Multilayer Active Shell Mirrors

This thesis presents a novel active mirror technology based on carbon fiber composites and replication manufacturing processes. Multiple additional layers are implemented into the structure in order to provide the reflective layer, actuation capabilities and electrode routing. The mirror is thin, lightweight, and has large actuation capabilities. These features, along with the associated manufacturing processes, represent a significant change in design compared to traditional optics. Structural redundancy in the form of added material or support structures is replaced by thin, unsupported lightweight substrates with large actuation capabilities.

Several studies motivated by the desire to improve as-manufactured figure quality are performed. Firstly, imperfections in thin CFRP laminates and their effect on post-cure shape errors are studied. Numerical models are developed and compared to experimental measurements on flat laminates. Techniques to mitigate figure errors for thicker laminates are also identified. A method of properly integrating the reflective facesheet onto the front surface of the CFRP substrate is also presented. Finally, the effect of bonding multiple initially flat active plates to the backside of a curved CFRP substrate is studied. Figure deformations along with local surface defects are predicted and characterized experimentally. By understanding the mechanics behind these processes, significant improvements to the overall figure quality have been made.

Studies related to the actuation response of the mirror are also performed. The active properties of two materials are characterized and compared. Optimal active layer thicknesses for thin surface-parallel schemes are determined. Finite element simulations are used to make predictions on shape correction capabilities, demonstrating high correctabiliity and stroke over low-order modes. The effect of actuator saturation is studied and shown to significantly degrade shape correction performance.

The initial figure as well as actuation capabilities of a fully-integrated active mirror prototype are characterized experimentally using a Projected Hartmann test. A description of the test apparatus is presented along with two verification measurements. The apparatus is shown to accurately capture both high-amplitude low spatial-frequency figure errors as well as those at lower amplitudes but higher spatial frequencies. A closed-loop figure correction is performed, reducing figure errors by 94%.

O sistema de controle gerencial em empresas petrolíferas: um estudo de caso múltiplo: os casos da Petróleo Brasileiro S/A. (Petrobras) e da Shell Brasil Ltda

A partir da metade do século passado, a industrialização no Brasil entrou numa fase de grande expansão gerando um aumento na demanda por combustíveis. Neste contexto, a indústria petrolífera tomou um grau de importância espetacular que continua até hoje. O desempenho das empresas ligadas a cadeia de valor de combustíveis passaram a ser importantes para toda a economia, quer pela influência nos custos, como no mercado de capitais, pelos grandes investimentos que requerem. O presente estudo visa analisar os sistemas de controle gerencial das empresas Petróleo Brasileiro S/A (Petrobras) e Shell Brasil Ltda. Tendo como objetivo verificar se os seus sistemas de controle gerenciais estão aderentes a literatura sobre esse tema. A pesquisa de estudo de caso múltiplo foi executada através de entrevista com gerentes das duas petrolíferas sobre objetivos organizacionais, contabilidade por responsabilidade, processo orçamentário, balanced scorecard (BSC) e Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Também foram coletadas informações institucionais publicadas pelas duas empresas.

Photorefractive performance of a novel multifunctional inorganic-organic hybridized nanocomposite sensitized by CdS nanoparticles

A novel multifunctional inorganic-organic photorefractive (PR) poly(N-vinyl)-3-[p-nitrophenylazolcarbazolyl-CdS nanocomposites with different molar ratios of US to poly(N-vinyl)-3-[p-nitrophenylazo]carbazolyl (PVNPAK) were synthesized via a postazo-coupling reaction and chemically hybridized approach, respectively. The nanocomposites are highly soluble and could be obtained as film-forming materials with appreciably high molecular weights and low glass transition temperature (T,) due to the flexible spacers. The PVNPAK matrix possesses a highest-occupied molecular orbital value of about -5.36 eV determined from cyclic voltammetry. Second harmonic generation (SHG) could be observed in PVNPAK film without any poling procedure and 4.7 pm/V of effective second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility is obtained. The US particles as photosensitizers had a nanoscale size in PVNPAK adopting transmission electron microscopy. The improvement of interface quality between US and polymer matrix is responsible for efficient photoinduced charge generation efficiency in the nanocomposites. An asymmetric optical energy exchange between two beams on the polymer composites PVNPAK-CdS/ECZ has been found even without an external field in two-beam coupling (TBC) experiment, and the TBC gain and diffraction efficiency of 14.26 cm(-1) and 3.4% for PVNPAK-5-CdS/ECZ, 16.43 cm(-1) and 4.4% for PVNPAK-15-CdS/ECZ were measured at a 647.1 nm wavelength, respectively.

Delivery of Targeted Nanoparticles Across the Blood-Brain Barrier Using a Detachable Targeting Ligand

Chronic diseases of the central nervous system are poorly treated due to the inability of most therapeutics to cross the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is an anatomical and physiological barrier that severely restricts solute influx, including most drugs, from the blood to the brain. One promising method to overcome this obstacle is to use endogenous solute influx systems at the blood-brain barrier to transport drugs. Therapeutics designed to enter the brain through transcytosis by binding the transferrin receptor, however, are restricted within endothelial cells. The focus of this work was to develop a method to increase uptake of transferrin-containing nanoparticles into the brain by overcoming these restrictive processes.

To accomplish this goal, nanoparticles were prepared with surface transferrin molecules bound through various liable chemical bonds. These nanoparticles were designed to shed the targeting molecule during transcytosis to allow increased accumulation of nanoparticles within the brain.

Transferrin was added to the surface of nanoparticles through either redox or pH sensitive chemistry. First, nanoparticles with transferrin bound through disulfide bonds were prepared. These nanoparticles showed decreased avidity for the transferrin receptor after exposure to reducing agents and increased ability to enter the brain in vivo compared to those lacking the disulfide link.

Next, transferrin was attached through a chemical bond that cleaves at mildly acidic pH. Nanoparticles containing a cleavable link between transferrin and gold nanoparticle cores were found to both cross an in vitro model of the blood-brain barrier and accumulate within the brain in significantly higher numbers than similar nanoparticles lacking the cleavable bond. Also, this increased accumulation was not seen when using this same strategy with an antibody to transferrin receptor, indicating that behavior of nanoparticles at the blood-brain barrier varies depending on what type of targeting ligand is used.

Finally, polymeric nanoparticles loaded with dopamine and utilizing a superior acid-cleavable targeting chemistry were investigated as a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease. These nanoparticles were capable of increasing dopamine quantities in the brains of healthy mice, highlighting the therapeutic potential of this design. Overall, this work describes a novel method to increase targeted nanoparticle accumulation in the brain.

The Maryland soft shell clam industry and its effects on Tidewater resources

This report to the Maryland General Assembly covers: design and operation of the hydraulic clam dredge; summary of knowledge of Maryland's soft shell clam resource; development and present status; Potential value of the resource; Effects of the hydraulic clam dredge; evaluation of the effects of certain proposals concerning the soft shell clam industry; summary.

Space-selective co-precipitation of silver and gold nanoparticles in femtosecond laser pulses irradiated Ag+, Au3+ co-doped silicate glass

We report on space-selective co-precipitation of silver and gold nanoparticles in Ag+, Au3+ co-doped silicate glasses by irradiation of femtosecond laser pulses and subsequent annealing at high temperatures. The color of the irradiated area in the glass sample changed from yellow to red with the increase of the annealing temperature. The effects of average laser power and annealing temperature on precipitation of the nanoparticles were investigated. A reasonable mechanism was proposed to explain the observed phenomena. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of PbO on precipitation of laser-induced gold nanoparticles inside silicate glasses

We report on three-dimensional precipitation of Au nanoparticles in gold ions-doped silicate glasses by a femtosecond laser irradiation and further annealing. Experimental results show that PbO addition plays the double roles of inhibiting hole-trapped centers generation and promoting formation and growth of gold nanoparticles. Additionally, glass containing PbO shows an increased non-linear absorption after femtosecond laser irradiation and annealing. The observed phenomena are significant for applications such as fabrications of three-dimensional multi-colored images inside transparent materials and three-dimensional optical memory, and integrated micro-optical switches. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Space-selective precipitation of Au nanoparticles inside silica gel

Au colloids were prepared by irradiation with a Nd:YAG laser. Au nanoparticles were characterized by absorption spectra, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. It is found that the wavelength of the laser has no effect on the size but the number of the Au nanoparticles. By irradiating a transparent silica gel doped with gold ions with the focused laser in the gel and subsequent exposing in air, a space-selective pattern of letter "P" consisting of Au nanoparticles was observed inside the silica gel.

Nanosecond nonlinear absorption in Au and Ag nanoparticles precipitated glasses induced by a femtosecond laser

We obtain Au and Ag nanoparticles precipitated in glasses by irradiation of focused femtosecond pulses, and investigate the nonlinear absorptions of the glasses by using Z-scan technique with ns pulses at 532 nm. We observe the saturable absorption behavior for An nanoparticles precipitated glasses and the reverse saturable ones for Ag ones. We also obtain, by fitting to the experimental results in the light of the local field effect near and away from the surface plasmon resonance, chi(m)((3)) = 4.5 x 10(-7) and 5.9 x 10(-8) esu for m the imaginary parts of the third-order susceptibilities for Au and Ag nanoparticles, respectively. The nonlinear response of Au nanoparticles in the glass samples arises mainly from the hot-electron contribution and the saturation of the interband transitions near the surface plasmon resonance, whereas that of Ag nanoparticles in the glass samples from the interband transitions. These show that the obtained glasses can be used as optoelectronic devices suiting for different demands. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.