Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Physics / Artem Rudenko / Carlos Trallero-Herrero / Ultrafast laser systems (pulse durations 10-100 femtoseconds) allow for the practical production of intense fields (≥ 10¹⁴ W/cm²) in a table-top, laboratory setup. The development of this technology has opened the door to studying the interaction of intense laser fields with atoms, molecules, and solid media. These experiments revealed a wealth of dynamics and interplay between the field, ion, and the freed electron, which has led to the production of first attosecond pulses and opened the field of attosecond science. The dynamics of the electron in an intense laser field are fundamental to strong- field phenomena such as higher-order harmonic generation, high energy above threshold ionization, and non-sequential double ionization. As the electron can be strongly accelerated by the instantaneous field, the dynamics depend on both the field's amplitude and wavelength. The latter dependence comes from the fact that the period of the field increases with wavelength. Thus, the electron is accelerated for a longer time and the energy gained is proportional to the wavelength squared. Recent evidence supports the claim that the electron- field interaction at longer wavelengths must include the contribution of the magnetic field and/or the radiation pressure of the field, adding to the wealth of effects associated with strong- field interactions. This thesis explores several routes towards fulfilling gaps in our understanding of the wavelength-scaling of strong- field interactions. I first demonstrate several important developments that reduce the complexity of generating non-sinusoidal, light transient waveforms in the near-infrared, opening the ability to tailor waveforms for more control on strong- field interactions. Next, I demonstrate the development of a strong- field, femtosecond source at wavelengths from 5 micrometers to 9 micrometers. To date, this is the first few-cycle, strong- field (≥ 10¹⁴ W/cm²) source in the long-wave infrared. An important advantage to this design is the wavelength tunability, which provides a control knob for understanding strong- field interactions across a broad wavelength range. Afterwards, I present applications of wavelength tunable sources in strong- field absorption in semiconductors. Specifically, I measure the absorbance of a strong laser field in gallium arsenide as a function of laser polarization, which varies the density of states available to the electron. This is performed for four laser wavelengths spanning 1.2 micrometers to 2.4 micrometers. With these absorbance measurements, we can compare the dependence of the photoexcitation rate on several parameters and compare it to theory. We find that the change in absorbance with density of states deviates from theoretical predictions as the photon order for the photoexcitation increases from two to three. This could be attributed to the field modifying the energy-momentum relationship of the conduction band. To conclude the thesis, I present simulations on a recent experimentally demonstrated technique for amplifying few-cycle electric fields. Due to the difficulty in making these sources, the model I developed includes many of the parameters involved in designing the system. This simulation can be used to plan design criteria, such as nonlinear crystal thickness, for peak performance of the amplification process.

abstract: Due to the booming young mothers and fathers in the new era as well as the changes in the concept of parenting and the favorable liberalization of China's second child policy, the maternal-baby nursing market continues to grow, and it has become a must for businesses nowadays. In 2020, the size of the maternal-baby nursing market will reach 3.6 trillion. (Data: Yibang Power China's Maternal and Child Industry White Paper 2017). The rapid development of mobile Internet, highly transparent information, consumers grasp the sovereignty, along with the rise of the middle class, consumption increase encouraged personalized, customized needs. The boundaries between online and offline are becoming increasingly blurred. Consumers are more inclined to choose multi-category with service channel providers. If the retailers still rely on good market resources, and the difference between the sales and purchase of commodities, they will face a huge challenge of the decrease in passenger flow and a decline in performance. The paper takes the relationship between maternal-baby nursing retailers and targets customers as the study object, based on customer service of maternal-baby nursing retailer data, empirical studies, we found that this particular group, mothers and babies, especially value safety, quality, public praise and community review. If the retail enterprise attaches importance to establishing relationships with customers and enhances the relational viscosity through mutual trust, emotional formation and spread of public praise, it will help to increase the traffic volume and increase the output value of single customers. The maternal-baby nursing retailers form a strong relationship between enterprises and customers by establishing a strong relationship between products and customers, employees and customers, and customers to customers. Maternal-baby nursing retailers operate single-customer value deeply, build a heavy membership system and manage customer assets, thereby enhancing their brand and performance. The research on the method of establishing the strong tie can be considered as an analysis of feasibility. The research results of this paper will help to improve the overall customer service experience and satisfaction of the mother and infant retail industry, enhance the development of the whole industry and draw significance lessons from other service industries. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2018

We study a new method for the strong approximate solution of stochastic differential equations using coupling and we prove order one error bounds for the new scheme in Lp space assuming the invertibility of the diffusion matrix. We introduce and implement two couplings called the exact and approximate coupling for this scheme obtaining good agreement with the theoretical bound. Also we describe a method for non-invertibility case (Combined method) and we investigate its convergence order which will give O(h3/4 √log(h)j) under some conditions. Moreover we compare the computational results for the combined method with its theoretical error bound and we have obtained a good agreement between them. In the last part of this thesis we work out the performance of the multilevel Monte Carlo method using the new scheme with the exact coupling and we compare the results with the trivial coupling for the same scheme.

Cette thèse comprend une analyse d'un système de N bosons de masse m, à une dimension (1D). Vue des efforts expérimentaux récents et de la perspective d'étudier plusieurs effets quantiques intéressants, nous choisissons une géométrie circulaire avec une circonférence L. Un potentiel extérieur dépendant du temps nous permet d'introduire un mécanisme qui change l'état du moment angulaire des bosons. Ce potentiel est de la forme d'une fonction delta de Dirac qui se déplace le long de l'anneau à une vitesse v et la force de ce potentiel vaut U_0. Il peut être vu comme une barrière qui met les bosons en rotation. Les interactions entre les bosons sont des interactions de contact, décrites dans le modèle de Lieb et Liniger. Puisque le potentiel extérieur ne garde pas la symétrie de translation de L'Hamiltonien du système l'équation de Schrödinger n'est pas résoluble de manière exacte en utilisant un Ansatz de Bethe. Cependant, dans les limites des bosons libres et des bosons impénétrables de Tonks et Girardeau des méthodes alternatives existent pour trouver une solution exacte. Le but de cette thèse est de résoudre l'équation de Schrödinger dans ces cas limites. La solution nous permet d'accéder aux observables intéressantes concernant les propriétés superfluides des bosons libres et du gaz de Tonks. Nous effectuons une analyse du courant des particules, de ses fluctuations et de la force de traînée. Nous trouvons un comportement superfluide en-dessous d'une vitesse critique v_c=ħπ/(mL) de la barrière. Une oscillation du courant et la force de traînée est observée pour une vitesse de la barrière v=n*v_c, avec n un entier naturel. De plus, nous étudions la nature de l'état quantique du gaz de Tonks. Dans les analyses de la distribution des impulsions, de la fonction de Wigner et des images ``temps de vol'' pour une vitesse de la barrière v=n*v_c, on trouve que l'état du système est une superposition macroscopique de deux sphères de Fermi, l'une centrée autour de l'impulsion égale à zéro et l'autre autour de l'impulsion égale à 2q, avec q=mv/ħ. Cet état est un état fortement corrélé, non-classique car la fonction de Wigner atteint des valeurs négatives. / Recent experimental activities of boson trapping on a ring geometry open the way to explore a novel topology. We focus on a tight ring trap with strong transverse confinement leading to an effectively one-dimensional motion along its circumference. We consider a strongly interacting bose gas on the ring subjected to a localized barrier potential which is suddenly set into motion. The Bose-Fermi mapping allows to obtain an exact solution for the many-body wavefunction in the impenetrable-boson (Tonks-Girardeau) limit of infinitely strong interactions between the particles with arbitrary external potential, not treatable with the Bethe Ansatz. Using the time-dependent extension to BF mapping an exact solution for the dynamical evolution of the many-body wavefunction is obtained. The exact solution allows to calculate the particle current, the particle current fluctuations and the drag force acting on the barrier. In the weak barrier limit the stirring drives the system into a state with net zero current and vanishingly small current fluctuations for velocities smaller than v_c=ħπ/(mL), with m the atomic mass and L the ring circumference. The existence of a velocity threshold for current generation indicates superfluid-like behavior of the mesoscopic Tonks-Girardeau gas, different from the non-superfluid behavior predicted for the TG gas in an infinite tube. At velocities approaching integer multiples of v_c angular momentum can be transferred to the fluid and a nonzero drag force arises. At these velocities we predict the formation of a macroscopic superposition of a rotating and a nonrotating Fermi sphere of the mapped Fermi gas. We calculate the momentum distribution, time of flight images and the Wigner function of the Bose gas, the latter allowing to identify quantum interferences in the superposition. We find that the barrier velocity should be larger than the sound velocity for a better discrimination of the two components of the superposition.

Despite the increasing popularity of the concept of entrepreneurship for sustainable development in both academia and policy making, there is no agreement on how this process should unfold and which objectives it should pursue. Perceived tensions between the paradigms of sustainability and economic development as well as alack of shared definitions and assumptions lead to ambiguous understandings of the idea of sustainable entrepreneurship. This thesis uses the theoretical framework of ecological economics to investigate a leading discourse within the field of sustainable entrepreneurship and aims toclarify the underlying assumptions and implications of the current discourse. The analysed discourse is created by SEED, a global UN partnership which promotes entrepreneurship for sustainable development with a focus on African countries. The discourse analysis is conducted according to four analytical elements as defined by Dryzek (1997: 2013). The theoretical reflection of the discourse through the lensof ecological economics and its strong sustainability paradigm functions as a foundation for the conceptualisation of strong sustainable entrepreneurship from which implications for the current sustainable entrepreneurship discourse are derived.

Orientador: Osvaldo Luís Manzoli / Banca: Túlio Nogueira Bittencourt / Banca: Estevam Barbosa de Las Casas / Resumo: Este trabalho tem o propósito de contribuir para a generalização tridimensional de problemas de análise numérica da propagação de fissura, mediante a formulação de elementos finitos com descontinuidade incorporada. Em problemas planos as descontinuidades correspondem a linhas que podem ser elaboradas de uma forma relativamente simples, através da construção sequencial de segmentos retos, orientados conforme a direção de falha no interior de cada elemento finito do sólido. Na análise tridimensional a construção do caminho de descontinuidade é mais complexa, pois devem ser construídas superficiais planas no interior de cada elemento e essas superfícies planas devem ser contínuas entre os elementos. É apresentada, nesse trabalho, uma técnica alternativa de construção do caminho de descontinuidade em análises tridimensionais baseado na solução de um problema análogo ao problema de condução de calor, estabelecido a partir de orientações locais de falha, baseado no estado de tensão do problema mecânico. A solução do problema equivalente é obtida utilizando a mesma malha e interpolações do problema mecânico. Para minimizar o esforço computacional, é proposta uma estratégia na qual a análise para mapear o caminho da descontinuidade é restrita ao domínio formado por alguns elementos próximos à superfície de fissura, que se desenvolve ao longo do processo de carregamento. Para validar a metodologia proposta foram realizadas análises tridimensionais de problemas básicos de fratura experimentais e seus resultados foram contrastados com os resultados encontrados na bibliografia. Realizou-se também a comparação do tempo de processamento entre o algoritmo proposto e o algaritmo global para as mesmas análises mencionadas acima. Como resultado, constatou-se que o algoritmo proposto conseguiu descrever satisfatoriamente as trajetórias de descontinuidade, consumindo menor tempo de processamento / Abstract: This work contributes to the generalization to 3D problems of numerical analysis of crack propagation, through finite elements formulation with embedded discontinuity. In plane problems the discontinuities correspond to lines that can be tracked in a relatively simple way, by sequentially constructing straight segments, following the crack orientation inside each solid finite elements. In tree-dimensional analysis the tracking scheme is more complex since planar surfaces must be constructed inside each element and these planar surfaces must be continuous between elements. It is show in this work, an alternative version of discontinuity path construction technique in three-dimensional analysis based on the solution of an analogous heat conduction problem, established from the local failure orientation based on the stress state of the mechanical problem. The solution of the equivalent problem is obtained using the same mesh and interpolations of the mechanical problem. To minimize computational effort, a strategy is proposed in which the analysis to track the discontinuity path is restricted to the domain formed by few elements near the crack surface front, which develops along the loading process. To validate the poposed methodology three-dimensional analysis of experimental fracture test were performed and the results were contrasted with those obtained from the literature. The comparison between the process time of the proposed algorithm and the global algorithm was performed too. It was found that the proposed algorithm was able to describe the discontinuity path satisfactorily with reduced computational time / Mestre

Equipamentos médicos equipados com interface de rede, classificados como sensores, transmitem informações sensíveis sobre a rede, constituindo uma rede de sensores. Essa rede pode ser utilizada para o acompanhamento remoto de pacientes a domicílio, com a finalidade de propiciar comodidade ao paciente. As informações provenientes desses sensores são vulneráveis, necessitando assim de fortes mecanismos de segurança. Devido às vulnerabilidades, métodos mais eficazes de autenticação vêm sendo desenvolvidos. Porém, as soluções de autenticação existentes obrigam a interação direta dos usuários com o sistema, não respeitando suas individualidades. Dessa forma, esta dissertação propõe uma solução de autenticação forte a qual retira a necessidade de interação do usuário com o sistema, baseando-se nos fatores de biometria e localização. O autenticador desenvolvido, foi testado através de estudos de casos distintos para mostrar sua eficiência e viabilidade para utilização em um ambiente real. / Medical devices equipped with network interfaces, classified as sensors, transmit sensitive information through the network and form a sensor network. This network can be used to monitor patients at home remotely. The information from these sensors is vulnerable and requires strong security mechanisms. Because of vulnerabilities, more effective authentication methods have been developed. However, the current authentication solutions require direct interaction of the user with the system, which does not respect their individuality. Thus, this dissertation proposes a strong authentication solution in which the interaction of the user with the system is removed based on biometrics and location factors. The developed authenticator was tested through different case studies to show its efficiency and feasibility before application in a real environment.

No presente estudo, amostras policristalinas ricas em Ta e com estequiometrias Ta1-xZrx; x < 0.15; foram preparadas através da mistura apropriada dos elementos metálicos, os quais foram fundidos em forno a arco elétrico sobre uma placa de cobre refrigerada a água e sob atmosfera de argônio de alta pureza. Os padrões de difração de raios-X das ligas, como fundidas (as cast) e tratadas termicamente a 850 °C por 24 h, revelaram a ocorrência de uma estrutura cristalina cúbica de corpo centrada bcc, tipo W, e parâmetros de rede que aumentam suavemente com o aumento do teor de Zr nas ligas. Medidas de susceptibilidade magnética dc, conduzidas nas condições de resfriamento da amostra em campo zero (ZFC) e do resfriamento com o campo magnético aplicado (FC), indicaram que supercondutividade volumétrica é observada abaixo de ~ 5.8, 6.9, 7.0 K em amostras com x = 0.05, 0.08, e 0.10, respectivamente. Essas temperaturas críticas supercondutoras são bastante superiores àquela observada no Ta elementar ~ 4.45 K. Medidas de resistividade elétrica na presença de campos magnéticos aplicados de até 9 T confirmaram a temperatura crítica supercondutora das amostras estudadas. O campo crítico superior Hc2 e o comprimento de coerência E foram estimados a partir dos dados de magnetorresistência. Os valores estimados de Hc2 foram de ~ 0.46, 1.78, 3.85 e 3.97 T, resultando em valores de E ~ 26.0, 13.6, 9.2 e 9.1 nm para as ligas as cast com x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.08 e 0.10, respectivamente. A partir dos dados experimentais do calor específico Cp das ligas, magnitudes estimadas do salto em Cp nas vizinhanças das transições supercondutoras indicaram valores maiores que o previsto pela teoria BCS. Utilizando as equações analíticas derivadas da teoria do acoplamento forte da supercondutividade foi então proposto que o aumento da temperatura de transição supercondutora nas ligas devido a substituição parcial do Ta por Zr está intimamente relacionado ao aumento do acoplamento elétron-fônon, visto que a densidade de estados eletrônicos no nível de Fermi foi estimada ser essencialmente constante através da série Ta1-xZrx com x < 0.10. / In the present study, polycrystalline samples of Ta-rich binary alloys with stoichiometry Ta1-xZrx; x < 0.15; were prepared by mixing appropriate amounts of the metallic elements which were arc-melted on a water-cooled hearth under high-purity argon atmosphere. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the as cast alloys and heat treated ones at 850 °C by 24 h revealed the occurrence of the body-centered cubic crystal structure bcc, type W, and lattice parameters that increase slightly with increasing Zr content. Magnetic susceptibility measurements dc, performed in zero-field cooling ZFC and field cooling FC processes, indicated that bulk superconductivity is observed below ~ 5.8, 6.9, and 7.0 K, in samples with x = 0.05, 0.08, and 0.10, respectively. These superconducting critical temperatures are higher than that of ~ 4.45 K found in elemental Ta. Electrical resistivity measurements under applied magnetic fields to 9 T corroborated the superconducting critical temperatures for the samples studied. The thermodynamic upper critical field Hc2 and the coherence length E were estimated from the magnetoresistance data. The estimated values of Hc2 were 0.46, 1.78, 3.85, and 3.97 T, leading to E 26.0, 13.6, 9.2, and 9.1 nm for the as cast alloys with x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.08, and 0.10, respectively. In addition to this, from the results of heat capacity Cp data, jumps in the vicinity of the superconducting transition were estimated and found to be larger than the one expected from the BCS theory. By using analytic equations derived from the strong coupling theory of superconductivity we argued that the enhancement of Tc in alloying Ta with Zr is due to the increase of the electron-phonon coupling, provided that the density of states in the Fermi level was found to be essentially constant in the series Ta1-xZrx; x < 0.10.

Este trabalho estuda o modelo de Falicov e Kimball com duas impurezas. O modelo consiste de um metal com duas impurezas separadas por uma distância R, cada uma das quais é representada por um único nível eletrônico. Um acoplamento V permite transferência de carga entre cada impureza e a banda de condução do metal. Além disso, cada impureza introduz um potencial espalhador G cuja intensidade depende da ocupação do seu nível, assim simulando a interação eletrostática entre um buraco na impureza e os elétrons de condução. Esta dissertação diagonaliza o Hamiltoniano do modelo pelo método do grupo de renormalização numérico. Dá-se atenção à possível equivalência entre este modelo (desprovido de spin) e o modelo de Kondo para duas impurezas. Discute-se em particular essa equivalência para R=0 e para R= INFINITO. Para R finito, apenas um primeiro passo na direção de se estabelecer a equivalência é dado: obtém-se uma expressão analítica para a taxa de transição eletrônica entre os níveis das impurezas e a banda de condução. / In this work, the two-impurity Falicov-Kimball model is studied. The model consists of a metal containing two impurities separated by a distance R, each represented by a single electronic level. A coupling V allows charge transfer between each impurity and the conduction band. In addition, each impurity scatters the conduction electrons with a localized potential G whose intensity depends on the occupancy of the impurity level; this mimics the Coulomb attraction between na impurity hole and the conduction band. This dissertation diagonalizes the model Hamiltonian with the numerical renormalization group method. In two special limits, R=0 and R=INFINITO, the equivalence between the (spinless) Falicov-Kimball model and the two-impurity Kondo model is discussed. For other impurity separations, only a first step torwards establishing that equivalence is taken: na analytical expression for the electronic transition rate between the impurity levels and the conduction states is obtained.

Este trabalho introduz uma nova discretização da banda de condução no método de Grupo de Renormalização Numérico. Com essa técnica, a susceptibilidade magnética do modelo de Anderson de duas impurezas, no limite Kondo, e calculada. Como ilustração, a densidade espectral do modelo também é calculada. A nova técnica baseia-se na simetria de paridade do modelo para discretizar diferentemente à banda de condução associada a cada paridade. Sua extensão ao modelo de rede é indicada. A técnica reduz o tempo computacional e permite usar maiores valores do parâmetro de discretização do que no método tradicional. Para um mesmo tempo de cálculo, nossos resultados são muito mais precisos do que os encontrados na literatura. A susceptibilidade é calculada na aproximação de acoplamento independente da energia. Uma interação de troca, tipo RKKY, é somado ao Hamiltoniano do modelo. Para acoplamento ferromagnético, obtém-se efeito Kondo de dois estágios. O estado fundamental é singleto com defasagem de PI/2 na banda de condução. Para acoplamento antiferromagnético fraco, um efeito Kondo é obtido. Para fortes acoplamentos antiferromagnéticos, o estado fundamental e singleto sem defasagens. Um ponto fixo instável é observado separando as regiões de estado fundamental Kondo e antiferromagnético. Nesse ponto a susceptibilidade é nula e a defasagem é indefinida. / This work introduces an extension of the Numerical Renormalization Group approach to compute thermodynamically properties of impurities in metals, based on a novel logarithmic discretization of the conduction band. On the basis of the new method, the thermal dependence of the magnetic susceptibility for the Kondo limit of the two-impurity Anderson model is computed. As another illustration, the impurity spectral density for the same model is calculated analytically in the weakly correlated regime. The new approach takes advantage of the parity-inversion symmetry of the model to discretize differently the odd and the even conduction channels (for Ni impurities, the conduction band could likewise be divided into Ni channels, each of which would be discretized in a different way). The resulting mesh describes better the continuum of the conduction states than the mesh in the standard Numerical Renormalization Group method; as a consequence, the new procedure is substantially less expensive when computing any given thermodynamical property with a given accuracy, thus we are able to compute the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility with a small fraction of the effort involved in the recently reported computation of the ground state properties for the two impurity Kondo model. As in previous Renormalization Group work, the model Hamiltonian is diagonalized within the energy-independent coupling approximation. One well-known shortcoming of this approximation is its inability to generate antiferromagnetic RKKY couplings between the impurities; to compensate, again following previous work; we have added to the Hamiltonian an artificial exchange coupling Io. For weak antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic couplings, the effective magnetic moment of the impurities decreases with temperature, and as in the one-impurity Kondo effect, the ground-state conduction band is phase shifted by PI /2. For strong ferromagnetic coupling, the Kondo effect takes place in two stages, one for each conduction channel. For strong antiferromagnetic coupling, the magnetic moment also decreases, rapidly, with temperature, but the ground state conduction-band phase shift is zero. The regions of zero and PI /2 ground-state phase shifts are separated by an unstable fixed point. At this point, the magnetic susceptibility vanishes.