Far-from-equilibrium initial conditions probed by a nonlocal observable

Using the gauge/gravity duality, we investigate the evolution of an out-of-equilibrium strongly-coupled plasma from the viewpoint of the two-point function of scalar gauge-invariant operators with large conformal dimension. This system is out of equilibrium due to the presence of anisotropy and/or a massive scalar field. Considering various functions for the initial anisotropy and scalar field, we conclude that the effect of the anisotropy on the evolution of the two-point function is considerably more than the effect of the scalar field. We also show that the ordering of the equilibration time of the one-point function for the non-probe scalar field and the correlation function between two points with a fixed separation can be reversed by changing the initial configuration of the plasma, when the system is out of the equilibrium due to the presence of at least two different sources like our problem. In addition, we find the equilibration time of the two-point function to be linearly increasing with respect to the separation of the two points with a fixed slope, regardless of the initial configuration that we start with. Finally we observe that, for larger separations the geodesic connecting two points on the boundary crosses the event horizon after it has reached its final equilibrium value, meaning that the two-point function can probe behind the event horizon

Turning to Food: Religious Contact and Conversion in Early Modern Drama

In this dissertation, I am proposing a new way to explore Anglo-Judeo-Islamic relations in early modern drama: to focus on the way food, drink, and the humoral body materializes on stage as “conversion panic,” which is dramatized in a range of scenarios from overt xenophobia to more nuanced scenes of acceptance and tolerance. Because the early modern English believed that diet – eating with religious others and/or eating foods from other nations – could alter their humoral makeup to the extent that their internal, physiological bodies underwent a religious conversion, they were constantly and consciously aware of the looming possibility of conversion. The hydraulic premise of humoral physiology thus extended, I contend, to religious identity: just as humors were fluid, so too was religious identity. Food, which is at once a central “non-natural” for the humoral body and an essentially theatrical element, provides an important point of convergence for investigating religious difference in early modern drama. To examine food’s role in the Anglo-Judeo-Islamic equation is to better understand how the early modern English simultaneously managed their fears, maintained their cultural and religious identities, and developed or nurtured economic and political ties with the other. To offer a more comprehensive picture of English interactions with religious others, I study early modern English histories, travel narratives, medical tracts, sermons, and other pamphlets, in addition to the English representation of religious others on stage. The plays I discuss span approximately forty-seven years, starting with Robert Wilson’s The Three Ladies of London (1584) and extending to the late Jacobean sequel to The Fair Maid of the West (c. 1631) by Thomas Heywood. I conclude that examining interfaith relationships from the perspective of foodways widens the possibility that the early modern English did not always look to the Turk, Jew, or Catholic in contempt. Rather, studying these interfaith encounters in tandem with humoral theory and culinary practices establishes the fact that the early modern English were conscious of their sameness with others, and responded to this awareness with attitudes ranging from outright resistance to compassionate acceptance

Artificial Intelligent Based Energy and Demand Side Management for Microgrids and Smart Homes Considering Customer Privacy

The rapid development of various power electronics applications facilitates the integration of many smart grid applications in recent years. However, integration of intermittent renewable energy sources, highly stochastic electric vehicles (EVs) activities on the grid and time-varying smart loads have increased the level of grid vulnerability to unusual and high complexity and quality-related problems. Among these problems is to accurately estimate the real contribution and consumption of household loads, in the era of smart appliances and interoperability operation, and its relative impact to the grid’s operation. Specifically, household loads represent a significant percentage of electrical energy consumption and, therefore, could offer great prosperity to the rise of the demand-side management (DSM) programs, which subsequently improve the stability of the grid’s operation. As a result, our main focus in this dissertation is to develop DSM strategies based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to properly model and estimate the amount of support smart homes could offer to the smart grids and microgrid’s operation. Throughout the way to achieve our goals, we develop an energy management framework for smart homes that operate in efficient and reliable microgrids with multiple energy sources and energy storage applications to meet the demands at a stable voltage and frequency limits. Furthermore, we develop a precise short-term load forecasting (STLF), which is a critical tool needed to manage a DSM program for residential loads that have very high uncertainty and volatility in load consumption. We also develop an energy exchange portal with communication sources, demands, and connectivity information between each consumer and the local power utility at the distribution level. Finally, creative AI methodologies have been developed throughout the way to facilitate the integration, control, and management of the DSM programs taking into account the consumers’ own privacy and security. The security of the DSM is provided by preserving the indoor privacy of the smart homes by sharing limited and encoded data among household appliances controllers

Critically phase-matched Ti:sapphire-laserpumped deep-infrared femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on CdSiP2

We report a high-repetition-rate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) for the deep-infrared (deep-IR) based on type-I critical phase-matching in CdSiP2 (CSP), pumped directly by a Ti:sapphire laser. Using angle-tuning in the CSP crystal, the OPO can be continuously tuned across 7306–8329 nm (1201–1369  cm−1) in the deep-IR. It delivers up to 18 mW of idler average power at 7306 nm and >7  mW beyond 8000 nm at 80.5 MHz repetition rate, with the spectra exhibiting bandwidths of >150  nm across the tuning range. Moreover, the signal is tunable across 1128–1150 nm in the near-infrared, providing up to 35 mW of average power in ∼266  fs pulses at 1150 nm. Both beams exhibit single-peak Gaussian distribution in TEM00 spatial profile. With an equivalent spectral brightness of ∼5.6×1020photons s−1 mm−2 sr−10.1% BW−1, this OPO represents a viable alternative to synchrotron and supercontinuum sources for deep-IR applications in spectroscopy, metrology, and medical diagnostics.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft