Fiesole: The Hillsides of Tuscany, A musical work for the classical guitar and a study of the compositional process

Fiesole: The Hillsides of Tuscany This piece of music is composed for 4 guitars, and it includes all of the right and left-hand fingerings for all notes. The individual parts are printed out so it can be distributed easily

Cadmium-based nanocrystals and nanocomposites at the air-water interface

Two cadmium-based nanocrystals were studied, cadmium selenide and cadmium telluride, which have potential applications in optoelectronic devices. CdSe quantum dots and nanorods were synthesized with a functional ligand, allowing for the formation of nanocomposites where a vinyl terminated conjugated polymer is attached through a mild Heck coupling. This provided a direct connection between the polymer and quantum, yielding improved charge transport from the polymer to the quantum dot. The QD-CP nanocomposite was placed on the air-water interface and studied for the first time. The Langmuir isotherm was obtained and showed intriguing packing behavior, which a model system was proposed where the conjugated polymer bends and folds only at the conjugation length. A photovoltaic device was fabricated and showed poor performance, yet high short circuit current.. Cadmium telluride tetrapods were synthesized in a manner that easily controlled the arm width and therefore absorption peak and onset. The tetrapods were placed on the air-water interface and showed unique dewetting behavior, forming ribbon like structures at the onset of pressure. At higher pressures, flower aggregated formed along the ribbon structure and eventual network structure formed. CdSe nanorods were synthesized in the presence of a functional ligand. Initial NMR results show promise in this one batch synthesis, compared to the previous work done through ligand exchange. This shows promise and future work is continuing through colleagues in the Lin Research Group

Comparing consistency of stress and anxiety-related behaviors across time in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Animals are frequently faced with stressors in their environment that they must overcome to survive and reproduce. Across vertebrates, two distinct stress coping styles or ‘personalities’ have been observed known as proactive (bold) and reactive (shy). Animal personalities may be advantageous by limiting individual variation and balancing different trade-offs in unpredictable environments. When identifying animal personalities, behavioral phenotypes must be consistent and repeatable across contexts and time. Here we use selectively bred lines of shy and bold zebrafish, previously shown to have consistent divergent fear- and anxiety-related behaviors across contexts, to test the repeatability and consistency of these behaviors across time exploring a novel environment. We find that each strain displays significantly different amounts of stationary time in the open field test. Overall the zebrafish personalities were highly repeatable across a 5 week period. Selectively bred individuals were more consistent than a wild caught strain with shy being more consistent than bold. We also examined the effects of sex on these behaviors. Contrary to prior studies, there were no significant differences in freezing time between sexes, though males and females were relatively consistent with females slightly higher. These results show the usefulness of our selectively-bred lines for animal personality research and specifically stress and anxiety-like behaviors. Differences in repeatability or consistency between coping styles may reflect the degree of selection being placed on individuals or the specific behavior

Asymmetric boronate addition to o-quinone methides: ligand exchange, solvent effects, and Lewis acid catalysis.

Density functional theory calculations suggest that asymmetric boronate addition to o-quinone methides proceeds via a Lewis acid catalyzed process through a closed six-membered transition structure. The BINOL-derived catalyst undergoes an exchange process with the original ethoxide boronate ligands. This activation mode successfully accounts for the sense and level of enantioselectivity observed experimentally. A qualitative model which accurately predicts the observed enantioselectivity has been developed and is consistent with results from our study of ketone propargylation demonstrating the reaction model's generality. The effects of replacing the BINOL framework with H8-BINOL have been rationalized.We thank Girton College, Cambridge (Research Fellowship to M.N.G.), the EPSRC (studentship to M.N.G.), and Unilever for support.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jo502616a

Identifying protein–protein interactions in somatic hypermutation

Somatic hypermutation (SHM) in immunoglobulin genes is required for high affinity antibody–antigen binding. Cultured cell systems, mouse model systems, and human genetic deficiencies have been the key players in identifying likely SHM pathways, whereas “pure” biochemical approaches have been far less prominent, but change appears imminent. Here we comment on how, when, and why biochemistry is likely to emerge from the shadows and into the spotlight to elucidate how the somatic mutation of antibody variable (V) regions is generated

From 'magnetic fever' to 'magnetical insanity': historical geographies of British terrestrial magnetic research, 1833-1857

This thesis explores British-led efforts to observe and map the earth’s magnetic field between 1833 and 1857. In doing so, the thesis examines how magnetic instruments, magnetic observers and magnetic instructions were mobilised in and across multiple geographies, from the Canadian Arctic, to the island of St Helena, to Van Diemen’s Land in the southern hemisphere and at many sites in between. Interest in terrestrial magnetic research burgeoned and was crystallised during the early nineteenth century in Britain and abroad and resulted in the creation of systems of physical observatories and the organisation of magnetic surveys. This work addresses what it meant to coordinate such a network by scrutinising what is popularly known as “the magnetic crusade”, but which was more commonly referred to at the time as the British magnetic scheme. There were several individuals involved in the formation of this scheme but this thesis focuses on two in particular: Edward Sabine and Humphrey Lloyd. In the correspondence of these two figures, we can follow the process by which terrestrial magnetic research was disciplined, its participants educated, its observational data organised and its instruments developed, deployed and used at different stations across the globe. This work seeks to extend and at times complicate our understanding of what it meant to coordinate a big Victorian scientific pursuit and explores among other things the management of instruments in different geographic contexts; the experience of scientific servicemen in the observatory and during surveying efforts; the space in which magnetic data were handled and the processes employed in reducing these data. In all, this thesis aims to recover the several different practices of place that attended the organisation of what was considered in the first half of the nineteenth century to be the greatest scientific endeavour yet pursued

General runner removal and the Mullineux map

We prove a new `runner removal theorem' for $q$-decomposition numbers of the level 1 Fock space of type $A^{(1)}_{e-1}$, generalising earlier theorems of James--Mathas and the author. By combining this with another theorem relating to the Mullineux map, we show that the problem of finding all $q$-decomposition numbers indexed by partitions of a given weight is a finite computation.Comment: 40 page

Assessing Local Microhabitat Characteristics of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) at Briery Creek WMA to Develop a Predictor Model of Species Abundance in the Camp Hydaway Lake Expansion

Undergraduate Basi