Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Discrete Sparse Fourier Hermite Approximations In High Dimensions, Ashley Prater

Mathematics - Dissertations

In this dissertation, the discrete sparse Fourier Hermite approximation of a function in a specified Hilbert space of arbitrary dimension is defined, and theoretical error bounds of the numerically computed approximation are proven. Computing the Fourier Hermite approximation in high dimensions suffers from the well-known curse of dimensionality. In short, as the ambient dimension increases, the complexity of the problem grows until it is impossible to numerically compute a solution. To circumvent this difficulty, a sparse, hyperbolic cross shaped set, that takes advantage of the natural decaying nature of the Fourier Hermite coefficients, is used to serve as an index …

Early Permian Seawater From The Delta18o Record Of Fossil Bivalves: Seasonality And A Latitudinal Gradient, James Andrew Beard

Earth & Environmental Sciences - Theses

The transition from a glaciated world to one that was ice-free makes the early Permian a time interval that in many ways mirrors the present, and hence there is great interest in constraining paleoclimate conditions over that transition. A common method for estimating ancient temperatures uses the oxygen isotope composition of marine carbonate, but this approach becomes significantly more complicated prior to the Cretaceous due to uncertainties about diagenesis and the isotopic composition of seawater, which has been hypothesized to be more depleted than during the Cenozoic. I use stable isotope compositions of sequentially microsampled accretionary calcite from fossil bivalves …

Mechanism Of Action And Gold Nanoparticle Delivery Of Pt(Iv) Prodrugs Of Cisplatin, Yi Shi

Chemistry - Dissertations

The antitumor effects of platinum(IV) complexes, considered prodrugs for cisplatin, are believed to be due to biological reduction of Pt(IV) to Pt(II), with the reduction products binding to DNA and other cellular targets. In this work we used pBR322 DNA to capture the products of reduction of oxoplatin, c,t,c-[PtCl₂(OH)₂(NH₃)₂], 2, and a carboxylate-modified analog, c,t,c-[PtCl₂(OH)(O₂CCH₂CH₂CO₂H)(NH₃)₂], 3, by ascorbic acid (AsA) or glutathione (GSH). Since carbonate plays a significant role in the speciation of platinum …

The Path To An Orally Administered Protein Therapeutic For The Treatment Of Diabetes Mellitus, Susan Clardy James

Chemistry - Dissertations

Protein therapeutics like insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 analogues are currently used as injectable medications for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. An orally administered protein therapeutic is predicted to increase patient adherence to medication and bring a patient closer to metabolic norms through direct effects on hepatic glucose production. The major problem facing oral delivery of protein therapeutics is gastrointestinal tract hydrolysis/proteolysis and the inability to passage the enterocyte. Herein we report the potential use of vitamin B₁₂ for the oral delivery of protein therapeutics.

We first investigated the ability of insulin to accommodate the attachment of B₁₂ at …

Hydrothermal Chemistry Of The M(I,Ii)/Paha/Anion System, Kari Ann Darling

Chemistry - Dissertations

This research encompasses the detailed investigation of the design and synthesis of metal organic framework (MOF) materials involving the M(I,II)/ polyazaheterocycle/anion system in order to expand our understanding of the principles which render the chemistry more controllable and predictable. In addition, this research investigates the development of properties in these classes of compounds. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that hydrothermal reaction conditions of stoichiometry, pH, and temperature can influence the identity of the products.

The structural versatility of the M(I,II)/polyazaheterocycle/anion system for M = Cu(I,II), Co(II), Ni (II), Zn (II), and Cd(II) and where the anion is F^-, …

Nucleophilic Carbon-Carbon Bond-Forming Reactions Of 2-Methylenetetrahydropyrans, Laura Jean Bateman

Chemistry - Dissertations

Reactions with 2-methylenetetrahydropyrans are underutilized in the literature, especially with respect to general methods demonstrating their nucleophilic nature. This work provides three general methods toward the synthesis of 2-β-oxygenated pyranyl substrates, which are key structural components of many biologically active polyketides and natural products.

The use of exocyclic enol ethers as nucleophiles was first demonstrated as a general process in three-component coupling reactions with secondary nucleophiles. The 2-β-hydroxy tetrahydropyran products were obtained in good to excellent yields through promotion with stoichiometric levels of titanium(IV) chloride at reduced temperatures. Only activated aldehydes or ketones worked as efficient coupling partners for this …

Synthesis, Design, And Biological Evaluation Of Inhibitors And Activators Of Src Homology 2 Domain-Containing Inositol Phosphatase (Ship) And Synthetic Studies Of Apicularen A And Maoecrystal V, Dennis Racca Viernes

Chemistry - Dissertations

This dissertation involves work both on the syntheses of small molecules with potential therapeutic applications and synthetic studies on natural products with unusual core skeletons.

The first part of this work involves the synthesis, design, and biological evaluation of aminosteroids as inhibitors for the SH2-containing inositol phosphatase 1 (SHIP1). SHIP1, a 145 kDa protein, is involved in regulating the formation of new blood cells. High- throughput screening identified several SHIP inhibitors including NSC23922, a mixture of 3a- and 3β-aminocholestane. Both 3a- and 3β-aminocholestane were synthesized from dihdyrocholesterol and the 3a- form was verified as …

A Search For Wimp Dark Matter Using An Optimized Chi-Square Technique On The Final Data From The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment (Cdms Ii)., Manungu Joseph Kiveni

Physics - Dissertations

During the last two decades, cosmology has become a precision observational science thanks (in part) to the incredible number of experiments performed to better understand the composition of the universe. The large amount of data accumulated strongly indicates that the bulk of the universe’s matter is in the form of nonbaryonic matter that does not interact electromagnetically. Combined evidence from the dynamics of galaxies and galaxy clusters confirms that most of the mass in the universe is not composed of any known form of matter. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background, big bang nucleosynthesis and many other experiments indicate that …

The Clar Structure Of Fullerenes, Elizabeth Jane Hartung

Mathematics - Dissertations

A fullerene is a 3-regular plane graph consisting only of pentagonal and hexagonal faces. Fullerenes are designed to model carbon molecules. The Clar number and Fries number are two parameters that are related to the stability of carbon molecules. We introduce chain decompositions, a new method to find lower bounds for the Clar and Fries numbers. In Chapter 3, we define the Clar structure for a fullerene, a less general decomposition designed to compute the Clar number for classes of fullerenes. We use these new decompositions to understand the structure of fullerenes and achieve several results. In Chapter 4, …

Geochemical And 40ar/39ar Constraints On The Evolution Of Volcanism In The Woodlark Rift, Papua New Guinea, Joseph Paul Catalano

Earth & Environmental Sciences - Theses

The tectonic mechanisms producing Pliocene to active volcanism in eastern Papua New Guinea (PNG) have been debated for decades . In order to assess mechanisms that produce volcanism in the Woodlark Rift, we evaluate the evolution of volcanism in eastern PNG using 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology and whole rock geochemistry.

Active volcanism in southeastern Papua New Guinea occurs on the Papuan Peninsula (Mt. Lamington, Mt. Victory and Waiwa), in the Woodlark Rift (Dobu Island, SE Goodenough Island, and Western Fergusson Island), and in the Woodlark Basin . In the Woodlark Basin, seafloor spreading is active and decompression melting of the upper mantle …

Investigating The Utility Of Detrital Mineral Microchemistry And Radiogenic Isotope Compositions As Provenance Discriminators, Jack Hietpas

Earth & Environmental Sciences - Dissertations

The provenance of clastic sediments remains one of the key tools for understanding the complex dynamic history of the Earth. Detritus shed from ancient orogens may be the only evidence available for determining the timing, evolution, paleogeography, and existence of tectonic events active over the 4.56 Ga of Earth history. The focus of this dissertation research is to assess the strengths and limitations of existing, as well as novel, tools for determining the provenance of siliciclastic sediments.

The utility of detrital monazite crystallization ages was investigated as a provenance indicator in both modern and ancient sedimentary systems. The results from …

Sillica Nanoporous Materials Adsorption And Release Study, Gang Wang

Chemistry - Dissertations

The lower efficiency of the current common ways of delivering drugs to humans like oral administration and injection make it necessary to find more efficient delivery systems. In this regard, a class of nanostructured materials called mesoporous silicates such as MCM-41, SBA-15 has attracted the attention of many scientists as drug delivery vehicles for their outstanding features like high surface area, high porosity, well-ordered, tunable nanometer pores and "non-cytotoxic" properties.

In this dissertation, comparative investigations of the adsorption capacity and drug release properties of these materials whose surfaces were functionalized with judiciously chosen organic groups via either post-grafting or co-condensation …

Covalent Modification That Enhances Protein Properties And Functions And Folds Random Coil Into Alpha-Helix, Deepali Prashar

Chemistry - Dissertations

Understanding the fundamental science of aggregation and surface adsorption of proteins is critical for developing protein-based drugs, understanding aggregation-induced diseases and for preventing biofouling that impacts a wide range of industries. In spite of the advances in sensitive and high-throughput analytical methods, the commercialization of protein drugs has been impeded by poor solubility, inevitable aggregation, and difficulty in purification. The primary aim of this dissertation is to modify proteins covalently to induce folding in random coil sequences, prevent aggregation, surface adsorption and for increasing the thermal stability against aggregation of proteins.

The first chapter describes the chemistry for modifying the …

Linear Sigma Models In Qcd And S3 Symmetry For Neutrinos, Muhammad Naeem Shahid

Physics - Dissertations

This thesis has two parts with different topics in particle physics. In part I, we consider various linear sigma models and their applications to scalar mesons. It is shown that the tree amplitude for ππ scattering in the minimal linear sigma model has an exact expression which induces an infinite geometric series in which the pattern for both the I = 0 and I = 2 s-wave scattering lengths to orders $p^2$, $p^4$ and $p^6$ seems to agree with chiral perturbation theory predictions. The model is then gauged to study the mass differences between the vector meson and the axial …

Microstrip Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices For Quantum Information Science, Michael Paul Defeo

Physics - Dissertations

Quantum-limited amplification in the microwave frequency range is of both practical and fundamental importance. The weak signals corresponding to single microwave photons require substantial amplification to resolve. When probing quantum excitations of the electromagnetic field, the substantial noise produced by standard amplifiers dominates the signal, therefore, several averages must be accumulated to achieve even a modest signal-to-noise ratio. Even worse, the back-action on the system due to amplifier noise can hasten the decay of the quantum state. In recent years, low-noise microwave-frequency amplification has been advancing rapidly and one field that would benefit greatly from this is circuit quantum electrodynamics …

Measurement Of Neutron Radius In Lead By Parity Violating Scattering Flash Adc Daq, Ahmed Zafar

Physics - Dissertations

This dissertation reports the experiment PREx, a parity violation experiment which is designed to measure the neutron radius in ²⁰⁸Pb. PREx is performed in hall A of Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility from March 19th to June 21st. Longitudionally polarized electrons at energy 1 GeV scattered at and agnle of θl_ab = 5.8° from the Lead target. Beam corrected pairty violaing counting rate asymmetry is (A_corr = 594 ± 50(stat) ± 9(syst))ppb at Q² = 0.009068GeV^2.

This dissertation also presents the details of Flash ADC Data Acquisition(FADC DAQ) system …

Effective Field Theories In Cosmology, Riccardo Penco

Physics - Dissertations

During the last 20 years, a large amount of detailed cosmological observations have promoted cosmology to the rank of high-precision science. Remarkably, all the observations currently available can be accounted for by assuming that (i) the universe is approximately homogeneous and isotropic on large scales, (ii) gravitational interactions are described by General Relativity with a non-vanishing cosmological constant and (ii) 85% of the matter content of the universe is in the form of dark matter, a presently unknown type of matter which interacts with ordinary matter only gravitationally. Current theoretical efforts are focused on …

Development Of Spect And Ct Tomographic Image Reconstruction, Levon Orion Vogelsang

Physics - Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the advancement of statistically-based iterative reconstruction algorithms and protocols for both SPECT and micro CT data. Major contributions of this work to SPECT reconstruction include formulation and implementation of fully three-dimensional voxel-based system matrix in parallel-beam, fan-beam, and cone-beam collimator geometries while modeling the process of attenuation, system resolution and sensitivity. This is achieved by casting rays through a volume of voxels and using ray-voxel intersection lengths to determine approximate volume contributions. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of reconstructed Monte Carlo data sets show that this is a very effective and efficient …

Using Emerging Methods To Investigate Stream And Groundwater Interaction At Multiple Spatial Scales, Martin Ashley Briggs

Earth & Environmental Sciences - Dissertations

Fundamentally, streams represent physical conduits of water across gradients, yet a more holistic definition reveals stream corridors support a mosaic of living communities in a blend of surface and ground waters. The physical and biogeochemical patterns these dynamic systems support affect natural habitat and water quality, directly impacting the human experience. Our understanding of stream and groundwater interactions is at a time of rapid expansion due to an increase in environmental awareness, accountability, and emerging techniques which can be used to decipher underlying controls and develop predictive relationships. Water temperature has been used as a qualitative environmental tracer during the …

The Role Of Magmatism In The Catalina Metamorphic Core Complex, Arizona: Insights From Integrated Thermochronology, Gravity And Aeromagnetic Data, Jessica Terrien

Earth & Environmental Sciences - Dissertations

The footwall of the Catalina MCC located within the Basin and Range Province has been intruded by several magmatic suites. Samples were collected from the Wilderness suite sills, the most voluminous suite. U/Pb data from zircon indicate that the Wilderness suite sills were emplaced during two separate phases of magmatism, the first at ~55 Ma and the second at ~45 Ma with additional evidence of zircon growth at <40 Ma.

40Ar/39Ar data from the Wilderness suite sills indicate that the majority of the older 40Ar/39Ar apparent ages from both potassium feldspar and mica were obtained from the structurally higher sills in the …

Geochemical And Geochronological Constraints On The Origin And Evolution Of Rocks In The Active Woodlark Rift Of Papua New Guinea, Nasser Alexander Zirakparvar

Earth & Environmental Sciences - Dissertations

Tectonically active regions provide important natural laboratories to glean information that is applicable to developing a better understanding of the geologic record. One such area of the World is Papua New Guinea, much of which is situated in an active and transient plate boundary zone. The focus of this PhD research is to develop a better understanding of rocks in the active Woodlark Rift, situated in Papua New Guinea's southernmost reaches. In this region, rifting and lithospheric rupture is occurring within a former subduction complex where there is a history of continental subduction and (U)HP metamorphism. The lithostratigraphic units exposed …

Design And Synthesis Of Solid State Materials Constructed From Polyoxomolybdate Clusters, Stephanie Jones

Chemistry - Dissertations

This work encompasses detailed investigations of the synthesis and structures of polyoxomolybdate materials. The design and synthesis of hybrid organic-inorganic materials constructed from various anionic polyoxomolybdate units and cationic secondary metal-ligand units, and the synthesis and ligand-exchange capacity of the giant polyoxomolybdate cluster Mo-132 are described. These studies aim to increase our understanding of the formation and physiochemical properties of these materials, and thereby aid in the ability to control and predict their structural chemistry.

The analysis of a number of structural determinants in the oxomolybdenum-organodiphosphonate system aims to expand the current knowledge of this family of materials. We have …

Synthesis And Structural Studies Of Calcium And Magnesium Phosphinate And Phosphonate Compounds, Victoria Naa Kwale Bampoh

Chemistry - Dissertations

The work presented herein describes synthetic methodologies leading to the design of a wide array of magnesium and calcium based phosphinate and phosphonates with possible applications as bone scaffolding materials or additives to bone cements. The challenge to the chemistry of the alkaline earth phosphonate target compounds includes poor solubility of compounds, and poorly understood details on the control of the metal's coordination environment. Hence, less is known on phosphonate based alkaline earth metal organic frameworks as compared to transition metal phosphonates. Factors governing the challenges in obtaining crystalline, well-defined magnesium and calcium solids lie in the large metal diameters, …

Physics On Noncommutative Spacetimes, Pramod Padmanabhan

Physics - Dissertations

The structure of spacetime at the Planck scale remains a mystery to this date with a lot of insightful attempts to unravel this puzzle. One such attempt is the proposition of a `pointless' structure for spacetime at this scale. This is done by studying the geometry of the spacetime through a noncommutative algebra of functions defined on it. We call such spacetimes 'noncommutative spacetimes'. This dissertation probes physics on several such spacetimes. These include compact noncommutative spaces called fuzzy spaces and noncompact spacetimes. The compact examples we look at are the fuzzy sphere and the fuzzy Higg's manifold. The noncompact …

Geometries In Soft Matter, Zhenwei Yao

Physics - Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Number Of Ways To Write N As A Sum Of ` Regular Figurate Numbers, Seth Jacob Rothschild

Honors Capstone Projects - All

See Document for Abstract

Synthesis Of Novel Alkaline Earth Tosylate Complexes Through Donor Studies, Adam J. Brooks

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Salt metathesis has become a critical reaction pathway in organometallic chemistry; however, for alkaline earth metals this process is hindered by the need of highly pure and expensive metal iodides as starting materials. This contribution highlights recent attempts to identify inexpensive reagents for salt metathesis. Alkaline earth-tosylates can be prepared cost effectively using p-toluenesulfonic acid in one-pot reactions in water. The coordinated water molecules can be removed by gentle heating under vacuum. The anhydrous tosylates, however, have major solubility limitations as the result of extensive aggregation networks. The goal of this study was to increase the solubility of the tosylates …