<p>This dissertation concerns methods to test whether or not self-control</p><p>is costly, the form of temptation, and the affects different assumptions</p><p>about costly self-control and temptation have on optimal borrowing</p><p>and saving mechanisms. The second chapter shows that costly self-control</p><p>and temptation can be differentiated from changing impatience in a</p><p>stochastic income consumption-savings environment. The third chapter</p><p>describes an experiment to test whether subjects have time inconsistent</p><p>preferences, whether self-control is costly, and if so, whether the</p><p>cost of self-control is time dependent. The fourth chapter describes</p><p>the affects on the optimal borrowing and savings mechanisms that assumptions</p><p>about the myopia of temptation and the strength of costly self-control</p><p>have.</p> / Dissertation

We prove the existence and linear stability of quasi-periodic breather solutions in a 1d Hamiltonian lattice of identical, weakly-coupled, anharmonic oscillators with general on-site potentials and under the effect of long-ranged interaction, via de KAM technique. We prove the persistence of finite-dimensional tori which correspond in the uncoupled limit to N arbitrary lattice sites initially excited. The frequencies of the invariant tori of the perturbed system are only slightly deformed from the frequencies of the unperturbed tori.

A novel ionic liquid crystal (ILC) system (C18IMCNBr) with a liquid crystal alignment used as an electrolyte for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) showed the higher short-circuit current density (Jsc) and the higher light-to-electricity conversion efficiency than the system using the non- alignment liquid crystalline ionic liquid (C18IMCNBr),due to the higher conductivity of liquid crystal alignment. The larger Jsc and efficiency value of liquid crystal alignment supported that the higher conductivity of liquid crystal alignment is attributed to the enhancement of the exchange reaction between iodide species. As a result of formation of the two-dimensional electron conductive pathways organized by the localized I3- and I- at liquid crystal alignment layers, the concentration of polyiodide species exemplified by Im- (m =5,7, ...) was higher in alignment C18IMCNBr. However, in the two-dimensional electron conductive pathways of C18IMCNBr, more collision frequencies between iodide species (I-,I3-, and Im-) could be achieved than that in the three-dimensional space of C18IMCNBr, which could lead to the promotion of the exchange reaction between iodide species, the contribution of a two-dimensional structure of the conductive pathway through the increase of collision frequency between iodide species was proposed.

In this research, gel-state and quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated with polydimethylbenzimidazole(PDMBI) as the polymer electrolyte. These devices are stable under room light in air, even without encapsulation. The energy conversion efficiency of gel-state cells was drastically increased around 200% after the device worked. We propose that appropriately aggregated PDMBI in electrolyte layer could provide pathways which would facilitate the diffusion of ion through the electrolyte. Moreover, this arrangement induces it an ion exchange reaction which could lead to the promotion of the diffusion rate between iodide species. An optimized device performs well with a power conversion efficiency of 4.98% under air-mass 1.5 global (AM 1.5G) illumination. For the fabrication of quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells, we immersed a few liquid electrolyte to improve electrical contact between TiO2 porous layer and PDMBI layer. The quasi-solid state cell efficiency fabricated with PDMBI as electrolyte was 2.26%. Furthermore, our device architecture is performing well because of the good band alignment among TiO2, dye, and PDMBI. In this research, we have successfully demonstrated gel-state and quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells comprising PDMBI as electrolyte.

Though Nd:YAG has been widely used as the traditional high power solid-state laser gain medium, Yb:YAG has more advantages such as lower quantum defect, wider absorption and emission bandwidth, and longer fluorescence lifetime, which can be used in Q-switched lasers to storage more energy. In addition, a higher doping concentration Yb:YAG with thinner thickness reduces the shift of optical path, which reduces the ring cavity stability. Therefore Yb:YAG is an eminently suitable gain medium for the two-mirror ring laser. Due to the quasi-three-level characteristic of Yb:YAG, the thermal effect influences the re-absorption loss and deteriorates the laser performance, i.e. lower slope efficiency of laser. In this thesis, we improve the laser efficiency by using Yb:YAG crystal with proper thickness, and various round-trip transmittances with different output couplers were tried. The slope efficiency with 50.3 % has been achieved. We also tried to reduce the thermal loading of Yb:YAG by crystal fiber with Cu-Al alloy package. The fabrication process of Yb:YAG crystal fiber, including sample preparation, and coating design, and the experiment result of Yb:YAG crystal fiber ring laser will be presented in detail. Furthermore, we use numerical analysis to modify the passively Q-switched Yb:YAG ring laser rate equation with FDTD (finite difference time domain) method. The simulated repetition rate, pulse width and peak power were compared to the experimental results in order to optimaize laser performance.

The synchronously pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on was periodically poled 5-mol.% MgO-doped lithuium niobate was demonstrated by means of non-critical quasi phase matching. The femtosecond OPO is cable of operating at room temperature and shows no photorefractive damage. The spectrum can be tuned by varying the cavity length up to 70 £gm, the temperature of the nonlinear crystal from room temperature to 150¢J, and the grating periods. The cavity was designed to resonate at 1.33 £gm with bandwidth of 100 nm. The maximum output intensity of the signal is 43 mW with TEM00 mode. The signal slope efficiency is 11%. The spectrum range of the idler is tunable from 1.8 to 2.8 £gm.

In this work present the broad-band noise structure in the 2-60 keV data of Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) with Anomalous X-Ray Pulsars (AXPs) and Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGRs). We analyzed Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) PCA data and derived time series from 27 CVs, 4 AXPs and 1 SGR using the RXTE archive. In general, CVs of different types all show broad band noise which can be fitted with power laws, using exponentional cut-offs, and Lorentzians in a similar way to power spectral (noise) characteristics of X-ray Binaries (XRBs). In general terms the power spectra show a power law index of (-)1.2-2. A rather large scale flattening of the power spectra exits in nonmagnetic systems in the low to very low frequency range. We observe that in low and high states/outbursts the noise in the high frequency range and low frequency range is changed. CVs show considerably low frequency noise. In addition, we recovered several possible QPOs in the X-ray wavelengths from CVs mainly from Intermediate Polar systems. AXP and SGR sources which are thought to be powered by either magnetic decay or accretion show band limited noise in their low frequencies. We also correlated their equal time interval noise characteristic with their burst states and discovered that in the two AXPs (1E 2259+586, 1E 1048.1-5937) noise correlates with their bursts.

This thesis aims the design and the realization of a radio noise meter which can be used to measure radio interference of a high-voltage transmission line due to partial discharges like conductor corona. The radio noise meter is the common equipment for radio noise and radio interference voltage measurements. The corona of transmission lines, its characteristics, its effects on radio interference and measurement of corona caused radio noise in the scope of relevant international standards are investigated. A radio noise meter fed by a monopole antenna, centered to 1 MHz with a bandwidth of 4.5 KHz and using a Quasi-Peak detector having 1 ms charge time and 600 ms discharge time is realized. The conductor corona from the radio interference point of view is observed, measured and analyzed with the help of the realized radio noise meter.

The purpose of this study is to develop a solid-state blue laser which has advantages of high power, short wavelength, and compact. It can be applied in micromaching, LIDAR, underwater ranging, biochemical techniques, and so forth. We increased the peak power of the laser effectively by a low-cost, small, and easy-use passive Q-switching technique. In addition, intracavity frequency-doubling is an economic way to achieve non-linear frequency conversion for blue generation. By integrating of these two techniques, we develop a compact all solid-state high-power blue laser with 83 W peak power at 473 nm. Restricted to reabsorption loss, the optical to optical conversion efficiency of 4F3/2 ¡÷ 4I9/2 quasi-three-level laser is lower than 4F3/2 ¡÷ 4I11/2 four-level laser for Nd:YAG crystal. The reabsorption loss will change with the temperature variation of the gain medium, it enormously affects to the performance and stability of quasi-three-level lasers. Therefore, in addition to make systematic studies of the conversion efficiency of KNbO3, BBO, LBO as the intracavity SHG crystals for generation of high-power blue laser, we use the numerical analysis to investigate the influence of reabsorption loss to quasi-three-level passive Q-switching laser. At present, blue laser with peak power of 83 W and pulse width of 10.6 ns was generated as a result. To our knowledge, the compact all solid-state high-power pulsed blue laser is demonstrated for the first time by integrating of passive Q-switching and intracavity frequency-doubling simultaneously.

We will study the solution stability of a parametric quasi-variational inequality without the monotonicity assumption of operators. By using the degree theory and the natural map we show that under certain conditions, the solution map of the problem is lower semi-continuous with respect to parameters.