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In this project, interdisciplinary methods are applied to study abundant submarine landslide valleys, sediment wave trains and volcaniclastic deposits in submarine parts of Azores volcanic islands to assess the sedimentary processes, characteristics of deposits and their hazard implications. Marine geophysical data help to characterise geomorphological features of submarine topography. Sedimentary structures, morphometric parameters, geochemical compositions of volcanic particles and bulk sediments, and chronostratigraphy are derived from marine sediments. Statistical methods are used to find relationships between data sets. Numerical calculations help to assess the sedimentary processes induced by external forces (e.g., ground motion, wave-induced stress and oceanic current). Four key findings are found. 1. More than 1200 submarine slope valleys have been found around the central Azores, mostly caused by landslides. Thirteen landslides would likely have generated tsunamis with heights of 1-7 m at source, hence potentially hazardous. Higher landslide volumes of submarine slopes in Terceira and São Jorge Islands compared to Faial and Pico Islands may result from more frequent large earthquakes beneath Faial and Pico. 2. Sediment wave trains are twice as abundant on northern island slopes compared with their southern slopes. This asymmetry is associated with greater wave energy arising from the northwest, leading to greater coastal erosion and wave-induced bed stress, encouraging sediment suspension and redeposition on the slopes and eventually initiating sediment gravity flows. (3) A wide range of information is integrated to discriminate tephra fallout and primary and secondary volcaniclastic turbidites in four gravity cores collected nearby the Azores islands. Sediment type discrimination suggests that two-thirds of volcaniclastic beds originate from eruptions and only one-third are from submarine landslides. (4) Modelling of turbidite volumes in the basins suggests only sediments from the largest landslides and eruptions have been deposited in the basins. Age-depth models built from ¹⁴C dates of foraminifera from hemipelagic intervals and tephra bed correlation suggest the emplacement ages and the frequencies of large submarine landslides and volcanic eruptions are both > 1 ky.

An estimated two-thirds of job openings require postsecondary education. Unfortunately, the national three-year graduation rate for associate degrees at public institutions is 25%; the six-year graduation rate for bachelor's degrees is 60%. With roughly 450 high schools serving 320,000 students, NYC public high schools play a pivotal role in student preparation, especially students from low-income households. This mixed method Improvement Science study conducted in two New York City (NYC) Career and Technical (CTE) high schools explored the potential relationship between Program of Study (POS) implementation and high performance in student outcomes across key metrics including four-year graduation rate, six- and 18-month enrollment rate, and college readiness rate. The study identified three themes of effective NYC CTE high schools related to these key factors: instructional focus and coherence (i.e., systems alignment), college and career support (i.e., engagement), and professional development through mentoring (i.e., high-quality teachers). Furthermore, better alignment between the POS and NYS CTE framework components yielded better performance metrics. The POS increased coherence by encouraging a culture of improvement to produce stronger student outcomes. A culture of intensive support for students reinforced the emphasis on college and career readiness through core academic skills, employability skills, and technical skills. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

CuInGaSe2 solar cells, commonly known as CIGS solar cells, have achieved high device e fficiency owing to two major research breakthroughs: the implementation of a Ga gradient into the CIGS absorber, and the alkali atoms treatment. Though many studies have been focused on optimising these two techniques to further enhance device efficiencies, the minority charge carrier dynamics inside such complex system are still under investigation. Hence, in this thesis, transient absorption spectroscopies (TAS) in the time range of picosecond to nanosecond and microsecond to second are utilized primarily to investigate the minority charge carrier dynamics inside such devices. Chapter 3 presents the results of steady state and transient optical studies on CIGS (no Ga gradient and no alkali treatment), CuInSe2 (CIS), and Sb2Se3 thin fi lm, respectively. The study on CIGS/CIS is to set a foundation for the following two chapters. Additionally, the results of Sb2Se3 are included because Sb2Se3 also belongs to the Se-based chalcogenide family. In all three materials, two major transient absorption features are discovered: 1. A photobleach signal appeared in picosecond-nanosecond timescale, which is assigned to the ground state bleach, and 2: a positive absorption signal appeared in microsecond to second scale, which is linked to the presence of trapped charge carriers. Analyzing these two TA features, it is found that CIGS/CIS has a longer minority carrier lifetime and a smaller amount of trapped charges compared to Sb2Se3. In Chapter 4, a Ga-graded CIGS device with RbF+NaF post deposition treatment (PDT) is investigated primarily by TAS, which allows to have a real-time observation of minority carriers dynamics. A drift-di usion kinetic model is established, which successfully deconvolutes the two competitive kinetics, recombination and drift, in a Ga-graded CIGS device. Furthermore, the drift time constant obtained from the kinetic model enables to calculate the minority carrier mobility (16.3 4.0 cm2V-1s-1) in the high Ga region of a Ga-graded CIGS solar cell. As far as I am aware of, this is the fi rst time that the minority carrier mobility in that region is determined. Chapter 5 makes use of the kinetics model established in Chapter 4 to analyze the impact of Na and Rb atoms treatments on minority carrier mobility and recombination throughout the Ga-graded CIGS device. It is found that Na atoms prolong the minority carrier lifetime throughout the CIGS absorber regardless of the [Ga]=([Ga]+[In]) (GGI) ratio. On the other hand, passivation with Rb atoms works best in the domain with low Ga concentration, suggesting an ine ective passivation of Rb atoms in the regions of high Ga concentration.

This thesis deals with using visual organizers as scaffolds in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Based on the findings of scientific researches, the review of literature explicates the effectiveness and fruitfulness in employing visuals organizers in EFL instructions. It includes the five following components. First, visual organizers are defined as visual or graphic means which are formats for organizing information and ideas graphically. EFL teachers should recognize the learners' "Visual/Spatial Intelligences" and take advantage of this sensorial preference in creating new curricula. Secondly, this thesis emphasizes that the applications of visual organizers that can create a social and communicative environment in an EFL classroom. Thirdly, it accentuates the implementation of visual organizers as motivators for children to acquire English in an interactive way. Lastly, besides underlying the prominent advantages of involving visual components in EFL instructions, this thesis demonstrates certain visual organizers strategies for EFL teachers to incorporate effectively and productively as lifelike aids in language lessons. Appended are: (1) Multiple Intelligence Planning Question figure; and (2) Six principles regarding foreign language teaching based on psychological studies addressed by Grittner (1997). [M.S.Ed. Thesis, University of Bridgeport.]

The high power intensities in HIFU often result in bubble production, either through cavitation or boiling, which are believed to be a primary contributor to tissue necrosis. Bubbles are associated with the bright hyperechoic regions in ultrasound B-mode images. As the only changes observed on tissue are subtle during treatment, some HIFU therapy protocols rely on the observation of significant brightness changes as the indicator of tissue lesions. The occurrence of a distinct hyperechoic region around the focus is often associated with cavitation. In general, the hyperechoic regions show good correlation with ablated tissue (observed directly following subsequent removal of the tumour in an operation, or using MRI), but the sensitivity of this techniques is sub-optimal. Reliable detection of cavitation and a method to distinguish between different types of events is therefore, an important goal for better control of the treatment. This thesis presents a novel method to provide detection of cavitation activity as an aid to assisting treatment. The image intensity information is used to identify hyperechoic regions spatially and temporally. However, hyperechoic regions may appear for reasons other than cavitation - for example because of tissue interfaces. The spectral information is useful to distinguish from other events and thermal generation of bubbles. Thus the spectral estimation methods are becoming of increasing interest in early and robust detection of cavitation activity. There are three main contributions related to this thesis: identifying the boundaries and maintaining a history of cavitation events from their brightness and intensity statistics through using a probabilistic method, determining not just the presence of cavitation but also its local changes at a high spatial resolution through analysing spectrally the RF signals from the imaging transducer on a pixel by pixel basis, and finally combining the advantages of both methods to improve the overall reliability of automatic cavitation detection. In addition, the spectral information extracted here is capable potentially of distinguishing between cavitation and boiling. The method is assessed using a simulation of a synthesised cavitation, and the applied to detect cavitation following HIFU in ex-vivo calf liver.

The World Wide Web (WWW) has become an important medium for communicating between people all over the world. It is regarded as a global system and is associated with a wide user and social system diversity. The effects of differing user-groups and their associated cultures on user acceptance of web sites can be significant, and as a result understanding the behaviour of web users in various cultures is becoming a significant concern. The eCulture research project is based on previous classical theories and research in culture. It applies a factorial experimental design strategy (the Taguchi method) in crosscultural usability / acceptability, together with other approaches such as semiotic analysis and card sorting. Two types of analysis, both top-down and bottom-up have been implemented to investigate differences in web site usability and acceptability between users from Mainland China and the United Kingdom. Based on experiments on web sites investigating the relationship between cultural issues and usability lacceptability aspects between Chinese and British web users, several issues, such as cultural factors, cognitive abilities, social semiotic differences and other issues have emerged. One of the goals has been to develop 'cultural fingerprints' for both web sites and users in different cultures. By comparing cultural and site fingerprints, usability and acceptability of web sites can be diagrammatically matched to the target culture. Experiments investigating qualitative factors and quantitative data collection and analysis based on the Taguchi method has led to the successful development of two versions of 'cultural fingerprint' for both web sites and target cultures in the UK and China. It has been possible to relate these studies to a wider body of knowledge, and to suggest ways in which the work may be extended in the future.

Airlines are not able to conduct their businesses in the same way as other global transnational industries. They are inhibited by the foreign ownership restrictions in Air Services Agreements and national laws. Since the United Kingdom and the United States signed the first Bermuda agreement in 1946, the nationality clauses contained in virtually all bilaterals have limited the companies designated to provide services to those airlines owned and managed by nationals of the respective countries. A key reason why foreign ownership rules remain in place is that they protect national airlines. In doing so, they also limit the strategies available to governments whose carriers are in difficulties. The 57 years old bilateral system restricts the development of international air services, adversely affecting airlines and their users- travellers and the tourism and air freight industries. As time goes on, the rapidly changing air transport environment of privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation is forcing airlines to seek structural adjustments in order to survive in the new millennium. Airlines are asking to have more freedom for their strategies, in order to enhance their profitability. Pressures have been growing to ease the ownership rules contained in bilateral agreements to allow airlines greater commercial freedom. As there is no comprehensive research on the topic, this study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the impact of airline ownership rules. It will provide a point of reference for organisations like ICAO and nations to review the ownership issue in the future. This research starts with a review of the historical background, the current limitations in different countries and the pros and cons of ownership rules. It analyses how aviation markets have been influenced to date around the world and how governments and carriers have responded to these influences. It goes on to identify the main benefits and risks of foreign investment, and the motives for foreign investment in the EU and Asia- Pacific. It assesses the prospects for change in ownership rules under multilateral and plurilateral proposals, and develops a strategy for changing the current ownership rules. It concludes by predicting how airlines will react to such changes and makes suggestions for European Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region.

Superhydrophobic surface-based optofluidics have been introduced to biosensors and unconventional optics recently with unique advantages such as dynamic adjustable optical properties, low light loss, and high versatility. Most of these platforms were manufactured by Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing technology and usually need to be further packaged or sealed. Although the MEMS-based technology is prone to make an integrated device containing sensing and electronic components, the technology may constrain the design of the morphology of the featured structures. For example, it was hard to manufacture a three-dimensional, fully enclosed round channel with complex structures along the inner surface. The limitations could prevent the researchers from potentially advanced and innovative designs. Microstereolithography (µSLA) has emerged as a versatile solution primarily due to its comparable resolution and compact manufacturing processes. This technology has been found widespread in applications across various fields, particularly in the realms of biology and chemistry. In this study, we harnessed the power of µSLA to revolutionize the design of superhydrophobic surface-based optofluidic probes. Our approach involved the creation of optofluidic chips with diverse T-shape structured configurations, followed by transmission measurements and ray tracing simulations. After the analysis, we were able to identify the main design factors (solid area fraction at the solid/water/air interface, the cross-section shape, and the effective cladding layer composition) and determine the optimal dimensions for the curl T-shape design, which were found to be approximately 524 µm in width, around 50 µm in thickness, and 350 µm in length, with longitudinal spaces of 260 µm between them. To validate the feasibility of our optofluidic probes, we conducted experiments in two distinct settings. The first setting mimicked an in vivo scenario, utilizing human plasma as the medium and a thyroid biopsy training phantom as the environment. The second setting, designed to simulate ex vivo conditions, involved the use of fluorescence-stained mouse brain slices. In conclusion, our study preliminarily highlights the potential of µSLA-based optofluidic probes, particularly in animal soft tissue research.

Beverage consumption plays a crucial part in the American diet. It is estimated that the daily beverage calorie intake for an adult in the United States is approximately 400 calories and sugar-sweetened beverages account for a large share of total consumption. Much research has studied various aspects regarding the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, however, there is less work investigating its interrelationships with other beverages. Some studies suggest consumers may switch their consumption to fruit juices in response to a price rise in sugar-sweetened beverages. The IRI Consumer Network suggested that the U.S. consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, particularly regular carbonated soft drinks (regular CSD) has constantly decreased over time, whereas there has been a significant increase in the consumption of water. To understand consumers’ preferences for beverage alternatives to sugar-sweetened beverages, we study two monthly aggregate demand systems of 8 ready-to-drink non-alcoholic beverages and 8 most consumed fruit juices in the United States from 2009 to 2018 using a quadratic almost ideal demand system (QUAIDS) model. Furthermore, we stratify our demand systems based on household income levels. Our findings suggest that water and fruit juices (other than orange and grapefruit juices) are substitutes for regular CSD. Specifically, low income households are inclined to consume more water whilst upper income households would consume more fruit juices. Regarding the demand for fruit juices, high income households are most sensitive to the consumption of apple juice whereas low and middle income households are most sensitive to orange juice and grape juice in terms of expenditure and price. We find that there is a significant complement effect between apple juice and grape juice, and this effect is particularly pronounced in low and middle income households.

Heusler compounds are a large family of ternary intermetallic compounds with more than 1500 predicted members across a large fraction of the periodic table [1]. They have been previously shown to exhibit novel electronic and magnetic behaviors such as half-metallic ferromagnetism [2], superconductivity [3], semiconductivity [4], and topologically non-trivial surface states [5]. Recent theoretical predictions [6,7] suggest the presence of time-reversal breaking Weyl and nodal line semimetallic behaviors in full-Heusler half-metallic Co2TiGe and Co2TiSn. In this work, the study of Weyl semimetallic half-metal Co2TiSn thin film was grown using Molecular Beam Epitaxy. A method of Fermi level tuning by substituting Co with Ni element was applied in order to bring the Fermi level toward the Weyl point to observe the signature of the Weyl semimetallic behavior in this system. The electronic structure of the Co2TiSn, the effect of Fermi level tuning using Ni alloying, and the probing of any signatures of Weyl semimetallicity in Co2TiSn were examined by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, electrical, and magnetotransport measurement. In the second part of the study, the Fermi level tuning is used for the half-metal half Heusler PtMnSb, which has been seen as a promising material for spintronics application with inversion broken symmetry and large spin-orbit coupling, in order to further investigate the interplay of non-trivial band topology and magnetism within this system. The PtMnSb thin film was grown using Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Similar to that of Co2TiSn, the effect of Fermi level tuning by substituting Mn with Lu element to close the band gap was examined using X-ray diffraction and transport measurement to realize if a potential band inversion/Weyl point formation can form during the topological phase transition from a half metal to a topological insulator through Lu alloying.

Regenerative medicine has the potential to revolutionize the field of surgical medicine. More specifically, tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) offer a promising solution to current challenges associated with the use of synthetic conduits in cardiac diseases. Since its first use in humans back in 1999 numerous advances have been made describing the remodeling, performance, and outcomes of TEVGs; however, the barriers to its widespread adoption remain largely the same. First, there remains a tendency for the lumen of TEVGs to narrow due to excessive tissue formation. Second, an issue broadly implicated within the field of cardiothoracic surgery, is the development of adhesions following repeat operations thus hindering access and function. This dissertation seeks to overcome both issues through the application of novel therapeutic agents. The findings reported further advance mechanistic knowledge of the regenerative process that may one day improve outcomes of associated with tissue engineering.

In this digital age, teachers are novice learners themselves of educational technologies. Pre-service teachers, in particular, face multiple layers of demands and challenges. Not only do they frequently need to learn how to use digital educational tools, but they also may need to adjust their pedagogies, which are directly connected to their beliefs about teaching and learning (Ertmer & Newby, 2016; Tondeur et al., 2017) and their confidence in the practice of technology integration (Hur et al., 2016). Current research lacks insight into pre-service teachers’ learning progress during their teacher training and its connection to their ongoing development of contemporary teaching practices that support diverse learning experiences (Ottenbreit-Leftwich et al., 2015). The purpose of this dissertation was to gain further insights into the conceptual changes pre-service K-12 teachers’ experience related to technology integration during their teacher preparation that prepares them for future classrooms. The qualitative case study method (Merriam, 2001) was selected in this study to explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions and their influences on the “how” and “why” of technology integration practices. This retrospective study examined 69 pre-service teachers’ learning trajectories and their conceptual changes related to technology integration within an educational technology course. Guided by learning sciences approaches (Hoadley & Van Haneghan, 2012), a technology integration model (Roblyer & Hughes, 2018), and the ISTE standards (2016; 2018), a qualitative content analysis was conducted through three steps of analysis to triangulate how pre-service teachers construct their perceptions. First, three major themes, ranging from limited use, conservative use, to constructive use of technology, were identified in the pre-course questionnaire analysis, while two main aspects, separated or integrated use of technology, were uncovered in the post-course questionnaire analysis. Finally, three focal participants were purposefully chosen to illustrate their developmental growth and how they translated their beliefs into instructional design. The results of this study offer suggestions and applications for pre-service teacher educators and teacher preparation in designing new approaches to better address the ongoing challenge of technology integration in K-12 classrooms.

Nanocrystalline metals exhibit a high strength/hardness but generally poor ductility during deformation regardless of their crystal structure which is often called the strength-ductility trade-off relationship and generally appears in most ultrafine-grained metals. The ultrafine-grained (UFG) high manganese austenitic twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steels have been found to overcome the strength-ductility trade-off but their underlying mechanism of discontinuous yielding behavior has not been well understood. In this study, our systematic TEM characterization suggests that the plastic deformation mechanisms in the early stage of deformation, around the macroscopic yield point, show an obvious association with grain size and nucleation of deformation twin was promoted rather than suppressed in UFG. More specifically, the main mechanism shifts from the conventional slip in grain interior to twinning nucleated from grain boundaries with decreasing the grain size down to less than 1 m. We also provide insights into the atomistic process of deformation twin nucleation at 3{111} twin boundaries, the dominant type of grain boundary in the UFG-TWIP steel of interest. In response to the external tensile stresses, the structure of coherent 3{111} twin boundary changes from atomistically smooth to partly defective by the grain boundary migration mechanism thus the "kink-like" defective step can act as a nucleation site for deformation twin, which deformation process is different from the one induced by dislocation pile-ups in coarse-grained counterparts and explain why UFG TWIP steel can retain the moderate ductility. In addition to the effect of grain size on deformation twin nucleation, grain boundary character was also taken into account. In coarse-grained TWIP steel, we experimentally reveal that deformation twin nucleation occurs at an annealing twin () boundary in a high-Mn austenitic steel when dislocation pile-up at boundary produced a local stress exceeding the twining stress, while no obvious local stress concentration was required at relatively high-energy grain boundaries such as or  A periodic contrast reversal associated with a sequential stacking faults emission from boundary was observed by in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) deformation experiments, proving the successive layer-by-layer stacking fault emission was the deformation twin nucleation mechanism. The correlation between grain boundary character and deformation behavior was discussed both in low- and high-sigma value grain boundaries. On the other hand, localized strain concentration causes the nucleation of deformation twins at grain boundaries regardless of the grain boundary misorientation character in UFG TWIP steel. The invisibility of stacking fault (zero contrast) was also observed to be emitted at 3{111} boundaries in the coarse-grained TWIP steel, which deformation twin nucleation mechanism is found to be identical to UFG Fe-31Mn-3Si-3Al TWIP steel.

This thesis focuses on the relationship between the individual and the nation in Tash Aw’s Map of the Invisible Worldand Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Incorporated Benedict Anderson’s theory of “imagined communities” into the reading of both of the novels, this thesis discusses the limitation of nationalism and the imagination of individuals, aiming to show that it is the diversity of a nation that turns the stagnant imagined communities into fluid imagining communities.

The goal of semantic segmentation is to assign a semantic category to each pixel in the image. It has been one of the most important tasks in computer vision that enjoys a wide range of applications such as image editing and scene understanding. Recently, deep convolutional neural network (CNN) based methods have been developed for semantic segmentation and achieved significant progress. However, such approaches rely on learning supervised models that require pixel-wise annotations, which take extensive effort and time. To reduce the effort in annotating pixel-wise ground truth labels, numerous weakly-supervised methods are proposed using various types of labels such as image-level, bounding box, point-level, and scribble-based labels. In this thesis, we focus on using image-level labels which can be obtained effortlessly, yet a more challenging case under the weakly-supervised setting.Existing weakly-supervised semantic segmentation methods using image-level annotations typically rely on initial responses to locate object regions. However, such response maps generated by the classification network usually focus on discriminative object parts, due to the fact that the network does not need the entire object for optimizing the objective function. To address this issue, we improve the generated response map by enforcing the network to pay attention to other parts of an object via self-regularization techniques. First, we apply the mixup data augmentation to effectively calibrate the model uncertainty on overconfident predictions, which enables the model to attend to more object regions. Second, we introduce a self-supervised task that discovers sub-categories in an unsupervised manner. By imposing a more challenging task, the model learns better representations, thereby improving the response map. Based on the proposed two self-regularization methods, the produced initial responses are more complete and balanced across object regions, which facilitates the latter steps for weakly-supervised semantic segmentation, i.e., response refinement and segmentation model training.

Vascular calcification (VC) is a major complication in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD). A constant inflammatory state remains a key characteristic in the development of VC. Necroptosis is a programmed form of cell death that results in an inflammatory phenotype. Early descriptions of necroptosis involve phosphorylation of mixed lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL) by receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase (RIPK) 1/3 signaling. Many studies have shown that necroptosis is a key contributor in various inflammatory diseases, but none have explored its place in VC. In this study, we aim to examine the roles of necroptosis in a model of VC in vitro. We establish VC by utilizing Human Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells (HA-SMCs) treated with 5mM CaCl2 and β-glycerolphosphate for 7, 14, 21 days. VC was confirmed by Arsenazo III and Alizarin Red Staining and by expression of Klotho and runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2). Necroptosis is assessed through the expression of MLKL, phosphorylated-MLKL, RIPK 1 and 3, using Western Blot. Pan-caspase, apoptotic inhibitor ZVAD.fmk (20 µM), RIPK inhibitor necrostatin-1 (20 µM, 40 µM), and MLKL inhibitor necrosulfonamide (0.5 µM, 1 µM), were used to assess the effects of necroptosis inhibition. VC was confirmed by down regulation of Klotho and up regulation of RUNX2. RIPK1 and RIPK3 expression were down regulated in a time-dependent manner in our VC model. The opposite was seen in MLKL and phosphorylated-MLKL, indicating the presence of necroptosis in VC. Furthermore, treatment with necrosulfonamide, alone displayed a dose-dependent reduction of calcification. Neither ZVAD.fmk nor necrostatin-1 resulted in significant changes in calcification. Calcification of HA-SMCs highlight increased activity of MLKL, but not RIPK1/3. Our results indicate that RIPK-independent activation of MLKL may play a significant role in the development of VC. These findings suggest a novel pathway of necroptosis whose inhibition may be a target in the treatment of VC.

Gut microbiome has a profound effect on human health and disease. The burgeoning body of research investigating the gut microbiome has illustrated its important roles on not only the local inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, but also on systemic immunological disorders, such as autoimmune diseases. Many of these associations were determined at the level of metagenome analysis. This provides categorical information on both taxonomic composition and predicted functional capacities of the microbial community. This thesis tackles the problem of how gut microbiota affect human diseases using both these categories of assessment.Although the accumulating evidence suggested the important roles of gut microbiota in the human immune system and Crohn's disease (CD), the molecular mechanisms of how microbiome directly modulates immune responses and leads to CD progression remain unclear. To advance the current understanding of microbial roles in CD, we developed a systems biology approach to assess the human immune function in response to disease-associated microbial products. Progress in computational omics analysis of the microbiome in CD enables the functional inference and prediction of microbial metabolites. Both genetic and clinical studies suggested the involvement of human CD4+ T cells in CD progression. We therefore tabulated a set of microbial metabolites predicted to be differentially abundant in CD, and screened these microbial metabolites for their bioactivity in human CD4+ T cell functions. Our screen revealed 15 bioactive microbial metabolites, 3 previously reported and 12 unprecedented, with selective action on CD4+ T cell cytokine production. Mechanistic assessment of one novel microbe-derived metabolite, ascorbate, revealed apoptosis of activated human CD4+ T cells associated with selective inhibition of glycolytic energy metabolism. These findings suggest a substantial rate (11%) of bioactive metabolites among the predicted CD-associated metabolite reservoirs and provide evidence for novel modes of microbial activity targeting T cell metabolism. Emerging studies have characterized the association of taxonomic composition with systemic autoimmune diseases with various clinical phenotypes and modes of pathologic immune responses. In this thesis, we assessed systemic sclerosis (SSc), a previously unstudied autoimmune disease with respect to the microbiome, notable for both systemic manifestations and gastrointestinal involvement. The metagenomic study of mucosal-luminal interface (MLI) samples revealed a unique microbial composition associated with disease state. Patients with SSc had decreased abundances of Faecalibacterium and Clostridium, and increased abundances of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Fusobacterium and γ-Proteobacteria compared with healthy controls. In addition, the increase of Fusobacterium species and the decrease of Bacteroides fragilis were associated with moderate/severe gastrointestinal symptoms. We conducted an independent study of faecal samples from two independent cohorts of patients, from United States and Norway, that revealed a similar group of microbial taxa associations, and a greater dysbiosis in patients from the United States. These studies enable the specific targets for intervention to avert or treat the gastrointestinal involvement in systemic sclerosis.The study of gut microbiota is beginning to evolve from association toward causality. The functions of gut microbiota are not only restricted to local inflammatory responses but expanded to systemic immune regulations. We hypothesized that gut microbiome may regulate host immune cellular responses by producing metabolites. We investigated the bioactive microbial factors regulating Crohn's disease, and explored the potential microbial taxonomic biomarkers in a systemic autoimmune disorder, SSc. Those improved understandings of the microbiome activity and metabolism may inform therapeutic strategies and ultimately improve patient health.

The appearance of desktop 3D printers has inspired a trend toward increased personal fabrication. However, there are few desktop systems that can process metal for prototyping. This thesis reports on the design of a desktop scale prototyping machine that uses metal wire as a precursor material. The machine is intended for use by makers to produce wire-form prototypes, such as wire sculptures. The design of the system assumes a layer-based fabrication approach. As such, the joining capability of the machine is the most important subsystem. During the research, various conceptual configurations were developed and investigated to determine their thermal bonding efficiency using a metallurgical welding simulation model. The selected bonding method is TIG welding. Two experiments were conducted to test the bonding speed and strength of the bonding spot to validate the feasibility of the concept. A wire bending subsystem was also developed. The selected wire bender is oriented vertically and uses a servo motor and solenoid to perform wire bending and cutting.

There are increasing demands to report subscores in educational and psychological assessments. Subscores provide unique information about examinees (Sinharay, Puhan & Haberman, 2011). However, there has been much debate about reporting subscores because subscores require meeting certain standards and psychometric qualities as a prerequisite to reporting them. Because there is an increasing need for improving the methods of estimating subscores, multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) is one of the methods to estimate subscores. One MIRT model is the item bi-factor model, which includes a general dimension on which all items load and specific dimensions corresponding to the subdomains from which the items come (Holzinger & Swineford’s, 1937; Gibbons & Hedeker, 1992). However, there is a challenge to interpreting the specific dimension scores in the item bi-factor model while the general dimension score is readily interpreted. The specific dimension scores are residuals from the general factor and residuals can be difficult to interpret. To solve this issue, a restricted bi-factor model was proposed in this paper. This paper contains a real data study and a simulation study to evaluate this model. The results of two studies, interpretation of the model, and practical application of the model were discussed.

This dissertation, consisting of two studies, analyzes a dataset of audit proposals to investigate auditors’ impression management strategies and audit procurement quality in the public sector. Text based analytic methods are employed to examine the content of audit proposals, which were submitted for government audit engagements in fifteen states. The first study investigates auditors' marketing language and hypothesizes that CPA firms will project a cooperative, non-independent image in audit proposals to impress potential clients. The results suggest that CPA firms, especially larger ones, project a persona of a cooperative and trustworthy service provider than to present themselves as independent auditors. In addition, CPA firms self-portray more independence when client management is involved in a procurement process compared to when an independent state audit agency selects the auditor. Responding to the PCAOB's (2013) concern about auditors' commercial interests and marketing materials, the findings suggest that CPA firms’ marketing language may threaten perceived auditor independence and thus are important to regulators, practitioners, and decision makers. The second study examines the association between auditor selection and perceived audit service qualities in audit proposals. Based on agency theory and prior research, this study predicts that government clients will choose an auditor whose audit proposal reflects more perceived audit quality attributes and that this association will be stronger for states with higher political competition or lower perceived risk of corruption. The results indicate that government clients tend to select an auditor who emphasizes competence, is a predecessor auditor, and, is less expensive. The findings provide insights into governmental audit procurement practices and the determinants of auditor selection decisions in the public sector. The dissertation contributes to the literature by creating a new, unexplored dataset of audit proposals, developing and validating linguistic categories related to the concepts of auditor independence, relationship marketing, and competence, and exploring potential threat of audit firms’ marketing materials to the appearance of auditor independence.

Life is an adventure, and growing up is not always enjoyable. When Life is filled mainly with struggles, sometimes people lose their confidence. They lack faith in themselves. Believe is a short motion graphic that comes directly from my own personal experience. This animation expresses my views on progress through life. The motion graphics animation has had a significant impact on audiences. The story encourages people to build up their faith and self-confidence, because Life is full of opportunity. The project was made by using motion graphics design concepts and experimenting with current computer graphics integration technologies. The final delivery is an one minute and 30 seconds world of imagination motion graphic. Sharing my personal experiences that may benefit others, as a motion motion graphic designer, I hope to convert my thoughts into creations meaningful to the universe.

Profile analysis has been used practically to study assessments with subtests or strands. The variation in profile analysis can be divided into two kinds: variation due to profile level and variation due to profile pattern. The variation in the profile level or the level reliability is the proportion of total profile variation due to the true score variation in the level whereas the variation in the profile pattern or the pattern reliability is the proportion of total profile variation due to the true score variation in the pattern. Methods to compute the level reliability and the pattern reliability are described. The methods are demonstrated using two datasets: a short personality inventory and the Woodcock- Johnson Psychoeducational Battery II. The results showed that pattern reliabilities were higher than the level reliabilities in both the rating scale (r= 0.66) and the forced choice versions (r= 0.71) of the personality inventory while the level reliability was higher in the Woodcock- Johnson Psychoeducational Battery II (r= 0.93). Results demonstrated that when the variation from the pattern and level are unequal, it is critical for researchers to examine whether the level or the pattern has higher reliability and adequately explain the results.

Anthelme Brillat-Savarin proposed the idea: ‘tell me what kind of food you eat and I will tell you what kind of man you are’ in 1826. Since then, there has been an ample body of research undertaken examining the relationship between food and identity and there has been much debate about this issue. In Taiwan, since the transition of political power from external to internal rule in 1988, there has been an increased interest expressing Taiwanese identity, including food and identity. However, while there are plenty of popular publications on the subject, few academic works examine this based on serious in-depth research. This study takes a socio-historical perspective to examine the development of Taiwanese food and document its elevation to cuisine status, linking to a rise of Taiwanese identity and the way people express that consciousness. Taiwan was subject to different external powers after 1624: the Dutch colonizers, Han settlers, the Japanese and the Nationalist government. In the Japanese period beginning in 1895, Taiwanese consciousness took the form of an ethnic identification, one which contrasted with identifying with the Japanese. In the mid and late 1940s this changed into a bensheng, ‘this province’, consciousness: Taiwanese used this term to contrast themselves with those Mainlanders who arrived in the Nationalist period. Similarly, the status of Taiwanese food differed during the different historical periods. Taiwanese food was especially regarded as low cuisine when Taiwan was a Japanese colony (1895-1945) and during the Nationalists government (1945-1988). After 1988 it changed to become considered representative of Taiwan and began being served as a cuisine in high-end restaurants. The sense of Taiwanese identity increased during the same time period.

The term "Multimedia" refers to not only the materials used in creating art, but also the devices used for presenting the content. In the present time, artists can practice computer softwares as the media. They use audio and video tracks to display artwork. Various formats of technological or digital multimedia enhance the user's experience in entertainment or art, and transcend everyday experience. "Beauty of Taiwan", my MFA Thesis, is a Flash-based program which offers users interactivity to control the way to view art piece as used in video games. This program allows the presented film, made from my pencil drawings on the images of Taiwan, to be affected by the viewer's movements. Starting from when he/she first enters the affected zone situated in front of the screen, the program detects his/her initial location, and the film starts playing depending on his/her followup movements. The opening has a sequence of images flowing in from either side of the screen, according to where the viewer enters the affected zone in relation to the screen. If the viewer enters the center of the zone, or if more than one viewer comes in from both sides at the same time, the film starts playing from the center of the screen. If no one is in the zone, an animated logo is set to loop as a screen saver. Setting up a camera that collects proper amount of information is very critical. Through Flash, I'm able to locate viewer's movements. They are caught by the camera. That information is then transferred from the captured images and becomes the controller for the viewer to navigate through the film. By having the interactivity between the viewer and the exhibited artworks, the brilliant artworks that used the traditional materials, are no longer just static images hung on the walls of museums, or of our own homes. In my project, the art piece now also attract instant conversations and simultaneous reactions between the creator and the audiences. The interactivity brings out the fun, communication and humanity to the creator, the audiences and the artworks.

There is considerable interest in developing real-time diagnostic tools to detect disease signatures and therapeutic responses in vivo; however, tissue scattering and absorption limit the capability of traditional optical techniques for quantitative biosensing in deep tissue. To address these limitations, we have developed a fiber-optic two-photon-excited fluorescence probe system to quantify deep tissue fluorescence in situ. A double-clad fiber (DCF) was employed to increase the sensitivity of the probe. The probe was used to quantify targeted delivery of biocompatible dendrimer nanoparticles into tumor cells. Exploiting the ability of two-photon excitation to excite multiple fluorophores, we were able to quantify few-nanomolar concentrations of different emission-wavelength antibody conjugates in mouse tumors. To enable time-resolved spectroscopic measurements, a time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) module was incorporated into the system. Fluorescence lifetime changes due to quenching of the fluophores on the dendrimer conjugates were observed. In addition, fiber-optic two-photon fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) was demonstrated for the first time with this system. Fluorescent nanoparticles as small as 7 nm in radius were measured. We also demonstrated the technique’s ability to measure the flow velocity of fluorescent species. When applying the technique to measure flow cells, distinct FCS curve behaviors were observed in differently labeled cells; this may enable cell differentiation by in situ FCS measurements. The minimally invasive nature of the single-fiber probe geometry is suitable for in vivo long-term monitoring of circulating cells. We applied the fiber probe to implement flow cytometry in vivo and in vitro. With dual-channel detection, we conducted quantitative ratiometric measurements on the detection efficiency of dual-labeled fluorescent protein-expressing cells. In the in vitro studies, our system showed about one order of magnitude higher detection sensitivity for green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing cells in whole blood when compared to the sensitivity of a free-space detection scheme. In the in vivo studies, cancer cells were injected into different locations in mice, and the cell circulation dynamics were monitored. The high detection sensitivity of GFP-expressing cells in vivo may help the study of cancer metastasis in mouse models by fluorescence techniques.

Unlike the great majority of previous citation studies, which have focused on the collective disciplinary consensus, the main objective of this dissertation is to explore individual variations in citation practice through six case studies. By situating citation within the context of individual researcher's career development, this dissertation also attempts to extend the scope of citation studies beyond an earlier preoccupation with the document and its production to the various characteristics of the human agent who cites, in the hope that a more complete picture of citation practice can be obtained. The informants of this study are six well-established scholars from two disciplines---applied linguistics and computer-aided architectural design. Based on a research procedure that combines text analyses at various levels and a series of in-depth text-based interviews, the results of this dissertation indeed show conspicuous discrepancies among individual citation practices over time; indeed, significant differences are discovered both between and within the two disciplines. Apart from changes of career role, various factors involved in the citation practice are also identified. Further, the results also reveal that authorial self-citation practice is much more complicated than merely a matter of egocentric demonstrations or opportunities for self-promotion. In fact, self-citations are found to be one of the most reliable textual indicators of individual researcher's career roles at various points of time. By examining citation through six case studies, not only can the complex and dynamic nature of citation be explored, but the research worlds of the two disciplines can also be observed more closely. The information related to architecture discourse might be especially helpful for those developing EAP courses for architecture students. Finally, it should be pointed out that text-based interviews have played a critical role in the current research. Without them, it would have been impossible to discover the multidimensional and fluid characters of citation, such that similar contextual factors could very often result in different citation patterns, and that superficial similarities of citation patterns could be outcomes of rather different contextual factors. It would also have been impossible to detect the extent to which the citation practice is unconscious.

Firms specializing in the construction of large commercial buildings and factories must often design and build steel structural components as a part of each project. Such firms must purchase large steel plates, cut them into pieces and then weld the pieces into H-beams and other construction components. The details of the order and the production operation are specified in the "cutting plan." This dissertation focuses on solving this "cutting plan generation" problem with the goal of minimizing cost. Two solution approaches are proposed in this dissertation: a multi-expert system and an evolutionary algorithm. The expert system extends the field by relying on the knowledge of multiple experts. Furthermore, unlike traditional rule-base expert systems, this expert system (XS) uses procedural rules to capture and represent experts' knowledge. The second solution method, called CPGEA, involves development of an evolutionary algorithm based on Falkenauer's grouping genetic algorithm. A series of experiments is designed and performed to investigate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approaches. Two types of data are used in the experiments. Historical data are real data provided by a construction company. Solutions developed manually and implemented are available. In addition, simulated data has been generated to more fully test the solution methods. Experiments are performed to optimize CPGEA parameters as well as to compare the approaches to each other, to known solutions and to theoretical bounds developed in this dissertation. Both approaches show excellent results in solving historical cases with an average cost 1% above the lower bound of the optimal solution. However, as revealed by experiments with simulated problems, the performance decreases in cases where the optimal solution includes multiple identical plates. The performance of the XS is affected by this problem characteristic more than that of CPGEA. While CPGEA is more robust in effectively solving a range of problems, the XS requires substantially less processing time. Both approaches can be useful in different practical situations.