Digital Commons Network^™

Deformable Meshes For Shape Recovery: Models And Applications, Chang Liu

Wayne State University Dissertations

With the advance of scanning and imaging technology, more and more 3D objects become available. Among them, deformable objects have gained increasing interests. They include medical instances such as organs, a sequence of objects in motion, and objects of similar shapes where a meaningful correspondence can be established between each other. Thus, it requires tools to store, compare, and retrieve them. Many of these operations depend on successful shape recovery. Shape recovery is the task to retrieve an object from the environment where its geometry is hidden or implicitly known. As a simple and versatile tool, mesh is widely used …

Electronic Excitations In Branched Conjugated Oligomers: A Quasiparticle View And Tight-Binding Models, Hao Li

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the theoretical understanding and simulation of the excited state electronic structures of organic conjugated molecules. The exciton scattering (ES) approach has been extended for efficient calculation of optical spectra of large branched conjugated oligomers. The methodology of tight-binding (lattice) model, originally developed in condensed matter theory, has been extended to the building block structure of conjugated molecules for explicit description of the electronic excitations.

Within the ES approach, the electronic excitations in quasi-1D molecular structures are attributed to standing waves that represent quantum quasiparticles (excitons) scattered at the molecular vertices. Excitation energies can be found by …

Self Learning Strategies For Experimental Design And Response Surface Optimization, Adel Alaeddini

Wayne State University Dissertations

Most preset RSM designs offer ease of implementation and good performance over a wide range of process and design optimization applications. These designs often lack the ability to adapt the design based on the characteristics of application and experimental space so as to reduce the number of experiments necessary. Hence, they are not cost effective for applications where the cost of experimentation is high or when the experimentation resources are limited. In this dissertation, we present a number of self-learning strategies for optimization of different types of response surfaces for industrial experiments with noise, high experimentation cost, and requiring high …

Synthesis Of Peptide-Ligand Conjugates And Their Applications, Nitinkumar Dilipkumar Jabre

Wayne State University Dissertations

Three research areas pertaining to this dissertation, (i) synthesis strategies of peptide-ligand conjugates, (ii) their applications and (iii) chemistry of ferryls were surveyed in the introduction chapter. Next, the divergent and dual divergent strategies for the synthesis of non-heme ligand-peptide conjugates were developed. Using these strategies various peptide-ligand conjugates were synthesized via solution as well as solid phase synthesis. The scope and the functional group compatibility of these strategies were also established. The utility of the dual divergent strategy has been demonstrated by synthesizing a small library of metal-binding LHRH analogues. This work showcased the ability of the dual divergent …

Artificial And Natural Nucleic Acid Self Assembling Systems, Marcus Wood

Wayne State University Dissertations

Nucleic acids are good candidates for nanomachine construction. They participate in all the processes of life, and so can function as structural building blocks and dynamic catalysts. However, to use nucleic acids as nanomachines, a better understanding of their material properties, how to design structures using them, and their dynamics is needed. We have tried to address these issues, in a small way, with nucleic acid force field development, an attempt at nanostructural design and synthesis using DNA, and a study of the RNA/protein regulatory dynamics of the tryptophan regulatory attenuation protein.

Variational Analysis And Optimal Control Of The Sweeping Process, Hoang Dinh Nguyen

Wayne State University Dissertations

We formulate and study an optimal control problem for the sweeping(Moreau) process, where control functions enter the moving sweeping

set. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in the literature devoted to optimal control of the sweeping process. We first establish an existence theorem of optimal solutions and then derive necessary optimality conditions for this optimal control problem of a new type, where the dynamics is governed by discontinuous differential inclusions with variable right-hand sides. Our approach to necessary optimality conditions is based on the method of discrete approximations and advanced tools of variational analysis and …

Hyfs: Design And Implementation Of A Reliable File System, Jianqiang Luo

Wayne State University Dissertations

Building reliable data storage systems is crucial to any commercial or scientific applications. Modern storage systems are complicated, and they are comprised of many components, from hardware to software. Problems may occur to any component of storage systems and cause data loss. When this kind of failures happens, storage systems cannot continue their data services, which may result in large revenue loss or even catastrophe to enterprises. Therefore, it is critically important to build reliable storage systems to ensure data reliability.

In this dissertation, we propose to employ general erasure codes to build a reliable file system, called HyFS. HyFS …

Dynamics Of Nanoparticles In Complex Fluids., Rami Ahmad Saleh Omari

Wayne State University Dissertations

Soft matter is a subfield of condensed matter including polymers, colloidal dispersions, surfactants, and liquid crystals. These materials are familiar from our everyday life- glues, paints, soaps, and plastics are examples of soft materials. Many phenomena in these systems have the same underlying physical mechanics. Moreover, it has been recognized that combinations of these systems, like for example polymers and colloids, exhibit new properties which are found in each system separately. These mixed systems have a higher degree of complexity than the separate systems. In order to understand their behavior, knowledge from each subfields of soft matter has to be …

Flavor Physics Beyond The Standard Model, Gagik Yeghiyan

Wayne State University Dissertations

We examine possible New Physics impact on certain heavy quark flavor involving processes, such as charm and bottom strange meson-antimeson

oscillations and leptonic meson decays. Also, we consider a possibility of

explaining within a two-Higgs doublet extension of the Standard Model the quark and charged lepton mass hierarchy. We show that the experimental value of the lifetime difference in D⊃0⊃-anti-D⊃0⊃ mixing may be due to destructive interference of the Standard Model and New Physics contributions. We examine next possible correlations between the New Physics contribution to B⊂s⊂ mixing mass difference and B⊂s⊂ ⊃+⊃-⊃ leptonic decay .We show that these correlations …

Spectral Collocation Method For Compact Integral Operators, Can Huang

Wayne State University Dissertations

We propose and analyze a spectral collocation method for integral

equations with compact kernels, e.g. piecewise smooth kernels and

weakly singular kernels of the form $\frac{1}{|t-s|^\mu}, \;

0<\mu<1. $ We prove that 1) for integral equations, the convergence

rate depends on the smoothness of true solutions $y(t)$. If $y(t)$

satisfies condition (R): $\|y^{(k)}\|_{L^\infty[0,T]}\leq

ck!R^{-k}$}, we obtain a geometric rate of convergence; if $y(t)$

satisfies condition (M): $\|y^{(k)}\|_{L^{\infty}[0,T]}\leq cM^k $,

we obtain supergeometric rate of convergence for both Volterra

equations and Fredholm equations and related integro differential

equations; 2) for eigenvalue problems, the convergence rate depends

on the smoothness of eigenfunctions. The same convergence rate for

the largest modulus eigenvalue approximation …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Metal Chalcogenide Nanostructured Materials For Thermoelectric Applications, Shreyashi Ganguly

Wayne State University Dissertations

The synthesis and characterization of metal chalcogenide nanostructured materials with the potential to exhibit enhanced thermoelectric (TE) properties is reported. The tellurides, specifically PbTe and Bi⊂2⊂Te⊂3⊂ (Bi⊂2⊂Te⊂3⊂–Sb⊂2⊂Te⊂3⊂ alloys) were selected as these are well established TE materials in bulk form. The approaches used for nanostructuring are (1) sol-gel assembly of discrete nanoparticles of PbTe, Bi⊂2⊂Te⊂3⊂, and Bi⊂2⊂Te⊂3⊂–⊂2⊂Te⊂3⊂ alloys, and (2) formation of heterostructured nanocomposites of PbTe nanoparticles in bulk Bi⊂2⊂Te⊂3⊂ (p– or n–doped) matrices.

Aerogels and xerogels of PbTe nanoparticles were synthesized by sol–gel assembly of discrete nanoparticles, leading to interconnected networks of nanoparticles and pores. The PbTe aerogel exhibited …

The Study Of Weak Ferromagnetism By Andreev Reflection Spin Spectroscopy And Development Of Bimorph Electro-Thermal Actuators, Pushkal Thapa

Wayne State University Dissertations

It is well accepted that spin polarization of materials has a major role in spintronics to improve the efficiency of spintronic devices. Point contact Andreev reflection (PCAR) spectroscopy, one of the most popular and reliable techniques, was used to obtain the conductance and by analyzing them by modified BTK model, spin polarizations of various materials, generally with low ferromagnetism, were extracted in order to understand the transport properties of spin polarized current and find the relation of spin polarization with other parameters such as saturation magnetization or the Curie temperature so that better spintronic materials can be identified and developed. …

Shape Analysis In Shape Space, Vahid Taimouri

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study aims to classify different deformations based on the shape space concept. A shape space is a quotient space in which each point corresponds to a class of shapes. The shapes of each class are transformed to each other by a transformation group preserving a geometrical property in which we are interested. Therefore, each deformation is a curve on the high dimensional shape space manifold, and one can classify the deformations by comparison of their corresponding deformation curves in shape space. Towards this end, two classification methods are proposed.

In the first method, a quasi conformal shape space is …

Centrality Dependence Of Two-Particle Number And Transverse Momentum Correlations In 200 Gev Au+Au Collisions At Rhic, Laurence Henry Tarini

Wayne State University Dissertations

We present plots of the pattern of particle formation in $sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV Au+Au heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) using three different two-particle correlation measurements of number and transverse momentum as a function of relative azimuth, pseudorapidity and centrality. All three observables show the onset of a ``ridge" feature of enhanced correlations in pseudorapidity with increasing centrality. The plots of real data are compared to plots of simulations using RQMD data and data from a simple ``cluster'' model. The intent of the analysis is to analyze the role of radial flow in the onset of the …

Oscillator Strength Measurements In Singly-Ionized, Doubly-Ionized And Neutral Lanthanides And Transition Elements (Sm, Nd, Pr, Gd, Cu, And Fe) Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy., Caleb Ryder

Wayne State University Dissertations

Models for stellar nucleosynthesis, age determinations for stars in the Milky Way's galactic halo, and stellar chemical abundance determinations are dependent upon accurate atomic spectroscopic data to allow the correct interpretation of stellar absorption and emission spectra. It is well known that calculations of many astrophysically important atomic parameters are limited due to line blending, insufficient spectral resolution of some key spectral lines, and also the complicated electronic structure of the important heavy elements. Astrophysicists have therefore looked to laboratory astrophysics experiments to provide accurate atomic data to help resolve these limiting issues. In this dissertation, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) …

Exploring Potential Drug Target Sites In The Ribosome Using Cisplatin And Its Analogues, Keshab Rijal

Wayne State University Dissertations

Cis-diamminodichloridoplatinum (II), cisplatin, is an antitumor drug that has been used to treat several types of cancers. The reaction of cisplatin with DNA has been studied and discussed extensively in the literature; however, the effects of cisplatin on RNA function are poorly understood. In this thesis, two aspects of cisplatin, its preferred sites of interaction with RNA and its use as a chemical probe to gain accessibility information, were explored.

To understand the site-selectivity of cisplatin with RNA, model RNA constructs and full-length 16S rRNA were employed. The binding studies revealed a cisplatin preference for guanosine-rich sequences. Primer extensions in …

Applications Of Electronic Structure Theory To Problems In Unimolecular Dissociation And Inorganic And Biochemical Systems, Jia Zhou

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this dissertation, ab initio classical trajectory calculations have been carried out to study the dissociation of acetone radical cation, pentane-2,4-dione radical cation, and 1,3-cyclobutanedione radical cation. For acetone radical cation and pentane-2,4-dione radical cation, MP2 with bond additivity corrections generates a better potential energy surface at low cost and is thus used for molecular dynamics calculations. The dissociation of acetone radical cation is found to favor the loss of the newly formed methyl group in agreement with the experiments. The branching ratios of methyl loss were also calculated with different amount of excess energy and of specific mode excitation. …

New Insights Into The Mechanism Of Dna Replication On Unmodified And Benzo[A]Pyrene Modified Templates Using Surface Plasmon Resonance, Richard George Federley

Wayne State University Dissertations

DNA synthesis is critical to cell survival, and the enzyme DNA polymerase has had a great deal of time to evolve efficient strategies to perform synthesis. A variety of effects are induced by the identity of the incoming dNTP, and its ability to effectively base pair with the templating base. The presence of the next correct dNTP is known to induce a conformational change of the polymerase and lead to an increase in KF-DNA binding. Conversely, the presence of an incorrect dNTP is shown to lead to a destabilization and reduction in the levels of KF-DNA complexes formed. Using surface …

Genus 0, 1, 2 Actions Of Some Almost Simple Groups Of Lie Rank 2, Xianfen Kong

Wayne State University Dissertations

Please see the paper.

Thanks.

Laser-Assisted Single-Molecule Refolding, Rui Zhao

Wayne State University Dissertations

Non-coding RNAs must fold into precise secondary and tertiary structures in order to perform the biological functions. Due to the flexibility of RNA, the RNA folding energy landscape can be rugged and full of local minimum (kinetic trap). To provide a means to study kinetically trapped RNAs, we have developed a new technique combining single-molecule FRET detection with laser induced temperature jump. We have calibrated the magnitude of the temperature jump with 1˚C accuracy using gold micro-size sensor. The accuracy of temperature calibration was confirmed by close agreement between single-molecule and bulk DNA duplex melting experiments.

HIV 1 DIS RNAs …

Astrochemical Dynamics: Fundamental Studies Relevant To Titan's Atmosphere, Wilson Kamundia Gichuhi

Wayne State University Dissertations

This work presents results of primary fundamental photodissociation and state-specific ion-molecule dynamical studies that are relevant to understanding the formation and growth mechanisms of unsaturated hydrocarbon molecules, haze layers and aerosols in Titan's upper atmosphere. In the diacetylene dimer, it is shown, via laboratory studies combined with electronic structure calculations that the photodissociation of the dimer readily initiates atomic hydrogen (H) loss and atomic H transfer reactions forming two prototypes of resonantly stabilized free radicals, C8H3 and C4H3, respectively. In ethylamine cation, high-level ab initio calculations identify the complex dissociation pathways for the ground state CH3CH2NH2+ radical cation at 233.3 …

Analytical And Experimental Investigations Of Ships Impact Interaction With One-Sided Barrier, Ihab M. Grace

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study deals with impact interaction of ships with one-sided ice barrier during roll dynamics. An analytical model of ship roll motion interacting with ice is developed based on Zhuravlev and Ivanov non-smooth coordinate transformations. These transformations have the advantage of converting the vibro-impact oscillator into an oscillator without barriers such that the corresponding equation of motion does not contain any impact term. Such approaches, however, account for the energy loss at impact times in different ways. The present work, in particular, brings to the attention the fact that the impact dynamics may have qualitatively different response characteristics to different …

Approximate Vs. Monte Carlo Critical Values For The Winsorized T-Test, Michael Lance

Wayne State University Dissertations

Historically, it has been accepted practice for critical values for the Winsorized t test for independent samples to be based on adjusted degrees of freedom depending on the number of total non-Winsorized (approximate) values. Recently, a new such table of Winsorized critical values has been developed via approximate randomization by Monte Carlo simulation.

Based on eight common data distributions estimated from Psychology and Education along with the normal and five Mathematical distributions, these two tables of values were compared with respect to robustness to types I and II errors through Monte Carlo simulations for one and 10% Winsorized values per …

A Novel Integrated Platform Combining Atomic Force Microscopy And Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy, Venkatesh Subba Rao

Wayne State University Dissertations

At the nanoscale near an interface, the discrete nature of liquids is expected to influence various properties, such as density, viscosity or diffusion constants. Understanding interfacial properties of liquids is important for the development of nanotechnology, especially for the fields of nano-rheology and nano-tribology, and also for understanding various mechanisms in biological systems at the molecular level, such as protein folding or the self-assembly of lipid vesicles, which invariably involve liquids. Atomic force microscope (AFM) and fluorescence correlation spectroscope (FCS) are two complimentary techniques that are commonly employed investigate mechanics and dynamics of liquids at interfaces. In this thesis, the …

Investigation Of Protein-Protein Interaction Using Atomic Force Microscopy, Essa Yousef Mayyas

Wayne State University Dissertations

Single-molecule approaches to measuring the kinetics of protein dissociation have the advantage that measurements can be performed in native environments, such as living cells, where concentrations of target molecules may be quite low. In addition, single molecule approaches allow for the measurement of variances in protein kinetics, thus providing a more complete picture of protein kinetics than ensemble techniques which typically only provide averages.

In our laboratories, we use the force spectroscopy (FS) technique to study protein binding and dissociation. FS measures the strength of the protein molecules bond with high resolution down to pico-Newton either on the surface of …

Raman Spectroscopy For The Microbiological Characterization And Identification Of Medically Relevant Bacteria, Khozima Mahmoud Hamasha

Wayne State University Dissertations

The detection and identification of pathogenic bacteria has become more important than ever due to the increase of potential bioterrorism threats and the high mortality rate of bacterial infections worldwide. Raman spectroscopy has recently gained popularity as an attractive robust approach for the molecular characterization, rapid identification, and accurate classification of a wide range of bacteria.

In this dissertation, Raman spectroscopy utilizing advanced statistical techniques was used to identify and discriminate between different pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacterial strains of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacterial species by probing the molecular compositions of the cells.

The five-carbon sugar xylitol, which cannot …

A Scientific Workflow Framework For Scientific Data Querying And Processing, Xubo Fei

Wayne State University Dissertations

We are at the beginning of the new era of ``e-science''. Researchers in many areas of science, especially in astrophysics, physics, climatology and biology, are now facing tremendous increases in data volumes, as well as corresponding data analysis tools. These increased data and tools demand a better framework to manage the new generation scientific research cycle from data capture, data curation to data analysis, data query and data visualization. Scientific workflows are proving to be one of the key technologies for scientists to formalize and structure complex scientific processes to enable and accelerate many significant scientific discoveries. Although several scientific …

The Effect Of Interactive Technology On Informal Learning And Performance In A Social Setting, Timothy Clay Boileau

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study is based on a qualitative multiple case study research design using a mixed methods approach to provide insight into the effect of interactive technology on informal learning and performance in a social business setting inhabited by knowledge workers. The central phenomenon examined is the variance in behavioral intention towards interactive Web 2.0 technologies in learning and performance-related activities, depending on social and cultural setting, observable in individual and group usage patterns.

The theoretical foundation for this study is drawn primarily from the activity theory model developed by Engeström (1987) and related research enabled by an ongoing review of …

A Cultural Analysis Of Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing: An Exercise In Multi-Sited Ethnography Of Virtual Work, Tara Eaton

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study is an exploration of how ethnography and anthropological analysis can provide new understanding of transnational, multi-sited research phenomena. Research focused on the work activities of one American client organization and its Indian IT service provider situated in the global virtual field of Information Technology (IT) offshore outsourcing. The Principal Investigator adapted and applied an ethnographic approach for her fieldwork in order to understand the norms, beliefs, and values about work, as well as the relationship between cultural differences and virtual communication. Dissertation findings offer new insight for anthropological discussions of globalization as well as suggest further development of …

Thiomaleic Anhydride: A Linchpin For Organic Synthesis And Structural Verification Of A Nonprotein Antifreeze Oligosaccharide, Md Yeajur Rahaman Sardar

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two parts of which the first develops the utility of α,β-unsaturated monothioanhydrides as a linchpins in multicomponent coupling reactions by processes involving addition to the double bond, cyclization onto the anhydride, and finally exploitation of the rich chemistry of the thioacid liberated in the cyclization. The second part of the thesis is concerned with verification of the structure of a nonprotein antifreeze oligosaccharide by the total synthesis of various authentic oligosaccharides and the comparison of spectroscopic data.

Chapter one starts with the introduction of the general characteristics and reactivity of thioacids, and their potential for application …