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Articles 100921 - 100950 of 198086

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Extrema Based Signal Transforms For Biomedical Signal Analysis, Bhadhan Roy Joy Jan 2016

Extrema Based Signal Transforms For Biomedical Signal Analysis, Bhadhan Roy Joy

All ETDs from UAB

Signal transforms are very important tools to extract useful information from scientific, engineering, or medical raw data. Unfortunately, traditional transform techniques impose unrealistic assumptions on the signal, often producing erroneous interpretation of results. Well-known integral transforms, such as short time Fourier transform, though have fast implementation algorithms (e.g., FFT), are still computationally expensive. They have multiple parameters that should be tuned, and it is not readily clear how to tune them for long-duration nonstationary signals. To solve these problems, one needs a computationally inexpensive transform with no parameters that will highlight important data aspects. We propose a simple transform based …

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White Matter Abnormalities In Patients With Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures, Seongtaek Lee Jan 2016

White Matter Abnormalities In Patients With Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures, Seongtaek Lee

All ETDs from UAB

The aim of the present study was to investigate white matter diffusion abnormalities using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). The total subjects consisted of 16 patients with a definite diagnosis of PNES and 16 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC). The diagnosis of PNES was confirmed by inpatient video/EEG monitoring; patients with epileptic seizures, additional types of seizures of unknown etiology, or who had an abnormal EEG indicating possible comorbid epilepsy were excluded. Also, HCs had no known history of comorbid neurological or psychiatric disorders. Whole brain fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) …

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Evaluation Of Merge Control Strategies For Interstate Work Zones And Their Impacts On Construction Planning And Scheduling Decisions, Ossama Elsayed Mahmoud Ramadan Jan 2016

Evaluation Of Merge Control Strategies For Interstate Work Zones And Their Impacts On Construction Planning And Scheduling Decisions, Ossama Elsayed Mahmoud Ramadan

All ETDs from UAB

Maintenance and rehabilitation projects of interstate facilities typically mandate lane closures which often result in bottlenecks. Merging maneuvers at these bottlenecks have adverse impacts on traffic operations. Conventionally, transportation management plans are developed to address such impacts; however, such plans rely on conventional bottleneck merge control as stipulated in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and overlook the relevant impacts on construction plans and schedules. Accordingly, agencies opt to schedule work zones during off-peak (nighttime) periods, which adversely impacts safety and productivity of workers. The issue persists because little is known about the performance of alternative bottleneck merge control …

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A Framework For Collaborative Knowledge Management: Using Distributed Mentoring, Ramaraju Rudraraju Jan 2016

A Framework For Collaborative Knowledge Management: Using Distributed Mentoring, Ramaraju Rudraraju

All ETDs from UAB

Knowledge management consists of four key processes, generation, distribution, storage, and application. Today, with the simultaneous growth of World Wide Web and usage of computing devices, including smart phones, tablets, and laptops, knowledge is also being generated and modified by knowledge-contributors, labeled mentors. Output of this process makes its way into various sources, such as wikis, blogs, and Question- and-answer websites. New storage technologies are continuously being evolved in order to efficiently handle huge volumes of this kind of unstructured data. However, distribu-tion of knowledge to knowledge-consumers, labeled mentees, has not been evolved to keep up with the exponential growth …

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Two-Phase Forced Convection Heat Transfer In Triple-Concentric Tube Heat Exchangers, Milad Majdi Jan 2016

Two-Phase Forced Convection Heat Transfer In Triple-Concentric Tube Heat Exchangers, Milad Majdi

All ETDs from UAB

Heat exchangers are vital devices and are used in many specific applications such as air conditioning, power production, and waste heat recovery. Throughout the year, a large amount of energy is wasted in air conditioning and refrigeration systems in residential and commercial sectors. At the same time, a huge amount of energy (natural gas and electricity) is used in order for water heating to be supplied to our buildings. The present research project is heat transfer analysis of triple-concentric tube heat exchanger as a component of refrigeration cycle in HVAC systems. This novel design will replace conventional air-cooled condenser and …

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Iterative Weighted Average Diffusion As A Novel External Force In The Active Contour Model, Ilya Sergeyevich Mirov Jan 2016

Iterative Weighted Average Diffusion As A Novel External Force In The Active Contour Model, Ilya Sergeyevich Mirov

All ETDs from UAB

The active contour model has good performance in boundary extraction for medical images; particularly, Gradient Vector Flow (GVF) active contour model shows good performance at concavity convergence and insensitivity to initialization, yet it is susceptible to edge leaking, deep and narrow concavities, and has some issues handling noisy images. This paper proposes a novel external force, called Iterative Weighted Average Diffusion (IWAD), which used in tandem with parametric active contours, provides superior performance in images with high values of concavity. The image gradient is first turned into an edge image, smoothed, and modified with enhanced corner detection, then the IWAD …

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Cyber Physical System For Monitoring And Controlling Loads, Yahya Mohammed Abdelrazek Ibrahim Mohammed Jan 2016

Cyber Physical System For Monitoring And Controlling Loads, Yahya Mohammed Abdelrazek Ibrahim Mohammed

All ETDs from UAB

Bridges represent an important part of the transportation network. Many of these bridges have passed their life cycle and still in service. Monitoring of bridges is a vital component of any maintenance strategy as it can give an early warning if the bridge becomes unsafe. To ensure the National Bridge Inventory (NBI) remains safe for use, we need to control the loads that passed on the bridges. Monitoring loads on the bridges discussed in a significant number of studies, most of them represent the bridge as 1D or 2D elements using some of the finite elements programs. Comparatively, less research …

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Establishing And Organ Culture To Study Scleral Collagen Remodeling In Myopia, Sarah Baldivia Jan 2016

Establishing And Organ Culture To Study Scleral Collagen Remodeling In Myopia, Sarah Baldivia

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether quantitative ultrasound (QUS)

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Time-Functional Material Processes For Energy Absorption In Carbon Fiber- And Aramid Fiber-Based Polyurea-Epoxy Systems In Design Of High Impact Structural Systems, Jorge Cacciatore Jan 2016

Time-Functional Material Processes For Energy Absorption In Carbon Fiber- And Aramid Fiber-Based Polyurea-Epoxy Systems In Design Of High Impact Structural Systems, Jorge Cacciatore

All ETDs from UAB

The brittle nature of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (widely used in retrofitting and rehabilitation of damaged structures) stems from the mechanical properties of its binding polymer. Often, amorphous, 3-D cross-linked, thermoset resins are used as the matrix of the CFRP composite. Due to highly cross-linked arrangement of molecules, stiff epoxy matrix results in various brittle failure modes of the composite, manifested through crack propagation and fiber breakage. Various approaches to improve toughness of epoxy resins have been investigated with the intention of increasing the overall toughness of FRP composites. Rubber- and thermoplastic-toughening methods have been shown to increase fracture toughness …

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Development And Evaluation Of Formulations For Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems, Carlos Arturo Carmona-Moran Jan 2016

Development And Evaluation Of Formulations For Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems, Carlos Arturo Carmona-Moran

All ETDs from UAB

Delivering drugs through the skin reduces side effects and avoids first pass drug metabolism. This is especially advantageous for drugs with associated side effects due to oral administration such as the case of diclofenac sodium; a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used for the treatment of symptomatic pain of joints due to osteoarthritis. However, transdermal delivery of diclofenac relies on the use of topical formulations that require constant application and are inconvenient for daily activities. These factors reduce patient compliance and diminish the efficacy of transdermal delivery of diclofenac. Improving transdermal delivery of diclofenac in joints or extremities requires developing novel …

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Energy Analysis Of Solar House Using Simulink And Trnsys, Sandeep Singh Chahal Jan 2016

Energy Analysis Of Solar House Using Simulink And Trnsys, Sandeep Singh Chahal

All ETDs from UAB

As energy consumption increases it is imperative to explore techniques to address energy consumption. The objective of this study is to utilize computer modeling to estimate the total electricity consumption, the total heat load of a two-story building and solar energy generation by a photovoltaic (PV) panel located in Birmingham, AL, using an energy modeling tool called Transient System Simulation Program (TRNSYS) [1]. Simulink/MATLAB [2], a graphical programming environment, was utilized to model commonly used household appliances with a realistic schedule feeder based on daily residential usage. Next, Simulink [2] was utilized to create the model and obtain results of …

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Stress Analysis Of Transmission Line Steel Pole Joints, Austin Abiodun Dada Jan 2016

Stress Analysis Of Transmission Line Steel Pole Joints, Austin Abiodun Dada

All ETDs from UAB

fractures. However, young women in the United States do not consume adequate

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Modeling Regional Freight Truck Movements Using Tour-Based Approach, Ehsan Doustmohammadi Jan 2016

Modeling Regional Freight Truck Movements Using Tour-Based Approach, Ehsan Doustmohammadi

All ETDs from UAB

In the recent years, the number of freight truck trips has been growing at a staggering pace all over the world. Traditional travel demand forecasting models do not model truck trips separately, but rather include them implicitly in the non-home-based (NHB) trip category. Little attention is, thus, paid to truck types, trip patterns, trip lengths, or actual truck counts. With a growing realization of the importance of truck traffic both to the overall economy and on urban congestion and pollution levels, there is a new interest in modeling truck movements with greater accuracy and detail. The purpose of this research …

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Discrimination Of Various Rock Units In Abu Zenima Area, South Western Sinai, Egypt, With Emphases To The Radioactive Areas Using The Hyperspectral Remote Sensing And Gis Techniques, Reda El Arafy Jan 2016

Discrimination Of Various Rock Units In Abu Zenima Area, South Western Sinai, Egypt, With Emphases To The Radioactive Areas Using The Hyperspectral Remote Sensing And Gis Techniques, Reda El Arafy

All ETDs from UAB

This research study investigates the potential value of spectral information extraction of Hyperion hyperspectral, The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and, Landsat 8 OLI remote sensing data for geological mapping and mineral exploration in a semi-arid region in the Southwestern Sinai, Egypt. Previous investigations of known uranium deposits reflect its economic importance and justifies exploration for additional prospects. The study area is subject to low average precipitation associated with sparse to nonexistent vegetation cover, making it quite an ideal location for this remote sensing study. This study tested a diversity of advanced hyperspectral analytical image processing techniques …

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Mechanical Properties Of The Growth Plate In A Rat Model Of Obesity, Patrick Neil Estep Jan 2016

Mechanical Properties Of The Growth Plate In A Rat Model Of Obesity, Patrick Neil Estep

All ETDs from UAB

The other group (group 2) of 50 women received the same intervention with heel QUS

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Electrospun Polycaprolactone Scaffolds: Mechanical Properties, Alignment Quantification, And Topology Induced Gene Expression, Timothy John Fee Jan 2016

Electrospun Polycaprolactone Scaffolds: Mechanical Properties, Alignment Quantification, And Topology Induced Gene Expression, Timothy John Fee

All ETDs from UAB

Producing tissue engineering scaffolds which mimic the structure and mechanical properties of the native extracellular matrix (ECM) is an important challenge in developing synthetic tissue replacements. Electrospinning is a frequently used technique to fabricate 3D nanofibrous scaffolds which match the dimensions of the fibrous elements of ECM. However, the mechanical behavior of electrospun materials is complex and challenging to predict. To aid in understanding the mechanical properties of electrospun materials, a microtensile testing platform was developed. This platform was used to quantify the mechanical properties of arrays of individual electrospun nanofibers. Additionally, this device permitted optical strain recording to visualize …

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Utility-Scale Solar Energy Use Optimization By Using A Home Energy Management System, Mustafa A. Syed Jan 2016

Utility-Scale Solar Energy Use Optimization By Using A Home Energy Management System, Mustafa A. Syed

All ETDs from UAB

Home energy management systems encourages the users coupled to the grid to modify their electricity consumption in response to fluctuating electricity rates. The purpose of this research is to develop a distributed home energy management system for the end-user to employ in order to minimize costs. Using the home energy management system, the end-user will find and optimal start times for their appliances in response to varying electricity prices. First, the cost for each user and time-constraints for the appliance is modeled. Then, an iterative greedy algorithm is employed by the user to create an appliance schedule. The only variable …

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Torsion Analysis Of A Cantilever Sign Support Structure From Natural Wind Gusts, Lonny Charles Traylor Jan 2016

Torsion Analysis Of A Cantilever Sign Support Structure From Natural Wind Gusts, Lonny Charles Traylor

All ETDs from UAB

Many DOTs mainly across America and some departments outside the states have been experience fatigue failures of some highway cantilever support structures. Fatigue of these structures have been analyzed intensively for research purposes, but the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have adopted fatigue design pressures for cantilevered signals, signs, and light supports introduced by the researchers extend the life of new structures. The fatigue design pressures were developed by applying virtual wind spectrums on various computer models of cantilever support structures and luminaire structures. The main goal of this thesis was to utilize experimental natural wind …

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Evaluation Of The Anchor Bolt Clearance Discrepancies Apply For Any Anchor Bolt Connections, Ahmed Mohamed Abdelkhalek Mohamed Ahmed Jan 2016

Evaluation Of The Anchor Bolt Clearance Discrepancies Apply For Any Anchor Bolt Connections, Ahmed Mohamed Abdelkhalek Mohamed Ahmed

All ETDs from UAB

The clearance distance (a.k.a. stand-off distance) of the anchor bolt for double-nut moment joints is the distance between the bottom of the leveling nut and the top of concrete foundation. Previous research has investigated the effect of different loading conditions on the behavior of anchor bolts that have uniform stand-off distances. However, there currently are no studies in the technical literature that have investigated the behavior of anchor bolts with uneven stand-off distances. In the past, uneven stand-off distances have resulted from topographical limitations and leveling practices during construction. The anchor bolt stand-off distance discrepancy imposes an irregular stress distribution …

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Stepwise Generation Of Retinal Progenitor Cells From Human Embryonic Stem Cells On Defined Matrix Coatings, Jessica Patterson Antipenko Jan 2016

Stepwise Generation Of Retinal Progenitor Cells From Human Embryonic Stem Cells On Defined Matrix Coatings, Jessica Patterson Antipenko

All ETDs from UAB

Membrane proteins imperative for cell signal transduction, G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are critical for drug discovery. Unfortunately, sufficient amounts of quantifiable protein cannot be produced using existing expression systems. Nature has an ideal solution—rhodopsin; the GPCR rhodopsin is efficiently and abundantly expressed in rod outer segments (ROS) of photoreceptor cells. As part of this study, human embryonic stem cells (hESC) were cultured on extracellular matrix (ECM) derived substrates and differentiated towards a photoreceptor lineage using conventional basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and novel NM23 growth factor methods. NM23 is the natural ligand of MUC1*, which is surface accessible on stem …

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Low Power Oscillator Based Sensor Signal Monitoring System, A K M Arifuzzman Jan 2016

Low Power Oscillator Based Sensor Signal Monitoring System, A K M Arifuzzman

All ETDs from UAB

With the advances in the integrated circuit technologies, various types of micro- and nano-sensors are increasingly being utilized in different fields such as medical monitoring, wireless health monitoring, structural health monitoring, where low power consumption, small dimensions, multi-signal sensing capabilities and wireless telemetry are required. Various types of bio-electrical signals are used in the medical sensor systems for diagnostics as well as therapeutic interventions. Usually, bio-signals have the common features of low frequency, and low amplitude level. In this work, a low current sensor signal monitoring system has been proposed and developed, which possesses several merits in terms of high …

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Unsynchronized Scanning With A Low-Cost Laser Range Finder For Real-Time Range Imaging, Isa Hatipoglu Jan 2016

Unsynchronized Scanning With A Low-Cost Laser Range Finder For Real-Time Range Imaging, Isa Hatipoglu

All ETDs from UAB

Range imaging plays an essential role in many fields: 3D modeling, robotics, heritage, agriculture, forestry, reverse engineering. One of the most popular range-measuring technologies is laser scanner due to its several advantages: longer range, highly precise and real-time measurement capabilities, no lighting condition dependency, and less computational power requirement. However, laser scanners are very costly. Their high cost limit their usage in applications with low-cost limitation, especially for static environments like heritage sites. In this work, we present an unsynchronized scanning with a low-cost laser range finders (LRFs) to decrease scanning period and reduce vibrations caused by “scan-stop” in synchronized …

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Laboratory-Scale Investigations Of Low-Permeability Porous Media By Analysis Of Transient Pressure Measurements, Michael Joseph Hannon Jan 2016

Laboratory-Scale Investigations Of Low-Permeability Porous Media By Analysis Of Transient Pressure Measurements, Michael Joseph Hannon

All ETDs from UAB

To provide a greater understanding of critical parameters of ultra-tight geologic formations such as shales, this report considers alternative approaches to the laboratory-scale pressure-pulse-decay permeametry method. These include new analytical models with which to analyze data from the principal rapid pulse-decay variants used in professional laboratories today. Novel revisions to the pulse-decay method are suggested and compared, in theory, against existing technologies. A new experimental procedure for the assessment of whole-core cylindrical samples is proposed that simultaneously determines the porosity and apparent permeabilities parallel and perpendicular to the native bedding plane from a single test on a single cylindrical core …

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Increasing Accuracy Of Dietary Assessments By Regular-Shape Recognition And Photogrammetry, Ihsan K. Hakima Jan 2016

Increasing Accuracy Of Dietary Assessments By Regular-Shape Recognition And Photogrammetry, Ihsan K. Hakima

All ETDs from UAB

There is interest in determining the amount of food consumed during dietary studies using technology. Interviews of patients and/or participants can result in inaccuracies in reported food intake. Using food journals or diaries can be more accurate, but depends on participants' motivation to record food intake during meals. Technology can make it easier to record food intake. Previous work utilizing technology has included using single images and a virtual model for food estimation, projecting a circular light on the image to use as a reference, and using a device with a laser to determine distance. Another method uses a wearable …

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Switchless Reconfigurable Antenna With 360° Steering, Adam Narbudowicz, Max Ammann, Dirk Heberling Jan 2016

Switchless Reconfigurable Antenna With 360° Steering, Adam Narbudowicz, Max Ammann, Dirk Heberling

Conference Papers

—A novel reconfigurable antenna capable of rotating a bidirectional pattern by 360◦ in azimuth is proposed. The antenna has two ports, no aperture switching components, and offers a more compact solution than an array. It provides a reconfigurable pattern in the band 2.525–2.595 GHz and a fixed omnidirectional pattern from 2.235 to 2.725 GHz. The measured gains for four investigated configurations are between 2.1 and 3.1 dBi with total efficiencies between 80% and 89%. The antenna is intended to operate with software defined radio [digital beamforming or multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO)], where the potential of pattern generation using the dual-port antenna can …

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Integration Of Antennas With Sun-Tracking Solar Panels, Adam Narbudowicz Jan 2016

Integration Of Antennas With Sun-Tracking Solar Panels, Adam Narbudowicz

Articles

A low-cost solution for antennas integrated into solar cells, allowing their implementation in solar tracking installations is proposed. The proposed passive device autonomously adjusts the phase shift of a two-element array proportional to the panel rotation. Consequently, the main beam is steered to compensate for panel rotation and maintain a radio link. The proposed device operates for a rotation of ±45° with an amplitude variation of ≤0.4 dB at 2.51 GHz.

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Finite Volume Based Fluid-Structure Interaction, Mohamed M. Selim Jan 2016

Finite Volume Based Fluid-Structure Interaction, Mohamed M. Selim

All ETDs from UAB

Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) is an important topic that needs to be addressed during the design and analysis of air vehicles. The main components of an FSI analysis framework include: 1) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver, 2) computational structural dynamics (CSD) solver, 3) mesh deformation module, and 4) module for data transfer between computational fluid and structural solvers. In this PhD research work a loosely-coupled FSI methodology with all of the above components in a single framework has been developed. An in-house CFD solver has been used for the solution of the fluid dynamics equations. A structural solver has been developed …

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Mdm2 Case Study: Computational Protocol Utilizing Protein Flexibility Improves Ligand Binding Mode Predictions, Anthony Thomas Ascone Jan 2016

Mdm2 Case Study: Computational Protocol Utilizing Protein Flexibility Improves Ligand Binding Mode Predictions, Anthony Thomas Ascone

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Recovery of the P53 tumor suppressor pathway via small molecule inhibitors of onco-protein MDM2 highlights the critical role of computational methodologies in targeted cancer therapies. Molecular docking programs in particular, provide a quantitative ranking of predicted binding geometries based on binding free energy allowing for the screening of large chemical libraries in search of lead compounds for cancer therapeutics. This study found improved binding mode predictions of medicinal compounds to MDM2 using the popular docking programs AutoDock and AutoDock Vina, while adopting a rigid-ligand/flexible-receptor protocol. Crystal structures representing small molecule inhibitors bound to MDM2 were selected and a total of …

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Reverse-Selective Behavior Of The Room Temperature Ionic Liquid Based Membranes, Amir Khakpay Jan 2016

Reverse-Selective Behavior Of The Room Temperature Ionic Liquid Based Membranes, Amir Khakpay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This experimental study explore the reverse-selective potential of RTIL based membranes by lowering the solubility of the non-condensing gases like N2 and CH4. It explored reverse-selectivity by measuring the permeance of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, methane, propylene, propane, 1-butene, and butane in supported ionic liquid membranes (SILM). Particular attention was given to the reverse-selective behavior in the propane/methane and propane/nitrogen separations. For this purpose, a series of experiments were conducted in a batch gas permeance system. The permeance of the above-mentioned gases was obtained using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as the support and [emim][Tf2N], [emim][BF4], [emim][TfO], [emim][DCA], [emim][SCN], and [bmim][NO3] as immobilized …

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Investigation Of Parameters Enabling Admicellar Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer (Raft) Polymerization, Poh Lee Cheah Jan 2016

Investigation Of Parameters Enabling Admicellar Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer (Raft) Polymerization, Poh Lee Cheah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To date, enormous studies on admicellar polymerization have been recorded since the initial reports in the 1980’s. This technique which offered the advantage of using inexpensive materials and facile procedures, proven to be a successful surface modification technique. Nevertheless, one has to tailor every particular case due to the contribution of various factors in the process. Therefore, understanding the fundamentals parameters affecting the characteristics of polymer formed by admicellar polymerization have become a great interest. The effect of oxygen on the requisite amount of initiator and the polymer formed through the admicellar polymerization of styrene on silica particles was studied …

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