All substances above zero kelvin temperature emit fluctuating electromagnetic waves due to the random motions of charge carriers. Controlling the spectral and directional radiative properties of surfaces has wide applications in energy harvesting and thermal management. Artificial metamaterials have attracted much attention in the last decade due to their unprecedented optical and thermal properties beyond those existing in nature. This dissertation aims at tailoring radiative properties at infrared regime and enhancing the near-field radiative heat transfer by employing metamaterials. A comprehensive study is performed to investigate the extraordinary transmission, negative refraction, and tunable perfect absorption of infrared light. A polarizer is designed with an extremely high extinction ratio based on the extraordinary transmission through perforated metallic films. The extraordinary transmission of metallic gratings can be enhanced and tuned if a single layer of graphene is covered on top. Metallic metamaterials are not the unique candidate supporting exotic optical properties. Thin films of doped silicon nanowires can support negative refraction of infrared light due to the presence of hyperbolic dispersion. Long doped-silicon nanowires are found to exhibit broadband tunable perfect absorption. Besides the unique far-field properties, near-field radiative heat transfer can be mediated by metamaterials. Bringing objects with different temperatures close can enhance the radiative heat flux by orders of magnitude beyond the limit set by the Stefan-Boltzmann law. Metamaterials provide ways to make the energy transport more efficient. Very high radiative heat fluxes are shown based on carbon nanotubes, nanowires, and nanoholes using effective medium theory (EMT). The quantitative application condition of EMT is presented for metallodielectric metamaterials. Exact formulations including the scattering theory and Green’s function method are employed to investigate one- and two-dimensional gratings as well as metasurfaces when the period is not sufficiently small. New routes for enhancing near-field radiative energy transport are opened based on proposed hybridization of graphene plasmons with hyperbolic modes, hybridization of graphene plasmons with surface phonon modes, or hyperbolic graphene plasmons with open surface plasmon dispersion relation. Noncontact solid-state refrigeration is theoretically demonstrated to be feasible based on near-field thermal radiation. In addition, the investigation of near-field momentum exchange (Casimir force) between metamaterials is also conducted. Simultaneous enhancement of the near-field energy transport and suppress of the momentum exchange is theoretically achieved. A design based on repulsive Casimir force is proposed to achieve tunable stable levitation. The dissertation helps to understand the fundamental radiative energy transport and momentum exchange of metamaterials, and has significant impacts on practical applications such as design of nanoscale thermal and optical devices, local thermal management, thermal imaging beyond the diffraction limit, and thermophotovoltaic energy harvesting.

<p> This dissertation investigates the tension between the two portrayals of Job in the current form of the biblical book of Job in light of narrative literary theory (ch. 1). It supports the current consensus that the two portraits of Job are best understood as belonging to two separate accounts about Job&mdash;one written primarily in prose and serving as a literary frame and the other written primarily in poetry&mdash;and confirms that the appropriate division between the two accounts is between 2:10 and 11 and between 42:9 and 10, thereby giving each account a complete literary plot structure (ch. 2).</p><p> This dissertation then advances current scholarship by examining each account <i>in isolation</i> in order to identify its unique characterization and plot elements and by showing how many texts that appear to conflict with each other are actually consistent <i>within their own accounts</i> (chs. 3, 4). A close reading of texts that appear near the seams between the two accounts highlights the thematic, verbal, and characterization links that connect 2:8 with the beginning of the poetic account and 2:10 with the end of the poetic account. This dissertation then applies the insights and terminology of the Russian Formalist school of literary criticism to the book of Job in order to propose that the most coherent reading of Job emerges when the two accounts are read non-sequentially&mdash;that is, when entire poetic account is understood to overlap with 2:8-10 in the prose account (ch. 5).</p><p> The proposed, overlapping reading of Job succeeds both in accounting for conflicts between the prose account&mdash;where Job responds to his calamities with instant and extraordinary piety&mdash;and the poetic account&mdash;where Job&rsquo;s eventual pious response comes only <i>after</i> prolonged bitterness, accusations, and discontentment&mdash;and in explaining the overarching coherence of the combined accounts, which may now be understood to provide a unified perspective on the Principle of Retribution, on the Satan, on God, and on Job. Together, the two accounts reveal all that transpired to bring about Job&rsquo;s transformation from bitter sorrow in 2:8 to remarkable submission to God in 2:10.</p>

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No description available.

No description available.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1995 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / Satellite transmission systems have proven themselves very effective in a variety of applications. One such application is the transmission of telemetry (TM) data and associated information in a near real-time environment. This paper describes the satellite data relay system currently utilized by the Telemetry Data Center at Patuxent River, Maryland and the corresponding remote receiving site, and discusses the performance of this system.

published_or_final_version / Sports Science / Master / Master of Science in Sports Science

published_or_final_version / Zoology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

A new era of chemical analysis is upon us. In the past, a small number of samples were selected from a population for use as a statistical representation of the entire population. More recently, advancements in data collection rate, computer memory, and processing speed have allowed entire populations to be sampled and analyzed. The result is massive amounts of data that convey relatively little information, even though they may contain a lot of information. These large quantities of data have already begun to cause bottlenecks in areas such as genetics, drug development, and chemical imaging. The problem is straightforward: condense a large quantity of data into only the useful portions without ignoring or discarding anything important. Performing the condensation in the hardware of the instrument, before the data ever reach a computer is even better. The research proposed tests the hypothesis that clusters of data may be rapidly identified by linear fitting of quantile-quantile plots produced from each principal component of principal component analysis. Integrated Sensing and Processing (ISP) is tested as a means of generating clusters of principal component scores from samples in a hyperspectral near-field scanning optical microscope. Distances from the centers of these multidimensional cluster centers to all other points in hyperspace can be calculated. The result is a novel digital staining technique for identifying anomalies in hyperspectral microscopic and nanoscopic imaging of human atherosclerotic tissue. This general method can be applied to other analytical problems as well.

In the year 2000 John Pendry described a new kind of lens that could focus both the propagating and evanescent components of light. This ‘super’ lens, which took the form of a thin slab of silver with a negative effective index of refraction under certain conditions, had the ability to reproduce images much smaller than the wavelength of light, seemingly in violation of the diffraction limit that governed the performance of conventional optics. Despite significant controversy regarding the purported operation of such superlenses, the first experimental samples were fabricated in 2005, with features as small as 63 nm successfully imaged with 365 nm light. These results put to rest disbelief in the feasibility of superlenses and ushered in an era of intense interest in near-field phenomena and negative index materials (NIMs). Despite sustained effort, progress on the practical implementation of superlenses was slow, with a further five years passing before improved experimental results were published. In the meantime, a proliferation of analytical and modelling studies appeared on the behaviour and properties of superlenses, as well as numerous suggestions for improved physical designs, very few of which had accompanying experimental evidence. The primary aim of this thesis arose from these many proposals, namely, to reconcile predictions made about the behaviour of superlenses with observed experimental results. The measurement of the theoretical and practical behaviour of superlenses is addressed in this thesis by the development of a set of characterisation metrics that can be used to describe the imaging performance of a number of near-field imaging systems. These metrics are initially calculated via transfer matrix modelling (TMM), which is a one-dimensional analytical technique traditionally used to find the transmission and reflection coefficients of planar structures. Two families of metrics are derived; one that describes imaging systems in terms of their abilities in generic situations and the other that gives the suitability of an imaging system for application to a given class of object. Transfer functions, bandwidth and peak wavenumber measurements form this first group of characterisation functions, while contrast, pseudo-contrast and correlation coefficients are used to assess the quality of imaging systems when exposed to well-defined input profiles. Both sets of metrics show that the performance of superlenses is highly application-specific, with the fidelity or otherwise of a generated image dependent more on the construction of the superlens than on the maximum spatial frequencies present in the object. The results from the characterisation metrics are also used to guide the design of hypothetical superlens structures; these suggest that sub-diffraction limited resolution may still be available with almost a full wavelength separation between object and image. The quantitative accuracy of the TMM method is assessed by comparison to full-field vector simulations performed via finite element modelling (FEM), these reveal systematic inadequacies in the application of the TMM technique to superlensing applications. These inadequacies stem from near-field mask-lens interactions that are present in superlens experiments but are not accounted for in TMM calculations. A new technique, based on a modified transfer matrix model (M-TMM), is proposed that accounts for the effects between masks and superlenses by approximating masks as solid slabs of known thickness. Results generated via M-TMM are shown to be in better agreement with FEM models than similar TMM data, even when the duty cycle of the actual mask becomes significant and the approximation in M-TMM is at its most coarse. Finally, experiments are designed and executed that directly measure the transfer functions of superlenses and other near-field imaging techniques. The problem of intimate contact between optics components, which normally hinders any such attempts to perform lithography in the near-field, is mitigated by including a flexible layer of poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) between various components in the mask:lens:resist stack. Furthermore, high spatial frequency data corresponding to low nanometre-scale features are retrieved from masks with periodic, micron-scale patterns, greatly easing the requirements on mask construction for these experiments. The end results show good agreement with FEM and M-TMM data and satisfy the aim of this thesis, which was to bridge the divide between the performance expected and experienced from silver superlenses.