VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Signal processing and eigenvalue decomposition of polygonal meshes and applications

The continuing trend of increased mesh complexity appears to have reached a point where traditional computed-aided geometric design techniques, especially those based on geometric optimization, are often too expensive computationally. In this thesis, we take a signal processing approach to model and solve problems related to large, irregular 3-D meshes, and provide the first formal treatment of the topic. We formalize the basic concepts of mesh signal processing by defining and studying several important concepts from image processing, such as convolution, in the 3-D irregular grid setting. We analyze eigenvalue decomposition , which extends the classical Fourier transform (DFT) to ED-transforms for mesh modeling, from a theoretical point of view. We suggest necessary conditions under which ED-transforms resemble the classical DFTs and examine the similarities and differences between them. In particular, we formulate and prove several fundamental results about ED-transforms that are analogous to the basic DFT theorems of 1-D signals. We also explore the many useful applications of eigenvalue decomposition, such as mesh fairing, feature enhancement, mesh partitioning, spectral compression, and water marking. Specifically, we present new algorithms and techniques we have developed for shape-preserving mesh fairing, e.g., using Butterworth filters, and for shape matching and similarity. Finally, our study has motivated us to design a new and improved linear operator for eigenvalue decomposition.
Analysis of gene expression in human articular cartilage

Osteoarthritis (OA), a common joint disease affecting mainly the middle-aged and elderly, is characterized by a progressive loss of articular cartilage. Currently, there is no effective therapy for OA, and disease-modifying therapies await identification of novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets. Our hypothesis is that expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and microarrays can be used to identify differences in gene expression profiles between embryonic, normal and diseased cartilage. Documenting these differences will allow us to identify key genes of relevance in OA, information that is an essential prerequisite for developing disease-modifying therapies for cartilage injury and disease. We first constructed a cDNA library from fetal cartilage and analyzed 5,603 ESTs. Of these, 3,420 ESTs matched known genes and represented 1,370 unique genes. Collagen type II, alpha 1 (COL2A1) was the most abundant gene. 127 novel ESTs (with no match) were discovered. One of these, FCR0572, was further studied and mapped to chromosome 9p21-22. Its mRNA was expressed in five fetal tissues. We then constructed cDNA libraries from mild and severe OA cartilage. Over 7000 ESTs were obtained from each library. Non-redundant analysis of ESTs with known gene matches resulted in 1,612 and 1,677 unique genes in mild and severe OA, respectively. By calculating relative EST frequency levels, we identified several differentially expressed genes, such as proteoglycan 4 (or megakaryocyte stimulating factor, MSF). Genes highly expressed in both mild and severe OA were also identified. One of these genes, beta-2 microglobulin (B2M), was further studied for its role in OA. We found that B2M levels in synovial fluid were significantly higher in OA joints than in normal joints. We then demonstrated that OA cartilage in vitro could produce B2M. At a concentration of 10 μg/ml, B2M showed an inhibitory effect on OA chondrocyte proliferation. Furthermore, we explored the effects of B2M on chondrocyte gene expression by using cDNA microarrays. Collagen type III, alpha 1 was one of the genes up-regulated two-fold by B2M. Our results demonstrate that EST-based approach and microarray are powerful tools for exploring cartilage biology and diseases at a molecular level.
Simulation of conical oblique detonation waves in hypersonic flow of H2-air

Oblique Detonation Wave (ODW) is a key component for hypersonic combustion engines. Its understanding is essential for designing combustors but reliable information on combustion process and exact ODW structure are difficult to obtain. Axisymmetric sharp cones can produce the purest two-dimensional ODW. This study simulates conical ODWs with hypersonic inflow of stoichiometric H2-air at Mach 7.36, using axisymmetric multi-species Laminar Navier-Stokes equations with the Jachimowski and Lutz combustion models. Numerical solutions of inviscid flow, at 40°, 35° and 32° cones, show steady-state overdriven ODW ignited by the pressure coupling of a shock wave and deflagration waves. At 30.5° and 30° cones, the ODWs are near the Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) condition and the coupling occurs between the shock wave and an internal post-shock ODW. The predicted CJ condition is between 30° and 29.5°, with constant detonation angle and minimum entropy being 42.3° and 1864 JkgK . The induction distance is the most sensitive parameter.

Keywords: Detonation waves, Mathematical models
Airplanes, Scramjet engines
Simulation of well LNAPL thickness and LNAPL recovery with horizontal wells

A method of simulating horizontal and vertical wells with fluid stratification was incorporated into a three-dimensional, multi-phase, multi-component finite difference model for subsurface flow and transport. Hypothetical field-scale LNAPL contamination and recovery cases were assumed and modelled, to examine LNAPL volume estimation and horizontal well recoverability. The effects of water table fluctuations, soil and fluid properties on LNAPL volume estimation from well fluid levels were investigated considering hysteresis and entrapment. Using analytical models could result in an underestimation by up to 95% in complicated field conditions. Air entrapment, especially in the organic phase, is likely an important factor affecting fluid distribution prediction in the soil. An optimally designed horizontal recovery well outperformed a series of vertical wells with 20–45% higher ultimate recovery efficiencies for the LNAPL contamination conditions considered in this study. However, a series of vertical wells could be better for coarse-grained aquifers, due to lower water treatment costs.
Bragg grating waveguide devices: Fabrication, optimization, and application

During the last 10 years, developments in the field of ultrashort laser material processing have led to the demonstrations of numerous three dimensional photonic devices directly written inside transparent materials. However, a roadblock still exists for the commercialization of such direct writing technology, owing to a lack of effective means for inscribing high-quality Bragg gratings inside laser written waveguides that are critical for multi-functional integrated devices in optical sensing and telecom. In this thesis, for the first time, a new Bragg grating waveguide device is proposed and then fabricated directly inside transparent glass materials using the ultrashort laser direct writing technology. These Bragg grating waveguide devices are composed of arrays of partially overlapped refractive index voxels (volume pixels), which simultaneously offer low-loss light guiding and strong Bragg resonances. Two novel methods, a single-pulse writing method and a burst writing method, are introduced and each successfully demonstrated for inscribing the grating waveguide devices with respective low and high repetition rate ultrashort laser systems. Laser fabrication parameters are optimized for both methods to generate three-dimensional high-strength (>35 dB) Bragg grating waveguides with narrow-bandwidth (0.2 nm) Bragg responses tunable in the 1550-nm telecom band. Moreover, several applications of such Bragg grating waveguides are demonstrated. Thermal annealing experiments show extremely high device stability under high temperature of 500°C. Wavelength tuning and cascading of the Bragg grating waveguides are easily achieved by adjusting the laser scan velocities. A chirped Bragg grating waveguide is demonstrated that targets broadband power tap and dispersion compensation applications in telecom. At last, a distributed grating network is fabricated demonstrating unique capabilities of three-dimensional sensing of temperature, stress, and bending. These high-quality devices are the first demonstrations of high strength first order Bragg gratings inside laser written waveguides. The results of this thesis may have direct impact on fabricating novel three-dimensional devices for telecom, sensing, and biophotonics lab-on-a-chip applications.
The aspect orientation of middleware systems

Middleware platforms, such as Web Services, J2EE, CORBA and DCOM, have become increasingly popular during the last decade, successfully solving distributed computing problems for a large family of application domains. At the same time, they are becoming more and more complex to develop and to use due to the presence of many inherently non-modular features, which we refer to as convolved features. Convolved features, such as the variations of hardware capabilities or the diversifications of quality of service settings, pertain to domain-specific computing features activated by particular usage scenarios and runtime conditions. They significantly increase the design complexity of distributed systems and often result in a great deal of repetitive development, configuration rigidity, and computational redundancy. The goal of our research is first, to devise mining algorithms and tools for the purpose of the thorough understanding of such problems in legacy software systems. The architectural treatments we have proposed for this problem consist of two themes: for legacy systems, we propose a, systematic refactoring-based approach to untangle feature convolution to improve the computation efficiency; for the designing new systems, we propose the modelware and the just-in-time architectural paradigms to dramatically improve the customizability, the code-level reusability, and the evolution capability of middleware systems. We evaluate our approaches with quantifying both the qualities of the code-level improvements from the software engineering perspective and the runtime profiles of the improved system from the functional or user's perspective. The evaluation shows that our mining algorithms can effectively assist developers by replacing as much as 70% of the manual efforts in locating convolved features in large software systems. Decomposing these concerns with the aspect oriented programming technique in a disciplined way preserves the system behavior and significantly improves its customizability. Through architectural synthesis, we are able to achieve 25% to 50% static size reduction and up to 25% residential memory reduction without any functional loss. Our experiments with the modelware show that middleware functionality can be supported from the same code base across dramatically different physical environments.
Re-factoring middleware with aspects

Aspect oriented programming has introduced new design perspectives that permit the superimpositions of different abstraction models on top of one another. This is a very powerful technique for separating and simplifying design concerns. In our effort of applying principles of aspect orientation to the middleware architecture, we first pragmatically analyze the use of aspects in the middleware architecture. We then show that aspects are the correct remedy for the above outlined middleware problems by quantifying crosscutting concerns in the legacy implementations of several prominent middleware systems. To go one step further, we factor out a number of crosscutting concerns identified in the mining process and re-implement them with aspects, superimposed on the existing middleware architecture. This allows us to use a set of software engineering metrics to quantify the re-factorization in terms of changes in the structural complexity, modularity, and performance of the resulting system. This aspect oriented re-factoring proves that aspect orientation is capable of composing orthogonal design requirements. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
The application of damage mechanics to carbon fibre composites

The effects of lay-up, matrix toughness, test temperature and environmental conditioning on the accumulation of damage in notched carbon fibre composite specimens have been studied using a damage-based notched strength modelling approach. In-situ and post fracture radiography was used to map subcritical damage growth in cross-ply carbon fibre reinforced epoxy, toughened epoxy and APC-2 (PEEK) laminates. In brittle matrix cross-ply composites, lay-up was found to affect the notched strength. The notched strength of (90/0) 2s specimens greatly depends on the matrix toughness. Environmental conditioning had no effect on strength but the test temperature was related to the apparent fracture toughness. A unique radiographic-deply technique for examining the internal damage of notched carbon fibre composites has been developed. This new technique can be used to resolve damage on a ply by ply basis. The experimental results revealed that the major damage in (0/90)2s specimens was in the exterior plies, and the major damage in (90/0)2s specimens was in the interior plies.
Improving juidicial review of administrative discretion in China: lessons from Canadian experience

Since the promulgation of the Administrative Litigation Law, China has established its system of judicial review of administrative action. However, over 15 years' judicial practice have exposed the court's ineffectiveness in reviewing discretionary powers. China needs to reform the current system to meet the domestic and international demands to control expanding administrative discretion and to protect individual rights. Given Chinese judges' lack of experience in this area and Canada's well developed practice of judicial review, Canadian law may be a good model for China to consider in developing reforms. However, it is unlikely for China to directly apply the contextual approach that Canadian judges adopted for judicial review as China lacks an independent judiciary and competent judges. Nonetheless, China can learn some lessons from the Canadian experience. The ALL needs to be amended; Chinese courts should be given more power; and a case law system is suggested in particular.

Keywords: Judicial review of administrative acts, China
Discretion (Law), China
Civil rights, China
Diversification or homogenization: how Chinese governments shape the higher education system

This central research question unfolded into two major objectives, and the thesis consisted mainly of two parts, with each reflecting one of the research objectives. The first was a search for a theoretical framework suitable for explaining processes of differentiation and increases or decreases in diversity in Chinese higher education. This investigation resulted in a theoretical framework rooted in three related theoretical perspectives from organizational theory: the population ecology perspective, the resource dependency perspective and the institutional isomorphism perspective. The other objective was an empirical investigation into the actual process of differentiation and the increases or decreases of diversity at the study program level in the Chinese universities. This study examined recent policy changes in Chinese higher education that have affected differentiation and diversity of the system. It was intended to answer the following research question: How have governmental policies influenced and shaped the processes of differentiation and diversity in Chinese higher education, in particular of the universities, and how can the changing patterns of differentiation and diversity be explained and contested?The empirical analysis of diversity in Chinese higher education provided the foundation for an examination of the influence of China's governmental policies on differentiation and diversity, which was discussed against the benchmark of whether or not the Chinese government had achieved its goals with respect to diversity. Also, this study concluded that the existing classification system of Chinese higher education institutions had not been sufficient for describing the systemic and structural, and the study suggested a new classification framework for China's higher education system, which draws on studies by Chinese scholars in recent years, and on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Finally, suggested areas for future research were outlined, with two possibilities highlighted. One possibility is to look at the issue of differentiation and diversity in a larger perspective by placing it in the context of internationalization and globalization. In contrast, the other possibility is to explore the issue with a micro perspective, at the institutional level. These two objectives coincided with the two major parts of this study, and enabled this work to approximate an optimum research design by combining the elements of a theoretical framework, assumptions, hypotheses, operationalizations, testing and feedback to the theoretical framework. In the field of Chinese higher education studies, this is a path-breaking study as little theory has been tested in this field in China, and few concepts have been operationalized as observable variables.

Keywords: Education, Higher, China
Higher education and state, China
Universities and colleges, China
Neurophysiological differences in visual selective attention in action video-games players

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of action video-games experience on the neural mechanisms underlying visual attention. Spatial allocation of visual selective attention was assessed in both garners and non garners using a visual detection task and event related potentials methodology. It was found that gamers' faster performance was correlated with pronounced positive activity at the parietal sites. This result suggests that playing action games may trigger cortical transformations of neuro-plastic nature. Further, amplitudes of the gamers' brainwaves were lower than the non gamers' at frontal, central and centroparietal areas. We conclude that gaming experience does more than improving a basic, visuomotor skill. Even though the attentional mechanisms involved are the same in non-gamers, visual information processing is facilitated after gaming experience. Multiple stages are affected, from the perceptual and sensory motor stages to the higher cognitive components.
Northrop Frye and Immanuel Kant: the emancipatory roles of reason and the imagination

Critically examining the work of Northrop Frye, this thesis argues that Frye claims omni-competence for literary theory by giving it the work of epistemology, ontology and ethics. The reach of these claims effectively transforms literary criticism into a meta-theory, one that not only relies profoundly on the thought of William Blake, but is also influenced by the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The first two chapters trace the influence of important precedents set by Blake and Kant on Frye's work, and examine the implications of his departure from Kant, which centre around Frye's Blakean insistence on a hierarchically privileged position for the imagination. This insistence is probed in the final chapter, which ends with the Kantian charge that Frye's meta-theory for literature ultimately risks working against, rather than towards progress in society because it depends on hierarchical distinctions and represents an uncritical commitment the imagination.

Keywords: Reason
Imagination
Literature
Gaze behavior and visuospatial attention in compensatory stepping responses

Compensatory stepping reactions were evoked in healthy young and older adults by sudden, unpredictable movement of a large platform. Visual behavior was examined when modulating the response to clear a high frontal obstacle, stepping to a target, or both, and switches in attention were inferred by performance on a secondary visuomotor pursuit task. Results suggest that a 'remembered' spatial map of the surrounding environment is predominately used to guide rapid stepping reactions in young and older adults. It has been well established that postural control requires cognitive resources; however, the attentional demand of triggered balance responses executed amid environmental constraints is unknown. This thesis sought to determine: (1) how and when visuospatial information of the environment is obtained; (2) whether this is related to switches of attention; (3) the associated attentional demand of accommodating compensatory stepping to environmental constraints; (4) how this changes with healthy ageing. Dual-task and balance-only trials were compared to further examine visual and attentional behavior. The frequency of downward gaze deviations increased without the secondary task, but a substantial portion of trials still did not include downward gaze shifts. The findings further indicate that remembered spatial information is commonly used to guide rapid perturbation-evoked stepping movements, even in the absence of competing demands for visual attention. These results indicate that young and older adults are able to guide compensatory stepping reactions using remembered spatial information under both static and more dynamic and unpredictable conditions, and that attention switching is not related to efforts to acquire online visual information. In the final study, a dynamic environment was employed to further challenge the capacity to 'remember' environmental features. Subjects stood surrounded by four obstacles that moved intermittently in an unpredictable sequence. Visual scanning and fixation of the obstacles occurred prior to, but never after, perturbation onset in both young and older adults. At step initiation, both young and older adults gaze was directed ahead of any obstacles and eventual swing-foot landing site, and both groups were able to avoid obstacle contact on the first step.
Explicit and implicit system of corporate control: a convergence theory of shareholder rights

This paper categorizes Anglo-American, French and German systems of shareholder rights as either Implicit or Explicit Systems of corporate control. It challenges the orthodox view that inadequate protection of minority stockholders historically accounted for under-developed capital markets by positing that explicit shareholder influence may substitute for market control. Different ethical roots prompted legislature to adopt either a friendly or a hostile attitude towards market forces. This paper further suggests that corporate laws will formally converge through Convergence Cycles towards a middle ground between the Implicit, and the Explicit System. Finally, it posits the need for a close interrelation of comparative and corporate finance research. The author's example of the fertility of such a cooperation results in a dynamic, rather than static theory of ownership convergence. Historic, statutory, and new empirical evidence demonstrates German and American shareholders' different propensity towards shareholder activism, and supports the three propositions.

Keywords: Stockholders, Legal status, laws, etc
Corporate governance
Corporations, Finance