The main technical problem with background independent approaches to quantum gravity is inapplicability of standard quantum field theory methods. New methods are needed which would be adapted to the basic principles of General Relativity. Topological field theory is a model which provides natural tools for background independent quantum gravity. It is exactly soluble and, at the same time, diffeomorphism invariant. Applications of topological field theory to quantum gravity include description of boundary states of quantum General Relativity, formulation of quantum gravity as a constrained topological field theory, and a new perturbation theory which uses topological field theory as a starting point. The later is the central theme of the thesis. Unlike the traditional perturbation theory it does not require splitting metric into a background and fluctuations, it is exactly diffeomorphism invariant order by order, and the coupling constant of this theory is dimensionless. We describe the basic ideas and techniques of this perturbation theory as well as inclusion of matter particles, boundary states, and other necessary tools for studying scattering problem in background independent quantum gravity.

Based on ethanol fermentation kinetics and bioreactor engineering theory, a system composed of a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and three tubular bioreactors in series was established for continuous very high gravity (VHG) ethanol fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Sustainable oscillations of residual glucose, ethanol, and biomass characterized by long oscillation periods and large oscillation amplitudes were observed when a VHG medium containing 280 g/L glucose was fed into the CSTR at a dilution rate of 0.027 h???1. Mechanistic analysis indicated that the oscillations are due to ethanol inhibition and the lag response of yeast cells to ethanol inhibition. A high gravity (HG) medium containing 200 g/L glucose and a low gravity (LG) medium containing 120 g/L glucose were fed into the CSTR at the same dilution rate as that for the VHG medium, so that the impact of residual glucose and ethanol concentrations on the oscillations could be studied. The oscillations were not significantly affected when the HG medium was used, and residual glucose decreased significantly, but ethanol maintained at the same level, indicating that residual glucose was not the main factor triggering the oscillations. However, the oscillations disappeared after the LG medium was fed and ethanol concentration decreased to 58.2 g/L. Furthermore, when the LG medium was supplemented with 30 g/L ethanol to achieve the same level of ethanol in the fermentation system as that achieved under the HG condition, the steady state observed for the original LG medium was interrupted, and the oscillations observed under the HG condition occurred. The steady state was gradually restored after the original LG medium replaced the modified one. These experimental results confirmed that ethanol, whether produced by yeast cells during fermentation or externally added into a fermentation system, can trigger oscillations once its concentration approaches to a criterion. The impact of dilution rate on oscillations was also studied. It was found that oscillations occurred at certain dilution rate ranges for the two yeast strains. Since ethanol production is tightly coupled with yeast cell growth, it was speculated that the impact of the dilution rate on the oscillations is due to the synchronization of the mother and daughter cell growth rhythms. The difference in the oscillation profiles exhibited by the two yeast strains is due to their difference in ethanol tolerance. For more practical conditions, the behavior of continuous ethanol fermentation was studied using a self-flocculating industrial yeast strain and corn flour hydrolysate medium in a simulated tanks-in-series fermentation system. Amplified oscillations observed at the dilution rate of 0.12 h???1 were postulated to be due to the synchronization of the two yeast cell populations generated by the continuous inoculation from the seed tank upstream of the fermentation system, which was partly validated by oscillation attenuation after the seed tank was removed from the fermentation system. The two populations consisted of the newly inoculated yeast cells and the yeast cells already adapted to the fermentation environment. Oscillations increased residual sugar at the end of the fermentation, and correspondingly, decreased the ethanol yield, indicating the need for attenuation strategies. When the tubular bioreactors were packed with ????? Intalox ceramic saddles, not only was their ethanol fermentation performance improved, but effective oscillation attenuation was also achieved. The oscillation attenuation was postulated to be due to the alleviation of backmixing in the packed tubular bioreactors as well as the yeast cell immobilization role of the packing. The residence time distribution analysis indicated that the mixing performance of the packed tubular bioreactors was close to a CSTR model for both residual glucose and ethanol, and the assumed backmixing alleviation could not be achieved. The impact of yeast cell immobilization was further studied using several different packing materials. Improvement in ethanol fermentation performance as well as oscillation attenuation was achieved for the wood chips, as well as the Intalox ceramic saddles, but not for the porous polyurethane particles, nor the steel Raschig rings. Analysis for the immobilized yeast cells indicated that high viability was the mechanistic reason for the improvement of the ethanol fermentation performance as well as the attenuation of the oscillations. A dynamic model was developed by incorporating the lag response of yeast cells to ethanol inhibition into the pseudo-steady state kinetic model, and dynamic simulation was performed, with good results. This not only provides a basis for developing process intervention strategies to minimize oscillations, but also theoretically support the mechanistic hypothesis for the oscillations.

Temperature measurements from the HIRDLS instrument on NASA's Aura satellite are analysed for the purposes of detecting and studying internal gravity waves in the terrestrial stratosphere. A detailed description of the methodology used to obtain these data is given, including details of the instrument correction processes used to compensate for errors introduced by a blockage in the instrument optics. A short precis of the relevant theoretical considerations related to atmospheric gravity waves is then outlined. The thesis then discusses the use of the Stockwell (time-frequency) Transform for the detection of gravity waves in HIRDLS data, together with a detailed analysis of the limitations of this method, and the results obtained from this analysis are analysed by comparison to other instruments and climatology. It is concluded that the Stockwell Transform is an appropriate method for the analysis of the HIRDLS dataset, and that the results obtained are robust. We apply these results to analyse stratospheric gravity wave activity during the 2005/06 Arctic sudden stratospheric warming. By comparing the magnitude and form of the gravity wave results to local wind data obtained from ECMWF operational analyses, we conclude that a heavily deformed stratopause observed during this period by other instruments was most probably due to wind-based filtering of the gravity wave spectrum during this period.

The West Iberia (WIM) and Newfoundland (NFM) continental margins formed over a succession of rift events related to the opening of the North Atlantic between the Late Triassic and the Early Cretaceous. They are characterized by a variable width Ocean- Continent Transition (Zone) where exhumed and serpentinized mantle has been cored. Results from 1-D well backstripping along the Portuguese shelf suggest 40-45% greater extension factors (β) than previous estimates. In addition, the age and duration of both the Late Triassic-earliest Jurassic and the Late Jurassic rifting episodes have been better constrained. It appears, for example, that the Late Jurassic rift propagates northwards along the margin, as inferred for the continental break-up during the Early Cretaceous. Combined backstripping and gravity modelling techniques (POGM), together with new bathymetry and sediment thickness grids, have been used to estimate the effective elastic thickness, T_e, of the lithosphere. Results along closely space profiles in the WIM reveal that T_e decreases from 15-40 km over unthinned Variscan basement to ≤ 15 km over stretched continental and transitional crust. Along strike, a good correlation is found between the modelled mechanical structure and the segmentation of the Variscan basement onshore. Discrepancies between observed and calculated anomalies are discussed in terms of other processes that affected the margin, such as serpentinization and inversion. Thermo-mechanical rheological modelling techniques have also been tested. The compiled software inputs the β's constrained from POGM to determine the thermal structure of the margin, which, in turn, has been used to construct models of rheology and, hence, T_e. The models predict an increase in the T_e of thinned continental lithosphere with age since rifting, between < 20 and > 35 km, and suggest that processes such as ductile shearing and mantle serpentinization might have permanently weakened the lithosphere. Results from POGM along conjugate profiles off WI and NF reveal a greater longterm strength of extended continental and transitional basement in the NFM (T_e's of 10-40 km). This analysis further supports the hypothesis that the low T_e's modelled in the WIM might be related to its complex structural framework. In order to explain the large asymmetries observed in the amount of basement subsidence (500-1300 in) between the WI and NF margins a lithospheric-scale "simple shear" rift model is proposed for the latest stages of rifting and continental break-up.

The gravity model of trade is the workhorse model for international trade. In its most basic form, it stipulates that bilateral trade flow between two countries is proportional to the countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the distance between them. According to the gravity model, the elasticity of trade flows to distance, or the “distance effect,” has increased since the early 1970s, a confounding empirical result known as the “distance puzzle.” This paper investigates the distance effect more closely by decomposing it. More specifically, it aims to isolate the effects from culture, constructing measures of cultural distance and examining their effects on bilateral trade levels and the distance effect. The results show that cultural differences do not account for the distance puzzle. However, it also finds that cultural distance has both a substantial and statistically significant effect on bilateral trade.

A significant component of recent space exploration has been unmanned mission to comets and asteroids. The increase in interest for these bodies necessitates an increase in demand for higher fidelity trajectory simulations in order to assure mission success. Most available methods for simulating trajectories about asymmetric bodies assume they are of uniform density. This thesis examines a hybrid method that merges a mass concentration ("mascon") model and a spherical harmonic model using the "Brillouin sphere" as the interface. This joint model will be used for simulating trajectories about variable density bodies and, in particular, contact binary asteroids and comets. The scope of this thesis is confined to the analysis and characterization of the spherical harmonic modeling method in which three bodies of increasing asymmetrical severity are used as test cases: Earth, asteroid 101955 Bennu, and asteroid 25143 Itokawa. Since the zonal harmonics are well defined for Earth, it is used as the initial baseline for the method. Trajectories in the equatorial plane and inclined to this plane are simulated to analyze the dynamical behavior of the environment around each of the three bodies. There are multiple degrees of freedom in the spherical harmonic modeling method which are characterized as follows: (1) The radius of the Brillouin sphere is varied as a function of the altitude of the simulated orbit, (2) The truncation degree of the series is chosen based upon the error incurred in the acceleration field on the chosen Brillouin sphere, and (3) The gravitational potential and acceleration field are calculated using the determined radial location of the Brillouin sphere and the truncation degree. An ideal Brillouin sphere radius and truncation degree are able to be determined as a function of a given orbit where the error in the acceleration field is locally minimized. The dual-density model for a contact binary is found to more accurately describe the dynamical environment around Asteroid 25143 Itokawa compared to the single density model.

In the height range 10–30 km atmospheric gravity waves lead to periodic perturbations of the background temperature field in the order of 2-3 K, that are resolved in temperature profiles derived from radio occultation measurements. Due to the spherical symmetry assumption in the retrieval algorithm and the low horizontal resolution of the measurement damping in the amplitude and phase shift of the waves occurs leading to remarkable errors in the retrieved temperatures. The influence of the geometric wave parameters and the measurement geometry on plane gravity waves in the range 100-1000 km horizontal and 1-10 km vertical wavelength is investigated with a 2D model ranging ±1000 km around the tangent point and 10-50 km in height. The investigation shows, that with radio occultation measurements more than 90 % of the simulated waves can be resolved and more than 50% with amplitudes above 90%. But the geometrical parameters cannot be identified, since one signal can be attributed to different combinations of wave parameters and view angle. Even short waves with horizontal wavelengths below 200 km can be derived correctly in amplitude and phase if the vertical tilt is small or the view angle of the receiver satellite is in direction of the wave crests. / Atmosphärische Schwerewellen führen im Höhenbereich 10-30 km zu periodischen Störungendes Hintergrundtemperaturfeldes in der Größenordnung von 2-3 K, die in Temperaturprofilen aus Radiookkultationsmessungen aufgelöst werden. Aufgrund der sphärischen Symmetrieannahme im Retrievalverfahren und durch die niedrige horizontale Auflösung des Messverfahrens werden Phasenverschiebungen und Dämpfung der Amplitude verursacht, die zu beachtlichen Fehlern bei den abgeleiteten Temperaturen führen. Der Einfluss der geometrischen Wellenparameter und der Messgeometrie auf ebene Schwerewellen im Bereich 100-1000 km horizontale und 1-10 km vertikale Wellenlänge wird untersucht mit einem 2D-Modell, dass sich auf ein Gebiet von ±1000 km um den Tangentenpunkt und von 10-50 km in der Höhe erstreckt. Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass mit Radiookkultationsmessungen mehr als 90% der simulierten Wellen aufgelöst werden und mehr als 50% mit Amplituden oberhalb von 90% der ursprünglichen. Die geometrischen Parameter können jedoch nicht aus Einzelmessungen abgeleitet werden, da ein Signal zu verschiedenen Kombinationen von Wellenparametern und Sichtwinkel zugeordnet werden kann. Auch relativ kurze Wellen mit horizontalen Wellenlängen unterhalb von 200 km können korrekt in der Amplitude und Phase aufgelöst werden, falls die Neigung des Wellenvektors gegen die vertikale gering ist oder der Sichtwinkel des Empfängersatelliten in Richtung der Wellenberge ist.

Bimetric theory is an extension to general relativity that introduces a secondary symmetric rank-two tensor field. This secondary spin-2 field is also dynamical, and to avoid the Boulware-Deser ghost issue, the interaction between the two fields is obtained through a potential that involes the matrix square-root of the tensors. This square-root “quantity” is a linear transformation, herein referred to as the square-root isometry. In this work we explore the conditions for the existence of the square-root isometry and its group properties. Morever we study the conditions for the simultaneous 3+1 decomposition of two fields, and then, in terms of null-cones, give the (local) causal relations between fields coupled by the square-root isometry. Finally, we show the algebraic equivalency of bimetric theory and its vielbein formulation up to a one-to-one map relating the respective parameter spaces over the real numbers. / Den bimetriska teorin är en utökning av den allmänna relativitetsteorin som introducerar ett sekundärt symmetriskt tensorfält av rang-två. Det här sekundära spin-2 fältet är också dynamiskt, och för att undvika Boulware-Deser spöke, erhålls vaxelverkan mellan de två fältena genom en potential som er baserad på kvadratrotsmatris av två tensorfält. Den “kvadratroten” är en linjär avbildning som kallas kvadratrotsisometri. I detta arbete utforskas förutsättningar för existensen av kvadratrotsisometrin och ges dess egenskaper i termer av gruppteori. Därutöver utforskas förutsättningarna för den samtidiga 3+1 dekompositionen av två tensorfält och sedan, i termer av ljuskoner, ges de (lokala) kausala relationerna för tensorfält kopplade genom kvadratrotsisometrin. Slutligen bevisas den algebraiska ekvivalensen mellan den bimetriska teorin och dess vielbein formulering upp till en bijektiv relation mellan respektive parameterutrymmen över de reella talen. / <p>Summarizes the results from the project done between March 2014 and November 2014.</p>

Il mio lavoro analizza empiricamente la relazione fra IDE (stock e flussi in uscita) ed esportazioni per 75 paesi fra il 2001 e il 2012. Nel primo capitolo vengono esaminate la letteratura economica sulle determinanti degli IDE e la questione della complementarità o sostituibilità fra IDE e commercio internazionale; nel secondo capitolo vengono descritti alcuni elementi di Analisi Reticolare (AR) e, infine, il terzo e quarto capitolo, analizzano empiricamente l’evoluzione delle strutture di IDE e delle esportazioni e le loro determinanti. I risultati confermano che (1) solo una piccola parte degli IDE e delle esportazioni possibili è in atto. Questa circostanza rende il fenomeno della globalizzazione poco realistico, facendo emergere alcuni attori centrali (i.e. US, China; Germany); (2) tradizionali fattori gravitazionali, come il PIL e la distanza, determinano significativamente gli IDE; la lingua comune è anche significativamente correlata agli IDE; i coefficienti delle altre variabili sono meno stabili; (3) le esportazioni e gli IDE sono strutturalmente simili e livelli precedenti di esportazioni sono negativamente correlati con gli IDE. I risultati suggeriscono sostituibilità fra le esportazioni e gli IDE confermando la contraddittorietà della questione. / My thesis deals with the empirical analysis of the relationship between FDI (outflows and outstocks) and exports for 75 countries between 2001 and 2012. In the first chapter I review the economic literature on FDI determinants, hence I detail the complementarity/substitutability between FDI and trade; in the second chapter I describe some Social Network Analysis tools and finally in the third and fourth chapters I investigate empirically the evolution of the structures of FDI and exports and their determinants. Results show that (1) a large part of world FDI and exports is excluding all “potential” FDI flows and a small quota of all possible links has taken place, making the globalisation phenomenon far away to be realistic with few central players (i.e. US, China, Germany); (2) traditional gravity factors, such as GDP and distance, significantly determine FDI; common language is also significantly related to FDI; the coefficients for the other variables are less stable; (3) exports and FDI are similarly structured and previous levels of exports negatively affect FDI, suggesting the substitutability between FDI and exports and the puzzling issue of FDI and trade relationship.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting the trade flow on forestry products within the European Union. A gravity model was used to estimate the factors affecting the trade flow. The study used a panel data set with observations of two forestry commodities between 28 EU member countries over the years 2005 to 2014. The commodities are Wood chips and particles and Industrial roundwood. The parameters are estimated with fixed effects, the result indicated for Wood chips and particles that exporting countries GDP affect the trade flow positivly (0.64) and the importing countries GDP affect positively aswell (0.36). For Industrial roundwood the exporting countries GDP affect the trade flow negatively (-0.69) and the importing countries GDP affect positively (0.80). With the estimated parameters a forecast of Wood chips and particles over the years 2015 to 2020 was made, the forecast indicated an increase in the trade flow value with 27.2%