In modern medicine, physicians destroy
otherwise healthy tissues in patients’ bodies
because of the lack of site-target specificity
and sensitivity in detecting and attacking
cancerous cells. Many cancer patients are
left with the difficult task of weighing the
benefits against the harm of undergoing
current cancer treatments. Members of the...
The effects of 13 nm Au colloid and 10 nm Ag
colloid on the growth of the yeast species
Saccharomyces cerevisiae were compared
to control samples cultured in a growth
media of yeast extract, bacto peptone, and
dextrose (YPD) to determine the toxicity of
nanoparticles. Growth curves were generated
for...
Transmission and reflection diffraction
gratings were fabricated by micropatterning
polymers on transparent substrates and
drop-coating polymers onto etched silicon
wafers. Exposure of these gratings to three
nerve toxin mimics at very low concentrations
resulted in mimic sorption by the polymers,
changing the polymer’s refractive
index. As a result, the grating’s...
Feedback-controlled lithography (FCL)
enables atomically precise patterning of
individual molecules on the technologically
significant Si(100)-2 x 1:H surface. However,
because it is performed in an ultrahigh vacuum
(UHV) environment, FCL has thus far
been restricted to surface chemistries that
can be delivered in the gas phase. The present
research attempts...
This research project explores two different
processes that can be used to pattern
organic molecules on silicon. In the first
process, hydrogen-terminated silicon surfaces
were anodized in nanometer scale with
a contact-mode atomic force microscope
(AFM). Anodization was done by applying a
positive bias voltage to the surface with
respect...
Recent research suggests that ultraviolet
illumination is essential for the creation of
monolayers of Undecylenic Acid Methyl
Ester (UDAME), as it is believed that the
UV illumination initiates the radical-chain
polymerization. Samples created without
UV illumination, however, also show signs
of a monolayer. In this study, samples were
analyzed using...
The development and applications of
organic/DNA molecules for the use of DNA
detection systems are reported here. In particular,
two different hybrids are synthesized:
DNA/polymer hybrids and small-molecule
DNA hybrids. DNA/polymer hybrids are especially
useful considering that their functionality
may be varied according to the polymer
selected. The hybrids are...
Several phosphonate-functionalized molecular
squares have been successfully synthesized,
and the fabrication of multilayer films
on both conductive and semiconducting
platforms has been demonstrated. These
films were grown using the well-documented
zirconium phosphonate multilayer method.
The layer-by-layer growth rate is uniform.
Experiments suggest, however, that the
molecular squares adopt a semi-collapsed...
Anthony Braxton’s Trillium J, part of an ambitious planned “complex” of 36 one-act operas, premiered in 2014. Very little writing—anecdotal, journalistic, nor scholarly—exists on these works, so this research provides a critical introduction, contextualizing the operas within Braxton’s oeuvre and discussing the works’ fundamental musical materials and organization.
Examples from...
This study examines the intersection between art and politics in the salons of Les XX, a group of some twenty, mostly Belgian, artists organizing international exhibitions of art in Brussels, Belgium between 1884 and 1893. The fact that Les XX derived a significant base of support from some of the...
This dissertation is a study of the figure of the intruder in postcolonial francophone literature, film and graphic novels published and released in the second half of the 20th and early 21st century which develop a discourse on the Maghreb or the Maghrebian dispora in France. Postcolonial critics have long...
Studies on consolidated democracies have long concluded that there is a positive relationship between socioeconomic status and turnout. The strength of the empirical findings that linked electoral participation to socioeconomic variables elevated this correlation to a law-like principle and made it possible to assume that this electoral behavior would prevail...
The current research tested the principles of role congruity theory of prejudice, which states that prejudice arises from an incongruity between a group stereotype and social role characteristics (i.e., the attributes and behaviors prescribed by the social role), such that prejudice occurs when members of a group enter or attempt...
This dissertation deploys an interdisciplinary methodology, extending what is conventionally understood as discourse to include performance. It brings together the fields of performance studies, discourse analysis and theatre studies to document, contextualize, and analyze the events after the Los Angeles rebellion of 1992. It examines gang youth who turned to...
This dissertation examines the transformation of the city-state of Florence from a republic to a principality during the first half of the sixteenth century. It explores how this fundamental change in political organization altered the culture and society of the Florentine office-holding class. The dissertation describes the course of socio-cultural...
Homotopy Gerstenhaber structure is shown to exist on the deformation complex of a morphism of associative algebras. The main step of the construction is extension of a B-infinity algebra by an associative algebra. Actions of B-infinity algebras on associative and B-infinity algebras are analyzed, extensions of B-infinity algebras by associative...
Theoretical studies on electronic structure governing charge transport properties are investigated to understand and improve the prediction of electron charge carrier organic semiconductors used in field-effect transistors. Perfluorinated oligothiophene semiconductors have shown experimental n-type behavior, but placement of fluorinated aryl groups changes charge polarities. Models were developed to investigate how...
This dissertation is a comprehensive study on mutual fund flows and the portfolio liquidity of mutual funds. The dissertation is organized into three chapters. In the first chapter, I consider the problem of aligning the incentives between the mutual fund investor and the mutual fund manager. I show that the...
The aim of the present investigation was to examine the nature of individuals' parasocial relationships (one-sided attachments to media figures, Horton & Wohl, 1956). Five studies were designed to assess the prevalence and strength of individuals' attachments to their favorite television characters, manipulate exposure to the character or control targets,...
Supramolecular chemistry has proven to be an effective strategy for bottom-up fabrication of monodisperse, functional nanostructures. However, most applications require these nanostructures to be spatially or orientationally ordered. This thesis investigates patterning and spatial confinement as tools for controlling order in self-assembling systems.
We first look to improve the ordering...