Shared emotions are associated with thriving in relationships (Anderson, Keltner & John, 2004; Gonzaga, Campos, & Bradbury, 2007), and greater liking for new individuals (Larson & Gardner, 2015). However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are not well-understood. Emotions are fleeting experiential states and, seen through this lens, finding someone...
Last two decades have seen a surge of interests in approaches that leverage network structure in machine learning models. For many networks, not only the connections of the network but also the network attributes, such as node attributes and dyadic attributes, are observed. This heterogeneity in networks raises new challenges...
At the interface of two dissimilar entities, something novel can emerge. This idea has driven a vast amount of fruitful work on semiconductor interfaces, and given us the digital revolution. In the past decade, remarkable progress has been made in the synthesis and understanding of interfaces between oxides, opening up...
Fused polycyclic scaffolds with three-dimensional complexity from an array of stereocenters compose the core structures of countless natural product families with a variety of desirable biological activity. The development of synthetic methods and strategies to afford rapid access to these structures is essential to expose a wealth of untapped biological...
This dissertation is a mixed-methods study of municipal building inspections in Chicago. Existing literature demonstrates links between housing, urban governance, perceptions of dilapidated buildings, and racial and economic stratification. Less is known, however, about the intermediary actors who work at the nexus of on-the-ground interpretative processes and city-wide regulation. Building...
This dissertation provides an explanatory framework to explain the variations in battle-spaces, alternatively seen as wartime authority configurations across time and space. I place these variations along types of states along their functional dimension, and their respective forms of state power on the ground. I argue that these variations are...
This book has to do with the period in which Britain’s mandate in Palestine ended, the state of Israel was born, and the Arab refugee problem originated. Many historians have written on these matters, and many more will do so. I arrived in Haifa, Palestine, on 23 December 1947, and...
Understanding the chemical complexity of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and how chemical, biological, and physical cues bring changes to the behavior of cells has remained a grand challenge. Addressing these questions requires not only achieving systematic control over the interactions between cells and the ECM but also utilizing suitable analytical...
Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) materials are of great interest as a low-cost material the purposes of achieving wide spread, solar energy adoption. However, a limiting factor in materials development is the ability to proactively determine the active layer thin film morphology that largely informs device performance. Thus, understanding how materials design...
Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) materials are of great interest as a low-cost material the purposes of achieving wide spread, solar energy adoption. However, a limiting factor in materials development is the ability to proactively determine the active layer thin film morphology that largely informs device performance. Thus, understanding how materials design...
The increasing production and use of nanoscale transition metal oxide materials in the next generation of consumer electronics and electric vehicle batteries, specifically lithium intercalation compounds, may lead to environmental release and exposure, with poorly understood biological outcomes. As the toxicity mechanism of nanomaterials may vary fundamentally from their bulk...
While college attendance, persistence, and completion has consistently increased since the 1970s, increases in attainment were greater for students from high-income families compared their low-income counterparts. As a result, low-income students are the least likely to attend or complete college. While college costs and poorer academic preparation are often barriers...
To aid in the successful execution of goal-directed walking (discrete movement from a start location to an end target) the central nervous system forms a predictive motor plan. For the motor plan to be effective, it must be adapted in response to environmental changes. Despite motor planning being inherent to...
What sets this initiative apart is the commitment to deepening ties between African and non-African institutions and making them more seamless and routine. There is a need to make this case to US institutions - lobbying them to digitize/provide open access, creating relationships with African institutions, prioritizing partnerships and academic...
The neural crest is a unique, vertebrate specific stem cell population that gives rise to a diverse set of derivatives in the embryo, including sensory neurons, glial cells, melanocytes, and craniofacial structures such as cartilage, bone, and connective tissue. Unlike other multipotent stem cell populations present at this time, neural...
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have not been effective for immunologically “cold” tumors, such as prostate cancer, which contain scarce tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. We hypothesized that select tissue-specific and immunostimulatory bacteria can potentiate these immunotherapies. Here we show that a patient-derived prostate-specific microbe, CP1, in combination with anti-PD-1 immunotherapy, increased survival and...
Developing an interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an important precursor to pursuing a STEM career. Given the United States’ relatively low standings in science and math compared to similar industrialized nations and its desire to be competitive in an increasingly STEM-based global economy, policy makers are...
Chapter 1 examines the question of how to sell a firm when potential buyers do not know how many other potential buyers there are. The seller can choose to sell the firm either through bilateral negotiations or through an auction. In equilibrium, if the seller observes the number of buyers...
This multi-study dissertation investigates the nature of musical independence in the instrumental large ensemble and the instructional practices that are used to foster its development. The dissertation is comprised of three separate papers, each addressing different aspects or approaches to the practice of independent musicianship in large ensembles. While each...
This thesis is naturally split into two parts. In the first part, we develop the theory of multi- linear algebra for Tate objects over exact categories endowed with an exact tensor product. We study all possible choices of tensor product and we give a geometric interpretation of the results. In...
This dissertation provides a socio-spatial account of black anarchism that emerges from a central concern with the practice of slaves’ jumps from the slave ship. It demonstrates how a substantive theoretical attention to these jumps generates possibilities for thinking about black radical politics differently. Through death, mobility, destruction, and escape,...
There is a shortage of research models that adequately represent the unique mucosal environment of human ectocervical tissue, which has limited the development of new therapies for treating infection or cancer. I hypothesized that engineering the microenvironment of ectocervical tissue with in vivo-like endocrine and paracrine support, would enable squamous...
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder affecting approximately 1 in 10 reproductive-age women and remains the leading cause of female factor infertility among women of childbearing age. PCOS presents with features of hyperandrogenism, irregular menses and polycystic ovaries. Twin and family studies have demonstrated high heritability estimates...
In this thesis, we study arithmetic phenomena exhibited by polynomial dynamical systems on the projective line. Specifically, given a number field $K$, we are interested in the arithmetic of orbits of points $\alpha\in K$ under polynomials $\phi\in K[z]$. Given such a polynomial $\phi$ of degree $d\ge2$, we prove a lower...
This dissertation contains three chapters on two broad topics in labor economics: the determinants of early career outcomes and the impact of an aging population (and related policies). The first chapter investigates how the retirement slowdown among older Americans has affected the labor market prospects of younger Americans in recent...
This dissertation demonstrates how related initiatives to reform narcotics laws and protect consumers from dangerous medicines – taking hold in the 1950s and institutionalized in the mid-1960s – created the foundation for a massive expansion of federal policing of illicit drugs. Centered on the history of the Food and Drug...
The projected increase in the use of nanomaterials raises concerns about adverse impacts new technologies utilizing these materials may have on the environment. These concerns can be addressed from a chemical perspective by studying how emerging nanomaterials interact with biological systems. Fundamentally, the key interactions for nanomaterial uptake into a...
Sparked by the isolation of graphene in 2004, the research community has developed a family of 2D materials with distinct functionalities, enabling rapid demonstrations of entirely 2D devices with applications in energy, electronics, sensors and medicine. The desire to capitalize on the fantastic properties of 2D materials motivates ongoing efforts...
I describe a novel panel dataset on the U.S. primary care physician population, as well as the institutions and measurement strategies used to study physician behavior in the marketplace. I document several facts on primary care markets and supplier location decisions, the types of patients physicians accept, the scale of...
Marathons are long distance running events with many participants, often organized in heavily populated cities. A key component in marathon planning operations is the design of the marathon course to be followed during the race. In addition to the technical requirements regarding length and incline change, marathon courses must satisfy...
Anisotropic quasi-brittle materials represent a large group of geological and structural materials commonly seen in various engineering applications. A thorough study of their behaviors, especially anisotropic elastic response, damage, and fracturing behaviors, are essential for better understanding, optimizing, and utilizing their engineering performance. Two representative anisotropic quasi-brittle materials, shale rocks...
Noncentrosymmetry (NCS) is a requirement for many properties such as piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity, and nonlinear optical activity like second harmonic generation which are desirable for a variety of commercial applications. One method which has been employed to successfully synthesize NCS compounds utilizes acentric anionic groups, such as oxyfluoride metal complexes, as...
High-pressure and high-temperature laboratory experiments on the physical properties of mantle minerals provide a window into the Earth’s interior chemistry and geodynamics. The measurement of material density, compressibility, and elasticity at high P-T conditions provides thermoelastic parameters necessary to model seismic velocities in the Earth’s mantle at regional and global...
Endogenous growth theory has long recognized innovation as one of the key drivers of growth. Understanding what factors encourage or discourage innovative activities and how, in turn, these affect our communities is therefore crucial to inspire policies that promote inclusive growth. This dissertation tries to broaden our comprehension of the...
Dark matter represents one of the most sought after discoveries in physics, and leading theories predict that extremely low-background detectors could be sensitive to nuclear recoils from dark matter interactions. The PICO collaboration uses bubble chambers to look for the energy deposition from such an interaction. However, unknown backgrounds have...
This dissertation examines how the experience of migration and the context of reception influences religious ideas and practices. Using the experience of two branches of a Colombian Evangelical church, one in Miami, Florida and one in Madrid, Spain, I explore the extent to which context of reception and the experiences...
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...
This dissertation explores the relationship between how teams form and what they need to perform. It adopts the perspective that technology is fundamental to organizing in modern workplaces and examines how technology may both enhance and constrain teamwork. By adopting this perspective, two questions naturally follow. First, how do teams...
Post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) and, more specifically, RNA interference (RNAi) include the processes by which a small double-stranded RNA, 19 to 22 nucleotides (nts) long, negatively regulates the expression and/or translatability of a target RNA, which harbors reverse complementarity to that small RNA, by recruiting the so-called RNA-Induced Silencing Complex...
This dissertation studies the forces that drive the allocation of patients to hospitals in the United States. Even though it seems there is some market discipline in the hospital industry, we observe that many patients go to hospitals far from the quality frontier and we still do not have a...
Hybrid polymer-peptide conjugates are receiving increasing attention as a promising class of biomaterials. Polymer conjugated coiled-coil peptides are a new addition to these designer macromolecules. Even though a variety of experiments and computational simulations have shown stabilization of helices upon polymer conjugation, there are still many questions regarding the conformations...
The ability of a machine to synthesize textual output in a form of human language is a long-standing goal in a field of artificial intelligence and has wide-range of applications such as spell correction, speech recognition, machine translation, abstractive summarization, etc. The statistical approach to enable such ability mainly involves...
The holomorphic sigma-model is a field theory that exists in any complex dimension that describes the moduli space of holomorphic maps from one complex manifold to another. We introduce the general notion of a holomorphic field theory, which is one that is sensitive to the underlying complex structure of the...
The most promising probe into compact binary formation and evolution will be the populations resolved by both gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) observatories. As with any observation, theoretical models must be characterized to gain a fuller understanding of the underlying physics governing the observed population. Investigation of these models...
homotopy theory studies a parametrization of stable homotopy theory in terms of algebraic objects called formal groups. Transchromatic homotopy theory is specifically concerned with the behavior of spaces and cohomology theories as these formal groups change in height. We pursue a central transchromatic object, the K(n − 1)- localization of...
This dissertation examines the political thought of Sheldon Wolin. Perceiving a crisis of technocratic liberalism in the postwar period, Wolin develops a critique of modernity that emphasizes the loss both of political vision and of local cultures and traditions. His subsequent radical democratic theory identifies a contrapuntal American tradition of...
As many retailers are extending their channels to both online and offline, consumers nowadays are increasingly buying products across different shopping platforms, ranging from traditional catalog and retail channels to Internet stores. Thus, it is important to understand how the purchasing experiences and the factors surrounding the multichannel shopping environment...
Firms are facing reputational crises with increasing regularity. Despite this, relatively little is known about what types of firm actions consumers will judge to be reprehensible, and how firms should respond once a reputational crisis has occurred. In this dissertation I focus on two specific topics related to firm reputational...
We prove a uniform scalar curvature bound for solutions of the conical Kahler-Ricci flow when the twisted canonical bundle is semiample and the cone divisor is obtained from the associated Iitaka-Kodaira fibration. In the course of the proof we establish uniform bounds for the potential of the metric and its...
The first two chapters of my thesis are related to health economics, and explore how individual decisions affecting health can be impacted by different factors, including by government policy. The third chapter of my thesis (coauthored with Heyu Xiong) focuses on public economics in the Chinese context.
>In the first...
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative pathogen that frequently causes severe nosocomial infections through expression of virulence factors, evasion of immune clearance and resistance to therapeutic antimicrobial agents. These factors have led the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) to identify P....
This dissertation examined gender differences in youth externalizing comorbidity via three studies. Study 1 was a meta-analytic review that provided the first robust estimate of gender differences in youth externalizing comorbidity. Studies 2 and 3 unpacked these gender differences at two levels of analysis: personality (Study 2 and 3) and...
outh in detention are at an increased risk for psychiatric disorders compared with youth in the general population. Hispanic youth have particularly pressing mental health needs in detention and as they age. Studies examining psychiatric disorders among Hispanic youth in detention do not differentiate by ethnicity; rather they consider Hispanics...
This dissertation proposes a new hyperpath-based truck equilibrium assignment model with bidding. Unique from other trucking assignment models that examine assigning trucks for a large fleet of vehicles under a company's control, this model considers the case of many independent but homogeneous carriers that are competing for loads by bidding...
etal particles at the nanoscale display unique physical, chemical, and optical properties corresponding to their size, shape, and ligands. These factors can be manipulated to target specific biomedical applications, such as drug delivery and sensing, through functionalized surfaces. The development of specialized synthetic methods for the precise control of nanoparticle...
Background: Evidence supporting a bidirectional relationship between depression and recurrent cardiovascular disease (CVD) appears strong, but there remains a need to better characterize the role of depression in CVD risk and cardiovascular health (CVH) promotion, especially in the context of comorbid risk factors such as cigarette smoking. In the present...
In May 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration approved daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for adolescents under age 18. Although this is an important step toward HIV prevention for adolescents assigned male at birth who have sex with males (AMSM), limited research exists to gauge their awareness of PrEP...
The ongoing generational shift whereby millennials are overtaking baby boomers as the largest generation in the U.S. population, along with the technology-fueled evolution of transportation patterns, offer opportunities for policy makers to leverage changing behavior and build a more sustainable future. Much research has emerged seeking to understand whether the...
Plasmonic nanostructures are capable of trapping and confining light at the nanoscale, leading to interesting optical phenomena involving enhanced light-matter interactions. These responses arise in two forms: surface plasmon polaritons propagating on the surface of metal films and localized surface plasmons confined to the surface of metal nanoparticles. Plasmonic modes...
Ecological restoration is a land management tool for biological conservation in areas where ecosystems are subject to a suite of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. This approach is particularly critical in urban areas where disturbances are often frequent and substantial. Restoration projects aim to re-establish an entire ecosystem, including the native...
Both the timing (i.e., ‘when’) and amount (i.e., ‘how much’) of language exposure have been shown to affect language-learning outcomes. Monolinguals and (most) bilinguals confound these two factors of early exposure and extended exposure (i.e., their first-acquired language is their most used or dominant language), making it difficult to isolate...
Plasmonic nanocavities consisting of metal nanoparticle (NP) arrays support surface lattice resonances (SLR) or lattice plasmon, emerged as an exciting platform for manipulating light-matter interactions at the nanoscale. Their recent prominence can be attributed to a combination of desirable photonic and plasmonic characteristics: high electromagnetic field enhancements extended over large...
The isolation of graphene by the simple Scotch-tape method led to the discovery of many novel two-dimensional (2D) materials. Since then, many new material growth and characterization techniques were proposed and many new phenomena were observed in layered 2D materials. Black phosphorous (BP) and topological insulator(TI) \ce{Bi2Se3} are examples of...
My dissertation takes as its point of departure the commonly held premise that WWI forever changed the horizon of French literary production. While deemed indescribable, many authors did attempt to represent the battlefields and aftermath of WWI in literature. Distinct from previous heroic accounts of war, these descriptions had to...
Unstructured data like text is plentiful and possibly contains valuable insights leading to a better decision-making process. Manually obtaining these insights can be costly and time-consuming. Text mining, also known as Text analytics, is developed to derive meaningful information from textual data. It is widely applied in various domains such...
The goal of this thesis is to develop practical algorithms with sound theoretical properties for three different subfields of nonlinear optimization: (i) Optimization Algorithms for Supervised Machine Learning; (ii) Derivative-Free Optimization; and (iii) Distributed Optimization. As such, the thesis is divided into three main chapters.
The focus of Chapter 2...
The symbiotic relationships between ectomycorrhizal fungi (EcM) and host plants are vital for the survival and diversification of each group. Here we introduce the Suillus / Pinaceae model system to address evolutionary relationships between EcM fungi and host plants. Genus Suillus has higher host specificity than other groups of EcM...
Up to two thirds of individuals with chronic hemiparetic stroke suffer life-long residual impairments to their paretic hands, affecting their independence and quality of life. These impairments stem initially from losses of direct corticospinal projections that result in an increased reliance on indirect bulbospinal pathways. This reliance on the indirect...
Computational catalysis is a challenging discipline because of the complexity of catalytic particles and the large number of reaction pathways that may occur in a given reaction. This thesis addresses these challenges with two strategies. First, an appropriate molecular model is defined that captures adequate physical and chemical details while...
Between 1815 and 1830, the western Atlantic experienced a surge in maritime piracy. The United States was confronted with the ancient specter of hostis humani generis, the enemy of all, which threatened the safety and prosperity of the young maritime nation. Questions emerged: Who was responsible for policing international waters?...
A central question in neuroscience is how the brain plans movements. Here, I apply neural data analysis and machine learning methods to better understand both eye and arm movement planning, in particular focusing on naturalistic settings. First, I built encoding models to investigate the factors that led to neural activity...
Two-dimensional materials’ “all-surface” architecture presents a new paradigm for investigations into electron confinement effects and surface phenomena. However, synthesizing, characterizing, and ultimately engineering the properties of 2D materials represents a formidable challenge. This thesis presents several cases of isolating novel 2D materials via vapor-based syntheses. Vapor-based syntheses allow for reproducible...
Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) have been the most prominent electrochemical energy storage technology over the past decades and enabled the wireless evolution of portable electronic devices. Yet the expanded use of renewable but intermittent energy sources coupled with increasing demand for electric transportation vehicles put forward requirements to electrochemical energy...
Transcription by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) in metazoans is regulated in multiple steps, including preinitiation complex (PIC) formation, initiation, Pol II escape, productive elongation, cotranscriptional RNA processing, and termination. Genome-wide studies have demonstrated that the phenomenon of promoter-bound Pol II pausing is widespread, especially for genes that respond to...
Mucolipins are lysosomal cation channels, with high permeability to calcium ions, that are thought to regulate endolysosomal trafficking. While mucolipin 1 is expressed in all cells, mucolipin 3 is expressed in a small subset of cells (i.e. neonatal intestinal enterocytes, cochlear hair cells and marginal cells of stria vascularis). This...
The diverse reactivity patterns, unique structural features imparted by the cumulated double bonds, and possibility of axial chirality have garnered allenes considerable attention in organic synthesis. Numerous methods have been described in the literature to afford optically active allenes starting from chiral starting materials, yet catalytic and asymmetric methods to...
Dictating Manhood: Refiguring Masculinity in Haitian Literature of Dictatorship, 1968-2010 explores the literary representations of masculinity under dictatorship. Through the works of Marie Vieux Chauvet, René Depestre, Frankétienne, Georges Castera, Kettly Mars and Dany Laferrière, my dissertation examines the effects of dictatorship on Haitian masculinity and assesses whether extreme oppression...
Related article: McGrath, M.C., Gerber, A.S. Experimental evidence for a pure collaboration effect. Nat Hum Behav 3, 354–360 (2019) doi:10.1038/s41562-019-0530-9
The thesis contains all four chapters of my Ph.D. research on deep learning and text mining. The first chapter, "Temporal Topic Analysis with Endogenous and Exogenous Processes'', proposes a topic model which mines temporal economy-related documents with an exogenous economic indicator, and finds the relationship between document topics and the...
The discovery and tailoring of new useful organic molecules for applications such as medicine and materials science is highly driven by meaningful developments in chemical methodology, and some of the most impactful advances have invoked catalysis to increase efficiency and specificity. N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have continuously occupied a prominent space...
Computational models greatly benefit metabolic engineering efforts by helping to elucidate experimental observations and predict engineering targets for improved cellular performance. Additionally, supplementing experimental efforts with computational modeling can reduce the loss of time and resources in the lab by narrowing down testing conditions. In optimal cases, computational models can...