This dissertation presents the results of statistical analyses of large climate datasets from two time intervals – the 20th century instrumental record and the proxy record of the last deglaciation – in order to understand the forcings and mechanisms of past climate variability.
A longstanding question in climate dynamics concerns...
The ever-increasing environmental degradation in China is leading people to pay more attention to environmental protection. Although Chinese government has made progress in dealing with environmental problems, the environment still gets worse. Thus, ordinary people began to take part in environmental issues, and make contributions to environmental protection. With increased...
Historical concepts of Clavicipitaceae have included a broad range of species that display diverse morphologies, ecological modes and host associations. When subjected to multigene phylogenetic investigation of evolutionary history, the family was found to be polyphyletic, largely driven by diversity in the genus Cordyceps, previously containing over 400 taxa. The...
In a search for designed materials that mimic those found in biological systems, combining polymers with inorganic materials in sol-gel chemistry processes has gained momentum in the research world since the 1990's. This work methodically investigated the properties of several related polymer-SiO₂ hybrids prepared by a simple methodology that could...
As the semiconductor industry works to integrate increasingly more "non-CMOS" devices onto CMOS ICs, compact model development has become an important step in the circuit/system verification tool flow. This research focuses on the two- and three-dimensional modeling of the physical phenomena that occur in nanoscale magnetic devices. This includes the...
This ethnographic research aims to discover the implications of the
commodification of production processes amongst the Ersu Tibetans of Sichuan,
China. This thesis examines the commodification of Ersu agriculture and ethnic
identity in the historical context of both China and the world-system. Ethnohistorical
and ethnoecological methodologies are utilized to answer...
Synthetic adhesives, such as phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins and urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins, have dominated the wood adhesive market since they were introduced in the wood products industry. Formaldehyde, as a key component in the manufacturing of PF and UF resins, has been classified as a known human carcinogen by the International...
Gap acceptance behavior is critical to the safety and operational performance of unsignalized intersections. The complex nature of the human behavior and its dependence on various socioeconomic and environmental parameters makes it challenging for transportation professionals to assess the performance of such intersections. To investigate the behavioral patterns of drivers...
This thesis will cover work that I have completed relating to the field of terahertz (THz) science. My work has consisted of generating tunable, narrowband THz pulses in a table-top optical setup and using both narrow- and broadband THz pulses to study various material systems. Broadband THz pulses were used...
Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) is a very attractive material for use in piezoelectric-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) due to its high piezoelectric coefficients and ability for large displacements with relatively low applied fields (as compared to electrostatic-based MEMS). The piezoelectric effect is strongly anisotropic, thus it is very desirable to control the crystallographic...