Filtering by
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
The objective of this investigation is to evaluate how environmental changes that are related to the growth environment in the CF lung alters rhamnolipid production. Thirty-five P. aeruginosa isolates from Dartmouth College and Seattle Children’s Hospital were selected to observe the impact of temperature, presence of Staphylococcus aureus metabolites, and oxygen availability on rhamnolipid production. It was found that the rhamnolipid production significantly decreased for 30C versus 37C, but not at 40C. The addition of S. aureus spent media, in any of the tested conditions, did not influence rhamnolipid production. Finally, the change in oxygen concentration from normoxia to hypoxia significantly reduced rhamnolipid production. These results were compared to swarming assay data to understand how changes in rhamnolipid production impact surface-mediated motility.
Speedsolving, the art of solving twisty puzzles like the Rubik's Cube as fast as possible, has recently benefitted from the arrival of smartcubes which have special hardware for tracking the cube's face turns and transmitting them via Bluetooth. However, due to their embedded electronics, existing smartcubes cannot be used in competition, reducing their utility in personal speedcubing practice. This thesis proposes a sound-based design for tracking the face turns of a standard, non-smart speedcube consisting of an audio processing receiver in software and a small physical speaker configured as a transmitter. Special attention has been given to ensuring that installing the transmitter requires only a reversible centercap replacement on the original cube. This allows the cube to benefit from smartcube features during practice, while still maintaining compliance with competition regulations. Within a controlled test environment, the software receiver perfectly detected a variety of transmitted move sequences. Furthermore, all components required for the physical transmitter were demonstrated to fit within the centercap of a Gans 356 speedcube.