VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Melodramatic Modernities: Latin American Serial Fiction and Silent Film Culture, 1914-1929

This dissertation examines how melodrama in early twentieth century Argentina and Colombia shaped sites of intelligibility to record multiple processes of modernization—including but not limited to massive immigration, the import of new technologies, and the (gendered) reshuffling of social orders. This dissertation also analyzes the ways in which melodrama recast different senses of community. With an archival perspective, it traces how diverse social actors appropriated melodrama for individual and group agendas, as they entered the modern political pact, the pact of representation. More specifically, and by bridging Latin American and Euro-American theories of melodrama, this dissertation traces key narrative conventions and argues that, across the social spectrum, actors recast the dynamics of representation during the period by visualizing classed, raced, and gendered anxieties vis-à-vis change through the interrelated media of literature, illustrated periodicals, and film./nThe first chapter addresses how the national imagination and state formations in Latin America were shaped through melodrama, correlatively determining dominant narrative tropes across media. I focus on José Mármol’s Amalia (1851-1855) and Jorge Isaacs’ María (1867) and the cross-media iterations of both works engendered around the Argentine and Colombian centennial celebrations. The second chapter turns to 1920s tabloid newspapers and weekly novels. These served as platforms for emergent writers, many of them immigrants, who harnessed melodramatic narratives in periodicals to denounce social problems and inequity, particularly regarding destitute subjects who were marginalized in rapid urbanization processes. Turning the focus to early cinema, the third chapter examines the tense relations between material progress, tradition, and social change/immobility visualized in three filmic genres—the Argentine cine de ambiente campero, the porteño cinedrama, and the Colombian patriarchal family melodrama. These genres told contrasting tales of modernization: Argentine cinema capitalized on modernity’s changes, its thrills and anxieties, while Colombian cinema depicted tradition and religiosity as compulsory conditions for material progress. This dissertation ultimately proposes that melodrama was not an escapist form, as it is commonly defamed. Rather, it visualized the present moment, unbarred the public sphere, and pointed to an inclusive future.

Advisor: Brizuela, Natalia
Precise spatiotemporal control of voltage-gated excitability in neural dendrites

Neural dendrites continually prove to harness more computational complexity than previously thought. The voltage-gated ion channels distributed throughout a dendritic tree are key determinants of dendritic excitability and computation. However, little is known about the specific functional impacts of voltage-gated excitability in discrete dendritic regions. Recently, an optical revolution in neuroscience has yielded a vast array of optical tools for functional interrogation of neurons and neural circuits. One such tool, Quarternary-ammonium Azobenzene Quarternary-ammonium (QAQ), is an optically-controllable small-molecule drug that affects voltage-gated ion channels. In its trans conformation, which is photo-inducible with green light, QAQ directly blocks all voltage-gated ion channels tested, but rapidly un-blocks those channels when converted to its cis form with near-ultraviolet light (Mourot et al. 2012). It does not photo-bleach, and can be robustly photoswitched back and fourth to either block or unblock channels in a matter of milliseconds. QAQ is a promising tool to control voltage-gated excitability in neural dendrites with the spatiotemporal precision of light./nIn this thesis we use QAQ to rapidly, reversibly, and locally control voltage-gated ion channel activity in neural dendrites using targeted light. A wealth of experimental evidence using traditional pharmacology is already available about specific voltage-gated ion channels in CA1 pyramidal cells, so we first apply QAQ via a patch-pipette to CA1 pyramidal cells and confirm that it works as expected in a whole-cell. We find that trans-QAQ blocks somatic action potentials, blocks dendritic calcium activity, and enhances EPSP summation. These are all processes driven by QAQ-sensitive voltage-gated ion channel types that either boost (sodium and calcium channels) or dampen (potassium channels) intrinsic excitability./nWe then investigate the level of spatial control we can achieve with QAQ using dendritic calcium imaging. Indeed, for up to three seconds after photo-switching the molecule, control is extremely precise. With this knowledge, we use local block of voltage-gated ion channels and calcium imaging to confirm and extend previous findings that voltage-gated calcium channel activity is relatively uniform throughout the apical dendritic tree of CA1 pyramidal cells. Finally, we specifically photo-control voltage-gated ion channels in the apical dendrites of CA1 neurons to experimentally probe whether dendrite-specific voltage-gated excitability affects the degree of action potential back-propagation. We find that dendritic voltage-gated ion channels determine whether a CA1 pyramidal neuron will undergo strong or weak back-propagation, a notion that has only previously been modeled.

Advisor: Kramer, Richard H
Scalable Ensemble Learning and Computationally Efficient Variance Estimation

Ensemble machine learning methods are often used when the true prediction function is not easily approximated by a single algorithm. The Super Learner algorithm is an ensemble method that has been theoretically proven to represent an asymptotically optimal system for learning. The Super Learner, also known as stacking, combines multiple, typically diverse, base learning algorithms into a single, powerful prediction function through a secondary learning process called metalearning. Although ensemble methods offer superior performance over their singleton counterparts, there is an implicit computational cost to ensembles, as it requires training multiple base learning algorithms. We present several practical solutions to reducing the computational burden of ensemble learning while retaining superior model performance, along with software, code examples and benchmarks./nFurther, we present a generalized metalearning method for approximating the combination of the base learners which maximizes a model performance metric of interest. As an example, we create an AUC-maximizing Super Learner and show that this technique works especially well in the case of imbalanced binary outcomes. We conclude by presenting a computationally efficient approach to approximating variance for cross-validated AUC estimates using influence functions. This technique can be used generally to obtain confidence intervals for any estimator, however, due to the extensive use of AUC in the field of biostatistics, cross-validated AUC is used as a practical, motivating example./nThe goal of this body of work is to provide new scalable approaches to obtaining the highest performing predictive models while optimizing any model performance metric of interest, and further, to provide computationally efficient inference for that estimate.

Advisor: van der Laan, Mark
Petersen, Maya
Design Considerations for Nano-Electromechanical Relay Circuits

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology has a minimum energy per operation, and that limitation is one of the myriad hurdles CMOS faces as it reaches small scales. This minimum energy is set by the balance between leakage energy and dynamic energy in subthreshold CMOS circuits, and sets floors on the achievable energy of digital units. A new, post-CMOS device with a sharper subthreshold slope than CMOS would be able to sidestep this minimum energy constraint./nA candidate device called a nano-electromechancial (NEM) relay has recently emerged./nNEM relays are small, integrated, capacitively-actuated, mechanical switches. The devices have demonstrated extremely high subthreshold slopes: ten orders of magnitude over a millivolt of swing. However, in the same lithographic process they are twenty times larger than a minimum sized CMOS device, their gate capacitance is ten times that of a minimum sized CMOS device, and their mechanical motion is an order of magnitude slower than a CMOS inverter. Can NEM relays improve digital systems even with these drawbacks?/nWith proper circuit design, simulations say "yes". This dissertation examines three of the critical components of digital systems -- logic, timing, and memory -- and proposes NEM circuits which mitigate the weaknesses of the technology while achieving design goals. Simulations show that optimized relay logic, which arranges for all of the slow movement of relays to happen at the same time, can achieve an improvement of 10x in energy-per-operation below the CMOS minimum energy point at a penalty of 10x in delay and 3x in/narea. This logic style is experimentally demonstrated. In addition, relay latch based timing with staticization in the feedback path is simulated, which results in a working relay pipeline with zero mechanical delays of timing overhead. Finally, a new device called NEMory is proposed to build dense, non-volatile, mechanical memory. A hybrid NEMory/CMOS array is simulated, and its performance is compared to other memory solutions. The NEMory density is higher than any non-volatile memory except for multi-level cell, o-chip Flash, and its read and write energy are lower than any other non-volatile technology. Finally, the scaling and process limits of realizing mechanical devices are discussed in the context of future work.

Advisor: Alon, Elad
Fair Weather Friends? Explaining Labor Union Support of Immigrants in Western Europe

Opposition among native workers to immigrants is well understood as a response to the economic and cultural instability caused by globalization. Increased capital mobility weakens the place-based leverage of strike action and collective bargaining, rendering unions susceptible to the protectionist concerns of native members. Yet, immigrant workers still join labor unions and turn to these organizations to improve working conditions and amplify their political voice. Little is known about the conditions underpinning pro-immigrant action by labor unions. This dissertation argues that when immigrant activists mobilize themselves, then partner with native trade unionists, they can pressure union leaders to support their concerns. By analyzing data from more than 120 in-depth interviews with trade unionists, employers, NGO-officials and politicians, conducted during 16 months of fieldwork in Denmark, Germany and the UK, I present evidence for the counterintuitive finding that weak, fragmented unions such as those in the UK more readily engage in pro-immigrant action than strong, encompassing unions such as those in Denmark and Germany. Combining cross-national and cross-sectoral observational and archival data with interviews, I explore three issue areas critical to the demands of immigrant union members: extreme right wing parties and movements, workplace discrimination, and job marginalization. Analysis of immigrant claims-making reveals that those immigrant activists who link their mobilization to the identity template prevalent in their host country, are better able to partner with native trade unionists and secure support from union leaders.

Advisor: Weir, Margaret
How Do Mothers’ Psychological Resources (Parenting Self-Efficacy and Enjoyment of Parenting) Enable Them to Support Young Children’s Self-Regulation and Academic Skills in Korea?

The present study was designed to examine the dynamic relationships between the antecedents of autonomy-supportive parenting (the two parents’ psychological resources, namely enjoyment of parenting and PSE), specific autonomy-supportive parenting behaviors (harshness, permissiveness, inconsistency, and responsiveness), and children’s self-regulation development and academic skills within the contemporary Korean cultural context./nStructural equation modeling was conducted with a sample of 234 Korean mothers of pre-primary aged children in the Incheon City area in South Korea. The results indicated that the four autonomy-supportive parenting behaviors have a unique cultural function in these relationships, within the Korean cultural context. Specifically, harshness negatively predicted children’s self-regulation development (emotional and cognitive regulation), whereas inconsistency positively predicted children’s self-regulation development (emotional and cognitive regulation). Permissiveness and responsiveness did not predict self-regulation development (emotional and cognitive regulation) among the children with statistical significance. Furthermore, as the antecedents of the parenting behaviors that support children’s self-regulation development, the mothers’ psychological resources (i.e., PSE and enjoyment of parenting) enabled them to parent in a way that supported their children’s self-regulation development. Finally, the nature of this relationship varied depending on a child’s gender. Specifically, the paths from enjoyment of parenting to permissiveness in parenting behaviors were moderated by the child’s gender./nThe results of this study underscore the importance of exercising caution about the culturally unique meaning inherent in Korean mothers’ autonomy-supportive parenting behaviors, and the effects of these behaviors on children’s self-regulation development from an indigenous perspective. However, given the within-group variations, this study also found evidence that the culturally unique nature of the relationship between the specific autonomy-supportive parenting behaviors and children’s self-regulation development does not apply equally to every individual in this cultural context.

Advisor: Holloway, Susan D
Modeling and Control of an Ornithopter for Non-Equilibrium Maneuvers

Flapping-winged flight is very complex, and it is difficult to efficiently model the unsteady airflow and nonlinear dynamics for online control. While steady state flight is well understood, transitions between flight regimes are not readily modeled or controlled. Maneuverability in non-equilibrium flight, which birds and insects readily exhibit in nature, is necessary to operate in the types of cluttered environments that small-scale flapping-winged robots are best suited for. The advantages of flapping wings over quadrotors and fixed-wing fliers are realized in the ability to transition from forward flight to hover to gliding. Flight in the transitions between these regimes necessitates the development of novel modeling techniques and online control techniques to accurately complete these types of maneuvers./nIn this thesis, methods for modeling and controlling the transitions between takeoff and diving maneuvers are developed for a flapping-winged micro aerial vehicle (MAV), the H2Bird. To transition into takeoff and steady state flight, a cooperative launching system is developed for the H2Bird by carrying it on the back of a 32 gram hexapedal millirobot, the VelociRoACH. The necessary initial velocity and pitch angle are determined for take off using force data collected in a wind tunnel, and the VelociRoACH is used to reach these initial conditions for successful launch. The models for the diving maneuver are generated using an automatic piece-wise affine identification technique. The flight conditions during the maneuver are segmented into separate regions and least-squares is used to estimate affine linear models for each modeling region. These models are used to compute the reachability sets for the recovery conditions for safe diving, and linear quadratic regulator controllers are used to maintain stable conditions before and after the dive. The data-driven automatic modeling techniques and controller design processes can be extended to additional flight maneuvers.

Advisor: Fearing, Ronald S
Models and Analysis of Locomotion and Gripping in Soft Robots

Recent designs of soft robots and nano robots feature locomotion mechanisms that/nentail orchestrating changes to intrinsic curvature or length to enable the robot’s limbs to/neither stick, adhere, or slip on the robot’s workspace. The resulting locomotion mechanism/nhas several features in common with peristaltic locomotion that can be found in the animal/nworld. One of the purposes of this dissertation is to examine the feasibility of, and design/nguidelines for, a locomotion mechanism that exploits the control of intrinsic curvature on/na rough surface featuring stick, slip, and adhesion interaction. Our work complements the/never-increasing body of work on soft robots that is primarily focused on the design and/nfabrication of these systems. Modeling and analyzing these robots is challenging because/nof the difficulties in faithfully modeling the flexible nature of their components./nThe study of locomotion presented in this dissertation is composed of two parts. First,/nwe consider the simplest possible model for a soft robot. The resulting model is a lumped/nparameter system featuring a pair of mass particles and a spring with a variable natural/nlength. By appropriately varying the natural length as a function of time ℓ0(t), we show/nhow locomotion can be achieved and examine the energy efficiency for a variety of choices/nof ℓ0(t). We then take the lessons gained from this model and use them to understand/nthe locomotion of a block that is propelled on a rough surface with the aid of a flexible/narm. Our analysis of the rod-based model for this system focuses on the development of a/nstructurally stable mechanism to move the block. This analysis exploits recent results on/nstability of adhered rods that we supplement with a new discretized stability criterion./nBeyond locomotion, soft robots have the ability to gently grip and maneuver objects/nwith open-loop kinematic control. Guided by several recent designs and implementations/nof soft robot hands, we exploit our earlier works on locomotion and analyze a rod-based/nmodel for the fingers in the hand of a soft robot. We show precisely how gripping is/nachieved and how the performance can be affected by varying the system’s parameters. The/ndesigns of interest feature pneumatic control of the soft robot and we model this actuation/nas a varying intrinsic curvature profile of the rod. Our work provides a framework for the/ntheoretical analysis of the soft robot and the resulting analysis can also be used to develop/nsome design guidelines.

Advisor: O'Reilly, Oliver M
Musical Affective Economies and the Wars of Religion in Lyon

This dissertation examines musical affective economies surrounding the Wars of Religion in Lyon. Expanding on affect theory that considers how emotions stick to and slide from subjects and objects, this research asks how musical affect also sank into bodies and ontologies, serving to both bond and break the community of Lyon. I consider how the boundaries of community were delimited through musical theatre in the early sixteenth century, demonstrating how techniques of communitas were essential to performing this community. I explore how the principal of Lyon’s Collège de la Trinité made use of these techniques, both in his pedagogical theatre, and in an elite musical print aimed at religious reconciliation./nFrom here, I examine how these techniques began to be used towards divisive ends, as Protestants confronted Catholics with psalms and “spiritual songs.” A group of martyr songs, disseminated amongst both elite and more popular audiences, activated the Protestant habitus through such genres, putting the visceral experiences of five young martyrs of Lyon into oral circulation. The subversiveness of such “spiritual songs” within orthodox martyrological practices underscores the musicality of how the theatre of martyrdom was memorialized. Polemic was especially propagated through the inflamed populace in the guise of “chansons nouvelles,” contrafacta songs that were “sung to the tune of” extant popular tunes. Exploring how this genre engaged with contemporary notions and concerns about anger, I demonstrate how the timbres (song bases) of these “chansons nouvelles” accumulated affect across the Wars of Religion as they were adhered to violent Catholic invective./nFinally, I turn to Lyon’s proto-social welfare project, permanently established in 1534, the Aumône Générale. Interrogating how the institution subjected the city’s impoverished residents to a Catholic economy of faith, I focus on how the hyper-marking of the forced musical processions of the poor would serve to facilitate their eventual confinement in the seventeenth century. Positioned within the emergent subfield of music and conflict studies, this dissertation argues that, because of its very ephemeral and emotional qualities, music was a vital force in cultivating both solidarity and animosity during the tumult of the Wars of Religion.

Advisor: van Orden, Kate
Davies, James
What's in a Label? A Series of Essays on Cognition in Markets and the Consequences of Formal Categorization

Markets are social systems. While price is preeminent, it is often insufficient for buyers to determine the value of a product or service. Because of difficult-to-discern heterogeneity in offerings, prices are offered in the context of other kinds of claims, such as the offering’s type, quality, and the endorsements of previous buyers. This is especially the case for markets wherein the `products' defy easy valuation, such as meals at restaurants, art, movies, lectures, and other goods or services where direct human skill is required./nA sizeable subfield of sociology has studied categorization in markets. A central premise of this literature is referred to as Zuckerman’s (1999) ‘categorical imperative’: audiences seek to categorize candidates before considering their distinguishing features. Once categorized, the candidates are assessed relative to socially agreed upon criteria as to what is an acceptable candidate within a given category. A host of empirical work in this vein has demonstrated the hazard of failing to be categorized reliably, as well as defying social expectations of category membership. Almost universally, this work has equated category membership with having labels and has generally taken the existence of labels as a given./nIn my dissertation, I consider the consequences of labeling, with a focus particularly on the interplay among labels and features. My dissertation investigates (a) the causal effect of labeling on the returns to coherent feature combinations, (b) the impact of labeling on similarity, and (c) the potentially positive results of novel label combination. Ultimately, I find evidence that labels and features provide different information depending on market conditions and the composition of audiences.

Advisor: Stuart, Toby E