Six experiments were conducted to examine the factors modulating the size of age differences in recollection. The research presented in the current thesis was guided by the notions of self-initiated processing and environmental support. Older and younger adults’ performance in recollection was measured by Jacoby’s (1990) process dissociation procedure (PDP); the age differences as a function of self-initiated processing demands of the task and the amount of support provided to the participants were assessed by manipulating the encoding (Experiments 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3) and retrieval (Experiments 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3) contexts. Experiments 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 examined interactions of aging and encoding contexts. Recollection under baseline conditions (i.e. visually presented words) was contrasted with recollection of items encoded under contexts that are assumed to enhance memory. The results showed differential age-related patterns of benefits from encoding conditions: Presenting pictures with words benefited older adults more than younger adults; word generation benefited both groups equally; and presenting sound effects with visual words benefited younger more than older adults. Experiments 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 investigated age-related changes in retrieval processes and their interactions with retrieval contexts. In each of the three experiments, some of the test lists were constructed so that participants had to recollect specific aspects of the encoding event to differentiate between the to-be-included and to-be-excluded items, whereas other test lists were constructed so that they only had to recollect general aspects. Older adults showed reduced levels of recollection than younger adults for the high-specificity test lists only (Experiment 3.1). Encoding manipulations improved (Experiment 3.2) or reduced (Experiment 3.3) recollection performance but the effects did not interact with test, whereas DA at retrieval (Experiment 3.3) in younger adults partly mimicked aging. In summary, the six experiments showed that older adults have greater difficulties in spontaneously carrying out distinctive and integrative processes at encoding, and in accessing specific information at retrieval compared to their younger counterparts. These age-related changes further interact with the processing demanded or afforded by the encoding and retrieval conditions.

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the performance of a specific ac drive topology that is of current interest in industry. With the increasing pressure for compliance with IEEE–519 and other international harmonic standards, many ac drive manufacturing companies are seeking innovative and cost effective solutions for controlling the amount of harmonics produced at the point of common coupling (PCC). The proposed topology is a potential alternative to the three-phase diode bridge which is the conventional rectifier topology for non-regenerative applications. The work of this thesis explains the theory of operation, control algorithms, and potential improvement strategies for the proposed “half-controlled” boost rectifier topology. The entire ac drive system with load is then modeled and the results verified using the Simulink simulation package. It is shown that the proposed topology has several distinct advantages over a traditional diode rectifier such as improved total harmonic distortion (THD) of the current waveforms, dc bus voltage regulation, and power factor control. In addition, these advantages are created at a price point which is significantly lower than that of a conventional fully-controlled pulse-width modulated (PWM) rectifier. The main disadvantage is that the current waveforms in the utility contain even harmonics which may cause significant problems in the power system.

The ability of marine controlled-source electromagnetic (MCSEM) methods to help image electrical conductivity contrasts below the Earth’s surface makes them useful for both initial reconnaissance surveying for hydrocarbons and for delineating prospective regions of high resistivity in development drilling. A 3-D finite-element MCSEM Fortran algorithm used for forward modeling was developed by Badea. Additional code was written and used for this thesis, with the goal of enforcing more realistic electromagnetic (EM) Dirichlet boundary value conditions. The results of the new boundary conditions on a MCSEM survey model, with a hydrocarbon-saturated region in the subsurface, show that the method does not work as hoped. Constant boundary values were applied to gauge the transmitter-receiver (TXRX) range at which results are not boundary influenced, using a hydrate/hydrocarbon model of the subsurface, at each of the three transmitter frequencies used in this study (1 Hz, 3 Hz, and 10 Hz). Results showed that electric field data were reliable to roughly 5000 m of TX-RX offset for the 1 Hz and 3 Hz cases, and to 6500 m offset for 10 Hz. The gas hydrate/hydrocarbon model was then run with zero-value boundary conditions. The goal was to determine what effect changing parameters of the gas hydrate, including hydrate radius, thickness, and depth, have on the EXEXS (xcomponent of secondary electric field inline with the transmitter dipole axis) curves at various offset, particularly in relation to a hydrocarbon-only model of the subsurface response, so as to evaluate the EM masking effect the hydrate has on the hydrocarbon. The results showed that the x-component of electric field in an inline survey is dominated by the hydrate response, in all cases studied, with a couple of exceptions. One exception is 1 Hz transmitter frequency at 2500 m to 3000 m offset when depth to top of the massive gas hydrate zone was greater or equal to 250 m. Receivers at these offsets would successfully detect the hydrocarbon target.

In this thesis, voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) with improved phase noise are designed and implemented. In the design of the resonant circuit varactor diodes are employed. In practice, a real VCO has to be packaged. The parasitic effect of the package may generate crosstalk inside the VCO and result in frequency shifting. To obtain an accurate prediction, a full wave model is developed. A simulation procedure is established combining High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) with Advance Design System (ADS) software to predict the frequency response at the initial stage of the VCO design. Prototypes have been constructed and the characteristics measured. The simulation agrees with the measured results well. The obtained result show that our study can be used to cut the development time and cost.

A second-generation CMOS current controlled conveyor (CCCII) and a tunable IF bandpass filter based on the CCCII are developed. The high frequency property and the control ability of the current conveyor makes the bandpass filter tunable in the range between 55MHz~410MHz, which is suitable for the IF filter application that is around 200MHz~300MHz. The Q-factor is also tunable and has a maximum value up to 800.

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the performance of a specific ac drive topology that is of current interest in industry. With the increasing pressure for compliance with IEEE-519 and other international harmonic standards, many ac drive manufacturing companies are seeking innovative and cost effective solutions for controlling the amount of harmonics produced at the point of common coupling (PCC). The proposed topology is a potential alternative to the three-phase diode bridge which is the conventional rectifier topology for non-regenerative applications. The work of this thesis explains the theory of operation, control algorithms, and potential improvement strategies for the proposed "half-controlled" boost rectifier topology. The entire ac drive system with load is then modeled and the results verified using the Simulink simulation package. It is shown that the proposed topology has several distinct advantages over a traditional diode rectifier such as improved total harmonic distortion (THD) of the current waveforms, dc bus voltage regulation, and power factor control. In addition, these advantages are created at a price point which is significantly lower than that of a conventional fully-controlled pulse-width modulated (PWM) rectifier. The main disadvantage is that the current waveforms in the utility contain even harmonics which may cause significant problems in the power system.

This thesis is composed of three parts. In the first part, various kinds of theory to account for injection locking and pulling in the available literature are studied and compared. In the second part, this thesis proposes an experimental setup with self-made hybrid VCO and commercially available equipments and components to measure the characteristics of injection locking and pulling. This thesis also performs simulation to verify the measured results. The simulation mainly relies on the circuit envelope technique that has been developed in our laboratory. Comparison between measurement and simulation shows good agreement in the injection-locking characteristic curves and the injection-pulling spectrum characteristics. In the third part, this thesis carries out an RFIC design for a fractional-N frequency synthesizer with special features on quantization-noise cancellation and PLL nonlinearity reduction using TSMC 0.13£gm CMOS process.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Food Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 186-195).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Food Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 184-190).

Not available / text