Petroleum research is responsible for making previously unusable reservoirs economically viable and for limiting the environmental impact of petroleum development. Microfluidics, the study of fluid flow at the micro-scale, is predominantly used to study biological phenomena. Adapting microfluidics to study petroleum requires the use of materials and methods not commonly used. This thesis focuses on applying microfluidics to the study of petrochemical fluid flow at high-pressure and high-temperature. The first problem addressed is the study of fluids during alkaline steam assisted gravity drainage (alkaline SAGD). The addition of an alkaline additive is found to improve the bitumen production rate by 35-67%. Secondly, two high-pressure, high-temperature, solvent resistant microfluidic interfaces for glass chips are designed to be operated up to 140 bar and 70 degrees Celsius. Lastly, a novel method for fabricating solvent resistant microfluidic devices from Teflon film is demonstrated by measuring the viscosity of toluene-heavy oil blends.

Peculiar velocities are possibly the most powerful probes of very large-scale mass density fluctuations in the nearby Universe. When coupled with a density field they also can constrain the growth factor of the universe by measuring the proportionality constant between observed velocities and linear theory predicted velocities. In this thesis, I measure a bulk flow of SN within 20,000 km s^1 of 197 +/- 56 km s^1 in direction l = 295 deg +/- 16deg, b = 11deg +/- 14deg , which is consistent with predictions of ΛCDM for large scale mass density fluctuations. Using the IRAS Point Source Catalog Redshift survey (PSCz) galaxy density field and the SNe peculiar velocities I calculated Ω^55_m σ8 to be 0.40 +/- 0.07 which is in excellent agreement with the results of WMAP7: Ω^55_m σ8 = 0.39 +/-0.04. By combining my measured value of with results from other studies, I measure the growth factor γ to be = 0.621 +/- 0.08 which is consistent with Λ CDM's prediction of 0.55. I conclude by exploring some of the systematic errors that could have affected my measurements of β. I find that when β is measured using a reconstruction method the result can be underestimated by between 7 and 15 %.

A method of inferring tropospheric gravity wave source characteristics from middle atmosphere observations has been adapted from previous studies for use with MF radar observations of the equatorial mesosphere-lower thermosphere at Christmas Island in the central Pacific. The nature of the techniques applied also permitted an analysis of the momentum flux associated with the characterised sources and its effects on the equatorial mean flow and diurnal solar thermal tide. An anisotropic function of gravity wave horizontal phase speed was identified as being characteristic of convectively generated source spectra. This was applied stochastically to a ray-tracing model to isolate numerical estimates of the function parameters. The inferred spectral characteristics were found to be consistent with current theories relating convective gravity wave spectra to tropospheric conditions and parameters characterising tropical deep convection. The results obtained provide observational constraints on the model spectra used in gravity wave parameterisations in numerical weather prediction and general circulation models. The interaction of gravity waves with the diurnal solar thermal tide was found to cause an amplification of the tide in the vicinity of the mesopause. The gravity wave-tidal interactions were highly sensitive to spectral width and amplitude. Estimates were made of the high frequency gravity wave contribution to forcing the MSAO with variable results. The data used in the analysis are part of a large archive which now has the potential to provide tighter constraints on wave spectra through the use of the methods developed here. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1352362 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Chemistry and Physics, 2009

Copies of author's previously published articles inserted / Bibliography: leaves 261-288 / x, 288 leaves : ill. (some col.), maps ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Physics and Mathematical Physics, 1990

Extensions to general relativity are often considered as possibilities in the quest for a quantum theory of gravity on one hand, or to resolve anomalies within cosmology on the other. Scalar fields, found in many areas of physics, are frequently studied in this context. This is partly due to their manifestation in the effective four dimensional theory of a number of underlying fundamental theories, most notably string theory. This thesis is concerned with the effects of scalar fields on cosmological and black hole solutions. By comparison, an analysis of an inhomogeneous cosmological model which requires no extensions to general relativity is also undertaken. In chapter three, examples of numerical solutions to black hole solutions, which have previously been shown to be linearly stable, are found. The model includes at least two scalar fields, non-minimally coupled to electromagnetism and hence possesses non-trivial contingent primary hair. We show that the extremal solutions have finite temperature for an arbitrary coupling constant. Chapter four investigates the effects of higher order curvature corrections and scalar fields on the late-time cosmological evolution. We find solutions which mimic many of the phenomenological features seen in the post-inflation Universe. The effects due to non-minimal scalar couplings to matter are also shown to be negligible in this context. Such solutions can be shown to be stable under homogeneous perturbations. Some restrictions on the value of the slope of the scalar coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet term are found to be necessary to avoid late-time superluminal behaviour and dominant energy condition violation. A number of observational tests are carried out in chapter five on a new approach to averaging the inhomogeneous Universe. In this "Fractal Bubble model" cosmic acceleration is realised as an apparent effect, due to quasilocal gravitational energy gradients. We show that a good fit can be found to three separate observations, the type Ia supernovae, the baryon acoustic oscillation scale and the angular scale of the sound horizon at last scattering. The best fit to the supernovae data is χ² ≃ 0:9 per degree of freedom, with a Hubble parameter at the present epoch of H0 = 61:7+1:4 -1:3 km sec⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹ , and a present epoch volume void fraction of 0:76 ± 0:05.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1989. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [182]-185).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2001. / Adviser: Chris Rogers. Submitted to the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-146). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2002. / Adviser: L. H. Ford. Submitted to the Dept. of Physics. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-165). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-170).