Serious games that are designed for educational purposes promote acquisition of knowledge and skills that are valued in the both the virtual realm and the real world. The challenge is to design serious games that leverage meaningful play to produce positive learning outcomes in the real world. I argue that...
Desmosomes are adhesive complexes found at sites of intercellular contact that are essential for mediating cell-cell adhesion. These junctions undergo regulated assembly and reorganization during processes such as embryogenesis and wound healing. Plakophilins (PKPs) are armadillo family members related to the classic cadherin-associated protein p120ctn. PKPs localize to the cytoplasmic...
Embedded systems are ubiquitous. Although many aspects of embedded system design and synthesis have received significant research attention, comparatively less attention has been given to new ideas in memory hierarchy design. This dissertation presents several new operating system and architecture techniques that use elements of the virtual and physical memory...
Several challenges exist in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a result of the constant motion of the heart. In order to create a cardiac image with both high spatial and temporal resolution, MR data must be obtained from multiple cardiac cycles; therefore, a means of synchronization for segmented acquisition...
In an era in which women are expected to "have it all" by balancing public and private sphere responsibilities, the media increasingly define femininity in terms that are uniquely temporal. This project examines how American popular culture from the 1990s through the present represents how the mass movement of women...
The research reported in this dissertation covers the development of two high-performance concrete materials, Very-High-Strength Concrete (VHSC) and Frangible Concrete, and the philosophy of engineering the microstructure of these materials to produce their specific beneficial traits. The underlying problem addressed was how to optimize their design to maximize their desirable...
The cause(s) of Aβ overproduction and accumulation in SAD are unknown; however, several lines of evidence indicate that impaired energy metabolism in the brain may be involved. Furthermore, the rate-limiting enzyme in Aβ production, BACE1, is elevated in SAD brains around amyloid plaques, indicating that BACE1 may also play a...
Mechanisms of RNA Mediated Silencing in S. pombe Christina A. Lawrence Heterochromatin of eukaryotic genomes has classically been defined as condensed chromatin that is repressive to transcription and typically resides at highly repetitive regions of the genome. Genetic and molecular analyses have demonstrated that these regions are essential for genome...
Speech contains a variety of temporal and spectral features that occur simultaneously in the signal, each of which conveys unique information that is essential for its accurate interpretation. As the bridge between the auditory periphery and the cortex, the brainstem can be thought of as a connection that must respond...
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a human herpesvirus that is able to infect both epithelial cells as well as B lymphocytes, where the virus stablishes life-long latency in the host. Five glycoproteins are involved in infection of B cells: gp350/220 for initial tethering of the virus to the cell via CD21,...