Barium strontium titanate thin film varactors have been widely investigated for the purpose of creating tunable front-ends for RF and microwave systems. There is an abundance of literature observing the capacitance-voltage behavior and methods on improving tunability. However, there is a lack of thorough investigations on the nonlinear behavior, specifically the third order intermodulation distortion, and the parameters that impact it. There is also a research void that needs to be filled for nanoscale barium strontium titanate varactors as nanotechnology becomes increasingly prevalent in the design of RF and microwave components. This work aims to advance the understanding of nonlinear properties of barium strontium titanate varactors. Temperature and voltage impacts on the third order intermodulation distortion products of BST varactors are observed by two-tone measurements. The material properties of the films are correlated with the nonlinear behavior of the varactors. Additionally, size reduction capabilities are shown by fabricating planar barium strontium titanate interdigital varactors with nanoscale size gaps between the electrodes. Modeling techniques are also investigated.

This dissertation reports on the synthesis, structural and thermal characterization and electrical and thermal transport properties of a variety of strongly correlated spinels. General structure property relationships for electrical and thermal transport are discussed. However, the relationship between thermopower and features of the crystal structure such as spin, crystal field, anti-site disorder, and structural distortions are explored in depth. The experimental findings are reported in the context of improving existing oxide thermoelectric materials, screening for new materials or using thermopower as a unique characterization tool to determine the cation distribution in spinels. The need for improved n-type oxide thermoelectric materials has led researchers to consider mixed valence \((+3/+4)\) manganese oxides. Contrary to previous findings we report herein that the \(LiMn_2O_4\) compound reaches the relatively large n-type thermopower of \(-73 \mu V/K\) which is three times larger than the value observed in other manganese oxides, \(-25 \mu V/K\). The cause of this increase in thermopower is shown to be the absence of a Jahn-Teller distortion on the \(Mn^{3+}\) ions in \(LiMn_2O_4\). By avoiding this structural distortion the orbital degeneracy is doubled and the Koshibae et al.’s modified Heikes formula predicts a thermopower of \(-79 \mu V/K\) in good agreement with the experiment. Altering the \(Mn^{3+/4+}\) ratio via aliovalent doping did not affect the thermopower and is a second evidence of universal charge transport first reported by Kobayashi et al. The role of anti-site disorder was further examined in \(Fe_xMn_{1-x}NiCrO_4\) x=0, ½, ¾, 1 spinels but the effect on thermopower was inconclusive due to the presence of impurity phases. Next, the thermopower as a function of temperature in \(Co_3O_4\) was investigated as a means whereby the Wu and Mason’s 30 year old model for using thermopower to calculate cation distribution in spinels could be revisited. We report evidence that Wu and Mason’s original model using the standard Heikes formula and considering octahedral sites alone leads to a stoichiometrically inconsistent result at high temperatures. Alternate models are evaluated considering Koshibae et al.’s modified Heikes formula and accounting for tetrahedral site contributions. Furthermore, the effect of a possible spin state transition is considered. / Engineering and Applied Sciences

With the capacity to connect millions of singles through the virtual world, online matchmaking has altered the traditional, face-to-face romantic relationship initiation process. Users of online matchmaking sites have easy access to thousands of available singles and can communicate with partners before ever meeting face-to-face. Specific mechanisms by which online matchmaking environments operate are likely to distort both users’ appraisals of other users and users’ appraisals of themselves. This phenomenon in dating has left researchers to speculate about the effectiveness of romantic relationship initiation in such a context, and for relationships that are successfully formed online, whether the effects of online matchmaking extend beyond the relationship initiation process to influence the subsequent progression of romantic relationships. Seventy-five single men and women were recruited and agreed to subscribe to the online matchmaking site Match.com for 30 days. Participants completed measures assessing their individual background characteristics, sociosexual orientation, personality and attachment. In the event that participants scheduled a first date with someone they met through Match.com, they completed pre and post-date measures assessing idealistic distortion of, attention to, and ease of finding alternative dating partners. Upon completion of their 30 days in the study, participants completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing the degree to which they idealistically distorted themselves to other users and their overall satisfaction and experience using Match.com. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the more users’ distorted the vitality and attractiveness of dating partners the less likely users were to experience a second date initiated by the dating partner. Future studies need to consider that traditional models of relationship initiation are out-dated and not applicable to the study of relationship initiation and progression in the context of online matchmaking. Relationship researchers need to investigate: gender differences in filtering potential partners, the function of filtering in such a context, the developmental progression of filtering and the subsequent potential heightened importance of physical attraction verses the importance of compatibility in predicting relationship initiation in the online matchmaking environment. Additionally, future research should involve comparisons of various matchmaking services’, should utilize larger sample sizes and should follow participants for a longer period of time. / text

In this thesis we will consider and investigate the properties of analytic functions via their behavior near the boundary of the domain on which they are defined. To do that we introduce the notion of the hyperbolic distortion and the hyperbolic derivative. Classical results state that the hyperbolic derivative is bounded from above by 1, and we will consider the case when it is bounded from below by some positive constant. Boundedness from below of the hyperbolic derivative implies some nice properties of the function near the boundary. For instance Krauss & all in 2007 proved that, if the function is defined on a domain bounded by analytic curve, then boundedness from below of the hyperbolic derivative implies that the function has an analytic continuation across the boundary. We extend this result for the domains with slightly more general boundary, namely for smooth Jordan domains, and get that in this case the function and its derivative will have only continuous extensions to the boundary.

The objectives of this study were to investigate stability related basic wood properties and to determine stability performance of New Zealand grown Douglas-fir and those of radiata pine wood. In this study, nine 60-year old Douglas-fir trees and thirteen 26-year old radiata pine trees were selected from forests in Canterbury region. From these trees, 36 discs of 200 mm thick (13 for Douglas-fir and 23 for radiata pine) and 388 boards with dimensions of 100mm x 50mm x 4.8m (210 fro Douglas-fir and 178 fr radiata pine) were prepared. From the prepared discs, 515 specimens (204 for Douglas-fi and 211 for radiata pine) were prepared for green moisture content (MC) and basic density measurements, The same total number of 515 specimens (205 for Douglas-fir and 210 for radiata pine) were also prepared for shrinkage measurements. From the green MC specimens, green weight, volume and oven-dry weight were measured while for the shrinkage specimens, dimensions and weights were measured at equilibrium for nine humidity conditions. These data were used to analyse basic wood properties and moisture uptake characteristics for both Douglas-fir and radiata pine. Variation of shrinkage within a tree and between trees was also studied for both species. After this, selected specimens (36 for Doulas-fir and 36 for radiata pine) were further tested in water immersion for water repellence examination. The 388 full size boards (100mmx50mmx4.8m) were used for studies on distortion and acoustic properties at a sawmill (Southland Timber Ltd.). Dimensions, weights and acoustic velocity were measured from each board before and after drying. These data were used to analyse distortion and strength characteristics for both Douglas-fir and radiata pine. Comparison of the relative stability of full sized Douglas-fir and radiata pine structural timber was investigated in this study. The results from small sample study confirmed that Douglas-fir is much stronger, has lower longitudinal shrinkage and lower gradient in corewood which can be used to explain the better dimensional stability of Douglas-fir than radiate pine although there is significant variability in the shrinkage for both Douglas-fir and radiate pine. In water immersion tests, Douglas-fir has better water repellency property than radiata pine over 2000 hours period during water immersion. Under the same commercial practice in sawing and kiln drying, it is clearly shown that Douglas-fir timbers were straighter with lower levels of distortion than radiata pine at similar final moisture content. It is also interesting to note that the final moisture content in a range of 13-18% for Douglas-fir did not have significant impact on timber distortion but a negative trend was observed for radiata pine with MC in a range of 9 -14%. Tree heights showed clear influence on twist for radiata pine timbers, but it was not clearly observed from Douglas-fir timbers. Corewood proportion is found to have negative impact on the timber distortion for both Douglas-fir and radiata pine. Douglas-fir timbers showed much higher average acoustic MOE value than radiata pine timbers at similar final moisture content. Because of the various proportion of corewood, the shrinkage varied greatly along the stem height and along the disc radius direction for the two species. This variation caused the difference of distortion between corewood, outerwood and transition wood, but the difference between butt log, middle log and top log is inconsistent. Therefore, it is recommended that the corewood proportion to be a criterion for the timber pre-sorting. Variation of stability performance between trees was also found to be significant for the two species, and methods need to be developed for log sorting as well to reduce the timber distortion degradation. Non-destructive testing method such as acoustic tool may be offered to be a new approach for sorting logs, but it is also necessary to be aware of the significant difference between species. The outcome from this project includes better understanding of Douglas-fir for structural applications. The conclusion can be drawn that Douglas-fir has superior quality for its strength, durability and moisture resistance. Douglas-fir is also claimed to have uniform properties and thus to be more stable compared to radiata pine. Douglas-fir timbers showed much higher acoustic MOE value than radiate pine timbers as similar final moisture content.

In this thesis we will consider and investigate the properties of analytic functions via their behavior near the boundary of the domain on which they are defined. To do that we introduce the notion of the hyperbolic distortion and the hyperbolic derivative. Classical results state that the hyperbolic derivative is bounded from above by 1, and we will consider the case when it is bounded from below by some positive constant. Boundedness from below of the hyperbolic derivative implies some nice properties of the function near the boundary. For instance Krauss & all in 2007 proved that, if the function is defined on a domain bounded by analytic curve, then boundedness from below of the hyperbolic derivative implies that the function has an analytic continuation across the boundary. We extend this result for the domains with slightly more general boundary, namely for smooth Jordan domains, and get that in this case the function and its derivative will have only continuous extensions to the boundary.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-223). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 6, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Naz E. Islam. Includes bibliographical references.

La nitruration des aciers est un traitement thermochimique très utilisé dans l'aéronautique. Il est connu pour améliorer la tenue en fatigue des composants mécaniques. Il est basé sur la diffusion de l'azote en surface des pièces traitées. Des mécanismes complexes sont alors mis en jeu et provoquent la naissance de contraintes internes et de déformations dites "résiduelles" des pièces traitées. Suivant leur géométrie, les pièces peuvent se déformer de plusieurs millimètres, et être soumises à des contraintes internes de traction-compression importantes. L'objectif de ce travail est de proposer une modélisation multi-physiques du traitement de nitruration permettant de prédire, pour n'importe quelle géométrie de pièce, les contraintes résiduelles et les déformations qu'elles subiront lors du traitement. Ces informations, précieuses aux ingénieurs, permettront de mieux maîtriser, et donc d'optimiser les processus de dimensionnement et de fabrication des pièces nitrurées. / Nitriding of steel is a thermo-chemical treatment well known to improve the mechanical properties of the material. It is based on the diffusion of nitrogen into the surface of treated parts. Complex phenomena are then involved and generate residual stresses and distortions. Depending on their geometry, parts can be distorted up to several millimeters and be subject to significant internal tensile-compression stresses. The aim of this work is to provide a multi-physical model of the nitriding in order to predict, for any part geometry, their residual stresses and distortions after treatment. These informations, precious for engineers, will allow to optimize the design and the manufacturing processes of nitrided parts.