This thesis reviews the housing-related implications of separation and divorce for women. It arges that the housing circumstances must be placed within a broader perspective of the social and economic consequences and ideological environment surrounding divorce. In the same way, operation of the housing system must be placed within a wider context, particularly in relation to the degree of change in its operational environment within the last 20 years. The thesis finds that the circumstances surrounding leaving a marriage are personally traumatic, and lead to a period of economic, housing and personal crisis. Over time, although the tendency is for establishment of re-equlibrium, considerable disadvantages prevail for women. The quickest method of establishing re-equilibrium for women is to repartner.

Removal of water vapor from humid streams is an energy-intensive process used widely in industry. Effective dehumidification has the potential to significantly reduce energy consumption and the overall cost of a process stream. Membrane-based separations, particularly dehumidification, are an emerging technology that can change the landscape of global energy usage because they have a small footprint, they are easy to scale up, to implement and to operate. The focus of this thesis is to evaluate new directions for the development and use of materials for membrane-based dehumidification processes. It will show advances in the synthesis of new copolymers, a surprising boost in performance with the addition of 2-D materials, propose the use of polybenzimidazole for challenging dehumidification applications, and show how by tuning the nanostructure of a commercially available block copolymer (BCP) it is possible to increase the performance. The design of novel amphiphilic ternary copolymers comprising P(AN-r-PEGMA-r-DMAEMA) allowed selective removal of water vapors from gaseous streams; the effect of varying PEGMA chain length on membrane performance was studied. The membranes showed an excellent performance when the content of the PEGMA segment was 2.9 mol% with a chain length of 950Da. In the mixed-matrix approach, the inclusion of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets in a different copolymer enhanced the membrane performance by creating selective tortuous pathways for inert gases. The well-distributed GO nanosheets in the defect-free composite membranes resulted in an 8 fold increase in water vapor/N2 selectivity compared to neat membranes. Thirdly, dense polybenzimidazole membranes showed good water vapor permeability, and the addition of TiO2-based fillers with varying chemistry and geometry enhanced the performance of PBI membranes. Lastly, the effect of tuning the morphology of commercially available BCP on dehumidification was demonstrated successfully. The self-assembled morphology formed with cylindrical hydrophobic cores, and the hydrophilic coronas, formed ion-rich highways for fast water vapor transport. Water vapor permeability improved up to 6-fold with the nanostructure modulation more than any membrane reported in the literature. In summary, the work reported in this dissertation has the potential to lay a framework towards tailor-made next-generation membranes aimed for water vapor removal in various dehumidification applications.

Counter current chromatography (CCC) is a form of liquid liquid chromatography, which the Brunel Institute for Bioengineering (BIB) team have developed to process scale. In this thesis, its application has been successfully extended to the rapid, scalable purification of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) from mammalian cell culture, using aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) of inorganic salts and polymer. A polyethylene glycol (PEG) and sodium citrate system was found to be the most appropriate by robotic phase system selection. The search for an economical alternative to protein A HPLC is a substantial bioprocessing concern; in this work CCC has been investigated. Initial studies showed that unpredictably, despite separation from impurities being achieved, some loss in the IgG‘s ability to bind to Protein A was seen, as confirmed by Protein A BiaCore analysis. CCC machines were seen to adversely affect IgG functionality. This led to a systematic investigation of the effect of CCC phase mixing on IgG functionality in a number of different CCC instruments, allowing direct comparisons of modes of CCC (hydrodynamic and hydrostatic CCC) and their associated mixing (wave-like and cascade, respectively). The varying g forces produced within the CCC column were determined using a recently developed model to calculate g force range. The effect of interfacial tension was also studied using a custom built 'g' shaker. The optimum CCC mode was identified to be the non synchronous CCC, operated in a hydrodynamic mode but allowing bobbin to rotor speed (Pr ratio) to be controlled independently. In a normal synchronous J type centrifuge a Pr of 1 is fixed, this is where the bobbin and rotor speed are identical I.e. one bobbin rotation (where mixing occurs) to one rotor revolution (where settling occurs). Constraints were seen with this 1:1 ratio and the separation of mAb using ATPS. This work has shown with the use of the non synchronous CCC at a Pr of 0.33, mixing is reduced and rotor rotations increased. Consequently the associated g force range is decreased. Furthermore, by the extension of settling time, the clear separation of the mAb from impurities has been achieved with retention of biological activity. This thesis demonstrates the importance of settling time for ATPS in phase separation and documents the fundamental requirements for the successful separation of biologics. Purified non synchronous CCC samples have additionally undergone rigorous quality control testing at Lonza Biologics by their purification scientists. This work has ultimately showed that with optimisation, the non synchronous CCC can be used to produce biological samples that are of industry standard.

A fundamental understanding of interfacial charge transfer at donor-acceptor interfaces is very crucial as it is considered among the most important dynamical processes for optimizing performance in many light harvesting systems, including photovoltaics and photo-catalysis. In general, the photo-generated singlet excitons in photoactive materials exhibit very short lifetimes because of their dipole-allowed spin radiative decay and short diffusion lengths. In contrast, the radiative decay of triplet excitons is dipole forbidden; therefore, their lifetimes are considerably longer. The discussion in this thesis primarily focuses on the relevant parameters that are involved in charge separation (CS), charge transfer (CT), intersystem crossing (ISC) rate, triplet state lifetime, and carrier recombination (CR) at silver nanocluster (NCs) molecular-acceptors interfaces. A combination of steady-state and femto- and nanosecond broadband transient absorption spectroscopies were used to investigate the charge carrier dynamics in various donor-acceptor systems. Additionally, this thesis was prolonged to investigate some important factors that influence the charge carrier dynamics in Ag29 silver NCs donor-acceptor systems, such as the metal doping and chemical structure of the nanocluster and molecular acceptors. Interestingly, clear correlations between the steady-state measurements and timeresolved spectroscopy results are found. In the first study, we have investigated the interfacial charge transfer dynamics in positively charged meso units of 5, 10, 15, 20-tetra (1- methyl-4-pyridino)-porphyrin tetra (p-toluene sulfonate) (TMPyP) and neutral charged 5, 10, 15, 20-tetra (4-pyridyl)-porphyrin (TPyP), with negatively charged undoped and gold (Au)- doped silver Ag29 NCs. Moreover, this study showed the impact of Au doping on the charge carrier dynamics of the system. In the second study, we have investigated the interfacial charge transfer dynamics in [Pt2 Ag23 Cl7 (PPh3)10] silver NCs doped with platinum (Pt), with neutral charged 5, 10, 15, 20-tetra (4-pyridyl)-porphyrin (TPyP). Here, we evaluated the effects of Pt (II) doping on the interfacial charge-transfer dynamics between TPyP and silver NCs.

This thesis shed lights on metal-nitrogen organometallic fragments supported on silica surface for catalytic applications. It Focuses on group IV and V metal transition as a well-defined single-site catalysts, specifically titanium, hafnium, and tantalum to utilize them in the development of selective heterogeneous catalysis for imine metathesis, hydroamination and hydroaminoalkylation of olefins and alkynes. Developing new metal-nitrogen containing fragments by using easily available and abundant precursors which is silica SiO2 and metal amides complexes. Here, we describe metal fragments starting with hafnium-nitrogen fragment. All the catalysts were prepared by reacting homoleptic metal amido of group IV and V with partially dehydroxylated silica. In most cases the resulting surface amido is monopodal and leads to well defined single site catalysts precursors. In particular with Hf we have isolated hafniaaziridine 2.1 [(≡Si-O-)Hf(η2-MeNCH2)(η1-NMe2)(η1-HNMe2)], imido, and amido fragments 2.3 [(≡Si-O-)Hf(=NMe)(η1-NMe2)], and two intermediates the five-membered ring 2.2 [≡Si-O-Hf(HNMe2)(η2-NMeCH2CH(C6H13)CH2)(NMe2)] and 2.4 [(≡Si-O-)Hf(=NCH2Ar) (η1-NMe2)]. For tantalum 3.1 [(≡Si-O-)Ta=NtBu)(η1-NMeEt)2]; we have isolated two intermediates after treating 3.1 catalyst with aniline substrate lead to isolating 3.3 [(≡Si-O-)Ta(η1σ-NEtMe)2(η1σ-NHtBu)(NHC6H10)], and upon treating with 1-octyne lead to isolating 3.2 [(≡Si-O-)Ta(η1σ-NEtMe)2(η2-NtBuC=CC7H13)]. For titanium-nitrogen fragments, we isolated on silica SiO2-200 4.1 [(≡Si-O2-)Ti(NMe2)2 (η1-HNMe2)] and on SiO2-700 the titaniaaziridine 4.2a [≡Si-O-Ti(NMe2)3] 4.2b, [(≡Si-O-)Ti(η2-MeNCH2)(η1-NMe2)(η1-HNMe2)], the imido, and amido fragments 4.4 [(≡Si-O-)Ti(=NMe)(η1-NMe2)], and the five-membered ring intermediate 4.3 [≡Si-O-Ti(HNMe2)(η2-NMeCH2CH(C6H13)CH2)(NMe2)]. Research in this area has led to isolating several intermediates containing nitrogen fragments, this is the strength of surface organometallic chemistry which allows a deeper understanding of catalytic phenomena which could not be approached either in homogeneous catalysis or in classical heterogeneous catalysis. A molecular level characterization of the surface nitrogen containing fragments have been characterized by SOMC tools such as FTIR and EXAFS spectroscopy, elemental analysis, solid-state single and multiple quantum NMR, advanced DNP-SENS and DFT. A catalytic cycle was proposed based not only on the isolation of intermediates but also based on DFT calculations.

This research was undertaken to develop state-of-the-art interfacially polymerized (IP) defect-free thin-film composite (TFC) membranes and understand their structure-function-performance relationships. Recent research showed the presence of defects in interfacially polymerized commercial membranes which potentially deter performance in liquid separations and render the membranes inadequate for gas separations. Firstly, a modified method (named KRO1) was developed to fabricate interfacially polymerized defect-free TFCs using m-phenylene diamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC). The systematic study revealed the ability to heal defects in-situ by tweaking the reaction time along with considerably improving the membrane crosslinking by controlling the organic solution temperature. The two discoveries were combined to produce highly crosslinked, defect-free MPD-TMC polyamide membranes which showed exceptional performance for separating H2 from CO2. Permeance and pure-gas selectivity of the membrane increased with temperature. H2 permeance of 350 GPU and H2/CO2 selectivity of ~100 at 140 °C were obtained, the highest reported performance for this application using polymeric materials to date. Secondly, the membranes produced using KRO1 were tested for reverse-osmosis (RO) performance which revealed significantly improved boron rejection compared to commercial membranes reaching a maximum of 99% at 15.5 bar feed pressure at pH 10. The study also unveiled direct correlations between membrane crosslinking and salt separation performance in addition to the membrane surface roughness. Thirdly, this was followed by replacing the conventional IP TMC monomer with a large, rigid and contorted tetra-acyl chloride (TripTaC) monomer to enhance the performance of IP TFCs. The fabricated TFCs showed considerable performance boosts especially for separating of small solutes from organic solvents such as methanol. A rise in H2 permeance was also observed compared to the conventional MPD-TMC TFCs while reaching a maximum H2/CO2 selectivity of 9 at 22 °C. Finally, the research was completed by showing the potential of KRO1 for fabrication of defect-free TFCs using a range of aqueous diamine monomers. KRO1 enabled defect-free gas properties for all monomers used showing exceptional performance for separating H2-CO2 and O2-N2 mixtures. It was further shown that the formulation could also improve the RO separation of interfacially polymerized polyamide TFCs beyond those shown by commercially available TFCs.

Distillation technology involves capital- and energy-intensive processes for light olefin/paraffin separation. Global demand for propylene has already exceeded 110 million tons per year. Therefore, distillation processes used for the separation of C3H6/C3H8 should be replaced or debottlenecked with more efficient and cost-effective technology. In the last three decades, membrane-based gas separation processes have successfully emerged, thus competing with conventional separation processes. Membranes potentially offer lower capital investment and operation cost than distillation columns. In this study, the use of advanced membrane materials for C3H6/C3H8 separation was investigated. Three novel triptycene-based polyimides were synthesized by Dr. Bader Ghanem from one diamine monomer, namely 2,6-dihydroxy-3,7-diaminotriptycene (DTA1-OH), and three dianhydride monomers, (i) non-substituted triptycene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (TDA), (ii) 9,10-dimethyltriptycene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (TDA1) and (iii) 9,10-iso-propyltriptycene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (TDAi3). It is important to note that polyimide membranes based on triptycene dianhydrides and triptycene diamines have never been reported in the literature before. Pure-gas permeability coefficients of He, H2, N2, O2, CO2, CH4, C3H6, and C3H8 were determined at 2 bar and 35 °C. Furthermore, C3H6 and C3H8 gas sorption isotherms were measured by gravimetric techniques, and experimental data were collected up to 7 bar at 35 °C. TDA-DAT1-OH, TDA1-DAT1-OH, TDAi3-DAT1-OH exhibited C3H6 permeability of 12.1, 16.6, and 5.64 Barrer with pure-gas C3H6/C3H8 selectivity of 35.7, 29.6, and 32.8 respectively. These properties exceeded the 2003 pure-gas upper bound for C3H6/C3H8. The BET surface area increased in the order of TDA-DAT1-OH (437 m2/g) < TDAi3-DAT1-OH (467 m2/g) < TDA1-DAT1-OH (557 m2/g). The frecational free volume (FFV) increased in the order of TDAi3-DAT1-OH (0.25) < TDA-DAT1-OH (0.28) < TDA1-DAT1-OH (0.30). TDA1-DAT1-OH (109 μm) showed less and slower physical aging than TDA-DAT1-OH (94 μm) after 60 days, where the O2 and CO2 permeability of both polyimides decreased by about 40% and 69%, respectively. After 30 days, TDAi3-DAT1-OH displayed the highest selectivity gain relative to its counterparts and exceeded the 2008 upper bound for CO2/CH4. TDA1-DAT1-OH exhibited 7-fold higher C3H6 permeability coupled with almost 3-fold higher C3H6/C3H8 selectivity relative to a previously reported commercial polyphenylene oxide (PPO) membrane.

Background: Healthy marriage promotes better health outcomes compared to negative marital experiences. Previous research has shown that exposure to trauma prior to age 18, or Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), increases the likelihood of poor health in adults. These negative experiences impact future relationships and contribute to increased risk for depression, substance abuse, and lowered immune system. This study used ACE scores by category to investigate the effect of ACEs on the risk of divorce or separation and explored the hypothesis that children who have experienced ACEs are more likely to report being divorced or separated in later life. Methods: ACEs examined individually included those considered as abuse (swearing, physical abuse, forced to touch, and sex) and those categorized as household dysfunction (parent/guardian depression, alcohol, or substance use, incarceration, family abuse, and parental divorce). Descriptive statistics were completed in SAS with the 2011 and 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. All ACE categories were found to be significant using chisquare (p<0.05). Final analysis using Stata (N=69,793) compared adults who were divorced or separated to those who were married or widowed. Simple and multiple logistic regressions were completed for ACEs, controlling for income, race, age, education level and gender. Results: Those who experienced ACEs of forced sex or had a parent in prison had double the odds of experiencing divorce or separation (OR=2.46, p<0.001 and OR=2.03 p<0.001 respectively). Exposure to parent/guardian alcohol use in the home was shown to have a less dramatic effect on divorce/ separation, although this was still significant (OR=1.57, p<0.001). Forced touch was found to almost double the odds of divorce/separation (OR= 1.96, p<0.001). Higher income was shown to have a protective effect on marital status (OR=0.60 p<0.001). While age, males, and education level were statistically significant, the variables did not have a meaningful effect on reducing chances of divorce/separated (ORs between 0.87 and 0.96, p<0.001). Conclusion: Those who experienced ACEs as a child were at more risk of being currently divorced/separated. The current study found that adults who were forced to have sex or forced to touch as a child were at increased risk of divorce/separation. Individuals with a parent in prison were twice as likely to experience divorce/separation. Studying the effect ACEs have on marriage could contribute to further understanding ways in which to prevent unhealthy relationships. This in turn could reduce the risk for divorce and adverse health problems in adults who have experienced ACEs. More studies need to be done to fully understand the consequent effects on ACEs and divorce/separation.

Sound Source Separation refers to separating sound signals according to their sources from a given observed sound. It is efficient to code and very easy to analyze and manipulate sounds from individual sources separately than in a mixture. This thesis deals with the problem of source separation in monaural recordings of harmonic musical instruments. A good amount of literature is surveyed and presented since sound source separation has been tried by many researchers over many decades through various approaches. A prediction driven approach is first presented which is inspired by old-plus-new heuristic used by humans for Auditory Scene Analysis. In this approach, the signals from different sources are predicted using a general model and then these predictions are reconciled with observed sound to get the separated signal. This approach failed for real world sound recordings in which the spectrum of the source signals change very dynamically. Considering the dynamic nature of the spectrums, an approach which uses covariance matrix of amplitudes of harmonics is proposed. The overlapping and non-overlapping harmonics of the notes are first identified with the knowledge of pitch of the notes. The notes are matched on the basis of their covariance profiles. The second order properties of overlapping harmonics of a note are estimated with the use of co-variance matrix of a matching note. The full harmonic is then reconstructed using these second order characteristics. The technique has performed well over sound samples taken from RWC musical Instrument database.

Our thesis work focuses on Frequency-domain Blind Source Separation (BSS) in which the received mixed signals are converted into the frequency domain and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is applied to instantaneous mixtures at each frequency bin. Computational complexity is also reduced by using this method. We also investigate the famous problem associated with Frequency-Domain Blind Source Separation using ICA referred to as the Permutation and Scaling ambiguities, using methods proposed by some researchers. This is our main target in this project; to solve the permutation and scaling ambiguities in real time applications / Gozie: modebelu2001@yahoo.com Anayo: ezeudea@yahoo.com