UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    Change is Coming: Pre-adaptability for a Resilient City
    (2020) Omidvar, Ava Toosi; Williams, Joseph C; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Since its inception, the Earth has been a living and evolving planet. Phenomena such as tectonic plates shifting and changes in the atmosphere have caused our ecosystems to change and evolve by natural events. Humans have been part of this ecosystem for the past 2.1 million years but have only stopped their nomadic way of life and built village settlements 10,000 years ago. Civilizations have faced many natural and human-made disasters forcing them to renovate, rebuild, or relocate. However, the frequency of these disasters through climate change will exacerbate these transformations. For many cities around the world where landscapes are being permanently affected by climate-induced landscape change, the built environment has the responsibility to adapt. How can architecture allow for change over time? When we know that intermittent floods are becoming more detrimental, how must we build our cities to prepare for living with water?
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    Re-thinking Residence: How to Mass Produce Diversity?
    (2020) Ahmed, Mansoor; Noonan, Peter; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Due to shortage of housing, Pakistan has launched a project to build five million new dwellings within the next 5 years, through public-private partnerships. Currently, in Pakistan, only 0.3 million units are built in one year and this project would increase that number drastically, greatly impacting the environment and the built fabric. This thesis looks at an alternative to the simple idea of repeating one house to make many. It is a vision to reimagine Pakistani cities through this expansive development: mass produce dwellings that are responsive to environmental and contextual conditions, minimize the impact on existing infrastructure, energy consumption, and the environment. The proposal is an optimized system of construction that has the ability to mass-produce customizable and personalized units. The aim of this thesis is to showcase a balance between mass production and personalization.
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    Building Education: Creating a Flexible Model For Sustainably Developing Communities In Latin America
    (2019) Nicolich, Ana Maria; Burke, Juan; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Latin America has a deep-rooted history with issues of poverty. Education is a vital part of the solution. Education and increased literacy can help communities break away from a cycle of poverty by opening doors and creating opportunities for independence. Many impoverished countries in Latin America rely on the cultivation of primary products to sustain their economies. Unfortunately, the high number of illiterate and untrained laborers in these parts of the world halts their progress. These are recurring issues in many underdeveloped countries. Rural communities tend to be deprived of resources and this leads to an exodus of the young as they are looking for opportunities for growth. They leave their villages and don’t always come back having completed a full education. This thesis intends to create a model for an educational facility that can be applied to multiple contexts, with an effort to empower communities through providing education for children to achieve their full potential, and for agricultural workers to heighten their knowledge about the trades that affect their livelihoods directly Research will explore modular design as a means to cater to the diverse contexts with a changing demand and whether a possible model can be self-sustaining. It will also explore how a building can bring a community together. Could a deployable model be effective cross culturally? Can flexible design help mobilize a struggling community? How to create an environment that can be conducive to learning?
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    TUBULAR PERFUSION SYSTEM BIOREACTOR FOR THE DYNAMIC CULTURE OF HUMAN MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS
    (2012) Yeatts, Andrew Bryan; Fisher, John P; Bioengineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In vitro culture techniques must be improved in order to increase the feasibility of cell based tissue engineering strategies. Limitations of current techniques are largely a result of the slow diffusion of molecules such as oxygen into the interior of three dimensional scaffolds in static culture. In order to enhance nutrient transport we have developed a novel bioreactor, the tubular perfusion system (TPS), to culture human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in three dimensional scaffolds. In our design, hMSCs are cultured on scaffolds tightly packed in a tubular growth chamber. Media is perfused by a peristaltic pump through the growth chamber and around the tightly packed scaffolds. In the first part of the work hMSCs are encapsulated in alginate scaffolds and results demonstrate bioreactor culture enhances late osteoblastic differentiation of hMSCs. An investigation into shear stress in the system revealed that osteogenic markers increase with increasing shear stress and that the differentiation of hMSCs is dependent on cell radial position within scaffolds. In order to enhance the ability to implant these constructs in vivo, a method to create an aggregated cell containing construct in vitro in a bioreactor system was developed. In this part of the work hMSCs are cultured in individual alginate beads in the TPS bioreactor and the beads are aggregated to form one large construct. Following this the TPS bioreactor was investigated to culture synthetic poly-L-lactic acid scaffolds which were fabricated using supercritical carbon dioxide gel drying. In addition to investigating the effects of perfusion on hMSC growth in these scaffolds, the effect of microporosity was investigated. In the final part of the work, a study was completed to determine how TPS culture influenced in vivo bone regeneration. Here alginate beads as well as synthetic PLGA/PCL constructs were used as scaffolds. Results revealed the efficacy of using the tubular perfusion system for bone tissue engineering and demonstrated increased bone formation as a result of hMSC implantation in both alginate and PLGA/PCL scaffolds. These studies highlighted the need for bioreactor culture in vitro as well as scaffolds to support in vivo tissue interaction.