A couple travels through Spain in order to obtain an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy. The couple, an unnamed American man and a woman known only by the nickname Jig, has a much more complicated relationship than first seems and must navigate through complex emotions and gender roles. This story, and elaboration on Hemingway’s well known “Hills Like White Elephants”, attempts to give the characters introduced by Hemingway more depth and back story than the original short story.

These studies were conducted to examine the influence of several variables on the growth hormone binding protein (GHBP) in serum of pigs. Continuous long term porcine somatotropin (pST) injections (daily for 6-7 wk) increased GHBP activity (p < .05). However, periodic short term pST injections (daily, every second d or every fourth d for 2 wk) did not cause significant change in GHBP levels (p > .40). No difference was observed between fed animals and animals fasted for 5 days (p > .3). Between 0 and 6 mo of age boar and gilt serum GHBP activity were not significantly different from each other, but increased significantly with age in both sexes(p < .0001). There was no significant correlation between serum GHBP and body weight in this study (p > .30). In pregnant sows, GHBP concentrations were highest at the beginning (day 72) of the third trimester (p< .05). These values were compared with information in the literature on serum growth hormone (GH) concentrations and GH receptor activity under similar conditions. Growth hormone receptor activity reported by other researchers and GHBP activity appear to vary concurrently except during fasting which may indicate alternate regulation of either the GHBP or the GH receptor. / Graduation date: 1992

Diamond-like semiconductors (DLSs) are a class of semiconductor materials having structures similar to that of either cubic or hexagonal diamond. These normal valence compounds are of interest for their wide variety of technologically useful properties that can be tuned for specific applications. Until recently, DLS research has been focused on binary and ternary compositions due to their relative ease of synthesis. However, quaternary DLSs have gained considerable popularity due to their increased compositional flexibility and their potential as multifunctional materials. Despite their growing reputation, the vast number of possible combinations and conceivable solid solutions, DLSs remain fairly unexplored.&lt;br&gt;This work focuses on quaternary DLSs of the formula Ag2-II-IV-S4 in order to advance the knowledge of structure-property relationships for this entire class of materials. Toward this goal, a more complete understanding of the crystal structures of these materials is necessary. This task is often problematic due to the presence of isoelectronic, or nearly isoelectonic elements, that can complicate X-ray structure refinements. In this work, Ag2CdGeS4 is used as a case study to demonstrate that this problem can be resolved with careful consideration of bonding environments as well as the use of high-resolution X-ray sources. For the novel DLS Ag2ZnSiS4, the relationship between the structure and optical properties is probed with the combination of single crystal X-ray diffraction, optical diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and electronic structure calculations using the software package Wien2k. Finally, the current set of predictive tools employed to forcast diamond-like structures are reviewed, including the adherence of these guidelines to the novel compound Ag2FeSiS4 as well all over 60 ternary and quaternary diamond-like materials currently reported in the literature. Furthermore, the most common radii sets used for the prediction of bond distance and cell parameters in these materials are compared to the observed bond distances in quaternary diamond-like nonoxide materials. / Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences / Chemistry and Biochemistry / PhD; / Dissertation;

In humans, noroviruses (NVs) cause acute epidemic and viral gastroenteritis. NVs do not only infect humans; viruseshave also been found in pigs, cows, sheep, mice and dogs. The focus in this project has been on the murine norovirus(MNV). MNV is a member of the viral family Caliciviridae and it consists of a single-stranded, positive sense RNAgenome. The genome includes three open reading frames (ORFs), ORF1 encodes for a polyprotein that consists of theprecursor to the 6-7 non-structural (NS) proteins. The polyprotein is cleaved by the NS6 protease. The NS6 isresponsible for all the cleaving in ORF1 and that makes it an attractive target for antiviral drugs. The NS6 proteinstructure has been determined at 1.66 Å resolution using X-ray diffraction techniques. Surprisingly, the electrondensity map revealed density for a peptide bound in the active site. The peptide had a length of 7 residues andoriginated from the C-terminus of another chain in an adjacent asymmetric unit. The active site triad was composed ofthe conserved residues; histidine 30, aspargine 54 and cysteine 139, however in the structure the cysteine 139 ismutated to an alanine to inactivate the protease. Activity assays were performed to probe the importance of the residuein position 109 in the β-ribbon located close to the active site. The three full-length constructs with the mutations;I109A, I109S and I109T were found to have less activity than the full-length wt (1-183). A truncated protease, lacking9 residues in the C-terminus, also had less activity. This indicates that the terminal residues are also important foractivity.

Dramatic advances are taking place in the microelectronic industry. The feature size continues to scale down and it is expected that the minimum feature size on the integrated circuit is expected to reach 9 nm by 2016, and there will be more than 8 billion transistors on a 310 cm² chip, according to various available roadmaps. Subsequently, this reduction in feature size would require the first-level input-output interconnects to decrease in pitch size to meet the increased number of transistors on the chip. Also, to minimize the on-chip interconnect delay, development of low-K dielectric/copper will become increasingly common in future devices. However, due to the low fracture strength of low-K dielectric, it is essential that the first-level interconnects exert minimal force on the die pads and therefore, do not crack or delaminate the low-K dielectric material. It is also preferable to have a wafer-level packaging approach to facilitate test-and-burn in and to produce known-good dies. Based on these growing demands from the microelectronics industry, there is a compelling need to develop innovative interconnect technologies. This thesis aims to develop one such innovative interconnect — G-Helix interconnect. G-Helix is a scalable lithography-based wafer-level electroplated compliant interconnect that has the potential to meet the fine-pitch first-level chip-to-substrate interconnect requirements. The three-mask fabrication of G-Helix is based on lithography, electroplating and molding (LIGA-like) technologies, and this fabrication can be easily integrated into large-area wafer-level fine-pitch batch processing. In this work, the fabrication, assembly, experimental reliability testing, and numerical physics-based modeling of the G-Helix interconnects will be presented. The fabrication of the interconnects will be demonstrated at 100μm pitch on a 20 x 20 mm die in a class 10/1000 cleanroom facility. The wafers with compliant interconnects will be singulated into individual dies and assembled on substrates using Pb/Sn eutectic solder. The assembly will then be subjected to air-to-air thermal cycling between 0℃and 100℃ and the reliability of the compliant interconnect will be assessed. In addition to the thermo-mechanical reliability testing, some of the dies with free-standing interconnects will also be used for measuring the compliance of the interconnects by compressing with a nanoindenter. In parallel to the experimental research, a numerical analysis study will also be carried out. The numerical model will use direction-, temperature, time-dependent, and time independent material constitutive properties as appropriate. The thermo-mechanical fatigue life of the compliant interconnect assembly will be determined and compared with the experimental data. Recommendations will be developed for further enhancement of reliability and reduction in pitch size.

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) film exhibits an extreme hardness, low friction coefficient, chemical stability, heat conductivity, high resistance, and high optical transparency. There properties lead to remarkable on industrial applications Diamond-like carbon films were deposited onto the silicon (100) and ITO glass substrates. Under the same deposition conditions, the characteristics of DLC films were evaluated by the variations of deposited parameters such as the applied voltage, deposition temperature the concentrations of electrolyte; acetic acid. The properties due to the different substrate were compared and discussed in detail. In experimental work, the properties of DLC film were conducted by various measurements. Scanning electron microscopy can make an insight into the surface morphology also to reveal the uniformity of the DLC films. For the I-t curves of DLC film growth, it can be used to study of the growth mechanism by correlation the surface morphology observed by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The transmission, refraction index and optical band gap of DLC film was measured by the N &K analyzer. Finally, the hydrogen content, composition and microstructure of DLC films were characterized by the FTIR and XPS analyze According to above results, DLC film using the electrolyte of acetic acid was more difficult to deposit on Silicon substrate because the very high activation energy and the high hydrogen ion existing in DI water firstly deposited on the surface of Si substrate. For FTIR measurement, The absorption wavenumber of various bonding observed were positioned at 610 cm-1,680 cm-1,1100 cm-1 and 3600 cm-1~3800 cm-1and to be cauterized as the bonding of Si-H¡BSi-O and O-H, respectively. The absorption peaks within the range from 2800 cm-1 to 3100 cm-1 were missing. Peaks observed were attributed to the bonding of Si-C¡B SP3 C-C¡B C-O¡BC-C¡BC=O and C=C and the CHn bonding was missing on the surface of substrate. The reaction mechanism of DLC deposition can be suggested from the results of measurements. As bias voltage applied, the acetic ion; CH3COO- were attracted by the Anode as the state of C¡]Anode¡^-OOCCH3, and then to give electron and form the CH3+ion»PCO2. The hydrogen ion and methyl ion were attracted by cathode. The competitive reaction was built between ions to deposited DLC films and/or to form Si-H. However, experimental results show that the last was preferred and for forming the DLC film was forbidden.

Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) film exhibits an extreme hardness, low friction coefficient, chemical stability, heat conductivity, and high resistance. Their properties lead to remarkable applications on industry. In the experiment, we use electrondeposition to deposit the DLC film on Si substrate. Different concentrations of electrolyte were used to deposit on the of silicon substrates with different roughness surface. KOH solution was used to etch and to get the different roughness on the surface of silicon substrates. the morphology of surface were observed by SEM and AFM. Composition and microstructure of the DLC film were characterized by the Raman spectroscopy and XPS, repectively. The optical properties of DLC film were investigated by the N&K analyzer. From the AFM results, the surface morphology observed by KOH etching on the surface of silicon substrates during etching time as 0¡B20¡B40¡B60 min, the surface roughness increased from 2.64 to 14.07 nm. Based on thevariation of surface roughness, the growth rate was observed more quicker than the non etch surface. Moreover, to deposit the DLC film on the alkalinity solution was better then acid solution. However, the ID/IG ratio and the sp2/sp3 ratio obtained from Raman and XPS increase with the roughness surface from 1.09 to 1.82 and 0.985 to 2.15, respectively. It is because that the microstructure of DLC film varies and exchange to graphitization. The mixed the ammonia water and ammonium acetate into acetic acid solution was used to deposit DLC film on Si surface, and film shows with lower ID/IG ratio. Additionally, as the amount of ammonium acetate was varied in the solution, the ID/IG ratio of the films observed as decrease from 1.2 to 0.93 with increasing amount of ammonium acetate 10g to 40g. It was due to the methyl radicals increase in the solution. Besides, we can find the optical band gap decreased with DLC films changing to graphitization.

The groupers are vital fish in Taiwan, the market of grouper fry over 300 million dollars. While grouper nervous necrosis virus (NNV) has caused mass mortality, especially 100% in larvae and juveniles, which economically impacts on culture of marine fish. The vaccination is one of the best methods to against viral diseases. The dragon grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus), malabar grouper (E. malabaricus) and brown-marbled grouper (E. fuscoguttatus) were injected with different dosages and injection frequencies of virus-like particles (VLPs) of DGNNV, which is by the first claimed. The anti-sera of vaccinated fish were analyzed with eight kinds of immunology methods, among which antigen-capture ELISA was the best choice for qualitative and quantitative assays. The signal of antibodies in the vaccinated fish was detected in all groupers in one week after primary immunization, and the antibody titers increased markedly in one month. In dragon grouper, fish was injected with 10 £gg of VLPs, the antibody titer reached 1.05. To given booster injection once, antibody titers were raised to 35.7%. In malabar grouper, after injected twice with 50 £gg of VLPs, the antibody titer raised 33.3% than inoculation once in six weeks. After brown-marbled grouper was injected with 450 £gg of VLPs, the high antibody titer reached to 1.57 at five weeks post primary immunization. Specific antibodies still can be detected after seven months. In the in vitro assay with MGNNV of 103.5 TCID50/mL, neutralizing antibody titer of control fish were all lower than 1:50. The neutralizing antibody titer of anti-serum of dragon grouper was detected at 1:200 at one week, and raised to 1:1600 at four weeks and 1:6400 at eleven weeks after primary vaccination. In malabar grouper and brown-marbled grouper, the neutralizing antibody titers were 1:3200 and 1:400, respectively, in one month. The antibody titer can not increased by Freund¡¦s complete adjuvant. The fish produced high antibody titer and high protection by immunization with VLPs.

Cell-to-cell communication, termed quorum sensing, mediated by AI-2 like activity, has been reported to regulate the expression of a variety of genes in E. coli O157:H7. A previous study in our laboratory has shown that foods can contain compounds that can interfere with AI-2 signaling. The underlying hypothesis of our studies is that the autoinducer molecules such as AI-2 are involved in the virulence and survival of enteric bacterial pathogens on food and food ingredients. The influence of AI-2 like activity on the survival and expression of virulence genes (hha and yadK) in E.coli O157:H7 was studied when the organism was stored in different types of ground beef extracts such as: cooked, uncooked, and autoclaved. The survival was observed at refrigeration temperature, while change in gene expression was studied using real-time PCR. Higher survival was observed in the cell exposed to cell free supernatant (CFS) containing AI-2 like molecules, compared to the one which was exposed to heat degraded AI-2 like molecules. The survival of cells was higher when exposed to cooked ground beef extracts compared to uncooked and autoclaved ground beef extracts. Similarly, higher gene expressions of both hha and yadK genes were observed in cells that were exposed to cooked beef extract samples as compared to samples that wereuncooked or autoclaved. About a 2 fold higher gene expression for both hha and yadK gene was observed when cells were subjected to cooked ground beef extracts in the presence of AI-2 like molecules compared to the ones exposed to uncooked ground beef extracts in the presence of AI-2 like molecules. Likewise, 3-fold higher gene expression was observed for cells exposed to cooked ground beef extracts compare to autoclaved ground beef extracts in the presence of AI-2 like molecules. The results suggest that the survival and virulence of enteric bacterial pathogens such as E.coli O157:H7 can be influenced by the interaction of food components and autoinducers such as AI-2, that are involved in bacterial cell communications.

Chemokines triggered by Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are small chemoattractant proteins, which mainly regulate leukocyte trafficking in inflammatory reactions via interaction with G protein-coupled receptors. Forty-two chemokines and 19 cognate receptors have been found in the human genome. Prior to this study, only 11 chicken chemokines and 7 receptors had been reported. The objectives of this study were to identify systematically chicken chemokines and their cognate receptor genes in the chicken genome and to annotate these genes and ligand-receptor binding by a comparative genomics approach. Twenty-three chemokine and 14 chemokine receptor genes were identified in the chicken genome. The number of coding exons in these genes and the syntenies are highly conserved between human, mouse, and chicken although the amino acid sequence homologies are generally low between mammalian and chicken chemokines. Chicken genes were named with the systematic nomenclature used in humans and mice based on phylogeny, synteny, and sequence homology. The independent nomenclature of chicken chemokines and chemokine receptors suggests that the chicken may have ligand-receptor pairings similar to mammals. The TLR family represents evolutionarily conserved components of the patternrecognizing receptors (PRRs) of the innate immune system that recognize specific pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) through their ectodomains (ECDs). TLR's ECDs contain 19 to 25 tandem copies of leucine-rich repeat (LRR) motifs. TLRs play important roles in the activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and modulation of antigen-specific adaptive immune responses. To date, nine TLRs have been reported in chicken, along with a non-functional TLR8. Two non-mammalian TLRs, TLR21 and TLR22, have been identified in pufferfish and zebrafish. The objectives of this study were to determine if there is the existence of chicken genes homologous to fish-specific TLRs, and if possible ligands of these receptors exist. After searching the chicken genome sequence and EST database, a novel chicken TLR homologous to fish TLR21 was identified. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the identified chicken TLR is the orthologue of TLR21 in fish. Bioinformatic analysis of potential PAMP binding sites within LRR insertions showed that CpG DNA is the putative ligand of this receptor.