The cytokeratins from various human tissue were isolated using chromatographic techniques. The cytokeratins were first extracted from crude tissue using high and low salt buffers. It was necessary to use a denaturing agent such as urea to solubilize the resulting cytokeratin pellet. Imidazole also seemed to help solubilize the pellet and a reducing agent such as 2-Mercaptoethanol was not needed as previously believed. The acidic cytokeratins were separated from the neutral-basic cytokeratins using a DEAE ion-exchange column. The acidic cytokeratin fraction was further separated on a moderately polar reverse phase column with an acetonitrile gradient to eluted the proteins. Tetramethylammonium tetrafluoroborate was added to the mobile phase to react with any unreacted silanol groups on the stationary phase and trifluoroacetic acid was added to ion pair with the protein. The peaks were analyzed for purity using two dimensional electrophoresis and monoclonal antibodies that recognize the cytokeratins.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: B. Bryant Chase, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Biological Sciences. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 7, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 57 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: This dissertation consists of three essays that broadly deal with the growth and development of economies across time and space. Chapter one is motivated by the fact that agricultural labor productivity is key for understanding aggregate cross-country income differences. One important proximate cause of low agricultural productivity is the low use of intermediate inputs, such as fertilizers, in developing countries. This paper argues that farmers in poor countries rationally choose to use fewer intermediate inputs because it limits their exposure to large uninsurable risks. I formalize the idea in a dynamic general equilibrium model with incomplete markets, subsistence requirements, and idiosyncratic productivity shocks. Quantitatively, the model accounts for two-thirds of the difference in intermediate input shares between the richest and poorest countries. This has important implications for cross-country productivity. Relative to an identical model with no productivity shocks, the addition of agricultural shocks amplifies per capita GDP differences between the richest and poorest countries by nearly eighty percent. Chapter two deals with the changes in college completion in the United States over time. In particular, this paper develop a dynamic lifecycle model to study the increases in college completion and average IQ of college students in cohorts born from 1900 to 1972. I discipline the model by constructing historical data on real college costs from printed government reports covering this time period. The main finding is that that increases in college completion of 1900 to 1950 birth cohorts are due primarily to changes in college costs, which generate a large endogenous increase in college enrollment. Additionally, evidence is found that supports cohorts born after 1950 underpredicted sharp increases in the college earnings premium they eventually received. Combined with increasing college costs during this time period, this generates a slowdown in college completion, consistent with empirical evidence for cohorts born after 1950. Lastly, the rise in average college student IQ cannot be accounted for without a decrease in the variance of ability signals. This is attributed the increased precision of ability signals primarily to the rise of standardized testing. Chapter three again deals with cross-country income differences. In particular, it is concerned with the fact that cross-country income differences are primarily accounted for by total factor productivity (TFP) differences. Motivated by cross-country empirical evidence, this paper investigates the importance individuals who operate their own firms because of a lack of other job opportunities (need-based entrepreneurs). I develop a dynamic general equilibrium labor search model with with entrepreneurship to rationalize this misallocation across occupations and assess its role for understanding cross-country income differences. Developing countries are assumed to have tighter collateral constraints on entrepreneurs and lower unemployment benefits. Because these need-based entrepreneurs actually have a comparative advantage as workers, they operate smaller and less productive firms, lowering aggregate TFP in developing countries. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Economics 2013

This thesis aims to address how the strategic partnership between Russia and China is affected by the absence of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, also known as the I.N.F. Treaty. Through historical evidence of the strategic partnership, along with various balancing theories, this thesis presents the argument that American abrogation of the I.N.F. Treaty would result in strengthened relations between Russia and China if the United States deploys intermediate-range nuclear weapons to the Pacific. Without U.S. deployment, however, the Russian-Sino strategic partnership will likely remain undisturbed. / Master of Arts / The purpose of this thesis is to examine the strategic partnership between Russia and China in the absence of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, also known as the I.N.F. Treaty. This thesis presents the argument that American abrogation of the I.N.F. Treaty would result in strengthened relations between Russia and China if the United States deploys intermediate-range nuclear weapons to the Pacific. Without U.S. deployment, however, the Russian-Sino strategic partnership will likely remain undisturbed.

Aluminum is used as a structural member in marine applications because of its low weight. One challenge is to design against failure of aluminum structures in fire. A parametric study was performed to quantify the effects of parameters on the compression failure of aluminum plates during a fire. A thermo-structural apparatus was designed to perform compression tests on aluminum samples consisting of a compression load frame, a hydraulic system, and electric heaters. The effect of dimensional variation on failure behavior was examined. Aluminum 5083 and 6082 alloys were tested with three thicknesses, two lengths and two widths. Three heat fluxes and various buckling stresses were used. Micro Vicker's hardness values were measured before and after testing to quantify the effect of heating on the strength of the aluminum. In general, lower applied stress resulted in higher failure temperature and longer time to failure. Dimensional variations had a negligible effect on failure behavior. The 5083 alloy has a minimum stress level of 50% of the buckling stress at 10kW/m2 and 10% of the buckling stress at 20kW/m2, while the 6082 alloy has a minimum stress level of 75% of the buckling stress at 10kW/m2 and 25% of the buckling stress at 20kW/m2. The 6082 failed at higher temperatures and longer failure times than the 5083. The presence of insulation on the exposed surface decreased the temperature rise, resulting in longer failure times. Vicker's hardness decreased with heating in general. The results describe the effects of parameters of the failure of aluminum. / Master of Science

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Thesis advisor: Marc-Jan Gubbels / The apicomplexan parasite <italic>Toxoplasma gondii</italic> divides rapidly and asexually through a unique process of internal daughter budding. The physical infrastructure for this process is the cytoskeleton, which is composed of subpellicular microtubules, flattened vesicles (alveoli), and a meshwork of intermediate filament-like proteins. This meshwork is composed of a family of 14 inner membrane complex (IMC) proteins that were identified based on the presence of a repeat sequence shared across the Alveolata, the alveolin-repeat. All 14 proteins were cloned as YFP fusions to study their subcellular localization and antibodies were generated against several representative IMC proteins. Each IMC displays unique spatio-temporal dynamics throughout development, but four physically distinct localizations were identified: eight IMCs localize to the alveoli, four IMCs localize to a structure known as the basal complex, IMC11 localizes to the apical cap in mature parasites, and IMC15 localizes primarily to the centrosomes and early buds. IMC15 is of particular interest because its appearance before membrane occupation and recognition nexus 1 (MORN1) in the early bud suggests that it is the first cytoskeletal component to associate with the buds. A conditional knockdown of this protein using the destabilization domain (DD) reveals IMC15 has a strong affinity for the centrosomes that overcomes targeting of the DD fusion protein to the proteasome and the presence of IMC15 in the early bud may not be necessary for the division process. Conditional knockdowns using a tetracycline repressible promoter reveal that a minimal amount of IMC15 is sufficient for parasite survival. In order to further characterize IMC15, dominant negative constructs based on mutating putative palmitoylation sites or overexpression of deletion constructs are being pursued. Collectively, the IMC family is being incorporated into the temporal and spatial dynamics of cytoskeletal development through the creation of a comprehensive timeline of daughter bud assembly. These findings are contributing unprecedented detail to the cell division process. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Biology.

Student Number : 0100281N - MSc(Eng) Research Report - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / Many environmental and engineering projects require prediction of the velocity of flow in river channels, in terms of those channel properties and flow characteristics which induce resisting forces or an energy loss to the flow. Relationships such as the Manning, Chézy and Darcy-Weisbach equations have been in use for a century or more. All of them account for resistance with a single coefficient of resistance, and the central problem is evaluation of this coefficient. Experimental results by different researchers have shown that Manning’s n varies strongly with the ratio of flow depth to roughness height. It is constant for values of this ratio above about 4, but increases significantly for lower values. This suggests that the equation is not suitable in its original form for the case of intermediate-scale roughness. The roughness is intermediate-scale if the relative submergence ratio of flow depth to roughness elements height lies between 1 and 4. The influence of the roughness elements on flow resistance in this regime is caused by a combination of both element drag and boundary shear, or friction. The results of an experimental study with hemispherical roughness elements are presented, showing how the roughness element size, spacing and pattern influence flow resistance. For the range of conditions tested, Manning’s n appears to depend on roughness element size, spacing and pattern.