This dissertation is a comparative study of gezaixi (Taiwanese opera) in China and Taiwan. It foregrounds the different, at times conflicting, performance styles and aesthetics of gezaixi on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, which is primarily the result of a long closure (1949-1987) imposed by the two regimes, and...
Polyvalent oligonucleotide functionalized gold nanoparticle conjugates (DNA-AuNPs) possess unusual properties, which derive from their particle and oligonucleotide subunits as well as their three-dimensional architectures. This dissertation explores the role each chemical component plays in the conjugate's architecture and assembly and recognition capabilities. It also describes their application as probes in...
This dissertation examines how producers in the capital city of Burkina Faso manage to generate gains in producing utilitarian goods from scrap materials. Aluminum-smelting, tinsmithing, and tire-workings are three modern trades that have developed with the rising import of scrap supplies and consumer goods from Europe, the Middle East, and...
Early Growth Response genes (Egr1-4) are transcriptional mediators of signals governing growth and differentiation. In sympathetic neuron-derived cell lines, Egr1 is induced by NGF signaling, which is required for sympathetic neuron survival, differentiation and target organ innervation. In the absence of identifiable sympathetic defects in Egr1-deficient mice, we investigated the...
Risk measurement involves estimating some functional of a loss distribution. This calls for nested simulation, in which risk factors are sampled at an outer level of simulation, while the inner level of simulation provides estimates of loss given each realization of the risk factors. Assessing the statistical uncertainty of estimates...
This dissertation traces the influence of Botatwe farmers' hunting, fishing, and foraging activities on economic, political, and social life over the course of three millennia by weaving together evidence from historical linguistics, archaeology, and palaeoclimatology. While the spread and intensification of farming and trade are often used to explain political...
This dissertation examines growth of platinum nanoparticles from vapor deposition on SrTiO3 using a characterization approach that combines imaging techniques and X-ray methods. The primary suite of characterization probes includes atomic force microscopy (AFM), grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy...
In a 1980 campaign speech to veterans, Ronald Reagan declared that the United States suffered from a "Vietnam syndrome." The war in Vietnam, Reagan said, had harmed American political life and made the public wary of the aggressive foreign policies Reagan believed were necessary to win the Cold War. I...
This dissertation explores the reciprocal relationship between international politics and digital computation since the 1960s by examining the first attempts to use computer simulation to credibly forecast our planet’s economic and environmental future on a global scale. In particular, this project offers the first sustained historical analysis of the origins...