The purpose of this thesis is to create basic design guidance for tall buildings and their aerodynamic modifications as a resource for architects, engineers, developers, and students. It aims to make a contribution to and strengthen particularly the architect&amp / #8217 / s understanding of tall building design, that requires a high level of interdisciplinary approach, by providing a broad overview of the tall building with its general concepts / to demonstrate the importance of human element as a critical component in the design of tall building by clarifying the wind forces and resulting movements which cause discomfort to building occupants and create serious serviceability issues / and to show the significance of aerodynamic modifications as an effective design approach in terms of mitigating wind excitation. In order to achieve these purposes, firstly, a comprehensive literature survey, which includes the definition, emergence and historical background, basic planning and design parameters, and lateral load considerations of tall buildings is presented. Following a structural classification of the tall buildings, wind excitation, its negative effects on occupant comfort and serviceabilty issues, and the methods to control wind excitation are studied. Finally, the significance of aerodynamic modifications against wind excitation, which include modifications of building&amp / #8217 / s cross-sectional shape and its corner geometry, sculptured building tops, horizontal and vertical openings through-building, are presented from the scholarship on this topic.

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Fluorescence techniques are being considered for the detection and identification of bacterial spores. This thesis sets out to empirically characterize the detailed autofluorescence spectroscopic properties of spores and their target molecules. The multiwavelength fluorescence studies from a unique endogenous biomarker, dipicolinic acid (DPA) and its calcium salt (CaDPA) in bacterial spores are found to be useful for fluorescence characterization of spores. A systematic determination of the fluorescence profile of the major chemical components of Bacillus spores and the effect of UV irradiation on them has been performed in dry samples, wet paste and in aqueous solution. The thesis applies reliable tools for accurately describing complex nature of spectral profile from bacterial spores, and for interpreting and identifying their spectral properties. We show that multiwavelength fluorescence technique combined with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) clearly indicates identifiable grouping among dry and wet Bacillus spore species. Differences are also observed between dried, wet and redried spores, indicating the stark effect of hydration on fluorescence fingerprints. The study revealed that changes in fluorescence of spores due to hydration/drying were reversible and supports a recent model of a dynamic and dormant spore structure. The spectra were analysed with PCA, revealing several spectroscopically characteristic features enabling spore species separation. The identified spectral features could be attributed to specific spore chemical components by comparing the spore sample signals with spectra obtained from the target molecules. PCA indicated underlying spectral patterns strongly related to species and the derived components were correlated with the chemical composition of the spore samples. More importantly, we examined and compared the fluorescence of normal spores with a mutant of the same strain whose spores lack DPA. We discovered that the dramatic fluorescence enhancement of Bacillus spores can be caused by UV irradiation in the spectral region of this unique biomarker without any pre treatment. Differences between spectra of spores, spore strains and other biological samples are very marked and are due to the dominance of the dipicolinate features in the spore spectra. This could lead to a cheap, more sensitive, faster and reagentless bacterial spore detector.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [141]-152).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Physics)--Vanderbilt University, May 2006. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: Disinfection byproducts are the result of reactions between natural organic matter (NOM) and a disinfectant. The formation and speciation of DBP formation is largely dependent on the disinfectant used and the natural organic matter (NOM) concentration and composition. This study examined the use of photocatalysis with titanium dioxide for the oxidation and removal of DBP precursors (NOM) and the inhibition of DBP formation. Water sources were collected from various points in the treatment process, treated with photocatalysis, and chlorinated to analyze the implications on total trihalomethane (TTHM) and the five haloacetic acids (HAA5) formations. The three sub-objectives for this study included: the comparison of enhanced and standard coagulation to photocatalysis for the removal of DBP precursors; the analysis of photocatalysis and characterization of organic matter using size exclusion chromatography and fluorescence spectroscopy and excitation-emission matrices; and the analysis of photocatalysis before GAC filtration. There were consistencies in the trends for each objective including reduced DBP precursors, measured as dissolved organic carbon DOC concentration and UV absorbance at 254 nm. Both of these parameters decreased with increased photocatalytic treatment and could be due in part to the adsorption to as well as the oxidation of NOM on the TiO2 surface. This resulted in lower THM and HAA concentrations at Medium and High photocatalytic treatment levels. However, at No UV exposure and Low photocatalytic treatment levels where oxidation reactions were inherently incomplete, there was an increase in THM and HAA formation potential, in most cases being significantly greater than those found in the raw water or Control samples. The size exclusion chromatography (SEC) results suggest that photocatalysis preferentially degrades the higher molecular mass fraction of NOM releasing lower molecular mass (LMM) compounds that have not been completely oxidized. The molecular weight distributions could explain the THM and HAA formation potentials that decreased at the No UV exposure samples but increased at Low photocatalytic treatment levels. The use of photocatalysis before GAC adsorption appears to increase bed life of the contactors; however, higher photocatalytic treatment levels have been shown to completely mineralize NOM and would therefore not require additional GAC adsorption after photocatalysis. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering 2011

For the past three decades, newly discovered carbon nanostructures such as fullerenes, graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have revolutionized the field of nanoscience, introducing many practical and potential applications pertaining to their exceptional structural, mechanical, thermal, and optoelectronic properties. Raman spectroscopy has been an instrumental technique for characterizing these materials due to its non-destructive nature and high sensitivity to the material responses. While Raman spectroscopy is broadly used for identifying specific material types and quality, it has also been increasingly useful as a tool for probing the electronic and excitonic properties, as well as their interplay with the vibrational properties in the aforementioned carbon nanomaterials. In this dissertation, we present our Raman-related research on carbon nanotubes and a new member of the nano-carbon family - carbon nanohoops (cycloparaphenylenes, or CPPs). We discuss our new findings on the resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) of various semiconducting CNTs, with the focus on the Raman excitation profiles (REPs) for the G-band. The asymmetric lineshapes observed in the G-band REPs for the second excitonic (E22) transition of these CNTs contradict a long-held approximation, the Franck-Condon principle, for the vibronic properties of the carbon nanotubes. In addition, the G-band REPs from the closely spaced E33 and E44 transitions are investigated, and we demonstrate that these excitonic levels exhibit significant quantum interference effects between each other. We also present the first comprehensive study of Raman spectroscopy of CPPs. Analogously to CNTs, we show that Raman spectroscopy can be used to identify CPPs of different sizes. A plethora of Raman modes are observed in these spectra, including modes that are comparable to those of CNTs, such as the G-band, as well as Raman peaks that are unique for CPPs. Calculated Raman spectra using density functional theory (DFT) are compared with the experimental results for the assignment of different modes. Furthermore, we refine our knowledge of the CPP Raman modes by concentrating on the even-numbered CPPs. By taking advantage of the symmetry arguments in the even [n]CPPs, we are able to utilize group theory and accurately identify the size dependences of different Raman-active modes.