In this dissertation, I present electronic spectra of a few polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): tetracene, pentacene, pyrene, benzo[g,h,i]perylene and benzo[a]pyrene using resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) and zero kinetic energy (ZEKE) photoelectron spectroscopy. The work of tetracene and pentacene also combine a laser desorption source with a ZEKE spectrometer, demonstrating...
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) are a class of proteins that lack a three-dimensional structure and their prevalence and diverse functions in the cell have only been discovered relatively recently. The intermediate chain (IC) subunit of the microtubule motor protein complex dynein contains an N-terminal disordered region, N-IC, which is central...
Improved recovery of cryopreserved meristems and calli from in
vitro currant (Ribes aureum Pursh and R. ciliatum Humb. & Bonpl.) plants
was obtained by two-hour pretreatment with sucrose, proline, abscisic
acid-responsive protein (RABP), and bovine serum albumin (BSA)
solutions. Meristems and calli cold-acclimatized for one week were
immersed in pretreatment...
Designing spectral efficient, high-speed wireless links that offer high quality-
of-service and range capability has been a critical research and engineering challenge. In this thesis, we mainly address the complexity and performance issues of
channel estimation and data detection in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems over...
We present two facile time-of-flight (TOF) methods of detecting superfluid helium droplets and droplets with neutral dopants. Without an electron gun and with only a heated filament and pulsed electrodes, the electron impact ionization TOF mass spectrometer can resolve ionized helium clusters such as He₂ ⁺ and He₄ ⁺, which...
We report electron diffraction of ferrocene doped in superfluid helium droplets. By taking advantage of the velocity slip in our pulsed droplet beam using a pulsed electron gun, and by doping with a high concentration of ferrocene delivered via a pulsed valve, we can obtain high quality diffraction images from...
We compare characteristics of electron impact ionization (EI) and multiphoton ionization (MPI) of doped super fluid helium droplets using the same droplet source. Selected dopant ion fragments from the two ionization schemes demonstrate different dependence on the doping pressure, which could be attributed to the different ionization mechanisms. While EI...
We report zero kinetic energy (ZEKE) photoelectron spectroscopy via resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) for benzo[e]pyrene. Extensive vibronic coupling between the first electronically excited state and a nearby state allows b₂ symmetric modes to be observed which would normally be Franck-Condon (FC) disallowed. These vibronic modes are comparable in intensity...
Intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) duplexes composed of two IDP chains cross-linked by bivalent partner proteins form scaffolds for assembly of multiprotein complexes. The N-terminal domain of dynein intermediate chain (N-IC) is one such IDP that forms a bivalent scaffold with multiple dynein light chains including LC8, a hub protein that...