Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer in American men and has led to approximately 29K deaths in 2018. The androgen signaling pathway plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of PCa, and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has been the main therapeutic approach for PCa. However, almost all...
This dissertation examines how China’s involvement in transnational LGBTQ activism, adaptation and innovation of queer media technologies, and the global pink economy have influenced queer men’s understandings of selfhood, sexual desires, and the relationships among queer subjects. It is based on extensive fieldwork in Beijing and digital ethnography on China’s...
Wireless power strategies are critical to system level implementation of bio-integrated devices. To achieve mechanically robust, manufacturable systems, batteries are often integrated as an on-board power source to support sensing, wireless communication and signal conditioning. Unfortunately, most sources of battery power use hazardous and environmentally harmful materials, which frustrate incorporation...
Over 10 billion tons of concrete are produced for the construction industry every year, making concrete the second most used substance on Earth, only surpassed by water. With such high importance as a building material, there is significant need for the ability to accurately model concrete behavior. As a quasi-brittle...
Nanocarriers are drug delivery vehicles that have at least one dimension at the nanoscale (10-9 m). Engineering the nanocarrier surface is a strategy for targeting drug delivery to specific cell types to enhance efficacy and minimize side effects. A useful analogy is to consider how the chassis of an automotive...
The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the human body, allowing for the execution of complex and athletic tasks. Unfortunately, such expansive mobility comes at a cost. The shoulder is prone to instability, or painful symptoms associated with increased humeral head translation, and dislocation. To prevent dislocations and maintain...
The study of the translucent interstellar medium (ISM) is important for understanding the behavior of the ISM as it transitions from hot, tenuous gas to dense, star-forming regions. This regime is know to be associated with the initial formation of persistent molecular material, and thus represents the first stages of...
Previous studies have documented a systematic discrepancy between probabilistic seismic hazard maps and historical records of shaking (Stein et al., 2015; Brooks et al., 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019; Salditch et al., 2020; Salditch, 2021). In almost every case, shaking predicted by the hazard map is higher than that historically observed....
Nucleic acid therapeutics can be drug molecules with high programmability, minimal off-target effects, and the capability to address “undruggable” targets for diseases. In addition, each time a new drug is needed, one needs to only change the sequence as opposed to finding an entirely new structure. One nucleic acid type...
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heritable, neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social impairments and restricted and repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Tick, Bolton, Happe, Rutter, & Rijsdijk, 2016), with a subset of first-degree relatives demonstrating a constellation of subclinical traits that are qualitatively similar to the defining features of...