Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Biochemical Characterization Of Human Mismatch Recognition Proteins Mutsα And Mutsβ, Lei Tian

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The integrity of an organism's genome depends on the fidelity of DNA replication and the efficiency of DNA repair. The DNA mismatch repair (MMR) system, which is highly conserved from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, plays an important role in maintaining genome stability by correcting base-base mismatches and insertion/deletion (ID) mispairs generated during DNA replication and other DNA transactions. Mismatch recognition is a critical step in MMR. Two mismatch recognition proteins, MutSα (MSH2-MSH6 heterodimer) and MutSβ (MSH2-MSH3 heterodimer), have been identified in eukaryotic cells. MutSα and MutSβ have partially overlapping functions, with MutSα recognizing primarily base-base mismatches and 1-2 nt ID mispairs …

LP Bounded Point Evaluations For Polynomials And Uniform Rational Approximation, Erin Militzer

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

A connection is established between uniform rational approximation, and approximation in the mean by polynomials on compact nowhere dense subsets of the complex plane C. Peak points for R(X) and bounded point evaluations for H^p(X, dA), 1 ≤ p < ∞, play a fundamental role.

Palinspastic Reconstruction Around A Thrust Belt Recess: An Example From The Appalachian Thrust Belt In Northwestern Georgia, Brian Stephen Cook

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

In a well-defined subrecess in the Appalachian thrust belt in northwestern Georgia, two distinct regional strike directions intersect at approximately 50°. Fault intersections and interference folds enable tracing of both structural strikes. Around the subrecess, tectonically thickened weak stratigraphic layers—shales of the Cambrian Conasauga Formation—accommodated ductile deformation associated with the folding and faulting of the overlying Cambrian–Ordovician regional competent layer. The structures in the competent layer are analogous to those over ductile duplexes (mushwads) documented along strike to the southwest in Alabama.

The intersection and fold interference exemplify a long-standing problem in volume balancing of palinspastic reconstructions of sinuous thrust …

Measurement Of Single-Target Spin Asymmetries In The Electroproduction Of Negative Pions In The Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Reaction N↑(E,Éπ¯)X On A Transversely Polarized 3he Target, Chiranjib Dutta

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The experiment E06010 measured the target single spin asymmetry (SSA) in the semiinclusive deep inelastic (SIDIS) n↑(e,éπ¯)X reaction with a transversely polarized ³He target as an effective neutron target. This is the very first independent measurement of the neutron SSA, following the measurements at HERMES and COMPASS on the proton and the deuteron. The experiment acquired data in Hall A at Jefferson Laboratory with a continuous electron beam of energy 5.9 GeV, probing the valence quark region, with x = 0.13→0.41, at Q² = 1.31→3.1 GeV². The two contributing mechanisms to the measured asymmetry, viz, the …

A Markov Transition Model To Dementia With Death As A Competing Event, Liou Xu

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The research on multi-state Markov transition model is motivated by the nature of the longitudinal data from the Nun Study (Snowdon, 1997), and similar information on the BRAiNS cohort (Salazar, 2004). Our goal is to develop a flexible methodology for handling the categorical longitudinal responses and competing risks time-to-event that characterizes the features of the data for research on dementia. To do so, we treat the survival from death as a continuous variable rather than defining death as a competing absorbing state to dementia. We assume that within each subject the survival component and the Markov process are linked by …

High Accuracy Multiscale Multigrid Computation For Partial Differential Equations, Yin Wang

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Scientific computing and computer simulation play an increasingly important role in scientific investigation and engineering designs, supplementing traditional experiments, such as in automotive crash studies, global climate change, ocean modeling, medical imaging, and nuclear weapons. The numerical simulation is much cheaper than experimentation for these application areas and it can be used as the third way of science discovery beyond the experimental and theoretical analysis. However, the increasing demand of high resolution solutions of the Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) with less computational time has increased the importance for researchers and engineers to come up with efficient and scalable computational techniques …

Chemical Modification And Characterization Of Carbon Nanotubes, Kelby Brandan Cassity

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a relatively new allotrope of carbon that possess very unique and exciting physical characteristics. However, much is still unknown regarding their physical structure and chemical reactivity. The focus of this dissertation is to utilize the chemical modification of these filamentous carbon structures as a probe to investigate the structure and reactivity of carbon nanotubes. Also discussed is the ability of CNTs, once chemically modified, to interact with specific polymer matrices and how the addition of modified and unmodified CNTs affects the physical properties of these matrices.

Explorations In Homeoviscous Adaptation And Mass Spectral Analysis Of Membrane Lipids, Michael Douglas Timmons

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation is centered on the mass spectral analysis of lipids and changes occurring in keeping with the concept of homeoviscous adaptation [1]. Homeoviscous adaptation is the process of modification of membrane lipids in response to environmental stimuli [1]. Dissertation investigations applied this concept to prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, and expanded the perception of environmental factors from exogenous organic solvents to intracellular environment.

The field of lipidomics deals with the analysis of phospholipid and fatty acid components of membranes the changes that occur due to environmental stimuli and their biological significance [2-6]. The high sensitivity of mass …

Provenance Of The Neoproterozoic Ocoee Supergroup, Eastern Great Smoky Mountains, Suvankar Chakraborty

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The Ocoee Supergroup is a sequence of Neoproterozoic, immature, continental rift facies clastic sediments. Potential source rocks were tested by analyzing modes of detrital framework minerals, detrital mineral chemistry, whole rock geochemistry and detrital zircon U/Pb geochronology by LA-ICP-MS for Ocoee siltstone-sandstone dominated formations. Ocoee units are arkosic to subarkosic siltstones/sandstones, and ternary tectonic discrimination diagrams confirm a continental basement uplift source. Alkali feldspar predominates over plagioclase feldspar. Detrital feldspar compositions of Ocoee sediments as a group are similar to feldspar in local basement granitic rocks except for high-Ca plagioclase grains present locally in basement granitic rocks. The high alkali …

Development Of Novel Ahr Antagonists, Hyosung Lee

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a sensor protein, activated by aromatic chemical species for transcriptionally regulating xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes. AHR is also known to be involved in a variety of pathogenesis such as cancer, diabetes mellitus, cirrhosis, asthma, etc. The AHR signaling induced by xenobiotics has been intensively studied whereas its physiological role in the absence of xenobiotics is poorly understood. Despite a number of ligands of AHR have been reported thus far, further applications are still hampered by the lack of specificity and/or the partially agonistic activity. Thus, a pure AHR antagonist is needed for deciphering the AHR cryptic …

Effect Of Low And High- Kinetic Energy Wetting On Quality Of Sediment Produced By Interrill Erosion, Eduardo Abel Rienzi

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Raindrop kinetic energy and sheet flow can disintegrate aggregates during interrill erosion, a process responsible for non point source pollution. Also, the dissolution process during aggregate wetting can affect interrill erosion. These factors can be responsible for changes in particle size distribution in the sediment, especially when different tillage systems are compared. The effect of soil tillage and management on soil properties is not uniform, which determine a wide range of runoff and sediment delivery rate. Variety in these rates can be associated with pore functions and their interactions with aggregate stability. One of the objectives of this study was …

Immobilization Of Mercury And Arsenic Through Covalent Thiolate Bonding For The Purpose Of Environmental Remediation, Lisa Y. Blue

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Mercury and arsenic are widespread contaminants in aqueous environments throughout the world. The elements arise from multiple sources including mercury from coal-fired power plants and wells placed in natural geological deposits of arseniccontaining minerals. Both elements have significant negative health impacts on humans as they are cumulative toxins that bind to the sulfhydryl groups in proteins, disrupting many biological functions. There are currently no effective, economical techniques for removing either mercury or arsenic from aqueous sources. This thesis will demonstrate a superior removal method for both elements by formation of covalent bonds with the sulfur atoms in N,N’-Bis(2-mercaptoethyl)isophthalamide (commonly called …

Diagonal Forms And The Rationality Of The Poincaré Series, Dibyajyoti Deb

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The Poincaré series, Py(f) of a polynomial f was first introduced by Borevich and Shafarevich in [BS66], where they conjectured, that the series is always rational. Denef and Igusa independently proved this conjecture. However it is still of interest to explicitly compute the Poincaré series in special cases. In this direction several people looked at diagonal polynomials with restrictions on the coefficients or the exponents and computed its Poincaré series. However in this dissertation we consider a general diagonal polynomial without any restrictions and explicitly compute its Poincaré series, thus extending results of Goldman, Wang and Han. In a separate …

Studies Toward The Total Synthesis Of (±)-Α-Yohimbine By Double Annulation, Raghu Ram Chamala

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The indole alkaloids, a class of natural products, have received much synthetic attention for years due to their diverse structures and interesting biological properties. We are particularly interested in synthesizing some of the yohimbine alkaloids extracted from the bark of a tall evergreen African tree (Corynanthe yohimbe, commonly known as fringe tree). Yohimbine and its stereoisomers have been tempting targets for synthetic organic chemists for more than fifty years. These compounds feature a pentacyclic ring system with two heteroatoms and five stereogenic centers.

Broadly, the fifteen different synthetic approaches that led to the successful completion of yohimbine alkaloids …

Comparison Of Two Samples By A Nonparametric Likelihood-Ratio Test, William H. Barton

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation we present a novel computational method, as well as its software implementation, to compare two samples by a nonparametric likelihood-ratio test. The basis of the comparison is a mean-type hypothesis. The software is written in the R-language [4]. The two samples are assumed to be independent. Their distributions, which are assumed to be unknown, may be discrete or continuous. The samples may be uncensored, right-censored, left-censored, or doubly-censored. Two software programs are offered. The first program covers the case of a single mean-type hypothesis. The second program covers the case of multiple mean-type hypotheses. For the first …

Inelastic Collisions In Cold Dipolar Gases, Catherine A. Newell

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Inelastic collisions between dipolar molecules, assumed to be trapped in a static electric field at cold (> 10⁻³K) temperatures, are investigated and compared with elastic collisions. For molecules with a Λ-doublet energy-level structure, a dipole moment arises because of the existence of two nearly degenerate states of opposite parity, and the collision of two such dipoles can be solved entirely analytically in the energy range of interest. Cross sections and rate constants are found to satisfy simple, universal formulas. In contrast, for molecules in a Σ electronic ground state, the static electric field induces a dipole moment in …

Streamflow Prediction Using Gis For The Kentucky River Basin, Bakkiyalakshmi Palanisamy

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The study was aimed at developing a simple methodology for flow prediction in ungauged basins using existing data resources. For this purpose, the streamflow measurements across the Kentucky River Basin located in Kentucky, USA were obtained from United States Geological Survey (USGS) archive. The flow transferring characteristics of the subbasins of the Kentucky River Basin were obtained by combining downstream and upstream stream gauges. The flow transferring function thus derived were related to watershed, channel and flow characteristics of the subbasins by multiple regression analysis. The gauge pairs were divided into two classes of subbasins representing Upper and Lower Kentucky, …

Physical Conditions Including Magnetic Fields In Several Star Forming Regions Of The Galaxy, Matt Lykins

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This document describes studies of two independent regions of the interstellar medium (ISM). These studies have the common element that both pertain to regions in our Galaxy that are known to be associated with present-day star formation. These studies aim to help us understand the ISM, star formation, and ultimately where we came from, since, after all, our star, the Sun, is itself the product of star formation 4.5 billion years ago. The first project measured the Zeeman Effect on the 21 cm H I absorption line in order to create a map of the line of sight magnetic fields …

Nonparametric Estimation Of Derivatives With Applications, Benjamin Hall

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

We review several nonparametric regression techniques and discuss their various strengths and weaknesses with an emphasis on derivative estimation and confidence band creation. We develop a generalized C(p) criterion for tuning parameter selection when interest lies in estimating one or more derivatives and the estimator is both linear in the observed responses and self-consistent. We propose a method for constructing simultaneous confidence bands for the mean response and one or more derivatives, where simultaneous now refers both to values of the covariate and to all derivatives under consideration. In addition we generalize the simultaneous confidence bands to account for heteroscedastic …

Progress Towards The Synthesis Of Type B Polycyclic Polyprenylated Acylphloroglucinol 7-Epi-Clusianone, Pushpa Suresh Jayasekara Mudiyanselage

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Plants of the family Guttiferae produce polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs), which have interesting biological activities including anticancer and antibacterial properties. The main structural features of PPAPs comprise of bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane-2,4,9-triketone with one acyl group together with prenyl, geranyl, or other C₁₀H₁₇ groups. 7-epi-Clusianone, a type B PPAP with C-7 endo stereochemistry, is being approached by establishing the cis relationship with C(4) allyl group and C(2) methyl ester in the early stage of the synthesis. Then C(2) methyl ester is converted to alkyne aldehyde and syn reduction followed by intramolecular aldol reaction to give bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane structure with …

Soil Water And Crop Growth Processes In A Farmer's Field, Susmitha Surendran Nambuthiri

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The study was aimed to provide information on local biomass development during crop growth using ground based optical sensors and to incorporate the local crop status to a crop growth simulation model to improve understanding on inherent variability of crop field. The experiment was conducted in a farmer’s field located near Princeton in Caldwell County, Western Kentucky. Data collection on soil, crop and weather variables was carried out in the farm from 2006 December to 2008 October. During this period corn (Zea mays L.) and winter wheat (Triticum sp) were grown in the field. A 450 m …

Tunneling Spectroscopy Study Of Calcium Ruthenate, Anthony Bautista

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The ruthenates are perhaps one of the most diverse group of materials known up to date. These compounds exhibit a wide array of behaviors ranging from the exotic pwave superconductivity in Sr₂RuO₄, to the itinerant ferromagnetism in SrRuO₃, and the Mott-insulating behavior in Ca₂RuO₄. One of the most intriguing compounds belonging to this group is Ca₃Ru₂O₇ which is known to undergo an antiferromagnetic ordering at 56K and an insulating transition at 48K. Most intriguing, however, is the behavior displayed by this compound in the presence …

General Flips And The Cd-Index, Daniel J. Wells

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

We generalize bistellar operations (often called flips) on simplicial manifolds to a notion of general flips on PL-spheres. We provide methods for computing the cd-index of these general flips, which is the change in the cd-index of any sphere to which the flip is applied. We provide formulas and relations among flips in certain classes, paying special attention to the classic case of bistellar flips. We also consider questions of "flip-connecticity", that is, we show that any two polytopes in certain classes can be connected via a sequence of flips in an appropriate class.

Measurement Of Single Spin Asymmetries In Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering Reaction N↑(E, Éπ+)X At Jefferson Lab, Kalyan C. Allada

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

What constitutes the spin of the nucleon? The answer to this question is still not completely understood. Although we know the longitudinal quark spin content very well, the data on the transverse quark spin content of the nucleon is still very sparse. Semi-inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS) using transversely polarized targets provide crucial information on this aspect. The data that is currently available was taken with proton and deuteron targets.

The E06-010 experiment was performed at Jefferson Lab in Hall-A to measure the single spin asymmetries in the SIDIS reaction n^↑(e,éπ^±/K^±)X using transversely polarized …

Spectroscopy And Structures Of Metal-Cyclic Hydrocarbon Complexes, Jung Sup Lee

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Metal-cyclic hydrocarbon complexes were prepared in a laser-vaporization molecular beam source and studied by single-photon zero electron kinetic energy (ZEKE) and IR-UV resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) spectroscopy. The ionization energies and vibrational frequencies of the metal complexes were measured from the ZEKE spectra. Metal-ligand bonding and low-lying electronic states of the neutral and ionized complexes were analyzed by combining the ZEKE measurements with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In addition, C-H stretching frequencies were measured from the R2PI spectra.

In this dissertation, metal complexes of 1, 3, 5, 7-cyclo-octatetraene (COT), toluene, p-xylene, mesitylene, hexamethylbenzene, biphenyl, naphthalene, pyrene, perylene, and …

15N Solid-State Nmr Detection Of Flavin Perturbation By H-Bonding In Models And Enzyme Active Sites, Dongtao Cui

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Massey and Hemmerich proposed that the different reactivities displayed by different flavoenzymes could be achieved as a result of dominance of different flavin ring resonance structures in different binding sites. Thus, the FMN cofactor would engage in different reactions when it had different electronic structures. To test this proposal and understand how different protein sites could produce different flavin electronic structures, we are developing solid-state NMR as a means of characterizing the electronic state of the flavin ring, via the ¹⁵N chemical shift tensors of the ring N atoms. These provide information on the frontier orbitals. We propose that …

Single View Reconstruction For Human Face And Motion With Priors, Xianwang Wang

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Single view reconstruction is fundamentally an under-constrained problem. We aim to develop new approaches to model human face and motion with model priors that restrict the space of possible solutions. First, we develop a novel approach to recover the 3D shape from a single view image under challenging conditions, such as large variations in illumination and pose. The problem is addressed by employing the techniques of non-linear manifold embedding and alignment. Specifically, the local image models for each patch of facial images and the local surface models for each patch of 3D shape are learned using a non-linear dimensionality reduction …

Near-Field Radiative Transfer: Thermal Radiation, Thermophotovoltaic Power Generation And Optical Characterization, Mathieu Francoeur

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on near-field radiative transfer, which can be defined as the discipline concerned with energy transfer via electromagnetic waves at sub-wavelength distances. Three specific subjects related to this discipline are investigated, namely nearfield thermal radiation, nanoscale-gap thermophotovoltaic (nano-TPV) power generation and optical characterization. An algorithm for the solution of near-field thermal radiation problems in one-dimensional layered media is developed, and several tests are performed showing the accuracy, consistency and versatility of the procedure. The possibility of tuning near-field radiative heat transfer via thin films supporting surface phononpolaritons (SPhPs) in the infrared is afterwards investigated via the computation of …

Algorithms For Upper Bounds Of Low Dimensional Group Homology, Joshua D. Roberts

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

A motivational problem for group homology is a conjecture of Quillen that states, as reformulated by Anton, that the second homology of the general linear group over R = Z[1/p; ζ_p], for p an odd prime, is isomorphic to the second homology of the group of units of R, where the homology calculations are over the field of order p. By considering the group extension spectral sequence applied to the short exact sequence 1 → SL₂ → GL₂ → GL₁ → 1 we show that the calculation of the homology …

Upper Bounds On The Splitting Of The Eigenvalues, Phuoc L. Ho

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

We establish the upper bounds for the difference between the first two eigenvalues of the relative and absolute eigenvalue problems. Relative and absolute boundary conditions are generalization of Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions on functions to differential forms respectively. The domains are taken to be a family of symmetric regions in Rⁿ consisting of two cavities joined by a straight thin tube. Our operators are Hodge Laplacian operators acting on k-forms given by the formula Δ^(k) = dδ+δd, where d and δ are the exterior derivatives and the codifferentials respectively. A result …