Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-161).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-104).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 106-113).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Chemistry. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Zhu, Cheng; Committee Member: Degertekin, Levent; Committee Member: Fox, Ronald; Committee Member: Garcia, Andres; Committee Member: McIntire, Larry. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection. Non-Latin script record

Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: Atomic force microscopy; proteins; Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-130).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-102).

The research described in this thesis aimed to evaluate the intrinsic DNA curvature ofthe region of the TP53 tumour suppressor gene that codes for the sequence-specific DNA-binding domain of the p53 protein, a key protein that protects the cell from chemical insultsand tumourogenesis. There have been no previous attempts to experimentally investigate theintrinsic DNA curvature within TP53 or its relation to the functional or structural properties ofthe gene, such as DNA repair and nucleosomal architecture. The present study usedtheoretical models of TP53 in concert with an atomic force microscopy based experimentalinvestigation of TP53 DNA molecules to analyse intrinsic DNA curvature within the gene. Thiswas achieved by developing a novel software platform for the atomic force microscopy basedinvestigation of DNA curvature, named ADIPAS. Dinucleotide wedge models of DNA curvaturewere used to model TP53 in order to investigate the relationship between intrinsic DNAcurvature and the structure and function of the gene. ADIPAS was applied to atomic forcemicroscopy images of TP53 DNA molecules immobilised on a mica surface in order toexperimentally measure intrinsic DNA curvature. The experimental findings were compared totheoretical models of intrinsic curvature in TP53. The resulting intrinsic curvature profilesshowed that exons exhibited significantly lower intrinsic DNA curvature than introns withinTP53, this was also shown to be true for regions of slow DNA repair. This indicated that DNAcurvature may play a role in TP53 as a controlling factor for nucleosomal architecture tofacilitate open chromatin and active DNA transcription. The evolutionary selection for intrinsiccurvature may have played a role in the development of exons with low intrinsic DNAcurvature. Low intrinsic curvature in exon position has also been implicated in the reducedefficiency of DNA repair in a number of cancer specific mutation hotspots.

Nanomaterial composites hold improvement potential for many materials. Improvements arise through known material behaviors and unique nanoscale effects to improve performance in areas including elastic modulus and damping as well as various processes, and products. Review of research spurred development of a load-stage. The load stage could be used independently, or in conjunction with an AFM to investigate bulk and nanoscale material mechanics. The effect of MWCNT content on structural damping, elastic modulus, toughness, loss modulus, and glass transition temperature was investigated using the load stage, AMF, and DMA. Initial investigation showed elastic modulus increased 23% with 1wt.% MWCNT versus pure epoxy and in-situ imaging observed micro/nanoscale deformation. Dynamic capabilities of the load stage were investigated as a method to achieve higher stress than available through DMA. The system showed energy dissipation across all reinforce levels, with ~480% peak for the 1wt.% MWCNT material vs. the neat epoxy at 1Hz. / ND NASA EPSCoR FAR0017788 / NDSU Development Foundation FAR0017503 / National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant# HRD-0811239 to the NDSU Advance FORWARD Program

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Solid-state reactions of bi-metallic systems can be driven or activated by various external stimuli like pressure, energetic photons, energetic charged particles or heat. For an example, high pressure torsion can be applied to aluminium-copper (Al-Cu) to drive solid-state reaction [1.1]. Oh-ishi et al. [1.1] applied a pressure of 6 GPa to Al and Cu half discs. Following this, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) were used to confirm the formation of different intermetallic phases such as Al2Cu and Al4Cu9. One of the first reported case where photons were used to drive solid phase diffusion was reported in 1998 by Ditchfield et al. [1.2]. The study was carried out to study the non-thermal effects of photons illumination on surface diffusion, an important process in microelectronics fabrication. Surface diffusion governs several important steps in microelectronics fabrication including the formation of hemispherical grained silicon used in memory devices [1.2], filling of channels with metals for devices interconnection purposes among others [1.2]. In this study, germanium-indium (Ge-In) on silicon was used because the thermal diffusion of this system was well understood [1.3]. Surface diffusion was measured in ultrahigh vacuum via second harmonic microscopy when the sample was illuminated with pulsed Nd: YAG laser at a wavelength of 1064 nm [1.3]. This study showed conclusively that photons could be used to drive solid-state reactions.