As cloud computing and massive-data machine learning are applied pervasively, ultra-high volume data storage serves as the foundation block. Every day, nearly 2.5 quintillion bytes (50000 GB/second in 2018) of data is created and stored. Hard Disk Drive (HDD) takes major part of this heavy duty. However, despite the amazing evolution of HDD technology during the past 50 years, the conventional Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR), the state-of-the-art HDD technique, starts to have less momentum in increasing storage density because of the recording trilemma. To overcome this, Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) was initially proposed in 1990s. With years of advancement, recent industrial demos have shown the potential of HAMR to actually break the theoretical limit of PMR. However, to fully take advantage of HAMR and realize the commercialization, there are still quite a few technical challenges, which motivated this thesis work. Via thermal coupled micromagnetic simulation based upon Landau-Lifshitz-Bloch (LLB) equation, the entire dynamic recording process has been studied systematically. The very fundamental recording physics theorem is established, which manages to elegantly interpret the previously conflicting experimental observations. The thermal induced field dependence of performance, due to incomplete switching and erase-after-write, is proposed for the first time and validated in industrial lab. The combinational effects form the ultimate physical limit of this technology. Meanwhile, this theorem predicts the novel noise origins, examples being Curie temperature distribution and temperature distribution, which are the key properties but ignored previously. To enhance performance, utilizations of higher thermal gradient, magnetically stiffer medium, optimal field etc. have been suggested based upon the theorem. Furthermore, a novel concept, Recording Time Window (RTW), has been proposed. It tightly correlates with performance and serves as a unified optimization standard, summarizing almost all primary parameters. After being validated via spin stand testing, the theorem has been applied to provide solutions for guiding medium design and relaxing the field and heating requirement. This helps solve the issues around writer limit and thermal reliability. Additionally, crosstrack varying field has been proposed to solve the well-known transition curvature issue, which may increase the storage density by 50%.

The circuit of recurring inhibition between motor neurons and Renshaw cells in the spinal cord has been known for around 70 years, though no determined function has been outlined as of yet. Renshaw cells are thought to be part of the central pattern generator in the spinal cord establishing them as an important part of the animal’s locomotive properties. In this study we aimed to investigate the role of Renshaw cells in locomotion with the help of optogenetics and electrophysiology. Halorhodopsin was inserted into the genome of mice and driven to expression with Cre recombinase in Renshaw cells. The spinal cord of P3 mice was extracted and by inducing fictive locomotion with appropriate neurotransmitters we could inhibit the Renshaw cells in action with a green laser, opening the halorhodopsin channels for Cl- ions. In previous experiments where the ability of Renshaw cells to release inhibitory neurotransmitters was inactivated, no effect was observed in either behavioral experiments or electrophysiological experiments. In a system where the effect of Renshaw cells was knocked out acutely with optogenetics there was no discernible change in fictive locomotion cycle length, frequency or amplitude. Nor was there an effect on alternation. The access of light to the Renshaw cells area might have been limited during the experiment considering the angle of light delivery and strength of the laser. Furthermore, the maturity of Renshaw cells at P3, the exclusive ability of the marker used to target Renshaw cells and the observed nature of neonatal inhibitory neurons acting as excitatory neurons could all be called into question about whether they contributed to these results or not.

Use-dependent long-term plasticity in synaptic connections represents the cellular substrate for learning and memory. The hippocampus is the most thoroughly investigated brain area for long-term synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) are both well characterized in glutamatergic excitatory connections between hippocampal principal cells in vitro and in vivo. An increasing number of studies based on acute brain slice preparations report LTP and LTD in excitatory synapses onto postsynaptic hippocampal GABAergic inhibitory interneurons. However, a systematic study of activity-induced long-term plasticity in excitatory synaptic connections to inhibitory GABAergic interneurons in vivo is missing. To determine whether LTP and LTD occur in excitatory synaptic connections to the hippocampal CA1 area GABAergic interneurons types in intact brain, I have used juxtacellular recording to measure synaptically evoked short-delay postsynaptic action potential probability in identified CA1 neurons in the urethane-anaesthetized rats. Plasticity in excitatory synaptic connections to CA1 cell types was measured as a change of afferent pathway stimulation-evoked postsynaptic spike probability and delay. In the study only experiments with monosynaptic-like short-delay (range 3-12 ms) postsynaptic spikes phase-locked to afferent stimulation were used. Afferent fibres were stimulated from the CA1 area of the hippocampus at the contralateral (left) side to avoid simultaneous monosynaptic activation of GABAergic fibres and to exclude antidromic spikes in recorded CA1 cells (in right hemisphere). Plasticity in pathways was tested using theta-burst high-frequency stimulation (TBS, 100 pulses), which is one of the most common synaptic plasticity induction protocols in acute brain slice studies. I discovered that TBS elicited permanent potentiation in single shock-evoked postsynaptic spike probability with shortening or no change in evoked spike latency in various postsynaptic neuron types including three identified pyramidal cells and parvalbumin-expressing (PV+) interneurons. Most fast-spiking PV+ cells showed LTP including an axo-axonic cell and one bistratified cell, whereas two identified basket cells exhibited LTD in similar experimental conditions. In addition, I discovered diverse plasticity in non-fast spiking interneurons, reporting LTP in an ivy cell, and LTD in three incompletely identified regular-spiking CA1 interneurons. I report that the underlying brain state, defined as theta oscillation (3-6 Hz) or non-theta in local field potential, failed to explain whether LTP, LTD or no plasticity was generated in interneurons. The results show that activity-induced potentiation and depression similar to LTP and LTD also occur in excitatory synaptic pathways to various CA1 interneurons types in vivo. I propose that long-term plasticity in excitatory connections to inhibitory interneurons may be take place in learning and memory processes in the hippocampus.

Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à la spécification et à la synthèse de contrôleurs des systèmes temps-réels. Les modèles pour ces systèmes sont des Event-recording Automata. Nous supposons que les contrôleurs observent tous les évènements se produisant dans le système et qu'ils peuvent interdirent uniquement des évènements contrôlables. Tous les évènements ne sont pas nécessairement contrôlables. Une première étude est faite sur la logique Event-recording Logic (ERL). Nous proposons des nouveaux algorithmes pour les problèmes de vérification et de satisfaisabilité. Ces algorithmes présentent les similitudes entre les problèmes de décision cité ci-dessus et les problèmes de décision similaires étudiés dans le cadre du $\mu$-calcul. Nos algorithmes corrigent aussi des algorithmes présents dans la littérature. Les similitudes relevées nous permettent de prouver l'équivalence entre les formules de ERL et les formules de ERL en forme normale disjonctive. La logique ERL n'étant pas suffisamment expressive pour décrire certaines propriétés des systèmes, en particulier des propriétés des contrôleurs, nous introduisons une nouvelle logique WT$_\mu$. La logique WT$_\mu$ est une extension temps-réel faible du $\mu$-calcul. Nous proposons des algorithmes pour la vérification des systèmes lorsque les propriétés sont écrites en WT$_\mu$. Nous identifions deux fragments de WT$_\mu$ appelés WT$_\mu$ bien guardé ($WG$-WT$_\mu$) et WT$_\mu$ pour le contrôle ($C$-WT$_\mu$). La logique $WG$-WT$_\mu$ est plus expressif que $C$-WT$_\mu$. Nous proposons un algorithme qui permet de vérifier si une formule de $WG$-WT$_\mu$ possède un modèle (éventuellement déterministe). Cet algorithme nécessite de connaître les ressources (horloges et constante maximale comparée avec les horloges) des modèles. Dans le cadre de $C$-WT$_\mu$ l'algorithme que nous proposons et qui permet de décider si une formule possède un modèle n'a pas besoin de connaître les ressources des modèles. En utilisant $C$-WT$_\mu$ comme langage de spécification des systèmes, nous proposons des algorithmes de décision pour le contrôle centralisé et le $\Delta$-contrôle centralisé. Ces algorithmes permettent aussi de construire des modèles de contr\^oleurs. Lorsque les objectifs de contrôle sont décrits à l'aide des formules de $WG$-WT$_\mu$, nous montrons également comment synthétiser des contrôleurs décentralisés avec des ressources fixées à l'avance et ceci, lorsqu'au plus un contrôleur est non déterministe. / In this dissertation, we consider the specification and the controller synthesis problem for real-time systems. Our models for systems are kinds of Event-recording automata. We assume that controllers observe all the events occurring in the system and can prevent occurrences of controllable events. We study Event-recording Logic (ERL). We propose new algorithms for the model-checking and the satisfiability problems of that logic. Our algorithms are similar to some algorithms proposed for the same problems in the setting of the standard $\mu$-calculus. They also correct earlier proposed algorithms. We define disjunctive normal form formulas and we show that every formula is equivalent to a formula in disjunctive normal form. Unfortunately, ERL is rather weak and can not describe some interesting real-time properties, in particular some important properties for controllers. We define a new logic that we call WT$_\mu$. The logic WT$_\mu$ is a weak real-time extension of the standard $\mu$-calculus. We present an algorithm for the model-checking problem of WT$_\mu$. We consider two fragments of WT$_\mu$ called well guarded WT$_\mu$ ($WG$-WT$_\mu$) and WT$_\mu$ for control ($C$-WT$_\mu$). We show that the satisfiability of $WG$-WT$_\mu$ is decidable if the maximal constants appearing in models are known a priori. Our algorithm allows to check whether a formula of $WG$-WT$_\mu$ has a deterministic model. The algorithm we propose to decide whether a formula of $C$-WT$_\mu$ has a model does not need to know the maximal constant used in models. All the algorithms for the satisfiability checking construct witness models. Using $C$-WT$_\mu$, we present algorithms for a centralised controller synthesis problem and a centralised $\Delta$-controller synthesis problems. The construction of witness controllers is effective. We also consider the decentralised controller synthesis problem with limited resources (the maximal constants used in controllers is known a priory) when the properties are described with $WG$-WT$_\mu$. We show that this problem is decidable and the computation of witness controllers is effective.

M.Sc., Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Studies have shown that text-to-speech systems need detailed prosodic models of a language in order to ideally sound natural to native speakers of the language. A text-to-speech system developed for Sesotho needs to have tone implemented in it since Sesotho is a tonal language which uses pitch variations to distinguish lexical and/or grammatical meaning. In order to implement tone for a language such as Sesotho, it is necessary for a tone modeling algorithm to receive as input the tone labels of the syllables of a word. This allows the algorithm to predict the appropriate intonation of the word. The aim of our study is to improve a basic tone labeling algorithm that predicts tone labels using three Sesotho tonal rules. The application of this algorithm is restricted to polysyllabic verb stems. The research study involves implementing an extended tone labeling algorithm that implements four additional Sesotho tonal rules and extends its application to all the other parts of speech. The results of our study show that the extended tone labeling algorithm significantly improves the basic algorithm by increasing the number of matched tone labels. Furthermore, our study provides the basic step to tone modeling for languages such as Sesotho which do not mark tone labels in orthography.

Due to technological advancements, the role of the musician has changed dramatically in the 20th and 21st centuries. For the composer or songwriter especially, it is becoming increasingly expected for them to have some familiarity with music production and engineering, so that they are able to provide a finished product to employers, clients, or listeners. One goal of a successful production or engineered recording is to most effectively portray the recorded material. Music theory, and specifically analysis, has the ability to reveal important or expressive characteristics in a musical work. The relationship between musical analysis and production is explored to discover how music analysis can provide a more effective and informed musical production or recording and how a consideration of music production elements, notably timbre and instrumentation, can help to better inform a musical analysis. Two supplemental MP3 files are included with this thesis to demonstrate proposed mixing guidelines derived from the analysis.

Filmes de ligas FePt com uma estrutura quimicamente ordenada Tetragonal de Face Centrada FCT (tipo L1 IND.0) e textura [001] apresentam anisotropia magnética perpendicular, alta coercividade e grande efeito Kerr polar magnetoóptico. Entretanto, filmes completamente ordenados são normalmente obtidos através de um processo de \"sputtering\" com deposições em altas temperaturas do substrato(T IND. S > OU =600 ºC) ou por pós-tratamento térmico em temperaturas maiores que 500 ºC. As pesquisas atualmente em desenvolvimento visam a obtenção dessa estrutura ordenada a temperaturas mais baixas, o que seria mais adequado para aplicações práticas dos filmes. Neste trabalho, procuramos as melhores condições para a preparação de filmes de FePt com a fase ordenada FCT(001) em reduzidas temperaturas. Investigamos a influência do método de deposição, temperatura do substrato, espessura do filme e tipo de substrato sobre o grau de ordem química e textura dos filmes de FePt e, consequentemente, sobre suas propriedades magnéticas. Os filmes finos de ligas Fe IND.xPt IND. x-1(com x = 50 at%) foram preparados por \"Sputtering Magnetron DC\", através de dois diferentes métodos de deposição: pelo usual de codeposição e pelo método de deposiçãO alternada monocamadas atômicas (DAM). Os filmes foram crescidos sobre substratos de SiO IND.2/ Si(100), Si(100) e MgO(100), com e sem uma camada \"buffer\" de Pt ( com espessuras de 50 1 766 nm), sob T IND. s variando de temperatura ambiente a 600 ºC. O \"buffer\" de Pt foi usado para permitir melhores condições para a indução de um crescimento \"epitaxial\" da ordenada fase FCT(001) nos filmes de FePt. Os resultados da caracterização estrutural e magnética realizados através das técnicas de Difração de RAios-X (XRD) e Magnetometria de Amostra Vibrante (VSM) mostram que os substratos de MgO São adequados para induzir um crescimento \"epitaxial\" de filmes de FePt ) com uma estrutura FCT e textura [001]. Entretanto, com o uso de um \"buffer\" de Pt otimizado (com predominante fase FCC(100)), pré-depositado sobre MgO, foram obtifos melhores resultados em termos de \"epitaxia\" conveniente para o ordenamento da estrutura cristalina, para os filmes de FePt preparados por ambos os métodos de deposição. Os resultados mostram também que o efeito de um crescimento \"epitaxial\" induzido varia com a espessura do filme. Em relação ao método de deposição, os resultados revelam a maior eficiência de método DAM em comparação com o métodos de codeposição para a preparação de filmes de FePt com a fase FCT(001), em temperaturas reduzidas (T IND.s < OU = 400ºC). Com o uso do método DAM, foi possível a obtenção da fase ordenanda FCT(001) em filmes de FePt crescidos diretamente sobre o MgO em T IND. s = 400ºC. Para filmes de FePt crescidos sobre Pt/MgO, a formação da fase FCT(001) foi verificada em T IND.s = 200ºC e um alto grau de ordenamento químico (S = 0,88) em T IND. s = 400ºC. Estudos de Espectroscopia de Absorção de Rios-X (XAS) também foram realizados. / FePt alloy films, with a chemically ordered face-centered-tetragonal FCT (type LI IND.0) structure and [001] texture, present perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, high coactivity and large polar magneto-optical Kerr effect. However, completely ordered films are usually obtained either by sputtering process at high substrate temperatures (T IND.s MAIOR IGUAL A 600°C) or by postanneling treatment at temperatures higher than 500°C. For technological purposes the preparation temperatures has to be as low as possible. In this work we have searched the more adequate conditions to preparation of FePt films with ordered FCT(001) phase at reduced temperatures. We have investigated the influence of deposition methods, substrate temperature, thickness of film, and type of substrate on the degree of the chemical ordering and preferred texture of FePt films and, consequently, on their magnetic properties. The Fe IND.xPt IND.1-x alloy thin films (with x SEMELHANTE A 50 at%) were prepared by DC Magnetron Sputtering, via two different deposition methods: a conventional code position method and an alternate monatomic layer (DAM) deposition method. The films were grown on SiO IND.2/Si (100), Si (100) and MgO (100) substrates, with and without a Pt buffer layer (thickness ranging from 50 to 76 nm), at T IND.s varying from room temperature to 600°C. The Pt buffer layer was used for obtaining better conditions to the induction of an epitaxial grown of FePt films with the ordered FCT(001) phase. The results of structural and magnetic characterization performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) show that the MgO substrates are adequate to induce an epitaxial growth of FePt films with a FCT structure and [001] texture. However, with the use of an optimized Pt FCC(100) buffer layer pre-deposited on MgO, the best conditions to an epitaxial induced growth were obtained, by both deposition methods. The results show also that the quality of the epitaxial induced growth depends on the thickness of the film. In relation to the deposition method in comparison to the code position method for preparation of FePt FCT(001) films, at reduced temperatures (T IND.s MENOR IGUAL A 400°C). With the use of the DAM method it was possible to obtain the ordered FCT(001) phase in the FePt film grown directly on MgO, at T IND.s = 400°C. For FePt film grown on Pt/MgO, the formation of the FCT(001) phase was verified at T IND.s = 200°C, and high degree of chemical order (S=0,88) was obtained at T IND.s = 400°C. X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) studies also were done.

This critical overview draws upon a portfolio consisting of two book chapters, three journal articles and one conference paper all published in international publications between 2011 and the present. The papers have been underpinned, supported and disseminated through 18 conference presentations and a variety of interventions with the commercial environment, all undertaken during the same period. The outputs are crossdisciplinary encompassing technology, acoustics, psychoacoustics, business, music, psychology, physiology, cultural studies etc. The work is tied into two sets of funding from the Higher Education Academy (HEA) focussing on the use of emergent technology to develop music producers’ expertise. The work therefore represents a cohesive but diverse set of outputs, and is reflective of the technologically-driven nature of the creative industries, and the multidisciplinary experience of the author.

In this thesis I discuss, analyse and intend to answer the question: What is the best way to capture the sound of the acoustic accordion? It was my desire to explore this theme that led me to this research, and I believe that this question is important to many other accordionists as well. From the very beginning, I wanted the thesis to be not only an academic material but also that it can be used as an instruction manual, which could serve accordionists and others who are interested in this subject, to delve deeper into it, understand it and hopefully get answers to their questions about this subject. The thesis contains five main chapters: Amplifying of the accordion at live events, Processing of the accordion sound, Recording of the accordion in a studio - the specifics of recording of the accordion, Specific recording solutions and Examples of recording and amplifying of the accordion in practice of other accordion players, and two recordings: D. Scarlatti - Sonata D minor K 141, V. Trojan - The Collasped Cathedral. My aim is that this thesis will contribute to create a comprehensive insight into the specifics of capturing the accordion sound, contribute to better understanding of the acoustic properties of the instrument and bring practical answers to questions that many accordionists have. I have chosen to mention very basic technical aspects related to how to capture the sound of the acoustic accordion with respect to potential elementary knowledge of some people in this area. But, I also discuss very specific and professional details and focus on how different kinds of microphones can be used to capture the sound of the acoustic accordion. This is a subject that clearly is understudied and probably not has been a matter for proper research before. Most of my comments and analysis come from my personal experience and different experiments but there is also an interview included in the thesis with one very experienced accordionist who also is a professional music producer. I hope that my thesis will help other accordionists, sound engineers, and anyone else to understand the accordion and its specifics regarding both studio recording and live amplifying.

by Chiah Man Fat. / "March 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.