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A new algorithm for modeling and simulation of lossy interconnect structures modeled by transmission lines with Frequency Independent Line Parameters (FILP) or Frequency Dependent Line Parameters (FDLP) is developed in this research. Since frequency-dependent RLGC parameters must be employed to correctly model skin effects and dielectric losses for high-performance interconnects, we first study the behaviors of various lossy interconnects that are characterized by FILP and FDLP. Current general macromodeling methods and Model Order Reduction (MOR) algorithms are discussed. Next, some canonical integrals that are associated with transient responses of lossy transmission lines with FILP are presented. By using contour integration techniques, these integrals can be represented as closed-form expressions involving special functions, i.e., Incomplete Lipshitz-Hankel Integrals (ILHIs) and Complementary Incomplete Lipshitz-Hankel Integrals (CILHIs). Various input signals, such as ramp signals and the exponentially decaying sine signals, are used to test the expressions involving ILHIs and CILHIs. Excellent agreements are observed between the closed-form expressions involving ILHIs and CILHIs and simulation results from commercial simulation tools. We then developed a frequency-domain Dispersive Hybrid Phase-Pole Macromodel (DHPPM) for lossy transmission lines with FDLP, which consists of a constant RLGC propagation function multiplied by a residue series. The basic idea is to first extract the dominant physical phenomenology by using a propagation function in the frequency domain that is modeled by FILP. A rational function approximation is then used to account for the remaining effects of FDLP lines. By using a partial fraction expansion and analytically evaluating the required inverse Fourier transform integrals, the time-domain DHPPM can be decomposed as a sum of canonical transient responses for lines with FILP for various excitations (e.g., trapezoidal and unit-step). These canonical transient responses are then expressed analytically as closed-form expressions involving ILHIs, CILHIs, and Bessel functions. The DHPPM simulator can simulate transient results for various input waveforms on both single and coupled interconnect structures. Comparisons between the DHPPM results and the results produced by commercial simulation tools like HSPICE and a numerical Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) show that the DHPPM results are very accurate.

In this thesis, a new method has been proposed for calculating the frequencydependent parameters of underground cables. The method uses full wave formulation for calculating the modal electromagnetic fields and corresponding voltages and currents and then extracting frequency-dependent per unit length parameters of underground cables. The proposed method can be used for any cross-sectional shape of cables.

In this thesis, a new method has been proposed for calculating the frequencydependent parameters of underground cables. The method uses full wave formulation for calculating the modal electromagnetic fields and corresponding voltages and currents and then extracting frequency-dependent per unit length parameters of underground cables. The proposed method can be used for any cross-sectional shape of cables.

To add damping to structures, viscoelastic materials (VEM) are added to structures. In order to enhance the damping effect of the VEM, a constraining layer is attached, creating a passive constrained layer damping treatment (PCLD). When this constraining layer is an active element, the treatment is called active constrained layer damping (ACLD). Recently, the investigation of ACLD treatments has shown it to be an effective method of vibration suppression. In this work, two new hybrid configurations are introduced by separating the passive and active elements. In the first variation, the active and passive element are constrained to the same side of the beam. The other variation allows one of the treatments to be placed on the opposite side of the beam. A comparison will be made with pure active, PCLD, ACLD and a variation which places the active element underneath PCLD. Energy methods and Lagrange's equation are used to obtain equations of motion, which are discretized using assumed modes method. The frequency dependent damping is modeled using the Golla-Hughes-McTavish (GHM) method and the system is analyzed in the time domain. GHM increases the size of the original system by adding fictitious dissipation coordinates that account for the frequency dependent damping. An internally balanced model reduction method is used to reduce the equations of motion to their original size. A linear quadratic regulator and output feedback are used to actively control vibration. The length and placement of treatment is optimized using different criteria. It is shown that placing the active element on the opposite side of the passive element is capable of vibration suppression with lower control effort and more inherent damping. If the opposite surface is not available for treatment, a suitable alternative places the PZT underneath the PCLD. LQR provides the best control, since it assumes all states are available for feedback. Usually only select states are available and output feedback is used. It is shown that output feedback, while not as effective as full state feedback, is still able to damp vibration. / Ph. D.

Perissodus microlepis is a species of cichlid fish endemic to Lake Tanganyika (Africa). Adult P. microlepis are lepidophages, feeding on the scales of other living fish. As an adaptation for this feeding behavior P. microlepis exhibit lateral asymmetry with respect to jaw morphology: the mouth either opens to the right or left side of the body. Field data illustrate a temporal phenotypic oscillation in the mouth-handedness, and this oscillation is maintained by frequency-dependent selection. To better understand the oscillation, Takahashi and Hori model frequency-dependent selection in P. microlepis using a population genetic model. Their results are intriguing, and the purpose of this dissertation is to improve and extend their model, which fails to account for important biological aspects.We model P. microlepis with a novel approach that fuses the disparate modeling traditions of population genetics and population dynamics; we account for both processes since, in the case of P. microlepis, they occur on the same time scale (a case of microevolution). We construct our models using systems of difference equations. We prove the existence and uniqueness of a positive equilibrium, which corresponds to a 1 : 1 phenotypic ratio. Using a local stability and bifurcation analysis, we show that the equilibrium becomes unstable when frequency-dependent selection is sufficiently strong. We determine necessary and sufficient conditions for onset of oscillation. Local bifurcation analysis indicates key features of the oscillation that may suggest critical experiments.We determine the role of stage structure and the role of strong and weak intraspecific competition. We show that stage-structure is not necessary for, but enhances, oscillatory behavior. Finally we demonstrate the complicated interplay between population dynamic and population genetic processes. Our findings indicate that classical population genetic models can fail to elucidate complex dynamics.

This thesis presents a method to obtain the per-unit-length electrical parameters of a given overhead transmission line or underground cable in an unbounded space considering the effect of the ground. This is achieved using a two-dimensional conformal mapping technique, which consists of a modified bilinear transformation to map a semi-open half-space problem into a unit circle. The Helmholtz equations describing the quasi-stationary approximation for the electromagnetic field behaviour are solved using finite element method, with the aid of commonly used commercial software program, COMSOL Multiphysics. The per-unit-length resistance, inductance and capacitance are calculated using the proposed mapping method, the truncation of the original space method and then compared with the analytical solution obtained from Carson's approximation for the overhead lines and Wedepohl's formulation for the underground cables. / October 2016

Josephson junction qubits are promising candidates for a scalable quantum processor. Such qubits are commonly manipulated by means of sequences of rf-pulses and different methods are used to determine their quantum state. The readout should be able to distinguish the two qubit states with high accuracy and be faster than the relaxation time of the qubit. We discuss and experiment with a readout method based on the switching of a Josephson junction from the zero voltage state to a finite voltage state. The Josephson junction circuit has a non-linear dynamics and when it is brought to a bifurcation point, it can be made arbitrarily sensitive to small perturbations. This extreme sensitivity at a bifurcation point can be used to distinguish the two quantum states if the topology of the phase space of the circuit leads to a quick separation into the final states where re-crossings of the bifurcation point are negligible. We optimize a switching current detector by analyzing the phase space of a Josephson junction circuit with frequency dependent damping. A pulse and hold technique is used where an initial current pulse brings the junction close to its bifurcation point and the subsequent hold level is used to give the circuit enough time to evolve until the two states can be distinguished by the measuring instrument. We generate the pulse and hold waveform by a new technique where a voltage step with following linear voltage rise is applied to a bias capacitor. The frequency dependent damping is realized by an on-chip RC-environment fabricated with optical lithography. Josephson junction circuits are added on by means of e-beam lithography. Measurements show that switching currents can be detected with pulses as short as 5 ns and a resolution of 2.5% for a sample directly connected to the measurement leads of the cryostat. Detailed analysis of the switching currents in the RC-environment show that pulses with a duration of 20 us can be explained by a generalization of Kramers' escape theory, whereas switching the same sample with 25 ns pulses occurs out of thermal equilibrium, with sensitivity and speed adequate for qubit readout. / QC 20100924

Numerical models are powerful and widely used tools for environmental prediction; however, any model prediction contains errors due to imperfect model parameterizations, insufficient model resolution, numerical errors, imperfect initial and boundary conditions etc. A variety of approaches is applied to quantify, correct and minimize these errors including skill assessments, bias correction and formal data assimilation. All of these require observations and benefit from comprehensive data sets. In this thesis, two aspects related to the quantification and correction of errors in biological ocean models are addressed: (i) A new bias correction method for a biological ocean model is evaluated, and (ii) a novel approach for expanding the set of typically available phytoplankton observations is assessed. The bias correction method, referred to as frequency-dependent nudging, was proposed by Thompson et al. (Ocean Modelling, 2006, 13:109-125) and is used to nudge a model only in prescribed frequencies. A desirable feature of this method is that it can preserve high frequency variability that would be dampened with conventional nudging. The method is first applied to an idealized signal consisting of a seasonal cycle and high frequency variability. In this example, frequency-dependent nudging corrected for the imposed seasonal bias without affecting the high-frequency variability. The method is then applied to a non-linear, 1 dimensional (1D) biogeochemical ocean model. Results showed that application of frequency-dependent nudging leads to better biogeochemical estimates than conventional nudging. In order to expand the set of available phytoplankton observations, light measurements from sensors attached on grey seals where assessed to determine if they provide a useful proxy of phytoplankton biomass. A controlled experiment at Bedford Basin showed that attenuation coefficient estimates from light attenuation measurements from seal tags were found to correlate significantly with chlorophyll. On the Scotian Shelf, results of the assessment indicate that seal tags can uncover spatio-temporal patterns related to phytoplankton biomass; however, more research is needed to derive absolute biomass estimates in the region.

The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method is commonly used for numerical simulations of the electromagnetic wave propagation in time domain. The FDTD method is easy to implement and the computational results are highly relevant to the analytical solution, so that the FDTD method is applied to variety application problems. However, the computational efficiency of the FDTD method is constrained by the upper limit of the temporal discretisation. The Courant Friedrich Lewy (CFL) stability condition limits the time step for the computation of the FDTD method, so that if the spatial discretisation of the computation is set to be small in order to obtain high accurate results, the size of the temporal discretisation need to be satisfy the CFL stability condition. The locally one dimensional FDTD (LOD-FDTD) method is unconditionally stable. The time step and the spatial step can be independently chosen for the computation of the LOD-FDTD method. The arithmetic operations of the LOD-FDTD method is fewer than that of the other implicit FDTD method, such as the Crank Nicolson FDTD (CN-FDTD) method and the alternating direction implicit FDTD (ADI-FDTD) method. Although the implementation of the LOD-FDTD method is simpler than that of the ADI-FDTD method,the numerical error in the computational results of the LOD-FDTD method is equivalent to that in the computational results of the ADI-FDTD method. In this thesis, a new three dimensional (3D) frequency dependent (FD) LOD-FDTD method is proposed. The one pole Debye model is incorporated into the 3D-FD-LOD-FDTD method in order to deal with practical applications. The proposed method is implemented in Fortran 90 and parallelised with OpenMP. A simulation model of the human phantom is developed in the 3D-FD-LOD-FDTD method with fine structures and frequency dependent dielectric properties of the human tissues, and numerical simulation of electromagnetic wave propagation inside the human head is shown.