Iron is an essential nutrient and is critical for cellular growth and metabolism. Here, we delineate a novel mechanism by which iron alters amino acid homeostasis and mTOR activity by remodeling the cellular epigenetic landscape. We find that iron deficiency inactivates Jumonji-C domain containing histone-demethylases, resulting in histone hyper-methylation and...
Modern design practices rely more and more on computer simulations due to their low cost compared with physical experiments. However, it is still an elusive task to fully unleash the advantages of the simulation models while mitigating their disadvantages for designing complex engineering systems. In simulation-based design, computer simulation models...
This thesis contains three chapters studying the evolution of the American higher education landscape, the different forces that shaped their organization, and how they, in turn, influenced human capital accumulation. The chapters are organized into three time periods: 1850-1900, 1910-1940, and 1980-2010. In the first chapter, joint with Heyu Xiong,...
In this dissertation I examine how the government should respond to sovereign risk and show that it has implications on the optimal behavior of the government. In Chapter 1, I look into international reserve management. In Chapter 2, I analyze the effects of sovereign risk on the size of fiscal...
ABSTRACTUnderstanding Micro-macroscopic Phenomena of Tribological Fluids and Surfaces
Mechanical power and motion are transmitted through interfaces under contact and relative motion. Friction is inevitable, which can lead to higher operating and energy costs, and severe frictional rubbing can result in material damage and cessation of motion. A deep understanding of...
The work presented in this thesis is aimed at developing surface coatings for two specific applications: 1) the self-cleaning surfaces and 2) fouling control in water filtration membranes. Since all materials interact with their environment through their surfaces, tailoring surface properties by implementing surface coatings can greatly affect their performances...
This project uses the political and environmental history of maquiladoras—duty-free assembly plants along the U.S.-Mexico border—to offer new insights into two pivotal moments in the history of the U.S political economy: the poverty eradication plans of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and the neoliberal growth models of the late twentieth century....
A series of theories and models are developed and used to investigate the growth of protective oxide films on metal and alloy surfaces for cases in which Wagner's classical model of oxidation does not hold. First, irreversible thermodynamics is applied to formulate a model for the outward growth of rocksalt...
Unmournable Void: Tending-Toward the Dead and Dying in Contemporary Black Performance and Visual Art, explores critical artistic practices that tend to the historical conditions of anti-black violence resulting from transatlantic slavery, colonialism, and apartheid. This triad of regimes produced the Black condition as the unmournable void lived in close proximity...
The Quincke effect is an electrohydrodynamic instability which gives rise to a torque on a dielectric particle in a uniform DC electric field. Previous studies reported that a sphere initially resting on the electrode rolls with steady velocity. In this thesis I report the experimental discovery of another regime, where...