VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Not written in stone [electronic resource] : martial and the epigrammatic reader

This dissertation examines the relationship initiated and developed by the Roman epigrammatist Martial with his general reader. Martial creates a position of prominence for the reader in his poetry books; my dissertation, after first examining how Martial presents himself as engaging with the general reader, also explores why it is important for him to do so. I argue that the techniques Martial uses to arrest the reader's attention are deeply bound up with his overall orientation toward the epigram book rather than the individual epigrams within it. By frequently addressing and involving his readers, Martial both educates them on the best way to approach his books as coherent units and rewards their diligent adherence to such an approach. My dissertation goes on to place Martial's engagement with the reader into a broader context by comparing it with the approach of other epigrammatists, especially Posidippus of Pella and Ausonius; these authors are not often brought into critical discussions about Martial, yet their poems (and poetry book, in the case of the New Posidippus) demonstrate as clearly as Martial's own how integral a component of the epigrammatist's approach to writing poetry is the reader's experience of reading it.

Keywords: Classics
Advisor: Parker Grant Richard
Barchiesi Alessandro advisor. Thesis advisor
Stephens Susan A. advisor. Thesis advisor
The novel and the transience of cultural worlds [electronic resource]

The first decades of the 20th century saw the emergence of a robust, holist and historicist notion of culture. This essay examines the moral and aesthetic implications of the paradigm shift spearheaded by this term, as these manifest in the realm of the 20th-century realist novel. At the center of study are three elegiac novels that belong to three literary traditions: The Age of Innocence (1920), Radetzkymarsch (1932) and Past Continuous (1977). Their authors--American Edith Wharton, Austro-Hungarian Joseph Roth and Israeli Yaakov Shabtai--all lived through what they regarded as the demise of the worlds that had shaped them. By articulating this personal experience using a distinctively social-constructivist and post-metaphysical vocabulary, they provided us not only with poignant stories of cultural collapse, but also with subtle meditations on the changing meanings of morality and selfhood in a post-Nietzschean, post-Darwinian intellectual climate. Although Wharton, Roth and Shabtai have each received considerable critical attention in their respective traditions, they have not yet been read together as part of a single, comparative, literary-historical argument. The present study attempts this kind of synthesis. Culture, it seeks to show, emerges from these novels, simultaneously, as an all-pervasive power, which by constructing identities, terminally shapes lives, and as a fragile, parochial and ultimately transitory human creation.

Keywords: Comparative Literature.
Advisor: Eshel Amir primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Gumbrecht Hans Ulrich primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Berman Russell A.
Novel therapeutic targets in soft-tissue sarcomas [electronic resource]

Cancer is a disease that is characterized by uncontrolled cell proliferation and is the second leading cause of death in the industrialized world. Cancers can be broadly classified based on their cell type of origin: carcinomas arise from cells of the epithelium, leukemias and lymphomas arise from the cells of the hematopoietic system, and sarcomas arise from cells of the mesenchyme. Recent advances in the understanding of the biological mechanisms of cancer initiation, growth, and metastasis have led to a number of new therapeutic modalities with cancer-specific modes of action; these new biotherapeutic drugs have led to significant improvements in the clinical management of many tumor types. However, these advances have predominantly been directed towards the treatments of carcinomas, leukemias, and lymphomas. For sarcomas, there exist very few available targeted therapies, and the treatment of these tumors remains a significant unmet medical need. This dissertation concerns the identification and inhibition of novel therapeutic targets in sarcomas. In Chapter One, a brief introduction to the epidemiology, biology, and available treatments for cancer is presented. In Chapter Two, a relatively understudied receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK), ROR2, is shown to be a prognostic biomarker of patient outcome and to play a pro-tumorigenic role in two soft-tissue sarcomas, leiomyosarcoma (LMS) and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). In Chapter Three, a cell surface protein, CD47, is shown to prevent immune-mediated clearance of LMS tumors by macrophages, and anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody (mAb) drugs are demonstrated to have therapeutic efficacy against LMS tumors in vitro and in vivo. In Chapter Four, a mAb directed towards KIT, an RTK over-expressed and mutated in GIST, is shown to slow tumor growth in vitro and in vivo in GIST tumors that are both sensitive and resistant to treatment with the current standard of care drug, imatinib. In Chapter Five, a computational approach is taken to identify novel drugs for LMS by comparing gene expression profiles of these tumors to those of benign lesions arising from the same cell type; drugs identified by this analysis were then tested in vitro on LMS cells. Chapters Six and Seven contain discussions and concluding remarks on the results presented in earlier chapters. In sum, these results help further the identification and experimental validation of novel therapeutic targets in soft-tissue sarcomas. It is hoped that these studies will add to the scientific understanding of soft-tissue sarcoma biology and will help to enable further scientific and clinical advances to improve the lives of patients suffering from these cancers.

Keywords: Genetics
Advisor: Rijn Matt van de primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Ford James M. (James Matthew) advisor. Thesis advisor
Galli Stephen J. advisor. Thesis advisor
Sage Julien advisor. Thesis advisor
Stearns Tim
Numerical investigation of turbulence and mixing in shock-accelerated compressible multi-component flows [electronic resource]

The problem of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is numerically studied in canonical configuration. The discontinuities in the flow field (such as shock waves, contact surfaces and material interfaces) are captured by using a shock-capturing method coupled with a high-order high-resolution compact differencing scheme. Verification and validation is conducted by simulating 1-D and 2-D canonical test problems and comparing the numerical results with experimental data and previous numerical results. High resolution numerical simulation of the impulsive acceleration of a dense gas curtain in air by a Mach 1.21 planar shock (modeling the experiments by Balakumar et al. PoF 2008) is carried out by solving the 3-D compressible multi-species Navier-Stokes equation coupled with a localized artificial diffusivity method to capture discontinuities in the flow-field. The simulations account for the presence of three species in the flow-field: air, SF6 and acetone (used as a tracer species in the experiments). The reshock process is studied by re-impacting the evolving curtain with a reflected shock wave. Turbulence statistics computed in the flow-field following reshock are reported and compared with experiment where possible. Inertial range scaling, vorticity anisotropy and Reynolds stress development are studied in the reshocked flow. The high resolution data set is used to test certain modeling assumptions appearing in mixing models (BHR model) that have been traditionally used to study variable density flows. Finally preliminary results are shown from a 3-dimensional calculation of a planar shock interacting with a planar perturbed interface between air and SF6.

Keywords: Aeronautics and Astronautics
Advisor: Lele Sanjiva K. (Sanjiva Keshava)
Alonso Juan José
Moin Parviz advisor. Thesis advisor
Prestridge Katherine advisor. Thesis advisor
Observing protein machines in action [electronic resource] : foundations for a chemical approach

The conformational gymnastics and specific interactions of individual proteins drive the majority of intracellular processes. Yet detailed, dynamic information for these interactions and conformational changes is difficult to obtain and in most cases remains unavailable or inaccessible. In this work, we develop and validate methodology to rapidly obtain global coverage of residue specific information about a protein's conformation, under a set of conditions or after initiation of an event. Cysteine mutations are used as probes of solvent accessibility and changes in modification rate serve as a corollary for changing conformation. To allow rapid generation of this cysteine modification platform, we first increased the robustness and scope of our cysteine misincorporation technology to the entire E. coli genetic code. This allowed for controlled, low frequency cysteine insertion at every position. Second, to demonstrate the power of cysteine modification to determine lightly populated, equilibrium conformations, we used thiol exchange to identify the high energy unfolding intermediates of RNase H D10A. Finally, to elucidate conformational changes that occur on the millisecond time scale, we developed technology and validated chemistry to take 2 millisecond snapshots of a protein's solvent accessibility through rapid pulse/quench cysteine modification.

Keywords: Chemistry
Advisor: Harbury Pehr primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Herschlag Daniel advisor. Thesis advisor
Khosla Chaitan
Straight Aaron
On stars orbiting massive black holes [electronic resource]

This thesis shows that a star orbiting a massive hole can interact with the hole and the hole's attendant disc in many ways, and produce quasi-periodic electro-magnetic (EM) signals. It is possible to use these signals to learn about the space-time around the hole, to probe the parameters of the hole, and even to test General Relativity (GR) in the strong-field regime. One model is about the collisions of a star bound to a massive hole and the accretion disc of the hole. When the star crosses the innermost region of the disc, the stellar orbit precesses, and signals produced by star-disc collisions are quasi-periodic. The temporal behavior of these signals provides information about the mass and spin of the hole. Another model discussed is the Roche mass-transfer of a star. A star approaches a massive hole slowly in a circular, equatorial orbit. When the star fills its Roche lobe, mass will start to transfer through the first Lagrange point, on a time scale between the thermal time and the dynamical time. The stellar orbit expands following the onset of mass-transfer in most cases, in order to keep on filling the Roche lobe. The stream forms a torus around the hole, and a hot spot is formed where the stream hits the torus. This orbiting hot spot will give a quasi-periodic modulation to the hole's quiescent radiation, for an inclined observer. From the period and intensity the modulation flux, we can constrain the hole's parameters. There will be coupled EM and gravitational wave signals produced during this Roche process, giving a good test of GR.

Keywords: Physics
Advisor: Blandford Roger D. primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Romani Roger W. (Roger William) advisor. Thesis advisor
Wagoner Robert V.
Open wounds [electronic resource] : literature, memory, and space in four rural Iberian communities

In this dissertation, I analyze the impact of four contemporary novels that deal with memory of the Spanish Civil War and postwar period in the rural Iberian communities that they describe. The novels are: Les veus del Pamano by Jaume Cabré (Catalonia), Soinujolearen semea (2003) (The Accordionist's Son [2007]) by Bernardo Atxaga (The Basque Country), O lapis do carpinteiro (1998) by Manuel Rivas (Galicia), and Cielos de barro (2000) by Dulce Chacón (Extremadura). I am specifically interested in the role that space plays in the creation and reception of literature on the one hand, and how readership of these novels within specific regions of the Spanish state impacts processes of recuperation, conservation, and transmission of historical memory on the other. My analysis is based on field research that I conducted in the areas of Pallars Sobirà, (Catalonia), Asteasu (The Basque Country), Cesantes/Redondela (Galicia), and Zafra (Extremadura) in which I interviewed readers of these novels in order to ask them about their reactions to the novels.

Keywords: Iberian and Latin American Cultures
Advisor: Resina Joan Ramon primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Barletta Vincent advisor. Thesis advisor
Gumbrecht Hans Ulrich advisor. Thesis advisor
Hoyos Ayala Héctor advisor. Thesis advisor
Opinions about Hispanics [electronic resource] : causes and consequences

Racial divisions have shaped American society since colonization. In the last half- century, social science researchers have proposed a variety of theories about the origins of negative opinions of different racial group. From this body of work, we have learned a great deal about race-based opinions, and these findings have been used in attempts to alleviate racial discrimination. A great deal of the study of race relations and racial opinions in the U.S. has focused on the black-white divide. However, a host of societal changes has made evident that the black-white dichotomy is no longer the only politically relevant racial division in the United States. Hispanics have been the largest minority group in the United States since 2000 and are the fastest growing ethnic group, increasing approximately 3.1% per year. Hispanics accounted for more than half of the population growth between 2008 and 2009, and the United States now has the second largest Hispanic population in the world. In addition, demographic patterns indicate that the relative growth of the Hispanic population will not cease. Over one fourth of all children in the U.S. under the age of 5 are of Hispanic descent, and 61% of Hispanic households include children under the age of 18. The Hispanic population is younger than the non-Hispanic population (median ages of 27.4 and 36.8, respectively). Of the 21 million eligible Hispanic voters, however, only 9.7 million cast ballots in 2008, resulting from a combination of high numbers of non-citizens, the youth of the population, Hispanics being concentrated in lower income and education categories, and non-immunization of immigrants. This makes Hispanics a "sleeping giant" in American politics. The changing ethnic and racial composition of American society makes obvious an exciting opportunity for the academic literature on racial opinions - the exploration of negative attitudes toward Hispanics. Broadly speaking, I do so by examining sources and consequences of opinions about Hispanics among non-Hispanic whites. By building on the theories used to examine anti-black racism, I explore how opinions about Hispanics originate and how these attitudes relate to opinions on public policies, particularly Arizona's SB 1070.

Keywords: Political Science.
Advisor: Krosnick Jon A. primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Segura Gary M.
Jackman Simon
Optical pumping of single donor-bound electrons in zinc selenide and silicon [electronic resource]

The spin of single electrons bound to donors in semiconductor materials are promising candidates for quantum bits implementations. These electrons have been shown to be very homogenous and have extremely long decoherence times in a bulk semiconductor environment. In this work, I have studied two donor systems as quantum bit candidates, with a focus on using optical pumping methods to initialize and measure the electron and nuclear spins of the donor system. The first donor system, fluorine in zinc selenide, is a very optically bright system which is a particularly good candidate for quantum repeater technologies. The relatively large electron binding energy leads to a stable qubit at low temperatures, and the potential for isotopic depletion of nuclear spin from the host semiconductor crystal suggests very long decoherence times can be achieved. In this work, I confirm the isolation of a single F-bound electron, and present results on the use of resonant optical pumping to initialize the electron to a particular spin state. These results open the door for optical control of the electron spin as a qubit. The second donor system, phosphorus in silicon, is the semiconductor system with the longest published decoherence times, obtained for the nuclear spin of the donor. Due to the long excited-state lifetime of the donor optical transitions, the linewidth of the transition is narrower than the hyperfine splitting, allowing optical access to the donor nuclear spin. However, to date, single phosphorus donors have not been optically isolated. In this work, I present a theoretical description of a hybrid optical and electrical device for the measurement of a single phosphorus donor nuclear spin. If experiments can confirm the properties of this device, this measurement technique would provide a key element for a silicon-based quantum computer.

Keywords: Physics
Advisor: Yamamoto Yoshihisa primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Goldhaber-Gordon David
Vuckovic Jelena advisor. Thesis advisor
Optimal control for despin of underactuated tumbling satellites [electronic resource]

A critical issue that must be addressed to enable on-orbit servicing of satellites or removal of space debris is how to capture and despin an object that may be tumbling. The scenario addressed by this work is the case of a damaged or uncooperative tumbling object. Such an object could be a non-responsive "zombiesat'' that needs to be serviced, or a piece of space debris that needs to be removed. This scenario is of particular importance because uncooperative tumbling objects can pose a danger to active satellites in nearby orbits. Servicing tumbling satellites requires several steps. One of the most critical is to despin the satellite, i.e. to drive its angular momentum towards zero. Solving for the optimal thruster commands to perform the despin is computationally complex, especially when the actuation is severely limited as can be the case for an uncooperative tumbling satellite. This problem can be solved in principle using existing numerical dynamic programming (NDP) methods, but the data storage requirements of the solution exceed the capabilities of current satellite computers. Closed form solutions also exist, but only for special cases with specific thruster orientations, inertia properties, and cost functionals. This dissertation describes a control approach that provides a reduced computational cost solution to the despin problem for severely underactuated satellites undergoing general tumbling motion. The approach is based on an NDP algorithm, but the data storage requirements are reduced by up to three orders of magnitude and the computation time requirements are reduced by up to one order of magnitude through a selection of novel ``trajectory'' state and staging variables that incorporates the underlying dynamics into NDP. Only the rotational degrees of freedom are considered in this work. Simulation and experimental results are presented. Simulations were performed for two important tumbling satellite scenarios and demonstrate the computational benefits of using trajectory state and staging variables in NDP. Laboratory experiments were performed using a small-scale tumbling satellite simulator and demonstrate the viability of the control approach.

Keywords: Aeronautics and Astronautics
Advisor: Rock Stephen M. primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Alonso Juan José
Close Sigrid
Optimal design of health insurance plans [electronic resource]

High deductible health insurance plans have been advocated as a measure to control rising healthcare expenditure, by reducing the moral hazard associated with 3rd party insurance and encouraging cost-effective behavior. Despite the increasing use of demand-side cost-sharing, the optimal design of health insurance schemes is not very well understood nor easy to apply. As such, economic theory has not had a major influence on design of health insurance schemes. This dissertation examines aspects of designing and implementing high deductible insurance schemes. First, I examine the optimal coinsurance rates of primary prevention, diagnostic services and office visits. In many observed health plans, these services are often exempt from deductibles. The Affordable Care Act also mandates that private health plans must cover a stipulated list of preventive services at zero coinsurance with no deductible. I show that optimal coinsurance rates for primary prevention are always higher than the coinsurance rates for associated treatment for risk-neutral individuals; and if the uninsured portion of treatment expenditure is sufficiently large or probability of illness is sufficiently small for risk-averse individuals. This probability is given by the threshold under which a risk-averse individual will undertake more prevention. We also identify similar thresholds for diagnostic services and they show that optimal coinsurance rates are always higher than associated treatment coinsurance in most circumstances. These results suggest that additional justifications have to be sought in setting prevention and diagnostic coinsurance below that of treatment. This dissertation also develops an easily applicable formula for optimal nonlinear coinsurance rates using a perturbation method. This method has the advantage of being extended to solve optimal deductible levels with fixed coinsurance rates as compared to Blomqvist(1997)'s derivation using optimal control theory. The application of this formula to observed health insurance plans, distribution of expenditures and risk aversion provides maximum bounds (in absolute terms) for elasticity estimates. Similarly from elasticity estimates, we can also obtain lower bounds of risk aversion. I apply these formulas to generate optimal coinsurance rates and deductible levels for observed expenditure distributions and elasticities in the RAND HIE. Finally, I study Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) which are usually coupled to high deductible health insurance schemes. The effectiveness of MSAs depends on the extent to which consumers value Medisave dollars less compared to cash dollars because of restrictions imposed on the use of MSAs. Using individual-level data of hospital ward choice in Singapore, we estimate that consumers value Medisave dollars at 80 cents to a dollar in cash.

Keywords: Management Science and Engineering
Advisor: Bhattacharya Jay primary advisor. Thesis advisor
Enthoven Alain C.
Shachter Ross D. advisor. Thesis advisor