Preclinical bioluminescence tomographic reconstruction is underdetermined. This work addresses the use of prior information in bioluminescence tomography to improve image acquisition, reconstruction, and analysis. A structured light surface metrology method was developed to measure surface geometry and enable robust and automatic integration of mirrors into the measurement process. A mouse phantom was imaged and accuracy was measured at 0.2mm with excellent surface coverage. A sparsity-regularised reconstruction algorithm was developed to use instrument noise statistics to automatically determine the stopping point of reconstruction. It was applied to in silico and in simulacra data and successfully reconstructed and resolved two separate luminescent sources within a plastic mouse phantom. A Bayesian framework was constructed that incorporated bioluminescence properties and instrument properties. Distribution expectations and standard deviations were estimated, providing reconstructions and measures of reconstruction uncertainty. The reconstructions showed superior performance when applied to in simulacra data compared to the sparsity-based algorithm. The information content of measurements using different sets of wavelengths was quantified using the Bayesian framework via mutual information and applied to an in silico problem. Significant differences in information content were observed and comparison against a condition number-based approach indicated subtly different results.

An experimental investigation into LNG rollover has been performed, using cryogenic liquids to simulate a two-layered LNG system. A vacuum insulated glass vessel was designed and constructed for rollover simulation experiments. Thin metal oxide coatings on the inner jacket of the vessel enabled the simultaneous heating and visualisation of the liquid in the vessel. Mixtures of liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen were successfully used to form two differing density layers. An oxygen analysing system with an accuracy of 0.01% by volume oxygen, and a fifteen junction copper-constantan thermocouple array were used for primary measurements of mass concentration and temperature. For a number of initial density differences between layers, various liquid layer heating configurations were used to obtain the variations in evaporation flowrate, and detailed temperature and concentration profiles during experiments. Convective flow patterns in single and two-component liquid mixtures were obtained, using the Schlieren method. Results show that the mixing of layers is primarily due to entrainment of fluid from the intermediate layer separating the two convective layers. The intermediate layer can be described by Double-Diffusive convection theory, and controls the transport of heat and mass between layers. The measured peak flowrate is a function of the initial density difference between layers. The peak to equilibrium flowrate values are much lower than those reported in rollover incidents, due to the enhanced mixing processes occurring in the simulation mixture. A correlation between the evaporative mass flux and bulk fluid superheat fails during transient heating conditions, and cannot predict very high flowrates. Schlieren flow - visualisation studies clearly show various surface patterns for increasing surface evaporation mass fluxes.

Currently used rocket propellants such as hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine, unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide are carcinogenic and toxic to the environment and therefore special protective measures are required when producing, transporting, storing and handling them. Employing alternatives could possibly save costs and this has revived the research interest in so called green propellants. Hydrogen peroxide is such a possible alternative. It requires a catalyst bed to decompose the liquid peroxide into steam and oxygen. The purpose of this work is to design numerical tools that describe the processes in the catalyst bed and subsequently employ these tools to predict the performance of the catalyst bed and investigate the influence of design choices on the performance. In contrast to the models described in the literature, the tools developed in this thesis are two fluid models. In order to test the reliability of the tools results are compared with experimental data. A single control volume two-fluid model has been developed to investigate the pressure drop over the catalyst bed and the influence of the shape and size of catalyst pellets on the pressure drop. Parametric studies with this model revealed that the Tallmadge equation gives a better prediction of the pressure gradient than the more traditionally employed Ergun equation. It was also found that for a given bed length cylindrical pellets with a diameter to length ratio of 2 or more give a lower pressure drop than cylindrical pellets, while achieving the same level of decomposition. A one-dimensional two-fluid model has been developed to obtain longitudinal variations of fluid properties. This model revealed that the catalyst bed can be divided into 3 sections: a pre-boiling region, rapid conversion region and a dry-out region. It was shown that most of the mass transfer takes place due to evaporation. A sensitivity analysis showed that the gas-liquid interfacial area hardly influences the results.

The work presented in this thesis explores the investigation and development of programmable modular synthesis. A computer-controlled system has been used to navigate through a network of organic reactions. In particular, this decision making system was developed in order to navigate reaction networks according to the reaction diversity. Finally, the potentiality of increasing the versatility of this platform is demonstrated by developing novel flow architectures including in-line analytics, which exploits three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies.

This thesis presents computational work on the structures, characterisation and optical properties of homogeneous gold nanoclusters, and gold-containing bimetallic nanoalloys. An introductory overview of nanoscience is followed by four results chapters in which various computational methods are applied to elucidate properties that are not fully understood; from these results areas for future development, and application, are identifed. Chapter 2 looks at structural motif preference as a function of composition and size for Au and Pd. Bimetallic (AuPd)_N particles are further studied, with thermodynamic preference found for Au_shellPd_core configurations with a monolayer Au shell. Chapter 3 discusses the development and implementation of a genetic algorithm designed to aid the determination of the structures of small nanoclusters from images taken with a scanning transmission electron microscope. The implementation of a search method proves efficient at identifying high-symmetry test clusters, and shows promise for further application to the identification of cluster structure from experimental images. Chapter 4 contains a first-principles study of Au₁₆ deposited on a graphite substrate. We introduce surface defects to see their influence on the nanocluster structure, as well as testing for potential catalytic applications. Finally, Chapter 5 looks at the optical response of monometallic and bimetallic nanoparticles. Surface plasmon resonance spectra are calculated for a variety of geometries, compositions and chemical ordering. The greatest influence on the extinction spectra is attributed to the particle shape and its environment.

The development of the plastic electronics industry has drawn great interest and inspired technology innovations in a broad area. This has stimulated the rapid development of flexible circuitry manufacturing technologies, including advances in conductive inks, printing technology and most importantly the novel curing technology - laser based curing (or Laser Direct Write). This has the ability to replace the conventional environmentally damaging and time consuming chemical etching method in current Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturing. The work presented in this thesis is an investigation into a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser curing process of epoxy-based micro-sized particulate silver inks. This 532nm laser curing process filled the gap as no research reported for solidifying conductive microparticle silver ink using this particular laser wavelength at 532nm. This 532nm laser curing process also extended the curing technology with a fast localized heating process. The composition of the epoxy-based conductive silver ink was studied in this investigation. The laser wavelength of 532nm was selected as the silver microparticles can absorb the laser energy more efficiently without the risk of damaging the material compared to infrared wavelength. Liquid-phase epoxy-based particulate silver inks deposited on flexible substrates were irradiated by laser beam at the wavelength of 532nm. This produced a smooth and cured ink with an effectively reduced electrical resistivity. A new laser curing mechanism theory was proposed based on the presented experimental research. 532nm has shown benefits in protecting the flexible substrate used from thermal damage, owing to the high transmittance of the wavelength through the substrate material. Unlike massive solvent evaporation observed in CO2 laser curing at 10.6µm, laser curing at 532nm, transported the solvent component by expelling solvent liquid from the ink system as a result of a radical change in solvent dynamic viscosity at an increased temperature and the molecular excitation followed by the Marangoni effect. Chemical cross-linking reactions to resin system were evidenced by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), resulting in a fully cured ink with reduced electrical resistivity. Epoxy-based silver ink's physical properties such as density, thermal conductivity were mathematically defined based on a new temperature evolution for use in a 3-D finite element (FE) modelling. A Time-dependent solver was chosen for modelling the thermal field in a 532nm laser curing process of epoxy-based conductive silver ink within COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b. The modelling results were compared to the experimental thermal images for FE model validation. The impact to laser curing results by changing the absorption of the epoxy-based conductive silver ink was investigated in this FE model.