Chapter 1: Munchnones and mesoionic heterocycles The reactivity, regioselectivity, and synthetic applications of munchnones (1,3-oxazolium-5-olates) is a common theme which runs through Chapters 2-5. The definition, structure, and reactivity of...
Continual improvements to clinical breast imaging technologies have led to ever earlier detections and increasingly accurate localizations of female breast cancers. While these advancements have certainly improved the prognoses of many patients,...
Brain tissue mechanics are an important biomarker for neurological disorders, yet methods to obtain tissue information yield inconsistent conclusions. These techniques can be invasive or require excised tissue, where tissue function is altered from...
As the visual effect and movie industries are striving for realism and high fidelity images, physically based lighting, global illumination, realistic materials, and highly tessellated geometry are gradually accepted and used in movie and game...
Magnetic nanoparticle-based hyperthermia for cancer treatment is a promising technology, particularly when applied as part of an adjuvant strategy with established cancer therapies (chemotherapy, radiation and surgery). In Europe, early clinical...
Estradiol is a key regulator of immune protection in the female reproductive tract (FRT). Its concentration varies during the menstrual cycle, leading to changes in innate immune protection. In this thesis, I demonstrate the multiple levels at...
Radio relics are extended regions of synchrotron radio emission that have been found in the outskirts of a few dozen galaxy clusters. Relics are often associated with clusters undergoing merger activity. They are not associated optically with a...
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in the USA and worldwide causing 160,000 and 1.5 million deaths per year, respectively. Due to the late stage of diagnosis, poor efficacy of chemotherapies (targeted and pleiotropic), and...
Production of fuel ethanol from cellulosic materials is a potentially attractive way to meet sustainability, energy security, and environmental goals. However, the high cost of processing using current technology has thus far prevented...
Thermodynamics, and the classic balance between entropy and enthalpy, provides a proverbial zoo of exotic phase behaviour that chemists can harness to create new materials out of simple liquids and polymers. The diversity of self-assembling...
We have a limited understanding of how an opinion is originated, how an opinion and information supporting and explaining it gets conveyed, and how the communicated opinion is perceived and processed by others. One direction of current research...
Purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) can dominate the nitrogen, carbon, and sulfur cycles in anoxic ecosystems via their anoxygenic photosynthetic metabolisms and are the only producers of the carotenoid, okenone, a biomarker targeted for photic zone...
The purpose of this thesis is to describe methods for detecting hidden crevasses on glaciers in Polar regions. Crevasses form in ice sheets as a result of forces imposed upon the brittle ice. The crevasses are hidden from view by bridges of soft...
Objectives: This dissertation comprises three essays on geographic variations in healthcare, and the association between utilization and health outcomes. I first explore associations between outpatient visits and Medicare beneficiaries'...
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of acquired disability in children, yet innate repair mechanisms are incompletely understood. A possible innate mechanism to repair injury after insult is neurogenesis - the birth, migration,...
A new type of analytic expansion for use in stability calculations is presented and applied to the question of the stability of laminar solutions of the Navier-Stokes equation. This leads in a natural way to a model of the transition from laminar...
Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are susceptible to respiratory tract infections at an early age; with the most frequent initial isolate being the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Subsequently, these patients become chronically...
This thesis presents data from ground camera observations of the aurora conducted from Alaska during the winters of 2005 through 2007. In conjunction with these camera observations, conjugate radar observations of the auroral ionosphere were...
We present new forensic tools that are capable of detecting traces of tampering in digital images without the use of watermarks or specialized hardware. These tools operate under the assumption that images contain natural properties from a variety...
The identification and characterization of functional genetic variation is essential for future advances in molecular diagnostics, pharmacogenomics, and personalized medicine. Recent attempts at identifying nucleotide level variation (somatic...
After decades of searching we have yet to find the progenitor systems for type Ia supernovae. In fact most of what we know about this homogeneous class of supernovae is from spectral features associated with the incinerated remains of the C+O white...
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. The discovery of breast tumor subtypes and the subsequent development of treatments aimed at them has allowed a reduction in the mortality of breast cancer. However, tumors with similar...
Access control is a core component of any information-security strategy. Researchers have spent tremendous energy over the past forty years defining abstract access-control models and proving various properties about them. However, surprisingly...
While anthropogenic emissions of the toxic element mercury (Hg) to the atmosphere are currently rising, major uncertainties remain in determining the relative impacts of anthropogenic activity and natural processes on the global Hg cycle. In this...
Floral nectar of many plant species is prone to colonization by microorganisms. Their presence and metabolism have the potential to modify a suite of traits important for pollinator attraction, including nectar quality and scent. However, studies...
Fluorescence molecular imaging will have an important clinical impact in the area of guided oncology surgery, where emerging technologies are poised to provide the surgeon with real-time molecular information to guide resection, using targeted...
PDZ protein-protein interaction domains recognize short linear motif (SLiM) sequences typically at the extreme C-terminus of a target protein. These domains often act as scaffolds, connecting target proteins to additional interaction and catalytic...
Annual screening mammograms are recommended for all women above 40 years of age for early detection of breast cancer, and are known to improve cancer mortality rates. However, mammography is hampered by low sensitivity and a high rate of false...