Hydrate film growth has been examined at the hydrocarbon/water interface for cyclopentane and methane hydrate. Video microscopy was used to measure hydrate film thickness, propagation rate across the hydrocarbon/water interface and gas consumption measurements characterized the hydrate formation mechanism. Cyclopentane and methane hydrate film formation were measured over the temperature range of 260–279K and pressure range of atmospheric to 8.3MPa. Hydrate formation was initiated by the propagation of a thin, porous film across the hydrocarbon/water interface. The propagation rate and thickening of the hydrate film was strongly dependent on the hydrate former solubility in the aqueous phase, in the absence and presence of hydrate. Cyclopentane hydrate film thickness began at ~12 μm and grew to a final thickness (15–40 μm) which increased with subcooling. Methane hydrate film thickness began at ~ 5 μm and grew to a final thickness (20–100 μm) which also increased with subcooling. The hydrate film grew into the water phase. Gas consumption measurements indicated that the aqueous phase supplied hydrate former during the initial hydrate growth, and the free gas supplied the hydrate former for film thickening and development. Hydrate film formation at the hydrocarbon/water interface was proposed to consist of three consecutive stages: propagation, development and bulk conversion.

The present research focuses on the coupling of mechanical and electrical properties of materials and culminates in a direct connection between applied strain to thin-films, thin-film electron binding energy, the energy loss via plastic deformation provided by an indentation, and the substrate resistance. The methods used in this research include X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), nanoindentation, digital optical microscopy, and sputter coat deposition. It is discovered that there is a shift in electron binding energy on the scale of 0.2 eV to 1.4 eV in gold and palladium thin-films sputtered on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) through the application of strain induced by a convex shape. There is a change in the area beneath the load-displacement curve measured via indentation from 5.55 x 10^-10 J to 4.78 x 10^-10 J when the gold-palladium thin-film sputtered on PVDF is changed from the flat arrangement to the convex arrangement. Furthermore, the strain also changed the electrical resistance of aluminum foil, which indicates that the substrate electrical resistance is affected by the induced strain. The internal resistance of a circuit developed for this research changed from 7.76 ohms for flat samples to 8.03 ohms and 8.33 ohms for flat and convex samples, respectively. It is expected that the research can be used to estimate the strain in nanogears and other devices at small length scales.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:28:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:56:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertacao (Mestrado Profissionalizante em Lasers em Odontologia) / IPEN/D-MPLO / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP; Faculdade de Odontologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo

The understanding and treatment of brain disorders as well as the development of intelligent machines is hampered by the lack of knowledge of how the brain fundamentally functions. Over the past century, we have learned much about how individual neurons and neural networks behave, however new tools are critically needed to interrogate how neural networks give rise to complex brain processes and disease conditions. Recent innovations in molecular techniques, such as optogenetics, have enabled neuroscientists unprecedented precision to excite, inhibit and record defined neurons. The impressive sensitivity of currently available optogenetic sensors and actuators has now enabled the possibility of analyzing a large number of individual neurons in the brains of behaving animals. To promote the use of these optogenetic tools, this thesis integrates cutting edge optogenetic molecular sensors which is ultrasensitive for imaging neuronal activity with custom wide field optical microscope to analyze a large number of individual neurons in living brains. Wide-field microscopy provides a large field of view and better spatial resolution approaching the Abbe diffraction limit of fluorescent microscope. To demonstrate the advantages of this optical platform, we imaged a deep brain structure, the Hippocampus, and tracked hundreds of neurons over time while mouse was performing a memory task to investigate how those individual neurons related to behavior. In addition, we tested our optical platform in investigating transient neural network changes upon mechanical perturbation related to blast injuries. In this experiment, all blasted mice show a consistent change in neural network. A small portion of neurons showed a sustained calcium increase for an extended period of time, whereas the majority lost their activities. Finally, using optogenetic silencer to control selective motor cortex neurons, we examined their contributions to the network pathology of basal ganglia related to Parkinson’s disease. We found that inhibition of motor cortex does not alter exaggerated beta oscillations in the striatum that are associated with parkinsonianism. Together, these results demonstrate the potential of developing integrated optogenetic system to advance our understanding of the principles underlying neural network computation, which would have broad applications from advancing artificial intelligence to disease diagnosis and treatment.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:34:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-10-19Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:04:56Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 goncalves_vd_dr_guara.pdf: 2777682 bytes, checksum: 5d4369fe1e30d71b1e79eccb5580ba09 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este trabalho descreve o desenvolvimento de um sistema de análise de imagens de partículas de desgaste encontradas em óleos lubrificantes de equipamentos industriais. Para tanto, foi utilizado um sistema de aquisição de imagem para capturar imagens de amostras de óleo retidas em membranas de filtro e, também, desenvolvida uma metodologia analítica que faz a classificação quantitativa e qualitativa das partículas, relacionando-as ao modo de desgaste na qual foram geradas. Para a classificação quantitativa utilizou-se a norma ISO 4406 e para a qualitativa, a análise por meio de Redes Neurais Artificiais. O sistema aplicado consiste em uma câmera digital, um microscópio óptico monocular, um sistema de filtragem de óleo e dois programas computacionais desenvolvidos para realização da análise automatizada das imagens das partículas de desgaste obtidas. Foram utilizados óleos minerais de redutores de máquinas industriais no processo de obtenção de amostras. As partículas de desgaste foram analisadas pelo processo de microscopia óptica para obtenção da imagem da amostra relacionada ao desgaste. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que o sistema de análise desenvolvido realiza a classificação individual das partículas, através de Redes Neurais Artificiais, com uma eficiência de até 96%, além de analisar as múltiplas partículas contidas nas amostras, exibindo um relatório de acompanhamento e evolução do desgaste. Os programas computacionais desenvolvidos para essa análise possuem interface gráfica de fácil utilização. Eles podem ser amplamente utilizados no estudo e avaliação das partículas de desgaste obtidas de amostras de óleos industriais em empresas ou em universidades para fins educacionais. O sistema pode ser utilizado para análise de superfícies de metais obtidos pelo processo de metalografia ou na análise de imagens de microorganismos obtidas... / This paper describes the development of an image analysis system for wear particles found in industrial equipment lubricating oil. Hence, it was utilized an image acquisition system to capture image samples of the oil held in filter membranes. An analytical methodology was also developed to classify the particles quantitatively and qualitatively, relating them to the wear mode where they had been generated. The ISO 4406 standard was applied for quantitative classification and Artificial Neural Networks were used for qualitative classification analysis. The applied system consists of a digital camera, a monocular optical microscope, one oil filtering system and two software programs developed to perform the automated analysis of the acquired wear particles images. Mineral oils of gearbox industrial machines were used in the process of achieving the samples. The wear particles were analyzed by an optical microscopy system, to obtain the sample image related to the wear. The results showed that the analysis system that was developed classifies the individual particles through Artificial Neural Networks with 96% accuracy, in addition to analyzing the multiple particles contained in the samples and generating an evaluation report and wear evolution. The software programs developed for the analysis have a graphical interface easy to use. They can be used in the study and evaluation of the wear particles obtained from industrial oil samples in the companies or in the universities for educational purposes. The system can be applied to analyze the surface of metals acquired by metallographic processes or in the image analysis of microorganisms acquired from blood samples, opening a wide field of application within universities and researches.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:43:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:58:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 06440.pdf: 7124076 bytes, checksum: 6f53c094d7930246ec85dbca4118fd54 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:37:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:00:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 05329.pdf: 16832851 bytes, checksum: 8ef7bf6a007d858e609a66ba4b70e107 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:34:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:00:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:52:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:00:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:51:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:01:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 11249.pdf: 6810896 bytes, checksum: d6d7eb3261a4e010e1840b22fdcc9f8a (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP