This dissertation aims to: 1) characterize the range of beliefs museum practitioners have about racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity; 2) their understanding of the role of race, culture, and ethnicity in minoritized learners’ sensemaking; and 3) the areas of tension and symmetry between practitioners’ values and their perception of their...
This dissertation explores the reciprocal relationship between international politics and digital computation since the 1960s by examining the first attempts to use computer simulation to credibly forecast our planet’s economic and environmental future on a global scale. In particular, this project offers the first sustained historical analysis of the origins...
This thesis focuses on the design of hybrid organic materials comprising polymers and small molecules for biodiagnostic and electronic applications. Specifically, the electrochemical and fluorescent signaling properties of terthiophene-functionalized polymers are combined with the enhanced recognition properties of DNA hybrid materials, culminating in the development of a "loaded" probe for...
The adoption of surfactant replacement therapy (SRT) for the treatment of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (nRDS) is one of the main contributors to the dramatic decline in infant mortality rates observed in the 1980s. Despite the significant efficacy of animal-derived surfactant preparations, there are still some concerns associated with their...
Pain normally subserves a vital role in the survival of the organism by prompting the avoidance of situations associated with tissue damage. However, the sensation of pain can become dissociated from its normal physiological role when the pain-sensing nervous system becomes hypersensitive, a condition known as neuropathic pain. Currently available...
Previous research has shown that creative insight problem-solving is distinct from systematic analytical problem-solving. Behaviorally, a positive mood has shown to facilitate insights but without knowing the processes that are fundamental to insight, the mechanisms as to how a positive mood facilitates insights have remained unspecified. Here, we investigate the...
This thesis discusses the synthesis, self-assembly, and conductivity properties of novel oligothiophene derivatives with an emphasis on how molecular structure effects the assembly. In order to facilitate self-assembly in conjugated molecules, specific non-covenant forces were included into the molecular design of several derivatives. First, an amphiphilic oligothiophene derivative consisting of...
The work described in this dissertation focuses on the development of a general approach to create nanoscale transition metal chalcogenide materials and new methods for controlling architecture of gold pyramidal structures. In the former, we used chemical nanofabrication, a combination of top-down patterning and bottom-up solid-state synthesis, to achieve control...
Predictive modeling has emerged as a new research subject that studies a broad range of modeling techniques to provide confident prediction of the phenomenon of interest by integrating scientific principles together with both computer models and observed physical experiments. Motivated by overcoming the existing challenges, the objective in this dissertation...