On the Dolbeault--Dirac Operator of Quantized Symmetric Spaces

The Dolbeault complex of a quantized compact Hermitian symmetric space is expressed in terms of the Koszul complex of a braided symmetric algebra of Berenstein and Zwicknagl. This defines a spectral triple quantizing the Dolbeault-Dirac operator associated to the canonical spin^c structure.Comment: 25 page

Improving State Evaluation of Principal Preparation Programs

Intended for state officials involved in the assessment and approval of university and other programs to train future school principals, this report describes five design principles for effective program evaluation. "While states will undoubtedly want and need to develop systems unique to their context, they could benefit from having guideposts to organize what can be complex work," says the report, which was written jointly by representatives from New Leaders, which helps train school leaders and designs leadership policies and practices for school systems, and the University Council for Educational Administration, a consortium of universities that seeks to promote high-quality education leadership preparation and research. The principles, which emerged from a New Leaders/University Council project to develop a model evaluation system and accompanying of tools, are:Structure the review process in a way that is conducive to continuous program improvement.Create appropriate systems to hold programs accountable for effective practices and outcomes.Provide key stakeholders with accurate and useful information.Take a sophisticated and nuanced approach to data collection and use.Adhere to characteristics of high-quality program evaluation.The report also describes how two states, Illinois and Delaware, have approached evaluation, and provides a tool from its model-development work, an assessment that states can use to determine their degree of "readiness" for building a stronger system to evaluate principal preparation programs

Effect of Hydration Status on Thermoregulatory Responses in Non-Obese and Obese Males

During heat stress the human body thermoregulates via cutaneous vasodilation and sweating. Hypohydration can impair thermoregulatory responses that stem from the central nervous system (CNS), but it is unknown if impairments also occur post-synaptically in the microcirculation. Moreover, obese individuals may have impaired thermoregulation, possibly due to microvascular dysfunction. Purpose: The purpose of these studies was two-fold: 1) to determine if obese (OB) individuals exhibit impairments in thermoregulatory responses during exercise heat-stress (centrally-mediated) and intradermal infusion of vasoactive substances (peripherally-mediated) versus non-obese (N-OB), and 2) to determine if hypohydration subsequently affects these thermoregulatory responses differently between groups. Methods: Twenty-one healthy, college-age males were classified as either N-OB (n = 11, body fat [BF]26%) and completed a comprehensive 2-day protocol. In a randomized, counter-balanced order, subjects performed 60 min of cycling in a hot environment while either euhydrated (EU) or hypohydrated (HY) (Study 1). Changes in rectal temperature (∆Trec), cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC), and local sweat rate (LSR) were recorded. Following exercise, subjects maintained a EU or HY condition and returned 24-h later to undergo cutaneous microdialysis (MDS) of the forearm (Study 2). Dose-response curves comparing CVC and LSR responses were compared while sub-cutaneously perfusing the endothelium-dependent vasodilator methacholine chloride (MCh) and the endothelium-independent vasodilator sodium nitroprusside (SNP). Results: In Study 1, compared to EU, HY increased end-exercise ∆Trec in N-OB (0.47 ± 0.37°C, p \u3c 0.01) but did not in OB (-0.06 ± 0.29°C, p \u3e 0.05). LSR and CVC were not different between groups or hydration condition (p \u3e 0.05). In study 2, OB subjects had a higher Log EC50 versus N-OB for endothelium-independent CVC (-1.69 ± 0.17 vs. -2.13 ± 0.06 Log [SNP] M, p = 0.014) when EU. There were no differences between groups in endothelium-dependent CVC or LSR responses in either hydration condition (all p \u3e 0.05). Conclusions: These data suggest that hydration status affects the core body temperature response differently in N-OB and OB males during exercise heat-stress. In addition, OB individuals appear to have impaired post-synaptic endothelium-independent CVC, but similar endothelium-dependent CVC and LSR versus N-OB

Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on the Population Genetics of \u3cem\u3ePlethodon cinereus\u3c/em\u3e

Genetic diversity is important to the long-term survival of a species. Populations with low genetic diversity are more likely to go extinct due to an inability to adapt to environmental changes or accumulation of deleterious alleles. Habitat fragmentation may result in lower genetic diversity by disrupting gene flow between subpopulations caused by urbanization and development (e.g., roads, buildings, and agricultural fields). This study explored the effects of habitat fragmentation on the genetic diversity of the eastern red-back salamander (Plethodon cinereus). I collected tissue samples from 20-30 individuals from 1-3 different subpopulations within four larger forest sites that differed in their total area (i.e., \u3e1000 hectares or 3-60 hectares). Two sites were small fragments that are completely surrounded by suburban or agricultural areas in eastern Massachusetts (“fragmented” forest; three subpopulations). The other two sites were large, continuous forests located in western Massachusetts (“continuous” forest; four subpopulations). DNA was extracted and amplified at five to seven microsatellite loci. I calculated heterozygosity, allelic richness, and overall population differentiation. Two out of three fragmented subpopulations had significantly lower than average allelic richness, while one out of four continuous subpopulations had significantly higher than average allelic richness. I also found stronger differentiation (higher FST) between fragmented subpopulations than expected from simply isolation-by-distance, and evidence of secondary structure between the fragmented sites. This suggests that while genetic diversity in this species may not yet be directly affected by habitat fragmentation, dispersal is limited between fragmented subpopulations (reflected in their higher FST compared to continuous subpopulations)

Identification and distribution of ectotrophic root-infecting fungi within an ultradwarf bermudagrass putting green and fungicide efficacy associated with these fungi

This research addressed the identification and distribution of selected ERI fungi within two greens at Mississippi State University Golf Institute using novel molecular methods, spatial relationships of fungal distribution and turf health assessments, and fungal sensitivity to selected fungicides. A complex of ERI fungi was identified in both greens. Gaeumannomyces graminis, Gaeumannomyces sp., and Candidacolonium cynodontis were randomly distributed based on spatial autocorrelation in both green samplings, while Magnaporthiopsis cynodontis clustered in Green 2 for both samplings and in Green 12 of the 2018 sampling. Clustering of turf health values was variable by month in each green, and no spatial relationship was determined between turf health values and fungal presence. Five ERI fungal isolates were exposed to four fungicide classes with relative growth present at 100 ppm. The EC50 values for the selected fungi ranged from 2.33 to \u3e100 ppm and suggests a lack of sensitivity to the selected fungicides

Prevalence of cardiac abnormalities in male and female college athletes when exposed to physiological and thermal stressors.

To my advisor, Dr. Kingsley. Your constant support and guidance is something that I cannot thank you enough for. It has truly given me a passion to continue in this line of research and without your ongoing encouragement, I would not have made it this far. Thank you. To my committee, Dr. Finch, Dr. Kuhlman, and Dr. Yeargin. Your seemingly endless stream of advice and feedback has been invaluable, and has led me to a body of work that I can be proud of. I can‟t thank you all enough. To my parents. Thank you for providing me the opportunity to be here in the first place. It is your continued and unwavering support that has allowed me to accomplish my goals while being so far from home. I will be forever grateful. To my brother, Gaven. Thank you for being there for me whenever I needed someone to talk to, in spite of having to cope with everything you and Rhonda have been through the last year. You‟ve been an inspiration. Kia kaha. To Ashley. Thank you for putting up with me through this whole process. How you deal with my constant over analyzing is beyond me, but nevertheless, I couldn‟t have done this without you by my side. To my fellow students who helped me along the way. I can‟t thank you guys enough for helping me get to this point, even if it was only by doing something seemingly small. Every little bit of help I received was invaluable, and I thank you all for giving up your time to help out one of your own.Matthew A. TuckerKingsley, J.DerekFinch, AlfredKuhlman, JolynnYeargin, Susan WMaster of ArtsDepartment of Physical EducationCunningham Memorial library, Terre Haute,Indiana State UniversityILL-ETD-085MastersTitle from document title page. Document formatted into pages: contains 93 p.: ill. Includes abstract and appendi

Some mechanics challenges and solutions in flexible electronics

Flexible electronics is an emerging field with potential applications such as large area flexible displays, thin film solar panels, and smart prosthesis, to name a few. Promising future aside, there are challenges associated with flexible electronics including high deformability requirements, needs for new manufacturing techniques and high performance permeation barriers. This thesis aims to explore possible solutions to address these challenges. First, a thin stiff film patterned with circular holes is proposed as a deformable platform to be used in flexible electronics in either component and circuit level. Second, we explore possible pathways to improve the quality of transfer printing, a nanofabrication technique that can potentially enable roll-to-roll printing of flexible devices. Third, we investigate the failure mechanism of multilayer permeation barriers for flexible electronics and offer an improved design to achieve better mechanical reliability

Quantum Algebras Associated to Irreducible Generalized Flag Manifolds

The first part of this thesis deals with certain properties of the quantum symmetric and exterior algebras of Type 1 representations of $U_q(g)$ defined by Berenstein and Zwicknagl. We define a notion of a commutative algebra object in a coboundary category, and we prove that the quantum symmetric algebra of a module is the universal commutative algebra generated by that module. That is, the functor assigning to a module its quantum symmetric algebra is left adjoint to a forgetful functor. We also prove a conjecture of Berenstein and Zwicknagl, stating that the quantum symmetric and exterior cubes exhibit the same amount of "collapsing" relative to their classical counterparts. We prove that those quantum exterior algebras that are flat deformations of their classical analogues are Frobenius algebras. We also develop a rigorous framework for discussing continuity and limits of the structures involved as the deformation parameter q varies along the positive real line. The second part deals with quantum analogues of Clifford algebras and their application to the noncommutative geometry of certain quantum homogeneous spaces. We introduce the quantum Clifford algebra through its spinor representation via creation and annihilation operators on one of the flat quantum exterior algebras discussed in the first part. The proof that the spinor representation is irreducible relies on the Frobenius property discussed previously. We use this quantum Clifford algebra to revisit Krahmer's construction of a Dolbeault-Dirac-type operator on a quantized irreducible flag manifold. This operator is of the form $d+d^*$, and we relate $d$ to the boundary operator for the Koszul complex of a certain quantum symmetric algebra, which shows that $d^2=0$. This is a first step toward a Parthasarathy-type formula for the spectrum of the square of the Dirac operator.Comment: 146 pages. This is the author's PhD thesi