Master of Science / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Melanie M. Derby / Oil-water separation is an important process in the petroleum industry. This research investigates the use of surface tension forces to improve current oil-water separation technologies. An understanding of oil-water flows in surface tension driven mini-channels is necessary. This work investigates the effects of mini-channel wall material and tube diameter, along with oil viscosity, on flow regimes and pressure drops in mini-channel oil-water flows. A horizontal closed-loop, adiabatic experimental apparatus was constructed and validated using single-phase water. 2.1-mm and 3.7-mm borosilicate glass, 3.7-mm stainless steel and 4.0-mm Inconel tubes, resulting in Eötvös numbers of 0.2, 0.6 and 0.7 were tested. The experimental data were analyzed and compared using two mineral oils (i.e., Parol 70 and 100) with densities of 840 kg/m³ for both and viscosities of 11.7 and 20.8 mPa-s, respectively. Experiments included a wide range of oil superficial velocities (e.g., 0.28-6.82 m/s for glass, 0.28-2.80 m/s for stainless steel and 0.21-2.89 for Inconel) and water superficial velocities (e.g., 0.07-6.77 for glass, 0.07-4.20 m/s for stainless steel and 0.06-3.86 m/s). Flow regimes were observed and classified as stratified, annular, intermittent, and dispersed flow regimes. Effects of tube diameter were observed. For example, the 2.1-mm glass tube had the smaller range of stratified flows and the larger range of annular and intermittent flows compared to the 3.7-mm glass tube. At the same oil and water superficial velocities and relatively the same flow regime, stainless steel and Inconel always displayed higher pressure drop than the glass tube. However, pressure drops were a strong function of flow regime; lowest pressure drops were found for annular flows and highest pressure drops for dispersed flows. Flow regime maps and pressure drop graphs were created. Overall effects of oil viscosity were modest; however, an increase in oil viscosity enhanced flow stability which affected flow regime transition points.

Resin composites have been in the dental field for over forty years. They are now thought to be the most commonly used restorative material due to their aesthetic and mechanical properties. Although resin composites have high success rates as restorations, they do not offer all properties of an ideal restorative material. The aims of this research were to characterise the effects of variation in resin composite formulation on handling, mechanical; and physical properties. In particular the influence of the size and distribution of the inorganic components was investigated through the study of experimental formulations. Packing stress and viscosity were assessed with pentrometer principle at two different temperatures (23 and 37 ºC). It was found that filler size was strongly correlated with both packing stress and viscosity. Additionally, temperature has a dominant effect on packing stress and viscosity. Micro computed tomography [μCT] was used to investigate percentage of voids [% voids] in 3D dimensions. It was found that smaller filler size incorporated less % voids. In contrast filler size and disruption had a little effect on fracture toughness of resin composites. 3D surface topography was used to investigate the surface roughness before and after tooth brush abrasion. It was found filler size had a significant influence in both gloss retention and surface roughness (smaller filler size exhibited higher surface gloss). Finally, the effect of different storage media (distilled water, Coca Cola and red wine) on colour stability and gloss were investigated. It was found that dietary habits effect discolouration of resin composite restorations with the acidic drinks caused more staining.

La presente investigación es la formulación de un plan de1 manejo de residuos sólidos hospitalarios en la Micro Red de Salud La Libertad, en la ciudad de Huancayo. Este plan de manejo se desarrolla a partir de una observación previa y permanente de la situación respecto al manejo de residuos sólidos y del análisis de viabilidad de su implementación. Este trabajo investigativo está basado en los principios de la legislación ambiental, esto comprende el diagnóstico ambiental y sanitario, un programa de educación y los procedimientos de2 segregación, almacenamiento, recolección, comercialización, transporte interno, tratamiento, transferencia y disposición final de los residuos, así como seguimientos, auditorias y planes de contingencia que se debe realizar en la Micro Red de Salud La Libertad, para asegurar la mitigación y minimización de los residuos sólidos hospitalarios. / Tesis

This work presents the development of an in-plane vertical micro-coaxial probe using bulk micromachining technique for high frequency material characterization. The coaxial probe was fabricated in a silicon substrate by standard photolithography and a deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) technique. The through-hole structure in the form of a coaxial probe was etched and metalized with a diluted silver paste. A co-planar waveguide configuration was integrated with the design to characterize the probe. The electrical and RF characteristics of the coaxial probe were determined by simulating the probe design in Ansoft’s High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS). The reflection coefficient and transducer gain performance of the probe was measured up to 65 GHz using a vector network analyzer (VNA). The probe demonstrated excellent results over a wide frequency band, indicating its ability to integrate with millimeter wave packaging systems as well as characterize unknown materials at high frequencies. The probe was then placed in contact with 3 materials where their unknown permittivities were determined. To accomplish this, the coaxial probe was placed in contact with the material under test and electromagnetic waves were directed to the surface using the VNA, where its reflection coefficient was then determined over a wide frequency band from dc-to -65GHz. Next, the permittivity of each material was deduced from its measured reflection coefficients using a cross ratio invariance coding technique. The permittivity results obtained when measuring the reflection coefficient data were compared to simulated permittivity results and agreed well. These results validate the use of the micro-coaxial probe to characterize the permittivity of unknown materials at high frequencies up to 65GHz.

Renewable or sustainable energy (SE) sources have attracted the attention of many countries because the power generated is environmentally friendly, and the sources are not subject to the instability of price and availability. This dissertation presents new trends in the DC-AC converters (inverters) used in renewable energy sources, particularly for photovoltaic (PV) energy systems. A review of the existing technologies is performed for both single-phase and three-phase systems, and the pros and cons of the best candidates are investigated. In many modern energy conversion systems, a DC voltage, which is provided from a SE source or energy storage device, must be boosted and converted to an AC voltage with a fixed amplitude and frequency. A novel switching pattern based on the concept of the conventional space-vector pulse-width-modulated (SVPWM) technique is developed for single-stage, boost-inverters using the topology of current source inverters (CSI). The six main switching states, and two zeros, with three switches conducting at any given instant in conventional SVPWM techniques are modified herein into three charging states and six discharging states with only two switches conducting at any given instant. The charging states are necessary in order to boost the DC input voltage. It is demonstrated that the CSI topology in conjunction with the developed switching pattern is capable of providing the required residential AC voltage from a low DC voltage of one PV panel at its rated power for both linear and nonlinear loads. In a micro-grid, the active and reactive power control and consequently voltage regulation is one of the main requirements. Therefore, the capability of the single-stage boost-inverter in controlling the active power and providing the reactive power is investigated. It is demonstrated that the injected active and reactive power can be independently controlled through two modulation indices introduced in the proposed switching algorithm. The system is capable of injecting a desirable level of reactive power, while the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) dictates the desirable active power. The developed switching pattern is experimentally verified through a laboratory scaled three-phase 200W boost-inverter for both grid-connected and stand-alone cases and the results are presented.

Lignin is a major chemical component of plants and the second most abundant natural polymer after cellulose. The concerns and interests of agriculture and industry have stimulated the study of genes governing lignin content in plants in an effort to adapt plants to human purposes. Arabidopsis thaliana provides a convenient model for the study of the genes governing lignin content because of its short growth cycle, small plant size, and small completely sequenced genome. In order to identify the genes controlling lignin content in Arabidopsis accessions using Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) analysis, a rapid micro-scale method of lignin determination is required. The acetyl bromide method has been modified to enable the rapid micro-scale determination of lignin content in Arabidopsis. Modifications included the use of a micro-ball mill, adoption of a modified rapid method of extraction, use of an ice-bath to stabilize solutions and reduction in solution volumes. The modified method was shown to be accurate and precise with values in agreement with those determined by the conventional method. The extinction coefficient for Arabidopsis lignin, dissolved using acetyl bromide, was determined to be 23.35 g-iLcm-1. This value is independent of the Arabidopsis accession, environmental growth conditions and is insensitive to syringyl/guaiacyl ratio. The modified acetyl bromide method was shown to be well correlated with the 72% sulfuric acid method once the latter had been corrected for protein contamination and acid-soluble lignin content (R² = 0.988, P < 0.0001). As determined by the newly developed acetyl bromide method and confirmed by the sulfuric acid method, lignin content in Arabidopsis was found to be a divergent property. Lignin content in Arabidopsis was found to be weekly correlated with growth rate among Arabidopsis accessions (R² = 0.48, P = 0.011). Lignin content was also found to be correlated with plant height among Arabidopsis accessions (R² = 0.491, P < 0.0001). / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

Plasma electrolytic oxidation, or PEO, is a surface modification process for the production of ceramic oxide coatings upon substrates of metals such as aluminium, magnesium and titanium. Two methodologies for the quantitative study of electrical breakdown (discharge) events observed during plasma electrolytic oxidation processes were developed and are described in this work. One method presented involves direct measurement of electrical breakdowns during production of an oxide coating within an industrial scale PEO processing arrangement. The second methodology involves the generation and measurement of electrical breakdown events through coatings pre-deposited using full scale PEO processing equipment. The power supply used in the second technique is generally of much lower power output than the system used to initially generate the sample coatings. The application of these techniques was demonstrated with regard to PEO coating generation on aluminium substrates. Measurements of the probability distributions of discharge event characteristics are presented for the discharge initiation voltage; discharge peak current; event total duration; peak instantaneous power; charge transferred by the event and the energy dissipated by the discharge. Discharge events are shown to increase in scale with the voltage applied during the breakdown, and correlations between discharge characteristics such as peak discharge current and event duration are also detailed. Evidence was obtained which indicated a probabilistic dependence of the voltage required to initiate discharge events. Through the scaling behaviour observed for the discharge events, correspondence between the two measurement techniques is demonstrated. The complementary nature of the datasets obtainable from different techniques for measurement of PEO discharge event electrical characteristics is discussed with regards to the effects of interactions between concurrently active discharge events during large scale PEO processing.

The purpose of this thesis is to design a physical microchannel model for micro-Couette blood flow that provides constant and controlled conditions to study and analyze Red Blood Cell (RBC) aggregation. The innovation of this work is that the Couette blood flow is created by the motion of a second fluid with different properties, thereby entraining the blood. The experimental work is coupled with three-dimensional numerical simulations performed using a research Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Solver, Nek5000, based on the spectral element method, while the experiments are conducted using a micro Particle Image Velocimetry (μPIV) system with a double frame CCD camera and an inverted laser imaging microscope. The design of the channel (150 × 33 μm and 170 × 64 μm microchannels) is based on several parameters determined numerically, such as the velocity and viscosity ratios and the degree of miscibility between the fluids, and the resulting configurations are fabricated in the laboratory using standard photolithography methods. The microchannel designed numerically is then tested experimentally, first, with a Newtonian fluid (glycerol), then with RBC suspensions to be compared to the simulations results. It was found that, numerically, using a velocity ratio of 4 between the two fluids, a third of the channel thickness corresponds to the blood layer. Within that range, it can be concluded, that the velocity profile of the blood layer is approximately linear as confirmed by experimental tests, resulting in the desired profile to study RBC aggregation in controlled conditions. The effect of several parameters, such as the hematocrit and the shear rate, on the RBC aggregates and the velocity profile is investigated, through experiments on the RBC suspensions. The final goal of this research is to ensure the compatibility of the results between the experiments and the Newtonian numerical model for several ranges of shear rate with the future intention of finding an accurate method to be able to quantitatively analyze aggregates and determine the number of RBC in each aggregate depending on the flow conditions (the shear rate).

Les approches internationales en matière de paix et de réconciliation ont beaucoup évolué depuis le début des années 2000, en tentant d’inclure notamment de plus en plus le niveau local dans le but de favoriser l’appropriation des processus de paix et de réconciliation suite à un conflit interne. Or, ces nouvelles approches théoriques proposent des pistes de solutions sans même avoir consulté les populations locales afin d’identifier leurs besoins en matière de paix et de réconciliation, et sans avoir développé une meilleure compréhension des relations et des interactions locales en période post-conflit. Cette recherche se base sur une étude ethnologique réalisée dans la municipalité de Julcamarca, au Pérou, afin de déterminer quels sont les processus nécessaires dans une communauté ayant été affectée par un conflit interne – entre 1980 et 2000 – pour retrouver la paix et atteindre la réconciliation. Les éléments découverts lors de la recherche, basés sur les définitions locales de paix et de réconciliation plutôt que sur les concepts occidentaux plus souvent utilisés, permettent par la suite une analyse des résultats locaux en matière de paix et de réconciliation, comparativement aux débats théoriques de la 4e génération de pensées en construction de la paix en relations internationales.

In today’s society, dental implants are a growing solution for dental care. However, most dental components are very expensive when imported, and are purchased at premium costs solely from a few international companies. It is estimated that the current market price of dental implants is as much as one thousand times the material cost. To be cost effective in a growing competitive market, a local company is looking into producing their own components, and requires knowledge of manufacturing and quality assurance or expertise in order to validate the effectiveness of their fabricated components. These fabricated components need to be tested against currently in use market components in order to assure that prototype components are not inferior to the current market supply. The present study focuses on the analysis of the fabrication process of dental implants, specifically the abutments and screws. The objective is to compare material properties of prototype and market components to determine if the prototype components have adequate quality. Furthermore, simulated models are developed for predicting material property changes due to the manufacturing process. The material properties are determined through hardness testing and microstructure analysis. Visual inspection is then used to investigate and characterize the components. The simulations use different machining parameters, such as the feed rate and the cutting speed to determine residual stress patterns. Dental implant abutments and screws were successfully tested and compared. The prototypes show a good hardness and microstructure properties similar to market components, indicating a high level of prototype quality. The simulated models were successfully created and provided an adequate level of customization to be usable in place of future mechanical testing and showed results that complimented experimental findings. The standard cutting speed of 2000 rpm (100%) in the prototypes produced the optimal hardness and surface roughness. Prototypes were found to have an acceptable level of both hardness and surface finish for the investigated 50%, 100% and 150% of the standard 2000 rpm feed rate.