<p>In normal image coding the image quality is the same in all parts of the image. When it is known where in the image a single viewer is focusing it is possible to lower the image quality in other parts of the image without lowering the perceived image quality. This master's thesis introduces a coding scheme based on depth perception where the quality of the parts of the image that correspond to out-of-focus scene objects is lowered to obtain data reduction. To obtain further data reduction the method is combined with angular perception coding where the quality is lowered in parts of the image corresponding to the peripheral visual field. It is concluded that depth perception coding can be done without lowering the perceived image quality and that the coding gain increases as the two methods are combined.</p>

<p>High-precision differential cross section data of the neutron-deuteron elastic scattering reaction at 95 MeV are presented. The neutron-proton scattering differential cross section was also measured and used as a reference to allow an accurate absolute normalization of the neutron-deuteron data.</p><p>Two multi-detector arrays were used, MEDLEY and SCANDAL, at the neutron beam facility at The Svedberg Laboratory in Uppsala. Three different configurations of the detectors allowed to perform three independent measurements. The first experiment involved detecting recoil deuterons from thin deuterated polyethylene targets with the MEDLEY setup and allowed a large angular coverage. In the second experiment, high-precision data were obtained at neutron backward angles, using the SCANDAL setup with the same technique. For the third experiment, data were obtained in the forward angular range using the SCANDAL setup with a technique where neutrons scattered on heavy water were detected by neutron-proton conversion in plastic scintillators and tracking the protons through the detectors. Events from elastic neutron-deuteron scattering were identified in the data analysis, and differential cross sections were obtained after applying corrections and evaluating systematic uncertainties due to effects which could affect the shape or the absolute normalization of the data.</p><p>The results are compared with modern Faddeev calculations using realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials combined with three-nucleon interactions. The effects of three-nucleon forces are expected to increase the differential cross section by about 30% in the region of the minimum. The data agree with this prediction, thus providing evidence for three-nucleon force effects.</p>

Graduation date: 2005

Although a tropical cyclone may conceptually be regarded as an axisymmetric vortex, there is substantial evidence that asymmetric dynamics play an important role. In this thesis, dynamical impacts of rotating convective asymmetries are examined in this thesis. Two types of rotating convective asymmetries are considered: rotating eyewall convective maximum which is located in the core region of the storm and spiral bands which are located outside the core. Both of them can be characterized as rotating asymmetric convective heat sources, and they are superimposed on a balanced, axisymmetric vortex to approximate the effect of rotating eyewall convective maximum and spiral bands on tropical cyclone by using a simple nonhydrostatic three-dimensional, but linear model that is based on vortex anelastic equations. The evolution of rotating convective asymmetric heat sources on a balanced, axisymmetric vortex, which is modeled after tropical cyclones, is investigated to examine angular momentum transport by gravity waves that radiate away from the core region. Results show that gravity waves can transport angular momentum away from a tropical cyclone, but a very small amount, which is several orders of magnitude smaller than the estimate by recent studies. The significantly large difference may largely be due to the difference between two-dimensional and three-dimensional adjustment processes. Assuming that the effects of spiral bands on tropical cyclone wind field are caused by the response to diabatic heating in their convection, rotating asymmetric heat sources are constructed to reflect observations of spiral bands. These heat sources are rotated around a realistic but idealized balanced axisymmetric vortex. Simulation results show that the response of tropical cyclone wind field to idealized spiral band heat sources can successfully capture a number of observed well-known features of spiral band circulation, such as overturning secondary circulation, descending mid-level inflow, and cyclonic tangential acceleration. Comparison to full-physics numerical simulations confirms the validity of this method which provides a simple dynamical framework to better understand the impact of spiral bands in tropical cyclone.

NiTiHf alloys have attracted considerable attention as potential high temperature Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) but the instability in transformation temperatures and significant irrecoverable strain during thermal cycling under constant stress remains a major concern. The main reason for irrecoverable strain and change in transformation temperatures as a function of thermal cycling can be attributed to dislocation formation due to relatively large volume change during transformation from austenite to martensite. The formation of dislocations decreases the elastic stored energy, and during back transformation a reduced amount of strain is recovered. All these observations can be attributed to relatively soft lattice that cannot accommodate volume change by other means. We have used Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE), hot rolling and marforming to strengthen the 49.8Ni-42.2Ti-8Hf (in at. %) material and to introduce desired texture to overcome these problems in NiTiHf alloys. ECAE offers the advantage of preserving billet cross-section and the application of various routes, which give us the possibility to introduce various texture components and grain morphologies. ECAE was performed using a die of 90º tool angle and was performed at high temperatures from 500ºC up to 650ºC. All extrusions went well at these temperatures. Minor surface cracks were observed only in the material extruded at 500 °C, possibly due to the non-isothermal nature of the extrusion. It is believed that these surface cracks can be eliminated during isothermal extrusion at this temperature. This result of improved formability of NiTiHf alloy using ECAE is significant because an earlier review of the formability of NiTiHf using 50% rolling reduction concluded that the minimum temperature for rolling NiTi12%Hf alloy without cracks is 700°C. The strain level imposed during one 90° ECAE pass is equivalent to 69% rolling reduction. Subsequent to ECAE processing, a reduction in irrecoverable strain from 0.6% to 0.21% and an increase in transformation strain from 1.25% to 2.18% were observed at a load of 100 MPa as compared to the homogenized material. The present results show that the ECAE process permits the strengthening of the material by work hardening, grain size reduction, homogeneous distribution of fine precipitates, and the introduction of texture in the material. These four factors contribute in the increase of stability of the material. In this thesis I will be discussing the improvement of mechanical behavior and stability of the material achieved after various passes of ECAE.

The present work aims to reveal the microstructural evolution and post-processing mechanical behavior of difficult-to-work alloys upon severe plastic deformation. Severe plastic deformation is applied using equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) where billets are pressed through a 90o corner die achieving simple shear deformation. Three different materials are studied in this research, namely Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-6Al-4V reinforced with 10% TiC and AISI 316L stainless steel. Microstructure and mechanical properties of successfully extruded billets were reported using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), tension and compression experiments and microhardness measurements. The effects of extrusion conditions (temperature and processing route) on the microstructure and mechanical properties are investigated. The underlying mechanisms responsible for observed mechanical behaviors are explored. It is seen that ECAE shear deformation leads to refinement in α plates and elimination of prior β boundaries in Ti-6Al-4V. Decreasing extrusion temperature and increasing number of passes decreases α plate size and grain size. Refined α grain size leads to a significant increase in tensile and compressive flow stresses at room temperature. Texture produced by ECAE has a pronounced effect on mechanical properties. Specifically it leads to tension/compression asymmetry in flow strengths and strain hardening coefficients may be described by the activation of differing slip systems under tension and compression loading. ECAE of Ti-6Al-4V+10%TiC samples also improved mechanical properties due to α plate size refinement. Nevertheless, further extrusion passes should be carried out for tailoring reinforcement size and distribution providing optimum strength and ductility. ECAE deformation of AISI 316L stainless steel at high homologous temperatures (0.55 to 0.60 Tm) results in deformation twinning as an effective deformation mechanism which is attributed to the effect of the high stress levels on the partial dislocation separation. Deformation twinning gives rise to high stress levels during post-processing room temperature tension and compression experiments by providing additional barriers to dislocation motion and decreasing the mean free path of dislocations. The highest tensile flow stress observed in the sample processed at 700 oC following one pass route A was on the order of 1200 MPa which is very high for 316L stainless steel. The ultimate goal of this study is to produce stabilized end microstructures with improved mechanical properties and demonstrate the applicability of ECAE on difficult-to-work alloys.

High-precision differential cross section data of the neutron-deuteron elastic scattering reaction at 95 MeV are presented. The neutron-proton scattering differential cross section was also measured and used as a reference to allow an accurate absolute normalization of the neutron-deuteron data. Two multi-detector arrays were used, MEDLEY and SCANDAL, at the neutron beam facility at The Svedberg Laboratory in Uppsala. Three different configurations of the detectors allowed to perform three independent measurements. The first experiment involved detecting recoil deuterons from thin deuterated polyethylene targets with the MEDLEY setup and allowed a large angular coverage. In the second experiment, high-precision data were obtained at neutron backward angles, using the SCANDAL setup with the same technique. For the third experiment, data were obtained in the forward angular range using the SCANDAL setup with a technique where neutrons scattered on heavy water were detected by neutron-proton conversion in plastic scintillators and tracking the protons through the detectors. Events from elastic neutron-deuteron scattering were identified in the data analysis, and differential cross sections were obtained after applying corrections and evaluating systematic uncertainties due to effects which could affect the shape or the absolute normalization of the data. The results are compared with modern Faddeev calculations using realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials combined with three-nucleon interactions. The effects of three-nucleon forces are expected to increase the differential cross section by about 30% in the region of the minimum. The data agree with this prediction, thus providing evidence for three-nucleon force effects.

Meson production in proton-deuteron collisions has been studied using the WASA detector facility at the CELSIUS storage ring in Uppsala. Data were obtained at two different beam energies, 1360 MeV and 1450 MeV, slightly above threshold for η and ω mesons. The differential cross sections of pd → 3He ω constitute the first measurements of this reaction covering the whole angular range. The ω angular distributions are isotropic at 1360 MeV but have strong forward and backward enhancements at 1450 MeV. Theoretical calculations using a two-step model fail to reproduce the shapes of the angular distributions and underestimate the total cross sections. The tensor polarisation of the ω meson has been derived from the measured angular distributions of the ω decay products. The π+ π- π0 and the π0 γ decay channels gave consistent results, showing that the ω meson is produced unpolarised at both energies. This is in contrast to a recent MOMO measurement which showed that the Φ meson is produced almost completely polarised in the pd → 3HeΦ reaction. Different production dynamics of ω and Φ mesons close to threshold raises the question whether the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule is applicable in low-energy nucleon-nucleon reactions. The angular distributions of the η meson produced in the pd → 3He η reaction are strongly enhanced for forward going η mesons at both energies. The σ(pd → 3He π+ π- π0 )/σ(pd → 3He π0 π0 π0 ) ratio has been measured and discussed in terms of isospin amplitudes. A rough estimate of the pd → 3He π0 π0 π0 π0 cross sections has also been obtained and the pd → 3He η π0 reaction has been studied for the first time near threshold.

It has been shown that neutrons emitted from the same 252Cf fission event are preferentially detected within small angles of each other and at angles around 180 degrees. The distribution of this angular anisotropy is dependent upon the nuclide emitting the neutrons. Coincident neutrons can be detected from a shielded source, so a study of the angular anisotropy between coincident neutrons is useful for this context. This could allow for the dynamic determination of the ratio of the rate of (alpha,n) neutron production to the spontaneous fission neutron production (designated alpha) used in neutron coincidence counting for safeguards. This could also be used to identify neutron emitting isotopes in a homeland security application. An angular frequency distribution for coincident neutrons was produced via experiments using an array of cylindrical liquid scintillators and a 252Cf source. It was found, in accordance with previous experiments, that the angular frequency distribution peaks at small angles and at angles around 180 degrees. A Monte Carlo, physics-based simulation program was created to simulate the distribution of angles between neutrons from the same fission event from 252Cf and 240Pu sources. The resulting distributions were clearly distinguishable from each other. The code was benchmarked to measured results from a 252Cf source at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Knowledge of the unique angular distributions of coincident neutrons from various fissioning sources is useful for identification and verification purposes. Another practical application of angular anisotropy information for coincident neutrons from a given source is determining the ratio of the (alpha,n) to spontaneous fission rates for a source undergoing neutron coincidence counting. The utility of this was verified by using measurements made by faculty and students of the University of Michigan Nuclear Engineering Department for a MOX fuel pin at the Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy. Good agreement between the predicted and declared values for alpha was found.

High angular momentum Rydberg wave packets are studied. Application of carefully tailored electric fields to low angular momentum, high- n ( n ∼ 300) Rydberg atoms creates coherent superpositions of Stark states with near extreme values of angular momentum, [cursive l]. Wave packet components orbit the parent nucleus at rates that depend on their energy, leading to periods of localization and delocalization as the components come into and go out of phase with each other. Monitoring survival probability signals in the presence of position dependent probing leads to observation of characteristic oscillations based on the composition of the wave packet. The discrete nature of electron energy levels is observed through the measurement of quantum revivals in the wave packet localization signal. Time-domain spectroscopy of these signals allows determination of both the population and phase of individual superposition components. Precise manipulation of wave packets is achieved through further application of pulsed electric fields. Decoherence effects due to background gas collisions and electrical noise are also detailed. Quantized classical trajectory Monte-Carlo simulations are introduced and agree remarkably well with experimental results.