The goal of this thesis is to prove that topological restriction homology, TR, is locally even in the quasi-syntomic topology in characteristic p. This local evenness was already known for the other main trace theories, but is more subtle for TR.
We consider data-driven approaches for universal texture modeling via generative adversarial networks and inversion methods. We investigate the properties of the learned representation spaces and demonstrate that a strong link between texture analysis and synthesis is the key to successful texture modeling. First, we visit the problem of texture synthesis...
Previous studies have documented a systematic discrepancy between probabilistic seismic hazard maps and historical records of shaking (Stein et al., 2015; Brooks et al., 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019; Salditch et al., 2020; Salditch, 2021). In almost every case, shaking predicted by the hazard map is higher than that historically observed....
This dissertation includes the score and companion essay to the musical work, Untitled (March). In the composition, I endeavor to create a listening situation offering a mutually negotiated environment of quietude that challenges a listener's preconceptions of intentionality and perception by blurring the boundaries between instrumental performance, field recordings, and the...
Due to their widespread applicability, graphs and networks appear in various contexts. The increasing scale of graphs encountered in the real-world requires the developmentof efficient algorithms that run reasonably fast and produce close to optimal solutions.
The main focus of this thesis is the development of fast graph algorithms for...
Machine learning-based techniques have shown great promises in perception, prediction, planning, and general decision-making for improving task performance of autonomous driving. Connectivity technology has also presented great potentials in improving the safety and efficiency of transportation systems by providing information beyond the perception and prediction capabilities of individual vehicles. However,...
Our sense of smell, or olfaction, is one of our most evolutionarily ancient senses. In vertebrates, olfaction plays a crucial role in many functions, such as detecting and evaluating food, avoiding predators, regulating appetite, spatial navigation, and selecting mating partners. In addition, the olfactory system is highly dynamic and exhibits...
Findings in both humans and animal models have associated the hippocampal theta oscillation with hippocampal memory function. In animal models, previous research supports that the theta oscillation contributes to memory via phase-dependent changes in hippocampal network connectivity, wherein memory encoding versus retrieval are optimized at different phases of the theta...
This essay investigates the question under which conditions ASMR is suitable for the concert space. What can be done to ensure that those sensitive to ASMR experience the desired effect? The text compares the sounds used to induce the physiological response called ASMR to those of “Musique Concrète (Instrumentale)” by...
Preschool television has historically not been representative of the world young childrenlive in. Although progress is being made, “representation matters” is still a phrase that rings true to this day. This dissertation focused on representation within STEM television shows because STEM education involves learning important skills such as problem solving...
Biologically active small molecules remain the foundation for the medical management of human disease. Their impacts on human health, longevity, culture, and society are difficultly overstated. In large part, medicines derived from organic compounds are the result of the tireless efforts of chemical practitioners––both past and present––who have dedicated much...
Shale gas is a critical energy resource that is comprised primarily of light gases that are expensive to transport. Because these gases are geographically spread-out and there is insufficient capacity to transport them to centralized processing facilities, they must often be flared, leading to great sources of resource waste and...
Literature screening is the process of identifying all relevant records from a pool of candidate paper records in systematic review, meta-analysis, and other research synthesis tasks. This process is time consuming, expensive, and prone to human error. Screening prioritization methods attempt to help reviewers identify most relevant records while only...
Multiple facets of the natural trajectory of glioma remain poorly understood, which results in a universally poor prognosis for patients with glioma. Many patients with glioma experience tumor-associated epilepsy (TAE) throughout their disease course, but the mechanism by which TAE occurs, who is at continued risk for TAE, and whether...
Single-use plastic waste pollution will cause significant harm to the environment if left unaddressed. One possible mitigation strategy is to develop processes, e.g. catalytic hydrogenolysis, that can convert (i.e. upcycle) waste plastics into value-added products capable of participating in a circular economy. Platinum (Pt) catalysts on strontium titanate nanocuboid supports...
Aging is the greatest known risk factor for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD); however, the molecular mechanisms underlying aging and how it can initiate and or exacerbate AD, is still unknown. Epigenetic regulation has been widely accepted to play an essential role in aging or AD-related processes; however, whether dysregulations of histone...
Thermoelectric devices convert between temperature gradients and electricity, implying numerous applications, such as powering exploratory space vehicles, industrial waste-heat recovery, and solid- state refrigeration. Thermoelectric devices consist of doped p-type and n-type semiconductor legs, and the overall device efficiency depends on the transport properties of these semiconductor materials. High-performing thermoelectric...
Through analysis of visual and literary texts, “Relating Sideways: Visual Culture and Women’s Bonds, 1970-2020” constructs a historical narrative that challenges the assumption that women’s lives and relationships naturally bend toward romance and procreation, a normative lifespan that follows the function capitalism has needed women to perform in consumption and...
The first chapter of this dissertation, coauthored with Martin Eichenbaum and Riccardo Bianchi-Vimercati, addresses the question: how sensitive is the power of fiscal policy at the ZLB to the assumption of rational expectations? We do so through the lens of a standard NK model in which people are level-k thinkers....
In recent decades, metal additive manufacturing has seen rapid advancements, offering promising applications across various industries. However, addressing existing challenges in metal AM, such as process stability, defect avoidance, and quality control, is essential for fully exploiting its potential in fabricating parts with a desired geometry, as well as tailored...
This dissertation consists of three essays in microeconomic theory. In the first two chapters, I study a class of partnerships where partners can exit and continue to free-ride on the remaining partners' efforts. The crucial force to deter players from strategic exiting is the ripple effect that it may trigger...
The field of materials discovery is undergoing an unprecedented transition from laboratory tocomputer. Behind this transition is the new ability to accurately compute material properties, especially
energetic stability, from first principles with density functional theory (DFT). However,
DFT remains computationally expensive, and DFT-based materials discovery is intractable, especially
in high...
This dissertation examines how nineteenth century German literature constructed and experimented with an entangled concept of “the environment” based not in (Romantic) philosophical and literary conceptions of nature, but in the theory and science of color perception. As the visual point of interaction between an observer and their surrounding world,...
In this thesis, we consider the spherical spin glass models at zero temperature. We first determine the structureof the Parisi measure at zero temperature for the spherical p+s spin glass model. We then
consider the spherical mixed p-spin model and show that for the spherical spin models with
n components,...
The reprogramming of somatic cells to a spontaneously contracting cardiomyocyte-like state using defined transcription factors has proven successful in mouse fibroblasts. However, this process has been less successful in human cells, thus limiting the potential clinical applicability of this technology in regenerative medicine. We hypothesized that this issue is due...
Data in support of the manuscript titled "Humans Exploit the Trade-Off Between Mediolateral Stability and Manoeuvrability During Walking".
Abstract:
People use the mechanical interplay between stability and manoeuvrability to successfully walk. During single limb support, body states (position and velocity) that increase lateral stability will inherently resist lateral manoeuvres, decrease...
The number of Hispanics in engineering departments at companies and universities differs from the proportion of Hispanics in the US population. Hispanics represented only 8% of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workforce in 2020, despite being 17% of the overall workforce. The ethnic disparity in STEM occupations contributes...
A noncomprehensive list of large urban fires in the 1850s United States. All fires were large enough to destroy 20 structures or do $200,000 in damage (in 1850s dollars). Some fires are included on the basis of verbal descriptions (e.g., "downtown destroyed") that suggest that the fires were of this...
Manuscript available at arXiv:2305.10226
Abstract:
In this study we will show a new method of polishing for Nb3Sn cavities known as centrifugal barrel polishing (CBP). Using this method, Nb3Sn coated samples are polished to a surface roughness comparable to a traditional Nb cavity after electropolishing (EP). We also investigate different...
In Spoiling the Stories, Tamar Merin presents the as yet untold story of the rise of prose by Israeli women, while further exploring and expanding the gendered models of literary influence in modern Hebrew literature. The theoretical idea upon which this book is based is that of intersexual dialogue, a...
When Abigail Adams made her famous plea to John Adams to "remember the ladies," the role of advocacy on behalf of U.S. gender equality began its rocky and still uncompleted journey. In Women and the Press, Patricia Bradley examines the tensions that have arisen over the course of this journey...
Winner, 2012 Frank Luther Mott-Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award
Women of the Washington Press argues that for nearly two centuries women journalists have persisted in their efforts to cover politics in the nation’s capital in spite of blatant prejudice and restrictive societal attitudes. They have been held back by the...
At her first press conference, Eleanor Roosevelt, uncertain of her role as hostess or leader, passed a box of candied grapefruit peel to the thirty-five women journalists. Nearly sixty years later, Hillary Clinton, an accomplished professional woman and lawyer, tried to mollify her critics by handing out her chocolate-chip cookie...
The aviation industry is set to see another significant leap in new technology, namely electric aircraft. As of the time of this research, both 9-seat and 19-seat aircraft would be ready to be launched by air service providers under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. While electric aircraft manufacturers are...
Data and Fortran code for Figures 2 and 3 of "Phase Separation and Ripening in a Viscoelastic Gel" by Tine Curk and Erik Luijten, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci (2023).
The objective of this project is to build an implementation of the Prisoner’s Dilemma game that takes advantage of quantum properties. Besides the two options we see in a classical prisoner’s dilemma, to confess and to not confess, we introduce an additional quantum option that gives both players a better...
Utilizing a quantum computer and Microsoft Q# SDK to create a quantum neural network aimed to recreate a predetermined dataset that contains feature map parameters. The algorithm was used to simulate solar system models closely resembling real life, visualized using the 3D modeling engine Blender and Unreal Engine 5.
The...
This project utilizes QCI Inc.’s Qatalyst quantum optimization tools to find the most optimal solution to a randomly generated maze. The maze is traversed and mapped into a spanning tree and then transformed into a set of linear constraint functions. The constraint functions and an objective matrix are used to...
We all—users, businesses, governments, and the general public—expect internet platform companies, like Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon to govern their users. Without platform governance, we all experience disasters like foreign election interference, vaccine misinformation, counterfeiting, and even genocide.
Unfortunately, the platform companies have failed. To this day, despite the lessons from...
Human skin oils are significant scavengers of atmospheric oxidants in occupied indoor environments. Many techniques used to study gas-phase transformations of surface films indoors have been limited to off-line bulk analysis, although more surface-selective methodologies are emerging. Here, we present a multi-prong analytical approach to characterizing skin oil ozonolysis. Skin...
The Operating System (OS) kernel is a key component of modern computing infrastructure, yet it is prone to numerous vulnerabilities, many of which cause memory corruptions that can be exploited by attackers to perform malicious activities. While various techniques have been introduced to secure the Linux kernel, it still constantly...
In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, we have witnessed a surge of public interest in and discussion around racial reckoning. Universities in the United States and across the globe are grappling with their historical associations with transatlantic and chattel slavery. This dissertation takes up the question of...
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous, crystalline materials synthesized by combining metal nodes and organic linkers through self-assembly. The diverse range of building blocks available allows for extensive tunability of MOFs, enabling the optimization of these materials for various applications, such as gas storage, separations, and catalysis. This study aimed to...