Studies have been carried out investigating the photochemical and photophysical properties of anthracene adsorbed on silica gel. The photochemistry and photo physics of anthracene in solution are well reported and known, hence its choice as a probe for the silica gel surface. UV -visible absorption and fluorescence spectra of anthracene adsorbed on silica gel reveal aggregate formation at very low loadings (1 % of a monolayer) indicating preferential adsorption occurs at some surface sites. Laser flash photolysis at 355 nm produces both the triplet and radical cation of anthracene, their production was found to be mono- and multi-photonic respectively. The decays of both these transients were complex and the rates increased with increasing loading. Analysis of the triplet state decay has been carried out by studying the delayed fluorescence which arises from triplet triplet annihilation. Fractal and twodimensional models have been used to describe this bimolecular decay. The coadsorption of anthracene and an electron donor having an oxidation potential below 1.09 V on silica gel causes electron transfer to occur from the electron donor to the anthracene radical cation produced following laser flash photolysis at 355 nm. Studies using a selection of electron donors with varying reduction potentials were carried out. The electron donor transfers an electron to the anthracene radical cation, thus greatly accelerating its rate of decay; for electron donors such as triphenylamine, N,N-dimethylaniline and N,N,N',N'tetramethyl- l,4-phenylenediamine the rise of the donor radical cation is observed as the anthracene cation decays. These systems were studied using fluorescence measurements and laser flash photolysis to study any fluorescence quenching and the rate of decay of both the anthracene triplet and radical cation. A selection of anthracene derivatives adsorbed onto silica gel were also briefly studied to see the effect of substituent group and its position. Symmetrically substituted dialkoxyanthracenes and 9-cyanoanthracene were used. The transient absorption spectra of the 2,3- and 2,6-dialkoxyderivatives and 9-cyanoanthracene revealed spectral similarities with that of unsubstituted anthracene. The spectra of9,10- and I,S-didecyloxyanthracene showed significant differences in the radical cation spectra to those obtained for unsubstituted anthracene.

e-Learning is an effective medium for delivering knowledge and skills. In spite of improvements in electronic delivery technologies, e-Learning is still a long way away from offering anything close to efficient and effective learning environments. To improve e-Learning experiences, much literature supports simulation based e-Learning. This thesis begins identifying various types of simulation models and their features that induce experiential learning. We focus on designing and constructing an easy-to-use Discrete Event Simulation (DES) tool for building engaging and informative interactive DES models that allow learners to control the models’ parameters and visualizations through runtime interactions. DES has long been used to support analysis and design of complex systems but its potential to enhance learning has not yet been fully utilized. We first present an application framework and its resulting classes for better structuring DES models. However, importing relevant classes, establishing relationships between their objects and representing lifecycles of various types of active objects in a language that does not support concurrency demand a significant cognitive workload. To improve this situation, we utilize two design patterns to ease model structuring and logic representation (both in time and space) through a drag and drop component approach. The patterns are the Delegation Event Model, used for linking between components and delegating tasks of executing and updating active objects’ lifecycles, and the MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern, used for connecting the components to their graphical instrumentations and GUIs. Components implementing both design patterns support the process-oriented approach, can easily be tailored to store model states and visualizations, and can be extended to design higher level models through hierarchical simulation development. Evaluating this approach with both teachers and learners using ActionScript as an implementation language in the Flash environment shows that the resulting components not only help model designers with few programming skills to construct DES models, but they also allow learners to conduct various experiments through interactive GUIs and observe the impact of changes to model behaviour through a range of engaging visualizations. Such interactions can motivate learners and make their learning an enjoyable experience.

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The aim of this thesis is to implement source terms to numerical model for curent sheet in solar atmosphere. The chapters are structured in the way that can present us with basic knowledge of the Sun and processes in its atmosphere. Than we present important equations for numerical solution and for the initial equilibrium of our simulation. One of the last chapters is dedicated to software we use for our numerical simulations called FLASH. In the end of the thesis we present results of our numerical simulations.

Le « Frittage Flash » ou « Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) » est utilisé pour consolider des poudres en des temps relativement courts (quelques minutes). Ce procédé utilise un haut courant continu pulsé (quelques kA), traversant les parties conductrices du système et générant une montée rapide en température induite principalement par effet Joule. L’application d’un chargement mécanique, via des pistons, et d’une rapide montée en température permet d’obtenir une pièce dense sans grossissement excessif des grains. L’objectif de ce travail a été de proposer une simulation numérique thermo-électro-mécanique du procédé « Frittage Flash » sur ABAQUS, afin de suivre in situ les évolutions de température, de porosité et des contraintes difficilement accessibles expérimentalement. Dans ce travail, un modèle de comportement des corps poreux est proposé. Cette approche est basée sur les modèles micromécaniques de la littérature et modifiés de manière heuristique pour reproduire la densification réelle du matériau pour des porosités comprises entre 0 et 50%. Les simulations thermo-électro-mécanique incluant ce modèle, intègrent la dépendance en porosité et température des paramètres matériaux. Quatre cycles d’élaboration de poudre de nickel ont été réalisés avec différentes histoires de température. Les évolutions de la température et de la porosité calculées ont été confrontées avec des résultats expérimentaux. Des analyses post mortem sur des échantillons densifiés confortent la distribution de la température obtenue par le calcul. Ce travail ouvre de nombreuses perspectives, notamment, la possibilité d’optimiser le procédé / Nowadays, Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) is used to consolidate powders in a relative short time (few minutes). This process uses a pulsed high DC electrical current (few kA) which flows through the conductive part of the device and generates large heating rate mainly due to Joule effect. The application of an uniaxial pressure via punches combined with a rapid heating allow the production of near net shape specimen. The thermal electrical mechanical numerical simulation of SPS process is a powerful tool to capture in situ evolutions of temperature, porosity and stresses which are difficult to obtain in experiments. In this work, a new constitutive model is presented for the description of the behavior of porous medium. This model is based on original viscoplastic micromechanical models of the literature and modified in a heuristic manner to better reproduce the real densification of sintered material for porosity in the range [0;0,5]. The model has been implemented in ABAQUS software. A thermal electrical mechanical simulation of SPS is performed where the dependence of material parameters on temperature and porosity is taken into account. Four processing cycles of nickel have been conducted with different temperature histories. Calculated porosity and temperature evolutions are compared to experimental results. Post-mortem analyses of the material (grain size, yield stress) confirm the temperature distribution obtained by numerical simulations in the sample made of nickel. This simulation is seen to be able to capture experimental trends. The work will permit in a near future the optimization of the sintering conditions to reach prescribed properties

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / This study is an effort to discover whether the flash-card method or the Study-Test Method of My Spelling is more effective in teaching spelling in Grade Five.

Ce travail porte sur la fabrication d’une céramique polycristalline transparente à structure cristalline cubique : le spinelle de magnésium et d’aluminium. Contrairement aux monocristaux tels que le saphir, les céramiques polycristallines peuvent être synthétisées sous des formes beaucoup plus complexes et avec un procédé de fabrication beaucoup moins couteux. Le spinelle présente également l’avantage d’être un matériau bi-bande transparent à la fois dans le visible et le moyen infrarouge (0.4-6 µm) avec de bonnes propriétés mécaniques. Cependant, les conditions requises pour la transparence (totale densification et absence d’impuretés ou de seconde phase), rendent une industrialisation particulièrement difficile à ce jour. L’objectif de cette étude a donc été de proposer un procédé robuste et industrialisable permettant l’élaboration d’une céramique polycristalline à grains fins à partir d’une poudre de spinelle. Pour cela différentes voies de frittage ont été explorées : un frittage naturel sous air suivi d’une compression isostatique à chaud par gaz, et le frittage SPS. Suivant la voie de frittage adoptée, les propriétés optiques et mécaniques du produit fini ont été comparées par rapport aux autres matériaux disponibles sur le marché. Finalement, les propriétés de transport du spinelle ont été investiguées par le biais d’analyses EELS et de mesures de la conduction ionique. / This thesis deals with the elaboration of a transparent polycristalline ceramic with a cubic crystalline structure: magnesium aluminate spinel. Contrary to single-crystals such as sapphire, a polycristalline material can be elaborated, through a low cost process, with different sizes and shapes. Spinel has the main advantage to be a bi-band material: transparent in the visible and in the mid-infrared range (0.4-6µm). Despite many attempts to commercialize spinel, it is not available yet as an optical material due to the difficulty to get transparency (dense and defect-free material). The aim of this work is to propose a simple and reliable process in order to obtain a fine-grained and transparent spinel. Different sintering routes have been investigated: pressureless sintering on air followed by a High Isostatic Pressing step (HIP) and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). According to the sintering route chosen, the optical and mechanical properties of the final product have been compared. Finally the transport properties of spinel, have been investigated by EELS spectroscopy and by ionic conductivity measurements.

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Major Telecomunicações). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2009

Six flash nonfiction comic essays composed in direct conversation with the combination of the flash nonfiction form and the comic form make up the body of this creative thesis. In addition to this creative work, a comparison of several essential craft aspects of flash nonfiction and comic composition are discussed, and an argument is made for the benefit of melding the two forms. This hybrid genre of flash nonfiction comics benefits from aspects of both forms craft, including: heightened potency of images and themes, a dependence on association, and narrative structures based on expanding larger ideas from “miniatures.” The comic form’s difficulties in dealing with nonfiction approaches to authorial presence and figurative language is also discussed. Ultimately, the melding of the flash nonfiction form and the comic form creates valuable opportunities for both genres and their writers—as the six flash nonfiction comic essays, which make up the body of this creative thesis, illustrate.