This paper discusses research on social anxiety and word use.

The work described in this report was carried out at a national laboratory of the Department of Energy, during the time that the author was engaged in a Department of Energy Industrial Hygiene Graduate Fellowship. The national laboratory had a respiratory protection program with approximately 50 employees participating. The program was in place to protect employees from over-exposure to airborne contaminants while engineering and work practice controls were being installed and implemented. It was also in place to protect workers in situations where engineering and work control practices were not feasible, such as during maintenance and repair work, as well as in situations where engineering and work practice controls were not enough to lower the exposure to or below the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) as set by the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) as an eight-hour time weighted average (TWA) or an excursion limit. Respirators were also used for emergencies by the emergency response team.

The equations of motion describing turbulent flows (in both the low and high Reynolds-number regimes) are well established. However, present day computers cannot meet the enormous computational requirement for numerically solving the governing equations for common engineering flows in the high Reynolds number turbulent regime. The characteristics that make turbulent, high Reynolds number flows difficult to simulate is the extreme range of time and space scales of motion. Most current engineering calculations are performed using semi-empirical equations, developed in terms of the flow mean (average) properties. These turbulence{open_quote} models{close_quote} (semi-empirical/analytical approximations) do not explicitly account for the eddy structures and thus, the temporal and spatial flow fluctuations are not resolved. In these averaging approaches, it is necessary to approximate all the turbulent structures using semi-empirical relations, and as a result, the turbulence models must be tailored for specific flow conditions and geometries with parameters obtained (usually) from physical experiments. The motivation for this research is the development of a finite element turbulence modeling approach which will ultimately be used to predict the wind flow around buildings. Accurate turbulence models of building flow are needed to predict the dispersion of airborne pollutants. The building flow turbulence models used today are not …

Atmospheric iron (Fe) is thought to play an important role in cloudwater chemistry (e.g., S(IV) oxidation, oxidant production, etc.), and is also an important source of Fe to certain regions of the worlds oceans where Fe is believed to be a rate-limiting nutrient for primary productivity. This thesis focuses on understanding the chemistry, speciation and abundance of Fe in cloudwater and aerosol in the troposphere, through observations of Fe speciation in the cloudwater and aerosol samples collected over the continental United States and the Arabian Sea. Different chemical species of atmospheric Fe were measured in aerosol and cloudwater samples to help assess the role of Fe in cloudwater chemistry.

We attempt to identify a single top signal in the muon + jets data collected using the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron at a center-of-mass energy of {radical}s = 1.8 TeV from 1992-96. The data corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 103.7 pb{sup -1}. While resolving a signal has proved impossible, we are able to place an upper limit on the production cross section for single top events using these data. The cross section for production of single top via 95% p{bar p} {yields} tb and p{bar p} {yields} qtb is less than 78 pb at the 95% confidence level based on muon + jets data only.

This dissertation reports on measurements of inclusive cross sections times branching fractions into electrons for W and Z bosons produced in p{anti p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.8 TeV. From an integrated luminosity of 84.5 pb{sup {minus}1} recorded in 1994--1995 by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron {Lambda} the cross sections are measured to be {sigma}p{anti p} {r_arrow} W + X {center_dot} B(W {r_arrow} e{nu}) = 2,310 {+-} 10 (stat) {+-} 50 (Syst) {+-} 100 (lum) pb and {sigma}(p{anti p} {r_arrow} Z + X) {center_dot} B(Z {r_arrow} ee) = 221 {+-} 3 (stat) {+-} 4 (Syst) {+-} 10 (lum) pb. The cross section ratio R is determined to be {sigma}(p{anti p} {r_arrow} W + X) {center_dot} B(W {r_arrow} e{nu})/{sigma}(p{bar p} {r_arrow} Z + X) {center_dot} B(Z {r_arrow} ee) = 10.43 {+-} 0.15 (stat) {+-} 0.20 (syst) {+-} 0.10 (NLO){Lambda} and R is used to determine B(W {r_arrow} e{nu}) = 0.1044 {+-} 0.0015 (stat) {+-} 0.0020 (syst) {+-} 0.0017 (theory) {+-} 0.0010 (NLO){Lambda} and {Lambda}{sub W} = 2.169 {+-} 0.031 (stat) {+-} 0.042 (syst) {+-} 0.041 (theory) {+-} 0.022 (NLO) GeV. The latter is used to set a 95% confidence level upper limit on the partial decay width of the …

Mortandad Canyon is a discharge site for treated industrial effluents containing radionuclides and other chemicals at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. This study was conducted to develop an understanding of the unsaturated hydrologic behavior below the canyon floor. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the hypothetical performance of the vadose zone above the water table. Numerical simulations of unsaturated groundwater flow at the site were conducted using the Finite Element Heat and Mass Transfer (FEHM) code. A two-dimensional cross-section along the canyon's axis was used to model flow between an alluvial groundwater system and the regional aquifer approximately 300 m below. Using recharge estimated from a water budget developed in 1967, the simulations showed waters from the perched water table reaching the regional aquifer in 13.8 years, much faster than previously thought. Additionally, simulations indicate that saturation is occurring in the Guaje pumice bed an d that the Tshirege Unit 1B is near saturation. Lithologic boundaries between the eight materials play an important role in flow and solute transport within the system. Horizontal flow is shown to occur in three thin zones above capillary barriers; however, vertical flow dominates the system. Other simulations were conducted to …

The Standard Model predicts that the lifetime of the top quark is shorter than the typical time scale at which hadronization process occurs, and the spin information at its production is preserved. Spin correlation of the t{anti t} system from p{anti p} collisions at the Tevatron is analyzed using 6 events in the dilepton channels collected using the D0 detector. Spin correlation factor of {kappa} > {minus} 0.25 at 68% CL is obtained from the data.

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The ideal structural steel combines high strength with high fracture toughness. This dissertation discusses the toughening mechanism of the Fe/Co/Ni/Cr/Mo/C steel, AerMet 100, which has the highest toughness/strength combination among all commercial ultrahigh strength steels. The possibility of improving the toughness of this steel was examined by considering several relevant factors.

To summarize, polycrystalline ZnO thin films were grown by reactive sputtering. Nitrogen was introduced into the films by reactive sputtering in an NO{sub 2} plasma or by N{sup +} implantation. All ZnO films grown show n-type conductivity. In unintentionally doped ZnO films, the n-type conductivities are attributed to Zn{sub i}, a native shallow donor. In NO{sub 2}-grown ZnO films, the n-type conductivity is attributed to (N{sub 2}){sub O}, a shallow double donor. In NO{sub 2}-grown ZnO films, 0.3 atomic % nitrogen was found to exist in the form of N{sub 2}O and N{sub 2}. Upon annealing, N{sub 2}O decomposes into N{sub 2} and O{sub 2}. In furnace-annealed samples N{sub 2} redistributes diffusively and forms gaseous N{sub 2} bubbles in the films. Unintentionally doped ZnO films were grown at different oxygen partial pressures. Zni was found to form even at oxygen-rich condition and led to n-type conductivity. N{sup +} implantation into unintentionally doped ZnO film deteriorates the crystallinity and optical properties and leads to higher electron concentration. The free electrons in the implanted films are attributed to the defects introduced by implantation and formation of (N{sub 2}){sub O} and Zni. Although today there is still no reliable means to produce good …

High-pressure catalytic reactions and associated processes, such as adsorption have been studied on a molecular level on single crystal surfaces. Sum Frequency Generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy together with Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Temperature Programmed Desorption (TPD) and Gas Chromatography (GC) were used to investigate the nature of species on catalytic surfaces and to measure the catalytic reaction rates. Special attention has been directed at studying high-pressure reactions and in particular, ammonia synthesis in order to identify reaction intermediates and the influence of adsorbates on the surface during reaction conditions. The adsorption of gases N{sub 2}, H{sub 2}, O{sub 2} and NH{sub 3} that play a role in ammonia synthesis have been studied on the Fe(111) crystal surface by sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy using an integrated Ultra-High Vacuum (UHV)/high-pressure system. SFG spectra are presented for the dissociation intermediates, NH{sub 2} ({approx}3325 cm{sup -1}) and NH ({approx}3235 cm{sup -1}) under high pressure of ammonia (200 Torr) on the clean Fe(111) surface. Addition of 0.5 Torr of oxygen to 200 Torr of ammonia does not significantly change the bonding of dissociation intermediates to the surface. However, it leads to a phase change of nearly 180{sup o} between the resonant and non-resonant second …

The fractionation of particles from their suspending fluid or noninvasive micromanipulation of particles in suspension has many applications ranging from the recovery of valuable reagents from process flows to the fabrication of microelectromechanical devices. Techniques based on size, density, solubility, or electromagnetic properties exist for fulfilling these needs, but many particles have traits that preclude their use such as small size, neutral buoyancy, or uniform electromagnetic characteristics. While separation by those techniques may not be possible, often compressibility differences exist between the particle and fluid that would allow fractionation by acoustic forces. The potential of acoustic separation is known, but due to inherent difficulties in achieving and maintaining accurate alignment of the transduction system, it is rarely utilized. The objective of this project is to investigate the use of structural excitation as a potentially efficient concentration/fractionation method for particles in suspension. It is demonstrated that structural excitation of a cylindrically symmetric cavity, such as a tube, allows non-invasive, fast, and low power concentration of particles suspended in a fluid. The inherent symmetry of the system eliminates the need for careful alignment inherent in current acoustic concentration devices. Structural excitation distributes the acoustic field throughout the volume of the cavity, which …

Partial transient liquid phase (PTLP) bonding is a technique which can be used to join ceramics with metals and is used to form niobium-based joints for alumina. The principal advantage to PTLP bonding is that it enables refractory joints to be fabricated at temperatures below those typically required by solid state diffusion bonding. A thorough review of the important parameters (chemical compatibility, thermal expansion match, sufficient wettability of the liquid phase on the solid phases) in choosing a joining material for ceramics by the PTLP method is provided. As in conventional PTLP joining, the current study uses thin (=3 (mu)m) copper layers sandwiched between the alumina (bulk) and niobium (127 (mu)m). However, unlike the case of copper/nickel/copper obium is limited. Consequently, the copper is not entirely dissolved in the process, resulting in a two phase (copper-rich and niobium-rich phases) microstructure. Different processing conditions (temperature and applied load) result in different morphologies of the copper-rich and niobium-rich phases at the interface. These different microstructures exhibit distinct strength characteristics. Extended annealing of as-processed joints can influence the strengths differently depending on the ambient partial oxygen pressure at the annealing temperature. The focus of this work is to correlate processing conditions, microstructure, and …

We have studied the dissociation of CO catalyzed by platinum single crystals. At 40 torr of CO, the Pt(111) crystal dissociates CO at 673 K. Under the same conditions, Pt(100) dissociates CO at 500 K, and Pt(557) dissociates CO at 548 K. Hence, the CO dissociation reaction is a structure sensitive reaction. SFG was used to monitor the CO top site resonance as the platinum crystals were heated to the dissociation temperature when exposed to 40 torr of CO. In all three systems, the CO resonance shifts to lower frequency as the platinum crystal is heated. However, the frequency of the CO resonance at the dissociation frequency is lower on the (100) and (111) crystal faces than on the Pt(557) crystal. We believe that the (111) and (100) crystal faces must undergo roughening to expose step or kink sites in order to facilitate the dissociation reaction. This is supported by UHV studies of CO dissociation catalyzed by platinum crystals. These studies observe dissociation only when step or kink sites are present. Since the Pt(111) surface is very stable, it needs to be heated to 673 K to produce the low coordination number sites needed for CO dissociation. Since the Pt(100) …

In an effort to understand the molecular ingredients of catalytic activity and selectivity toward the end of tuning a catalyst for 100% selectivity, advanced nanolithography techniques were developed and utilized to fabricate well-ordered two-dimensional model catalyst arrays of metal nanostructures on an oxide support for the investigation of reaction selectivity. In-situ and ex-situ surface science techniques were coupled with catalytic reaction data to characterize the molecular structure of the catalyst systems and gain insight into hydrocarbon conversion in heterogeneous catalysis. Through systematic variation of catalyst parameters (size, spacing, structure, and oxide support) and catalytic reaction conditions (hydrocarbon chain length, temperature, pressures, and gas composition), the data presented in this dissertation demonstrate the ability to direct a reaction by rationally adjusting, through precise control, the design of the catalyst system. Electron beam lithography (EBL) was employed to create platinum nanoparticles on an alumina (Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}) support. The Pt nanoparticle spacing (100-150-nm interparticle distance) was varied in these samples, and they were characterized using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM), both before and after reactions. The TEM studies showed the 28-nm Pt nanoparticles with 100 and 150-nm interparticle spacing on …

Sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and other complementary surface-sensitive techniques have been used to study the surface molecular structure and surface mechanical behavior of biologically-relevant polymer systems. SFG and AFM have emerged as powerful analytical tools to deduce structure/property relationships, in situ, for polymers at air, liquid and solid interfaces. The experiments described in this dissertation have been performed to understand how polymer surface properties are linked to polymer bulk composition, substrate hydrophobicity, changes in the ambient environment (e.g., humidity and temperature), or the adsorption of macromolecules. The correlation of spectroscopic and mechanical data by SFG and AFM can become a powerful methodology to study and engineer materials with tailored surface properties. The overarching theme of this research is the interrogation of systems of increasing structural complexity, which allows us to extend conclusions made on simpler model systems. We begin by systematically describing the surface molecular composition and mechanical properties of polymers, copolymers, and blends having simple linear architectures. Subsequent chapters focus on networked hydrogel materials used as soft contact lenses and the adsorption of protein and surfactant at the polymer/liquid interface. The power of SFG is immediately demonstrated in experiments which identify the chemical …

The differential geometry on a Hopf algebra is constructed, by using the basic axioms of Hopf algebras and noncommutative differential geometry. The space of generalized derivations on a Hopf algebra of functions is presented via the smash product, and used to define and discuss quantum Lie algebras and their properties. The Cartan calculus of the exterior derivative, Lie derivative, and inner derivation is found for both the universal and general differential calculi of an arbitrary Hopf algebra, and, by restricting to the quasitriangular case and using the numerical R-matrix formalism, the aforementioned structures for quantum groups are determined.

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GPUs have emerged as a powerful tool for accelerating general-purpose applications. The availability of programming languages that makes writing general-purpose applications for running on GPUs tractable have consolidated GPUs as an alternative for accelerating generalpurpose applications. Among the areas that have bene#12;ted from GPU acceleration are: signal and image processing, computational uid dynamics, quantum chemistry, and, in general, the High Performance Computing (HPC) Industry. In order to continue to exploit higher levels of parallelism with GPUs, multi-GPU systems are gaining popularity. In this context, single-GPU applications are parallelized for running in multi-GPU systems. Furthermore, multi-GPU systems help to solve the GPU memory limitation for applications with large application memory footprint. Parallelizing single-GPU applications has been approached by libraries that distribute the workload at runtime, however, they impose execution overhead and are not portable. On the other hand, on traditional CPU systems, parallelization has been approached through application transformation at pre-compile time, which enhances the application to distribute the workload at application level and does not have the issues of library-based approaches. Hence, a parallelization scheme for GPU systems based on application transformation is needed. Like any computing engine of today, reliability is also a concern in GPUs. GPUs are vulnerable …

Here we report structural and functional studies of Mms6, a biomineralization protein that can promote the formation in vitro of magnetic nanoparticles with sizes and morphologies similar to the magnetites synthesized by magnetotactic bacteria. We found the binding pattern of Mms6 to ferric ion to be two-phase and multivalent. We quantatively determined that Mms6 binds one Fe{sup 3+} with a very high affinity (K{sub d} = 10{sup -16} M). The second phase of iron binding is multivalent and cooperative with respect to iron with a K{sub d} in the {mu}M range and a stoichiometry of about 20 ferric ion per protein molecule. We found that Mms6 exists in large particles of two sizes, one consisting of 20-40 monomeric units and the other of 200 units. From proteolytic digestion, ultracentrifugation and liposome fusion studies, we found that Mms6 forms a large micellar quaternary structure with the N-terminal domain self-assembling into a uniformly sized micelle and the C-terminal domain on the surface. The two-phase iron-binding pattern may be relevant to iron crystal formation. We propose that the first high affinity phase may stabilize a new conformation of the C-terminal domain that allows interaction with other C-terminal domains leading to a structural change …

Stimuli-responsive end-capped MSN materials are promising drug carriers that securely deliver a large payload of drug molecules without degradation or premature release. A general review of the recent progress in this field is presented, including a summary of a series of hard and soft caps for drug encapsulation and a variety of internal and external stimuli for controlled release of different therapeutics, a discussion of the biocompatibility of MSN both in vitro and in vivo, and a description of the sophisticated stimuli-responsive systems with novel capping agents and controlled release mechanism. The unique internal and external surfaces of MSN were utilized for the development of a glucose-responsive double delivery system end-capped with insulin. This unique system consists of functionalized MSNs capable of releasing insulin when the concentration of sugar in blood exceeds healthy levels. The insulin-free nanoparticles are then up taken by pancreatic cells, and release inside of them another biomolecule that stimulates the production of more insulin. The in vivo application of this system for the treatment of diabetes requires further understanding on the biological behaviors of these nanoparticles in blood vessels. The research presented in this dissertation demonstrated the size and surface effects on the interaction of MSNs …

The field of metamaterials is driven by fascinating and far-reaching theoretical visions, such as perfect lenses, invisibility cloaking, and enhanced optical nonlinearities. However, losses have become the major obstacle towards real world applications in the optical regime. Reducing the losses of optical metamaterials becomes necessary and extremely important. In this thesis, two approaches are taken to reduce the losses. One is to construct an indefinite medium. Indefinite media are materials where not all the principal components of the permittivity and permeability tensors have the same sign. They do not need the resonances to achieve negative permittivity, {var_epsilon}. So, the losses can be comparatively small. To obtain indefinite media, three-dimensional (3D) optical metallic nanowire media with different structures are designed. They are numerically demonstrated that they are homogeneous effective indefinite anisotropic media by showing that their dispersion relations are hyperbolic. Negative group refraction and pseudo focusing are observed. Another approach is to incorporate gain into metamaterial nanostructures. The nonlinearity of gain is included by a generic four-level atomic model. A computational scheme is presented, which allows for a self-consistent treatment of a dispersive metallic photonic metamaterial coupled to a gain material incorporated into the nanostructure using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. …

Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy is a far-field as well as wide-field optical imaging technique. Since it is non-invasive and requires no sample staining, DIC microscopy is suitable for tracking the motion of target molecules in live cells without interfering their functions. In addition, high numerical aperture objectives and condensers can be used in DIC microscopy. The depth of focus of DIC is shallow, which gives DIC much better optical sectioning ability than those of phase contrast and dark field microscopies. In this work, DIC was utilized to study dynamic biological processes including endocytosis and intracellular transport in live cells. The suitability of DIC microscopy for single particle tracking in live cells was first demonstrated by using DIC to monitor the entire endocytosis process of one mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) into a live mammalian cell. By taking advantage of the optical sectioning ability of DIC, we recorded the depth profile of the MSN during the endocytosis process. The shape change around the nanoparticle due to the formation of a vesicle was also captured. DIC microscopy was further modified that the sample can be illuminated and imaged at two wavelengths simultaneously. By using the new technique, noble metal nanoparticles with different …