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'...
Medical imaging methods have become increasingly important in diagnosing diseases and assisting therapeutic treatment. In particular, early detection of breast cancer is considered as a critical factor in reducing the mortality rate of women....
A nocturnal activity pattern is central to almost all hypotheses on the adaptive origins of primates but this view has been challenged recently on the basis of variation in the cone opsin genes of nocturnal primates. The diversity among primates in...
Electronic data processing -- Distributed processing. ; Computer network architectures. ; Programming languages (Electronic computers) -- Semantics. ; Database management.
I tackle the problem of naming and sharing resources across administrative boundaries. Conventional systems manifest the hierarchy of typical administrative structure in the structure of their own mechanism. While natural for communication that...
Magnetic resonance. ; Microwaves -- Physiological effect. ; Thermoelasticity. ; Neutron spin echoes. ; Microwave imaging in medicine. ; Imaging systems in medicine -- Design. ; Breast -- Magnetic resonance imaging.
Magnetic Resonance has been shown to detect tissue displacements generated by a mechanical stimulus or an ultrasound (US) field. Magnetic Resonance Microwave Absorption (MRMA) imaging uses MR to image microwave-induced thermoelastic waves as a...
Spatial heterogeneity inherent in ecological systems impacts both diversity and community structure. However, little is known about the influence of habitat heterogeneity on temporal variability in communities. I performed several studies to...
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...
Nanoparticles have made significant advances in recent years in the realm of cancer therapy. These nanoparticles typically range in size from 10-250nm in diameter, allowing for differential systemic-based biodistribution. The enhanced permeability...
The auroral zone is a rich source of natural radio emissions that can be observed in space and at ground-level. By studying these waves, scientists can gain insight into the plasma processes that generate them and use the near-Earth space...
This thesis comprises two separate but related studies, dealing with two strongly interacting nanoscale systems on the border between the quantum and classical domains. In Part 1, we use a Born-Markov approximated master equation approach to study...
In order to most effectively investigate protein structure and improve protein function, it is necessary to carefully plan appropriate experiments. The combinatorial number of possible experiment plans demands effective criteria and efficient...
Earlier work has suggested that various neurological or neuropsychiatric disorders may result in characteristic spatial patterns in brain activation, potentially allowing their detection from maps of brain activity under different conditions....
Networks that model relationships in the real world have attracted much attention in the past few years. The "link prediction problem" plays a central role in the network area. In this thesis, we explore the link prediction problem in a...
Partially ordered sets and permutations are combinatorial structures having vast applications in theoretical computer science. In this thesis, we study various computational and algorithmic problems related to these structures. The first chapter of...
We start by introducing avoidance coupling of Markov chains, with an overview of existing results. We then introduce and motivate a new notion, uniform coupling. We show that the only Markovian avoidance coupling on a cycle is of this type, and...
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of endopeptidases that collectively degrade all components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) at neutral pH. During the progression of arthritis, MMPs mediate the degradation of cartilage, which consists...
APETALA3 (AP3) is a MADS box gene required for normal development of the petals and stamens in the Arabidopsis flower. AP3 transcriptional regulation occurs in two stages; an initial establishment phase, which is mediated by LEAFY (LFY) and UNUSUAL...
Successful completion of the cell division cycle is critical for cellular duplication and survival. There are many regulators and checkpoints to ensure the proper cell cycle progression. Disruption of the machinery involved in completion, error...