This thesis presents four-quadrant CMOS current-mode multiplier architectures based on the bipolar Gilbert cell multiplier architecture. Multipliers are designed using the CMOS subthreshold region to take advantage of the subthreshold exponential I-V relationship that closely matches bipolar modeling. It is discovered that biasing to remove drift current components and to address higher order effects such as ideality factor mismatch, threshold mismatch, body effect, and short channel effects, is important to provide a linear multiplier. It is also shown that distortion caused by device size mismatch and offset input currents can be used to cancel the distortion introduced by drift currents when designing in weak and moderate inversion. This concept allows for linear multiplier designs with larger input currents which results in dramatic improvements in bandwidth over traditional weak inversion circuits. Three multiplier circuits are simulated and fabricated in an AMIS 0.35-um process. Circuits with less than 1 % nonlinear error and distortion (THD) across 100 % dynamic input range and with bandwidths greater than 100 MHz can be built. Also, low power multiplier solutions are presented that consume less than 40 nW of dynamic power.

Solvent-free extrusion emulsification (SFEE) is a recently developed process for producing submicron particles with high viscosity polymers inside a twin-screw extruder without the use of hazardous solvents. Its dependency on a catastrophic phase inversion makes the process knowingly sensitive to a variety of formulation and operational variables, causing a narrow window of production. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate and improve process stability as well as widening operational window. Transient effects of the start-up procedure was investigated by considering the process stability and particle size distribution. The transient sensitivity corresponded to the residency of material in the dispersion zone. When a sub-optimal water/surfactant fraction was allowed to produce an undesired polymer-water (thick lamella) morphology, this morphology continued to persist until the critical first half of the dispersion zone was purged of existing mass. Lot to lot variability of polyester resin was used to investigate the sensitivities of the SFEE process more deeply to better understand the mechanism involved. In this case, acid number was shown to have a significant effect on the initial amount of water needed in the dispersion zone for phase inversion, resulting in an emulsification boundary dependent on the resin acid number. In fact, a significant correlation was found between the acidic end groups of the resin and the maximum amount of water content that could be used in the dispersion zone. The effect of feed rate, screw speed, dispersion length, and surfactant concentration were studied for their individual influence on widening the emulsification boundary. The most significant improvement was observed by applying a longer dispersion length or lower feed rate because both significantly increase the residence time. The effect of residence time on the emulsification boundary was attributed to the total strain imposed on the polymer/water mixture which was related to interfacial growth in the dispersion zone. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis explores the causes of the face inversion effect, which is a substantial decrement in performance in recognising facial stimuli when they are presented upside down (Yin,1969). I will provide results from both behavioural and electrophysiological (EEG) experiments to aid in the analysis of this effect. Over the course of six chapters I summarise my work during the four years of my PhD, and propose an explanation of the face inversion effect that is based on the general mechanisms for learning that we also share with other animals. In Chapter 1 I describe and discuss some of the main theories of face inversion. Chapter 2 used behavioural and EEG techniques to test one of the most popular explanations of the face inversion effect proposed by Diamond and Carey (1986). They proposed that it is the disruption of the expertise needed to exploit configural information that leads to the inversion effect. The experiments reported in Chapter 2 were published as in the Proceedings of the 34th annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society. In Chapter 3 I explore other potential causes of the inversion effect confirming that not only configural information is involved, but also single feature orientation information plays an important part in the inversion effect. All the experiments included in Chapter 3 are part of a paper accepted for publication in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Chapter 4 of this thesis went on to attempt to answer the question of whether configural information is really necessary to obtain an inversion effect. All the experiments presented in Chapter 4 are part of a manuscript in preparation for submission to the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Chapter 5 includes some of the most innovative experiments from my PhD work. In particular it offers some behavioural and electrophysiological evidence that shows that it is possible to apply an associative approach to face inversion. Chapter 5 is a key component of this thesis because on the one hand it explains the face inversion effect using general mechanisms of perceptual learning (MKM model). On the other hand it also shows that there seems to be something extra needed to explain face recognition entirely. All the experiments included in Chapter 5 were reported in a paper submitted to the Journal of Experimental Psychology; Animal Behaviour Processes. Finally in Chapter 6 I summarise the implications that this work will have for explanations of the face inversion effect and some of the general processes involved in face perception.

Dans cette étude de microzonage sismique, des essais d’analyse spectrale des ondes de surface (SASW) ont été exécutés dans quarante sites de la ville des Cayes, située à 154 km de Port-au-Prince à Haïti. Le système d’acquisition des données in situ est composé de trois géophones L4C de Marc Product, d’un analyseur HP6567 et des sources d’impact constituées d’un marteau de 12 lb (5,45 kg) et d’une masse de 88,2 lb (40 kg) tombant d’une hauteur de chute pouvant aller jusqu’à 2,50 m. Les signaux collectés sont traités à l’aide d’une méthode d’inversion simplifiée (SIM). Cette technique, évaluée à partir des simulations, fournit des profils de vitesse des ondes de cisaillement avec une bonne précision. Ainsi, quarante profils de vitesse ont été établis, au cours de ces travaux, au moyen de la SIM. À-côté des essais SASW, des études géotechniques constituées d’essais SPT, de pénétromètre dynamique (PD) et de MASW ont été compilées pour la caractérisation des sols de la ville des Cayes. Ces mesures ont été exécutées dans la région plaine à des profondeurs d’investigation atteignant 10 à 30 m. Des corrélations de la littérature, entre SPT et PD et entre SPT et V[indice inférieur s] ont permis d’établir des profils de vitesse des ondes de cisaillement. Les profils obtenus par corrélations et ceux évalués directement par SASW sont en accord dans les sites proches considérés. Ce constat prouve que les profils de vitesse obtenus par SASW correspondent à la rigidité réelle du sol. La catégorisation des sols, sur la base du paramètre V[indice inférieur s30], indique deux classes de sol dominantes dans la ville des Cayes. Il s’agit des sols de classe C, en région montagneuse, et des sols de classe D en plaine. Dans certaines zones très altérées et friables des faciès montagneux du miocène moyen, le sol est de catégorie D. Dans certains espaces marécageux et proches des côtes, la catégorie E peut être obtenue en plaine. La prise en compte des effets de site a été envisagée au moyen des facteurs d’amplification fixés pour différentes catégories de sol et pour des accélérations spectrales telles que définies par l’analyse d’aléa sismique probabiliste suivant les données de l’USGS. Les spectres d’accélération à la surface, établis dans les diverses zones, indiquent de forts mouvements pour des structures de moins de 0,5 s, représentant la majorité des structures des Cayes. Le centre-ville, se trouvant au plus faible niveau d’aléa sismique, présente des accélérations spectrales allant de 0,897 g à 1,127 g pour les bâtiments de périodes inférieures à 0,5 s. D’autres essais SASW, munis d’une source d’impact plus énergétique, devraient être effectués dans les plaines pour atteindre le rocher. Au voisinage des lacs, au nord des Cayes, d’autres mesures devraient, également, être exécutées pour confirmer la classe D ou C du sol. De plus, d’autres tests comme les rapports H/V et SPT, CPT peuvent s’avérer aussi nécessaires pour une plus grande définition des dépôts meubles caractérisant les Cayes. Ils permettront de réaliser une estimation plus précise du mouvement à la surface, de réaliser des analyses dynamiques et de préciser éventuellement, la catégorie F du sol en zone côtière ou marécageuse.

The snow cover (extent, depth and water equivalent) is an important factor in assessing the water balance of a territory. In a context of deregulation of electricity, better knowledge of the quantity of water resulting from snowmelt that will be available for hydroelectric power generation has become a major challenge for the managers of Hydro-Québec's generating plant. In fact, the snow on the ground represents nearly one third of Hydro-Québec's annual energy reserve and the proportion is even higher for northern watersheds. Snowcover knowledge would therefore help optimize the management of energy stocks.The issue is especially important when one considers that better management of water resources can lead to substantial economic benefits.The Research Institute of Hydro-Quebec (IREQ), our research partner, is currently attempting to optimize the streamflow forecasts made by its hydrological models by improving the quality of the inputs. These include a parameter known as the snow water equivalent (SWE) which characterizes the properties of the snow cover. At the present time, SWE data is obtained from in situ measurements, which are both sporadic and scattered and does not allow the temporal and spatial variability of SWE to be characterized adequately for the needs of hydrological models. This research project proposes to provide the Québec utility's hydrological models with distributed SWE information about its northern watersheds.The targeted accuracy is 15% for the proposed period of analysis covering the winter months of January, February and March of 2001 to 2006.The methodology is based on the HUT snow emission model and uses the passive microwave remote sensing data acquired by the SSM/I sensor. Monitoring of the temporal and spatial variations in SWE is done by inversion of the model and benefits from the assimilation of in situ data to characterize the state of snow cover during the season. Experimental results show that the assimilation technique of in situ data (density and depth) can reproduce the temporal variations in SWE with a RMSE error of 15.9% (R[subscript 2] =0.76).The analysis of land cover within the SSMI pixels can reduce this error to 14.6% (R[subscript 2] =0.66) for SWE values below 300 mm. Moreover, the results show that the fluctuations of SWE values are driven by changes in snow depths. Indeed, the use of a constant value for the density of snow is feasible and makes it possible to get as good if not better results. These results will allow IREQ to assess the suitability of using snow cover information provided by the remote sensing data in its forecasting models. This improvement in SWE characterization will meet the needs of IREQ for its work on optimization of the quality of hydrological simulations.The originality and relevance of this work are based primarily on the type of method used to quantify SWE and the site where it is applied.The proposed method focuses on the inversion of the HUT model from passive remote sensing data and assimilates in situ data. Moreover, this approach allows high SWE values (> 300 mm) to be quantified, which was impossible with previous methods. These high SWE values are encountered in areas with large amounts of snow such as northern Québec.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Please refer to full text to view abstract.

Seismic traveltime inversion, traveltime tomography and seismic reflection techniques have been applied for two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) data acquired in conjunction with site characterization and monitoring aspects at a carbon dioxide (CO2) geological storage site at Ketzin, Germany (the CO2SINK project). Conventional seismic methods that focused on investigating the CO2 storage and caprock formations showed a poor or no image of the upper 150 m. In order to fill this information gap, an effort on imaging the shallow subsurface at a potentially risky area at the site is the principal goal of this thesis. Beside this objective, a seismic source comparison from a 2D pilot study for acquisition parameter testing at the site found a weight drop source suitable with respect to the signal penetration, frequency content of the data and minimizing time and cost for 3D data acquisition. For the Ketzin seismic data, the ability to obtain high-quality images is limited by the acquisition geometry, source-generated noise and time shifts due to near-surface effects producing severe distortions in the data. Moreover, these time shifts are comparable to the dominant periods of the reflections and to the size of structures to be imaged. Therefore, a combination of seismic refraction and state-of-the-art processing techniques, including careful static corrections and more accurate velocity analysis, resulted in key improvements of the images and allowed new information to be extracted. The results from these studies together with borehole information, hydrogeologic models and seismic modeling have been combined into an integrated interpretation. The boundary between the Quaternary and Tertiary unit has been mapped. The internal structure of the Quaternary sediments is likely to be complicated due to the shallow aquifer/aquitard complex, whereas the heterogeneity in the Tertiary unit is due to rock alteration associated with fault zones. Some of the major faults appear to project into the Tertiary unit. These findings are important for understanding the potentially risky anticline crest and can be used as a database for the future monitoring program at the site.

Gas lift is a means of enhancing oil recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs. Gas injected at the production riser base reduces the gravity component of the pressure drop and thereby, increases the supply of oil from the reservoir. Also, gas injection at the base of a riser helps to mitigate slugging and thus, improving the performance of the topside facility. In order to improve the efficiency of the gas lifting technique, a good understanding of the characteristics of gas-liquid multiphase flow in vertical pipes is very important. In this study, experiments of gas/liquid (air/water) two-phase flows, liquid/liquid of oil/water two-phase flows and gas/liquid/liquid (air/oil/water) three-phase flows were conducted in a 10.5 m high 52 mm ID vertical riser. These experiments were performed at liquid and gas superficial velocities ranging from 0.25 to 2 m/s and ~0.1 to ~6.30 m/s, respectively. Dielectric oil and tap water were used as test fluids. Instruments such as Coriolis mass flow meter, single beam gamma densitometer and wire-mesh sensor (WMS) were employed for investigating the flow characteristics. For the experiments of gas/liquid (air/water) two-phase flow, flow patterns of Bubbly, slug, churn flow regimes and transition regions were identified under the experimental conditions. Also, for flow pattern identification and void fraction measurements, the capacitance WMS results are consistent with those obtained simultaneously by the gamma densitometer. Generally, the total pressure gradient along the vertical riser has shown a significant decrease as the injected gas superficial velocity increased. In addition, the rate of decrease in total pressure gradient at the lower injected gas superficial velocities was found to be higher than that for higher gas superficial velocities. The frictional pressure gradient was also found to increase as the injected gas superficial velocity increased. For oil-water experiments, mixture density and total pressure gradient across the riser were found to increase with increasing water cut (ranging between 0 - 100%) and/or mixture superficial velocity. Phase slip between the oil and water was calculated and found to be significant at lower throughputs of 0.25 and 0.5 m/s. The phase inversion point always takes place at a point of input water cut of 42% when the experiments started from pure oil to water, and at an input water cut of 45% when the experiment’s route started from water to pure oil. The phase inversion point was accompanied by a peak increase of pressure gradient, particularly at higher oil-water mixture superficial velocities of 1, 1.5 and 2 m/s. The effects of air injection rates on the fluid flow characteristics were studied by emphasizing the total pressure gradient behaviour and identifying the flow pattern by analysing the output signals from gamma and WMS in air/oil/water experiments. Generally, riser base gas injection does not affect the water cut at the phase inversion point. However, a slight shift forward for the identified phase inversion point was found at highest flow rates of injected gas where the flow patterns were indicated as churn to annular flow. In terms of pressure gradient, the gas lifting efficiency (lowering pressure gradient) shows greater improvement after the phase inversion point (higher water cuts) than before and also at the inversion point. Also, it was found that the measured mean void fraction reaches its lowest value at the phase inversion point. These void fraction results were found to be consistent with previously published results.

Anthradithiophene (ADT) derivatives have proven to be a front-runner in the world of small molecule semiconductors for organic electronics and optoelectronics. This is mainly due to the improved stability, easy tuning of chemical and physical properties, and impressive device performance that these molecules possess, especially in organic field effect transistors (OFET) and organic photovoltaics (OPV). The second chapter of this dissertation shows that reducing the amount of alkylsilylethynyl groups, used for functionalizing and solubilizing the ADT backbone, does alter the chemical, physical and crystallographic properties of ADTs. These changes offer the opportunity to study and observe different intermolecular interactions as well as monitoring their influence on sulfur scrambling in solid state. Additionally, from the early days ADTs and functionalized ADTs have been synthesized as isomeric mixtures. In chapter three, I demonstrate a new and simple method that can separate the syn and anti isomers of the F-TES-ADT and F-TEG-ADT chromatographically. The effects of isomeric purity on crystal packing and field effect transistor performance were studied extensively. Chapter four of this dissertation reveals a new generation of acceptor (electron poor) ADT derivatives obtained by attaching cyanide as electron withdrawing group (EWG) to the ADT chromophore. An extensive study was conducted on CN-ADT (acceptor) molecules in small molecule (F-TES-ADT) donor/ small molecule (CN-ADT) acceptor binary BHJ blends as well as P3HT/CN-ADT/PCBM ternary BHJ blends. Photophysical studies of the Donor/ acceptor blends (interface, domains, and crystal orientation) were conducted to obtain a better understanding of the film morphology and its effect on solar cell performance. Finally, the last part of the dissertation, Chapter five, focus on studying singlet fission in ADT derivatives, as well as the effect of varying the size of the alkylsilylethynyl functional group (used for solubilizing the ADT backbone) on altering the electronic couplings and how can that potentially affect the singlet fission rate in these molecules. We also tried to inspect the extent of the correlation between long-range order in crystal packing and singlet fission by monitoring singlet fission rate and efficiency for ADT derivatives with different thin film morphologies.

Sediment samples were collected during three Ocean Network Canada expeditions to three hydrothermal vent fields at the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The sediments were collected at variable distances (≤ 1340 m) from the vents fields by push core and, in some cases, by suction sampling from base of a chimney structure. The geochemistry of the sediments was investigated in order to understand their formation and the mass fluxes associated with these hydrothermal systems. Qualitative and quantitative approaches have been applied to deconvolve sediments bulk compositions into mass fractions of the different components that they are made up of. Qualitative analysis identified five different end-member components (hydrothermal plume particles, hydrothermal chimney fragments, terrigenous sediment, basalt fragments and organic matter). Using Q-mode factor analysis only three main components are identified. This is due to the geochemical similarity of (i) the hydrothermal plume particles and hydrothermal chimney fragments which are grouped together in this analysis, and (ii) the terrigenous sediment and basalt which are also grouped. Mass fractions of each component were calculated by using a numerical inversion procedure. The samples collected at the base of the chimney are composed of 20-40% plume particles and 56-72% chimney fragments with little contribution from other sediment sources. With increasing distance from the vent fields the contributions of these “hydrothermal” sources to the sediments drop rapidly to <50% within 90 m of the vents and <25% within 120 m from the vents. The mass fraction and chemical composition of the plume particles component, along with the estimates of the chemical flux out of hydrothermal vents and sedimentation rates in the area, are used to make a preliminary estimation of the chemical flux into the ocean. / Graduate / 0372 / 0996 / 0547 / armaghan.attar@gmail.com