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Biophysical Studies Of The Allosteric Regulatory Mechanism Of Syk Tandem Sh2 Domains Interacting With Immunoreceptor Tyrosine-Based Activation Motifs, Chao Feng

Open Access Dissertations

The non-receptor spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) is an important player in signal transduction from immunoreceptors to various downstream targets. It is widely expressed in both haematopoietic and epithelial cells. Syk disorder is closely related with many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, as well as cancers.

Syk associates with immunoreceptors through its tandem SH2 domains (tSH2), which contain two SH2 domains connected by interdomain A. The association of Syk with immunoreceptors is regulated by Y130 phosphorylation in interdomain A. The unphosphorylated tSH2 can bind with the doubly phosphorylated immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (dp-ITAM) of the cytoplasmic domains of immunoreceptors with very high …

Ultra-Thin Boron Nitride Films By Pulsed Laser Deposition: Plasma Diagnostics, Synthesis, And Device Transport, Nicholas Robert Glavin

Open Access Dissertations

This work describes, for the first time, a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique for growth of large area, stoichiometric ultra-thin hexagonal and amorphous boron nitride for next generation 2D material electronics. The growth of boron nitride, in this case, is driven by the high kinetic energies and chemical reactivities of the condensing species formed from physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes, which can facilitate growth over large areas and at reduced substrate temperatures. The use of optical emission spectroscopy during plasma growth provides insight into chemistry, kinetic energies, time of flight data, and spatial distributions within a PVD plasma plume ablated …

Effect Of Bioenergy Crops And Fast Growing Trees On Hydrology And Water Quality In The Little Vermilion River Watershed, Tian Guo

Open Access Dissertations

Energy security and sustainability require a suite of biomass crops, including woody species. Short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) such as Populus have great potential as biofuel feedstocks. Quantifying biomass yields of bioenergy crop and hydrologic and water quality responses to growth is important should it be widely planted in the Midwestern U.S. Subsurface tile drainage systems enable the Midwest area to become highly productive agricultural lands, but also create environmental problems like nitrate-N contamination of the water it drains. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has been used to model watersheds with tile drainage, but the new tile drainage …

Investigating The Role Of The Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factor Mist1 In Pancreatic Diseases, Anju Karki

Open Access Dissertations

Acinar cells of the exocrine pancreas are dedicated to synthesize, package and secrete immense quantities of pro-digestive enzymes to maintain proper metabolic homeostasis for the organism. Dysregulation of enzyme secretion in acinar cells can give rise to exocrine diseases including acute pancreatitis (AP), a disease that targets acinar cells, leading to acinar-ductal metaplasia (ADM), inflammation and fibrosis—events that can transition into the earliest stages of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The focus of this thesis is to interrogate transcriptional regulatory networks that are susceptible to AP and the role that these networks play in acinar cell and exocrine pancreas responses. The …

Fabrication And Photonics Properties Of Iii-V Semiconductor Nanowire Structures, Tzu-Ging Lin

Open Access Dissertations

III-V semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have shown great potential to be building blocks for optical, optoelectronic, and electronic devices due to their special transverse confinement of electrons and photons along the nanowire axis. In addition, semiconductor nanowires with subwavelength structures exhibit strong optical Mie resonance, making them ideal platforms for realizing novel optical devices, such as extreme solar energy absorbers and broadband light trapping devices. This special 1D optical Mie resonance can be enhanced by using semiconductor-core dielectric-shell (CS) and metal-core semiconductor-shell dielectric-outer shell (CSS) nanowire heterostructures. Those advantages can be even leveraged up by utilizing nanowire arrays, attributing to the …

Optimal Monitoring And Mitigation Of Systemic Risk In Lending Networks, Zhang Li

Open Access Dissertations

This thesis proposes optimal policies to manage systemic risk in financial networks. Given a one-period borrower-lender network in which all debts are due at the same time and have the same seniority, we address the problem of allocating a fixed amount of cash among the nodes to minimize the weighted sum of unpaid liabilities. Assuming all the loan amounts and cash flows are fixed and that there are no bankruptcy costs, we show that this problem is equivalent to a linear program. We develop a duality-based distributed algorithm to solve it which is useful for applications where it is desirable …

Preliminary Design Tools In Turbomachinery: Non-Uniformly Spaced Blade Rows, Multistage Interaction, Unsteady Radial Waves, And Propeller Horizontal-Axis Turbine Optimization, Yujun Leng

Open Access Dissertations

Turbomachinery flow fields are inherently unsteady and complex which makes the related CFD analyses computationally intensive. Physically based preliminary design tools are desirable for parametric studies early in the design stage, and to provide deep physical insight and a good starting point for the later CFD analyses. Four analytical/semi-analytical models are developed in this study: 1) a generalized flat plate cascade model for investigating the unsteady aerodynamics of a blade row with non-uniformly spaced blades; 2) a multistage interaction model for investigating rotor-stator interactions; 3) an analytical solution for quantifying the impeller wake convection and pressure wave propagating between a …

Feelings Of Doing Good For Myself Or Others: Discussing Effects Of Self-Conscious Emotions On Sustainable Consumption, Chi-Cheng Luan

Open Access Dissertations

Consumers have increasing interests in sustainable products, but the actual purchase rate is relatively low. To find the reasons of this gap, previous studies focus primarily on cognitive factors of behavioral change based on the theory of planned behavior. Little research, however, discusses such a sustainable consumption issue from emotional aspects. Thus, this research proposed that self-conscious emotions play an essential role of sustainable consumption behavior, and such emotions are driven from private and public self-consciousness. Study 1 examined participants’ general evaluations toward two emotions and sustainable consumption behaviors. The results showed that empathic concern had a significantly positive effect …

Multi-Axial Failure Of High-Performance Fiber During Transverse Impact, Matthew C. Hudspeth

Open Access Dissertations

The effect of projectile nose geometry on ensuing wave development in high-performance yarns is explored during single yarn transverse impact. Special attention has been placed on visualizing the immediate region around the projectile-yarn contact site for 0.30-cal round, 0.30-cal fragment simulation projectiles (FSP), and razor blades using high-speed imaging. Kevlar® KM2, Dyneema®SK76 and AuTx have been impacted at velocities ranging from ∼100 m/s to ∼1200 m/s depending on projectile nose shape, with an emphasis set on determining the critical velocity wherein below said velocity significant development of wave propagation occurs and above said velocity the yarn fails immediately upon impact. …

Kernels Of Adjoints Of Composition Operators On Hilbert Spaces Of Analytic Functions, Brittney Rachele Miller

Open Access Dissertations

This thesis contains a collection of results in the study of the adjoint of a composition operator and its kernel in weighted Hardy spaces, in particular, the classical Hardy, Bergman, and Dirichlet spaces. In 2006, Cowen and Gallardo-Gutiérrez laid the groundwork for an explicit formula for the adjoint of a composition operator with rational symbol acting on the Hardy space, and in 2008, Hammond, Moorhouse, and Robbins established such a formula. In 2014, Goshabulaghi and Vaezi obtained analogous formulas for the adjoint of a composition operator in the Bergman and Dirichlet spaces. While it is known that the kernel of …

Crop Modeling For Assessing And Mitigating The Impacts Of Extreme Climatic Events On The Us Agriculture System, Zhenong Jin

Open Access Dissertations

The US agriculture system is the world’s largest producer of maize and soybean, and typically supplies more than one-third of their global trading. Nearly 90% of the US maize and soybean production is rainfed, thus is susceptible to climate change stressors such as heat waves and droughts. Process-based crop and cropping system models are important tools for climate change impact assessments and risk management. As data- science is becoming a new frontier for agriculture growth, the incoming decade calls for operational platforms that use hyper-local growth monitoring, high-resolution real-time weather and satellite data assimilation and cropping system modeling to help …

Mechanistic Characterization Of Acetic Acid Resistance Enzymes Of Acetobacer Aceti, Jesse R. Murphy

Open Access Dissertations

Acetobacter aceti (A. aceti) is a Gram-negative, acidophilic bacterium that is used for the industrial production of acetic acid from ethanol. Oxidation of ethanol by membrane-bound oxidoreductases provides energy for A. aceti and the production of high concentrations of acetic acid is an effective defense mechanism. Acetic acid diffuses through cell membranes at low pH and effectively kills many bacteria, including E. coli, at low millimolar concentrations. The ability of A. aceti to thrive in molar concentrations of acetic acid is partially due to the twin subjects of this thesis, the acetic acid resistance factors AarA (citrate synthase, …

Influence Of The 3d Microenvironment On Glioblastoma Migration And Drug Response, Ruth Marisol Herrera Perez

Open Access Dissertations

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly invasive brain cancer characterized by poor prognosis. Despite significant efforts by the basic and clinical research community our understanding of GBM progression and recurrence has been incremental. Improvements in therapeutic response have been dismal, and GBM continues to be the deadliest tumor of the central nervous system, with patient average survival rate of 12 months. Synergistic relationships that the tumor cells establish with the brain microenvironment have been proven fundamental for successful tumor progression and maintenance. Yet, many in vitro GBM studies are performed in formats that fail to recapitulate the most essential component of …

Climate Change And Hazardous Convective Weather In The United States: Insights From High-Resolution Dynamical Downscaling, Kimberly A. Hoogewind

Open Access Dissertations

Global climate model (GCM) projections increasingly suggest that large-scale environmental conditions favorable for hazardous convective weather (HCW) may increase in frequency in the future due to anthropogenic climate change. However, this storm environment-based approach is undoubtedly limited by the assumption that convective-scale phenomena will be realized within these environments. The spatial resolution of GCMs remains much too coarse to adequately represent the scales at which severe convective storms occur, including processes that may lead to storm initiation. With the advancement of computing resources, however, it has now become feasible to explicitly represent deep convective storms within a high-resolution regional climate …

Energy Efficiency In Data Collection Wireless Sensor Networks, Miquel Andres Navarro Patino

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation studies the problem of energy efficiency in resource constrained and heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for data collection applications in real-world scenarios. The problem is addressed from three different perspectives: network routing, node energy profiles, and network management. First, the energy efficiency in a WSN is formulated as a load balancing problem, where the routing layer can diagnose and exploit the WSN topology redundancy to reduce the data traffic processed in critical nodes, independent of their hardware platform, improving their energy consumption and extending the network lifetime. We propose a new routing strategy that extends traditional cost-based routing …

Stenocarpella Maydis: Identification, Management, And Population Diversity, Martha P. Romero Luna

Open Access Dissertations

Diplodia ear rot (DER) has been a persistent corn disease across the Midwest, and in recent years it has become an annual problem. The objectives of this study were to i) develop a molecular assay for the identification of Stenocarpella maydis, causal agent of DER, ii) evaluate the effect of crop rotation and tillage on DER severity, iii) determine the survival period of S. maydis in corn residue at different soil depths in a corn field, and iv) identify genetic diversity among S. maydis isolates collected from the Midwestern and Southern United States. The genus Stenocarpella contains two species, S. …

Representation And Control Of Coordinated-Motion Tasks For Human-Robot Systems, Hyungju Andy Park

Open Access Dissertations

It is challenging for robots to perform various tasks in a human environment. This is because many human-centered tasks require coordination in both hands and may often involve cooperation with another human. Although human-centered tasks require different types of coordinated movements, most of the existing methodologies have focused only on specific types of coordination. This thesis aims at the description and control of coordinated-motion tasks for human-robot systems; i.e., humanoid robots as well as multi-robot and human-robot systems.

First, for bimanually coordinated-motion tasks in dual-manipulator systems, we propose the Extended-Cooperative-Task-Space (ECTS) representation, which extends the existing Cooperative-Task-Space (CTS) representation based …

The Things They Carried: The Biological Residue Of Childhood Misfortune, Patricia M. Morton

Open Access Dissertations

There is a well-established relationship between childhood misfortune and adult health, but how these early-life experiences “get under the skin” to later manifest as poor health is less clear. To elucidate this process, this dissertation investigates (1) how childhood conditions influence immune functioning and (2) whether these physiological consequences of early misfortune lead to poor health, indicated by ischemic heart disease (IHD) onset. Guided by cumulative inequality theory and biological embedding, this dissertation also examines adult health lifestyles and socioeconomic status (SES) as possible mechanisms linking childhood misfortune to inflammation and IHD in later life. Data come from six waves …

Monotonicity Formulas For Diffusion Operators On Manifolds And Carnot Groups, Heat Kernel Asymptotics And Wiener's Criterion On Heisenberg-Type Groups, Kevin L. Rotz

Open Access Dissertations

The contents of this thesis are an assortment of results in analysis and subRiemannian geometry, with a special focus on the Heisenberg group Hn, Heisenbergtype (H-type) groups, and Carnot groups.

As we wish for this thesis to be relatively self-contained, the main definitions and background are covered in Chapter 1. This includes basic information about Carnot groups, Hn, H-type groups, diffusion operators, and the curvature dimension inequality.

Chapter 2 incorporates excerpts from a paper by N. Garofalo and the author, [42]. In it, we propose a generalization of Almgren’s frequency function N : (0, 1) → R for solutions to …

Finite Dimensional Approximations And Deformations Of Group C*-Algebras, Andrew James Schneider

Open Access Dissertations

Quasidiagonality is a finite-dimensional approximation property of a C*-algebra which indicates that it has matricial approximations that capture the structure of the C*-algebra. We investigate when C*-algebras associated to discrete groups have such a property with particular emphasis on finding obstructions. In particular, we point out that groups with Kazhdan's Property (T) and only finitely many unitary equivalence classes of finite dimensional representations do not produce quasidiagonal C*-algebras. We then observe and note interactions with Property (T) and other approximation properties.

Property (QH) is a related but stronger approximation property with deep connections to E-Theory and …

Technical Communication In Place-Making Professions: Exploring The Network Pictures Of Urban Designers, Fernando Sanchez

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation addresses how professional writing as a field can pay attention to broader definitions of design in order to help further conversations of spatial justice (the act of helping to promote equity in matters of development in urban spaces). I begin by noting the conversations that have circulated regarding the relationship between urban design and rhetoric, noting that professional writing can help add a unique lens to the conversation. The second chapter provides an overview of how design is discussed in technical communication scholarship. Here, I showcase how most of these discussions regarding research in design have centered on …

A Defense Of The Ambiguity Theory Of 'Knows', Mark R. Satta

Open Access Dissertations

In recent years, questions regarding the truth conditions of knowledge ascriptions (sentences of the form ‘S knows that P’ where S is a subject and P a proposition) and knowledge denials (sentences of the form ‘S doesn’t know that P’) have been at the fore of a certain sector of analytic epistemology and philosophy of language. These questions include “How do we determine the truth conditions of a particular knowledge ascription or denial?”, “What sorts of factors are relevant in this determination?”, and “Is context among the relevant factors in a non-trivial way, and if so, how?” A variety of …

The Role Of Workplace Supervisor Support In Cargivers' Marital Relationships, Kenona H. Southwell

Open Access Dissertations

Family caregivers make important contributions to care recipients and the economy. However, providing care for ill or disabled family members can be challenging, particularly when the role of caregiver is accompanied by additional roles such as employee, spouse, and parent ( Hammer & Neal, 2008). There is some evidence that the demands of caregiving may negatively influence the quality of caregivers’ marriages (Bookwala, 2009). Much of caregiving research, however, is focused on the influence of caregiving and multiple caregiving roles on caregivers’ health (see Pinquart & Sörensen, 2011), but less attention has been paid to other aspects of caregivers’ lives …

Axonal Transport And Life Cycle Of Mitochondria In Parkinson's Disease Model, Hyun Sung

Open Access Dissertations

In neurons, normal distribution and selective removal of mitochondria are essential for preserving compartmentalized cellular function. Parkin, an E3 ubiquitin ligase associated with familial Parkinson’s disease, has been implicated in mitochondrial dynamics and removal. However, it is not clear how Parkin plays a role in mitochondrial turnover in vivo, and whether the mature neurons possess a compartmentalized Parkin-dependent mitochondrial life cycle. Using the live Drosophila nervous system, here, I investigate the involvement of Parkin in mitochondrial dynamics; organelle distribution, morphology and removal. Parkin deficient animals displayed less number of axonal mitochondria without disturbing organelle motility behaviors, morphology and metabolic state. …

Direct Drug Screening And Lipid Profiling Using Ambient Mass Spectrometry, Yuan Su

Open Access Dissertations

Mass spectrometry (MS) stands in an outstanding position in analysis of biological specimens owing to its abundant structural information, high accuracy, incomparable sensitivity, high speed, and the large variety of its applications. The ion source, an instrumental part for converting the analyte into ions, has played an important role in analyzing biological specimens by MS. However, the performance of conventional spray-based ionization methods always suffers from chemical interferences derived from complex biological matrices. A series of sample extraction, purification, and separation steps is required before the ionization, so as to ensure excellent performance of MS analysis. In order to simplify …

Double Optical Feedback And Pt-Symmetry Breaking Induced Nonlinear Dynamics In Semiconductor Lasers, Joseph S. Suelzer

Open Access Dissertations

A central aim of this research is to probe the nonlinear dynamics that arise in a semiconductor laser due to optical feedback. We investigate two schemes of optical feedback. The first scheme subjects the laser to optical feedback from two external cavities (or two loops), wherein each cavity contains a spectral filter. Using two filtered optical feedbacks, we experimentally demonstrate the ability to elicit and control unique dynamics in the optical emission frequency (wavelength) of the laser. These results are compared to a deterministic model describing the evolution of the complex electric field and carrier density of the laser. As …

Present Day Plate Boundary Deformation In The Caribbean And Crustal Deformation On Southern Haiti, Steeve Symithe

Open Access Dissertations

The Caribbean plate and its boundaries with North and South America, marked by subduction and large intra-arc strike-slip faults, are a natural laboratory for the study of strain partitioning and interseismic plate coupling in relation to large earth- quakes. In this work, I use the available campaign and continuous GPS measurements in the Caribbean to derive a regional velocity field expressed in a consistent reference frame. I use this velocity field as input to a kinematic model where surface velocities result from the rotation of rigid blocks bounded by locked faults accumulating inter- seismic strain, while allowing for partial locking …

Behavioral Responses And Policy Evaluation: Revisiting Water And Fuel Policies, Shanxia Sun

Open Access Dissertations

In my dissertation, I examine how policies regulating agricultural production and clean technology impact the environment. I focus on policies affecting water depletion, water pollution, and fuel consumption. I assess their cost-effectiveness by modeling and quantifying the behavioral responses of farmers and households.

My first essay focuses on decreasing groundwater depletion through increasing irrigation efficiency in Mexico. I quantify the impacts of different sources of inefficiency on groundwater extraction, and I evaluate the effectiveness of alternative policies that aim to reduce the over-extraction of groundwater. I find that mechanisms of electricity cost-sharing implemented in many wells have a sizable impact …

Impact Of Omega-3 Supplementation With Alpha-Linolenic Acid On Neuronal Cell Fatty Acid Status, Owen Densel

College of Health and Human Sciences Honors Program Undergraduate Theses

A method of treating retinoic acid differentiated SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells with alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in the free acid form has been developed in order to examine impacts of such supplementation on fatty acid composition of cells and on functional outcomes. Through Bovine Serum Albumin: ALA conjugation, an ALA treatment media was created and compared to the stock media which contained no detectible amounts of ALA. Results from fatty acid analysis of the control cells (n=3) and ALA-supplemented cells (n=3) showed a significantly higher content of ALA in ALA-supplemented cells (37.35 mol%) compared to control cells (<0.01 mol%), and a significantly higher amount of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in ALA-supplemented cells (2.51 mol%) compared to control cells (<0.01 mol%). These results indicate that the method of media enrichment of ALA on SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells proved successful. The results also show that unenriched SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells incubated in 1% FBS are devoid of the essential fatty acids ALA and EPA, and that SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells are capable of converting ALA to EPA. This research provides the framework and basis to study the extent to which ALA supplementation affects functional outcomes, such as neurotransmitter release.

Deficits In Sound Pattern Sequencing In Children With Specific Language Impairment: A Networks Approach, Sara J. Benham

Open Access Theses

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) demonstrate primary deficits in morphosyntax, which has served as the central theme in theoretical and clinical approaches. However, a striking number of children with SLI also exhibit speech sound deficits, characterized both by increased error patterns and by high levels of variability. These speech sound deficits have been under-studied and are not explicitly tied to accounts of SLI. In the present study, theoretical approaches drawn from dynamical systems and sequence learning are used to address speech production learning in children with SLI. Standard approaches to sound accuracy and variability and articulatory variability are integrated …