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Title: IRON INCORPORATION INTO FERROELECTRIC LEAD TITANATE
Creator: Ganegoda, Hasitha
Date: 2012-11-27, 2012-12
Description: Incorporation of iron into ferroelectric lead titanate with ABO3 perovskite structure is widely utilized to fabricate materials with...
Show moreIncorporation of iron into ferroelectric lead titanate with ABO3 perovskite structure is widely utilized to fabricate materials with ferroelectric and ferromagnetic order. These solid solutions exhibit room temperature ferromagnetic properties at iron concentration as low as 1 mole%. Iron (Fe3+) is highly compatible with titanium (Ti4+) in ionic radii and obviously incompatible in the valence state. Magnetoelectric coupling has been observed in 50 mole% Fe substituted lead titanate. The molecular mixing of precursor materials in wet chemical synthesis such as sol-gel has advantage over conventional solid state sintering in achieving higher solubility of the substituent. A series of Pb(FexTi1−x)O3− solid solution in the composition range x = 0 to 1 has been synthesized using sol-get route, followed by a moderate temperature (700 C) calcination. The structure and properties of samples were characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), dielectric spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and magnetic measurements. SEM results indicated a gradual change in sample morphology, changing from individual particles to nano-aggregates with Fe concentration. EDX confirmed uniform distribution of dopants when Fe concentration x 0.3 and Fe concentration close to nominal composition with possibility of lead loss. XRD results indicated a rapid reduction of tetragonal distortion upon Fe substitution, Fe solubility limit of 10 mole%, and PbFe12O19 impurity phase formation at compositions x 0.4. XAS clearly indicated that Ti prefers a 6 coordinated distorted oxygen octahedra and Fe is surrounded by 5 oxygens situated at a similar distance. Other measurements suggested that ferroelectric and ferromagnetic ordering may arise in Ti-rich and Fe-rich phases, respectively. None of the samples below x = 0.2 was found to be ferromagnetic at room temperature.
PH.D in Physics, December 2012
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Title: SOCIAL FUNCTIONING AND CORE SYMPTOMATOLOGY AS PREDICTORS OF RESPONSE TO A SUMMER TREATMENT PROGRAM FOR YOUTH WITH COMBINED TYPE ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER
Creator: Uribe, Roberto Alejandro
Date: 2015, 2015-12
Description: The study was a retrospective repeated measures analysis of 108 youth (age 6-12) who took part in the 2008-2012 Camp STAR (Summer Treatment...
Show moreThe study was a retrospective repeated measures analysis of 108 youth (age 6-12) who took part in the 2008-2012 Camp STAR (Summer Treatment Program for ADHD and Related Disorders) Summer Treatment Program. Developed by William E. Pelham in 1980, the Summer Treatment Program (STP) is an intensive psychosocial intervention delivered to children ages 6-12 in natural settings through the medium of summer camp. A recognized evidence base for the STP has steadily developed and evolved leading to improved stabilization of ADHD associated issues and treatment satisfaction. The following investigation sought to address questions about the efficacy of the STP with respect to predicting treatment responses for a subgroup of ADHD youth presenting with complex clinical presentations of combined type ADHD. The study built on prior evaluations of predictor importance by utilizing socio-emotional measures from the daily behavioral data of the STP, as well as more typically used ADHD dimensional symptom severity measures to inform treatment fit. As anticipated, because the heterogeneity of the disorder suggests that response to treatment is multifaceted, no combination of predictor variables produced a regression equation model that significantly explained variance across all of the treatment outcome variables. After controlling for concurrent pharmacotherapy and age, the combined effects of pretreatment core ADHD symptom severity and social functioning measures were found to significantly explain variance in a criterion variable corresponding with camp objectives (e.g., developing social competencies and coping skills, decreased functioning; Overall STP Improvement Index), as well as positive and negative socio-emotional behaviors measured directly by the STP Point System at the end of the camp. Change in R2 statistics confirmed the study hypothesis in which, the pretreatment socio-emotional factor sets significantly improved the prediction of multiple treatment outcomes over and above DSM-IV ADHD symptom dimensions and control variables. Ten percent of unique variance when predicting informant ratings of improvement made while at camp, 4% unique variance when predicting positive social behavior at the conclusion of Camp STAR, and 2% unique variance when predicting negative social behavior at the conclusion of Camp STAR were among the results. Observed negative behaviors at baseline demonstrated predictive utility whereas results pertaining to hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention symptom dimensions did not significantly influence behavior, and subsequently, revealed little about the observed variation in outcomes in this particular dataset. While each of the core DSM-IV symptom dimensions are known to be differently associated with a variety of domain specific impairments in the general population (Lahey, & Willcutt, 2010), the results from this study suggest that with ADHD subgroups featuring severe symptom and impairment profiles, the core symptom dimensions did not appear to be as differentially associated with functional impairment. In cases of severe combined type ADHD, decisions about treatment fit should be based more on the socio-emotional impact of symptoms rather than their mere presence. The findings underscore the value in identifying socio-emotional impairments for individuals diagnosed with severe and complicated ADHD as early as possible and to intervene with intensive modalities specifically aimed at developing skills and cognitive faculties that enhance abilities to maintain healthy relationships.
Ph.D. in Psychology, December 2015
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Title: MODELING THE PERFORMANCE OF A SOLAR CHIMNEY WITH BUILT-IN PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS TO IMPROVE NATURAL VENTILATION
Creator: Khorraminejad, Aysan
Date: 2014, 2014-12
Description: The use of solar chimneys to improve natural ventilation in buildings has been shown to yield energy savings while maintaining thermal comfort...
Show moreThe use of solar chimneys to improve natural ventilation in buildings has been shown to yield energy savings while maintaining thermal comfort in some climate zones. However, one disadvantage is that the ability to control passive ventilation with solar chimneys is often limited by temporal variations of building function and diurnal weather patterns. The unique thermal properties of phase change materials (PCMs) may provide opportunities to manage some of the limitations of solar chimney strategies in buildings through the timed storage and release of thermal energy, which can aid in minimizing daytime heat gains and increasing the effectiveness of nighttime flushing by natural ventilation. This work explores the potential of PCMs combined with solar chimneys to support the passive ventilation of buildings using whole building energy simulation. Results are intended to inform architects and engineers on best practices for incorporating PCMs in buildings with solar chimneys. A model of a prototype office building designed to ASHRAE Standard 90.1 was developed in EnergyPlus and investigated in five U.S. climate zones. A total of 1023 energy simulations were performed to address the following research questions: (1) In what U.S. climate zone is the use of PCMs most appropriate? (2) Can PCMs improve night flushing ventilation when used with a solar chimney? (3) What are the optimal locations for installation of PCMs in building and solar chimney construction in order to provide optimal cooling load reductions? and (4) How do PCM properties influence cooling load reductions? Results demonstrate that the solidification and melting process of PCMs can indeed be used to prolong natural ventilation for night flushing in the evening and nighttime, particularly in climate zones with large diurnal outdoor temperature fluctuations. Results also suggest the following: (1) the optimal location for installation of PCMs in most climates is within the structure of south-facing envelope assemblies; (2) the PCM melting temperature should be equal to or greater than the zone set point temperature; (3) thicker PCMs can yield slightly more cooling energy savings than thinner PCMs; and (4) the thermal conductivity of PCMs does not appear to have a substantial influence on performance.
Ph.D. in Architecture, December 2014
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Title: FUNCTION APPROXIMATION WITH KERNEL METHODS
Creator: Zhou, Xuan
Date: 2015, 2015-12
Description: This dissertation studies the problem of approximating functions of d variables in a separable Banach space Fd. In particular we are...
Show moreThis dissertation studies the problem of approximating functions of d variables in a separable Banach space Fd. In particular we are interested in convergence and tractability results in the worst case setting and in the average case setting. The symmetric positive definite kernel in both settings is of a product form Kd(x, t) := d =1 1 − α2 + α2 Kγ (x , t ) for all x, t ∈ Rd. The kernel Kd generalizes the anisotropic Gaussian kernel, whose tractability properties have been established in the literature. For a fixed d, we study rates of convergence, which indicate how quickly approximation errors decay. Since rates of convergence can deteriorate quickly as d increases, it is desirable to have dimension-independent convergence rates, which corresponds to the concept of strong polynomial tractability. We present sufficient conditions on {α }∞ =1 and {γ }∞ =1 under which strong polynomial tractability holds for function approximation problems in Fd. Numerical examples are presented to support the theory and guaranteed automatic algorithms are provided to solve the function approximation problem in a straightforward and efficient way. viii
Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, December 2015
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Title: A NOVEL METHOD FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRUCTURAL CONTACT IN FINITE ELEMENT METHODS OFFERING SIMPLIFIED TREATMENT OF ENERGY DISSIPATION
Creator: Grudzinski, James John
Date: 2012-04-24, 2012-05
Description: A novel method for implementing contact/impact in an implicit nite element formulation is presented. The method uses the ideas of buoyancy to...
Show moreA novel method for implementing contact/impact in an implicit nite element formulation is presented. The method uses the ideas of buoyancy to enforce the normal contact constraint and a velocity dependent force to model energy dissipation. Upon contact (penetration) a normal force equal to the depth of penetration times a target weight density (di erent and much larger than the actual material weight density) creates a normal pressure on the contacting body. In addition to the buoyancy force, the penetrating surface area is subjected to a drag-like force that acts in a direction opposite the velocity vector of the penetrating node of the contacting body . This rate dependence is broken up into components tangential and normal to the target surface. The normal component of the drag performs two functions. First it provides for an energy absorbing mechanism similar to a coe cient of restitution for modeling non-conservative systems. Secondly, it can provide damping (analogous to mathematical damping) which can aid in solution convergence. The tangential component of the damping force serves the function of modeling friction in a simpli ed manner. The method applies contact forces in the manner of external forces and as such lends itself well to simpli ed contact detection schemes which rely on functional representation of bodies. The method is described and demonstrated through several examples including a comparison to experimental data.
Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, May 2012
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Title: THE PALAIS GARNIER: TOWARD AN ARCHITECTURE OF DANCE AND MUSIC IN XIX CENTURY FRANCE
Creator: Vranas Olsen, Cynthia
Date: 2017, 2017-05
Description: As a doctoral candidate, this writer has focused on the Romantic Movement of 19th century France, where the arts mutually influenced each...
Show moreAs a doctoral candidate, this writer has focused on the Romantic Movement of 19th century France, where the arts mutually influenced each other, just as in ancient Greece and Rome. This research highlights the interrelationships of the Arts to Architecture by examining artists such as Hugo in drama, Gautier in literature, Delacroix in painting, Chopin and Adam in music, Noverre in dance and Garnier in architecture. Although Noverre’s specialty was dance, he believed that theater buildings were first monuments to the arts. For Garnier, 100 years later, the Arts and Architecture were not separate identities. They complemented and enhanced one another. Both books, Observations sur la Construction d’une Nouvelle Salle de l’Opera by Jean-Georges Noverre and Le Theatre by Charles Garnier, were publications translated extensively from French to the English language as primary sources. In designing a theater building, the architect is responsible for synthesizing and translating myriad information in order to create an appropriate and responsive language. An invaluable knowledge of technical considerations - set design, lighting, backstage equipment, sightlines, acoustics and facilities for performers - is critical, as is balancing the client’s concerns and the user/spectator’s needs. As performance expresses a cultural instinct for communicative involvement, this writer believes that a theater building, itself, is a reflection of the arts. It is art, therefore, that inextricably shapes the programs and designs of our theater buildings. The Palais Garnier, completed in 1875 for the Paris Opéra and its associated Paris Opéra Ballet, is thought to mirror the cultural complexity of the age. Before this time, the Paris Opéra was housed in the Salle Le Peletier, a temporary building with inadequate facilities that did not reflect the existing, lavish, highly skilled art that was performed. Garnier’s travels to ancient sites in Greece and Rome resulted in his classic book, Le Théatre. By writing, he immersed himself in the study of the physical qualities of the theater, and it eventually became his architecture. The form and character of the theater buildings studied reflect the changing social structures, technology and patronage that sponsored them. The Palais Garnier reflects a unique intersection of the arts, along with the political, social and economic influences of that time. Musicians turned their attention toward the expressions of intense feelings that were influenced by poetry and the visual arts. The Palais Garnier, with its grandeur and opulence, became its own “performance”. The multi-disciplinary nature of architecture and the study of the interrelationships of the arts can inform creativity. Just like the timeless, majestic Palais Garnier in Paris, in 19th century France, new architectural structures can become their own profound monumental and memorable “performances” for future generations.
Ph.D. in Architecture, May 2017
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Title: ENABLING TOOLS FOR SINGLE CELL ANALYSIS
Creator: Li, Zhaoxia
Date: 2011-07, 2011-07
Description: Cells are basic functional units of life. A cell function is mediated by proteins and genes, whose distribution and expression level depends...
Show moreCells are basic functional units of life. A cell function is mediated by proteins and genes, whose distribution and expression level depends remarkably on the microenvironment. In the native environment, individual cells behave differently but communicate with surrounding cells. It is imperative to investigate proteins and genes at the single cell level in their native environment. The current representative single cell analysis methods, fluorescent techniques, are the most direct tools to study a single cell. The commonly used methods to measure protein and gene expression levels in single cells are on the basis of fluorescence labeling, such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting and live cell microscopy. They become more powerful when combine with the use of microfluidic devices. The disadvantages of these methods are, (1) their limited sensitivity doesn’t allow the detection of low-abundance proteins and genes; (2) they are unable to detect the cell-to-cell difference within a population; (3) the cell-sorting based method is lack of spatial resolution since the isolation of cells from the natural environment is required for analysis. To tackle these challenges, we established atomic force microscopy based approaches for in-situ gene and protein analysis on a target single live cell. The methods provide the spatial and quantitative information of cells in their native culture environment. They are effective and sensitive to detect low-abundant proteins and genes. In this thesis work, we developed a novel immunofluorescence assisted affinity mapping (IF-AM) method, in which immunofluorescence provides the guidance to locate a desired type of cell in a cell community for performing affinity mapping to quantify the local protein density at a high spatial resolution. Due to the ability of directly assessing proteins of individual cells, the IF-AM method is shown to be a sensitive tool for xiii resolving subtle differences in the local expression of membrane proteins even at low abundance. In the following work, we improved the accuracy of protein quantification by adapting the separation work based calculation rather than the previously used maximum adhesion force based calculation, and established a practical model to analyze the data systematically. We applied the methods to investigate the membrane proteins TRA-1-81 and E-cadherin on human embryonic stem cells. The heterogeneous distribution of TRA- 1-81 and the homogeneous distribution of E-cadherin as well as the quantitative measurement of the protein local abundance provided comprehensive information in understanding the strategy of hES cells to maintain the stemness during cell proliferation and to initiate the differentiation. An mRNA retrieval method was also developed to perform the gene expression analysis on a single cell of a desired type in a cell community. This was achieved by using a functionalized AFM tip as a bait to bind and retrieve mRNA from a desired single cell, followed by sensitive Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (Q-PCR) analysis. The extraction of mRNA from live cells was performed with non/negligible damage to the cells. The established method here enabled the gene expression analysis of individual live cells at the original sites without disrupting the cell context. Thus the gene expression of a target cell and its surrounding cells can be analyzed in parallel, deriving concrete data for understanding the behavior of one cell in concert with that of the surrounding cells in the same or different cell population. The method was successfully applied in the study of side population cells in ovarian cancer cells. The methods developed in this thesis are versatile, and can be broadly applied to the study of different membrane proteins and genes of various cell types.
Ph.D. in Chemistry, July 2011
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Title: PEGYLATION OF FIBRONECTIN AND ITS FUNCTIONAL DOMAINS: EFFECT ON STABILITY AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY
Creator: Zhang, Chen
Date: 2013, 2013-07
Description: Delayed wound healing in many chronic wounds has been linked to the lack of extracellular matrix (ECM) support and the degradation of...
Show moreDelayed wound healing in many chronic wounds has been linked to the lack of extracellular matrix (ECM) support and the degradation of fibronectin (FN) by an abnormally high protease level. The ECM is important in wound healing because it provides physical and chemical cues that direct tissue growth and development. FN is a key ECM protein that attracts and binds different molecules and cells and thereby supports biological responses associated with wound healing. The goal of my study is two fold: (1) To create an ECM analogue based on a composite of polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels and FN binding domains and (2) To stabilize FN against proteolytic degradation by conjugating it to PEG. To address the first goal, I used Michael addition chemistry to covalently link the cell-binding domain of FN, III9−10, to PEG diacrylate and cross-linked the conjugate to PEG hydrogels. The conjugation of PEG to III9−10 was through cysteines in the affinity tag Glutathione S Transferase (GST). The conjugate of GST-III9−10 and PEG was characterized by: (i) Circular dichroism studies to determine secondary structure, (ii) Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) to determine molecular weight, and (iii) Ellmans reagent to determine the efficiency of PEG conjugation to GST-III9−10. The conjugate of PEG and GST-III9−10 had comparable secondary structure to GST-III9−10. SDS-PAGE studies showed that up to three PEG molecules were attached to one GST-III9−10 molecule. The efficiency of PEG conjugation was greater than 90% and occurred within 30 minutes after PEG diacrylate addition. Adhesion assays were used as a metric of biological activity. These assays demonstrated that on a molar basis cell adhesion and spreading were significantly higher on PEG hydrogels with GST-III9−10 than those with the commonly used arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide. Scaffold rigidity is an important biological cues that influence xi cell responses. However, a comparative study of rigidity on GST-III9−10 and RGD functionalized PEG hydrogels demonstrated that differences in rigidity could not account for differences in cell adhesion and spreading between RGD and GST-III9−10 functionalized PEG hydrogels. Thus as ECM analogues, GST-III9−10 functionalized hydrogels provide more robust biochemical cues than RGD functionalized hydrogels. Studies of PEG hydrogel composites with mixtures of III9−10 and a fibronectin binding domain demonstrated that biological responses of adhesion and spreading and extracellular matrix assembly could be controlled by varying the ratio of these two domains and the rigidity of the PEG hydrogels. FN was stabilized against proteolytic degradation by covalent attaching it to PEG or by PEGylating it. FN was first isolated from human plasma by gelatin affinity chromatography and then PEGylated using two methods. The first method is to PEGylate human plasma fibronectin (HPFN) at cysteine residues with 3.4 kDa PEG diacrylate. The second method is to PEGylate HPFN at lysine residues on the surface with 2-10 kDa PEG Succinimidyl carboxy methyl esters. Cysteine PEGylation of HPFN was first carried out because cysteines are concentrated in the amino- terminus of HPFN which leaves two-thirds of the molecule, including the cell-binding domain, unperturbed. PEGylation of HPFN on cysteines resulted in a molecule that supported cell adhesion, spreading, focal adhesion formation and cell migration in a comparable manner to native HPFN. Moreover, PEGylated HPFN was incorporated into the ECM in a similar manner to native HPFN when present in the culture media but not when coated on a surface indicating that PEGylation on cysteines modified some biological activity of HPFN. Additionally, HPFN PEGylated by this manner could not bind denatured collagen or gelatin. The gelatin-binding domain is at the site of cysteine PEGylation. The second approach for PEGylation of HPFN was through lysine residues xii on the surface of the protein. This approach was used because it targeted different amino acid residues in FN. The length of PEG and extent of PEGylation have been reported to influence biological activity of proteins. In the second approach, both PEG length and extent were varied. HPFN completely PEGylated on lysines residues was significantly more proteolytically stable than native HPFN but had reduced cell attachment and spreading. Furthermore, cell spreading and attachment on surfaces conjugated with this lysine PEGylated HPFN decreased with increasing PEG length. Partially PEGylated HPFN was synthesized by masking the cell and gelatin binding domains during PEGylation. The partially PEGylated HPFN supported cell adhesion and spreading in a similar manner to native HPFN and was more proteolytically stable. For the partially PEGylated HPFN, the size of PEG poly had no significant influence on the attachment and spreading of cells. These studies are the first attempt by any laboratory to stabilize FN against proteolytic degradation while retaining activity and show the feasibility of this approach as a potential therapeutic approach. The work presented here shows a two-prong approach by which the problem of ECM degradation and deficiency chronic wound healing can be addressed. The first approach for addressing ECM deficiency is through a scaffold design methodology. The novelty of the scaffold approach is that it uses the cell-binding domains of FN instead of the often-used RGD peptide. I demonstrate that a PEG hydrogel with the cell-binding domain produces a more robust biological response in cells than a PEG hydrogel with the RGD peptide. I also demonstrate that varying different functional domains of fibronectin can be used to controllably stimulate multiple biological responses. The second approach demonstrates a method by which FN, a key ECM protein, is stabilized against proteolytic degradation without perturbing its activity. These studies of creating PEG-FN conjugates are the first of their kind. Collectively, the data that I present in this thesis will lead to novel therapeutic methods for treating chronic wounds.
PH.D in Chemical Engineering, December 2012
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Title: NEURAL ADAPTIVE CONTROL STRATEGY FOR HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES WITH PARALLEL POWERTRAIN
Creator: Gurkaynak, Yusuf
Date: 2011-04-20, 2011-05
Description: In a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) with parallel powertrain, the system can be controlled by splitting the required power between the electric...
Show moreIn a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) with parallel powertrain, the system can be controlled by splitting the required power between the electric propulsion machine and internal combustion engine (ICE) to meet specific goals related to fuel consumption, efficiency, performance, and/or emissions. This power splitting scenario, which is of great hybridization importance, is in fact the control strategy or energy management of the hybrid vehicle. Performance of the system depends on the control strategy, which needs to be robust, stable, reliable, and independent from uncertainties. This Ph.D. research is focused on model based control strategies, which are proposed for parallel hybrid powertrains, showing significant advantages in performance and fuel economy. If a model based control strategy is used to develop the hybrid power management algorithm, the accuracy of the model data needs to be high for proper control. Therefore, this type of management method is parameter sensitive. Implementing system identification features into this algorithm reduces the effect. As a result, the proposed controller algorithm learns the existing component parameters while operating. Furthermore, combining the base controller with an online tuner, which simultaneously optimizes the controller for current conditions, will improve the performance of the power management. In addition, this Ph.D. thesis presents a novel neural adaptive equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) and applies it to a hybrid representative sport utility vehicle (SUV) with parallel powertrain. The ECMS is a model based optimal control strategy and is based on the minimization of both fuel consumption and battery charge usage by introducing the equivalent coefficient between them. Proper operation of the controller depends on the accuracy of the model. It also depends on the correct selection of the equivalent coefficient. In this Ph.D. thesis, specific neural network structures are proposed for both coefficient selections by drive cycle recognition and for precise model building by system identification. This thesis also presents a novel fast solution method of ECMS algorithm for real time applications.
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, May 2011
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Title: KILOMETER-SPACED GNSS ARRAY FOR IONOSPHERIC IRREGULARITY MONITORING
Creator: Su, Yang
Date: 2017, 2017-05
Description: This dissertation presents automated, systematic data collection, processing, and analysis methods for studying the spatial-temporal...
Show moreThis dissertation presents automated, systematic data collection, processing, and analysis methods for studying the spatial-temporal properties of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) scintillations produced by ionospheric irregularities at high latitudes using a closely spaced multi-receiver array deployed in the northern auroral zone. The main contributions include 1) automated scintillation monitoring, 2) estimation of drift and anisotropy of the irregularities, 3) error analysis of the drift estimates, and 4) multi-instrument study of the ionosphere. A radiowave propagating through the ionosphere, consisting of ionized plasma, may su↵er from rapid signal amplitude and/or phase fluctuations known as scintillation. Caused by non-uniform structures in the ionosphere, intense scintillation can lead to GNSS navigation and high-frequency (HF) communication failures. With specialized GNSS receivers, scintillation can be studied to better understand the structure and dynamics of the ionospheric irregularities, which can be parameterized by altitude, drift motion, anisotropy of the shape, horizontal spatial extent and their time evolution. To study the structuring and motion of ionospheric irregularities at the sub-kilometer scale sizes that produce L-band scintillations, a closely-spaced GNSS array has been established in the auroral zone at Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska to investigate high latitude scintillation and irregularities. Routinely collecting lowrate scintillation statistics, the array database also provides 100 Hz power and phase data for each channel at L1/L2C frequency. In this work, a survey of seasonal and hourly dependence of L1 scintillation events over the course of a year is discussed. To efficiently and systematically study scintillation events, an automated low-rate scintillation detection routine is established and performed for each day by screening the phase scintillation index. The spaced-receiver technique is applied to cross-correlated phase and power measurements from GNSS receivers. Results of horizontal drift velocities and anisotropy ellipses derived from the parameters are shown for several detected events. Results show the possibility of routinely quantifying ionospheric irregularities by drifts and anisotropy. Error analysis on estimated properties is performed to further evaluate the estimation quality. Uncertainties are quantified by ensemble simulation of noise on the phase signals carried through to the observations of the spaced-receiver linear system. These covariances are then propagated through to uncertainties on drifts. A case study of a single scintillating satellite observed by the array is used to demonstrate the uncertainty estimation process. The distributed array is used in coordination with other measuring techniques such as incoherent scatter radar and optical all-sky imagers. These scintillations are correlated with auroral activity, based on all-sky camera images. Measurements and uncertainty estimates made over a 30-minute period are made and compared to a collocated incoherent scatter radar, and show good agreement in horizontal drift speed and direction during periods of scintillation for cases when the characteristic velocity is less than the drift velocity. The methods demonstrated are extensible to other zones and other GNSS arrays of varying size, number, ground distribution, and transmitter frequency.
Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineeering, May 2017
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Title: NETWORK CODING BASED COOPERATIVE PEER-TO-PEER REPAIR IN WIRELESS NETWORKS
Creator: Liu, Yu
Date: 2012-07-11, 2012-07
Description: Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) in cellular networks has emerged recently as a promising distribution model to provide rich...
Show moreMultimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) in cellular networks has emerged recently as a promising distribution model to provide rich content distribution where a batch of content is broadcast to a large number of peers simultaneously. However, ensuring efficient error-free message delivery in such a scenario is a challenge, since packet loss is inevitable due to the time-varying nature of wireless transmissions, and the server is probably overwhelmed by floods of individual retransmission requests from peers. Cooperative Peer-to-Peer (P2P) information repair has been proposed to mitigate the packet loss among peers during Base Station (BS) broadcast, by allowing peers to cooperate on information exchange among themselves, rather than asking the BS to rebroadcast the lost packets for the peers. Network Coding, a fairly recent transmission paradigm with the potential network throughput improvement and high reliability advantage, has been widely recognized as a promising information dissemination approach for wireless networks. In this research, we study the network coding based cooperative P2P information repair in wireless networks. We first propose our initial work - a connected dominating set (CDS) based P2P information repair (PPIR) protocol with network coding which utilize the clustering idea, to minimize the total repair latency as well as alleviate the congestion and burden of BS’s downlink channels. Then the decision making problem for P2P repair with densely distributed nodes is studied and two approaches are provided. Later on, the NC based P2P information repair protocol with tunable parameter (NC-PIRTP) which evolved from PPIR protocol is proposed to further reduce transmission collisions and total repair latency. At last, P2P information repair under mobile network environment with pedestrian speed is studied and three efficient protocols are illustrated which are suitable to different specific cases. Extensive simulation results are provided for performance evaluation and comparisons, and to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed protocols in terms of the total repair latency. Furthermore, an analytical model is developed, based on which theoretical results are derived. These results validate our protocol models and provide useful protocol design guideline for the cooperative P2P information repair problem in wireless networks.
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, July 2012
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Title: POWER SYSTEM VOLTAGE STABILITY AND AGENT BASED DISTRIBUTION AUTOMATION IN SMART GRID
Creator: Nguyen, Cuong Phuc
Date: 2011-04-25, 2011-05
Description: Our interconnected electric power system is presently facing many challenges that it was not originally designed and engineered to handle. The...
Show moreOur interconnected electric power system is presently facing many challenges that it was not originally designed and engineered to handle. The increased interarea power transfers, aging infrastructure, and old technologies, have caused many problems including voltage instability, widespread blackouts, slow control response, among others. These problems have created an urgent need to transform the present electric power system to a highly stable, reliable, efficient, and self-healing electric power system of the future, which has been termed “smart grid”. This dissertation begins with a discussion on the voltage stability issue in bulk transmission networks. A new continuation power flow tool for studying the impacts of generator merit order based dispatch on inter-area transfer capability and static voltage stability is presented. In using this tool, it is realized that all distribution systems are represented by only a single lumped load model. While this representation is acceptable in traditional power system analysis, it may not be valid in the future smart grid where the distribution system will be integrated with intelligent and quick control capabilities to mitigate voltage problems before they propagate into the entire system. Therefore before analyzing the operation of the whole smart grid, it is important to understand the distribution system first. The second part of this dissertation presents a new platform for studying and testing emerging technologies in advanced Distribution Automation (DA) within smart grids. Due to the key benefits over the traditional centralized approach, namely flexible deployment, scalability, and avoidance of single-point-of-failure, a new distributed approach is employed to design and develop all elements of the platform. The multi-agent system (MAS), which has the three key characteristics of autonomy, local view, and decentralization, is selected to implement the advanced DA functions. The intelligent agents utilize the communication network for cooperation and negotiation. Communication latency is modeled using a user-defined probability density function. Failure-tolerant communication strategies are developed for agent communications. Major elements of advanced DA are developed in a completely distributed way and successfully tested for several IEEE standard systems, including: Fault Detection, Location, Isolation, and Service Restoration (FLISR); Coordination of Distributed Energy Storage Systems (DES); Distributed Power Flow (DPF); Volt-VAR Control (VVC); and Loss Reduction (LR).
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, May 2011
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Title: NON-LINEAR CREEP-RELAXATION CONSTITUTIVE MODEL FOR PLAIN CONCRETE WITH ANISOTROPIC DAMAGE
Creator: Teran Torres, Bernardo
Date: 2016, 2016-05
Description: A thermodynamic constitutive model for plain concrete, and other quasi-brittle materials, is developed. The model accounts for the anisotropic...
Show moreA thermodynamic constitutive model for plain concrete, and other quasi-brittle materials, is developed. The model accounts for the anisotropic damage-induced and the aging viscoelasticity of the material. The model is based on the theory of solidi cation proposed by Baºant and the continuum damage mechanics theory. The material is considered to be a viscoelastic-damageable material. The Helmholtz free energy utilized in the formulation is treated by means of the representation theorem of coupled damage-strain tensors. The model is capable of analyzing time-dependent damage (tertiary creep) under constant loading and damage due to cyclic creep. Two simple but practical examples are presented in order to illustrate the applicability of the model. The determination of the functions and constants representing the material behavior as well as any experimental companion is proposed for the continuation of the research.
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, May 2016
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Title: SYNTHESIS OF NANOPLATE STRUCTURES IN NI-BASED ALLOYS VIA DISCONTINUOUS PRECIPITATION
Creator: Zhou, Yang
Date: 2017, 2017-07
Description: Nanostructured materials are of increasing interest due to their potential for use in numerous applications including catalysis and filtration...
Show moreNanostructured materials are of increasing interest due to their potential for use in numerous applications including catalysis and filtration. Methods of synthesizing nanomaterials often include chemical techniques producing individual particles, which gives rise to issues of agglomeration and containment, and the processes are difficult to scale-up. This work is directed at addressing issues of the occurrence and kinetics of self-assembly and structural alignment of nanostructures, which involves the discontinuous precipitation transformation followed by selective dissolution. This synthesis method has been demonstrated using a Ni-49at.%Co-12at.%Al alloy. A complete discontinuous transformation in the Ni 49-12 alloy can be achieved in times as short as 30min. Thus, the large-scale production of such structures is feasible using conventional heat treatment facilities. The synthesis technique is generally applicable to any alloy system in which DP goes to completion and one phase can be selectively removed. The nanoplates are self-assembled, self-supported and well aligned if the precipitate is coherent with the matrix. In order to control the process it is necessary to understand the phase equilibria involving γ, γ′ and β phases in the Al-Co-Ni system. This has been investigated both experimentally and computationally. The isothermal sections at 1100°C and 800°C as well as a partial liquidus projection were determined which result in modifications to previously published work. Comparing the experimental results with the calculated results using Thermo-Calc (TCNI8), there is reasonable agreement. The predicted separation of the γ phase into a two-phase ferromagnetic and paramagnetic region has never been observed experimentally in this or other published work. Future work should explore the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phase separation as predicted using Thermo-Calc to verify its occurrence in this system. The nanostructured material produced by complete DP transformation may have interesting mechanical properties and these have been studied to a limited extent in this work. The hardness tests show that with decreasing annealing temperature to 600°C, the hardness of certain samples increases significantly due to the precipitation of second phase. The tensile and creep properties of alloy samples with DP phase present were also investigated. The results imply that the occurrence of DP will have a favorable effect on the tensile strength of the sample while lowering the ductility at the same time. A method to generate serrated grain boundaries based on the DP transformation is proposed. Such structures are expected to increase the creep resistance. This was found to be the case in a limited temperature and loading range. Higher temperature or stress levels lead to DP occurrence and cause negative effects on the creep resistance compared to conventionally processed material. The Curie temperature in the Al-Co-Ni alloy system was also studied and determined using a combined magnetic TG and DSC method. A ternary contour map of the Curie temperature has been constructed. From the contour map, the Curie temperature was seen to decrease from high Co, low Al content samples to low Co, high Al samples bypassing a platform at mid Co content. A nonlinear surface fitting was made through a Exponential2D model, the function is helpful for the prediction of Curie temperature of γ phase in Al-Co-Ni alloy system. This method also provides a novel idea of detecting phase transformation and precipitation through thermo-magnetically analyzing the magnetic behavior of the alloys.
Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, July 2017
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Title: MULTIMODAL NEUROIMAGING IN BLAST INDUCED TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
Creator: Stout, Jeffrey
Date: 2015, 2015-12
Description: Recent military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in an increase in the number of blast related traumatic brain injury (TBI)...
Show moreRecent military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in an increase in the number of blast related traumatic brain injury (TBI) cases, currently estimated in excess of 300,000. Current neuroimaging methods, including MRI and CT, are generally not sensitive enough to diagnose blast TBL This research represents several advancements in the understanding of long-term TBI related changes as well as imaging comorbid neurocognitive deficits and psychopathologies. The multi modal approach was taken to leverage the differing sensitivities of each imagmg modality to better identify neuroimaging changes associated with blast TBL T l-weighted MRI was utilized to assess cortical thickness reduction in the TBI subjects, resulting in right temporal lobe decreases that were associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and neurobehavioral symptom indices. Utilizing positron emission tomography (PET), several areas of metabolic change were associated with blast TBI, PTSD, repetitive head injury, and TBI severity. Functional MRI was used to assess working memory deficit, demonstrating relatively normal function in the mild TBI subject, except for at higher cognitive loads; whereas the moderate TBI subjects demonstrated a trend of dysfunction at most levels of cognitive load. Fractional anisotropy (FA) changes were assessed using diffusion tensor imaging, however there was no resulting statistical significance due to differences in the locations of single subject FA changes that could not be realized at the group level using standard analyses. Investigation into multimodal searchlight to integrate the sensitivities of each imaging modality into a single statistical measure, provided enhanced sensitivity to TBI-induced changes in neuroimaging versus single modal searchlight and identified several clusters of change most notably in the cerebellum, temporal lobes, brainstem, and internal capsule. Through a multimodal approach we have shown several areas of damage and dysfunction associated with blast TBI in subjects greater than one year post injury. This research is important due to the large numbers of subjects currently experiencing long-term post concussive symptoms. Our findings show that both TBI and PTSD playa large role in the changes identified on neuroimaging. This research can provide information to assist in the understanding , diagnosis , and treatment of blast TBI.
Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, December 2015
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Title: VIBRATION IN TRACTION MOTORS FOR ELECTRIC AND HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Creator: Yang, Zhi
Date: 2014, 2014-12
Description: Due to increased fuel efficiency and lower cost/mile feature, electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) are becoming more and...
Show moreDue to increased fuel efficiency and lower cost/mile feature, electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) are becoming more and more popular. It is estimated that the sale of electric vehicles will reach 3.8 million by 2020, while hybrid vehicles will grow to 4% by 2020 from their current share of 2%. To meet this target, EV an HEV motors, the core energy conversion components, should not only satisfy specific requirements in performance and efficiency but also constrain vibration. This necessitates the analysis of vibration in traction motors for EV/HEV application. The primary objective of this dissertation is to characterize and compare the electromagnetic and vibrational behavior of typical traction motors (PMSM with distributed winding, PMSM with concentrated winding, IM, and SRM) over a wide torque speed range. For this purpose, weak-coupled analysis of electromagnetic force and structure are performed in ANSYS environment. The secondary aim of this dissertation is to develop a rotor position related variable switching frequency pulse width modulated (PWM) strategy to ameliorate the acoustic noise due to high frequency harmonic current. Switching frequency is modified online to adapt current ripple and vibration requirement, thus ameliorate the acoustic noise. It is expected that this strategy with variable switching frequency has the advantages of spreading the vibration spectrum and reducing switching losses. Experimentally verification is also performed. At the end of this dissertation, characterization of vibration behavior of switch reluctance machine with higher number of rotor poles than stator poles is performed.
Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, December 2014
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Title: CMOS POLAR DIGITAL POWER AMPLIFIER FOR HIGH DATA RATE WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
Creator: Zhu, Qiuyao
Date: 2016, 2016-12
Description: Power amplifier (PA) is the most important circuit block in an RF transmitter. It typically consumes more than 80% of the power taken by the...
Show morePower amplifier (PA) is the most important circuit block in an RF transmitter. It typically consumes more than 80% of the power taken by the entire transmitter. Therefore, a highly efficient PA is the key to a successful RF front-end system. The polar transmitter architecture is studied herein in order to take advantage of the highly efficient switching-mode PA. However, due to the large expanded bandwidth from the nonlinear IQ to polar conversion and the sensitive amplitude/phase delay impairment, hardly any reported polar design is able to transmit high data rate wireless communication signals. In this work, an extensive research on the digital polar transmitter system for high data rate signals is presented. An integrated CMOS digital power am- plifier (DPA) design is demonstrated afterwards. This DPA consists of 9-bit fully thermometer-coded uniform cells to achieve high linearity for wide bandwidth OFDM signals. By analyzing the amplitude and phase paths impairment, which will cause both in-band and out-of-band distortions, a 960 MHz digital delay tuner is designed for precise amplitude and phase alignment. Furthermore, two digital pre-distortion algorithms for DPA are implemented and compared. Importantly, an on-chip DC- DC converter is included for direct battery connection and power control. A boosted cascode gate bias improves PA efficiency at the low power region. The proposed design is fabricated using a 55 nm RF CMOS technology. The DPA with several peripheral blocks occupies only 0.63 mm2 active silicon area. This DPA including the digital AM filtering achieves a peak output power of +21.9 dBm with 41% efficiency. It achieves EVM of 2.9% with 20 MHz IEEE 802.11ac compliance of 256-QAM OFDM signals, and also achieves EVM of 4.5% (CC0) / 4.8% (CC1) with 2 x 20 MHz 3GPP LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation compliance of 64-QAM OFDM signals. This highly linear DPA has demonstrated high flexibility, high efficiency, and small area. To the author's knowledge, this is the first reported DPA that meets either the linearity requirements of 256-QAM OFDM signals or the signal bandwidth of 40 MHz, paving the path for wideband high data rate wireless applications using digital polar architecture. At the same time, aiming at a higher average efficiency, a two-level class- G supply modulator is investigated to dynamically switch the DPA VDD. It has successfully demonstrated an average efficiency of 34.6% for this class-G modulated DPA in a complete circuit simulation using the IEEE 802.11b signal.
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, December 2016
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Title: MEASUREMENT OF 013 IN THE DOUBLE CHOOZ EXPERIMENT
Creator: Yang, Guang
Date: 2016, 2016-12
Description: Neutrino oscillation has been established for over a decade. The mixing angle 013 is one of the parameters that is most difficult to measure...
Show moreNeutrino oscillation has been established for over a decade. The mixing angle 013 is one of the parameters that is most difficult to measure due to its small value. Currently, reactor antineutrino experiments provide the best knowledge of 013, using the electron antineutrino disappearance phenomenon. The most compelling advantage is the high intensity of the reactor antineutrino rate. The Double Chooz experiment, located on the border of France and Belgium, is such an experiment, which aims to have one of the most precise 013 measurements in the world. Dou- ble Chooz has a single-detector phase and a double-detector phase. For the single- detector phase, the limit of the 013 sensitivity comes mostly from the reactor flux. However, the uncertainty on the reactor flux is highly suppressed in the double- detector phase. Oscillation analyses for the two phases have different strategies but need similar inputs, including background estimation, detection systematics evalua- tion, energy reconstruction and so on. The Double Chooz detectors are filled with gadolinium (Gd) doped liquid scintillator and use the inverse beta decay (IBD) sig- nal so that for each phase, there are two independent 013 measurements based on different neutron capturer (Gd or hydrogen). Multiple oscillation analyses are per- formed to provide the best 013 results. In addition to the 013 measurement, Double Chooz is also an excellent playground" to do diverse physics research. For example, a 252Cf calibration source study has been done to understand the spontaneous decay of this radioactive source. Further, Double Chooz also has the ability to do a sterile neutrino search in a certain mass region. Moreover, some new physics ideas can be tested in Double Chooz. In this thesis, the detailed methods to provide precise 013 measurement will be described and the other physics topics will be introduced.
Ph.D. in Pyhsics, December 2016
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Title: IMAGE PROCESSING ALGORITHMS FOR PROSTATE CANCER LOCALIZATION WITH MULTISPECTRAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
Creator: Xin, Liu
Date: 2011-11, 2011-12
Description: In this thesis, we develop a series of image processing algorithms to localize prostate cancer with multispectral magnetic resonance (MR)...
Show moreIn this thesis, we develop a series of image processing algorithms to localize prostate cancer with multispectral magnetic resonance (MR) images to guide biopsy, surgery and minimally invasive therapy. Besides, we develop a new method to for evaluation of image classification algorithms considering correlation between neighboring pixels. Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent cancer types and one of the leading causes of cancer death among men in the United States. High-resolution MRI has shown higher accuracy than trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS) to ascertain the presence of prostate cancer. In this work, three different types of MR techniques are employed to provide both morphological and functional information about the benign and malignant tissues of the prostate. These are T2-weighted (T2w) MRI, diffusionweighted imaging MRI (DWI) and dynamic contrasted enhanced MRI (DCE MRI). In the first chapter of this thesis, we briefly describe the fundamentals of different MR techniques, and the multispectral MR dataset used in our experiment. Then, we focus on two tasks of the prostate cancer localization problem: prostate gland extraction and prostate tumor localization. For each topic, we review the previous studies available in the literature, and present our methods with their advantages. Finally, the new image evaluation method considering correlation between pixels is presented. Our prostate segmentation method is fully unsupervised and extracts the prostate gland from DWI MRI in 3D by fusing the active contour model and shape prior information. For tumor localization, we develop an unsupervised approach which is based on fuzzy Markov random field (fuzzy MRF) model, a new scheme based on relative intensity values which can be combined with supervised segmentation classifiers to mimic the cancer localization procedures performed by human readers and a new feature named location map which incorporates the spatial inforx mation of the tumors to remove the need for manual peripheral zone extraction. The proposed image evaluation algorithm is based on receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis and it considers the correlation between neighboring pixels. This method could replace the conventional ROC analysis and offers a more accurate evaluation of the test image. Our algorithms are tested on 20 patients’ multispectral MR images, and the qualitative as well as quantitative experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of our segmentation methods and show that the proposed segmentation methods outperform the currently available used approaches. The evaluation method has been tested on computer simulated images and shows very promising results. The summary and future work is also described at the end of the thesis.
Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, December 2011
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Title: SOFT ERROR TOLERANT LATCH CIRCUIT DESIGN FOR DEEPLY SCALED CMOS TECHNOLOGY
Creator: Nan, Haiqing
Date: 2012-01-25, 2012-05
Description: As CMOS technology keeps scaling down, circuit designers face variety of challenges. Due to the scaling of supply voltage and node capacitance...
Show moreAs CMOS technology keeps scaling down, circuit designers face variety of challenges. Due to the scaling of supply voltage and node capacitance, digital circuits are more aware of noise and variations, which cause reliability issues such as soft error. Traditionally the soft error aware VLSI design is limited to applications which require high reliability and operated in high radiation environment such as avionics applications, medical equipments, space industry and military applications. However, with CMOS technology scales down to nanometer region, the VLSI circuits can also be affected by soft errors at ground level which features low radiation energy. In this thesis, totally 5 soft error tolerant latch designs are proposed including HLR-1, HLR-2, HLR-CG1, HLR-CG2, and HLR-CG3. All the proposed designs protect internal nodes as well as output node for soft error regardless the radiation energy. The proposed HLR-1 and HLR-2 latch circuits tolerate soft error for non-CG systems. Since the proposed HLR-1 and HLR-2 designs take advantages of floating node to tolerate soft error, these two designs cannot be applied with clock gating techniques and the minimum clock frequency of these two designs should be greater than 16MHz in order to maintain correct logic at the floating node. The power consumption and circuit delay between the proposed HLR-1 and HLR-2 designs are very close. The proposed HLR-1 design achieves a small amount of benefits in terms of power and delay compared with the proposed HLR-2 design. But the proposed HLR-2 circuit reduces area 3.5% compared to the proposed HLR-1 circuit. The proposed HLR-CG1, HLR-CG2 and HLR-CG3 latch designs fully tolerate soft error regardless of radiation energy for both CG and non-CG systems. Due to the auto correction mechanism embedded in the proposed HLR-CG1, HLR-CG2 and HLRCG3 designs, any soft error at any location will be automatically corrected without generating any floating nodes. The proposed HLR-CG3 features the smallest power consumption and delay but it has the largest area overhead compared to HLR-CG1 and HLR-CG2 circuits. The proposed HLR-CG1 design features the smallest area compared with HLRCG2 and HLR-CG3 designs. The design cost of HLR-CG2 design is between the proposed HLR-CG1 and HLR-CG3 designs. All the proposed designs achieve faster speed and smaller PDP compared to previous hardening techniques. Compared to the proposed HLR-1 design, previous designs increases power 3.77% on average, delay 272.74% on average, PDP 300.29% on average and decreases area 7.09% on average. Compared to the proposed HLR-2 design, previous designs increases power 3.77% on average, delay 272.40% on average, PDP 299.89% on average and decreases area 3.93% on average. Compared to the proposed HLR-CG1 design, previous designs increases area 19.65% on average, delay 213.14% on average, PDP 203.78% on average and decreases power 5.82% on average. Compared to the proposed HLR-CG2 design, previous designs increase area 6.49% on average, delay 193.28% on average, PDP 223.45% on average and power 6.51% on average. Compared to the proposed HLR-CG3 design, previous designs increases delay 272.18% on average, PDP 314.38% on average, power 8.01% on average and area 2.93% on average.
Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, May 2012
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