VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Living the middle life, secular priests and their communities in thirteenth-century Genoa [electronic resource]
Keywords: History.

Secular priests occupied a central place within thirteenth-century European society, carrying out important duties within the institutional Church, as well as participating in the lay and religious communities around them. This dissertation uses secular sources--the private registers of public notaries--to show that priests in the port city of Genoa entered into economic, spiritual, and social transactions with a wide range of people. In doing so, they built complex and durable relationships that provided ample opportunities for the exchange of ideas and values with the women, men, and other clerics with whom they shared their lives. If a major trend in scholarship on the Middle Ages over the past seventy years has been to emphasize the religiosity of lay people's everyday world, then this dissertation looks the other direction, to explore the so-called secularity of religious institutions and their priests. Ultimately, the notarial registers prove that Genoa's priests were not mere facilitators of lay religiosity or agents of ecclesiastical power; rather they played a multivalent role in the intermediary space between "lay" and "religious" communities. Chapter One provides an overview of Genoa's ecclesiastical structure and demonstrates how private notarial registers can provide useful perspectives on secular priests' lives. Chapter Two investigates how priests' participation in the real estate and credit markets helped weave them into the fabric of Genoese neighborhoods. Chapter Three uses the notarial registers to show priests carrying out their core professional duties: tending to the health of souls in their communities. Chapter Four demonstrates priests' important intermediary position by examining their service as executors, agents, arbiters, and judges. Chapter Five explores how secular priests embodied the Genoese Church overseas in Genoa's network of trading settlements around the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Finally, the Conclusion considers the broader contours of priests' social networks, identifying trends that cut across the heuristic boundaries that structure earlier chapters. It also summarizes the value of the private registers as sources for ecclesiastical and clerical history.
Looking for leveraging [electronic resource] : teacher utilization of a residential science camp to enhance their capacity to teach science
Keywords: Education.

Abstract This study investigated how teachers leverage a multi-day, residential, environmental education program to expand their capacity to teach science through creation of pedagogical links between the classroom and the program. The notion of leveraging was characterized by the presence of identifiable teaching and learning goals constructed by the teacher; the creation of links that supported embedding of the program into a deliberate, purposeful sequence of classroom curriculum; and the creation of links under a subject-matter based conceptual umbrella. Seven case studies were performed that examined the school environment, influences on the teacher, and goals articulated by teachers for the program. Pedagogical links created by the teacher between the program and the classroom were analyzed to determine the teachers' motivations and whether the links reflected the characteristics of leveraging. A cross-case analysis was performed to detect trends in teacher practice. Only one out of seven cases exhibited the three characteristics of leveraging and analysis showed that this teachers' practice did expand his capacity to teach science. Influences that appeared to positively impact leveraging practice included teacher autonomy, academic training in science, and willingness to adopt the program curriculum as critical to his student learning goals, and to adapt the program to meet his teaching goals. The role of the program provider is also discussed as well as the location of the program within an intersection of informal and formal education.
Low frequency noise in advanced CMOS technology [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering

The main topic of this thesis is to investigate the CMOS scaling impacts on low-frequency noise properties. Such effects come from size (channel length/width) scaling, adoption of advanced doping profiles (halo pocket implantation), incorporation of alternative gate oxide (high-[Kappa]) and channel materials (SiGe). Device-level simulation capabilities have been developed to investigate low-frequency noise behavior. The numerical model is based on the impedance field method; it accounts for a trap-induced carrier number fluctuation and a Hooge mobility fluctuation. Simulations based on such models have been conducted for high-[Kappa], SiGe and small gate area transistors, and the results have been correlated with experimental data, which reveals the important role of the CMOS scaling in the low-frequency noise behavior. In the study of high-[Kappa] gate dielectric it is found that carrier number fluctuation becomes the dominant noise source and the non-uniform trap energy distribution is critical to explain low frequency noise behavior. The negative impact of substrate halo doping on the low frequency noise is also studied quantitatively. Low frequency noise characteristics of Si/SiGe/Si hetero-channel MOSFETs (SiGe MOSFETs) are discussed; the study has been obtained in terms of the noise level dependence on gate bias, drain currents, and body bias, revealing the important role of the dual channels in the low-frequency noise behavior of Si/SiGe/Si hetero-channel devices. Low frequency noise characteristics in small gate area MOSFETs are studied in detail. Due to the ever decreasing gate area, the number of charge carriers in a MOSFET channel is continually going down, and single-electron low frequency noise phenomena (random telegraph noise, RTN) becomes visible, which is quite different from 1/f noise in standard MOSFETs. It is found that random telegraph noise is directly linked to Positive Bias Temperature Instability (PBTI): PBTI and RTN originate from the same physical process, charge trapping in the high-[Kappa] dielectric. The correlation between Id- and Ig-RTN is clearly observed. Ig-RTN is directly related to physical trapping or de-trapping and the Id-RTN reflects sensitivity to charge trapping as determined by gm. This dissertation has explored advanced TCAD simulations to overcome obstacles in low frequency noise and explained a comprehensive view and the underlying physics for low frequency noise in advanced CMOS technology.
Low-latency and robust peer-to-peer video streaming [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems have emerged as a promising and cost-effective transport solution for streaming video to a group of users in the Internet. In the P2P architecture, users not only consume video, but also forward it to other users. Thus, P2P systems scale better than client-server systems as users bring resources to the system. The challenge is to achieve low-latency and robust video dissemination by overcoming a number of adversarial aspects and challenges -- peer dynamics, heterogeneous uplink bandwidth of peers, heterogeneous hardware and capabilities of peers, and peer-wise connection restrictions due to NATs/firewalls. This dissertation presents Stanford Peer-to-Peer Multicast (SPPM), a P2P video streaming system. SPPM is designed to achieve low-latency and robust streaming by constructing an overlay of multiple complementary trees and dynamically rearranging the position of peers by Active Overlay Management in a distributed fashion. Next, we extend SPPM for providing playback control to users by time-shifted streaming. To perform time-shifted streaming, peers store past portions of video and forward them to other users when requested, thereby reducing server load. To further alleviate server load, we propose fast prefetching, by which peers can disseminate content quickly. Finally, we present a way to accommodate mobile users. Video transcoding is often required to adapt video for the mobile users. We propose interleaved distributed transcoding (IDT), which allows a video stream to be transcoded at multiple peers that are more capable than mobile users. IDT is shown not only to reduce computation required at a peer but also to achieve higher error resilience in case of peer failure or packet loss.
Magnetic coupled spin-torque device [electronic resource] : spin-based non-volatile logic device and applications
Keywords: Electrical Engineering

Power consumption has become the key constraint in electronics design, since the MOSFET threshold voltage (Vth) and hence the supply voltage (Vdd) can no longer be scaled. This trend calls for new device concepts such as Spintronic devices that are fundamentally different from CMOS. However, the MOSFET-type Spintronics transistor has not been demonstrated yet due to the technical difficulties in injecting, transporting and detecting spin information. In this work, I present an alternative Spintronics logic device, Magnetic Coupled Spin Torque Device (MCSTD), which is free from spin-injection, transport and detection problems. It leverages spin-torque transfer effect and magnetic dipole coupling between spin-torque devices to modulate its magnetization reversal energy barrier. Its device switching speed, signal inversion and signal level restoration capabilities will be discussed. For device-to-device level spin communication, MCSTD uses a novel interconnection technique that efficiently converts spin (or magneto-resistance) information to current amplitude difference information, which is then converted back to spin information at the subsequent gates. In micro-magnetic simulations, MCSTD-based NAND, NOR, XOR gates and a three-stage ring oscillator have been demonstrated to estimate realistic device speed and power consumption. The fabrication of 20nm gap MCSTDs has been successfully completed and demonstrated the input dependent switching voltage modulation, i.e., switching voltage of MCSTD gate depends on the magnetic orientations of the input spin-torque devices. The amount of voltage shifts ranged between 40~300mV, which is well above thermal fluctuations. Non-volatility in logic device such as MCSTD opens up very unique potential applications in future power management techniques and smart sensor technologies. For example, MCSTDs can replace SRAMs and pass gate transistors in reconfigurable logics such as Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Instant-on/off nature of MCSTD enables low overhead system-level power gating scheme for embedded devices. Also, MCSTD can be used as a magnetic sensor with in-situ logic operations for error-resilient DNA microarray sensors. This work also explored other disruptive low-power device and system solutions such as Graphene nano-ribbon /Carbon nanotube based heterojunction Tunneling FET (Chap.8) and Error Resilient System Architecture for Probabilistic Applications (Chap.9).
Magnetic nanoparticle-based technologies for lab-on-a-chip applications [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering

Lab-on-a-Chip devices are attractive for medical diagnostics due to their ability to perform laboratory tasks on small scales. This manuscript explores magnetic nanoparticle-based technologies for low-power, remote actuation in Lab-on-a-Chip systems. Two specific applications -- microfluidic pumping and cell separation -- are investigated. First, chemistry-independent microfluidic pumping using magnetic nanoparticles suspended within a fluid has been demonstrated. Magnetic circuits to generate magnetic field gradients for actuating superparamagnetic nanoparticles in fluids have been fabricated, and changes in fluid velocities when the magnetic circuits are applied have been measured. Results show that the fluid velocity in a microchannel increases 30 [mu]m/sec when a magnetic field gradient of ~3 T/m is applied, and 10 -- 70 [mu]m/sec when a magnetic field gradient of ~5 T/m is applied. The magnetic, optical, and mechanical properties of a magnetic polymer that is composed of SU-8 polymer embedded with nickel nanoparticles (SU8-Ni) have also been characterized. Results show the SU8-Ni composites exhibit weak ferromagnetic behavior and saturate at magnetic fields around 0.2 T, the transmittance of light through SU8-Ni decreases with increasing Ni concentrations, and SU8-Ni has a Young's modulus that is 30 times lower and a hardness that is 1400 times lower than that of bulk Ni. A torsional microactuator made of SU8-Ni has been fabricated to demonstrate its use for magnetic actuation, and a model of the SU8-Ni based on deflection experiments of the actuator has been developed. Micropillars made of SU8-Ni have been fabricated for capturing and concentrating breast cancer cells in microchannels. Magnetic field gradients up to 10,000 T/m have been predicted for an SU8-Ni pillar that is 100 [mu]m tall, 100 [mu]m in diameter, and composed of 12.5% Ni by weight. Experimental results show the SU8-Ni micropillars capture magnetic bead-bound cells when an external magnet is applied and release the cells when the magnet is removed.
Magnetohydrodynamics, magnetogenesis, and magnetorotational instabilities with adaptive mesh refinement [electronic resource]
Keywords: Applied Physics

While the presence of magnetic fields seems ubiquitous in cosmic structures of all scales, the mechanisms of their formation are still debated. Using the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) code Enzo, we touch on three major topics in the study of magnetic fields in computational astrophysics. We first describe the features of magnetohydrodynamic algorithms, and develop a technique to computationally maintain the divergence free nature of the magnetic field in an AMR hierarchy. Second, we analyze the generation of magnetic seed fields in protogalaxy formation via a plasma physics phenomenon called the Biermann Battery, and discuss its dependence on turbulence during large scale structure formation in the early universe. Finally, we discuss the magnetorotational instability that causes the saturation of magnetic field generation in differentially rotating objects such as accretion disks. We adapt the shearing box, a local 3D simulation of differentially rotating disks, to the AMR formalism and analyze the resolution and simulation box size dependence of these instabilities.
Making global warming green [electronic resource] : climate change and American environmentalism, 1957-1992
Keywords: History.

"Making Global Warming Green: Climate Change and American Environmentalism, 1957-1992" investigates how global climate change became a major issue in American environmental politics during the second half of the 20th Century. The dissertation focuses on the complex institutional, political, and professional relationships between scientists studying climate and America's professional environmentalists during this tumultuous period. Throughout the early history of global warming, the geographical and chronological scales of climatic and atmospheric change transcended the existing legal and regulatory mechanisms of American environmental politics. Only scientists had the technology and expertise to recognize threats to these novel components of the environment, and their exclusive access all but forced them into a prominent role as environmental advocates. But scientists' particular forms of advocacy often reflected the values and interests of their disciplines more than they did the middle-class quality-of-life concerns at the center of the mainstream American environmental movement. Scientists framed climate change in terms of development and natural resources, and they sought to influence elites in government and at international scientific organizations more than they worked to mobilize the American public. As American environmentalists began to take up the fight against global warming in the 1980s and '90s, they too found themselves trading in the language of scientific consensus and government-sponsored global solutions rather than the locally focused, middle-class consumer values originally at the heart of the movement. More than just a political history of global warming, this research presents a new history of American environmentalism that takes into account the science and politics of an issue that has emerged in the twenty-first century as one of our greatest challenges.
Managing the quality of cost-per-click traffic [electronic resource]
Keywords: Electrical Engineering

Traffic quality is critical to the security and viability of an online advertising network's business. As such, how might an advertising network detect and avoid paying for low-quality traffic? The online advertising market can be modeled as a large, multiplayer game with three classes of players: publishers, advertisers and advertising networks. We focus on cost-per-click (CPC) traffic, and identify two distinct-but-related aspects of click quality: validity and targetedness. Validity refers to whether a click-through is legitimate, whereas targetedness refers to the likelihood that valid clicks become conversions. We study three techniques that influence traffic quality on a network, namely filtering, predictive pricing and revenue sharing. We begin by asking whether it is in an advertising network's interest to filter (i.e., ensure traffic validity) in the first place. This question has been a topic of intense debate in the industry. Our analysis shows definitively that networks do, indeed, have a strong incentive to aggressively filter out invalid traffic. We then consider how a network might use predictive pricing and revenue sharing to attract targeted, high-conversion-rate traffic. We show that effective usage of predictive pricing can yield a competitive edge for a network, and that targetedness has a quantifiable impact on profits. Finally, we study how validity and targetedness can be managed together. What is the relation between filtering, predictive pricing and revenue sharing? We derive efficient, tractable algorithms for computing near-optimal traffic management policies, and also propose strategies to combat publisher click inflation. Perhaps the most important lessons learned from our work are that a) in the online advertising business, traffic quality has a direct impact on profits, and b) traffic quality is often more important than quantity.
Manganese-limitation and TCA cycle regulation of replication via the Sda checkpoint pathway [electronic resource]
Keywords: Biology.

Cells of Bacillus subtilis monitor the status of the chromosome to coordinate the initiation of sporulation with DNA replication and repair. When DNA replication is perturbed, transcription of the gene encoding the replication checkpoint protein -- Sda -- is induced, inhibiting sporulation-specific gene expression. Although the regulation of sda by replication stress has previously been studied using transient and chronic blocks to DNA replication factors as well as DNA damaging agents, other kinds of environmental conditions or changes in metabolism might also perturb DNA replication and thus inhibit sporulation. We performed a genetic screen to look for mutations that activate the sda checkpoint and found that many mutations in central metabolism caused a replication stress that activated Sda expression. We have been characterizing two examples in which the Sda checkpoint is active. In the first example, cells lacking the TCA cycle enzyme citB, encoding aconitase, are defective for initiation of sporulation. In the second example, cells grown into stationary phase in the nutrient rich medium LB do not sporulate unless supplemented with additional manganese. As B. subtilis cells enter into stationary phase in the absence of aconitase or when manganese levels are low, the Sda checkpoint prevents cells from initiating sporulation. Since the Sda checkpoint inhibits the initiation of sporulation when the cells are experiencing problems with DNA replication, these data suggest that Sda prevents cells from sporulating when manganese is limited or in aconitase deficient cells because they are encountering difficulties replicating their DNA and hint that the range of situations under which cells are experiencing such stresses is broader than initially anticipated.
Markov state models for protein and RNA folding [electronic resource]
Keywords: Biophysics.

Understanding the molecular bases of human health could greatly augment our ability to prevent and treat diseases. For example, a deeper understanding of protein folding would serve as a reference point for understanding, preventing, and reversing protein misfolding in diseases like Alzheimer's. Unfortunately, the small size and tremendous flexibility of proteins and other biomolecules make it difficult to simultaneously monitor their thermodynamics and kinetics with sufficient chemical detail. Atomistic Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations can provide a solution to this problem in some cases; however, they are often too short to capture biologically relevant timescales with sufficient statistical accuracy. We have developed a number of methods to address these limitations. In particular, our work on Markov State Models (MSMs) now makes it possible to map out the conformational space of biomolecules by combining many short simulations into a single statistical model. Here we describe our use of MSMs to better understand protein and RNA folding. We chose to focus on these folding problems because of their relevance to misfolding diseases and the fact that any method capable of describing such drastic conformational changes should also be applicable to less dramatic but equally important structural rearrangements like allostery. One of the key insights from our folding simulations is that protein native states are kinetic hubs. That is, the unfolded ensemble is not one rapidly mixing set of conformations. Instead, there are many non-native states that can each interconvert more rapidly with the native state than with one another. In addition to these general observations, we also demonstrate how MSMs can be used to make predictions about the structural and kinetic properties of specific systems. Finally, we explain how MSMs and other enhanced sampling algorithms can be used to drive efficient sampling.
Matrix completion [electronic resource] : fundamental limits and efficient algorithms
Keywords: Electrical Engineering

Low-rank models provide low-dimensional representations capturing the important aspects of data naturally described in matrix form. Examples range from users' preferences on movies to similarities between pairs of items. Naturally, the low-rank representations serve as a tool for data compression and efficient computation. But more importantly, they are used in data analysis to learn hidden structures of the data, which is at the heart of machine learning and data mining. Applications include latent semantic analysis, factor analysis, and clustering high-dimensional data. While singular value decomposition provides an efficient way to construct a low-rank model of a fully observed data matrix, finding a low-rank model becomes challenging when we only have a partial knowledge about the matrix. When we observe a subset of the entries, we show that the singular value decomposition is sub-optimal and can be significantly improved upon. In this work, we investigate the possibility of learning a low-rank model from a partial observation of a data matrix. We develop a novel and efficient algorithm that finds a near-optimal solution. Further, we prove that the proposed algorithm achieves performance close to the fundamental limit under a number of noise scenarios. This provides a solution to many practical problems including collaborative filtering and positioning.