Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Rarefaction'

Experiments are presented in which the diffuse interface between two gases is made Rayleigh-Taylor unstable by interaction with a rarefaction wave. The apparatus used consists of a test section where the counter-flow of light and heavy gases generates a diffuse, stably stratified interface. A tank attached to the bottom of the apparatus is evacuated, and when an appropriate pressure is reached, the interface is perturbed using either a horizontal or a vertical oscillation technique to produce 2D, 3D, and multi-mode perturbations. A solenoid plunger fires an arrowhead which ruptures a membrane, generating a rarefaction wave that travels upward toward the interface. When the rarefaction wave impacts the interface, the interface accelerates down toward the vacuum tank, and the Rayleigh-Taylor instability and mixing develop in the test section. The instability evolution and mixing are recorded using high-speed CMOS cameras and planar laser Mie scattering of smoke particles seeded in the heavy gas. Additional visualization is undertaken with a high-speed shadowgraph system using three CMOS cameras. Interface diffusion thicknesses are recorded using the Rayleigh scattered light of an unexpanded laser beam. Simulations are conducted using a 1D numerical characteristics code based on the method of Hoskin (Meth. Comp. Physics, 3, 1964), and using the LLNL research hydrodynamics code Miranda (Cook, Phys. Fluids, 19, 2007). This 1D code produces Lagrangian interface trajectories while the 2D and 3D simulations using Miranda calculate the growth of perturbations. The theory of Chandrasekhar (Chandrasekhar, Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., 51, 1955) is extended to capture the effects of diffuse interfaces while including viscosity, and dispersion curves are solved for numerically using a Riccati technique. These solutions show that the method of Duff et al. (Phys. Fluids, 5, 1962) may not accurately describe the growth of single modes for large wavenumbers. For large wavenumbers, when the interface has a large diffusion thickness, perturbations are found to grow with the linear growth rate n = 2Ag/(√πv₀δk²), where A is the Atwood number, g is the acceleration, v₀ is the average kinematic viscosity, δ is the thickness of the interface, and k is the wavenumber of the perturbation. Flat interface experiments exhibit predictable acceleration profiles, but the tail of the rarefaction wave appears at late times reducing the duration of acceleration. Single-mode experiments are conducted for four Atwood numbers including CO₂/SF₆ with A = 0.49, Air/SF₆ with A = 0.63, He/CO₂ with A = 0.82, and He/SF₆ with A = 0.94. Early time results compare well with linear stability theory when non-constant acceleration and diffusion thickness are accounted for. Simulations show good agreement with experiments into the non-linear growth phase. The CO₂/SF₆ and Air/SF₆ experiments show terminal velocity behavior where buoyancy is balanced by drag, but produce Froude numbers larger than those predicted by the Goncharov model (Phys. Rev. Lett., 88, 2002). Using the Mikaelian model (Phys. Fluids, 21, 2009), improved asymptotic Froude numbers are found. The He/CO₂ and He/SF₆ experiments exhibit free-fall behavior, accelerating freely without external forces, with spike amplitudes proportional to the displacement of the unperturbed interface. Single-mode experiments conducted with 3D perturbations using CO₂/SF₆ and Air/SF₆ show good agreement with linear stability theory when non-constant acceleration and diffusion thickness are accounted for. Simulations and the model of Mikaelian predict the growth of the spikes up until late time, while the 3D bubbles reach a terminal velocity more quickly than in simulations. Multi-mode experiments were conducted using Air/SF₆. Multi-mode experiments exhibit nearly t² growth at early times which decays. Using extraction techniques that account for variable acceleration, alpha values are found between ɑ = 0.02 and ɑ = 0.04. These alpha values are lower than are seen for most experiments, but are similar to ɑ values seen in miscible experiments.

Genetic diversity is a well-described concept within many biological disciplines. However, mathematical models determining genetic diversity are often applied within ecological disciplines and are rarely explored within the medical field. Given that genetically associated disorders and complications can occur at high frequency in developing countries, the primary aim of this study was to determine whether or not diversity theory could be applied to disease-associated variants. Two monogenic disorders were selected for this purpose one commonly observed disorder known as cystic fibrosis (CF), and one rare disorder known as metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD). Despite being a common monogenic disorder, the clinical and molecular presentation of CF in the different population groups of South Africa is largely unknown. Thus, the medical records of 45 CF patients attending the Steve Biko Academic Hospital CF clinic were investigated to better understand the manifestation of this disorder in these patients. Additionally, molecular data was collected for both CF and MLD through published reports and analysed via the Shannon-Weaver, Simpson, Simpson Diversity, and rarefaction diversity methods. The rarefaction method was found to be the most informative measure of diversity and a potentially powerful tool to employ in the development and/or refinement of population-specific screening panels.
Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2015.
Immunology
MSc
Unrestricted

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed May 17, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-101).

La thèse est consacrée aux instabilités de type Rayleigh-Taylor. L'instabilité Rayleigh-Taylor (IRT) joue un rôle important dans l'évolution des plasmas magnétisés dans les expériences de la compression des plasmas (surtout avec des dispositifs comme les Z-pinches), aussi bien que dans les étoiles et dans les fluides classiques. Dans ce travail on étudie aussi bien le cas général de l'instabilité Rayleigh-Taylor " classique " que les cas plus spécifiques des instabilités de type Rayleigh-Taylor dans les plasmas magnétisés, dans les implosions des coquilles à fils etc. On a étudié l'influence de la diffusion Hall du champ magnétique sur le taux de croissance de l'instabilité. On a obtenu des solutions auto-similaires pour l'élargissement du profil initial et pour l'onde de pénétration du champ magnétique. Puis, on a étudié l'évolution postérieure du champ magnétique et on a montré la possibilité d'existence de l'onde de raréfaction forte pour les cas avec et sans collisions. Le phénomène de suppression de 1'IRT par des oscillations forcées de la frontière entre deux fluides a été étudié. On considère le cas général de l'instabilité, c'est-à-dire deux fluides incompressibles visqueux dans le champ de gravitation. On obtient l'expression précise analytique du taux de croissance et on analyse l'influence des paramètres de " pompage " du système sur l'instabilité. Les résultats expérimentaux sont bien meilleurs dans le cas d'une implosion de fils fins multiples situés sur un cylindre (schéma des coquilles à fils) que dans le cas du schéma ordinaire du " liner ". On a examiné un problème modélisant la stabilisation de 1'IRT dans ce cas due aux modulations régulières de la surface de séparation entre le plasma et le champ magnétique. On a montré que le couplage des modes de l'instabilité dans la présence du champ magnétique peut effectivement réduire le taux de croissance.

Heat transfer of two-dimensional, hydrodynamically developed, thermally developing, single phase, laminar flow inside a microtube is studied analytically with constant wall temperature thermal boundary condition. The flow is assumed to be incompressible and thermo-physical properties of the fluid are assumed to be constant. Viscous dissipation and the axial conduction are included in the analysis. Rarefaction effect is imposed to the problem via velocity slip and temperature jump boundary conditions for the slip flow regime. The temperature distribution is determined by solving the energy equation together with the fully developed velocity profile. Analytical solutions are obtained for the temperature distribution and local and fully developed Nusselt number in terms of dimensionless parameters
Peclet number, Knudsen number, Brinkman number, and the parameter &
#954
. The results are verified with the well-known ones from literature.

Heat transfer analysis of two-dimensional, incompressible, constant property, hydrodynamically developed, thermally developing, single phase laminar flow in microtubes and microchannels between parallel plates with negligible axial conduction is performed for constant wall temperature and constant wall heat flux thermal boundary conditions for slip flow regime. Fully developed velocity profile is determined analytically, and energy equation is solved by using finite difference method for both of the geometries. The rarefaction effect which is important for flow in low pressures or flow in microchannels is imposed to the boundary conditions of the momentum and energy equations. The viscous dissipation term which is important for high speed flows or flows in long pipelines is included in the energy equation. The effects of rarefaction and viscous heating on temperature profile and local Nusselt number are discussed. The results of the numerical method are verified with the well-known analytical results of the flow in macrochannels (i.e. Kn =0, Br =0) and with the available analytical results of flow in microchannels for simplified cases. The results show significant deviations from the flow in macrochannels.

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Species kept in captivity are of great importance for in situ conservation of natural populations. In order to fulfill this role, they need to be properly managed with the aim to avoid the consequences of a captive environment, such as: loss of genetic diversity, inbreeding depression, accumulation of deleterious alleles and genetic adaptation to captivity (the first three due to the small number of breeding stock). Thus, with the aim to test founder effects in captive ―populations‖, we used as study model the spectacled bears from Brazilian zoos. This ―population‖ consists of twenty-one bears found in eight zoos along the country, which are originated from just twelve founding individuals. To test a possible founder effect, we analyzed twelve heterologous microsatellite loci for all the specimens of the species in Brazil. Results for the number of alleles and allelic richness obtained through the rarefaction method showed that spectacled bears in captivity have reduced levels of allelic richness in relation to three natural populations (Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela) studied by other authors; suggesting that bears from Brazilian zoos suffered the consequences of a founding effect, as they have only a fraction of the gene pool of the ancestral population. From the information present in the studbook was possible to verify that there are two families of spectacled bears, and according to the individuals´s multilocus genotypes, we found alleles that are present in a same family and absent in the other. Regarding the kinship, there was a discrepancy in the results with the molecular estimators through the softwares ML-Relate and Coancestry and the information given by the institutions. The information obtained in this work are fundamental to the ex situ conservation program in Brazil with the objective of maintain as high as possible the genetic diversity for future reintroduction plans of the species in nature.
Espécies mantidas em cativeiro são de grande importância na conservação in situ de populações naturais. A fim de que possam desempenhar este papel é necessário que sejam devidamente manejadas, para que as consequências que o cativeiro traz sejam evitadas, como por exemplo: perda de diversidade genética, depressão endogâmica, acúmulo de alelos deletérios e adaptação genética ao cativeiro (as três primeiras devido ao pequeno número de espécimes dos plantéis). No Brasil, uma espécie de mamífero que vem sendo criada em cativeiro desde 1970 e que passou por um efeito fundador, é o urso de óculos (Tremarctos ornatus). O plantel existente hoje totaliza o número de vinte e um ursos, encontrados em oito zoológicos do país, o qual se originou de apenas doze indivíduos fundadores. Para avaliar as consequências de um conhecido efeito fundador, analisamos doze locos heterólogos de microssatélites para todos os exemplares da espécie nos zoos do país, através de amostragem não-invasiva. Resultados referentes ao número de alelos e à riqueza alélica obtida por meio do método de rarefação mostraram que os ursos de óculos de cativeiro possuem valores reduzidos de riqueza alélica em relação a três populações naturais (Colômbia, Equador e Venezuela) estudadas por outros autores; sugerindo que os ursos dos zoológicos brasileiros sofreram as consequências de um efeito fundador, pois possuem apenas uma fração do pool gênico da população ancestral. A partir das informações presentes no studbook foi possível verificar que existem duas famílias de ursos de óculos, e de acordo com os genótipos multilocos dos indivíduos, encontramos alelos que estão presentes em uma mesma família e ausentes na outra. Em relação ao parentesco, houve uma discrepância nos resultados encontrados com os estimadores moleculares através dos softwares ML-Relate e Coancestry e o histórico cedido pelas instituições. As informações obtidas em nosso trabalho, portanto, são fundamentais para que os ursos encontrados nos zoológicos do Brasil possam participar na formação de casais em futuros programas de reprodução ex situ com o propósito de serem utilizados em planos de reintrodução da espécie na natureza.

Interações positivas entre plantas têm sido demonstradas em várias comunidades em todo mundo, as quais desempenham papéis importantes na coexistência de espécies, produtividade e diversidade específica. Nesse estudo, avaliamos a influência de Bromelia balansae Mez sobre a riqueza específica, composição, abundância e diversidade de espécies lenhosas nos sub-bosques florestais e nas bordas externas de três afloramentos rochosos com cobertura herbácea presentes no Parque Estadual do Turvo, sul do Brasil. Estabelecemos 15 pares de unidades amostrais (u.a.) em cada afloramento rochoso e igual número na floresta, totalizando 180 u.a.. Consideramos as rosetas das bromélias como u.a. circulares e, como controle, instalamos u.a. correspondentes em áreas sem bromélias. Cada u.a. foi descrita pela abundância de indivíduos juvenis de espécies lenhosas. Para analisar o efeito de B. balansae sobre a riqueza, utilizamos curvas de rarefação baseados nas u.a.. Avaliamos também o efeito sobre a abundância de espécies no afloramento e na floresta utilizando ANOVAs com permutação. As curvas de rarefação revelaram uma diferença significativa da riqueza específica entre as u.a. nos afloramentos onde B. balansae está presente daquelas onde não está. Porém, na floresta, a riqueza de espécies entre u.a. com e sem B. balansae não apresentou diferença significativa. Nos campos rupestres, a presença de B. balansae influenciou positivamente a abundância de espécies em comparação às áreas controle. Na floresta, porém, não encontramos diferenças entre u.a. com e sem B. balansae.
Positive interactions among plants have been demonstrated in several communities around the world and play important roles in maintaining species coexistence, productivity and species diversity. In this study we evaluated the influence of Bromelia balansae Mez on species richness, composition, abundance and diversity of trees and shrubs in the forest understory and on the outer edge of rock outcrops present on Turvo State Park, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The sampling was done in three outcrop areas, which constituted replicas, to evaluate the influence of the presence of B. balansae on woody species. To analyze the effect on the richness of bromeliads, we used rarefaction curves based on sampling units (s.u.). We also evaluated the effect on the abundance of species in outcrop and forest with ANOVAs using permutation. Rarefaction curves showed a significant difference in species richness between s.u. of the outcrops where B. balansae was present and the those without the species. However, the s.u. in the forest, species richness between s.u. with and without B. balansae showed no significant difference. In rocky fields, the presence of B. balansae has positively influenced the abundance of species in comparison to the control areas. In the forest, however, no differences between s.u. with and without B. balansae.

La forêt atlantique brésilienne est un des points sensibles de biodiversité avec une richesse spécifique et des risques d’extinction élevés. Cette forêt est située le long de la côte atlantique brésilienne, s’étendant jusqu’au Paraguay vers le Sud et à l’Argentine dans l’intérieur des terres. Du fait des gradients longitudinal et altitudinal, de la géologie complexe et de la diversité des sols, cette forêt comprend une diversité exceptionnelle de paysages et d’écosystèmes qui ont permis à cette riche biodiversité de se développer. Cependant, cette dernière encourt des risques extrêmes d’extinction du fait des densités et des tailles de populations humaines locales les plus élevées en Amérique du Sud. La forêt atlantique est ainsi aujourd’hui réduite à moins de 5% de sa surface originelle, répartie dans des fragments épars. En dépit de cette richesse spécifique reconnue, beaucoup reste à comprendre au sujet de plusieurs composantes de la biodiversité et de leur origine. Parmi les groupes encore mal connus figurent en particulier les insectes. Dans le but de combler cette lacune, j’ai étudié dans cette thèse un genre de blatte endémique de la forêt atlantique, Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blattodea, Blaberinae). Je me suis focalisé sur sa taxonomie, sa phylogéographie et sur la contribution des données de collections d’histoire naturelle à la modélisation de l’aire de distribution. L’étude de la taxonomie a consisté à entreprendre la révision du genre avec la re-description des espèces espèces déjà connues et la description de nouvelles espèces. Les descriptions des espèces connues étaient fort anciennes et la description (et redescription) a donc inclus la définition de nouveaux caractères, ainsi qu’une étude des genitalia. Des problèmes nomenclaturaux anciens ont été également résolus, une clé d’identification des espèces ainsi qu’une clé d’identification des larves des genres de Blaberinae endémiques de la forêt atlantique ont été construites. La deuxième étude concernait l’analyse de la diversification et de la distribution du genre Monastria dans la forêt atlantique brésilienne. Cette analyse a indiqué l’importance des impacts différentiels des changements de température durant le dernier maximum glaciaire entre les parties Nord et Sud de la forêt atlantique, ceci résultant dans le patron de distribution présent. La troisième étude est une évaluation de l’intérêt des données disponibles dans les collections d’histoire naturelle concernant Monastria pour inférer son aire de répartition en se basant sur des modèles de niches écologiques (ENM), et en utilisant les données issues de l’échantillonnage de terrain ciblé sur Monastria pour valider les résultats. Nous montrons ici que le lot de données des collections est biaisé dans l’espace environmental. Le sur-échantillonnage dans une classe de climat conduit à construire des modèles d’aires favorables plus restreints que ceux de la distribution réelle de Monastria. Ces biais augmentent donc la spécificité des modèles et réduisent leur sensibilité. Pour résoudre ce problème, nous avons conçu deux sortes d’analyse de raréfaction et montré que la suppression aléatoire de points dans la classe climatique la plus biaisée augmente de manière très efficace la sensibilité du modèle de niche climatique
The Brazilian Atlantic forest is one of the biodiversity hotspots with the richest species diversity and threat. It is located along the Brazilian Atlantic coast going south til Paraguay and Argentina in the interior of the continent. Due to its longitudinal and altitudinal gradients, complex geology and diversity of soils it harbors an enormous diversity of landscapes and ecosystems that gave rise to its rich biodiversity. However, this biodiversity is extremely threatened because this region is the one with the highest population size and density in south America. So, the Atlantic forest is now limited to less than 5% of its original surface and distributed in scattered fragments. Despite the recognized species richness, much remains to be known about several components of this biodiversity and their origin. Among the groups still poorly known are the insects. In order to contribute to bridge this gap, in this thesis I studied one genus of cockroach endemic from the Atlantic forest, Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blaberidae, Blaberinae). I focused on the taxonomy, phylogeography and on the contribution of the data existing in natural history collections to model the distribution range. The study of the taxonomy consisted in the revision of the genus with the re-description of already known species and description of new ones. Since the known species were described very early, the description (and re-description) comprised the definition of new characters, and consideration paid to genitalia. In addition to that, old nomenclatural problems were solved, a key to species’ identification was provided, a key to the identification of nymphs of the genera of Blaberinae endemic to the Atlantic forest were provided. The second study was aimed to understand the diversification and distribution of the genus Monastria in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. This analysis indicates the importance of differential impacts of shifts in temperature between the Southern and Northeastern part of the Atlantic forest in the Last Glacial Maximum for explaining the present pattern of distribution. The third study is an evaluation of the data concerning Monastria available in Natural History Collections for estimating its distribution range based on Ecological Niche Models (ENM), and using the data from the field work designed to assess the presence of Monastria to validate the results. Here we showed that the dataset is biased in the environmental space. This oversampling in a climate class leads to models with suitable areas much smaller than that of the real distribution of Monastria. These biases increase model’s specificity and reduced sensitivity. To overcome this problem, we designed two forms of rarefaction and showed deleting points at random in the most biased climate class is very powerful to increase the sensitivity of the ENM

Orientador: Samira Peduti Kahil
Banca: Adriana Maria Bernardes da Silva
Banca: Fabio Betiolo Contel
Resumo: O trabalho preocupa-se em compreender o uso do território pelo sistema financeiro. Para tanto, estabelecemos um debate com importantes autores que tratam da temática e procedemos a um levantamento de dados que consideramos elementos e variáveis importantes para demonstrarmos a constituição do espaço geográfico na sucessão e consecução da formação do território brasileiro. Tudo isso permitiu-nos uma periodização das transformações impostas ao território, pelos sistemas de atividades financeiras. Assim, num primeiro momento, tratamos de analisar a dispersão do sistema financeiro pelo território nacional, a redução do número de bancos e a concentração dos pontos de comando e, num segundo momento, quando a difusão de técnicas e normas possibilitam a reorganização do sistema financeiro e maior intervenção do sistema financeiro mundial. Diante da atual situação geográfica, procuramos entender a desigual distribuição do dinheiro, analisando os fluxos e os fixos relacionados ao sistema financeiro em território nacional e, por último, buscamos tratar de um processo recente - a financeirização de amplas camadas da população, incluindo as classes sociais de baixa renda e a conseqüente ampliação do consumo, bem como, entender quais as conseqüências dessa política para a sociedade e para o território brasileiro.
Abstract: The paper focuses on understanding the use of territory by the financial system. To do so, we debate with important authors that dealt with this theme and we searched data that we consider important elements and variables to demonstrate the formation of geographic space in the succession and achieving of the formation of Brazilian territory. All this enabled us to divide the changes that were imposed on the territory, by the system of financial activities, in periods. Thus, at first, we analyzed the dispersion of financial system over national territory, the reduction of number of banks and the concentration of command points and, secondly, when the diffusion of techniques and rules enabled the restructuring of the financial system and a stronger intervention of the global financial system. Facing the contemporary geographic reality, we focused on understanding the inequality of money distribution, analyzing the flows and fixed related to the financial system in national territory and, finally, we tried to treat of a recent process - the financialization of large layers of population, including the low-income social classes and the consequent rising of consumption as well as understanding the consequences of this policy to society and to territory.
Mestre

En raison du développement croissant des MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems), l'étude des écoulements de liquide ou de gaz et des transferts thermiques dans des conduites, chauffées ou non, dont le diamètre hydraulique est de l'ordre de quelques microns, a suscité un nombre considérable de travaux au cours des vingt dernières années. À cette échelle, le nombre de Knudsen peut être important (Kn>0,01), ce qui donne naissance à des phénomènes de glissement, de saut de température et de pompage thermique qui s'ajoutent aux effets de compressibilité, telles que la puissance due aux forces de pression et à la puissance des contraintes visqueuses et aux variations des propriétés du fluide avec la température. Dans les modélisations de la littérature, ces phénomènes sont rarement pris en compte simultanément et sont souvent partiellement négligés, sans justification. Notre démarche consiste à proposer une modélisation des micro-écoulements gazeux se rapprochant au mieux de la réalité en prenant en compte tous les phénomènes et à étudier les effets de chacun d'entre eux. L'étude est, en premier lieu, menée en utilisant un code commercial, résolvant les équations de conservation par la méthode des volumes finis et adapté par le biais de sous-programmes développés au cours de cette thèse. Des validations ont été effectuées pour des problèmes allant des plus simples (incompressibles, non glissants) aux plus complexes (compressibles, glissants). Cette étude a permis de mettre en évidence les problèmes liés à la modélisation quand les nombres de Péclet des écoulements sont inférieurs à l'unité (Pe < 1). Dans ce cas, les effets de diffusion inverse sont dominants et l'utilisation d'extensions à l'amont de la conduite devient incontournable. Les effets de compressibilité qui se traduisent par des détentes du gaz près de la sortie de la conduite (accélération + refroidissement) ont été analysés. Enfin, des comparaisons ont été effectuées avec des solutions analytiques d'écoulements compressibles et glissants, supposés isothermes en imposant de faibles variations de pression. Nous avons pu montrer que ces solutions restent valables, même lorsque les variations de pression sont importantes parce que les détentes ne sont localisées que près de la sortie de la conduite et n'influencent donc pas les propriétés globales de l'écoulement. La suite du travail a été réalisée à l'aide d'un code de calcul développé au laboratoire et validé pour les écoulements à grandes échelles. Des conditions aux limites de glissement ont été introduites afin de l'adapter à la problématique de ce travail de thèse. Compte-tenu de ses performances (précision et rapidité des calculs en particulier), ce code a permis de réaliser une étude paramétrique sur une large gamme de pressions d'entrée et de sortie, de telle sorte à balayer tous les types d'écoulements : de peu à très compressibles et de peu à très glissants. Les résultats sont d'abord présentés pour des écoulements quasi-isothermes puis comparés aux solutions analytiques afin de tester ces dernières sur une plus large gamme de pression. Enfin, de nouveaux résultats ont été obtenus pour des écoulements chauffés. Des corrélations, en fonction des paramètres adimensionnels caractéristiques de ces écoulements, ont été obtenues pour les modèles complets à l'aide d'un logiciel de statistiques et de plans d'expériences. Des comparaisons à des modèles simplifiés ont été effectuées pour évaluer les erreurs commises lorsque certains termes sont négligés
These phenomena are rarely taken into account all at once, at least one of them is neglected and often without justification. Our approach is to get as close as possible to reality by taking into account all the phenomena that appear at once and then to study the effect of the phenomena most often overlooked. First, the study is conducted using a commercial code for solving the conservation equations by the finite volume method. Validations were performed for problems ranging from the simplest (incompressible, non-slip flow) to the more complex (compressible, slip flow). This study highlighted the problems associated with simulations when the flows Peclet numbers are less than unity (Pe <1). In this case, the inverse diffusion effects are dominant and the use of extensions at the upstream becomes unavoidable. In addition, compressibility effects were identified; they have resulted in expansions of the gas near the exit of the pipe (acceleration + cooling). Finally, comparisons were made with analytical solutions of compressible slip flows assumed isothermal by imposing small variations of pressure. We showed that these solutions remain valid even if the pressure variations are important because the detents are located only near the exit of the pipe. In this case, they do not affect the properties of the flow. Further works were carried out using an in-house computer code, previously developed and validated in the laboratory for flows with large scales and for which slipping limits conditions have been added so that it can properly resolve slip flows. In view of its accuracy and performances in terms of CPU-time, the code allowed us to achieve a parametric study on a wide range of input and output pressures, so as to sweep all runoff from few to very compressible and few to very slip flow. The results were first presented for quasi-isothermal flow, which subsequently were compared to analytical solutions to test these ones on a wider range of pressure. Finally, the results were made for heated flows. Correlations have been obtained for a complete model using a statistical based software and design of experiments. Comparisons to simplified models were performed to assess the inaccuracies linked to the omission of terms often overlooked in the literature

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)
O trabalho preocupa-se em compreender o uso do território pelo sistema financeiro. Para tanto, estabelecemos um debate com importantes autores que tratam da temática e procedemos a um levantamento de dados que consideramos elementos e variáveis importantes para demonstrarmos a constituição do espaço geográfico na sucessão e consecução da formação do território brasileiro. Tudo isso permitiu-nos uma periodização das transformações impostas ao território, pelos sistemas de atividades financeiras. Assim, num primeiro momento, tratamos de analisar a dispersão do sistema financeiro pelo território nacional, a redução do número de bancos e a concentração dos pontos de comando e, num segundo momento, quando a difusão de técnicas e normas possibilitam a reorganização do sistema financeiro e maior intervenção do sistema financeiro mundial. Diante da atual situação geográfica, procuramos entender a desigual distribuição do dinheiro, analisando os fluxos e os fixos relacionados ao sistema financeiro em território nacional e, por último, buscamos tratar de um processo recente - a financeirização de amplas camadas da população, incluindo as classes sociais de baixa renda e a conseqüente ampliação do consumo, bem como, entender quais as conseqüências dessa política para a sociedade e para o território brasileiro.
The paper focuses on understanding the use of territory by the financial system. To do so, we debate with important authors that dealt with this theme and we searched data that we consider important elements and variables to demonstrate the formation of geographic space in the succession and achieving of the formation of Brazilian territory. All this enabled us to divide the changes that were imposed on the territory, by the system of financial activities, in periods. Thus, at first, we analyzed the dispersion of financial system over national territory, the reduction of number of banks and the concentration of command points and, secondly, when the diffusion of techniques and rules enabled the restructuring of the financial system and a stronger intervention of the global financial system. Facing the contemporary geographic reality, we focused on understanding the inequality of money distribution, analyzing the flows and fixed related to the financial system in national territory and, finally, we tried to treat of a recent process – the financialization of large layers of population, including the low-income social classes and the consequent rising of consumption as well as understanding the consequences of this policy to society and to territory.

In the Thesis, two important theoretical problems arising in the theory of one-dimensional defocusing nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) flows are investigated analytically and numerically: (i) the resonant generation of dispersive shock waves (DSWs) in one-dimensional NLS flow past a broad repulsive penetrable barrier; and (ii) the interaction of counter-propagating DSW and a simple rarefaction wave (RW), which is referred to as the DSW refraction problem. The first problem is motivated by the recent experimental observations of dark soliton radiation in a cigar-shaped BEC by sweeping through it a localised repulsive potential; the second problem represents a dispersive-hydrodynamic counterpart of the classical gas-dynamics problem of the shock wave refraction on a RW, and, apart from its theoretical significance could also find applications in superfluid dynamics. Both problems also naturally arise in nonlinear optics, where the NLS equation is a standard mathematical model and the `superfluid dynamics of light' can be used for an all-optical modelling of BEC flows. The main results of the Thesis are as follows: (i) In the problem of the transcritical flow of a BEC through a wide repulsive penetrable barrier an asymptotic analytical description of the arising wave pattern is developed using the combination of the localised ``hydraulic'' solution of the 1D Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation with repulsion (the defocusing NLS equation with an added external potential) and the appropriate exact solutions of the Whitham-NLS modulation equations describing the resolution of the upstream and downstream discontinuities through DSWs. We show that the downstream DSW effectively represents the train of dark solitons, which can be associated with the excitations observed experimentally by Engels and Atherton (2008). (ii) The refraction of a DSW due to its head-on collision with the centred RW is considered in the frameworks of two one-dimensional defocusing NLS models: the standard cubic NLS equation and the NLS equation with saturable nonlinearity, the latter being a standard model for the light propagation through photorefractive optical crystals. For the cubic nonlinearity case we present a full asymptotic description of the DSW refraction by constructing appropriate exact solutions of the Whitham modulation equations in Riemann invariants. For the NLS equation with saturable nonlinearity, whose modulation system does not possess Riemann invariants, we take advantage of the recently developed method for the DSW description in non-integrable dispersive systems to obtain key parameters of the DSW refraction. In both problems, we undertake a detailed analysis of the flow structure for different parametric regimes and calculate physical quantities characterising the output flows in terms of relevant input parameters. Our modulation theory analytical results are supported by direct numerical simulations of the corresponding full dispersive initial value problems (IVP).

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Neste trabalho apresentamos a construção detalhada da solução do Problema de Riemann associado à um sistema de leis de conservação de um problema não estritamente hiperbólico, proveniente da modelagem matemática de um escoamento unidimensional bifásico num meio poroso em que as fases são óleo e água com polímero dissolvido, para dados iniciais arbitrários no espaço de estados. A construção da solução do sistema é baseada na solução da equação de Buckley−Leverett para cada nível de concentração constante de polímero e nas curvas integrais de uma campo característico linearmente degenerado que dá origem as chamadas ondas de contato.
We present the detailed construction of the Riemann problem solution associate to a system of conservation laws of a non−strictly hyperbolic problem, from mathematical modeling of a one-dimensional two-flow in a porous medium filled by oil and water with dissolved polymer, for arbitrary initial data in the state space. The construction of the system solution is based on the solution Buckley−Leverett equation for each level constant polymer concentration and on the integral curves of a linearly degenerated field characteristic that gives rise to the so-called contact waves.

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Neste trabalho consideramos um sistema de leis de conservação proveniente da modelagem matemática de um escoamento bifásico unidimensional num meio poroso, preenchido de óleo e água com polímero dissolvido nela e levando em conta a adsorção de parte do polímero pela rocha. Usando a técnica das curvas de onda apresentamos a construção detalhada da solução do problema de Riemann para dados iniciais arbitrários no espaço de estados. Usamos a condição de entropia do per l viscoso para as ondas de choque com salto na concentração do polímero e a condição de Oleinik-Liu para os choques com concentração constante do polímero e salto na saturação da água
In this work we consider a system of conservation laws from the mathematical modeling of a one-dimensional two-phase flow in porous media, filled with oil and water with dissolved polymer in it and taking into account the adsorption of part of the polymer by the rock. Using the wave curves technique, we present a detailed construction of the Riemann problem solution for arbitrary initial data on the state space. We use the entropy condition of the viscous pro le for the shock waves with jumps in the polymer concentration and Oleynik-Liu condition for the shocks with constant concentration of polymer and jumps on the water saturation.

A Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE) is a physical explosion caused by the sudden bursting of a vessel containing a superheated liquid. The scientific community describes the BLEVE as a physical explosion and is trying to develop models to predict the strength of the shock waves generated. Taking into account the data provided by the experimental campaign on the BLEVE water, this paper focuses on the causes that may lead to the formation of the second external pressure peak. Many authors assume that this peak is influenced by the liquid/vapour phase transition that occurs in the tank after the sudden pressure drop. Using Scilab, a numerical model is created that can solve Euler's equations for the shock tube problem, simulating only the behavior of the vapour phase. The quality of the model is tested taking into account data obtained experimentally in laboratory-scale tests. Then, based on the EVUT (equal-velocity-unequal-temperature) model proposed in the literature, the boiling phenomenon caused by the sudden pressure drop is analysed. The "relaxation time model" is discussed for modelling the source terms. Using the developed model, the effects of boiling on the density, velocity and internal pressure profiles are investigated. Finally, the model is discussed by comparing it with the experimental data from the E27 test of the water BLEVE campaign

L’origine de la structuration spatiale de la diversité inter spécifique (SSDS) des forêts d’Afrique centrale est l'objet de vigoureux débats quant à l’importance relative des facteurs historiques, stochastiques et déterministes. De plus, la SSDS est le plus souvent mal caractérisée, en particulier la variation spatiale de la composition des communautés (diversité beta).

L’hypothèse la plus souvent avancée pour expliquer l’origine des centres de diversité et d’endémisme est historique :ces centres constitueraient d’anciens refuges forestiers formés pendant les périodes sèches du Quaternaire. Cependant, la forte hétérogénéité environnementale de ces régions pourrait tout aussi bien expliquer la SSDS.

L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de tester l'importance de ces facteurs (historiques et/ou hétérogénéité environnementale) :si les facteurs historiques sont déterminants, on s’attend à observer une concordance spatiale entre la SSDS et la structure spatiale de la diversité génétique (SSDG). En effet, la variation neutre au sein des espèces est en grande partie soumise aux processus qui affectent également la SSDS (dérive génétique/écologique et dispersion des espèces/flux de gènes). L’approche utilisée dans cette thèse consiste donc à comparer et évaluer la concordance spatiale entre la SSDS et la SSDG.

Le modèle biologique et le cadre géographique de cette étude sont les communautés et les populations d’arbres des forêts humides d’Afrique centrale atlantique, avec une attention particulière pour les forêts gabonaises. La SSDS a été étudiée sur la base de relevés de communautés d’arbres (16308 individus) et la SSDG sur la base de séquences d’ADN chloroplastiques de six espèces d’arbres (Greenwayodendron suaveolens, Scorodophloeus zenkeri, Afrostyrax lepidophyllus, Afrostyrax kamerunensis, Santiria trimera et Erythrophleum suaveolens).

Quatre objectifs spécifiques ont été retenus :

(i)\
Doctorat en Sciences
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

I. An original methodological discussion is proposed on the problem of the typology of tropical rain forest’s plant communities, based on the study of forest types across gradients of continentality and elevation, within Atlantic central Africa. These investigations were based on the statement that the main problems in forest typology are related to the non-zonal or zonal character of the different vegetation types and to non considering the relations and differences between forest strata.

II. Field data consisted in phytosociological homogeneous sample plots localized within different recognized phytogeographical entities, in a region of tropical Africa where these entities are known to be well conserved. A total of 37 such plots were inventoried in the region extending from the littoral forests of Ndoté, Equatorial Guinea, which are wet evergreen forests, to the continental forests of the Dja, Cameroon, known as evergreen seasonal forests. The studied region also included the oriental Atlantic forests of Equatorial Guinea, known as moist evergreen forests or caesalp forests. In various parts of this continentality gradient, some plots were localized within climax non-zonal formations, namely the submontane rain forests. The emphasis was put on the vegetation of the Monte Alén National Park.

The sampling methodology was willing to be as "complete ", including all strata, "quantitative ", enumerating all individuals, and "representative ", within each stratum, as possible. These multi-layers plots were realised using nested sub-plots, with a sampling size of 100 individuals for every ligneous stratum recognized (dominant trees, dominated trees and shrubs) and a sampling size of 200m² for the herbaceous and suffrutex stratum.

Forest types were defined independently for each stratum and the differences were analysed. A method was proposed for the simultaneous analysis of all floristic data, converting and standardizing the values from ligneous strata, on the one hand, and from understorey strata, on the other hand.

III. Ten forest types were described using IndVal and discussed in the general context of the guineo-congolian region, from a syntaxonomic view point (agglomerative classification) and from a phytogeographical view point (divisive classification). Homologies between these two approaches are described. The proposed phytogeographical system is based on an "open " conception of hierarchical classifications, combining advantages of agglomerative and divisive classifications. In concrete terms, the non-zonal criteria, for example the submontane variants, are categorised separately and in analogy with the zonal criteria, related to the usual phytochoria.

Analysis of ecological relationships for the 10 communities showed that the main variables related to the floristic variability in our mainland rain forests are elevation, rainfall, hygrometry (estimated using bryophytes cover levels) and distance to the ocean. The two extremes on the vertical microclimatic gradient, dominant trees stratum and herbaceous stratum, give similar typologies, however canonical analysis showed that for the herbaceous layer, non-zonal variables (hygrometry and elevation) were gaining more importance when the influence of the two zonal variables was attenuated. In every case, spatial autocorrelation was less important than the environment in explaining floristic variability but its role increased in the spatial arrangement of understorey species, whose dispersal capacity is generally lower than canopy trees. The phytosociological, phytogeographical and ecological description of forest types is accompanied by a physiognomical description using biological types spectrum, as well as architectural models, leaf sizes, etc.

With regard to diversity, we have demonstrated that species richness was higher from upper to lower strata because of the accumulation in lower strata of species from various strata. On the other hand, the proper stratum diversity, i.e. the structural set, decreased from dominant trees to shrubs. The proper diversity of the herb layer showed relatively high figures mainly due to the higher individual density in relation to the existence of microstrata. Within the 37 sample plots, 1,050 taxa have been identified to species or morpho-species levels, for a total of 25,750 individuals. These taxa represent 442 genus among 104 families. The richest forest type is found on the foothills of the Niefang range, on the windward side. This forest type is also characterised by a high number of oligotypic genus and by species belonging to functional types indicators of glacial refuges. These functional types are defined on the basis of the dispersal capacity and on kind of stand needed for effective germination. We formulated the hypothesis that this kind of "foothills refuge ", characterised by his zonal nature, could have been one of the rare refuges for species from mainland rain forests, while montane and fluvial refuges would mainly have preserved species from non-zonal forest types: (sub)montane and riverine.

Based on indicator species of submontane forests, a potential distribution map of this forest type has been realised at the Atlantic central African scale. More than 400 submontane forest localities have been mapped. These forests begin at 400m of altitude near the ocean, and progressively at higher altitude for increasing distance to the ocean. Many lowland localities also comprised submontane species, which could indicate the existence of ecological transgressions. These transgressions would allow migratory tracks for submontane species between isolated mountain ranges, not only during glacial periods, through heights at the northern and southern borders of the congo basin, but also contemporarily through the lowland riverine forest network, in the centre of this basin. Finally, a special attention has been attributed to littoral forests and to some cases of choroecological transgressions, coupled to the ecological equalization phenomenon.

Doctorat en sciences agronomiques et ingénierie biologique
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

碩士
國立清華大學
統計學研究所
104
The formulation and estimation of species accumulation curve (SAC) for a single community have been extensively discussed in ecological literature. The expected SAC describes how the expected number of observed species changes when the number of sampling individuals is increased. This thesis focuses on extending SAC to shared species accumulation curve in two communities as shared species richness plays an important role to quantify the similarity and dissimilarity among multiple communities. This thesis focuses on two communities case, an estimator for the shared species accumulation curve including rarefaction and extrapolation is proposed, that is, the focus is on how the estimated expected number of shared species changes when the number of sampling individuals changes. Biological diversity includes three aspects: species diversity, phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity. The shared species accumulation curve only considers species abundance distributions within each community and species abundances for shared species. This thesis also extends this framework to the phylogenetic diversity, that is, shared PD accumulation curve based on the Faith’s (1992) phylogenetic diversity (the sum of all branch lengths connecting all species in an assemblage). In addition, the thesis also extends the framework to the functional diversity, that is, shared FAD accumulation curve based on the functional attributed diversity (the total species pairwise distances) defined by Walker et al. (1999). To compare the estimator proposed in this thesis to the traditional empirical method, computer simulation results are reported, when compared with the traditional empirical method, the new proposed estimator exhibits substantial improvement in bias, RMSE and the coverage probability of 95% confidence interval. Finally, the estimators proposed in this thesis are illustrated with a dataset for Mexican Phyllostomid bat and a dataset for Brazilian rain forest trees.

碩士
國立清華大學
統計學研究所
105
When there are multiple communities, ecologists often measure similarity or dissimilarity among communities by utilizing various similarity or dissimilarity measures. Beta diversity quantifies dissimilarity among communities. Species beta diversity only considers species relative abundances. In order to take species evolutionary history into account, this thesis also consider phylogenetic beta diversity. Since the observed species and phylogenetic beta diversity always overestimates the theoretical true value, this thesis develops new estimators by estimating species and phylogenetic gamma and alpha diversity respectively. On the other hand, in order to compare dissimilarity based on the different sampling effort, the thesis derives both theoretical formulas and analytic estimators for rarefaction and extrapolation of species and phylogenetic beta diversity. In order to compare the proposed new beta diversity estimators with traditional empirical method, computer simulation results are reported. The proposed estimators exhibit substantial improvement in terms of bias and RMSE. The proposed estimators are also applied to the analysis of rain forest data of Costa Rica, and to Italian dunes data. Online software Phylogenetic Diversity (PhD Online) is developed to implement all proposed measures and estimators.

碩士
國立成功大學
航空太空工程學系碩博士班
94
The progression of Micro-electromechanical Systems, MEMS is successfully integrated into the professional field such as electronics, mechanics, materials, and optoelectronics, in this case, micro-fluidics plays an essential role. Due to the characteristic length of geometrical shape in flow field appear in the level of micrometer, the flow inside microchannel is relatively rarefaction. In view of traditional theory of continuum under the measurement of micronano, the theory is facing the difficulty of application. The article aims at producing a more practical three-dimension microchannel of trapezoid cross-section and analyzing how rarefaction effect and effect of compressibility interact in the spectrum of slip flow, by using Navier-Stokes Equation in relation to the boundary condition of slip flow and 3-D tetrahedral/ prismatic mesh system； Furthermore, it will establish a three-dimension numerical simulating system through which property of flow field is fast and accurately predicted. As the micro-fluidics-related statistic data is built, analysis of physic phenomenon and the characteristics of flow field is underway.

博士
國立清華大學
統計學研究所
104
How to assess and quantify species compositional (dis)similarity among communities has been a central objective in ecology. Although a large number of (dis)similarity measures have been published, only the Horn index (Horn 1966), or normalized mutual information, satisfies the essential monotonicity property. Empirical estimate of the Horn index depends strongly on sample sizes and may be subject to large bias. Based on sampling data, this thesis applies Good-Turing frequency formula to derive an analytic estimator of the Horn index under any community weight proportions. Simulations results show that the proposed estimator reduces the bias associated with the empirical estimator. As the sample size increases, the proposed estimator coverages quickly to the true value. This thesis also extends the previous rarefaction and extrapolation for species richness to (dis)similarity measures which include the Sørensen index (Sørensen 1948), Horn index (Horn 1966) and Morisita index (Morisita 1959). In order to compare the (dis)similarity measures across multiple assemblages, rarefaction and extrapolation methods are proposed based on standardized sample size or sample completeness. From simulations studies, our estimated rarefaction and extrapolation curve of (dis)similarity measures can accurately quantify the species compositional (dis)similarity among assemblages up to double the sample size in each community. Biological sampling can be conducted by sampling with replacement or sampling without replacement. For the three most commonly used indices of biological diversity, including species richness, Shannon diversity, and Simpson diversity, estimators were developed for both types of sampling schemes only for species richness. In this thesis, we derive estimators of Shannon and Simpson diversities under sampling without replacement. The corresponding sample-size-based and sample-coverage-based rarefaction and extrapolation sampling curves are also developed. From simulations studies, the proposed rarefaction and extrapolation method works well up to double the sample size in each community. Real data examples are used to illustrate all proposed estimators and to demonstrate various applications.

Student Number : 9910049F - MSc (Eng) dissertation - School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
Cavitation was generated in tap water samples by the transmission of tension waves into the liquid, using a hydrodynamic shock tube. The liquid cavitated at absolute negative pressures of about -1 bar. Simulations of bubble responses showed qualitative agreement with experimental observations of oscillatory growth and collapse cycles. Pressure records showed secondary pressure pulsations, confirming the oscillatory nature of the collapse at each rise in pressure. More quantitative comparison of theory and photographic records would require a camera with a higher capture rate. Experiments using another experimental facility involved liquid compression waves with peak static pressures of up to about 1 MPa, which were transmitted from a conventional gas shock tube into a liquid section and were intended to be reflected at the free surface as expansion waves. These experiments were unsuccessful in producing absolute negative pressures or cavitation that was visible through an optical observation section. This was attributed to transition layer effects and pulse attenuation, which contributed to lowering of the peak negative pressure behind the expansion wave, as well as the depth of the transducer and observation section below the free surface, which may have been too low for the peak tension to be superimposed on the lower pressure behind the incident compression wave. Pressure records suggested that, for lower driver pressures, cavitation occurred below the observation section, although this could not be verified optically.

碩士
國立成功大學
航空太空工程學系碩博士班
101
The present work focuses on the problem of aerothermodynamics of space vehicles with rounded edges on the hypersonic segment of the flight trajectory. Firstly, the in-house Navier-Stokes solver, UNIC-UNS code, with the slip boundary condition is used to simulate the flows around a spherical- nosed cylinder at different Knudsen numbers and Mach numbers, and compared with DSMC computations for validation. The Navier-Stokes simulations are in good agreement with that of DSMC. The hypersonic flows over the European eXPErimental Re-entry Test-bed (EXPERT) model are then simulated for a wide range of flow regimes, which correspond to the expected descent trajectory with allowance for rarefaction and thermochemical nonequilibrium. Three dimensional CFD analyses are presented for the complete geometry of the capsules considering the air dissociation and its effects on the flow structure and on the force and thermal loads for the hypersonic segment of the flight as a precursor to the future studies and to provide the scientific community with quality data that can be used to improve tools for the design of hypersonic vehicles.

Yes
The existing analytical solutions of dam-break flow do not consider simultaneously the effects of wet downstream bottom and bed slope on the dam-break wave propagation. In this study, a new analytical solution for the shallow-water equations (SWE) is developed to remove this limitation to simulate the wave caused by an instantaneous dam-break. The approach adopts the method of characteristics and has been applied to simulate the dam-break flows with different downstream water depths and slopes. The analytical solutions have been compared with predictions by the lattice Boltzmann method and the agreement is good. Although the proposed analytical solution treats an idealized case, it is nonetheless suitable for assessing the robustness and accuracy of numerical models based on the SWE without the frictional slope.
The National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No: 2018YFC1505000), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos: 51879179; 51579166) and Sichuan Science and Technology Program (No. 2019JDTD0007); Open Fund from the State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University (SKHL1809). .
The full-text of this article will be released for public view on publication.

Fluid damping arising from squeeze film flow of air or some inert gas trapped between an oscillating micro mechanical structure, such as a beam or a plate, and a fixed substrate often dominates the other energy dissipation mechanisms in silicon based MEM devices. As a consequence, it has maximum effect on the resonant response or dynamic response of the device. Unfortunately, modelling of the squeeze film flow in most MEMS devices is quite complex because of several factors unique to MEMS structures. In this thesis, we set out to study the effect of these factors on squeeze film flow. First we list these factors and study each of them in the context of a particular application, using experimental measurements, extensive numerical simulations, and analytical modelling for all chosen factors. We consider five important factors. The most important factor perhaps is the effect of rarefaction that is dominant when a device is vacuum packed with low to moderate vacuum, typical for MEMS packaging. The second problem is to investigate and model the effect of perforations which are usually provided for efficient etching of the sacrificial layer during fabrication of the suspended structures. The third problem is to consider the effect of non-uniform deflection of the structure such as those in MEMS cantilever beams and model its effect on the squeeze film. The fourth effect studied is the influence of different boundary conditions such as simple, fully open and partially closed boundaries around the vibrating structure on the characteristics of the squeeze film flow. The fifth problem undertaken is to analyze the effect of high operating frequencies on the squeeze film damping. In the first problem, the rarefaction effect is studied by performing experiments under varying pressures. Depending on the ambient pressure or the size of the gap between the vibrating and the fixed structure, the fluid flow may fall in any of the flow regimes, ranging from continuum flow to molecular flow, and giving a wide range of dissipation. The relevant fluid flow characteristics are determined by the Knudsen number, which is the ratio of the mean free path of the gas molecule to the characteristic flow length of the device. This number is very small for continuum flow and reasonably big for molecular flow. Here, we study the effect of fluid pressure on the squeeze film damping by carrying out experiments on a MEMS device that consists of a double gimbaled torsional resonator. Such devices are commonly used in optical cross-connects and switches. We vary fluid pressure to make the Knudsen number go through the entire range of continuum flow, slip flow, transition flow, and molecular flow. We experimentally determine the quality factor of the torsional resonator at different air pressures ranging from 760 torr to 0.001 torr. The variation of this pressure over six orders of magnitude ensures the required rarefaction to range over all flow conditions. Finally, we get the variation of the quality factor with pressure. The result indicates that the quality factor, Q, follows a power law, Q P-r, with different values of the exponent r in different flow regimes. To numerically model the effect of rarefaction, we propose the use of effective viscosity in Navier-Stokes equation. This concept is validated with analytical results for a simple case. It is then compared with the experimental results presented in this thesis. The study shows that the effective viscosity concept can be used effectively even for the molecular regime if the air-gap to length ratio is sufficiently small (h0/L < 0.01). However, as this ratio increases, the range of validity decreases. Next, a semianalytical approach is presented to model the rarefaction effect in double-gimballed MEMS torsion mirror. In this device, the air gap thickness is 80 µm which is comparable to the lateral dimension 400 µm of the oscillating plate and thus giving the air-gap to length ratio of 0.2. As the ratio 0.2 is much greater than 0.01, the conventional Reynolds equation cannot be used to compute the squeeze film damping. Consequently, we find the effective length of an equivalent simple mirror corresponding to the motion about the two axes of the mirror such that the Reynolds equation still holds. After finding the effective length, we model the rarefaction effect by incorporating effective viscosity which is based on different models including the one proposed in this paper. Then we compare the analytical solution with the experimental result and find that the proposed model not only captures the rarefaction effect in the slip, transition and molecular regimes but also couples well with the non-fluid damping in the intrinsic regime. For the second problem, several analytical models exist for evaluating squeeze film damping in rigid rectangular perforated MEMS structures. These models vary in their treatment of losses through perforations and squeezed film, in their assumptions of compressibility, rarefaction and inertia, and their treatment of various second order corrections. We present a model that improves upon previously reported models by incorporating more accurate losses through holes proposed by Veijola and treating boundary cells and interior cells differently as proposed by Mohite et al. The proposed model is governed by a modified Reynolds equation that includes compressibility and rarefaction effect. This equation is linearized and transformed to the standard two-dimensional diffusion equation using a simple mapping function. The analytical solution is then obtained using Green’s function. The solution thus obtained adds an additional term Γ to the damping and spring force expressions derived by Blech for compressible squeeze flow through non-perforated plates. This additional term contains several parameters related to perforations and rarefaction. Setting Γ = 0, one recovers Blech’s formulas. We benchmark all the models against experimental results obtained for a typical perforated MEMS structure with geometric parameters (e.g., perforation geometry, air gap, plate thickness) that fall well within the acceptable range of parameters for these models (with the sole exception of Blech’s model that does not include perforations but is included for historical reasons). We compare the results and discuss the sources of errors. We show that the proposed model gives the best result by predicting the damping constant within 10% of the experimental value. The approximate limit of maximum frequencies under which the formulas give reasonable results is also discussed. In the third problem, we study the effect of elastic modeshape during vibration on the squeeze film flow. We present an analytical model that gives the values of squeeze film damping and spring coefficients for MEMS cantilever resonators taking into account the effect of flexural modes of the resonator. We use the exact modeshapes of a 2D cantilever plate to solve for pressure in the squeeze film and then derive the equivalent damping and spring coefficient relations from the back force calculations. The relations thus obtained can be used for any flexural mode of vibration of the resonators. We validate the analytical formulas by comparing the results with numerical simulations carried out using coupled finite element analysis in ANSYS, as well as experimentally measured values from MEMS cantilever resonators of various sizes and vibrating in different modes. The analytically predicted values of damping are, in the worst case, within less than 10% of the values obtained experimentally or numerically. We also compare the results with previously reported analytical formulas based on approximate flexural modeshapes and show that the proposed model gives much better estimates of the squeeze film damping. From the analytical model presented here, we find that the squeeze film damping drops by 84% from the first mode to the second mode in a cantilever resonator, thus improving the quality factor by a factor of six to seven. This result has significant implications in using cantilever resonators for mass detection where a significant increase in quality factor is obtained only by using vacuum. In the fourth and fifth problem, the effects of partially blocked boundary condition and high operating frequencies on squeeze films are studied in a MEMS torsion mirror with different boundary conditions. For the structures with narrow air-gap, Reynolds equation is used for calculating squeeze film damping, generally with zero pressure boundary conditions on the side walls. This procedure, however, fails to give satisfactory results for structures under two important conditions: (a) for an air-gap thickness comparable to the lateral dimensions of the micro structure, and (b) for non-trivial pressure boundary conditions such as fully open boundaries on an extended substrate or partially blocked boundaries that provide side clearance to the fluid flow. Several formulas exist to account for simple boundary conditions. In practice, however, there are many micromechanical structures, such as torsional MEMS structures, that have non-trivial boundary conditions arising from partially blocked boundaries. The most common example is the double-gimballed MEMS torsion mirror of rectangular, circular, or hexagonal shape. Such boundaries usually have clearance parameters that can vary due to fabrication. These parameters, however, can also be used as design parameters if we understand their role on the dynamics of the structure. We take a MEMS torsion mirror as an example device that has large air-gap and partially blocked boundaries due to static frames. Next we model the same structure in ANSYS and carry out CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis to evaluate the stiffness constant K, the damping constant C, as well as the quality factor Q due to the squeeze film. We compare the computational results with experimental results and show that without taking care of the partially blocked boundaries properly in the computational model, we get unacceptably large errors. Subsequently, we use the CFD calculations to study the effect of two important boundary parameters, the side clearance c, and the flow length s, that specify the partial blocking. We show the sensitivity of K and C on these boundary design parameters. The results clearly show that the effect of these parameters on K and C is substantial, especially when the frequency of excitation becomes close to resonant frequency of the oscillating fluid and high enough for inertial and compressibility effects to be significant. Later, we present a compact model to capture the effect of side boundaries on the squeeze film damping in a simple rectangular torsional structure with two sides open and two sides closed. The analytical model matches well with the numerical results. However, the proposed analytical model is limited to low operating frequencies such that the inertial effect is negligible. The emphasis of this work has been towards developing a comprehensive understanding of different significant factors on the squeeze film damping in MEMS devices. We have proposed various ways of modelling these effects, both numerically as well as analytically, and shown the efficacy of these models by comparing their predictive results with experimental results. In particular, we think that the proposed analytical models can help MEMS device designers by providing quick estimates of damping while incorporating complex effects in the squeeze film flow. The contents of the thesis may also be of interest to researchers working in the area of microfluidics and nanofluidics.

Fluid damping arising from squeeze film flow of air or some inert gas trapped between an oscillating micro mechanical structure, such as a beam or a plate, and a fixed substrate often dominates the other energy dissipation mechanisms in silicon based MEM devices. As a consequence, it has maximum effect on the resonant response or dynamic response of the device. Unfortunately, modelling of the squeeze film flow in most MEMS devices is quite complex because of several factors unique to MEMS structures. In this thesis, we set out to study the effect of these factors on squeeze film flow. First we list these factors and study each of them in the context of a particular application, using experimental measurements, extensive numerical simulations, and analytical modelling for all chosen factors. We consider five important factors. The most important factor perhaps is the effect of rarefaction that is dominant when a device is vacuum packed with low to moderate vacuum, typical for MEMS packaging. The second problem is to investigate and model the effect of perforations which are usually provided for efficient etching of the sacrificial layer during fabrication of the suspended structures. The third problem is to consider the effect of non-uniform deflection of the structure such as those in MEMS cantilever beams and model its effect on the squeeze film. The fourth effect studied is the influence of different boundary conditions such as simple, fully open and partially closed boundaries around the vibrating structure on the characteristics of the squeeze film flow. The fifth problem undertaken is to analyze the effect of high operating frequencies on the squeeze film damping. In the first problem, the rarefaction effect is studied by performing experiments under varying pressures. Depending on the ambient pressure or the size of the gap between the vibrating and the fixed structure, the fluid flow may fall in any of the flow regimes, ranging from continuum flow to molecular flow, and giving a wide range of dissipation. The relevant fluid flow characteristics are determined by the Knudsen number, which is the ratio of the mean free path of the gas molecule to the characteristic flow length of the device. This number is very small for continuum flow and reasonably big for molecular flow. Here, we study the effect of fluid pressure on the squeeze film damping by carrying out experiments on a MEMS device that consists of a double gimbaled torsional resonator. Such devices are commonly used in optical cross-connects and switches. We vary fluid pressure to make the Knudsen number go through the entire range of continuum flow, slip flow, transition flow, and molecular flow. We experimentally determine the quality factor of the torsional resonator at different air pressures ranging from 760 torr to 0.001 torr. The variation of this pressure over six orders of magnitude ensures the required rarefaction to range over all flow conditions. Finally, we get the variation of the quality factor with pressure. The result indicates that the quality factor, Q, follows a power law, Q P-r, with different values of the exponent r in different flow regimes. To numerically model the effect of rarefaction, we propose the use of effective viscosity in Navier-Stokes equation. This concept is validated with analytical results for a simple case. It is then compared with the experimental results presented in this thesis. The study shows that the effective viscosity concept can be used effectively even for the molecular regime if the air-gap to length ratio is sufficiently small (h0/L < 0.01). However, as this ratio increases, the range of validity decreases. Next, a semianalytical approach is presented to model the rarefaction effect in double-gimballed MEMS torsion mirror. In this device, the air gap thickness is 80 µm which is comparable to the lateral dimension 400 µm of the oscillating plate and thus giving the air-gap to length ratio of 0.2. As the ratio 0.2 is much greater than 0.01, the conventional Reynolds equation cannot be used to compute the squeeze film damping. Consequently, we find the effective length of an equivalent simple mirror corresponding to the motion about the two axes of the mirror such that the Reynolds equation still holds. After finding the effective length, we model the rarefaction effect by incorporating effective viscosity which is based on different models including the one proposed in this paper. Then we compare the analytical solution with the experimental result and find that the proposed model not only captures the rarefaction effect in the slip, transition and molecular regimes but also couples well with the non-fluid damping in the intrinsic regime. For the second problem, several analytical models exist for evaluating squeeze film damping in rigid rectangular perforated MEMS structures. These models vary in their treatment of losses through perforations and squeezed film, in their assumptions of compressibility, rarefaction and inertia, and their treatment of various second order corrections. We present a model that improves upon previously reported models by incorporating more accurate losses through holes proposed by Veijola and treating boundary cells and interior cells differently as proposed by Mohite et al. The proposed model is governed by a modified Reynolds equation that includes compressibility and rarefaction effect. This equation is linearized and transformed to the standard two-dimensional diffusion equation using a simple mapping function. The analytical solution is then obtained using Green’s function. The solution thus obtained adds an additional term Γ to the damping and spring force expressions derived by Blech for compressible squeeze flow through non-perforated plates. This additional term contains several parameters related to perforations and rarefaction. Setting Γ = 0, one recovers Blech’s formulas. We benchmark all the models against experimental results obtained for a typical perforated MEMS structure with geometric parameters (e.g., perforation geometry, air gap, plate thickness) that fall well within the acceptable range of parameters for these models (with the sole exception of Blech’s model that does not include perforations but is included for historical reasons). We compare the results and discuss the sources of errors. We show that the proposed model gives the best result by predicting the damping constant within 10% of the experimental value. The approximate limit of maximum frequencies under which the formulas give reasonable results is also discussed. In the third problem, we study the effect of elastic modeshape during vibration on the squeeze film flow. We present an analytical model that gives the values of squeeze film damping and spring coefficients for MEMS cantilever resonators taking into account the effect of flexural modes of the resonator. We use the exact modeshapes of a 2D cantilever plate to solve for pressure in the squeeze film and then derive the equivalent damping and spring coefficient relations from the back force calculations. The relations thus obtained can be used for any flexural mode of vibration of the resonators. We validate the analytical formulas by comparing the results with numerical simulations carried out using coupled finite element analysis in ANSYS, as well as experimentally measured values from MEMS cantilever resonators of various sizes and vibrating in different modes. The analytically predicted values of damping are, in the worst case, within less than 10% of the values obtained experimentally or numerically. We also compare the results with previously reported analytical formulas based on approximate flexural modeshapes and show that the proposed model gives much better estimates of the squeeze film damping. From the analytical model presented here, we find that the squeeze film damping drops by 84% from the first mode to the second mode in a cantilever resonator, thus improving the quality factor by a factor of six to seven. This result has significant implications in using cantilever resonators for mass detection where a significant increase in quality factor is obtained only by using vacuum. In the fourth and fifth problem, the effects of partially blocked boundary condition and high operating frequencies on squeeze films are studied in a MEMS torsion mirror with different boundary conditions. For the structures with narrow air-gap, Reynolds equation is used for calculating squeeze film damping, generally with zero pressure boundary conditions on the side walls. This procedure, however, fails to give satisfactory results for structures under two important conditions: (a) for an air-gap thickness comparable to the lateral dimensions of the micro structure, and (b) for non-trivial pressure boundary conditions such as fully open boundaries on an extended substrate or partially blocked boundaries that provide side clearance to the fluid flow. Several formulas exist to account for simple boundary conditions. In practice, however, there are many micromechanical structures, such as torsional MEMS structures, that have non-trivial boundary conditions arising from partially blocked boundaries. The most common example is the double-gimballed MEMS torsion mirror of rectangular, circular, or hexagonal shape. Such boundaries usually have clearance parameters that can vary due to fabrication. These parameters, however, can also be used as design parameters if we understand their role on the dynamics of the structure. We take a MEMS torsion mirror as an example device that has large air-gap and partially blocked boundaries due to static frames. Next we model the same structure in ANSYS and carry out CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis to evaluate the stiffness constant K, the damping constant C, as well as the quality factor Q due to the squeeze film. We compare the computational results with experimental results and show that without taking care of the partially blocked boundaries properly in the computational model, we get unacceptably large errors. Subsequently, we use the CFD calculations to study the effect of two important boundary parameters, the side clearance c, and the flow length s, that specify the partial blocking. We show the sensitivity of K and C on these boundary design parameters. The results clearly show that the effect of these parameters on K and C is substantial, especially when the frequency of excitation becomes close to resonant frequency of the oscillating fluid and high enough for inertial and compressibility effects to be significant. Later, we present a compact model to capture the effect of side boundaries on the squeeze film damping in a simple rectangular torsional structure with two sides open and two sides closed. The analytical model matches well with the numerical results. However, the proposed analytical model is limited to low operating frequencies such that the inertial effect is negligible. The emphasis of this work has been towards developing a comprehensive understanding of different significant factors on the squeeze film damping in MEMS devices. We have proposed various ways of modelling these effects, both numerically as well as analytically, and shown the efficacy of these models by comparing their predictive results with experimental results. In particular, we think that the proposed analytical models can help MEMS device designers by providing quick estimates of damping while incorporating complex effects in the squeeze film flow. The contents of the thesis may also be of interest to researchers working in the area of microfluidics and nanofluidics.

It is becoming increasingly important to monitor biodiversity in the extensive Australian rangelands; currently however, there is no method capable of achieving this goal. There are two potential sources of relevant data that cover the Australian rangelands, and from which measures of biodiversity might be extracted: traditional field-based methods such as quadrat surveys have collected flora and fauna species data throughout the rangelands, but at fine scale; satellite remote sensing collects biologically relevant, spatially comprehensive data. The goal of this thesis was to provide the spatially comprehensive measure of biodiversity required for informed management of the Australian rangelands. The study specifically focused on the Stony Plains in the South Australian rangelands. To that end the thesis aimed to develop indices capable of measuring and/or monitoring biodiversity from vegetation quadrat survey data and remotely sensed data. The term biodiversity is so all-encompassing that direct measurement is not possible; therefore it is necessary to measure surrogates instead. Total perennial vegetation species richness (y-diversity) is a sound surrogate of biodiversity: the category of species is well defined, species richness is measurable, and there is evidence that vegetation species richness co-varies with the species richness of other taxonomic groups in relation to the same environmental variables. At least two broad scale conventional vegetation surveys are conducted in the study region; the Biological Survey of South Australia; and the South Australian Pastoral Lease Assessment. Prior to the extraction of biodiversity data the quality of the BSSA, the best biodiversity survey, was evaluated. Analysis revealed that false-negative errors were common, and that even highly detectable vegetation species had detection probabilities significantly less than one. Without some form of correction for detectability, the species diversity recorded by either vegetation survey must be treated with caution. Informed by the identification of false-negative errors, a method was developed to extract y-diversity of woody perennials from the survey data, and to remove the influence of sampling effort. Data were aggregated by biogeographic region, rarefaction was used to remove most of the influence of sampling effort, and additional correction removed the residual influence of sampling effort. Finally, additive partitioning of species diversity allowed extraction of indices of a-, β- and y-diversity free from the influence of sampling effort. However, this woody perennial vegetation y-diversity did not address the need for a spatially extensive, fine scale measure of biodiversity at the extent of the study region. The aggregation of point data to large regions, a necessary part of this index, produces spatially coarse results. To formulate and test remotely sensed surrogates of biodiversity, it is necessary to understand the determinants of and pressures on biodiversity in the Australian rangelands. The most compelling explanation for the distribution of biodiversity at the extensive scales of the Australian rangelands is the Productivity Theory, which reasons that the greater the amount and duration of primary productivity the greater the capacity to generate and support high biodiversity. The most significant pressure on biodiversity in the study area is grazing-induced degradation, or overgrazing. Two potential spatially comprehensive surrogates of pressure on biodiversity were identified. The first surrogate was based on the differential effect of overgrazing on waterenergy balance and net primary productivity: water-energy balance is a function of climatic variables, and therefore a measure of potential or expected primary productivity; net primary productivity is reduced by high grazing pressure. The second surrogate was based on the effect of grazing-induced degradation on the temporal variability of net primary productivity: overgrazing reduces mean net primary productivity and rainfall use efficiency, and increases variation in net primary productivity and rainfall use efficiency. The two surrogates of biodiversity stress were derived from the best available remotely sensed and climate data for the study area: actual evapotranspiration recorded by climate stations was considered an index of water-energy balance; net primary productivity was measured from NOAA AVHRR integrated NDVI; rainfall use efficiency (biomass per unit rainfall) was calculated from rainfall data collected at climate stations and the net primary productivity measure. Finally, the surrogates were evaluated against the index of woody perennial a-, β- and y-diversity, on the assumption that prolonged biodiversity stress would reduce vegetation species diversity. No link was found between Surrogate 1 and woody perennial a-, β- or y-diversity. The relationship of Surrogate 2 to woody perennial diversity was more complex. Only some of the results supported the hypothesis that overgrazing decreases y-diversity and average NPP and RUE. Importantly, none of the results supported the most important part of the hypothesis that the proposed indices of biodiversity pressure would co-vary with woody perennial a-diversity. Thus, the analysis did not reveal a convincing link between either surrogate and vegetation species diversity. However, the analysis was hampered to a large degree by the climate data, which is interpolated from a very sparse network of climate stations. This thesis has contributed significantly to the measurement and monitoring of biodiversity in the Australian rangelands. The identification of false-negative errors as a cause for concern will allow future analyses of the vegetation survey data to adopt methods to counteract these errors, and hence extract more robust information. The method for extracting sampling effort corrected indices of a-, β- and y-diversity allow for the examination and comparison of species diversity across regions, regardless of differences in sampling effort. These indices are not limited to rangelands, and can be extracted from any vegetation quadrat survey data obtained within a prescribed methodology. Therefore, these tools contribute to global biodiversity measurement and monitoring. Finally, the remotely sensed surrogates of biodiversity are theoretically sound and applicable in any rangeland where over-grazing is a significant source of degradation. However, because the evaluation of these surrogates in this thesis was hampered by available data, further testing is necessary.
Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2008

It is becoming increasingly important to monitor biodiversity in the extensive Australian rangelands; currently however, there is no method capable of achieving this goal. There are two potential sources of relevant data that cover the Australian rangelands, and from which measures of biodiversity might be extracted: traditional field-based methods such as quadrat surveys have collected flora and fauna species data throughout the rangelands, but at fine scale; satellite remote sensing collects biologically relevant, spatially comprehensive data. The goal of this thesis was to provide the spatially comprehensive measure of biodiversity required for informed management of the Australian rangelands. The study specifically focused on the Stony Plains in the South Australian rangelands. To that end the thesis aimed to develop indices capable of measuring and/or monitoring biodiversity from vegetation quadrat survey data and remotely sensed data. The term biodiversity is so all-encompassing that direct measurement is not possible; therefore it is necessary to measure surrogates instead. Total perennial vegetation species richness (y-diversity) is a sound surrogate of biodiversity: the category of species is well defined, species richness is measurable, and there is evidence that vegetation species richness co-varies with the species richness of other taxonomic groups in relation to the same environmental variables. At least two broad scale conventional vegetation surveys are conducted in the study region; the Biological Survey of South Australia; and the South Australian Pastoral Lease Assessment. Prior to the extraction of biodiversity data the quality of the BSSA, the best biodiversity survey, was evaluated. Analysis revealed that false-negative errors were common, and that even highly detectable vegetation species had detection probabilities significantly less than one. Without some form of correction for detectability, the species diversity recorded by either vegetation survey must be treated with caution. Informed by the identification of false-negative errors, a method was developed to extract y-diversity of woody perennials from the survey data, and to remove the influence of sampling effort. Data were aggregated by biogeographic region, rarefaction was used to remove most of the influence of sampling effort, and additional correction removed the residual influence of sampling effort. Finally, additive partitioning of species diversity allowed extraction of indices of a-, β- and y-diversity free from the influence of sampling effort. However, this woody perennial vegetation y-diversity did not address the need for a spatially extensive, fine scale measure of biodiversity at the extent of the study region. The aggregation of point data to large regions, a necessary part of this index, produces spatially coarse results. To formulate and test remotely sensed surrogates of biodiversity, it is necessary to understand the determinants of and pressures on biodiversity in the Australian rangelands. The most compelling explanation for the distribution of biodiversity at the extensive scales of the Australian rangelands is the Productivity Theory, which reasons that the greater the amount and duration of primary productivity the greater the capacity to generate and support high biodiversity. The most significant pressure on biodiversity in the study area is grazing-induced degradation, or overgrazing. Two potential spatially comprehensive surrogates of pressure on biodiversity were identified. The first surrogate was based on the differential effect of overgrazing on waterenergy balance and net primary productivity: water-energy balance is a function of climatic variables, and therefore a measure of potential or expected primary productivity; net primary productivity is reduced by high grazing pressure. The second surrogate was based on the effect of grazing-induced degradation on the temporal variability of net primary productivity: overgrazing reduces mean net primary productivity and rainfall use efficiency, and increases variation in net primary productivity and rainfall use efficiency. The two surrogates of biodiversity stress were derived from the best available remotely sensed and climate data for the study area: actual evapotranspiration recorded by climate stations was considered an index of water-energy balance; net primary productivity was measured from NOAA AVHRR integrated NDVI; rainfall use efficiency (biomass per unit rainfall) was calculated from rainfall data collected at climate stations and the net primary productivity measure. Finally, the surrogates were evaluated against the index of woody perennial a-, β- and y-diversity, on the assumption that prolonged biodiversity stress would reduce vegetation species diversity. No link was found between Surrogate 1 and woody perennial a-, β- or y-diversity. The relationship of Surrogate 2 to woody perennial diversity was more complex. Only some of the results supported the hypothesis that overgrazing decreases y-diversity and average NPP and RUE. Importantly, none of the results supported the most important part of the hypothesis that the proposed indices of biodiversity pressure would co-vary with woody perennial a-diversity. Thus, the analysis did not reveal a convincing link between either surrogate and vegetation species diversity. However, the analysis was hampered to a large degree by the climate data, which is interpolated from a very sparse network of climate stations. This thesis has contributed significantly to the measurement and monitoring of biodiversity in the Australian rangelands. The identification of false-negative errors as a cause for concern will allow future analyses of the vegetation survey data to adopt methods to counteract these errors, and hence extract more robust information. The method for extracting sampling effort corrected indices of a-, β- and y-diversity allow for the examination and comparison of species diversity across regions, regardless of differences in sampling effort. These indices are not limited to rangelands, and can be extracted from any vegetation quadrat survey data obtained within a prescribed methodology. Therefore, these tools contribute to global biodiversity measurement and monitoring. Finally, the remotely sensed surrogates of biodiversity are theoretically sound and applicable in any rangeland where over-grazing is a significant source of degradation. However, because the evaluation of these surrogates in this thesis was hampered by available data, further testing is necessary.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2008

It is emerging that the brain’s vasculature consists of a highly spatially heterogeneous network; however, information on how various vascular characteristics differ between brain regions is still lacking. Furthermore, aging studies rarely acknowledge regional differences in the changes of vascular features. The density of the capillary bed is one vascular feature that is important for the adequate delivery of nutrients to brain tissue. Additionally, capillary density may influence regional cerebral blood flow, a parameter that has been repeatedly correlated to cognitive-behavioural performance. Age-related decline in capillary density has been widely reported in various animal models, yet important questions remain concerning whether there are regional vulnerabilities and what mechanisms could account for these regional differences, if they exist. Here we used confocal microscopy combined with a fluorescent dye-filling approach to label the vasculature, and subsequently quantified vessel length, tortuosity and diameter in 15 brain regions in young adult and aged mice. Our data indicate that vessel loss was most pronounced in white matter followed by cortical, then subcortical gray matter regions, while some regions (visual cortex, amygdala, insular cortex) showed little decline with aging. Changes in capillary density are determined by a balance of pruning and sprouting events. Previous research showed that capillaries are naturally prone to plugging and prolonged obstructions often lead to vessel pruning without subsequent compensatory vessel sprouting. We therefore hypothesized that regional susceptibilities to plugging could help predict vessel loss. By mapping the distribution of microsphere-induced capillary obstructions, we discovered that regions with a higher density of persistent obstructions were more likely to show vessel loss with aging and vice versa. Although the relationship between obstruction density and vessel loss was strong, it was clear obstruction rates were insufficient to explain vessel loss on their own. For that reason, we subsequently used in vivo two-photon microscopy to track microsphere-induced capillary obstructions and vascular network changes over 24 days in two areas of cortex that showed different magnitudes of vessel loss and obstruction densities: visual and retrosplenial cortex. Surprisingly, we did not find evidence for differences in vessel pruning rates between areas, as we would have expected. Instead, we observed brain region-specific differences in recanalization times and rates of angiogenesis. These findings indicate that age-related vessel loss is region specific and that regional susceptibilities to capillary plugging and angiogenesis must be considered to explain these differences. Altogether, this work supports the overarching hypothesis that regional differences in vascular structure and function contribute to a regionally heterogeneous phenotype in the aging brain.
Graduate

The fast-paced growth in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microfluidic fabrication, porous media applications, biomedical assemblies, space propulsion, and vacuum technology demands accurate and practical transport equations for rarefied gas flows. It is well-known that in rarefied situations, due to strong deviations from the continuum regime, traditional fluid models such as Navier-Stokes-Fourier (NSF) fail. The shortcoming of continuum models is rooted in nonequilibrium behavior of gas particles in miniaturized and/or low-pressure devices, where the Knudsen number (Kn) is sufficiently large. Since kinetic solutions are computationally very expensive, there has been a great desire to develop macroscopic transport equations for dilute gas flows, and as a result, several sets of extended equations are proposed for gas flow in nonequilibrium states. However, applications of many of these extended equations are limited due to their instabilities and/or the absence of suitable boundary conditions. In this work, we concentrate on regularized 13-moment (R13) equations, which are a set of macroscopic transport equations for flows in the transition regime, i.e., Kn≤1. The R13 system provides a stable set of equations in Super-Burnett order, with a great potential to be a powerful CFD tool for rarefied flow simulations at moderate Knudsen numbers. The goal of this research is to implement the R13 equations for problems of practical interest in arbitrary geometries. This is done by transformation of the R13 equations and boundary conditions into general curvilinear coordinate systems. Next steps include adaptation of the transformed equations in order to solve some of the popular test cases, i.e., shear-driven, force-driven, and temperature-driven flows in both planar and curved flow passages. It is shown that inexpensive analytical solutions of the R13 equations for the considered problems are comparable to expensive numerical solutions of the Boltzmann equation. The new results present a wide range of linear and nonlinear rarefaction effects which alter the classical flow patterns both in the bulk and near boundary regions. Among these, multiple Knudsen boundary layers (mechanocaloric heat flows) and their influence on mass and energy transfer must be highlighted. Furthermore, the phenomenon of temperature dip and Knudsen paradox in Poiseuille flow; Onsager's reciprocity relation, two-way flow pattern, and thermomolecular pressure difference in simultaneous Poiseuille and transpiration flows are described theoretically. Through comparisons it is shown that for Knudsen numbers up to 0.5 the compact R13 solutions exhibit a good agreement with expensive solutions of the Boltzmann equation.