(S)-3-O-Geranylgeranylglyceryl Phosphate Synthase (GGGPS) is a TIM (βα)8 barrel protein found in Archaea and the enzyme catalyzing the first step in the biosynthesis of archaeal membrane lipids. The TIM (βα)8 barrel protein fold is thought to have evolved by duplication and fusion of (βα)4 half barrels. We propose that the GGGPS has also evolved from (βα)4 half barrels. One way to test this hypothesis is to generate putative half-barrels experimentally. GGGPS from Archaeaglobus fulgidus, is a dimer of (βα)8 barrels. Thus, before constructing half barrels, a stable monomer is needed to be engineered. Introducing three substitutions into the dimer interface formed the GGGPS monomer. AUC showed ~50 % of the protein is in the monomeric state. CD experiments confirmed that the engineered protein was properly folded but had decreased thermal stability. In an enzymatic assay, the monomeric GGGPS protein proved as active as the WT protein on a subunit basis.

No description available.

This thesis describes the synthesis of a low modulus, thermally conductive thermal interface materials (TIM) using metal decorated nanotubes as fillers. TIMs are very important in electronics because they act as a thermally-conductive medium for thermal transfer between the interface of a heat sink and an electronic package. The performance of an electronic package decreases with increasing operating temperature, hence, there exists a need to create a TIM which has high thermal conduction to reduce the operating temperature. The TIM in this study is made from metal decorated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and Vinnapas®BP 600 polymer. The sample was functionalized using mild oxidative treatment with nitric acid (HNO3) or, with N-Methly-2-Pyrrolidone (NMP). The metals used for this experiment were copper (Cu), tin (Sn), and nickel (Ni). The metal nanoparticles were seeded using functionalized MWCNTs as templates. Once seeded, the nanotubes and polymer composites were made with or without sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS), as a surfactant. Thermal conductivity (k) measurement was carried out using ASTM D-5470 method at room temperature. This setup best models the working conditions of a TIM. The TIM samples made for this study showed promise in their ability to have significant increase in thermal conduction while retaining the polymer’s mechanical properties. The highest k value that was obtained was 0.72 W/m-K for a well dispersed aligned 5 wt percent Ni@MWCNT sample. The Cu samples underperformed both Ni and Sn samples for the same synthesis conditions. This is because Cu nanoparticles were significantly larger than those of Ni and Sn. They were large enough to cause alloy scattering and too large to attach to the nanotubes. Addition of thermally-conductive fillers, such as exfoliated graphite, did not yield better k results as it sunk to the bottom during drying. The use of SDBS greatly increased the k values of the sample by reducing agglomeration. Increasing the amount of metal@MWCNT wt percent in the sample had negative or no effect to the k values. Shear testing on the sample shows it adheres well to the surface when pressure is applied, yet it can be removed with ease.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Cleveland State University, 2009. / Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jan. 13, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-37). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center and also available in print.

Sex in public: public performances of gay sex examines how (re)presentations of gay sex in the theater challenge, complicate, and interrogate the concepts of public and private in contemporary culture. Specifically, Sex In public argues that (re)presentations of gay sex in the public forum of the theater forces audiences to confront how the concepts of public and private circumscribe, influence, and control the lives and bodies and queer white men. Employing the queer theoretical works of Michael Warner (Publics and counterpublics and The trouble with normal), Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (Epistemology of the closet) and Michel Foucault (The history of sexuality volume I) Sex In public specifically considers how (re)presentations of white gay male sexuality and sexual activity are particularly effective sites of analysis when confronting hetero-normative hegemonic divisions of public and private. Through in-depth performance and textual analyses of Tim Miller's seminal queer solo performance piece My queer body and Peter Carpenter's dance theater piece Bareback into the sunset, Sex in public illustrates how sex and sexuality performed in public, which provoke both the participants and a witnessing audience to feel shame, can construct community and build coalitions across social identity categories. In Sex in public, I claim that gay male performance in the forum of the public space of the theater is a "space of circulation in which it is hoped that the poesis of scene making will be transformative, not replicative" (122) and which carries with it "the original hope of transforming not just policy but the space of public life itself" (124). / text

Despite the fact that many countries participated in the Vietnam War, their war stories tend to marginalize one another. In this study, I use a transnationalist critical lens to compare the ethnocentric stories of the U.S. and South Korea. Instead of presenting transnationalism as a focus on the changes that arise through travel between different cultures, I rely on another meaning of transnationalism as a form of consciousness. In order to compare differing perspectives on the Vietnam War as represented in the U.S. and South Korea, I compare Tim O’Brien’s In the Lake of the Woods and Suk-Yong Hwang’s The Shadow of Arms, based on the writing style of the texts, the shared theme of friendly fire, and representation of the My Lai massacre. As a result, this comparison challenges readers in each nation to recognize perspectives on the Vietnam War which they may have missed.

Syftet med min uppsats har varit att undersöka mönster som binder samman normen, barnet och döden i Tim Burtons verssamling The melancholy death of Oyster boy and other stories. Detta gör jag med hjälp av en tematisk och komparativ metod för att undersöka motivet konflikten mellan barnet och samhället i boken i jämförelse med traditionell och subversiv barnlitteratur. Jag inleder med en översikt av hur konflikten mellan barnet och samhället sett ut i barnlitteratur, där drar jag även paralleller till Burtons bok. Därefter gör jag en analys av relationen mellan föräldrarna och barnen i boken i jämförelse med subversiv och traditionell barnlitteratur, för att visa på hur detta motiv kommer fram i Burtons bok. Jag går sedan över till att diskutera relationen till andra karaktärer, samt barnet och normen, för att sedan avsluta med en översikt av motivet döden i barnlitteratur och hur detta motiv framkommer i Burtons berättelser.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera mansbilden av karaktären Edward i filmen Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990). Genom attstudera hans personlighet och egenskaper ur olika perspektiv, som kan uppfattas som både manligt och kvinnligt, har jag försökt att ta reda på vem denna utstickande karaktär är. Med hjälp av genusteorier och jämförelser av tidigare filmatiseringar som Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994), Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton, 1999) och The cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Weine, 1920) har jag även kunnat fördjupa mig i mansbilden av Edward. Jag har dessutom fokuserat kring Tim Burtons säregna filmskapande, men också kring stjärnskapet hos Johnny Depp, skådespelaren som Burton ofta samarbetar med. Edward Scissorhands har visat sig vara en man med både manliga och kvinnliga attribut, vilket gör honom till en icke stereotypisk man som saknar hjältemod och en muskulös kropp. Trots det så tyder inget på att han är mindre man bara för att han har mer eller mindre egenskaper som generellt uppfattas som manliga. Alla människor är olika, och besitterblandade egenskaper som kan tolkas som både maskulint och feminint. Det är just sådana unika personligheter som är intressanta för både Burton och Depp, vilket syns i deras samarbeten kring filmer som tidigare nämnda Ed Wood och Sleepy Hollow. Maskulinitet går aldrig att fastställa, och därmed kan inte heller mansbilden av Edward Scissorhands förklaras som om han har brist på manliga attribut. Han är bara en väldigt unik man som aldrig blev helt färdigställd.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Akron, Dept. of English, 2007. / "May, 2007." Title from electronic thesis title page (viewed 4/26/2009) Advisor, Sheryl Stevenson; Faculty Reader, Bob Pope; Department Chair, Diana Reep; Dean of the College, Ronald F. Levant; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.