VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Sintered CdTe nanocrystal films for optoelectronic applications and the sublimation of CdSe nanorods

Advances in colloidal nanocrystal chemistries have enabled more complex fabrication of nanostructured materials. Colloidal nanocrystals can be easily deposited from solution and used in a variety of optoelectronic applications such as photodetectors and photovoltaics. Colloidal nanocrystals deposited as films act as the light absorbing layer. These films can be used as-is or be sintered into polycrystalline films. Introducing dopant species as a surface species on semiconducting nanocrystals allows controlled doping profiles in sintered films where the dopant preferentially segregates at the grain boundaries. Chloride in CdTe films is one well-known example of this phenomena. The focus of this work is designing chloride-capped CdTe nanocrystal building blocks and sintering these into polycrystalline films with controlled grain structure and therefore doping profiles. Applications investigated for these films are solar cells and photodetectors.

Advisor: Alivisatos, Armand P.
Graves, David B.
Essays on Consumer Neuroscience: Decoding The Mind of The Consumer

Marketing theory and practice have become increasingly customer-centered in recent decades. To that end, marketers, consumer researchers, and the lay public alike have begun to take special interest in how understanding the human brain can help them better understand consumers. Despite advances in knowledge of how the brain represents simple goods such as those involving primary rewards, however, there is great difficulty in extending this understanding to more complex goods typical of modern human society, and in particular how the brain represents the set of intangible characteristics resulting from social and cultural influences, for example, the intangible characteristics captured by a good’s brand. Here we combine newly available machine learning techniques with functional neuroimaging data to characterize the set of processes that give rise to the intangible associations people have with brands. Our findings represent an important advance in the application of neuroscientific methods to consumer research, moving from work focused on cataloguing brain regions associated with marketing stimuli to testing and refining mental constructs central to theories of consumer behavior.

Advisor: Hsu, Ming
Melodrama, Mythology, and Moral Reform: Parsi Drama and Agha Hashra Kashmiri (1879-1935)

Parsi theatre was the first institutionalized attempt in colonial India to consolidate a pan-Indian theatrical public, and doing this necessitated the emergence of particular narrative, performance, and genre codes of melodrama. These productive intersections between the development of colonial national theatre, and the development of melodrama also coincided with the rise of cultural nationalism in early twentieth century colonial India. Parsi theatre therefore became the generative site for imagining, producing and circulating the ideas of a nation and national belongingness through a shared idiom of narrative and performance culture, and the shared experience of a consolidated theatrical public. This dissertation analyzes the convergence of moral reform plots, melodramatic genre, and mythological narratives in Hashra’s plays between 1910 and 1928 to show the rise of nationalist consciousness in Parsi drama, and its contribution towards cultural nationalism in early twentieth century colonial India./nThe plotting strategy in Hashra’s plays, circumscribed by emergent nationalist discourse, is focussed on the narrative of individual moral reform where characters’ duty toward family take precedence over their desire for love and pleasure. Given the centrality of home and family within nationalist consciousness, the plays do not really displace, but merely subsume the task of reforming and liberating a nation; within the more urgent task of reclaiming the protagonist’s self and family. Hashra’s plays examined here belong to the Gandhian phase of nationalist mobilization, where moral reform of the flawed and fallen protagonist serves to illuminate the process by which urban middle class can participate in the project of reforming self, community, and nation. Melodrama as an aesthetic, a genre, as well as a mode emerges in these plays to heighten the emotional drama around moral regulation, and fulfill the persuasive agenda of nationalism led reform. The study shows how modern melodrama in popular Parsi theatre emerged in response to these new nationalist and reformist calibrations in colonial India.

Advisor: Dalmia, Vasudha
Noncommutative generalized Brownian motions with multiple processes

This thesis compiles several results under the general theme of noncommutative generalized Brownian motion with multiple processes./nIn our introduction, Chapter 1, we motivate our results with some background material. Specifically, we provide brief introductions to classical Brownian motion and noncommutative probability theory, and then we connect these two subjects with a discussion of noncommutative Brownian motions./nIn Chapter 2, we expand upon the framework for generalized Brownian motions with multiple processes established by Guta. In particular, we discuss symmetric Fock spaces, colored pair partitions, and colored broken pair partitions. We then prove multidimensional generalizations of some results which were proven by Guta and Maassen in the case of a single process./nIn Chapter 3, we review Thoma’s Theorem on characters of the infinite symmetric group and Vershik and Kerov’s factor representations of symmetric groups. We then recall Bozejko and Guta's work on generalized Brownian motions with one process associated to the infinite symmetric group, focusing on their formula for the joint moments associated to these generalized Brownian motions. We then proceed to consider generalized Brownian motions indexed by a two-element set arise from tensor products of factor rep- resentations of the infinite symmetric group, providing a simple formula for the joint moments in this context./nIn Chapter 4, we consider generalized Brownian motions connected to spherical representations of a pair of infinite symmetric groups. By defining a directed graph associated to a two-colored pair partition, we state and prove a formula for the joint moments connected with these generalized Brownian motion./nIn Chapter 5, we continue the study of the generalized Brownian motions related to spherical functions of infinite symmetric groups, specializing to a one-parameter family of the spherical representations. In this setting, we show that the generalized Brownian motions give bounded operators, and we investigate related von Neumann algebras./nFinally, in Chapter 6, we generalize Guta’s q-product and prove a central limit theorem in the spirit of that of Guta.

Advisor: Voiculescu, Dan-Virgil
Charge Transport In Metal-Organic Frameworks

This dissertation documents efforts to synthesize and measure ionically and electronically conductive porous, three-dimensional metal-organic frameworks. Chapter 1 introduces concepts of conductivity, mixed-valency, measurement techniques and gives a survey of charge-transport in metal-organic and covalent-organic frameworks. Concepts that directed the work detailed in this thesis is given, as is a perspective on possible future avenues to generate conductive metal-organic frameworks and possible applications. Chapter 2 details the attainment of a solid lithium fast-ion conductor by post-synthetic grafting of lithium alkoxides to a metal-organic framework with open metal-sites, Mg2(DOBDC). Chapter 3 shows the synthesis of a novel metal-organic framework Fe2(BDP)3, and its chemical reduction to obtain the compositional series KxFe2(BDP)3 that displays porosity and tunable charge transport as demonstrated by contactless microwave measurements. Chapter 4 investigates this system further and shows the first 4-point and field effect transistor measurements of a metal-organic framework. FET measurements show the effects of sequential reduction on a single crystal device and high electron mobilities. Mössbauer spectroscopy and solid state cyclic voltammetry confirm the high degree of electronic delocalization in the partially reduced material. Chapter 5 shows a new chalcogen-based metal organic framework Fe2(DSBDC)(N,N-DMF)2, isostructural with the known and heavily investigated series of metal-organic frameworks, M2(DOBDC)(SOLVENT)2. Contactless microwave measurements reveal high charge mobilities and pressed pellet measurements indicate intrinsic conductivity, that increases upon oxidation, indicative of p-type conduction. Appendix A shows five novel dipyrazole ligands and five novel dipyrazolate metal-organic frameworks.

Advisor: Long, Jeffrey R.
The Granada Venegas Family, 1431-1643: Nobility, Renaissance and Morisco Identity

In the Spanish city of Granada, beginning with its conquest by Ferdinand and Isabella in/n1492, Christian aesthetics, briefly Gothic, and then classical were imposed on the landscape./nThere, the revival of classical Roman culture took place against the backdrop of Islamic/ncivilization. The Renaissance was brought to the city by its conquerors along with Christianity/nand Castilian law. When Granada fell, many Muslim leaders fled to North Africa. Other elite/nfamilies stayed, collaborated with the new rulers and began to promote this new classical culture.The Granada Venegas were one of the families that stayed, and participated in the Renaissance in Granada by sponsoring a group of writers and poets, and they served the crown in various military capacities. They were royal, having descended from a Sultan who had ruled Granada in 1431. Cidi Yahya Al Nayar, the heir to this family, converted to Christianity prior to the conquest. Thus he was one of the Morisco elites most respected by the conquerors. My dissertation follows Cidi Yahya Al Nayar’s descendants, the Granada Venegas family, in their more than one hundred year quest to join the high nobility of Spain. This quest ended at the court of Philip IV in Madrid when Don Pedro de Granada Venegas was made a Marqúes in 1643. The Granada Venegas were Moriscos, or Muslim converts to Christianity. Most accounts of Morisco history have focused their attention on many Morisco laborers and farmers who tried to keep their cultural and religious traditions alive and who ultimately were expelled from Spain in 1609. This dissertation describes a different sort of Morisco experience—the successful assimilation of elites—which adds complexity to our understanding of this persecuted minority. The Granada Venegas family, as Moriscos, worked hard and successfully to convince their neighbors in Granada, and ultimately the crown in Madrid, that they were loyal servants and devout Christians, worthy of a noble title.

Advisor: Dandelet, Thomas
Sheehan, Jonathan
Leveraging Compliance Monitoring to Improve the Provision of Services for English Learners

Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) is California’s current education compliance monitoring process. Roughly 120 local educational agencies (LEAs) each year are selected to receive a FPM review—half on-site and half online. Through FPM, the California Department of Education (CDE) reviews a variety of categorical programs, including the English learner (EL) program, for compliance with state and federal mandates. LEAs found to be non-compliant (NC) in one or more categorical programs are required to resolve the NC findings within certain timelines or, potentially, face state fiscal sanctions./nThis comparative case study explored the responses to FPM by district leaders from two urban school districts selected via a purposive sampling approach. In particular, this study investigated whether LEAs leverage FPM to improve the provision of services to English learners and, in particular, English language development (ELD) instruction./nMy conceptual framework posits that the different responses by district leaders to the various forms of education accountability regimes I identify can be explained, in part, to their position on various conceptions that, ultimately, influence their willingness and their capacity—integrity serving as a mitigating factor. These responses that can be grouped into three categories: leveraged compliance, contrived compliance, or non-compliance./nAs predicted by my conceptual framework, I found contrasting findings across the two districts for predictable reasons, or, theoretical replication. The Puente Verde USD had a high level of willingness to be responsive to FPM. In comparison, Windy Hills USD’s ideological stance on ELD—incongruent with the CDE’s—coupled with their integrity to do what they felt was the right thing, inhibited their willingness to be as responsive to FPM. Additionally, whilst both LEAs had relatively high levels of capacity to implement EL programs, Windy Hills’ lower absorptive capacity constrained further capacity building./nAlthough compliance monitoring, like FPM, is often seen as a bureaucratic exercise, some LEAs are able to seize the opportunity to leverage it to improve services, while others, even when possessing relatively high levels of capacity may not. Oftentimes, compliance with FPM is seen as a simple bimodal response. What this study found is that it is much more nuanced.

Advisor: Gifford, Bernard R
CMOS Magnetic Particle Flow Cytometer

Neutrophils, a class of white blood cells, are our body’s first line of defense against invading pathogens. When the number of neutrophils in blood drops to 200cells/$\mu$L, it leads to a critical clinical condition called neutropenia. Currently, optical flow cytometry is the most common and powerful technique used to diagnose neutropenia, but the centralized nature of the test, time-consuming sample preparation and high cost prevent real-time modification of treatment regimens./nIn this thesis, we propose an approach of using magnetic labels to tag and detect cells that allows us to design a low cost point-of-care flow cytometer to diagnose neutropenia. The cytometer cartridge integrates a gravity driven microfluidic channel with a CMOS sensor chip that detects magnetically labeled cells as they flow over it./nThe sensor combines an on-chip excitation coil that magnetizes the labels and a pick-up coil that detects them. The high frequency RF signal from the sensor is down-converted and amplified by on-chip receiver circuitry, which has been optimized to maximize the signal to noise ratio. The functionality of the cytometer is demonstrated with SKBR3 cancer cells labeled with 1$\mu$m magnetic labels using streptavidin-biotin chemistry. The SKBR3 cells are used in lieu of neutrophils as they can be cultured in a laboratory setting and pose minimal bio-hazard. Furthermore, the high frequency operation of the sensor enables classification of two types of magnetic labels, which is necessary to obtain absolute cell-counts.

Advisor: Boser, Bernhard E
Translation and the Experience of Modernity: A History of German Turkish Connectivity

This dissertation traces the development of a German Turkish translational relationship from the first publication of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s West-östlicher Divan [1819, West-eastern Divan] to the speeches and events surrounding the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair, Turkey in All Its Colors. While attending to the continued uneven circulation of texts in the global marketplace, I examine the crucial role translations—as well as literary texts that theorize translation—played throughout the history of German Turkish literary exchange. Informed by the centrality of large-scale translation movements to the cultural experience of modernity and the development of national literary cultures in both the German and Turkish contexts, my case studies nevertheless exhibit omnidirectional translation practices that exceed the realm of the national. They reveal the centrality of Ottoman literature and history to even highly canonical German authors such as Goethe, and exhibit a sense of agency on both sides of a German Turkish translational exchange that counters Ottoman perceptions of its literary belatedness vis-à-vis the “West.”/nThe second part of this dissertation considers the significance of an extended German Turkish translational relationship for the contemporary field of Turkish German studies. In particular, I read Zafer Şenocak’s oft-cited call for an “extension of the concept of Germanness” in relation to his most recent novels written in Turkish. A move that demands translation into the German speaking realm from the outset, Şenocak’s “Turkish turn” shifts from a focus on (post)migrants’ relative ability to participate in a specifically German history to moments of real and imagined German Turkish contact across national lines. In successive chapters I read the abandoned Ottoman pavilion at the center of Köşk [2008, The Residence] —where the main character translates the poetry of Ingeborg Bachmann following the 1960 Turkish military coup—and the international stage provided by the Frankfurt Book Fair as key translational sites from which new modes of listening, speaking, and multidirectional remembering are negotiated for Turkish German studies in the 21st century.

Advisor: Göktürk, Deniz
Igsiz, Z. Asli
Monometallic and Bimetallic Catalyst Systems for the Upgrading of Biomass Products to Diesel Fuel Precursors

The condensation of mixtures of acetone, butanol and ethanol (ABE), derived from/nfermentation processes has recently been reported as a viable pathway to diesel fuel/nprecursor molecules. This process is catalyzed by bifunctional catalysts that include a metal functionality to dehydrogenate the alcohols and a basic functionality to catalyze the aldol condensation between the aldehydes and the acetone. However, the currently used catalysts are poorly understood, in terms of the driving forces of their selectivity, reactivity and stability./nBased on screening reactions, we show that monometallic Pd and Cu catalysts supported on mixed metal oxides derived from hydrotalcites are the most active catalysts for this reaction. Kinetic analysis of these catalysts reveals that the dehydrogenation over the metal catalysts proceeds via a rate‐determining C‐H bond scission. On the other hand, the aldol condensation over the mixed oxide support takes place via an equilibrated enolate formation and its subsequent abstraction from the surface by an aldehyde. However, the decarbonylation of aldehydes over Pd and the formation of esters over Cu via the Tishchenko reaction limits the usability of monometallic catalysts./nSupporting Pd and Cu on hydrotalcite‐derived supports results in the elimination of the/nTishchenko side reaction and a reduction of the decarbonylation rates. Complete elimination of decarbonylation was not possible with these supports, due to the incorporation of Cu (II) ions in the Mg‐Al oxide structure. For this reason, TiO2 was used as a support; this resulted in complete alloying of Cu and Pd and, in turn, in significant selectivity improvements, combined with enhanced stability in the liquid phase./nThe liquid phase stability is due to the absence of any transformation from the anatase to the rutile phase. Kinetic analysis of the C‐C bond formation reactions over TiO2 reveals anatase to be the active phase for these reactions over TiO2. In contrast to the C‐C bond formation reactions over the mixed Mg‐Al oxide, the aldol condensation reaction over TiO2 proceeds via a rate‐determining alpha‐hydrogen abstraction and enolate formation over an acid‐base pair on the TiO2 surface. Similar analysis for a ZrO2 catalyst shows that the enolate formation is also rate‐determining over ZrO2./nApart from the ABE mixture, fuel precursors can also be derived by condensation of furfural and alcohols. These reactions proceed over transition‐metal‐free basic oxides via a rate-determining hydride transfer from a butoxide to an adsorbed furfural molecule, as shown by kinetic experiments in the gas and the liquid phase, as well as kinetic isotope effect experiments.

Advisor: Toste, Dean F.
Bell, Alexis T.
Vision restoration in animal models of human blindness using natural and engineered light-gated receptors

Most inherited forms of human blindness are caused by mutations that lead to photoreceptor cell death, but spare the inner retina, providing an opportunity for treatment. With the help of azobenzene-derived chemicals that we call ‘photoswitches’, I engineered light gated receptors to be applied as therapeutics towards vision restoration in animal models of human blindness. The first part of my thesis describes this work./nNext, I targeted expression of natural and engineered light-gated proteins to the remaining neurons of the retina, using viruses as gene delivery vehicles. I asked if these cells would then function as the new photoreceptors and if they would be able to drive visual responses. The quick answer is: yes, they do. In blind mice, I compared the ability of different target cells to act as new photoreceptors. Installing light sensors downstream in retinal ganglion cells lead to robust and uniform responses, whereas expression upstream in bipolar cells lead to more diverse activity patterns in response to light. I characterized mammalian proteins as optical actuators and found that light gated ion channels drive fast responses but require very high light intensities whereas G-protein coupled receptors are about 1000x more sensitive to light but at the cost of slow kinetics. I then further extended our studies to dogs and were able to show that our treatment restored light responses in blind rcd1 dog retinas in vitro and was safe and well tolerated in vivo. My results in both large and small animal models of photoreceptor degeneration provide a path to clinical translation. These findings are summarized in the second part of my thesis./nFinally, I explored non-invasive approaches to restore a sense of ‘space’ and enable navigation for the blind. Towards this end, I helped design and prototype a sensory substitution device, the ‘sonic eye’. This device is inspired by bats and human echolocators and it allows users to ‘see with sound’. This work is described in the last part of my thesis.

Advisor: Isacoff, Ehud Y