Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Soft transforms'

Le monde numérique est parsemé de structures mathématiques discrètes, destinées à être facilement manipulables par un ordinateur tout en donnant à notre cerveau l'impression d'être de belles formes réelles continues. Les images numériques peuvent ainsi être vues comme des sous-ensembles de Z^2. En géométrie discrète, nous nous intéressons aux structures de Z^d et cherchons à établir des propriétés géométriques ou topologiques sur ces objets. Si les questions que nous nous posons sont relativement simples en géométrie euclidienne, elles deviennent beaucoup plus difficiles en géométrie discrète : plus de division, adieu les limites, tout n'est plus qu'arithmétique. Cette thèse est également l'occasion de jongler avec de nombreuses notions élémentaires de mathématiques et d'informatique (algèbre linéaire, anneaux, automates, analyse réelle, arithmétique, combinatoire) pour résoudre des questions de géométrie discrète. Nous nous intéressons à des structures fondamentales de cette géométrie : les hyperplans arithmétiques. Ceux-ci ont en effet une définition très simple et purement arithmétique : un hyperplan arithmétique est l'ensemble des points entiers situés entre deux hyperplans (réels) affines parallèles. Nous parlons dans cette thèse de trois problèmes portant sur les hyperplans arithmétiques : - la connexité : un hyperplan arithmétique est-il composé d'un seul morceau ou de plusieurs ? Apport principal de ce manuscrit, nous étendons des résultats déjà connus pour la connexité par faces pour des voisinages quelconques. Si certains phénomènes demeurent dans le cas général, l'explosion combinatoire rend difficile l'adaptation des algorithmes connus pour résoudre le problème. Nous adoptons donc une approche analytique et prouvons des propriétés de connexité en étudiant la régularité d'une fonction. - la reconnaissance : comment connaître les caractéristiques d'un hyperplan arithmétique ? Problème plus classique de géométrie discrète, avec une littérature très riche, nous proposons pour le résoudre un algorithme de reconnaissance reposant sur l'arbre de Stern-Brocot généralisé. Nous introduisons notamment la notion de corde séparante qui caractérise géométriquement les zones auxquelles appartiennent les paramètres d'un hyperplan arithmétique. - les transformations douces : comment transformer continûment un hyperplan arithmétique via des translations ou rotations ? Approche discrète des transformations homotopiques, nous caractérisons les mouvements de pixels possibles dans une structure discrète tout en préservant ses propriétés géométriques. Au-delà de l'étude de ces problèmes et des résultats que nous avons pu obtenir, cette thèse montre l'intérêt d'utiliser des réels, et notamment de l'analyse réelle, pour mieux comprendre les hyperplans arithmétiques. Ces derniers sont en effet caractérisés en grande partie par leur vecteur normal, souvent considéré entier pour obtenir des propriétés de périodicité. Considérer des vecteurs normaux réels quelconques permet de gagner en souplesse, et de faire disparaître les phénomènes de bruit induits par les relations arithmétiques du vecteur. S'ouvrir de nouveau au réel est enfin un moyen de créer des ponts vers d'autres branches des mathématiques, comme la combinatoire des mots ou les systèmes de numération
The digital world is littered with discrete mathematical structures, designed to be easily manipulated by a computer while giving our brains the impression of beautiful continuous real shapes. Digital images can thus be seen as subsets of Z^2. In discrete geometry, we are interested in the structures of Z^d and seek to establish geometric or topological properties on these objects. While the questions we ask are relatively simple in Euclidean geometry, they become much more difficult in discrete geometry: no more division, goodbye to limits, everything is just arithmetic. This thesis is also an opportunity to juggle many elementary notions of mathematics and computer science (linear algebra, rings, automata, real analysis, arithmetic, combinatorics) to solve discrete geometry questions. We are interested in the fundamental structures of this geometry: arithmetic hyperplanes. These have a very simple and purely arithmetical definition: an arithmetical hyperplane is the set of integer points lying between two parallel (real) affine hyperplanes. In this thesis, we discuss three problems involving arithmetic hyperplanes:- connectedness: is an arithmetic hyperplane composed of a single piece or of several pieces? The main contribution of this manuscript is to extend results already known for facewise connectedness for any neighbourhood. While certain phenomena remain in the general case, the combinatorial explosion makes it difficult to adapt known algorithms to solve the problem. We therefore adopt an analytical approach and prove connectivity properties by studying the regularity of a function. - recognition: how can we find out the characteristics of an arithmetic hyperplane? This is a more traditional problem in discrete geometry, with a very rich literature. To solve it, we propose a recognition algorithm based on the generalised Stern-Brocot tree. In particular, we introduce the notion of separating chord, which geometrically characterises the zones to which the parameters of an arithmetic hyperplane belong. - soft transformations: how can an arithmetic hyperplane be continuously transformed using translations or rotations? A discrete approach to homotopic transformations, we characterise the possible pixel movements in a discrete structure while preserving its geometric properties. Beyond the study of these problems and the results we were able to obtain, this thesis shows the interest of using the reals, and in particular real analysis, to better understand arithmetic hyperplanes. Arithmetic hyperplanes are largely characterised by their normal vector, which is often considered integer to obtain periodicity properties. Considering any real normal vectors provides greater flexibility and eliminates the noise induced by the arithmetic relationships of the vector. Finally, opening up to the real again is a way of building bridges to other branches of mathematics, such as word combinatorics or numbering systems

The purpose of this research is to present a low-power wireless communication receiver with an enhanced performance by relieving the system complexity and performance degradation imposed by a quantization process. With an overwhelming demand for more reliable communication systems, the complexity required for modern communication systems has been increased accordingly. A byproduct of this increase in complexity is a commensurate increase in power consumption of the systems. Since the Shannon's era, the main stream of the methodologies for promising the high reliability of communication systems has been based on the principle that the information signals flowing through the system are represented in digits. Consequently, the system itself has been heavily driven to be implemented with digital circuits, which is generally beneficial over analog implementations when digitally stored information is locally accessible, such as in memory systems. However, in communication systems, a receiver does not have a direct access to the originally transmitted information. Since the received signals from a noisy channel are already continuous values with continuous probability distributions, we suggest a mixed-signal system in which the received continuous signals are directly fed into the analog demodulator and the subsequent soft-decision Viterbi decoder without any quantization involved. In this way, we claim that redundant system complexity caused by the quantization process is eliminated, thus gives better power efficiency in wireless communication systems, especially for battery-powered mobile devices. This is also beneficial from a performance perspective, as it takes full advantage of the soft information flowing through the system.

Thesis (M. S.)--Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009.
Committee Chair: Tannenbaum, Allen; Committee Member: Skrinjar, Oskar; Committee Member: Yezzi, Anthony. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

My dissertation, The Rhetorical Work of Soft Power: The U.S.-India 123 Agreement and a Relationship Transformed, broadens and deepens our understanding of soft power diplomacy as a creation of constitutive rhetoric. I perform a rhetorical critique of discourses generated during three years' debate on the U.S.-India 123 Agreement, a watershed moment in bilateral relations. In Chapter 1, I introduce the frames of reference that guided my research, set my project within the literature stream, and lay foundations for my argument.

In Chapter 2, I explore how soft power discourse facilitated India's diplomatic move from outside to inside the nonproliferation regime. I introduce identification and courtship as constructs to explain soft power attraction, presenting narratives of exceptionalism, deliverance and kinship that emerged from discourse. In Chapter 3, I explain the bilateral movement from estranged to engaged as deepened identification and consubstantiation, the achievement of a permanent union. I trace the development of "democracy," "pluralism," and "creativity" as terms of ideological commitment and mutual obligation. I also present two additional narratives, the sojourner narrative, which reconstituted the Indian Diaspora's political identity, and the convergence narrative, which constituted the United States and India as bilateral partners and transformed the U.S.-India 123 Agreement from an idea about nuclear cooperation into the embodiment of a resilient, enduring, and comprehensive partnership. Each narrative drew in substances of identification that reduced recalcitrance, changed perspectives, overcame estrangement, and motivated concerted action.

Chapter 4 outlines benefits of my research for rhetoricians, soft power proponents, and diplomacy specialists. For rhetoricians, I enrich our limited study of diplomatic discourse and generate insight into dramatistic theory and criticism. For soft power theorists, my project as a whole gives explanatory force to soft power as a creation of constitutive rhetoric. The consequent reinterpretation of the telos, processes, and resources of soft power makes soft power attraction more transparent. For the diplomatic corps, I encourage new ways of conceptualizing and talking about diplomatic aims and achievements. Chapter 4 thus frames longer-term objectives to further develop the rhetoric of diplomacy, to undertake theory-building in soft power diplomacy, and to integrate soft power diplomacy with diplomatic tradecraft.

Nous présentons les résultats de l'étude de structures d'ADN par des techniques de spectroscopie. La 1ère partie concerne 2 double-hélices parallèles, chacune contenant un brin avec des bases soit isoG soit m5isoC. Des duplexes parallèles stables se forment avec des appariements trans Watson Crick capables de subir par diminution d'hydratation des transitions conformationnelles au cours desquelles les sucres passent d'une conformation C2'endo à C3'endo. La 2nde partie concerne 2 triple-hélices formées avec des 3èmes brins modifiés N3'?P5' phosphoramidate contenant soit des bases C et T soit des bases G et T. Ces triple-hélices se forment dans des conditions ou un 3ème brin de même séquence phosphodiester ne se fixe pas sur le duplex cible. Dans le 3ème chapitre nous étudions le repliement de l'oligonucléotide aptamère de la thrombine en présence d'ions mono et divalents. Les ions Pb2+ sont localisés entre les plans formés par des quartés de guanines en appariement Hoogsteen.

This thesis examines converter topologies suitable for Module Integrated Converters (MICs) in grid interactive photovoltaic (PV) systems, and makes a contribution to the development of the MIC topologies based on the two-inductor boost converter, which has received less research interest than other well known converters. The thesis provides a detailed analysis of the resonant two-inductor boost converter in the MIC implementations with intermediate constant DC links. Under variable frequency control, this converter is able to operate with a variable DC gain while maintaining the resonant condition. A similar study is also provided for the resonant two-inductor boost converter with the voltage clamp, which aims to increase the output voltage range while reducing the switch voltage stress. An operating point with minimized power loss can be also established under the fixed load condition. Both the hard-switched and the soft-switched current fed two-inductor boost converters are developed for the MIC implementations with unfolding stages. Nondissipative snubbers and a resonant transition gate drive circuit are respectively employed in the two converters to minimize the power loss. The simulation study of a frequency-changer-based two-inductor boost converter is also provided. This converter features a small non-polarised capacitor in a second phase output to provide the power balance in single phase inverter applications. Four magnetic integration solutions for the two-inductor boost converter have also been presented and they are promising in reducing the converter size and power loss.

Cellular transformation is accomplished in vitro through the concerted action of growth factors and oncogenes. This association has demonstrated that malignant growth results from aberrations in pathways that normally operate to control proliferation. Activation of genes that code for growth factors, their receptors, and/or molecules essential in the transduction of signals from the cell surface to the nucleus are all potential mechanisms by which tumor cells could establish a selective growth advantage over normal cells. This dissertation addresses the question of what oncogenic mechanisms are important in the development and progression of human melanoma. These studies show that melanoma growth is regulated by endogenous substances produced by the melanoma cells themselves (autocrine stimulation), as well as by exogenous substances supplied by neighboring cells and platelets (paracrine stimulation). These factors work to drive the expression of the transformed phenotype for melanoma as evidenced by induction of serum-free soft agar growth. Human platelets were found to the the richest source of paracrine growth promoters. The factor from human platelets was characterized and partially purified. Melanoma cells respond to this 60,000 molecular weight, disulfide-bond-containing protein in colony formation assays. In addition, the protein has endothelial cell growth factor activity. Purified fractions which promoted optimal colony formation for human melanoma cells also maximally stimulated monolayer growth of bovine aortic endothelial cells, while melanocytes were nonresponsive. This implies that melanoma cells are expressing receptors for a protein which plays no known or apparent role in the normal growth of melanocytes. Melanoma cells are sensitive to growth regulatory molecules of autocrine and paracrine nature. This dissertation provides clues to the genetic lesions which have occurred in these melanoma cells to influence their proliferation. The aberrations appear to reside in those genes important in growth factor pathways at the level of endogenous production and misguided response to exogenous factors through receptor expression. We can not hope to fully inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells until we identify and understand those forces which drive their growth. These studies have increased our knowledge of those signals which stimulate melanoma cellular proliferation, and thus provide insight into important therapeutic targets.

This thesis examines the development of DC-DC converters that are suitable for Module Integrated Converters, (MICs), in grid interactive photovoltaic (PV) systems, and especially concentrates on the study of the half bridge dual converter, which was previously developed from the conventional half bridge converter. Both hard-switched and soft-switched half bridge dual converters are constructed, which are rated at 88W each and transform a nominal 17.6Vdc input to an output in the range from 340V to 360Vdc. An initial prototype converter operated at 100kHz and is used as a base line device to establish the operational behaviours of the converter. The second hard-switched converter operated at 250kHz and included a coaxial matrix transformer that significantly reduced the power losses related to the transformer leakage inductance. The soft-switched converter operated at 1MHz and is capable of absorbing the parasitic elements into the resonant tank. Extensive theoretical analysis, simulation and experimental results are provided for each converter. All three converters achieved conversion efficiencies around 90%. The progressive increases in the operation frequency, while maintaining the conversion efficiency, will translate into the reduced converter size and weight. Finally different operation modes for the soft-switched converter are established and the techniques for predicting the occurrence of those modes are developed. The analysis of the effects of the transformer winding capacitance also shows that soft switching condition applies for both the primary side mosfets and the output rectifier diodes.

Induction heating has become a popular alternative to other heat sources for stovetop cooking applications due to performance, efficiency, control response, and safety. The main drawback is that extreme difficulty is encountered when trying to head low-resistivity, non-ferromagnetic metals such as aluminum and copper, which are commonly used for cookware in several societies. The lack of ferromagnetic properties, resulting in no hysteresis dissipation, and low resistivity of such metals results in an impractically low resistance reflected through the work coil. The resultant impedance complicates inverter design, as it is too low to be efficiently driven with conventional inverter topologies. The magnitudes of current involved in exciting this impedance also severely impact the efficiency of the coil and resonant components, requiring extreme care in coil design. This work explores various techniques that have been proposed and/or applied to efficiently heat low-resistivity cookware and the associated limitations. A transformer-coupled series-load-resonant topology driven by a full-bridge inverter is proposed as a means of efficiently heating aluminum cookware within practical design constraints. The experimental circuit is built and successfully tested at an output power of 1.66kW. The procedure of optimizing the work coil for improved efficiency is also presented along with the procedure of measuring coil efficiency. An improved circuit incorporating switch voltage detection to guarantee zero-voltage switching is then built in order to overcome limitations of this design.
Master of Science

This dissertation thesis deals with the application of expert systems and soft computing methods in field of power oil transformers. The main work is divided into theoretical and practical part. First, the theoretical part presents the basic elements of the transformer, and approaches to its diagnosis. The work focused mainly on the diagnostics of the insulation system, and diagnostic methods and approaches in this specific area. Next part describes the basics of expert systems and other soft computing methods such as: fuzzy logic, neural networks, genetic algorithms and their combinations and extensions. At the end of the theoretical part, the possibility of optimization approaches by means of artificial intelligence and its application in fuzzy model optimization are described. The practical part begins with description of the used data file that runs through the entire work. The work is then divided into four parts, namely in parts which deal with the expert system for transformer diagnostics, DGA module, prediction module, and optimization using artificial intelligence. The section describing the expert system gives specific information about the particular expert system. The means and techniques used for constructing given system are described, and then the complete system design and description of all subsystems and modules are presented. The next section describes the developed DGA module and all selected approaches to its implementation and expansion. At the end of the chapter, the results of comparison between all implemented methods are evaluated. The third part deals with the prediction module and describes its design and construction, including description of the main parts which are based on the selected predictive approaches. Also, the predictions of selected quantities from the data file are included. There are two predictive approaches being used: the one step prediction, and the multiple step prediction. The comparison of prediction accuracy and computational cost of given methods is presented at the end of this chapter. The last part deals with the possibilities of optimization using artificial intelligence methods, namely differential evolution, PSO, and genetic algorithms. Both the single-objective and the multi-objective optimization are considered. The methods are compared in a series of synthetic tests and then applied to optimize the fuzzy models of DGA tests from an earlier part of this work. The dissertation also includes chapters: "The Aims", "The Contribution of the Work", and a list of publications, products, and projects of the author.

Le projet Européen " GENIUS " ambitionne de développer les méthodologies génériques pour le diagnostic de systèmes piles à combustible à haute température de type oxyde solide (SOFC). Le travail de cette thèse s'intègre dans ce projet ; il a pour objectif la mise en oeuvre d'un outil de diagnostic en utilisant le stack comme capteur spécial pour détecter et identifierles défaillances dans les sous-systèmes du stack SOFC.Trois algorithmes de diagnostic ont été développés, se basant respectivement sur la méthode de classification k-means, la technique de décomposition du signal en ondelettes ainsi que la modélisation par réseau Bayésien. Le premier algorithme sert au diagnostic ex-situ et est appliqué pour traiter les donnés issues des essais de polarisation. Il permet de déterminer les variables de réponse significatives qui indiquent l'état de santé du stack. L'indice Silhouette a été calculé comme mesure de qualité de classification afin de trouver le nombre optimal de classes dans la base de données.La détection de défaut en temps réel peut se réaliser par le deuxième algorithme. Puisque le stack est employé en tant que capteur, son état de santé doit être vérifié préalablement. La transformée des ondelettes a été utilisée pour décomposer les signaux de tension de la pile SOFC dans le but de chercher les variables caractéristiques permettant d'indiquer l'état desanté de la pile et également assez discriminatives pour différentier les conditions d'opération normales et anormales.Afin d'identifier le défaut du système lorsqu'une condition d'opération anormale s'est détectée, les paramètres opérationnelles réelles du stack doivent être estimés. Un réseau Bayésien a donc été développé pour accomplir ce travail.Enfin, tous les algorithmes ont été validés avec les bases de données expérimentales provenant de systèmes SOFC variés, afin de tester leur généricité.

Cette thèse porte sur l'intégration du con-vertisseur DC-DC entre les batteries haute et basse tension (400V / 14V), avec un chargeur embarqué monophasé présent dans l'architecture du véhicule électrique. Dans cette intégration, les deux convertis-seurs sont bidirectionnels et l’isolation galvanique est nécessaire entre les trois sources d'énergie. Dans une première partie de cette étude, nous sommes focali-sés sur le développement d’un convertisseur DC-DC à trois ponts.Le convertisseur DC-DC proposé est un convertisseur bidirectionnel alimenté en courant à résonance pa-rallèle permettant de réaliser des commutations à zéro de tension sur toute la plage de puissance. Grace à la « recopie de tension », le dimensionne-ment du transformateur permet la réalisation d’unestructure beaucoup plus compacte par rapport à d’autres convertisseurs à résonance. Dans la deu-xième partie de ce travail, les caractéristiques du convertisseur sont étudiées afin d’optimiser la stra-tégie de commande et de fonctionnement. Le dé-veloppement d’un transformateur planar est réalisé en respectant les normes pour les véhicules élec-triques et pour minimiser les inductances de fuite. L’étude de la répartition de courant dans les couches connectées en parallèle est faite de façon à éviter la présence de points chauds en haute fré-quence. Le prototype et les résultats finaux sont présentés pour valider le convertisseur à 3 ponts. Après avoir analysé les résultats, quelques proposi-tions sont faites pour améliorer les résultats dans les futurs travaux
This dissertation focuses on the integration of two power electronic converters present in the electric vehicle (EV) architecture – the DC-DC con-verter interfacing the high and low voltage batteries (400V/14V) and the onboard charger (OBC). A three-port current-fed parallel resonant topology with zero voltage switching capability is developed. The con-verter allows bidirectional power flow between the three energy sources with high efficiency in both conversion modes, DC-DC and OBC while ensuring galvanic isolation.A compact three-winding planar transformer is de-signed based on EV industry requirements, empha-sizing the minimization of leakage inductances. In this design, the unequal currentsharing phenomenon between parallel-connected layers is addressed to ensure a homogeneous cur-rent distribution and eliminate the risks of thermal hotspots formation.A 7kW experimental prototype has been con-structed and tested, validating the analysis and op-eration of the proposed topology. Some sugges-tions and propositions are provided for future work aiming at efficiency improvement of the converter

Ce travail concerne l’étude et la réalisation d’une architecture multicellulaire de conversion d’énergie électrique haute tension avec étage intermédiaire alternatif moyenne fréquence destinée à la traction électrique ferroviaire. L’objectif de ce travail est de diminuer la masse et le volume de l’étage de conversion alternatif-continu que l’on retrouve dans les engins de traction conçus pour circuler sur les réseaux alternatifs 25kV-50Hz ou 15kV-16Hz2/3. La recherche de gains sur l’étage de conversion alternatif-continu s’applique aussi bien sur les automotrices où l’on cherche à gagner de la place disponible pour y placer des passagers que sur les locomotives ou encore sur les motrices de TGV où l’on recherche un gain de masse étant donné que ces engins sont en limite de charge à l’essieu. Le contexte de la haute tension implique l’utilisation d’interrupteurs de forts calibres en tension pour limiter au maximum le nombre de cellules de conversions utilisées. D’un autre côté, la recherche de gains sur le transformateur nécessite une fréquence de découpage élevée, génératrice de pertes en commutation dans les interrupteurs. L’architecture de conversion retenue permet par l’association de structures duales d’obtenir des conditions de commutation douce, ce qui est favorable à une montée en fréquence avec des interrupteurs de forts calibres en tension. Le convertisseur élémentaire associe un onduleur de tension commandé au blocage et un commutateur de courant commandé à l’amorçage. Afin d’évaluer le rendement de l’architecture considérée, un prototype d’un bloc de conversion élémentaire, d’une puissance de 280 kVA, a été réalisé au laboratoire PEARL. Les interrupteurs sont réalisés sur la base de modules IGBT 6,5kV/200A. Les essais en commutation douce ont permis d’évaluer, dans des conditions de fonctionnement réelles, les pertes dans les modules IGBT. Compte tenu de ces résultats, il est possible de déterminer les limites de fonctionnement de la structure de conversion et d’effectuer un dimensionnement en considérant le compromis rendement-poids-volume pour un engin de traction donné
This thesis concerns the study and the rating of a high voltage multicellular converter with an intermediate medium frequency stage dedicated to railway traction. The objective is to reduce the weight and the volume of the AC-DC conversion stage which is implemented in railway engines running on 25kV-50Hz or 15kV-16Hz2/3 railways. Reduction on weight and size of the AC-DC converter may be applied on multiple unit trains where the transformer causes room loss for passengers and on locomotives and high speed trains where the axle load is limited. On one hand high voltage switches are required in order to minimize the number of cells used to build the converter. On the other hand, reducing the size and the weight of the transformer requires a high switching frequency, causing high commutation losses. To achieve soft switching conditions with high voltage semiconductors, the proposed topology is based on an association of dual structures. Each elementary converter combines a controlled turn-off voltage source inverter and a controlled turn-on current source inverter. In order to estimate the efficiency of the new topology, a prototype of one elementary cell working at 280 kVA, was built at the Power Electronics Associated Research Laboratory (PEARL). The switches are standard 6.5 kV/200A IGBTs modules. Soft-switching tests, in real operating conditions, allow evaluating IGBTs and diodes switching losses. Thanks to these results, it is possible to find the structure operating limits and to size the transformer considering the trade-off between the system efficiency and the transformer weight

This thesis focuses on image processing using wavelet transform. The usage of wavelet transform is analysed especially for image compression and image noise reduction purposes. The analysis describes in detail aspects and application of the following wavelet transform methods: CWT, DWT, DTWT, 2D DWT. The thesis further explains the meaning of the mother wavelet and studies certain specific kinds of wavelets, kinds of thresholding and its purposes and also touches on the JPEG2000 standard. Mathematica and Sage software packages were used to design algorithms for image compression and image noise reduction, utilising relevant wavelet transform findings. The concluding part of the thesis compares the two software packages and results obtained using different algorithms.

Cette étude est consacrée aux distributions de partons généralisées (GPDs, de l'anglais Generalised Parton Distributions). Dans un premier temps, les principales propriétés des GPDs sont rappelées. On insiste notamment sur les propriétés dites de support et sur la polynomialité. Cette dernière est automatiquement respectée lorsque l'on modélise les GPDs au travers des doubles distributions (DDs), les GPDs s'écrivant comme la transformée de Radon des DDs.Dans le cas scalaire, deux DDs, notées F et G, sont nécessaires pour décrire la GPD H. Du fait de la relation intégrale existant entre H d'un côté, et F et G de l'autre, F et G sont définies de manière ambiguë. Cette ambiguïté est exploitée dans le présent travail afin de développer une nouvelle paramétrisation phénoménologique. Utilisant l'Ansatz de Radyushkin, il est possible d'obtenir un modèle réaliste de GPD, et de le comparer aux données expérimentales disponibles. Dans le cas présent, deux types de modèles, l'un négligeant la GPD E, l'autre en tenant compte, sont comparés aux données de diffusion Compton profondément virtuelle (DVCS) de la collaboration Hall A au Jeffeson Laboratory (JLab). Dans le premier cas, on observe une plus grande flexibilité de la paramétrisation par rapport aux précédentes, ce qui permet une meilleure comparaison aux données sur les sections efficaces indépendantes de l'hélicité du faisceau. Dans le second cas, seule la GPD E est profondément modifiée. De ce fait la comparaison aux données change peu par rapport aux modèles précédents. Seules des données plus sensibles à E permettront de trancher entre les paramétrisations.Afin de dépasser les paramétrisations phénoménologiques, un premier pas a été fait vers la description dynamique des hadrons. En utilisant les équations de Dyson-Schwinger, il a été possible de calculer analytiquement la GPD de pion dans le cadre de l'approximation du diagramme triangle. La comparaison aux données expérimentales disponibles (facteur de forme et PDF) s'est révélée très bonne. Il est également possible de montrer que l'approximation du diagramme triangle permet de retrouver le théorème de pion mou. Néanmoins, ce premier modèle ne respecte pas l'ensemble des propriétés des GPDs. Elle viole la symétrie d'échange x, 1-x, et par conséquent des termes supplémentaires, précédemment négligés, sont pris en compte. On peut ainsi obtenir la densité de probabilité de trouver un quark portant une fraction d'impulsion x dans le plan transverse. Des perspectives de calculs sur le cône de lumière sont présentés dans le dernier chapitre
This study is devoted to generalised parton distributions (GPDs). First, the main properties of GPDs are given to the reader. One can stress the so-called support properties and the polynomiality property. The latter is automatically fulfiled when modeling GPDs from double distributions (DDs), GPDs being considered as the Radon transform of DDs. In the scalar case, two DDs denoted by F and G are required to describe the GPD H. Due to the integral relation existing between H on one hand, and F and G on the other hand, F and G are not defnied unambiguously. This ambiguity is exploited in the present work in order to develop a new phenomenological parametrisation. Using the Radyushkin Ansatz, it is then possible get a realistic model of GPDs, and to compare it with available experimental data. In the present case, two types of models, one neglecting the GPD E, the other taking it into account are compared with the Jlab Hall A DVCS data. In the former cae, one can notice a better flexibility allowing to better reproduced the beam-helicity independent cross sections. In the latter one, only the GPD E is deeply modified, and thus the comparison with available data does not change significantly with respect to previous parametrisations. Only data more sensitive to E will allow one to selet the most relevant parametrisation.In order to go beyond phenomenological parametrisations, a first step has been done toward a dynamical description of hadron structure. Using the Dyson-Schwinger equations, it has been possible to compute analytically the pion GPD within the triangle diagram approximation. The comparison with available data (Form factor and PDF) appears to be very good. Nevertheless, this first model does not fulfil all the required properties. Especially the soft pion theorem, which corresponds to a specific kinematical limit. It has been shown in this work that this is due to the violation of the Axial-Vector Ward-Takahashi identity, and that the triangle approximation is sufficient to ensure the sof pion theorem. Still it violates the exchange symmetry x, 1-x, and thus additional terms, previously neglected, are taken into account. It is then possible to compute the probability density to find a quark at a given position in the transverse plan carrying a given momentum fraction. Finally, perspective on lightcone computations are given in the last chapter

[EN] Phononic crystals are artificial materials formed by a periodic arrangement of inclusions embedded into a host medium, where each of them can be solid or fluid. By controlling the geometry and the impedance contrast of its constituent materials, one can control the dispersive properties of waves, giving rise to a huge variety of interesting and fundamental phenomena in the context of wave propagation. When a propagating wave encounters a medium with different physical properties it can be transmitted and reflected in lossless media, but also absorbed if dissipation is taken into account. These fundamental phenomena have been classically explained in the context of homogeneous media, but it has been a subject of increasing interest in the context of periodic structures in recent years as well. This thesis is devoted to the study of different effects found in sonic and phononic crystals associated with transmission, reflection and absorption of waves, as well as the development of a technique for the characterization of its dispersive properties, described by the band structure. We start discussing the control of wave propagation in transmission in conservative systems. Specifically, our interest is to show how sonic crystals can modify the spatial dispersion of propagating waves leading to control the diffractive broadening of sound beams. Making use of the spatial dispersion curves extracted from the analysis of the band structure, we first predict zero and negative diffraction of waves at frequencies close to the band-edge, resulting in collimation and focusing of sound beams in and behind a 3D sonic crystal, and later demonstrate it through experimental measurements. The focusing efficiency of a 3D sonic crystal is limited due to the strong scattering inside the crystal, characteristic of the diffraction regime. To overcome this limitation we consider axisymmetric structures working in the long wavelength regime, as a gradient index lens. In this regime, the scattering is strongly reduced and, in an axisymmetric configuration, the symmetry matching with acoustic sources radiating sound beams increase its efficiency dramatically. Moreover, the homogenization theory can be used to model the structure as an effective medium with effective physical properties, allowing the study of the wave front profile in terms of refraction. We will show the model, design and characterization of an efficient focusing device based on these concepts. Consider now a periodic structure in which one of the parameters of the lattice, such as the lattice constant or the filling fraction, gradually changes along the propagation direction. Chirped crystals represent this concept and are used here to demonstrate a novel mechanism of sound wave enhancement based on a phenomenon known as "soft" reflection. The enhancement is related to a progressive slowing down of the wave as it propagates along the material, which is associated with the group velocity of the local dispersion relation at the planes of the crystal. A model based on the coupled mode theory is proposed to predict and interpret this effect. Two different phenomena are observed here when dealing with dissipation in periodic structures. On one hand, when considering the propagation of in-plane sound waves in a periodic array of absorbing layers, an anomalous decrease in the absorption, combined with a simultaneous increase of reflection and transmission at Bragg frequencies is observed, in contrast to the usual decrease of transmission, characteristic in conservative periodic systems at these frequencies. For a similar layered media, backed now by a rigid reflector, out-of-plane waves impinging the structure from a homogeneous medium will increase dramatically the interaction strength. In other words, the time delay of sound waves inside the periodic system will be considerably increased resulting in an enhanced absorption, for a broadband spectral range.
[ES] Los cristales fonónicos son materiales artificiales formados por una disposición periódica de inclusiones en un medio, pudiendo ambos ser de carácter sólido o fluido. Controlando la geometría y el contraste de impedancias entre los materiales constituyentes se pueden controlar las propiedades dispersivas de las ondas. Cuando una onda propagante se encuentra un medio con diferentes propiedades físicas puede ser transmitida y reflejada, en medios sin pérdidas, pero también absorbida, si la disipación es tenida en cuenta. La presente tesis está dedicada al estudio de diferentes efectos presentes en cristales sónicos y fonónicos relacionados con la transmisión, reflexión y absorción de ondas, así como el desarrollo de una técnica para la caracterización de sus propiedades dispersivas, descritas por la estructura de bandas. En primer lugar, se estudia el control de la propagación de ondas en transmisión en sistemas conservativos. Específicamente, nuestro interés se centra en mostrar cómo los cristales sónicos son capaces de modificar la dispersión espacial de las ondas propagantes, dando lugar al control del ensanchamiento de haces de sonido. Haciendo uso de las curvas de dispersión espacial extraídas del análisis de la estructura de bandas, se predice primero la difracción nula y negativa de ondas a frecuencias cercanas al borde de la banda, resultando en la colimación y focalización de haces acústicos en el interior y detrás de un cristal sónico 3D, y posteriormente se demuestra mediante medidas experimentales. La eficiencia de focalización de un cristal sónico 3D está limitada debido a las múltiples reflexiones existentes en el interior del cristal. Para superar esta limitación se consideran estructuras axisimétricas trabajando en el régimen de longitud de onda larga, como lentes de gradiente de índice. En este régimen, las reflexiones internas se reducen fuertemente y, en configuración axisimétrica, la adaptación de simetría con fuentes acústicas radiando haces de sonido incrementa la eficiencia drásticamente. Además, la teoría de homogenización puede ser empleada para modelar la estructura como un medio efectivo con propiedades físicas efectivas, permitiendo el estudio del frente de ondas en términos refractivos. Se mostrará el modelado, diseño y caracterización de un dispositivo de focalización eficiente basado en los conceptos anteriores. Considérese ahora una estructura periódica en la que uno de los parámetros de la red, sea el paso de red o el factor de llenado, cambia gradualmente a lo largo de la dirección de propagación. Los cristales chirp representan este concepto y son empleados aquí para demostrar un mecanismo novedoso de incremento de la intensidad de la onda sonora basado en un fenómeno conocido como reflexión "suave". Este incremento está relacionado con una ralentización progresiva de la onda conforme se propaga a través del material, asociado con la velocidad de grupo de la relación de dispersión local en los planos del cristal. Un modelo basado en la teoría de modos acoplados es propuesto para predecir e interpretar este efecto. Se observan dos fenómenos diferentes al considerar pérdidas en estructuras periódicas. Por un lado, si se considera la propagación de ondas sonoras en un array periódico de capas absorbentes, cuyo frente de ondas es paralelo a los planos del cristal, se produce una reducción anómala en la absorción combinada con un incremento simultáneo de la reflexión y transmisión a las frecuencias de Bragg, de forma contraria a la habitual reducción de la transmisión, característica de sistemas periódicos conservativos a estas frecuencias. En el caso de la misma estructura laminada en la que se cubre uno de sus lados mediante un reflector rígido, la incidencia de ondas sonoras desde un medio homogéneo, cuyo frente de ondas es perpendicular a los planos del cristal, produce un gran incremento de la fuerza de
[CAT] Els cristalls fonònics són materials artificials formats per una disposició d'inclusions en un medi, ambdós poden ser sòlids o fluids. Controlant la geometría i el contrast d'impedàncies dels seus materials constituents, és poden controlar les propietats dispersives de les ondes, permetent una gran varietatde fenòmens fonamentals interessants en el context de la propagació d'ones. Quan una ona propagant troba un medi amb pèrdues amb propietats físiques diferents es pot transmetre i reflectir, però també absorbida si la dissipació es té en compte. Aquests fenòmens fonamentals s'han explicat clàssicament en el context de medis homogenis, però també ha sigut un tema de creixent interés en el context d'estructures periòdiques en els últims anys. Aquesta tesi doctoral tracta de l'estudi de diferents efectes en cristalls fonònics i sònics lligats a la transmissió, reflexió i absorció d'ones, així com del desenvolupament d'una tècnica de caracterització de les propietats dispersives, descrites mitjançant la estructura de bandes. En primer lloc, s'estudia el control de la propagació ondulatori en transmissió en sistemes conservatius. Més específicament, el nostre interés és mostrar com els cristalls sonors poden modificar la dispersió espacial d'ones propagants donant lloc al control de l'amplària per difracció dels feixos sonors. Mitjançant les corbes dispersió espacial obtingudes de l'anàlisi de l'estructura de bandes, es prediu, en primer lloc, la difracció d'ones zero i negativa a freqüències próximes al final de banda. El resultat és la collimació i focalització de feixos sonors dins i darrere de cristalls de so. Després es mostra amb mesures experimentals. L'eficiència de focalització d'un cristall de so 3D està limitada per la gran dispersió d'ones dins del cristall, que és característic del règim difractiu. Per a superar aquesta limitació, estructures axisimètriques que treballen en el règim de llargues longituds d'ona, i es comporten com a lents de gradient d'índex. En aquest règim, la dispersió es redueix enormement i, en una configuració axisimètrica, a causa de l'acoblament de la simetría amb les fonts acústiques que radien feixos sonors, l'eficiència de radiació s'incrementa significativament. D'altra banda, la teoria d'homogeneïtzació es pot utilitzar per a modelar, dissenyar i caracteritzar un dispositiu eficient de focalització basat en aquests conceptes. Considerem ara una estructura periòdica en la qual un dels seus paràmetres de xarxa, com ara la constant de xarxa o el factor d'ompliment canvia gradualment al llarg de la direcció de propagació. Els cristalls chirped representen aquest concepte i s'utilitzen ací per a demostrar un mecanisme nou d'intensificació d'ones sonores basat en el fenòmen conegut com a reflexió "suau". La intensificació està relacionada amb la alentiment progressiva de l'ona conforme propaga al llarg del material, que està associada amb la velocitat de grup de la relació de dispersió local en els diferents plànols del cristall. Es proposa un model basat en la teoria de modes acoblats per a predir i interpretar este efecte. Dos fenòmens diferents cal destacar quan es tracta d'estructures periòdiques amb dissipació. Per un costat, al considerar la propagació d'ones sonores en el plànol en un array periòdic de capes absorbents, s'observa una disminució anòmala de l'absorció i es combina amb un augment simultani de reflexió i transmissió en les freqüències de Bragg que contrasta amb la usual disminució de transmissió, característica dels sistemes conservatius a eixes freqüències. Per a un medi similar de capes, amb un reflector rígid darrere, les ones fora del pla incidint l'estructura des de un medi homogeni, augmentaran considerablement la interacció. En altres paraules, el retràs temporal de les ones sonores dins del sistema periòdic augmentarà significativament produint un augmen
Cebrecos Ruiz, A. (2015). Transmission, reflection and absorption in Sonic and Phononic Crystals [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/56463
TESIS
Premiado

There is an increasing demand for power converters with small size, light weight, high conversion efficiency and higher power density. Also, in many applications, there is a need for dc-to-dc converters to accept dc input voltage and provide regulated and/or isolated dc output voltage at a desired voltage level including telecommunications equipment, process control systems, and in industry applications. This thesis presents the analysis, design, simulation and experimental results of three-phase high-frequency transformer isolated resonant converters. The first converter presented is a three-phase LCC-type dc-dc resonant converter with capacitor output filter including the effect of the magnetizing inductance of the three-phase HF transformer. The equivalent ac load resistance is derived and the converter is analyzed by using approximation analysis approach. Base on this analysis, design curves have been obtained and a design example is given. Intusoft simulation results for the designed converter are given for various input voltage and for different load conditions. The experimental verification of the designed converter performance was established by building a 300 W rated power converter and the experimental results have been given. It is shown that the converter works in zero-voltage switching (ZVS) at various input voltage and different load conditions. A three-phase (LC)(L)-type dc-dc series-resonant converter with capacitive output filter has been proposed. Operation of the converter has been presented using the operating waveforms and equivalent circuit diagrams during different intervals. An approximate analysis approach is used to analyze the converter operation, and design procedure is presented with a design example. Intusoft simulation results for the designed converter are given for input voltage and load variations. Experimental results obtained in a 300 W converter are presented. Major advantages of this converter are the leakage and magnetizing inductances of the high-frequency transformer are used as part of resonant circuit and the output rectifier voltage is clamped to the output voltage. The converter operates in soft-switching for the inverter switches for the wide variations in supply voltage and load and it requires narrow switching frequency variation (compared to LCC-type) to regulate the output voltage. A three-phase high-frequency transformer isolated interleaved (LC)(L)-type dc-dc series-resonant converter with capacitive output filter using fixed frequency control is proposed. The converter operation for different modes is presented using the operating waveforms and equivalent circuit diagrams during different intervals. This converter is modeled and then analyzed using the approximate complex ac circuit analysis approach. Based on the analysis, design curves were obtained and the design procedure is presented with a design example. The designed converter is simulated using PSIM software to predict the performance of the converter for variations in supply voltage and load conditions. The converter operates in ZVS for the inverter switches with minimum input voltage and loses ZVS for two switches in each bridge for higher input voltages.
Graduate

This thesis deals with hybrid phase modulated converter with inductive output filter as well as capacitive output filter. The operational principles, detailed steady-state analysis for different modes of operation, detailed design procedure with an example. simulation and experimental results are presented for HPMC with inductive output filter. HPMC with inductive output filter has reduced output filter requirements and maintains ZVS for wide line and load variations. This converter suffers from duty cycle loss and output rectifier ringing requiring secondary-side snubbers and higher voltage rated rectifier diodes. To overcome this problem, a hybrid phase modulated DC-DC converter with a capacitive output filter is proposed. Different modes of operation of the proposed converter are identified and a detailed steady-state analysis for these modes of operation is presented. A design example of 200 W, 22 V to 41 V input voltage and 350 V output voltage hybrid phase modulated converter with inductive and capacitive output filter is given to present the design procedure. Simulation and experimental results obtained from the laboratory prototype are provided to verify the performance of the converter. A comparison of performance between the HPMC with inductive and capacitive output filters with standard phase-shifted PWM full bridge converter are also presented.

博士
國立中興大學
電機工程學系所
101
This thesis applies wavelet features and soft computing-based classifiers to speech detection and musical instruments recognition problems. For speech detection, this thesis uses Haar wavelet energy and entropy (HWEE) as detection features. The Haar wavelet energy (HWE) is derived by using the robust band that shows the most significant difference between speech and nonspeech segments at different noise levels. Similarly, the wavelet energy entropy (WEE) is computed by selecting the two wavelet energy bands of which entropy shows the most significant speech/nonspeech difference. The HWEE features are fed as inputs to a recurrent self-evolving interval type-2 fuzzy neural network (RSEIT2FNN) for classification. The RSEIT2FNN is used because it uses type-2 fuzzy sets, which are more robust to noise than type-1 fuzzy sets. The recurrent structure in the RSEIT2FNN helps to remember the context information of a test frame. The HWEE-based RSEIT2FNN detection was applied to speech detection in different noisy environments with different noise levels. The most critical technology of musical instrument recognition is the extraction of musical instrument features, especially those distinguishing ones. To this end, this thesis proposes the incorporation of HWE and wavelet packet decomposition energy features into traditional audio features to improve recognition rate. For classifier design, this thesis proposes a divide-and-conquer support vector machine (SVM) classification technique. This technique efficiently captures the context information in audio signals with high-dimensional features for recognition improvement. Experimental results on the recognition of ten musical instruments show the effectiveness of the proposed recognition approach.

This thesis presents the operation, analysis, simulation and experimental results of a single-phase single-stage soft-switched high frequency (HF) transformer isolated ac-to-dc bridge converter with low total harmonic distortion (THD) and its extension to ac-to-dc multiphase converter. A single-phase single-stage soft-switched ac-to-dc bridge converter cell has been proposed based on a new gating scheme. Due to the discontinuous current mode (DCM) operation of the boost inductor, natural power factor correction and low THD are ensured. The single-stage ac-to-dc multiphase converter is realized based on this bridge converter cell to reduce HF harmonic components in the line current. The steady-state operation of the single-stage bridge converter is explained for all operating modes. Intervals of operation in these modes are identified and analyzed. The steady-state solutions are presented. Based on these solutions, design curves are obtained. Design example of a 1.7 kW converter is presented to illustrate the design procedure. Operational characteristics are obtained for different line and load conditions. PSPICE simulation results for the designed converter are presented. An experimental prototype is built to verify the operation and performance of the converter. All four switches in the fixed frequency bridge converter undergo soft switching (common switch requires an auxiliary circuit) for a wide line and load range. A single-stage HF transformer isolated ac-to-dc multiphase converter is proposed. The analyses of the single-stage bridge converter cell are extended to the multiphase converter. It is shown that N = 3 is near the optimum number of cells to reduce the input current HF harmonic components. A design example of a 166 to 260 V (rms) input, 420 V output, 5 kW converter switching at 50 kHz is presented. PSPICE simulation results are obtained for the designed converter to study its performance for varying load and line conditions. A 3-cell 1.5 kW experimental prototype is built and experimental results are obtained. All the results show that HF harmonics in the line current are reduced and output voltage ripple frequency is increased. Each cell handles equal power and all bridge-switches are soft switched. As a result, uniform thermal distribution is obtained. Small-signal analysis of the single-stage ac-to-dc bridge converter cell is presented for all operating modes using state-space averaging technique. Based on this analysis, small signal transfer functions are obtained. Frequency response of the transfer functions are plotted using MATLAB program and verified by PSPICE simulation results. A closed loop control system is designed and frequency response of the overall loop gain is presented. Large-signal transient behavior of the converter cell is studied with open loop using PSPICE simulation program for step change in line and load conditions. The simulation results show that the closed loop system is required to improve the converter performance during step increase in line voltage.
Graduate

This thesis presents new configurations for three-phase AC-to-DC single-stage, softswitched, high frequency (HF) transformer isolated converters with power factor correction (PFC) and low harmonic distortion. Four different configurations are presented. Topology of all these four configurations is based on integration of a front-end DCM boost with a soft switching HF transformer isolated DC-to-DC PWM converter with fixed frequency. DCM operation of the front-end boost provides natural PFC with low total harmonic distortion (THD) and the DC-to-DC HF transformer isolated soft switching PWM converter with an appropriate gating scheme provides output voltage regulation. A double switch AC-to-DC converter is presented in Chapter 2. Due to unsymmetrical gating scheme, DC blocking capacitors are required to avoid transformer saturation. To reduce this problem, a new gating scheme is proposed in Chapter 3, which can be used in full bridge converters providing ZVS. This gating scheme is first used in a DC-to-DC bridge converter. In the next three chapters, this new gating scheme is applied to three different types of single-stage AC-to-DC boost integrated fixed-frequency bridge converters. These configurations are: (i) boost integrated single inductor linear current DC-to-DC PWM bridge converter, (ii) boost integrated series resonant DC-to-DC bridge converter and (iii) boost integrated parallel resonant DC-to-DC bridge converter. The steady state operation of each converter and modes of operation are explained with equivalent circuits for each interval of HF cycle. The general solutions for all the intervals are derived and design curves are obtained based on steady state relations. The design procedure is illustrated with a design example. Detailed PSPICE simulation results and experimental results obtained from a laboratory prototype model are given for all the converters to verify the theory and analysis. THD of the line current without any complex control circuit remains in a reasonable range of 8% to 13% for the total range of operation. Input line current waveforms for all suggested converters shows a low harmonic distortion similar to a single 3-Φ DCM boost. The difference would be in increase or decrease of DC bus voltage in each case, which can affect THD of the boost converter. Three switches in the full bridge converter operate with zero-voltage switching (ZVS) while the main switch operates with ZVS at full load, minimum line voltage and with ZVT at lower loads conditions. Soft switching of all the switches helps in lower loss. Chapter 6 presents the contributions of this thesis, summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each configuration and gives some suggestions for future work.
Graduate

Soot and other products of incomplete combustion play an important role in the chemistry of the atmosphere. As particles are exposed to trace gases, such as ozone, their chemistry and physical properties can be altered leading to changes in their optical properties, as well as their cloud condensation nuclei and ice nucleation abilities. These alterations can lead to changes in the global radiative budget and cloud microphysical processes, which in turn affect the climate. In this study, the chemical and physical changes associated with the oxidation of pyrene, anthracene, and carbon (lampblack) by ozone were investigated. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was used to identify oxidation products and track reaction progress for these representative aerosols. A C=O band attributed to a carboxylic acid formation was observed for all three substances, at each level of exposure to ozone - 20 ppm, 40 ppm, and 80 ppm. Second order reaction rate constants ranged from 9.58 x 10-16 cm2 molecules-1 s-1 to 7.71 x 10-13 cm2 molecules-1 s-1. Measurements of water uptake, ice nucleation efficiency, and optical properties were obtained to determine whether any physical changes associated with the oxidation process occurred. Optical measurements show an increase in the ultra-violet absorption of anthracene, but not for pyrene, while an increase in the visible absorption for pyrene was observed, but not for anthracene. Oxidized soot froze at a warmer temperature (-22.8 degrees C) then fresh soot (-25.6 degrees C), showing an increase in ice nucleation efficiency. Our data indicates that oxidation by ozone does alter the chemistry and physical properties of the substances study, leading to possible changes in how they interact with atmospheric processes.

In day to day life we encounter many different materials which are intermediate between crystalline solids and simple liquids that include paints , glues , suspensions, polymers, surfactants, food and cosmetic products and so on. ‘Soft condensed matter’ is an emerging field of science that aims to generalize the flow and various deformation mechanisms in this apparent diverse class of materials from a ‘mesoscopic’ point of view (important length scales for these systems is usually 10nm-1μm) where the actual atomic and molecular details governed by various quantum mechanical laws are not very important. These soft systems are held together by weaken tropic forces and therefore can be perturbed easily (the typical elastic modulus of these materials is many orders of magnitude lower compared to metallic solids). Moreover, very long relaxation times in these systems(∼10−3 to 1 s) have made them ideal candidates to study non-equilibrium physics. The present Thesis is an endeavor to understand linear and non-linear flow behavior and low Reynolds number instabilities in various soft matter systems like suspensions of flocculated carbon nanotubes and carbon black, surfactant gels, colloidal glasses, Langmuir monolayers etc probed mainly by bulk and interfacial rheology, in-situ light scattering, particle image velocimetry(PIV) techniques and Fourier transform rheology. We also use dynamic light scattering techniques for particle sizing and characterization of Brownian systems. Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to soft condensed matter, particularly, the important length and time scales, various interactions and the rich phase behavior emerged from the delicate balance between energy and entropy in these systems. In this context, We describe the detailed phase behavior of two such systems studied in this thesis. We next describe briefly a few important concepts which motivate the main problems studied in the present thesis like the shear-thickening in suspensions of Brownian and non-Brownian particles, non-equilibrium steady state fluctuation relations in driven systems, elasticity driven instabilities in complex fluids, jamming transitions and aging behavior. This is followed by a discussion of the experimental techniques like linear and nonlinear rheology, including the Fourier transform rheology. Chapter 2 discusses the experimental techniques used by us in detail. We first describe the different components and mode of operations of the MCR-300 stress-controlled rheometer (Paar Physica, Germany) and various experimental geometries. Next we discuss the set up for two dimensional rheological measurements. The homebuilt imaging set up for in-situ polarized light scattering and direct imaging studies is described along with the in-situ particle image velocimetry (PIV) to map out the exact spatially resolved velocity profiles in 2D systems. We give a brief account of the techniques of Fourier transform rheology. At the end of this chapter, we briefly describe the angle resolved dynamic light scattering (DLS) set up (Brookhaven Instruments, USA). In Chapter 3, we study colossal discontinuous shear-thickening transition in confined suspensions of fractal clusters formed by multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNT) by rheology and in-situ imaging experiments. Monotonic decrease in viscosity with increasing shear stress, known as shear thinning, is a known rheological response to shear flow in complex fluids in general and for flocculated suspensions in particular. In the present experiments we demonstrate a discontinuous shear thickening transition where the viscosity jumps sharply above a critical shear stress by four to six orders of magnitude in flocculated suspensions of MWNT even at very low weight fractions(∼0.5%). Rheo-optical observations reveal the shear-thickened state as a percolated structure of MWNT flocs spanning the system size. We present a dynamic phase diagram of the non-Brownian MWNT dispersions revealing a starting jammed state followed by shear-thinning and shear-thickened states. The present study further suggests that the shear-thickened state obtained as a function of shear stress is likely to be a generic feature of fractal clusters under flow, albeit under confinement. An understanding of the shear thickening phenomena in confined geometries is pertinent for flow controlled fabrication techniques in enhancing the mechanical strength and transport properties of thin films and wires of nanostructured composites as well as in lubrication issues. We try to understand the flow of jammed and shear-thickened states under constant applied strain rate by studying the building up and relaxation of individual stress fluctuation events similar to the flow in dense granular materials. We also characterize the metastable shear thickened states by superposing a small sinusoidal stress component on a steady applied stress as well as by studying the a thermal entropy consuming fluctuations which are also observed for other jammed systems under an applied steady shear stress as described in the next chapter. Chapter 4 reports the study of non-equilibrium fluctuations in concentrated gels and glassy systems(in jammed state), the nature of fluctuations and their systemsize dependence in the framework of fluctuation relation and Generalized Gumbel distribution. In the first part, we show that the shear rate at a fixed shear stress in a micellar gel in a jammed state exhibits large fluctuations, showing positive and negative values, with the mean shear rate being positive. The resulting probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the global power flux to the system vary from Gaussian to non-Gaussian, depending on the driving stress and in all cases show similar symmetry properties as predicted by Gallavotti-Cohen steady state fluctuation relation. The fluctuation relation allows us to determine an effective temperature related to the structural constraints of the jammed state. We have measured the stress dependence of the effective temperature. Further, experiments reveal that the effective temperature and the standard deviation of the shear rate fluctuations increase with the decrease of the systemsize. In the second part of this chapter, we report a universal large deviation behavior of spatially averaged global injected power just before the rejuvenation of the jammed state formed by an aging suspension of laponite clay under an applied stress. The probability distribution function (PDF) of these entropy consuming strongly non-Gaussian fluctuations follow an universal large deviation functional form described by the Generalized Gumbel (GG) distribution like many other equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems with high degree of correlations but do not obey Gallavotti-Cohen Steady State Fluctuation Relation (SSFR). However, far from the unjamming transition (for smaller applied stresses) SSFR is satisfied for both Gaussian as well as non-Gaussian PDF. The observed slow variation of the mean shear rate with system size supports a recent theoretical prediction for observing GG distribution. We also establish the universality of the observations reported in this chapter in the light of other jammed systems under shear. We examine in the first part of Chapter 5, the shear-thinning behavior of a two dimensional yield stress bearing monolayer of sorbitan tristearate at air/water interface. The flow curve (stress vs shear rate) consists of a linear region at low shear stresses/shear rates, followed by a stress plateau at higher values. The velocity profile obtained from particle imaging velocimetry indicates that shear banding occurs showing coexistence of fluidized region near the rotor and solid region with vanishing shear-rate away from the rotor. In the fluidized region, the velocity profile which is linear at low shear rates becomes exponential at the onset of shear-thinning, followed by a time varying velocity profile in the plateau region. At low values of constant applied shear rates, the viscosity of the film increases with time, thus showing aging behavior like in soft glassy three-dimensional (3D) systems. Further, at the low values of the applied stress in the yield stress regime, the shear-rate fluctuations in time show both positive and negative values, similar to that observed in sheared 3D jammed systems. By carrying out a statistical analysis of these shear-rate fluctuations, we estimate the effective temperature of the soft glassy monolayer using the Galavatti-Cohen steady state fluctuation relation. In the second part of this chapter, we study in detail the non-linear viscoelastic behavior of Langmuir monolayers. Under oscillatory shear usually observed in many 3D metastable complex fluids with large structural relaxation times. At large strain amplitudes(γ), the storage modulus (G”) decreases monotonically whereas the loss modulus (G”) exhibits a peak above a critical strain amplitude before it decreases at higher strain amplitudes. The power law decay exponents of G” and G” are in the ratio 2:1. The peak in G” is absent at high temperatures and low concentration of sorbitan tristearate. Strain-rate frequency sweep measurements on the monolayers do indicate a strain-rate dependence of the structural relaxation time. The present study on sorbitan tristearate monolayers clearly indicates that the nonlinear viscoelastic behavior in 2D Langmuir monolayers is very general and exhibits many of the features observed in 3D complex fluids. We report in the first part of Chapter 6 scattering dichroism experiments to quantify the spatio-temporal nematodynamics of shear-thinning worm like micellar gels of surfactant Cetyltrimethylammonium Tosylate (CTAT) in the presence of salt sodium chloride (NaCl) enroute to rheochaos. For shear rates past the plateau onset, we observe a presence of alternating bright and dark‘ intertwined’ birefringent structures along the vorticity direction. The orientational order corresponding to these structures are predominantly oriented at +45deg and−45deg to the flow (v) in the (v,∇v) plane. The orientational dynamics of the nematics especially at the interface between the structures, has a one-to-one correspondence with the temporal behavior of the stress. Experiments show that the spatial motion of the vorticity structures depend on the gap thickness of the Couette cell. We next discuss the random temporal flow behavior of this system at high values of applied shear rate/stress in the framework of elastic turbulence in the second part of this chapter. Here, we study the statistical properties of spatially averaged global injected power fluctuations for the worm-like micellar system described above. At sufficiently high Weissenberg numbers (Wi) the shear rate and hence the injected power p(t) at a constant applied stress shows large irregular fluctuations in time. The nature of the probability distribution function (PDF) of p(t) and the power-law decay of its power spectrum are very similar to that observed in recent studies of elastic turbulence for polymer solutions. Remarkably, these non-Gaussian pdf scan be well described by an universal large deviation functional form given by the Generalized Gumbel (GG) distribution observed in the context of spatially averaged global measures in diverse classes of highly correlated systems. We show by in-situ rheology and polarized light scattering experiments that in the elastic turbulent regime the flow is spatially smooth but random in time, in agreement with a recent hypothesis for elastic turbulence. In Chapter 7, we study the vorticity banding under large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) in a dilute worm-like micellar gel formed by surfactant CTAT by Fourier transform rheology and in-situ polarized light scattering. Under LAOS we found the signature of a non-trivial order-disorder transition of Taylor vortices. In the non-linear regime, higher harmonicde composition of the resulting stress signal reveals that the third harmonic I3 shows a very prominent maximum at the strain value where the number density (nv) of the Taylor vortices is maximum for a wide range of angular frequencies both above and below the linear crossover point. Subsequent increase in applied strain results in distortions of the vortices and a concomitant decrease in nv when I3 also drops very sharply and acts like an order parameter for this order-disorder transition. We further quantify the transition by defining an independent order parameter like quantity from the spatial correlation function of the scattered intensity and equivalently its Fourier transform which essentially captures the non monotonous third harmonic behavior. Lissajous plots indicate an intra-cycle strain hardening for the values of γ corresponding to the peak of I3 similar to that observed for hard-sphere glasses. Our study is an important step forward to correlating the structures developed in the system under LAOS to the appearances of the higher harmonics in the non-linear regime. The Thesis concludes with a summary of the main results and a brief account on the scope of future work as described in Chapter 8.

In day to day life we encounter many different materials which are intermediate between crystalline solids and simple liquids that include paints , glues , suspensions, polymers, surfactants, food and cosmetic products and so on. ‘Soft condensed matter’ is an emerging field of science that aims to generalize the flow and various deformation mechanisms in this apparent diverse class of materials from a ‘mesoscopic’ point of view (important length scales for these systems is usually 10nm-1μm) where the actual atomic and molecular details governed by various quantum mechanical laws are not very important. These soft systems are held together by weaken tropic forces and therefore can be perturbed easily (the typical elastic modulus of these materials is many orders of magnitude lower compared to metallic solids). Moreover, very long relaxation times in these systems(∼10−3 to 1 s) have made them ideal candidates to study non-equilibrium physics. The present Thesis is an endeavor to understand linear and non-linear flow behavior and low Reynolds number instabilities in various soft matter systems like suspensions of flocculated carbon nanotubes and carbon black, surfactant gels, colloidal glasses, Langmuir monolayers etc probed mainly by bulk and interfacial rheology, in-situ light scattering, particle image velocimetry(PIV) techniques and Fourier transform rheology. We also use dynamic light scattering techniques for particle sizing and characterization of Brownian systems. Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to soft condensed matter, particularly, the important length and time scales, various interactions and the rich phase behavior emerged from the delicate balance between energy and entropy in these systems. In this context, We describe the detailed phase behavior of two such systems studied in this thesis. We next describe briefly a few important concepts which motivate the main problems studied in the present thesis like the shear-thickening in suspensions of Brownian and non-Brownian particles, non-equilibrium steady state fluctuation relations in driven systems, elasticity driven instabilities in complex fluids, jamming transitions and aging behavior. This is followed by a discussion of the experimental techniques like linear and nonlinear rheology, including the Fourier transform rheology. Chapter 2 discusses the experimental techniques used by us in detail. We first describe the different components and mode of operations of the MCR-300 stress-controlled rheometer (Paar Physica, Germany) and various experimental geometries. Next we discuss the set up for two dimensional rheological measurements. The homebuilt imaging set up for in-situ polarized light scattering and direct imaging studies is described along with the in-situ particle image velocimetry (PIV) to map out the exact spatially resolved velocity profiles in 2D systems. We give a brief account of the techniques of Fourier transform rheology. At the end of this chapter, we briefly describe the angle resolved dynamic light scattering (DLS) set up (Brookhaven Instruments, USA). In Chapter 3, we study colossal discontinuous shear-thickening transition in confined suspensions of fractal clusters formed by multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNT) by rheology and in-situ imaging experiments. Monotonic decrease in viscosity with increasing shear stress, known as shear thinning, is a known rheological response to shear flow in complex fluids in general and for flocculated suspensions in particular. In the present experiments we demonstrate a discontinuous shear thickening transition where the viscosity jumps sharply above a critical shear stress by four to six orders of magnitude in flocculated suspensions of MWNT even at very low weight fractions(∼0.5%). Rheo-optical observations reveal the shear-thickened state as a percolated structure of MWNT flocs spanning the system size. We present a dynamic phase diagram of the non-Brownian MWNT dispersions revealing a starting jammed state followed by shear-thinning and shear-thickened states. The present study further suggests that the shear-thickened state obtained as a function of shear stress is likely to be a generic feature of fractal clusters under flow, albeit under confinement. An understanding of the shear thickening phenomena in confined geometries is pertinent for flow controlled fabrication techniques in enhancing the mechanical strength and transport properties of thin films and wires of nanostructured composites as well as in lubrication issues. We try to understand the flow of jammed and shear-thickened states under constant applied strain rate by studying the building up and relaxation of individual stress fluctuation events similar to the flow in dense granular materials. We also characterize the metastable shear thickened states by superposing a small sinusoidal stress component on a steady applied stress as well as by studying the a thermal entropy consuming fluctuations which are also observed for other jammed systems under an applied steady shear stress as described in the next chapter. Chapter 4 reports the study of non-equilibrium fluctuations in concentrated gels and glassy systems(in jammed state), the nature of fluctuations and their systemsize dependence in the framework of fluctuation relation and Generalized Gumbel distribution. In the first part, we show that the shear rate at a fixed shear stress in a micellar gel in a jammed state exhibits large fluctuations, showing positive and negative values, with the mean shear rate being positive. The resulting probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the global power flux to the system vary from Gaussian to non-Gaussian, depending on the driving stress and in all cases show similar symmetry properties as predicted by Gallavotti-Cohen steady state fluctuation relation. The fluctuation relation allows us to determine an effective temperature related to the structural constraints of the jammed state. We have measured the stress dependence of the effective temperature. Further, experiments reveal that the effective temperature and the standard deviation of the shear rate fluctuations increase with the decrease of the systemsize. In the second part of this chapter, we report a universal large deviation behavior of spatially averaged global injected power just before the rejuvenation of the jammed state formed by an aging suspension of laponite clay under an applied stress. The probability distribution function (PDF) of these entropy consuming strongly non-Gaussian fluctuations follow an universal large deviation functional form described by the Generalized Gumbel (GG) distribution like many other equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems with high degree of correlations but do not obey Gallavotti-Cohen Steady State Fluctuation Relation (SSFR). However, far from the unjamming transition (for smaller applied stresses) SSFR is satisfied for both Gaussian as well as non-Gaussian PDF. The observed slow variation of the mean shear rate with system size supports a recent theoretical prediction for observing GG distribution. We also establish the universality of the observations reported in this chapter in the light of other jammed systems under shear. We examine in the first part of Chapter 5, the shear-thinning behavior of a two dimensional yield stress bearing monolayer of sorbitan tristearate at air/water interface. The flow curve (stress vs shear rate) consists of a linear region at low shear stresses/shear rates, followed by a stress plateau at higher values. The velocity profile obtained from particle imaging velocimetry indicates that shear banding occurs showing coexistence of fluidized region near the rotor and solid region with vanishing shear-rate away from the rotor. In the fluidized region, the velocity profile which is linear at low shear rates becomes exponential at the onset of shear-thinning, followed by a time varying velocity profile in the plateau region. At low values of constant applied shear rates, the viscosity of the film increases with time, thus showing aging behavior like in soft glassy three-dimensional (3D) systems. Further, at the low values of the applied stress in the yield stress regime, the shear-rate fluctuations in time show both positive and negative values, similar to that observed in sheared 3D jammed systems. By carrying out a statistical analysis of these shear-rate fluctuations, we estimate the effective temperature of the soft glassy monolayer using the Galavatti-Cohen steady state fluctuation relation. In the second part of this chapter, we study in detail the non-linear viscoelastic behavior of Langmuir monolayers. Under oscillatory shear usually observed in many 3D metastable complex fluids with large structural relaxation times. At large strain amplitudes(γ), the storage modulus (G”) decreases monotonically whereas the loss modulus (G”) exhibits a peak above a critical strain amplitude before it decreases at higher strain amplitudes. The power law decay exponents of G” and G” are in the ratio 2:1. The peak in G” is absent at high temperatures and low concentration of sorbitan tristearate. Strain-rate frequency sweep measurements on the monolayers do indicate a strain-rate dependence of the structural relaxation time. The present study on sorbitan tristearate monolayers clearly indicates that the nonlinear viscoelastic behavior in 2D Langmuir monolayers is very general and exhibits many of the features observed in 3D complex fluids. We report in the first part of Chapter 6 scattering dichroism experiments to quantify the spatio-temporal nematodynamics of shear-thinning worm like micellar gels of surfactant Cetyltrimethylammonium Tosylate (CTAT) in the presence of salt sodium chloride (NaCl) enroute to rheochaos. For shear rates past the plateau onset, we observe a presence of alternating bright and dark‘ intertwined’ birefringent structures along the vorticity direction. The orientational order corresponding to these structures are predominantly oriented at +45deg and−45deg to the flow (v) in the (v,∇v) plane. The orientational dynamics of the nematics especially at the interface between the structures, has a one-to-one correspondence with the temporal behavior of the stress. Experiments show that the spatial motion of the vorticity structures depend on the gap thickness of the Couette cell. We next discuss the random temporal flow behavior of this system at high values of applied shear rate/stress in the framework of elastic turbulence in the second part of this chapter. Here, we study the statistical properties of spatially averaged global injected power fluctuations for the worm-like micellar system described above. At sufficiently high Weissenberg numbers (Wi) the shear rate and hence the injected power p(t) at a constant applied stress shows large irregular fluctuations in time. The nature of the probability distribution function (PDF) of p(t) and the power-law decay of its power spectrum are very similar to that observed in recent studies of elastic turbulence for polymer solutions. Remarkably, these non-Gaussian pdf scan be well described by an universal large deviation functional form given by the Generalized Gumbel (GG) distribution observed in the context of spatially averaged global measures in diverse classes of highly correlated systems. We show by in-situ rheology and polarized light scattering experiments that in the elastic turbulent regime the flow is spatially smooth but random in time, in agreement with a recent hypothesis for elastic turbulence. In Chapter 7, we study the vorticity banding under large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) in a dilute worm-like micellar gel formed by surfactant CTAT by Fourier transform rheology and in-situ polarized light scattering. Under LAOS we found the signature of a non-trivial order-disorder transition of Taylor vortices. In the non-linear regime, higher harmonicde composition of the resulting stress signal reveals that the third harmonic I3 shows a very prominent maximum at the strain value where the number density (nv) of the Taylor vortices is maximum for a wide range of angular frequencies both above and below the linear crossover point. Subsequent increase in applied strain results in distortions of the vortices and a concomitant decrease in nv when I3 also drops very sharply and acts like an order parameter for this order-disorder transition. We further quantify the transition by defining an independent order parameter like quantity from the spatial correlation function of the scattered intensity and equivalently its Fourier transform which essentially captures the non monotonous third harmonic behavior. Lissajous plots indicate an intra-cycle strain hardening for the values of γ corresponding to the peak of I3 similar to that observed for hard-sphere glasses. Our study is an important step forward to correlating the structures developed in the system under LAOS to the appearances of the higher harmonics in the non-linear regime. The Thesis concludes with a summary of the main results and a brief account on the scope of future work as described in Chapter 8.

This thesis presents the operational principles, and analysis, simulation. experimental results of a single-cell full-bridge high frequency (HF) transformer isolated DC-to-DC power converter with an inductive output filter controlled with a new gating scheme. A single-stage multi-cell HF transformer isolated AC-to-DC power converter with the same new gating scheme is designed and tested. The new gating scheme is implemented in a Field-programmable gate-array (FPGA) chip to generate the control gating signals for the DC-to-DC and AC-to-DC converters. The steady-state operation of the DC-to-DC converter controlled with the new gating scheme is analyzed using the equivalent circuits during different intervals of operation. Based on the operational analysis, a set of equations is derived to draw design curves. A design example of 5 kW, 580 V to 620 V input and 420 V output DC-to-DC converter is given to present the design procedure. PSPICE simulation and experimental results obtained from an experimental converter controlled with the FPGA are provided to verify the theoretical analysis, and design procedure. A systematical procedure for finding the parameters of the output RCD snubber circuit is also given. A 3 kW 3-cell 166 V to 260 V input 420 V output single-stage HF transformer isolated AC-to-DC multi-cell converter is designed and tested using a FPGA controller The new gating scheme is implemented on a Xilinx Spartan 11 FPGA chip using two digital pulse-width modulation (DPWM) approaches, the conventional DPWM module and the delay-line DPWM module. The simulation and experimental results are presented.