High-k dielectric films are of interest as alternative gate insulators for metal-oxide semiconductor devices. Inour previous study, surface morphology and leakage current distribution of high-k dielectric films(HfSixOy andZrO2) have been simultaneously investigated at the nanoscale by tunneling atomic force microscopy (TUNA) [1]. Itwas found that the dominant leakage current pat...

Using the parenchymal marker technique, we measured pressure (P)-volume (P-V) curves of regions with volumes of approximately 1 cm3 in the dependent caudal lobes of oleic acid-injured dog lungs, during a very slow inflation from P = 0 to P = 30 cmH2O. The regional P-V curves are strongly sigmoidal. Regional volume, as a fraction of volume at total lung capacity, remains constant at 0.4-0.5 for ...

Let V be a finite dimensional complex linear space and let G be an irreducible finite subgroup of GL(V). For a G-invariant lattice Λ in V of maximal rank, we give a description of structure of the complex torus V /Λ. In particular, we prove that for a wide class of groups, V /Λ is isogenous to a self-product of an elliptic curve, and that in many cases V /Λ is isomorphic to a product of mutuall...

Let V be a finite dimensional complex linear space and let G be an irreducible finite subgroup of GL(V ). For a G-invariant lattice Λ in V of maximal rank, we give a description of structure of the complex torus V/Λ. In particular, we prove that for a wide class of groups, V/Λ is isogenous to a self-product of an elliptic curve, and that in many cases V/Λ is isomorphic to a product of mutually ...

The variation, with material parameters, of Lamb modes is investigated. Vibration spectra of traction-free elastic plates are generally presented, for a given isotropic material, as a set of dispersion curves corresponding to the various Lamb mode branches. Here, the spectrum variations, with the Poisson ratio nu, are plotted in a dimensionless co-ordinate system in the form of a bundle of curv...

Many popular models for photovoltaic system performance employ a single diode model to compute the I-V curve for a module or string of modules at given irradiance and temperature conditions. A single diode model requires a number of parameters to be estimated from measured I-V curves. Many available parameter estimation methods use only short circuit, open circuit and maximum power points for a...

Vergence-induced accommodation (V-A) and accommodation-induced vergence (A-V) were measured in human subjects before and after they had worn various optical devices for 30 min. Laterally displacing periscopic spectacles, which increase the required change in vergence per unit change in accommodation, caused decreases and increases in the gain of V-A and A-V responses, respectively. These observ...

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my adviser Michael Zieve for teaching me to fish. I would like to thank Jeffrey Lagarias for helpful feedback in writing this thesis. I would like to thank my family (Peter, Susan, and Holly), my beautiful girlfriend Becky, and the community of Michigan graduate students for keeping me sane.

[1] The strong jet, with a speed between 500 and 600 m/s, is inferred in the equatorial region of Saturn by combining the nadir and limb observations of Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) aboard the Cassini spacecraft. A similar jet was discovered on Jupiter (F. M. Flasar et al., 2004a). These discoveries raise the possibility that intense jets are common in the equatorial stratospheres of ...