Sensing is a fundamental operation for almost any motion-based system. We have chosen electrosensory systems as a platform to explore sensing and control in both artificial and biological systems. Electrosense is a convenient sensing modality because artificial electrosensory systems are relatively simple to implement, and weakly electric fish have some...
The work presented in this thesis describes investigations into linear and nonlinear optical properties of two-dimensional silver nanoparticle arrays. The linear optical measurements - extinction measurements were performed on two-dimensional square arrays of L-shaped silver nanoparticles fabricated by electron beam lithography in order to study the effect of dipole coupling...
Chambers of Flemish tapestry served as prestigious, portable decoration for early modern courts across Europe. In the second half of the sixteenth century, a number of noble patrons commissioned tapestries that prominently featured highly naturalistic zoological and botanical imagery. Drawing upon zoological treatises, medical and physiognomic literature, fables, printed emblemata,...
Cells are known to respond to external stimuli such as chemical, physical and mechanical cues from their microenvironments. In this work, we developed the technology to to complement the previously reported studies that deal with substrates' mechanical property by developing thin polydimethlysiloxane (PDMS) membrane microdevices using microfabrication technology. Typically, multiples...
The growth cone is a highly specialized motile structure with a distinctive and dynamically variable morphology. Current understanding of actin-based protrusive motility has been formulated in terms of the dendritic nucleation/array treadmilling model for lamellipodial protrusion and the convergent-elongation model for filopodial protrusion, that were based upon results obtained primarily...
The neural crest is a population of multipotent precursors that are found only in vertebrate embryos. These cells migrate extensively throughout the body and give rise to diverse derivatives, including craniofacial bone and cartilage, melanocytes, and the enteric nervous system. There is a large network of factors involved in neural...
This dissertation articulates the practice of clown theater by a Chicago-based company called 500 Clown in order to provoke further investigation and definition of this hybrid theatrical form, which, though increasingly popular as a practice, has yet to be theorized or historicized. This study addresses clown theater's relationships with other...
Dimensionally constrained material systems are at the forefront of current materials research because of their novel and often enhanced physical, chemical and biological properties. The dimensionality effects are pervasive through different classes of materials including ceramics, metals and polymers. Often times dimensionality effects are manifested as internal structure variations in...
A need exists to increase the functionality of myoelectric prostheses without increasing the mental requirement of operation. Implantable myoelectric sensors have made it possible to record multiple muscle activities with high fidelity. Given this high dimensionality of inputs, what is the best way of implementing control? Muscle synergies have been...
In this thesis we discuss the issue of solving stochastic optimization problems using sampling methods. Numerical results have shown that using variance reduction techniques from statistics can result in significant improvements over Monte Carlo sampling in terms of the number of samples needed for convergence of the optimal objective value...