This thesis presents the fabrication of transparent conductive Boron-Doped CVD diamond (BDD) thin film with the appropriate processing parameters. The BDD shows the transmittance in the visible wavelength and good electrical conductivity. The depositing rate of Diamond films yields 0.37 £gm per hour with Hydrogen, Argon, Methane and oxygen as gas sources, and B(OCH3)3 was used as the doping source. Microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MWCVD) was performed for the BDD deposition. Also, PECVD was applied to grow diamond-like Carbon (DLC) film on silicon as substrate. Through systematical experiments, the influence of carrier gas flow rates of B(OCH3)3, the variation of ratio of Argon, and growth pressure of BDD on the transmittance in the visible light and electrical conductivity has been studied. In addition, dc bias was applied to synthesize diamond films and extend long depositing time shows the stable growth rate of diamond films. The thickness of BDD films increases and acquired more than 60% optical transmittance. BDD samples were analyzed by Raman Spectroscopy for the diamond quality, N & K Analyzer for the film thickness and optical properties. Van Der Pauw I-V Measurement and Hall Measurement were analyzed p-type diamond films carrier mobility, carrier concentration, electrical resistivity. By increasing Argon and applying negative dc bias can improve the growth rate and transmittance of diamond films. And the quality of diamond films could be improved by the coating of DLC on Si substrates. This work has achieved fabricating a transparent conducting BDD successfully.

Experimental willingness to pay (WTP) studies can be classified as hypothetical or non-hypothetical. In a hypothetical study, such as conjoint analysis, a subject does not need to make a real economic commitment. In contrast, in a non-hypothetical task such as in experimental auctions, a subject may need to actually buy the product. Subjects in hypothetical studies tend to overstate their true WTP. Consequently, researchers need to correct hypothetical values to obtain reliable WTP estimates. Recently, incentive-aligned and cheap talk approaches have been proposed as ways to correct for hypothetical bias. In a hypothetical task, a cheap talk script explicitly reminds the subject about the hypothetical nature of the task and its expected consequences. In an incentive-aligned task (non-hypothetical), subjects are randomly selected to physically buy the product. The objective of our study is to assess and compare the reduction of hypothetical bias in consumers’ willingness to pay for novel products by applying a generic, short, and neutral cheap talk script in a retail setting. To accomplish this objective, we employ non-hypothetical, hypothetical, and hypothetical with cheap talk treatments in our experimental design. We conducted our experimental retail study using conjoint analysis and open-ended elicitation mechanisms, utilizing Becker DeGroot Marshak (BDM) mechanism for the incentive-aligned treatments. Consistently in both elicitation mechanisms, using seemingly unrelated and random-effect Tobit techniques, we find that our cheap talk script is effective in eliminating the hypothetical bias. As expected, the hypothetical WTP values are significantly higher than the non-hypothetical values but the hypothetical values with cheap talk are not significantly different from incentive-aligned or non-hypothetical estimates. In addition, we find that open-ended estimates are significantly higher than conjoint analysis estimates and that emotions and familiarity can have significant impacts on WTP estimates.

ASTRACT Using an aqueous solution of ammonia hydroxide aqua, hydrosilicofluoric acid and boric acid, an oxynitride film can be deposited. The deposition rate and refractive index increase with the mole concentration of ammonia hydroxide aqua. However, the refractive index decreases as the mole concentration of ammonia hydroxide aqua becomes too high. The leakage current density as a function of mole concentration of ammonia hydroxide aqua was studied. The best experimental condition is found that incorporating ammonia hydroxide aqua of 0.8M will get good results. The SIMS depth profiles shows nitrogen and hydrogen concentration accumulate at SiON/Si interface. A deposition model is proposed and LPD-SiON can be suggested that it is a combination of N-less LPD-SiON film and N-rich accumulated layer at the interface. The best characteristics of LPD-SiON film are in the range of 110Å-thick to 210Å-thick. When the thickness scales down to 110Å, all the properties become poor. Photo-LPD-SiON process is proposed as a reference of Photo-LPD-SiO2. By mercury lamp illumination, the performances of J-E relationship and C-V characteristic become better. Nitrogen atomic concentration can increase by photo-enhancement checked by analysis of SIMS depth profile and FTIR spectrum. A novel technique of LPD process with applying a bias during the growth is proposed and it is called Bias-LPD-SiON. A model of Bias-LPD-SiON deposition mechanism is also proposed. On the negative bias substrate, high nitrogen atomic concentration can be attained. The J-E characteristic at positive bias of 0.1V and negative bias in a range of 0.1V to 1V are better than traditional LPD-SiON film. Then, the deposition rate of positive bias and negative bias LPD-SiON films at 0.1V can reach 32Å/min and 26Å/min, respectively. Therefore, high quality and high deposition rate can be prepared by Bias-LPD-SiON.

The first topic of this thesis is a novel voltage tripler using 4 clocks with different phases. Both the positive and negative polarities of the voltage are generated to serve as the boosted voltage and the back bias voltage. The proposed design is carried out by pass transistors and switched capacitors. The second topic is a low-power discrete cosine transform (DCT) processor. It is suitable for portable applications. The number of clock cycles needed for processing an 8¡Ñ8 block of pixels is increased, but the chip area is reduced. The reduction of the chip area leads to the reduction of the power dissipation.

Spatial variability of rainfall is a significant factor in hydrologic and water quality modeling. In recent years, characterizing and analyzing the effect of spatial variability of rainfall in hydrologic applications has become vital with the advent of remotely sensed precipitation estimates that have high spatial resolution. In this study, the effect of spatial variability of rainfall in hourly runoff generation was analyzed using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for Big Sandy Creek and Walnut Creek Watersheds in North Central Texas. The area of the study catchments was 808 km2 and 196 km2 for Big Sandy Creek and Walnut Creek Watersheds respectively. Hourly rainfall measurements obtained from raingauges and weather radars were used to estimate runoff for the years 1999 to 2003. Results from the study indicated that generated runoff from SWAT showed enormous volume bias when compared against observed runoff. The magnitude of bias increased as the area of the watershed increased and the spatial variability of rainfall diminished. Regardless of high spatial variability, rainfall estimates from weather radars resulted in increased volume of simulated runoff. Therefore, weather radar estimates were corrected for various systematic, range-dependent biases using three different interpolation methods: Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Spline, and Thiessen polygon. Runoff simulated using these bias adjusted radar rainfall estimates showed less volume bias compared to simulations using uncorrected radar rainfall. In addition to spatial variability of rainfall, SWAT model structures, such as overland flow, groundwater flow routing, and hourly evapotranspiration distribution, played vital roles in the accuracy of simulated runoff.

This thesis use laser diode, lens, grating, and mirrors to composite the external cavity system to retrieve the thickness of the liquid crystal and its characteristics. This way is different to the traditional way of measure. It has good accuracy on the vertical resolution and the vertical resolution can reach to 0.3£gm. At the same time, it can develop the high quality of horizontal resolution. On the basis of the correlation between the cavity length and the wavelength of the semiconductor laser, the system is capable of developing high horizontal resolution of accurate liquid crystal measurements. The horizontal resolution can reach to 40£gm. Furthermore, by adding bias on liquid crystal through this system, it expanded more understandings on the influences of bias and induced electric field of the electrodes to the tilting angle of the liquid crystal.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to characterize and discuss two kinds of influences on the outcome of a toxicological risk assessment. One kind of influencehas to do with values and the role played by value-based judgment. Currently, many toxicological risk assessments are characterized byscientific uncertainties. When this is the case, risk assessors are to some extent dependent on assumptions and judgment, and this has consequences for the outcome of the assessment. Another other kind of influence comes from the quality and accuracy of the empirical studies that risk assessments are based on. If toxicological research and testing are affected by systematic errors (bias), this will influence the ensuing risk assessment. In order to improve toxicological risk assessments work must be done both on understanding and dealing with the impact of values and on getting better and more efficient methods for gathering facts. The two papers that make up this licentiate thesis may be seen as a contribution to each of these objectives.</p><p><i>Article 1: Values in science and risk assessment </i></p><p>It is a widely accepted claim that scientific practice contains valuejudgments, i.e. decisions made on the basis of values. This paper clarifies the concepts involved in this claim and explains its implications for risk assessment. It is explained why values are necessarily a part of science and of risk assessment. A certain type of values that contribute to the aim of science, so-called epistemic values, are identified as rationally justified as basis for judgment in science. It is argued that the aims of pure science and risk assessment differ in some aspects and that consequently pure science’s epistemic values are not sufficient for risk assessment. I suggest how the epistemic values may be supplemented in order to align better with the aim of risk assessment.</p><p><i>Article 2: Bias in toxicology </i></p><p>In this article, the potential for bias in toxicological research and in the performance of standardized toxicological testing in discussed. Due to the lack of empirical studies of bias in toxicology, very little is known aboutits prevalence and impact. Areas to consider for such studies are pointed out, and it is suggested that such investigations should be given priority.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-55).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--York University, 2001. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-130). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ71576.

Background: Cross-sectional and experimental research has shown that female smokers more frequently report using cigarettes to control negative affect, manage dietary restraint, and suppress body image dissatisfaction. However, there has been little research to identify cognitive mechanisms that may underlie these effects. Cross-stimulus attentional bias is one such mechanism. Aims and Hypotheses: We hypothesized that, when compared to neutral stimuli, in-vivo appetitive stimuli would enhance motivation to obtain a particular substance. More specifically, in-vivo smoking stimuli would increase attentional bias to smoking-related pictorial cues, whereas in-vivo food stimuli would increase attention to smoking-related and food-related pictorial cues. We also hypothesized that environmental tobacco smoke exposure history, negative affect, dietary restraint, body image dissatisfaction, and perceived appetite suppression of smoking would influence these attentional biases, such that higher levels of these characteristics would produce greater attentional biases. Method: Thirty-five female smokers were exposed to visual stimuli containing two independent pictorial cues: smoking/neutral, smoking/food, neutral/food, or neutral/neutral. Twenty images were presented in 3 counter-balanced, within-subjects sets differentiated by smoking (cigarette pack), food (snack) and neutral (jewelry) in-vivo stimuli. Attentional bias was measured using eye-tracking technology. Dietary restraint, body image dissatisfaction, negative affect, and environmental tobacco smoke exposure were assessed with self-report measures before the manipulations. Results: Effects counter to the hypotheses were observed, as in-vivo cigarettes and snack foods did not cause participants to differentially attend to pictorial smoking or food stimuli. Initial and maintained attention to smoking pictorial cues was greater than attention to food and neutral cues only when participants were administered a non-appetitive in-vivo stimulus. None of the theoretically hypothesized personality characteristics served as predictors or moderators of attentional bias. Discussion: Findings with the neutral in-vivo stimulus replicate and extend previous research identifying attentional bias for smoking cues among smokers. Results also enhance understanding of how attentional bias may change when smokers encounter other types of appetitive stimuli. These findings encourage further theoretical and clinical exploration of how the relationship between motivation and attentional bias can be conceptualized and translated from the laboratory to the natural environment.