Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The photochemistry of poly{p-phenylene[1-(tetrahydrothiophen-1-io)ethylene chloride]} (PPTEC), a water soluble precursor of the semiconducting polymer, poly{p-phenylenevinylene} (PPV), has been studied both under atmospheric conditions and in environments devoid of oxygen. UV-visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence data has been used to provide a picture of the mechanistic pathways involved in UV irradiation of the PPTEC material. A new quantitative model for the effect of UV irradiation upon film morphology is presented. The technique of near-field scanning optical lithography (NSOL) has been used to produce arbitrary structures of the semi-conducting polymer poly{p-phenylenevinylene} at sizes comparable with optical wavelengths. Structures on this scale are of interest for integrated optical devices and organic solar cells. The structures are characterised using AFM and SEM and examined in the context of the electric field distribution at the NSOM tip. The Bethe-Bouwkamp model for electric field distribution at an aperture has been used, in combination with the developed model for precursor solubility dependence on UV energy dose, to predict the characteristics of lithographic features produced by NSOL. Fine structure in the lithographic features that are characteristic of the technique are investigated and their origins explained. Suggestions for the improvement of the technique are made. Presented here for the first time is a device manufactured by the technique of NSOL functioning as an optical device. The technique of NSOL is used to manufacture an optical transmission phase grating (or phase mask) of PPV, this was done as a proof of concept for device manufacture by this method and to demonstrate the potential usefulness of the unique characteristics of the technique. The phase mask was characterised using AFM and SEM and examined in the context of how well a diffraction pattern matches with theoretical calculations.

Firefighters often arrive at structures in which the state of fire progression can be described as ventilation-controlled or under-ventilated. This means that inside the enclosure the pyrolyzed fuel has consumed most, if not all of the available oxygen, resulting in incomplete combustion. Under-ventilated (fuel rich) combustion is particularly dangerous to occupants because of the high yield of toxins such as carbon monoxide and to firefighters because once firefighters enter the structure and introduce oxidizer, the environment can rapidly change into a very dangerous, fast burning condition. The fuel load in many compartment fires would support a several megawatt fire if the fire were not ventilation controlled. In the process of making entrance to the fire compartment, firefighters will likely provide additional ventilation paths for the fire and may initiate firefighting tactics like positive pressure ventilation to push the hot flammable combustion products out of the attack pathway. Forced ventilation creates a strongly mixed flow within the fire compartment. Ventilation creates a complex fluid mechanics and combustion environment that is generally not analyzed on the scale of compartment fires. To better understand the complex coupling of these phenomena, compartment scale non-reacting and reacting experiments were conducted. The experiments, which were conducted at The University of Texas at Austin’s fire research facility, were designed to gain insight into the effects of ventilation on compartment thermal characteristics. Computational models (low and high order) were used to augment the non-reacting and reacting experimental results. Though computationally expensive, computational fluid dynamics models provided significant detail into the coupling of buoyantly driven fire products with externally applied wind or fan flow. A partially stirred reactor model was used to describe strongly driven fire compartment combustion processes because previously there was not an appropriate low dimensional computational tool applicable to this type of problem. This dissertation will focus on the experimental and computational characterization of strong vent flows on single room enclosure fires. / text

There is a rapidly growing number of advanced applications running over the internet that requires ultra-low latency and high throughput. Bufferbloat is one of the most known problems which add delay in the form of packets being enqueued into large buffers before being transmitted. This has been solved with the developments of various Active Queue Management (AQM) schemes to control how large the queue buffers are allowed to grow. Another aspect that is important today is how the available bandwidth can be shared between applications with different priorities. The Per-Packet Value (PPV) concept has been presented as a solution for resource-sharing by marking packets according to predefined marking policies. The packet value will be taken into consideration to make drop/mark decisions, which leads to higher packet values being prioritized at bottleneck links.  In this thesis, a design of a packet value-based AQM on a programmable Barefoot Tofino switch will be presented. It will use a combination of the Proportional Integral Controller (PIE) AQM scheme and the PPV concept to make drop decisions when queuing delay is discovered. Packet value statistics are collected through the P4 programmable data plane to maintain knowledge about the distribution of packet values. With the dropping probability calculated through the PIE AQM scheme, a decision can be made about which packets should be dropped.  An evaluation shows that with the implemented PV AQM, a low queuing delay can be achieved by dropping an appropriate amount of packets. It also shows that the PV AQM controls the resource-sharing between different traffic flows according to a predefined marking policy.

The synergism of Candidatus phytoplasmy prunorum and Plum Pox viru was investigated in this study. Both diseases are globally widespread and extremely dangerous. The only existing protection is prevention. European Stone Fruit Yellows is caused by Candidathus Phytoplasma Prunorum. Candidathus Phytoplasma Prunorum is microorganism without a cell wall that belongs to group Tenericutes and class Mollicutes. Sharka disease is caused by Plum Pox virus. Plum Pox virus is microorganism that belongs to group Potyviridae class Potyvirus. In 2014 a long-term experiment was founded by Mendel University in MENDELEUM in Lednice. Possible synergic effect between European Stone Fruit Yellows and Sharka disease was researched in this experiment. The experiment is based on observation of plants with double inoculation (PPV and ESFY). Symptoms were observed every two weeks and put in to a table. As it is a long-term experiment only partial results were reached

New internet services require low and stable latency, which is difficult to provide with traditional routers and queuing mechanisms. Current routers aim to provide high throughput using large buffers causing considerable network latency under load. Recently, Active Queue Management (AQM) algorithms have been proposed to reduce such problem by actively controlling queue lengths to maintain target latencies. However, AQMs are difficult to implement in switching Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) due to inherent architectural constraints. On the other hand, resource sharing is another important goal aiming to differentiate traffic and allocating more resources to different traffic types.  The objective of this thesis is to implement the AQM algorithm Proportional Integral Controller Enhanced (PIE) with a packet marking based resource sharing concept Per Packet Value (PPV) on a programmable switching ASIC using the novel network programmability concept P4. Our solution is designed to maintain low and controllable latency and to utilize the bottleneck link efficiently, while observing the bandwidth sharing properties of the marking scheme. Our goal is to show that Data Plane native implementations of PPV PIE using the Tofino is possible without severely limiting performance or accuracy. The solution places the computation of PIE's drop probability estimation on a timer in the Data Plane utilizing a state machine, packet mirroring, packet recirculation and approximative arithmetics implemented by lookup tables. Additionally, a small control loop is required in order to update lookup tables based on packet statistics from the Control Plane.  In our evaluation using a Tofino based testbed, we evaluate the impact of different parameters on both Control Plane latency, Data Plane throughput and delay for both static and dynamic traffic scenarios. Our results demonstrate commendable performance in terms of controlling queuing delay, effective throughput and bandwidth share when taking operator policy in regard.

O presente trabalho envolve a síntese e caracterização de um polímero da família dos poli(p-fenilenovinileno)s (PPV), aplicável em camadas ativas de dispositivos como narizes eletrônicos, muito utilizados em várias áreas, como medicina, meio ambiente e indústria alimentícia. O trabalho visou também ao desenvolvimento de um nariz eletrônico, abrangendo o processo de preparação, o que incluiu a confecção dos eletrodos dos sensores de gases, o estudo referente ao equipamento de aquisição de dados e à comunicação com o microcomputador. Visou-se à otimização do equipamento que já vem sendo utilizado em medidas para várias detecções, estudando-se fatores como frequência da corrente alternada empregada, forma de onda (senoidal, quadrada e triangular), temperatura da amostra e distância entre os dígitos nos eletrodos. Verificou-se a possibilidade da utilização de nariz eletrônico na área de alimentos, estudando-se a identificação de méis de abelha de floradas diferentes e a detecção de fungos em laranjas pós-colheita. / The present thesis involves the synthesis and characterization of a polymer of the poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV) family, applicable as active layer of devices such as gas sensors and electronic noses, which are instruments widely used in several areas, including medicine, environmental sciences and food industry. This work also aimed the full development of an electronic nose, from the making of the electrodes and sensors to the study of the data acquisition and its communication with a personal computer. In order to optimize the equipment, the influence of several factors such as frequency of the applied alternating current, its waveform (sine, square and triangle), temperature of the sample, and spacing between the digits of the electrodes were investigated. Finally, the equipment was used for the identification of honeys from different blossoms and for the detection of fungi in post-harvest oranges.

O presente trabalho tem o objetivo de estudar os processos fotofísicos em filmes automontados de poli( -fenileno vinileno), ou PPV, sintetizados e processados no Grupo de Polímeros Prof. Bernhard Gross (GPBG) do IFSC, através dos processos de transferência de energia para o azocromóforo BY ou dentro da própria cadeia do PPV, através de um gradiente energético. O trabalho está focado no entendimento dos canais de relaxação energéticos, durante a difusão espectral, onde atuam o decaimento, radiativo e não radiativo. Pelo uso de uma engenharia molecular específica, propiciada pelo método de automontagem, heteroestruturas foram fabricadas para o estudo da transferência de energia (TEE) para azocromóforos, separados por uma camada separadora inerte. A novidade está no fato de podermos selecionar os estados do BY através da mudança do pH da solução, durante o processo de fabricação dos filmes. Com este sistema foi possível comprovar que os estados intermediários, durante a difusão espectral, desempenham um importante papel para a TEE, podendo transferir a excitação molecular para camadas adjacentes em heteroestruturas orgânicas. Este resultado, juntamente com a nova metodologia adotada para a conversão do PTHT em PPV, a adoção do íon de cadeia longa dodecilbenzenosulfônico (DBS), foi suficiente para desenvolvermos novas estruturas de TEE, possibilitando a modulação energética dos estados HOMO e LUMO dos polímeros conjugados. Este resultado comprova a TEE nos estágios iniciais da difusão espectral concomitantemente direcionar a excitação energética para regiões específicas das heteroestruturas, implicando em uma nova metodologia para o aumento da eficiência em dispositivos orgânicos luminescentes. / The subject of this work is the study of the photophysics process in poly (p-phenylene vinylene) self-assembled films (PPV), with were synthesized and processed at the Grupo de Polímeros Prof. Bernhard Gross (GPBG) of the IF8C, by the energy transfer process (TEE) for, the azochromophore Brilliant Yellow (BY) or inside the PPV polymeric chain by an energetic gradient. We are interesting in the energetic relaxation pathway meaning, during the spectral diffusion, were the decay acts, radioactive and non-radioactive. By using a specific molecular engineering, propitiated by the self¬assembly method, heterostructures were done to study the energy transfer (TEE) to azochromophores, separated by an inert spacer. The novelty is on the ability of sort the BY states by changes on the pH solution, during the film fabrication process. With such system, we could prove that intermediary states, during spectral diffusion, played an important role for the TEE, and should been transfer to adjacent blocks. This result, with the new methodology adopted for the PTHT to PPV conversion, a long chain ion dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS), was enough to develop new structures for the TEE, build by a HOMO and LUMO energetic gradient states in conjugated polymers. These results verify the TEE in the initiate states of the spectral diffusion concomitance with the TEE for a specific film\'s region, implicating in a new methodology for an efficiency increase in organic luminescent devices.

Os polímeros com propriedades luminescentes, e mais especificamente, os eletroluminescentes, tem atraído muita atenção devido a sua possível aplicação em dispositivos ópticos e eletrônicos do tipo LEDs (light-emitting diodes). Grande parte das pesquisas realizadas no campo da eletroluminescência se baseia em estudos sobre poli (arilenos-vinilenos), como o poli-(p-fenileno vinileno), PPV, e seus derivados. No processo de polimerização de tais polímeros, a influência de algumas variáveis são importantes em suas propriedades finais. Este trabalho descreve a exploração da influência de diversas variáveis no processo de polimerização do derivado do PPV, o poli-(2-metoxi-5-hexiloxi-p-fenileno-vinileno) MH-PPV. Além disso, com o intuito de verificar a influência da presença de aditivos na massa molar dos polímeros foram realizadas polimerizações utilizando-se os aditivos 4-metoxifenol, cloreto de tercbutila e cloreto de benzila durante o processo de polimerização. Também foram realizados estudos sobre o modo de adição e temperatura de polimerização utilizando o aditivo cloreto de benziIa. Todos os produtos foram caracterizados por HPSEC (Cromatografia de Exclusão por Tamanho) para determinação das massas molares dos polímeros. Observou-se que a temperatura e a velocidade de adição da base no meio reacional são variáveis que influenciam significativamente no processo de polimerização e, conseqüentemente, na distribuição na massa molar dos polímeros. Foi constatado que o uso de aditivos no processo de polimerização previne a formação de géis; fornece polímeros com baixa massa molar, aumentando a solubilidade dos polímeros em solventes orgânicos como clorofórmio e THF. A análise térmica dos polímeros revelou que além da Tg em tomo de 160oC, todos os polímeros apresentaram uma transição em tomo de 75oC. Os espectros de absorção e emissão não foram afetados de forma significativa dentro dos valores de massas molares médias obtidas. Foi possível também obter uma relação entre os valores de massa molar obtidos por HPSEC e valores de viscosidade relativa, que pode ser utilizada para estimar valores de Mw através de medidas de tempo de escoamento / Electroluminescent polymers have been widely investigated due to its potential applications in optoelectronic devices such as polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs). Most of the polymers suitable for application in PLEDs are related to the poly(arylenes-vinylene) polymers, including the poly(p-phenylene-vinylene) (PPV) and its derivatives, which are of special interest. Such materials can exhibit significant differences on their final properties upon changes on specific synthesis parameters. In this work it is described the influence of three different additives, viz. 4-methoxyphenol, terc-butyl chloride and benzyl chloride, on the polymerization process of the derivative poly(2-methoxy-5-hexyloxy-p-phenylenevinylene) MHPPV. Size Exclusion Chromatography analyses revealed that the type and rate of incorporation of the additives to the polymerization reaction largely affects the molecular weight of the polymers. In addition, it was observed that the use of additives leads to the synthesis of low molecular weight polymers, increasing their solubilities in common organic solvents, eg. chloroform and tetrahydrofuran. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the polymers was determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to be ca. 160oC. Interestingly, all the polymers presented an additional transition point at ca. 75oC. Neither the electronic absorption nor the emission spectra were affected by the differences on the molecular weight of the polymers. Finally, it was possible to establish correlations between the molecular weight analyses (from HPSEC) and viscosity experiments, which can be useful for Mw determination

Neste trabalho, o método de Monte Carlo é utilizado para simular o processo de difusão espectral da excitação em um sistema polimérico emissor de luz. A metodologia utilizada incorpora a relaxação energética intramolecular, a migração de energia incoerente entre segmentos conjugados e o processo final que pode ser radiativo (luminescência) ou não-radiativo através de centros supressores da excitação (armadilhas ou defeitos). O principal objetivo é comparar os resultados da simulação e de experimentos envolvendo medidas de absorção, de excitação óptica e de luminescência realizadas no IFSC ao longo dos últimos anos ou provenientes da literatura especializada. Além disso, a simulação pretende elucidar a natureza dos processos fotofísicos em semicondutores orgânicos e testar a validade de teorias analíticas existentes, o que é essencial para a aplicação dessa classe de materiais como dispositivos no futuro. Especial atenção é dada na análise do comportamento temporal da luminescência em sistemas em que o acoplamento dipolar na transferência de energia é realizado entre uma matriz de segmentos conjugados e moléculas aceitadoras (impurezas ou defeitos) distribuídas aleatoriamente. A comparação dos resultados da simulação com os resultados experimentais permitiu comprovar a validade do modelo, do programa utilizado e entender melhor características de parâmetros não conhecidos em polímeros conjugados, como a distribuição energética dos estados eletrônicos e a distribuição de centros supressores de luminescência. Foi possível reproduzir com sucesso os espectros de luminescência, de absorção e de excitação seletiva observados experimentalmente em polímeros conjugados descritos na literatura. Além disso, a simulação permitiu explicar resultados relacionados à diminuição da eficiência da luminescência, ao alargamento e ao deslocamento para o azul das linhas espectrais de emissão de polímero conjugado com o aumento da densidade. Foram obtidas as curvas características de eficiência quântica com a variação da energia de excitação e as características não exponenciais das curvas de intensidade de emissão no tempo. Por fim, foi possível estudar os processos fotofísicos envolvidos em heteroestruturas orgânicas com controle a nível molecular das propriedades de emissão a partir dos processos de transferência de energia tipo Förster (dipolo-dipolo) entre polímeros emissores e azocromóforos. As mudanças dos processos fotofísicos do polímero luminescente se fazem pelo controle posicional/orientacional entre camadas doadoras compostas por moléculas do polímero emissor e camadas receptoras à base de azocorante (receptor). / In the present work, the Monte Carlo method is employed to simulate the excitation spectral diffusion process in light emitting polymeric systems. The methodology employed a competition among the internal intra-molecular vibrational relaxation, the inter-molecular incoherent energy transference via Förster mechanism and the final process that may be a radiative emission or a non radiative relaxation through a suppression center. This work main objective is to compare the simulation results with the experiments of absorption, optic excitement and luminescence carried on the IFSC throughout the last years or proceeding from specialized literature. Moreover, the simulation intends to elucidate the nature of the photophysical processes in organic semiconductors and to test the validity of existing theories, what it is essential for the application of this branch of materials as devices in the future. Special attention is given in the analysis of the behavior of the time-resolved luminescence in systems where the energy transfer is carried through a matrix of conjugated segments distributed randomly and acceptor molecules (impurities or defects) coupled by dipole interaction. The comparison of the simulation results with the experimental ones allowed to prove the validity of the model, the used program and to better understand characteristic of parameters for conjugated polymers which are still studied. Different the energy distributions of electronic states, molecular position and orientation are used in order to simulate molecular configurations obtained by different sample preparation methodologies and luminescence suppressor centers. With the simulation, it was possible to reproduce with success the experimental spectra of luminescence, absorption and selective excitation measurements in polymers conjugated described in literature. Besides, the simulation allowed to explain resulted related to the decrease of luminescence efficiency with the increase of the energy of the excitation light, as well as the blue shift and broadening of the spectral lines of conjugated polymer emission with the increase of the density. The characteristic curves of quantum efficiency with the variation of the excitation energy and the not exponential characteristics of the time solved emission intensity curves have been reproduced. Finally, it was possible to study the photophysical processes present in organic heterostructures having molecular level control of the properties of emission via changing the Förster type energy transfer processes between emitting polymers and an azodye. The control photophysical process of the luminescent polymer was accomplished by changing both the orientation and position of the azomolecule in an acceptor layer relative the emitting polymer.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-24T19:38:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabio Santana dos Santos.pdf: 2096265 bytes, checksum: 6ebf2a6890fb4ea97cdb1a6d7dfae53f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The discussion presented in this master’s degree dissertation resulted in a study about the development of synthesis routes for obtaining the following organic compounds: 4-(decyloxy)-2,5-bis(dibromomethyl)benzonitrile and 2,5-bis(dibromomethyl)-4-(pentyloxy)benzonitrile. The interest in produced such compounds is related to the preparation, by electrochemical route, of poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV) like polymers in which the decyloxy and/or penthyloxy groups act conferring solubility to the polymeric chain and the group cyano acts altering the electronic structure of the polymeric material intendy to produce a electroluminescente polymer with optimized characteristics for the application in light emitting devices. In that way this text describes the preparation and the characterization of a series of organic compounds. The compounds of interest were prepared after realization of a series of synthetic routes until to be obtained the desired structures. The characterization of these compounds was performed by means of infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic measurements (RMN H1). Beside the preparation and the characterization of the organic compounds aiming to the obtation of electroluminescents polymers, this text describes the preparation and the characterization of the poly(2-methoxy-5-bromo-pphenylenevinylene) (MB-PPV), a polymer which could present similar properties to those intended to the formed, prepared from the compounds described in the first phase of this work. This polymer was electrochemically prepared, and the electron transfer process that occurs during its formation was studied by means cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry measurements. During this synthesis it was obtained an insoluble fraction, in the form of powder, and a soluble fraction dissolved in chloroform and another one in methanol. For effect of comparison it was described the electrochemical preparation of the poly(2,5-dicyano-p-phenylenevinylene) (DCNPPV) and the PPV. These polymers were characterized by FTIR and UV-VISIBLE absorption spectroscopy and by measurements of fluorescence. / As discussões apresentadas nesta dissertação de mestrado são resultado de um estudo sobre o desenvolvimento de rotas de síntese para a obtenção dos compostos 4-(decilóxi)-2,5-bis(dibromometil)benzonitrila e 2,5-bis(dibromometil)-4- pentilóxibenzonitrila. O interesse em se obter tais compostos está relacionado à preparação, por via eletroquímica, de polímeros da classe do poli(p-fenilenovinileno) (PPV) nos quais os grupos decilóxi e/ou pentilóxi atuem conferindo solubilidade a cadeia polimérica e o grupo ciano atue alterando a estrutura eletrônica do material de forma a produzir um polímero eletroluminescente com propriedades otimizadas para a aplicação em dispositivos emissores de luz. Desta maneira descreve-se a preparação e a caracterização de uma série de compostos orgânicos. Os compostos de interesse foram preparados após a realização de várias etapas de síntese até se obter as estruturas desejadas. A caracterização destes compostos foi realizada por meio de medidas de espectroscopia de infravermelho (FTIR) e espectroscopia de ressonância magnética nuclear (RMN H1). Além da preparação e da caracterização dos compostos de partida visando à produção de polímeros eletroluminescentes, este texto descreve a preparação e a caracterização do poli(2-metóxi-5-bromo-p-fenilenovinileno) (MB-PPV), um polímero o qual se espera apresente propriedades semelhantes àquelas pretendidas ao polímero formado a partir dos compostos preparados na primeira etapa do trabalho. Este polímero foi sintetizado eletroquimicamente, sendo que o processo de transferência de carga que ocorre durante sua formação foi estudado por meio de medidas de voltametria cíclica e de cronoamperometria. Durante a síntese obteve-se uma fração insolúvel, na forma de pó, e uma fração solúvel em clorofórmio e outra em metanol. Para efeito de comparação descreve-se a preparação eletroquímica do poli(2,5-diciano-p-fenilenovinileno) (DCN-PPV) e do PPV. Estes polímeros foram caracterizados por medidas de FTIR, de espectroscopia de absorção no UV-Visível e por medidas de emissão e excitação de fluorescência.