ETD--Doctoral Dissertations
Browse by
For information about submitting electronic theses and dissertations, please see the ETD information page
Recent Submissions
-
THE EFFECT OF MIR-29 AND TGFB ON FIBROSIS
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-09-04)Fibrosis is defined as excess accumulation of extra cellular matrix (ECM) that impedes normal function of the parenchyma and is the cause of up to 45% of deaths in the developed world. With no favorable therapeutic strategy, ... -
Risk of Aminoglycoside-Induced Hearing Loss among Patients with Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in South Africa
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-11-27)Problem Statement Individuals treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) with aminoglycosides (AGs) in resource-limited settings often experience permanent hearing loss, but there is no practical, cost-effective ... -
THE FORMATION OF NONSTATE ARMED GROUPS’ SOCIAL CONTRACTS IN FRAGILE STATES: THE SUDANESE LIBERATION MOVEMENT/ARMY (SLM/A) IN SUDAN AND THE UNION FOR DEMOCRATIC FORCES FOR UNITY (UFDR) IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-11-27)While insurgency-related literature acknowledges that nonstate social contracts occur, a microlevel analysis is needed of how this process occurs. At the same time, understanding the NSAG’s social contract in a vacuum ... -
Towards Programming Matter with Chemical Computers
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-11-05)In this work, we briefly outline a paradigm for programming the growth and function of physical materials, using chemical computers implemented with DNA. We review experimental studies that enable physical stimuli, such ... -
PROTEIN ENGINEERING IMPROVEMENTS TO ENZYME/PRODRUG THERAPY USING YEAST CYTOSINE DEAMINASE
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-26)Gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) is a two-step process whereby the gene encoding a prodrug-converting enzyme is selectively delivered to tumor cells, followed by systemic administration of a nontoxic prodrug. ... -
TIED TO THEIR COUNTRY: AGRARIAN MOBILIZATION, RURAL POLITICS, AND THE FARM CRISIS OF 1977-1987
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-26)For almost two centuries, white American farmers held a privileged status both as the power behind America’s growing economy and as a symbol of American virtue. In the late twentieth century, however, family farmers’ ... -
Sketching as a Tool for Efficient Networked Systems
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-26)Today, computer systems need to cope with the explosive growth of data in the world. For instance, in data-center networks, monitoring systems are used to measure traffic statistics at high speed; and in financial technology ... -
Exploring the Fitness Landscape of TEM-1 Beta-Lactamase: A Survey of Intragenic Epistasis & the Fitness Effects of InDels
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-26)The distribution of fitness effects, or fitness landscape, of a protein offers a picture of the relationship between mutations and their effects on a broad scale. Mutations in a protein can have positive, negative, or ... -
The Regular Clergy and Reformation in the Early Spanish Caribbean, 1493-1580
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-26)This dissertation examines how the Church's regular orders, such as the Hieronymites, Dominicans, Mercedarians, and Franciscans, transformed the early Spanish Caribbean and subsequently influenced practices of conquest, ... -
Ground states of $\kappa$-(ET)$_{2}$ Hg(SCN)$_{2}$ Br and $\kappa$-(ET)$_{2}$ Hg(SCN)$_{2}$ Cl studied by Raman Spectroscopy and Heat Capacity measurements
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-26)This work is aimed at studying two iso-structure materials $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$ Hg(SCN)$_{2}$ Br ($\kappa$-Hg-Br) and $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_{2}$ Hg(SCN)$_{2}$ Cl ($\kappa$-Hg-Cl), specifically elucidating the mechanism ... -
Integrated Modeling of Complex Systems with Applications to Public Health and Sustainability
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-25)Understanding the dynamics of a changing world are of great interest to policy-makers, nonprofit organizations, governments, and businesses since society largely operates as a system. We develop system models to capture ... -
Insights into the assembly of anthraquinone-fused enediynes through biosynthetic investigations of dynemicin A.
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-25)Dynemicin A, produced by Micromonospora chersina, is the representative member of the enediyne antitumor antibiotic subclass characterized by a 10-membered warhead coupled to an aminoanthraquinone. Early biosynthetic ... -
Insights into O2 Reductive Activation by Copper-Containing Synthetic Model Complexes
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-24)The reductive activation of dioxygen, which is often coupled to other processes such as substrate hydroxylation or oxidation, is of fundamental importance in biological and synthetic systems. While the stepwise reduction ... -
The Multiscale Mechanics of Surface Modification Processes on Asteroids
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-24)The solar system is sprinkled with detritus known as asteroids, with tens of thousands of these rocky masses clustered in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. These rocky bodies are debris from early solar ... -
Evidence for Extreme Cortical Flexibility: Higher Cognitive Functions in "Visual" Cortices of Blind Individuals
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-24)Are structure and function inextricably linked in the brain? In the early 19th century, phrenologists endeavored to localize cognition to areas of the brain. Though neuroscientists have updated the methodology and the ... -
Fundamental Chemical Insights from the Development of Synthetic Heme and Heme-Peroxo-Copper Models Inspired by Cytochrome c Oxidase
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-24)Biochemical processes allow for the four-electron and four proton reduction of dioxygen to water and this highly exothermic transformation is substantial for aerobic respiration. Decades of bioinorganic investigations have ... -
Cardiovascular safety of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-24)Objective: The proposed study will examine the association between the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) drug class and the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with diabetes. Methods: ... -
Integrated Graph Theoretic, Radiomics, and Deep Learning Framework for Personalized Clinical Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment Response Assessment of Body Tumors
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-22)Purpose: A new paradigm is beginning to emerge in radiology with the advent of increased computational capabilities and algorithms. The future of radiological reading rooms is heading towards a unique collaboration between ... -
Expanding the Functionality of Organosilicon Compounds Through the Use of Unconventional Building Blocks
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-24)This dissertation describes new synthetic approaches to functional silicon-based materials. Dehydrocoupling polymerization of novel bifunctional building blocks exploits the intrinsic reactivity differences between Si-H ... -
Being Together: Aesthetics and Anthropology from Kant to the Cinema
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2018-10-17)This study examines Anglophone and German writers who synthesized aesthetics and anthropology in order to resist what they saw as the withering of communal bonds in modern society. As I show, concepts such as harmony, ...
RSS 1.0