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Description
Cyanobacteria and its complex photosynthetic systems have been a prime target for synthetic biologists and their molecular engineering tools for the last couple of decades. However, characterizing meaningful carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal performance has always been a struggle within the field. It is proposed that measuring changes in CO₂ gas concentration within a dynamic system can be accomplished with a simple automated Arduino-powered system. The system employs solenoids in parallel (one for each outlet stream) which are then connected to one large manifold which feeds into a single IR-based CO₂ probe. Since CO₂ probes are expensive, this approach allows for sample multiplexing while remaining affordable. The development of such a system allows for high resolution growth experiments between different strains of cyanobacteria. This approach provides continuous data collection over the entire life cycle of each individual culture, allowing differences in total CO₂ fixation between strains to be readily determined. From a culture of PCC 6803, it was found that the peak mg of CO₂ fixed per day is around 92 mg CO₂/day. In the future, the system can be modified to fit other simple dynamic gas systems, as well as testing similar gas utilization/production capabilities of other organisms.
ContributorsInnes, Sean (Author) / Nielsen, David (Thesis advisor) / Jones, Christopher (Committee member) / Varman, Arul Mozhy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The world today needs novel solutions to address current challenges in areas spanning areas from sustainable manufacturing to healthcare, and biotechnology offers the potential to help address some of these issues. One tool that offers opportunities across multiple industries is the use of nonribosomal peptide synthases (NRPSs). These are modular biological factories with individualized subunits that function in concert to create novel peptides.One element at the heart of environmental health debates today is plastics. Biodegradable alternatives for petroleum-based plastics is a necessity. One NRPS, cyanophycin synthetase (CphA), can produce cyanophycin grana protein (CGP), a polymer composed of a poly-aspartic acid backbone with arginine side chains. The aspartic backbone has the potential to replace synthetic polyacrylate, although current production costs are prohibitive. In Chapter 2, a CphA variant from Tatumella morbirosei is characterized, that produces up to 3x more CGP than other known variants, and shows high iCGP specificity in both flask and bioreactor trials. Another CphA variant, this one from Acinetobacter baylyi, underwent rational protein design to create novel mutants. One, G217K, is 34% more productive than the wild type, while G163K produces a CGP with shorter chain lengths. The current structure refined from 4.4Å to 3.5Å.
Another exciting application of NRPSs is in healthcare. They can be used to generate novel peptides such as complex antibiotics. A recently discovered iterative polyketide synthase (IPTK), dubbed AlnB, produces an antibiotic called allenomycin. One of the modular subunits, a dehydratase named AlnB_DH, was crystallized to 2.45Å. Several mutations were created in multiple active site residues to help understand the functional mechanism of AlnB_DH. A preliminary holoenzyme AlnB structure at 3.8Å was generated although the large disorganized regions demonstrated an incomplete structure. It was found that chain length is the primary factor in driving dehydratase action within AlnB_DH, which helps lend understanding to this module.
ContributorsSwain, Kyle (Author) / Nannenga, Brent (Thesis advisor) / Nielsen, David (Committee member) / Mills, Jeremy (Committee member) / Seo, Eileen (Committee member) / Acharya, Abhinav (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
This work systematically investigates structure-stability relations in various polymer derived ceramic (PDC) systems and metal organic frameworks (MOFs), both of which are hybrid materials. The investigation of silicon carbides (SiC) confirms thermodynamic stabilization of PDCs with increasing mixed bonding (Si bonded to both C, O and/or N). The study of more complex silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) structures shows stabilization of SiOCs with increasing pyrolysis temperature (between 1200 and1500 oC), and points to dissimilarities in the stabilizing effect of different mixed bonding environments (SiO3C, SiO2C2, or SiOC3) and their relative amounts. Analyses of quaternary silicon oxycarbonitride (SiC(N)(O)) materials suggests increased stabilization with increasing N content, and superior stabilization due to SiNxC4-x compared to SiOxC4-x mixed bonds. Investigation of the energetics of metal filler (Nb, Hf, Ta) incorporation in SiOCs shows that choice of metal filler influences the composition, structural evolution, and thermodynamic stability in PDCs. Ta fillers can stabilize otherwise unstable SiO3C mixed bonds. Independent of metal incorporation or lack thereof, in SiOC systems, higher pyrolysis temperature (1200-1500 oC) forms more stable ceramics. The stabilizing effect of order/disorder of the free carbon phase is system-dependent. The work on (MOFs) highlights stabilization trends obtained from the investigation of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) and boron imidazolate frameworks (BIFs) based on azolate linkers. Study of the energetics of metal (Co(II), Cu (II), and Zn (II) ) substitution in isostructural ZIFs shows that in MOFs the stabilizing effect of metal is dependent on both framework topology (diamondoid (dia) > sodalite (SOD)) and dimensionality (2D > 3D). Thermodynamic analyses of metal substitution (Ag(I), Cu(I), and Li (I)) in isostructural ii SOD and dia BIF systems confirm increase in density as a general descriptor for increased stabilization in MOFs. The study of energetics of guest-host interactions during CO2 incorporation in azolate frameworks (i.e., ZIF-8) shows strong dependence of energetics of adsorption on choice of linker and metal. Additionally, several energetically favorable reaction pathways for the formation of CO3-ZIF-8 have been identified. Both PDCs and MOFs show a complex energetic landscape, with identifiable system dependent and general structural descriptors for increased thermodynamic stabilization and tunability of the energetics of guest-host interactions.
ContributorsLeonel, Gerson J (Author) / Navrotsky, Alexandra (Thesis advisor) / Dai, Lenore (Committee member) / Thomas, Mary (Committee member) / Singh, Gurpreet (Committee member) / Friščić, Tomislav (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Single and double deletion strains of Escherichia coli were grown in paired co-cultures with an intent to identify examples of metabolite exchange and cooperative interactions between strains. The essential genes pheA, argA, tyrA, and trpC, as well as the non- essential genes pykF, pykA, mdh, ppc, and nuoN were deleted from Escherichia coli strains Bw25113 and ATCC 9637. Cultures were paired at three different initial ratios and grown at plate and flask scale. Optical density measurements were used to observe the performance of tested co-cultures, with changes in maximum optical density and growth rate used as indicators of interaction or lack thereof between tested pairs. Auxotrophic strains unable to produce essential amino acids were observed to grow in co-culture but not in monoculture, indicative of metabolite exchange facilitating growth. An increase in optical density for non-essential pairs when compared to the prototrophic parent and precursor monocultures was indicative of metabolite exchange. The initial frequency of paired mutants with non-essential deletions appeared to have an impact on growth performance, but whether this was indicative of any beneficial exchange was not able to be determined from data.
ContributorsFenner, Alexander James (Author) / Nielsen, David (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Xuan (Committee member) / Varman, Arul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Intelligent engineering designs require an accurate understanding of material behavior, since any uncertainties or gaps in knowledge must be counterbalanced with heightened factors of safety, leading to overdesign. Therefore, building better structures and pushing the performance of new components requires an improved understanding of the thermomechanical response of advanced materials under service conditions. This dissertation provides fundamental investigations of several advanced materials: thermoset polymers, a common matrix material for fiber-reinforced composites and nanocomposites; aluminum alloy 7075-T6 (AA7075-T6), a high-performance aerospace material; and ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), an advanced composite for extreme-temperature applications. To understand matrix interactions with various interfaces and nanoinclusions at their fundamental scale, the properties of thermoset polymers are studied at the atomistic scale. An improved proximity-based molecular dynamics (MD) technique for modeling the crosslinking of thermoset polymers is carefully established, enabling realistic curing simulations through its ability to dynamically and probabilistically perform complex topology transformations. The proximity-based MD curing methodology is then used to explore damage initiation and the local anisotropic evolution of mechanical properties in thermoset polymers under uniaxial tension with an emphasis on changes in stiffness through a series of tensile loading, unloading, and reloading experiments. Aluminum alloys in aerospace applications often require a fatigue life of over 109 cycles, which is well over the number of cycles that can be practically tested using conventional fatigue testing equipment. In order to study these high-life regimes, a detailed ultrasonic cycle fatigue study is presented for AA7075-T6 under fully reversed tension-compression loading. The geometric sensitivity, frequency effects, size effects, surface roughness effects, and the corresponding failure mechanisms for ultrasonic fatigue across different fatigue regimes are investigated. Finally, because CMCs are utilized in extreme environments, oxidation plays an important role in their degradation. A multiphysics modeling methodology is thus developed to address the complex coupling between oxidation, mechanical stress, and oxygen diffusion in heterogeneous carbon fiber-reinforced CMC microstructures.
ContributorsSchichtel, Jacob (Author) / Chattopadhyay, Aditi (Thesis advisor) / Dai, Lenore (Committee member) / Ghoshal, Anindya (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Oswald, Jay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The current use of non-renewable fossil fuels for industry poses a threat for future generations. Thus, a pivot to renewable sources of energy must be made to secure a
sustainable future. One potential option is the utilization of metabolically engineered
bacteria to produce value-added chemicals during fermentation. Currently, numerous
strains of metabolically engineered Escherichia coli have shown great capacity to
specialize in the production of high titers of a desired chemical. These metabolic systems,
however, are constrained by the biological limits of E. coli itself. During fermentation, E.
coli grows to less than one twentieth of the density that aerobically growing cultures can
reach. I hypothesized that this decrease in growth during fermentation is due to cellular
stress associated with fermentative growth, likely caused by stress related genes. These
genes, including toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems and the rpoS mediated general stress
response, may have an impact on fermentative growth constraints. Through
transcriptional analysis, I identified that the genes pspC and relE are highly expressed in
fermenting strains of both wild type and metabolically engineered E. coli. Fermentation
of toxin gene knockouts of E. coli BW25113 revealed their potential impacts on E. coli
fermentation. The inactivation of ydcB, lar, relE, hipA, yjfE, chpA, ygiU, ygjN, ygfX,
yeeV, yjdO, yjgK and ydcX did not lead to significant changes in cell growth when tested
using sealed tubes under microaerobic conditions. In contrast, inactivation of pspC, yafQ,
yhaV, yfjG and yoeB increased cell growth after 12 hours while inactivation yncN
significantly arrested cell growth in both tube and fermentation tests, thus proving these
toxins’ roles in fermentative growth. Moreover, inactivation of rpoS also significantly hindered the ability of E. coli to ferment, suggesting its important role in E. coli
fermentation
ContributorsHernandez, Michaella (Author) / Wang, Xuan (Thesis advisor) / Nielsen, David (Committee member) / Varman, Arul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description新世纪以来中国电影的产业化改革与探索愈发呈现良好的态势，国产院线电影也在实践中努力赢得观众和票房市场。其中类型喜剧电影，最符合商业电影规律、最顺应影视市场需求、最能获得票房收益而备受影视创投机构、制作公司青睐。本论文研究对象聚焦类型喜剧电影，通过“欢声笑语里的财富”现象，探究类型喜剧电影内部本体构成要素与外部客观促成要素的关联；以通过分析自变量与因变量因素对中国电影票房之类型喜剧影响因素进行实证研究，为影视创投和影视制作总结并提供可靠建议。
本论文整体结构包括：第一部分为导论，包括研究背景、目的意义，相关文献综述与文献评述和论文创新性。第二部分聚焦类型喜剧本身，从电影学范畴的电影本体出发，探究“笑”的心理、社会与文化内涵，并分析将“笑”对经济领域的延伸。第三部分以影视投资、票房为依托，从现象和数据中探寻影响类型喜剧电影的因素，为展开中国电影票房之类型喜剧影响因素实证研究做好理论的铺垫。第四与第五部分则基于上述理论进行实证检验，选用2013-2020年电影样本，采用多元线性回归模型研究喜剧类型对票房的吸引力，以及不同种类型喜剧对电影票房的提振效果作用差异。研究发现喜剧电影对电影票房有显著的提振作用；以及研究电影的外部影响因素（续集效应）对电影票房的作用。发现续集电影有更好的票房表现，续集效应的票房提升作用在喜剧电影中表现的更加明显。
本论文研究成果最终将回归到“欢声笑语里的财富”本身；即“类型复合喜剧”对促进电影与金融产业的互动关联、实现更加可持续化发展，以及进而推动经济及文化业的发展。
ContributorsLiu, Yongqian (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Zhu, Ning (Thesis advisor) / Dong, Xiaodan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description人口的老龄化不仅对养老事业提出更高的要求，也对养老服务产业人才的培养提出要求。但是青年学生选择涉老服务专业的意愿却非常低。因此，为了探究职业学院如何增强涉老服务专业吸引力这一问题，本文以学生为主体视角，利用相关理论，对于影响青年学生选择涉老服务专业的因素进行全面的分析，并结合深度访谈和调查法，提出并建构了相关的理论模型。首先，通过深度访谈和焦点小组讨论，结合对现有的文献的分析，本文提出了影响青年学生选择职业院校涉老服务专业的各种因素，主要包括：个人未来风险感知、家庭经济资本、社会信息评价、校企合作水平、专业课程建设水平、学生激励水平、师资队伍建设水平。之后，本文通过调查法，基于社会认同理论构建了本文的研究模型，并通过结构方程模型对所构建的模型进行检查。
本文的研究结果表明：个人未来风险感知对学生专业认同度产生负面影响；家庭经济资本对学生专业认同度产生负面影响；社会信息评价对学生专业认同度产生正面影响；校企合作水平对学生专业认同度产生正面影；专业课程建设水平对学生专业认同度产生正面影响；学生激励水平对学生专业认同度产生正面影响；师资队伍建设水平对学生专业认同度产生正面影响；学生专业认同度对学生专业选择意愿产生正面影响。
基于上述研究结论，本文选取了个人未来风险感知、家庭经济资本、社会信息评价、校企合作水平、专业课程建设水平、学生激励水平、师资队伍建设水平等因素对于广东岭南职业技术学院涉老服务专业的现有吸引力进行了分析和评估，并从这些视角进一步了对如何提升招生吸引力问题进行探讨，为提高涉老服务专业对于青年学生的吸引力，得出了相关管理建议。
ContributorsZhou, Lanqing (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Wu, Fei (Thesis advisor) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Atmospheric water extraction (AWE) is an emerging technology to tackle water resource shortage challenges. One such approach to provide fresh water utilizes stimuli-responsive hydrogel-based desiccants to capture the moisture from the air and release it into the liquid form. Typical gel desiccants are composed of a hygroscopic agent for capturing and a hydrophilic gel matrix for storage. The desorption process can be completed by elevating the temperature above the upper or lower critical solution temperature point to initiate the volume phase transition of either thermo-responsive or photothermal types. This thesis focuses on investigating the structural effect of hydrogels on moisture uptake. Firstly, the main matrix of gel desiccant, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel, was optimized via tuning synthesis temperature and initial monomer concentration. Secondly, a series of hydrogel-based desiccants consisting of a hygroscopic material, vinyl imidazole, and optimized poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel matrix were synthesized with different network structures. The moisture uptake result showed that the gel desiccant with an interpenetrating polymeric network (IPN) resulted in the best-performing moisture capturing. The gel desiccant with the best performance will be used as a primary structural unit to evaluate the feasibility of developing a light-responsive gel desiccant to materialize light-trigger moisture desorption for AWE technology in the future.
ContributorsZhao, Xingbang (Author) / Dai, Lenore (Thesis advisor) / Westerhoff, Paul (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
In this project, the potential of ferrous iron precipitation as an alternative for ground improvement applications is investigated. This study analyzes the potential of naturally occurring iron oxidation, which uses Fe2+ as an electron donor to produce Fe3+ precipitate. The goal of this study was to stimulate or accelerate the naturally occurring iron oxidation and precipitation process, to form a ferruginous crust in the subsurface, that would reduce hydraulic conductivity or increase soil strength. Iron precipitation can occur through aerobic or anaerobic iron oxidizers. Initial experimental test results in falcon tubes and a literature review showed that to obtain significant oxidation of ferrous iron and consequent precipitation of iron minerals required a buffer to prevent acidification. Experimental studies in which aerobic and anaerobic iron precipitation is stimulated in sand columns under various boundary conditions also leads to an optimization of conditions for mineralization. Mineralized zones are evaluated via permeability loss tests, extent of iron oxidized and characterization tests which show that the crust has the most concentration of precipitated iron, which can be used in targeting pollution mitigation, erosion control, etc. The results show a significant loss of permeability- by a factor of two, in high concentration of iron with a balanced buffer control. In this study, the knowledge on ground stabilization by studying the naturally occurring mechanism of iron precipitation, leading to possible industrially relevant geotechnical applications are successfully investigated.
ContributorsKanawade, Sahil (Author) / Torres, Cesar (Thesis advisor) / van Paassen, Leon (Thesis advisor) / Nielsen, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021