The main purpose of the project was to create an initial lab set-up for a dig-ital in-line holographic microscope and a reconstruction algorithm. Different parameters including: light source, pin-hole size and distances pinhole-object and object-camera had to be optimized. The lab set-up is to be developed further by a master student at the University of Nairobi and then be used for malaria detection in blood samples. To acquire good enough resolution for malaria detection it has been found necessary to purchase a gray scale camera with smaller pixel size. Two dierent approaches, in this report called the on-sensor approach and the object-magnication approach, were investigated. A reconstruction algorithm anda phase recovery algorithm was implemented as well as a super resolution algorithm to improve resolution of the holograms. The on-sensor approach proved easier and cheaper to use with approximately the same results as the object-magnication method. Necessary further research and development of experimental set-up was thoroughly discussed. / Projketet har gått ut på att bygga en billigare och enklare metod för att identifiera malaria i blodprover. Malaria är ett stort problem i en mängd områden i världen. Flera av dessa är fattiga och kan i nuläget inte tillhandahålla den här tjänsten till sin befolkning. Förutom att dyr apparatur krävs måste även utbildad personal lägga ner mycket tid för att kolla en stor mängd blodprover för att statistiskt säkerställa om en person har malaria eller inte. Vårt mål var att bygga en labbuppställning för "Digital in line holographic microscopy" och en rekonstruktionsalgoritm som en masterstudent vid Nairobi universitet ska fortsätta utveckla. Vi kom också fram till vilken upplösning som krävdes för att kunna urskilja malaria i blodproverna. Digital in line holographic microscopy går till så att man har en ljuskälla som riktas genom ett pinnhål, ljuset som går genom pinnhålet ljuser upp det prov, blodproverna i vårt fall, man vill undersöka och det resulterande ljuset fångas på en kamera. Med kunskap om fourieroptik går det att rekonstruera den digitala bilden man fångat på kameran, innan rekonstruktion är den ett hologram vilken är svårtydd. Labbuppställningen byggdes delvis med en 3D printer. För att förbättra resultaten implementerades flera algoritmer vilka lade ihop en mängd förskjutna bilder till en bättre bild, så kallad super resolution. Vi lyckades inte komma till den upplösning som krävdes för att urskilja malaria men gjorde en grundlig förstudie och en utförlig beskrivning av det arbete som väntar den student som fortsätter med projektet. Framför allt beskrevs värden på parametrar och vilken typ av kamera som ska användas för att optimera uppställningen.

A need was identified to test multi–layer vacuum super insulation (MLVSI) used in cryogenic applications for hydrogen storage. The study focuses on the application of commercially available MLVSI to a locally patented liquid hydrogen cryogenic storage system. This led to an investigation of different types of multi–layer vacuum insulation configurations, as well as further research on tank inlet coupling configurations. It includes the manufacturing of a liquid nitrogen testing cryostat to be able to test and evaluate the system performance. The first set of tests was based on the development of an inlet coupling configuration to limit heat transfer through the inner tank inlet, of a double cryogenic tank system in order to reduce gas boil–off. The couplings were manufactured in the form of a bellow to handle cryogenic vacuum levels, while ensuring low heat transfer rates between inner and outer tanks. It was found that various coupling designs can be considered to limit gas boil–off. The second set of tests was conducted on a specific MLVSI configuration to determine its effectiveness to insulate the spherical header surface of a typical hydrogen storage vessel. The installation procedure, to limit heat transfer and boil–off due to edge effects in this configuration was investigated. It was found that insulation–overlap–edge effects will always have an impact on insulation performance when a spherical header of a storage vessel is insulated, due to its specific geometry. A time efficient way to install MLVSI on such a spherical header is presented and evaluated. Further investigations were carried out by combining findings into one single system to determine the performance of an optimised insulated cryogenic system. It was found that copper plate discs installed between the vanes of a bellowed inlet/outlet nozzle is the most promising to limit heat transfer to the cryogenic fluid. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

A need was identified to test multi–layer vacuum super insulation (MLVSI) used in cryogenic applications for hydrogen storage. The study focuses on the application of commercially available MLVSI to a locally patented liquid hydrogen cryogenic storage system. This led to an investigation of different types of multi–layer vacuum insulation configurations, as well as further research on tank inlet coupling configurations. It includes the manufacturing of a liquid nitrogen testing cryostat to be able to test and evaluate the system performance. The first set of tests was based on the development of an inlet coupling configuration to limit heat transfer through the inner tank inlet, of a double cryogenic tank system in order to reduce gas boil–off. The couplings were manufactured in the form of a bellow to handle cryogenic vacuum levels, while ensuring low heat transfer rates between inner and outer tanks. It was found that various coupling designs can be considered to limit gas boil–off. The second set of tests was conducted on a specific MLVSI configuration to determine its effectiveness to insulate the spherical header surface of a typical hydrogen storage vessel. The installation procedure, to limit heat transfer and boil–off due to edge effects in this configuration was investigated. It was found that insulation–overlap–edge effects will always have an impact on insulation performance when a spherical header of a storage vessel is insulated, due to its specific geometry. A time efficient way to install MLVSI on such a spherical header is presented and evaluated. Further investigations were carried out by combining findings into one single system to determine the performance of an optimised insulated cryogenic system. It was found that copper plate discs installed between the vanes of a bellowed inlet/outlet nozzle is the most promising to limit heat transfer to the cryogenic fluid. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The effectiveness of temporary flood protection is highly variable depending on the location, application, and the nature of flood events. This thesis evaluates sand-filled geotextile containers used as flood protection products within a framework of standardized tests. Specifically, Syn-Tex Wave Breakers and Super Sandbags are tested in both laboratory and field settings to quantify seepage rates, stability and durability. This allows informed decisions to be made regarding appropriate applications for each temporary flood protection product, and identifies areas for product improvement and development. The products tested performed well over the range of loading conditions applied. Large sand-filled geotextiles would be well-suited for situations where stakeholders have a low tolerance for risk, and there is adequate site access for the construction equipment required for installation. An ideal installation would be a long, relatively straight stretch where vertical product/wall and product/product interfaces can be minimized.

In this thesis we study certain singular Sturm-Liouville differential expressions from an operator theoretic point of view.In particular we are interested in expressions that involve strongly singular potentials as introduced by Gesztesy and Zinchenko.On the ODE side, analyzing these expressions involves the so-called $m$-functions, often generalized Nevanlinna functions, who encapsulate spectral information of the underlying problem.The aim of the two papers in this thesis is to further understanding on the operator theory side.In the first paper, we use a model for super singular perturbations to describe a family of induced self-adjoint realizations of a perturbed Schr\"o\-din\-ger operator, i.e., with a potential of the form $c/x^2 + q$ where $q$ is a perturbation.Following the unperturbed example of Kurasov and Luger, we find that the so-called $Q$-function appearing in this approach is in good agreement with the above named $m$-function.Furthermore, we show that the operator model can be chosen such that $Q \equiv m$.In the second paper, we present a negative result in this area, namely that the supersingular perturbations model cannot be used for all strongly singular potentials.For a potential with a stronger singularity at the origin, namely $1/x^4$, we discuss the asymptotic behaviour of the Weyl solution at zero.It turns out that this function cannot be regularized appropriately and the operator model breaks down.

The optics and photonics development is currently driven towards nanometer scales. However, diffraction imposes challenges for this development because it prevents confinement of light below a physical limit, commonly known as the diffraction limit. Several implications of the diffraction limit include that conventional optical microscopes are unable to resolve objects smaller than 250nm, and photonic circuits have a physical dimension on the order of the wavelength. Metals at optical frequencies display collective electron oscillations when excited by photon energy, giving rise to the surface plasmon modes with subdiffractional modal profile at metal-dielectric interfaces. Therefore, metallo-dielectric structures are promising candidates for alleviating the obstacles due to diffraction. This thesis investigates a particular branch of plasmonic structures, namely plasmonic antennas, for the purpose of optical imaging and sensing applications. Plasmonic antennas are known for their ability of dramatic near-field enhancement, as well as effective coupling of free-space radiation with localized energy. Such properties are demonstrated in this thesis through two particular applications. The first one is to utilize the interference of evanescent waves from an array of antennas to achieve near-field subdiffraction focusing, also known as superfocusing, in both one and two dimensions. Such designs could alleviate the tradeoffs in the current near-field scanning optical microscopy by improving the signal throughput and extending the imaging distance. The second application is to achieve more efficient radiation from single-emitters through coupling to a highly directive leaky-wave antenna. In this case, the leaky-wave antenna demonstrates the ability of enhancing the directivity over a very wide spectrum.

The optics and photonics development is currently driven towards nanometer scales. However, diffraction imposes challenges for this development because it prevents confinement of light below a physical limit, commonly known as the diffraction limit. Several implications of the diffraction limit include that conventional optical microscopes are unable to resolve objects smaller than 250nm, and photonic circuits have a physical dimension on the order of the wavelength. Metals at optical frequencies display collective electron oscillations when excited by photon energy, giving rise to the surface plasmon modes with subdiffractional modal profile at metal-dielectric interfaces. Therefore, metallo-dielectric structures are promising candidates for alleviating the obstacles due to diffraction. This thesis investigates a particular branch of plasmonic structures, namely plasmonic antennas, for the purpose of optical imaging and sensing applications. Plasmonic antennas are known for their ability of dramatic near-field enhancement, as well as effective coupling of free-space radiation with localized energy. Such properties are demonstrated in this thesis through two particular applications. The first one is to utilize the interference of evanescent waves from an array of antennas to achieve near-field subdiffraction focusing, also known as superfocusing, in both one and two dimensions. Such designs could alleviate the tradeoffs in the current near-field scanning optical microscopy by improving the signal throughput and extending the imaging distance. The second application is to achieve more efficient radiation from single-emitters through coupling to a highly directive leaky-wave antenna. In this case, the leaky-wave antenna demonstrates the ability of enhancing the directivity over a very wide spectrum.

This thesis develops and evaluates a method to simulate energy consumption and water production for a novel sorption dehumidication pro-cess. The system consists of a chamber comprising a hygroscopic materialand a heating device. The process consists of an adsorption phase anda regeneration phase. For both the regeneration phase and the adsorp-tion phase the model considers the heat distribution by thermal diusionand convection and the water transport by diusion and convection. Forthe regeneration phase the radiation is also considered since the radia-tive power increases with temperature to the power of four. Further, amodel for the condensation process is implemented and a model for thecondensation is suggested. To model the properties of the hygroscopicmaterials, the adsorption curves for SiO2 and AlO2 are investigated. Themodel were evaluated by comparing the simulated values with experimen-tal measurements.The results from the the simulation of the regeneration phase showsa good agreement with experimental data for the power and the energyconsumption even though the simulated values are a bit underestimated,about 10%. The water production is simulated to be about 25% higherthan the measured values. This discrepancy could be explained by aleakage of water vapour that was found in the experimental set up, whichis not considered in the model. This could also explain the underestimatedenergy consumption since the condensation energy in the system is toogreat. To improve the accuracy for the model the water leakage wouldneed to be implemented. The overestimation of water seemed to be thesame for the measurements from the same apparatus.For the adsorption phase a developed model, from an article for ad-sorption in silica, was implemented and tuned for the specic system. Thesimulations are in good agreement with the measurements but could betested further for more certainty.

In this thesis, we investigate the integrability of a class of multicomponent super integrable Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) systems in (1 + 1) dimensions in the context of recursion operator formalism. Integrability conditions are obtained for the system with arbitrary number of components. In particular, from these conditions we construct two new subclasses of multicomponent super integrable KdV systems.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Communications, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-65).