Two experimental projects involving perovskite manganese oxide compounds are presented. The first involved dielectric and transport studies of the insulator-metal transition as a function of charge-carrier doping in La1-xCaxMnO3 (0 < x < 0.15) bulk samples. The results provide new insight into the role of competing magnetic, lattice and Coulomb energies in determining the insulator-metal transition near x=0.22. The second project involved the growth, structural characterization, and resistive anisotropy of a-axis oriented Nd0.2Sr0.8MnO3 thin films with thicknesses t in the range 10 nm< t < 150 nm. Thicker films develop regular crack arrays which are the origin of a highly anisotropic in-plane electrical resistance. These cracks form parallel to the crystallographic c-axis on films with tensile strain deposited on NdGaO3 (100) and La0.3Sr0.7Al0.65Ta0.35O3 (110) substrates. Films grown under compressive strain on LaAlO3 (110) substrates have no cracks.

This thesis will present a key analysis and the results of our researchs on the tectonic behaviour, mainly by folding and shearing, and role, during Variscan deformation, of Waulsortian mudmounds in various sedimentary and tectonic settings of Western Europe, and particularly in Belgium, Brittany and Southern Ireland. In oder to modelise this behaviour and role, seven structural lithofacies from lenticular mudmounds to well-stratified calcareous-shaley series have been defined. By this way, our detailled maping and inventory of structures of deformation - included strain measurements of the elliptically deformed crinoidal osscicles in limestones and shales - in the ductile, brittle or shearing conditions of the Variscan deformations have allowed to define five principles of mechanical relations between these lithofacies. Two models of Waulsortian domain structuration, during the Asturian and Sudetian-II orgonenic phases, have been carried out following these principles. In both models, folding is the essential mode of tectonic structuration, eventually accompanied by shear zones and brittle structures of regional importance or due to local effects of the lithofacies anisotropies.

This thesis will present a key analysis and the results of our researchs on the tectonic behaviour, mainly by folding and shearing, and role, during Variscan deformation, of Waulsortian mudmounds in various sedimentary and tectonic settings of Western Europe, and particularly in Belgium, Brittany and Southern Ireland. In oder to modelise this behaviour and role, seven structural lithofacies from lenticular mudmounds to well-stratified calcareous-shaley series have been defined. By this way, our detailled maping and inventory of structures of deformation - included strain measurements of the elliptically deformed crinoidal osscicles in limestones and shales - in the ductile, brittle or shearing conditions of the Variscan deformations have allowed to define five principles of mechanical relations between these lithofacies. Two models of Waulsortian domain structuration, during the Asturian and Sudetian-II orgonenic phases, have been carried out following these principles. In both models, folding is the essential mode of tectonic structuration, eventually accompanied by shear zones and brittle structures of regional importance or due to local effects of the lithofacies anisotropies.

Earthquake swarms occur frequently in West Bohemia, Central Europe. Their occurrence is correlated with and propably triggered by fluids that escape on the earth's surface near the epicentres. These fluids raise up periodically from a seemingbly deep-seated source in the upper mantle. Moment tensors for swarm events in 1997 indicate tensile faulting. However, they were determined under assumption of seismic isotropy although anisotropy can be observed. Anisotropy may obscure moment tensors and their interpretation. In 2000, more than 10,000 swarm earthquakes occurred near Novy Kostel, West Bohemia. Event triggering by fluid injection is likely. Activity lasted from 28/08 until 31/12/00 (9 phases) with maximum ML=3.2. High quality P-wave seismograms were used to retrieve the source mechanisms for 112 events between 28/08/00 and 30/10/00 using > 20 stations. We determine the source geometry using a new algorithm and different velocity models including anisotropy. From inversions of P waves we observe ML<3.2, strike-slip events on steep N-S oriented faults with additional normal or reverse components. Tensile components seem to be evident for more than 60% of the processed swarm events in West Bohemia during the phases 1-7. Being most significant at great depths and at phases 1-4 during the swarm they are time and location dependent. Although tensile components are reduced when anisotropy is assumed they persist and seem to be important. They can be explained by pore-pressure changes due to the injection of fluids that raise up. Our findings agree with other observations e.g. correlation of fluid transport and seismicity, variations in b-value, forcing rate, and in pore pressure diffusion. Tests of our results show their significance.

This work presents new development and applications of ab-initio simulation tools for material science. Focus lies on materials with strong electronic correlation and strong spin-orbit coupling. Improvements on methods for solving the impurity problem in LDA+DMFT is presented, as well as a reliant method for charge self-consistency in a LMTO based electronic structure code. A new adaptive scheme for Brillouin zone integration is developed, where we show a strong reduction of numerical noise compared to standard techniques. A reformulation of the standard LDA+U method aiming to reduce the number of free parameters is introduced. Fast and realistic reduction of the number of free parameters provides the possibility of high throughput calculations and enabled us to study a large number of compounds. An analysis method for polarization in terms of coupled multipoles, and their corresponding energy contributions is developed and applied. This led to the formulation of Katt's rules, a set of rules complementary to Hund's rules. Katt's rules applies for occupying the orbitals of an electronic shell with strong spin-orbit coupling. The analysis is also used to investigate the unconventional Uranium based superconductors URu2Si2, UPt3, UPd2Al3 and UNi2Al3, as well as the high temperature superconductor LaOFeAs. We also investigate the non-magnetic delta-phase of Plutonium, providing insight to the electronic structure and the branching ratios of 4d to 5f transitions seen in photo emission spectra.The influence of surface reconstruction on the magneto crystalline anisotropy is investigated in multilayer Fe/ZnSe, showing that Fe deposited on an unreconstructed interface strongly reduces the uniaxial component of the MAE. We provide a detailed understanding of the magnetic properties of Fe2P, opening possible routes for enhancing the MAE in this system. A general route to strong MAE in nano-laminates is presented, we apply this to propose a candidate with extremely strong anisotropy energy density, 5Fe/2W1-xReX for x=[0.6-0.8].

This thesis compiles results of research in two mutuallydependent parts: 1) development of ferromagnetic resonance(FMR) spectrometer to study microwave properties offerromagnetic materials, and 2) characterization of new irongarnets: pulsed laser deposited Y3Fe5O12and Bi3Fe5O12films and Ce:Y3Fe5O12single crystal. First part describes a novelBroadbandFMRSpectrometerdesigned to characterize thin ferromagneticfilms. The spectrometer uses two probeheads: one is the X-bandmicrowave reflection cavity for room temperature measurementsand the in-cryostat microstrip line probe to perform FMRexperiments in the frequency range from 50 MHz to 40 GHz. Veryuniform and stable magnetic field up to 2.4 T, temperatures 4 Kto 420 K, and continuous frequency scan performed byHP8722Dvector network analyzer provide various modes ofoperation. Both probeheads are equipped with two-circlegoniometers to ensure accurate study of magneticanisotropy. The spectrometer was used to make express-analysis ofquality thus to optimize processing parameters of epitaxialiron garnet films grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD).Comprehensive study of uniaxial and cubic magnetocrystallineanisotropy has been performed for Ce:Y3Fe5O12bulk crystal as well as for Y3Fe5O12and Bi3Fe5O12films grown on different substrates by PLD andreactive ion beam sputtering techniques. BroadbandFMR-spectroscopy revealed difference in spectra of domain wallresonances: instead of“soft”spin modes in filmsgrown by liquid phase epitaxy, PLD-made films show“diffuse”transformation of domains near thesaturation field. This effect indicates non-uniformity ofsaturation magnetization and field of uniaxial anisotropy inPLD-iron garnets. Spin wave resonances in comparison withuniform FMR have been studied to evaluate“localquality”of ferromagnetic films. The resonance field andFMR linewidth behavior were studied at various crystallographicdirections determined by X-ray diffraction. FMR was used to choose PLD-made YIG films with low losses atmicrowave frequencies and to build magnetostatic surface wavesmicrowave bandpass filter. The filter was designed as a planarfilm structure with a microstrip line for transducers. It is afirst demonstration of feasibility to introduce PLD processingtechnique to magnetostatic wave technology. Magneto-optical study of Ce:Y3Fe5O12single crystal complements results ofFMR-spectroscopy of new garnets. <b>Keywords:</b>ferrites, thin films, ferromagnetic resonance,microwaves, FMR spectrometer, magnetic anisotropy,magnetostatic waves.

It has been shown that neutrons emitted from the same 252Cf fission event are preferentially detected within small angles of each other and at angles around 180 degrees. The distribution of this angular anisotropy is dependent upon the nuclide emitting the neutrons. Coincident neutrons can be detected from a shielded source, so a study of the angular anisotropy between coincident neutrons is useful for this context. This could allow for the dynamic determination of the ratio of the rate of (alpha,n) neutron production to the spontaneous fission neutron production (designated alpha) used in neutron coincidence counting for safeguards. This could also be used to identify neutron emitting isotopes in a homeland security application. An angular frequency distribution for coincident neutrons was produced via experiments using an array of cylindrical liquid scintillators and a 252Cf source. It was found, in accordance with previous experiments, that the angular frequency distribution peaks at small angles and at angles around 180 degrees. A Monte Carlo, physics-based simulation program was created to simulate the distribution of angles between neutrons from the same fission event from 252Cf and 240Pu sources. The resulting distributions were clearly distinguishable from each other. The code was benchmarked to measured results from a 252Cf source at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Knowledge of the unique angular distributions of coincident neutrons from various fissioning sources is useful for identification and verification purposes. Another practical application of angular anisotropy information for coincident neutrons from a given source is determining the ratio of the (alpha,n) to spontaneous fission rates for a source undergoing neutron coincidence counting. The utility of this was verified by using measurements made by faculty and students of the University of Michigan Nuclear Engineering Department for a MOX fuel pin at the Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy. Good agreement between the predicted and declared values for alpha was found.

The upper mantle structure of Swedish part of Baltic Shield with its isotropic and anisotropic seismic velocity characteristics is investigated using telesesismic body waves (i.e. P waves and shear waves) recorded by the Swedish National Seismological Network (SNSN). Nonlinear high-resolution P and SV and SH wave isotropic tomographic inversions reveal velocity perturbations of ± 3 % down to at least 470 km below the network. Separate SV and SV models indicate several consistent major features, many of which are also consistent with P-wave results. A direct cell by cell comparison of SH and SV models reveals velocity differences of up to 4%. Numerical tests show that differences in the two S-wave models can only be partially caused by noise and limited resolution, and some features are attributed to the effect of large scale anisotropy. Shear-wave splitting and P-travel time residual analyses also detect anisotropic mantle structure. Distinct back-azimuth dependence of SKS splitting excludes single-layer anisotropy models with horizontal symmetry axes for the whole region. Joint inversion using both the P and S data reveals 3D self-consistent anisotropic models with well-defined mantle lithospheric domains. These domains of differently oriented anisotropy most probably retain fossil fabric since the domains' origin, supporting the idea of the existence of an early form of plate tectonics during formation of continental cratons already in the Archean. The possible disturbing effects of anisotropy on seismic tomography studies are investigated, and found to be potentially significant. P-wave arrival times were adjusted based on the estimates of mantle anisotropy, and re-inverted. The general pattern of the velocity-perturbation images was similar but changed significantly in some places, including the disappearance of a slab-like structure identified in the inversion with the original data. Thus the analysis demonstrates that anisotropy of quite plausible magnitude can have a significant effect on the tomographic images, and should not be ignored. If, as we believe, our estimates of anisotropy are reasonably correct, then the model based on the adjusted data should give a more robust and correct image of the mantle structure.

Physical forces in the cellular microenvironment play an important role in governing cell function. Forces transmitted through the cell cause distinct deformation of the nucleus, and possibly play a role in force-mediated gene expression. The work presented in this thesis drew upon innovative strategies employing simultaneous atomic force and laser-scanning confocal microscopy, as well as parallel optical stretching experiments, to gain unique insights into the response of eukaryotic cell nuclei to external force. Non-destructive approaches confirmed the existence of a clear anisotropy in nuclear mechanical properties, and showed that the nucleus' mechanical response to extracellular forces is differentially governed by both nuclear and cytoskeletal prestress: nuclear prestress regulates shape and anisotropic deformation, whereas cytoskeletal prestress modulates the magnitude and degree of deformation. Importantly, the anisotropic mechanical response was conserved among diverse differentiated cell types from multiple species, suggesting that nuclear mechanical anisotropy plays an important role in cell function.

The goal of this research is to develop a robust, continuum-based approach for a three-dimensional, Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation of layered geomaterials. There are two main approaches to the numerical modeling of layered geomaterials; discrete or discontinuous techniques and an equivalent continuum concept. In the discontinuous methodology, joints are explicitly simulated. Naturally, discrete techniques provide a more accurate description of discontinuous materials. However, they are complex and necessitate care in modeling of the interface. Also, in many applications, the definition of the input model becomes impractical as the number of joints becomes large. In order to overcome the difficulties associated with discrete techniques, a continuum-based approach has become popular in some application areas. When using a continuum model, a discrete material is replaced by a homogenized continuous material, also known as an 'equivalent continuum'. This leads to a discretization that is independent of both the orientation and spacing of layer boundaries. However, if the layer thickness (i.e., internal length scale of the problem) is large, the classical continuum approach which neglects the effect of internal characteristic length can introduce large errors into the solution. In this research, a full 3D FEM formulation for the elasto-plastic modeling of layered geomaterials is proposed within the framework of Cosserat theory. The effect of the bending stiffness of the layers is incorporated in the matrix of elastic properties. Also, a multi-surface plasticity model, which allows for plastic deformation of both the interfaces between the layers and intact material, is introduced. The model is verified against analytical solutions, discrete numerical models, and experimental data. It is shown that the FEM Cosserat formulation can achieve the same level of accuracy as discontinuous models in predicting the displacements of a layered material with a periodic microstructure. Furthermore, the method is capable of reproducing the strength behaviour of materials with one or more sets of joints. Finally, due to the incorporation of layer thickness into the constitutive model, the FEM Cosserat formulation is capable of capturing complicated failure mechanisms such as the buckling of individual layers of material which occur in stratified media.