In Chapter I, the applications of Nuclear MagneticResonance (NMR) spectroscopy to solid polymers are reviewed. InChapter II, a side-chain polymer liquid crystal (PLC) based onthe4-hydroxy-4{dollar}{bsol}sp{bsol}prime{dollar}-methoxy-{dollar}{bsol}alpha{dollar}-methylstilbenemesogen attached through a flexible spacer of eight methylenicunits to a poly(methyl acrylate) backbone is studied viasolid-state {dollar}{bsol}sp{lcub}13{rcub}{dollar}C NMRspectroscopy. Molecular dynamics in the MHz frequenc...

Part I. Synthesis of the C38 to C51 region ofhalichondrin B. A highly convergent, stereoselective synthesis ofthe C38 to C51 fragment of halichondrin B was accomplishedstarting from D-mannitol (8). The acid-catalyzeddehydrocyclization product 7 from D-mannitol provided 5 of thestereocenters, C40, C41, C47, C48, and C50, (halichondrinnumbering system) of this fragment. Removal of the extra hydroxylgroup in 7 and conversion to aldehyde 6a proceeded in excellentyields. The {dollar}{bsol}alpha,{bsol...

Computer Science

Partition and test has been a time-saving method forexhaustive testing. I present a bit-sliced approach forexhaustive testing at system speed. The objective of thisresearch is not to design a system, but to make the systemtestable. A method is introduced for producing exhaustive testpatterns using LFSR-C (Linear Feedback Shift Register Counter) asa test pattern generator (TPG) for a two port ALU using a onephase clock. The scheme called Run-n-Hold scheme, generates testpatterns at clock speed; i...

and Electrical

Parametric uncertainty descriptions are convenientbecause they can often be obtained from engineering intuition.Also, replicated process experiments for identification can alsoyield either parametric uncertainty bounds and/or gain and phasebounds. Unfortunately such uncertainty descriptions must bemodified (i.e. covered by a convex set) to fit within normbounded frequency domain methods, such as m synthesis, for whichthere is a large and still growing body of theory andcomputational algorithms. ...

Biology, Cell

ED{dollar}{bsol}rm{bsol}sb{lcub}a{rcub}{dollar} (EIIIA)is an alternatively-spliced type III homology repeat present incellular fibronectins (cFNs) but not in plasma fibronectin (pFN).Potential adhesion-promoting activity was investigated forED{dollar}{bsol}rm{bsol}sb{lcub}a{rcub}{dollar} and its twoneighboring repeats III{dollar}{bsol}sb{lcub}11{rcub}{dollar} andIII{dollar}{bsol}sb{lcub}12{rcub}.{dollar} Recombinant proteincorresponding to ED{dollar}{bsol}rm{bsol}sb{lcub}a{rcub}{dollar}alone pro...

Oscillatory thermocapillary convection in smallcircular containers heated at the center of the free surface withCO{dollar}{bsol}sb2{dollar} laser is studied by investigating thevarious onset conditions. The effect of container dimensions,aspect ratios and heating zone ratios as well as the effect ofviscosity are investigated. The onset of unsteady state isdetermined by observing the flow structures with flowvisualization and the temperature distributions with athermocouple probe and an I.R. imag...

The purpose of this work is to investigate therheological properties of epoxy resin filled with highconcentrations of aluminum borate(9Al{dollar}{bsol}sb2{dollar}O{dollar}{bsol}sb3{dollar}-2B{dollar}{bsol}sb2{dollar}O{dollar}{bsol}sb3{dollar})whiskers. Rheological measurements are performed with parallelplate rheometer. The rheology exhibits nonlinear viscoelasticityfrom low strain region through entire range studied. The presenceof an effective network of whiskers comprising an internalstructur...

Biology, Molecular

Marek s disease virus (MDV) causes malignant T celllymphoma in chickens and is the major pathogen in poultryindustry. The viral gene meq is abundantly expressed inMDV-transformed cell lines and MDV tumor samples. It contains abasic leucine-zipper region highly homologous to those of jun andfos, and a C-terminal proline-rich region including two andone-half repeat sequence (PRRs). In this report, we demonstratethat the proline-rich domain in the C-terminus of Meq is able totransactivate transcrip...

Health Sciences, Nursing

The substantive theory of profound knowing representsthe nature of nurse-midwifery knowledge within a unique ruralsetting, Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), Hyden, Kentucky, betweenthe years 1925 through 1965. The structure, conditions, andfundamental patterns of knowing found in expert clinical practiceintimately tied to its social community of service were examined.Interviews, autobiographical documents, and historical materialsrelating to nurse-midwifery practice at FNS were analyzed usinggroun...

Psychology, Social

Two experiments were designed to investigate theeffects of individual and group practice, group process andcognitive ability on abstract problem-solving performance.Experiment I compared the scores of three member groups withtheir best, average and worst members individual scores. Thefindings showed that (a) ad hoc groups outperformed their bestmembers, (b) a unique group ability and not the best member sindividual ability determined the group product and (c) there wasevidence of a relationship ...

Psychology, Clinical

The present study described and compared the stressorsand coping strategies of 60 children and adolescents ages 9-18:20 recently diagnosed subjects with cancer, 20 long-termdisease-free survivors of cancer, and 20 healthy subjects withouta previous or present diagnosis of cancer. As expected, recentlydiagnosed subjects identified significantly more cancer-relatedstressors than survivors on the Children s Stress Inventory(CSI), illustrating the breadth with which cancer affects theirlives. Contra...

Biology, Cell

The work in this dissertation focuses on the activityof a family of cell cycle kinases, the cyclin dependent kinasesor CDKs, and their regulatory subunits, the cyclins. The majorobjectives of this work were to define substrates for thesekinases and determine the role of the cyclin molecule inactivation and targeting of the CDK. The first goal was todetermine which cyclin/kinase combination phosphorylated aregulator of cell cycle--the retinoblastoma gene product, pRb.Phosphorylation of pRb inacti...

General

The objective of DSS research is to providecomputer-based support for managerial decision making. In orderto do this, a DSS needs to (a) support a manager s task-relatedneeds by providing information about a specific decisionsituation and models to assist in structuring the situation, and(b) support a manager s cognitive abilities by providinginformation about the decision making process and models toassist in structuring the process. Most DSS research to date hasfocused on task-related support ...

This study examines Cleveland Protestants and thechanging social order from 1898 to 1940. It argues theestablishment of the Federated Churches of Cleveland was one ofseveral Protestants responses to the expanding pluralisticsocietal order. Its establishment was not theinstitutionalization of the Social Gospel movement but was a partof the general reorganization of social, benevolent, economic,religious, and political institutions into efficient and orderlyunits. This study examines the Protestan...

Psychology, Experimental

Burns (1989) first observed the reverse-interferenceeffect when investigating the effects of transfer specific (A-B,A-C) paired associate learning on long term retention. Hedemonstrated that free recall of the critical-list response termswas better in the interference condition than in the controlcondition. This reversal of the traditional interference effectis referred to as the reverse-interference effect. Burns proposeda processing tradeoff explanation to account for both thetraditional inter...

Mechanical; Plastics Technology

In Chapter 1, the hierarchical structure and thefailure processes of woven carbon/epoxy composites were studied.The effect of matrix modification on the failure modes wasclarified. Reflection and stereo optical microscopy wereexploited to investigate the composite structure and to study thecomposite fracture. Four-point flexure test was used to assessthe composite strength. Composite failure was analyzed bymonitoring, in-situ, the development of the failure process byusing acoustic emission (AE)...

Metallurgy

This research explored the effects of forging onchanging the shape and distribution of MnS inclusions in steel,and their role as fatigue initiation sites. Billets, 5.0 in. indiameter and 9.7 in. high, of three heats of AISI 4140 steel wereupset forged at 2200{dollar}{bsol}sp{bsol}circ{dollar}F to a 50%reduction. The heats were produced by inert-gas-shielded/bottompouring, and had sulfiur levels of 30, 40, and 150 ppm by weight.One heat had been treated for inclusion shape control. Atwo-dimension...

Biology, Molecular

Salmonella typhimurium is a gram-negative bacterialpathogen of world-wide significance, causing disease in bothhumans and animals. An early and required step in thepathogenesis of this organism is its penetration of intestinalepithelium as a way to reach deeper tissues. The penetration ofepithelial cells requires the expression of numerous bacterialgenes. We have attempted to identify bacterial determinants ofthis process by selecting for genes that are specificallyexpressed upon bacterial conta...

Biology, Molecular

Human T-lymphotropic retrovirus type I (HTLV-I) is thecausative agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) andtropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) or HTLV-I associatedmyelopathy (HAM). The 3{dollar}{bsol}sp{bsol}prime{dollar} end ofthe HTLV-I genome encodes a transactivator, Tax, that stimulatestranscription from the viral LTR. In addition to its essentialrole in viral replication, Tax activates transcription of variouscellular genes involved in mediating cell growth. The ability ofTax to alter...

Biology, Molecular

Eukaryotic chromatin is folded into topologicallyconstrained loops by the attachment of DNA to the nuclear matrix.The sequences which anchor DNA, matrix attachment regions (MARs),can be identified by their specific and preferential binding tothe matrix. Previous evidence from our laboratory (Chiu et al.1986) suggested that the close association of MARs with thenuclear matrix confers a high susceptibility to radiation-inducedDNA-protein crosslink (DPC) formation. We demonstrate both by invivo and...

There has been increasing use of longitudinal studiesin medicine and elsewhere, yielding data that tend to becorrelated with one another. While methodology for the analysisof repeated continuous outcome data has been well developed, notmuch has been done for their discrete counterparts. Thegeneralized estimating equations (GEE) approach has, however,become popular for the analysis for correlated binary responsessince their introduction in 1986. There are usually a largenumber of potentially usef...

Health

Since clearance of HBV infection is dependent onnormally functioning cell-mediated immunity, it is possible thatimmunological dysfunction induced by HIV-1 infection leads topoor clearance of HBV. Consequently, HIV infection is expected topromote the spread of HBV infection. To determine whether HIVinfection has the potential to promote the spread of HBVinfection, a hospital-based cross-sectional study was conductedin Uganda. Information was collected on respondent s demographiccharacteristics, r...

; Psychology, Experimental

Organization of the visual world appears to begin earlyin perceptual processing. An example of perceptual organizationis the relative ease with which a target can be found indistractors that differ from the target but are similar (related)to each other. The effect is called pop out because the targetappears without an effortful search. The present work attemptedto explain this example of preattentive processing in terms ofthe multichannel model of visual perception. Specifically, lowspatial freq...

Mathematics

In this dissertation, we study some properties ofstatistical solutions of the Burgers equation which including:(a) A survey of some of known results, including the Kraichnan stheory of Burgers turbulence, the mapping closure method, andconnections with the weakly asymmetric, simple exclusioninteracting particle system; (b) Extremal rearrangementproperties; (c) A Maximum principle for statistical solutions ofBurgers equation; (d) Limit behavior for quadratic forms ofmoving averages related to the...

Computer Science

ASPEN is a new approach for developing complex,knowledge based, problem solving systems. The essence of ASPEN isto decompose programs into five consecutive, well integrated,problem solving stages: Abstraction, Synthesis, Planning,Execution and moNitoring. The five stages of ASPEN are a naturaldecomposition common to many problems and are applicable for awide variety of systems. ASPEN is particularly suitable forintegrating meta-programming techniques and for problems whereplans may fail during e...

Health Sciences, Nursing

The purpose of this study was to describe patterns ofpersonal cognitive constructs and first appraisal in womenrecently diagnosed with breast cancer. A framework integratingthe Folkman and Lazarus coping model (1984) and Kelly s PersonalConstruct Theory (1955) guided this study. Sixty-two women fromfive different Italian regional hospitals participated in thestudy. Subjects were interviewed just prior to breast surgery.Breast surgery consisted of lumpectomy. Personal cognitiveconstructs were eli...

Labor Relations

This dissertation compares the approaches taken by twogeneral managers of similar production operations in theimplementation of total quality management programs in twoCentral American settings. Policy deployment enabled one generalmanager to resist strong cultural pressure to assume directcontrol of the quality council, as one would have expected in ahigh power distance setting. He implemented the innovation atlower levels of the organization even though the quality councilwas not ready to assu...

Engineering, Materials Science

The objective of this thesis is to gain a basicunderstanding of bimetallic microactuation through a study ofmicrofabricated bimetallic microtweezers. The microtweezersutilize two cantilevered gripping arms each2000{dollar}{bsol}mu{dollar}m long and100{dollar}{bsol}mu{dollar}m wide, connected to a square siliconsupport piece. The tweezer structure is fabricated bydouble-sided processing and bulk micromachining of a (100)silicon wafer. The tweezers arms are created on the two sides ofthe wafer by ...

Receptor-mediated gene transfer is an attractive methodfor therapeutically correcting human genetic diseases since itpermits the targeting of DNA to cellular receptors in specifictissues of adult animals. The gene delivery vehicle is composedof the DNA of interest, a DNA binding moiety (i.e.,poly(L-lysine)) and a ligand for the target receptor. Genesintroduced by this technique have been shown to be expressed inthe target tissue for varying periods. However, to be useful forgene therapy, it is c...

; Health Sciences, Toxicology

Part I. Metabolic activation of cyclic tertiary amines.Microsomal metabolism of cyclic tertiary amine drugs such asnicotine and 1-(phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine (PCP) is known to beassociated with enzyme inactivation and/or covalent binding.While the major primary metabolites, the corresponding iminiumions, have been the major suspects for inducing enzymeinactivation, metabolism beyond the iminium stage rather thandirect electrophilic adduction has been implicated, at least inthe case of PCP. Usin...

Engineering, Materials Science

The research described here explores the relationshipsbetween inrush current and processing conditions in positivetemperature coefficient of resistance (PTCR) barium-lead titanate(Ba:Pb = 0.7:0.3) doped with 0.2 mole %CeO{dollar}{bsol}sb2{dollar}, with emphasis on the behavior inthe negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTCR) region.The heat treatment conditions and defect chemistry of Ce-dopedbarium-lead titanate and the contributions of materialcharacteristics (resistive and dielectr...

Chemistry, Organic

Chapter 1. Studies Towards A Total Synthesis ofLaulimalide. Laulimalide is a macrolide obtained from a marinesponge. Due to its unknown absolute stereochemistry, attemptshave been made to establish it by chemical methods. A model studyhas been carried out for synthesis of a fragment containing ringA from the readily available enantiomers of diethyl tartrate. Astereochemically flexible synthesis has been developed tosynthesize either antipode of a model degradation productcontaining ring A. One o...

Sex-lethal (Sxl) occupies a key position in the generegulatory hierarchy of sex determination in Drosophilamelanogaster. Correct regulation of Sxl is required for viabilitydue to its role in the regulation of dosage compensation. Sxl hasbeen referred to as a binary switch gene; ON directs femaledevelopment and OFF directs male development. Sxl activity isregulated in response to the ratio of X chromosomes to Autosomes,which is the primary signal for sex determination in Drosophila.The regulation...

Biophysics, Medical

In chapter II and III, we examined the effects ofextracellular calcium regulation of cervical cell differentiationand HPV16 E6/E7 expression in response to calcium induceddifferentiation in a HPV16 immortalized cervical cell line,ECE16-1, and a HPV16-positive cervical carcinoma cell line,CaSki. ECE 16-1 and CaSki cells respond to increased calcium withincreased levels of mRNA encoding differentiation markers(K13,involucrin and TG). The overall differentiation marker expressionin CaSki cells is l...

Biology, Neuroscience

Since the time of Ramon y Cajal, reactive gliosis hasbeen considered to be a major element in the failure of axons toregenerate in the mature mammalian central nervous system.Molecular components of injured tissue associated with reactiveglial cells are now being uncovered. In order to study theextracellular matrix constituents associated with reactiveastrocytes, we developed an in vitro model of glial reactivity.This model was based on the observation that regions of increasedgliosis surround d...

GPI-anchors are post-translational modificationsattached to a variety of cell surface molecules. A uniqueproperty of GPI-anchored polypeptides, which differs fromtransmembrane proteins, is the ability to spontaneouslyincorporate into biological membranes. This property allows forthe direct alteration of cell surface phenotype without geneticmanipulation. The human class I major histocompatibility complex(MHC) molecule, HLA-A2.1, has been correlated with protectiveimmune responses in a number of ...

Biology, Animal Physiology

MultifunctionalCa{dollar}{bsol}sp{lcub}2+{rcub}{dollar} calmodulin dependentprotein kinase II (CaMPKII) shows a wide tissue distribution andbroad substrate specificity. It was originally isolated from ratbrain, and five isoforms have been identified in neuronal tissuessince then. Autophosphorylation of CaMPKII in the presence ofCa{dollar}{bsol}sp{lcub}2+{rcub}{dollar}/calmodulin converts thekinase itself to aCa{dollar}{bsol}sp{lcub}2+{rcub}{dollar}-independent form. Mostof the biochemical charac...

Through the availability of numerous mutants inDrosophila, this organism has provided a wealth of information onthe control of the cell cycle. In particular, mitoses in earlyembryonic development in Drosophila offer a unique model forstudying how pre- and post-replicative gap phases({dollar}{bsol}rm G{bsol}sb1{dollar} and {dollar}{bsol}rmG{bsol}sb2{dollar}) may be constrained. Unlike most eukaryoticmitoses, the first 13 zygotic divisions (or preblastodermdivisions) in Drosophila occur extremely ...

Health

In the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)infection, the ability for the infected individual to transmitthe virus (infectiousness/infectivity), and the chance forexposure of the susceptible individual to the source of infectionare crucial. For further understanding of the dynamics of theHIV/AIDS epidemic computer simulations were used to model theHIV/AIDS epidemic in Uganda, Africa, for the period from 1969 to2000. Transmission of HIV infection through blood transfusion anduse of contam...

Literature, Medieval

The art of describing the feminine ideal can be tracedto Maximian s portrait of Helen of Troy in the sixth century. Heused the now familiar head to toe catalogue with the language ofcolour significations: white, red, black, and gold, or, the focusof this study, the effictio. "Ideal woman" had blond hair, blackeyebrows, white skin, and red cheeks and lips. In the twelfth andthirteenth centuries, Matthew of Vendome (who crafts twoadditional portraits of Helen of Troy) and Geoffroi of Vin...

Studies

Autobiography, I argue, has been recognized as the toolwith which marginalized writers can disturb and disrupt the veryexperience of living by revealing gaps of experience ignored orleft out by hegemonic culture. This project is a theoretical andtextual exploration of the process of self-definition forminority women who write autobiographically. In it, I bringtogether feminist and poststructuralist theories of identityformation in order to demonstrate the highly complex nature ofidentity, as und...

Pathology; Engineering, Biomedical

The use of metallic implants is playing an increasingrole in the practice of orthopaedics. The implantation of eachmetallic device is associated with the release of metal either bycorrosion and/or wear. As a result, patients might developsensitivity to metallic constituents of the implant. To furtherour knowledge about the systemic immune system response tocorrosion products of metallic orthopaedic devices, a series ofexperiments was done. 1) The saturation and competitive bindingof chromium, co...

A group of 20 new silicon and aluminum phthalocyaninesdesigned for use as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapystudies has been made and characterized. In addition, onepreviously known silicon phthalocyanine suitable for use inphotodynamic therapy studies has been remade and furthercharacterized. Of these 21 photosensitizers, 18 are related to Pc4, HOSiPcOSi({dollar}{bsol}rmCH{bsol}sb3){bsol}sb2(CH{bsol}sb2){bsol}sb3N(CH{bsol}sb3){bsol}sb2{dollar},a known photosensitizer that exhibits propert...

Health Sciences, Pathology

The amyloid deposited in Alzheimer s Disease (AD) iscomposed primarily of the 39-42 amino acid amyloid{dollar}{bsol}beta{dollar} protein (A{dollar}{bsol}beta{dollar})that is derived from a large membrane anchored amyloid{dollar}{bsol}beta{dollar} protein precursor({dollar}{bsol}beta{dollar}APP). The steady state concentrationof A{dollar}{bsol}beta{dollar} plays a large role in determiningwhether amyloid will deposit. The concentration ofA{dollar}{bsol}beta{dollar} is in turn determined by the ra...

Double selectivity was achieved during nucleophilicsubstitution of m-dichlorobenzene-FeCp cation with certainnucleophiles. While aminophenoxides react on oxygen to affordmonosubstitution, aliphatic amino alcohols such as prolinol reactexclusively on nitrogen to give monosubstitution. The latter wasalso observed with o-dichlorobenzene-FeCp cation (2.6), wherereaction with a series of 2-substituted pyrrolidines in thepresence of {dollar}{bsol}rm K{bsol}sb2CO{bsol}sb3{dollar} led toexclusively mono...

Polymer composite femoral stems do not have astandardized in vitro mechanical testing method. The testingdevice for metallic stems, which simulates proximal resorption ofthe femur, is inappropriate for composite stems, which they areexpected to reduce or prevent proximal resorption. The objectiveof this study was to determine a mechanical testing method forpressfit composite stems, using finite element analysis (FEA).The goal was to reproduce the strains of the stem implanted in afemur. Three si...

Electrical; Engineering, System Science

An ultimate goal in dynamic system control is thedevelopment of a failure tolerant control system. Such systemsrequire an anomaly detection mechanism and a reconfigurablecontroller. In this dissertation, a new anomaly detection methodis developed for high speed detection. The problem is formulatedmathematically in the observation space, and a hypothesizedinput-output model is assumed and associated with each anomalyclass. The detection method developed is based on statisticalinformation theory. ...

Engineering, Materials Science

Free strains produced by diffusion occur from thedifference in either (i) the partial molar volumes or (ii) theself-diffusion coefficients between the components. In thisthesis, the above two kinds of free strain were treatedseparately for convenience and clarity. It was assumed thatstress is produced by diffusion without making a new phase. Allmechanical properties like Young s modulus, Poisson s ratio andviscosity were assumed constant and isotropic. The mixture withdifferent partial molar vol...

Protein kinase C (PKC) is a family of serine/threoninekinases known to be involved in the proliferation anddifferentiation of human leukemia cells. The present study is aninvestigation of the role of individual PKC isotypes in leukemicproliferation and PMA-induced differentiation and the molecularbasis for PKC isotype-specific function. Proliferating humanerythroleukemia (K562) cells express the{dollar}{bsol}rm{bsol}alpha,{bsol}beta{bsol}sb{lcub}II{rcub}{dollar} and{dollar}{bsol}zeta{dollar} PKC...

Biology, Molecular

Clathrin-mediated vesicular transport is important fornormal growth of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Previously,a genetic locus (SCD1) that influences the ability of clathrinheavy-chain-deficient {dollar}{bsol}rm (Chc{bsol}sp-){dollar}yeast cells to survive was identified. With thescd1-{dollar}{bsol}nu{dollar} allele, {dollar}{bsol}rmChc{bsol}sp-{dollar} cells are viable but grow poorly; with thescd1-i allele, {dollar}{bsol}rm Chc{bsol}sp-{dollar} cells areinviable. To identify the SCD1 lo...