abstract: Public Mathematics Education is not at its best in the United States and technology is often seen as part of the solution to address this issue. With the existence of high-speed Internet, mobile technologies, ever-improving computer programming and graphing, the concepts of learning management systems (LMS’s) and online learning environments (OLE’s), technology-based learning has elevated to a whole new level. The new generation of online learning enables multi-modal utilization, and, interactivity with instant feedback, among the other precious characteristics identified in this study. The studies that evaluated the effects of online learning often measured the immediate impacts on student achievement; there are very few studies that have investigated the longer-term effects in addition to the short term ones. In this study, the effects of the new generation Online Learning Activity Based (OLAB) Curriculum on middle school students’ achievement in mathematics at the statewide high-stakes testing system were examined. The results pointed out that the treatment group performed better than the control group in the short term (immediately after the intervention), medium term (one year after the intervention), and long term (two years after the intervention) and that the results were statistically significant in the short and long terms. Within the context of this study, the researcher also examined some of the factors affecting student achievement while using the OLE as a supplemental resource, namely, the time and frequency of usage, professional development of the facilitators, modes of instruction, and fidelity of implementation. While the researcher detected positive correlations between all of the variables and student achievement, he observed that school culture is indeed a major feature creating the difference attributed to the treatment group teachers. The researcher discovered that among the treatment group teachers, the ones who spent more time on professional development, used the OLE with greater fidelity and attained greater gains in student achievement and interestingly they came from the same schools. This verified the importance of school culture in teachers’ attitudes toward making the most of the resources made available to them so as to achieve better results in terms of student success in high stakes tests. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Curriculum and Instruction 2016

abstract: Fingerprints have been widely used as a practical method of biometrics authentication or identification with a significant level of security. However, several spoofing methods have been used in the last few years to bypass fingerprint scanners, thus compromising data security. The most common attacks occur by the use of fake fingerprint during image capturing. Imposters can build a fake fingerprint from a latent fingerprint left on items such as glasses, doorknobs, glossy paper, etc. Current mobile fingerprint scanning technology is incapable of differentiating real from artificial fingers made from gelatin molds and other materials. In this work, the adequacy of terahertz imaging was studied as an alternative fingerprint scanning technique that will enhance biometrics security by identifying superficial skin traits. Terahertz waves (0.1 – 10 THz) are a non-ionizing radiation with significant penetration depth in several non-metallic materials. Several finger skin features, such as valley depth and sweat ducts, can possibly be imaged by employing the necessary imaging topology. As such, two imaging approaches 1) using quasi-optical components and 2) using near-field probing were investigated. The numerical study is accomplished using a commercial Finite Element Method tool (ANSYS, HFSS) and several laboratory experiments are conducted to evaluate the imaging performance of the topologies. The study has shown that terahertz waves can provide high spatial resolution images of the skin undulations (valleys and ridges) and under certain conditions identify the sweat duct pattern. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2017

abstract: Charles-Valentin Alkan’s Grande Sonate Op. 33 ‘Les quatre âges’ is a unique four-movement work for piano solo that programmatically represents a man’s life through four decades, passing from age 20 to 50, with each movement being progressively slower than the previous. Published in 1847, it was destined for obscurity until it was rediscovered and premiered in 1973 by English pianist Ronald Smith. Its absence from the public’s reach can be attributed to multiple reasons including the reclusive nature of the composer during the time of composition and the societal issues surrounding the French Revolution of 1848. Much of Alkan’s music has a reputation for being nearly unplayable because of its complexity and the extremely high level of technical facility a pianist must possess in order to perform it convincingly. Aside from its performance length of nearly an hour, there are many technical issues that prevent Alkan’s Grande Sonate from being performed more frequently. This paper is an exploration of some of these performance and technical issues for consideration by pianists interested in solving the riddle of performing Alkan’s Grande Sonate. The findings explored are based in part on the author’s experience in performing the complete Grande Sonate in recital, as well as on extant research into Alkan’s life and the interpretation and performance of his works. The paper concludes with an appendix and link to the author’s live performance of the work, another appendix renotating the fugato from Quasi-Faust, and a third appendix providing extensive fingering and voice redistribution for Les enfans [sic] from 40 ans. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2018

La surveillance de la santé foetale permet aux cliniciens d’évaluer le bien-être du foetus,de faire une détection précoce des anomalies cardiaques foetales et de fournir les traitementsappropriés. Les développements technologies actuels visent à permettre la mesurede l’électrocardiogramme (ECG) foetal de façon non-invasive afin d’extraire non seulementle rythme cardiaque mais également la forme d’onde du signal. Cet objectif est rendudifficile par le faible rapport signal sur bruit des signaux mesurés sur l’abdomen maternel.Cette mesure est donc toujours un challenge auquel se confrontent beaucoup d’études quiproposent des solutions de traitement de signal basées sur la seule modalité ECG.Le but de cette thèse est d’utiliser la modélisation des processus Gaussiens pour améliorerl’extraction des signaux cardiaques foetaux, dans une base multi-modale. L’ECG est utiliséconjointement avec le signal Phonocardiogramme (PCG) qui peut apporter une informationcomplémentaire à l’ECG. Une méthode générale pour la modélisation des signauxquasi-périodiques est présentée avec l’application au débruitage de l’ECG et à l’extractionde l’ECG du foetus. Différents aspects de la multi-modalité (synchronisation, · · · ) proposéesont étudiées afin de détecter avec plus de robustesse les battements cardiaques foetaux.La méthode considère l’application sur les signaux ECG et PCG à travers deux aspects:l’aspect du traitement du signal et l’expérimental. La modélisation des processus Gaussien,avec le signal PCG pris comme la référence, est utilisée pour extraire des modèles flexibleset des estimations non linéaires de l’information. La méthode cherche également à faciliterla mise en oeuvre pratique en utilisant un codage 1-bit des signaux de référence.Le modèle proposé est validé sur des signaux synthétiques et également sur des donnéespréliminaires réelles qui ont été enregistrées afin d’amorcer la constitution d’une base dedonnées multi-modale synchronisée. Les premiers résultats montrent que la méthode permettraà terme aux cliniciens d’étudier les battements cardiaques ainsi que la morphologiede l’ECG. Ce dernier aspect était jusqu’à présent limité à l’analyse d’enregistrements ECGinvasifs prélevés pendant l’accouchement par le biais d’électrodes posées sur le scalp dufoetus. / Fetal health must be carefully monitored during pregnancy to detect early fetal cardiac diseases, and provide appropriate treatment. Technological development allows a monitoring during pregnancy using the non-invasive fetal electrocardiogram (ECG). Noninvasive fetal ECG is a method not only to detect fetal heart rate, but also to analyze the morphology of fetal ECG, which is now limited to analysis of the invasive ECG during delivery. However, the noninvasive fetal ECG recorded from the mother's abdomen is contaminated with several noise sources among which the maternal ECG is the most prominent.In the present study, the problem of noninvasive fetal ECG extraction is tackled using multi-modality. Beside ECG signal, this approach benefits from the Phonocardiogram (PCG) signal as another signal modality, which can provide complementary information about the fetal ECG.A general method for quasi-periodic signal analysis and modeling is first described and its application to ECG denoising and fetal ECG extraction is explained. Considering the difficulties caused by the synchronization of the two modalities, the event detection in the quasi-periodic signals is also studied which can be specified to the detection of the R-peaks in the ECG signal.The method considers both clinical and signal processing aspects of the application on ECG and PCG signals. These signals are introduced and their characteristics are explained. Then, using PCG signal as the reference, the Gaussian process modeling is employed to provide the possibility of flexible models as nonlinear estimations. The method also tries to facilitate the practical implementation of the device by using the less possible number of channels and also by using only 1-bit reference signal.The method is tested on synthetic data and also on real data that is recorded to provide a synchronous multi-modal data set.Since a standard agreement for the acquisition of these modalities is not yet taken into much consideration, the factors which influence the signals in recording procedure are introduced and their difficulties and effects are investigated.The results show that the multi-modal approach is efficient in the detection of R-peaks and so in the extraction of fetal heart rate, and it also provides the results about the morphology of fetal ECG.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:50:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:02:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 00768.pdf: 4150056 bytes, checksum: 8e8c0f1f3b65b77306c6aeb1ee8f3508 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IEA/D / Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de Sao Paulo - IF/USP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:29:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:02:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 01032.pdf: 1405030 bytes, checksum: be50182a4c29820e8d8f7a3f6afeed37 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:30:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:06:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 01404.pdf: 2579767 bytes, checksum: 1ae768daf66388df1c47e6bc6a1e4a56 (MD5) / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:11:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 533308 bytes, checksum: a99c51f4120b595bd31262696be2a428 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation examines two of the results of da Costa in order to show its usefulness to the philosophy and to point out possible philosophical developments. At first, It examines the paraconsistent logic, both from the historical and technical point of view as well as some of its developments. Next, it examines the theory of quasi-truth. Finally, it is proposed uses of these developments in philosophy, trying to show tricks in the philosophy of science and metaphysics. / O presente trabalho examina dois dos resultados de da Costa a fim de mostrar sua utilidade para a filosofia e apontar possíveis desenvolvimentos filosóficos. Examina-se, em primeiro lugar, a lógica paraconsistente, tanto do ponto de vista histórico e técnico, quanto alguns de seus desenvolvimentos; depois examina-se a teoria da quase-verdade. Por fim, propõe-se usos desses desenvolvimentos na filosofia, buscando mostrar caminhos em filosofia da ciência e metafísica.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:14:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CarlosAAA_TESE.pdf: 1802680 bytes, checksum: 89f89876081eff2b7412d1b633210e6c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-03 / In this work, we present a theoretical study of the propagation of electromagnetic waves in multilayer structures called Photonic Crystals. For this purpose, we investigate the phonon-polariton band gaps in periodic and quasi-periodic (Fibonacci-type) multilayers made up of both positive and negative refractive index materials in the terahertz (THz) region. The behavior of the polaritonic band gaps as a function of the multilayer period is investigated systematically. We use a theoretical model based on the formalism of transfer matrix in order to simplify the algebra involved in obtaining the dispersion relation of phonon-polaritons (bulk and surface modes). We also present a quantitative analysis of the results, pointing out the distribution of the allowed polaritonic bandwidths for high Fibonacci generations, which gives good insight about their localization and power laws. We calculate the emittance spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation, in THZ frequency, normally and obliquely incident (s and p polarized modes) on a one-dimensional multilayer structure composed of positive and negative refractive index materials organized periodically and quasi-periodically. We model the negative refractive index material by a effective medium whose electric permittivity is characterized by a phonon-polariton frequency dependent dielectric function, while for the magnetic permeability we have a Drude like frequency-dependent function. Similarity to the one-dimensional photonic crystal, this layered effective medium, called polaritonic Crystals, allow us the control of the electromagnetic propagation, generating regions named polaritonic bandgap. The emittance spectra are determined by means of a well known theoretical model based on Kirchoff s second law, together with a transfer matrix formalism. Our results shows that the omnidirectional band gaps will appear in the THz regime, in a well defined interval, that are independent of polarization in periodic case as well as in quasiperiodic case / Neste trabalho, apresentamos um estudo te?rico da propaga??o das ondas eletromagn?ticas em estruturas de multicamadas denominadas de Cristais Fot?nicos. Para este fim, investigamos os band gaps dos polaritons de fonons em multicamadas peri?dicas e quasi-peri?dica (tipo Fibonacci), compostas por dois materiais com ?ndices de refra??o positivo e negativo na regi?o de terahertz (THZ). O comportamento dos band gaps polarit?nicos como uma fun??o do per?odo da multicamada ? investigado sistematicamente. Utilizamos um modelo te?rico baseado no formalismo da matriz de transfer?ncia com o objetivo de simplificar a ?lgebra envolvida na obten??o da rela??o de dispers?o dos polaritons de fonons (modos de volume e superf?cie). Tamb?m, apresentamos uma an?lise quantitativa dos resultados, apontando para a distribui??o das larguras das bandas polarit?nicas permitidas para altas gera??es de Fibonacci, que nos d? uma boa compreens?o sobre sua localiza??o e leis de pot?ncia. Calculamos o espectro de emit?ncia da radia??o eletromagn?tica, na frequ?ncia de THz, incidente normalmente e obliquamente (modos polarizados s e p) sobre uma estrutura unidimensional de multicamadas composta por materiais com ?ndices de refra??o positivo e negativo organizados periodicamente e quasi-periodicamente. Modelamos o material com ?ndice de refra??o negativo por um meio efetivo cuja permissividade ? caracterizada por uma fun??o diel?trica dependente da frequ?ncia do polariton de fonon, enquanto para a permeabilidade magn?tica temos uma fun??o tipo Drude dependente da frequ?ncia. Semelhante ao cristal fot?nico unidimensional, este meio efetivo em camadas, chamado cristal polarit?nico, nos permite o controle da propaga??o electromagn?tica, gerando regi?es denominadas de bang gaps polarit?nicos. Os espectros de emit?ncia s?o determinados por meio de um modelo te?rico bem conhecido baseado na segunda lei de Kirchoff, juntamente com o formalismo da matriz de transfer?ncia. Nossos resultados mostram que aparecem bang gaps ominidirecionais no regime de THz, num intervalo bem definido, que s?o independentes da polariza??o no caso peri?dico bem como no caso quasi-peri?dico

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2017-03-14T22:09:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 EversonFrazaoDaSilva_DISSERT.pdf: 2057443 bytes, checksum: df06b15353c2425944df3091dd1ca916 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-03-16T00:25:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 EversonFrazaoDaSilva_DISSERT.pdf: 2057443 bytes, checksum: df06b15353c2425944df3091dd1ca916 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-16T00:25:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EversonFrazaoDaSilva_DISSERT.pdf: 2057443 bytes, checksum: df06b15353c2425944df3091dd1ca916 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-26 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico (CNPq) / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES) / A riqueza das propriedades ?pticas e eletr?nicas do grafeno tem atra?do um enorme interesse. O grafeno tem alta mobilidade e transpar?ncia ?ptica, al?m da flexibilidade, robustez e estabilidade. At? recentemente, o foco principal tem sido a f?sica fundamental e a f?sica dos dispositivos eletr?nicos. No entanto, acreditamos que o verdadeiro potencial dos grafenos encontra-se na fot?nica e na optoeletr?nica, onde a combina??o das suas propriedades ?pticas e electr?nicas s?o ?nicas e podem ser plenamente exploradas, mesmo na aus?ncia de um ?band gap? eletr?nico. Nesta tese estudamos os espectros de transmissividade ?ptica em multicamadas diel?tricas peri?dicas (cristais fot?nicos) e em multicamadas que obedecem a sequ?ncias quasiperiodicas (quasi-cristais fot?nicos) compostos por grafenos e comparamos nossos resultados com as mesmas estruturas sem grafenos. Deste modo, no primeiro momento calculamos o espectro de transmit?ncia em cristais fot?nicos, formados por alternadas camadas de diel?tricos com permissividades eA e eB, apenas para efeitos comparativos. No segundo momento introduzimos entre os materiais diel?tricos monocamadas de grafeno. Em seguida, estudamos os quasicristais fot?nicos de Fibonacci, com e sem grafenos entres as camadas diel?tricas, que podem ser gerados por uma rela??o de recorr?ncia do tipo: Sj+1 = SjSj-1, onde S0= B e S1=A. Em ambos os casos utilizamos a t?cnica da matriz transfer?ncia para obter os espectros de transmit?ncia. Estudamos ainda uma generaliza??o da estrutura de Fibonacci chamada de quasicristais de Octonacci, onde o en?simo estagio da dessas estrutura de multicamadas (Sn) ? dado pela regra de recorr?ncia Sn = Sn-1 Sn-2Sn-1, com n>2 com S1= A e S2= B. Finalmente, por completeza, estudamos mais uma generaliza??o da sequencia de Fibonacci chamada de Dodecanacci, que pode ser gerada apartir da regra de infla??o: A->AABAA e B->AB. Nossos resultados mostram que todo os espectros ?pticos s?o afetados e seus ?band gaps? ligeiramente transladados para altas freq??ncias. Tamb?m mostramos que as propriedades de fractalidade e auto-similaridade dos espectros s?o mantidas, para altas freq??ncias. Nossos resultados revelam um bom insight para aplica??o em novos dispositivos a base de multicamadas quasiperi?dicas, em vez dos famosos refletores de Bragg.