International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 17-20, 1994 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / Planar microstrip antennas are desirable in many telemetry applications because they are small in size, light in weight, and conformal to most surfaces. The design and optimization of circularly-polarized omnidirectional microstrip arrays using a new software simulation tool are discussed in this paper. Critical design issues such as the optimization of each array element for circular polarization and the minimization of mutual couplings as well as feed network mismatch are examined. The software tool, which consists of a novel graphical user interface and a full-wave numerical simulator for a flat mounting surface, provides a testbed environment for the user to explore new designs as well as optimizing existing designs. Using this tool, the design of several wraparound arrays with different mounting cylinder radii are presented. Comparisons between measured and simulated data for two S-band 8-element wraparound arrays are also presented.

Transcription factors regulate distinct macrophage functions by regulating gene expression in response to micro-environmental cues. This functional plasticity is critical for regulating innate and adaptive immune responses during infection and during chronic disease processes including inflammatory diseases and cancer. Microarray analysis of macrophages polarized to a pro-inflammatory (M1) phenotype with LPS and IFNγ revealed that basic leucine zipper transcription factor ATF-like 2 (Batf2), a member of the AP1 transcription factors, is selectively upregulated in M1 macrophages compared to anti-inflammatory IL-4-polarized (M2) macrophages. The initial hypothesis was that Batf2 is a master regulator of gene expression that orchestrates M1 polarization. To investigate a potential role of Batf2 during macrophage polarization, its expression in M1 polarized macrophages was examined. Batf2 mRNA appears within 60 minutes following LPS/ IFNγ treatment and is sustained for at least 48 hours. To address the hypothesis that Batf2 acts as a master transcriptional factor driving a functional M1 phenotype, we have established macrophage cell lines that constitutively express Batf2. Batf2 overexpression did not enhance key M1-associated genes, including iNOS and H2-Aa, but did enhance LPS/IFNγ-driven Cxcl10. Batf2 overexpression also failed to suppress key M2-associated genes including Fizz1 and Mrc1. Batf2 overexpression also failed to alter multiple non-immunity-related genes established or predicted to be downstream of Batf2 in macrophages or other cells. Overall, contrary to our initial hypothesis, constitutive Batf2 expression by itself does not appear to broadly induce M1 gene expression; rather, it appears to enhance only select genes. Since other Batf family members interact with members of the IRF family, I discuss the possibility that Batf2 works in conjunction with a limiting cofactor, possibly Irf family members and/or other regulatory proteins.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 13-16, 1986 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / Predetection recording of spread-spectrum (SS) signals such as GPS transmissions is a desirable objective for both users and developers of equipment designed to receive such signals. (GPS user-equipment development is a lengthy process during which signal simulators are only partially useful.) Upon playback, GPS signals are used by the same or modified receivers so that acquisition, processing, detection and tracking loops can be altered to optimize the receiver parameters. Development of predetect SS signal recording systems is difficult to achieve in practice. Such systems not only must be of suitable phase linearity to preserve the signal content to be extracted but sometimes must also preserve the exact signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) characteristics of the recorded signals. Existing conventional test equipment is unsuitable for deriving value judgments of the quality of a predetect recording system’s output because the SS signal has a negative SNR. This paper reveals that it is possible to use, for this purpose, tape recorders now available on many test ranges in combination with auxiliary equipment similar to that designed for the U.S. Navy’s TRIDENT Program (recording C/A-code data from in-flight missile translators). The basic techniques are described in some detail to enable potential users to understand the necessary equipment concepts and evaluate the author’s approach in terms of their own applications.

Polarimetric systems design has seen recent utilization of linear systems theory for system descriptions. Although noise optimal systems have been shown, bandwidth performance has not been addressed in depth generally and is particularly lacking for Mueller matrix (active) polarimetric systems. Bandwidth must be considered in a systematic way for remote sensing polarimetric systems design. The systematic approach facilitates both understanding of fundamental constraints and design of higher bandwidth polarimetric systems. Fundamental bandwidth constraints result in production of polarimetric "artifacts" due to channel crosstalk upon Mueller matrix reconstruction. This dissertation analyzes bandwidth trade-offs in spatio-temporal channeled Mueller matrix polarimetric systems. Bandwidth is directly related to the geometric positioning of channels in the Fourier (channel) space, however channel positioning for polarimetric systems is constrained both physically and by design parameters like domain separability. We present the physical channel constraints and the constraints imposed when the carriers are separable between space and time. Polarimetric systems are also constrained by noise performance, and there is a trade-off between noise performance and bandwidth. I develop cost functions which account for the trade-off between noise and bandwidth for spatio-temporal polarimetric systems. The cost functions allow a systems designer to jointly optimize systems with good bandwidth and noise performance. Optimization is implemented for a candidate spatio-temporal system design, and high temporal bandwidth systems resulting from the optimization are presented. Systematic errors which impact the bandwidth performance and mitigation strategies for these systematic errors are also presented. Finally, a portable imaging Mueller matrix system is built and analyzed based on the theoretical bandwidth analysis and system bandwidth optimization. Temporal bandwidth performance is improved by 300% over a conventional dual rotating retarder Mueller matrix polarimeter. Reconstruction results from the physical instrument are presented, and issues with the implemented system design are discussed.

This thesis reports on the research outcome of corrosion mechanism and corrosion rate of mild steel in different environments (saline, alkaline solutions and concrete media) using potentiodynamic polarization technique. The study also included the effect of corrosion on bond strength between reinforcing steel and concrete using pull-out test. Corrosion of mild steel and 316L stainless steel with different surface conditions in 1, 3 and 5% saline (NaCl + Distilled water) was investigated. Specimens ground with 200 and 600 grit silicon carbide grinding paper as well as 1μm surface finish (polished with 1μm diamond paste) were tested. In case of mild steel specimens, reduction in surface roughness caused increase in corrosion rate, while in 316L stainless steel corrosion rate decreased as the surface roughness improved. Metallographic examination of corroded specimens confirmed breakdown of passive region due to pitting corrosion. Corrosion of mild steel was also investigated in alkaline solution (saturated calcium hydroxide, pH =12.5) contaminated with 1, 3 and 5% saline. A series of corrosion experiments were also conducted to examine the efficiency of various concentrations of calcium nitrite (CN) on corrosion behaviour of both as-received and polished mild steel in alkaline solution containing 3% saline after 1 hour and 28 days of exposure. Corrosion rate was higher for the as-received than polished mild steel surface under the same testing conditions in NaCl alkaline solution with and without nitrites due to the effect of surface roughness. Morphology investigation of mild steel specimens in alkaline solution ii containing chlorides and nitrites showed localized pits even at nitrite concentration equal to chloride concentration. Corrosion of steel bars embedded in concrete having compressive strengths of 20, 30 and 46MPa was also investigated. The effect of 2 and 4% CN by weight of cement on corrosion behaviour of steel bar in low and high concrete strengths specimens were also studied. All reinforced concrete specimens were immersed in 3% saline solution for three different periods of 1, 7 and 15 days. In order to accelerate the chemical reactions, an external current of 0.4A was applied. Corrosion rate was measured by retrieving electrochemical information from polarization tests. Pull-out tests of reinforced concrete specimens were then conducted to assess the corroded steel/concrete bond characteristics. Experimental results showed that corrosion rate of steel bars and bond strength were dependent on concrete strength, amount of CN and acceleration corrosion period. As concrete strength increased from 20 to 46MPa, corrosion rate of embedded steel decreased. First day of corrosion acceleration showed a slight increase in steel/concrete bond strength, whereas severe corrosion due to 7 and 15 days corrosion acceleration significantly reduced steel/concrete bond strength. Addition of only 2% CN did not give corrosion protection for steel reinforcement in concrete with 20MPa strength at long time of exposure. However, the combination of good quality concrete and addition of CN appear to be a desirable approach to reduce the effect of chloride induced corrosion of steel reinforcement. At less time of exposure, specimens without CN showed higher bond strength in both concrete mixes than those with CN. After 7 days of corrosion acceleration, the higher concentration of CN gave higher bond strength in both concrete mixes. The same trend was observed at 15 days of corrosion acceleration except for the specimen with 20MPa compressive strength and 2% CN which recorded the highest deterioration in bond strength.

Recent large-N studies conclude that inequality and ethnic distribution have no significant impact on the risk of civil conflict. This study argues that such conclusions are erroneous and premature due to incorrect specification of independent variables and functional forms. Case studies suggest that measures of inter-group inequality (horizontal inequality) and polarization (ethnic distribution distance from a bipolar equilibrium) are more accurate predictors of civil conflict, as they better capture the group-motivation aspect of conflict. This study explores whether indicators of inequality and ethnic distribution impact the probability of civil conflict across 38 developing countries in the period 1986 to 2004. Analysis reveals that horizontal inequality and polarization have significant, robust relationships with civil conflict. Furthermore, vertical, or individual, inequality is a robust, significant predictor of civil conflict when specified as a nonlinear function.

This thesis proposes a metallic hole array of a rectangular converging-diverging channel (RCDC) shape with extraordinary transmission. We use a three-dimensional (3D) finite element method to analyze the transmission characteristics of two-dimensional metallic hole arrays (2D-MHA) with RCDC. For a straight channel MHA, when the aperture size is reduced, the transmission peaks have a blue-shift. The same result is observed for a smaller gap throat for the RCDC structure. For the rectangular holes with a high length-width ratio, a similar blue-shift in the transmission peaks as well as a narrower full width at half maximum (FWHM) are observed. The asymmetry from the rectangular shape gives this structure high selectivity for light with different polarizations. Furthermore, the RCDC shape gives extra degrees of geometrical variables to 2D-MHA for tuning the location of the transmission peak and FWHM. The tunable transmission property of this structure shows promise for applications in tunable filters, photonic circuits, and biosensors. / text

Glaucoma is an ophthalmic pathology that is the second leading cause of blindness. The laboratory design of a Polarization Sensitive Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomographic System aims to detect early glaucoma symptoms and prevent vision loss that occurs due to late or no glaucoma diagnosis. In order to perform human clinical trials at partner hospitals across the country, a miniaturized and portable version of the laboratory system was developed. The system facilitates easy transportation and clinical testing of the otherwise voluminous laboratory system across different eye centers. Significant consideration was given for performance optimization, cost reduction, design improvements and providing a friendly user-patient interface. / text

We have studied the charge density wave (CDW) repolarization dynamics in blue bronze (K0.3MoO3) by applying symmetric bipolar square-wave voltages of different frequencies to the sample and measuring the changes in infrared transmittance, proportional to CDW strain. The frequency dependence of the electro-transmittance was fit to a modified harmonic oscillator response and the evolution of the parameters as functions of voltage, position, and temperature are discussed. We found that resonance frequencies decrease with distance from the current contacts, indicating that the resulting delays are intrinsic to the CDW with the strain effectively flowing from the contact. For a fixed position, the average relaxation time for most samples has a voltage dependence given by τ0 ∼ V −p, with 1 < p < 2. The temperature dependence of the fitting parameters shows that the dynamics are governed by both the force on the CDW and the CDW current: for a given force and position, both the relaxation and delay times are inversely proportional to the CDW current as temperature is varied. The long delay times (∼ 100 μs) for large CDW currents suggest that the strain response involves the motion of macroscopic objects, presumably CDW phase dislocation lines. We have done frequency domain simulations to study charge-density-wave (CDW) polarization dynamics when symmetric bipolar square current pulses of different frequencies and amplitudes are applied to the sample, using parameters appropriate for NbSe3 at T = 90 K. The frequency dependence of the strain at one fixed position was fit to the same modified harmonic oscillator response and the behavior of the parameters as functions of current and position are discussed. Delay times increase nonlinearly with distance from the current contacts again, indicating that these are intrinsic to the CDWwith the strain effectively flowing from the contact. For a fixed position and high currents the relaxation time increases with decreasing current, but for low currents its behavior is strongly dependent on the distance between the current contact and the sample ends. This fact clearly shows the effect of the phase-slip process needed in the current conversion process at the contacts. The relaxation and delay times computed (∼ 1 μs) are much shorter than observed in blue bronze (> 100 μs), as expected because NbSe3 is metallic whereas K0.3MoO3 is semiconducting. While our simulated results bear a qualitative resemblance with those obtained in blue bronze, we can not make a quantitative comparison with the K0.3MoO3 results since the CDW in our simulations is current driven, whereas the electro-optic experiment was voltage driven. Different theoretical models predict that for voltages near the threshold Von, quantities such as the dynamic phase velocity correlation length and CDW velocity vary as ξ ∼ |V/Von − 1| −ν and v ∼ |V/Von − 1|ξ with ν ∼ 1/2 and ζ = 5/6. Additionally, a weakly divergent behavior for the diffusion constant D ∼ |V/Von − 1|−2ν+ζ is expected. Motivated by these premises and the fact that no convincing experimental evidence is known, we carried out measurements of the parameters that govern the CDW repolarization dynamic for voltages near threshold. We found that for most temperatures considered the relaxation time still increases for voltages as small as 1.06Von indicating that the CDW is still in the plastic and presumably in the noncritical limit. However, at one temperature we found that the relaxation time saturates with no indication of critical behavior, giving a new upper limit to the critical regime, of |V/Von − 1| < 0.06.

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive three-dimensional imaging technique. OCT synthesizes a cross-sectional image from a series of lateral adjacent depth scans, and with a two-dimensional scanning scheme, three-dimensional intensity image of sample can be constructed. Due to its non-invasive capability, OCT has been widely applied in ophthalmology, cardiology and dermatology; and in addition to three-dimensional intensity image construction, various functional OCT imaging techniques have been developed for clinical application. My research is focused on developing functional OCT systems for application in ophthalmology, including polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) for retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) birefringence measurement and dual-wavelength photothermal optical coherence tomography (DWP-OCT) for microvasculature blood oxygen saturation (SO2) measurement. In the study, a single-mode-fiber based polarization-sensitive swept-source OCT (PS-SS-OCT) with polarization modulator, polarization-sensitive bulk-optics balanced detection module is constructed and polarization processing methods based on Stokes vectors are applied to determine birefringence. PS-OCT is able to provide human subject's RNFL thickness, phase retardation, and birefringence information. Degradation in the degree of polarization (DOP) along depth is investigated and its difference between four quadrants of RNFL (superior, temporal, inferior and nasal) indicates the structural property difference. DWP-OCT is a novel functional OCT system consisting of a phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography system (PhS-OCT) and two photothermal excitation lasers. PhS-OCT is based on a swept-source laser operating in the 1060 nm wavelength range; the two photothermal excitation lasers with wavelength 770 nm and 800 nm are intensity modulated at different frequencies. PhS-OCT probe beam and two photothermal excitation beams are combined and incident on the sample, optical pathlength (op) change on the sample introduced by two photothermal excitation beams are measured and used for blood SO2 estimation. A polarization microscope is proposed for future study. The polarization microscope is an imaging technique providing molecular structure and orientation based on probe light's polarization state information. The polarization microscope uses a wavelength tunable light source, and can achieve any incident polarization state by a retarder-rotator combination. Specimen's birefringence can be determined based on the changing of detected light amplitude. / text