Drought events have been shown to impact species distributions and are predicted to increase in frequency as the climate changes. As this occurs, ecologists predict species distributions will shift dependent upon species ability to track climate. These shifts in species distribution are expected to be particularly acute in arid and...
Cinder cones are useful geomorphic features for geological analysis because they generally have known initial states and follow a similar pattern of degradation as they are exposed to erosive processes. This is largely because cinder cones are produced by monogenetic eruptions. Characterizing large cinder cone fields in terms of age...
A method for measuring the (dis)charging dynamics of organic semiconductors with single-electron resolution in multiple environments is developed using optical tweezers. A 1μm silica bead was coated with either a pristine organic semiconductor or an electron donor-acceptor blend, trapped using optical tweezers, and driven with an oscillating electrical driving force....
Drone strikes have become a defining strategy in the US War on Terror. Since the first combat drone strike in 2001, the executive branch has intentionally increased the deployment of drones for counterterrorism operations throughout the Middle East and North Africa. This thesis explores the moral and legal justifications for...
Gene regulation is a complex mechanism that controls the spatial and temporal expression of genes in a living cell. My dissertation studies focus on two problems. First, tissue-specific gene expression prediction from DNA sequence and chromatin state, and second, the accurate discovery of small over-represented regulatory circuits in gene regulatory...
A large, multi-year experimental program has been conducted to develop a strain gaging program for application to the flow testing of prototypic, plate-type fuel for high performance research reactors. This test program has resulted in the selection of appropriate strain gage construction, adhesives, and protective coatings to allow the
acquisition...