Thesis (Ph.D.) in Physics--University of Maine, 2007. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-129).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2008. / Adviser: Aaron Liberman. Includes bibliographical references (p. 148-163).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-195).

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2009/06/25). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Tennessee Technological University, 2009. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Mar. 18, 2010). Bibliography: leaves 69-72.

Thesis (M.Phil.) - University of Queensland, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

The thesis divides naturally into two parts. Part I raises, and in some cases answers, questions concerning symmetry in classical mechanics. The main result (Theorem 6.4) shows that the assumption of the existence of a realization puts an upper limit on the rank of the algebra. The heart of the thesis (covering three-quarters of the volume) is section II on the quantization of classical systems. §1 lists axioms desirable in any quantization rule for the 'functions of the q's'. The momentum observables are introduced in §2 prior to their quantization in §4. §5 essentially shows how conventional quantum mechanics fits into this scheme of things. By progressive specialization from a general manifold to a vector space, from a general quantization scheme to one which is linear on the linear momentum functions, and finally to an entirely well-behaved (admissible) quantization rule, into which conventional quantum mechanics fits nicely, we obtain in §7-§9 results which become progressively more and more powerful. The final theorem (Theorem 9.2) is perhaps the most significant of all. This result states that there exists a class of functions, which contains all functions of the q's and functions of the p's and all momentum observables and which is closed with respect to any linear canonical transformation L; a rule A assigning a unique self-adjoint operator to each such function f; a unitary operator WL corresponding to L and an equation ̧›Ơ(̧‘“ ́˜˜ ̧¿) = ̧‘Š[sub]̧¿́» ̧›Ơ ̧‘“ ̧‘Š[sub]̧¿.

A specification of a mathematical object is impredicative if it essentially involves quantification over a domain which includes the object being specified (or sets which contain that object, or similar). The basic worry is that we have no non-circular way of understanding such a specification. Predicativism is the view that mathematics should be limited to the study of objects which can be specified predicatively. There are two parts to predicativism. One is the criticism of the impredicative aspects of classical mathematics. The other is the positive project, begun by Weyl in Das Kontinuum (1918), to reconstruct as much as possible of classical mathematics on the basis of a predicatively acceptable set theory, which accepts only countably infinite objects. This is a revisionary project, and certain parts of mathematics will not be saved. Chapter 2 contains an account of the historical background to the predicativist project. The rigorization of analysis led to Dedekind's and Cantor's theories of the real numbers, which relied on the new notion of abitrary infinite sets; this became a central part of modern classical set theory. Criticism began with Kronecker; continued in the debate about the acceptability of Zermelo's Axiom of Choice; and was somewhat clarified by Poincaré and Russell. In the light of this, chapter 3 examines the formulation of, and motivations behind, the predicativist position. Chapter 4 begins the critical task by detailing the epistemological problems with the classical account of the continuum. Explanations of classicism which appeal to second-order logic, set theory, and primitive intuition are examined and are found wanting. Chapter 5 aims to dispell the worry that predicativism might collapses into mathematical intuitionism. I assess some of the arguments for intuitionism, especially the Dummettian argument from indefinite extensibility. I argue that the natural numbers are not indefinitely extensible, and that, although the continuum is, we can nonetheless make some sense of classical quantification over it. We need not reject the Law of Excluded Middle. Chapter 6 begins the positive work by outlining a predicatively acceptable account of mathematical objects which justifies the Vicious Circle Principle. Chapter 7 explores the appropriate shape of formalized predicative mathematics, and the question of just how much mathematics is predicatively acceptable. My conclusion is that all of the mathematics which we need can be predicativistically justified, and that such mathematics is particularly transparent to reason. This calls into question one currently prevalent view of the nature of mathematics, on which mathematics is justified by quasi-empirical means.

This thesis is primarily concerned with the development and coding of a Levy-type spectral plate element to analyze the harmonic response of simply supported plates in the mid to high frequency range. The development includes the governing PDE, displacement field, shape function, and dynamic stiffness matrix. A two DOF spectral Love bar element and both a four DOF spectral Euler-Bernoulli and a four DOF spectral Timoshenko beam element are also developed to gain insight into the performance of spectral elements. A cantilever beam example is used to show how incorporating eigenfunctions for the dynamic governing PDE into the displacement field enables spectral beam elements to represent the structural dynamics exactly. A simply supported curved beam example is used to show that spectral beam elements can converge the effects of curved geometry with up to a 50% reduction in the number of elements when compared to conventional FE. The curved beam example is also used to show that the rotatory inertia and shear deformation, from Timoshenko's beam theory, can result in up to a 28% shift in natural frequency over the first three bending modes. Finally, a simply supported Levy-plate model is used to show that the spectral Levy-type plate element converges the dynamic solution with up to three orders of magnitude fewer DOF then the conventional FE plate formulation. A simply-supported plate example problem is used to illustrate how the coefficients of the Fourier series expansion can be used as edge DOF for the spectral Levy-plate element. The Levy-plate element development gives insight to future research developing a general spectral plate element. / Master of Science

In this thesis, some characterizations of continua of finite degree are given. It turns out that being of finite degree (by formal definition) can be described by saying there exists an equivalent metric in which Hausdorff linear measure of the continuum is finite. I discuss this result in detail.