ESR quantum computing presents faster means to perform gates on nuclear spins than the traditional NMR methods. This means ESR is a test-bed that can potentially be useful in ways that are not possible with NMR. The first step is to demonstrate universal control in the ESR system. This work focuses on spin systems with one electron spin and two nuclear spins. We try to demonstrate control over the nuclear spins using the electron as an actuator. In order to perform the experiments, a customized ESR spectrometer was built in the lab. The main advantage of the home-built system is the ability to send arbitrary pulses to the spins. This ability is the key to perform high fidelity controls on the spin system. A customized low temperature probe was designed and built to have three features necessary for the experiments. First, it is possible to orient the sample, thus to change the spin Hamiltonian of the system, in situ. Second, the combined system is able to perform ESR experiments at liquid nitrogen and liquid helium temperatures and rotate the sample while it is cold. Last, the pulse bandwidth of the microwave resonator, which directly affects the fidelity of the gates, is held constant with respect to the sample temperature. Simulations of the experiments have been carried out and the results are promising. Preliminary experiments have been performed, the final set of experiments, demonstrating full quantum control of a three-spin system, are underway at present.

No description available.

The antigenic variability of the Influenza virus hinders our ability to develop new therapeutic and vaccine strategies which provide a broad protection against all influenza strains. It has been previously suggested that a means to approach this challenge is to identify conserved sequences within viral proteins and use these for future therapeutic targets. Although such conserved sequences are plentiful amongst the internal viral proteins, their lack of exposure to the host immune system makes mounting an immune response against these regions difficult. Alternatively, the surface glycoproteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) have been shown to provide host protection against a limited number of influenza strains when used as vaccine targets; however conserved regions within these proteins which are also antibody accessible are extremely rare. My Ph.D. thesis project is focused on investigating the functional role of a conserved region within the NA protein and to further determine the protection afforded by a monoclonal antibody to this region. In a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis, the only universally conserved sequence amongst all influenza A and B viral NA has been previously identified as being located between amino acids (a.a.) 222-230 (dubbed the HCA-2 region). However, the potential role of this region remains largely unknown. Through an array of experimental approaches including mutagenesis, reverse genetics and growth kinetics, I have found that substitutions in this sequence significantly affect viral replication by impairing the catalytic activity, substrate-binding and thermostability of NA. These findings prompted me to further investigate if antibody to this region may provide protection against influenza infection. Indeed, universal monoclonal antibody (HCA-2 MAb) against this peptide provided broad inhibition against all nine subtypes of NA in vitro and heterosubtypic protection in mice challenged with lethal doses of mouse-adapted viruses. I further demonstrated that residues within this peptide that are exposed on the surface of NA and located in close proximity to the active site, I222 and E227, are indispensable for antibody-mediated inhibition. These data are the first to demonstrate a monoclonal antibody against the NA protein which provides heterosubtypic protection. Since I observed that the HCA-2 antibody provided a broad inhibition against all nine subtypes of influenza A NA, I decided to investigate whether this inhibitory effect could be extended against Influenza B. Here, I have further reported that HCA-2 MAb provides a broad inhibition against various strains of influenza B viruses of both Victoria and Yamagata genetic lineage. I also demonstrate that the growth and NA enzymatic activity of two drug resistant influenza B strains are also inhibited by the HCA-2 antibody. The findings of my Ph.D. thesis project have thus demonstrated that the HCA-2 region is paramount to optimal viral function. Additionally, my data show that antibodies generated against this region provide heterosubtypic protection both in vitro and in vivo and against drug resistant strains. These results indicate that this universally conserved epitope should be further explored as a potential target for future antiviral intervention and vaccine-induced immune responses.

Purpose: This is a pilot study to investigate gaze strategies for coping with glare when performing a simple visual task under intense contra light viewing conditions. Method: Twenty-four normally sighted participants were recruited for this study. They consisted of a young subgroup (n=12), aged 21-29 (mean = 25.3 ± 2.5), and an older subgroup (n=12), aged 51-71 (mean = 57.3 ± 6.1). Visual acuity (VA) and Brightness Acuity testing (BAT) were used to assess central vision. Participants were required to locate and approach (from 15m) a small platform that was contra lit by a powerful light source. Upon arrival at the platform, participants were required to insert a small ball into a similarly sized receptacle. An ASL Mobile Eye (Bedford, MA) eye tracker was used to monitor gaze position throughout until the task was completed. Scene and pupil videos were recorded for each participant and analyzed frame by frame to locate the participant’s eye movements. Results: Two participants (one from each subgroup) adopted aversion gaze strategies wherein they avoided looking at the contra lit task for more than 50% of the task completion time. For the remainder of the experimental trial, these two participants were either looking toward the glare source or blinking. The other twenty-two participants opted to endure the contra light condition by gazing directly into the glare for the majority of the task completion time. An individual t-test between the younger iv subgroup’s BA scores vs. the older subgroup’s BA scores was statistically significant (p<0.05). Significantly poorer BAT scores were found in the older subgroup, however, individual participant’s BAT scores did not necessarily predict the ability to cope with a contra lit glare source. Although, statistically significant differences were not found between the two subgroups when examining their VA and length of time to complete the course, a trend was found, as the older subgroup consistently had poorer VA scores and took longer to complete the course. Further research must be completed with a larger sample size to fully understand the glare aversion strategies one must elicit when dealing with a contra lit glare source within the built environment, and to confirm the three glare strategies proposed by this pilot study.

This thesis proposes a novel system to determine the best representation of a video in the sense that, a user watching the video reaches the highest level of satisfaction possible, given the resource capabilities of the viewing device. Utility theory is used to obtain a utility function representing the user satisfaction as a function of video coding parameters, and the viewing device capabilities. The utility function is formulated as the weighted sum of three individual components. These components are chosen such that, the satisfaction on any one of the components is independent of the satisfaction on every other component. The advantage of such decomposition is the ability to express individual components as simple mathematical relations, modeling user satisfaction. Afterwards, the unknown parameters of these models are determined by results of subjective tests, performed by a multitude of users. Finally, simulated annealing is utilized to find the global optimum of this utility function representing the user satisfaction. Simulation results based on subjective viewing tests on a resource limited mobile device indicate a consistent user satisfaction by the determined optimal encoding parameters of the video.

This thesis considers the problem of the demodulation of a digital, quadrature modulated carrier which has been subject to an unknown frequency shift introduced by the communications channel. In particular, this thesis investigates a multiple symbol detection (MSD) approach, with a focus on improving the bit error rate performance of traditional double differential phase shift keying (DDPSK) detection techniques. / Thesis (PhDTelecommunications)--University of South Australia, 2004.

Reconciliation of human plurality, with the commonality requisite for egalitarian political order, is arguably the central question confronting political thought today. The thesis is a response to Hannah Arendt’s insight that in the wake of the twentieth-century demise of metaphysical ultimates, we must affirm human capacity for autonomous judgment as fundamental to sustaining a world ‘fit for human habitation’. It consists of a theory of autonomy (or practical reason) designed to fully address pluralism, historicism and the critique of identity/difference. In the light of Onora O’Neill’s constructivist reading of Kantian reason, autonomy as ‘creative action’ is defended as the minimal human commonality which must be presupposed, to account for trans-cultural justice grounded in communication rather than coercion. The account of autonomy employs Kant’s notion of the ‘unconditioned’: freedom from determinate causes; that which is common to all by virtue of being particular to none. Kant’s merely formal concept is reconceived as a substantive experience within the world: the momentary suspension of existing cultural forms, identified as both a formal and substantive prerequisite to overcoming prejudices, and the achievement of trans-cultural communication. Building on Hans-George Gadamer’s tradition-dependent notion of hermeneutic judgment, creative action consists of first ‘receptive attention’, the suspension of existing understandings, pre-conceptions etc., and open receptivity to what is there, and second, ‘responsive judgment’, revitalisation of authoritative standards internal to a ‘vital sphere of practice’ – a realm of human activity whose authoritative standards are constituted through creative action. Creative action is defended as a minimal, generic prerequisite for the realisation of any transcendent value (such as truth, justice and beauty) within a vital sphere of practice. This ideal of autonomy coheres with a pluralist ideal of society as a web of equal, autonomous yet interdependent vital spheres of practice. A distinctive feature of the thesis is that it provides, in addition to a maximally-capacious account of autonomy, a radically pluralist ontological and epistemic framework. Contemporary political thought embracing human plurality and difference has for the most part been wary of metaphysical ultimates, opting for epistemic abstinence and avoiding explicit metaphysical commitments. I argue, however, that a substantive, philosophical account of the possibility of trans-cultural justice requires admission of that which transcends the culturally-conditioned, as well as adherence to some notion of philosophical truth. As western thought has inherited from Platonism and the Judeo-Christian tradition a view of truth as monological, universal and unchanging, radical, pluralist revisions are required. Within the proposed two-tiered epistemology, creative action takes the place of reason. This epistemic framework retains the transcendent content of truth, while fully acknowledging the cultural-relativity of particular socio-cultural forms. It allows the theory to stand as a substantive, philosophically-vindicated theory of autonomy, but without rendering it vulnerable to post-structuralist charges of cultural-imperialism. The thesis shows that the universalist, egalitarian commitments of the Kantian tradition can be reconciled with strong commitment to difference and diversity, but only if the philosophical and political realms abdicate their traditional positions of privilege vis a vis other spheres of practice.

Thesis (M.S. - Soils, Water and Engineering)--University of Arizona, 1982. / Bibliography: leaves 81-83.

Thesis (Th. D.)--Concordia Seminary, 1985. / This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #020-0019. Bibliography: leaves 339-379.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.