Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Education, 2005. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-08, Section: A, page: 3120. Adviser: Ginette Delandshere. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Oct. 9, 2006).

Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2007. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Douglas S. Cairns. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-79).

Thesis (M.S)-- Carnegie-Mellon University, 1982. / Bibliography : p. 41-43.

This thesis focuses on optimization problems with generalized orthogonality constraints, which may also contains linear equality constraints. These problems appear in many areas, such as machine learning, signal processing, computer vision and so on.;Many problems in this form are NP hard. One challenge posed by generalized orthogonality constraints is local minimizers loaded by nonconvex constraints. More-over, the generalized orthogonality constraints are numerically expensive to preserve during iterations.;This thesis is mainly divided into two parts. The first part is focused on solving generalized orthogonality constrained optimization problems with differentiable objective functions. For this class of optimization problems, a generalized gradient.;This thesis is mainly divided into two parts. The first part is focused on solving generalized orthogonality constrained optimization problems with differentiable objective functions. For this class of optimization problems, a generalized gradient flow is proposed, which is contained on the constraints set if the initial condition satisfies generalized orthogonality constrains. The week convergence of the generalizedgradient flow is given. A discrete iterative scheme is also proposed to make the gradient flow method computable. In addition, we analyze the relationship between our discrete iteration scheme and some existing constraint preserving methods, and the relationship between our discrete iteration scheme and the inexact forward-backward method, respectively. Several problems which also can be solved by the generalized gradient flow are given. Furthermore, we also propose an optimal gradient flow by an alyzing the first order optimality condition.;The second part of this thesis is devoted to study of the generalized orthogonality constrained optimization problems with nondifferentiable objective functions. An approximate augmented Lagrangian method is used to deal with this class of problems. The global convergence is presented. We also extend the proximal alternating linearized minimization method (EPALM) to deal with the generalized orthogonality constraints appeared in the subproblem of the approximate augmented Lagrangian method. Moreover, to accelerate the EPALM method, an inertial proximal alternating linearized minimization method (IPALM) is proposed to deal with unconstrained nonconvex, nonsmooth problems with coupled objective functions.;Keywords: Generalized Orthogonality Constraints; Stiefel Manifold; Tangent Space;Gradient Flow; Approximate Augmented Lagrangian Method; Proximal Alternating Linearized Minimization Method.

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Work has been carried out to investigate the applicability of Neutron Induced Emission Tomography (NIET) to areas of non-destructive testing within the nuclear industry. The principal application was the scanning of irradiated nuclear fuel rods. In addition to its medical uses, tomography has been employed in many areas of non-destructive testing. However, the applications have generally used transmission tomography to examine structure. NIET provides a method of determining the spatial distribution of radionuclides produced by the action of neutrons by activation or fission processes. This has applications as an extension of neutron activation analysis and as a method of non-destructive testing for use in the nuclear industry. The work has involved the use of a number of experimental tomography scanners. Various test objects have been scanned using both emission and transmission tomography and computer programs were developed to collect, process and reconstruct the data. High resolution detectors were used to scan single and multi-energetic radionuclides in test objects designed to model various characteristics of nuclear fuel rods. The effects of scattering on image quality were examined and a method of scattering correction based upon the use of an additional energy window was applied. The work showed the viability of using NIET to study the distribution of radionuclides within objects such as irradiated fuel pellets. It also demonstrated the need for reducing the scattering component within images. The use of narrow energy windows and a high resolution detector were shown to be succesful in reducing the effects of scattering. The employment of scattering correction using additional energy windows was shown to be necessary when scanning multi-energetic radionuclides.

In recent years demand from production industry for high performance cutting tools, aero and automobile engine parts has prompted research into both existing and novel methods of laying down hard, low friction coatings . A key process for the production of such coatings has been Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) which has proved to be a consistent and reliable tool for industry. For this technique to continue to be improved and more advanced coatings to be produced, research at the fundamental level is required. This thesis describes research investigating the behaviour of the steered arc cathode spot and methods of improving existing steered arc coating technology. The majority of existing steered arc systems use either permanent magnets or a combination of permanent and electromagnets to steer the arc. Described here is a novel system which employs a pair of electromagnetic coils of cylindrical geometry which enable the arc to be positioned on a circular orbit through a range of continuously variable radii. In addition to this the coils are capable of controlling the transverse and normal magnetic field profiles independently of the steering radius selected. This enables the behaviour of the arc spot to be investigated under a range of magnetic field conditions thus allowing the comparison of measured arc behaviour with a new model of arc motion. Care has described the motion of the arc spot as a biased random walk and has derived an analytical solution to describe the time dependent, probability density function for the arc position in two dimensions. Two distributions are proposed (one in each dimension); the first describes the probability density for the arc position in the direction of driven motion, the second the probability density in the direction of arc confinement. The shape of these distributions is dependent upon the transverse and normal components of the applied magnetic field. A series of experiments are described here that measure the shape of these distributions as a function of either magnetic field, cathode material or both. In the case of the distribution of the arc position in the direction of confinement the width of the distribution is measured as a function of normal and transverse field components. In the direction of steered motion, distributions of arc orbital transit times are measured for a number of cathode materials: analysis of these distributions allow the determination of a mean macroscopic spot velocity and the spot diffusion coefficient. In both cases comparison with Care's model reveals good agreement between experiment and theory to the limits of the experimental apparatus. A further experiment was also conducted to test the prediction that the diffusion coefficient (measured in the direction of steered motion) is independent of the applied field. In this case results are inconclusive and further work is recommended. The mean spot velocity and diffusion coefficients for four materials were measured; titanium, zirconium, aluminium and 316 stainless steel. The results for aluminium and stainless steel compared favourably with some measurements performed by other workers, whilst those for titanium and zirconium are new results with no data available for comparison.

This master thesis focuses on proper workbook elaboration regarding to the subject Specific laboratory methods, which is taught on medical high school, program Laboratory assistant.