The thesis deals with the change from the circular to a rectangular building during the Pre- Pottery Neolithic B period (PPNB) in the Levant and researches the possible influence of environmental conditions on this transition. The observed area comprises variable regions from northern Syria to central Jordan. Sites for the analysis were selected according to architectural and chronological criteria. The chosen chronological scope is delimited by final phases of late Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (10 000-9500 BP) and by middle PPNB (9200-8500 BP) periods, with the early PPNB period as a key one, considered as a period of the commencement of rectangular buildings. Because of the high architectural variability across the northern and the southern Levant, besides the chronological scope also the architectural criteria must be extended. Therefore, circular, and rectangular building shapes were classified too. A database of Levantine sites was compiled, which enabled to compare distinct development of the ground plan within a diverse environment of the arid, steppe, and Mediterranean territories and revealed a relatively broad time scope of the change. In the process of evaluation, the main attention was paid to the variable environmental conditions of the northern and southern Levant: the individual...

An analysis to determine physical and spatial patterns of the surface latent heat flux (LHF) and near surface (5m) salinity (NSS) beneath tropical cyclones (TCs) in the North Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins during the first 24 hours of rapid intensification (RI) was conducted using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. To determine if these patterns were unique to RI, TC RI cases were compared to three non-RI intensification thresholds, 10 kt, 15 kt and 20 kt, for both LHF and NSS. Though similarities exist between non-RI and RI cases physical and spatial patterns unique to the RI cases did exist. Sea surface temperatures associated with statistically identified TC groups were assessed for their potential influence on RI. While inconclusive in the eastern North Pacific, NSS in the Atlantic may play a role for RI TCs in areas affected by river discharge from South America.

The use of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for predicting levels of degradation in laboratory soil block tests was investigated. Calibrations were developed for mass loss, compression strength, and exposure period using data measured from the prior methods, and untreated and mathematically treated (multiplicative scatter correction and first and second derivative) NIR spectra from various spans of wavelengths by partial least squares regression. Strong correlations were obtained from each study conducted, while calibrations developed from NIR spectra from the cross-sectional face of southern yellow pine presented the strongest predictions. Of them, calibrations for mass loss resulted in the strongest predictions. Calibrations constructed from spectra obtained from the radial face of southern yellow pine also produced strong predictions, where the strongest model was for exposure period. While, calibrations developed for cottonwood presented the weakest statistics, the strongest calibration found was for exposure period.

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Near-field magnetic induction (NFMI) is a short range wireless technology that uses loop antennas coupled by a magnetic field. NFMI antennas are electrically small and thus extremely inefficient and narrow band, making system design for multi-user and high-bitrate applications challenging. The goals of this thesis are to develop a test platform suitable for NFMI antenna testing, to model, design and test NFMI antennas that have high bandwidth-efficiency, and to explore the possibility of using MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) to increase the capacity of the NFMI channel. This thesis provides system implementations, test results, and channel modeling to aid in the design of future NFMI systems. Implementation of a multi-channel discrete-time wireless system are provided for PC-based software and FPGA-based firmware as a platform for antenna testing. Optimized antenna designs in terms of efficiency and bandwidth are presented, achieving the theoretical bandwidth-efficiency bound for small antennas. Preliminary modeling and simulation results for the NFMI-MIMO channel are included, which show that the information-theoretic capacity of the NFMI-MIMO channel is approximately double the standard single-antenna NFMI capacity at 10 bits/s/Hz.

Astronomy is a data heavy field driven by observations of remote sources reflecting or emitting light. These signals are transient in nature, which makes it very important to fully utilize every observation. This however is often difficult due to the faintness of these observations, often are only slightly above the level of observational noise. We present new or adapted methodologies for dealing with these low signal-to-noise scenarios, along with practical examples including determining exoplanet physical properties, periodicities in asteroids, and the rotational and orbital properties of the multiple asteroid system 2577 Litva.