VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Privatizing Public Health: Social Marketing for HIV Prevention in Tanzania, East Africa

This dissertation explores U.S. commercial marketing's influence on HIV prevention programming in Tanzania, particularly the practice of social marketing. Social marketing NGOs in Tanzania uphold the goal of creating commercial markets in condoms and promoting HIV prevention behaviors among the public through commercial advertising. Their aim is to address health inequalities among urban low income communities through application of new theories regarding "the social" nature of markets to make privatized access to health goods equitable and sustainable. This dissertation analyzes and historicizes social marketing naturalizations of interventions in human decision-making and economies based on the idea that humans are driven to pursue pleasures which undermine their ability to make rational choices in the interest of health. By drawing on the accounts of individuals - including members of Islamic-based health NGOs, Tanzanian entrepreneurs, and individuals in impoverished neighborhoods targeted by health programs - this work describes the politics and stakes of social marketing interventions, including unanticipated economic and health marginalization. Each of these groups drew from moral understandings of the imbrication of economic, political, and social life to critique the privatization of public health. This dissertation maps these controversies not only as debates about public health and political economy grounded in terms of a critique of private property, but as entailing epistemological and ethical claims about health, markets, and human nature.

Advisor: Hayden, Cori P
Essays on Mortgage Risk

This dissertation contributes three essays in areas of mortgage risk that are rapidly growing in importance. The first essay develops a fully dynamic optimization model for a borrower's redefault decision on a modified mortgage incorporating real-world frictions relevant for default decisions. Solutions to the model reveal large differences across modification structures and a basic pecking order for redefault performance controlling for resulting mortgage present value. Further, empirical tests utilizing unique and extensive data on modified loans offer broad agreement with the predictions of the model./nThe second essay provides one of the most complete studies for termination behavior of non-U.S. mortgages to date, jointly estimating the competing risks of prepayment and default in a grouped duration mixed proportional hazard framework applied to Singapore mortgages. The study tests option-theoretic motivations for prepayments and defaults as well as "trigger event" explanations, explores comparative results to U.S. mortgage studies, examines unique institutional characteristics of this market impacting option-theoretic motivations for loan termination, and documents that variation in sources of borrower equity matter for the exercise of default options./nThe final essay argues that the estimation of tail credit risk in residential mortgage portfolios remains relatively poorly understood, and that many common approaches to the problem have been incomplete or inadequate. In addition to laying out the fundamental components of sound portfolio credit risk assessment, the essay develops competing models for realistic dynamics of underlying risk factors, such as home prices. Particular attention is paid to identifying the properties of these models most consequential for the estimated distribution of losses, and to measures of implied sensitivity to geographic diversification.

Advisor: Craine, Roger
Emergence and Spread of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae Antimicrobial Resistance in California

The development of antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae has severely limited the treatment options available for uncomplicated urogenital infection. As of August 2012, dual therapy with an injectable third generation cephalosporin and a macrolide is the only Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended treatment regimen for empirical therapy in the United States. Verified treatment failures with oral cephalosporins used for urethral infections and with injectable cephalosporins used for pharyngeal infections have been reported in Asia, Europe and Australia. At this time, there have been no verified treatment failures with injectable cephalosporins in a urethral infection. Isolates with reduced susceptibility to the both oral and injectable cephalosporins have been described in the U.S., but no treatment failures have been described. This dissertation is formatted as three self-contained research papers. The first paper compares Etest to agar dilution for the determination of N. gonorrhoeae minimum inhibitory concentrations. The second paper describes the genotypic and phenotypic surveillance of N. gonorrhoeae resistance to third generation cephalosporins and macrolides in California in 2011. The third paper details the development of a new molecular assay for the detection of genes associated with reduced susceptibility to cephalosporins.

Advisor: Sensabaugh, George
Pandori, Mark
Low Regularity Solutions of Korteweg-de Vries and Chern-Simons-Schr\"{o}dinger Equations

The aim of this thesis is to understand the locall wellposedness/ntheory for some nonlinear dispersive equations at low regularity./n/nThe Korteweg-de Vries equation has sharp wellposedness at/n$H^{-\frac{3}{4}}$ if we are concerned about the Lipschitz/ndependence of solutions on the initial data. For lower regularity,/none might still have a weaker form of wellposedness only with/ncontinuous dependence on data. Here we prove that the smooth/nsolutions satisfy a-priori local in time $H^s$ bound in terms of/nthe $H^s$ size of the initial data for $s\geq -4/5$. Together with/nthe bounds we obtained on the nonlinearity, the result here/nensures that the equation is satisfied in the sense of/ndistributions even for weak limits./nThe Chern-Simons-Schr\"{o}dinger equation is a planar gauged/nSchr\"{o}dinger equation which has some similarity to the/nderivative formulation of the Schr\"{o}dinger map problem. We work/non to prove local wellposedness in the full subcritical range/n$H^s(\mathbb{R}^2), s>0$./nOne important idea in working on these problems is to find a/nsuitable space to characterize the solution. We use $X^{s,b}$/nspaces introduced by Bourgain, and $U^2$, $V^2$ spaces introduced by Koch and Tataru. For the Chern-Simons-Schr\"{o}dinger equation, we also need to fix a suitable gauge to make the problem well-posed. The heat gauge is a variation of Coulomb gauge, and it serves as a good candidate for this problem.

Advisor: Tataru, Daniel
Involvement in Early Childhood Special Education Among Chinese and Non-Chinese American Parents

The purpose of this study was to gain more information about parents' involvement in their children's learning and special education. The study examined specific factors and their association to parent involvement among 48 Chinese and 47 non-Chinese parents who have a young child with a disability. The factors investigated were parents' belief on the expert role (e.g., parent is the expert in their child's education or teacher is the expert), parents' perceived partnership effort from their child's teacher/school (e.g., parent-professional collaboration), and parents' beliefs on causes of disability (e.g., biological, environmental, and spiritual causes). T-test analyses were used to compare the amount and type of parent involvement (i.e., overall total, PIT; home-based, PIH; school-based, PIS; and community-based involvement, PIC) between the two parent groups. The results indicated that all parents were involved with their children's education; however, this sample of Chinese parents were more involved, had a stronger belief that teachers are the experts, and had a stronger belief in spiritual causes of disability than the non-Chinese parents. Correlational analyses were used to examine the relations of the factors and parent involvement for the Chinese parents, as well as for the non-Chinese parents. The results indicated that involvement is higher for both groups when parents perceived more partnership effort given from the school and when parents had a stronger belief that they are the expert in their children's education. Regression analyses were used to describe how well the factors predicted PIT, PIH, PIS and PIC, while controlling for ethnicity. The most common predictors of parent involvement across the four different models were perceived partnership effort from the school and belief in parent as the expert. Interpretations of the findings are discussed and implications for practice are provided.

Advisor: Holloway, Susan D.
Hanson, Marci J.
Graphene Growth on Low Carbon Solubility Metals

Advances in synthesis are imperative if graphene is to fulfill its scientific and technological potential. Single crystal graphene of is currently available only in the small flakes generated by mechanical exfoliation. Layers of larger size may be grown either by the thermal decomposition of SiC or by chemical vapor deposition on metals. However, as they are currently implemented, these methods yield graphene films of inferior quality. Thus the requirement for wafer-scale, high-quality graphene films remains unmet. This dissertation addresses this issue by examining graphene growth on metal surfaces. Through a survey of the fundamental underlying processes, it provides guidance for improving the quality of the resulting graphene films./nGraphene was grown on Cu(100), Cu(111), and Au(111) by physical vapor deposition of elemental C. The nucleation and growth behaviors of graphene were evaluated by low-energy electron microscopy. Graphene tends to nucleate heterogeneously at surface imperfections although it also does so homogeneously on Cu(111) and Au(111). Graphene growing on Cu(100) is governed by the attachment kinetics of C at the propagating crystal front. The resulting angularly dependent growth rate sculpts individual crystals into elongated lobes. In contrast, graphene growth on both Cu(111) and Au(111) is surface diffusion limited. This yields ramified, dendritic graphene islands./nGraphene films grown on Cu(100) contain significant rotational disorder. This disorder is partially attributable to the symmetry mismatch between film and substrate. The common symmetry between graphene and Cu(111) contributes to a significant reduction in disorder in films grown on this surface. Most graphene domains occupy a ~6º arc of orientations. On Au(111) the vast majority of graphene domains are locked into alignment with the substrate surface. The extraordinary extent of their orientational homogeneity is such that the resulting graphene film is a quasi-single crystal. The findings presented illustrate how metal species and crystal symmetry influence the structural properties of monolayer graphene. The selection of an optimal substrate for graphene growth can significantly reduce crystalline disorder in the resulting film.

Advisor: Dubon, Oscar D
Children's Mental Health in the United States: The Development of Child Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, 1890-1945

This dissertation tracks the development of child psychiatry as a medical specialty as it emerged at Johns Hopkins University from 1890 to 1945. This was a fitful process that often defied the logic of specialization. Previous histories locate the beginnings of child psychiatry to the Commonwealth Fund child guidance clinics of the 1920s. Yet, by defining the emergence of child psychiatry within this specific setting, such histories emphasize the process of medical professionalization as prerogatives of elite philanthropists who sought to develop rational bureaucratic solutions to social problems. Thus, child psychiatry emerges out of a drive towards further specialization and results in the "medicalization" of social problems. Instead, this dissertation begins in the Progressive era with child welfare reformers and Adolf Meyer whose psychiatry resonated with progressive concerns of social cohesion and efficiency. Although progressive reformers lost traction in the 1920s, Meyer continued to espouse progressive ideals through his teachings and practice of psychiatry until the 1940s. Thus, psychiatry at Johns Hopkins was never fully reduced to problems within the individual, as was the tendency of psychoanalysis./nChild psychiatry developed at Johns Hopkins out of efforts to avoid further specialization in medicine. Pediatrician Edwards Park sought to train doctors who could treat the "whole child," including behavioral problems, which were becoming the purview of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. At the same time, Meyer sought to secure psychiatry's place within the medical community as a means to bridge the mind-body divide. Thus, Meyer and Park appointed Leo Kanner to a psychiatric clinic within the Harriet Lane Home, the pediatric hospital at Johns Hopkins, in order to teach pediatricians and medical students to manage common behavioral problems. In practice, pediatricians referred the large majority of behavioral cases to Kanner, setting the groundwork for a specialized field. With the publication of the influential textbook Child Psychiatry in 1935, Kanner gave a name and domain to the field.

Advisor: Laqueur, Thomas W.
Composite Beings in Neo-Babylonian Art

An examination of all the extant, provenanced depictions of composite beings, Mischwesen, in Neo-Babylonian iconography sheds important new light on the worldview of the last great Mesopotamian civilization. The types of hybrids that are portrayed include such disparate forms as the apkallu and the genius in human form, as well as creatures based on bulls, lions, canines, winged quadrupeds, fish, birds, scorpions, and snakes. Each composite being is analyzed in terms of its physical components, its context within scenes, its historical development, and its interpretation in NB texts./nWithin the hierarchical cosmic community, some lower deities and sub-divine beings appear in composite form. These play a key role in the cosmos by interacting with gods, with each other, with humans, and with natural animals. Their behavior parallels dynamics found in natural life, such as in competition, conflict, predation, protection, and in the service of others who are more powerful. In hybrids the capabilities of natural animals and humans are heightened by the selective addition of features derived from other species. There is no consistent correlation, however, between the strength of a natural creature and the relative power of the superhuman being that it symbolizes, or between its physical complexity and its placement in the cosmic hierarchy. In fact, the transcendence of high gods is often emphasized by their simple representation through attribute animals in natural form./nPortrayals of composite beings often express the need for protection from malevolent powers by beneficent beings, some of whom can be accessed only through human mediators, such as ritual functionaries. Special relationships between supernatural beings and elite humans, especially the king, make such humans indispensable and therefore support their roles in the existing social order. It appears that the choice of a particular being portrayed on a given object could be influenced by factors such as its owner's profession, religious and/or political affiliations, and especially by the apotropaic function(s) of specific composite beings.

Advisor: Stronach, David
Essays in Public Economics

This dissertation is a collection of essays written in preparation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics. The essays are grouped into three parts that address three areas of public economics./nPart I, On the Effects of Government Spending at the Local Level, includes two chapters co-authored with Philippe Wingender that analyze the effects of government spending at the local level. These chapters propose and exploit a new identification strategy to measure the causal impact of government spending on the economy. In Chapter 2 we use this strategy to estimate the short term effects of government spending at the local level. Our estimates imply that government spending has a local income multiplier of 1.88 and an estimated cost per job of $30,000 per year. In Chapter 3 we analyze the economic incidence of sustained changes in federal government spending at the local level. We develop a spatial equilibrium model to show that when workers value publicly-provided goods, a change in government spending at the local level will affect equilibrium wages through shifts in both the labor demand and supply curves. Our estimates of this model conclude that an additional dollar of government spending increases welfare by $1.45 in the median county./nPart II, On Behavioral Responses to Taxation, includes two chapters that analyze how the behavior of private agents responds to tax incentives. In Chapter 4 we study how individuals respond to non-linear taxes. We use a laboratory experiment to document and characterize a behavioral deviation from the standard economic model and argue that this deviation from the rational benchmark has important consequences for the welfare analysis of non-linear pricing schemes and non-linear taxes as well as for policies that advocate the provision of information regarding marginal incentives. In Chapter 5 we study how entrepreneurs organize their firms and how taxation might influence this choice. We focus on the dynamic choice of organizational form for startup firms and we quantify the impacts of tax and non-tax advantages of incorporation. Results from estimating a dynamic discrete choice model showthat static models underestimate fixed costs of reorganization while overestimating the non- tax advantages of incorporation. The revised estimates also lead to a substantive downward revision of the risk-taking incentive inherent in the flexibility to change organizational forms./nPart III, On Applied Econometrics, is composed of a single chapter co-authored with Charlie Gibbons and Mike Urbancic and addresses the use of fixed effects in applied econo- metrics. Though common in the applied literature, it is known that fixed effects regressions with a constant treatment effect generally do not consistently estimate the sample-weighted treatment effect. Chapter 6 demonstrates the extent of the difference between the fixed effect estimate and the sample-weighted effect by replicating nine influential papers from the American Economic Review.

Advisor: Saez, Emmanuel
Social modulation of sickness behavior and its neuroendocrine basis

When animals are suffering from an infection, they frequently exhibit symptoms such as reductions in activity, reductions in food and water intake, reductions in libido and in social interactions. Adoption of these "sickness behaviors" is thought to promote immune function by reducing energy expenditure in activities that are not essential for recovery from the infection and investing this energy in mounting an immune response. In other words, during disease, since the body has limited resources, these need to be traded-off between investment in immunity and investment in other activities. My dissertation work was focused on exploiting this trade-off idea by examining how different social contexts affect the expression of sickness behaviors in birds. Social modulation of sickness behaviors should be especially relevant when animals have an opportunity to reproduce. Hence, my work focused as well on how immune challenges affect the reproductive system and how the social environment can determine the extent to which animals invest in reproduction while sick. Finally, it was my purpose to understand whether alterations in sickness behaviors due to social context impact the immune response in ways that are costly for animals./nThe work in this dissertation emphasizes the plasticity of the sickness behavior response. Here, I demonstrate that birds are able to adjust the expression of sickness behaviors when subjected to social circumstances that promote other adaptive opportunities. While the reproductive system is extensively shut down during an immune challenge, I demonstrate that this effect is reversed within 30 minutes of presentation of a potential mate. In addition, my work indicates that the social modulation of sickness behaviors comes at the cost of reduced immune defenses. In a world where infectious diseases represent one of the major causes of death, an increased understanding of the way behavior during infection is impacted by the social environment and the costs this might carry might promote better guidelines on how to proceed with infected animals (including humans). As well, a deeper knowledge of the endocrine and immune factors mediating this response has the potential to lead to better tools to treat infections. On the other hand, the results in here alert for the reality that our ability to detect sick animals might be obscured by social context, reducing our chances of controlling the spread of infectious diseases (such as the avian flu). With the added knowledge from this work, I expect that sickness behavior might be used as a new tool for learning about motivation underlying social behaviors.

Advisor: Bentley, George E
Language and Framework Support for Reviewably-Secure Software Systems

My thesis is that languages and frameworks can and should be designed to make it easier for programmers to write reviewably secure systems./nA system is reviewably secure if its security is easy for an experienced programmer to verify, given access to the source code./nA security reviewer should be able, with a reasonable amount of effort, to gain confidence that such a system meets its stated security goals./nThis dissertation includes work on on language subsetting and web application framework design./nIt presents Joe-E, a subset of the Java programming language designed to enforce object-capability security, simplifying the task of verifying a variety of security properties by enabling sound, local reasoning./nJoe-E also enforces determinism-by-default, which permits functionally-pure methods to be identified by their signature./nFunctional purity is a useful property that can greatly simplify the task of correctly implementing and reasoning about application code./nA number of applications of the Joe-E language are presented and evaluated./nThe second part of this dissertation presents tool and framework enhancements for improving the security of web applications./nI present techniques for retrofitting existing web applications to use template/nsystems effectively to prevent cross-site scripting and content injection/nvulnerabilities while preserving functionality./nI also show how HTML templates can be rewritten to normalize their output, improving the assurance of security provided by automatic escaping and other static analyses./nThese two applications of my thesis demonstrate that practical enhancements to languages and frameworks can support developers in creating more secure software that is easier to review. Continued improvement in language and framework support for reviewability is a promising approach toward improving the security provided by modern software.

Advisor: Wagner, David A