Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements have been performed on the heavily Cu-doped ($x = 0.13$, 0.18, 0.24, 0.39, 0.48), and underdoped (x = 0.01 and 0.012) \NaFeCuAs~ single crystals, to reveal the nature of the magnetism, and to investigate how the electronic and magnetic properties of the system evolves with...
Two-step, solar thermochemical water splitting using nonstoichiometric oxides has emerged as an attractive approach for large-scale hydrogen production. Perovskite-structured oxides, with their wide tunability, offer the potential for high fuel productivity at moderate operating temperatures. Given the vast chemical space, the materials development effort is carried out here in combination...
Lasers and optical resonators have been widely utilized in precision metrological devices, such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, and gravitational wave detectors. To meet the requirements for a variety of applications, both of the slow light effect and the fast light effect have been applied to the lasers and optical resonators to...
Surface patterns that can reconfigure under external stimuli are important for tailoring diverse properties such as surface adhesion, optical transmittance, and wettability depending on the feature size and orientation. Wrinkling a stiff skin layer on a pre-strained elastomer substrate has emerged as a method to create responsive structures without using...
The mechanism underlying chronic pain and disability in those with chronic whiplash associated disorders (WAD) is poorly understood. Of the four million people who will seek medical care each year for neck injuries sustained during a motor vehicle collision (MVC), a quarter will develop chronic moderate to severe WAD. Disparate...
Transcription of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) is a hallmark of life, taking the information stored within genomic nucleic acids and converting it into a form that is useful for producing the proteins necessary for cellular and organismal function. In eukaryotes, transcription of DNA into messenger RNA (mRNA) requires the...
Continuous and coordinated materials discovery efforts have amassed a wealth of knowledge concerning many general classes of materials. The number of known phases of all structure-types, however, is far less than number of possible materials dictated by the elements on the periodic table. Recently, with improved computational abilities and well-developed...
Research on how sleep contributes to memory has blossomed in recent years. These studies have generally focused on whether or not sleep impacts various types of memory independently. An open question is whether sleep interactively influences different memory types. My research focuses on two types of memory—specificity and generalization. Whereas...
The exchange of information in the brain is accomplished through sequences of action potentials that result from the integration of local microcircuits. Unraveling the connectivity of the neurons that constitute these microcircuits and how they contribute to network activity is vital for understanding how information is relayed through the brain...
This dissertation seeks to explore how physical forces, notably through the use of magnetic nanoparticles and applied fields, can influence the structural outcomes of colloidal crystals engineered with DNA. Chapter 1 describes how both DNA and magnetic fields can direct the assembly of nanoparticles into periodic and sometimes crystalline materials....