Mitochondria provide energy for biological cells to function, but this process is also a source of oxygen radicals that are capable of damaging nearby proteins. Mitochondrial protein damage can eventually lead to cell death, especially in the case of heart cells, where mitochondria are present in the highest concentrations. As...
SOCs volatility and persistence properties cause many SOCs to become ubiquitous in the environment as well as accumulate in areas with lower temperatures such as polar or orographic regions. Many anthropogenic SOCs pose a serious risk to human and ecosystem health because of their persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic properties in...
Many pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers
(PBDEs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are persistent, bio-accumulative, and
toxic. These semi-volatile organic compounds (SOCs) can undergo atmospheric
transport and deposition in cold, remote ecosystems. A better understanding of their
accumulation in the fish of these ecosystems is important to better predict...
While fluorochemicals have been detected all over the world and in wastewater
treatment plants, the effect of wastewater effluent on the receiving waters has not been
evaluated. In the first study, the mass flow of fluorochemicals emanating from
wastewater treatment plants along the Glatt River in Switzerland was evaluated. The...
The oxidation of sorbitol by soluble extracts of A. suboxydans proceeds by two pathways depending upon which pyridine nucleotide is present. In the presence of TPN, sorbose is formed. In the presence of DPN fructose is
produced. Both products of the oxidation of sorbitol have been identified by paper chromatography,...
The general emphasis of this work has been synthesis, characterization, and applications of n- and p-type inorganic oxide thin films that are deposited from solutions. In particular, a study of n-type transparent semiconductor films of tin (IV) oxide and zinc-doped tin (IV) oxide has been performed by spin coating. Solution...
The atmospheric transport of anthropogenic semivolatile organic compounds (SOCs) from Asian sources to the Western U.S. was investigated. In addition, the SOC extraction method was optimized. Hansen solubility parameter plots were used to aid in the pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) solvent selection of air sampling media in order to minimize...
The purpose of this investigation was to determine the nature of the extractives from red alder bark in an effort to discover the materials which cause the red stain in red alder wood. Samples of bark and wood were obtained and successively extracted with hexane, benzene, ether, ethanol, and hot...
New chemical synthesis strategies have been investigated for the preparation of acceptor-type graphite intercalation compounds (GIC's) with fluoroanions in order to obtain new materials and to develop a better understanding of the synthetic approaches and properties of the products. New GIC's containing borate chelate anion such as bis(oxalato)borate, CxB[OC(O)C(O)O]₂•δF, are...
The fusion reaction ²⁰⁸Pb (⁵⁰Ti, xn) ²⁵⁸⁻x Rf (x = 1-3) was studied to determine PCN (probability that the mononucleus system evolves to form a compound nucleus inside the fission saddle point) and to establish the value of Wsur (survival probability) for the given reaction experimentally. The fission excitation function...
In this dissertation, I present the work of developing more efficient and economical techniques for fragmenting large bio-molecules, and ultimately making mass spectrometry a more powerful tool in proteomics, DNA sequencing, and other areas of biomolecular analysis.
Aiming at lowering the installation and operating cost, and delivering electron capture dissociation...
The fragmentation characteristics of protonated peptides have been investigated using
tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) under various fragmentation regimes and detailed
density functional theory (DFT) reaction pathway calculations. The DFT calculations
predict novel salt-bridge stabilized transition structures as well as consecutive reactions
occurring in proton-bound dimers for some of the ions...
The work presented here is focused on applying basic principles of solid-state chemistry to the study and development of new wide band-gap semiconductors and insulators for photovoltaic and electronic-device applications. Analysis of crystal structure, band structure, optical band gap, morphology and transport properties provides fundamental insight into materials performance as...
The purpose of this research was to compare four different media that were used to monitor SOC atmospheric concentrations in remote ecosystems. The accumulation of semi-volatile organic compounds, including pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), was investigated in lichen, 2-year old conifer needles, resin-based passive air sampling...
To determine the impact of emerging environmental contaminants on human and environmental health, quantitative analytical methods are required. Analysis of emerging contaminants is hampered by their widely varying physical-chemical properties. Therefore quantitative analytical methods must be developed to determine the behavior of emerging contaminants in environmental systems.
A quantitative analytical...
The Gd3+ ion has been used to induce quantum splitting in luminescent
materials by using cross-relaxation energy transfer (CRET). In Nd:LiGdF4, quantum
splitting results from a two-step CRET between Gd3+ and Nd3+, first involving a
transition 6G→6I on Gd3+ and an excitation within the 4f3 configuration of Nd3+
followed by...
A microfluidic nanofiltration module has been designed, fabricated and applied to the continuous-flow, pressure-driven, post-synthetic purification of macromolecules and nanoparticles via diafiltration using a commercially available organic solvent resistant nanofiltration membrane, STARMEM 122. This module will readily interface with other microscale components within a
"nanofactory" for the rapid synthesis, purification...
New analytical methods and instrumentation were developed for the determination of dissolved oxygen (DO) at low concentrations in water. The methods were based on monitoring the absorbance increase due to the oxidation of reduced indigo carmine (IC) by oxygen in the sample in different types of spectrometer cells. Spectrophotometer cells...
Solid state luminescent sulfides are prepared as powders in order to elucidate the relationship between structure and light emission. While the sulfides studied in this dissertation are known phosphors, materials are investigated in a variety of new ways. Elementary properties and structures of MgS are reviewed, and preparation of MgS...
The emerging field of nanotechnology strictly requires the micro-scaling of the available separation technology and the design of novel devices for separations of molecules of interest. The separation of proteins and nanoparticles is challenging due to their relatively large size, non-specific adherence to surfaces and instability in many solvents.
This...