The start of the 21st century brought the sweeping proliferation of portable electronics such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones. These technologies were largely enabled by advances in energy storage methods – lithium ion batteries in particular. Society's push for more advanced energy storage applications, such as electric vehicles, stresses the...
This dissertation explores Holocene climate change along the west coast of Greenland and late Holocene climate variability in the subpolar North Atlantic region using paleolimnology. Lake sediment archives and the climate proxies contained within them provide a valuable window into past temperature change on Greenland, home to one of Earth’s...
Assistive robotics focuses on human-robot systems that provide physical support and assistance to the elderly and people with motor-impairments. While assistive machines, such as the powered wheelchair, can significantly enhance the functional independence of individuals, many users are challenged by their direct operation, the manner in which such systems are...
ABSTRACT Variation of stateness across the territory and population of sovereign states is a notorious, but understudied phenomenon with important implications for issues such as global security, environmental sustainability, and political stability. This dissertation engages in theory-building research to explain subnational variation of stateness in the contemporary world, focusing on...
This dissertation adopts a jointly ethnographic and historical approach to study shifting racial formations and configurations of inequality in the metropolitan U.S. South. Specifically, it analyzes how immigrants and working poor populations are reshaping the social life, privatized spaces, and conservative politics of Atlanta’s white suburbs. It focuses on Sandy...
Citizen media literacy is essential in a democratic society, particularly in the online environment where valid media sources have proliferated alongside purveyors of fake news. This dissertation explores technologies that automatically detect aspects of bias in news articles, with the ultimate aim of leveraging them to augment media literacy. It...
In the design of efficient adsorbents for the sequestration of toxic molecules and the separation of volatile organic compounds, two important criteria are: high porosity and high density of sorptive sites. The work in this thesis showcases how metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can be used as porous adsorbent templates where many...
Quantum metrology has been among the most vigorous branches of quantum technology. It involves using quantum effects to achieve better estimation of parameters of a physical sys- tem. Conventionally the system consists of an ensemble of N non-interacting atoms and the measurements are done on individual atomic states, such as...
People and horses have a deep, co-constructed, and co-evolutionary history. This dissertation evaluates sociopolitical change of the Hungarian Bronze Age (2800 – 800 BC) in the context of long-term shifts in human-horse relationships. In the Bronze Age, horses are assumed to mount the development of complex polities ruled by elite,...
This dissertation studies topics in health care operations management related to value-based care, where {\em value} can be thought of as the ratio of quality to cost. The objective in value-based care is to increase, or maximize, value by reducing costs and improving quality health outcomes. In Chapter 1 we...