Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-193).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-169).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Physics)--Vanderbilt University, Dec. 2006. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. / Landman, Uzi, Committee Member ; Yannouleas, Constantine, Committee Member ; Bunimovich, Leonid, Committee Member ; Chou, Mei-Yin, Committee Member ; Pustilnik, Michael, Committee Member.

This thesis presents experimental studies of the electronic and magnetic properties of several iron-based unconventional superconductors, primarily using the techniques of magnetotransport and torque magnetometry in high magnetic fields and synchrotron-based angle-resolved photo-emission spectroscopy (ARPES). Superconductivity in the iron-based superconductors is always found in proximity to a magnetic phase, and the details of the electronic structure and Fermi surface are also important in determining the strength of interactions, and ultimately superconductivity. This motivates the experimental studies of electronic, magnetic and superconducting properties of Fe-based superconductors presented in this thesis. First, quantum oscillation measurements using high-field torque magnetometry are used to provide a partial determination of the Fermi surface of superconducting LiFeAs. The data are compared with density functional theory calculations, finding strong mass enhancements on the observed electron bands, however the hole bands are not observed. A large portion of this thesis concerns experiments on FeSe, which uniquely has a structural transition but is not magnetically ordered at any temperature. High field magnetotransport measurements show quantum oscillations, revealing small quasi-two dimensional Fermi surfaces, and it is argued that both hole and electron pockets are observed. The low-temperature Fermi surface consisting of one hole pocket and two electron pockets is also deduced from low-field magnetotransport. ARPES studies show that both hole and electron pockets undergo a significant elongation when cooling through the structural transition at ~90 K, interpreted as the result of orbital order. Measurements of the resistivity anisotropy above the structural transition are used to show that the structural distortion is electronically-driven. By combining these data sets, a complete picture of the symmetry-broken electronic structure of FeSe is constructed. The final chapter concerns another iron-based superconductor with a more complex crystal structure, the so-called ``10-3-8" phase, and in particular finds an unusual field-induced magnetic transition.

Visual perception in mammals is made possible by the visual system and the visual cortex. However, precisely how visual information is coded in the brain and how training can improve this encoding is unclear. The ability to see and process visual information is not an innate property of the visual cortex. Instead, it is learnt from exposure to visual stimuli. We first considered how visual perception is learnt, by studying the perceptual learning of contrast discrimination in macaques. We investigated how changes in population activity in the visual cortices V1 and V4 correlate with the changes in behavioural response during training on this task. Our results indicate that changes in the learnt neural and behavioural responses are directed toward optimising the performance on the training task, rather than a general improvement in perception of the presented stimulus type. We report that the most informative signal about the contrast of the stimulus within V1 and V4 is the transient stimulus-onset response in V1, 50 ms after the stimulus presentation begins. However, this signal does not become more informative with training, suggesting it is an innate and untrainable property of the system, on these timescales at least. Using a linear decoder to classify the stimulus based on the population activity, we find that information in the V4 population is closely related to the information available to the higher cortical regions involved with decision making, since the performance of the decoder is similar to the performance of the animal throughout training. These findings suggest that training the subject on this task directs V4 to improve its read out of contrast information contained in V1, and cortical regions responsible for decision making use this to improve the performance with training. The structure of noise correlations between the recorded neurons changes with training, but this does not appear to cause the increase in behavioural performance. Furthermore, our results suggest there is feedback of information about the stimulus into the visual cortex after 300 ms of stimulus presentation, which may be related to the high-level percept of the stimulus within the brain. After training on the task, but not before, information about the stimulus persists in the activity of both V1 and V4 at least 400 ms after the stimulus is removed. In the second part, we explore how information is distributed across the anatomical layers of the visual cortex. Cortical oscillations in the local field potential (LFP) and current source density (CSD) within V1, driven by population-level activity, are known to contain information about visual stimulation. However the purpose of these oscillations, the sites where they originate, and what properties of the stimulus is encoded within them is still unknown. By recording the LFP at multiple recording sites along the cortical depth of macaque V1 during presentation of a natural movie stimulus, we investigated the structure of visual information encoded in cortical oscillations. We found that despite a homogeneous distribution of the power of oscillations across the cortical depth, information was compartmentalised into the oscillations of the 4 Hz to 16 Hz range at the granular (G, layer 4) depths and the 60Hz to 170Hz range at the supragranular (SG, layers 1–3) depths, the latter of which is redundant with the population-level firing rate. These two frequency ranges contain independent information about the stimulus, which we identify as related to two spatiotemporal aspects of the visual stimulus. Oscillations in the visual cortex with frequencies < 40 Hz contain information about fast changes in low spatial frequency. Frequencies > 40 Hz and multi-unit firing rates contain information about properties of the stimulus related to changes, both slow and fast, at finer-grained spatial scales. The spatiotemporal domains encoded in each are complementary. In particular, both the power and phase of oscillations in the 7 Hz to 20Hz range contain information about scene transitions in the presented movie stimulus. Such changes in the stimulus are similar to saccades in natural behaviour, and this may be indicative of predictive coding within the cortex.

abstract: Understanding where our bodies are in space is imperative for motor control, particularly for actions such as goal-directed reaching. Multisensory integration is crucial for reducing uncertainty in arm position estimates. This dissertation examines time and frequency-domain correlates of visual-proprioceptive integration during an arm-position maintenance task. Neural recordings were obtained from two different cortical areas as non-human primates performed a center-out reaching task in a virtual reality environment. Following a reach, animals maintained the end-point position of their arm under unimodal (proprioception only) and bimodal (proprioception and vision) conditions. In both areas, time domain and multi-taper spectral analysis methods were used to quantify changes in the spiking, local field potential (LFP), and spike-field coherence during arm-position maintenance. In both areas, individual neurons were classified based on the spectrum of their spiking patterns. A large proportion of cells in the SPL that exhibited sensory condition-specific oscillatory spiking in the beta (13-30Hz) frequency band. Cells in the IPL typically had a more diverse mix of oscillatory and refractory spiking patterns during the task in response to changing sensory condition. Contrary to the assumptions made in many modelling studies, none of the cells exhibited Poisson-spiking statistics in SPL or IPL. Evoked LFPs in both areas exhibited greater effects of target location than visual condition, though the evoked responses in the preferred reach direction were generally suppressed in the bimodal condition relative to the unimodal condition. Significant effects of target location on evoked responses were observed during the movement period of the task well. In the frequency domain, LFP power in both cortical areas was enhanced in the beta band during the position estimation epoch of the task, indicating that LFP beta oscillations may be important for maintaining the ongoing state. This was particularly evident at the population level, with clear increase in alpha and beta power. Differences in spectral power between conditions also became apparent at the population level, with power during bimodal trials being suppressed relative to unimodal. The spike-field coherence showed confounding results in both the SPL and IPL, with no clear correlation between incidence of beta oscillations and significant beta coherence. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biomedical Engineering 2017

Dans les procédés liés aux émulsions, des écoulements turbulents et polyphasiques entrent en jeu. De tels procédés apparaissent dans des domaines variés. Dans l'industrie agro-alimentaire, la production de lait fait intervenir un homogénéisateur à haute pression, et certains produits tels que la mayonnaise sont des émulsions stables. On trouve aussi des émulsions dans le domaine de la santé : elles assurent le bon fonctionnement de nos poumons, tandis que d'autres peuvent être injectées par voie parentérale en tant que médicaments. On les retrouve aussi dans les procédés de séparation, par exemple eau-brut de pétrole dans l'industrie pétrochimique. Dans tous les cas, la fragmentation et la coalescence des bulles et gouttes doivent être maîtrisées, car elles influencent directement la distribution en taille de la phase dispersée. La fréquence d'apparition de ces phénomènes peut être prédite en utilisant des modèles adaptés. Cependant, la présence de molécules tensioactives modifie grandement cette fréquence et par conséquent la distribution en taille en sortie du procédé. Or, ce type de molécules est présent dans quasiment tous les procédés polyphasiques. L'étude des effets des tensioactifs dans ces procédés s'est alors imposée. Dans un des plus récents modèles, les bulles ou gouttes sont considérées comme des oscillateurs forcés par la turbulence de l'écoulement environnant. Il est alors nécessaire de connaître à la fois la turbulence dans le voisinage de la goutte et les propriétés dynamique de la goutte. La première peut être déterminée expérimentalement. La réponse de la goutte au forçage est alors décrite comme une somme d'harmoniques sphériques dont la dynamique est décrite pour chaque mode par une pulsation et un coefficient d'amortissement. Cette thèse aborde l’étude des effets des tensioactifs sur ces deux grandeurs. Elle s’est déroulée en collaboration entre l'IMFT et le LGC, ce qui a permis d'associer les compétences de chaque laboratoire dans les domaines de la physico-chimie, de l'hydrodynamique des phases dispersées et des écoulements turbulents diphasiques. Le projet lors de cette thèse est d'étudier numériquement les effets des tensioactifs sur les échelles temporelles caractéristiques des oscillations, dans le cas où la goutte est immobile ou bien en mouvement dans un fluide externe. Une équation de transport des tensioactifs ainsi que l'effet Marangoni à l'interface ont été modelisés dans le code DIVA, et validés à l'aide de cas tests. Ensuite, des simulations de gouttes subissant des oscillations de forme suivant le mode 2 des harmoniques sphériques ont permis de décrire les effets des tensioactifs sur la dynamique des interfaces. Ils ont été validés par la théorie pour des oscillations linéaires. Le couplage entre le mouvement d'ascension et les oscillations de formes a aussi été étudié, afin de comprendre l'effet d'un fort effet Marangoni, généré par l'ascension de la goutte, sur les oscillations. Les viscosités de surface peuvent aussi influencer radicalement la dynamique interfaciale. Lors de cette thèse, une méthode a été développée et validée pour permettre à l'outil de simulation de prendre en compte des viscosités de surface en se basant sur le modèle de Boussinesq-Scriven. Leur effet sur la dynamique des oscillations de forme a été étudié.

Orientadores: Vivaldo Fernando da Costa, Igor Kopcak / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-13T08:36:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Custodio_DiogoTotti_M.pdf: 700213 bytes, checksum: 071ac399f9273553cbddde7ce6f5eedf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Esta dissertação aborda um estudo sobre a contribuição do HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) para o amortecimento de oscilações eletromecânicas de baixa frequência quando o sistema de energia elétrica sofre uma pequena perturbação. O modelo matemático do elo HVDC foi incluído no Fluxo de Potência, bem como as características de regime permanente dos dispositivos dinâmicos (modelagem dos controles de corrente ou potência) como em um Fluxo de Potência Expandido. Foi utilizado o MSP (Modelo de Sensibilidade de Potência) para inclusão do modelo dinâmico dos geradores, reguladores automáticos de tensão, controles de corrente do elo HVDC para possibilitar a análise modal. Para prover um amortecimento adequado das oscilações eletromecânicas, foi necessário projetar um POD (Power Oscillation Damping Controller) para inserir um sinal suplementar junto ao sinal de referência do controlador de corrente ou potência no retificador, consequentemente modulando estas grandezas do elo HVDC. O projeto do controlador e a análise de estabilidade foram baseados em técnicas de resposta em frequência e análise modal. Os resultados obtidos mostram a viabilidade do elo HVDC na contribuição da estabilidade de ângulo dos geradores. / Abstract: This dissertation presents a study about the HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) link contribution for damping low frequency electromechanical oscillations when Electric Energy System suffers small-signal disturbances. The HVDC link components models were included in the Power Flow method as well as the steady-state characteristics of the dynamic devices (current or power controls modeling). It was utilized the MSP (Power Sensitivity Model) to include the generators dynamic model, automatic voltage regulators, HVDC link current controls to perform the modal analysis. For damping the electromechanical oscillations, it was designed a POD (Power Oscillation Damping Controller) to include a supplementary signal added to reference signal of the rectifier current or power controller, in order to modulate these HVDC link quantities. The design of controller and stability analysis are based on frequency response techniques and modal analysis. The results obtained shown the HVDC link viability for damping electromechanical oscillations. / Mestrado / Energia Eletrica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Orientador: Marcelo Moraes Guzzo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Fisica Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T10:36:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Oliveira_RobertoLeandroNevesde_M.pdf: 6432345 bytes, checksum: d334d500169812157f60b5fa09ef36ae (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Neste trabalho, estudamos algumas conseqüências fenomenológicas da introdução do fenômeno de descoerência quântica na fenomenologia de oscilações de neutrinos. O Modelo de Violação da Mecânica Quântica e o modelo de tratamento de Sistemas Quânticos Abertos são estudados. Mostramos o comportamento e as diferenças entre os dois modelos para encontrar qual deles melhor descreve os sistemas quânticos que podem sofrer efeitos de descoerência. Esses dois modelos são estudados na literatura e ambos incluem efeitos de descoerência na Mecânica Quântica Padrão. Investigamos como o efeito de descoerência pode ser incluído em oscilações de neutrinos e examinamos como a probabilidade padrão pode ser modificada fenomenologicamente quando levamos em conta o efeito de descoerência em duas famílias de neutrinos / Abstract: In this work, we study some phenomenological consequences of the introduction of the quantum decoherence in the phenomenology of neutrinos oscillations. The Model of Violation of the Quantum Mechanics and the general framework of Open Quantum Systems are studied. We explicitly show the behavior and the differences between the two models to find which of them better describes quantum systems that can suffer decoherence effect. These two models are studied in literature and both include decoherence effects in the Quantum Mechanics standard. We investigate how decoherence effects can be included in neutrino oscillations and examine how the standard oscillation probability can be phenomenologically modified when take into account quantum decoherence effects in two neutrinos avor / Mestrado / Física das Particulas Elementares e Campos / Mestre em Física