Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005. Directed by Bert Bras. / Bras, Bert, Committee Chair ; Baker, Nelson, Committee Member ; Griffin, Paul, Committee Member ; Paredis, Chris, Committee Member ; Rosen, David, Committee Member. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MScIng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / Arkin, Ronald, Committee Member ; DeWeerth, Steve, Committee Member ; Vito, Raymond, Committee Member ; Ebert-Uphoff, Imme, Committee Member ; Book, Wayne, Committee Chair. Includes bibliographical references.

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Το αντικείμενο της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας αφορά την μελέτη φαινομένων θορύβου σε ηλεκτρονικές διατάξεις ανίχνευσης οι οποίες αποτελούν προγενέστερο στάδιο της αποστολής του ψηφιακού σήματος σε βιοαισθητήρες. Στόχος είναι η μοντελοποίηση και βελτιστοποίηση κυκλωματικών τοπολογιών ως προς την απόκριση συνεχούς και την θορυβική τους απόκριση. / The purpose of this thesis concerns the study of noise phenomena into electronics detection systems which are an earlier step of the forwarding of the digital signal in biosensors. Our aim is the modeling and the optimization of those circuit topologies from the side of transient response-analysis and noise response.

In the recent past, graphene has been discovered and studied as one of the most promising materials after silicon and carbon nanotube. Its atomically thin structure, pristine dangling bonds free surface and interface, ultra-fast charge transport capability, semi-metallic behavior, ultra-strong mechanical ruggedness, promising photonic properties and bio-compatibility makes it a material to explore from all different perspectives to identify potential application areas which can augment the quality of our life. Therefore, in this doctoral work the following critical studies have been carried out meticulously with key findings are listed below: (1) A simplistic and sustainable growth process of double or multi-layer graphene (up to 4” substrate coverage with uniformity) using low-cost atmospheric chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) technique. [presented in MRS Fall Meeting 2012 and in IEEE SIECPC 2012) (2) A buried metallic layer based contact engineering process to overcome the sustained challenge of contact engineering associated with low-dimensional atomically thin material. (presented in IEEE Nano 2013 and archieved in conference proceedings) (3) Demonstration of a fin type graphene transistor (inspired by multi-gate architecture) with a mobility of 11,000 cm2/V.s at room temperature with an applied drive-in voltage of ±1 volt to demonstrate for the first time a pragmatic approach for graphene transistor for mobile applications which can maintain its ultra-fast charge transport behavior with ultra-low power consumption. [Published in ACS Nano 2013] (4) Further a meticulous study has been done to understand the harsh environment compatibility of graphene for its potential use in underwater and space applications. [Published as Cover Article in physica solidi status – Rapid Research Letters, 2014] (5) Due to its highly conductive nature and low surface-to-volume ratio it has been used to replace conventional gold based anodic material in microbial fuel cells (used for water purification in self-sustained mode) to demonstrate its effectiveness as a sustainable low-cost mechanically robust transparent material. [Published in ACS Nano 2013, in Energy Technology 2014 as a Cover Article and in Nature Publishing Group Asia Materials 2014] (6) Extensive study to stabilize graphene surface and to use the phenomena for development of a sensor which can monitor the quality of water. [presented in MRS Fall Meeting 2013 and in MRS Fall Meeting 2014] (7) By using graphene as an expose transistor architecture with ultra-scale high-k dielectric, to develop a series of sensor for glucose monitoring. Sensitivity, selectivity, response rate and refresh time has been studied and optimized. [pending review in Nature Scientific Reports 2015] (8) From the lessons learnt during the development of glucose monitoring sensor cell, a sophisticated low-cost ultra-low power mobile graphene based non-invasive sensor has been assembled and clinically trialed in collaboration with King Faisal Hospitals in Jeddah and in Makkah. [pending review in Science 2015] As a future direction, this thesis also discusses potential of graphene growth on electrochemically deposited metallic seed layers and consequential usage in stretchable and transparent graphene antenna development for fully flexible only graphene based integrated electronic system integration.

This thesis presents an investigation into the application of optical fibre sensors to a tomographic imaging system for use with gas/water mixtures. Several sensing techniques for measurement of two component flow using non-intrusive techniques are discussed and their relevance to tomographic applications considered. Optical systems are shown to be worthy of investigation. The interaction between a collimated beam of light and a spherical bubble is described. Modelling of different arrangements of projections of optical sensing arrays is carried out to predict the expected sensor output voltage profiles due to different flow regimes represented by four models. The four flow models investigated are: a single pixel flow, two pixels flow, half flow and full flow models. The response of the sensors is based on three models: optical path length, optical attenuation and a combination of optical attenuation model and signal conditioning. In the optical path length model, opaque solids or small bubbles, which are conveyed, may totally or partially interrupt the optical beams within the sensing volume. In the optical attenuation model, the Lambert-Beer's Law is applied to model optical attenuation due to the different optical densities of the fluids being conveyed. The combination of optical attenuation model and signal conditioning is designed to improve the visual contrast of the tomograms compared with those based on the optical attenuation model. Layergram back-projection (LYGBP) is used to reconstruct the image. A hybrid reconstruction algorithm combining knowledge of sensors reading zero flow with LYGBP is tested and shown to improve the image reconstruction. The combination of a two orthogonal and two rectilinear projections system based on optical fibres is used to obtain the concentration profiles and velocity of gas bubbles in a vertical column. The optical fibre lens is modelled to determine the relationships between fibre parameters and collimation of light into the receiver circuit. Modelling of the flow pipe is also carried out to investigate which method of mounting the fibres minimises refraction of the collimated light entering the pipe and the measurement cross-section. The preparation of the ends of the optical fibre and design of the electronics, which process the tomographic data, are described. Concentration profiles obtained from experiments on small bubbles and large bubbles flowing in a hydraulic conveyor are presented. Concentration profiles are generated using the hybrid reconstruction algorithm. The optical tomographic system is shown to be sensitive to small bubbles in water of diameter 1-10 mm and volumetric flow rates up to 1 1/min, and large bubbles in water of diameter 15-20 mm and volumetric flow rates up to 3 1/min. Velocity measurements are obtained directly from cross correlation of upstream and downstream sensors' signals as well as from upstream and downstream pixel concentration values. Suggestions for further work on optical tomographic measurements are made.

Thesis (Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Electrochemical and non-enzymatic fructose detection has evoked keen interest in the scientific literature. Several authors have reported on different methods of electrode preparation for fructose sensors. However, little systematic study has been conducted to design a cheap, efficient method of depositing metal oxides to detect fructose. To address the challenge, a Co3O4 thin film was fabricated using a simple solution step deposition on Fluorine doped Tin oxide (FTO) glass electrode. In this study, a report on the selective oxidation of fructose on Co3O4 thin film electrode surface is presented. Electrode characterization was done using X-ray diffraction (XRD), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Atomic Fluorescence Microscopy (AFM), and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). All cyclic voltammetry (CVs) and chronoamperometry tests were carried out by the use of an AUTOLAB POTENTIOSTAT 302 N, controlled by Nova 2.0 software instrumentation using a customized 50 cm3 electrochemical cell. The cell consisted of a graphite rod as the counter electrode (CE), 3 M Ag/AgCl reference electrode (RE) and the fabricated Co3O4/FTO as the working electrode (WE). All experiments were carried out at 25±2 ⁰C. From the results, the constructed sensor exhibited two distinctive linear ranges in the ranges of 0.021 – 1.74 mM and from 1.74 - ~15 mM, covering a wide linear range of up to ~15 mM at an applied potential of +0.6V vs. Ag/AgCl in 0.1M NaOH solution. The sensor demonstrated a high, reproducible and repeatable sensitivity of 495 (lower concentration range) & 53 (higher concentration range) μA cm-2 mM-1 for a low R.S.D of 5 %. The Co3O4 thin film produced a low detection limit of ~1.7 μM for a signal to noise ratio of 3 (S/N = 3); a fast response time of 6s and long term stability. The repeatability and stability of the electrode resulted from the chemical stability of Co3O4 thin film. The study showed that the sensor was highly selective towards fructose compared to the presence of other key interferences i.e. AA, AC, and UA. Because of such a favourable electrocatalysis of the Co3O4 sensor towards fructose, the ease of the electrode fabrication and reproducibility makes it a future candidate for commercial applications in the food and beverages sector.

The objective of the current work has been to develop a system which will allow continuous monitoring of areal mass density, lateral stress, and temperature during a process with real time presentation of results making possible either manual or automated control of the process. The system uses three quartz resonators of different crystallographic cuts (AT cut, BT cut and SC cut) in the same environment. The development of an algorithm to solve a system of equations representing a complete representation of the temperature characteristics of the three resonators is presented. This is followed by an analysis of the potential accuracy of the system and the limitations imposed by the assumptions made in the mathematical models of the system. Sputtering yields were verified using Rutherford backscattering analysis. Experimental apparatus including the physical mounting of the resonators in an experimental environment, details of the oscillator circuitry and frequency counter, and use of a personal computer for data acquisition and control are described. The results presented show, in addition to the mass change and lateral stress build-up which occur when sputtering a gold film with an argon ion beam, the radiation induced temperature rise and the radiation induced stress caused by temperature gradients. An experiment using beams of Sb+ at 50keV and Sb2+ at 100keV has been used to demonstrate the enhancement of sputtering yield that occurs when Au films are bombarded with monomers and dimers of Sb at the same energy per atom. Results are compared with simulations using both the TRIM program and molecular dynamics code.

We identified four metabolic genes as direct targets of Notch signaling pathway both in vitro and in vivo and investigated the hypothesis that Notch directed metabolic changes support the growth of the imaginal wing dics. Vice versa, we observed the influence of metabolic changes on the activity of Notch signaling pathway and we identified Sirt1 as a metabolic sensor for the Notch pathway that helps to elicit an efficient response to Notch signal, in a metabolism sensitive manner.