VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Coupled nanostructure lattices, electron dynamics, experiments and future prospects

Modern microelectronic devices have changed little since their invention. Instead, exponential improvement in performance has arisen primarily from miniaturization. However, the cost of the lithographic fabrication required has also grown exponentially, and problems associated with heat dissipation and interconnection increase with packing density. Non-lithographic template synthesis is a promising method of fabricating ordered, regular structures on the nanoscale (<100 nm). Such nanostructures could enable new device and system designs, but basic physical issues need to be resolved first. To this end, we studied dissipative Charge dynamics in a model system of a coupled nanostructure lattice. Additionally, we investigated electron tunneling in coupled lattices using Monte Carlo simulations, and using a new continuum model. The long-term objective of this study is to use nanostructure lattices in computational applications We therefore constructed analogies between model of computation.
An interactive decision analytic tool for the cost-effectiveness analysis of antimicrobial agents for hospital-acquired pneumonia

'Purpose'. To develop decision analytic models for current and anticipated antimicrobial regimens for initial treatment of intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), incorporating site-specific pathogen and susceptibility profiles, from the hospital perspective. 'Methods'. Decision tree models were conducted for non-ICU and ICU HAP. A single-arm meta-analysis was performed to derive the probabilities for the model. The comparators included in the baseline analysis were cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, imipenem, and cefazolin + gentamicin (C+G). Only direct costs of drug acquisition, pharmacy, nursing, and hospitalization costs were included. 'Results'. All antibiotics led to similar clinical outcomes. CEF+G was the least costly comparator in both analyses ranging from $42-$517 less per patient cured for non-ICU HAP and $189-$347 less per patient cured for ICU HAP in a cost-minimization analysis. 'Conclusions'. CEF+G is similar in efficacy to other antibiotic regimens and likely to be less costly in the majority of cases.
State persecution and vulnerability, a comparative historical analysis of violent ethnocentrism

This dissertation investigates the emergence of total exclusionary social movements and the consequent violent eruptions they precipitated. It examines the most extreme forms of violent ethnocentrism: expulsion and genocide. Its aim is to shed light on the social-psychological aspects of formal-equality and its relations to status politics and state persecution of vulnerable minorities. The social and political aspects of such equalization are examined in five different societies and periods. Though the cases are independent and unique, there is an analogous line of social development in all. The cases are: the expulsion of Jews from Catholic Spain in 1492, the expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972, the genocide perpetrated against the Armenians in 1915 Ottoman Turkey, and the Shoah (Holocaust) perpetrated by Nazi Germany against European Jewry. Third Republic France, during the Dreyfus affair, serves as an additional negative case in which state persecution did not occur. Hence, I am looking at three ethnic groups in five different historical periods and sociological settings. The theoretical focus of the dissertation is to assess and compare the political impact that cultural-legal and social demand for formal-equality presented to the societies under investigation. The common feature of the positive cases--in which state persecution occurred--was, their failure to face the challenges that status equalization (conversion in Spain and citizenship rights in the other cases) presented. This work aims at providing an historically informed sociological account of these political failures by comparing cases of violent eruptions of expulsion and/or genocide.
Intense picosecond x rays from structured targets

Laser plasmas from a new type of nanostructured surface are studied. This nanowire surface is especially useful as a very high absorption target for high power (1 TW) subpicosecond laser-matter interaction. The ensemble of oriented 10-200 nm metallic fibers of this material have linear absorption of 1 <math> <f> <g>m</g></f> </math>m light greater than 95%. When irradiated by 1 ps pulses at intensities up to 1017 W/cm-2, these targets produce a pulse of x-rays (average energy > 1.5 keV) 30 times more efficiently than do uniform solid targets, while preserving several-picosecond emission times. X-ray conversion efficiencies from the nanowire target and from previously investigated grating and 'smoke' targets are compared to those of flat targets for various angles of incidence and polarizations. Streak camera results show that a bright picosecond measure x-ray pulse is emitted from the near-solid density plasma created from the nanowire target. The measured x-ray pulse length is resolution-limited (<math> <f> <=</f> </math> 6.5 ps) for emission above 1.5 keV and is 20-25 ps for soft x rays. An absorbing uniaxial material model of the nanowire target yields an effective dielectric constant for the structured layer. This model helps to optimize structure parameters for: (1) minimum Fresnel losses on the vacuum/structured-target interface; and, (2) highest light absorption in the structured layer in the small-signal regime. A possible extension of this model into the plasma absorption regime is discussed. As part of this research a state-of-the-art 1 TW chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser system was constructed. The Nd:glass system is based on a feedback-controlled mode-locked oscillator capable of providing high contrast 1 ps pulses at a wavelength of 1.054 <math> <f> <g>m</g></f> </math>m, with energies up to 5 <math> <f> <g>m</g></f> </math>J/pulse. The characteristics of the CPA system are described. A new detector was developed to measure absolute x-ray yield, in various spectral ranges, radiated from the solid-density plasma. A calibrated silicon PIN photodiode connected to a charge-sensitive amplifier circuit allows x-ray yield measurements from picosecond pulses. If properly filtered the detector can measure the amount of x-rays radiated in a narrow spectral range. The electrical and spectral characteristics of the PIN photodiode detectors are given.
Aging and the Life Course in Steinkopf, a Rural South African Community

The focus of this dissertation is on how the economic transformation from a semi-subsistence agricultural to semi-subsistence wage-based economy affected the shape of the life course, and meanings associated with age and aging. While an implicit focus is on the cohort of people born between 1900-1930 the study is necessarily concerned with all age segments of the community. Aging and the construction of the life course are considered here as dialectical processes, whereby people are definitely shaped by their socio-economic circumstances, and yet at the same time resist, negotiate and re-shape these conditions. The study is based on research in 1994-96 in Steinkopf, one of seven communities, legally categorised as "rural coloured areas" (formerly known as reserves) located in the semi-desert region of Namaqualand, in South Africa's Northern Cape Province. Steinkopf underwent enormous economic and social changes over the past century. In this context, the most significant of these changes is the economic transformation which intensified in the decades before and after the turn of the century. Regional mineral discovery, imposed taxes, the issuing of trading licenses and the increasing need for commodities and cash combined to make participation in wage work increasingly necessary to sustain household economies. By the late 1960s, social reproduction no longer occurred unproblematically in the reserve. Today the economic base is one where people are dependent on the boom and busts of the world mineral market, state pensions, and various corporate handouts. These economic effects, and their social manifestations in terms of aging and the life course, were, however, not historically recognised by the state. This meant that very little social welfare funding was provided to "non-white" people. The assumption was that social reproduction occurred in the non-white reserves and that therefore, such people did not require state funding in old age. But in Steinkopf, as throughout the country, voluntary organisations developed to cope with the increasing numbers of poor, homeless and destitute workers who were unable to provide for their retirements. They were, in short, unable to fall back on traditions the state believed them to have. These assumptions, as is pointed in this thesis, do not reflect the actual economic experiences of workers across their life course or in old age. The old age home represents a local solution to economic and social problems, and while not a traditional social structure, it is nonetheless an effective, and therefore a positive, development.
Examining the challenge for cause process, does it eliminate prejudice in the jury system?

This study looks at jury selection in Canada by examining the challenge for cause process for eliminating impartial jurors. Eighty participants watched an edited murder trial video and provided verdicts for the defendants. Before watching the trial, participants were randomly asked either the traditional Parks' challenge for cause question or five experimental questions. The results showed a significant main effect for question type such that participants who answered the Parks' question were much less likely to be rejected as jurors than those who answered the experimental questions. Also, a non-significant two-way interaction between question type and racism scale showed that those who scored high on the racism scale were more likely to be rejected as jurors when asked the experimental questions versus the Parks' question. There were no significant correlations between verdicts and racism score or number of rejections.
Children with physical disabilities, friendship, self-concept and the role of social attributions

This study compared children with physical disabilities (PD), learning disabilities (LD) and no disabilities (ND) in terms of their reported numbers of friends, quality of friendships, self-concept and social attributions. It further explored the relationship between these facets of social functioning in all three groups. Seventy-one 10 to 14-year-old participants were recruited from four settings: a full-time special education program for children with physical disabilities (PD-FT) (n = 15), an integrated program for children with physical disabilities (PD-RC) (n = 12), a program for students with learning disabilities (LD) (n = 16), and a regular classroom program (ND) (n = 27). All participants were administered the Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985), a friendship nomination measure (Wiener, 1995), the Friendship Quality Questionnaire (Parker & Asher, 1993), the Peer Social Attributions Questionnaire (Hoza, 1993), a friendship attributions interview, and, where applicable, a modified version of the Mossford Assessment Chart for the Physically Handicapped (Whitehouse, 1983). Questionnaires were given to all participants' teachers, and telephone interviews conducted with their parents. Results indicated that there were no group differences in self-concept. However, children with PD differed from both their LD and ND peers in reporting friendships of poorer quality. Students in the PD-FT group further reported lower quality of friendship than their PD-RC peers. Moreover, children with PD displayed different attributional patterns for both actual and hypothetical friendship situations than children with ND. Children with PD attributed positive social outcome less often to others than their ND peers, and less often acknowledged the importance of their own lack of effort in negative friendship interactions. These findings are significant in the context of results from the entire sample, which revealed a positive relationship between self-attributions and self-concept as well as quality of friendship. The present findings help explain the controversial accounts of intact self-concept coupled with poor peer relations often reported in the literature on children with PD. Implications for educational and clinical practice are discussed.
Regulation and variation of subunits of RNA polymerase II in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

RNA polymerase (RNAP) uses ribonucleoside triphosphates as a substrate to form RNA chains. The RNA is a faithful copy of one strand of a double-stranded DNA template along which RNAP moves while making the RNA. This process (called transcription) is highly regulated such that DNA-encoded genes are transcribed at a large variety of rates and at different times in response to cues within and outside the cell. The goal of my thesis work was to investigate the mechanisms that regulate the synthesis of RNAP in yeast cells. I focused on the form of RNAP (RNAPII) of the yeast, 'Saccharomyces cerevisiae', that is responsible primarily for transcribing genes that encode proteins. I have shown that a 10-fold reduction in the level of the largest subunit of RNAPII, and likely the level of RNAPII itself, causes slow growth, temperature-sensitivity, and the inability to grow on medium lacking inositol. Hence, the level of RNAPII must be carefully maintained for normal cell growth. I next examined elements that control the synthesis of RNAPII. I have demonstrated that the DNA sequences which are upstream of the genes encoding the two largest subunits of RNAPII, namely 'RPO21' and 'RPO22', contain binding sites for two abundant transcription factors called Abf1p and Reb1p, and thymidine-rich sequences downstream of these binding sites. Both the binding sites and the T-rich regions are important for the expression of these genes. An examination of the upstream sequences of other RNAPII subunit genes revealed binding sites for Abf1p and Reb1p as well as nearby thymidine-rich sequences. This may indicate that there is a mechanism for the coordinate synthesis of RNAPII subunit genes. I sought evidence for a feedback regulatory mechanism that may control the synthesis of RNAPII. Either the underproduction of Rpo21p, or the depletion of Fcp1p, an RNAPII phosphatase that has a critical role in transcription, leads to a 5-fold increase in the expression of a reporter gene that is controlled by 'RPO21' regulatory sequences. The increase is not observed with other subunits. I discuss the implications of these results and future directions.
Induction of CTL responses by plasmid DNA immunization

A novel method of vaccination has recently been discovered, and is based on the ability of injected plasmid DNA to be taken up and expressed by cells ' in situ' in such a way as to result in systemic immunity to the encoded gene product. The mechanisms by which DNA vaccines initiate cellular immunity am unclear. Bone marrow-derived antigen presenting cells are known to be responsible for the initiation of cellular immunity, but the question of how these cells acquire antigen remains to be solved. APCs are either directly transfected during the vaccination process, or they acquire antigen from an exogenous source and process it for direct presentation to T cells. Experiments described here address this question of induction of cellular immunity by DNA vaccines. The form of possible protein transfer was investigated: mice were immunized with influenza NP protein to elicit anti-NP antibodies, then immunized with plasmid DNA encoding the NP protein. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Ultimate masculinities, an ethnography of power and social difference in sport

This thesis interrogates and holds up for question the performative production of gender, masculinities and social difference in the context of a "coed" recreational sport: Ultimate Frisbee. I argue that genders and masculinities are not stable, coherent entities. Rather they are enactments of power and difference which are performed within a series of constraints and possibilities. The structures and limits of the performance of 'Ultimate Masculinities ' show how different forms of power circulate among and work to regulate social actors. Ultimate players are shown to be caught up in a series of tensions between their stated desires and practices of gender inclusiveness and (tempered) notions of competition. These tensions are expressed through the regulation of athletic embodiment, sexuality and gender difference. My study shows both the instability and the (re)-establishment and (re-)confirmation of dominant sporting masculine identities. I gathered data by combining participant observation and critical ethnography. The study is based on extensive fieldwork, interviews, and personal reflection. In order to illustrate the "performativity of gender", I use feminist, postmodern and cultural studies theories of identity, subjectivity and power. I show that the degree of choice that is available in the embodiment and practice of masculine identities is not like shopping for shoes. I employ a Foucauldian conception of power as both repressive and enabling, and pervasive and contextual. This stance enables me to show moments of pleasure and the potential for transformation and subversion. Masculinities are part of an ongoing performance of identities and a struggle for social ascendancy. I illustrate how 'Ultimate Masculinities ' are contingent on specific historical, material and discursive changes and struggles. The processes which legitimate certain features of a masculinities/difference and not others are addressed throughout. My main project has been to open up and utilize different ways of seeing masculinities, and to put such ways of seeing to work within Ultimate to describe and analyze what each perception brings into view, and what it excludes. My more general focus was on how masculinities (and all identities) are constructed, performed and changing in the late twentieth century.
The behavior of reinforced concrete knee joints under earthquake loads

The poor performance of knee joint connections during recent earthquakes motivated a number of experimental investigations of knee joint behavior under reversed cyclic loading. In this work the knee joint design problem is studied through a collective evaluation of the available experimental results and analytical modeling. The objective is to identify the critical response variables controlling the mechanics of knee joints under earthquake loads and to quantify the influence they have on the strength and deformation capacity of the joint. A knee joint model is derived from simple mechanical constructs of equilibrium and compatibility. The parametric dependence of knee joint behavior is investigated for critical design parameters such as concrete strength, amounts and yield strengths of horizontal and vertical transverse reinforcement, and bond demand. Three different limiting equations are developed from the model limiting the joint shear resistance according with the three alternative modes of joint shear failure. These are: (i) yielding of horizontal and vertical transverse reinforcement, (ii) and (iii) yielding in either of the two principal reinforcing directions accompanied by crushing of the concrete in compression (here the softening influence of orthogonal tensile deformations is considered). For those test specimens from the experimental database that experienced a joint shear failure, the simple knee joint model predicts their joint shear capacity well. Consistent with observations from interior connections it is shown that anchorage of the main reinforcement in the knee joint region prevails as the determining factor of the response of the joint panel. In addition, the same basic physical model that describes the source of resistance in interior connections also applies to knee joints; truss action, and diagonal strut action. By favorably anchoring the beam and column bars it is possible to develop the joint shear strength which is associated with one of the three failure modes described above. It is demonstrated by the experimental and analytical evidence (by finite element studies) that confinement in the vertical direction through the use of vertical stirrups is as important as that in the horizontal direction. Based on the above experimental and analytical evidence, simple detailing guidelines are proposed for practical design of knee joints.
The synchrony and diachrony of gender agreement and assignment in Russian and Macedonian

This dissertation examines the category of gender in Russian and Macedonian. The principal goal is an extensive inventory of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors that constrain the use of gender forms in these languages. The inner workings of Russian and Macedonian gender will be revealed through an analysis of anomalous agreement patterns in each language. In chapter one I review the variety of approaches to account for oddities in gender agreement and assignment, and introduce the theoretical models that are relevant to this work. The focus of chapter two is the historical development of the category of gender in Slavic. Due to the scarcity of Macedonian historical documentation, this section deals primarily with Russian. Chapter three is an examination of Russian gender from a variety of perspectives, including: models of classification, common gender nouns, morphology, and syntax. The results of my 1996 Russian questionnaire on anomalous gender patterns are introduced in this section. A similar analysis of Macedonian gender is provided in chapter four. Theories of Macedonian gender agreement are introduced, followed by the results of my 1996 Macedonian questionnaire on anomalous gender agreement. My analysis of gender agreement focuses on the distinction between ' formal' agreement, that is, according to the controlling noun's gender, and 'semantic' agreement, determined by the sex of the referent, In chapter five I summarize and evaluate all of the factors that can influence the use of formal versus semantic gender agreement in Russian and Macedonian. The data introduced in chapters three and four are shown to both confirm and elaborate on Corbett's agreement hierarchy by empirical mews. A strictly Macedonian hierarchy is proposed alongside a revised Russian model, taking into account the effect of case. I distinguish between 'strong' and ' weak' constraints on agreement, noting that the strongest motivators are case and syntactic distance.