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Extensions Of S-Spaces, Bernd Losert Jan 2013

Extensions Of S-Spaces, Bernd Losert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given a convergence space X, a continuous action of a convergence semigroup S on X and a compactification Y of X, under what conditions on X and the action on X is it possible to extend the action to a continuous action on Y . Similarly, given a Cauchy space X, a Cauchy continuous action of a Cauchy semigroup S on X and a completion Y of X, under what conditions on X and the action on X is it possible to extend the action to a Cauchy continuous action on Y . We answer the first question for some …


Trace Contaminant Control: An In-Depth Study Of A Silica-Titania Composite For Photocatalytic Remediation Of Closed-Environment Habitat Air, Janelle Coutts Jan 2013

Trace Contaminant Control: An In-Depth Study Of A Silica-Titania Composite For Photocatalytic Remediation Of Closed-Environment Habitat Air, Janelle Coutts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This collection of studies focuses on a PCO system for the oxidation of a model compound, ethanol, using an adsorption-enhanced silica-Ti02 composite (STC) as the photocatalyst; studies are aimed at addressing the optimization of various parameters including light source, humidity, temperature, and possible poisoning events for use as part of a system for gaseous trace-contaminant control system in closed-environment habitats. The first goal focused on distinguishing the effect of photon flux (i.e., photons per unit time reaching a surface) from that ofphoton energy (i.e., wavelength) of a photon source on the PCO of ethanol. Experiments were conducted in a bench-scale …


Investigation Of A Novel Magnesium And Acidified Ethanol System For The Degradation Of Persistent Organic Pollutants, Phillip Maloney Jan 2013

Investigation Of A Novel Magnesium And Acidified Ethanol System For The Degradation Of Persistent Organic Pollutants, Phillip Maloney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For centuries chemists have sought to improve humankind’s quality of life and address many of society’s most pressing needs through the development of chemical processes and synthesis of new compounds, often with phenomenal results. Unfortunately, there also are many examples where these chemicals have had unintended, detrimental consequences that are not apparent until years or decades after their initial use. There are numerous halogenated molecules in this category that are globally dispersed, resistant to natural degradation processes, bioaccumulative, and toxic to living organisms. Chemicals such as these are classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and due to their negative environmental …


Virtual Interactions With Real-Agents For Sustainable Natural Resource Management, Tyler Pierce Jan 2013

Virtual Interactions With Real-Agents For Sustainable Natural Resource Management, Tyler Pierce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Common pool resource management systems are complex to manage due to the absence of a clear understanding of the effects of users’ behavioral characteristics. Non-cooperative decision making based on individual rationality (as opposed to group rationality) and a tendency to free ride due to lack of trust and information about other users’ behavior creates externalities and can lead to tragedy of the commons without intervention by a regulator. Nevertheless, even regulatory institutions often fail to sustain natural common pool resources in the absence of clear understanding of the responses of multiple heterogeneous decision makers to different regulation schemes. While modeling …


Reduced Susceptibility Of Deformation Due To Vibrational And Gravitational Effects On A Focus Variable Adaptive Lens, Victoriya Relina Jan 2013

Reduced Susceptibility Of Deformation Due To Vibrational And Gravitational Effects On A Focus Variable Adaptive Lens, Victoriya Relina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Orthodox optical devices, such as lenses, mirrors, and prisms, are composed of solidstate materials, which although well studied and implemented ubiquitously are severely limited in their adaptable properties. An arguably new field of adaptive optics has emerged to further expand photonic manipulation competences of optical components. Fluid-based adaptive optical components were introduced as early as 1968 [1]; such components have the ability to change the shape of their interface surface, thus allowing for a variable curvature profile. The method of manipulation varies greatly, as does the range of surface deformations. A solid-state optical component is affected by system vibration variation …


Photophysical And Photochemical Factors Affecting Multi-Photon Direct Laser Writing Using The Cross-Linkable Epoxide Su-8, Henry Williams Jan 2013

Photophysical And Photochemical Factors Affecting Multi-Photon Direct Laser Writing Using The Cross-Linkable Epoxide Su-8, Henry Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the past decade, the epoxy based photoresist SU-8 has been used commercially and in the lab for fabricating micro- and nano-structures. Investigators have studied how processing parameters such as pre- and post-exposure bake temperatures affect the resolution and quality of SU-8 structures patterned using ultraviolet or x-ray lithography. Despite the advances in understanding the phenomena, not all of them have been explored, especially those that are specific to multi-photon direct laser writing (mpDLW). Unlike conventional exposure techniques, mpDLW is an inherently three-dimensional (3D) process that is activated by nonlinear absorption of light. This dissertation reports how several key processing …


Mesoscale Light-Matter Interactions, Kyle Douglass Jan 2013

Mesoscale Light-Matter Interactions, Kyle Douglass

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mesoscale optical phenomena occur when light interacts with a number of different types of materials, such as biological and chemical systems and fabricated nanostructures. As a framework, mesoscale optics unifies the interpretations of the interaction of light with complex media when the outcome depends significantly upon the scale of the interaction. Most importantly, it guides the process of designing an optical sensing technique by focusing on the nature and amount of information that can be extracted from a measurement. Different aspects of mesoscale optics are addressed in this dissertation which led to the solution of a number of problems in …


Peak Power Scaling Of Nanosecond Pulses In Thulium Based Fiber Lasers, Christian Gaida Jan 2013

Peak Power Scaling Of Nanosecond Pulses In Thulium Based Fiber Lasers, Christian Gaida

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Thulium based fiber lasers represent a promising alternative for pulse energy scaling and high peak power generation with ytterbium based systems at 1µm. Advantages of thulium arise from the operation at longer wavelengths and a large gain bandwidth (1.8-2.1µm). Nonlinear effects, such as self phase modulation, stimulated Raman scattering and stimulated Brillouin scattering generally limit peak power scaling in fiber lasers. The longer wavelength of thulium fiber lasers and large mode field areas can significantly increase the nonlinear thresholds. Compared to 1µm systems, thulium fiber lasers enable single mode guidance for two times larger mode field diameter in step index …


Development Of Laser Spectroscopy For Elemental And Molecular Analysis, Yuan Liu Jan 2013

Development Of Laser Spectroscopy For Elemental And Molecular Analysis, Yuan Liu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and Raman spectroscopy are still growing analytical and sensing spectroscopic techniques. They significantly reduce the time and labor cost in analysis with simplified instrumentation, and lead to minimal or no sample damage. In this dissertation, fundamental studies to improve LIBS analytical performance were performed and its fusion with Raman into one single sensor was explored. On the fundamental side, Thomson scattering was reported for the first time to simultaneously measure the electron density and temperature of laser plasmas from a solid aluminum target at atmospheric pressure. Comparison between electron and excitation temperatures brought insights into the …


Scene Understanding For Real Time Processing Of Queries Over Big Data Streaming Video, Alexander Aved Jan 2013

Scene Understanding For Real Time Processing Of Queries Over Big Data Streaming Video, Alexander Aved

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With heightened security concerns across the globe and the increasing need to monitor, preserve and protect infrastructure and public spaces to ensure proper operation, quality assurance and safety, numerous video cameras have been deployed. Accordingly, they also need to be monitored effectively and efficiently. However, relying on human operators to constantly monitor all the video streams is not scalable or cost effective. Humans can become subjective, fatigued, even exhibit bias and it is difficult to maintain high levels of vigilance when capturing, searching and recognizing events that occur infrequently or in isolation. These limitations are addressed in the Live Video …


Biochemical Characterization Of The Nifb Enzyme And Nifb-Cofactor, Jirair Gevorkyan Jan 2013

Biochemical Characterization Of The Nifb Enzyme And Nifb-Cofactor, Jirair Gevorkyan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mo-nitrogenase complex is composed of two components, Fe-protein and MoFe-protein. This complex is able to catalyze the reduction of N2 through the MgATP dependent transfer of electrons from the Fe-protein Fe4S4 cluster to the MoFe-protein P-cluster and, subsequently, to the iron-molybdenum cofactor (FeMoco). FeMo-co is a Fe7S9MoC-(R)-homocitrate cluster and has two biosynthetic precursors, NifB-co and L-cluster, of unknown structure and composition. The biosynthesis of FeMo-co is an enigmatic process that minimally requires NifB, NifEN, Fe-protein, MoO4 2- , (R)-homocitrate and S-adenolsylmethionine. A means to isolate the NifB enzyme for characterization has been developed through use of a GST-fusion tag. …


Remediation Of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (Pcb) Contaminated Building Materials Using Non-Metal And Activated Metal Treatment Systems, Tamra Legron-Rodriguez Jan 2013

Remediation Of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (Pcb) Contaminated Building Materials Using Non-Metal And Activated Metal Treatment Systems, Tamra Legron-Rodriguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PCBs are recalcitrant compounds of no known natural origin that persist in the environment despite their ban by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1979 due to negative health effects. Transport of PCBs from elastic sealants into concrete, brick, and granite structures has resulted in the need for a technology capable of removing these PCBs from the materials. This research investigated the use of a nonmetal treatment system (NMTS) and an activated metal treatment system (AMTS) for the remediation and degradation of PCBs from concrete, brick, and granite affixed with PCB-laden caulking. The adsorption of PCBs onto the components …


Development Of Novel Redox Sensors And Processes Towards Biological Applications, Jigna Patel Jan 2013

Development Of Novel Redox Sensors And Processes Towards Biological Applications, Jigna Patel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research on the cure and early detection of diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's is becoming of great interest due to the increasing number of people affected by them every year. An accurate and quick detection of various damaging species is highly critical in treatments of such diseases not only for exploring possible cures but also for early detection. If these diseases are detected during the initial stages than the possibility of curing them is much higher. Motivated by this, many researchers today have developed numerous types of sensing devices that can detect various physiological and biological compounds. However, …


Volume Phase Masks In Photo-Thermo-Refractive Glass, Marc Segall Jan 2013

Volume Phase Masks In Photo-Thermo-Refractive Glass, Marc Segall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In many applications such as beam shaping, mode conversion, and phase encoding it is necessary to alter the spatial phase profile of a beam via a phase mask. Conventional techniques to accomplish this either involve surface relief profiling in thin films such as PMMA or refractive index modulation in bulk photorefractive crystals such as lithium niobate. These materials have been used extensively for the past several decades and perform admirably in low power conditions. However, in high power systems these materials will be destroyed, requiring a new means of producing phase masks. In this dissertation a method for producing robust …


Hydromorphology Of The Econlockhatchee River, John Baker Jan 2013

Hydromorphology Of The Econlockhatchee River, John Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change and human activities alter the hydrologic systems and exerted global scale impacts on our environment with significant implications for water resources. Climate change can be characterized by the change of precipitation and temperature, and both precipitation pattern change and global warming are associated with the increase in frequency of flooding or drought and low flows. With increasing water demand from domestic, agricultural, commercial, and industrial sectors, humans are increasingly becoming a significant component of the hydrologic cycle. Human activities have transformed hydrologic processes at spatial scales ranging from local to global. Human activities affecting watershed hydrology include land …


Phase-Locking Stability Of A Quasi-Single-Cycle Pulse, Nathan Bodnar Jan 2013

Phase-Locking Stability Of A Quasi-Single-Cycle Pulse, Nathan Bodnar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is increasing interest in the generation of very short laser pulses, even down to attosecond (10-18 s) durations. Laser systems with femtosecond pulse durations are needed for these applications. For many of these applications, positioning of the maximum electric field within the pulse envelope can affect the outcome. The peak of the electric field relative to the peak of the pulse is called the Carrier Envelope Phase (CEP). Controlling the position of the electric field becomes more important when pulse duration approaches single-cycle. This thesis focuses on the stabilization of a quasi-single-cycle laser facility. Improvements to this already-established laser …


Development Of Thulium Fiber Lasers For High Average Power And High Peak Power Operation, Robert Sims Jan 2013

Development Of Thulium Fiber Lasers For High Average Power And High Peak Power Operation, Robert Sims

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High power thulium fiber lasers are useful for a number of applications in both continuous-wave and pulsed operating regimes. The use of thulium as a dopant has recently gained interest due to its large bandwidth, possibility of high efficiency, possibility of high power and long wavelength ~1.8 – 2.1 μm. The longer emission wavelength of Tm-doped fiber lasers compared to Yb- and/or Er-doped fiber lasers creates the possibility for higher peak power operation due to the larger nonlinear thresholds and reduced nonlinear phase accumulation. One primary interest in Tm-doped fiber lasers has been to scale to high average powers; however, …


Field Theoretic Lagrangian From Off-Shell Supermultiplet Gauge Quotients, Gregory Katona Jan 2013

Field Theoretic Lagrangian From Off-Shell Supermultiplet Gauge Quotients, Gregory Katona

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent efforts to classify off-shell representations of supersymmetry without a central charge have focused upon directed, supermultiplet graphs of hypercubic topology known as Adinkras. These encodings of Super Poincare algebras, depict every generator of a chosen supersymmetry as a node-pair transformtion between fermionic bosonic component fields. This research thesis is a culmination of investigating novel diagrammatic sums of gauge-quotients by supersymmetric images of other Adinkras, and the correlated building of field theoretic worldline Lagrangians to accommodate both classical and quantum venues. We find Ref [40], that such gauge quotients do not yield other stand alone or "proper" Adinkras as afore …


Sparse Ridge Fusion For Linear Regression, Nozad Mahmood Jan 2013

Sparse Ridge Fusion For Linear Regression, Nozad Mahmood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For a linear regression, the traditional technique deals with a case where the number of observations n more than the number of predictor variables p (n > p). In the case n < p, the classical method fails to estimate the coefficients. A solution of the problem is the case of correlated predictors is provided in this thesis. A new regularization and variable selection is proposed under the name of Sparse Ridge Fusion (SRF). In the case of highly correlated predictor, the simulated examples and a real data show that the SRF always outperforms the lasso, eleastic net, and the S-Lasso, and the results show that the SRF selects more predictor variables than the sample size n while the maximum selected variables by lasso is n size.


Non-Degenerate Two Photon Gain In Bulk Gallium Arsenide, Brendan Turnbull Jan 2013

Non-Degenerate Two Photon Gain In Bulk Gallium Arsenide, Brendan Turnbull

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the nonlinear phenomena known as doubly-stimulated, non-degenerate two-photon emission (ND-2PE) in Gallium Arsenide (GaAs). 2PE refers to the simultaneous emission of two-photons as electrons move from the conduction band in a direct gap semiconductor to the valence band. Following the same path for describing one-photon emission (1PE) we describe 2PE as a product of the irradiance, and the negative of the loss which in this case is two-photon absorption, , the negative coming from the population inversion. We attempt to observe 2PE by using a frequency non-degenerate pump-probe experiment in which a …


Economic Valuation Of Florida Sea Turtles In Face Of Sea Level Rise, Ahmed Hamed Jan 2013

Economic Valuation Of Florida Sea Turtles In Face Of Sea Level Rise, Ahmed Hamed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sea level rise (SLR) is posing a great risk of flooding and inundation to coastal areas in Florida. Some coastal nesting species, including sea turtle species, have experienced diminished habitat from SLR. In an effort to assess the economic and ecosystem service loss to coastal areas with respect to sea turtles Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) and Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) were used. The CVM was used to measure the economic impacts of SLR on sea turtles. Open-ended and dichotomous choice CVM was used to obtain the willingness to pay (WTP) values of Florida residents to implement certain mitigation strategies which …


Magnesium And Acidified Ethanol Based Treatment Systems For The Extraction And Dechlorination Of Polychlorinated Biphenyls From Contaminated Oils, Paints, And Soils, Simone Novaes-Card Jan 2013

Magnesium And Acidified Ethanol Based Treatment Systems For The Extraction And Dechlorination Of Polychlorinated Biphenyls From Contaminated Oils, Paints, And Soils, Simone Novaes-Card

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of environmentally persistent halogenated organic compounds that were once used as stabilizers to improve the properties of a variety of materials such as lubricants, heat transfer fluids, paints, and caulking materials. PCBs are also capable of migration through processes such as spillage into soils, leaching into groundwater, and volatilization into the atmosphere. Although banned in 1979 over health concerns, PCBs persist in these materials to this day because they are resistant to biotic degradation and natural weathering processes. The wide variety of contaminated materials means that many existing treatment options cannot be used across …


Computational Approach To The Problems Of Electro- And Photo-Catalysis, Sebastian Zuluaga Jan 2013

Computational Approach To The Problems Of Electro- And Photo-Catalysis, Sebastian Zuluaga

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this work is to gain basis for rational design of catalysts used in fuel cells for conversion of chemical energy stored in hydrogen molecules into electric energy, as well as photo-catalysts used for hydrogen production from water under solar irradiation. This objective is achieved by applying the first principles computational approach to reveal relationship among compositions of materials under consideration, their electronic structure and catalytic activity. A major part of the work is focused on electro-catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells. Platinum (Pt) is widely used in the electrodes of fuel cells due to its good catalytic …


Detecting Semantic Method Clones In Java Code Using Method Ioe-Behavior, Rochelle Elva Jan 2013

Detecting Semantic Method Clones In Java Code Using Method Ioe-Behavior, Rochelle Elva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The determination of semantic equivalence is an undecidable problem; however, this dissertation shows that a reasonable approximation can be obtained using a combination of static and dynamic analysis. This study investigates the detection of functional duplicates, referred to as semantic method clones (SMCs), in Java code. My algorithm extends the input-output notion of observable behavior, used in related work [1, 2], to include the effects of the method. The latter property refers to the persistent changes to the heap, brought about by the execution of the method. To differentiate this from the typical input-output behavior used by other researchers, I …


Using Freebase, An Automatically Generated Dictionary, And A Classifier To Identify A Person's Profession In Tweets, Abraham Hall Jan 2013

Using Freebase, An Automatically Generated Dictionary, And A Classifier To Identify A Person's Profession In Tweets, Abraham Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Algorithms for classifying pre-tagged person entities in tweets into one of eight profession categories are presented. A classifier using a semi-supervised learning algorithm that takes into consideration the local context surrounding the entity in the tweet, hash tag information, and topic signature scores is described. In addition to the classifier, this research investigates two dictionaries containing the professions of persons. These two dictionaries are used in their own classification algorithms which are independent of the classifier. The method for creating the first dictionary dynamically from the web and the algorithm that accesses this dictionary to classify a person into one …


Beam Deflection, Matthias Münnich, Jan 2013

Beam Deflection, Matthias Münnich,

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In order to fully understand the third order nonlinear optical response of materials under high irradiance excitation it is necessary to study the temporal and polarization dependence of nonlinear refraction and absorption. There are several existing approaches such as Z-scan and pump-probe techniques to determine those responses. As part of this work, these approaches will be briefly outlined before presenting beam deflection, applied from photothermal beam deflection, as an alternative experimental technique to determine the nonlinear refraction with its temporal and polarization dynamics. This technique measures the angle of the probe beam deflected via the index gradient of the material …


Hjb Equation And Statistical Arbitrage Applied To High Frequency Trading, Yonggi Park Jan 2013

Hjb Equation And Statistical Arbitrage Applied To High Frequency Trading, Yonggi Park

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we investigate some properties of market making and statistical arbitrage applied to High Frequency Trading (HFT). Using the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman(HJB) model developed by Guilbaud, Fabien and Pham, Huyen in 2012, we studied how market making works to obtain optimal strategy during limit order and market order. Also we develop the best investment strategy through Moving Average, Exponential Moving Average, Relative Strength Index, Sharpe Ratio.


Accelerated Life Model With Various Types Of Censored Data, Kathryn Pridemore Jan 2013

Accelerated Life Model With Various Types Of Censored Data, Kathryn Pridemore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Accelerated Life Model is one of the most commonly used tools in the analysis of survival data which are frequently encountered in medical research and reliability studies. In these types of studies we often deal with complicated data sets for which we cannot observe the complete data set in practical situations due to censoring. Such difficulties are particularly apparent by the fact that there is little work in statistical literature on the Accelerated Life Model for complicated types of censored data sets, such as doubly censored data, interval censored data, and partly interval censored data. In this work, we …