A rapid economic boom in the past decade has completely transformed China’s urban landscape into a theme park of skyscrapers. Architecture has become a means to showcase ambition and desire. Architects are forced to fit into a prescribed way of thinking and assist a powerful government to realize its vision of a utopian order. And as such, many of them are deprived of opportunities to thoroughly investigate the social issues that are affecting China’s urban development. Quite often, architects fall prey to political constraints and economic challenges. Despite China being a testing ground for handsome architecture and experimental urban planning, it is at the same time a graveyard of ethical architectural practices. In response to such pervasive conditions of architectural practice, this thesis investigates social and cultural issues in China that are beyond the control and repertoire of an architect; but ones that directly affect the development of this fast-modernizing nations. Across the dynasties, a unique walled culture was developed in the Chinese society, characterized by its emphasis on inward orientation and boundary making. The Ming dynasty reached the maturity of this walled culture when political hierarchy, strict morality and the obsession of wall building dominated society in an extreme fashion. It was during the Ming dynasty that the Great Wall was substantially extended in length. Inside the limits of this national boundary, the emperor enclosed each city itself within massive walled networks. In this way, the wall became a physical symbol of Chinese centrality and insularity, where massive walls, strict order and a focus on morality all worked together to create a physically and psychologically suffocating cultural atmosphere. Within this walled culture, a growing fear of a centralized bureaucratic power and a subsequent repression placed upon political criticism were commonplace. Today, almost five centuries after-the-fact, there remains a ghost of this former walled culture. Although most of these ancient symbols of physical control—the walls themselves—have fallen in ruin after the collapse of dynastical China, an invisible, psychological wall still remains in Chinese society to restrict any politically incorrect thoughts. The collective mind of contemporary China is struggling between the will of rapid modernization and the desire for free expression. The notion of ‘going modern’ and developing an advanced lifestyle now forms a kind of mutual consent between the government and the citizens. In order to enjoy their ‘modern’ lifestyles, contemporary Chinese must acknowledge and respect certain limits—they must always act and think for the collective good as determined by the government. The government sees suppression of free expression and covering up of social injustice as the best way to ensure social stability and centralization of power. It is for this reason that the ancient walls of China have gradually transformed into a psychological wall that haunts the mind of the citizens. From this perspective, the wall never really collapsed or became ruins—it still resides in the psychology of the collective. The concept of wall, physical and metaphorical, is the central theme of this thesis. It is not only to be understood as the physical realization of a superficial idea of protection, separation and control, but also as the dominant mechanism of repression, an invisible wall that continues to shape the Chinese national psyche today. This thesis attempts to reveal and confront the unspoken meaning of the wall in Chinese culture which has been buried under the glamour of national pride and glory. It presents a yearning to transform a wall that covers up injustice and inequality into a wall that connects to the underside of the social subconscious.

A modified wetted-wall cyclone using different methods of water injection techniques upstream of the inlet was designed as an improvement to a wetted-wall cyclone developed by White, which uses liquid injection through a port on the wall of the cyclone inlet. The new cyclone has a high aerosol sampling flow rate (1250 L/min) and maintains constant cut-point with the modified White-type cyclone along with greater collection efficiency, lower time response, and reduced pressure drop. The final air-blast atomizer cyclone (AAC2.1a) design considered has an aerosol-tohydrosol collection efficiency cut-point of 1.3 mm with collection efficiencies at 1 and 2 mm of 39.9% and 86%, respectively. The efficiency reported for the modified White-type cyclone for particle sizes of 1 and 2 mm was 40.5% and 76.3%, respectively, under no water bypass conditions. The aerosol-to-aerosol transmission efficiency for the AAC2.1a configuration was found to be approximately 53.7% for 1 mm diameter particles as compared with 67.2% for the modified White-type cyclone. Dry and wet time response tests were performed in which the modified White-type cyclone had an initial response of 2.5 minutes for a wet start and 1 minute for a dry start for a condition where there was no liquid carryover through the cyclone outlet. The rise time for AAC2.1a cyclone under dry and wet start conditions was 0.5 minutes and 1.3 minutes, respectively. The decay response of the modified White-type cyclone was 1.1 minutes for a wet start and 1.2 minutes for a dry start. The corresponding numbers for AAC2.1a cyclone were 1.4 minutes for a dry start and 1 minute for a wet start condition. Off design tests were run at approximately ±10% air flow rates to see the effect on cyclone performance. It was seen that at a 10% higher flow rate (1350 L/min) the efficiency was 54.3%. At a 10% lower flow rate (1125 L/min) the efficiency was 33.7% as compared with an efficiency of 39.9% at 1250 L/min for 1.0 mm PSL particles. It was found that at a water input of 0.8 mL/min the efficiency reduced to 79.3% as compared to 86% at an input flow rate of 1.6 mL/min for 2 mm size PSL.

Segmental retaining walls (SRW), typically constructed along highways, have grown in popularity over the past decade. Manufacturers of SRW blocks have estimated the service life of a properly constructed wall to be approximately 75 years. However, there have been reports of SRW systems failing after only five years in service. Suspected causes of the SRW failures are freeze-thaw damage while exposed to deicing salts sprayed by snow plows from highways. The current standard test method used for evaluating the freeze-thaw durability of SRW blocks has several drawbacks and does not accurately replicate environmental exposure field conditions. The objective of this research is to develop and assess a new standard test method for evaluating the freeze-thaw durability of SRW blocks that obtains reproducible results and offers sufficient information on the freeze-thaw performance for SRW block manufacturers and state highway agencies (SHAs). The research completed a preliminary proof of concept test for the new freezethaw test method developed using small, commercially available SRW blocks to mitigate potential problems and establish appropriate test parameters. The testing produced results of freeze-thaw degradation that followed the same modes of failure that has been discovered during field evaluations. After the proof of concept test was completed, a series of freeze-thaw tests were conducted using sets of SHA approved and non-SHA approved SRW blocks. Three different manufacturers’ SRW blocks were evaluated. There was no significant freezethaw degradation of any of the blocks after 200 freeze-thaw cycles, so for two blocks, experiments were extended to 400 cycles using a twelve-hour freeze-thaw cycle. The modification of the test did not result in more rapid deterioration of the SRW blocks. The researchers found that the freeze-thaw durability test method developed herein is beneficial for determining the freeze-thaw performance of the lower quality specified blocks. The test method gives realistic results, which match typical deterioration modes that are common in field settings, in a timely manner. However, the test method for testing SHA quality SRW blocks takes longer times and may not be a reasonable test for such products.

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

The static and dynamic properties of spin distributions within domain walls(DWs) confined by Permalloy nanowire conduits are investigated by numerical simulations and high-speed magneto-optic polarimetry. Phase boundaries and critical points associated with DW spin distributions of various topologies are accurately determined using high-performance computing resources. Field-driven mobility curves that characterize DW propagation velocities in 20 nm thick nanowires are calculated with increasing the width of nanowires. Beyond the simple one-dimensional solution, the simulations reveal the four distinct dynamic modes. Oscillations of the field-driven DW velocity in Permalloy nanowires are observed above the Walker breakdown condition using high-speed magneto-optic polarimetry. A one-dimensional analytical model and numerical simulations of DW motion and spin dynamics are used to interpret the experimental data. Velocity oscillations are shown to be much more sensitive to properties of the DW guide structure (which also affect DW mobility) than the DW spin precessional frequency, which is a local property of the material. Transverse bias field effects on field-driven DW velocity are studied experimentally and numerically. DW velocities and spin configurations are determined as functions of longitudinal drive field, transverse bias field, and nanowire width. For a nanowire that supports vortex wall structures, factor of ten enhancements of the DW velocity are observed above the critical longitudinal drive-field (that marks the onset of oscillatory DW motion) when a transverse bias field is applied. The bias-field enhancement of DW velocity is explained by numerical simulations of the spin distribution and dynamics within a propagating DW that reveal dynamic stabilization of coupled vortex structures and suppression of oscillatory motion in the nanowire conduit resulting in uniform DW motion at high speed. Current-driven and current-assisted field-driven domain wall dynamics in ferromagnetic nanowires have thermal effects resulting from Joule heating, which make difficult to separate the spin-torque effects on DW displacements. To understand the thermal effects on DW dynamics, the temperature dependence of field-driven DW velocity is explored using high-bandwidth scanning Kerr polarimetry. Walker critical fields are decreased with increasing temperature and temperature-induced dynamic mode changes are observed. The results show that Joule heating effects are playing an important role in current-driven/current-assisted field-driven DW dynamics. / text

This thesis is an examination of the concept of permeable boundaries as it applies to character and setting in my plays Catch the Wall and 70 Secrets of Marmalade Kittens. The thesis synopsizes each play and catalogues their creation process. It examines the way permeable boundaries can be used to create audience empathy and a wider invitation into the work. The full text of Catch the Wall and 70 Secrets of Marmalade Kittens accompany the thesis essay. / text

I detta arbete har totalkostnadseffekterna vid ett införande av klickgips studerats. Resultatet visade att klickgips skulle kunna minska ned byggentreprenörens totalkostnad vid uppförande av mellanväggar i gips genom att processen effektiviseras.

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