Because natural resource exploration and development are inherently risky undertakings, information can be a valuable commodity in these processes. A survey of the literature concerning information and resources is contained in Chapter 1, and the areas of interest for this thesis are introduced. Aspects of the role of information early in the exploration process are considered in Chapter 2, as the public and private provision and valuation of exploratory information are examined. The role of...

This thesis investigates the theory of cooperative behavior in the presence of asymmetric information. Traditionally, the core has been a powerful and much used solution concept to describe cooperative outcomes. In settings where agents have some private information, it may be appropriate to include the opportunity for communication in the development of the core. I study the relationship of various core solution concepts with prevalent noncooperative solution concepts for environments with asymmetric information. The core...

A method for a comprehensive approach to analysis of the dynamics of an actively controlled combustion chamber, with detailed analysis of the combustion models for the case of a solid rocket propellant, is presented here. The objective is to model the system as interconnected blocks describing the dynamics of the chamber, combustion and control (including sensors and actuators). The analytical framework for the analysis of the dynamics of a combustion chamber is based on spatial...

Advances in the synthesis and use of diazo compounds are first discussed. The development of non-carbonyl stabilized diazo equivalents has allowed for carbene reactivity to be localized at carbons not adjacent to carbonyls. Consequently, a new tandem sequence, the Bamford-Stevens/Claisen reaction, has been developed that incorporates selective Z-enol ether formation with a thermal- or Lewis acid-promoted Claisen reaction. Bamford-Stevens/Claisen/Carbonyl Ene and Bamford-Stevens/Claisen/Cope reactions have also been realized. Also discussed is the application of diazocompounds to...

We, at least in the modern West, tend to think of dragons as mythical beasts; they inhabit medieval epics and romances, as well as the modern fantasy stories and movies inspired by them. As such, they have been around for centuries. However, at the beginning of their life dragons were not mythical; they were in fact quite real. But the original dragons were not dragons at all – they were serpents. The modern image of...

From concrete gravels unloaded from trucks to wheat seeds discharged through funnels, from polymeric beads filled in shoe cushions to metallic pellets packed in robotic grippers, granular matter is becoming increasingly relevant in coping with our evolvingly sophisticated societal needs in many respects (e.g. expanding urbanization, growing population and advancing manufacturing). This increasing relevance urges developing micro-structural understandings of granular matter regarding its two basic macro-scale behaviors: flowing heterogeneously and morphing adaptively. However, findings in...

Shock waves are known to significantly alter the medium through with they propagate. Shocks in the interstellar medium have been known to affect star formation. Likewise, shocks in the intergalactic medium are expected to affect galaxy formation and the confinement of intergalactic clouds. Because of their significant influence, it is important to have a sound understanding of the different solutions used to study shocks and see how they differ. In this paper, I will focus...

In molecular programming, the Chemical Reaction Network model is often used to describe systems of interacting molecules. This model can describe either real systems, allowing us to analyze and determine their computational function; or describe hypothetical systems, with known computational function but perhaps no known physical example. One significant breakthrough in the field is that any Chemical Reaction Network can be approximated by a system using DNA Strand Displacement mechanisms. This allows the Chemical Reaction...

Massive stars are the workhorse of the Universe. While accounting for a minute fraction of baryonic mass, their influence on the cosmos is profound. Their lives and deaths lead to nucleosynthesis of all elements heavier than helium, including those essential to life. They produce some of the most energetic eruptions and explosions, core-collapse (CC) supernovae (SNe) at the end of their life. These explosions are common, about once per century per galaxy, and are one...

It is well known that above a critical field strength sufficiently large to overcome damping by capillary forces, the free surface of a perfectly conducting liquid will spontaneously deform into one or more sharp protrusions known as conic cusps. Such cusps undergo tip sharpening while rapidly accelerating toward regions of highest electric field strength, eventually giving rise to beams of ions and/or charged droplets . These charged beams form the basis for liquid metal ion...

For centuries, historians have followed the lead of their forebears by using standardized names to refer to people and events. The use of 'Charles the Bald' to refer to Charlemagne's grandson has been reinforced via centuries of copying, paraphrasing, and citing historical documents. The sobriquet is now inextricably linked to the man. But in the simple process of writing the epithet, it is easy to forget how much complexity is distilled into one word. Any...

One of the main attractions of using laboratory experiments as a proxy to study solar and astrophysical plasmas is the ability to build diagnostics that directly measure things. This cannot be done on actual solar and astrophysical plasmas as they are either i) extremely distant, ii) in an extreme environment, or iii) both. Fortunately, the lack of intrinsic scales in the MHD equations means that a plasma created in the laboratory with similar β, S,...

A low mass and reliable thermal protection system for Martian atmospheric entry requires an accurate prediction of the aerothermal environment encountered by the spacecraft. In order to move forward with predictive models for larger vehicles needed for manned and sample return missions, anomalous data needs to be resolved. This work aims to address two critical problems relevant for Mars missions. I) We investigate significant discrepancies between experimental and simulated blunt body bow shock standoff distance...

Shock/boundary-layer interactions can induce flow distortion, create flow separation with loss of control authority, and result in high thermal loads. Correct prediction of the flow structure and heating loads is vital for vehicle survival. However, a recent NATO workshop revealed severe underprediction of thermal loads and discrepancies in the location of separation by simulations of high enthalpy air flows. Due to the coupling between thermochemistry and fluid mechanics, a substantial effort has been placed on...

Solving protein structures by single-particle cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) has become a crucial tool in structural biology. While exciting progress is being made toward the visualization of small macromolecules, the median protein size in both eukaryotes and bacteria is still beyond the reach of cryo-EM. To overcome this problem, we implemented a platform strategy in which a small protein target was rigidly attached to a large, symmetric base via a selectable adapter. Of our seven designs,...

The atomic vibrations and thermal properties of amorphous dielectric solids are of fundamental and practical interest. For applications, amorphous solids are widely used as thermal insulators in thermopile and other detectors where low thermal conductivity directly sets the sensitivity of the detector. Amorphous solids are of fundamental interest themselves because the lack of atomic periodicity complicates theoretical development. As a result, the lower limits of thermal conductivity in solids as well as the nature of...

In this paper we introduce a new class of non-linear cyclic error-correcting codes, which we call subspace subcodes of Reed-Solomon (SSRS) codes. An SSRS code is a subset of a parent Reed-Solomon (RS) code consisting of codewords whose components all lie in a fixed v-dimensional vector subspace S of GF(2ᵐ). Starting from a (n, k₀, d₀) RS code over GF(2ᵐ), with any positive integer 0 ≤ v ≤ m, there is an SSRS code of...

Abundant evidence from previous studies indicates that, as long as samples are collected well away from pluton margins, the whole-rock [delta]18O value of an unaltered granitic pluton is not likely to vary by more than ±0.5 per mil from the original ¹⁸O/¹⁶O composition of its source rocks. Therefore, granitic plutons may be viewed as "remote-sensing probes" which sample deep portions of the continental crust or upper mantle, and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O studies of such plutons can provide...

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a key element in the calcium second messenger cascades that lead to long term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic strength. In this thesis, I have constructed kinetic models of activation of CaMKII and measured some of the unknown parameters of the model. I used the models to elucidate mechanisms of activation of CaMKII and to study the kinetics of its activation under conditions similar to those in dendritic spines. In...

Microfluidic devices hold the promise of becoming the next-generation laboratory platforms by offering many possible benefits in chemistry, biology, and medicine. However, microfluidics is still in its infancy at present, requiring a great deal of work before it can become more than an active research field in academia. This thesis describes efforts by the author in developing microfluidic technologies for applications in genetics. Section I describes the development of miniaturized devices for genetic analysis. Successful...

The almost universally accepted model for long-term potentiation (LTP) involves Ca2+ flux through NMDA receptors into dendritic spines. This Ca2+ influx may cause a transient Ca2+ decrease in the synaptic cleft. We hypothesize that this decrease in cleft Ca2+ may destabilize cadherin-cadherin bonds in the synapse and that this conformational change may allow synaptic cadherins to function as synaptic activity sensors. In the last decade, much effort has been devoted to understanding the structure and...

We introduce an electron force field (eFF) that makes simulation of large scale excited electron dynamics possible and practical. The forces acting on thousands of electrons and nuclei can be computed in less than a second on a single modern processor. Just as conventional force fields parameterize the ground state potential between nuclei, with electrons implicitly included, electron force fields parameterize the potential between nuclei and simplified electrons, with more detailed degrees of freedom implicitly...

The neural crest is a transient population of cells that migrate away from the dorsal neural tube in the vertebrate embryo. As the developing hindbrain constricts into rhombomeres, cranial neural crest cells migrate in three discrete streams adjacent to even-numbered rhombomeres, rhombomere 2 (r2), r4, and r6. To test the role of intrinsic versus extrinsic cues in influencing an individual cell’s trajectory, we implanted physical barriers in the chick mesoderm, distal to emerging neural crest...

Natural products have long stood as a rich source of biologically relevant molecules bearing highly functionalized and complex architectures. On one hand, they are a focal point for the development of new therapeutic agents owing to their inherent biological activities. On the other, they serve as an exciting testing ground for existing synthetic methodologies and provide opportunities for the development of new reactions. Herein, we describe a modular strategy that was employed for the total...

Chapter I This chapter presents a general introduction to the cellular metabolism of calcium with particular reference to the concept of calcium pools. The importance of the ionized calcium pool of the cytosol in determining the specific function of cells and tissues is discussed. A model for stimulus-release coupling in mast cells is presented. Excitation-contraction (EC) coupling in skeletal muscle is defined and the fundamental premises required for a theory on EC coupling are given....