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Complex Formation By Alpha-Lactalbumin And Polysaccharide Copolymers, Juan Du

Open Access Dissertations

Colloidal delivery systems, such as surfactant micelles, emulsions, liposomes, and nanoparticles, are widely used in food and pharmaceuticals to improve the dispersion of poorly-soluble ingredients or modify their bioaccessibility within the body. As a delivery system for medical- and health-relevant bioactive components, surfactant micelles have potential toxicity due to the disruption of cell membranes and interference with cell membrane transporters. Complexes formed among proteins and polysaccharides, as renewable biopolymers, are drawing attention for their potential application in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries due to their non-toxicity and higher potential for rapid biodegradation.

Structural Studies On Cell Entry Of Respiratory Enteroviruses, Yue Liu

Open Access Dissertations

Enteroviruses (EVs) represent a group of non-enveloped, positive strand RNA

Cell Type-Specific Analysis Of Human Interactome And Transcriptome, Shahin Mohammadi

Open Access Dissertations

Cells are the fundamental building block of complex tissues in higher-order organisms. These cells take different forms and shapes to perform a broad range of functions. What makes a cell uniquely eligible to perform a task, however, is not well-understood; neither is the defining characteristic that groups similar cells together to constitute a cell type. Even for known cell types, underlying pathways that mediate cell type-specific functionality are not readily available. These functions, in turn, contribute to cell type-specific susceptibility in various disorders.

Three Dimensional Unsteady Flow And Active Morphing Effect In Flapping Wings, Yun Liu

Open Access Dissertations

Bumble b ee cannot fly, if we ignore the significant differences b etween flapping

Modeling And Fundamental Design Considerations For Portable, Wearable And Implantable Electronic Biosensors, Piyush Dak

Open Access Dissertations

Chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), etc. are leading causes of mortality all over the world. Portable, wearable and implantable biosensors can go a long way in preventing these premature deaths by frequent or continuous self-monitoring of vital health parameters.

Fabrication And Characterization Of Active Nanostructures, Noah Felix Ochieng Opondo

Open Access Dissertations

Three different nanostructure active devices have been designed, fabricated and characterized. Junctionless transistors based on highly-doped silicon nanowires fabricated using a bottom-up fabrication approach are first discussed. The fabrication avoids the ion implantation step since silicon nanowires are doped in-situ during growth. Germanium junctionless transistors fabricated with a top down approach starting from a germanium on insulator substrate and using a gate stack of high-k dielectrics and GeO2 are also presented. The levels and origin of low-frequency noise in junctionless transistor devices fabricated from silicon nanowires and also from GeOI devices are reported. Low-frequency noise is an indicator of the …

Physics Based Supervised And Unsupervised Learning Of Graph Structure, Ayan Sinha

Open Access Dissertations

Graphs are central tools to aid our understanding of biological, physical, and social systems. Graphs also play a key role in representing and understanding the visual world around us, 3D-shapes and 2D-images alike. In this dissertation, I propose the use of physical or natural phenomenon to understand graph structure. I investigate four phenomenon or laws in nature: (1) Brownian motion, (2) Gauss's law, (3) feedback loops, and (3) neural synapses, to discover patterns in graphs.

Defining The Regulatory Determinants In Substrate Catalysis By Biochemical, Biophysical, And Kinetic Studies For The Development Of Specific Small-Molecule Inhibitors Of Ubiquitin Specific Proteases 7 And 17, Nicole M. Hjortland

Open Access Dissertations

Ubiquitination is an important post-translational modification involved in maintaining cellular homeostasis by regulating many delicate cellular processes, including the cell-cycle, membrane protein trafficking, endocytosis and apoptosis. Ubiquitin Specific Proteases (USPs) remove ubiquitin modifications from protein substrates to reverse the signal imposed by the ubiquitination. Perturbations in the expression levels of USPs has been implicated in many types of cancers where patients show significant elevation in cellular levels of specific USPs. This suggests that targeting specific upregulated members of the USP family in specific disease states would be ideal for the development of personalized anti-cancer therapeutics.

Evaluation Of Alpha-D-Glucan Nanoparticle As A Vaccine Adjuvant, Fangjia Lu

Open Access Dissertations

The use of nanoparticles for delivery of vaccine antigens and as vaccine adjuvants is appealing because their size allows efficient uptake by dendritic cells and their biological properties can be tailored to the desired function. Here, we evaluated the potential of dendrimer-like α-D-glucan nanoparticles, derived from a variety of sweet corn, as a vaccine adjuvant. The nanoparticles, termed Nano-11, have an average diameter of 75-80 nm and were modified to give them a positive surface charge. Injection of antigens with Nano-11 significantly increased the amount of antigen-specific antibodies in the serum. Nano-11 increased the uptake of antigens, costimulatory expression and …

Ribozymes Of The Rna World: Investigating Ancient Enzymes Through Modern Self-Cleaving Ribozymes., Aamir Mir

Open Access Dissertations

Ribozymes are RNAs that can perform catalytic functions. The discovery of ribozymes was an important milestone in science because it not only opened new avenues of research but also provided insights into the origins of life on Earth. Early life most likely used RNA as catalysts for diverse functions, however, it is unclear how RNA could have performed such diverse catalytic functions. To answer this question, my work has focused on the most abundant natural class of ribozymes in the modern world, called the self-cleaving ribozymes. They catalyze the cleavage of a specific phosphodiester bond in RNA. We investigated the …

Antimicrobial Characterization And Therapeutic Applications Of Novel Synthetic Thiazole Compounds Against Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococci And Enterococci, Haroon Mohammad

Open Access Dissertations

For more than a century, antibiotics have been valuable allies in combating an array of bacterial infections. However, each year nearly 23,000 people in the United States of America and 25,000 people in Europe die due to infections that are recalcitrant to currently available antimicrobials. The emergence of drug-resistant bacterial species, namely methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), has limited the efficacy of several classes of antibiotics. Compounding this problem further is that many large pharmaceutical companies have left the field of antibacterial drug discovery given the high cost of innovation and low return on investment. Collectively, this …

The Role Of Nadph Oxidase In Neurite Outgrowth And Zebrafish Neurodevelopment, Cory J. Weaver

Open Access Dissertations

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidases (NOX) are a family of enzymes that produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). The first NOX enzyme was discovered in leukocytes and associated with host defense in the immune system. Subsequent findings of ROS production in non-immune cells led to the identification of six additional NOX isoforms, and opened new avenues for research into NOX-mediated cellular functions. Since then, NOX-derived ROS have been found to be involved in a tremendous number of cell signaling pathways. Of particular interest is the well-established function of NOX-derived ROS in signaling pathways that drive cytoskeletal rearrangements and motility in several …

Processes For Identifying Important Chemistry And Biochemistry Concepts And Representations And Their Qualitative Assessment In Undergraduate Biology Courses, Rethabile Reginalda Tekane

Open Access Dissertations

Biology has become increasingly more interdisciplinary in nature. Therefore, the Association of American Medical Colleges-Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the National Research Council have called for reform in biology curricula. In particular, the Vision and Change report emphasized the importance of integrating biology with physical sciences such as chemistry and biochemistry in order to help biology majors understand the importance of biochemistry and chemistry to biology. The report also stipulated the need to design assessments that are informed by learning objectives in order to assess if students have attained the targeted conceptual knowledge. Currently, meetings and workshops have, and are …

Nanoparticle Depot For Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy Of Ovarian Cancer, Bo Sun

Open Access Dissertations

Intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy is a promising post-surgical therapy of ovarian cancer, with the full potential yet to be proven. To facilitate IP chemotherapy of ovarian cancer, we have developed a nanoparticle depot for IP chemotherapy consisted of paclitaxel (PTX) nanocrystals (PNC) and hyaluronic acid-based hydrogel (HA gel). PNC with a size of ~310 nm was produced by nonsolvent and temperature-induced crystallization. Dissolution kinetics of PNC could be determined by the light scattering method rather than the dialysis method due to drug reprecipitation caused by diffusion barrier. PTX release profiles from PNC-gel and PTX precipitate-gel (PPT-gel) were estimated in both sink- …

Studies Of Novel Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Oxidative Coupling Reactions, Jinmin Miao

Open Access Dissertations

Transition-metal-catalyzed oxidative coupling reactions are important tools for the construction of carbon-carbon (C-C) and carbon-heteroatom (C-X) bonds from simple starting materials. A series of novel and synthetically useful reactions have been developed and are herein described.

Size And Chemistry Selective Membranes From Block Polymer Templates, Ryan A. Mulvenna

Open Access Dissertations

The use of block polymers continues to gain attention with their myriad applications in industry for advanced applications in biology, medicine, electronics, and separations. The ability of block polymers to self assemble into ordered states on the nanometer level makes these materials suitable for applications that mandate structural order on this scale. By tuning the chemistry of these block domains, we may explore their utilization for advanced separations.

In this dossier, we detail the efforts into the controlled radical polymerization of polyisoprene-b-polystyrene-b-poly( N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PI-PS-PDMA) via. a facile reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) mechanism. For this …

Studying School Improvement Teams To Analyze Multiple Stakeholder Engagement In Decision-Making In Public Education, Julie A. Dibari

Open Access Dissertations

Since the Industrial Revolution, when schools became larger and the missions broader, there has been an attempt by a wide range of stakeholders to have a voice in public education. More recently, through No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, the federal government began to increase requirements for multiple stakeholder engagement in decision-making for schools requesting Title I funds. As the need for a more educated workforce has grown, businesses have also sought to have a voice in improving education. Additionally, experts in the field of parent, school and community engagement, have called for the inclusion of parents, …

Evaluation Of The Efficacy Of Candidate Probiotics For Disease Prevention In Shellfish Hatcheries, Saebom Sohn

Open Access Dissertations

In the United States of America, oyster production is an important component of the seafood economy in many communities in coastal states. The severe impact of disease outbreaks and mass mortality of oyster larvae in hatcheries impacts production, since the oyster industry is largely dependent on hatchery and nursery production. The use of probiotics has been proposed as a potential preventative measure to limit the impact of bacterial diseases in shellfish hatcheries. In previous laboratory studies, the probiotic bacteria Phaeobacter inhibens S4 and Bacillus pumillus RI06-95 improved the survival of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) larvae against the pathogens …

Design And Development Of Ph Sensitive Nanomedicine For Targeted Drug Delivery, Mohan C. Pereira

Open Access Dissertations

Targeted drug delivery has been the major topic in drug formulation and delivery. As nanomedicine emerges to create nano-scale therapeutics and diagnostics, it is still essential to embed targeting capability to these novel systems to make them useful. Design of robust nanomedicine with universal targeting capabilities could provide effective solutions to the ever increasing demand of curing and preventing major diseases.

Diseases like carcinoma & ischemia are accompanied with hypoxia and acidosis. Because of the elevated glycolysis and acidosis in the diseased cells, they show a lower pH in the surface of the cells which promotes the appearance of aggressive …

Prescriptions Of Intergroup Conflict: The Role Of Implicit And Explicit Associations Of Violence, Justine N. Egan

Open Access Dissertations

Violence is pervasive in our world. The acceptability of violence as a societal norm sets the stage for interpersonal and intergroup conflicts. One source of such conflict is that individuals differ in how they perceive violence and violent behavior. Previous research found that individuals differ in their explicit attitude evaluations of violence. The first manuscript in this dissertation expanded upon this research area with an examination of implicit attitude evaluations of violence. This manuscript addressed the creation of a new measure of implicit attitude evaluations of violence and nonviolence using the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Participants were asked about their …

The Potential Of Indonesian Microalgal Strains To Support Eastern White Shrimp (Litopenaeus Vannamei) Aquaculture, Wa Iba

Open Access Dissertations

Indonesia is well known for abundant aquatic resources, both marine and freshwater, including fishes, zooplankton and phytoplanktonic microalgae. However, relatively little information is available about microalgal resources despite their potential to be used as live feed in the hatchery phase of aquaculture of a number of marine species. The use of local microalgae is desirable in local hatcheries because they tend to grow better with high yield under local conditions, thus reducing the risk of culture crash and production cost while preventing disease vectors that may introduced by foreign microalgae strains. In this dissertation, the potential of Indonesian microalgae to …

The Influence Of Hydrothermal Plumes On Midwater Ecology, And A New Method To Assess Pelagic Biomass, Brennan Theodore Phillips

Open Access Dissertations

Submarine hydrothermal vent fields introduce buoyant plumes of chemically altered seawater to the deep-sea water column. Chemoautotrophic microbes exploit this energy source, facilitating seafloor-based primary production that may transfer to pelagic consumers. This dissertation synthesizes a growing body of scientific evidence supporting the hypothesis that hydrothermal plumes are the energetic basis of unique deep-sea pelagic food webs, including secondary and tertiary consumers. Contemporary largescale plume events associated with periods of eruptive activity suggest that hydrothermal plumes may have influenced basin-scale ocean chemistry during periods of increased submarine volcanism. The author speculates that hydrothermal plumes are capable of driving both positive …

Cadmium Contributes To Breast Cancer Development By Influencing Cell Adhesion Network, Zhengxi Wei

Open Access Dissertations

Cadmium (Cd) is carcinogenic and a well-established human health risk. Epidemiological and experimental studies have demonstrated that Cd is associated with breast cancer. We reported previously that Cd promoted breast cancer cell growth. Whether Cd treatment also causes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and progression to metastasis in breast epithelial cells is unknown. The dissertation described here investigated the effect of Cd in breast cancer progression.

Noncancerous breast epithelial MCF10A cells, non-metastatic HCC 1937 and HCC 38 cells, and metastatic MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with 1 or 3 µM Cd for 4 weeks. The increase in the expressions of N-cadherin and vimentin …

Local Ecological Knowledge Of Fishermen In Rhode Island And The Dominican Republic: State Of Their Fisheries, Changes And Adaptations, Elizabeth Layli Mclean

Open Access Dissertations

The failure to sustain fisheries is attributed to simultaneous effects of overfishing and to natural disturbance on fish habitats. Many conservation and management efforts are not successful in sustaining the fisheries. There is a growing need to broaden our understanding of people’s knowledge and their fisheries and to consider new approaches that will lead to effective conservation that enables us to sustain fisheries and protect the environment. This study examines the use of fishers’ local ecological knowledge (FEK) to characterize fishing communities and their practices, to assess the state of the fisheries, and the usefulness of this knowledge for conservation …

Toward Intelligent Cyber-Physical Systems: Algorithms, Architectures, And Applications, Bo Tang

Open Access Dissertations

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are the new generation of engineered systems integrated with computation and physical processes. The integration of computation, communication and control adds new capabilities to the systems being able to interact with physical world. The uncertainty in physical environment makes future CPS to be more reliant on machine learning algorithms which can learn and accumulate knowledge from historical data to support intelligent decision making. Such CPS with the incorporation of intelligence or smartness are termed as intelligent CPS which are safer, more reliable and more efficient.

This thesis studies fundamental machine learning algorithms in supervised and unsupervised manners …

Characterization Of The Role Of The Phosphatase And Tensin Homolog, Pten, In Dna Crosslink Repair, Elizabeth Ann Vuono

Open Access Dissertations

Fanconi Anemia (FA) is a rare autosomal and X-linked disease characterized by multiple congenital abnormalities, progressive bone marrow failure, and cancer predisposition. FA is caused by a biallelic mutation of any one of 21 genes; the proteins encoded by these genes regulate the removal of DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) and are essential for maintaining chromosomal stability. This pathway is tightly regulated by posttranslational modifications (PTMs) such as ubiquitination and phosphorylation. Several kinases such as ATM, ATR and PLK1 have been linked to the pathway but no phosphatase has been firmly linked to the pathway. PTEN is a duel specificity phosphatase, …

A Novel Genetic Algorithm And Its Application To Optimize Manufacturing Schedules, Arash Nasrollahishirazi

Open Access Dissertations

John Holland and his colleagues at the University of Michigan introduced genetic algorithms (GAs) in 1992. The algorithmic coding of Genetic Algorithms was described by Goldberg. Since of the real world problems studied in operations research and management science are too complex to be solved by using conventional optimization techniques, genetic algorithms have been widely used in their solution. Furthermore, problems with stochastic characteristics are also typical in analysis, design, and operation of modern systems. Stochastic optimization methods are even more complex than deterministic methods. Since the 1960’s researches have tried to simulate biological process for solving hard optimization problems …

Isolation, Synthesis, And Metabolism Of Polyphenols: Stilbenoids, Gallotannins And Ellagitannins, Daniel B. Niesen

Open Access Dissertations

The roles of dietary polyphenols, such as resveratrol found in red wine and grape seed extract, have become an increasingly more popular research topic. Dietary polyphenols have even achieved media success for their potential benefits on human health and disease. The success is frequently attributed to the compounds’ antioxidant and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging abilities. Not only are polyphenols highlighted as the benefitial health constituents of herbal remedies, but there are also two plant-polyphenol drugs approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, Crofelemer (a proanthocyanidin oligomer from Croton lechleri) and Veregen (catechins from Camellia sinensis). …

Global Dynamics Of Some Discrete Dynamical Systems With Applications, Arzu Bilgin

Open Access Dissertations

In my first manuscript, I investigate the global character of the difference equation of the form

x_n+1 = f(x_n, x_n-1), n = 0, 1, ... (1)

with several period-two solutions, where f is increasing in all its variables. I show that the boundaries of the basins of attractions of different locally asymptotically stable equilibrium solutions or period-two solutions are in fact the global stable manifolds of neighboring saddle or non-hyperbolic equilibrium solutions or period two solutions. An application of my results give global dynamics of three feasible models in population dynamics which includes …

Linking Protistan Herbivory To Environmental And Biotic Controls, Françoise Morison

Open Access Dissertations

Phagotrophic protists have been established as the major consumers of ocean primary production and as such occupy a pivotal position in pelagic food webs, yet knowledge gaps remain regarding the seasonal and spatial variability of protistan grazing, and of its drivers, both environmental and biotic. The aim of the present research was to address such gaps. To do so, I gathered field measurements and observations and evaluated modifications and alternatives to current methods used to estimate grazing rates and characterize plankton communities. In a study conducted in the Western Antarctic Peninsula aimed at quantifying the seasonal variability of protistan herbivory …