A colloid of magnesium hydroxide is used to stabilize droplets of monomers before suspension polymerisation. The characteristics of precipitated magnesium hydroxide changes significantly during the first hours. The viscosity is high and flucctuating at first but decreases and becomes low and stable after a few hours. When the colloid ages the primary particles agglomerate into larger particles which increases in size by time due to, among other things, Oswald ripening and aggregation. This can cause problems with poor reproducibility in the production. Therefore, the purpose of this study was finding a way to age the colloid without an increase in particle size and without changing any other features. Several experiments were made to optimize the precipitation procedure and to find out what parameters that are most important. The results showed that the stirring rate and colloidal concentration have big influence. Small amounts of chemicals that modifies the surface of the colloid was added. This made the particle size near constant over time and the colloid was aged for two months without increasing in size or changing other properties. This was confirmed by making microspheres that had the same characteristics as microspheres made with a fresh colloid.

In this thesis we study the stabilization of closed sets for passive nonlinear control systems, developing necessary and sufficient conditions under which a passivity-based feedback stabilizes a given goal set. The development of this result takes us to a journey through the so-called reduction problem: given two nested invariant sets G1 subset of G2, and assuming that G1 enjoys certain stability properties relative to G2, under what conditions does G1 enjoy the same stability properties with respect to the whole state space? We develop reduction principles for stability, asymptotic stability, and attractivity which are applicable to arbitrary closed sets. When applied to the passivity-based set stabilization problem, the reduction theory suggests a new definition of detectability which is geometrically appealing and captures precisely the property that the control system must possess in order for the stabilization problem to be solvable. The reduction theory and set stabilization results developed in this thesis are used to solve a distributed coordination problem for a group of unicycles, whereby the vehicles are required to converge to a circular formation of desired radius, with a specific ordering and spacing on the circle.

In this thesis we study the stabilization of closed sets for passive nonlinear control systems, developing necessary and sufficient conditions under which a passivity-based feedback stabilizes a given goal set. The development of this result takes us to a journey through the so-called reduction problem: given two nested invariant sets G1 subset of G2, and assuming that G1 enjoys certain stability properties relative to G2, under what conditions does G1 enjoy the same stability properties with respect to the whole state space? We develop reduction principles for stability, asymptotic stability, and attractivity which are applicable to arbitrary closed sets. When applied to the passivity-based set stabilization problem, the reduction theory suggests a new definition of detectability which is geometrically appealing and captures precisely the property that the control system must possess in order for the stabilization problem to be solvable. The reduction theory and set stabilization results developed in this thesis are used to solve a distributed coordination problem for a group of unicycles, whereby the vehicles are required to converge to a circular formation of desired radius, with a specific ordering and spacing on the circle.

When firing a handheld weapon, the shooter tries to aim at the point where he wants the bullet to hit. However, due to imperfections in the human body, this can be quite hard. The weapon moves relative to the target and the shooter has to use precise timing to fire the shot exactly when the weapon points to the intended target position. This can be very hard, especially when shooting at long range using a magnifying rifle scope. In this thesis, a solution to this problem using image analysis is described and tested. Using a digital video camera and software, the system helps the shooter to fire at the appropriate time. The system is designed to operate in real-time conditions on a PC. The tests carried out have shown that the solution is promising and helps to achieve better accuracy. However it needs to be optimized to run smoothly on a smaller scale embedded system. / Då en skytt avfyrar ett handhållet vapen försöker skytten sikta mot den punkt där han vill att kulan ska träffa. Eftersom den mänskliga kroppen inte är helt stabil kommer vapnet att röra sig runt denna punkt och skytten måste försöka avfyra skottet precis vid den tidpunkt då vapnet pekar mot rätt punkt. Detta är särskilt svårt vid stora avstånd, då små vinkelskillnader i vapnets pipa ger större utslag med ökande avstånd till målet.  I denna uppsats beskrivs och utvärderas ett system konstruerat för att minimera inverkan av de ofrivilliga rörelserna. Systemet använder sig av en videokamera monterad i siktet och en dator med mjukvara som utför analys och behandling av videoströmmen för att avgöra när vapnet bör avfyras. Tanken är att i ett färdigt system implementera algoritmen i ett portabelt inbyggt system som kan monteras i kikarsiktet tillsammans med kameran. Mjukvaran kan sedan styra avfyrningen elektroniskt efter att skytten gett sitt godkännande genom att lägga tryck på avtryckaren. Testen som genomförts visar att angreppssättet är lovande. Systemet fick i samtliga fall bättre resultat än då skyttarna avfyrade skott manuellt.

The stability and boundedness theories are developed for impulsive differential equations with time delay. Definitions, notations and fundamental theory are presented for delay differential systems with both fixed and state-dependent impulses. It is usually more difficult to investigate the qualitative properties of systems with state-dependent impulses since different solutions have different moments of impulses. In this thesis, the stability problems of nontrivial solutions of systems with state-dependent impulses are ``transferred" to those of the trivial solution of systems with fixed impulses by constructing the so-called ``reduced system". Therefore, it is enough to investigate the stability problems of systems with fixed impulses. The exponential stability problem is then discussed for the system with fixed impulses. A variety of stability criteria are obtained and`numerical examples are worked out to illustrate the results, which shows that impulses do contribute to the stabilization of some delay differential equations. To unify various stability concepts and to offer a general framework for the investigation of stability theory, the concept of stability in terms of two measures is introduced and then several stability criteria are developed for impulsive delay differential equations by both the single and multiple Lyapunov functions method. Furthermore, boundedness and periodicity results are discussed for impulsive differential systems with time delay. The Lyapunov-Razumikhin technique, the Lyapunov functional method, differential inequalities, the method of variation of parameters, and the partitioned matrix method are the main tools to obtain these results. Finally, the application of the stability theory to neural networks is presented. In applications, the impulses are considered as either means of impulsive control or perturbations.Sufficient conditions for stability and stabilization of neural networks are obtained.

Current municipal solid waste (MSW) practices have encouraged rapid waste degradation (stabilization) as an alternative to past methods of isolating the waste from the surrounding environment. There are challenges to rapid-stabilization technology, in particular, the management of the in-situ MSW moisture content.<p> The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the use of capacitance moisture probes for the purpose of measuring the moisture content within MSW. Capacitance moisture probes have not previously been used in MSW, however their use in agriculture is extensive and knowledge of their potential for monitoring MSW is limited.<p> The specific objectives of this research were to: i) establish a laboratory based correlation between sensor data and volumetric moisture content in MSW, ii) establish a correlation between field-installed capacitance sensors and moisture content derived from continuous-depth in-situ sampling of MSW, and iii) demonstrate the ability of capturing advancing/receding moisture fronts with the field-installed capacitance sensors.<p> Laboratory trials were conducted using hand-compacted MSW at volumetric moisture contents ranging from 15%-55% and a manual type of capacitance sensor. This series of laboratory trials successfully produced a correlation between sensor output and volumetric moisture content.<p> To evaluate the sensors in a real-world application, two configurations of capacitance moisture probes were installed in the field: i) an in-place, continuous-time capacitance probe, and ii) a portable, continuous-depth at discrete time, capacitance probe.<p> Field results indicated that capacitance moisture probes were able to capture the passing of both an artificially and naturally induced moisture front, though quantitative correlation between the in-situ moisture content of the sampled MSW and the readings of the sensors could not be achieved.<p> The reasons for this were a combination of three factors:<p> 1. The introduction of void-space during sensor installation significantly reduced sensor output;<p> 2. Poor MSW sampling technique resulted in 57% recovery (causing the exact origin of samples to be unknown); and<p> 3. The sampling technique disturbed the MSW samples, resulting in incorrect volumetric moisture contents in the samples.

<p>Noise-induced stabilization occurs when an unstable deterministic system is stabilized by the addition of white noise. Proving that this phenomenon occurs for a particular system is often manifested through the construction of a global Lyapunov function. However, the procedure for constructing a Lyapunov function is often quite ad hoc, involving much time and tedium. In this thesis, a systematic algorithm for the construction of a global Lyapunov function for planar systems is presented. The general methodology is to construct a sequence of local Lyapunov functions in different regions of the plane, where the regions are delineated by different behaviors of the deterministic dynamics. A priming region, where the deterministic drift is directed inward, is first identified where there is an obvious choice for a local Lyapunov function. This priming Lyapunov function is then propagated to the other regions through a series of Poisson equations. The local Lyapunov functions are lastly patched together to form one smooth global Lyapunov function.</p><p>The algorithm is applied to a model problem which displays finite time blow up in the deterministic setting in order to prove that the system exhibits noise-induced stabilization. Moreover, the Lyapunov function constructed is in fact what we define to be a super Lyapunov function. We prove that the existence of a super Lyapunov function, along with a minorization condition, implies that the corresponding system converges to a unique invariant probability measure at an exponential rate that is independent of the initial condition.</p> / Dissertation

By 2006, the U.S. government has spent $15 billion to address the degradation of urban streams, including erosion of stream banks, disconnection of rivers from the floodplain, and disturbance of surface runoff pathways. Bank stabilization is one of the most prevalent restoration activities in urban stream restoration. Unfortunately, most stream restoration projects have been undertaken without a pre- or post-evaluation of the impact of stream restoration on real value in the area. All restoration projects beg the question: Did the money spent on the project result in greater benefits to stream stability as well as to adjacent properties? The Walnut Creek watershed, located in Austin, Texas, has experienced varying stages of urbanization since the 1990s. One of the streams, the Walnut Creek tributary, was restored in 2003. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of stream restoration on housing values. We applied the hedonic pricing method to evaluate the changes in housing value associated with housing and environmental characteristics. Repeat ground photography was utilized to assess stream restoration activities at spatial and temporal scales. Our results suggest that the stream restoration project resulted in significant positive impacts on housing values in the periods of restoration (8.3%) and restoration adjustment (10.7%). However, the project did not enhance the values of houses on the floodplain. In addition, results show that erosion had continuous negative impacts on housing values. Overall, the restoration project contributed to the greater benefits during the restoration adjustment period right after restoration by an increase of 1% of the average housing value for each property on the restoration site. In this study, the benefits of stream restoration project were minimal since bank stabilization was the main activity considered in this stream restoration project. Nevertheless, restoration enhances the stability of the stream banks, minimizes erosion problems, and presents an enhanced aesthetic beauty of the stream in Austin, Texas.

The maximum weight-independent set problem (MWISP) is one of the most well-known and well-studied NP-hard problems in the field of combinatorial optimization. In the first part of the dissertation, I explore efficient branch-and-price (B&P) approaches to solve MWISP exactly. B&P is a useful integer-programming tool for solving NP-hard optimization problems. Specifically, I look at vertex- and edge-disjoint decompositions of the underlying graph. MWISP’s on the resulting subgraphs are less challenging, on average, to solve. I use the B&P framework to solve MWISP on the original graph G using these specially constructed subproblems to generate columns. I demonstrate that vertex-disjoint partitioning scheme gives an effective approach for relatively sparse graphs. I also show that the edge-disjoint approach is less effective than the vertex-disjoint scheme because the associated DWD reformulation of the latter entails a slow rate of convergence. In the second part of the dissertation, I address convergence properties associated with Dantzig-Wolfe Decomposition (DWD). I discuss prevalent methods for improving the rate of convergence of DWD. I also implement specific methods in application to the edge-disjoint B&P scheme and show that these methods improve the rate of convergence. In the third part of the dissertation, I focus on identifying new cut-generation methods within the B&P framework. Such methods have not been explored in the literature. I present two new methodologies for generating generic cutting planes within the B&P framework. These techniques are not limited to MWISP and can be used in general applications of B&P. The first methodology generates cuts by identifying faces (facets) of subproblem polytopes and lifting associated inequalities; the second methodology computes Lift-and-Project (L&P) cuts within B&P. I successfully demonstrate the feasibility of both approaches and present preliminary computational tests of each.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-123).