R/C Baja Chassis and Suspension

A team made up of two students have developed a unique design of a RC Baja Car to optimize functionality and performance. A Baja car is a remote controlled 1/10 scale car that is used for recreation or competition, usually meant for competing in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Baja car competition against various teams. The objective for the project was to create a unique suspension different from previous individual’s projects by creating a two-type suspension. This was completed by having a coil suspension in the front which allows more travel in the suspension of the car and a leaf spring suspension in the rear which helps keep the rear tires in contact with the ground. The inspiration for this suspension came from researching and seeing how various RC cars have performed in the past. To integrate this concept, multiple analyses were conducted to help create the design of the RC car. The angle of the suspension arms and tolerances needed to be precise in order to produce a cohesive functional suspension between the front and rear of the car. Manufacturing machines such as a band saw, end mill, and a drill press were utilized to create the support for the suspension which connects the shocks to the a-arms. With the two-type suspension and allowable adjustments within the design, the RC Baja Car was able to withstand a drop of 1.5 feet

A Bifactor Approach to Dimensionality Assessment

Bifactor confirmatory factor analysis models and statistical indices computed from them have previously been used to provide evidence for the appropriateness of utilizing a unidimensional interpretation of multidimensional data. However, the ability of bifactor indices to aid in the assessment of subscore strength has not been investigated. A simulation study was conducted to relate bifactor indices to the strength of subscores corresponding to specific factors. The bifactor indices OmegaHS and ECVSS were found to be strongly predictive of subscore strength conditional upon OmegaS. The number of factors was also found to play a minor role in this relationship. Cutoffs for assessing the appropriateness of interpreting subscores were constructed. The overarching goal of this work was to extend a framework for using bifactor models and their indices as diagnostic tools for dimensionality assessment. This goal is accomplished in two steps. First, a package for the R statistical computing environment was developed to enable the efficient computation of bifactor indices. Second, the aforementioned simulation study was conducted to discover relationships between bifactor indices and classical test theoretic measures of subscore strength

Genes to jeans: A green solution to blue denim

Dyeing jeans to produce the classic blue tones we love is an extremely dirty process. In addition to the hazardous chemicals involved in indigo synthesis, excess reducing agent is required to solubilize the crystals for dyeing the cotton fibers. Despite many efforts to circumvent the need for this reducing agent to limit cost and environmental damage, it remains instrumental to the current dye mill process. We are implementing a fermentation strategy where the air-reactive indigo precursor indoxyl is biosynthesized from tryptophan. Indoxyl is stabilized in a soluble form by glucosylation. Upon treatment of the glucoside to cotton, a betaglucosidase can be added to reform the air-reactive indoxyl that oxidizes to indigo crystals in the fibers. We have replaced the glucose biochemical protecting group with other biochemical protecting groups for altering the chemical behavior of the product in the production host and the ease of deprotection on cotton. We have also explored this strategy of adding biochemical protecting groups for controlled reactivity for other molecules of interes

Recent insights into the complexity of Tank-binding kinase 1 signaling networks: The emerging role of cellular localization in the activation and substrate specificity of TBK1

AbstractTank-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) serves as an important component of multiple signaling pathways. While the majority of research on TBK1 has focused on its role in innate immunity, critical functions for TBK1 in autophagy and cancer are beginning to emerge. This review highlights recent structural and biochemical studies that provide insights into the molecular mechanism of TBK1 activation and summarizes what is known to date about TBK1 substrate selection. Growing evidence suggests that both processes rely on TBK1 subcellular localization, with a variety of adaptor proteins each directing TBK1 to discrete signaling complexes for different cellular responses. Further study of TBK1-mediated pathways will require careful consideration of TBK1 mechanisms of activation and specificity for proper dissection of these distinct signaling cascades

CRISPR-guided DNA polymerase enabling diversification of all nucleotides in a tunable window

The capacity to diversify genetic codes advances our understanding and engineering of biological systems. A method to continuously diversify user-defined regions of a genome without requiring the integration of nucleic acid libraries would enable forward genetic approaches in systems not amenable to high efficiency homologydirected integration, rapid evolution of biotechnologically useful activity through accelerated and parallelized rounds of mutagenesis and selection, and cell lineage tracking. Here we developed EvolvR, the first system that can continuously diversify all nucleotides within a tunable window length at user-defined loci. Our results demonstrate that EvolvR enables multiplexed and continuous diversification of user-defined genomic loci that will be useful for a broad range of basic and biotechnological applications

Essays on International Business Cycles

This PhD thesis analyzes in three chapters topics in international macroeconomics with a focus on time-varying volatility and international capital flows in emerging market economies

Protein logic: a statistical mechanical study of signal integration at the single-molecule level

Information processing and decision making is based upon logic operations, which in cellular networks has been well characterized at the level of transcription. In recent years however, both experimentalists and theorists have begun to appreciate that cellular decision making can also be performed at the level of a single protein, giving rise to the notion of protein logic. Here we systematically explore protein logic using a well known statistical mechanical model. As an example system, we focus on receptors which bind either one or two ligands, and their associated dimers. Notably, we find that a single heterodimer can realize any of the 16 possible logic gates, including the XOR gate, by variation of biochemical parameters. We then introduce the novel idea that a set of receptors with fixed parameters can encode functionally unique logic gates simply by forming different dimeric combinations. An exhaustive search reveals that the simplest set of receptors (two single-ligand receptors and one double-ligand receptor) can realize several different groups of three unique gates, a result for which the parametric analysis of single receptors and dimers provides a clear interpretation. Both results underscore the surprising functional freedom readily available to cells at the single-protein level.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures and 9 pages S