This dissertation presents the results of three studies examining the determinants and consequences of employment among single mothers with infants and toddlers. In the first study, I use nationally-representative survey data to identify the effect of age-of-youngest-child welfare-to-work exemptions on the employment of single mothers with no more than a...
The first section of this thesis focuses on applications of DNA-modified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) while the second part addresses the fundamental properties that arise from conjugating DNA to inorganic AuNPs. Two types of applications are discussed. The first application utilizes the colorimetric properties of AuNPs to screen duplex and triplex...
Living in a world where the machine and the Internet are ubiquitous, many people work and play online, in a world that is, ironically, often isolated and lonesome. While the Internet, as intended, connects us to information, products and services, it often draws us away from the rich connections that...
This dissertation explores price differences observed in the market. While some differences are necessitated by market conditions, the others are strategic. I illustrate the former in a study of electricity spot markets in Italy and the latter for the video rental industry.
The first project examines the welfare gains from...
The dissertation research examines the evolution of EU social and employment policy in regard to gender equality in the labor market and analyzes how EU guidelines of the European Employment Strategy (EES) and EU directives on social policy have different effects on political processes in the United Kingdom and Germany....
Musical theater is a discipline that, by its very nature, engages several disciplines, specifically music, visual art, theater, and dance. The elementary classroom is a viable setting for the study of the arts in an interdisciplinary manner, yet the number of studies examining interdisciplinary instruction with regard to elementary music...
The linear food chain of high school biology textbooks has been replaced by the food web, the increasingly complex network of trophic interactions in an ecosystem. This complexity, however, masks a number of robust statistical properties. Yet much research to date has concentrated upon predicting and testing the existence of...
Angiogenesis, the formation of blood vessels from a pre-existing vasculature, is a process whereby capillary sprouts are formed in response to chemical stimuli that can be either supplied externally or produced locally.
Understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that govern angiogenesis suggests a powerful therapeutic approach that will allow to combat...
In chapter 1, we study the investment behavior of firms faced with uncertainty, irreversibility and non-convex adjustment costs when output can be stored. A discrete-time dynamic optimization problem is solved numerically using neural networks to study the investment problem. Our numerical results suggest that whether or not firms can store...
The overarching theme of this thesis is the development of non-natural oligomers for use in biological applications. Chapter I details the synthesis and studies of modified peptide nucleic acid (PNA) oligomers. PNA is a synthetic oligonucleotide mimic that binds to natural nucleic acids with extremely high affinity and specificity, making...