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- Description:
- In this dissertation, we aim to develop a theoretical understanding of foundation models and reinforcement learning. We delve into a comprehensive analysis of specific aspects within these domains. The focal points of our study are as follows: • Generative Adversarial Imitation Learning (GAIL) with Neural Networks: GAIL is poised to...
- Keyword:
- Reinforcement Leanring, In-Context Learning, Imitation Leanring, and Transformer
- Subject:
- Statistics and Operations research
- Creator:
- Zhang, Yufeng
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- etdadmin_upload_1013414 and http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16740
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- Description:
- Rivers and streams play a critical role in connecting major global carbon pools – land, oceans, and atmosphere. The longitudinal flow in rivers and streams allows for the integration and transport of fluvial particulate organic carbon (POC) from various sources and its continual transformation. A continuum-oriented perspective suggests longitudinal variations...
- Keyword:
- biomarker, particulate organic carbon, storm, stream, and agricultural watershed
- Subject:
- Environmental science and Biogeochemistry
- Creator:
- Kim, Jieun
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16775 and etdadmin_upload_1014167
-
- Description:
- Kaposi’ sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) causes primary effusion lymphoma (PEL). PEL cell lines require expression of the cellular FLICE inhibitory protein (cFLIP) for survival, although KSHV encodes a viral homolog of this protein (vFLIP). Cellular and viral FLIP proteins have several functions, including, most importantly, the inhibition of pro-apoptotic caspase 8...
- Keyword:
- cFLIP, DR4, TRAIL-R1, cell death, HHV-8, and primary effusion lymphoma
- Subject:
- Microbiology and Biology
- Creator:
- Kuehnle, Neil Joseph
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16705 and etdadmin_upload_1010776
-
- Description:
- The relationship between the structure and function of proteins is a fundamental problem in biology with implications for the future of biotechnology and global health. For example, changes to the structure of a coronavirus spike protein led to a global pandemic where our best defenses were vaccines that could only...
- Subject:
- Materials Science
- Creator:
- Waltmann, Curt
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16624 and etdadmin_upload_991536
-
- Description:
- Scholarly inquiry has yielded a wealth of evidence in support of narrative-based strategies for persuasion, and yet support for this approach is less consistent in relation to contentious or controversial issues. To better understand why this might be the case, the first part of this dissertation reports a theoretically-guided content...
- Keyword:
- media effects, narrative, abortion, message format, narrative persuasion, and persuasion
- Subject:
- Mass communication and Communication
- Creator:
- Brooks, John Jennings
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- etdadmin_upload_1013586 and http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16755
-
- Description:
- Prisoner reentry has become an increasingly popular topic of research in the past few decades due to the phenomenon of mass return as a result of the era of mass incarceration. While research has been done on the experiences of the returning population before mass incarceration, few contemporary researchers have...
- Keyword:
- War on Poverty, prisons, religion, and reentry
- Subject:
- History, Criminology, and Sociology
- Creator:
- Brown, Karlia Nicole
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16671 and etdadmin_upload_1004192
-
- Description:
- Ankle sprains are the most common musculoskeletal injury. After an ankle sprain, about 40% of individuals develop Chronic Ankle Instability (CAI), resulting in recurrent sprains, the ankle giving way, or feelings of instability. Most sprains occur due to excess inversion of the ankle. Frontal-plane ankle stiffness quantifies the ankle’s ability...
- Subject:
- Biomedical engineering and Biomechanics
- Creator:
- Villamar, Zoe Dahlia
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16668 and etdadmin_upload_1002685
-
- Description:
- “National Acts: Performance, Commemoration, and the Construction of American Public Memory” explores how sites of public commemoration created during and after the American Civil War crafted conceptions of American public memory and identities through performative processes. This dissertation looks at three commemorative efforts: the Freedmen’s Memorial Monument to Abraham Lincoln,...
- Keyword:
- public memory, performance studies, American culture, and public commemoration
- Subject:
- Theater history, American studies, and Museum studies
- Creator:
- Bryer, Rebekah M
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16732 and etdadmin_upload_1012939
-
- Description:
- Dental enamel is a complex bio-composite with compositional and structural features across a wide range of length scales. Defects in these features can compromise enamel’s ability to protect the tooth, resulting in adverse health outcomes. Acquired defects like tooth decay are familiar to most people and are the subject of...
- Keyword:
- Amelogenesis, Enamel, Neural networks, X-ray diffraction, Microcomputed tomography, and Mouse models
- Subject:
- Materials Science
- Creator:
- Cooley, Victoria Mae
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16769 and etdadmin_upload_1013954
-
- Description:
- Many processes in nature and human-made settings rely on the unique properties of charged metal oxide:aqueous interfaces. Despite their ubiquity, these buried interfaces are challenging to study, since any analytical technique aiming to overcome the relatively small number density of interfacial versus bulk species must be highly sensitive and surface-selective....
- Keyword:
- solid aqueous interface, second harmonic generation, nonlinear optical spectroscopy, metal oxide, heterodyne detection, and hematite
- Subject:
- Physical chemistry, Geochemistry, and Chemistry
- Creator:
- Lozier, Emilie
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16725 and etdadmin_upload_1012560
-
- Description:
- Caves are accessible windows into the shallow subsurface, serving as transitional ecosystems between the photosynthesis-dependent surface and the deeper subsurface. Without a source of solar energy to ultimately power carbon (C) fixation (photolithoautotrophy), cave ecosystems are either reliant on surface-derived nutrients, recovering reducing power from the microbial oxidation of redox-sensitive...
- Keyword:
- caves, network analysis, microbial ecology, and biogeochemistry
- Subject:
- Microbiology, Bioinformatics, and Geobiology
- Creator:
- Selensky, Matthew James
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- etdadmin_upload_993827 and http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16627
-
- Description:
- Global dementia diagnoses are steeply increasing. While advances in neuroimaging, neuropathology, and genetics research have improved our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases causing dementia, precise antemortem diagnosis, as well as sensitive and specific biomarkers that can facilitate a differential diagnosis and aid in participant recruitment in clinical trials, remains elusive. The...
- Subject:
- Clinical psychology
- Creator:
- Stocks, Jane
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2022-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- etdadmin_upload_993222 and http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16626
-
- Description:
- This dissertation explores critiques of mass education alongside the rise of the research university as they appear in the early writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Benjamin. More specifically, it traces the development of a theory of (un)learning that inserts distance into the pedagogical relation to produce a discretized educational...
- Keyword:
- Bildung, Nietzsche, Education, Benjamin, Youth Movement, and Pathos of Distance
- Subject:
- German literature and Philosophy
- Creator:
- Laport, Theodore F.
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- etdadmin_upload_1013555 and http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16750
-
- Description:
- Cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease characterized by aberrant gene regulation. Gene regulation is fundamentally orchestrated by the 3D genome organization which involves chromatin looping, compartmentalization, and the formation of topologically associating domains (TADs). Structural variations (SVs), such as genomic rearrangements, deletions, inversions, and duplications, are commonly observed in...
- Subject:
- Bioinformatics and Biology
- Creator:
- Wang, Juan
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16734 and etdadmin_upload_1013045
-
- Description:
- This dissertation explores how dominant U.S. constructions of race, class, and gender are embedded into and inscribed onto artificially intelligent virtual assistants and the labors they perform. I examine virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana, interrogating their complex relationship to humanness, the tasks they are programmed...
- Keyword:
- haunting, media, labor, Black, domestic, and technology
- Subject:
- African American studies, Gender studies, and Film studies
- Creator:
- Owens, Golden M.
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16772 and etdadmin_upload_1014053
-
- Description:
- This thesis explores how beyond-the-Standard-Model physics interactions could lead to the detection of neutrino decay with lifetimes that are orders of magnitude smaller than a second. I mainly focused on right-handed neutrino fields, new heavy states, and non-zero daughter neutrino masses, assuming the neutrinos are Dirac fermions. An extensive description...
- Keyword:
- Visible, Invisible, Neutrino, and Decay
- Subject:
- Theoretical physics
- Creator:
- Weill, Jean
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16720 and etdadmin_upload_1012443
-
- Description:
- Clustering is a fundamental task in unsupervised learning, which aims to partition the data set into several clusters. It is widely used for data mining, image segmentation, and natural language processing. One of the most popular clustering methods is centroid-based clustering, including k-medians and k-means clustering. k-medians and k-means clustering...
- Keyword:
- Decision Tree, Clustering, Explainability, and k-means
- Subject:
- Computer science
- Creator:
- Shan, Liren
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16717 and etdadmin_upload_1012370
-
- Description:
- This dissertation focuses on the study of the superionic state in multicomponent systems, where the smaller component exhibits delocalization and mobility while still maintaining system compactness through component attractions. Superionic behavior is widely observed in various systems and plays a crucial role in ceramic superionic conductors, which offer high ion...
- Keyword:
- electrostatics, charge transport, sublattice melting, phase transition, superionic behaviors, and colloidal crystals
- Subject:
- Physical chemistry, Chemistry, and Condensed matter physics
- Creator:
- Lin, Yange
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16697 and etdadmin_upload_1009942
-
- Description:
- One of the greatest challenges in heterogeneous catalysis is the rational design and development of new catalytic systems, due to synthetic limitations in the design of solid catalysts and inhomogeneity of chemical sites at solid surfaces. This obfuscates understanding of catalyst behavior and slows improvements of processes. One approach to...
- Subject:
- Inorganic chemistry, Chemistry, and Chemical engineering
- Creator:
- Hicks, Kenton
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- etdadmin_upload_996080 and http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16635
-
- Description:
- Clean water supplies are required for industry and general life. However, water shortages dueto pollution and human activity are increasingly common, and new, more efficient, materials need to be made to increase clean water supplies. To do this, fundamental information on the interaction of water with ions at the atomic...
- Subject:
- Chemistry and Computational chemistry
- Creator:
- Felts, Alanna
- Owner:
- Scholarly Digital Publishing
- Language:
- en
- Date Uploaded:
- 08/23/2023
- Date Created:
- 2023-01-01
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Alternate Identifier:
- etdadmin_upload_1010659 and http://dissertations.umi.com/northwestern:16704