国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

A abóbora se destaca como uma hortaliça de grande potencial nutritivo e tecnológico. Para que se possa aumentar a variabilidade dos produtos de origem vegetal disponíveis no mercado, a abóbora deve ser submetida a processos térmicos que visam prolongar a sua vida de prateleira, além de realizar as modificações necessárias para a sua comercialização. Neste contexto, o objetivo principal da presente pesquisa foi avaliar a aplicação da tecnologia de aquecimento ôhmico em diferentes etapas a serem realizadas durante o processamento da abóbora híbrida Tetsukabuto. Na primeira etapa do trabalho, objetivou-se investigar os efeitos do branqueamento convencional e ôhmico (realizados a 80 ºC durante 4 minutos e 163 V no aquecimento ôhmico) sobre a inativação da enzima peroxidase e sobre a cor das abóboras. Para o ajuste dos dados relativos à inativação enzimática, diferentes modelos cinéticos foram avaliados, sendo o modelo de distribuição de Weibull o escolhido para descrever a cinética de inativação da peroxidase. Com este estudo, foi possível observar que o branqueamento com campo elétrico afetou significativamente os parâmetros cinéticos de inativação enzimática, tornando esse processo mais rápido. A aplicação de ambas as tecnologias não causou modificações significativas dos parâmetros de cor da abóbora. Na segunda etapa do trabalho, creme de abóbora foi pasteurizado via tratamento térmico convencional e ôhmico realizados a 90 ºC por 2 horas e 47 V no aquecimento ôhmico. O objetivo dessa etapa foi avaliar os efeitos de ambas as tecnologias sobre a variação de cor, degradação de carotenoides totais e mudanças nos parâmetros reológicos do creme. Foi possível observar que a cor do creme foi levemente afetada durante a aplicação dos processos, tornando-se ligeiramente mais escura e perdendo o tom amarelado. Além disso, foi verificada perda no teor de carotenoides totais presentes no creme. Ainda, não foi observado um efeito não-térmico adicional do campo elétrico sobre a cor e os carotenoides presentes no produto. O creme de abóbora apresentou comportamento pseudoplástico e que se ajustou satisfatoriamente ao Modelo da Lei da Potência. Com a aplicação dos tratamentos, foi observado um aumento significativo no índice de consistência do creme, sendo que ambas as tecnologias não apresentaram diferenças representativas entre si. O conjunto de resultados obtidos pelo presente trabalho sugere que o aquecimento ôhmico é uma tecnologia promissora a ser aplicada em diferentes operações envolvidas durante o processamento de alimentos. / Pumpkins stand out as vegetable of great nutritional and technological potential. In order to increase the variability of vegetal products available on the market, pumpkins must be subjected to thermal process which can prolong its shelf life, and imposing also the necessary modifications for its commercialization. In this context, the main objective of the present research was to evaluate the application of ohmic heating technology in different stages carried out during the processing of the hybrid pumpkin Tetsukabuto. In the first part of the work, the objective was to investigate the effects of conventional and ohmic blanching (performed at 80 ºC during 4 minutes and 163 V in the ohmic heating) on the inactivation of peroxidase enzyme and on the color of the pumpkins. In order to adjust the data related to enzyme inactivation, different kinetic models were evaluated, being the Weibull distribution model chosen to describe the inactivation kinetics of peroxidase. With this study, it was possible to observe that the electric field blanching significantly affected the kinetic parameters of enzymatic inactivation, turning this process faster. The application of both technologies did not cause significant modifications of pumpkins color parameters. In the second part of the work, pumpkin cream was pasteurized via conventional and ohmic thermal treatment carried out at 90 ºC for 2 hours and 47 V in the ohmic heating. The objective of this stage was to evaluate the effects of both technologies on the color variation, the degradation of total carotenoids and the changes in rheological parameters of the cream. It was possible to observe that the color of the cream was slightly affected during the application of the processes, becoming slightly darker and losing its yellowish tone. In addition, it was verified loss of total carotenoid content in the cream. Furthermore, no additional non-thermal effect of the electric field on the color and on carotenoids present in the product was observed. The pumpkin cream presented a shear thinning behavior and was satisfactorily adjusted to the Power Law Model. It was observed a significant increase in the consistency index of the cream after the application of both treatments, and both technologies did not present significative differences between them. The overall results obtained in the present work suggests that ohmic heating is a promising technology to be applied in different operations involved during food processing.

A abóbora se destaca como uma hortaliça de grande potencial nutritivo e tecnológico. Para que se possa aumentar a variabilidade dos produtos de origem vegetal disponíveis no mercado, a abóbora deve ser submetida a processos térmicos que visam prolongar a sua vida de prateleira, além de realizar as modificações necessárias para a sua comercialização. Neste contexto, o objetivo principal da presente pesquisa foi avaliar a aplicação da tecnologia de aquecimento ôhmico em diferentes etapas a serem realizadas durante o processamento da abóbora híbrida Tetsukabuto. Na primeira etapa do trabalho, objetivou-se investigar os efeitos do branqueamento convencional e ôhmico (realizados a 80 ºC durante 4 minutos e 163 V no aquecimento ôhmico) sobre a inativação da enzima peroxidase e sobre a cor das abóboras. Para o ajuste dos dados relativos à inativação enzimática, diferentes modelos cinéticos foram avaliados, sendo o modelo de distribuição de Weibull o escolhido para descrever a cinética de inativação da peroxidase. Com este estudo, foi possível observar que o branqueamento com campo elétrico afetou significativamente os parâmetros cinéticos de inativação enzimática, tornando esse processo mais rápido. A aplicação de ambas as tecnologias não causou modificações significativas dos parâmetros de cor da abóbora. Na segunda etapa do trabalho, creme de abóbora foi pasteurizado via tratamento térmico convencional e ôhmico realizados a 90 ºC por 2 horas e 47 V no aquecimento ôhmico. O objetivo dessa etapa foi avaliar os efeitos de ambas as tecnologias sobre a variação de cor, degradação de carotenoides totais e mudanças nos parâmetros reológicos do creme. Foi possível observar que a cor do creme foi levemente afetada durante a aplicação dos processos, tornando-se ligeiramente mais escura e perdendo o tom amarelado. Além disso, foi verificada perda no teor de carotenoides totais presentes no creme. Ainda, não foi observado um efeito não-térmico adicional do campo elétrico sobre a cor e os carotenoides presentes no produto. O creme de abóbora apresentou comportamento pseudoplástico e que se ajustou satisfatoriamente ao Modelo da Lei da Potência. Com a aplicação dos tratamentos, foi observado um aumento significativo no índice de consistência do creme, sendo que ambas as tecnologias não apresentaram diferenças representativas entre si. O conjunto de resultados obtidos pelo presente trabalho sugere que o aquecimento ôhmico é uma tecnologia promissora a ser aplicada em diferentes operações envolvidas durante o processamento de alimentos. / Pumpkins stand out as vegetable of great nutritional and technological potential. In order to increase the variability of vegetal products available on the market, pumpkins must be subjected to thermal process which can prolong its shelf life, and imposing also the necessary modifications for its commercialization. In this context, the main objective of the present research was to evaluate the application of ohmic heating technology in different stages carried out during the processing of the hybrid pumpkin Tetsukabuto. In the first part of the work, the objective was to investigate the effects of conventional and ohmic blanching (performed at 80 ºC during 4 minutes and 163 V in the ohmic heating) on the inactivation of peroxidase enzyme and on the color of the pumpkins. In order to adjust the data related to enzyme inactivation, different kinetic models were evaluated, being the Weibull distribution model chosen to describe the inactivation kinetics of peroxidase. With this study, it was possible to observe that the electric field blanching significantly affected the kinetic parameters of enzymatic inactivation, turning this process faster. The application of both technologies did not cause significant modifications of pumpkins color parameters. In the second part of the work, pumpkin cream was pasteurized via conventional and ohmic thermal treatment carried out at 90 ºC for 2 hours and 47 V in the ohmic heating. The objective of this stage was to evaluate the effects of both technologies on the color variation, the degradation of total carotenoids and the changes in rheological parameters of the cream. It was possible to observe that the color of the cream was slightly affected during the application of the processes, becoming slightly darker and losing its yellowish tone. In addition, it was verified loss of total carotenoid content in the cream. Furthermore, no additional non-thermal effect of the electric field on the color and on carotenoids present in the product was observed. The pumpkin cream presented a shear thinning behavior and was satisfactorily adjusted to the Power Law Model. It was observed a significant increase in the consistency index of the cream after the application of both treatments, and both technologies did not present significative differences between them. The overall results obtained in the present work suggests that ohmic heating is a promising technology to be applied in different operations involved during food processing.

L’étude du polymorphisme de composés pharmaceutiques est un domaine en plein essor. Cela est dû d’une part aux pressions économiques exercées par l’industrie pharmaceutique et d’autre part pour une meilleure compréhension des conséquences du polymorphisme sur les propriétés des médicaments (stabilité physique et chimique, solubilité, vitesse de dissolution,biodisponibilité, propriétés mécaniques, etc.). Cette thèse étudie la cristallisation par la technique de nucléation non-photochimique induite par laser (NPLIN) des molécules pharmaceutiques organiques. Dans ce contexte, un nouveau montage expérimental semi-automatisé adapté aux exigences des études NPLIN a été conçu et réalisé, permettant le contrôle de nombreux paramètres et le traitement simultané d’un grand nombre d'échantillons et ainsi réalisé un gain de temps considérable. Une méthode de travail a été également établie afin de limiter l’aléa expérimental. L’étude de l’impact des paramètres du laser sur la cristallisation de la carbamazepine et du sulfathiazole dans différents solvants(méthanol, éthanol, acétonitrile) a été menée. Les résultats obtenus ont permis de démontrer pour la première fois dans la littérature que la NPLIN permet d’obtenir des cristaux de CBZ et de sulfathiazole dont les formes polymorphiques dépendent de la polarisation du laser et du type de solvant. Une approche permettant la prédiction de la forme polymorphique des molécules organiques de la base CSD, dans le cas de l’utilisation de la NPLIN, a été proposée et appliquée pour les molécules CBZ et la sulfathiazole étudiées expérimentalement. A partir de nos résultats expérimentaux, des calculs d’énergie d’interactions ab initio de dimères des molécules de carbamazépine et de sulfathiazole et sur les résultats observés dans la littérature nous avons pu émettre des hypothèses quant au mécanismes impliqués dans la nucléation NPLIN. / Polymorphism study of pharmaceutical compounds is a growing field. This is due, on one hand, to the economic pressure of the pharmaceutical industry and on the other hand, to the more awareness of the polymorphism consequences on the drug properties (chemical and physical stability, solubility, dissolution rate, bioavailibality, mechanical properties,manufacturing process, etc).This thesis studies the crystallisation of organic pharmaceutical molecules by using the Non Photochemical Light Induced technique. Within this context, a new semi-automatic experimental setup suitable to the requirements of NPLIN studies was devised and realised,allowing the control of many parameters and a simultaneous processing of a great number of samples and thus saving a considerable amount of time. A strict working methodology is also established to limit experimental errors. The study of the impact of laser parameters on the crystallisation of carbamazepine and sulfathiazole within different solvents (methanol,ethanol, acetonitrile) was carried-out. The obtained results allowed demonstrating, for the first time in literature, that NPLIN allows to obtain CBZ and sulfathiazole crystals for which the polymorphic forms depend upon the laser polarisation and solvent type. An approach for predicting the polymorphic form of organic molecules in the CSD database, for the case of NPLIN, was proposed and applied for the case of CBZ and sulfathiazole that were studied experimentally. We have also provided hypotheses to explain the mechanisms involved in NPLIN nucleation.

Estudamos as propriedades eletrônicas, estruturais e hiperfinas, nos sítios de nitrogênio, para o composto imidazol nas fases gasosa e sólida. Utilizamos o método PAW que é um método ab initio all-electron, dentro da Teoria do Funcional da Densidade, através do código computacional CP-PAW. Nossos valores, tanto para a fase gasosa quanto para a fase cristalina do gradiente de campo elétrico no núcleo, de freqüência de acoplamento quadrupolar (ν) e parâmetro de assimetria (η) estão em ótima concordância com os resultados experimentais da literatura e são os primeiros resultados obtidos, por método ab initio no espaço recíproco, para os átomos de nitrogênio no imidazol cristalino. Utilizamos resultados da literatura e também aqui calculados para estudar a tendência de comportamento tanto de ν quanto de η para diferentes meros (um, dois, três, cadeia infinita) e cristal investigando, assim, a estreita influência das ligações de hidrogênio sobre os valores do Gradiente de Campo Elétrico nos núcleos de nitrogênio. / Here we study structural, electronic and hyperfine properties at the Nitrogen sites in imidazole in the gas and the crystal phases. We use the PAW method which is an ab initio all electron method in the framework of the Density Functional Theory, as embodied in the computer code CP-PAW. The results for quadrupole coupling (ν) and asymmetry parameter (η) at the gas and at the crystal phases are in excellent agreement with the experimental values in the literature. This is the first time that such calculations are performed for the crystalline imidazole through a reciprocal space approach. We also study the behavior of both ν and η trends studing diferent meres (one, two, three and infinite chain) and cristal to investigate the influence of hydrogen bonding on the Electric Field Gradient at the nucleus.

A água, conhecida como solvente universal, participa da maioria das reações químicas e composições biológicas, tem importância vital em nosso planeta, tornando a vida como conhecemos inconcebível sem a sua presença. Tais propriedades advêm da forma como as moléculas interagem entre si, e a principal ligação química existente é a ligação de hidrogênio. Portanto, compreender como ela acontece e ser capaz de manipulá-la pode ser considerada uma importante técnica na busca de novos comportamentos. Esta dissertação visa compreender como o campo elétrico nas suas variantes: direção, sentido e intensidade podem afetar a água. Sendo tal estudo realizado através de cálculos utilizando métodos de química quântica: Teoria do Funcional da Densidade e a Teoria de Perturbação Moller-Plesset de segunda ordem. Como resultado obteve-se que quando o campo elétrico é aplicado em uma direção e sentido fora do plano da ligação de hidrogênio, a estrutura inicial tende a se rearranjar produzindo uma estrutura mais fracamente ligada do que a ordinária. Quando aplicamos o campo no plano da ligação de hidrogênio, temos resultados mais pronunciados, sendo que, se o sentido for : Doador -> Receptor a estrutura resultante estará mais fracamente ligada e se o sentido for Receptor -> Doador a estrutura produzida estará mais fortemente ligada. Os resultados obtidos mostram também que tais mudanças acontecem principalmente devido a alterações eletrostáticas, como mudança na densidade de carga da ligação de hidrogênio. Também confirmou-se um ponto crítico no campo 0,15 V/Å, como sugerido na literatura. Esta singularidade foi atribuída neste trabalho à uma transição estrutural. O campo também modificou a importância das interações secundárias, principalmente entre os átomos de oxigênio, e ao desligá-lo, o sistema tende a voltar ao estado inicial. / The water is know as the universal solvent, part of most chemical reactions and biological compositions, it is vitally important to our planet, making life as we know it inconceivable without its presence. These properties arise from how the molecules interact, and the main existing chemical link is the hydrogen bond. Therefore, to understand how this happens and be able to manipulate it can be considered an important technique in the search for new behaviors. Thus, this paper aims to understand how the electric field in its variants: direction, sense and intensity can affect the water. This study is undertaken through calculations using quantum chemistry methods: Density Functional Theory and Moller-Plesset Perturbation Theory to Second Order. As a result was found that when the electric field is applied in direction and sense out of the plane of the hydrogen bond, the initial structure tends to rearrange itself to produce a more loosely bound than the ordinary. When the electric field is applied in the hydrogen bond plane, the have results obtained are more pronounced. Sense is: Donor -> Receiver initial structure will be more loosely connected and that when the sense is Receiver -> Donor initial structure will be tightly linked. Our results also show that such changes occur mainly due to electrostatic changes, mainly in the change in the charge density of hydrogen bond. It was also confirmed a critical point in the field 0, 15 V / Å, as suggested by Vegiri. This was attributed to a structural transition. The field also changed the importance of secondary interactions, especially between the oxygen atoms. And when the field is shutdown the system tends back to its to initial structure.

Orientadores: José Wilson Magalhães Bassani, Rosana Almada Bassani / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-20T23:57:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Goulart_JairTrape_M.pdf: 1965789 bytes, checksum: 94fe3a318201b7addef8365fbeea0f40 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: A aplicação de campos elétricos de alta intensidade (CEAI) no coração é realizada frequentemente durante tentativas de reversão da fibrilação, e para gerar sincronismo cardíaco com o uso de marca-passos. Entretanto, este procedimento rotineiro pode causar danos ao miocárdio. O objetivo deste trabalho foi investigar se a estimulação ?-adrenérgica afeta a vulnerabilidade de miócitos ventriculares ao CEAI, uma vez que, durante a fibrilação ventricular, há aumento reflexo do tônus simpático, em virtude da consequente hipotensão arterial, e a administração de catecolaminas é um procedimento comum neste tipo de emergência. Miócitos foram isolados do ventrículo esquerdo de ratos Wistar adultos por digestão enzimática. As células foram perfundidas com solução de Tyrode a 23 °C e estimuladas a 0,5 Hz. Aplicou-se CEAI em intensidades crescentes até que fosse induzida uma lesão letal na célula. A probabilidade de morte celular foi determinada em função da amplitude do CEIA e da máxima variação estimada do potencial de membrana (?Vmax) por análise de sobrevivência (curva de letalidade). Destas curvas, obteve-se o parâmetro EL50 (valor de CEAI ou ?Vmax com probabilidade de letalidade de 0,5). A estimulação ?-adrenérgica, pela perfusão com 10 nM de isoproterenol (ISO), foi realizada na ausência e presença de 150 nM de metoprolol (MET, bloqueador de adrenoceptores ?1), 10 ?M de H-89 (inibidor de PKA) e 500 nM de BIS I (inibidor de PKC), bem como após protocolo para minimizar o aumento de mobilização celular de Ca2+. As curvas foram comparadas por teste de Mantel-Cox. O tratamento com ISO promoveu o deslocamento da curva para a direita (p < 0,01) e EL50 aumentou de 85 para 100 V/cm. MET e H-89 aboliram o efeito protetor do ISO, e, quando perfundidos na ausência de ISO, não tiveram quaisquer efeitos sobre a indução de letalidade por CEAI. A redução da mobilização de Ca2+ e o tratamento com BIS I não alteraram as curvas de letalidade, na presença ou ausência de ISO, mas provocaram significante aumento no tempo de recuperação das células após um choque não letal. As curvas em função de ?Vmax foram similares àquelas em função da intensidade do campo. Os resultados mostram que a estimulação ?-adrenérgica é capaz de proteger os miócitos dos efeitos deletérios do CEAI, permitindo que a célula suporte maiores ?Vmax. A proteção parece ser mediada por adrenoceptores ?1 e PKA, e possivelmente envolve ativação de mecanismos de reparo. Estas vias de proteção podem ser futuramente exploradas para atenuar os danos miocárdicos causados pela desfibrilação/cardioversão / Abstract: The myocardium is exposed to high-intensity electric fields (HIEF) during cardiac electric defibrillation, which may reverse life-threatening arrhythmias, but also cause cell damage. Impairment of cardiac pumping during ventricular fibrillation is usually associated with high sympathetic tone, and catecholamine infusion is a common procedure for the emergencial treatment of this arrhyhmia. The present study was carried out to investigate whether adrenergic stimulation affects the vulnerability of ventricular myocytes to the lethal effect of HIEF. Left ventricular myocytes were isolated from adult Wistar rat hearts by collagenase digestion. Under perfusion with Tyrode's solution at 23 ºC, cyclic contractile activity was evoked by stimulation at 0.5 Hz. A HIEF pulse was then applied, after which cells were allowed to rest and recover from the shock. Afterward, the protocol was repeated increasing HIEF amplitude until cell death ensued. The probability of cell death as a function of the field intensity or the estimated maximum change in membrane potential, ?Vmax (lethality curve) was determined by survival analysis. The protocol was carried out during exposure to 10 nM isoproternol (ISO), in the absence and presence of the ?1-adrenoceptor blocker metoprolol (MET, 150 nM), the PKA inhibitor H-89 (10 ?M), the PKC inhibitor BIS I (500 nM), or after a protocol designed to attenuate the increase in cell Ca2+ mobilization by ISO. Lethality curves were compared with the Mantel-Cox test. Exposure to ISO produced a marked rightward shift of the lethality curves (p< 0.01), and the field intensity associated with the cell death probability of 0.5 (EL50) was increased from 85 to 100 V/cm. Treatment with MET or H-89 alone did not significantly affect the curves, but completely abolished ISO protective effect. Decreasing Ca2+ mobilization and BIS I treatment did not produce significant effects on the lethality curves, either in the absence or presence of ISO, but they increased the time spent to cell recovery after a non-lethal shock. Similar results were obtained for the lethality curve as a function of ?Vmax. Therefore, ?-adrenergic stimulation confers protection to ventricular myocytes from the lethal effects of HIEF, even though cells apparently experience higher variations of ?Vmax, which should lead to extensive electroporation. This effect, which seems to be mediated by ?1-adrenoceptors and dependent on PKA activation, possibly involving recruitment of membrane repair mechanisms. This protective effect may be further explored as a means to attenuate HIEF deleterious effects on cardiac function that frequently result from electric defibrillation/cardioversion / Mestrado / Engenharia Biomedica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Le contrôle du magnétisme aux interfaces s’est avéré essentiel pour la spintronique et ses applications, en particulier celles basées sur des structures chirales de spin appelées skyrmions magnétiques. Ces skyrmions, décrits comme des solitons magnétiques, sont de potentiels vecteurs d’information. Dans des empilements ultraminces du type métal lourd / ferromagnétique / isolant, les skyrmions sont stabilisés par une interaction d’échange antisymétrique d’interface appelée interaction de Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DMI); celle-ci entre en compétition avec d’autres interactions telles que l’interaction d’échange symétrique ou l’anisotropie magnétique. Afin de contrôler ces skyrmions, les propriétés magnétiques aux interfaces doivent être ajustées finement et modulées par une excitation extérieure. Le champ électrique s’est avéré être un outil efficace pour manipuler ces propriétés d’interface. Il a notamment été montré dans un certain nombre d’études depuis 2009 qu’une différence de potentiel permet de modifier localement et de manière dynamique des propriétés telles que l’anisotropie magnéto-cristalline ou l’aimantation à saturation. Cependant, cet effet sur DMI, qu’il est crucial d’intégrer pour les systèmes avec skyrmions, n’avait pas été observé pour les films ultraminces.Cette thèse présente tout d'abord une optimisation des systèmes tricouches de type métal lourd/ferromagnétique/oxide dans lesquels peuvent exister des skyrmions. J’ai plus particulièrement étudié le système Ta/FeCoB/TaOx qui permet de énucléer des skyrmions en présence d’un faible champ magnétique appliqué perpendiculairement au plan des couches. Une étude approfondie en fonction de l’épaisseur de FeCoB et de l’état d’oxydation du TaOx a notamment été menée, permettant ainsi d’identifier les différentes zones présentant des skyrmions. D’autre part, le résultat majeur de cette thèse est la démonstration de la modulation de DMI par un champ électrique dans une tricouche Ta/FeCoB/TaOx. Des mesures de spectroscopie Brillouin sous champ électrique ont montré une très grande variation allant jusqu’à 130%. Puis, des observations complémentaires en microscopie à effet Kerr magnéto-optique ont permis de mesurer simultanément une variation monotone de DMI et de la taille des skyrmions en fonction du champ électrique avec une efficacité sans précédent. Puisque le champ électrique agit principalement sur l’interface entre le matériau ferromagnétique et l’oxyde (FeCoB/TaOx), cette étude indique l’existence d’une DMI de type Rashba, expliquant la forte sensibilité au champ électrique. Ces observations montrent également qu’un renversement du signe de l’IDM est possible, qui conduirait à une inversion de la chiralité des skyrmions. Cette manipulation dynamique de DMI permettrait de conférer un degré de contrôle supplémentaire pour le développement de mémoires ou de dispositifs logiques ou neuromorphiques à base de skyrmions. / Control of interfacial magnetism has emerged to be of paramount importance for spintronics applications specially involving chiral magnetic structures called skyrmions. Skyrmions are envisaged to be the future information carriers owing to their solitonic properties. In heavy metal/ ferromagnet/ insulator heterostructures, skyrmions are stabilized by interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction which is an antisymmetric exchange and competes with other interactions like symmetric exchange and magnetic anisotropy. In order to tune skyrmions, the interfacial magnetic properties need to be modulated. One of the energy efficient tools to maneuver interfacial magnetism is electric field effect. Voltage gating has been shown, in a number of studies since 2009, to locally and dynamically tune magnetic properties like interface anisotropy and saturation magnetization. However, its effect on interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI), which is crucial for the stability of magnetic skyrmions, has been challenging to achieve and has not been reported yet for ultrathin films.This thesis demonstrates an optimization of trilayer systems consisting of a heavy metal/ ferromagnet/ oxide where skyrmions can be stabilized. In particular, I focussed on the Ta/FeCoB/TaOx system to nucleate skyrmions in the presence of very small out of plane magnetic field. Further, the different skyrmionic zones as a function of the FeCoB thickness and TaOx oxidation state are studied. We then show electric field induced modulation of interfacial DMI which forms the most important result of this thesis. We demonstrate 130% variation of DMI with electric field in Ta/FeCoB/TaOx trilayers through Brillouin Light Spectroscopy (BLS). Using polar Magneto-Optical-Kerr-Effect microscopy, we further show a monotonic variation of DMI and skyrmionic bubble size with electric field, with an unprecedented efficiency. Since the electric field acts mainly on the FeCoB/TaOx interface, this study also points at the existence of the Rashba DMI explaining its high sensitivity to an applied voltage. We anticipate through our observations that a sign reversal of DMI with electric field is possible, leading to a chirality switch. This dynamic manipulation of DMI establishes an additional degree of control to engineer programmable skyrmion based memory, logic or neuromorphic devices.

Electrically assisted combustion has been studied in order to control or improve flame characteristics, and emphasizing efficiency and emission regulation. Many phenomenological observations have been reported on the positive impact of electric fields on flame, however there is a lack of detailed physical mechanisms for interpreting these. To clarify the effects of electric fields on flame, I have investigated flame structure, soot formation, and flow field with ionic wind electrical current responses in nonpremixed counterflow flames. The effects of direct current (DC) electric field on flame movement and flow field was also demonstrated in premixed Bunsen flames. When a DC electric field was applied to a lower nozzle, the flames moved toward the cathode side due to Lorentz force action on the positive ions, soot particles simultaneously disappeared completely and laser diagnostics was used to identify the results from the soot particles. To understand the effects of an electric field on flames, flow visualization was performed by Mie scattering to check the ionic wind effect, which is considered to play an important role in electric field assisted combustion. Results showed a bidirectional ionic wind, with a double-stagnant flow configuration, which blew from the flame (ionic source) toward both the cathode and the anode. This implies that the electric field affects strain rate and the axial location of stoichiometry, important factors in maintaining nonpremixed counterflow flames; thus, soot formation of the counterflow flame can also be affected by the electric field. In a test of premixed Bunsen flames having parallel electrodes, flame movement toward the cathode and bidirectional ionic wind were observed. Using PIV measurement it was found that a created radial velocity caused by positive ions (i.e. toward a cathode), was much faster than the velocity toward the anode. Even in a study of alternating current (AC) electric fields, bidirectional ionic wind could be observed, regardless of applied frequencies. Therefore, the effect of ionic wind cannot be considered negligible under both DC and AC electric fields. Detailed explanations for electrical current, flame behavior, and flow characteristics under various conditions are discussed herein.

Electric fields can be used to change and control flame properties, for example changing flame speed, enhancing flame stability, or reducing pollutant emission. The ions generated in flames are believed to play the primary role. Although experiments have been carried out to study electric field enhanced combustion, they are not sufficient to explain how the ions in a flame are affected by an electric field. It is therefore necessary to investigate the problem through numerical simulations. In the present work, the electric structure of stabilized CH4/air premixed flames at atmospheric pressure within a direct current field is studied using numerical simulations. This study consists of three parts. First, the transport equations are derived from the Boltzmann kinetic equation for each individual species. Second, a general method for computing the diffusivity and mobility of ions in a gas mixture is introduced. Third, the mechanisms for neutral and charged species are improved to give better predictions of the concentrations of charged species, based on experimental data. Following from this, comprehensive numerical results are presented, including the concentrations and fluxes of charged species, the distributions of the electric field and electric potential, and the electric current-voltage relation. Two new concepts introduced with the numerical results are the plasma sheath and dead zone in the premixed flame. A reactive plasma sheath and a Boltzmann relation sheath are discovered in the region near the electrodes. The plasma sheath penetrates into the flame gas when a voltage is applied, and penetrating further if the voltage is higher. The zone outside the region of sheath penetration is defined as the dead zone. With the two concepts, analytical solutions for the electric field, electric potential and current-voltage curve are derived. The solutions directly describe the electric structure of a premixed flame subject to a DC field. These analytical solutions, together with the discovery of the plasma sheath and dead zone in flames, are the novel contributions of this work.