This thesis investigates an alternative solution to deal with the civil structure vibration. Non-contact electromagnetic or Eddy current damping is selected as a score of vibration suppression. Electromagnetic damping relies on the interaction between a permanent magnet and conductor. An electromagnetic damper (EMD) is applied both to a laboratory footbridge structure and 6-storey model-scale aluminium moment resisting frame (AMRF). In this first study the EMD is connected in series with an electronic shunt circuit to construct an electromagnetic shunt damper (EMSD). A robust optimisation method is applied to develop the corresponding optimal design formula of the EMSD. The principle of an EMSD is to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. Hence, the induced electromotive force (emf) is generated by electromagnetic induction. This emf induces an amount of shunt damping, which is fedback to the structure to achieve vibration suppression. It was found that when the impedance was applied, the shunt damping feature was of a similar nature to viscous dampers. In contrast, when an RLC (resistance-inductance-capacitance) circuit is connected, the shunt damping is analogous to a tuned mass damper. A second form of EMD is Eddy current damper (ECD), which relies on a geometrical arrangement of permanent magnets and conductors to produce damping forces. The vertical and horizontal orientation of the magnet, unidirectional and alternative pole projection and moving different direction of the conductor are investigated. A theoretical study involving the infinite boundary and finite boundary (the method of images current) is carried out to obtain an analytical calculation of the damping force. On the basis of this analysis, one type of ECD prototype was physically built. A performance test was carried out to determine the damping characteristics of the ECD, which agreed with the results of the numerical analysis. In addition, the ECD was applied to control the dynamics of the 6-storey AMRF. It was found that, the ECD can effectively increase system damping and have a satisfactory control effect.

A análise dinâmica experimental tem sido amplamente pesquisada como uma ferramenta de avaliação de integridade de estruturas de concreto armado. Existem técnicas de identificação de danos baseadas em propriedades modais como frequências de ressonâncias, deformadas modais, curvaturas modais e amortecimento. Há também técnicas baseadas na não linearidade da resposta dinâmica, que apesar do grande potencial na detecção de danos, têm sido pouco exploradas nos últimos anos. Este trabalho tem por objetivo avaliar a integridade estrutural de vigas de concreto armado através do comportamento da resposta dinâmica. Foram realizados ensaios dinâmicos em duas vigas de concreto armado com 3,5 m de comprimento, 25 cm de largura, 35 cm de altura e idênticas taxas de armaduras, mas configuradas com barras de aço de diferentes diâmetros, 2 &#981 16 mm e 8 &#981 8 mm, respectivamente. Tais vigas, inicialmente íntegras, foram submetidas a ciclos de carregamento e descarregamento com intensidades crescentes até atingir a ruptura do elemento. Após cada ciclo, as propriedades dinâmicas foram avaliadas experimentalmente, com o emprego de técnicas de excitação por sinais do tipo aleatório e tipo transiente, respectivamente, visando determinar parâmetros que indiquem a deterioração gradativa do elemento. Nesses ensaios dinâmicos aplicaram-se diferentes amplitudes da força de excitação. Verificou-se que o aumento da amplitude da força dinâmica de excitação provocou reduções nos valores das frequências de ressonância de 1,1% e 2,4%, associadas, respectivamente, às excitações aleatórias e transientes; e um comportamento não linear dos índices de amortecimento, associados às excitações aleatórias, mantendo um crescimento linear com as excitações transientes. Constatou-se, ainda, que os valores das frequências de ressonância decrescem com a redução de rigidez mecânica, diminuída com o aumento do nível de fissuração induzido nos modelos. Já os valores dos índices de amortecimento, após cada ciclo, se comportaram de forma não linear e assumiram diferentes valores, conforme a técnica de excitação empregada. Acredita-se que esta não linearidade está relacionada aos danos provocados no elemento pela solicitação estrutural e, por consequência, ao processo de como a dissipação de energia é empregada no processo de instauração, configuração e propagação das fissuras nos elementos de concreto armado. / The experimental dynamic analysis has been widely investigated as a tool to assess integrity of reinforced concrete structures. State-of-the-art modal-based techniques for structural damage analysis use resonance frequencies, modal deformed, curvature and modal damping analysis. There are also techniques based on nonlinear dynamic response that despite the large potential for damage detection, have not been considered in recent years. This work aims to evaluate the structural integrity of reinforced concrete beams through the dynamic response behavior. Dynamic tests were performed on two reinforced concrete beams with 3.5 meters of length, 250 mm of width, 350 mm of height and identical reinforcement rates, but different steel bars diameters, 2 &#981 16 mm e 8 &#981 8 mm, respectively. Beams were initially intact and were subjected to loading and unloading cycles with increasing intensity until the rupture of the concrete beam. After each cycle, the dynamic properties were evaluated experimentally with random and transient excitation signals to determine parameters that indicate gradual deterioration of the beam. Different amplitudes of the excitation force were applied during dynamic testing of concrete beams. These results indicated that an increase in amplitude of dynamic excitation force caused reductions in frequency resonances by 1.1% and 2.4%, associated with the random and transient excitations, respectively. Furthermore, a non-linear behavior of the damping ratios related to random excitations was observed while a linear relationship with transient excitation was found. Moreover, it was found that the resonance frequency decreased with the cracking-related reduction of beam stiffness, caused by increasing level of loading. Additionally, the values of the damping ratios after each cycle behaved non-linearly assuming different values according to the used excitation technique. It is believed that this non-linearity can be related to the loading-related structural damage of the reinforced concrete beam. Therefore, the energy dissipation related to cracking initiation, configuration and propagation in reinforced concrete elements played an important role in the damping ratios of concrete beams.

Soliton states in three coupled optical waveguide systems were studied: two linearly coupled waveguides with quadratic nonlinearity, two linearly coupled waveguides with cubic nonlinearity and Bragg gratings, and a quadratic nonlinear waveguide with resonant gratings, which enable three-wave interaction. The methods adopted to tackle the problems were both analytical and numerical. The analytical method mainly made use of the variational approximation. Since no exact analytical method is available to find solutions for the waveguide systems under study, the variational approach was proved to be very useful to find accurate approximations. Numerically, the shooting method and the relaxation method were used. The numerical results verified the results obtained analytically. New asymmetric soliton states were discovered for the coupled quadratically nonlinear waveguides, and for the coupled waveguides with both cubic nonlinearity and Bragg gratings. Stability of the soliton states was studied numerically, using the Beam Propagation Method. Asymmetric couplers with quadratic nonlinearity were also studied. The bifurcation diagrams for the asymmetric couplers were those unfolded from the corresponding diagrams of the symmetric couplers. Novel stable two-soliton bound states due to three-wave interaction were discovered for a quadratically nonlinear waveguide equipped with resonant gratings. Since the coupled optical waveguide systems are controlled by a larger number of parameters than in the corresponding single waveguide, the coupled systems can find a much broader field of applications. This study provides useful background information to support these applications.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2006 S. 1-9: introduction, s. 11-170: 5 research papers

Popularity of nonlinear threshold models and unit root tests has increased after the recent empirical studies concerning the effects of business cycles on macroeconomic data. These studies have shown that an economic variable may react differently in response to downturns and recoveries in a business cycle. Inspiring from empirical results, this thesis investigates dynamics of Turkish key macroeconomic data, namely capacity utilization rate, growth of import and export volume indices, growth of gross domestic product, interest rate for cash loans in Turkish Liras and growth of industrial production index. Estimation results imply that capacity utilization rate and growth of industrial production index show M-TAR type nonlinear stationary behavior according to the unit root test proposed by Enders and Granger (1998).

Boolean functions are the main building blocks of most cipher systems. Various aspects of their cryptological characteristics are examined and investigated by many researchers from different fields. This thesis has no claim to obtain original results but consists in an attempt at giving a unified survey of the main results of the subject. In this thesis, the theory of boolean functions is presented in details, emphasizing some important cryptological properties such as balance, nonlinearity, strict avalanche criterion and propagation criterion. After presenting many results about these criteria with detailed proofs, two upper bounds and two lower bounds on the nonlinearity of a boolean function due to Zhang and Zheng are proved. Because of their importance in the theory of boolean functions, construction of Sylvester-Hadamard matrices are shown and most of their properties used in cryptography are proved. The Walsh transform is investigated in detail by proving many properties. By using a property of Sylvester-Hadamard matrices, the fast Walsh transform is presented and its application in finding the nonlinearity of a boolean function is demonstrated. One of the most important classes of boolean functions, so called bent functions, are presented with many properties and by giving several examples, from the paper of Rothaus. By using bent functions, relations between balance, nonlinearity and propagation criterion are presented and it is shown that not all these criteria can be simultaneously satisfied completely. For this reason, several constructions of functions optimizing these criteria which are due to Seberry, Zhang and Zheng are presented.

Neural network-based adaptive output feedback approaches that augment a linear control design are described in this thesis, and emphasis is placed on their real-time implementation with flexible systems. Two different control architectures that are robust to parametric uncertainties and unmodelled dynamics are presented. The unmodelled effects can consist of minimum phase internal dynamics of the system together with external disturbance process. Within this context, adaptive compensation for external disturbances is addressed. In the first approach, internal model-following control, adaptive elements are designed using feedback inversion. The effect of an actuator limit is treated using control hedging, and the effect of other actuation nonlinearities, such as dead zone and backlash, is mitigated by a disturbance observer-based control design. The effectiveness of the approach is illustrated through simulation and experimental testing with a three-disk torsional system, which is subjected to control voltage limit and stiction. While the internal model-following control is limited to minimum phase systems, the second approach, external model-following control, does not involve feedback linearization and can be applied to non-minimum phase systems. The unstable zero dynamics are assumed to have been modelled in the design of the existing linear controller. The laboratory tests for this method include a three-disk torsional pendulum, an inverted pendulum, and a flexible-base robot manipulator. The external model-following control architecture is further extended in three ways. The first extension is an approach for control of multivariable nonlinear systems. The second extension is a decentralized adaptive control approach for large-scale interconnected systems. The third extension is to make use of an adaptive observer to augment a linear observer-based controller. In this extension, augmenting terms for the adaptive observer can be used to achieve adaptation in both the observer and the controller. Simulations to illustrate these approaches include an inverted pendulum with its cart serially attached to two carts (one unmodelled), three spring-coupled inverted pendulums, and an inverted pendulum with its initial condition in a range in which a linear controller is destabilizing.

This study investigates wave propagation in an elastic half-space with quadratic nonlinearity due to a line load on the surface. The consideration of this problem is one of the well known Lamb problems. Even since Lamb's original solution, numerous investigators have obtained solutions to many different variants of the Lamb problem. However, most of the solutions existing in the current literature are limited to wave propagation in a linear elastic half-space. In this work, the Lamb problem in an elastic half-space with quadratic nonlinearity is considered. For this, the problem is first formulated as a hyperbolic system of conservation laws, which is then solved numerically using a semi-discrete central scheme. The numerical method is implemented using the package CentPack. The accuracy of the numerical method is first studied by comparing the numerical solution with the analytical solution for a half-space with linear response (the original Lamb's problem). The numerical results for the half-space with quadratic nonlinearity are than studied using signal-processing tools such as the fast Fourier transform (FFT) in order to analyze and interpret any nonlinear effects. This in particular gives the possibility to evaluate the excitation of higher order harmonics whose amplitude is used to infer material properties. To quantify and compare the nonlinearity of different materials, two parameters are introduced; these parameters are similar to the acoustical nonlinearity parameter for plane waves.

This dissertation deals with some crucial building blocks of cryptosystems in symmetric cryptography / namely the Boolean functions that produce a single-bit result for each possible value of the m-bit input vector, where m&gt / 1. Objectives in this study are two-fold / the first objective is to develop relations between cryptographic properties of Boolean functions, and the second one is to form new concepts that associate coding theory with cryptology. For the first objective, we concentrate on the cryptographic properties of Boolean functions such as balancedness, correlation immunity, nonlinearity, resiliency and propagation characteristics / many of which are depending on the Walsh spectrum that gives components of the Boolean function along the direction of linear functions. Another efficient tool to study Boolean functions is the subject of covering sequences introduced by Carlet and Tarannikov in 2000. Covering sequences are defined in terms of the derivatives of the Boolean function. Carlet and Tarannikov relate the correlation immunity and balancedness properties of the Boolean function to its covering sequences. We find further relations between the covering sequence and the Walsh spectrum, and present two theorems for the calculation of covering sequences associated with each null frequency of the Walsh spectrum. As for the second objective of this thesis, we have studied linear codes over the rings Z4 and Z8 and their binary images in the Galois field GF(2). We have investigated the best-known examples of nonlinear binary error-correcting codes such as Kerdock, Preperata and Nordstrom-Robinson, which are -linear codes. We have then reviewed Tokareva&rsquo / s studies on Z4-linear codes and extended them to Z8-linear codes. We have defined a new classes of bent functions. Next, we have shown that the newly defined classes of bent, namely Tokareva&rsquo / s k-bent and our t,k-bent functions are affine equivalent to the well-known Maiorana McFarland class of bent functions. As a cryptological application, we have described the method of cubic cryptanalysis, as a generalization of the linear cryptanalysis given by Matsui in 1993. We conjecture that the newly introduced t,k-bent functions are also strong against cubic cryptanalysis, because they are as far as possible to t,k-bent functions.

This thesis deals with the investigation of the first hyperpolarizabilities (β) of a large number of molecules linked to other molecules either covalently or noncovalently. Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction to supramolecular chemistry and Nonlinear Optics (NLO). A survey of literature pertinent to noncovalently interacting supramolecular assembly and their NLO properties as well as NLO properties of oligomeric systems has been presented. The scope of the present investigation has been described at the end of the chapter. Chapter 2 discusses all the methods used in carrying out this thesis work. The first hyperpolarizabilities (β) of all the compounds have been measured by the hyper Rayleigh scattering (HRS) technique; the experimental details of which are written in this chapter. Various spectroscopic techniques such as NMR, IR, UV-Vis, etc. that were used in the investigation have been presented. The subsequent chapters 3-5 deal with the actual results obtained in this work. In chapter 3 first hyperpolarizabilities of o-, m-, and p-aminobenzoic acids and their oligomers viz., dimer, trimer and tetramer (covalently linked) have been studied. The compounds are synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic methods and their β values have been measured by HRS. The hyperpolarizability increases in going from the monomer to the dimer but decreases subsequently from the dimer to the trimer to the tetramer. This unexpected trend in β has been attributed to the formation of molecular aggregates in the trimers and tetramers. Further evidences of aggregation come from the results of1H NMR spectroscopy and conductivity measurements. In chapter 4, synthesis, characterization and HRS investigation to probe the formation, dissociation and binding constants of hydrogen bonded supramolecular complexes (noncovalent interaction) formed in solution between 6-amino-2-(pivaloylamino)pyridine and ferrocene functionalized barbituric acid and 5-methoxy-N,N′-bis(6-amino-2-pyridinyl)-1,3-benzenedicarboxamide and ferrocenyl barbituric acid have been described. From the HRS data the stoichiometry of the supramolecular complexes has been determined and compared to that from the NMR data. Some of the complex stoichiometries that are measured by HRS have not been seen in the NMR data and vice versa. The results have been rationalized in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of various spectroscopic methods as applied to this problem. Many fold increase in the β value has been realized in the supramolecular complex formation process. Depolarized HRS experiments have been carried out to obtain structural information on the complexes. In the last chapter the synthesis, characterization and measurements on the first hyperpolarizabilities of unsubstituted tetraphenylporphyrin and its metallated complexes have been presented. Synthesis of supramolecular complexes of ferrocenyl barbituric acid with functionalized porphyrin compounds has been carried out although the amount of the final complex was insufficient for HRS measurements. This chapter ends with a perspective for the future work in the direction.