Thesis (Ph.D.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

Galactic formation models have long sought to reproduce the observed chemical and kinematical properties of the Milky Way's stellar halo and disk. Recently it is the so-called "intermediate population", the stellar thick disk, that is driving advances in our understanding of the formation of spiral galaxies. The thick disk is kinematically more like the thin disk than the halo, for all the thick disk has a velocity dispersion twice that of the thin disk and rotates ~40 km/s more slowly. It is generally accepted that the thick disk's metallicity distribution function peaks at a lower metallicity than the thin disk but at higher metallicity than the halo. The lower bound of the thick disk is still uncertain, as many observational studies have found only a few thick disk candidate stars or clusters that are more metal poor than (Fe/H)=1. Beers et al. (2002) have so far proposed the largest sample of metal poor thick disk candidates, presenting 9 stars at (Fe/H)= -1.2 or lower and 46 more stars at (Fe/H)= -1 or lower, all of which are believed to belong to the thick disk. Beers et al. (2002) present possible thick disk stars as metal poor as (Fe/H)~ -2.5, roughly 1 dex lower than is suggested by current Galactic formation models (Brook et al., 2005). This study is a high-resolution spectroscopic follow-up of 29 of the stars Beers et al. (2002) and Chiba & Beers (2000) identify as potential metal poor members of the thick disk and an additional 40 stars from the cannonical thick disk, halo, and thin disk. None of the very metal-poor stars identified by Beers et al. (2002) can be confirmed as members of the thick disk and many are not metal poor at all. Only two stars more metal poor than (Fe/H)= 1.2 retain their thick disk membership. These two stars exhibit some of the chemical characteristics of the cannonical thick disk: high α-element abundances and a relatively low s--/r-- process element ratio. Also of interest are six stars with thin disk kinematic signatures but thick disk α-element abundances. That only a small number of metal poor thick disk stars could be confirmed in this study indicates that the thick disk is neither as populous nor as metal poor as has been proposed by Beers et al. (2002). / text

When coring thick-barked trees, increment cores often become compressed and jammed inside the narrow region of the borer shaft. These jams can be problematic for two reasons: first, it often leaves the core unusable; second, the jam may be so tightly compressed in the borer that removal is difficult, especially in the field. Although procedures to evacuate these jams are documented in the literature, methods of prevention are not. Here, a modified manual method of increment boring that can reduce the likelihood of jams and, in addition, decrease the number of deformed core samples is described. Traditional and modified boring methods were randomly assigned to 40 Douglas-fir trees (80 cores) at a research site along the Oregon coast. Results show that jams were associated with traditional boring over six times more than with the proposed modified technique.

Despite its recent advent, value at risk (VaR) became the most widely used technique for measuring future expected risk for both financial and non-financial institutions. VaR, the measure of the worst expected loss over a given horizon at a given confidence level, depends crucially on the distributional aspects of trading revenues. Existing VaR models do not capture adequately some empirical aspects of financial data such as the tail thickness, which is vital in VaR calculations. Tail thickness in financial variables results basically from stochastic volatility and event risk (jumps). Those two sources are not totally separated; under event risk, volatility updates faster than under normal market conditions. Generally, tail thickness is associated with hyper volatility updating. Existing VaR literature accounts partially for tail thickness either by including stochastic volatility or by including jump diffusion, but not both. Additionally, this literature does not account for fast updating of volatility associated with tail thickness. This dissertation fills the gap by developing analytical VaR models account for the total (maximum) tail thickness and the associated fast volatility updating. Those aspects are achieved by assuming that trading revenues are evolving according to a mixed non-affine stochastic volatility-jump diffusion process. The mixture of stochastic volatility and jumps diffusion accounts for the maximum tail thickness, whereas the nonaffine structure of stochastic volatility captures the fast volatility updating. The non-affine structure assumes that volatility dynamics are non-linearly related to the square root of current volatility rather than the traditional linear (affine) relationship. VaR estimates are obtained by deriving the conditional characteristic function, and then inverting it numerically via the Fourier Inversion technique to infer the cumulative distribution function. The application of the developed VaR models on a sample that contains six U.S banks during the period 1995-2002 shows that VaR models based on the non-affine stochastic volatility and jump diffusion process produce more reliable VaR estimates compared with the banks' own VaR models. The developed VaR models could significantly predict the losses that those banks incurred during the Russian crisis and the near collapse of the LTCM in 1998 when the banks' VaR models fail.

Os objetivos deste trabalho foram a implantação e a otimização da técnica de sinterização por varredura a laser de filmes espessos, o estudo da cinética do processo e a avaliação das propriedades do composto BaTi0.85Zr0.15O3 (BTZ) sinterizado a laser, em comparação com os filmes sinterizados em forno. Pós nanocristalinos de BTZ foram sintetizados em baixas temperaturas com sucesso pela primeira vez (600ºC), por meio do método dos precursores poliméricos modificado. Foram obtidos pós nanométricos com tamanho de partículas primárias de ~20 nm e com aglomeração controlada, uma inovação para pós de BTZ preparados por rotas químicas. Para a deposição dos filmes, a estabilidade das suspensões de partida foi estudada e filmes espessos com excelente homogeneidade foram depositados utilizando a técnica de eletroforese (EDP). O desenvolvimento da técnica permitiu o controle da espessura do filme a partir dos parâmetros de deposição. A montagem experimental para a sinterização a laser foi otimizada de modo a permitir a sinterização de filmes com dimensões de até 70 mm de comprimento por 10 mm de largura e espessuras variáveis. Os tempos de patamares em cada etapa foram dependentes da velocidade e do número de varreduras. A temperatura máxima que se pode atingir no filme espesso, durante cada varredura e para uma potência nominal do laser fixa, foi correlacionada com a densidade relativa. Os processos térmicos envolvidos durante a varredura a laser atuaram de modo similar á sinterização em duas etapas (two step sintering). Com o intuito de melhorar a densificação dos filmes, passamos a adicionar o composto Bi4Ti3O12 (BIT) (1 e 2 mol %) ao BTZ durante a deposição. A utilização do sistema desenvolvido para a sinterização por varredura a laser em conjunto com o acréscimo do aditivo BIT resultou em uma diminuição no tamanho de grão dos filmes e uma importante diminuição da porosidade aparente. Para a aditivação com 2 mol% de BIT obtivemos filmes de ótima densidade (porosidade aparente de ~4%) e reduzido tamanho de grão (~200 nm), resultado inédito em se tratando de filmes espessos. A sinterização a laser resultou em filmes com maior permissividade dielétrica em relação ao filme sinterizado em forno elétrico. As reações que ocorrem entre o BTZ e o BIT foram exploradas usando conjuntamente as técnicas de espectroscopia de impedância, análise térmica e difratometria de raios-X. / The goals of this work were the implantation and optimization of the technique of sintering by laser scan of thick films, the kinetic study of the process and the evaluation of the physical properties of the laser sintered compound BaTi0.85Zr0.15O3 (BTZ), compared to thick films sintered in conventional furnace. Nanocrystalline powders of BTZ were for the first time, successfully synthesized at low temperatures (600ºC) using the modified polymeric method. Nanometric powders with primaries particles of ~20nm sizes and controlled agglomeration were obtained which was an innovation for BTZ powders prepared by chemical methods. For the films deposition, the suspensions stability was studied and thick films with excellent homogeneity were deposited using the electrophoresis technique (EDP). The developing of the technique allowed the thicknesses control using the deposition parameters. The characteristics of the experimental apparatus were optimized in such a way as to allow the sintering of thick films whose dimensions were up to 70mm in length, 10mm in width and variable thicknesses. The step times in each stage were dependent on the velocity and scan number. The maximum temperature that can be achieved in the thick film, during each scan, and for a fixed rated laser power was correlated with the relative density. The related thermal process during the continuous laser scan acted in a similar way as a two-step sintering. To improve the densification of the films, we started to add the compound Bi4Ti3O12 (BIT) (1 e 2 mol %) to BTZ during the deposition. The utilization of the system developed for the sintering by laser scan alongwith the adding of the BIT resulted in a grain size decrease and a significant decrease in apparent porosity. For the 2mol% additivation we obtained films with excellent density (apparent porosity of ~4%) and reduced grain size (~200nm), which is an unpublished result for thick films. The laser sintering resulted in films with a higher dielectric permittivity in relation to the conventionally sintered film. The reactions between BTZ and BIT were explored using the techniques of impedance spectroscopy, thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction.

Através de polarização potenciostática de eletrodos de ouro policristalino em vários potenciais de polarização, 1,8,...., 2,4 V, ERH, por tempos de ate 72 h, em meios ácido e alcalino, conduz a formação de quatro estados do Óxido, OC1, OC2, OC3 e OC4, distinguíveis, durante o processo de redução pela técnica de voltametria cíclica. O estado quase-bidimensional (OC1) tende a um limite de duas monocamadas, em meio ácido, e penas uma em meio básico, de AuOads, enquanto, o filme espesso (OC2, OC3 e OC4, Au2O3) não atinge qualquer limite de crescimento. Os diagramas de carga catódica total (que mede o crescimento do filme de Óxido) vs log tempo de polarização revelam duas regiões lineares: (a) lenta, abaixa de 1 mC cm-2, (b) rápida, acima de 1 mC cm-2. Este comportamento é atribuído a um novo mecanismo de crescimento do óxido. Durante o crescimento do filme de óxido em altos potenciais anódicos, passando pelo vários estágios identificáveis por voltametria cíclica, pequenas mas significantes mudanças ocorrem na cinética de geração de O2. Os diagramas de Tafel revelam duas regiões lineares para a reação de geração de oxigênio, R.G.O., em meios ácido e alcalino. O mecanismo da R.G.O. é preliminarmente discutido. Finalmente, estudos dos filmes espesso de óxido de ouro foram realizados in situ por elipsometria espectroscópica. Os espectros do filme de óxido na faixa de comprimento de onda entre 300 e 800 nm, nos vários estágios de crescimento foram obtidos. Está mostrado que, ambos, a espessura do filme e o espectro ótico podem ser calculados em cada estágio durante o crescimento do óxido assumindo a existência de um filme fino altamente absorvente, adjacente à superfície do metal, e no topo deste um segundo filme que se assemelha mais a uma forma hidratada do \"Au2O3\". Este último filme atinge espessuras da ordem de várias centenas de A, quando polarizado por até 72 h. / Potentiostatic polarization of polycrystalline Au electrodes at various polarization potentials, 1.8, ..., 2.4 V, RHE, for polarization times up to 72h, in acid and basic solutions, leads to formation of four oxide states, OC1, OC2, OC3 and OC4, distinguished, in reduction, using linear-sweep voltammetry. The quasi-2d state (OC1) tends to the limit of two monolayers in acid solution and one monolayer in basic solution of AuOads, while the quasi-3d state (OC2-OC4, Au2O3) does not reach any limit in its extent. The cathodic total charge log polarization time plots reveal two linear regions: (a) slow, up to 1 mC cm-2, and (b) fast, beyond 1 mC cm-2. This behavior is attributed to a new oxide growth mechanism. During growth of the oxide film at high anodic potentials through the various stages identifiable in cyclic voltammetry, small but significant changes in the kinetics of O2, evolution arise. Tafel slopes for the oxygen evolution reaction, OER, reveal two linear region in acid and alkaline medium. The mechanism of the OER is preliminarily discussed. Finally, studies of the thick anodic oxide films on Au is done in situ by spectroscopic ellipsometry. The spectrum of the oxide film in the wavelength range 300 to 800 nm, at various stages of film growth is obtained. It is shown that both film thickness and optical spectrum can be solved at each stage in oxide growth assuming a highly absorbing thin film adjacent to the metal surface, and, on the top of it, a second film, which is most probably a hydrous form of \"Au2O3\". The latter film reaches thicknesses of severa1 hundreds A&#177 up to 72h of anodization.

Origami, the art of folding paper, was once only an art form. In recent years, it has collided with the world of engineering and is acting as a source of inspiration for solutions to various engineering problems. Paper, the typical material used in the art form, is thin and works well for origami, but is not often suitable for use in engineering. Researchers have developed a handful of methods for accommodating thick/rigid materials in origami design. Most of these preserve only the kinematics of the model or its range of motion. Not only does the offset panel technique (OPT) preserve both the kinematics and the range of motion, it also allows for flexibility in design. This work focuses on the further development of the OPT and its potential to be implemented in real-world applications. The OPT provides design flexibility by allowing for the use of various and multiple materials, the modification of panel geometry, and the utilization of any rigid-foldable origami pattern. These and other capabilities are demonstrated in several application examples.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-124). Also available via the Internet.