Behavorial Lateralization of Pectoral Fin Rubbing Researched In 27 Identified Bottlenose Dolphins

This thesis takes a look at the behavioral lateralization of handedness present or not present within the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population housed at the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences. Dolphins and humans share similar brain structures in that the brain is split into hemispheres that allow an individual to present behaviorally dominate features on different sides of their body. This type of split brain structure allows for a phenomenon known as handedness, where one hand presents dominant motor control. For dolphins, their “hand” is their pectoral fin. This thesis looked at a managed care population to investigate the possibility of a dominant pectoral fin when engaging in contact behaviors or carrying objects. The statistics seemed to show a more even distribution of ambidextrousness than dominance, which still offers insight into their unconscious behaviors

Surfactant uptake by alveolar cells: factors affecting lipid uptake in vivo and in vitro

The work presented in this thesis demonstrates the viability of studying the uptake of surfactant with fluorescent labeled liposomes. The results underline the need to study surfactant uptake both in vivo and in vitro, as well as the influence of composition on uptake, the effect of natural hydrophobic surfactant proteins SP-B and SP-C as well as synthetic SP-B analogues, and finally the influence of exogenous surfactant in healthy animals. It is essential to further explore the uptake of surfactant, for example in diseased animals, to clarify regulating factors and finally develop a disease-specific surfactant, whose composition depends on the underlying disease

Mechanical characterization of individual polycrystalline carbon tubes for use in electrical nano-interconnects

Polycrystalline carbon tubes were generated by CVD inside electrochemically prepared nano-porous anodic aluminium oxide membranes. This method produced nano-tubes without catalyst, featuring polycrystalline and a few layer thick walls. Individual tubes could be isolated and suspended on microfabricated substrates such that they formed single-side clamped beams. These beams were then used to investigate their mechanical properties employing electrostatic forces for bending the tubes beyond their mechanical stability where pull-in occurs, which could be detected by monitoring the current flowing from the tube to the substrate