Derivation of an electromagnetic model, regarding the wave propagation in a very long (10 km or more) High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) power cable, is the central part of this thesis. With an existing “perfect” electromagnetic model there are potentially a wide range of applications.The electromagnetic model is focused on frequencies between 0 and 100 kHz since higher frequencies essentially will be attenuated. An exact dispersion relation is formulated and the propagation constant is computed numerically. The dominating mode is the first Transversal Magnetic (TM) mode of order zero, denoted TM01, which is also referred to as the quasi-TEM mode. A comparison is made with the second propagating TM mode of order zero denoted TM02. The electromagnetic model is verified against real time data from Time Domain Reflection (TDR) measurements on a HVDC power cable. A mismatch calibration procedure is performed due to matching difficulties between the TDR measurement equipment and the power cable regarding the single-mode transmission line model.An example of power cable length measurements is addressed, which reveals that with a “perfect” model the length of an 80 km long power cable could be estimated to an accuracy of a few centimeters. With the present model the accuracy can be estimated to approximately 100 m.In order to understand the low-frequency wave propagation characteristics, an exact asymptotic analysis is performed. It is shown that the behavior of the propagation constant is governed by a square root of the complex frequency in the lowfrequency domain. This thesis also focuses on an analysis regarding the sensitivity of the propagation constant with respect to some of the electric parameters in the model. Variables of interest when performing the parameter sensitivity study are the real relative permittivityand the conductivity.

Tests were conducted for 71 pesticides in weekly bulk (wet + dry) deposition samples collected from May 25 to September 21 over two years at two sites in the City of Winnipeg, Canada. Twenty-one pesticides and their metabolites were detected in this study and 99% of samples collected contained mixtures of two or more pesticides. Malathion and glyphosate were the largest contributors to bulk deposition in 2010 and 2011, respectively. A second study examined the mineralization of 2,4-D and 17β-estradiol using a novel in-field soil microcosm study and a series of laboratory experiments under different temperature incubations. Results indicated that temperature fluctuations do not greatly affect the amount or rate of mineralization relative to the traditionally constant laboratory incubations of 20°C; however long-term freezing of soil reduced potential mineralization over time. This research advances scientific knowledge of agri-chemical fate and provides data for strengthening current environmental policy analysis in Canada.

Symmetry tests and more precisely parity violation experiments using the properties of the weak interaction give us unique insight into the internal hadronic structure of matter. The Gº experiment at Jefferson Laboratory used parity violating electron scattering to probe the strange quark contribution to the electromagnetic nucleon form factors, (GMs and GEs) as well as the axial contribution, (GAe). The data taken during the experiment provide further information on the axial transition form factor of the N - $\Delta$ transition, (GANΔ), as well as the scale of the low energy constant (dΔ) characterizing the parity violating γNΔ coupling. The analysis of backward angle Gº data taken with a liquid deuterium target to deduce the parity violating asymmetry for pion photoproduction on the Δ resonance, and the first experimental constraint on the value of dΔ, are reported in this thesis. The results showed that dΔ = (8.3 ± 25.3) gπ where the uncertainty is dominated by statistics, and that 75 percent of the theory range would be excluded by this measurement at 1 sigma.

Periodic mesoporous material is a class of solids that possess periodically ordered pores with sizes of 2–50 nm. After a brief introduction to the synthesis, structure, property and function of periodic mesoporous materials in general in Chapter 1, a specific type of periodic mesoporous material, periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO), is examined in detail in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 focus on the application of periodic mesoporous organosilica as low-dielectric-constant (low-k) insulating materials on semiconductor microprocessors. Specifically, Chapter 3 introduces a vapor-phase delivery technique, vacuum-assisted aerosol deposition, for the synthesis of PMO thin films; Chapter 4 studies one property crucial for the application of low-k PMO in detail—hydrophobicity. The focus of Chapter 5 turns to a novel sandwich-structured nanocomposite made of periodic mesoporous silica and graphene oxide. In Chapter 6, progress towards the synthesis of periodic mesoporous quartz is summarized. A conclusion and an outlook are given in Chapter 7.

Periodic mesoporous material is a class of solids that possess periodically ordered pores with sizes of 2–50 nm. After a brief introduction to the synthesis, structure, property and function of periodic mesoporous materials in general in Chapter 1, a specific type of periodic mesoporous material, periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO), is examined in detail in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 focus on the application of periodic mesoporous organosilica as low-dielectric-constant (low-k) insulating materials on semiconductor microprocessors. Specifically, Chapter 3 introduces a vapor-phase delivery technique, vacuum-assisted aerosol deposition, for the synthesis of PMO thin films; Chapter 4 studies one property crucial for the application of low-k PMO in detail—hydrophobicity. The focus of Chapter 5 turns to a novel sandwich-structured nanocomposite made of periodic mesoporous silica and graphene oxide. In Chapter 6, progress towards the synthesis of periodic mesoporous quartz is summarized. A conclusion and an outlook are given in Chapter 7.

Characterization of semi-permeable films promotes the systematic selection of membranes and process design. When acquiring the diffusive and sorption properties of gas transport in non-porous membranes, the time lag method is considered the conventional method of characterization. The time lag method involves monitoring the transient accumulation of species due to permeation on a fixed volume present in a downstream reservoir. In the thesis at hand, an alternative approach to the time lag technique is proposed, termed as the short cut method. The short cut method appoints the use of a two reservoir system, where the species decay in the upstream face of the membrane is monitored, in combination with the accumulation on the downstream end. The early and short time determination of membrane properties is done by monitoring the inflow and outflow flux profiles, including their respective analytical formulas. The newly proposed method was revealed to have estimated the properties at 1/10 the required time it takes for the classical time lag method, which also includes a better abidance to the required boundary conditions. A novel design of the upstream reservoir, consisting of a reference and working volume, is revealed, which includes instructional use, and the mechanics involved with its operation. Transient pressure decay profiles are successfully obtained when the reference and working volumes consisted of only tubing. However when tanks were included in the volumes, large errors in the decay were observed, in particular due to a non-instantaneous equilibration of the pressure during the start up. This hypothesis was further re-enforced by examining different upstream tank-based configurations. iii In the end, a validated numerical model was constructed for the purpose of simulating the two reservoir gas permeation system. A modified form of the finite differences scheme is utilized, in order to account for a concentration-dependent diffusivity of penetrants within the membrane. Permeation behavior in a composite membrane system was disclosed, which provided a new perspective in analyzing the errors associated with the practical aspect of the system.

With rapid technology scaling, flip-flops are becoming more susceptible to metastability due to tighter timing budgets and the more prominent effects of process, temperature, and voltage variation that can result in frequent setup and hold time violations. This thesis presents a detailed methodology and analysis on the design of metastable-hardened, high-performance, and low-power flip-flops. The design of metastable-hardened flip-flops is focused on optimizing the value of τ mainly due to its exponential relationship with the metastability window δ and the mean-time-between-failure (MTBF). Through small-signal modeling, τ is determined to be a function of the load capacitance and the transconductance in the cross-coupled inverter pair for a given flip-flop architecture. In most cases, the reduction of τ comes at the expense of increased delay and power. Hence, two new design metrics, the metastability-delay-product (MDP) and the metastability-power-delay-product (MPDP), are proposed to analyze the tradeoffs between delay, power and τ. Post-layout simulation results have shown that the proposed optimum MPDP design can reduce the metastability window δ by at least an order of magnitude depending on the value of the settling time and the flip-flop architecture. In this work, we have proposed two new flip-flop designs: the pre-discharge flip-flop (PDFF) and the sense-amplifier-transmission-gate (SATG) based flip-flop. Both flip-flop architectures facilitate the usage in both single and dual-supply systems as reduced clock-swing flip-flop and level-converting flip-flop. With a cross-coupled inverter in the master-stage that increases the overall transconductance and a small load transistor associated with the critical node, the architecture of both the PDFF and the SATG is very attractive for the design of metastable-hardened, high-performance, and low-power flip-flops. The amount of overhead in delay, power, and area is all less than 10% under the optimum MPDP design scheme when compared to the traditional optimum PDP design. In designing for metastable-hardened and soft-error tolerant flip-flops, the main methodology is to improve the metastability performance in the master-stage while applying the soft-error tolerant cell in the slave-stage for protection against soft-error. The proposed flip-flops, PDFF-SE and SATG-SE, both utilize a cross-coupled inverter on the critical path in the master-stage and generate the required differential signals to facilitate the usage of the Quatro soft-error tolerant cell in the slave-stage.

The aim of this study is to determine the mechanical characteristics of the filament wound composite tubes working under internal pressure loads, generating data for further investigation with a view of estimating the remaining life cycle of the tubes during service. Data is generated experimentally by measuring the mechanical behavior like strains in hoop direction, maximum hoop stresses that are formed during internal pressure loading. Results have been used to identify and generate the necessary data to be adopted in the design applications. In order to determine these parameters, internal pressure tests are done on the filament wound composite tube specimens according to ASTM D 1599-99 standard. The test tubes are manufactured by wet filament winding method, employing two different fiber types, two different fiber tension settings and five different winding angle configurations. The internal pressure test results of these specimens are studied in order to determine the mechanical characteristics, and the effects of the production variables on the behavior of the tubes. Pressure tests revealed that the carbon fiber reinforced composite tubes exhibited a better burst performance compared to the glass fiber reinforced tubes, and the maximum burst performance is achieved at a winding angle configuration of [&plusmn / 54&deg / ]3[90&deg / ]1. In addition, the tension setting is found not to have a significant effect on the burst performance. The burst pressure data and the final failure modes are compared with the results of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code laminate analysis, and it was observed that there is a good agreement between the laminate analysis results and the experimental data. The stress &ndash / strain behavior in hoop direction are also studied and hoop elastic constants are determined for the tubes.

We correlate in the first part of this study the specific heat and thermal expansivity to the temperature-and pressure-dependent frequency shifts, respectively, in ammonia solid I, solid II, hexagonal ice and ice close to their melting points. This is carried out for some fixed pressures for the two translational and one librational modes in ammonia solid I. By obtaining linear plots of specific heat and thermal expansivity against temperature-and pressure-dependent frequency shifts, the values of slope were deduced and compared with experimental values. The correlation between the thermal expansivity and frequency shifts was constructed in the ammonia solid II by calculating the Raman frequencies of the translational and the librational modes for some fixed pressures. Calculated values of slope were compared with experimental values. Temperature and pressure dependent frequency shifts of the translational modes in hexagonal and ice are correlated to the specific heat and the thermal expansivity, respectively. When the mode Gr&uuml / neisen parameter depends on temperature and pressure, correlations among the specific heat, thermal expansivity and, temperature-and pressure-dependent frequency shifts, respectively, are reexamined in hexagonal ice. When the mode Gr&uuml / neisen parameter depends on temperature, correlation between the specific heat and the frequency shifts is reexamined using translational modes in NH4Cl. In the second part of this study, we predict the damping constant for ammonium halides (NH4Cl and NH4Br) for zero pressure, and for the tricritical and second order phase transitions for a lattice mode of NH4Cl. Also, the observed Raman intensities of this mode are analyzed at those two pressures.

This thesis is the summation of two publications with the motivation to move reliability analysis earlier in the design process. Current analyses aim to improve reliability after components have been selected. Moving specific analyses earlier in the design process reduces the cost to the designer. These early design analyses provide information to the designer so that critical design changes can be made to avoid failures. The first presents failure rates for function-flow pairs. These function-flow failure rates are used in the Early Design Reliability Method (EDRM) to calculate system level reliability during functional design. This methodology is compared to the traditional reliability block diagram for three examples to show its usefulness during early conceptual design. Next, an extension to the Function Failure Design Method (FFDM) is presented. A more robust knowledge base using Failure Mode/Mechanism Distributions 1997 (FMD-97) has been implemented. Then failure rates from Nonelectric Parts Reliability Data (NPRD-95) are added to more effectively determine the likelihood that a failure mode will occur. The proposed Functional Failure Rate Design Method (FFRDM) uses functional inputs to offer recommendations to mitigate failure modes that have a high likelihood of occurrence. This work uses a past example where FFDM and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) are compared to show that improvements have been made. A four step process is presented to show how the FFRDM is used during conceptual design. / Graduation date: 2012