Traffic responsive mode of operation with its two mechanisms, threshold-based and pattern matching, is considered one of the effective and efficient signal control modes. This operation mode is underutilized due to its cumbersome configuration procedure. The research presented in this thesis aims to give some guidelines regarding traffic responsive and issues that might improve the system performance. Four different issues related to traffic responsive are considered: The first issue is the generation of different traffic scenarios that drive the design of the system. This point is not limited to traffic responsive only but it is more general for different traffic engineering applications that need different traffic scenarios. The second issue is presenting an approach to implement traffic responsive control mode of operation in a large arterial network in Northern Virginia. Pattern matching mechanism is used for this application. Compared to time-of-day control mode, traffic responsive control saves up to 26.94% of the average delay and 21.13% of average number of stops for Reston Parkway network. The third issue is an attempt to improve the current threshold mechanism by relaxing the threshold constraints and using variable thresholds for different levels of plan selection parameters. The last issue is a study for the pedestrian effect on the performance of networks operating by traffic responsive control. The effects of pedestrian calls and pedestrian phases on traffic responsive control are compared and the results shows that pedestrian calls are better for low pedestrian volumes while pedestrian phases are better for high pedestrian volumes. / Master of Science

Adaptability is defined as having the capacity to be modified for a new use or purpose; the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions. Adaptability in a space can have many venues and effects depending on the intent of its flexibility. This thesis will explore several methods of adaptability in design in context with a Makerspace, a community space which functions to provide the facilities and work environment for a variety of creators to use. In a building typology, a Makerspace with a large variety of users, the ability for the spaces to be informed by and reactive to each individual user is imperative to its objective. The approach to exploring adaptable design solutions is in analyzing the potential makers occupying the space, what their specific needs are and how can architectural designs become flexible in a way that allows the Makers to craft their own work environments. The primary objectives of this thesis are to: 1. Explore some of the various definitions of adaptability and how those meanings can be incorporated into design solutions 2. Identify spaces in the project that can be adapted for their specific purpose 3. Determine the methods of adaptability suited to the building typology and its users 4. Discuss adaptable design in terms of fixed and kinetic characteristics 5. Design spaces that are responsive to the site, the project's purpose and the unique needs of each user. The site of the project is located on the 500 block of South Broadway Street, Baltimore MD in the upper Fells Point district. Site dimensions are roughly 55' by 200' of infill space between surrounding retail and residential properties. This site was chosen to accommodate a Makerspace as it is central to Baltimore city's three major arts districts (Bromo, Highlandtown, and Station North Arts Districts) and could be considered a hub where local makers convene and establish a work space for a period of time that has the specific equipment and environment they require. / Master of Architecture / Adaptability is defined as having the capacity to be modified for a new use or purpose; the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions. This thesis explores ways in which architectural design can be adaptable. To have the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions, in this case the people that will use the space and the purpose of the spaces. Baltimore city is home to a large variety of local artists and creators working on their craft. The three major arts districts in the city, Bromo, Highlandtown, and Station North cultivate a community of people that create and consume artistic and innovative projects. In order to most successfully create, an artist should have access to a work environment that is not a hindrance but an asset to their process. The arts community of Baltimore could greatly benefit from a place that offers suitable work environments to a community which does not typically have a designated place. This thesis uses the building type: Makerspace which is a facility used as a tool for creators or "makers" to enter with an idea and facilitate a project. A makerspace can provide access to communal equipment that would otherwise be expensive for the individual maker to own, private and/or public work spaces to use for the maker's individual needs and a sense of community. The Makerspace was chosen as the vessel for exploration into adaptable design because of the nature of the building's purpose. The people that will inhabit and use the spaces will have a variety of specific needs in a work space. I wanted to explore how the designs of spaces could become flexible to accommodate those specific needs. The primary objectives of this thesis are to: 1. Explore some of the various definitions of adaptability and how those meanings can be incorporated into design solutions 2. Identify spaces in the project that can be adapted for their specific purpose 3. Determine the methods of adaptability suited to the building typology and its users 4. Discuss adaptable design in terms of fixed and kinetic characteristics 5. Design spaces that are responsive to the site, the project's purpose and the unique needs of each user.

Yes / This study shows how highly branched poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (HB-PNIPAM) with a chain pendant solvatochromic dye (Nile red) could provide a fluorescence signal, as end groups bind to bacteria and chain segments become desolvated, indicating the presence of bacteria. Vancomycin was attached to chain ends of HB-PNIPAM or as pendant groups on linear polymers each containing Nile red. Location of the dye was varied between placement in the core of the branched polymer coil or the outer domains. Both calorimetric and fluorescence data showed that branched polymers responded to binding of both the peptide target (D-Ala-D-Aa) and bacteria in a different manner than analogous linear polymers; binding and response was more extensive in the branched variant. The fluorescence data showed that only segments located in the outer domains of branched polymers responded to binding of Gram-positive bacteria with little response when linear analogous polymer or branched polymer with the dye in the inner core was exposed to Staphylococcus aureus. / Innovate UK/Smith and Nephew Ltd. (UK) (TSB 103988) and by MRC (MR/N501888/2).

This mixed-method study explored the culturally responsive practices of a midsized, Southern California school district that used Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) state funding to implement a voluntary summer program accessible to TK–6 grade students district-wide. Qualitative data gathered from semistructured interviews with the principal on special assignment (POSA), three upper-grade summer school teachers, and three school outreach liaisons (SOLs) highlighted the culturally responsive practices of the school district to address student and family needs, focusing specifically on English learners (ELs). Quantitative data from the school district examined included the summative test scores for EL students in Grades 4–6. Although EL summer school students did not score significantly higher than EL students who did not attend summer school, the findings demonstrated EL students increased their scaled scores in English language arts (ELA), math, and English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC). A promising finding was the significant change in scores from before to after the summer school program for EL students. Although the study demonstrated funding alone did not address educational inequity as seen in test scores, the qualitative data highlighted powerful educational practices to help address the needs of students and families. Thus, the culturally responsive design features and practices of the summer school program are an initial start to supporting EL students and shifting the education system toward equity.

Nanoparticle-based delivery vehicles have received substantial interest in the field of drug delivery particularly pertaining to chemotherapeutics. By virtue of their size, nanoscale drug delivery vehicles overcome many obstacles encountered by traditional systems. Moreover, nanocarriers can be fabricated to be ‘smart’, meaning they can be responsive to internal stimuli relating to the microenvironment of the tumor and/or external stimuli that can be delivered non-invasively from outside of the body. One such external trigger is ultrasound, well-known for its role in biomedical imaging based on its wide availability, non-invasiveness, and safety but increasingly being applied for drug delivery. This thesis proposes solutions to two key challenges associated with locally-targeted polymer-based drug delivery: enhanced tumor accumulation and externally-triggered control over release kinetics. In the former case, brush polymer PLA-PEG analogues are synthesized and explored to correlate how the architecture of these brush blocks affects the resulting self-assembled nanoparticle size, zeta potential, cytotoxicity in vitro, circulation time, and accumulation profiles in vivo. Indeed, brush copolymer analogues allow for copolymerization with additional monomers while conserving ‘stealth properties of linear copolymers, as well as exhibit superior circulation times and longer-term tumor accumulation. In the latter case, a new ultrasound-triggered drug delivery platform is designed consisting of a hollow polymeric shell in which silica “corks” are entrapped; the application of ultrasound can exploit the high difference in the compressibility between the polymeric shell and the silica corks to pop out or otherwise perturb the cork particles, allowing for both on-demand drug release as well as a pulsatile release profiles to be achieved. Overall, by manipulating the surface properties and/or morphologies of polymer-based micro/nanoparticles, the results of this thesis show that key challenges in local drug delivery can be addressed and applied specifically to applications in cancer therapy. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Drug delivery vehicles attempt to address many of the shortcomings of traditional therapeutics, in particular their low solubility and a lack of tissue targeting, which result in poor efficacy and unwanted side-effects. Polymers specifically have been commonly employed in biomedical applications as there are a wide range of biodegradable polymers that do not cause adverse effects during intended application and can be removed from the body through normal biological function. More recently, more advanced, ‘smart’ materials have been developed that can respond to internal or external stimuli to better address treatment needs. This thesis presents novel polymer-based drug delivery vehicles with new structures useful to passively target particular sites in the body and/or alter drug release profiles, enabling improved drug efficacy and reduced side-effects.

Yes / Thermal desolvation of poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) in the presence of a low concentration of gold nanoparticles incorporates the nanoparticles resulting in suspended aggregates. By covalently incorporating <1% acenaphthylene into the polymerization feed this copolymer is enabled to be used as a model to study the segmental mobility of the PNIPAM backbone in response to gold nanoparticles both below and above the desolvation temperature, showing that there is a physical conformational rearrangement of the soluble polymer at ultralow nanoparticle loadings, indicating low affinity interactions with the nanoparticles. Thermal desolvation is capable of extracting >99.9% of the nanoparticles from their solutions and hence demonstrates that poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) can act as an excellent scrubbing system to remove metallic nanomaterial pollutants from solution. / Science Foundation Ireland's ETS. Grant Number: 11/W.I/12085; MRC. Grant Number: MR/N501888/2

Culturally responsive instruction is recommended as a tool to help mitigate disparities in the recruitment and retention of culturally diverse students in gifted programs. However, the endorsement of colorblind racial ideology has been associated with lower multicultural teaching competency and the adoption of deficit perspectives among teachers. In addition to informing teachers' perceptions of students' abilities and potential, endorsing colorblind racial ideology may make it more difficult for teachers to recognize disparities that adversely impact students from traditionally minoritized and underrepresented groups. The current study examines the relationship between colorblind racial attitudes and multicultural teaching competency among teachers of students who have been identified as gifted and talented. In a large sample of Texas teachers, multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between colorblind racial ideology, multicultural teaching knowledge, and the implementation of culturally responsive teaching practices when teaching gifted and talented students. Results indicate that racial colorblindness, sex, and multicultural teaching knowledge are all significant predictors of the self-reported implementation of culturally responsive instruction, while gifted-specific training and the proportion of students of color had no effects. Implications relate to the necessity of addressing teachers' racial beliefs and ensuring that gifted-specific professional development equips teachers with the knowledge and skill necessary for meeting the needs of diverse gifted students.

Denna uppsats beskriver utvecklingen inom projektet att skapa en redesign av en intranätmall till företaget Circuit i Stockholm. Denna intranätmall representerar de intranät som företaget producerar och används för att sälja in intranät till nya kunder. På grund av att många uppdateringar och nya funktioner tillkommit i de senaste intranäten som levererats vill företaget uppdatera sin intranätmall och som en del i arbetet skapa en ny design till den. Det som levererades inom projektet var slutgiltiga Photoshopskisser med syftet att beskriva designen i detalj, samt påbörjad kodmässig implementering i front-end med hjälp av ramverk för responsiv design. / This report describes the the production within the project of creating a redesign of an intranet template for the digital full-service agency Circuit in Stockholm. This intranet template represents the intranets the company produces and is used as a demonstration of the services for new clients. Due to many updates and additions of functionalities in the newest delivered intranets, Circuit wants to update their template version and as a part of that work creating a new design for it. The deliveries in this project was several final Photoshop-sketches which described the design in detail, and initiated front-end implementations using frameworks for responsive design.

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Das corneale Endothel bildet die innere, einschichtige Zelllage der Cornea und ist für die Aufrechterhaltung der cornealen Transparenz zuständig. Krankheiten oder Verletzungen des cornealen Endothels können zu schweren Beeinträchtigungen des Sehvermögens führen und eine corneale Transplantation erforderlich machen. Der während und nach der Operation auftretende endotheliale Zellverlust erschwert das Überleben des Transplantates. Darum besteht ein Hauptziel des cornealen Tissue Engineerings in der Bereitstellung von transplantierbaren humanen cornealen Endothelzellsheets (HCEC-Sheets) mit einer adäquaten Zelldichte. Thermo-responsive Zellkulturträger fanden für die schonende, enzymfreie Gewinnung von Zellsheets für verschiedene Gewebetypen bereits Verwendung. HCEC stellen in diesem Kontext einen besonderen Fall dar, da sie eine starke Adhäsion zu ihrem Kultursubstrat ausbilden, was deren schonende, thermisch induzierte Ablösung als funktionelles Zellsheet erschwert. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde ein neuartiger thermo-responsiver Zellkulturträger entwickelt. Dieser basiert auf dem durch Elektronenbestrahlung immobilisierten und vernetzten thermo-responsiven Polymer Poly(vinylmethylether) (PVME) sowie dem alternierenden Co-Polymer Poly(vinylmethylehter-alt-maleinsäureanhydrid) (PVMEMA) als biofunktionalisierbare Komponente. Die Kombination dieser Polymere führte zur Etablierung eines thermo-responsiven Zellkulturträgers, dessen physikochemische und biomolekulare Eigenschaften in weiten Grenzen einstellbar und dadurch an die spezifischen Anforderungen von HCEC anpassbar waren. Das PVME-PVMEMA-Blend ermöglichte die Bildung konfluenter HCEC-Monolayer mit den morphologischen Grundlagen für ein funktionelles corneales Endothelgewebe. Durch Inkorporation von Poly(N-isopropylacrylamid) (PNiPAAm) als weitere thermo-responsive Polymerkomponente konnte das Ablösungsverhalten funktioneller HCEC-Sheets weiter verbessert werden. In einem weiteren Schritt erfolgte der Transfer abgelöster HCEC-Sheets auf ein planares, biofunktionalisiertes Kultursubstrat sowie auf endothelfreie porcine Corneae. Die HCEC-Sheets wurden auch nach dem Transfer umfassend biologisch analysiert. Diese Arbeit legt einen Grundstein für die Bereitstellung klinisch anwendbarer Alternativen für das Tissue Engineering von cornealem Gewebe.