Thesis (Master of Science)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,2007. / Bibliography: p. 43-45.

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A search for new neutral scalar bosons produced in association with a bottom-quark is performed. The analysis uses data acquired with proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV and observed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to 20.3 $fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. The search focuses on scalar boson decays into tau lepton pairs, where each decays leptonically ($\tau \rightarrow l \nu_{\tau} \bar{\nu_{l}}$) resulting in one muon, one electron and four neutrinos. No significant excess is observed and upper limits on the signal strength are determined as a function of scalar boson mass.

An 80 km seismic refraction line was recorded on an array of three ocean bottom seismometers located 5 km west of the northern tip of Explorer ridge and parallel to Revere-Dellwood fracture zone on the Pacific plate. One reversed and two split-spread profiles have been obtained. The combined use of rotated SV component and polarization filtered record sections enabled identification and timing of the refracted S-wave on most sections. The travel time - distance relation for both P and S waves is interpreted in the intercept time (tau) and ray parameter domain using the technique introduced by Bessonova et al. (1974). This enables application of tau inversion to give extremal bounds for velocity-depth curves. A linearized inversion technique is applied to give the smoothest velocity-depth profiles consistent with the travel time data. Amplitude analysis using disk ray theory synthetic seismograms further refine the P-wave velocity-depth models. The final P- and S-wave velocity-depth profiles show a general increase of velocity with depth and no distinct structural discontinuities. A normal oceanic crustal thickness of approximately 6.5 km and an anomalously low Pn velocity of 7.3 km sec⁻¹ are interpreted. The existence of an abnormally thick crust (8-10 km}., on the opposite side of the ridge in Explorer plate, determined in other studies, contrasts markedly with the results of this research. Such a contrast lends support to the proposal that the complex structure and thick crust are the result of compressive interaction between the young, small Explorer plate and the older, larger North America plate. Values of Poisson's ratio in the range of 0.25 to 0.32 are determined for the crustal material but better resolution of the velocity-depth profiles is required before a meaningful geological interpretation can be made. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

Graduation date: 1968

La synthèse de graphène par approche « bottom-up » fait l’objet de nombreux travaux de recherche ayant pour but de contrôler les propriétés électroniques et optiques de ce matériau par la fabrication de nanostructures avec une précision atomique. D’autre part, le contrôle de dopant dans le graphène permettant d’en moduler les propriétés suscite un grand intérêt et dans ce contexte l’utilisation de porphyrines avec un taux d’azote contrôlé est attrayante. Par leurs ressemblances structurelles, les porphyrines π-étendues peuvent être considérées comme des nanoparticules de graphène dopées à l’azote (GQDs) présentant de fortes propriétés infrarouge tandis que les briques de construction à base de porphyrines peuvent être utilisées pour la synthèse sur surface de deux type de nanoarchitectures de graphene appélées nanorubans (GNRs) et nanomèches (GNMs). Cette thèse a pour objectif de développer la synthèse de porphyrines à base d’anthracenes et de les utiliser comme précurseurs pour la fabrication de nanostructures. La première partie de cette thèse est dédiée à la synthèse organique de différentes anthracenylporphyrines et à l’étude de leurs assemblages sur surface dans la chambre d’un microscope à effet tunnel. La seconde partie est dédiée à l’étude de formation de porphyrines π-étendues via une méthode pyrolyse flash pouvant activer thermiquement des réactions de couplage par déhydrogenation entre des hydrocarbures aromatiques polyycliques (PAHs) et des porphyrines. La dernière partie est dédiée à la modification post synthétique d’une tetrabromoanthracenylporphyrine par addition de PAHs via la réaction de couplage de Suzuki-Miyaura et à la caractérisation des propriétés optiques de ces porphyrines nouvellement formées. / The synthesis of graphene via bottom-up approach is a hot topic of research that aims to control the electronic and optical properties of this material by the fabrication of atomically precised nanostructures. Moreover, the control of dopant in graphene is of great interest to modulate the properties of the material. In this context, the contribution of porphyrins with a controlled content of nitrogen is attractive in this context. Because of structural similarities with graphene quantum dots (GQDs), π-extented porphyrins can be regarded as nitrogen-doped GQD with promising NIR properties. Porphyrins are convenient building blocks for the synthesis on surface of nanoarchitectures of graphene called nitrogen-doped Graphene Nanoribbons (GNRs) and Graphene NanoMeshes (GNMs). This thesis aims to develop the synthesis of symmetrical and robust porphyrins with anthracenes and to use them as precursors for the fabrication of nanostructures. The first part of this thesis is dedicated to the organic synthesis of variety of anthracenylporphyrins and the study of their assemblies on surface in a chamber of a Scanning Tunneling Microscope. The second part is dedicated to the study of formation of π-extended porphyrins via a method of flash pyrolysis able to thermally activate dehydrogenative coupling reactions between Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and porphyrins. The last part is dedicated to the post synthetic modification of a tetrabromoanthracenylporphyrin with additional PAHs via Suzuki-Miyaura coupling and the characterization of the optical properties of the resulting porphyrins.

Detailed current profiles between the sediment-water interface and 20 cm above it reveal a viscous sublayer in the bottom boundary layer on the Oregon continental shelf. Data from three field experiments are used to test fundamental assumptions about boundary layer flow in the ocean. The first study, discussed in Chapter 1, evaluates the hypothesis that, in the absence of the obvious influence of topographic irregularities, the flow behaves like a universally similar, neutrally-buoyant flow over a smooth wall. The second study, discussed in Chapter 2, evaluates the influence which irregular small-scale topography may have on the near-bed flow, while the third, discussed in Chapter 3, examines streamwise velocity fluctuations in the viscous Sublayer and buffer layer and evaluates the hypothesis that spectra from the viscous sublayer and buffer layer of laboratory and geophysical boundary layer flows can be reduced to universal forms. although the thickness of the viscous sublayer scales with v/u, as required by universal similarity, the non-dimensional sublayer thickness is not as constant as in neutrally-buoyant laboratory flows. Even in the absence of the obvious effects of bottom irregularities, the near-bed flow is not as simple as smooth-walled boundarylayer flows in the laboratory. In the second study, it is shown that when the near-bed flow experiences resistance due to form drag as well as skin friction, the constant stress boundary layer assumption is not valid close to the sediment-water interface. Th the third study, it is shown that non-dimensionalized spectra of streamwise velocity fluctuations in the viscous sublayer and buffer layer at the ocean floor are very similar to those found in the laboratory. / Graduation date: 1982

Recent studies have shown that the presence of sand ripples on the seabed improves sonar detection of buried mines at sub-critical angles. Sidescan sonar data of ripples off on the west Florida shelf were collected as part of ONR's Ripples Departmental Research Initiative (DRI) September 26-29th and November 7-9th, 2004. Hurricane Ivan, the strongest storm of the 2004 hurricane season, passed over the experiment site a week before the first data collection. This study focuses on the ripples created by Ivan. Average relict ripple wavelengths left after the storm were found to increase with water depth (50 cm, 62 cm, and 83 cm in 20, 30, and 50 meter water depths) despite the fact that orbital diameter decreases with water depth. Ripple prediction requires information about surface gravity waves and sediment grain size. The most reliable offshore wave field available was created with Wavewatch III by Naval Postgraduate School scientists. These waves were inputted into Delft3D WAVE, incorporating the nearshore wave model SWAN to predict waves at the locations where ripples were measured. Orbital motions at the seabed and grain size were inputted into a time-dependent ripple model with varying dissipation parameters to estimate sand ripples created by Hurricane Ivan. Ripple wavelength was found to be more strongly dependent on grain size than wave dissipation. / Contract number: N62271-97-G-0026. / US Navy (USN) author.

Reissued 30 May 2017 with Second Reader’s non-NPS affiliation added to title page. / Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / The purpose of this thesis is to characterize typical levels of vibrational noise on the ocean floor to ascertain the vibration's effect on possible future bottom mounted sensors. The data used for this thesis was obtained from publicly available recorded information from four ocean bottom seismometers (OBS). The OBSs were located in two geographical choke points: the Luzon Strait and west of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. These highly trafficked choke points were considered to be a good representation of where these experimental bottom mounted sensors might be located should they be built. Unix-based seismic processing software available from the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) proved essential to obtaining calibrated data, and the methodology used to get the calibrated data is discussed in detail. The results showed that one OBS out of the four was highly variable, with decibel levels varying widely from day to day. The other OBSs remained fairly consistent. In addition, there were no common discrete frequencies between sensors that were in the same geographic area. Recommended future research involves the study of environmental effects on the OBSs, additional research to correlate the results observed in the Luzon Strait, and a look into the electronic noise floors of the OBSs used. / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy

Microtubules (MTs), whose basic units are a and ß tubulin proteins, are self-assembled proteinaceous filaments with nanometer scale diameters and micrometer scale lengths. Their aspect ratio, directionality, the reversibility of their assembly and their ability to be metallized by electroless plating make them good candidates to serve as templates for the fabrication of nanowires and other nanoscale devices. In addition, tubulin proteins can provide biological interactions with a naturally high specificity.Toward the goal of manufacturing MT-based metallic nanowires and networks of nanowires on a silicon wafer, I studied the influence of pH, temperature, and several biomolecules on the stability of MTs in solutions, as well as the surface effect on the dynamics of disassembly of microtubules. Secondly, I demonstrated the metallization of MTs by electroless nickel plating both in solution and on hydrophilic oxidized Si surface. After being activated by Pt, nickel coated MT surfaces during the electroless plating, with a thickness of several nanometers. Due to the different kinetics of the process, MTs metallized on the oxidized Si wafer are slightly different from MTs metallized in solutions. Finally, we explored controlled nucleation and growth of microtubules directly from a collection of g-tubulin monomers. g-tubulins bind to modified gold electrodes on a silicon wafer through an organic linker, Glutathione s-transferase, creating a g-tubulin layer for MT growth. MTs unambiguously originated from the surface-bound g-tubulin layer on the gold electrode, proving that the surface-bound g-tubulin retains its biological ability of nucleating MT growth.