The search for heat regenerators is currently very important due to the amount of wasted heat produced in different human activities. Thermoelectric materials have emerged as a possible solution to the world’s demand and reuse of energy. Recent advances have included the development of materials with tailored phonon properties, including localized "rattling" oscillator modes. In addition a number of interesting physical properties have emerged in rattling systems. This dissertation reports a study of several such systems, experimentally and computationally. Experiments performed include XRD, electron micro-probe, electrical and thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient measurements, dc magnetization, dc susceptibility and NMR. In the computational side several ab-initio models have been considered to understand the structural, vibrational and magnetic properties observed in these compounds. Among the studied compounds, the Fe-Al-Zn materials showed interesting magnetic properties combined with anomalous vibrational behavior in a chain geometry. Computational results indicated that the moment is affected by Fe antisites, but also the neighbor configuration contributes to it. Al-V-La is an example of a classical Einstein oscillator material. These properties are related to the existence of loose atoms inside the material. A purely computational study on these materials denoted the existence of two weakly bonded sites. The clathrate structural results from first-principles considerations elucidated the preferred structural configurations in several clathrates. This included Ba-Cu-Ge clathrates, where it was confirmed that the compound follows the Zintl electron counting balance. Also the bonding inside these materials was studied to address the binding of the local-oscillator atoms within the material. For Ba-Ga-Sn clathrates an unusual dimorphism was studied, with both of the two different types of structures investigated. For type-I Ba8Ga16Sn30 the preferred configuration was obtained from NMR lineshape simulations and energy considerations. For the type-VIII Ba8Ga16Sn30 the experimental thermoelectric properties were analyzed in conjunction with computational modeling. Finally in Ba-Al-Ge clathrates the local environments, preferred configuration and vacancy formation were clarified. This included an extensive experimental and computational study on Ba8AlxGe46-x-y2(box)y systems. The different local Al environments were elucidated, with the location of vacancies influencing the surroundings. Also the correlation between the Al substitution and number of vacancies was studied.

Imitation is a core deficit often observed in children diagnosed with autism. Video modeling has been shown to be effective for teaching children with autism a variety of skills, but there is little research demonstrating the effectiveness of this technique with core skills such as imitation. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a video modeling intervention to teach a preschool-age child with autism to imitate novel and acquired actions (with and without objects) in natural contexts (i.e., songs and toy play activities). A general case approach was used to examine the instructional universe of common preschool songs in order to select the exemplars that were most likely to facilitate generalization. In addition to video modeling, additive components that included highlighting the critical features of the video examples and prompting/fading were required to demonstrate a functional relationship. Experimental control was evident in a multiple baseline design across three imitation activities. The results are discussed with reference to previous research, future research directions, and implications for practice in educational settings.

Writers on the business cycle often emphasize that non-linear models are needed to account for certain of its features. Thus it is often said that either the asymmetry of the duration of business cycle expansions and contractions or the variability of these quantities demand a non-linear model. Such comments are rarely made precise however and mostly consist of references to such assertions from the past. Thus the asymmetry in the cycle is mostly accompanied by references to Keynes (1936) and Burns and Mitchell (1946). But these authors were looking at what we call today the classical cycle i.e. movements in the level of GDP, and so the fact that there are long expansions and short contractions can arise simply due to the presence of long-run growth in the economy, and it is not obvious that it has much to do with non-linearity. This thesis aims to introduce various statistics that can be used to characterise the specific shape of the non-linearity observed in macroeconomic time series. Chapter 2 introduces a range of statistics and presents the dating algorithm used in this thesis, which is based on the BBQ algorithm of Harding and Pagan (2002). Chapter 3 tests the adequacy of linear models versus the SETAR model of van Dijk and Franses(2003) and the bounceback model of Kim, Morley and Piger (2005) in capturing observed non-linear features of the data. Chapter 4 extends this work by examining the three state Markov model of Hamilton (1989), again using the ??bounce-back?? model of Kim C., Morley, J. and J. Piger, (2005), and the more complicated ??tension?? model of DeJong, D., Dharmarajan, H., Liesenfeld, R. and Richard, J., (2005). Chapter 4 also extends Chapter 3 by estimating the above mentioned models on US GDP, Australian non-farm GDP, US investment and Australian dwellings investment. They are then simulated in order to gauge the cycle properties. Chapter 5 analyses the business cycle implications of two related multivariate dynamic factor models presented in papers by Kim and Piger (2001, 2002). Finally Chapter 6 concludes.

Master of Science / In this thesis, a recently developed physiologically-based model of the sleep-wake switch is analyzed and applied to a variety of clinically-relevant protocols. In contrast to phenomenological models, which have dominated sleep modeling in the past, the present work demonstrates the advantages of the physiologically-based approach. Dynamical and linear stability analyses of the Phillips-Robinson sleep model allow us to create a general framework for determining its response to arbitrary external stimuli. The effects of near-stable wake and sleep ghosts on the model’s dynamics are found to have implications for arousal during sleep, sleep deprivation, and sleep inertia. Impulsive sensory stimuli during sleep are modeled modeled according to their known physiological mechanism. The predicted arousal threshold variation matches experimental data from the literature. In simulating a sleep fragmentation protocol, the model simultaneously reproduces the body temperature and arousal threshold variation measured in another existing clinical study. In the second part of the thesis, we simulate sleep deprivation by introducing a wake-effort drive that is required to maintain wakefulness during normal sleeping periods. We interpret this drive both physiologically and psychologically, and demonstrate quantitative agreement between the model’s output and experimental subjective fatigue-related data. As well as subjective fatigue, the model is simultaneously able to reproduce adrenaline excretion and body temperature variations. In the final part of the thesis, the model is extended to include the orexinergic neurons of the lateral hypothalamic area. Due to the dynamics of the orexin group, the extended model exhibits sleep inertia, and an inhibitory circadian projection to the orexin group produces a postlunch dip in performance – both of which are well-known behavioral features. Including both homeostatic and circadian inputs to the orexin group, the model produces a waking arousal variation that quantitatively matches published clinical data.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographic references (p.76-81).

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Abdel-Hamid, Tarek ; Ferrer, Geraldo. "March 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 24, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Manpower Forecasting; Brazilian Air Force Health System Manpower; Systems Dynamics; System Thinking; Modeling and Simulation; Multivariate Analysis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-66). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S. in Applied Mathematics)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Chiu, Ching-Sang ; Scandrett, Clyde. "March 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 23, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Computational Acoustics, South China Sea, Ray Theory, Modeling. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-36). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Lucas, Thomas W. "June 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on July 13, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Simulation, Design of Experiments, Life Cycle Management, VBA, Modeling. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S. in Modeling, Virtual Environments, and Simulation (MOVES))--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Kolsch, Mathias. "September 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on November 5, 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Augmented Reality, Fragment Shader, Water Reflection Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 1990. / Thesis Advisor(s): Howard, Richard M. Second Reader: Pagenkopf, Eric L. "September 1990." Description based on title screen as viewed on March 18, 2010. DTIC Identifier(s): Remotely Piloted Vehicles, Flight Maneuvers, Parachute Descents, UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicles), Supermaneuverability, Scale Models, Remote Control, Research Aircraft, Radio Transmission, High Angle of Attack, Aircraft Models, Naval Aircraft, Jet Fighters, Recovery, Theses. Author(s) subject terms:UAV, Supermaneuverability, Emergency Recovery System, Remotely Pioleted Vehicle. Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-70). Also available in print.