Ferrites have been used for various high frequency applications as bulk
materials. These applications, however, are limited to large dimension devices. In
this thesis, thin film ferrites were deposited from a low temperature solution-based
deposition process that is suitable for micro-scale high frequency applications. The
low temperature nature of this...
With the ever-increasing demand for portable devices used in applications
such as wireless communication, mobile computing, consumer electronics, etc.,
the scaling of the CMOS process to deep submicron dimensions becomes more
important to achieve low-cost, low-power and high-performance digital systems.
However, this downscaling also requires similar shrinking of the supply...
Digital-to-analog converters (DACs) suffer from static and dynamic nonlinearity problems, which degrade their accuracy and performance. Mismatch errors in the analog components restrict the maximum achievable linearity.
This thesis presents various techniques for correcting these errors. It describes a correction process for the nonlinear behavior of DACs, on three different...
Commonly proposed ocean wave energy converters (OWEC) use inefficient and maintenance demanding intermediate hydraulic and pneumatic systems. We propose a novel rotary direct-drive OWEC that eliminates these intermediate stages. The new device employs a contactless force transmission system (CFTS) comprising a “piston” and a “cylinder” and a ball screw to...
Our objectives were to determine 1) the concentration of prostaglandin
F2α (PGF2α) in whole and extended bovine semen, 2) if concentrations of
prostaglandins in extended bovine semen are correlated to fertility, and 3) if PGF2α
administered at the time of artificial insemination would improve conception rate.
Concentration of PGF2α tended...
Regression calibration inference seeks to estimate regression models with measurement error in explanatory variables by replacing the mismeasured variable by its conditional expectation, given a surrogate variable, in an estimation procedure that would have been used if the true variable were available. This study examines the effect of the uncertainty...
The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of community colleges creating pathways to degree completion in professional-technical programs by breaking degree programs into smaller portions, referred to as "chunks." The purpose or possible advantage of chunking was that it would improve the rate of degree completion among...
Four aspects of factors influencing the accuracy of nondestructive chlorophyll (Chl) and nitrogen (N) measurement in fresh leaves were studied: (1) optimum wavelength (OW) identification; (2) indices development and evaluation; (3) influence of leaf properties; and (4) influence of meter parameters and sampling technique. Results were used to develop indices...
Community colleges are experiencing a decline in state allocated funding. Traditionally, college administrators look for ways to cut expenditures and raise tuition and fees to make up for the shortfall. Using available land resources to generate a revenue stream may provide revenue for community colleges.
The purpose of this study...
Designing spectral efficient, high-speed wireless links that offer high quality-
of-service and range capability has been a critical research and engineering challenge. In this thesis, we mainly address the complexity and performance issues of
channel estimation and data detection in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems over...
Island systems and species are susceptible to extinction because of their small population size and an ecological naiveté from an evolutionary past lacking strong competition and predation. For example, only one-fifth of the world’s bird species occur on islands, yet more than 90% of the avian extinctions witnessed during historic...
We isolated and characterized the expression of two genes from Populus
trichocarpa that are homologous to the TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) gene from
the model annual plant Arabidopsis. In Arabidopsis, overexpression of the TFL1
gene extends the vegetative growth phase, and the homozygous mutant tfl1 allele
causes early flowering and...
Traditionally linear actuator applications are addressed by the use of hydraulic systems. The high maintenance cost and poor reliability will always be the most critical problem in the real applications. Benefited from both the high mechanical advantage of the roll screw and the simple structure of the switched reluctance motor,...
This thesis is an investigation of the natural products deriving from marine algae and cyanobacteria and has resulted in the discovery of eleven new secondary metabolites. The structure elucidations of these new molecules were performed using a variety of spectroscopic techniques. Four new macrolides were isolated and characterized from the...
This research addresses sample process variance estimation on continuous domains and for non-probability samples in particular. The motivation for the research is a scenario in which a program has collected non-probability samples for which there is interest in characterizing how much an extrapolation to the domain would vary given similarly...
This dissertation concentrates on the controlling factors on the instability of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and their effects on abrupt climate change. Northern Hemisphere climate fluctuated abruptly during the last deglaciation possibly related to variability in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and reduced aerial extent of the LIS. Reductions...
In recent years, there has been growing interest in both industry and academia to use continuous-time (CT) Δ-Σ A/D converters for wideband wireless and wireline communication applications.
So far no reported CT Δ-Σ A/D modulator achieves 14-bit or higher dynamic range (DR) with more than 2MHz signal bandwidth (equivalently 4MS/s)....
The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the experience of gifted girls transitioning from elementary school to sixth and seventh grade. The current counseling literature in this area found that gifted girls often struggle emotionally when transitioning to sixth and seventh grade. The bulk of this literature was based...
The extended-Lifshitz-Kosevitch formalism (ELK) unifies the treatment of
the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect, allowing it to transcend its traditional roles
of mapping Fermi surfaces and measuring effective masses. Here we exploit the
capabilities of dHvA as a probe of many-body effects to examine heavy-fermion su-
perconductivity. ELK successfully describes...
I examined the avian biogeography of the islands of Lago Gatun, Panama, in an effort to better understand the effects of forest fragmentation in this biodiverse region, and specifically to understand the importance of fragment isolation and the mechanism behind its effects on tropical bird distribution. I combined exhaustive surveys...