Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 182-189).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Many proteins are known to actively interact with biological, as well as inorganic and synthetic surfaces that are widely used in nano- and bio-technology as biosensing platforms and in tissue engineering. Amyloid fibrils are insoluble protein aggregates in beta-sheet conformation that are implicated in at least 20 diseases for which no cure is currently available. The molecular mechanism of fibril formation, as well as the mechanism of fibril clusters interacting with lipid membrane surfaces is currently unknown. The lipid membrane surface has a complex biochemical composition and is also electrostatically non-homogeneous. Currently, the experimental data available for amyloid fibril formation both on lipid and artificial surfaces is limited. The goal of our study is to investigate how the physical properties of the surfaces affect binding of amyloid peptides and affect the fibril formation. We seek to elucidate the effect of electrostatic interactions of amyloid peptides with surfaces using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). We show using KPFM that electrostatic domains readily form within biological systems such as lung surfactant and lipid monolayers. We compared three different implementations of KPFM to demonstrate that frequency modulated (FM-) KPFM provides significant advantages over other modes. We also present a study of Amyloid beta (1-42) fibril formation on model surfaces, which are uniformly charged or possess periodicity of charges and hydrophobic functionality based on thiol self-assembly. Effect of membrane composition, surface charge, and presence of steroids will be discussed.

Epitaxial growth, or the oriented growth of a crystalline monolayer on an ordered substrate, appears in a wide range of systems and applications, from novel device fabrication to freshwater remediation. Despite this, methodical studies of the phenomenon are rare, and the mechanisms governing epitaxial growth are poorly understood. This investigation employs AFM techniques to monitor the epitaxial growth of ion crystal systems at the initial stages of growth. By using systems with well-known physical properties, we are able to relate growth modes to two key parameters, crystal lattice mismatch, Δr/r₀, and affinity between the overgrowth and the substrate ions, ξ. We found wetting growth occurs for systems in which Δr/r₀ is expansive (overgrowth lattice must expand to accommodate substrate) or mildly compressive (overgrowth compresses to accommodate substrate). Additionally, a strong affinity between the substrate and overgrowth ions, in combination with an expansive system, allows for epitaxial growth from undersaturated solutions. We also have observed several instances where the lateral force contrast on the growing film exhibits a strong dependence on the time of exposure to the growth solution and on the driving force for growth (solute concentration). We present results for three epitaxial growth systems in aqueous solutions: CaSO₃ on CaCO₃, PbSO₄ on BaSO₄, and BaSO₃ on BaSO₄. Chemically and topographically identical regions grown at higher concentrations exhibit higher friction than regions grown at lower concentrations. These observations suggest that epitaxial growth occurs by a fast condensation step incorporating a high defect density.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to characterize the micromechanical properties of various structural components in asphalt using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The focus of the study was based on nano-indentation experiments performed within a micro-grid of asphalt phases in order to determine micromechanical properties such as stiffness, adhesion and elastic/plastic behavior. The change in microstructure and micromechanical behavior due to oxidative aging of the asphalt was also a primary focus of the study. The experiment was performed with careful consideration of AFM artifacts, which can occur due to factors such as geometry of the cantilever tip, hysteresis, filtering methods and acoustic vibrations. The materials used in this study included asphalts AAB, AAD and ABD from the Materials Reference Library (MRL) of the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP), chosen due to variations in crude source, chemical composition and elemental analysis for each asphalt type. The analysis of nano-indentation creep measurements corresponding to phase-separated regions ultimately revealed heterogeneous domains in asphalt with different mechanical properties, and oxidative aging was found to induce substantial microstructural change within these domains, including variations in phase structure, phase properties and phase distribution. The form and extent of these changes, however, were different for each asphalt studied. Data analysis and information collected during this study were used for comparisons to existing models and asphalt data, which validated results and established correlations to earlier, related studies. From these comparisons, it was found that data parallels followed expected trends; furthermore, analogous interpretations and distinctions were made between results from this study and the micellar and microstructural models of asphalt. This study of micromechanical properties that govern asphalt behavior has yielded information essential to the advancement of hot mix asphalt (HMA) performance, including a new asphalt “weak zone” hypothesis and a foundation of data for implementation into new and existing asphalt models.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: Bacterial adhesion; ionic strength; polarity; lipopolysaccharides; heterogeneity; elasticity; FJC; steric interactions; AFM. Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-306).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by Andrei G. Federov. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-164).

Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: Leuconostoc mesenteroides NIRC1542; Atomic Force Microscope; Pseudomonas putida KT2442; Adhesion. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-83).