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(1 - 20 of 1,335)
Pages
- Title
- Test of a 40 hp Halladay chasis
- Creator
- Fors, A. F., Kuehn, H. R., Semerak, A. W.
- Date
- 2009, 1913
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/testof40hphallad00fors
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- ENHANCEMENT OF BIODESULFURIZATION IN RHODOCOCCUS SPECIES (IGTS8) BY THE EXPRESSION OF VITREOSCILLA HEMOGLOBIN
- Creator
- Shivdas, Vrushali D.
- Date
- 2013, 2013-07
- Description
-
The bacterium Rhodococcus sp. IGTS8 contains the dsz operon, which encodes a three enzyme pathway (the “4S pathway”) that is able to...
Show moreThe bacterium Rhodococcus sp. IGTS8 contains the dsz operon, which encodes a three enzyme pathway (the “4S pathway”) that is able to mineralize the sulfur contained in dibenzothiophene (DBT), an organic sulfur containing molecule found in petroleum. The gene vgb, which encodes Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb), has shown wide usefulness in enhancing productivity and other useful properties when expressed in heterologous hosts. We engineered strain IGTS8 to express VHb and measured the effects on growth and desulfurization of DBT, using minimal medium containing DBT as the sole source of sulfur. VHb was clearly detected in the engineered strain using the standard COdifference spectral analysis, but its level (0.38-0.63 nmoles/gm wet weight of cells) was about 10-fold lower than commonly seen for expression of VHb in other heterologous bacterial hosts. The VHb-expressing strain was tested for growth at both low and high aeration in minimal medium containing DBT as sole sulfur source; growth was about 50% lower at low aeration compared with high aeration. Despite this, metabolism of DBT (as detected by accumulation of the end product of the 4S pathway, 2-Hydroxy biphenyl (2-HBP), in the growth medium) was about 30 % higher in the low aeration compared to the high aeration culture. A possible explanation for these results is direct enhancement of the first two (monooxygenase) steps in conversion of DBT to 2-HBP. It was thus concluded from the studies that the expression of vgb in Rhodococcus sp. IGTS8 enhances the process of biodesulfurization under conditions of low aeration
M.S. in Biology, July 2013
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- Title
- DYNAMICS OF A THREE-DIMENSIONAL FOUR-BAR LINKAGE SUBJECT TO RANDOM EXTERNAL FORCING
- Creator
- Lytell, Mark R.
- Date
- 2011-11-15, 2011-12
- Description
-
This thesis explores the dynamics of a three-dimensional four-bar mechanical linkage subject to random external forcing. The Lagrangian...
Show moreThis thesis explores the dynamics of a three-dimensional four-bar mechanical linkage subject to random external forcing. The Lagrangian formulation of the equations of motion are index-3 stochastic di erential-algebraic equations (SDAE) that describe the time evolution of the sample paths of the generalized coordinates, velocities, and Lagrange multipliers as stochastic processes. We solve the SDAEs using two di erent approaches: inverse dynamics, Case Study 1, via independent, successive solution of the nonlinear equations for each kinematic variable, where the time evolution of one generalized coordinate is prescribed; and direct dynamics, Case Study 2, via direct solution of the SDAEs in the index-1 formulation, using fourth-order stochastic backward di erentiation formula (BDF) with modi ed Newton iteration and position and velocity stabilization (Ascher and Petzold [2]), where the (deterministic) input driving torque is prescribed. For the particular application of a three-dimensional swing gate security system, we conduct numerical experiments for both approaches. In Case Study 1, we simulate the random external forcing as a Gaussian wind speed process that applies stochastic wind drag onto the gate. The kinematic variables are deterministic, while the required input driving torque is a stochastic process. In Case Study 2, we apply the external forcing as a resistive torque with additive Gaussian noise modeling the wind drag; the kinematic variables are stochastic processes. For both cases, we apply four mean wind speeds: 0 mph (deterministic only), 10 mph, 20 mph, and 30 mph, from which we compute the deterministic solution and three stochastic sample paths for each stochastic process. The overall conclusions are that direct solution is possible for inverse dynamics, that the solution of index-1 SDAEs in multibody dynamics is tractable since the mass matrix is symmetric and positive de nite, and that the deterministic solution is the expectation of the sample paths.
M.S. in Applied Mathematics, December 2011
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- Title
- GENOME ANNOTATION AND PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF 27 SALMONELLA STRAINS BASED ON BIOINFORMATIC ANALYSIS OF RESPECTIVE GENOMES AND THREE GENES
- Creator
- Li, Xinyue
- Date
- 2013-04-15, 2013-05
- Description
-
Salmonella is the most common food-borne bacterial infectious pathogen worldwide. Different serovars of Salmonella are capable of infecting...
Show moreSalmonella is the most common food-borne bacterial infectious pathogen worldwide. Different serovars of Salmonella are capable of infecting different kinds of hosts, such as humans, mice, pigs, chickens, and can also lead to different syndromes, such as enterica fever, enterocolitis and diarrhea, bacteremia and chronic asymptomatic carriage. Although Salmonella strains are quite diverse, strains within the same serovar usually infect the same host and cause similar symptoms. Thus, it is important, especially in food-borne disease outbreaks, to know which type of Salmonella is present. The current method of typing Salmonella is based on the Kaufmann-White scheme and MLEE, which are laborious and expensive. Although the reliability of this method has not been previously verified, the evolutionary relationship reflected by phylogenetic trees can be a possible alternative to the way of typing the Salmonella strains; this method would be less labor intensive and more economical. MLST is considered as a “gold standard” of typing for many species includes Salmonella. And genome sequence, which certainly reflects the evolutionary relationship of strains, is the most ideal data to construct a more reliable phylogenetic tree; however, genome sequencing is also a laborious and expensive process. Thus, conserved and ubiquitous gene data, which can be accessed with little effort, are generally used to minimize cost. Using16s rRNA is the most widely used method. In this study, 27 Salmonella genome sequences are annotated with RAST, and phylogenetic trees are constructed using three software, (phylip3.69, MEGA5.1, and CVTree). And MLST is also used to construct phylogenetic tree in this study, and the result is used to be compared with genome phylogenetic tree to find a more reliable reference tree. Although Neighbor-Joining method is the only algorithms x available in CVTree, phylip3.69 and MEGA5.1 are capable to use three separate algorithms(Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood, and Neighbor-Joining, respectively). Finally, these trees are compared in an effort to find a good alternative to replace the reference phylogenetic tree. In this study, it was determined that the groEL gene would be the best replacement.
M.S. Biological and Chemical Sciences, May 2013
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- Title
- Reclaiming the Lake: Ecological Infrastructure as a Catalyst for Change
- Creator
- Searle, Gideon
- Date
- 2010-07-30
- Title
- A test of an evaporative condenser to determine the coefficient of heat transmission
- Creator
- Evans, Robert T.
- Date
- 2009, 1909
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/testofevaporativ00evan
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- A study of motor cycle engine characteristics
- Creator
- Ott, C. L., Pimstein, S.
- Date
- 2009, 1916
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/studyofmotorcycl00ottc
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- VALIDATION OF BAKING TO INACTIVATE SALMONELLA IN HIGH-PROTEIN AND HIGH-FAT MODEL FOODS
- Creator
- Wang, Wenqian
- Date
- 2017, 2017-07
- Description
-
Baked food products, such as dry pet foods, undergo changes of temperature and water activity (aw) during forced hot air processes. As one of...
Show moreBaked food products, such as dry pet foods, undergo changes of temperature and water activity (aw) during forced hot air processes. As one of the most thermal resistant microorganisms in low-moisture/intermediate moisture foods, Salmonella’s thermal inactivation kinetics during these processes is not well understood and difficult to predict. The objective of this study was to evaluate thermal inactivation kinetics of Salmonella enterica serovar Agona 447967 in model high-protein (HP) and high-fat (HF) multiple-component foods baked in a laboratory-scale oven, as influenced by oven temperature and relative humidity (RH). Model high-protein and high-fat foods, formulated with wheat flour, soy protein and soy oil, were inoculated with Salmonella Agona to a level of ~9 log CFU/g, and mixed to form a homogenous dough. Dough samples (57 mm diameter x 6 mm thick) were baked (3 samples per dwell time, 6 dwell times per condition) in a lab-scale oven at 120°C (10% RH) and 85°C (20%, 35% RH, 50% RH), respectively. Temperature and aw were measured at the surface and geometric center of the product during baking. Processed samples were collected in sterile bags and immediately cooled in an ice-water bath. Salmonella was enumerated on trypticase soy agar supplemented with yeast extract and incubated at 37°C for 24 h. Similar reductions (p>0.05) of 5.12-, 5.11-, 4.55-, and 4.78-log CFU/g were achieved after 40 min at 120°C/10% RH, 90 min at 85°C/20% RH, 50 min at 85°C/35% RH, 8 min at 85°C/50% RH, respectively, in the high-protein model food. Similar results were achieved in the high-fat matrix. The aw at the geometric center of the product (initially at aw =0.98) did not change appreciably during baking, while the aw at the product surface, the location of least lethality, decreased significantly (p<0.05) during baking; the decreases were more pronounced at lower oven RH. The results indicate that thermal inactivation of Salmonella Agona was driven by temperature and relative humidity in the oven. Higher temperature and higher relative humidity level led to greater Salmonella inactivation.
M.S. in Food Process Engineering, July 2017
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- Title
- NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF AIR FLOW OVER A THIN OIL FILM
- Creator
- Dziedzic, William M.
- Date
- 2014, 2014-12
- Description
-
Turbulent boundary layer flow research uses oil film and oil drop interferometry to measure wall shear stress of air flows. Oil film...
Show moreTurbulent boundary layer flow research uses oil film and oil drop interferometry to measure wall shear stress of air flows. Oil film interferometry determines the rate oil decreases on a surface as the function of the shear stress magnitude. Current traditional methods have proven to be accurate but the solution is obtained by assuming a linear height distribution [3]. This assumes a constant shear stress along the oil drop and assures that there is no effect of the oil drop on the incoming boundary layer [3]. This effect maintains the continuity of shear stress at the air/oil interface, but the stream-wise velocity at the interface is discontinuous. It is thought that these approximations contain small errors but this has not been verified for zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer [3]. A computational fluid dynamics numerical study was performed to simulate the two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) effects of air flow over an oil drop and the drop’s movement across the channel surface.
M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, December 2014
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- Title
- EARTH ORIENTATION PARAMETER FAULT MONITOR FOR HIGH INTEGRITY GNSS AVIATION APPLICATIONS
- Creator
- James Meno, Joel Patrick
- Date
- 2013-05-01, 2013-05
- Description
-
This paper develops threat models and mitigation techniques for mutually consistent satellite faults that are not detectable using Advanced...
Show moreThis paper develops threat models and mitigation techniques for mutually consistent satellite faults that are not detectable using Advanced Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (ARAIM) methods but are potentially hazardous to aviation users. Faults in the generation of Earth Orientation Parameters (EOPs), EOP Predictions (EOPPs) and their subsequent processing by the GPS Operational Control Segment (OCS) are of particular interest. In principle, if such faults are not detected by OCS, GPS satellite ephemerides could be corrupted constellation-wide in a consistent way, rendering existing ARAIM algorithms ineffective. The initial credibility of the EOP threat is established by the fact that it is explicitly listed as a potential integrity failure mode in the current GPS Standard Positioning Service Performance Standard (GPS SPS). Additionally, an observed EOP fault occurred on June 17, 2012. The dynamics of EOP faults can be reliably modeled as an initial bias with additive linear time variations. An initial broadcast ephemeris (A) is assumed to be EOP fault free and is verified as such via a ground monitor. If the second ephemeris (B) contains an EOP fault, then all satellite positions computed using ephemeris (B) would be rotated with respect to satellite positions obtained from ephemeris (A). Using the difference between the two computed satellite positions as the monitor 'measurement' in conjunction with the dynamic fault model, the parameters defining the EOP fault can be estimated using weighted least squares estimation. The two monitor components (airborne and ground) are bridged together by an Integrity Support Message (ISM). The ISM is needed to provide airborne users with essential information to bound nominal error distributions and fault prior probabilities. xiii The ISM also provides a means to inform airborne users of which ephemerides have passed civil ground monitor validation. The frequency of ISM updates needed to protect airborne GNSS users from the EOP threat is specified. Finally, global availability analysis show that the inclusion of the EOP fault detection algorithms does not cause any availability loss for LPV-200 aircraft precision approach applications.
M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, May 2013
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- Title
- Some experiments on heat transmission
- Creator
- Ruef, J. E.
- Date
- 2009, 1912
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/someexperimentso00ruef
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- Hostile Spaces and Hostel Spaces: Re-Visioning Highway Infrastructure
- Creator
- Smith, Kevin
- Date
- 2010-07-30
- Title
- THERMAL STABILITY OF FOOD ALLERGENS AND NONALLERGENIC PROTEINS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
- Creator
- Wu, Yan
- Date
- 2015, 2015-07
- Description
-
Thermal stability has been proposed as a criterion to assess the allergenic potential of genetically modified foods, but there is a lack of...
Show moreThermal stability has been proposed as a criterion to assess the allergenic potential of genetically modified foods, but there is a lack of information on the relative thermal stability of food allergens vs. nonallergenic proteins. This study compared the thermal stability of several paired food allergens and nonallergenic proteins by measuring the changes in their solubility, antigenicity and thermodynamic properties after thermal treatment using BCA total protein assay, inhibition ELISA assay, Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Far-UV Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy. The selected protein pairs included bovine α-lactalbumin (allergen) vs. human α-lactalbumin (nonallergen), peanut lectin (allergen) vs. concanavalin A (nonallergen), soybean trypsin inhibitor (allergen) vs. lima bean trypsin inhibitor (nonallergen). With respect to protein solubility, a greater thermal stability was observed for: (1) bovine α-lactalbumin (bovine ALA) when it was autoclaved in water compared with human α-lactalbumin (human ALA) (2) peanut lectin when it was boiled or autoclaved in water compared with concanavalin A (ConA) and (3) soybean trypsin inhibitor (STI) when it was boiled in water or PBS, or autoclaved in water compared with lima bean trypsin inhibitor (LTI). Regarding TM values determined by DSC: (1) bovine ALA was more thermally stable than human ALA under both dry-heat treatment and moist-heat treatment (2) ConA was more thermally stable than peanut lectin during moist-heat treatment, while a greater thermal stability was observed for peanut lectin when the protein was under dry-heat treatment (3) LTI was more thermally stable than STI during heating in water or under dry-heat treatment, while a greater thermal stability was observed for STI when the protein was heated in PBS. Based on CD analyses, (1) bovine ALA was more thermally stable than human ALA (2) peanut lectin was more thermally stable than ConA (3) STI and LTI showed similar thermal stability. With respect to antigenicity, a greater thermal stability was observed for: (1) human ALA when it was autoclaved in water compared with bovine ALA (2) ConA when it was boiled or autoclaved in water, or under dry-heat treatment at 176℃ compared with peanut lectin (3) STI when it was autoclaved in PBS compared with LTI. In summary, allergens tended to be more thermally stable than nonallergenic proteins with respect to solubility, but there was no consistent trend in the relative thermal stability of these protein pairs regarding the antigenicity or the TM values. No correlation between thermal stability of the proteins and their allergenic potential was observed.ConA (3) STI and LTI showed similar thermal stability. With respect to antigenicity, a greater thermal stability was observed for: (1) human ALA when it was autoclaved in water compared with bovine ALA (2) ConA when it was boiled or autoclaved in water, or under dry-heat treatment at 176℃ compared with peanut lectin (3) STI when it was autoclaved in PBS compared with LTI. In summary, allergens tended to be more thermally stable than nonallergenic proteins with respect to solubility, but there was no consistent trend in the relative thermal stability of these protein pairs regarding the antigenicity or the TM values. No correlation between thermal stability of the proteins and their allergenic potential was observed.
M.S. in Food Safety and Technology, July 2015
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- Title
- STATISTICAL METHODS FOR LARGE-SCALE TRANSPORTATION NETWORK TRAFFIC VOLUME FORECASTING
- Creator
- Meng, Xiao
- Date
- 2012-11-27, 2012-12
- Description
-
Forecasting is the procedure of making declarations about future events whose actual outcomes have not yet been observed. A lot of decisions...
Show moreForecasting is the procedure of making declarations about future events whose actual outcomes have not yet been observed. A lot of decisions are made based on predictions of future unknown events. Knowing the essence of forecasting, it is not hard to interpret what traffic volume forecasting is. Traffic volume forecasting is the process of estimating the number of vehicles that will be on a planned highway in the future. It plays important roles in different aspects of transportation and related field, such as highway level of service analysis, measure of effectiveness, highway improvement and expansion, geometric design and air quality analysis, etc. A good forecast is needed for decision making in future land use and transportation planning. City and county planners can provide useful information about land use planning and projected developments. County engineers may provide information about future county projects that may cause detours and changes in traffic patterns along a trunk highway. Highway designers need forecasted traffic volumes to ensure proper geometric designs. Since short term forecasting has been a hot topic on research, many statistical methods have been used, such as the mean, historical moving average, exponential smoothing, and autoregressive integrated moving average. Among them, Box Jenkins method (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) has been found as the best model on forecasting of time series data with seasonality and trend.
M.S. in Civil Engineering, December 2012
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- Title
- TEMPERATURE PROFILES THROUGH THE SHELL IN EGGS HEATED BY INFRARED ENERGY
- Creator
- Guo, Jingxin
- Date
- 2012-07-30, 2012-07
- Description
-
Infrared heating is an effective method for surface pasteurization of shell eggs. As the external temperature reaches the inactivation...
Show moreInfrared heating is an effective method for surface pasteurization of shell eggs. As the external temperature reaches the inactivation temperature, internal temperatures could become great enough to denature albumen. However, the internal temperature of albumen at the shell cannot be measured directly. The purpose of this study is to use experimental data to understand the response of the albumen temperature at the shell to infrared radiation impinging at its outer surface. Fresh eggs were obtained from a local producer and refrigerated until needed. They were prepared for each experiment by overnight equilibration with ambient conditions. Each egg was placed on a metal stage over which an infrared lamp was positioned. The stage allowed a K-type thermocouple to be inserted through a small hole in the shell opposite of the shell area facing the lamp. The thermocouple was pushed into the egg such that the tip was against the inner surface of the shell just underneath the exposed area. The external temperature of this area was measured by an infrared pyrometer. Variables for these experiments were temperature of the IR lamp (277°C, 329°C, 391°C and 452°C), distance between shell egg and IR lamp (3.13 cm – 15.83 cm), and treatment time. All experiments share the same initial lag around 30s, suggested that the initial lag did not vary with changing of lamp-egg distances and lamp temperatures. After the initial lag, internal and external temperatures were found to increase at the same rate regardless of experimental parameters, indicating and equilibrium between the infrared energy impinging on the surface and its dissipation in the interior of the egg. The difference of temperature distributes between 10°C to 20°C. However, lowering lamp temperatures or increasing distances did not change this difference significantly. Moreover, the temperature gap sustains the same temperature after initial lag. The results showed that the internal temperature could be inferred via measuring external temperature. This is valuable in processing to maximize external surface temperature while protecting heat sensitive albumen. Future work will involve modeling the heating phenomenon to determine if knowing only the lamp temperature and distance is sufficient for predicting internal temperature.
M.S. in Food Processing Engineering, July 2012
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- Title
- Learning Company, Literacy Center, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Creator
- Gray, Aisling
- Date
- 2010-07-29
- Title
- BICYCLE CRASH ANALYSIS IN CHICAGO
- Creator
- Van Nortwick, Taylor Wade
- Date
- 2013, 2013-07
- Description
-
The United States is making big plans for improvements in bicycle infrastructure. To best understand if the improvements will be successful in...
Show moreThe United States is making big plans for improvements in bicycle infrastructure. To best understand if the improvements will be successful in creating a safe network, a study was done to determine contributing factors in bicycle crashes. Bicycle and motor vehicle crash data from around Chicago between 2005 and 2011 was analyzed for significant factors in infrastructure, cyclist and motorist attributes. Temperature was used as a predictor of bicycle traffic due to the seasonality of bicycling in Chicago. It was found that more bicycles and vehicles result in higher crash rates. It was also found that on -street parallel parking, signalized, skewed and multiple legged intersections lead to higher crash rates.
M.S. in Civil Engineering, July 2013
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- Title
- DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF THE KIRIE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT MODEL
- Creator
- Mendez, Thomas E.
- Date
- 2012-07-15, 2012-07
- Description
-
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) is tasked with protecting the public’s water supply and improving the...
Show moreThe Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) is tasked with protecting the public’s water supply and improving the quality of water in their service area’s watercourses. Principal in this mission are the seven wastewater treatment plants that are operated by MWRDGC. The greater Chicago area possesses a combined sewer system (CSS) that combines sanitary sewage and stormwater runoff. Because of this CSS, water reclamation plants are burdened with not only processing sewage and sanitary waste, but also stormwater runoff. As a result there can be a large variation in water quality and quantity. MWRDGC’s newest water reclamation plant is the James C. Kirie Water Reclamation Plant, which was completed in 1980. This plant operates as a nitrification plant with no separate distinct denitrification process. It is important to note that no clearly defined unit processes such as nitrification towers are utilized at the Kirie Water Reclamation Plant. Nitrification occurs primarily in the aeration basins and is currently sufficient to meet water quality standards. However, because of the current regulatory climate, stricter standards on effluent discharge are likely in the near future especially with respect to nutrients. Stricter standards on total nitrogen in effluent instead of the current ammonia limits are one such expected water quality change. As a result of this expectation, modeling modifications and processes at a treatment plant can be a key tool in adjusting to evolving standards. Because water reclamation plants vary greatly depending on their technology, influent and processes, computer modeling provides a convenient way to assess how the plant will react to dynamic changes in influent quality and still be able to meet static effluent standards. Although computer modeling has been applied to water reclamation plants for some time now, there are no clearly defined or accepted protocols for this modeling. Combined with the variation exhibited by various types of water reclamation plants, often modeling protocols must be custom created for individual plants or types of plants. What follows is a study and simulation of the Kirie Water Reclamation Plant. Simulation was used to examine wet weather events at the Kirie Water Reclamation Plant. Wet weather phenomena were explored in step-wise manner to determine the relative effects of different perturbations in influent water quality and quantity. The results show the various effects in effluent quality depending upon the variable or combination of variables deviated. Deviations in temperature and flow dominate all other variations simulated and result in the largest effect on effluent water quality. Deviations of 50% to both temperature and flow simultaneously yielded an increase in effluent BOD and NH3 at twice and six times the steady state values, respectively.
M.S. in Environmental Engineering, July 2012
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- Title
- THERMODYNAMICS AND PHASE EQUILIBRIA OF HEUSLER ALLOYS
- Creator
- Chung, Yoonsung
- Date
- 2011-09, 2011-07
- Description
-
Heusler compounds are of great interest for their properties such as shape memory, thermoelectric, ferromagnetic and spin polarization effects...
Show moreHeusler compounds are of great interest for their properties such as shape memory, thermoelectric, ferromagnetic and spin polarization effects that could lead to new mechanical and electronic devices. Currently, the study of Heusler alloys is focused on their electronic and magnetic properties, but the high temperature thermodynamic properties of these compounds have not been covered as much. A thorough knowledge of the thermodynamic properties and phase equilibria is required for developing this kind of alloys. This thesis is part of a systematic investigation of the thermodynamics and phase equilibria of ternary Heusler alloy systems. In this work, the high temperature reaction calorimeter was used to obtain the standard enthalpy of formation of compounds in the Ni2XSn (X = Ti, Zr, Hf, V and Nb) and Ni2TiX (X = Ga and In) ternary systems. It was confirmed the compound Ni2TaSn does not exist in the Heusler structure A Setaram Ligne 96 drop calorimeter was used to measure the heat content of Ni2TiSn as a function of temperature. Phase equilibria and crystal structures of Ni2TiSn, Ni2TiGa and Ni2TiIn were determined using XRD, SEM and EDS.
M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering, July 2011
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- Title
- ISOLATION OF MONOSPECIFIC ANTIBODY AGAINST SPLICED VARIANT OF DYSTROPHIN PROTEIN USING YEAST SURFACE DISPLAY TECHNIQUE
- Creator
- Saraswathi, Raj Prabu Vijayakumar
- Date
- 2011-05-04, 2011-05
- Description
-
Dystrophin gene is the largest in the human genome with 79 exons covering greater than 0.1% of the total genome, located on the Xp21 locus of...
Show moreDystrophin gene is the largest in the human genome with 79 exons covering greater than 0.1% of the total genome, located on the Xp21 locus of the “X” chromosome resulting in a 427kDa protein, “Dystrophin”. Dystrophin is an important cytoskeletal protein which belongs to the β-Spectrin/α-actinin family of proteins. It comprises of an amino terminal domain, alpha helical coiled structure COOH domain, central rod region with 24 STRs and four proline rich hinge regions. It plays a vital role in localizing the Dystrophin glycoprotein complex (DGC) in the Sarcollema and is associated with the DGC in controlling the signaling events of certain proteins associated with DGC. The large size of the gene makes it more vulnerable to mutations resulting in partially functional or non-functional Dystrophin. The absence of Dystrophin results in disruption of sub sarcolemma-extracellular matrix linkage, loss of nitric oxide, progressive muscle weakening and muscle wasting leading to the death of patients typically before the end of their teenage. In certain cases alternatively spliced isoforms produce Dystrophin with reduced length yet stable and completely functionality. The main focus of this project was to select monospecific antibody against the more stable alternatively spliced variant D14 (15”16”) 17, which is functional and more stable compared to unspliced parent D14:17. The yeast surface display technique was used to effectively screen and select the yeast scFv clones containing the monospecific antibody against our target spliced variant D14 (15”16”) 17 protein and D2:3. The yeast scFv sub population was enriched by repeated MACS and FACS selection. Test colonies picked from the enriched scFv pool were confirmed via PCR and restriction digestion analysis. The scFv for the respective antigens were then sub cloned into pPnnl-9 secretion vector using YVH10 yeast cells via LiTRAFCO method. It was clear that by repeated MACS and FACS selection the scFv pool can be enriched and the yeast scFv clone sub population can be reduced to a significant level. The scFv sub cloned into Pnnl-9 secretion vector can be purified using affinity chromatography and the further affinity and avidity studies can be conducted.
M.S. in Biology, May 2011
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