Thesis advisor: Krzysztof Kempa / Though nature provides a plethora of materials to work with, their properties are very much restricted, forcing severe limitations on the devices that are built from them. A huge portion of current technology stands to be significantly advanced and even revolutionized by the emergence of a new class of “configurable” materials. This class, generally referred to as metamaterials, has become more feasible than ever due to advancements in nanotechnology and fabrication techniques. Notable among nature’s limitations is an ever-positive index of refraction. This barrier has only recently been broken, and the known paths to negative refraction are few and limited. This paper introduces two distinct three-dimensional crystals capable of all-angle negative refraction. One uses the familiar photonic band, while the other is the first of its kind to rely on polaritonic waves. Their mode structures are examined and a set of parameters are chosen at which a negative effective index of refraction can be harnessed for unrestricted sub-wavelength lensing, demonstrated via numerical simulation. This work is expected to enable experimental observation of polaritonic negative refraction and sub-wavelength lensing at microwave frequencies. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Physics.

O presente trabalho pretende demonstrar que a pseudotradução (compreendida como a apresentação de um texto ficcional original como se fosse uma tradução de um original que não existe) e a autorrefração (ou seja, a recriação, pelo próprio autor, de um texto seu em outro contexto, formato ou forma literária) são elementos centrais para a poderosa ilusão de profundidade cultural conjurada pela obra de J.R.R. Tolkien. Ao apresentar uma elaborada moldura metanarrativa, que postula a existência de manuscritos antigos, longas cadeias de transmissão e adaptação de textos e múltiplos idiomas nos quais essa transmissão se dá, Tolkien dá um passo crucial para aproximar sua obra das mitologias reais. / This dissertation aims to show that pseudotranslation (defined as the presentation of an original, fictional text as a translation of a foreign text that does not actually exist) and self-refraction (that is, the recreation, by the author himself, of one of his texts in a different cultural context, format or literary form) are key elements for the powerful illusion of cultural depth conjured up by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. By presenting an elaborate metanarrative framework and postulating the existence of ancient manuscripts, long chains of cultural transmission and adaptation and multiple languages in which such transmission occurs, Tolkien takes a crucial step to bring his works to the same level of real mythologies.

Lo Peng-iok. / Includes questionnaire in Chinese. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-58). / List of tables --- p.V / List of figures --- p.VIII / List of abbreviations --- p.IX / Acknowledgments --- p.X / Abstract --- p.XI / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature review --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1 --- The history of myopia --- p.3 / Chapter 2.2 --- The epidemiological study of myopia --- p.4 / Chapter 2.3 --- The relationship between myopia and optical components --- p.7 / Chapter 2.4 --- The classification of myopia --- p.9 / Chapter 2.5 --- Myopia and blindness --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Material and methods --- p.13 / Chapter 3.1 --- Material --- p.13 / Chapter 3.2 --- Methods --- p.14 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Questionnaire --- p.14 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Eye examination --- p.15 / Chapter I). --- Autorefraction --- p.15 / Chapter II). --- Keratometry --- p.16 / Chapter III). --- Opthalmoscopy --- p.16 / Chapter IV). --- A-scan Biometry --- p.16 / Chapter V). --- Tonometry --- p.17 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Data analysis --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Results --- p.19 / Chapter 4.1 --- The distribution of refraction --- p.19 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- The distribution of refraction among 2150 eyes of 1075 students --- p.19 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- The distribution of refraction (right eye) by sex and age --- p.20 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- The distribution of refraction (right eye) by faculty --- p.21 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- The astigmatism among 1075 freshmen --- p.22 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- The anisometropia and isometropia among 1075 freshmen --- p.22 / Chapter 4.2 --- Relationship between the ocular refraction and its optical components --- p.23 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- The results of keratometry and A-scan ultrasound measurements --- p.24 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- The distribution of the ocular components --- p.24 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- The association between the refraction and optical components --- p.25 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- The association between various optical components --- p.27 / Chapter 4.2.5 --- The association between the myopia and optical components --- p.28 / Chapter 4.3 --- "Relationship between refraction and corrected visual acuity, fundus changes and intraocular pressure" --- p.30 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- The association between refraction and corrected visual acuity --- p.30 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- The association between refraction and fundus changes --- p.31 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- The association between refraction and intraocular pressure --- p.32 / Chapter 4.4 --- Relationship between myopia and environmental factors --- p.32 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Present myopia in relation to age at onset of myopia --- p.33 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- The Influence of nearwork on myopia in freshmen --- p.34 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- The Influence of sports on myopia in freshmen --- p.35 / Chapter 4.4.4 --- The influence of achievement on myopia --- p.36 / Chapter 4.4.5 --- "The influence of time spent in front of TV set and computer, sleeping habit on myopia" --- p.36 / Chapter 4.5 --- The relationship between myopia and family background --- p.37 / Chapter 4.5.1 --- The relation between myopia and parents' refractive status --- p.37 / Chapter 4.5.2 --- The relation between myopia and parents' education level --- p.38 / Chapter 4.5.3 --- The relation between myopia and family income --- p.38 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Discussion --- p.40 / Chapter 5.1 --- The high prevalence and high degree of myopia in Hong Kong Chinese students --- p.40 / Chapter 5.2 --- The relationship between refraction and its optical components in Hong Kong Chinese students --- p.43 / Chapter 5.3 --- The relationship between myopia and age at onset of myopia in Hong Kong Chinese students --- p.46 / Chapter 5.4 --- The relationship between myopia and environmental factors in Hong Kong Chinese students --- p.48 / References --- p.51 / Tables --- p.59 / Figures --- p.93 / Chapter Appendix I --- Questionnaire --- p.106 / Chapter Appendix II --- An English translation of the questionnaire --- p.110

Submitted by Erika Demachki (erikademachki@gmail.com) on 2017-01-18T17:18:27Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Manoel Nunes do Couto Guimarães Netto - 2015.pdf: 3304345 bytes, checksum: 6658f1e5ce8722a60b6a72643fe52440 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-01-19T10:35:49Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Manoel Nunes do Couto Guimarães Netto - 2015.pdf: 3304345 bytes, checksum: 6658f1e5ce8722a60b6a72643fe52440 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-19T10:35:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Manoel Nunes do Couto Guimarães Netto - 2015.pdf: 3304345 bytes, checksum: 6658f1e5ce8722a60b6a72643fe52440 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-27 / During high school optical geometry's studies, teachers of physics imagine that their students have complete knowledge about basic concepts of plane geometry. So, Brazilian high school physics' books do not use mathematical full explanations. Many times these explanations are not known even by the high school teachers themselves. This is one of the reasons responsible for optics' lack of teaching skills in Brazilian educational system. To try to improve optical geometry teaching skills, this work proposes a mathematical theory applied to optics. To do that, this paper will detail basic concepts and theoretical explanations about mathematics. In resume, through our research, high school students would learn optical geometry without necessity to memorize physics' formulas / No Ensino Médio, quando se estuda a óptica geométrica, os professores de Física partem do pressuposto de que os alunos têm conhecimento e domínio dos conceitos básicos de geometria plana. Sendo assim, os livros de Física brasileiros não se prendem às demonstrações matemáticas. E esta é uma das razões pelas falhas no ensino da óptica no sistema Educacional Brasileiro. Muitas vezes essas demonstrações não são conhecidas nem mesmo pelos próprios professores, o que acreditamos ser uma das causas que dificulta o processo de ensino-aprendizagem da referida disciplina. Para tentar melhorar a aprendizagem no ensino, da óptica geométrica, este trabalho propõe aplicações para a óptica na teoria matemática. Para que isso aconteça, esta dissertação vem detalhar conceitos básicos e explanações sobre Matemática. Em resumo, para alcançar o objetivo, os alunos devem aprender óptica geométrica sem a necessidade de decorar fórmulas.

Dryland salinity occurs extensively throughout the Spicers Creek Catchment in central west New South Wales, Australia. The extent of dryland salinity in the Spicers Creek Catchment has severely altered the landscape, having major environmental implication. Large area of the catchments has experienced soil erosion resulting from the saline groundwater in the surface soil causing the destruction of clay and soil structure. The objective of this study was to use seismic refraction methods to map in detail a shear zone, which was associated with an area of major dryland salination. In particular, both the width of shear zone and the rock fabric within it were to be mapped with two both compressional (P) and shear (S) waves using a three-dimensional (3D) array of three- component (3C) receivers. The seismic data was recorded across a shear zone which is associated with salination in the Spicers Creek Catchment using the Australian National Seismic Imaging Resources (ANSIR) 360-trace system. Three-component (3C) geophones were used to record shear waves as well as compressional wave. An IVI minivibrator T-15000 was used as the main source of energy for the seismic survey. The results of the three-dimensional three-component seismic refraction surveys at the Spicers Creek Catchment show that the shear zone exhibit the seismic geophysical anomaly of a shear zone, existing as a narrow region with low seismic velocities and increased depth of weathering. A detailed analysis of the refractor seismic velocities and amplitude show a number of linear features parallel to and cross-cutting the shear zone. Linear features cut the shear zones at each site. They have been interpreted as a series of recent faults which act as discharge zone bringing saline groundwater to the surface.

Purpose: To study ???on??? and ???off-axis??? wavefront aberration of eyes of children and to determine the relationship with refractive error development. Methods: On and off-axis ocular aberrations of cyclopleged eyes of children (mostly 12 year olds) were measured and compared to data obtained from a group of mostly 6 year old children. Only data from the right eyes were analysed (pupil diameter=5 mm) and categorised into refractive error groups based on ???M???. Differences in ???on??? and ???off-axis??? aberrations between refractive and ethnic groups were analysed using univariate and multivariate analyses of variance with adjustment for multiple comparisons. Off-axis refraction was analysed using skiagrams and mean relative spherical equivalent. Results: Data from 1,636 12 year old children (mean age 12.6 ?? 0.4 years) was analysed. Lower order aberrations were the largest and higher order aberrations contributed to only 25% of the wavefront. There were no differences in the amount of total higher orders between refractive groups. Of the individual higher orders, spherical aberration was greater in hyperopic eyes (0.07 ?? 0.06 ??m) in comparison to emmetropic and myopic eyes (0.05 ?? 0.04 ??m and 0.05 ?? 0.04 ??m) (p<0.001). Myopic eyes had more positive values of Z(3,-1) (p<0.05). Similar results were obtained for the 1,364 6 year old children (mean age 6.7 ??? 0.4 years). Despite East Asian children being more myopic than other ethnic groups (p<0.01), there were no differences in higher orders except for low hyperopic East Asian eyes presenting with higher levels of positive spherical aberrations (p<0.001). When compared to the fovea, off-axis myopic eyes had hyperopia (0.55 to 1.66 D) and emmetropes and hyperopes had myopia (0.10 to -2.00 D). Astigmatism and defocus were the dominant off-axis aberrations. The magnitude of higher order aberrations (mostly 3rd orders) increased with eccentricity but was similar across refractive error groups. Conclusions: Myopic eyes do not have abnormal or excessive levels of on and off-axis higher order aberrations but had patterns of off-axis refraction that may be associated with progression. Considerable inter-subject variability in higher order aberrations was seen for all refractive groups. However, their magnitude was small and suggests that any impact on the optical quality of the eye is negligible.

Deep troughs and ridges of the Arctic Basin are some of the least known features of the Earth's crust. Some of the ridges, eg. Chukchi and Nordwind, are connected directly to the continental shelves and are certainly submarine promontories of the latter. The character of the Lomonosov Ridge as a narrow slice of continental crust that separated from the Eurasian margin in the early Cenozoic (by opening of the Eurasian Basin), is not in doubt. Recent drilling (ACEX) and piston coring have confirmed this interpretation. However there are many other ridges and some of the troughs that are of uncertain origin. Seismic research in combination with potential field data over the East-Siberian margin, Podvodnikov and Makarov basins and the Mendeleev Ridge, presented here, provides a framework for understanding this enigmatic part of the Earth. The constrained models of the crust illustrate their structure. The crust beneath the East Siberian margin is up to 40 km thick; it thins to about 20 km towards to the Podvodnikov Basin. The models over the Arlis Gap, in the middle of the Podvodnikov Basin, and the Mendeleev Ridge have shown that the crust beneath both these features is anomalously thick (up to 28–32 km) and has a velocity structure that suggests the presence of highly attenuated continental crust. The crustal thickness over the Makarov Basin varies from 8 km to 15 km. Reflection profiles provide evidence of the character and thickness of the sedimentary cover (mostly Cenozoic and late Mesozoic), both on the ridges and beneath the troughs. Presented here is evidence that some of the ridges (eg. Marvin Spur) appear to be fragments of continental crust rifted off the Lomonosov Ridge (with a similar, unconformable Cenozoic cover); however, they gently plunge into and beneath troughs (eg. Makarov Basin). Reflection seismic data collected by the HOTRAX expedition in 2005 over the central part of the Lomonosov Ridge illustrate the sedimentary structure on the top of the Ridge and in an internal basin. The main sedimentary units can be interpreted by correlation with the ACEX results. The major fault separating the surrounding ridges from the internal basin appears to have a roll over anticline in the hanging wall, suggesting that the basin was created by a growth fault. The seismic lines provide evidence of gently folded basement beneath the Lomonosov Ridge with intra basement reflections are usually parallel to the upper surfaces; in combination with velocities (c. 4–5 km/s), these suggest the presence of old well-consolidated sediments.

Novel wave phenomena in two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) phononic crystals were investigated experimentally using ultrasonic techniques. Resonant tunneling of ultrasonic waves was successfully observed for the first time by measuring the transmission of ultrasound pulses through a double barrier consisting of two 3D phononic crystals separated by a cavity. This effect is the classical analogue of resonant tunneling of a quantum mechanical particle through a double potential barrier, in which transmission reaches unity at resonant frequencies. For phononic crystals, the tunneling peak was found to be less than unity, an effect that was explained by absorption. The dynamics of resonant tunneling was explored by measuring the group velocities of the ultrasonic pulses. Very slow and very fast velocities were found at frequencies close to and at the resonance, respectively. These extreme values are less than the speed of sound in air and greater than the speed of sound in any of the crystal’s constituent materials. Negative refraction and focusing effects in 2D phononic crystals were also observed. Negative refraction of ultrasound was demonstrated unambiguously in a prism-shaped 2D crystal at frequencies in the 2nd pass band where the wave vector and group velocity are opposite. The Multiple Scattering Theory and Snell’s law allowed theoretical predictions of the refraction angles. Excellent agreement was found between theory and experiment. The negative refraction experiments revealed a mechanism that can be used to focus ultrasound using a flat phononic crystal, and experiments to demonstrate the focusing of ultrasound emitted by several point sources were successfully carried out. The importance of using phononic crystals with circular equifrequency contours, as well as matching the size of the contours inside and outside the crystal, was established. Both conditions were satisfied by a flat phononic crystal of steel rods, in which the liquid inside the crystal (methanol) was different from the outside medium (water). The possibility of achieving subwavelength resolution using this phononic crystal was investigated with a subwavelength line source (a miniature strip-shaped transducer, approximately lambda/5 wide, where lambda is sound wavelength in water). A resolution of 0.55lambda was found, which is just above the diffraction limit lambda/2. / October 2007

Presented in this thesis are two studies that apply nondestructive testing methods to civil engineering problems. The first study examines the relationship between the small-strain and large-strain properties of exhumed cast iron water pipes. Nondestructive and destructive testing programs were performed on eight pipes varying in age from 40 to 130 years. New applications of frequency domain analysis techniques including Fourier and wavelet transforms of ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements are presented. The effects of Lamb wave propagation on the ultrasonic testing results are investigated. Microstructure evaluation revealed two different types of cast iron within the pipes sampled: grey cast iron and ductile iron. A low correlation between wave propagation and large-strain measurements was observed. However, the wave velocities were consistently different between ductile and grey cast iron pipes (14% to 18% difference). Lamb waves were found to contribute significantly to the frequency content of the ultrasonic signals possibly resulting in the poor correlations observed. Therefore, correlations between wave velocities and large strain properties obtained using samples from exhumed water pipes must be used with caution in the condition assessment of aged water pipes especially for grey cast iron pipes. The second study presented in this thesis was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of three geophysical methods for geotechnical site characterization in swamps and environmentally sensitive wetland areas. The geophysical methods evaluated were electrical resistivity imaging (ERI), seismic refraction (SR), and multiple-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW). The geophysical test results were verified against the results from borehole and CPT logs. The ERI results were best for determining the depth to the glacial till. The SR results overestimated the depth to the till because of the presence of a stiffness reversal. The MASW results predicted the depth to the refusal till layer less accurately than the ERI method. However, this method was able to detect the three distinct layers above the till. These methods can be used as a basis for further development to optimize a procedure to reduce the number of boreholes required for conventional site investigations in areas that are environmentally sensitive or where access is restricted.

The problem is effect of electromagnetic wave. When electromagnetic wave obliquely transmitted through two different medias ,electromagnetic wave undergoes reflection and refraction at the interface and inside the media. Computation of electromagnetic wave is well known by Maxwell`s equation. There are two cases solving questions. One is constant of £g¡B£`¡B£m.Another is variable of £g¡B£`¡B£m. In case one, use D`Alembertian equation and Helmholtz equation transforming Maxwell`s equation. And solve by ILHI`s(incomplete Lips-chitz-Hankel integrals) and FFT(fast Fourier transform). In case two,if £g¡B£`¡B£m are variables ,we can simplify Maxwell`s equation. It is similar to wave equation with source. We use Finite Element Method(FEM) getting Numerical solution by setting absorbing boundary and mesh. Using results by ILHI`s would get exact solution obliquely incident on two medias. Proof numerical solution by exact solution.