Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Experimental Simulations Of Dark Slope Streaks On Mars, Kelly Howe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Martian slope streaks were first observed in Viking images but their formation still remains ambiguous. Martian slope streaks are currently occurring geological phenomenon on Mars, which requires any formation theory to be in agreement with Mar's current temperature and pressure conditions. Planar morphology of martian slope streaks suggest a potential fluvial formation, but current conditions on Mars are not conducive to water remaining liquid long enough to erode the surface. Debris flows, fluid stains and dry dust avalanches have all been previously cited as a potential formation mechanism for martian slope streaks. Recent experimental simulations indicate that a fluvial source …

Use Of Ultra High Vacuum Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition For Graphene Fabrication, Shannen Adcock

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Graphene, what some are terming the "new silicon", has the possibility of revolutionizing technology through nanoscale design processes. Fabrication of graphene for device processing is limited largely by the temperatures used in conventional deposition. High temperatures are detrimental to device design where many different materials may be present. For this reason, graphene synthesis at low temperatures using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition is the subject of much research. In this thesis, a tool for ultra-high vacuum plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (UHV-PECVD) and accompanying subsystems, such as control systems and alarms, are designed and implemented to be used in future graphene growths. …

Investigation Of Negative Differential Resistance Phenomena In Quantum Well Heterostructures, Nazariy Andrushchak

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing interest in entirely new possibilities for quantum mechanical description of carriers transport is becoming more evident with the developing advancements in epitaxial growth technique. Consequently, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technique is considered to be the most precise technique that allows the growth of ultra-thin layers of different compositions.

Those structures can be designed to investigate the wave-nature of carriers, which broadens the possibilities in device design and fabrication for a specific area. In this thesis the fundamental study of the real space charge transfer (RST) mechanism that took place in quantum well heterostructures and led to the negative differential …

Pointwise Schauder Estimates Of Parabolic Equations In Carnot Groups, Heather Arielle Griffin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Schauder estimates were a historical stepping stone for establishing uniqueness and smoothness of solutions for certain classes of partial differential equations. Since that time, they have remained an essential tool in the field. Roughly speaking, the estimates state that the Holder continuity of the coefficient functions and inhomogeneous term implies the Holder continuity of the solution and its derivatives. This document establishes pointwise Schauder estimates for second order parabolic equations where the traditional role of derivatives are played by vector fields generated by the first layer of the Lie algebra stratification for a Carnot group. The Schauder estimates are shown …

Visualizing The Spatial Localization Of Active Matrix Metalloproteinases (Mmps) Using Maldi Imaging Ms, Sasirekha Muruganantham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biomaterial implantation induces the foreign body response (FBR). Development of longer-term implants relies on the thorough understanding of the FBR. The progression of the FBR is regulated by a number of biomolecules including cytokines, chemokines, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). The nature of the FBR requires the spatial and temporal regulation of these mediators. MMPs are an extremely large and diverse group of enzymes that play key roles in regulating the FBR. Precise spatiotemporal regulation of MMPs defines their proteolytic activities. The aim of this project is to develop a new bioanalytical method to visualize the localization of active MMPs at …

Dynamics And Catalytic Resolution Of Selected Chiral Organolithiums, Timothy Kum Beng

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the most important developments of the last decade has been the emergence of new methods to dynamically resolve racemic organolithiums using stoichiometric amounts of the chiral ligand. When this concept is implemented successfully, it obviates the need for covalently attached chiral auxiliary based methods, asymmetric deprotonation, and asymmetric synthesis of a precursor stannane as ways to access enantioenriched organolithium compounds for use in asymmetric synthesis. Since certain electrophiles consume the chiral ligand, it is desirable to render this process catalytic in the chiral ligand.

As part of a larger study on the amenability of chiral organolithiums to a …

Limiting Behavior Of Nondeterministic Fillings Of The Torus By Colored Squares, Pablo Rosell Gonzalez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this work we study different dynamic processes for filling tori and n×∞ bands with edge-to-edge black and white squares at random. First we present a simulation for the Random Sequential Adsorption (RSA) with nearest-neighbor rejection on n×n tori. We are interested in the ratio of black to total tiles once the domain is saturated for large domains. Next we study the annealing process. Given a random excited tiling of an n×n torus, we show that as t→∞ the system reaches a stable state in which no tile is excited. This stable state can either be a tiling whose tiles …

Symmetry-Based Techniques For Qualitative Understanding Of Rovibrational Effects In Spherical-Top Molecular Spectra And Dynamics, Justin Chadwick Mitchell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using light to probe the structure of matter is as natural as opening our eyes. Modern physics and chemistry have turned this art into a rich science, measuring the delicate interactions possible at the molecular level.

Perhaps the most commonly used tool in computational spectroscopy is that of matrix diagonalization. While this is invaluable for calculating everything from molecular structure and energy levels to dipole moments and dynamics, the process of numerical diagonalization is an opaque one. This work applies symmetry and semi-classical techniques to elucidate numerical spectral analysis for high-symmetry molecules.

Semi-classical techniques, such as the Potential Energy Surfaces, …

Holomorphic Hardy Space Representations For Convex Domains In Cn, Jennifer West Paulk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis deals with Hardy Spaces of holomorphic functions for a domain in several complex variables, that is, when the complex dimension is greater than or equal to two. The results we obtain are analogous to well known theorems in one complex variable. The domains we are concerned with are strongly convex with real boundary of class C^2. We obtain integral representations utilizing the Leray kernel for Hardy space (p=1) functions on such domains D. Next we define an operator to prove the non-tangential limits of a function in Hardy space (p between 1 and infinity, inclusive) of domain D …

Linkage Of Asteroids And Meteorites By The Study Of Terrestrial Analogs, Daniel Robert Ostrowski

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Asteroids are one group of the bodies that can provide insights into the origin and early history of the solar system. Asteroids are considered to be fairly pristine, with alterations only occurring to their surface from the space environment. Studying them provides opportunities to learn about the primordial solar system, its materials, and processes and how it evolved into the current condition. Many asteroids have been discovered, but few have their surface compositions determined. The C and X complexes provide a difficulty in determination because their near infrared spectrum is featureless.

The C asteroids have been long associated with the …

New Infrared Spectral Data For 27 Asteroids: An Investigation Of Meteorite-Asteroid Relationships By Using The Modified Gaussian Model, Katherine Marie Gietzen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Asteroids provide unique insights into the origin and early history of the solar system. Since asteroids are considered to be fairly pristine, studying them provides opportunities to learn more about the primordial solar system, its materials, processes and history. Since the discovery in 1801 of the first asteroid, Ceres, during the era when everyone was searching for the "missing planet", astronomers have been trying to understand what they are, where they came from, why they exist and what they can tell us about how our solar system formed and evolved.

Within the asteroid population are a number of sub-populations, the …

Modeling Of Compositionally Graded Barium Strontium Titanate From First Principles, Laura Elizabeth Walizer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Barium Strontium Titanate (BaxSr1-xTiO3 or BST) is a Perovskite alloy of interest for both technological and intellectual reasons. Its ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties make it useful in a variety of electric components such as transducers and actuators, and BST in particular is a material of interest for the development of a ferroelectric RAM for computers. The inclusion of SrTiO3, an incipient ferroelectric, and the fact that the properties of a BST system depend strongly on its relative composition of BaTiO3 and SrTiO3 (ST), make also this a material of high interest. Compositionally graded systems are of further interest , partly …