Epigenetics, the study of heritable changes in organisms not caused by mutations to DNA,holds tremendous promise for future medical applications. Although still in its infancy, feature selection in statistics plays an important role in correlating epigenetic changes with
diseases and various health issues. Feature selection may also be used in...
Although electrostatics interactions in fluids have been studied for many decades, new results in this field are still challenging our classical understanding of electrolytes. The combination of electrostatics and self-assembly yields many interesting yet challenging problems that are of fundamental scientific interest and show promise for industrial applications. In this...
Global energy demands are expected to increase by about one-third between 2014 and 2040 and will surely be met from a combination of wind, solar, and among other renewable sources. The shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energies will ensure a clean and sustainable future. The main issue...
The lanthanides, with their limited orbital effects and high oxophilicity, represent a class of catalytic metals highly distinguished from more commonly-utilized transition metals. Homogeneous lanthanide catalysts often afford high catalytic rates and impressive selectivity. However, challenges regarding the synthesis and utilization of highly air- and water-sensitive organo-lanthanide complexes have limited...
Sulfur mustard (HD), also known as the King of the Battle Gases, was one of the earliest and strongest CWAs to be deployed in war-time conflicts. Unfortunately, its low cost and facile production have resulted consistent use in the present day by rogue elements. As a result, the development of...
Electrochemical cell devices are increasingly being sought for energy conversion and storage applications due to their high efficiencies and their potential for operating free of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Solid Acid Electrochemical Cells (SAECs), which most commonly employ CsH2PO4 (CDP) as the electrolyte component, are uniquely suited to meet the...
In the vertebrate retina, neurons process visual signals, generating feature selectivity in their activity levels. We use computational models to understand these behaviors by interpreting them mathematically. One component of this analysis is the spatial selectivity or receptive field, a property found in all visual sensory neurons. The neurons found...
Having an emotion involves having an evaluative point of view on one’s circumstances. For example, there is a sense in which being angry involves taking oneself to have been wronged, and fear seems to paint the scene as one of danger. A significant debate in contemporary philosophy of mind concerns...
Our experience of the physical world is mediated by our senses, but while most people have five senses, interactions with computer systems are largely limited to the visual sense. When working with nonvisual artifacts, like sound, on computers, such artifacts are typically transformed, or re-encoded, into something visual. Determining how...
This dissertation investigates the use of organic and semiconductor nanomaterials as chromophores in solar fuels production and energy transfer-mediated [2+2] cycloadditions. A series of novel N-annulated perylene chromophore amphiphiles was synthesized via a modular synthesis. These perylene amphiphiles were found to self-assemble in aqueous solution, forming extended ribbon-like nanostructures that...