This work is a research effort aimed at understanding the mechanisms of single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SMSERS). In the decade since its discovery in 1997, the role of resonance Raman (RR) enhancement, the origin of blinking, and the properties of the hot spot formed at the junction of two nanoparticles...
This thesis focuses on resource allocation in wireless communication and networking. Resource allocation has been studied widely, for example, to maximize the system-wide throughput or to minimize the average delay per user. Moreover, the utility-based framework is becoming an important tool for addressing fairness and Quality-of-Service (QoS) for individual users....
This dissertation contains three essays that look at competition, entry and capacity spectrum investment of wireless telecommunication firms in the U.S. The first two essays (Chapters 1-2) examine wireless firm's entry decision while the final essay studies their investment behavior.
The first essay examines how wireless firm compete against each...
Technology users are technology observers as well, monitoring for problems or opportunities that might arise. Designing interfaces to support the monitoring of technology presents unique challenges for everything from detecting situations to responding to situations to changing the tools to match a changing operating environment or the observer's changing knowledge....
Nature has been evolving innovative solutions to complex design challenges for billions of years, the success of which is evidenced by the myriad of life-sustaining systems that operate with unparalleled simplicity, efficiency, and durability. Biomimetic researchers derive inspiration from principles underlying natural phenomena to solve design challenges. This work is...
Characterizing the interaction of light and matter has become increasingly important in recent decades, as devices scale down, data transfer speeds up, and the use of photon-based technology (photonics and optoelectronics) becomes widespread. Copper chloride (CuCl) thin films and zinc oxide (ZnO) inverse opal photonic crystals are the two material...
We first introduce the concept of copulas and advocate its use for multivariate option pricing. We focus on four types of bivariate options: basket, rainbow-max, rainbow-min, and spread options. We derive expressions for these options as a function of the copula. We then construct pricing bounds for these bivariate options...
Rsp5 is a ubiquitin ligase that controls a broad range of cellular processes in budding yeast and is part of a large family of proteins that controls analogous processes in mammalian cells. Although Rsp5 targets a number of different substrates for ubiquitination, the mechanisms that regulate Rsp5 catalytic activity are...
The T-box transcription factor, Tbx5, is involved in heart development and congenital disease. For example mutations in human TBX5 lead to Holt-Oram syndrome, a disease characterized by a range of heart and arm malformations. Tbx5 gene activity has been perturbed in several animal models including the chicken, mouse, and zebrafish....
The utilization of hydrofluoric acid for the preparation of silver vanadium oxide fluorides has been advanced for the synthesis of Ag<sub>4</sub>V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>6</sub>F<sub>2</sub> and Ag<sub>3</sub>VO<sub>2</sub>F<sub>4</sub>. Silver-rich metal oxide fluorides are important battery cathode materials due to the high reduction potential of silver vs. Li, which is made even higher by the incorporation...