The sizes of a bubble trapped in solid after nucleation on the solidification front during an upward freezing of water containing a dissolved oxygen or carbon dioxide gas are experimentally measured and quantitatively predicted in this work. From an in situ measurements of bubble shapes in solid at cold temperatures of -25 and -15 C, it quantitatively shows that pore formation can be divided into five regimes: (1) nucleation on the solidification front, (2) spherical growth, (3) solidification rate-controlled elongation, (4) disappearance of the bubbles, and (5) formation of the pores in solid. To interpret experimental results, equations incorporated with the growth rate of a spherical bubble and solidification rate to predict bubble shapes in the solid during the spherical growth and solidification rate-controlled elongation are successfully proposed. Experimental data show the effects of initial gas concentration and solidification rate on geometries of the bubble in solid.

Wood formation (xylogenesis) is a critical developmental process for all woody land plants. As an initial step to understand the molecular basis for temporal and spatial regulation of xylogenesis and the effect of the expression of individual genes on physical and chemical properties of wood, microarray and realtime RTPCR analyses were performed to monitor gene expression during xylogenesis under various developmental and environmental conditions. The specific objectives established for this study were: Objective 1. Microarray analysis of genes preferentially expressed in differentiating xylem compared to other tissues of loblolly pine (see Chapter II); Objective 2. Microarray analysis of seasonal variation in gene expression for loblolly pines (Pinus taeda L.) from different geographical sources (see Chapter III); Objective 3. Realtime RTPCR analysis of loblolly pine AGP and AGPlike genes (see Chapter IV). Based on the results from this study, candidate genes may be further studied for association with significant traits, used for genetic modification of wood properties, or included in future studies to further examine the molecular mechanisms of wood formation.

This dissertation presents the configuration and capacity management of manufacturing cells using cluster analysis. A heuristic based on cluster analysis is developed to solve cell formation in cellular manufacturing systems (CMS). The clustering heuristic is applied for cell formation considering processing requirement (CFOPR) as well as various manufacturing factors (CFVMF). The proposed clustering heuristic is developed by employing a new solving structure incorporating hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering methods. A new similarity measure is constructed by modifying the Jarccard similarity and a new assignment algorithm is proposed by employing the new pairwise exchange method. In CFOPR, the clustering heuristic is modified by adding a feedback step and more exact allocation rules. Grouping efficacy is employed as a measure to evaluate solutions obtained from the heuristic. The clustering heuristic for CFOPR was evaluated on 23 test problems taken from the literature in order to compare with other approaches and produced the best solution in 18 out of 23 and the second best in the remaining problems. These solutions were obtained in a considerably short time and even the largest test problem was solved in around one and a half seconds. In CFVMF, the machine capacity was first ensured, and then manufacturing cells were configured to minimize intercellular movements. In order to ensure the machine capacity, the duplication of machines and the split of operations are allowed and operations are assigned into duplicated machines by the largest-first rule. The clustering heuristic for CFVMF proposes a new similarity measure incorporating processing requirement, material flow and machine workload and a new machine-part matrix representing material flow and processing time assigned to multiple identical machines. Also, setup time, which has not been clearly addressed in existing research, is discussed in the solving procedure. The clustering heuristic for CFVMF employs two evaluation measures such as the number of intercellular movements and grouping efficacy. In two test problems taken from the literature, the heuristic for CFVMF produced the same results, but the trade-off problem between the two evaluation measures is proposed to consider the goodness of grouping.

Diss.--Wuppertal, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 447-466.

Habilitationsschrift--Soziologie--Universität Rostock, 2004. / Bibliogr. p. 549-596.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Liberty Theological Seminary and Graduate School, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 268-274).

Reproduction : Thèse de doctorat : Sciences de l'éducation : Lille 3 : 2005. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. f. 554-573. Index.

Thèse de doctorat : Sciences de gestion : Lyon 2 : 2001. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. Glossaire.

Thèse de doctorat : Sciences de l'éducation : Paris 10 : 2009. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.