The Local Editing Protocol allows a local programmable terminal to execute the most common editing commands on behalf of an extensible text editor on a remote system, thus greatly improving speed of response without reducing flexibility. The Line Saving Protocol allows the local system to save text which is not displayed, and display it again later when it is needed, under the control of the remote editor. Both protocols are substantially system and editor independent.

Lacome is a multi-user cross-platform system that supports collaboration in a shared large screen display environment. Lacome allows users to share their desktops or application windows using any standard VNC server. It supports multi-user concurrent interaction on the public shared display as well as input redirection so users can control each other's applications. La-come supports separate types of interaction through a Lacome client for window management tasks on the shared display(move, resize, iconify, de-iconify) and for application interactions through the VNC servers. The system architecture provides for Publishers that share information and Navigators that access information. A Lacome client can have either or both, and can initiate additional Publishers on other VNC servers that may not be Lacome clients. Explicit access control policies on both the server side the client side provide a flexible framework for sharing. The architecture builds on standard cross-platform components such as VNC and JRE. Interaction techniques used in the window manager ensure simple and transparent multi-user interactions for managing the shared display space. We illustrate the design and implementation of Lacome and provide insights from initial user experience with the system.

For almost 50 years, researchers have been exploring the use of stereoscopic displays for visualizing and interacting with three-dimensional (3D) data. Unfortunately, a number of unfavorable qualitative properties have impeded the wide-spread adoption of traditional 3D displays. The volumetric display, a more recent class of 3D display to emerge, possesses unique features which potentially makes it more suitable for integration into workplace, classroom, and even home environments. In this dissertation we investigate volumetric displays as an interactive platform for 3D applications. We identify the inherent affordances unique to volumetric displays, such as their true 3D display volume, 360° viewing angle, and enclosing surface. Identifying these properties exposes human factor issues which we investigate and interaction issues which we address. First, we evaluate the user’s ability perceive imagery displayed by a volumetric display. In a formal experiment, we show that depth perception can be improved, in comparison to more traditional platforms. We then perform an experiment which evaluates users’ ability to read text under 3D rotations, and present a new algorithm which optimizes text rotation when viewed my multiple users. Next, we investigate the user’s ability to select 3D imagery within the display. Results show that the dimension defining the depth of the object can constrain user performance as much as or more than the other two dimensions of the target. This leads us to explore alternative methods of selection which are less constraining to the user. We define a suite of new selection techniques, of which several are found to have significant benefits in comparison to techniques traditionally used in 3D user interfaces. Next, we describe our development of the first working interactive application, where a volumetric display is the sole device for input and display. The application presents a first glance at what the equivalent of today’s graphical user interface might be on a volumetric display. We then develop a prototype application which allows multiple users to simultaneously interact with the volumetric display. We discuss and address the core issues related to providing such a collaborative user interface, and report feedback obtained from usage sessions and expert interviews.

Handoff is a synchronous object transfer technique in face-to-face collaborative work and is one of the low-level actions of collaboration that is smooth and natural in physical settings; however, in digital tabletop workspaces, digital handoff is often awkward and difficult to control. We carried out a series of studies to investigate how digital handoff could be improved in tabletop systems. We first observed people doing several real-world tasks around a standard table and found that handoff is as common in the real-world as deposit (an asynchronous tool transfer technique). The study identified several guidelines to support the design of handoff actions in digital tabletop system. We then examined 2D-handoff techniques; by running a pilot study, we compared the traditional handoff technique with the real-world tangible handoff technique, and found that the traditional digital handoff technique was not well suited for transferring objects on the tabletop. By analyzing the handoff mechanism we spot the bottleneck that affected traditional handoff procedures and designed a novel 2D-handoff technique, force-field technique, which alleviated this bottle-neck to solve this problem. Through a user-study we found that the force-field technique was significantly faster than current digital handoff techniques and as good as real-world 2D-handoff techniques. In addition, force-field handoff was most preferred by a majority of participants. We further designed and implemented a 3D-handoff technique that embodies our observations of how handoff occurs in the real-world setting. <p>Finally, we evaluated our design in a simulated digital-tabletop task with the goal of assessing the usefulness of various digital transfer techniques including standard deposit, traditional handoff, force-field and 3D-handoff. The results showed that on the digital tabletop system the percentage of using deposit, 2D-handoff and 3D-handoff techniques is similar with the percentage of using these techniques on the real world physical table. 3D-handoff was the most preferred and the most frequently used technique among the handoff techniques; and the force-field technique is preferred than traditional handoff technique.

For almost 50 years, researchers have been exploring the use of stereoscopic displays for visualizing and interacting with three-dimensional (3D) data. Unfortunately, a number of unfavorable qualitative properties have impeded the wide-spread adoption of traditional 3D displays. The volumetric display, a more recent class of 3D display to emerge, possesses unique features which potentially makes it more suitable for integration into workplace, classroom, and even home environments. In this dissertation we investigate volumetric displays as an interactive platform for 3D applications. We identify the inherent affordances unique to volumetric displays, such as their true 3D display volume, 360° viewing angle, and enclosing surface. Identifying these properties exposes human factor issues which we investigate and interaction issues which we address. First, we evaluate the user’s ability perceive imagery displayed by a volumetric display. In a formal experiment, we show that depth perception can be improved, in comparison to more traditional platforms. We then perform an experiment which evaluates users’ ability to read text under 3D rotations, and present a new algorithm which optimizes text rotation when viewed my multiple users. Next, we investigate the user’s ability to select 3D imagery within the display. Results show that the dimension defining the depth of the object can constrain user performance as much as or more than the other two dimensions of the target. This leads us to explore alternative methods of selection which are less constraining to the user. We define a suite of new selection techniques, of which several are found to have significant benefits in comparison to techniques traditionally used in 3D user interfaces. Next, we describe our development of the first working interactive application, where a volumetric display is the sole device for input and display. The application presents a first glance at what the equivalent of today’s graphical user interface might be on a volumetric display. We then develop a prototype application which allows multiple users to simultaneously interact with the volumetric display. We discuss and address the core issues related to providing such a collaborative user interface, and report feedback obtained from usage sessions and expert interviews.

The generation of high affinity, selective, and in vivo-stable peptide-based drugs is currently a major challenge in the field of drug development. Technologies exist that permit the generation of a vast diversity of chemical and conformational space and an example of such a technology is mRNA display, which utilizes protein translation machinery to produce a wide array of polypeptides starting from a combinatorial library of mRNA templates. The intention of this research was to bridge mRNA display to a reconstituted translation system using protein synthesis using recombinant elements (PURE) system for a new drug discovery platform. We hypothesized that it is possible to generate mRNA-peptidomimetic fusions using reconstituted translation system and chemo-enzymatically charged tRNAs, to incorporate unnatural amino acids into mRNA-peptidomimetic fusions. Upon demonstating that the reconstituted system was functional, we have synthesized hexapeptide fusion products containing four alanine residues and one biocytin residue. Fusions were assayed using urea-PAGE in the presence of streptavidin which allowed for unambiguous evaluation of the full length fusion fraction. It was determined that overall more fusion product was generated with template that codes for biocytin early in the coding sequence, but that the percent of biocytin-containing product stays similar regardless of the biocytin place in the coding region. We have also found that the change in template untranslated region length does not improve incorporation of biocytin in dipeptide fusions within the tested range. Finally, after first unsuccessful attempts to make sarcosine hexapeptide fusions, we investigated the effect of magnesium ion concentration on the translation reaction. As a result of four series of experiments performed involving both alanine and sarcosine fusion synthesis in parallel, we concluded that an increase in magnesium concentration from 5 mM to 20 mM coincided with enabling of the reconstituted system in making hexapeptide fusions with sarcosine in a significantly high number of cases. This research work arises from the need to enable a new drug discovery tool that will allow both synthesis and affinity maturation of peptide-based compounds. It represents our pioneering efforts to develop a new technology and ultimately help bring to existence compounds of significant therapeutic value.

Handoff is a synchronous object transfer technique in face-to-face collaborative work and is one of the low-level actions of collaboration that is smooth and natural in physical settings; however, in digital tabletop workspaces, digital handoff is often awkward and difficult to control. We carried out a series of studies to investigate how digital handoff could be improved in tabletop systems. We first observed people doing several real-world tasks around a standard table and found that handoff is as common in the real-world as deposit (an asynchronous tool transfer technique). The study identified several guidelines to support the design of handoff actions in digital tabletop system. We then examined 2D-handoff techniques; by running a pilot study, we compared the traditional handoff technique with the real-world tangible handoff technique, and found that the traditional digital handoff technique was not well suited for transferring objects on the tabletop. By analyzing the handoff mechanism we spot the bottleneck that affected traditional handoff procedures and designed a novel 2D-handoff technique, force-field technique, which alleviated this bottle-neck to solve this problem. Through a user-study we found that the force-field technique was significantly faster than current digital handoff techniques and as good as real-world 2D-handoff techniques. In addition, force-field handoff was most preferred by a majority of participants. We further designed and implemented a 3D-handoff technique that embodies our observations of how handoff occurs in the real-world setting. <p>Finally, we evaluated our design in a simulated digital-tabletop task with the goal of assessing the usefulness of various digital transfer techniques including standard deposit, traditional handoff, force-field and 3D-handoff. The results showed that on the digital tabletop system the percentage of using deposit, 2D-handoff and 3D-handoff techniques is similar with the percentage of using these techniques on the real world physical table. 3D-handoff was the most preferred and the most frequently used technique among the handoff techniques; and the force-field technique is preferred than traditional handoff technique.

An antibody library against Eimeria tenella sporozoites was constructed by phage display. Total RNA was isolated from the spleen, bone marrow, and ceca of immune chickens, and was used to reverse-transcribe cDNA. Heavy and light antibody variable genes were amplified from cDNA by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), using primer pairs that contain complementary sequences encoding a short linker sequence. The single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) was obtained by a secondary overlap PCR with primers that incorporate SfiI restriction sites, thus allowing for subsequent cloning into the phagemid vector pComb3X. Vector and scFv insert were digested with SfiI, ligated, and transformed into competent XL1-Blue Escherichia coli cells by electroporation, yielding a library with 7.4 x 107 total transformants. The culture was grown under carbenicillin selective pressure, rescued with helper phage, and the antibody-displaying phage was precipitated by PEG/NaCl, and subsequently used for panning. Five panning rounds were performed using cryopreserved E. tenella sporozoites, with a gradual increase of washing stringency to select for specific, highaffinity binders. A 1000-fold increase in phage output was obtained after 3 rounds of panning. There was clear enrichment of the positive clones over the panning rounds, with the 3rd round resulting in a 3,000-fold enrichment over the first one, as the binding clones became the dominant population in the library. Selected antibodies from the last round of panning were sequenced and characterized by immunoblotting. Soluble antibody fragments were produced in a non-suppressor E. coli strain, and recognized a 66-KDa sporozoite antigen on a Western blot. Primary cultures of chicken enterocytes were prepared in the hope of serving for invasion assays with E. tenella sporozoites. The isolation procedure, however, proved to be cumbersome and time-consuming. Future investigations will focus on purification and further characterization of antibodies selected from the constructed library. Such antibodies can be tested, alone or in combination, for their ability to block in vitro the invasion mechanism of E. tenella.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-69).

Emotions are an important part of the workplace. Emotional labor describes the monitoring and management of one's emotions at work. Employees perform emotional labor in response to explicit and perceived display rules for emotional expressions in the workplace. While compliance with these rules is generally beneficial for the organization, it may be detrimental to employee well-being.This study proposes a process model of emotional labor that extends from display rules to job attitudes and behaviors. It is unique in that it investigates display rules and emotional labor at the group level of analysis. It also includes coworkers as well as customers as targets of emotional labor. Display rule commitment is proposed as an important moderator between emotional labor and important individual job attitudes and behaviors that may account for previously mixed findings in the literature.The hypotheses of this study received general support. Specifically, group level display rules and emotional labor were viable constructs that had important consequences for job outcomes. Display rule commitment was an important predictor of job attitudes and behaviors and moderated the relationship between group level surface acting and emotional exhaustion. In addition, group level emotional labor showed a significant effect on a number of important job outcomes. It also moderated the relationship between individual level emotional labor and job attitudes and behaviors. These findings provide several promising new insights and directions for emotional labor research.