Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Random Variable Spaces: Mathematical Properties And An Extension To Programming Computable Functions, Mohammed Kurd-Misto

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

This dissertation aims to extend the boundaries of Programming Computable Functions (PCF) by introducing a novel collection of categories referred to as Random Variable Spaces. Originating as a generalization of Quasi-Borel Spaces, Random Variable Spaces are rigorously defined as categories where objects are sets paired with a collection of random variables from an underlying measurable space. These spaces offer a theoretical foundation for extending PCF to natively handle stochastic elements.

The dissertation is structured into seven chapters that provide a multi-disciplinary background, from PCF and Measure Theory to Category Theory with special attention to Monads and the Giry Monad. The …

Elements Of Functional Analysis And Applications, Chengting Yin

MSU Graduate Theses

Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis that studies vector spaces with a limit structure (such as a norm or inner product), and functions or operators defined on these spaces. Functional analysis provides a useful framework and abstract approach for some applied problems in variety of disciplines. In this thesis, we will focus on some basic concepts and abstract results in functional analysis, and then demonstrate their power and relevance by solving some applied problems under the framework. We will give the definitions and provide some examples of some different spaces (such as metric spaces, normed spaces and inner …

Fabrication And Application Of Functional Polymer-Protein Coreshell Nanoparticles, Lin Lu

Theses and Dissertations

The study of polymer-protein nanoparticles is of increasing interest due to their various potential applications in biosensing, imaging, bioseparations, gene and drug delivery, etc. Synthetic polymers can be tailored with different functional groups and properties, therefore, they can serve as platforms to impart proteins with additional features and assist proteins to better perform biological functions. In this dissertation work, we were mainly focusing on the preparation of polymer-protein core-shell nanoparticles by synthesizing new functional polymers and assembling them with proteins for different applications. In chapter 1, a pyridine grafted diblock copolymer P(CL-g-Py)-b-PCL was prepared through ROP and CuAAC reactions. …

Post-Polymerization Functionalization Of Poly (Ethylene Oxide)–Poly (Β-6-Heptenolactone) Diblock Copolymers To Tune Properties And Self-Assembly, Elizabeth Gillies, Brooke M. Raycraft, Jarret Macdonald

Chemistry Publications

Polyester-based amphiphilic block copolymers and their nanoassemblies are of significant interest for a wide range of applications due to the degradability of the polyester block. However, the commonly used polyesters lack functional groups on their backbones, limiting the possibilities to chemically modify these polymers. Described here are new poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)–poly(β-6-heptenolactone) (PHEL) block copolymers having pendant alkenes at each repeat unit on the PHEL block. First, the self-assembly of these block copolymers in aqueous solution was studied and it was found that they formed solid nanoparticles and vesicles depending on the relative block lengths. Next the alkene moieties of the …

Structural And Functional Studies Of Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide And Streptolysin S Biosynthesis Proteins From Streptococcus Pyogenes, William T. Booth

Theses and Dissertations

Invasive infections caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, also known as Group A Strep (GAS), results in approximately 600,000 deaths annually. With evidence of antibiotic-resistant strains of this bacterium on the rise, there is a need for the identification of new drug targets to control these infections. In our approach we target the quinolinate-salvage pathway (QSP) and the streptolysin S (SLS) biosynthesis pathway. The QSP provides a secondary pathway for NAD+ biosynthesis within this organism; the SLS pathway leads to the formation of a quorum sensing molecule (SLS). We hypothesize that inhibition of the pathways will lead to GAS cell death or …

Ligand Engineering For Advanced Functional Composite Materials, Michael H. Bell

Theses and Dissertations

The surface modification of solid inorganic substrates for thermodynamic compatibility with organic polymer media has become an important area of study for the development of advanced functional composite materials. Polymer ligands covalently bound to the substrate surface have been an effective means to achieve said compatibility. Current investigations focus on multifunctional ligand engineering where multiple chemically distinct species, each with specific functionality, can be implemented on the filler surface simultaneously. A combination of matrix compatible polymer brushes and conjugated charge trapping moieties attached to filler surfaces are investigated for enhancements in dielectric properties. Presented herein are the synthesis and characterization …

The Rapid Formation Of Functional Monolayers On Silicon Under Mild Conditions, Simone Ciampi, Erwann Luais, Michael James, Moinul Choudhury, Nadim Darwish, J Gooding

Michael C James

We report on an exceedingly mild chemical functionalization of hydrogen-terminated Si(100) with unactivated and unprotected bifunctional α,ω-dialkynes. Monolayer formation occurs rapidly in the dark, and at room temperature, from dilute solutions of an aromatic-conjugated acetylene. The method addresses the poor reactivity of p-type substrates under mild conditions. We suggest the importance of several factors, including an optimal orientation for electron transfer between the adsorbate and the Si surface, conjugation of the acetylenic function with a π-system, as well as the choice of a solvent system that favors electron transfer and screens Coulombic interactions between surface holes and electrons. The passivated …

Pre-Differentiation Of Human Neural Stem Cells Into Gabaergic Neurons Prior To Transplant Results In Greater Repopulation Of The Damaged Brain And Accelerates Functional Recovery After Transient Ischemic Stroke, Hima C. S Abeysinghe, Laita Bokhari, Anita F. Quigley, Mahesh A. Choolani, Jerry Chan, Gregory J. Dusting, Jeremy M. Crook, Nao R. Kobayashi, Carli Roulston

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

2015 Abeysinghe et al. Introduction: Despite attempts to prevent brain injury during the hyperacute phase of stroke, most sufferers end up with significant neuronal loss and functional deficits. The use of cell-based therapies to recover the injured brain offers new hope. In the current study, we employed human neural stem cells (hNSCs) isolated from subventricular zone (SVZ), and directed their differentiation into GABAergic neurons followed by transplantation to ischemic brain. Methods: Pre-differentiated GABAergic neurons, undifferentiated SVZ-hNSCs or media alone were stereotaxically transplanted into the rat brain (n=7/group) 7 days after endothelin-1 induced stroke. Neurological outcome was assessed by neurological deficit …

One-Dimensional Manganese-Cobalt Oxide Nanofibres As Bi-Functional Cathode Catalysts For Rechargeable Metal-Air Batteries, Kyu-Nam Jung, Soomin Hwang, Min-Sik Park, Ki Jae Kim, Jae-Geun Kim, S X. Dou, Jung Ho Kim, Jongwon Lee

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Rechargeable metal-air batteries are considered a promising energy storage solution owing to their high theoretical energy density. The major obstacles to realising this technology include the slow kinetics of oxygen reduction and evolution on the cathode (air electrode) upon battery discharging and charging, respectively. Here, we report non-precious metal oxide catalysts based on spinel-type manganese-cobalt oxide nanofibres fabricated by an electrospinning technique. The spinel oxide nanofibres exhibit high catalytic activity towards both oxygen reduction and evolution in an alkaline electrolyte. When incorporated as cathode catalysts in Zn-air batteries, the fibrous spinel oxides considerably reduce the discharge-charge voltage gaps (improve the …

Multifunctional, Multimaterial Particle Fabrication Via An In-Fiber Fluid Instability, Joshua Kaufman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spherical micro- and nano-particles have found widespread use in many various applications from paint to cosmetics to medicine. Due to the multiplicity of desired particle material(s), structure, size range, and functionality, many approaches exist for generating such particles. Bottom-up methods such as chemical synthesis have a high yield and work with a wide range of materials; however, these processes typically lead to large polydispersity and cannot produce structured particles. Top-down approaches such as microfluidics overcome the polydispersity issue and may produce a few different structures in particles, but at lower rates and only at the micro-scale. A method that can …

A New Strategy For Integrating Abundant Oxygen Functional Groups Into Carbon Felt Electrode For Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries, Ki Jae Kim, Seung-Wook Lee, Taeeun Yim, Jae-Geun Kim, Jang Wook Choi, Jung Ho Kim, Min-Sik Park, Young-Jun Kim

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

The effects of surface treatment combining corona discharge and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the electrochemical performance of carbon felt electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have been thoroughly investigated. A high concentration of oxygen functional groups has been successfully introduced onto the surface of the carbon felt electrodes by a specially designed surface treatment, which is mainly responsible for improving the energy efficiency of VRFBs. In addition, the wettability of the carbon felt electrodes also can be significantly improved. The energy efficiency of the VRFB cell employing the surface modified carbon felt electrodes is improved by 7% at high …

Structural And Functional Characterization Of The Ldp3 (Vhz) Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase, Vyacheslav I. Kuznetsov

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Protein phosphorylation is as an important regulatory mechanism that controls a large number of physiologically important cellular processes. Proteins are phosphorylated on aliphatic (serine and threonine) as well aromatic (histidine and tyrosine) residues predominantly located on sterically accessible loops. Phosphorylation affects three- dimensional structures of proteins resulting in conformational changes which activate or deactivate enzymatic functions. Because of the ability of protein phosphorylation to modulate a multitude of diverse cellular processes, it became an appealing and promising target for drug therapy.

Attachment of phosphate is accomplished by kinases, whereas the removal of the phosphoryl group is performed by protein phosphatases. …

Statistical Analysis And Modeling Of Brain Tumor Data: Histology And Regional Effects, Keshav Prasad Pokhrel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Comprehensive statistical models for non-normally distributed cancerous tumor sizes are

of prime importance in epidemiological studies, whereas a long term forecasting models

can facilitate in reducing complications and uncertainties of medical progress. The statistical

forecasting models are critical for a better understanding of the disease and supply

appropriate treatments. In addition such a model can be used for the allocations of budgets,

planning, control and evaluations of ongoing efforts of prevention and early detection of

the diseases.

In the present study, we investigate the effects of age, demography, and race on primary

brain tumor sizes using quantile regression methods to …

An Overview - Functional Nanomaterials For Lithium Rechargeable Batteries, Supercapacitors, Hydrogen Storage, And Fuel Cells, Hua-Kun Liu

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

There is tremendous worldwide interest in functional nanostructured materials, which are the advanced nanotechnology materials with internal or external dimensions on the order of nanometers. Their extremely small dimensions make these materials unique and promising for clean energy applications such as lithium ion batteries, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage, fuel cells, and other applications. This paper will highlight the development of new approaches to study the relationships between the structure and the physical, chemical, and electrochemical properties of functional nanostructured materials. The Energy Materials Research Programme at the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, the University of Wollongong, has been focused on …

Objective Functional Capacity Assessment Using Inertial Sensor, David Stirling, Fazel Naghdy, Golshah Naghdy, M. Field, R. Arunglabi, D. Kilpatrick

Associate Professor Golshah Naghdy

Functional capacity assessment is carried out to measure the functional limitations of a subject. While the clinical assessment can be validated against various standards, quantifying the assessment and achieving an objective, repeatable, and reliable score in the clinical assessment is a challenge. Current methods are subjective. The Progressive Iso inertial Lifting Evaluation (PILE) is a lifting test developed for functional capacity assessment. The primary aim of this study is to improve reliability and repeatability of PILE through objective measurement of patient's performance. This is achieved by recording and analysing the movement of a patient by a motion capture system based …

Methane Activation On Fe4 Cluster: A Density Functional Theory Study, Qiao Sun, Zhen Li, Meng Wang, Aijun Du, Sean C. Smith

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

We report a comprehensive theoretical study on reaction of methane by Fe₄ cluster. This Letter gains insight into the mechanism of the reaction and indicate the Fe₄ cluster has strong catalytic effect on the activation reaction of methane. In detail, the results show the cleavage of the first C-H bond is both an energetically and kinetically favourable process and the breaking of the second C-H is the rate-determining step. Moreover, our Letter demonstrates that the different cluster size of iron can not only determine the catalytic activity of methane but also control the product selectivity.

Position Preference And Diffusion Path Of An Oxygen Ion In Apatite-Type Lanthanum Silicate La9.33si6o26: A Density Functional Study, Ting Liao, Taizo Sasaki, Shigeru Suehara, Ziqi Sun

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Using density functional theory, we investigated the position preference and diffusion mechanisms of interstitial oxygen ions in lanthanum silicate La_9.33Si₆O₂₆, which is an apatite-structured oxide and a promising candidate electrolyte material for solid oxide fuel cells. The reported lanthanum vacancies were explicitly taken into account by theoretically determining their arrangement with a supercell model. The most stable structures and the formation energies of oxygen interstitials were determined for each charged state. It was found that the double-negatively charged state is stable over a wide range of the Fermi level, and that the excess oxygen …

A Species-Conserving Genetic Algorithm For Multimodal Optimization, Michael Scott Brown

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The problem of multimodal functional optimization has been addressed by much research producing many different search techniques. Niche Genetic Algorithms is one area that has attempted to solve this problem. Many Niche Genetic Algorithms use some type of radius. When multiple optima occur within the radius, these algorithms have a difficult time locating them. Problems that have arbitrarily close optima create a greater problem. This paper presents a new Niche Genetic Algorithm framework called Dynamic-radius Species-conserving Genetic Algorithm. This new framework extends existing Genetic Algorithm research.

This new framework enhances an existing Niche Genetic Algorithm in two ways. As the …

Functional Relationships Between Vegetation, Channel Morphology, And Flow Efficiency In An Alluvial (Anabranching) River, John D. Jansen, Gerald C. Nanson

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Water and sediment flux interactions are examined in Magela Creek, an alluvial (anabranching) sand bed river in the northern Australian tropics. Dense riparian vegetation stabilizes the channels and floodplains thereby preventing erosional instability at flow depths up to 6.2 times bankfull and discharges up to 15 times bankfull. Narrow anabranching channels characterize > 92% of the alluvial reach and transport bed load more efficiently than short reaches of wide single-channels, yet overall 29 +/- 12% of the bed load is sequestered and the average vertical accretion rate is 0.41 +/- 0.17 mm yr (1) along the 12 km study reach. The …

Removal Of Nonconstant Daily Variation By Means Of Wavelet And Functional Data Analysis, I. Maslova, P. Kokoszka, Jan Josef Sojka, L. Zhu

All Physics Faculty Publications

We propose a novel approach based on wavelet and functional principal component analysis to produce a cleaner index of the intensity of the symmetric ring current. We use functional canonical correlations to show that the new approach more effectively extracts symmetric global features. The main result of our work is the construction of a new index, which is an improved version of the existing wavelet-based index (WISA) and the old Dst index, in which a constant daily variation is removed. Here, we address the fact that the daily component varies from day to day and construct a “cleaner” index by …

The Vibrational Spectra Of Protonated Water Clusters: A Benchmark For Self-Consistent-Charge Density-Functional Tight Binding, Haibo Yu, Qiang Cui

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Proton transfers are involved in many chemical processes in solution and in biological systems. Although water molecules have been known to transiently facilitate proton transfers, the possibility that water molecules may serve as the “storage site” for proton in biological systems has only been raised in recent years. To characterize the structural and possibly the dynamic nature of these protonated water clusters, it is important to use effective computational techniques to properly interpret experimental spectroscopic measurements of condensed phase systems. Bearing this goal in mind, we systematically benchmark the self-consistent-charge density-functional tight-binding �SCC-DFTB� method for the description of vibrational spectra …

The Effect Of Oxidation On The Structure Of Styryl-Substituted Sexithiophenes: A Resonance Raman Spectroscopy And Density Functional Theory Study, Tracy Clarke, Keith Gordon, David L. Officer, Daina K. Grant

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

The structures and vibrational properties of a series of styryl-substituted sexithiophenes and their charged species have been examined using resonance Raman spectroscopy in conjunction with density functional theory calculations. The calculated geometries of the radical cations and dications indicate that the quinoidal charged defects are more strongly localized in the center of the thiophene backbone than is observed in other sexithiophenes. This defect confinement, induced by the positions of the styryl substituents, is particularly evident in the dication species. However, the defect confinement weakens when alkoxy groups are added onto the phenyl rings by causing the extension of the charged …

Distributed Polarizability Analysis For Para-Nitroaniline And Meta-Nitroaniline: Functional Group And Charge-Transfer Contributions, Marc In Het Panhuis, R W. Munn, P L A Popelier

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

Topological partitioning of electronic properties is used to investigate the polarizability of para-nitroaniline and meta-nitroaniline. The distributed polarizabilities for atoms are combined into total local or generalized distributed contributions for the amino, ring, and nitro functional groups; generalized distributed group contributions have not been calculated before. The local group contributions are transferable between the two molecules only when charge transfer is suppressed, but the generalized distributed contributions prove surprisingly similar in the two molecules, apparently because they treat charge-transfer contributions explicitly.

Sustainability: Myth And Reality, Kai Lee

Sustainable Use of the West's Water (Summer Conference, June 12-14)

23 pages (includes illustrations).

Contains references.

Functional Analysis Techniques In Numerical Analysis, Kenneth D. Schoenfeld

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In this paper we will consider the problem of selecting the best, or optimal, numerical method of solution to a given mathematical problem. The admissible numerical methods will be a clearly defined set for each problem. Obviously, in order to find the best method in this set, we must have a clear mathematical formulation of just what "best" means; this will be the intent of Theorem 0.1. Intuitively, the best method will be understood to be the one which minimizes the maximum possible error where this error will be measured in terms of the norm of a given Hilbert space. …