Less diversity and more homogenization in the media`s news range is the subject for our bachelor thesis. By analyzing and comparing three separate weeks in two of Sweden's largest evening newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen we wanted to discoverhow the diversity between the two newspapers had changed over the years, more precisely from 1993 until now. Had there been a homogenization or not? We wanted to study this because it is a long going debate about the news stories becoming more and more the same. An important debate because less diversity in news events and news presentation may lead to less diversity in public opinions and knowledge. When it comes to our result we found out that the diversity in the week of 2013 in comparison tothe week of 1993 was better for Expressen, but not for Aftonbladet. At the same time, our second analyzing week took place in 2003 and in comparison to that week both newspapers had greater diversity in 2013. So when we make a conclusion after looking at these three weeks we could say that homogenization was a problem in 2003, but is not anymore. Except for when it comes to public affairs. When we divided the news intodomestic, foreign, public and non-public affairs we discovered that the foreign news for every week had less diversity than domestic news, we found the same result in public affairs in comparison to non-public affairs. But unlike foreign news where the diversity increased in 2013, the diversity of public affairs kept decreasing. If the weeks we selected reflects the two newspapers news range on a greater scale this could be a democratic problem, because if there are some news that can contribute to more public opinions and wider knowledge it is public affairs.

Traditional processing technologies can negatively affect polyphenolics of blueberry products. Optimization of hydrothermodynamic (HTD) processing has been used to minimize blueberry-based product quality degradation. Preliminary experiments have shown that the quality of HTD blueberry purée in terms of anthocyanin concentration and tannin content was significantly higher than that of most commercial blueberry products. HTD technology provided pasteurization with significantly lower losses of anthocyanins as compared with conventional heating. Screening of the factors has shown that holding time, temperature of pasteurization and heating rate were significant, while cavitation mode was non-significant. Response surface methodology was used to determine an optimal combination of temperature and time (92 to 95°C with holding time 0.5 to 2.0 min). Non-linear regression analysis of the shelf-life data has provided fitted models which could be used to predict changes in anthocyanin concentration and tannins for different storage periods at 4°C and at room temperature (20 to 25°C).

Recent work by Yasseri and Rahnema has introduced a consistent spatial homogenization (CSH) method completely in transport theory. The CSH method can very accurately reproduce the heterogeneous flux shape and eigenvalue of a reactor, but at high computational cost. Other recent works for homogenization in diffusion or quasi-diffusion theory are accurate for problems with low heterogeneity, such as PWRs, but are not proven for more heterogeneous reactors such as BWRs or GCRs. To address these issues, a consistent hybrid diffusion-transport spatial homogenization (CHSH) method is developed as an extension of the CSH method that uses conventional flux weighted homogenized cross sections to calculate the heterogeneous solution. The whole-core homogenized transport calculation step of the CSH method has been replaced with a whole- core homogenized diffusion calculation. A whole-core diffusion calculation is a reasonable replacement for transport because the homogenization procedure tends to smear out transport effects at the core level. The CHSH solution procedure is to solve a core-level homogenized diffusion equation with the auxiliary source term and then to apply an on-the-fly transport-based re-homogenization at the assembly level to correct the homogenized and auxiliary cross sections. The method has been derived in general geometry with continuous energy, and it is implemented and tested in fine group, 1-D slab geometry on controlled and uncontrolled BWR and HTTR benchmark problems. The method converges to within 2% mean relative error for all four configurations tested and has computational efficiency 2 to 4 times faster than the reference calculation.

In this thesis, we consider the two-space homogenization method, which produces macroscopic expressions out of descriptions of the behaviour of the microstructure. Specifically, we focus on its application to poroelastic media. After describing the method, we provide examples to demonstrate that the resultant expressions are equivalent to an explicit derivation, which might not always be possible, and to outline the method for proving that the expressions converge to their macroscopic equivalents. Upon providing the basis for this method, we follow Burridge and Keller’s work for using this to prove the existence of Biot’s consolidation equations for poroelastic media and to provide expressions for the derivation of the parameters of these equations from the microstructure [5]. We then discuss the benefits and challenges that arise from this formulation of Biot’s consolidation equations.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drexel University, 2008. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-73).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Mathematics, 2005. / "August, 2005." Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed 11/28/2005) Advisor, Dmitry Golovaty; Faculty Readers, Eric Wright, Curtis B. Clemons; Associate Department Chair, Timothy S. Norfolk; Dean of the College, Charles B. Monroe; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

Homogenization of monthly temperature data in BC is performed for 310 monthly maximum temperature series and 307 minimum temperature series from three networks: BC Hydro, BC Ministry of Forests Land Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (Wildfire Management Branch) and the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. The homogenization procedure is based on a penalized maximum t-test with mean-adjustment to detect inhomogeneities and make adjustments to the data. Before homogenization, quality control is performed on 797 stations at the daily time step. Trends at each location, in three sub-regions and across the province are analyzed based on resulting homogenized PCIC monthly temperature products. In order to measure the influence homogenization has on trends and validate the trends results calculated from the PCIC homogenized datasets, climate trends derived from the PCIC homogenized dataset are compared to those calculated from PCIC datasets without the homogenization and those from the homogenized temperature products existing in BC from ECCC respectively. The brief trend analysis components are introduced as follows. Trends before and after homogenization are compared for the averaged time series within three sub-regions based on PCIC station data. Trends based on homogenized PCIC stations and AHCCD stations are also compared. In addition, spatial patterns of trends over BC are analyzed based on PCIC gridded datasets, and compared with those of CANGRD. Homogenization results show that 92 out of 310 stations (29.6%) for maximum temperature and 75 out of 307 stations (24.4%) for minimum temperature have no detected changepoint, which means they appear to be homogenous. BCH has the highest portion of stations with changepoints, with 73.8% and 60.7% for maximum and minimum temperature, whereas FLNRO_WMB has the lowest portion, with 10.5% for Tmax and 27.3 % for Tmin. 80 and 81 stations have sufficient data for Tmax and Tmin variable have been analyzed for single station trend over 1990-2014. Comparing with the trends before homogenization, trends derived from homogenized PCIC stations have similar sign but smaller magnitude in general. The single station trend results are in good agreement with results of AHCCD. Spatial patterns of trends that are based on the interpolated PCIC stations also agree well with those based on CANGRD products. Warming trends predominate. Most of the seasons have distinctive positive trends across the province with exception of spring and some seasons over Vancouver Island. / Graduate

Efficient and optimal use of composites in structures requires tools to monitor and capture the complex degradation that can occur within the laminates over time. Structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques uses sensors/actuators on the structure to progressively monitor the health of the structure with minimal manual intervention. Electrical tomography (ET) is a SHM technique that uses voltage measurements from the surface of the laminate to reconstruct a conductivity map of the structure. Since damage has been shown to modify the conductivity of the laminate, the conductivity map can provide an indirect measure of the damage within the material. Studies have shown the capability of ET to identify macroscale damage due to impact. But, little has been done to quantitatively assess damage using ET. In this work, we present a theoretical framework to link degradation mechanisms occuring at the microscale to the conductivity at the mesoscale through damage indicators. The mesoscale damage indicators are then shown to be intrinsic to the ply. Next, we use the knowledge obtained through mesoscale homogenization to study the detectability of transverse cracks. Last, we show how the mesoscale homogenization participates in regularization of the inverse problem and in the quantitative assessment of the reconstructed conductivity map. This is as such the first step towards turning ET into a viable quantitative health monitoring technique.

In recent years much effort has been carried out to make integrated photonics a widespread technology to be exploited in current optical communication industry. It is hoped by substituting microelectronics by photonic chips and keeping the light carried by optical fibers in light domain for further processing, the cost and speed of communications will be vastly improved. Although this transition is challenging in various aspects, here in this thesis some of these issues are discussed and addressed. In this thesis firstly the limitations of current simulation tools for analysis of wide range of photonic devices is pointed out. Structures based on photonic crystals are taken into consideration at this point which because of finely detailed structures have shown to be challenging to be analyzed by conventional tools. In this regard three different common structures based on photonic crystals in both resonant and non-resonant regimes have been considered: lamellar gratings, metamaterials for Lüneburg lens and Bragg gratings in a LC-DFB laser. For each structure, an analytical method or homogenization approach is proposed which is claimed to be faster for analysis of such components than numerical methods. Comparisons of the results with conventional numerical methods prove accuracies of each approach. Furthermore, fiber-to-chip coupling and polarization management are discussed as other important issues in the field of integrated photonics. Concerning polarization management, stepped waveguide approach will be introduced as the most promising approach for SOI and III-V substrates and designs based on this structure reported in literature are reproduced and inaccuracies are pointed out and corrected accordingly. Also regarding fiber-to-chip coupling, a critical appraisal of the most recent proposed structures for edge coupling will be offered and the results will be reproduced by simulation tools. At the end, based on detailed comparisons, the most encouraging approach with low insertion loss and easy fabrication steps is introduced and novel platform for easy butt coupling single mode fibers to the coupler structure is proposed.