almost 247 ms/frame.There are multiple areas of improvement for the implementation to reduce frametimes; however, scalability and performance are still major points of concern dueto inherent challenges with running multiple fractures in parallel. Unless scalingcan be improved, it is worth pursuing alternative approaches.

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Models for the mean sea surface (MSS) are created by combining and interpolating on a specified spatial grid inhomogenous data sets from different satellites with different ground track coverage. There are various approaches in which the sea surface height (SSH) data from different satellites can be combined to create an accurate reference surface. The orbit errors (especially from the early missions) need to be reduced, and systematic biases between different satellites can be decreased by re-processing them using the improved models and geophysical corrections. In this research, a new method for the data adjustment (or error reduction), which attempts to compensate for both long-wavelength orbit errors and systematic biases, simultaneously and efficiently. The approach is based on using an accurate sea surface profile as a reference surface for the integration process. The new data adjustment technique is based on along-track SSH gradients computed for each satellite, which are integrated along-track with initial values obtained by dual crossover computation with respect to an accurate set of sea surface heights. The accurate Jason-1 SSH data were used to determine the reference surface, and a total of 5 different satellites (Geosat ERM, ERS-2, T/P, Envisat and ERS-1 geodetic mission) data were adjusted to the Jason-1 SSH data. After editing, the new homogeneous SSH datasets were averaged into mean SSH profiles. Then, they were gridded into a 5-minute resolution mean sea surface over the global ocean within ±60º latitudes, as defined by the Jason-1 mean profile, using a 2-D spline interpolation in tension with Green’s function approach. The new gridded mean sea surface, named CSRMSS14 was validated by three comparisons. First, it was compared with two accurate altimeter data sets: 7-year Jason-1 and 8-year Envisat mean profiles. Second, two recent MSS models, DNSC08 and DTU10, were compared to investigate the accuracy of CSRMSS14. Third, a somewhat independent test is obtained by comparing a 2-year Jason-2 mean profile with the three MSS models (CSRMSS14, DTU10 and DNSC08), since Jason-2 data were not used in their construction. These three validations demonstrated that CSRMSS14 mean sea surface model obtained with this new approach is comparable in accuracy to DNSC08 and DTU10. / text

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Label-free detection techniques have an important role in many applications, such as situations where few molecules -- rather than low molarity -- need to be detected, such as in single-cell screening. While surface plasmon resonance (SPR) scattering from metal nanoparticles has been shown to achieve significantly higher sensitivity in gene arrays, such an approach has not been demonstrated for protein arrays. SPR-based sensors could either use simple absorption measurement in a UV-Vis spectrometer or possibly surfaceenhanced Raman spectroscopy as the detection mechanism for molecules of interest. However, non-spherical particles are needed to achieve high sensitivity and field enhancement that is a requirement in both techniques, but these shapes are not easy toproduce reproducibly and preserve for extended periods of time. Here I present a carbonbased template-stripping method combined with nanosphere lithography (NSL). This fabrication allows to preserve the sharp features in atomically flat surfaces which are a composite of a non-spherical metal nano-particle (gold or silver) and a transparent embedding material such as glass. The stripping process is residue-free due to the introduction of a sacrificial carbon layer. The nanometer scale flat surface of our template stripping process is also precious for general protein absorption studies, because an inherent material contrast can resolve binding of layers on the 2 nm scale. These nanocomposite surfaces also allow us to tailor well-defined SPR extinction peaks with locations in the visible or infrared spectrum depending on the metal and the particle size and the degree of non-symmetry. As the particle thickness is reduced and the particle bisector length is increased, the peak position of the resonance shifts to the red. Not only the peak position shifts, but also the sensitivity to environmental changes increases. Therefore, the peak position of the resonance spectrum is dependent on the dielectric environmental changes of each particle, and the particle geometries. The resulting silver or gold nanoparticles in the surface of a glass slide are capable of detecting thiol surface modification, and biotin-streptavidin protein binding events. Since each gold or silver particle principally acts as an independent sensor, on the order of a few thousand molecules can be detected, and the sensor can be miniaturized without loss of sensitivity. UNSL-Au metal nanoparticle (MNP) sensors achieve the sensitivity of close to 300 nm/RIU which is higher than any other report of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensors except gold nanocrescents. Finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) and finite-element-method (FEM) numerical calculations display the influence of the sharp features on the resonance peak position. The maximum near-field intensity is dependent on the polarization direction, the sharpness of the feature, and the near-field confinement from the substrate. 3D FDTD simulation shows the local refractive index sensitivity of the gold truncated tetrahedron, which is in agreement with our experimental result. Both experimental and numerical calculations show that each particle can act as its own sensor.

One of the most exciting studies of contemporary physics is that of high temperature superconductor (HTS). Since its discovery, a large body of experimental and theoretical work by various groups has attempted to achieve a common understanding of this phenomenon. One of the main driving forces for applications centres on the possibility of new and improved microwave devices based on HTS materials, mainly due to the large reduction in the surface resistance that HTS has to offer. However, various problems need to be addressed before the use of HTS materials can be justified, for example fundamental issues such as the nonlinearity of these materials with respect to microwave power, which form the basis of this work. Microwave measurements were conducted on four magnetron sputtered and three laser ablated, Icm2 YBCO thin films, grown on LaAI03 and MgO substrates, respectively, employing the dielectric (rutile) resonator and coplanar resonator techniques. The low power response of the films was initially analysed, looking for clues to the underlying pairing mechanisms in these films. Power dependence and microwave intennodulation distortion (lMD) measurements were conducted between 12 K to 60 K to investigate the nonlinear response of the films, both in zero and finite dc (10 mT) fields. The effect of patterning on the microwave response of the films was also studied. From these measurements, it was observed that the microwave losses of these films are extrinsic in nature, probably a consequence of weak links/defects, and the results also show that films fabricated from the same technique can have significantly varying quality.

A method for representing solid-liquid sorption behavior of solutes by a two step equilibrium is shown to correlate well with observed sorption behavior. By fitting a three term expression to isotherm plots of solute surface concentration vs. the concentration in the bulk solvent the two distribution constants as well as the maximum sorption capacity are determined. Isotherms for hydrocarbon-modified silica are determined for various solvents and solutes. Interpretation of sorption behavior is presented in terms of values determined for sorption capacity and the distribution coefficients. The isotherm model parameters are shown to correlate to the chromatographic retention parameter, k'. Sorption capacity is proposed as a more meaningful representation of the chromatographic phase ratio. Reversed-phase chromatographic retention and efficiency are shown to be affected by ion modifiers as well as the temperature history of a system when a totally aqueous mobile phase is used. The dynamic nature of the octylsilane modified surface is discussed in terms of changes which are induced by cations exchanged on the silica surface and imbibed organic solvent in the bonded hydrocarbon chain previously used to condition the surface. Both polar and non-polar solutes are used and their retention behavior allows interpretation of changes in specific regions of the surface. The development of magnetic Field-Flow Fractionation (Magnetic FFF), a separation technique for small magnetic particles, is described as well as the parameters which affect such separations. The use of a FFF device to characterize small particle suspensions is demonstrated. The change in turbidimetric response of iron oxide particle suspensions in a spectrophotometric device under the influence of a magnetic field is interpreted in terms of the difference in particle shape.

1 Introduction Resonant waves can be generated when a disturbance such as an earthquake or tornado moves down the edge of a bay or harbour. The qualitative e¤ect of such a disturbance can be observed in a classroom, with minimal apparatus, on a small scale by anyone who causes a partially …lled wineglass to ”sing”(resonate) using a wet …nger. If one carefully examines the surface of the liquid it is possible to see that four ridges or crests follow the …nger around the rim. The photographs below were obtained using a turntable (Apfel’s idea [1]), milk as the liquid, a clear wineglass and a blackened wineglass. The surface of the liquid also exhibits other, smaller patterns called crispations (edge or cross waves [6]) which we do not attempt to model here (see Figure 2): The vibration pattern of the glass is called a ”quadrupole vibration” in the literature and the e¤ect of this vibration has undoubtedly been know ever since mankind discovered the delights of drinking liquids from …ne glass containers. Indeed the e¤ect of a singing wineglass is noted in the literature by the ever inquisitive Michael Faraday [2] in 1831! We discuss a simulation of the crests (not the crispations) using mathematics easy enough for senior undergraduates to understand as well as an animation of this e¤ect using the CAS Mathematica.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Mechanical Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy