Saudi Arabia is affected by the dominant culture of the Arabic Islamic nations, and Islam exerts a strong influence on all. aspects of Saudi society, including women's participation in the kingdom's labor force. Chapter I of this thesis deals with Arabian women in general, and Chapter II surveys the past and present roles of Saudi women. Chapter III enumerates obstacles hindering women's full participation in the Saudi labor force; Chapter IV presents information on the people of Saudi Arabia, concentrating upon its large population of foreign workers; and Chapter V surveys the women currently employed in the kingdom's public, private, and agricultural sectors. Chapter VI suggests means for increasing the employment of women, in accordance with Islamic tenets and mores.

Graphene, an atomically-thin layer of hexagonally bonded carbon atoms, is the strongest material ever tested. The unusual electrical and mechanical properties of graphene are particularly useful for next-generation transparent touch screens, flexible electronic displays, and photovoltaics. As such applications arise, it is critically important to characterize the resistance of this material under impact and deformation by nanoscale contact. The objective of this thesis is to study the physics of deformation in graphene sheets on a flat substrate under nanoindentation, as a function of number of graphene layers and applied force. In this work, the nanoindentation behavior of single and few layer graphene sheets was investigated by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Graphene was created by mechanical exfoliation and deposited on a flat SiO2 substrate. The system of graphene on SiO2 simulates many of graphene’s applications, but its characterization by nanoindentation is not fully understood. Here, it was found that the deformation of the atomically-thin film remains purely elastic during nanoindentation, while the amorphous substrate deforms plastically. Also, both modulus of elasticity and contact stiffness were found to increase by 18% when few layer graphene sheets were added to a SiO2 substrate. However, no pronounced change in nanohardness was observed in the substrate with and without the addition of graphene. Furthermore, three modes of deformation were observed including purely elastic deformation, plastic deformation and an abnormal force-depth step mechanism. Each of these mechanisms was analyzed in detail using force-displacement curves and AFM images, and a deformation mechanism map, as a function of number of graphene layers and contact force, was developed. In addition to nanomechanical experiments, computer simulations by finite element analysis (FEA) were conducted in order to better understand the nanonindentation process and underlying deformation mechanisms in this system.

The adhesion and resuspension of nanoparticles is important in applications ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to pollution management. The objective of this work is to understand the effect of particle size on re-entrainment of nanometer scale particles. One of the major contributions is to reduce the randomness introduced in past measurements on resuspension by controlling humidity, temperature, material and the distribution of shape and particle sizes. In the process of studying particle size, the effect of surface roughness was also found. Measurements of the detachment fraction of carbon particles as a function of flow rate show three distinct regimes that we attribute to the dominance of drag, energy accumulation by particles, and collision and agglomeration respectively. Experiments with silica nanoparticles on silica microspheres show the detachment fraction to increase non-linearly with particle diameter and to decrease with the substrate diameter. We attribute the former to the dominance of the drag moment over the adhesive moment. We attribute the influence of the substrates to the surface roughness being comparable to the size of the nanoparticles. This work provides new empirical insight into the interaction of nanoparticles with surfaces and fluid flows.

This thesis is a participant observer and action research case study of the Royal Air Force’s efforts to improve its senior leadership from2007 to 2010. It addresses the research question: what are the conditions required to establish an egalitarian team in a military hierarchy? It examines the establishment of the Senior Leadership Team, designed to operate as a forum for the dissemination of the leader’s intent, dissemination of information, and generation of ideas. The literature review argues there are four bodies of relevant knowledge that derive from the research question: forming large teams, use of power, changing culture, and building interpersonal trust. From the literature, two models are considered, one for formation of large teams and another for establishing an egalitarian culture in a hierarchy. The theoretical position to examine the case study from is a combination of the four areas and the two models. The conclusions emphasise the need for leadership and facilitation to deal with the issues of behaviour; charade of cooperation; homogeneity and heterogeneity; effects of power, particularly on trust; group size paradox; and creating open discussion. The thesis argues, in this context, culture is akin to organisational identity and it examines how culture might be changed and sustained in a strict hierarchical organisation to ensure open discussion where all opinions are equal. The thesis identifies the fundamental importance of interpersonal trust for large informational or consultative teams that hold a different culture to their host organisation. In conclusion, the thesis argues that the models examined do not provide an adequate framework for this case study and tentatively puts forward a 7-factor model representing the conditions required to establish an egalitarian team in a military hierarchy.

No description available.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Charles University in Prague Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmaceutical Technology Student: Veronika Ščuryová Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Pavel Doležal, CSc. Title of thesis: AFM in Pharmaceutical Technology 3 The theoretical part deals first with the construction of AFM microscope, the principle of the method, determining the surface topography and regimes which can be used. Described therein are distinct advantages over previous traditional methods but also its pitfalls. Next, I compare the results of measurements using AFM and declared size and devote also determine the shape of the particles. Experimental part is focused first on the detailed description of sample preparation for AFM measurement of nanoparticles. This procedure was followed by practical use to characterize the magnitude of the four types of commercially available nanoparticles Chromeonov (Sigma-Aldrich) using atomic force microscopy. The laboratory prepared Ag- nanoparticles could not be evaluated due to of technical and methodological reasons. The magnitude of the measured results nanoparticles were processed in histograms, which provide a description of the distribution of the measured values of the nanoparticle size. I found that compared to the size of the nanoparticles declared by the manufacturer are...

The theoretical part deals with topics related to the formation of nanofibers and nanomembranes by different ways of electrospinning. The literary search focused on "medicated nanofibrous membrane" gives recent information on nanomembranes containing drugs and also shows the perspective of the use of nanofibers in this area. The experimental part deals with AFM parameters needed for characterisation of the samples of six selected polymer nanomembranes with the content of naproxen, folic acid and diosmin. The appearance and thickness of the nanofibers was examined. The set up parameters of the AFM measurements allowed to observe the distribution of the drug in non- crystalline state within the nanofibers, regular fibrous shapes of crystal-like nanofibers as well as distinguished nanoingots of the polymers. The captured scans are stored and available for further analysis. Keywords: electrospinning, nanomembrane, naproxen, AFM, drug-loaded nanofibers

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Paul E. Smith / Computer simulations have provided a wealth of information concerning a wide range of systems. The precision of computer simulation results depends on the degree of sampling (time scales) achieved, while the accuracy of the results (given sufficient sampling) depends on the quality of force field used. A force field provides a description of the energy for a system of interest. Recently, we have been developing a Kirkwood Buff (KB) force field for molecular dynamics simulations of biological systems. This force field is based on the KB Theory of solutions, emphasizing the accurate description of intermolecular interactions, and reasonably reproducing a range of other physical properties from experiment. In this approach simulation results in terms of KB integrals can be directly compared with experimental data through a KB analysis of the solution properties. The approach therefore provides a simple and clear method to test the capability of a force field. Here we firstly studied a series of alcohol-water mixtures in an attempt to validate the transferability and additivity of the force field. A general fluctuation theory was applied to investigate the properties of these systems, and to compare with computer simulation results. The possible effects of cosolvents on peptides and proteins were then investigated using N-methylacetamide as model for the peptide backbone and urea as cosolvent. A possible explanation for the urea denaturation of protein structure was provided using a thermodynamics point of view involving transfer free energies and preferential interactions obtained from the KB integrals. Finally, potentials for protein backbone and sidechain torsions were developed by fitting to quantum mechanical calculations and NMR data. Simulations of a variety of peptides and proteins in aqueous solutions were then performed to demonstrate the overall reliability of the force field.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemical Engineering / Peter H. Pfromm / Characterization of the interactions of hydrogen with catalytic metal surfaces and the mass transfer processes involved in heterogeneous catalysis are important for catalyst development. Although a range of technologies for studying catalytic surfaces exists, much of it relies on high-vacuum conditions that preclude in-situ research. In contrast, atomic force microscopy (AFM) provides an opportunity for direct observation of surfaces under or near actual reaction conditions. Tapping-mode AFM was explored here because it expands AFM beyond the usual topographic information toward speciation and other more subtle surface information. This work describes using phase-angle data from tapping-mode AFM to follow the interactions of hydrogen with palladium. Both gas-solid and liquid-solid interfaces were studied. Real-time AFM phase-angle data allowed for the observation of multiphase mass transfer to and from the surface of palladium at atmospheric pressure and room temperature without the need for complex sample preparation. The AFM observations were quantitatively benchmarked against and confirm mass transfer predictions based on bulk hydrogen diffusion estimates. Additionally, they support recent studies that demonstrate the existence of multiple hydrogen states during interactions with palladium surfaces.