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The primary focus of this work is to develop an understanding of crystallisation in hard sphere systems. The thesis is presented in two parts. The first section is an investigation of the liquid/crystal interface at equilibrium using molecular dynamical simulations. The objective is to understand how the interface might bridge between the disordered and ordered states in liquid/crystal environments. Topological measures of structure are used to investigate whether any precursor structures are present in the liquid phase, close to the interface, that would allow transition from disorder to order. This differs from other work where simpler measures of structure, classifying phases into either liquid or crystal, are used. The results indicate that the liquid/crystal interface of a hard sphere system is very narrow and no readily observable structures were found that extended past the width of the equilibrium interface. The second section of the thesis is a theoretical study of growth kinetics in hard sphere systems using density functional theory. The kinetics in a fixed volume are examined with a single conserved order parameter. The work is extended incorporating both conserved particle and non-conserved structure dynamics. The kinetics of growth are examined and it is shown that the small initial crystals are quickly isolated from the higher pressure of the surrounding system through the development of a depletion zone.

During the process of the Singapore economy development, its ¡§elite government¡¨ has to attract the multinational companies to invest in Singapore. Among the public organization, Singapore Economic Development Board¡]EDB¡^ is the statutory institute of marketing the Singapore investment environment. After set up in 1961, EDB has been engaged in creating employment opportunities. In order to improve the most valuable asset of Singaporean, EDB also designs several human resource training programs and training centers. The organization culture of EDB is the key success factor which contributes to following the changes of international economy situation and working out suitable economic policies for Singapore industry. In the past the government takes the responsibility of leading the Singaporean toward the economic vision, but recently the Singapore government aggressively encourages the people to start up a new enterprise instead to avoid depending foreign investments excessively and to balance the economic ecosystem to achieve more value-added. My thesis does a case study of hard disk drive industry in ch4 to show the notable position of EDB in industry development context. In the ch5 the emerging biomedical industry will discuss the transformation from national economic plans to technology entrepreneurship. The future of Singapore economy development depends on whether the policy works or not.

The primary focus of this work is to develop an understanding of crystallisation in hard sphere systems. The thesis is presented in two parts. The first section is an investigation of the liquid/crystal interface at equilibrium using molecular dynamical simulations. The objective is to understand how the interface might bridge between the disordered and ordered states in liquid/crystal environments. Topological measures of structure are used to investigate whether any precursor structures are present in the liquid phase, close to the interface, that would allow transition from disorder to order. This differs from other work where simpler measures of structure, classifying phases into either liquid or crystal, are used. The results indicate that the liquid/crystal interface of a hard sphere system is very narrow and no readily observable structures were found that extended past the width of the equilibrium interface. The second section of the thesis is a theoretical study of growth kinetics in hard sphere systems using density functional theory. The kinetics in a fixed volume are examined with a single conserved order parameter. The work is extended incorporating both conserved particle and non-conserved structure dynamics. The kinetics of growth are examined and it is shown that the small initial crystals are quickly isolated from the higher pressure of the surrounding system through the development of a depletion zone.

Thesis (Ph.D. Geography)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 300-322)

This thesis contains the results of a study focused on cubic carbide and carbonitride grain growth retardation in hardmetals. Large additions of VC, or VC and TiC, or (W,V)C were made to the WC-Co hardmetal, which was then sintered in vacuum or nitrogen. The effectiveness of Ti as the grain growth inhibitor, and the influence of nitrogen sintering on grain coarsening were investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractrometry (XRD) and atom probe field ion microscope (APFIM). Analysis of vacuum-sintered WC-VC-Co revealed that the cubic carbide grains have a core-rim structure. Ti was found to be a core-rim inhibitor in vacuum-sintered WCVC- TiC-Co. The average cubic carbide grain size distribution for the vacuumsintered materials was narrowed in the Ti-containing hardmetal. The nitrogen-sintered WC-VC-TiC-Co consisted of two phases of cubic carbonitride, one with high Ti-content and the other with high (W,V)-content. The surface region of the nitrogen-sintered WC-VC-TiC-Co was covered with a cubic carbonitride phase. Similar phenomena was observed in nitrogen-sintered WC-VC-Co where two types of carbonitrides were found, those with high V-content and the others with low Vcontent. A gradient zone, consisting of fine WC grains in a Co-rich binder and free from cubic carbonitride grains, was created in the surface region. The nitrogensintered materials consisted of a narrow grain size distribution. The use of (W,V)C as a starting powder affected the mechanical properties of the material with the WC-(W,V)C-Co material being the hardest of those produced in this study. Addition of (W,V)C powder to WC-Co was shown to be the most effective way to limit the cubic carbide grain size during sintering and produce a hard material. The cubic carbide grain size in the material produced this way was the smallest of all studied.

Seismicity at a deep hard rock mine can be a precursor to ground failure events. Seismicity data can be used in double-difference tomography, which produce tomograms showing velocity distributions in the rock mass that can be used to infer relative stress of the rock mass. The data set used for the double-difference tomography inversion was from Creighton Mine in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and consisted of two months of data averaging 150 microseismic events per day. Three separate studies were conducted to evaluate the applications of double-difference tomography on a deep hard rock mine. These studies produced mine scale tomograms, stope scale tomograms of two active stopes, and stope scale tomograms for a cluster of events. TomoDD was used for the tomographic inversion, with other commercial programs used to view the results. All three studies produced results consistent with prior mine knowledge and basic concepts of rock mass stress redistribution. Mine scale tomograms accurately displayed a low velocity where the mined ore body is known to be with adjacent high velocity, stope scale tomograms of the two stopes both correctly demonstrated a low velocity relaxed zone near the stope following a production blast, and stope scale tomograms of an event cluster displayed consistency in results for two clusters in periods before, during, and after each cluster. The three studies show that double-difference tomography is a promising tool for observing rock mass stress redistribution that provides a baseline evaluation for the potential uses of the technology in a deep hard rock mine. / Master of Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-116). Also available on the World Wide Web.

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Hearing loss is a low-incidence disability, affecting 1 to 6 per 1,000 live births. Until recently, hearing loss was not diagnosed until 2 years of age or later. In the late 1990s, a push began for Universal Newborn Hearing Screening: the ultimate goal was that every newborn's hearing would be tested before leaving the hospital.Prior to widespread implementation of UNHS, some researchers found that hearing parents of deaf children had higher stress and atypical parent-infant interactions. More recent research, focused on parents of infants diagnosed through UNHS, is inconsistent. Some researchers have found that parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing (d/hh) children have significantly more stress than parents of hearing infants; however, some researchers have not found these differences.Because increased stress is linked to impaired parent-infant bonding, researchers have made conclusions about bonding based on assessments of stress. The purpose of the current study was to compare the bonding of hearing mothers to d/hh infants to hearing mothers of hearing infants. A second aspect was to assess the needs of mothers of d/hh infants and to evaluate, from mothers' perspectives, how early-intervention services could be improved.Results from the current study show that mothers of d/hh infants were not bonding abnormally. In addition, the bonding of hearing mothers to d/hh infants is not significantly different from the bonding of hearing mothers to hearing infants. On the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ), mothers of hearing infants were significantly more likely to feel as if their babies cried too much. Interview results show that all mothers were worried about their children's future; however, mothers of d/hh babies had more specific worries, including those related to communication development. In addition, mothers discussed their experiences with early intervention and their valued qualities in an early-intervention provider.