A Mina de diamantes de Romaria está localizada no perímetro urbano da cidade de Romaria, na região oeste de Minas Gerais. Durante os trabalhos de mineração executados nos últimos cem anos, foi lavrada uma área de aproximadamente 1 km2 de sedimentos. O local está situado na borda NE da Bacia do Paraná, na margem direita do Rio Bagagem, entre os Ribeirões Água Suja e Marrecos. Neste local vem sendo lavrado um conglomerado polimítico da Formação Uberaba, Grupo Bauru, pertencente ao Cretáceo Superior. Ele é constituído por clastos de micaxistos, anfibolitos, filitos e veios pegmatóides do Pré-Cambriano; arenitos da Formação Botucatu e basaltos da Formação Serra Geral. Possui matriz areno-argilosa onde foram identificadas as fases caulinita, illita e quartzo por difratometria. Sua espessura na área da mina oscila em torno de 6 m. Os minerais pesados separados do conglomerado diamantífero amostrado nas Frentes de Lavra 2 (Ferraria), 6 (Mangueiras) e na Cata exploratória do Sarkis, situada fora da área minerada, são constituídos em sua maior parte por fases opacas, entre as quais se destaca a magnetita, representando 50% em volume do concentrado. Outras fases opacas incluem hematita, ilmenita e fragmentos de lateritos. Entre as fases transparentes, destacase a granada que ocorre nas cores vermelha clara, vermelha escura, roxa, violeta e laranja, além de outros minerais derivados de rochas do embasamento cristalino. Análises químicas realizadas pela microssonda eletrônica revelaram que a ilmenita contém teores de MgO (7,4 - 11,4 % em peso) e de Cr2O3 (0,0 - 2,9 % em peso) típicos de rochas kimberlíticas. Da mesma forma, as granadas correspondem a piropos ricos em Cr2O3 (0,2 - 6,7 % em peso) correspondendo aos grupos G9 (lherzolitos), G5 e G4 (piroxenitos) e G10 (harzburgitos), sendo semelhantes a granadas das principais províncias kimberlíticas conhecidas. O diamante, por sua vez, contém microestruturas típicas semelhantes a diamantes de outras localidades. Foram identificadas trígonos em faces octaédricas, bem como microestruturas de simetria senária semelhantes às observadas em diamantes do lamproíto Argyle, na Austrália. Foram descritas microestruturas quadráticas nos cristais cúbicos, e degraus resultantes da dissolução de planos de crescimento cristalino em superfícies curvas de cristais rombododecaédricos. Atualmente a mina está paralisada desde 1984 devido a uma dívida contraída pela Extratífera de Diamantes do Brasil (EXDIBRA) com o Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social. Apesar do potencial mineral existente no local, qualquer tentava de lavra só poderá ser executada mediante a quitação desta dívida. / The diamond Mine of Romaria is located in the northeast border of the Paraná Sedimentary Basin, nearby the town of Romaria, in western Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The mining place is situated on the right side of the Bagagem River, comprising an area of 1 km2 between the Água Suja and Marrecos streams. At this place diamonds have been washed from a Cretaceous polimictic conglomerate of the Uberaba Formation, Bauru Group, since the end of the nineteen century. This heterogeneous diamond-bearing conglomerate contains large conglomerate blocks of several lithologies with dimensions up to 0.80 m, set in an arenous-clayish matrix where kaolinite, illite and quartz have identified among the clasts such as mica and staurolite schists, phyllites and amphibolites of the Araxá Group, quartzites of the Canastra Group, arenites of the Botucatu Formation and basalts of the Serra Geral Formation. The concentrates obtained by washing the conglomerate contains large amounts of opaques phases mainly magnetite which may reach up to 50% in volume. Other opaques are represented by hematite, ilmenite, rutile, limonite as well as rock fragments of mica schists and complex intergrowths of laterites. The mineralogical assemblages of the transparent phases include staurolite, amphibole, epidote, kyanite, monazite, tourmaline, zircon and diamond as well. Electron micro probe analyses revealed that the ilmenites contain MgO (7.4-11.4 wt%) and Cr2O3 (0.0-2.9 wt%) contents similar to their counterparts of kimberlites from worldwide localities. Moreover, garnets are chromium rich pyropes with Cr2O3 ranging from 0.2 up to 6.7 wt %. The use discriminating diagrams revealed that most of the analysed sampled plot in the fields G9 and G3-G5 corresponding to lherzolitic and pyroxenitic parageneses, respectively. The plots include some rare G10 (harzbugitic) and G0 (unclassified) samples corresponding to garnets derived from rocks of the crystalline basement. Although diamonds have not been mined in the last years a small parcel produced by local diggers (garimpeiros) was available for physical studies including color and crystalline morphology. Several microstructures have been observed in octahedral crystal such as trigons and a pseudo-hexagonal microstructure observed in diamonds from lamproites. Cubic crystals showing the combination of the cube and dodecahedral revealed microstructures of square symmetry. Concerning dodecahedral crystal hillocks produced by dissolution were observed on the rounded faces of the samples. Presently the Mine of Romaria is closed since 1984 due to an old debt contracted by late owner Extratífera de Diamantes do Brasil (EXDIBRA) with the Brazilian Federal Agency of the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social (BNDES).

Diamond interchanges and their associated ramps are where the surface street arterial system and the freeway system interface. Historically, these two elements of the system have been operated with little or no coordination between the two. Therefore, there is a lack of both analysis tools and operational strategies for considering them as an integrated system. One drawback of operating the ramp-metering system and the diamond interchange system in isolation is that traffic from the ramp, particularly if it is metered, can spill back into the diamond interchange, causing both congestion and safety concerns at the diamond interchange. While flushing the ramp queues by temporarily suspending ramp metering has been the primary strategy for preventing queue spillback, it can result in freeway system breakdown, which would affect the entire system's efficiency. The aim of this research was to develop operational strategies for managing an integrated diamond interchange ramp-metering system (IDIRMS). Enhanced modeling methodologies were developed for an IDIRMS. A computer model named DRIVE (Diamond Interchange and Ramp Metering Integration Via Evaluation) was developed, which was characterized as a mesoscopic simulation and analysis model. DRIVE incorporated the enhanced modeling methodologies developed in this study and could be used to perform system analysis for an IDIRMS given a set of system input parameters and variables. DRIVE was validated against a VISSIM microscopic simulation model, and general agreement was found between the two models. System operational characteristics were investigated using DRIVE to gain a better understanding of the system features. Integrated control strategies (ICS) were developed based on the two commonly used diamond interchange phasing schemes, basic three-phase and TTI four-phase. The ICS were evaluated using VISSIM microscopic simulation under three general traffic demand scenarios: low, medium, and high, as characterized by the volume-to-capacity ratios at the metered ramps. The results of the evaluation indicate that the integrated operations through an adaptive signal control system were most effective under the medium traffic demand scenario by preventing or delaying the onset of ramp-metering queue flush, thereby minimizing freeway breakdown and system delays.

Diamond is a semiconductor with many superior material properties such as high breakdown field, high saturation velocity, high carrier mobilities and the highest thermal conductivity of all materials. These extreme properties, as compared to other (wide bandgap) semiconductors, make it desirable to develop single-crystalline epitaxial diamond films for electronic device and detector applications. Future diamond devices, such as power diodes, photoconductive switches and high-frequency field effect transistors, could in principle deliver outstanding performance due to diamond's excellent intrinsic properties. However, such electronic applications put severe demands on the crystalline quality of the material. Many fundamental electronic properties of diamond are still poorly understood, which severely holds back diamond-based electronic device and detector development. This problem is largely due to incomplete knowledge of the defects in the material and due to a lack of understanding of how these defects influence transport properties. Since diamond lacks a shallow dopant that is fully thermally activated at room temperature, the conventional silicon semiconductor technology cannot be transferred to diamond devices; instead, new concepts have to be developed. Some of the more promising device concepts contain thin delta-doped layers with a very high dopant concentration, which are fully activated in conjunction with undoped (intrinsic) layers where charges are transported. Thus, it is crucial to better understand transport in high-quality undoped layers with high carrier mobilities. The focus of this doctoral thesis is therefore the study of charge transport and related electronic properties of single-crystalline plasma-deposited (SC-CVD) diamond samples, in order to improve knowledge on charge creation and transport mechanisms. Fundamental characteristics such as drift mobilities, compensation ratios and average pair-creation energy were measured. Comparing them with theoretical predictions from simulations allows for verification of these models and improvement of the diamond deposition process.

Diamond is a material with many exceptional properties. In this thesis methods for fabrication of microstructures as well as several applications of such structures in optics, microfluidics and electrochemistry are presented. A method for etching deep and highly precise gratings is described. This method was used to fabricate circularly symmetric half wave plates for use in vector vortex coronagraphs. Such coronagraphs are a very promising approach to the direct imaging of extrasolar planets. By varying the lateral etch rate of the aluminum mask during diamond etching in an inductively coupled plasma, the sidewall angle of the etched structures could be controlled. This method was used to make smooth sloped sides on a waveguide for coupling light into it. Antireflective structures that drastically reduced the surface reflection in a wavelength band between 10 and 50 µm were also fabricated. An array of boron doped diamond microelectrodes for electrochemical measurements in a microchannel was fabricated and tested, showing very good stability and reusability. Several hundred hours of use did not adversely affect their performance and no damage to them could be detected by atomic force microscopy or scanning electron microscopy. Superhydrophobic surfaces in diamond were demonstrated, using both hydrogen and fluorine termination. Hydrogen termination on a flat surface gives contact angles below 90°. To achieve a superhydrophobic surface with this low intrinsic hydrophobicity, structures looking like microscopic nail heads were fabricated. The effect of water pressure on immersed superhydrophobic surfaces was also studied and it was found that the collapse of the superhydrophobic state due to pressure was sometimes reversible as the pressure was lowered. Finally, a method was tested for functionalizing diamond surfaces using block copolymers of polyethylene oxide and polypropylene oxide to both passivate the surface and to attach synthetic binder molecules. This method was found to give very high signal to noise ratios when detecting C-reactive protein.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is broadly defined as a systematic process that proactively examines the potential consequences of development actions. As a planning process, the longer-term objective of EIA is to contribute to sustainable development of the environment. EIA cannot meet its sustainability objective without a systematic follow-up program. Notwithstanding the benefits of a follow-up program, there is little guidance for best practices. The problem is that follow-up programs are not widely implemented in EIA and the lessons learned from experience have not been documented. This research explores the principles and characteristics of best-practice follow-up in an attempt to identify the lessons learned and issues raised from experiences in Canadas mining resource sector. A normative framework for doing follow-up is developed from the literature using these principles. Based on document analysis and semi-structured interviews, a case study of the Ekati Diamond Mine, Canadas first diamond mine, is evaluated based on the best practice principles, which advocate actions for success. The Ekati mine is meeting requirements in the best practice principles, as established in the best practice framework, which is outlined in part, in licenses obtained by Ekati. This is exemplified in BHPBs, use of hypothesis in impact prediction. However, there are normative principles and elements that are left out in Broken Hill Proprietary Billiton Ekatis follow-up programs. For example, there is some concern about the level to which local knowledge has been incorporated and the level to which monitoring of socio-economic elements is being carried out. Based on Ekatis experience, a number of new lessons emerge to inform the framework on best practice follow-up namely, that there is need for mandatory, non-ephemeral legislation on follow-up, that baseline data needs to be repeatedly collected after projects have started operations and that there is a need for firmer requirements if proponents are to exercise serious commitment to public involvement.

Diamond Blackfan Anemia is a rare congenital disease that is primarily characterized by reduced erythroid progenitors. DBA pathogenesis has been associated with genes encoding ribosomal proteins (RPs) which are important in translation. However, this fails to explain why erythropoiesis is specifically disrupted. Our lab previously found that aberrant splicing of the human transcript encoding heme exporter, FLVCR1, is involved in DBA pathogenesis; and that RPS19 implicated in 25% of DBA patients, regulates FLVCR1 transcript splicing. This thesis investigated the role of another DBA associated gene encoding RPS17, in the regulation of FLVCR1 splicing and disrupted erythropoiesis in DBA. My findings further support the role of FLVCR1 aberrant splicing in DBA and provide evidence suggesting that RPS17 may not be a candidate DBA gene. Furthermore, my study implicates a potential role for RPS19 transcript levels in defective erythroid differentiation observed in DBA.

Diamond Blackfan Anemia is a rare congenital disease that is primarily characterized by reduced erythroid progenitors. DBA pathogenesis has been associated with genes encoding ribosomal proteins (RPs) which are important in translation. However, this fails to explain why erythropoiesis is specifically disrupted. Our lab previously found that aberrant splicing of the human transcript encoding heme exporter, FLVCR1, is involved in DBA pathogenesis; and that RPS19 implicated in 25% of DBA patients, regulates FLVCR1 transcript splicing. This thesis investigated the role of another DBA associated gene encoding RPS17, in the regulation of FLVCR1 splicing and disrupted erythropoiesis in DBA. My findings further support the role of FLVCR1 aberrant splicing in DBA and provide evidence suggesting that RPS17 may not be a candidate DBA gene. Furthermore, my study implicates a potential role for RPS19 transcript levels in defective erythroid differentiation observed in DBA.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is broadly defined as a systematic process that proactively examines the potential consequences of development actions. As a planning process, the longer-term objective of EIA is to contribute to sustainable development of the environment. EIA cannot meet its sustainability objective without a systematic follow-up program. Notwithstanding the benefits of a follow-up program, there is little guidance for best practices. The problem is that follow-up programs are not widely implemented in EIA and the lessons learned from experience have not been documented. This research explores the principles and characteristics of best-practice follow-up in an attempt to identify the lessons learned and issues raised from experiences in Canadas mining resource sector. A normative framework for doing follow-up is developed from the literature using these principles. Based on document analysis and semi-structured interviews, a case study of the Ekati Diamond Mine, Canadas first diamond mine, is evaluated based on the best practice principles, which advocate actions for success. The Ekati mine is meeting requirements in the best practice principles, as established in the best practice framework, which is outlined in part, in licenses obtained by Ekati. This is exemplified in BHPBs, use of hypothesis in impact prediction. However, there are normative principles and elements that are left out in Broken Hill Proprietary Billiton Ekatis follow-up programs. For example, there is some concern about the level to which local knowledge has been incorporated and the level to which monitoring of socio-economic elements is being carried out. Based on Ekatis experience, a number of new lessons emerge to inform the framework on best practice follow-up namely, that there is need for mandatory, non-ephemeral legislation on follow-up, that baseline data needs to be repeatedly collected after projects have started operations and that there is a need for firmer requirements if proponents are to exercise serious commitment to public involvement.

Taiwan's online game industry from July 1999 Lager technology company launched its first self-made online game, "King of Kings" in Taiwan can have the strength of online game development. Love justice from 2000 Japanese JSS International also represents the company's "Stone Age", and also South Korean Deputy Gamania NCsoft's "Lineage", Taiwan began to develop the online game industry. This study discusses the Asian online game industry in the development of major countries such as Japan, Korea and mainland China through Michael Porter's Diamond Model. Diamond Model proposed by the factors of production, demand factors, related and supporting industries and firm strategy, structure and competition, etc. There are four options the Government and the chance to face the two surfaces as a study aid purchase theoretical basis for online games in Taiwan market for research and analysis, which found that Taiwan's online game industry is facing a critical stage of development, the Government has been too slow, so the domestic company already own alliance to the government for help, hoping to help Taiwan game company to reduce the access to Chinese market barriers, but also hope the Government can set up the digital content industry park, providing preferential tax rates in order to promote the development of industrial cluster competitive environment.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of E-paper display industry by secondary data collection. The technology evolution of E-paper display, current status of supply-chain, and treats and weaknesses that E-paper display is facing will be covered in this paper. The conclusion and recommendation will be given through the analysis of secondary data. Based on the result of Diamond Theory analysis and of SWOT analysis¡AE-paper display is facing following threats: 1. The e-paper display industry is still in introduction stage, the cost of E-paper is higher than the cost of TFT-LCD display 2. High capital investment in Research and Develop 3. Hard to generate economic scale due to be lack of mainstream technologies 4. Different consumer needs between domestic market and oversea markets¡Athe product is hard to response the needs of oversea consumers. This would make vendors difficult to get the competitive edge. The recommendations of this study are listed below¡G1. E-paper display vendor could make more efforts in product development and consumer education to expand the market share and increase the return of investment 2. Expanding specific to prevent the mainstream specific switch overnight 3. Increase the demand and expand the market share 4. Get a hold of the different consumer needs in different market s and increase the demand of domestic markets actively.