Student Number : 9901877H MSc Dissertation School of Electrical and Information Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / algorithm. The origins of handwriting idiosyncrasies and habituation are explained using systems theory, and it is shown that the 2/3 power law governing biomechanics motion also applies to handwriting. This leads to the conclusion that it is possible to derive handwriting velocity profiles from a static image, and that a successful forgery of a signature is only possible in the event of the forger being able to generate a signature using natural ballistic motion. It is also shown that significant portion of the underlying dynamic system governing the generation of handwritten signatures can be inferred by deriving time segmented transfer function models of the x and y co-ordinate velocity profiles of a signature. The prototype algorithm consequently developed uses x and y components of pen-tip velocity profiles (vx[n] and vy[n]) to create signature representations based on autoregression-with-exogenous-input (ARX) models. Verification is accomplished using a similarity measure based on the results of a k-step ahead predictor and 5 complementary metrics. Using 350 signatures collected from 21 signers, the system’s false acceptance (FAR) and false rejection (FRR) rates were 2.19% and 27.05% respectively. This high FRR is a result of measurement inadequacies, and it is believed that the algorithm’s FRR is approximately 18%.

Thesis advisor: Gabor J. Kalman / Mixtures of charged particles, where the components have different charge numbers (Z_A ), masses (m_A ) and densities (n_A ), with A = 1, 2 denoting the components, occur in Nature in a great variety. To be sure, even the simplest plasmas are necessarily multicomponent systems, consisting of negative and positive charges. This feature is, however, obscured within the centrally important and popular OCP (one component plasma) or jellium models, where the role of one of the components is reduced to providing a neutralizing background. When this background is inert, one is led to the Coulomb OCP model, while when the background is polarizable (such as an electron gas surrounding heavy particles), to a Yukawa OCP (YOCP), with a screened Yukawa potential replacing the Coulomb potential between the dynamically active particles. There are, however situations of physical importance, where the OCP description is inadequate and a genuine two component description of a plasma composed of two species is required. This Thesis focuses on the study of the dynamics of many-body systems consisting of two components of like charges (all the Z_A -s being of the same signature) in a neutralizing background. The methodology is based upon parallel attacks through theoretical analysis and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, the latter yielding the capability of instant verification of the former. The investigation involves the study of the partial (i.e. species by species) structure functions S_AB (k, ω) and current-current correlation functions L_AB (k, ω). The Fluctuation–Dissipation Theorem (FDT) con- nects these quantities to the total and partial response functions χ_AB (k, ω) (matrices in species space), which are instrumental in the description of the collective mode excitations of the system. This analysis has revealed an entirely novel feature: both S_11 (k, ω) and S_22 (k, ω) exhibit very sharp and deep (several orders of magnitude) minima in the strongly coupled liquid phase at robust characteristic frequencies of the system, which are virtually coupling independent. The FDT then demands that these anti-resonances show up as well in the imaginary part of the partial density response function χ_AB (k, ω). Our theoretical analysis, based on the Quasi-Localized Charge Approximation (QLCA), has confirmed that this is indeed the case. These anti-resonant frequencies being related to the dissipative part of the response, require a physical description of the principal source of dissipation. This has been identified as the inter-species momentum transfer, governed by drag between the microscopic current fluctuations of the two species. The description of this effect was incorporatedv in the QLCA formalism, making it possible to derive a closed analytic representation of the fluctuation spectra in the frequency domain of interest and compare them with the results of the MD simulations. Other important novel concepts, such as the idea of coupling dependent effective mass, fast vs. slow sound, the mechanism of tran- sition from short-range to long-range interaction have been identified and analyzed. Furthermore, the investigation of the dynamics has led to the first comprehensive description of the mode structures of classical binary Coulomb and Yukawa mixtures at arbitrary coupling values, which has been a longstanding problem in statistical plasma physics. Focusing on the longitudinal excitations, we describe the transition from weak coupling (where one is acquainted with the RPA result yielding only the single plasmon mode in the Coulomb case or a single acoustic mode in the Yukawa case) to strong coupling, with a doublet of modes that arise from the complex rel- ative motion between the two components, as affected by the interaction with the background. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Physics.

Cellular space modeling is becoming an increasingly important modeling paradigm for modeling complex systems with spatial-temporal behaviors. The growing demand for cellular space models has directed researchers to use different modeling formalisms, among which Discrete Event System Specification (DEVS) is widely used due to its formal modeling and simulation framework. The increasing complexity of systems to be modeled asks for cellular space models with large number of cells for modeling the systems¡¯ spatial-temporal behavior. Improving simulation performance becomes crucial for simulating large scale cellular space models. In this dissertation, we proposed a framework for improving simulation performance for large scale DEVS-based cellular space models. The framework has a layered structure, which includes modeling, simulation, and network layers corresponding to the DEVS-based modeling and simulation architecture. Based on this framework, we developed methods at each layer to overcome performance issues for simulating large scale cellular space models. Specifically, to increase the runtime and memory efficiency for simulating large number of cells, we applied Dynamic Structure DEVS (DSDEVS) to cellular space modeling and carried out comprehensive performance measurement. DSDEVS improves simulation performance by making the simulation focus only on those active models, and thus be more efficient than when the entire cellular space is loaded. To reduce the number of simulation cycles caused by extensive message passing among cells, we developed a pre-schedule modeling approach that exploits the model behavior for improving simulation performance. At the network layer, we developed a modified time-warp algorithm that supports parallel simulation of DEVS-based cellular space models. The developed methods have been applied to large scale wildfire spread simulations based on the DEVS-FIRE simulation environment and have achieved significant performance results.

The main objective of this PhD thesis is the study of Diesel sprays under evaporative conditions by means of Large Eddy Simulations (LES) techniques. This study has been performed implementing a precise, low-demanding LES model in the free, full-purpose Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code OpenFOAM. The starting point was a careful and exhaustive review of the physical processes involved in sprays. An emphasis in CFD methodology, particularly for LES methods, was essential for the thesis, as we were able to find the possible problems and limitations of our approximation. Moreover, as the most widely used techniques for the industrial simulation of sprays are based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes models, we have highlighted the many advantages of LES modeling. As the latter are, by definition, more computationally expensive than RANS, we made an optimal configuration that, while it is able to recover accurately the experimental results, its characteristic time is in the same order of magnitude that RANS ones. As applicability is a must in this thesis, we use the surname ¿Engineering¿ LES. One of the key points of the thesis has been the correct configuration of the flow turbulent conditions on the inlet. In order to get accurate results, the turbulent structures coming from this inlet need to be time- and spacecoherent. An adequate calibration of this conditions is needed to perform any spray simulation. Last but not least, all the simulations performed where validated against experiments, obtaining a very good agreement even close to the nozzle / Mompó Laborda, JM. (2014). Engineering Large Eddy Simulation of Diesel Sprays [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/37345 / TESIS

Des évidences expérimentales récentes indiquent que les ARN changent de structures au fil du temps, parfois très rapidement, et que ces changements sont nécessaires à leurs activités biochimiques. La structure de ces ARN est donc dynamique. Ces mêmes évidences notent également que les structures clés impliquées sont prédites par le logiciel de prédiction de structure secondaire MC-Fold. En comparant les prédictions de structures du logiciel MC-Fold, nous avons constaté un lien clair entre les structures presque optimales (en termes de stabilité prédites par ce logiciel) et les variations d’activités biochimiques conséquentes à des changements ponctuels dans la séquence. Nous avons comparé les séquences d’ARN du point de vue de leurs structures dynamiques afin d’investiguer la similarité de leurs fonctions biologiques. Ceci a nécessité une accélération notable du logiciel MC-Fold. L’approche algorithmique est décrite au chapitre 1. Au chapitre 2 nous classons les impacts de légères variations de séquences des microARN sur la fonction naturelle de ceux-ci. Au chapitre 3 nous identifions des fenêtres dans de longs ARN dont les structures dynamiques occupent possiblement des rôles dans les désordres du spectre autistique et dans la polarisation des œufs de certains batraciens (Xenopus spp.). / Recent experimental evidence indicates that RNA structure changes, sometimes very rapidly and that these changes are both required for biochemical activity and captured by the secondary structure prediction software MC-Fold. RNA structure is thus dynamic. We compared RNA sequences from the point of view of their structural dynamics so as to investigate how similar their biochemical activities were by computing a signature from the output of the structure prediction software MC-Fold. This required us to accelerate considerably the software MC-Fold. The algorithmic approach to this acceleration is described in chapter 1. In chapter 2, point mutations that disrupt the biochemical activity of microRNA are explained in terms of changes in RNA dynamics. Finally, in chapter 3 we identify dynamic structure windows in long RNA with potentially significant roles in autism spectrum disorders and separately in Xenopus ssp. (species of frogs) egg polarisation.

Die elektrischen Mikrofeldverteilungen (EMDs) und ihre Auswüchse wurden in einkomponentiger (OCP) Elektron-, zweikomponentigen (TCP) Elektron-Positron-, Wasserstoff- und einwertig ionisierten Alkaliplasmen im Rahmen verschiedener Pseudopotentialmodelle (PM) untersucht und mit sowohl Molekulardynamik (MD) und Monte-Carlo Simulationen als auch mit Experimenten vergliechen. Die verwendeten theoretischen Verfahren zur Berechnung von EMDs gehen zurück auf die von C. A. Iglesias entwickelte Kopplungsparameter Integrationstechnik (KPIT) für OCP und die von J. Ortner et al. vorgeschlagene verallgemeinerte KPIT für TCP. EMDs wurden im Rahmen der abgeschirmten Kelbg-, Deutsch-, Hellmann-Gurskii-Krasko(HGK)-PM untersucht, welche quantenmechanische Effekte, Abschirmungseffekte und die Struktur der Ionenrümpfe (HGK) berücksichtigen. Die Abschirmungseffekte wurden auf Grundlage der Bogoljubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon- Methode eingeführt. Wir haben das abgeschirmte HGK-Pseudopotential in der Debye-Näherung sowie in einer mäßig gekoppelten Plasma-Näherung verwendet. Wir haben verschiedene Typen vom asymptotischen Verhalten der Verteilungsauswüchse in Abhangigheit von Plasmaparameter, Plasmatypen und Strahler bestimmt. Der Vergleich der experimentell gewonnenen Daten mit sowohl einem synthetischen Li2+-Lyman-Spektrum als auch mit einer synthetischen Li II 548 nm Linie lassen den Schluss zu, daß die EMD, welche auf der Grundlage der Iglesias-Methode für OCP im HGK-PM und der MD erhalten wurde, eine gute Übereinstimmung mit den experimentellen Werten liefert. Die statischen partiellen und Ladung-Ladung-Strukturfaktoren (SSF) wurden für Alkali- und Be2+-Plasmen unter Verwendung der von G. Gregori et al. beschriebenen Methode berechnet. Die dynamischen Strukturfaktoren (DSF) für Alkaliplasmen wurden unter Verwendung der durch V. M. Adamyan et al. entwickelten Methode der Momente berechnet. Bei beiden Methoden wurde das abgeschirmte HGK-Pseudopotential verwendet. / The electric microfield distributions (EMDs) and its tails have been studied for electron one-component plasma (OCP), electron-positron, hydrogen and single-ionized alkali two-component plasmas (TCP) in a frame of different pseudopotential models (PM) and compared with Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Monte-Carlo simulations as well as with experiments. The theoretical methods used for calculation of EMDs are a coupling-parameter integration technique (CPIT) developed by C. A. Iglesias for OCP and the generalized CPIT proposed by J. Ortner et al. for TCP. We studied the EMDs in a frame of the screened Kelbg, Deutsch, Hellmann-Gurskii-Krasko (HGK) PMs which take into account quantum-mechanical, screening effects and the ion shell structure (HGK) due to the Pauli exclusion principle. The screening effects were introduced on a base of Bogoljubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon method. We used the screened HGK pseudopotential in the Debye approximation as well as in a moderately coupled plasma approximation. The influence of the plasma coupling parameter on the EMD along with the ion shell structure was investigated. We determined different types of asymptotic behaviour of EMD tails in dependence on the plasma type, parameters and radiator. Comparison of a synthetic Li2+ Lyman spectrum as well as comparison of a synthetic Li II 548 nm line with experimental data allows us to conclude that the EMD, obtained on a base of the CPIT method for OCP within the HGK PM and MD, provides a good agreement with the experiment. We have calculated the partial and charge-charge static structure factors (SSF) for alkali and Be2+ plasmas using the method described by G. Gregori et al.. We have calculated the dynamic structure factors (DSF) for alkali plasmas using the method of moments developed by V. M. Adamyan et al. In both methods the screened HGK pseudopotential has been used.