Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating The Life-Cycle Of Photosystem Ii Using Mass Spectrometry, Daniel Avram Weisz

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Photosystem II (PSII) is a protein complex found embedded in the thylakoid membranes of all organisms that perform oxygenic photosynthesis. PSII converts sunlight into chemical energy, filling our atmosphere with molecular oxygen in the process and supporting nearly all life on Earth. PSII undergoes frequent light-induced damage as an unavoidable result of the electron transfer reactions it catalyzes. When damaged, PSII is disassembled, repaired, and reassembled in an intricate, tightly regulated process. The structure and mechanism of function of active PSII are relatively well-understood, due to the available crystal structures of the active complex and many years of biochemical and …

Essays In Entrepreneurship And Household Finance, Yoosef Ghahreman

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation is focused on the relationship between financial and business decisions of households. The first essay examines how founders of new businesses changed their portfolios in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Using the Survey of Consumer Finances 2007-2009 panel data, I find evidence that those who became entrepreneurs (entrants) reduced financial portfolio risk compared to those who remained paid employees. I identify a movement away from stockholdings as a result of entry, and provide support for a response to the background risk arising from privately held businesses. Business ownership was also associated with changes in the real …

Development And Characterization Of Genetic Sensors And Regulators For The Construction Of Environmentally-Responsive Genetic Circuits, Allison Hoynes-O'Connor

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Genetic circuits enable engineers to program complex logical behaviors into living organisms. Organisms can be programmed to optimize the production of fuels and chemicals, diagnose and treat diseases, or remediate environmental pollutants. A well-characterized toolbox of genetic sensors and regulators is needed to construct these circuits. Genetic sensors that respond to environmentally-relevant signals allow circuits to evaluate the cell's conditions, and versatile and designable regulators translate information about the cell's environment into the desired response. In this work, we demonstrate the de novo design of RNA thermosensors in Escherichia coli, and integrate these sensors into complex genetic circuits. Next, we …

On Control Systems Of The Brain: A Study Of Their Connections, Activations, And Interactions, Haoxin Sun

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Implementation of daily functions in humans crucially relies on both the bottom-up moment-to- moment processing of relevant input and output information as well as the top-down controls that instantiate and regulate goal-directed strategies. The current dissertation focuses on different systems of brain regions related to task control. We are interested in investigating, in detail, some of the basic activity patterns that different control systems carry during simple tasks, and how differences in activity patterns may shed new insight onto the distinctions among the systems' functional roles. In addition, carefully coordinated interactions between brain regions specialized for control-related activity and regions …

Courtly Love And Its Counterparts In The Medieval Mediterranean, Robin William Girard

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

At least since Stendhal's De l'Amour, scholars have argued that the theories of courtly love expressed in the Old French literature of the High Middle Ages were inspired by or drew upon elements of Islamicate culture. In this dissertation, I explore the theories of love represented in works of literature, lover's manuals and medical treatises composed in and around the late twelfth–century court of Marie de Champagne, which I read in conjunction with contemporaneous works from the Islamicate world, ranging from Al‑Andalus to Persia, in order to show how these works reflect the common cultural orientation of the medieval Mediterranean. …

An Evaluation Of The Safety Of The Cycling In Dublin City For Dit Students, Niamh O' Reilly

Articles

Cycling as a mode of transport offers many benefits including a cheap, cost effective, healthy, fast, mainly congestion free and environmentally friendly means of getting to and from places of employment and education. Given the central location of Technological University Dublin campus buildings this would seem an ideal option for its third level students, but on the contrary, a DIT online travel survey conducted in March 2014 found that only 7% of students chose cycling as their primary mode of transport. Concerns about cyclist safety were a major factor cited by students who chose alternative modes of transport. Based on …

The Second Quantized Approach To The Study Of Model Hamiltonians In Quantum Hall Regime, Li Chen

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The study of model Hamiltonians, whose exact ground states are well known quantum Hall states, have been investigated solely in the literature from the point of view of first quantized approach in the last few decades. However, a second quantized approach to such Hamiltonians has not been taken in the same measure. In this dissertation, we study Haldane pseudopotential, which is the parent Hamiltonian of 1/M Laughlin state, and Trugman-Kivelson pseudopotential, which is the parent Hamiltonian of 2/5 unprojected Jain state. We find that the study of these Hamiltonians in their second quantized forms not only reproduces all properties of …

Modern Assessment Of The High-Energy Background Environment At Small Atmospheric Depths Using The X-Calibur X-Ray Polarimeter And Its Implications, Rashied Baradaran Amini

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Since the discovery of cosmic rays, Earth's upper atmosphere at depths of 1-10 g cm2 has been used for balloon-borne observations probing the high-energy universe. However, the interaction of cosmic rays with the earth atmosphere generates numerous particles, each with their own flux and interaction physics that contribute to instrument background. In Fall 2014, the X-Calibur X-ray polarimeter designed and built at Washington University in St. Louis was launched from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. While no astrophysical observation was performed as a result of a failure in telescope mechanisms, X-Calibur was able to record hours of instrument background with an …

New Techniques And Optimizations Of Short Echo-Time 1h Mri With Applications In Murine Lung, Jinbang Guo

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Although x-ray computed tomography (CT) is a gold standard for pulmonary imaging, it has high ionizing radiation, which puts patients at greater risk of cancer, particularly in a longitudinal study with cumulative doses. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) doesn't involve exposure to ionizing radiation and is especially useful for visualizing soft tissues and organs such as ligaments, cartilage, brain, and heart. Many efforts have been made to apply MRI to study lung function and structure of both humans and animals. However, lung is a unique organ and is very different from other solid organs like the heart and brain due to …

Structure, Dynamics, And Regulation Of Collective Cell Migration, Andrew J. Loza

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Collective migration is the process by which cells organize individual motions to productively migrate as a group and plays a fundamental role in organism development, tissue regeneration, and cancer invasion. In development, coordinated migration facilitates the formation of complex organ structures and is required for proper dissemination of neural crest cells throughout an organism. After injury, this process allows breaches in epithelial layers to be repaired while maintaining tissue integrity, and in cancer, collective behavior enhances invasion of tumor cells into the surrounding tissue. Chapter 1 provides an introduction for the role of collective migration across an organism’s lifespan, the …

Neural Dynamics Tracking Subjective Cognitive Effort, John Andrew Westbrook

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

What patterns of brain activity reflect engagement with highly demanding cognitive tasks? How do these patterns relate to subjective, phenomenal effort? Answering these questions is critical to understanding what causes some people to experience cognitive tasks as more effortful than others. Subjective experience, in turn, is vital, with trait tendencies to exert effort having been linked to career and academic success. High subjective effort, as in schizophrenia and depression, can thus be extremely problematic. And yet, poor operational definitions have constrained research into basic questions about what neural dynamics track subjective effort. Here, a powerful, new behavioral economic operationalization is …

How Do The Largest And Smallest Baboon Species Compete For Reproductive Success In A Natural Hybrid Zone?, Monica Mcdonald

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines hybridization between two of the most divergent baboons, the kinda baboon (Papio kindae) and the grayfooted chacma baboon (P. ursinus griseipes), which differ markedly in body size and in some social behavior. Preliminary research revealed hybridization between males of the smaller species (kinda) and females of the larger species (grayfoots), but not the reverse. Using behavioral, phenotypic, and genetic data collected from a single hybrid group in Kafue National Park from May 2012 to July 2013, I evaluated whether a similar asymmetry was borne out in this group and whether phenotypic markers of species assignation matched genotypic …

Epigenomics Of Cell Fate In Development And Disease, Rebecca Faith Lowdon

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Epigenetic features at regulatory elements provide instructive cues for transcriptional regulation during development. However, the particular epigenetic alterations necessary for proper cell fate acquisition and differentiation are not well understood. This dissertation explores the epigenetic dynamics of regulatory elements during development and uses epigenome annotations to document inappropriate transcriptional regulation in disease. First, I summarize my contributions to developing a new algorithm for detecting differential DNA methylation, M&M. I report the application of the M&M algorithm to identify distinct classes of DNA methylation dynamics in surface ectoderm (SE) progenitor cells and SE-derived lineages: epigenome alterations, and differential DNA methylation in …

Discovery And Functional Implication Of Genetic Alterations Associated With Clonal Hematopoietic Expansion, Mingchao Xie

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Cancers, including hematologic malignancies, arise as a result of the stepwise accumulation of mutations. Some early mutations that potentially initiate clonal expansion might exist in patients many years before they develop obvious disease symptoms. Therefore, identifying and characterizing these early mutations are critical to understanding the genetic basis of tumorigenesis. Here, we analyzed blood-derived DNA sequencing data from 2,728 individuals without apparent hematologic malignancies and identified 77 blood-specific mutations in 31 cancer-associated genes. Importantly, 83% of all mutations occurred in 19 genes that have been previously linked to hematological malignancies, such as DNMT3A, TET2, JAK2, and ASXL1. By investigating these …

The Human Arf Tumor Suppressor Regulates Drosha Nucleolar Localization And Rrna Processing Activity, Sree Chandana Sridhar Yaddanapudi

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Ribosomes are vital to the survival of a cell, as they are directly responsible for the synthesis of proteins, which perform critical cellular functions. As such, majority of the energy reserves in a proliferating cell are expended towards synthesis of ribosomes. Cancer cells, with their enhanced proliferation rates, tend to upregulate ribosome biogenesis in order to meet the demand for increased protein synthesis necessary to sustain rapid proliferation. Many of the oncogenes and tumor suppressors known to be deregulated in cancers are capable of positively and negatively regulating ribosome biogenesis, respectively. The ARF tumor suppressor strongly suppresses ribosome biogenesis, particularly …

Selected Musical Works From 2013 - 2016, Christian M. Newman

Music ETDs

This manuscript is a collection of musical compositions written by Christian Newman while a graduate student at the University of New Mexico. Each musical work fulfills at least one composition portfolio requirement as stated in the 2012 – 2013 Music Theory/Composition Student Handbook: the basic requirements include a piece with large orchestration, a piece featuring the voice, a piece featuring electronics, and a collaborativepiece. Newman’s composition portfolio includes numerous works in addition to the requirements that illustrate the depth and consistency of his progress as a composer while a student in the program.

The pieces included in this collection are …

Scatterometry Of 50 Nm Half Pitch Features, Ruichao Zhu

Optical Science and Engineering ETDs

Metrology technologies are an essential adjunct to Integrated Circuit (I.C.) Semiconductor manufacturing. Scatterometry, an optical metrology, was chosen to measure 50 nm half pitch feature structures. A bread-board scatterometry system has been assembled to provide a non-contact, non-destructive, accurate and flexible measurement. A real-time, on-line scatterometry system has also been demonstrated and proven to provide a high throughput measurement.

Three different types of samples have been measured using the scatterometry setup. The wire-grid polarizer (WGP) sample has been made by Jet and Flash Nanoimprint Lithography with ~100 nm pitch and ~50 nm wide ~200 nm tall Al gratings on fused …

Utilization Of Harmonics Current In Single Phase System, H Al-Bayaty, M Ambroze, Mz Ahmed

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Comprehensive Applications Of Rice Husk Biomass, Zichao Wei

Master's Theses

Rice husks (RHs) have recently attracted high attention due to their potential for many applications, including construction materials, composite materials, adsorption materials, chemical production, and power generation. RHs are an appealing alternative because of their low cost and high silica content. So far, most researchers mainly focus on the utilization of one component (such as silica) while ignoring others. Comprehensive utilization of RH biomass and diversified products are the key goals for this research field.

In this thesis, the two main components of RHs, silica and lignocellulose, were extracted from RH biomass. The high tempered calcination served as the extraction …

Distributed And Scalable Video Analysis Architecture For Human Activity Recognition Using Cloud Services, Cody Wilson Eilar

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

This thesis proposes an open-source, maintainable system for detecting human activity in large video datasets using scalable hardware architectures. The system is validated by detecting writing and typing activities that were collected as part of the Advancing Out of School Learning in Mathematics and Engineering (AOLME) project. The implementation of the system using Amazon Web Services (AWS) is shown to be both horizontally and vertically scalable. The software associated with the system was designed to be robust so as to facilitate reproducibility and extensibility for future research.

The Development Of A Higher Education Biblical Foundation Course Design Model, Cynthia Gettys, Ph.D., Elaine Plemons, M.A.

The Journal of Biblical Foundations of Faith and Learning

Every course at a Seventh-day Adventist (Adventist) institution of higher education should be qualitatively different from the same or similar course at a secular institution. They should also be different from a similar course taught at another Christian university. There are fundamental differences in Adventist beliefs that should influence the way Adventists view life and through which the disciplines are approached to form a unique and distinctive Adventist biblical worldview. Professors come to academia as experts in their discipline; however, because they are not generally educated in teaching theory, they often bring little understanding of course development, let alone course …

The Development, Impact, And Long-Term Significance Of Wartime Propaganda On The Doughboys In World War I: Personal Appeal Vs.Moral Imperative, Maggie Woods

Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II

No abstract provided.

A Narrative Of Kingdom Culture, Verlyne Starr, M.A.

The Journal of Biblical Foundations of Faith and Learning

The purpose of this paper is to encourage Christian educators to use narrative as a pedagogical strategy to enhance the knowledge of and authenticate the values of the kingdom of God. Effective biblical narrative illustrates and emphasizes heaven’s culture, or kingdom culture, in contrast to earthly cultural norms. Narrative effectively suspends disbelief and doubt in the mind of the listener and can facilitate sharing the distinctive Seventh-day Adventist biblical worldview (biblical worldview). Stories help the audience make sense of complex concepts and discover unknown facts and perspectives. The communication of cultural norms through stories has normative ramifications on the listener’s …

History Highlights The Fundamental Limitations Of Science, Kenneth E. Caviness, Ph.D.

The Journal of Biblical Foundations of Faith and Learning

The idea that science is the only valid guide to truth is not itself a scientific statement, but rather the fundamental dogma of scientism. It is the purpose of this paper to show this claim to be unwarranted and scientism untenable, through a consideration of what science can and cannot say, illustrated from the history of science itself. Discussion of criteria for selecting among models making equivalent predictions is highlighted by examples of common reactions of the scientific community when new observational data conflict with well-accepted theory: to deny the observations, to adapt or replace the theory (often at the …

Contents

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

No abstract provided.

Contents

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

No abstract provided.

Recent Semantic Changes For The Term "Digital", Tore Brattli

Proceedings from the Document Academy

The term digital originates from the Latin word for finger/counting and has for many years been used to denote discrete signals and information, as opposed to analog. Discrete representation is an important principle, not only in computers, but also for (printed) text, music scores and even our genes. Recently however, the use of the term has increased and the meaning expanded to include almost everything related to information technology, e.g. digital natives and digital addiction. This study investigates the core principles of digital representation and compares this concept with the recent usage, with a focus on Norwegian media. The purpose …

Foundational Review On Information Seeking Behavior Of Legislators, Yousef T. Alfarhoud

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Legislators play a major role in the development of their countries. They suggest new bills and oversee the performance of the government. Legislators represent different parties, affiliations, and divisions.

Many studies have discussed the information seeking behavior of members of parliament. Information seeking behavior is a complex activity, requiring access to diverse information resources to deal with work, personal, and social information problems. In the case of legislators, such studies have discussed how members of parliament seek information that will eventually affect their decision-making process.

The aim of this review is to discuss the information needs and information seeking behavior …

High Fidelity Aeroelasticity Simulations Of Aircraft And Turbomachinery With Fully-Coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction, Jiaye Gan

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to develop high fidelity numerical methods to investigate the complex aeroelasticity fluid-structural problems of aircraft and aircraft engine turbomachinery. Unsteady 3D compressible Navier-Stokes equations in generalized coordinates are solved to simulate the complex fluid dynamic problems in aeroelasticity. An efficient and low diffusion E-CUSP (LDE) scheme designed to minimize numerical dissipation is used as a Riemann solver to capture shock waves in transonic and supersonic flows. An improved hybrid turbulence modeling, delayed detached eddy simulation (DDES), is implemented to simulate shock induced separation and rotating stall flows. High order accuracy (3rd and 5th order) …

Physical Therapy Management Of A Patient After Hemorrhagic Stroke Using A Task-Oriented Approach In A Skilled Nursing Facility: A Case Report, Kaela Fischer

Case Report Posters

Stroke is the leading cause of long term disability in the U.S.; nearly 800,000 Americans have a stroke each year. Subarachnoid hemorrhagic stroke occurs when one of the blood vessels in the brain bursts causing a release of blood which increases intracranial pressure. There is a lack of rehabilitation research in the skilled nursing setting for hemorrhagic stroke. The purpose of this case report is to describe the PT management, using a task-oriented approach, of a patient with a subarachnoid hemorrhagic stroke being treated in a skilled nursing setting.