Browsing Rice University Graduate Electronic Theses and Dissertations by Issue Date
Now showing items 1-20 of 10277
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Comparative Genomics of Cephalochordates
(4/23/2015)Cephalochordates, commonly known as lancelets or amphioxus, represent an ancient chordate lineage falling at the boundary between invertebrates and vertebrates. They are considered the best living proxy for the common ... -
Personality Traits, Prosocial Knowledge, Charismatic Leadership Behavior, and Clinical Performance of Indian Medical Students
(2016-04-25)Abstract This study replicates and extends findings reported by Ghosh, Motowidlo, and Nath (2015) that Indian medical students’ prosocial knowledge is positively correlated with their clinical performance. It examines ... -
Foam rheology of zwitterionic anionic blends in porous media
(2016-03-30)Blending of certain types of surfactants is known to promote synergism as studied by bulk measurements. This study analyzes if such synergistic interactions are beneficial for foam rheology in porous media. Foam experiments ... -
Stochastic Modeling of Dynamical Processes in Biological Signaling and Cellular Transport
(2016-03-18)Successful cellular function and organ development rely on the effective transport of proteins and other biomolecules to specific positions. There are two basic mechanisms for biological transport: passive diffusion and ... -
RF Shot Noise Measurements in Au Atomic-scale Junctions
(2016-01-29)Conduction electrons are responsible for many physical or chemical phenomena in condensed matter systems, and their behavior can be directly studied by electronic transport measurements. In conventional transport measurements, ... -
Optical Contrast Agents to Distinguish Benign Inflammation from Neoplasia in Epithelial Tissues
(2016-01-29)A minimally-invasive, optical strategy to detect and discriminate between inflammation and neoplasia could improve early cancer detection by reducing the number of false positive exams due to benign inflammation. This ... -
Functional Data Analysis on Spectroscopic Data
(2016-01-28)Cervical cancer is a very common type of cancer that is highly curable if treated early. We are investigating spectroscopic devices that make in-vivo cervical tissue measurements to detect pre-cancerous and cancerous ... -
An Investigation of Carbon-based Nanomaterials for Efficient Energy Production and Delivery
(2016-01-28)Carbon-based nanomaterials have been demonstrated to have different potential applications in the energy industry. However, there are challenges in the realization of these applications. Chirality of single wall carbon ... -
Understanding dynamic activities of the yeast galactose utilization network under environmental changes
(2016-01-27)Cellular adaptability to environmental changes depends on the collective actions of genes, mRNA, proteins and ligands, all of which are components of a ''genetic network''. To understand the dynamics of a gene network in ... -
A Constraint-Based Approach to Reactive Task and Motion Planning
(2016-01-26)This thesis presents a novel and scalable approach for Reactive Task and Motion Planning. We consider changing environments with uncontrollable agents, where the robot needs a policy to respond correctly in the infinite ... -
Coating and Doping of Ge QDs
(2016-01-14)The ability to incorporate a dopant element into nanocrystals (NCs) and quantum dots (QDs) is one of the key technical challenges for the use of these materials in a number of optoelectronic applications, particularly solar ... -
Robust Privacy-Preserving Fingerprint Authentication
(2016-01-08)This paper presents the first scalable, efficient, and reliable privacy-preserving fingerprint authentication based on minutiae representation. Our method is provably secure by leveraging the Yao's classic Garbled Circuit ... -
Feasibility of On-line Proton Beam Range Verification with Positron Emission Tomography Imaging
(2015-12-18)Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has been adopted clinically to verify proton beam range (BR) in proton therapy. Conventional approaches use off-line verification that verifies BR after delivery of full dose of ... -
A Systematic Study of Short and Long Range Interactions in Associating Fluids Using Molecular Theory
(2015-12-17)Parameters needed for the Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (SAFT) equation of state are usually fit to pure component saturated liquid density and vapor pressure. In this thesis, other sources of information such as ... -
2D Optoelectronics: Challenges and Opportunities
(2015-12-17)Indium Selenide (InSe) is one of atomically layered 2D materials attracting broad interests recently, because of its good optoelectronic properties. Based on the challenges of 2D optoelectronics, several topics will be ... -
A novel paradigm for non-fibrotic regeneration of the cornea: The role of TGF-beta superfamily during embryonic cornea regeneration
(2015-12-16)Damage to the cornea results in fibrotic scarring, leading to the loss of tissue transparency and reduced visual acuity. In fact, corneal opacity is the world’s third leading cause of blindness. Other than transplantation ... -
Black Women and the World: African American Women's Transnational Activism, 1890-1930
(2015-12-16)This dissertation focuses on the transnational activities of African American clubwomen during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including their work as scholars, lecturers, missionaries and organizational ... -
Development of Cell-laden Hydrogel Composites for Osteochondral Tissue Engineering
(2015-12-14)Articular cartilage is a flexible connective tissue that enables the frictionless and painless articulation of bones in synovial joints throughout the body. Given its avascular nature, articular cartilage tissue inherently ... -
Robot Manipulation Planning Under Linear Temporal Logic Specifications
(2015-12-07)Automated planning for manipulation tasks is highly desirable, for it enables robot manipulators to be used by none robotics experts. This thesis presents one approach to solving manipulation planning for tasks expressed ... -
Transform Faults, Fracture Zones, and the Kinematics of Horizontal Thermal Contraction of Oceanic Lithosphere
(2015-12-04)Plate rigidity is a key assumption of the plate tectonics theory. The assumption allows us to study plate motion on Earth with great simplicity. However, recent developments in understanding plate cooling have put the ...
