Crystalline and Framework materials make up a broad class of structures which are known for their precise and regular nature. Because these materials have predictable structures and compositions to their networks, they are widely used for several applications including electronics, optics, and catalysis. While these materials are of particular interest,...
Autonomous trucks (ATs) are envisioned to potentially revolutionize the logistics sector. The integration of autonomous trucks into the overall truck fleet will impact industry regulations and ease driver-related challenges. It also has the potential to improve road safety and reduce carrier costs. There is an extensive body of literature on...
This multi-study dissertation explores experiences of music education for students with disabilities with a particular focus on students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is comprised of three distinct papers including two qualitative studies and a literature review. In the first study, I collaborated with Dr. Sarah J. Bartolome to...
Interfacial effects play a critical role in perturbing the properties of polymeric materials. The average properties of polymer materials with substantial specific interfacial area, e.g., ultrathin films, nanorods, and polymer nanocomposites, often deviate significantly from the bulk responses. Much of the past research has focused on systems in which free...
Volunteer-based physical crowdsourcing systems connect individuals to make unique contributions to solve local and communal problems and enable new services. A key challenge in enabling such systems is attracting enough willing volunteers who can make useful contributions to achieve desired system goals. While most volunteer-based systems provide volunteers flexibility to...
Many transcription factors (TFs) regulate oncogenic processes and are therefore desirable targets for drug intervention. However, few TF inhibitors have been developed to date due to a lack of specificity and few TF binding pockets. The Meade Lab has overcome these challenges by using cobalt-based complexes that disrupt Cys2His2 zinc...
A fundamental understanding of the photophysics involved in solar energy capture and conversion is crucial to the development of carbon-neutral energy technologies. Taking inspiration from nature, the photosynthetic reaction center (PSRC) is often modeled by simpler versions of its elements to allow for better control over the system and for...
Nanoparticles are nanometer scale (1-1000 nm) structures capable of encapsulating a diverse range of cargoes. Encapsulation of a cargo can drastically alter its pharmacokinetics, cytotoxicity, and biodistribution while allowing for informed and rational design of the nanoparticle itself. Poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene sulfide) (PEG-b-PPS) is an amphiphilic diblock co-polymer able to self-assemble...
A replication crisis has enveloped several scientific fields since the early 2000s (see Baker, 2016). This has given rise to improved research and reporting practices (e.g., F. S. Collins & Tabak, 2014), as well as a cottage industry of research into issues of replication and reproducibility (e.g., R. A. Klein...
Soft materials are inherently fluxional, with morphologies and behaviors that are dictated by their solvation state. Thus, many organic systems cannot be reliably imaged by static dry state or cryogenic-transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This motivated us to pursue liquid cell (LC) TEM method development to study our own materials and...
This dissertation contains two studies. In Chapter 1 we investigate the relationshipbetween expansionary credit events and firms’ employment decisions. To overcome the
endogeneity coming from the supply side of credit we exploit the legal and political framework
in Mexico to examine the effects of local governments’ prepayment of loans, a...
My dissertation examines group dynamics of minority populations during times of violent conflict. By applying a comparative analysis to case studies drawn from the conflicts in Lebanon and Syria, I shed light on how and why minority groups decide to join a conflict, stay on the sidelines, go it alone,...
Graphene oxide (GO) is a heavily oxidized version of graphene, which is often made by oxidative chemical exfoliation from graphite powders. The reaction decorates the graphene sheets with oxygen-containing functional groups including hydroxyl and epoxide groups on the basal plane, as well as carboxyl groups on the edge, rendering the...
Structural colors originate from the interaction between the incident light and a surface with periodic submicron structures. They enable the creation of a spectrum of nonfading colors, potentially replacing toxic metal oxides and conjugated organic pigments. However, significant challenges remain, including lack of contrast needed for the complete gamut of...
Kidney transplantation remains the best and most cost-effective treatment for patients with end stage kidney disease, and the number of kidney transplants performed in the U.S. annually has increased steadily since 2015. To ensure transplant success, kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are often prescribed lifelong, complex medication regimens that include immunosuppressants,...
We introduce empirical measures to study the $L^2$ norms of restrictions of quantum integrable eigenfunctions to the unique rotationally invariant geodesic $H$ on a convex surface of revolution. The weak* limit of these measures describes the dependence of their size on $H$ in terms of the angular momentum. The limit...
Algorithmically-driven social platforms present a challenge for self-presentation and identity management by obscuring audiences behind algorithmic mechanisms. Users are increasingly aware of this and actively adapting through folk theorization, but we do not know how users are coping with the constant change endemic to these platforms. We also do not...
This dissertation interrogates the quality of sincerity as it appears throughout John Locke’s work on religious toleration and Christian theology. Sincerity, and the framework it provides, offers a means to draw together his political and theological works, as well as to appreciate both his radical potentialities and conservative impulses. The...
In this thesis we study two problems, one in unsupervised learning - k-means clustering and the other in a supervised learning setting with the presence of adversarial perturbations. We do a beyond-worst case style analysis and show that in either case instances that are resilient to adversarial perturbations are also...
CD95/Fas ligand (CD95L) is a well characterized activator of extrinsic apoptosis. CD95L protein binds to its cognate receptor, CD95/Fas/APO-1, inducing apoptotic signaling in sensitive cells. However, expression of CD95L is toxic even in the absence of CD95. We previously reported that the CD95L open reading frame (ORF) is enriched for...
Hypnaesthesis argues for understanding somnambulism, nightmare, and insomnia as aesthetic categories in the gothic and dark romantic traditions of antebellum American literature that provide critical insights into the experiential costs of the exhortations to normative vigilance prevalent in the American Enlightenment. During this period unceasing vigilance became the watchword for...
As more thermoelectric materials/devices make it into the market for various applications, severalaspects need to be explored and optimized, beyond simply targeting high conversion efficiency at
the material levels. One critical aspect is the guarantee of mechanical stability at both the material
and the device level, which demands deeper understanding...
The leptonic and inclusive hadronic decay branching fractions of the W boson are studied using 35.9 $fb^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}=13~TeV$ during the 2016 run of the CMS experiment. Events characterized by the production of pairs of W bosons from \ttbar and \tW processes are selected. Multiple...
Mid-infrared lasers, emitting in the spectral region of 3-12 µm that contain strong characteristic vibrational transitions of many important molecules and two atmospheric transmission windows, are highly desirable for spectroscopy sensing, infrared countermeasures, and free space communications. Previously, single-element quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have been demonstrated with up to watt-level...
This dissertation studies the real effects of firms’ financing decisions as well as the economics consequences of bias in fair value prices of corporate bonds. The first chapter examines the impact of compliance with changes in mandated financial reporting on corporate financing and investment decisions. I employ the recent implementation...
Inflammasomes are signaling complexes that link the recognition of pathogen and danger associated molecular patterns (PAMPs and DAMPs) by cytosolic pattern-recognition receptors (PPRs) to the activation of Caspase-1, leading to the release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1 and IL-18, and the induction of pyroptosis. In addition to the canonical...
“Open Tables: Restaurants and Reform in Progressive Chicago” considers restaurants as contentious spaces where larger debates about gender, class, race and ethnicity, public health, and the role of the state were carried out between the end of the Civil War and the ratification of the 18th Amendment. Using Chicago as...
Proteins and many other systems are often conceptualized as networks to access analysis methods from the field of network science. Several approaches use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of proteins to construct networks using correlational statistics. However, in the field of network science, a well-established approach for network construction is solving...
The potential association between Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and the incidence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been a part of academic discourse for three decades. By considering the mixed reports on the association between FGM and HIV so far, this dissertation contributes to the current state of research by...
This thesis explores questions in labor economics and applied microeconomics, with particular focus on issues that have implications for public policy. The first essay estimates the Frisch elasticity, sometimes known as the wage elasticity of labor supply in response to anticipated wage changes. Despite its importance in macroeconomic and public...
The commitment of resources to coaching almost always occurs in interaction with other district-wide efforts to improve instruction. Given this probable situation, it’s concerning that the field lacks the ability to provide guidance regarding how coaches might reasonably be integrated within overall plans for the coordination and improvement of instruction....
Superalloys strengthened by γ′(L12)-precipitates in γ(f.c.c.)-matrix exhibit superior high temperature mechanical properties and environmental resistance over long periods of operation, making them ideal candidates for aerospace and energy conversion applications. The emerging class of superalloys based on Co-Al-W ternary system was identified with a melting temperature 50-100 ˚C higher than...
Oxidation is an important process in synthesizing a broad range of useful products such as polymers, pharmaceuticals, and fine chemicals. While H2O2 is a highly attractive oxidant for oxidative chemistry due to its high percentage of oxygen and environmentally friendly water byproduct, it is often used in excess due to...
In knowledge-intensive work such as data analysis or emergency medicine, learning and collaboration is integral to the effective “production” process. Uncovering the mechanisms, benefits and costs of learning and collaboration is crucial for the design and operation of a successful process. My Ph.D. research centers on empirically investigating the ways...
Conceptually, we can divide this dissertation into Chapter 1 which is in the tradition of information economics and comparative statics, and Chapters 2 to 4 which had all its genesis in the same project concerning identifying the value of product differentiation to consumers with minimal assumptions, and is therefore related...
There is strong evidence for the benefits of teaching parents of toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) intervention strategies for facilitating language development. A strategy at the core of early parent-mediated interventions for ASD is responsiveness, defined as providing a child with a verbal response each time she communicates. Responsiveness...
Part I:Current approaches to synthesize π-conjugated polymers are dominated by thermally driven, transition-metal-mediated reactions. Herein we7 show that electron-deficient Grignard monomers readily polymerize under visible-light irradiation at room temperature in the absence of a catalyst. The product distribution can be tuned by the wavelength of irradiation based on the absorption...
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a gas-phase synthesis technique employed to manufacture thin films and metallic nanoparticles of various compositions and sizes, as well as individual, isolated species on various supports. An understanding of the dynamic surface chemistry that takes place during various ALD processes is vitally important for achieving...
In the United States, allergic disease affects approximately 60 million people and impacts more people every year. While prevalence of allergic disease has steadily increased, there has concurrently been an increase in rates of metabolic syndrome—characterized by increased abdominal girth, decreased sensitivity to insulin, and higher levels of circulating blood...
This dissertation aims to rethink how contemporary feminism might grapple with complicity, cooptation, and the concomitant failure of feminist successes through a frame other than paradox. Arguing that the paradox frame locks us into a set of “dead ends,” I shift to an orientation toward spaces between. Through sustained engagement...
The past decade has seen the rapid progress of deep learning, which becomes a game-changing technique in different data-intensive domains, with the availability of large scale data, cost-effective computing hardware and more advanced learning theory and algorithms. Despite of the rapid progress of deep learning methods in daily-life applications, such...
Cobalt(III) Schiff-base complexes (Co(III)-sb) have been utilized in the literature as antibacterial, antiviral, and inhibitory agents. Recent work has utilized their ability to displace endogenous metals from metalloproteins that exhibit aberrant gain of function pathologies in human disease. Specifically, in this dissertation Co(III)-sb has been applied as inhibitors of pathogenic...
This dissertation theorizes and examines the revival of interest in figure painting (renwuhua) in Republican China (1911–49). I argue that, in this period, figure painting assumed a central role to painters who sought to reform Chinese art, which was commonly understood as “declining.” This investigation will focus on the achievements...
This dissertation reinterprets Michel Foucault’s theory of sovereignty to offer an explanation and critique of repressive state violence. Commentators typically locate Foucault’s contribution to political thought in concepts of power that are irreducible to sovereignty or the state. In contrast, I draw on Foucault’s early genealogies of power to argue...
Understanding and controlling microbial community assembly is critical to developing novel bioprocesses for nutrient and energy recovery from wastewater and preparing for global climate change. As molecular biology tools and DNA sequencing improve, microbial ecologists can progress from answering qualitative questions about “who is there, and what are they doing?”...
SAMDI-MS (Self-Assembled Monolayers for MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry) couples the use of chemically-defined self-assembled monolayers of alkane thiolates on gold surfaces with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for rapid characterization of the surfaces. Reactions performed on the surfaces can be quantified directly by detection of the reaction substrates and products. This rapid detection...
Transnational adoption from Asia to the U.S. was institutionalized in the 1950s, when the Korean War left an estimated 100,000 Korean children orphaned or displaced. At the time, the practice was situated as a form of emergency rescue, an act of win-win humanitarianism in which average Americans could take part...
The goal of this thesis is to develop an experimental setup to evaluate and analyze the effect of crack-parallel stress on the fracture response of materials. In standard fracture test configurations, the crack-parallel normal stress is negligible. However, a new type of experiment, briefly named the gap test, revealed that...
Epigenetics is the study of chromatin-based events that regulate gene expression without the change of DNA sequence, including DNA methylation, histone modification and chromatin remodeling. Epigenetic regulators are encoded to modify chromatin in a highly regulated and dynamic manner. A growing number of studies have suggested the dysregulation of epigenetic...
Automated driving has become a very popular topic in the recent years and is becoming more and more of a reality. In this new trend, High Definition (HD) maps play an important role in many ways that will provide a safer and more efficient driving experience, especially in terms of...