Previous studies on inhibition of the Escherichia coli glycerol kinase enzyme have suggested that subunit-subunit or domain bridging interactions form part of the network in communicating ligand binding to inhibition. In this study, five amino acids were identified to be in close proximity to an Arg369 residue which is a domain bridging residue. Three of the amino acid residues (Q37, Y39 and Q104) are in domain I of the enzyme subunit, while the other two (M308 and Q314) are in domain II of the enzyme subunit. To evaluate the importance of each domain bridging residue in IIAGlc inhibition, alanine substitutions were made of the residues, and the kinetic properties characterized with respect to IIAGlc inhibition. Kinetic parameters obtained for each variant glycerol kinase enzyme was compared to values obtained for the Wild Type enzyme to assess the importance of the amino acid residue in IIAGlc inhibition. The effects of the substitutions on FBP inhibition as well as catalysis of the enzyme were also analyzed by obtaining kinetic parameters for each of the variant enzymes. The results from this study indicate that the domain I bridging interactions with Arg369 are important in IIAGlc regulation of the E. coli glycerol kinase enzyme. The domain II bridging interactions appear to be unimportant in regulating IIAGlc inhibition. Two of the domain I bridging residues studied were also found to be important in FBP inhibition. These results indicate that some the domain bridging residues seen to be involved in IIAGlc regulation also appear to be involved in FBP regulation. In catalysis, with the exception of Q314, the rest of the domain I and II bridging residues appear to be important for substrate binding and/or catalysis.

Over the past fifty or so years there has been a well examined decline in socialconnections and many other facets of American communities (Fischer 1982; Putnam2000; Freeman 2001; McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Brashears 2006; Dunham-Jones &Williamson 2009). New urbanism has been proposed as a tool to reverse some of thissocial decline in communities. This study seeks to understand the possible socialconnective benefits of new urbanism in a number of ways. First, a new urbanistcommunity is compared to a similar adjacent community that also happens to betraditional suburban community. The study examines differences between the twocommunities in terms of social connections, social interactions, and communitysatisfaction. Second, the study examines individual design elements of new urbanism to understand their relationships with social interactions and social connections. This study also examines community cohesion in terms of diverse social interactions and bridging ties. Previous studies suggest that bridging ties are more likely to be formed between persons who are connected with weaker social bonds (Granovetter, 1973) as well as persons who interact through spontaneous rather than planned forms of social interaction (Molm, Collett, & Schaefer 2007). Lastly, this study seeks to understand if any of the new urbanist design strategies examined are related to bridging ties. The findings of this study suggested that new urbanist communities do have more social interactions, social connections, and community satisfaction than do traditional suburban communities. The findings also suggested that four new urbanist design strategies: porches, community meetings, and mixed-use zoning are positively related to social interactions and social connections. Moreover, findings suggested that persons connected by weaker social bonds are indeed more likely to have bridging ties, however, they did not support the idea that persons who have more spontaneous interactions will also be more likely to have bridging ties. Lastly, the findings indicated that of all the new urbanist design strategies, only the neighborhood business center was positively related to bridging ties. Conversely, a negative relationship was found between resident's who use their porches and bridging ties.

This thesis details the synthesis and coordination chemistry of twenty-five nitrogencontaining heterocyclic ligands, nineteen of which were previously unreported compounds. These ligands were designed for use as synthons for the formation of molecular cages, so contain multiple coordination sites capable of bridging multiple metal atoms. The majority of molecular cages in the literature are formed by rigid bridging ligands, whereas the ligands studied in this research incorporate a higher level of flexibility, thereby lessening the degree of control over the self-assembly process and increasing the number of possible structures that can be formed upon reaction of these ligands with meal salts. Three of the new ligands synthesised were two-armed bridging ligands, which were reacted with a wide variety of metal salts to investigate what self-assembly products were formed. The complexes characterised include a M₃L₃ cyclic trimer, a range of coordination polymers of varying dimensionality, a range of dimeric products and a series of M₄L₆ cage-like molecular squares. However, the majority of ligands studied were three-armed, potentially tripodal compounds, which were envisaged as potential components of M₃L₂ or M₆L₄ molecular cages. The products of self-assembly of these ligands with various metals salts were shown to include a variety of discrete tri- and tetranuclear complexes, a range of coordination polymers of varying dimensionality and interpenetration, and a complex M₆L₄ assembly that appears to be a collapsed coordination cage. Unfortunately some of the ligands synthesised were shown to decompose in the presence of various metal salts, a phenomenon already identified in the literature. Analogues of these decomposition products were synthesised deliberately to identify the potential of a known tridentate ligand as a metallosupramolecular synthon. ¹H NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray crystallography were used to study the compounds synthesised. The crystal structures of five ligands and fifty-one complexes are discussed.

No description available.

This thesis details the synthesis and coordination chemistry of twenty-five nitrogencontaining heterocyclic ligands, nineteen of which were previously unreported compounds. These ligands were designed for use as synthons for the formation of molecular cages, so contain multiple coordination sites capable of bridging multiple metal atoms. The majority of molecular cages in the literature are formed by rigid bridging ligands, whereas the ligands studied in this research incorporate a higher level of flexibility, thereby lessening the degree of control over the self-assembly process and increasing the number of possible structures that can be formed upon reaction of these ligands with meal salts. Three of the new ligands synthesised were two-armed bridging ligands, which were reacted with a wide variety of metal salts to investigate what self-assembly products were formed. The complexes characterised include a M₃L₃ cyclic trimer, a range of coordination polymers of varying dimensionality, a range of dimeric products and a series of M₄L₆ cage-like molecular squares. However, the majority of ligands studied were three-armed, potentially tripodal compounds, which were envisaged as potential components of M₃L₂ or M₆L₄ molecular cages. The products of self-assembly of these ligands with various metals salts were shown to include a variety of discrete tri- and tetranuclear complexes, a range of coordination polymers of varying dimensionality and interpenetration, and a complex M₆L₄ assembly that appears to be a collapsed coordination cage. Unfortunately some of the ligands synthesised were shown to decompose in the presence of various metal salts, a phenomenon already identified in the literature. Analogues of these decomposition products were synthesised deliberately to identify the potential of a known tridentate ligand as a metallosupramolecular synthon. ¹H NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray crystallography were used to study the compounds synthesised. The crystal structures of five ligands and fifty-one complexes are discussed.

Orientador: João Fernando Custódio da Silva / Resumo: Um sistema de mapeamento móvel (SMM) permite obter informações geográficas das vias e de seu entorno. O objetivo deste trabalho é controlar a propagação de erros na determinação dos POE no processo de caminhamento fotogramétrico, para isto, foi estudada a adição de uma terceira câmera ao sistema e a integração das imagens com dados dos sensores de posicionamento e navegação. As câmeras foram dispostas em um arranjo triangular, de modo que o terceiro raio homólogo de um ponto fosse não coplanar aos demais raios homólogos deste mesmo ponto. Isto permite melhorar a estimativa da posição geométrica dos pontos, principalmente no sentido transversal à base do levantamento. Para a realização do levantamento, o sistema foi calibrado no campo de calibração da FCT/Unesp. O trajeto percorrido foi no entorno de uma quadra urbana, de modo a percorrer trechos retos e curvos. Os algoritmos SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) e RANSAC (RANdom SAmple Consensus) foram aplicados nas imagens coletadas pelo sistema, a fim de identificar os pontos homólogos nos trios de imagens e nas imagens subsequentes. Os parâmetros de orientação exterior (POE) das câmeras foram calculados pelo processo de fototriangulação, o ajustamento foi pelo método dos mínimos quadrados (MMQ), modelo paramétrico. Os dados foram processados variandose a quantidade de câmeras, duas ou três, para analisar a contribuição da terceira câmera. Os experimentos foram realizados para trechos retos e curvos e variou-se o tamanho... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: A mobile mapping system (MMS) provides geographical information of the roads and their surroundings. When carried by pedestrians, it can provide information of indoor areas or inaccessible to vehicles. The objective of this work was to control the spread of errors in determining the EOP in photogrammetric traversal process to this, the addition of a third camera to the system and the integration of images and positioning and navigation sensors data were studied. Cameras were mounted in a triangular arrangement, in a way that the third homologous beam of a point is non-colinear to the others homologous beams of the same point. This enables a point position estimative enhancement, mainly in the transverse direction of the base. For the survey, the system was calibrated in the FCT/Unesp calibration field. The route taken was in the vicinity of an urban block, passing by straight and curved sections. SIFT algorithm (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) and RANSAC (RANdom SAmple Consensus) were applied on the images collected by the system to identify the corresponding points in image trios and subsequent images. The exterior orientation parameters (EOP) of the cameras were calculated by the phototriangulation process, the adjustment method used was the least squares (LSM), parametric model. The data were processed by varying the number of cameras, two or three, to analyze the contribution of the third camera. The experiments were realized for straight and curved sections and was va... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

An exploratory, descriptive qualitative design was used to describe and explore how the students experienced their clinical accompaniment in a specific programme. The researcher conducted a tape recorded interview to a 14 individual students, who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study, transcription followed, then data analysis was done following the steps as described by De Vos, Srydom, Fouché and Delport (2005:334) citing Creswell (1998:142) where open coding leads to themes and subthemes. From the findings of this study it was discovered that the students experienced dissatisfaction in terms of their development of clinical skills to competence as they were not given an opportunity due to negative circumstances around their training. Recommendations were made to improve clinical accompaniment of student nurses for all involved so that the student nurses acquire clinical skills, knowledge and values. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

Within every human cell, approximately two meters of DNA must be compacted into a nucleus with a diameter of around ten micrometers. Alongside this daunting storage problem, the 3D organisation of the genome also helps determine which genes are up- or down-regulated, which in turn effects the functionality of the cell itself. While the organisational structure of the genome can be revealed using experimental techniques such as chromosome conformation capture and its high-throughput variant Hi-C, the mechanisms driving this organisation are still unclear. The first two results chapters of this thesis use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the effect of a potential organisational mechanisms for DNA known as the "bridging-induced attraction". This mechanism involves multivalent DNA-binding proteins bridging genomically distant regions of DNA, which in turn promotes further binding of proteins and compaction of the DNA. In chapter 2 (the first results chapter) we look at a model where proteins can bind non-specifically to DNA, leading to cluster formation for suitable protein-DNA interaction strengths. We also show the effects of protein concentration on the DNA, with a collapse from a swollen to a globular phase observed for suitably high protein concentrations. Chapter 3 develops this model further, using genomic data from the ENCODE project to simulate the "specific binding" of proteins to either active (euchromatin) or inactive (heterochromatin) regions. We were then able to compare contact maps for specific simulated chromosomes with the experimental Hi-C data, with our model reproducing well the topologically associated domains (TADs) seen in Hi-C contact maps. In chapter 4 of the thesis we use numerical methods to study a model for the coupling between DNA topology (in particular, supercoiling in DNA and chromatin) and transcription in a genome. We present details of this model, where supercoiling flux is induced by gene transcription, and can diffuse along the DNA. The probability of transcription is also related to supercoiling, as regions of DNA which are negatively supercoiled have a greater likelihood of being transcribed. By changing the magnitude of supercoiling flux, we see a transition between a regime where transcription is random and a regime where transcription is highly correlated. We also find that divergent gene pairs show increased transcriptional activity, along with transcriptional waves and bursts in the highly correlated regime { all these features are associated with genomes of living organisms.

This study focuses on the effect of tufting on the mechanical and electrical properties of carbon composites using a variety of tuft materials, such as aramid, steel and copper. Several configurations were investigated based on a case study, involving the reinforcement of stiffener-to-skin interfaces of a tail cone. The effect of tuft and base composite material, tufting depth and inclination on the delamination resistance in mode I was evaluated, the associated bridging laws were determined and the failure mechanisms were identified. A simplified superposition model of the delamination response of tufted composites was developed. The electrical performance of tufted composites was determined in simulated lightning strike tests and set against the through-the-thickness electrical conductivity of the materials. The results of mechanical testing showed that the delamination performance depends strongly on the material response of the tufts, with both the bridging behaviour and final toughness levels influenced directly by the strength, ductility and ultimate strain of the tufts. Interactions between the tufts and the surrounding composite, such as interfacial shear and bridging induced by tuft pull-out, play a significant role in the overall behaviour generating a deviation from a simple superposition of the base material and tuft response. The balance between interfacial shear and tuft elongation results in a decreasing trend of delamination toughness with increasing tufting depth for low ductility materials, whilst the trend is reversed for the high ductility copper tufts. This balance is also affected by the properties of the base material, with tougher matrices leading to dominance of shear effects and a weaker enhancement introduced by tufting. Inclination of tufts leads to an increase in crack energy release rate due to the activation of a ploughing mechanism. Metallic and carbon tufts have a positive effect on lightning strike response, with copper tufting offering strike protection at an improved level compared to standard copper mesh solutions.

Doctor of Philosophy / Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / The military devotes significant resources and time in the development of officers through education. Recently, there has been a great deal of emphasis placed on military Intermediate Service Schools (ISS’s) to enhance the ability of graduates to think with greater cognitive complexity in order to solve the kinds of problems they may face after graduation. The military environment in which these mid-career officer students will serve is highly complex and requires a significant ability to generate solutions to unique and complex problems. One hallmark of a developmental adult educational experience is the advancement of the student to higher levels of cognitive complexity. The purpose of this research was to determine if there was a relationship between the cognitive complexity of faculty, students, and expectations for student graduates, at a military Intermediate Service School. Along with the simultaneous measure of cognitive complexity, via a survey administration of the LEP instrument, the researcher also developed a technique for translating learning objectives from Blooms taxonomy into a corresponding Perry position. This translation method was used to translate the college learning objectives into an expected Perry position for graduates of the college. The study also included demographic data to look for significant results regarding a number of independent variables. For faculty only these included teaching department, years of teaching experience, age, and military status. For both populations the variables studied included education level, gender, combat experience and combat trauma, branch of service, commissioning source, and years of active duty service. The study found that the mean cognitive complexity of entering students (CCI = 360) was lower than the cognitive complexity required of graduates (CCI = 407). However, the faculty mean cognitive complexity (CCI = 398) was not significantly different from a student graduate. The faculty results indicated that there were no statistically significant relations between the independent variables studied and the measured cognitive complexity. For students there was a statistically significant relation between measured cognitive complexity and gender.