Thesis (M.S.M.E.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Ajay K. Prasad, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Eng.))--University of Hong Kong. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph D.)--University of Chicago. / A Dissertation, submitted to the Faculty of the Ogden Graduate School of Science, in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Astronomy. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet. Also issued online.

Changes in follicular dynamics were monitored in forty-four Brahman multiparous (n=30) and primiparous (n=14) cows randomly assigned to control (n=22) and once-daily suckling (n=22) treatments. Daily transrectal ultrasonography images were taken from d 21 through 88 post-calving or detection of first estrus. Suckling treatment was introduced on d 28 post-calving. Follicular waves were profiled and characterized by development and regression of a variable number of small and medium sized (2-9 mm) follicles before one of the follicles differentiated and became the dominant follicle. Primiparous cows had 34% more (P<0.04) follicular waves (4.8 + 0.6) than did the multiparous cows (3.1 + 0.4) prior to first ovulation (FO). Once-daily suckled multiparous cows had 37% fewer (P<0.03) follicular waves (2.4 + 0.5) prior to FO than controls. Interval from calving to FO was reduced (P < 0.05) by an average of 12 d by once-daily suckling in multiparous cows. Primiparous cows developed 30% more (P<0.02) dominant follicles (6.3 + 0.6) from d 21 to estrus than did the multiparous cows (4.3 + 0.4). Ovulation before d 88 occurred in 42 of 44 (95%) cows. Behavioral estrus was not detected in 40 of 42 (95%) cows at FO. The length of the subsequent estrous cycle was short (<17 days) in 39 of 42 (93%) cows. We can conclude from these data that ovarian function is resumed shortly after parturition and ovulation of a dominant follicle ends postpartum anestrous. Primiparous cows experienced more follicular waves and therefore grew more dominant follicles prior to first estrus. Once-daily suckling hastened return to estrus and reduced the number of follicular waves prior to first post-partum estrus in multiparous cows. The incidence of first ovulation being associated with behavioral estrus was low. Short cycles followed first ovulation. It appears obligatory that postpartum Brahman cows experience a silent ovulation with formation of functional luteal tissue prior to resumption of normal estrous cyclicity.

Phosphofructokinase from Escherichia coli (EcPFK) is allosterically regulated by MgADP and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), which act to activate or inhibit, respectively, by changing the substrate (Fru-6-P) affinity of the enzyme. Both ligands bind to the same allosteric site in EcPFK. Therefore, the questions we want to address are how these two molecules regulate EcPFK and how the allosteric signal is propagated throughout the enzyme. EcPFK has 28 potential site-site interactions. These interactions in turn derive from multiple copies of 6 potentially unique homotropic interactions and 4 potentially unique heterotropic interactions. Making hybrid tetramer of EcPFK is used to isolate a single heterotropic interaction. To improve the yield of the 1:3 hybrid, the in vivo hybrid formation method was developed. Four heterotropic interactions were isolated by this manner and re-evaluated. The same kinetics characteristics were obtained for each 1:3 hybrid from both the in vivo and in vitro method. To address the question of how the allosteric signal is transmitted throughout EcPFK, we identified residues (G184, Asp59 and S157) that are important for the allosteric regulation for both PEP inhibition and MgADP activation. The impact of each mutation on individual interaction is unique and also suggests that the structural basis for PEP inhibition is different from that for MgADP activation. Most importantly, since the sum of each heterotropic interaction with a modification in only one subunit is equal to the total heterotropic interaction with a modification in all four subunits, this result indicates that the heterotropic allosteric signal transmission is realized in a single subunit. The 23Ã heterotropic interaction, which contributes the most to the PEP inhibition, was chosen to study the dynamic properties. Fluorescence was used to study the dynamic perturbations of the 23Ã interaction upon ligand binding. Taking advantage of the hybrid formation strategy and the tryptophan-shift mutagenesis method, a tryptophan residue can be placed at different individual locations throughout the native subunit containing the 23Ã heterotropic interaction. The steady-state anisotropy and lifetime measurement at each tryptophan position indicate that the 23Ã allosteric interaction involves the perturbation of side-chain dynamics both near and quite far away from the respective ligand binding sites.

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In this thesis, we prove two results. The first concerns the dynamics of typical maps in families of higher degree unimodal maps, and the second concerns the Hausdorff dimension of the Julia sets of certain quadratic maps. In the first part, we construct a lamination of the space of unimodal maps whose critical points have fixed degree d greater than or equal to 2 by the hybrid classes. As in [ALM], we show that the hybrid classes laminate neighbourhoods of all but countably many maps in the families under consideration. The structure of the lamination yields a partition of the parameter space for one-parameter real analytic families of unimodal maps of degree d and allows us to transfer a priori bounds from the phase space to the parameter space. This result implies that the statistical description of typical unimodal maps obtained in [ALM], [AM3] and [AM4] also holds in families of higher degree unimodal maps, in particular, almost every map in such a family is either regular or stochastic. In the second part, we prove the Poincare exponent for the Fibonacci map is less than two, which implies that the Hausdor ff dimension of its Julia set is less than two.

The effect of end boundary conditions on the three-dimensionality of the vortex shedding from a circular cylinder in sub-critical flow has been studied experimentally, with a focus on the unsteady nature of the vortex filaments. Analysis of the near-wake of the cylinder was undertaken to determine the dependency of the spanwise uniformity of the vortex shedding on the end conditions. Flow visualization was performed downstream of the cylinder, and the temporal variation of the vortex filament angle was observed. Vortex dislocations were found to occur in this Reynolds Number regime regardless of the end boundary conditions. Having a cylinder bounded by two elliptical leading edge geometry endplates at an L/D value of five yielded parallel shedding with a reduction in the time-based variation of the vortex filament angle, and was shown to be the ideal end conditions for modeling an infinite cylinder in a free-surface water channel.

The effect of end boundary conditions on the three-dimensionality of the vortex shedding from a circular cylinder in sub-critical flow has been studied experimentally, with a focus on the unsteady nature of the vortex filaments. Analysis of the near-wake of the cylinder was undertaken to determine the dependency of the spanwise uniformity of the vortex shedding on the end conditions. Flow visualization was performed downstream of the cylinder, and the temporal variation of the vortex filament angle was observed. Vortex dislocations were found to occur in this Reynolds Number regime regardless of the end boundary conditions. Having a cylinder bounded by two elliptical leading edge geometry endplates at an L/D value of five yielded parallel shedding with a reduction in the time-based variation of the vortex filament angle, and was shown to be the ideal end conditions for modeling an infinite cylinder in a free-surface water channel.