"Catalytic Microreactors for Portable Power Generation" addresses a problem of high relevance and increased complexity in energy technology. This thesis outlines an investigation into catalytic and gas-phase combustion characteristics in channel-flow, platinum-coated microreactors. The emphasis of the study is on microreactor/microturbine concepts for portable power generation and the fuels of interest are methane and propane. The author carefully describes numerical and experimental techniques, providing a new insight into the complex interactions between chemical kinetics and molecular...

The focus of this thesis is the computational modelling of transition metal bimetallic (nanoalloy) clusters. More specifically, the study of Pd-Pt, Ag-Pt, Au-Au and Pd-Au as a few tens of atoms in the gas phase. The author used a combination of global optimization techniques - coupled with a Gupta-type empirical many-body potential - and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations to study the structures, bonding and chemical ordering, as well as investigate the chemisorptions of hydrogen and carbon monoxide on bimetallic clusters. This research is highly relevant to experimental catalytic...

The development and application of bioactive nano-structured constructs for tissue regeneration is the focus of the research summarised in this thesis. Moreover, a particular focus is the rational use of supercritical carbon dioxide foaming and electrospinning technologies which can lead to innovative polymeric bioresorbable scaffolds made of hydrolysable (both commercial and 'ad-hoc' synthesized) polyesters. Mainly, the author discusses the manipulation of polymer chemical structure and composition to tune scaffold physical properties, and optimization of scaffold 3D architecture by a smart...

This book addresses a large number of open problems in the nanosciences. It examines some of the most advanced and studied supramolecular systems in order to develop better systems.

This thesis deals with Rare Earth Elements (REE), especially with neodymium used in permanent magnets, from a very scientific basis by providing basic research data. Despite the fact that REE are newsworthy and very important elements for a considerable bandwidth of todays' technologies, accompanied by the monopolistic supply-situation and Chinese politics, there are inexplicable data discrepancies about REE which have been recognized frequently but usually have not been addressed accordingly. So this analysis started with the hypothesis that the four application areas, namely computer hard...

This work addresses time-delay in complex nonlinear systems and, in particular, its applications in complex networks; its role in control theory and nonlinear optics are also investigated. Delays arise naturally in networks of coupled systems due to finite signal propagation speeds and are thus a key issue in many areas of physics, biology, medicine, and technology. Synchronization phenomena in these networks play an important role, e.g., in the context of learning, cognitive and pathological states in the brain, for secure communication with chaotic lasers or for gene regulation. The thesis...

Jason Woolford's thesis describes for the first time, a double 3]2] photocycloaddition of alkenes onto aromatic rings. Modern synthetic chemistry relies on the ability of researchers to uncover new and more efficient ways of creating highly complex structures. This work describes a novel, environmentally friendly photochemical step that converts in one pot, trivial starting materials into otherwise difficult to construct fenstrane frameworks. The rigid cores of these frameworks have significant potential in drug design. Moreover, the novelty of this work overtakes many other methods for the...

The production of heavy quarks in high-energy experiments offers a rich field to study, both experimentally and theoretically. Due to the additional quark mass, the description of these processes in the framework of perturbative QCD is much more demanding than it is for those involving only massless partons. In the last two decades, a large amount of precision data has been collected by the deep inelastic HERA experiment. In order to make full use of these data, a more precise theoretical description of charm quark production in deep inelastic scattering is needed. This work deals with the...

This study presents a unique way to utilize the existing literature to explain the success of treaties in managing hydrologic stress. Literature-derived core concepts are summarized as seven treaty mechanisms categories (specificity, uncertainty management, enforcement, communications, flexibility, integrativeness, and scale) and are hypothesized as important for shaping the institutional resiliency of a treaty. Treaty design is shown to have a relevant and important role in shaping basin management so that nations may better achieve their goals in a changing climate.