Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Structural And Functional Study Of The Diheme Cytochrome C Subunit Of The Cytochrome Bc Complex In Heliobacterium Modesticaldum, Hair Yue

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is focused on the structural and functional study of the unique diheme cytochrome c subunit of the cytochrome bc complex in H. modesticaldum, and its application in determining the stoichiometry between H. modesticaldum's cytochrome bc complex and its reaction center. Heliobacterium modesticaldum is a gram positive, anaerobic, anoxygenic photoheterotrophic bacterium. Its cytochrome bc complex (Rieske/cyt b complex) has some similarities to cytochrome b6f complexes from cyanobacteria and chloroplasts, and also shares some characteristics of typical bacterial cytochrome bc1 complexes. One of the unique features of the heliobacterial cytochrome bc complex is the presence of a diheme cytochrome c …

Photosynthetic Chromophore Analogs And Biohybrid Antenna For Light Harvesting, Joseph William Springer

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Photosynthetic chromophore analogs are studied, starting with simplified structures and systematically building complexity to elucidate overarching design principles. The general goals are to achieve an artificial light-harvesting system that exhibits broad spectral coverage, including extension well into the photon rich red and near-infrared portions of the solar spectrum. For example, the spectral properties of chlorophylls are primarily a consequence of the 13¹-oxophorbine base macrocycle, with further tuning provided by the dramatic difference in auxochromic effects of a given substituent at the 7- versus 3-position, consistent with Gouterman's four-orbital model.

While light-harvesting antennas in photosynthetic bacteria generally have near-quantitative …

A Study On The Structure And Photodetachment Dynamics Of Copper Based Molecular Anions Using Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Nicholas Stephen Holtgrewe

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation represents a study of the effects of electron molecule interactions in the detachment and dissociation dynamics of copper based molecular anions. Results are presented on the photodetachment of small copper oxide CuO_n⁻ (n = 1, 2) and copper fluoride CuF _n⁻ (n = 1, 2) molecular anions. Effects of different resonances are explored using the photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) and the relative intensity variations in vibrational channel cross sections. The specific resonances studied include dipole bound resonances, in which the electric dipole moment of the neutral molecule captures the outgoing electron, and electronic Feshbach resonances, …

Various Geometric Aspects Of Condensed Matter Physics, Zhenyu Zhou

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Geometric aspect of condensed matter has arouse a lot of interests in recent years. The idea of Berry phase is highly appreciated in various systems. We explored the geometric features of two specific electron systems, fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states and d-wave superconducting states. For FQH states, we propose a two body operator which generates the geometric change of Laughlin state in the guiding center degrees of freedom on torus. This operator therefore generates the adiabatic evolution between Laughlin states on regular tori and the quasi-one-dimensional thin torus limit. For d-wave superconducting model, we study the local and topological features …

Biological Applications Of Extraordinary Electroconductance And Photovoltaic Effects In Inverse Extraordinary Optoconductance, Lauren C. Tran

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Extraordinary Electroconductance (EEC) sensor has been previously demonstrated to have an electric field sensitivity of 3.05V/cm in a mesoscopic-scale structure fabricated at the center of a parallel plate capacitor. In this thesis, we demonstrate the first successful application of EEC sensors as electrochemical detectors of protein binding and biological molecule concentration. Using the avidin derivative, captavidin, in complex with the vitamin biotin, the change in four-point measured resistance with fluid protein concentration of bare EEC sensors was shown to increase by a factor of four in the presence of biomolecular binding as compared to baseline. Calculations for approximate field …

Assessing Optic Neuritis In A Mouse Model Of Multiple Sclerosis With Diffusion Mr Imaging, Chia-Wen Chiang

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Optic neuritis (ON) is an early manifestation in patients of multiple sclerosis (MS), typically resulting in visual dysfunction. The inflammatory demyelination of the optic nerve in ON closely resembles pathologies of the rest of central nervous system (CNS) white matter in MS. Since accumulated axonal degeneration in MS was considered as the potential cause leading to permanent disability, correlating optic nerve pathology and visual function in ON could be a model system to investigate the relationship between functional outcome and neuropathology. It may also present a new way to reflect the disease progression in MS. Various MR techniques have been …