A simplified model with only 2 degrees of freedom is developed for cavity growth along a grain-boundary by surface and grain-boundary diffusion following a similar model for a row of grains used by Sun et al, (1996). A variational principle for the coupled diffusion problem is used to follow the cavity growth. The approximate solution can be reduced to the well-established equilibrium cavity growth model at the fast surface diffusion extreme. By comparing the 2 degree of freedom model with the full finite element solution by Pan et al, (1997), a 'Validity Map' is constructed in terms of the relative diffusivity and applied stress relative to the capillarity stress. It is found that the simplified model accurately describes the evolution process, in terms of overall cavity profile and propagation rate for engineering alloys subject to normal levels of applied stresses. The 2 degree of freedom model for a single cavity was then extended to allow the modelling of multiple cavities. These cavities can be either pre-existing or nucleated during the lifetime of the system. The relative rotation between the grains is also considered. The initial 2 degrees of freedom were increased to six, and a cavity element has been derived. The cavity elements are assembled together using the classical finite element approach. This allows the evolution of multiple cavities and their interactions to be modelled under different applied loads and material parameters. This simplified multiple cavity finite element model was compared with a model for cavity evolution based on a 'smeared-out' approach. It was shown that the 'smeared-out' model does not accurately predict the creep damage for realistic engineering materials and conditions and results in an under prediction of creep lifetime. Using the simplified finite element model the effect of surface diffusion on the evolution of the creep damage was investigated. The evolution of a large pre-existing 'crack-like' cavity was modelled and the effects of nucleation, surface diffusion and loading were also investigated. It was shown that in the majority of cases as the surface diffusion was increased the rupture time was also increased. The results from the large 'crack-like' cavity simulations showed that there was very little crack propagation through the material and the smaller cavities tended to grow independently of the large 'crack-like' cavity.

We present a novel Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VECSEL) cavity design which makes use of multiple interactions with the gain region under different angles of incidence in a single round trip. This design allows for optimization of the net, round-trip Group Delay Dispersion (GDD) by shifting the GDD of the gain via cavity fold angle while still maintaining the high gain of resonant structures. The effectiveness of this scheme is demonstrated with femtosecond-regime pulses from a resonant structure and record pulse energies for the VECSEL gain medium. In addition, we show that the interference pattern of the intracavity mode within the active region, resulting from the double-angle multifold, is advantageous for operating the laser in CW on multiple wavelengths simultaneously. Power, noise, and mode competition characterization is presented.

Inflammatory airway disease (IAD) is a common performance limiting pulmonary disorder in young racehorses in training. Although the precise aetiopathogenesis is poorly understood, proposed mechanisms include opportunistic bacterial infections and/or suboptimal air-hygiene. Since alveolar macrophages (AMs) are the first line defence in the lungs of mammalian species, they may constitute an appropriate therapeutic target cell in the treatment and the prevention of opportunistic airway infections. This thesis aimed to investigate the basic biology of the equine AM. A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the function and phenotype of this cell and comparisons made with equine macrophages derived from other anatomical sites and macrophage datasets derived from other species. The lung environment is unique, and may direct a unique phenotype and function compared with macrophages derived from other sites. Macrophages were isolated from the lungs, peritoneal cavity and other regions of healthy horses. Excellent cell recovery was demonstrated and associated with good viability, RNA yield and a demonstrable response to several stimuli, both when fresh and following cryopreservation. AMs produced tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) when stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly IC) and heat-killed Salmonella typhimurium and were actively phagocytic. By comparison, peritoneal macrophages (PMs) did not respond to these inducers and lacked phagocytic activity. In contrast to AMs, which showed high expression of the specific macrophage markers cluster of differentiation (CD) 14, CD163 and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), PMs lacked CD14. Moreover, gene expression analysis revealed an alternative macrophage activation for AMs, whereas PM showed a hybrid macrophage activation potentially attributed to the phenomenon of endotoxin tolerance. The response of equine AMs to LPS was analysed using microarrays. There was significant change in the expression of 240 genes. Those that were upregulated included well known inflammatory genes such as TNFα, IL1A and CXCL6. The pattern of response more closely resembled human and pig macrophages than mouse, including the LPS-induced expression of STAT4, IDO, IL7R genes and the failure to produce nitrite in response to LPS. These data suggest that the horse may represent a suitable animal model for human macrophage-associated lung inflammation, and conversely that data from humans may translate to horses. A final aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise on equine AM function. Therefore, AMs were isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage samples obtained from Standardbred racehorses at rest and during the training period and microarray analysis performed. Despite important limitations of the study, a few mechanisms at the molecular level were detected which may be involved in the development of either training-associated symptoms of, or susceptibility to IAD. Overall, this thesis aims to improve our understanding of equine macrophage biology and to provide useful information regarding the role of AMs in exercise-associated inflammation. Moreover, the findings presented here may help to inform future preventative pharmacological and/or managemental interventions for IAD.

In this thesis the solutions of the two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) lid-driven cavity problem are obtained by solving the steady Navier-Stokes equations at high Reynolds numbers. In 2D, we use the streamfunction-vorticity formulation to solve the problem in a square domain. A numerical method is employed to discretize the problem in the x and y directions with a spectral collocation method. The problem is coded in the MATLAB programming environment. Solutions at high Reynolds numbers are obtained up to $Re=25000$ on a fine grid of 131 * 131. The same method is also used to obtain the numerical solutions for the steady separated corner flow at high Reynolds numbers are generated using a for various domain sizes, at various Reynolds number which are much higher than those obtained by other researchers.Finally, the numerical solutions for the three-dimensional lid-driven cavity problem are obtained by solving the velocity-vorticity formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations for various Reynolds numbers. A spectral collocation method is employed to discretize the y and z directions and finite difference method is used to discretize the x direction. Numerical solutions are obtained for Reynolds number up to 200.

Rupture of a coccidioidal pulmonary cavity with subsequent pyopneumothorax is a rare clinical event, even in areas endemic for coccidioidomycosis. Our encounter with a patient diagnosed with this condition in northeast Tennessee serves notice to clinicians that coccidioidomycosis is indeed a traveling fungal disease, and practitioners must be alert to common and uncommon manifestations of infection associated with this fungus. A literature review pertaining to coccidioidal pyopneumothorax revealed that patients usually present with a recent onset of chest pain. Serologic testing and pleural fluid culture are highly useful, and management includes surgical intervention with or without antifungal therapy.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The investigation was undertaken to determine the effects of the polishing and finishing of dental amalgam in relation to its marginal breakdown. The study was also conducted to make a clinical comparison of the marginal integrity of Dispersalloy restorations as compared to Twentieth Century Fine Cut Alloy restorations in both the polished and unpolished state. Forty patients with a total of 131 Class I amalgam restorations were used as the study group. The two alloy systems and polish or unpolish techniques were selected from a random table. Photographic evaluation of the restorations was used to judge the degree of marginal breakdown. The results of the study at the one-year evaluation show two main findings: (1) the Dispersalloy restorations showed less marginal breakdown than the Twentieth Century Fine Cut Alloy restorations, and (2) there was no significant difference between the polished and unpolished restorations overall.

Cavity ring-down (CRD) spectroscopy has emerged as a sensitive analytical technique. In this method, a laser pulse is injected through one of two highly-reflective mirrors which form a stable optical cavity and the rate that the light leaves the cavity is monitored by a detector placed behind the second mirror. In this research a CRD spectrometer has been designed and constructed. The light exiting the cavity is collected via a fiber optic cable which is then directed toward a photo multiplier tube (PMT) detector. The signal is digitized and averaged by an oscilloscope and the data are transferred by an I 488 interface to a personal computer where the data are analyzed. Instrument command and data acquisition are controlled by a Visual Basic computer program. A short review of several attempts to measure liquid samples using CRD spectroscopy is presented; most discuss the necessity for the incorporation of Brewster’s angle at the liquid interface. This study integrates a 1 cm standard quartz cuvette at normal incidence. It was determined that there are significant losses from scattering and reflection; however, these losses were not so large as to negate the efficacy of the technique. The hypothesis tested here is that the light “lost” as reflections are collected by the cavity mirrors and redirected back into the cavity. Rhodamine 6G was used as the primary model absorber in these studies. Absorbance measurements were extracted from the measured ring-down times and a detection limit was obtained. Four cavity lengths were constructed to determine the effect on the scattering losses with varying cavity lengths. The calculated detection limit for the CRD spectrometer used in this study was found to be in the range of 4-5 nM. It was found that the detection limit of the CRD spectrometer was 36 times lower than that of the commercial instrument. Aligning the cavity mirrors at longer cavity lengths proved to be more difficult; however, there were no significant additional losses observed by incorporating longer cavities.

This thesis is an exploration of numerical modeling and design of intra-cavity frequency doubled green lasers, which is one of the three key light sources in laser display systems. In this thesis the time-domain traveling wave (TDTW) model, which is well developed to model integrated photonic devices, is derived for modeling and design of a new proposed device. The device is based on the intra-cavity frequency doubling of high power distributed Bragg reflector laser diodes (DBRLD) and MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN) waveguides. The numerical modeling and design suggest the superiority of the proposed intra-cavity frequency doubled DBR-LD/MgO:PPLN green laser over traditional single-pass frequency doubled DBRLD-LD/MgO:PPLN green laser. A plane-wave based coupled-wave model is implemented to model miniature intra-cavity frequency doubled DPSS lasers. Good agreement between the planewave model and experiment has been obtained. By employing the plane-wave model, we have explained the phase problem in our optical contact Nd:YVO4/MgO:PPLN green laser. Design examples of wide temperature operation of Nd:YVO4/MgO:PPLN green lasers are also completed by this numerical method. Finally, to model high power bulk intra-cavity frequency doubled diodepumped solid-state (DPSS) green lasers, a three-dimensional coupled-wave model is developed and compared with experimental results. A two-dimensional thermal model is incorporated into the three-dimensional coupled-wave equations to model thermal lensing and thermal de-phasing effects in intra-cavity frequency doubled DPSS lasers. The numerical models we developed are validated by the experimental results. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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