Image creation is an attempt to record a scene for presentation to a viewer. However, there is a precarious mapping between how a scene would be perceived and how an image is perceived. For example, although the human visual system does not have a strong absolute sense of color or...
Research shows that the most effective way to teach learners targeted skills is to put them in the kinds of situations in which they need to use them and to provide experts who are able to advise learners when necessary (Schank & Cleary, 1995). Through this process, learners come to...
In the process of development of a multicellular organism, cells must make stable, binary fate decisions in response to intercellular signaling. A critical question is how weak or transient activation of signaling pathways achieves a robust and long-term switch in gene expression, and thus determines cell fate. I report that...
The formation of neuronal inclusions is one of the hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases. These structures are composed of aggregated proteins, molecular chaperones, and components of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). Co-localization of aggregated proteins with cell-homeostasis maintaining machinery indicates that the cell may be failing in an attempt to clear these...
The polymerization of the microtubule-associated protein, tau, into insoluble filaments is common to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in a variety of dementias. The conformational change required for tau to transition from soluble monomers to filamentous AD pathology involves the extreme N-terminus of tau coming into contact with other regions of...
This dissertation is an ethnography that uses semi-structured interviews, field notes, and participant observation to explore how two religious congregations respond to survivors of domestic violence. I interviewed twenty-two parishioners including domestic violence survivors, clergy and bystanders. I transcribed these interviews verbatim using Agar's method of transcript handling. I used...
Four series of doped CdO thin films have been grown on both amorphous glass and single-crystal MgO(100) substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and their phase structure, microstructure, electrical, and optical properties investigated. Epitaxial films grown on single-crystal MgO(100) exhibit biaxial, highly textured microstructures. These as-deposited doped CdO thin...
The dissertation analyzes five well-known “Bildungsromane” published roughly between 1785 and 1914 (Karl Philipp Moritz’s Anton Reiser (1785), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795), Gottfried Keller’s Der grüne Heinrich (1879), Franz Kafka’s Der Verschollene (1914), Thomas Mann’s Die Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull (1913/1955)) and investigates the ways...
In Chapter 1, a series of "constrained geometry" organoactinide complexes, (CGC)An(NMe)2 (CGC = Me2Si(h5-Me4C5)(tBuN); An = Th, 1; U, 2), prepared via efficient in situ, two-step protodeamination routes in good yields and high purity, is presented. Both 1 and 2 are quantitatively converted to the neutrally charged, solvent-free dihalides (1-Cl2,...
Analytical lower and upper bounds for the average error probability in M-ary quantum detection are derived. The upper bound is valid when the state ensemble, which can consist of pure or mixed states, satisfies a certain linear independence condition. The lower bound is generally valid and also has a classical...
The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between descending motor pathway reorganization and abnormal coordination, defined as a reduced set of muscle coactivation patterns between shoulder and elbow muscles in hemiparetic chronic stroke subjects, using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Specifically, we wanted to 1) determine the relationship...
A number of nonclassical MHC Ib molecules recognizing distinct microbial antigens have been implicated in the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Due to the low polymorphism of MHC Ib molecules within the human population, these molecules and Mtb antigens are attractive targets for better vaccine development. Among these, HLA-E...
Early Modern Matters of Life and Death” argues that the political ecology of living, dead, and (in)animate beings in early modernity elucidates the claims of humanism and human exceptionalism that evolved in the period and that still inform present-day anthropogenesis
Graphene offers promising opportunities for applications in printed and flexible electronic devices due to its high electrical and thermal conductivity, mechanical flexibility and strength, and chemical and environmental stability. However, scalable production and processing of graphene presents a critical technological challenge preventing the application of graphene for flexible electronic interconnects,...
This dissertation studies fictionalized diasporic subalternity, how it is represented by the authors (of the same social status or a cosmopolitan writer), and how different types of agency layered onto the characters influence each other. The choice of texts includes Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke (2011), Kiran Desai’s Inheritance of...
AIMS: This study investigated the longitudinal effects of internal and external housing quality problems on child mental health outcomes, as measured by child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The study also aimed to elucidate the mechanisms through which housing quality problems affect child mental health by testing the mediating effects...
Education researchers have recently highlighted income achievement and behavior gaps – differences between children from high versus low income families in achievement scores and teacher-rated behavior. To date, scholars in this research stream have not considered the possibility that, compared to white students, non-white students may receive differential returns to...