<p>The novel method of this thesis work is based on using quadrature filters to estimate an orientation tensor and to use the advantage of tensor information to control 3D adaptive filters. The adaptive filters are applied to enhance the Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) images. The tubular structures are extracted from the volume dataset by using the quadrature filters. The idea of developing adaptive filtering in this thesis work is to enhance the volume dataset and suppress the image noise. Then the output of the adaptive filtering can be a clean dataset for segmentation of blood vessel structures to get appropriate volume visualization.</p><p>The local tensors are used to create the control tensor which is used to control adaptive filters. By evaluation of the tensor eigenvalues combination, the local structures like tubular structures and stenosis structures are extracted from the dataset. The method has been evaluated with synthetic objects, which are vessel models (for segmentation), and onion like synthetic object (for enhancement). The experimental results are shown on clinical images to validate the proposed method as well.</p>

The interaction of nanoparticles with biological systems, especially interactions with cell membranes, has been a subject of active research due to its numerous applications in many areas of soft-matter and biological systems. Within only a few relevant physical parameters profound structural properties have been discovered in the context of simple coarse-grained theoretical models. In this Thesis we study the structure of a tubular membrane adhering to two rigid cylindrical particles on a basis of a free-energy model that uses Helfrich energy for the description of the membrane. A numerical procedure is developed to solve the shape equations that determine the state of lowest energy. Several phase transitions exist in the system, arising from the competition between the bending energy of the membrane and the adhesion energy between the membrane and the particles. A continuous adhesion transition between the free and bound states, as well as several discontinuous shape transitions are identified, depending on the physical parameters of the system. The results are then generalized into a single phase diagram separating free, symmetric- and asymmetric-wrapping states in the phase space of the size of the particles and the adhesion energy. We show that for a relatively small size of the membrane tube the interaction between the cylinders becomes attractive in the strong curvature regime, leading to aggregation of the particles in the highly curved area of the tube that is characteristically different from the aggregation in a related three-dimensional system. For a relatively large membrane tube size the cylinders prefer to have a non-zero separation, even in the completely engulfed state. This indicates that, i) the spontaneous curvature of the membrane may play a role in the sign of the interaction of two colloidal particles adhered to a membrane and ii) cylindrical particles can aggregate on membrane tubes and vesicles if the curvature of the membrane around the aggregation region is sufficiently large.

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By the integration of dark and photo fermentative hydrogen production processes, higher yields of hydrogen can be obtained from biomass. In the first step, biomass is utilized for hydrogen production by dark fermentation and in the second step, the effluent of dark fermentation is further utilized for hydrogen production by photofermentation using photosynthetic purple non-sulfur bacteria. The purpose of this study was to develop a solar pilot scale tubular photobioreactor (PBR) for continuous photo fermentative hydrogen production from the effluent of dark fermentation. This study demonstrated the implementation of the solar pilot tubular PBR for this new technology for the first time and successful continuous operations were performed in different seasons. Two different strains of Rhodobacter capsulatus were used for the operations. It was showed that even in winter, pure hydrogen could be produced in the pilot PBR with an average productivity of 0.3 mol H2/m3.h, when circulation of the PBR was continuous. Productivity obtained by the mutant strain was 0.2 mol H2/m3.h with periodical circulation. The integration between dark and photo fermentation was proven at pilot scales by using real dark fermenter effluents of molasses and thick juice. DFE of thick juice yielded a maximum productivity of 0.27 mol H2/m3.h whereas the maximum productivity obtained from DFE of molasses was 0.12 mol H2/m3.h. The most important factor affecting productivity is found to be the total received light energy and a yield factor (mmol H2/g dry cell weight) was correlated with total received light energy. Acetic acid consumption rates were found to be first order for daytime and zero order for nights. Furthermore acetic acid utilization for different metabolic pathways were estimated and by-product, poly- &beta / - hydroxybutyrate, specific rates of product formation were determined.

In this study, two types of chemical mechanical polishing wastewaters (designated Cu-CMP wastewater and mixed-CMP wastewater, respectively) from a wafer fabrication plant was treated by a simultaneous electrocoagulation/electrofiltration (EC/EF) process using laboratory-prepared TiO2/Al2O3 composite membranes. First, tubular membrane supports of Al2O3 were prepared by the extrusion method. Then the slip composed of nanoscale TiO2 (prepared by sol-gel process) and 1 wt% of corn starch was applied on the aforementioned tubular membrane supports by the dip-coating method, followed by sintering to obtain tubular TiO2/Al2O3 composite membranes. These tubular inorganic composite membranes then were incorporated into an EC/EF treatment module for the treatment of CMP wastewaters. The permeate qualities were evaluated. In addition, the effects of different operating modes (i.e., the flow-through mode and recirculation mode) on membrane flux and permeate quality were conducted. Finally, the effects of changing the backwash time and backwash cycle on the membrane flux were also investigated. Experimental results have shown that the slip containing 75 v/v% of TiO2 sol and 25 v/v% of corn starch solution would yield a membrane layer with a thickness of 13 £gm and a pore size of 15 nm. On the CMP wastewater treatment, the removal efficiencies of copper ion and total organic carbon (TOC) were found to increase with the increasing electric field strength. This relationship, however, did not apply to other water quality items. Under the optimal operating conditions of using the recirculation mode, the removal efficiencies for turbidity and TOC for Cu-CMP wastewater were determined to be 98% and 90%, respectively. Similarly, a turbidity of < 1 NTU (a removal efficiency of 99%) was obtained for mixed-CMP wastewater. By using the same optimal operating conditions for the recirculation mode to treat Cu-CMP wastewater, initial fluxes of 300 L/h¡Em2 and 280 L/h¡Em2 were obtained for the flow-through mode and recirculation mode, respectively. The corresponding initial fluxes for mixed-CMP wastewater were 370 L/h¡Em2 and 360 L/h¡Em2, respectively. For the case of the recirculation mode, the removal efficiencies of total solids content, silicon, copper ion, TOC, and turbidity for Cu-CMP wastewater were 71%, 85%, 72%, 90% and 99%, respectively. The corresponding removal efficiencies of 68%, 88%, 78%, 90% and 99%, respectively were determined for the case of the flow-through mode. On the other hand, the removal efficiencies of total solids content, silicon, TOC, and turbidity for mixed-CMP wastewater using the recirculation mode were 76%, 84%, 78% and 99%, respectively; whereas 78%, 86%, 72% and 99%, respectively for the flow-through mode. Based on the above findings, the operating mode is not a significant parameter in influencing the membrane flux and quality. Permeate obtained in this work was found to be recyclable for the use in irrigation and make-up water for cooling towers. Backwashing was found to be important to the membrane flux in this study.

Water is essential for life as well as industrial growth. Therefore, this research is mainly to explore the treatment capacity of LCD (Liguid Crystal Display) industrial wastewater recycling by a simultaneous electrocoagulation/electrofiltration (EC/EF) process using laboratory-prepared multi-tubular TiO2/Al2O3 composite membranes. First, tubular membrane supports of Al2O3 were prepared by the extrusion method. Then the slip composed of nanoscale TiO2 (prepared by sol-gel process) was applied on the aforementioned tubular membrane supports by the dip-coating method, followed by sintering to obtain tubular TiO2/Al2O3 composite membranes. Then, two types of LCD industrial wastewaters (designated TFT-LCD wastewater and STN-LCD wastewater, respectively) from different LCD fabrication plants were treated by EC/EF process using TiO2/Al2O3 composite membranes. Moreover, the permeate qualities were evaluated under the recirculation-mode operation. In addition, the effects of different operating parameters (i.e., electric field strength, trans-membrane pressure, and crossflow velocity) on membrane flux and permeate quality were evaluated. Relations of the water quality and the different operation modes (i.e., the recirculation mode, flow-through mode, and secondary treatment mode) were also discussed. Finally, the effects of changing the backwash time and backwash cycle on membrane flux were investigated. In the recirculation mode, both kinds of wastewater achieved a satisfactory organics and anion removal. An average of about 90¢H of COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and TKN (Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen) could be removed. For anions (i.e., NO3¡Ð, NO2¡Ð, Cl¡Ð and SO42¡Ð), their removal efficiencies were all over 90%. Furthermore, TOC (Total Organic Carbon) and turbidity also had removal efficiencies of over 98%. When the operation mode was changed from the recirculation mode to flow-through mode, the changes of permeate quality were not obvious. But the cumulative quantity of permeate of the flow-through mode was greater than that of the recirculation mode. As for the experimental result of the secondary treatment mode, the permeate qualities were found to be improved. In this case, an average removal of over 95% of NO3¡Ð, NO2¡Ð, Cl¡Ð, and SO42¡Ð could be obtained. According to experimental results shown above, the treated water could be recycled and reused as the cooling tower make-up water if its pH and conductivity values were reduced. However, these problems could be easily resolved by proper adjustments of pH. Overall speaking, the tubular TiO2/Al2O3 composite membranes and simultaneous EC/EF treatment module employed in this work are capable of treating LCD industrial wastewater for the purpose of reclamation.

Missense, nonsense, and frameshift mutations in the human anion exchanger 1 (AE1) have been associated with inherited distal renal tubular acidosis and hereditary spherocytosis. These two disorders are almost always mutually exclusive. However, we have recently found an unusual exception, i.e, a patient with complete distal renal tubular acidosis and severe hereditary spherocytosis. DNA sequencing revealed a novel mutation AE1 E522K (Band 3 Kaohsiung) combined with AE1 G701D mutation in this patient. We hypothesize these AE1 mutations cause these two disorders because of trafficking defect. To elucidate this hypothesis, we analyzed protein trafficking and subcellular location of AE1 and these mutants transfected into MDCK cells. Our results showed that they formed homodimers or heterodimers with each other. Homodimers of the wild-type and E522K mutant were localized at the plasma membrane, whereas the G701D mutant largely remained in the cytoplasm. On the other hand, heterodimers of either E522K or G701D and the wild-type AE1 were located in the plasma membrane, whereas E522K/G701D heterodimers remained in the cytoplasm. As for erythroid isoform of anion exchanger 1, analysis of protein trafficking and subcellular localization of the wild-type erythroid isoform of human anion exchanger 1 and these mutants transfected into k562 cells also showed that they can form homodimers or heterodimers with each other. Erythroid AE1 E522K/G701D cell-surface expression was significantly lower compared with WT homodimer expression. This result coincided with that erythroid AE1 of the patient¡¦s red cell membrane can be detected 28% that of normal control in immunoblotting. Our study shows that the compound E522K/G701D mutation of human anion exchanger 1 causes trafficking defects in kidney and red blood cell lines, and these may explain the complete distal renal tubular acidosis and hereditary spherocytosis of the patient.

This thesis studies the uni-axial behaviour of circular double-skinned concrete-filled-steel-tubular (CFST) columns with external confinement in form of external steel rings. Particular attention is paid to the experimental behaviour of double-skinned CFST columns and theoretical model for evaluating the loadcarrying capacity of un- and ring-confined double-skinned CFST columns. Experimental studies on circular double-skinned CFST columns with various spacing of confinement, concrete strength and hollow ratio were conducted and discussed comprehensively. The mechanical properties of double-skinned CFST columns such as elastic stiffness, elastic strength, load-carrying capacity and ductility are presented. From the result, it is found that the elastic stiffness, elastic strength, load-carrying capacity and ductility are enhanced by installing the external steel rings to the outer tube as external confinement. To verify the effectiveness of external steel rings, the Poisson’s ratios of the double-skinned CFST columns are listed and found to be similar to that of concrete so that a perfect bonding is maintained. To emphasis the excellent performance of double-skinned CFST columns with external rings under uni-axial compression, the load-carrying capacity, elastic strength and elastic stiffness are compared to those of single-skinned CFST columns and reinforced concrete columns. To fill up the gap that no design model is provided in Eurocode 4 (EC4) for confined double-skinned CFST columns, a theoretical model based on the force equilibrium condition is proposed for evaluating the load-carrying capacity of both un- and ring-confined double-skinned CFST columns. The model takes into account the composite action between the steel tubes and core concrete. To verify the proposed model, numerous test results obtained by the author and other researchers are used for comparing the theoretical results. According to the above theoretical model above, a parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of various geometry and material properties on the load-carrying capacity of double-skinned CFST columns. The confining pressure is expressed in terms of geometry and material factors. A simplified design formula is proposed to facilitate the preliminary design of double-skinned CFST columns with and without external confinement. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

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The aim is to study a continuous chemical process, and then analyze the hold process of the reactor and build the models which could be trained to realize the fault diagnosis and localization in the process. An experimental system has been built to be the research base. That includes experiment part and record system. To the diagnosis and localization methods, the work presented the methods with the data-based approach, mainly the Bayesian network and RBF network based on GAAPA (Genetic Algorithm with Auto-adapted of Partial Adjustment). The data collected from the experimental system are used to train and test the models.