High-pressure and -temperature synthesis is a powerful tool for synthesizing new intermetallic compounds that cannot be formed using traditional solid-state syntheses. Such metastable compounds can exhibit unrivaled structural complexity, unique bonding, and unusual properties. In the simplest case, there are many binary systems in which no intermetallic compounds are known....
This dissertation explores human coordination in rhythmic, verbal, and spatial activity, and how coordination in one of these modes may subsequently impact behavior in another mode. My research examines what effects non-conversational actions have on the alignment of spatial perspectives during conversation. I hope to clarify how data about non-linguistic...
The availability and importance of data is accelerating, and our visual system is a critical tool for understanding it. The research field of data visualization seeks design guidelines – often inspired by perceptual psychology – for more efficient visual data analysis. Data visualization can borrow phenomena, tasks, and methods of...
Complex oxides show great potential for future devices as they offer functionalities beyond what can be delivered by conventional semiconductors. Among the complex oxides, the ABO$_{3}$ perovskite oxides are the most studied and engineered in the form of thin films and heterostructures. This thesis applies powerful synchrotron-based X-ray characterization tools,...
The follicle is the functional unit of the mammalian ovary and serves as a tightly controlled microenvironment where granulosa cells nurture the growth and maturation of the oocyte. Early events in follicular development are autonomous of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and are instead controlled by local factors that are used in...
In this paper, we show almost-Gelfand property of connected symmetric pairs (G, H) over finite fields of large characteristics by showing almost-sigma-invariant property of double coset H\G/H where sigma is the associated anti-involution combining with epsilon-version of Gelfand's trick
This dissertation shows how a group of novels–written by Peruvian born authors and published in the 20th and 21st centuries–have opened new perspectives about the impact of mass media in the Latin American literary system. I argue that XYZ (1935) by Clemente Palma, La tía Julia y el escribidor (1977)...
This dissertation analyzes figurations of gender and sexuality in Mexican modernista narratives that construct the modern subject. It discusses how these texts examine, interpret, and constitute subjects that were labeled as “degenerate” by medical, juridical, and criminological discourses in late nineteenth-century Mexico. Those ostensibly “scientific” and “objective” discourses reproduced and...
I study how electricity generation firms exert market power, raising price above marginal cost. Typical studies of market power in electricity markets focus on how firms sustain markups in the short-run energy market. I explore other channels electricity generation firms use to strategically maximize profits. First, I analyze strategic investments...