A P56S mutation in the VAPB MSP domain is linked to adult-onset amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 8. The objective of this study is to characterize the functional role of VAPB in transport of NE and NPC proteins from the ER to the NE. Over-expression of VAPB-P56S blocked the transport of nucleoporins (Nups) and NE proteins, resulting in their sequestration in dilated cytoplasmic membranes. Simultaneous overexpression of the FFAT motif (two phenylalanines in an acidic track) antagonizes mutant VAPB effects and restores transport to the NE. VAPB function is required for transport to the NE because knockdown of endogenous VAPB recapitulates this phenotype. Moreover, the compartment in which Nups and NE proteins are sequestered and retained was identified as ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC). Moreover, a defect in the transport of NE and NPC proteins attenuates nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Further, VAPB-P56S which is only soluble in SDS was solubilized in the Triton-X-100 fraction similar to VAPB-WT upon co-transfection with the FFAT motif suggesting that FFAT interacts with the insoluble VAPB-P56S protein changing its biophysical properties.

Several commercially available reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were characterized with aqueous solutions of ammonium sulfate, potassium triphosphate, and mixtures of these two salts at different feed concentrations, compositions and pressures. The objective of this study was to investigate the rejection of these solutes, in particular the ammonium ion (NH4+), by different RO membranes. The aqueous solutions were assumed to come from an anaerobic digester via a process, currently under investigation by CHFour Biogas Inc., to maintain low concentrations of ammonia in the digester in order to maximize the biogas production. The ammonium ions present in the liquid produced from the process are then concentrated using membrane separation. The concentrated ammonium solution would be a valuable fertilizer that could be used by agriculture. The membranes were characterized with three models: the solution-diffusion model, the Kedem-Katchalsky model, also known as the irreversible thermodynamics model, and the Donnan Steric Pore Model (DSPM). The solution-diffusion and irreversible thermodynamics models were found to be inadequate for proper membrane characterization and the use of the DSPM model yielded membrane properties in good agreement with those found in already existing literature. The pore radius of investigated membranes ranged from 0.39 to 0.51 nm. The effect of pH on membrane surface charge was also studied, with the conclusion that increases in pH led to increasingly negative surface charges. This affected the transport of individual ions through the membrane due to preferential passage of the counter-ions. The effects of applied pressure on the stoichiometric nature of salt rejections were also studied. The minimal observed rejection from the range of experiments carried out using ammonium sulfate was 93%Non-stoichiometric rejections of ions were also observed in the experiments with single and multiple solutes. Furthermore, the rejection of ammonium ions in the presence of other ions (K+, SO42-, PO43-) increased as feed concentration increased, which was a result of the synergistic effects of feed pH and ionic interactions. The minimum NH4+ rejection in the presence of other ions was 95.4%, which suitability using RO membranes for concentration of ammonium from dilute aqueous solutions.

Zeolite membranes are considered to be a promising alternative to polymeric membranes and they have the potential to separate gases under harsh conditions. Silicalite-1 membranes in particular are easy to prepare and suitable for several industrial applications. In this research project, silicalite-1/ceramic composite membranes were prepared using the pore plugging hydrothermal synthesis method and supports with zirconium oxide and/or titanium oxide as active layers. The effect of the support’s pore size on the morphology and permeation performance of the prepared membranes was investigated using five supports with different active layer pore sizes in the range of 0.14 – 1.4 m. The prepared membranes were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron diffraction spectrometer (EDS), single gas and binary gas mixtures permeation tests. The results confirmed the presence of a typical silicalite-1 zeolite structure with a high internal crystalline order grown inside the pores of the active layer of the supports, with a dense film covering most of the supports active layers. Silicalite-1 crystals in the prepared membranes were preferably oriented with either a- or b-axes perpendicular to the support surface. Single gas permeation results illustrated that the observed permeances were not directly related to the kinetic diameter of permeants. Instead, the transport of the studied gases through the prepared membranes occurred by adsorption followed by surface diffusion mechanism. Binary gas tests performed with CO2 and N2 mixtures showed that the prepared membranes were selective and very permeable with CO2/N2 permselectivities up to 30 and a CO2 permeances in the order of 10-6 mol m-2 Pa-1 s-1. A model was developed, based on Maxwell−Stefan equations and Extended Langmuir adsorption isotherm, to describe the transport of binary CO2 and N2 mixtures through the prepared silicalite-1 membranes. The model results showed that the exchange diffusivities (D12 and D21) were less dependent on the feed pressure and feed composition compared to the permeances and the permselectivities. Hence, they are more appropriate to characterize the intrinsic transport properties of the prepared silicalite-1 membranes.

Des gammes de membranes en poly(étherimide) (PEI) fonctionnalisées avec des tailles de pores contrôlées ont été préparées en se basant sur deux étapes successives : élaboration des membranes UF de seuil de coupure (MWCO) de 120 ± 10 kDa par la technique inversion de phase induite par la coagulation dans l'eau suivie d'un traitement de surface par une solution aqueuse contenant des oligomères aminés. Une modification avec un dérivé monoaminé commercial, le Jeffamine M-2070, a donné des membrane recouvertes de brosses de courtes chaines de poly(éthylèneglycol) (PEG-PEI) qui ont rendu la membrane plus hydrophile et plus résistante au colmatage par le BSA avec un taux de récupération de flux de l'ordre de 80 à 93 % (traitement de 1 à 3 h). Le MWCO des membranes PEG-PEI traitées plus que 3 h augmente progressivement pour atteindre 500 kDa après 5 h de traitement. D'autre part, une réaction avec des oligomères de poly(éthylèneimine) a donné des membranes chargées positivement (Cat-PEI) en rétrécissant la taille des pores pour atteindre des gammes de membranes d'UF serrée et de NF. Des membranes Cat-PEI de NF de MWCO de l'ordre de 300-500 Da sont adaptées au dessalement avec par un ordre de rétention décroissant de sels simples de CaCl2 > NaCl > MgSO4 > Na2SO4. La forte rétention des ions Ca2+ (plus que 90 %) rend ces membranes très efficaces pour l'adoucissement d'eau (diminution de la dureté d'une eau du robinet de 37 à 7°F). Les membranes Cat-PEI ont montré aussi, une bonne rétention des acides aminés basiques (plus que 80 % pour l'Arginine et la Lysine) à un pH entre 3 et 6. Ainsi une sélectivité expérimentale de l'ordre de 20 a été obtenue pour des mélanges d'acide glutamique et d'arginine avec des membranes de MWCO entre 500 et 750 Da. / Functionalized poly(etherimide) (PEI) membranes with controlled pore size were prepared based on two steps : preparation of UF membranes with a molecular weight cut-Off (MWCO) of 120 ± 10 kDa by phase inversion induced by coagulation in water followed by a surface treatment with an aqueous solution containing amino oligomers. Modification with a commercial monoamine derivative, Jeffamine M-2070, gave membranes (PEG-PEI) coated with brushes of poly (ethylene glycol) short chains that made the membrane more hydrophilic and more resistant to fouling by BSA with a recovery flow rate of of 80 to 93 % (treatment of 1 to 3 h). The MWCO of PEG-PEI membranes treated more than 3 h became progressively larger and reached 500 kDa after 5 h of treatment. On the other hand, reaction with oligomers of poly (ethyleneimine) gave positively charged membranes (Cat-PEI) by narrowing the pore size yielding tight UF and NF membranes. Cat-PEI NF membranes with MWCO of about 300-500 Da are suitable for desalination with a retention order of decreasing simple salts CaCl2> NaCl> MgSO4> Na2SO4. The high retention of Ca2+ ions (more than 90%) make Cat-PEI effective membranes for softening water (reducing the hardness of tap water from 37 to 7 °F). In addition, Cat-PEI membranes showed a good retention of basic amino acids (more than 80% for arginine and lysine) at pH between 3 and 6. Thus, an experimental selectivity of about 20 was obtained for a glutamic acid and arginine mixture using Cat-PEI membranes with a MWCO between 500 and 750 Da.

<div>An improved understanding of energy localization ("hot spots'') is needed to improve the safety and performance of explosives. In this work I establish a variety of experimental and computational methods to aid in the investigation of hot spots. In particular, focus is centered on the implicit relationship between hot spots and energetic material sensitivity. To begin, I propose a technique to visualize and quantify the properties of a dynamic hot spot from within an energetic composite subjected to ultrasonic mechanical excitation. The composite is composed of an optically transparent binder and a countable number of HMX crystals. The evolving temperature field is measured by observing the luminescence from embedded phosphor particles and subsequent application of the intensity ratio method. The spatial temperature precision is less than 2% of the measured absolute temperature in the temperature regime of interest (23-220 C). The temperature field is mapped from within an HMX-binder composite under periodic mechanical excitation.</div><div> </div><div> Following this experimental effort I examine the statistics behind the most prevalent and widely used sensitivity test (at least within the energetic materials community) and suggest adaptions to generalize the approach to bimodal latent distributions. Bimodal latent distributions may occur when manufacturing processes are inconsistent or when competing initiation mechanisms are present.</div><div> </div><div> Moving to simulation work, I investigate how the internal void structure of a solid explosive influences initiation behavior -- specifically the criticality of isolated hot spots -- in response to a shock insult. In the last decade, there has been a significant modeling and simulation effort to investigate the thermodynamic response of a shock induced pore collapse process in energetic materials. However, the majority of these studies largely ignore the geometry of the pore and assume simplistic shapes, typically a sphere. In this work, the influence of pore geometry on the sensitivity of shocked HMX is explored. A collection of pore geometries are retrieved from micrographs of pressed HMX samples via scanning electron microscopy. The shock induced collapse of these geometries are simulated using CTH and the response is reduced to a binary "critical'’ / "sub-critical'' result. The simulation results are used to assign a minimum threshold velocity required to exhibit a critical response to each pore geometry. The pore geometries are subsequently encoded to numerical representations and a functional mapping from pore shape to a threshold velocity is developed using supervised machine-learned models. The resulting models demonstrate good predictive capability and their relative performance is explored. The established models are exposed via a web application to further investigate which shape features most heavily influence sensitivity.</div><div> </div><div> Finally, I develop a convolutional neural network capable of directly parsing the 3D electronic structure of a molecule described by spatial point data for charge density and electrostatic potential represented as a 4D tensor. This method effectively bypasses the need to construct complex representations, or descriptors, of a molecule. This is beneficial because the accuracy of a machine learned model depends on the input representation. Ideally, input descriptors encode the essential physics and chemistry that influence the target property. Thousands of molecular descriptors have been proposed and proper selection of features requires considerable domain expertise or exhaustive and careful statistical downselection. In contrast, deep learning networks are capable of learning rich data representations. This provides a compelling motivation to use deep learning networks to learn molecular structure-property relations from "raw'' data. The convolutional neural network model is jointly trained on over 20,000 molecules that are potentially energetic materials (explosives) to predict dipole moment, total electronic energy, Chapman-Jouguet (C-J) detonation velocity, C-J pressure, C-J temperature, crystal density, HOMO-LUMO gap, and solid phase heat of formation. To my knowledge, this demonstrates the first use of the complete 3D electronic structure for machine learning of molecular properties. </div>

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第22367号 / 医博第4608号 / 新制||医||1043(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 戸口田 淳也, 教授 妻木 範行, 教授 安達 泰治 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

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京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(生命科学) / 甲第23333号 / 生博第451号 / 新制||生||60(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院生命科学研究科統合生命科学専攻 / (主査)教授 永尾 雅哉, 教授 片山 高嶺, 教授 谷口 雄一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy in Life Sciences / Kyoto University / DFAM

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