Thesis. 1978. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND SCIENCE. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.S.

Thesis (Sc.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND SCIENCE. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 523-531. / by Glenn Thomas Hong. / Sc.D.

The behavior of water confined at the nanoscale plays a fundamental role in biological processes and technological applications, including protein folding, translocation of water across membranes, and water filtration and desalination processes. Remarkably, nanoscale confinement can drastically alter the properties of water. Understanding these changes in the physical behavior of water can provide new insights into many scientific questions and technical challenges. This thesis focuses on phase diagrams of water confined by graphene and graphene oxide. First, by performing Molecular Dynamic (MD) simulations, we constructed phase diagrams of water confined by graphene, a hydrophobic smooth surface. We found that the phase behaviors of water confined by graphene are complicated. In the phase diagram, monolayer square ice, bilayer square ice, liquid and vapor phases were presented. The non-monotonic cavitation pressures as a function of walls separations was unexpected. The values of cavitation pressures significantly deviated from the classical prediction for bulk water. Next, I moved to water under hydrophilic confinements. The first model used was a hydrophilic graphene-based surface where graphene C-water O interactions were tuned to create a hydrophilic surface but maintaining the geometry of the graphene. The phase diagram of water confined by hydrophilic graphene is presented. The extremely high magnitude of cavitation pressures found in this analysis suggests that energy can be converted efficiently from changes in relative humidity. Furthermore, the oscillation of cavitation pressures as a function of walls separations is relevant to water transportation. By randomly distributing hydroxyl groups on graphene, we saw similar cavitation pressures in a graphene oxide (GO) model.

Yung Man Hong = 受歐姆阻尼振子和光學系統內的彼德曼因數及費曼圖展開 / 翁文康. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-99). / Text in English; abstracts in English and Chinese. / Yung Man Hong = Shou ou mu zu ni zhen zi he guang xue xi tong nei de Bideman yin shu ji Feiman tu zhan kai / Weng Wenkang. / Acknowledgement --- p.iii / Chapter 1 --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- The Langevin Equation --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Excess Noise in Lasers --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Non-orthogonality --- p.9 / Chapter 2 --- Bilinear Map and Eigenvector Expansion --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2 --- Mathematical Formalism --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3 --- Criticality and Divergence --- p.19 / Chapter 2.4 --- Perturbations and Cancellations --- p.25 / Chapter 3 --- Generalized Petermann Factor --- p.34 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.34 / Chapter 3.2 --- Petermann Factor in Optical Systems --- p.36 / Chapter 3.3 --- Generalized Petermann Factor --- p.41 / Chapter 3.4 --- Thermal Correlation Functions --- p.43 / Chapter 3.5 --- Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem --- p.46 / Chapter 3.6 --- Weak Damping versus Near-Degeneracy --- p.49 / Chapter 4 --- Continuum Generalization --- p.56 / Chapter 4.1 --- Bilinear map --- p.56 / Chapter 4.2 --- Critical Points --- p.58 / Chapter 4.3 --- Semiclassical Laser Theory --- p.63 / Chapter 5 --- Diagrammatic Expansions --- p.71 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.71 / Chapter 5.2 --- Nonlinearly Coupled Oscillators --- p.72 / Chapter 5.3 --- Path Integral Method --- p.76 / Chapter 5.4 --- Feynman Diagram --- p.81 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.87 / Chapter A --- Derivation of the Langevin equation --- p.89

This thesis describes a novel microfluidic platform to control the macromolecular concentrations and their applications in constructing the phase diagram of polymer aqueous solutions and in the high-throughput screening of protein crystallization conditions at the nanoliter scale. The microfluidic platform was fabricated using the soft-lithography method and based on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) material, which is widely used in microfluidic device. PDMS is gas and water permeable elastomer. By exploiting the permeability of the gas and water in PDMS, we developed the degassed-PDMS nanoliter liquid dispensing system, the controlled microevaporation method in constructing the phase diagram of polymer aqueous solution, and the screening platform of protein crystallization conditions. / This thesis describes two types of degassed-PDMS nanoliter liquid dispensing system. One is dispensing without the microvalve, in which various liquids are dispensed through the degassed PDMS microchannel. It involves two steps: in the first step, the PDMS microchannel patch (or the entire microchip) is placed in a vacuum chamber for a certain time; in the second step, the target liquid is deposited at the inlet of the PDMS channel and dispensed into the PDMS microchamber. The other method is dispensing with the aid of PDMS microvalve. This method combines the valve control and degassed PDMS pumping source, which provides more control over on the liquid dispensing, such as isolating, mixing, etc. / Zhou, Xuechang. / Adviser: Bo Zheng. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-56). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Su Yat Fan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-95). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Our Objective --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- The Organization of the Thesis --- p.5 / Chapter 2 --- Related Works --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Semi-structured Data --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- What are Semi-structured Data? --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Examples of Semi-structured Data --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2 --- Object Exchange Model --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3 --- Regular Path Expressions --- p.12 / Chapter 2.4 --- Graph Schemas --- p.13 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Accurate Graph Schemas: DataGuides --- p.15 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Approximate Graph Schemas --- p.17 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Conceptual Graphs (CG) --- p.19 / Chapter 2.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.25 / Chapter 3 --- Query Evaluation and Characteristics of Conceptual Graphs --- p.27 / Chapter 3.1 --- Generation of Data Graphs --- p.28 / Chapter 3.2 --- Conceptual Graphs with Respect to Different Types of Data Graphs --- p.29 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.29 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Experimental Results --- p.30 / Chapter 3.3 --- Query Evaluation --- p.34 / Chapter 3.4 --- The Effect of Traversal Orders over Conceptual Graphs --- p.39 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.39 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Experimental Results --- p.40 / Chapter 3.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.46 / Chapter 4 --- Problems in Conceptual Graphs --- p.47 / Chapter 4.1 --- False Paths in Conceptual Graphs --- p.50 / Chapter 4.2 --- Utility Function --- p.51 / Chapter 4.3 --- Information Incompleteness in the Construction Process --- p.53 / Chapter 4.4 --- Chapter Summary --- p.54 / Chapter 5 --- Refinement of the Utility Function --- p.55 / Chapter 5.1 --- """Attributes Or Roles"" Instead of ""Attributes and Roles""" --- p.56 / Chapter 5.2 --- Roles --- p.57 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- The New Utility Function with Only Roles Involved --- p.57 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Query Evaluation Using Roles Only --- p.58 / Chapter 5.3 --- Attributes --- p.63 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- The New Utility Function Based on Attributes Only --- p.63 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Query Evaluation Using Attributes Only --- p.64 / Chapter 5.4 --- A Reliability Test for Attribute-only Utility Function --- p.66 / Chapter 5.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.70 / Chapter 6 --- New Operators for Conceptual Graph Construction --- p.74 / Chapter 6.1 --- The Original Algorithm --- p.74 / Chapter 6.2 --- Revised Algorithm with New Operators --- p.75 / Chapter 6.3 --- Query Evaluation of the Revised Algorithm --- p.79 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Experimental Setup --- p.79 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Evaluation Results --- p.80 / Chapter 6.4 --- Chapter Summary --- p.85 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusions --- p.87 / Chapter 7.1 --- Future Work --- p.89 / Bibliography --- p.91

Investigações dos sistemas binários LiF-BiF3 e NaF-BiF3 foram realizadas com o objetivo de esclarecer o comportamento térmico e os equilíbrios de fase destes sistemas e das suas fases intermediárias, um requisito importante para a obtenção de cristais de alta qualidade. Amostras de toda a faixa de composições (0 a 100 mol% BiF3) de ambos os sistemas foram analisadas em ensaios de análise térmica diferencial (DTA) e termogravimetria (TG), e também de calorimetria exploratória diferencial (DSC). Algumas composições específicas foram selecionadas para difração de raios-X para complementação dos dados experimentais. Devido à grande vulnerabilidade do BiF3 à contaminação por oxigênio, sua volatilidade e propensão a danificar peças de metal quando aquecido, foi necessário determinar as condições ótimas para os ensaios de análise térmica antes de investigar os sistemas em si. As relações de fase no sistema LiF-BiF3 foram completamente elucidadas e um diagrama de fases foi proposto e avaliado teoricamente mediante o software comercial Factsage. O diagrama em si consiste em um sistema peritético simples, no qual o único composto interno, o LiBiF4 se decompõe em LiF mais uma fase líquida. O sistema NaF-BiF3 não pôde ser completamente elucidado, sendo que as relações de fase do lado pobre em NaF (> 50% BiF3) ainda não são conhecidas. No lado rico em NaF, entretanto, identificou-se a possível decomposição peritectóide do composto NaBiF4. Em ambos os sistemas, foram observadas estruturas cristalográficas discrepantes daquelas da literatura para os compostos mistos, LiBiF4 , NaBiF4 e uma solução sólida de NaF e BiF3 chamada de fase I. As estruturas observadas experimentalmente permanecem desconhecidas e explicações para as discrepâncias foram propostas. / Investigations of the binary systems LiF-BiF3 and NaF-BiF3 were performed with the objective of clarifying the thermal behavior and phase equilibria of these systems and their intermediary phases, an important requisite for high-quality crystal growth. Several samples in the entire range of compositions (0 to 100 mol% BiF3) of both systems were subjected to experiments of differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetry (TG), and also of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A few specific compositions were selected for X-ray diffraction to supplement the experimental data. Due to the high vulnerability of BiF3 to oxygen contamination, its volatility and propensity to destroy metal parts upon heating, it was necessary to determine the optimal conditions for thermal analysis before investigating the systems themselves. Phase relations in the system LiF-BiF3 were completely clarified and a phase diagram was calculated and evaluated via the commercial software Factsage. The diagram itself consists in a simple peritectic system in which the only intermediary compound, LiBiF4, decomposes into LiF and a liquid phase. The NaF-BiF3 system could not be completely elucidated and the phase relations in the NaF poor side (> 50% BiF3) are still unknown. In the NaF rich side, however, the possible peritectoid decomposition of the compound NaBiF4 was identified. In both systems X-ray diffraction yielded crystal structures discrepant with the literature for the intermediary phases, LiBiF4, NaBiF4 and a solid solution of NaF and BiF3 called I. The observed structures remain unknown and explanations for the discrepancies were proposed.

Due to the aluminum industry demands, a large effort has recently been devoted to the development of special alloys to be used as inert anodes for a newly designed aluminum reduction cell. The implementation of this new technology aims at the replacement of the graphite anodes that have been used for over 100 years in aluminum smelting, which would reduce fossil carbon consumption, and eliminate the emission of carbon dioxide and of perfluorocarbons. Ternary alloys containing copper, nickel, and iron have been the subject of the research activities. The present research focused on the stability of the Cu-Ni-Fe alloys at high temperatures in oxidizing and fluoridating environments. The experimental methods included thermodynamic calculations of the phase diagram ('Thermocalc'), optical microscopy and microprobe microstructural and chemical investigations (EMIPA-WDS), small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and air-oxidation studies. The results have led to the optimization of the Cu-Ni-Fe ternary phase diagram and to an extensive study of the thermodynamics and kinetics of the spinodal decomposition and discontinuous reactions occurring during ageing as a function of alloy composition. The oxidizing reactions occurring in air at high temperatures at the surface of the alloys have been also discussed in terms of thermodynamic and kinetic laws. The phase formation in a fluorine containing environment as encountered in an aluminum electrolytic cell is predicted using principles of physical chemistry. / Graduation date: 2004 / Best scan available. Figures in original document are very dark and have a moray pattern.

Graduation date: 1997

The goal of this thesis is to first give an overview of the modern approach, using the paper of A. Vershik and A. Okounkov, to inductively parametrizing all irreducible representations of the symmetric groups. This theory is then used to answer questions concerning to central projections in the group algebra. We index units first by partitions, and then by so called standard tableaux. We also present a new result and discuss future research exploring the connections between this theory and Quantum Information.