ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
and kidney disease. However, the impact of short term high fat intake on the etiology of kidney disease has not been well-studied. Therefore, this study examined the impact of a six week HFD (60% fat) on kidney structure and function in young male Sprague-Dawley rats. Previous studies have shown that these animals develop indices of diabetes compared to rats fed a standard rodent chow (5% fat) for six weeks. The hypothesis of this study is that six weeks of HFD will lead to early stages of kidney disease as evidenced by morphological and functional changes in the kidney. Alterations in morphology were determined by measuring structural changes in the kidneys (changes in mass, fatty acid infiltration, and structural damage). Alterations in kidney function were measured by analyzing urinary biomarkers of oxidative RNA/DNA damage, renal tissue lipid peroxidation, urinary markers of impaired kidney function (urinary protein, creatinine, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)), markers of inflammation (tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and interleukin 6 (IL-6)), as well as cystatin C, a plasma biomarker of kidney function. The results of these studies determined that short term HFD intake is not sufficient to induce early stage kidney disease. Beyond increases in renal mass, there were no significant differences between the markers of renal structure and function in the HFD and standard rodent chow-fed rats.
ure of merit (zT) due to quantum connement eects. Improving the eciency of
thermoelectric devices allows for the development of better, more economical waste
heat recovery systems. Such systems may be used as bottoming or co-generation
cycles in conjunction with conventional power cycles to recover some of the wasted
heat. Thermal conductivity measurement systems are an important part of the char-
acterization processes of thermoelectric materials. These systems must possess the
capability of accurately measuring the thermal conductivity of both bulk and thin-lm
samples at dierent ambient temperatures.
This paper discusses the construction, validation, and improvement of a thermal
conductivity measurement platform based on the 3-Omega technique. Room temperature
measurements of thermal conductivity done on control samples with known properties
such as undoped bulk silicon (Si), bulk gallium arsenide (GaAs), and silicon dioxide
(SiO2) thin lms yielded 150 W=m􀀀K, 50 W=m􀀀K, and 1:46 W=m􀀀K respectively.
These quantities were all within 8% of literature values. In addition, the thermal
conductivity of bulk SiO2 was measured as a function of temperature in a Helium-
4 cryostat from 75K to 250K. The results showed good agreement with literature
values that all fell within the error range of each measurement. The uncertainty in
the measurements ranged from 19% at 75K to 30% at 250K. Finally, the system
was used to measure the room temperature thermal conductivity of a nanocomposite
composed of cadmium selenide, CdSe, nanocrystals in an indium selenide, In2Se3,
matrix as a function of the concentration of In2Se3. The observed trend was in
qualitative agreement with the expected behavior.
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