VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of membrane fouling by macromolecules at multiple scales during ultrafiltration
Keywords: fouling
membrane
ultrafiltration

The thesis aims to gain a better understanding on the mechanisms of the complicated macromolecular fouling in ultrafiltration (UF). The work is divided into three main parts. Firstly, comprehensive literature reviews on both membrane fouling and cleaning were carried out for a better overview on this problem. The findings such as the identification of the main foulants and the current knowledge on fundamental fouling mechanisms, directly contributed to further parts of the thesis.
Secondly, a multiscale approach was developed to form generalised framework for modelling complex fouling scenarios. Two complex fouling models combining multi- ple fouling mechanisms were derived accordingly. The models were then applied to the filtration data collected from UF experiments (constant-pressure and dead-end) on three individual macromolecular solutes, i.e., dextran blue (DB), polyethylene oxide (PEO), and humic acid (HA), respectively. During the experiments, the effect of macromolecular concentration and transmembrane pressure was investigated. Using the appropriate combined model, the overall and initial fouling behaviours and the predominant fouling mechanisms at different stages of filtration were identified. The fouling parameters in the combined models were determined and found to be consistent with the existing theories. The switch points between the dominant fouling mechanisms were assessed using two methods (integral and differential), respectively. Comparing all the information together gave a comprehensive understanding of the physics involved in the macromolecular fouling.
Finally, the effect of the deformability of a macromolecule on membrane fouling was studied. The sieving results from the experiments indicated a flux-dependent permeation during UF of the DB solution, hypothetically due to the elongational deformation of the large DB molecule (a linear polymer at 2000 kDa MWCO) under high velocity gradient at the pore entrance, allowing the molecule to adapt a smaller transversal size to enter pores at nominally 100 kDa cutoff. This not only increased the chances of permeation but also the probability of severe irreversible fouling. Subsequently, a mesoscopic model using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) was developed to investigate the blocking event at the pore entrance in the presence of a deformable linear macromolecule. The simulation results shed lights on the threshold permeating flux at which the molecular chains start to deform.
A chordal sparsity approach to scalable linear and nonlinear systems analysis
Keywords: Lyapunov
SDPs
Chordal
Graphs

In this thesis we investigate how the properties of chordal graphs can be used to exploit sparsity in several optimisation problems that arise in control theory. In particular, we focus on analysis and synthesis problems that involve semidefinite constraints and can be formulated as semidefinite programming (SDP) problems.
Using a relationship between chordal graphs and sparse semidefinite matrices, we decompose the semidefinite constraints in the associated SDP problems into multiple, smaller semidefinite constraints along with some additional equality constraints. The benefit of this approach is that for sparse dynamical systems we can solve significantly larger analysis and synthesis problems than is possible using traditional dense methods.
We begin by considering the properties of chordal graphs and their connection to sparse positive semidefinite matrices. We then turn our attention to the problem of constructing Lyapunov functions for linear time-invariant (LTI) systems. From this starting point, we derive methods of exploiting chordal sparsity in other analysis problems found in control theory. In particular, this approach is applied to the problem of bounding the input-output properties of systems via the KYP lemma for both continuous and discrete-time systems.
We then consider how the properties of chordal graphs can be exploited in the SDPs that arise in static state feedback controller synthesis problems for LTI systems. We show that the sparse inverse property of the maximum determinant completion of a partial positive matrix can be used to design controllers with a pre-specified sparsity pattern. We then consider how to exploit chordal sparsity when designing a static state feedback controller to minimise the H-infinity norm of an LTI system.
Next we shift from linear systems to nonlinear systems and develop a chordal sparsity approach to scalable stability analysis of systems with polynomial dynamics using the Sums of Squares (SOS) technique. We develop a method of exploiting chordal sparsity that avoids the computationally costly step of forming the coefficient matrix in the SOS problem. We then apply this method to the problem of constructing Lyapunov functions for systems with correlatively sparse polynomial vector fields. Finally, we conclude by discussing some directions for future research.
The phonological encoding of complex morphosyntactic structures in native and non-native English speakers
Keywords: psycholinguistics
phonology
phonological encoding

Theories of phonological word formation (e.g. Selkirk 1980, 1986; Nespor & Vogel 1986; Lahiri & Plank 2010) assume that prosodic units are not isomorphic with syntactic units. However, the prosodic status of compounds remain uncertain, at least in so far as language planning and phonological encoding is concerned. Theories are not transparent about the prosodic status of compounds: although a noun-noun compound in English consists of two lexical words (and therefore two prosodic words), it can also act as a single prosodic item by exhibiting main stress on the first unit and carrying inflection. Thus the question remains controversial - should these items be treated as a single prosodic unit, similar to a monomorphemic word, or as two distinct units for the purpose of post-lexical representation? Recursive word formation may suggest that compounds are a single unit. Psycholinguistic evidence measuring speech onset latency in native speakers of Dutch and Portuguese also shows compounds being treated as single prosodic units (Wheeldon & Lahiri 1997, 2002; Vigario, 2010). Although recent studies have produced evidence for the prosodification of compounds in native speakers, little is known about the process in non-native speakers. Our research questions are as follows: what is the post-lexical planning unit in English, and how do non-native fluent speakers of English plan these units for the purpose of phonological encoding? To investigate our hypotheses, we focus on the phonological encoding of compounds with and without encliticisation, for native and non-native speakers of English. In a series of delayed priming tasks, we found overwhelming evidence that reaction times reflected the total number of prosodic units in the target sentence. In online tasks, however, speech latencies only reflected the size of the first prosodic unit. Taken together,these results suggest that, despite containing two lexical and prosodic words, English compounds are planned as single prosodic units, exhibiting encliticisation and reaction times similar to those of monomorphemic words. As shown by the results in this study, this naming paradigm has proved extremely beneficial for eliciting data about the structure of prosodic units in speech production. Not only was it successful for native speakers of Dutch, European Portuguese, and English, we also found that it was easily implemented into a study of post-lexical encoding in non-native speakers of English.
Spatial network structures of world migration:  heterogeneity of global and local connectivity
Keywords: Community structure
Spatial networks
Human mobility
World migration
Globalization
Network science

The landscape of world migration involves multiple interacting movements of people at various geographic scales, posing significant challenges to the dyadic-independence assumption underlying standard migration models. To account for emerging patterns of multilateral migration relationships, we represent world migration as a time-evolving, spatial network. The nodes in the World Migration Network (WMN) are countries located in geographic space, and the edges represent migratory movements for each decade from 1960-2000.
In the first part of the thesis, we characterise the spatial network structure of the WMN, with a particular focus on detecting and mapping mesoscopic structures called 'communities' (i.e., sets of countries with denser migration connections internally than to the rest of the WMN). We employ a method for community detection that simultaneously accounts for multilateral migration, spatial constraints, time-dependence, and directionality in the WMN.
We then introduce an approach for characterising local (intracommunity) and global (intercommunity) connectivity in the WMN. On this basis, we define a threefold typology that distinguishes 'cave', 'bi-regional', and 'bridging' communities. These are characterised with distinct migration patterns, spatial network structures, and temporal dynamics: cave communities are tightly-knit enduring structures that channel local migration between contiguous countries; bi-regional communities merge migration between two distinct geographic regions; bridging communities have hub-and-spoke dynamic structures that emerge from globe-spanning movements. Our results suggest that the WMN is neither a globally interconnected network nor reproducing geographic boundaries but involves heterogeneous patterns of global and local ('glocal') migration connectivity.
We examine a set of relational, homophily, and spatial mechanisms that could have possibly generated the 'glocal' structure we observe. We found that communities of different types arise from significantly different mechanisms. Our results suggest that migration communities can have important implications for world migration, as different types of community structure provide distinct opportunities and constraints, thereby distinctively shaping future migration patterns.
Die uralte moderne Lösung: Nation, space and modernity in Austro-German zionism before 1917
Keywords: judenstaat
nordau
old new land
utopias
degeneration
pinsker
israeli history
herzl
dr kohn
austrian culture
das neue ghetto
rome and jerusalem
jewish state
german literature
altneuland
entartung
german history
austrian history
autoemanzipation
nationalism
austrian literature
rom und jerusalem
the new ghetto
german
german culture
zionism
hess
zionists
utopianism

Zionism represents a turning point in the rise of the nation-state to its present near-ubiquity, a national movement which did not construct an identity concurrently with its embrace of nationalism, but reconstructed a diaspora to fit it. I explore how early Political Zionists, particularly Theodor Herzl, perceived both the push and pull of nationalism, and why they were drawn to adopt an ideology and political structure whose basic principles, I argue, were intrinsically hostile to Jews.
I begin by examining the socialist Moses Hess as a forerunner and microcosm of later Zionism, arguing his work is underpinned by anxiety about social heterogeneity. The second chapter focuses on portrayals of diaspora, its contradictions and the ambivalence they caused towards less assimilated Jews, nonetheless used as models for national identity. I continue by investigating the countries Herzl looked to as partners on the world stage and models of nationhood, arguing his vision of nationhood was far broader than that of most nationalists and involved a recognised role among other nations. The fourth chapter concerns understandings of 'homeland' and the relationship between people and territory, concluding Zionism’s effect is achieved, not just by inhabiting Palestine, but by public desire and effort to do so. I devote my final chapter to concepts of modernity, its perception as both paradoxical and inescapable, and how national historical narratives arrange history into a rational, linear structure.
While Zionists left many presumptions of nationalism and modernity unchallenged, most importantly that both nation and state transcend political divides, my conclusion stresses those presumptions they accepted, those aspects they saw as inescapable, and those they pragmatically performed belief in, to achieve Gentile acceptance of Jewish nationhood. I surmise that it was this sense of inevitability, along with the difficulties of diaspora, which gave Jews reason to make displays of accepting the nation-state.
Stalinism and the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40: crisis management, censorship and control
Keywords: Leningrad
Finland
Public opinion
Comintern
Propaganda
Stalin
Mannerheim
Press
Soviet Union
Red Army
TASS

In both western and Russian historiography the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-40 enjoys, at best, only a passing reference in any narrative of the period and is poorly integrated into existing scholarly analyses of the Soviet regime under Stalin. It is my contention that this conflict offers an invaluable opportunity to test for continuity and change in the form and function of the Stalinist system. Between the disastrous efforts of its forces and the condemnation of the international community, the Kremlin was confronted with the serious challenge of how to portray the events of the war in the media, while managing domestic and international opinion over the course of the fighting.
This thesis examines the extent to which the Soviet regime under Stalin had the institutions and agents in place at the close of the 1930s to cope with the crisis of war in Finland; to be in command of the military campaign, while simultaneously controlling the direction of the official narrative about the fighting; and to censor conflicting interpretations, experiences and information channels, which might expose the Red Army's woeful performance on Finnish territory. This mobilisation of press, propaganda and censorship organs in the face of widespread international condemnation and domestic disquiet constituted a significant challenge for a regime still dealing with the sudden reorientation of the Communist International, required after the Soviet Union’s conclusion of a non-aggression treat with Nazi Germany in August 1939. An international perspective is central to this thesis, with a view towards assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the public face and private practice of Soviet information controls.
Conjugate heat transfer in high pressure turbines
Keywords: HPT
High pressure turbines
Conjugate Heat Transfer
CHT

In the present thesis the link between aerodynamics and heat transfer in high pressure turbines is investigated through steady numerical calculations. The investigations include the effect of wall temperature on the Heat Transfer coefficient (HTC), aiming to understand whether the conventional assumption of HTC being invariant with the thermal boundary condition does hold in a typical compressible flow, where the aerodynamic and thermal fields are strongly coupled. A novel non-linear three point method is proposed to scale wall heat transfer accounting for the dependence of HTC on wall temperature and local flow history.
The effect of wall boundary condition on external aerodynamics and heat transfer calls for the need of Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) methods as design tools. For this reason CHT capabilities have been developed and integrated in Rolls-Royce Hydra CFD solver. The implemented CHT solver is fully-coupled, allowing for simultaneous solution of the solid and fluid domains. The implemented CHT coupling has been shown to be numerically stable with a good convergence rate for all cases tested. The implemented code has been successfully validated against both experimental, analytical and numerical data.
Conjugate analysis of a double-wall trailing edge cooling design has been performed under matched external Biot conditions. Aim of the investigation has been to quantify the effect of CHT on the cooling discharge characteristics and external aerodynamics in a cooling configuration where coolant and external flow are separated by a lower thermal resistance than in a traditional internal cooling configuration. Detailed CHT results for this case are presented and discussed.
Pleasure, suffering and the experience of value
Keywords: introspection
value theory
pleasure
value
moral epistemology
hedonism
suffering
goodness
metaethics
utilitarianism

This dissertation explores a number of interrelated metaphysical and epistemological issues regarding pleasure, suffering and their apparent value and disvalue, thematically tied together by the broad idea that pleasant and unpleasant experiences are, respectively, experienced as good and bad.
More specifically, I try, firstly, to advance the debate regarding the nature of pleasure by arguing for what I shall call the "Self-Experiential View" – the view that pleasant experiences are pleasant in virtue of being experienced as good. Secondly, I assess the merits of the "Hedonic-Evaluative Acquaintance Thesis" – the natural conjecture, expressed by a number of authors, that our especially intimate experiential relationship ("acquaintance") with the evaluative features of our hedonic experiences grounds a particularly robust kind of epistemic status enjoyed by our hedonic-evaluative beliefs, which makes them less vulnerable to sceptical doubt.
In chapter 1, I lay some groundwork for the ensuing discussion, by introducing a number of background claims which help to motivate these two theses. Moreover, I isolate two specific important ways of unpacking the Hedonic-Evaluative Acquaintance Thesis and clarify some central concepts which feature prominently in the subsequent chapters.
In chapter 2, I defend the "Self-Experiential View." I proceed by addressing a number of objections which have been levelled against the view in the literature, and locate it in relation to the views which currently dominate the debate regarding the nature of pleasure.
In chapter 3, I assess and ultimately reject the first important version of the Hedonic-Evaluative Acquaintance Thesis singled out in chapter 1, the "Naïve Realist Hedonic-Evaluative Acquaintance Thesis," which states that Naïve Realist acquaintance with pleasure’s evaluative nature grounds a distinctive, especially robust kind of epistemic status enjoyed by our hedonic-evaluative beliefs.
In chapter 4, I assess the "Introspective Hedonic-Evaluative Acquaintance Thesis", the attempt to vindicate the Hedonic-Evaluative Acquaintance Thesis by extending an acquaintance account of phenomenal introspective justification to the hedonic-evaluative case. By carefully unpacking a range of different candidate conceptions of introspective acquaintance, I home in on what I consider the most appealing acquaintance account of phenomenal introspection, and argue that it should not be extended to the hedonic-evaluative case, which means that this proposal also fails.
A brief concluding chapter summarises the key conclusions of the dissertation and highlights some questions raised in the course of my discussion which would seem to warrant further investigation.
Degradation and processes in lithium batteries
Keywords: Lithium-ion
Lithium-air

The automotive industry requires rapid advances in battery technology to fulfil the range and price criteria set by its consumer base. Lithium-ion cell chemistries are currently best-suited to this application, but are approaching their maximum practical energy density and have yet to exhibit lifespans that are equivalent to that of the vehicles that they power. Therefore, there is considerable interest in the next-generation lithium-air cell, which promises upwards of a five-fold increase in energy density over today’s lithium-ion cells. However, there are many hurdles to overcome, the most important being limited cycle life.
Two new organic solvents, namely adiponitrile and glutaronitrile, were investigated as possible new electrolytes for non-aqueous lithium-air cells. Both electrolytes were found to be susceptible to nucleophilic attack by the intermediate O2·- radical species, resulting in rapid capacity loss upon cycling and the conversion of the discharge product, Li2O2, to LiOH. As such, these solvents have been ruled out for use in lithium-air applications.
Work then focussed on the parameterisation of lithium-air cells to assist the development of a multiscale model of the lithium-air discharge mechanism that incorporates the simultaneous formation of Li2O2 in solution and as a surface layer for the first time. Numerous analytical techniques were used to obtain the oxygen concentration and diffusion coefficient of multiple electrolytes, as well as details pertaining to the cathode structure of the cell. The model was shown to predict the discharge profile of a lithium-air cell with greater accuracy than previous models at low and medium current densities, and will thus be a useful tool for the rapid screening of new electrolyte solutions and cathode structures.
Finally, a new 3-electrode modification technique was developed for commercial lithium-ion pouch cells that allows potential profiles of each electrode to be obtained in-situ with no impact upon cell performance, as verified by cycling with unmodified cells and cathode/anode half-cells, and by post-mortem analysis. This technique has provided the data required to experimentally verify a parametric open circuit voltage model for lithium-ion cells that can model and predict electrode-specific decomposition mechanisms to within an accuracy of 10 mV RMSE. Ultimately, the model may be used to improve the effectiveness of a vehicular battery management system and extend the lifespan of the traction battery pack.