Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (M.Eng.)(Mechanical)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Summaries in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Polymer, Textile & Fiber Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Karl I. Jacob, Committee Chair ; Youjiang Wang, Committee Member ; Mary Lynn Realff, Committee Member ; Arun Gokhale, Committee Member ; Rami Haj-Ali, Committee Member.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Toledo, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-86). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Toledo, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-86).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). "June 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p. [169]-182) and index. Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references and vita.

The next generations of both biological engineering and computer engineering demand that control be exerted at the molecular level. Creating, characterizing and controlling synthetic biological systems may provide us with the ability to build cells that are capable of a plethora of activities, from computation to synthesizing nanostructures. To develop these systems, we must have a set of tools not only for synthesizing systems, but also designing and simulating them. The BioJADE project provides a comprehensive, extensible design and simulation platform for synthetic biology. BioJADE is a graphical design tool built in Java, utilizing a database back end, and supports a range of simulations using an XML communication protocol. BioJADE currently supports a library of over 100 parts with which it can compile designs into actual DNA, and then generate synthesis instructions to build the physical parts. The BioJADE project contributes several tools to Synthetic Biology. BioJADE in itself is a powerful tool for synthetic biology designers. Additionally, we developed and now make use of a centralized BioBricks repository, which enables the sharing of BioBrick components between researchers, and vastly reduces the barriers to entry for aspiring Synthetic Biologists.

The mechanical properties of PET (widely used in bottles and synthetic fibres) and Nylon 11 (also used in the fabrication of synthetic fibres) were studied over several decades of strain rate at different temperatures in an effort to provide a more complete description of these materials behaviour. Processing techniques can be improved if such information is available. Tests were carried out using a conventional Hounsfield machine and two in-house-developed dropweight and a cross bow systems from 10°C to 200°C. The three systems enable true stress vs. true strain curves to be calculated.

The formation and subsequent burnout behaviour of coal slurry fuel chars has been studied using a suspended single droplet technique and solid sampling techniques in large turbulent diffusion flames. Both these techniques yielded comparable results on the structure of carbonaceous residues from a range of coal slurry fuels containing coals of different rank, size and concentration. The structure and burnout behaviour of all the fuels tested was dependant on coal rank, particle size, and concentration, although these variables did not always produce the same differences in behaviour in coal-oil and coal-water chars. Mid-rank coals, produced swollen well-fused chars which were substantially hollow and incorporated large surface blowholes. Such residues showed little tendency to fragment during combustion. Low and high rank coals produced less swollen chars which were comprised of loosely agglomerated coal particles causing more extensive internal structure and smaller surface blowholes. The furnace results of this and other studies indicate that the latter type of char structure is more conducive to rapid to rapid burnout. Small concentrations of emulsified water in coal-oil slurries were observed to increase the intensity of ebullition during devolatilisation although no evidence was obtained from any of the experimental techniques to suggest that this caused droplet shattering. However, water addition did increase the rate of combustion of coal-oil fuels. A theoretical model of the behaviour of coal slurry fuel chars during combustion has been presented which explains the experimental results in terms of the internal surface area of the char and the availability of this area to the gaseous reactants. It has been concluded that the rate of combustion of coal slurry chars of the size encountered in flames is largely controlled by the rate of internal diffusion of gaseous reactants and reaction within the porous char structure. The different reactivities of coal slurry fuels of different coal ranks has therefore been explained in terms of the various char structures which were observed The beneficial effects of water on the combustion of coal-oil fuels has also been explained within this theory since the addition of water could increase the porosity of the chars. However this has not been confirmed experimentally.