Crude oil characterization using SARA fractionation and GC-MS

Crude oil is a naturally-occurring liquid mixture, composed of hydrocarbons as well as oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur-containing compounds. While previous research has been able to identify broad differences between classes of crude oil, the elucidating the structure of compounds within oils remains elusive, especially for heavier compounds. To determine the composition of Boscan, a heavy crude oil, SARA fractionation was performed to separate the sample into 4 different classes of chemical compounds: saturated hydrocarbons, aromatic compounds, resins, and asphaltenes. A sample of oil was chromatographically separated on activated alumina using solvents of increasing polarity. Each fraction was analyzed using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Several series of hydrocarbons were seen in each fraction, separated by m/z and polarity. GC-separated isomers were seen in several of the samples. While all samples emitted between 320 and 540 nm, the wavelength of maximum emission changed between fractions, exhibiting redshifted and blueshifted spectra. This correlates well with crude oil samples found in the literature, which emit between 400 nm and 500nm range, attributable to large conjugated aromatic structures (with a minimum of three rings)

Monogenic Defects of the Type 1 Interferon Signaling Pathway in Human: Molecular and Clinical Implications

The germ theory of disease, which dictates that microorganisms colloquially referred to as “germs” can invade humans or other hosts and cause disease, has remained the dominant conceptualization of infectious disease since the late nineteenth century. Since that time, growing appreciation for the extent of subclinical infections, that is, infections where the germ is detectable in its host without causing overt disease, and the Mendelian inheritance patterns of some infectious diseases have reinvigorated the study of the human genetic basis of infectious disease. This theory, so far demonstrated for a number of bacterial, fungal, and viral infections, holds that germs are a necessary but not sufficient condition for infectious disease with susceptibility determined by the genetics of individual members of the host species. In the first part of this thesis, I describe a child with inherited, complete interferon regulatory factor-9 (IRF9) deficiency who suffered from a life-threatening pulmonary influenza infection. This discovery adds to the growing body of evidence which indicates that susceptibility to severe primary infections, even from common pathogens such as influenza virus, is genetically determined. IRF9 is a critical regulator of innate anti-viral immunity in the type I and III interferon (IFN) signaling pathways, which share many signaling proteins. Consistent with this role, I show that the patient’s cells had drastically reduced responses to type I IFN which led to increased influenza virus replication. Profiling the transcriptome of the patient’s cells following stimulation with type I IFN revealed that the transcriptional response to IFN is not completely abolished in the patient’s cells. Indeed, the patient’s cells induced a small but partially overlapping set of antiviral mediators when compared to transcriptional responses from healthy control cells. Unfortunately, type III IFN signaling could not be directly assessed as fibroblasts, the cell line used throughout for viral and biochemical analyses, do not express the type III IFN receptor. These data demonstrate that IRF9 deficiency disturbs type I, and likely type III, IFN signaling, and that this deficiency underlies the patient’s severe influenza infection. In the second part of this thesis, I describe the first cases of inherited IFN IFNα/b receptor-1 (IFNAR1) deficiency in children who suffered severe complications following vaccination with attenuated viral vaccines but who were otherwise healthy. IFNAR1 is one of the two subunits that form the receptor for type I IFNs, and I show that type I IFN signaling is abolished in the patients’ cells. Consistent with a defect in type I IFN signaling, the patients’ cells exhibit a profound susceptibility to all viruses tested in vitro, in contrast with the patients’ specific and, compared to other primary immunodeficiencies, relatively mild phenotype. This susceptibility was dependent on the absence of a functional IFNAR1 receptor, which we established through complementation experiments. Taken together, these two studies interrogate the functions of the type I and III IFN pathways that are critical for human immunity to viral diseases and provide evidence for an underappreciated non-redundancy within these pathways

Monogenic Defects of the Type I Interferons Signaling Pathway in Humans: Molecular and Clinical Implications

The germ theory of disease, which dictates that microorganisms colloquially referred to as “germs” can invade humans or other hosts and cause disease, has remained the dominant conceptualization of infectious disease since the late nineteenth century. Since that time, growing appreciation for the extent of subclinical infections, that is, infections where the germ is detectable in its host without causing overt disease, and the Mendelian inheritance patterns of some infectious diseases have reinvigorated the study of the human genetic basis of infectious disease. This theory, so far demonstrated for a number of bacterial, fungal, and viral infections, holds that germs are a necessary but not sufficient condition for infectious disease with susceptibility determined by the genetics of individual members of the host species. In the first part of this thesis, I describe a child with inherited, complete interferon regulatory factor-9 (IRF9) deficiency who suffered from a life-threatening pulmonary influenza infection. This discovery adds to the growing body of evidence which indicates that susceptibility to severe primary infections, even from common pathogens such as influenza virus, is genetically determined. IRF9 is a critical regulator of innate anti-viral immunity in the type I and III interferon (IFN) signaling pathways, which share many signaling proteins. Consistent with this role, I show that the patient’s cells had drastically reduced responses to type I IFN which led to increased influenza virus replication. Profiling the transcriptome of the patient’s cells following stimulation with type I IFN revealed that the transcriptional response to IFN is not completely abolished in the patient’s cells. Indeed, the patient’s cells induced a small but partially overlapping set of antiviral mediators when compared to transcriptional responses from healthy control cells. Unfortunately, type III IFN signaling could not be directly assessed as fibroblasts, the cell line used throughout for viral and biochemical analyses, do not express the type III IFN receptor. These data demonstrate that IRF9 deficiency disturbs type I, and likely type III, IFN signaling, and that this deficiency underlies the patient’s severe influenza infection. In the second part of this thesis, I describe the first cases of inherited IFN IFNα/b receptor-1 (IFNAR1) deficiency in children who suffered severe complications following vaccination with attenuated viral vaccines but who were otherwise healthy. IFNAR1 is one of the two subunits that form the receptor for type I IFNs, and I show that type I IFN signaling is abolished in the patients’ cells. Consistent with a defect in type I IFN signaling, the patients’ cells exhibit a profound susceptibility to all viruses tested in vitro, in contrast with the patients’ specific and, compared to other primary immunodeficiencies, relatively mild phenotype. This susceptibility was dependent on the absence of a functional IFNAR1 receptor, which we established through complementation experiments. Taken together, these two studies interrogate the functions of the type I and III IFN pathways that are critical for human immunity to viral diseases and provide evidence for an underappreciated non-redundancy within these pathways

Investigation of Anti-Phase Asymmetric Quiet Rotor Technology

The future of urban air mobility has a well-known tall pole challenge in the form of community acceptance which largely comes from the noise. This paper presents a proposed anti-phase rotor technology that could reduce noise sources such as blade vortex interaction noise. The anti-phase rotor technology includes a rotor design with various anti-phase alternating trailing edge patterns and a rotor design with an asymmetric blade tip. Four small-scale anti-phase rotors are fabricated by 3D printing for acoustic measurements conducted in a low-speed open-circuit wind tunnel to assess the effectiveness of the proposed anti-phase rotor technology. Preliminary test results appear to be promising and indicate that the anti-phase rotor designs could be a practical means of reducing blade vortex interactions and noise. The four tested anti-phase rotor designs have peak acoustic performance depending on the RPM and thrust which suggests improved performance through design optimization could be achieved for specific mission requirements

Female Entrepreneurship in China: Opportunity- or Necessity-Based?

The paper investigates the inequalities within entrepreneurship which are hindering Chinese socio-economic development. We take an institutionalist and gender-based approach. We establish the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development and create a historical framework from which we examine contemporary female entrepreneurship. We find that females in China often engage in entrepreneurship in the informal sector, where average income is lower. Females are more likely than men to engage in necessity-based entrepreneurship rather than opportunity-based entrepreneurship in China. Therefore, the overall increase in female entrepreneurship in China in recent years does not necessarily imply improvement in living standards for those women. The paper demonstrates that different classes of entrepreneurs face different barriers, and that females need targeted assistance so that the gender gap in entrepreneurship can be reduced. Government should take responsibility for deconstructing social and cultural barriers to women through policy initiatives, as well as promoting women\u27s entrepreneurial training and capital formation. There is also a key role for the non-governmental sector and international organisations to play in educating government, businesses, and workers, as well as pressuring and/or coordinating them where needed

Clinical Experience with Radioisotopic Powered Cardiac Pacemakers

Significant increase in the useful lifetime of the implantable cardiac pacemaker has been made possible by the development of a radioisotope power source. This paper reports experience with two models, the AEC-ARCO Nu-5 (fixed rate) and the Medtronic Model 9000 (ventricular inhibited demand). Five of the former models were implanted in 1973, and six of the latter more recently. Both types of units have functioned well

El Museo de las Conceptas: Assessing and Advancing Community Engagement

The goal of this project was to develop a plan that would increase the local communityÂ’s awareness of and involvement with el Museo de las Conceptas, a religious museum in Cuenca, Ecuador devoted to the history of the attached monastery. To this end, we conducted surveys with museum visitors and the general public and interviewed local museum professionals in order to discern the best course of action. From these interviews, we decided that creating a cohesive narrative to improve the visitor experience paired with a marketing campaign would be the best solution to the museumÂ’s challenges

Deep Ocean Energy Harvesting

Ocean energy is a renewable resource that has yet to be fully utilized. Waves are a consistently available resource, in spite of weather changes or time of day. Wave energy has the potential to supply power for a variety of applications ranging from supplying the grid to remote applications such as marine research and ocean reconnaissance. The goal of this project was to use a point absorber style wave energy converter to harvest the kinetic energy of waves. We designed and built a 1:15 scale model to test the mooring capabilities and power output. In order to calculate the power output, we measured the pressure output and stroke length, which could then be scaled to estimate a full-size wave energy converter

Feedback Control Goes Wireless: Guaranteed Stability over Low-power Multi-hop Networks

Closing feedback loops fast and over long distances is key to emerging applications; for example, robot motion control and swarm coordination require update intervals of tens of milliseconds. Low-power wireless technology is preferred for its low cost, small form factor, and flexibility, especially if the devices support multi-hop communication. So far, however, feedback control over wireless multi-hop networks has only been shown for update intervals on the order of seconds. This paper presents a wireless embedded system that tames imperfections impairing control performance (e.g., jitter and message loss), and a control design that exploits the essential properties of this system to provably guarantee closed-loop stability for physical processes with linear time-invariant dynamics. Using experiments on a cyber-physical testbed with 20 wireless nodes and multiple cart-pole systems, we are the first to demonstrate and evaluate feedback control and coordination over wireless multi-hop networks for update intervals of 20 to 50 milliseconds.Comment: Accepted final version to appear in: 10th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems (with CPS-IoT Week 2019) (ICCPS '19), April 16--18, 2019, Montreal, QC, Canad

A Push for Inclusive Data Collection in STEM Organizations

Professional organizations in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) can use demographic data to quantify recruitment and retention (R&R) of underrepresented groups within their memberships. However, variation in the types of demographic data collected can influence the targeting and perceived impacts of R&R efforts - e.g., giving false signals of R&R for some groups. We obtained demographic surveys from 73 U.S.-affiliated STEM organizations, collectively representing 712,000 members and conference-attendees. We found large differences in the demographic categories surveyed (e.g., disability status, sexual orientation) and the available response options. These discrepancies indicate a lack of consensus regarding the demographic groups that should be recognized and, for groups that are omitted from surveys, an inability of organizations to prioritize and evaluate R&R initiatives. Aligning inclusive demographic surveys across organizations can provide baseline data that can be used to target and evaluate R&R initiatives to better serve underrepresented groups throughout STEM