It's quite common for the novice musician to forget their place in the song, miss the change to a new section, or be unable to play in the key or at the tempo chosen by the leader. Every type of improvisational playing requires the player to follow a set of...
Part 1. The complex folded structures associated with RNA allow for specific protein-RNA interactions and also create binding sites for small molecules. Developing organic molecules that can bind RNA with high affinity and specificity is a challenge that must be overcome for RNA to be considered a viable drug target....
The classic error bounds for quasi-Monte Carlo approximation follow the Koksma-Hlawka inequality based on the assumption that the integrand has finite variation. Unfortunately, not all functions have this property. In particular, integrands for common applications in finance, such as option pricing, do not typically have bounded variation. In contrast to...
Motivated by applications to microfluidic separation systems like Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) and Capillary Electrochromatography (CEC), the research described in this dissertation analyzes through numerical and asymptotic methods the effect of variation in the wall zeta potential (or surface charge) on the electroosmotic flow field in a microchannel and the effect...
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an environment rich in structural and signaling molecules, including growth factors and cytokines. Together, these signals are capable of changing cellular morphology and gene expression in response to extracellular environmental cues. Structural proteins in the ECM such as laminin transduce their signals through integrin receptors...
Bosnian women war refugees are not only trauma survivors, but are actively engaged in economic and social practices that shape their American sites of relocation. These economic activities--wage labor, and unremunerated volunteer and kin labor--are embedded in a moral framework of mutual obligation rooted in the concept veze / connections,...
Nature often uses reaction-diffusion(RD) as a means of making structures and materials of unique properties or morphologies on scales from macro- (e.g., stripes in zebras, tigers, and seashells, and formations in trees, agates, and rocks) to microscopic (e.g., cellular growth, chemotaxis and biological waves). However, reaction-diffusion phenomena have not yet...
The ready-mix concrete industry is a fascinating laboratory for the study of industry dynamics. Concrete plants produce a single homogeneous product with technology and equipment that has changed little over the last 50 years. Building a plant entails substantial sunk costs since the machinery used to produce ready-mix cannot easily...
This thesis concerns the development of robust algorithms for large-scale nonlinear programming. Despite recent advancements in high-performance computing power, classes of problems exist that continue to challenge the practical limits of contemporary optimization methods. The focus of this dissertation is the design and analysis of algorithms intended to achieve economy...
This dissertation studies two long-standing asset pricing anomalies: "Value and Growth Effects" and "Momentum Effects" via the channel of market imperfections. These market imperfections stem from basic information asymmetry problem, and take forms of contracting problems and less than perfectly competitive information intermediaries.
The first essay (joint with Zhi Da)...
This dissertation addresses the process-pathways running between immigrant adolescents' life experiences and their engagement in school by providing an ecocultural perspective on self-regulation. While the role of social context, such as stress and resources, has been identified as critical in its influence on different dimensions of adolescent development, research on...
Hypoxia is a reduction in the normal level of oxygen tension and occurs during acute and chronic vascular disease, pulmonary disease, and cancer. The key transcription factor that regulates the cellular responses to hypoxia is hypoxia-inducible-factor-1 (HIF-1). Understanding how HIF-1 is regulated is fundamental for understanding the biology of tumor...
The emergence of antimicrobial resistance and the growing concern to produce new drugs have influenced an increase in the amount of research directed towards the engineering of novel polyketides. The polyketide carbon backbone is synthesized by a set of enzymes known as polyketide synthases (PKSs). These catalyze the formation of...
Downsizings are now so pervasive that millions of Americans are laid off each year with the stated purpose of improving their organizations' financial outcomes. However, one of the unforeseen negative consequences of downsizings is high attrition by employees who "survive" the layoffs. This dissertation seeks to extend our understanding of...
Frictionless Information Systems (FIS) are a class of software systems that automatically bring users information and services related to what they are doing. These systems bridge the gap between the information a user wants and the repositories that contain the information - making the user more effective and informed. By...
The porphyrazines (pzs), a class of porphyrin derivatives, have shown potential as therapeutic and imaging agents due to a combination of their near-IR absorbance/fluorescence and their enhanced chemical flexibility. Cell viability/proliferation assays and fluorescence microscopy were carried out in both tumor and normal cells to characterize the biological activity of...
The detection of bio-molecules (e.g. nucleic acids and proteins) is the bedrock upon which research in the life sciences and diagnostic medicine rests. For nucleic acids, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the ultimate in terms of target detection sensitivity (10s - 100s of copies/sample). For proteins, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent...
The study of granular matter is both scientifically intriguing and industrially important, yet it presents several unique characteristics and challenges. The discrete nature of granular materials often precludes the use of the continuum descriptions that are so commonly used for fluids, so alternative methods must be developed. Particles interact via...
Spontaneous regeneration in the adult mammalian central nervous system is rare, minimal, and generally does not lead to substantial functional recovery. Tissue engineering strategies to promote nerve regeneration aim to provide an environment that is physically and chemically engineered to enhance tissue formation. Strategic design of this environment is crucial...
The variable effects of self-awareness may be a result of multiple states of awareness being condensed under the umbrella term, "self-awareness". We posit that the cognitive and behavioral effects of self-awareness are largely dependent on another variable, level of abstraction, which modulates self-awareness on a continuum between conceptual and perceptual...