Recent root items

Coxeter groups and the polynomial Hurwitz action

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Artin groups are generalizations of Emil Artin’s braid groups, and dual Artin groups are a variation defined using the Hurwitz action on reduced reflection factorizations of a fixed Coxeter element of the corresponding Coxeter group. There is a surjective group homomorphism from the Artin group to the corresponding dual Artin group. It is conjectured that the standard and dual Artin groups are always isomorphic. When the two groups are isomorphic, the properties of the dual Artin group can be used to tackle the word problem and K(π, 1) conjecture for the standard Artin group.This dissertation investigates the matrix representations and change of basis induced by the Hurwitz action on reduced reflection factorizations of Coxeter elements. When attention is restricted to powers of half-twists, the resulting matrix representations exhibit connections to Fibonacci and Chebyshev polynomials, and can be viewed geometrically as acting via rotations on certain planes in the standard geometric...

Permit outcomes and timelines: Comparing state and sub-state permitting authorities for large-scale energy facilities

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Permitting reform, shaped by local and state governance, could eliminate unnecessary administrative burdens that slow the development of new electricity generation or increase its cost. However, the duration and outcomes of the permitting process are not well studied, especially for locally permitted projects, which are the standard for many parts of the U.S. Analyzing data across 29 states and more than 400 counties finds clear evidence that local (county or sub-county) permitting authorities move through the permitting process almost twice as fast, at near 200 days, as state-level authorities when permitting large-scale wind and solar projects. Additionally, there is a roughly 3x difference in permitting speed between the fastest and slowest states for both state and local permitting decisions. Further, more than 87% of state-level processes resulted in a granted permit, and 93% of sub-state-level processes, implying a high degree of application success.

Static in the Radiosphere: Radio and the Public Good, Broadcasting Power and the Battle for the Airwaves

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The future of radio broadcasting is uncertain. To better understand what the future of radio may hold, this paper explores the complex history of American radio broadcasting as a continuous struggle over media power. Utilizing the idea of “static” as a metaphor for the ideological and practical tension in American radio history, this paper argues that this history is characterized by the contradiction between radio as a facilitator of liberatory democratic communication versus its use as a means for capitalist homogenization and control. Drawing from theoretical frameworks established by Marx, Foucault, McLuhan, Adorno and others, this paper analyzes important texts in radio studies to craft a narrative that traces important historical moments in which the battle of the airwaves was fought. From the early technological innovation of pioneering inventors to governmental intervention and the enclosure of the radio commons. From wartime propaganda and anti-communist blacklisting...

Stochastic Sampling for Sparse, Hardware-Efficient Inference and Optimization

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Modern workloads increasingly rely on combinatorial optimization and large-scale neural generation, yet their performance is often limited less by arithmetic than by memory movement, energy cost, and the difficulty of exploring large discrete state spaces. This dissertation advances stochastic sampling as a hardware-aware computing principle, using controlled stochasticity to replace portions of dense deterministic computation with sparse, scalable alternatives. First, the dissertation develops noise-augmented chaotic bit networks for Ising machine optimization and sampling. Chaotic bits use deterministic billiard-ball dynamics to generate binary spin states, providing a chaotic analogue of probabilistic bits. Chaotic bit networks reproduce key sampling phenomena, including agreement with the quantum Boltzmann law in a one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model and critical dynamics in classical Ising and spin-glass systems. The dissertation further introduces a hybrid...

Smaller universal poset

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We show that there is a constant $C›0$ such that for each integer $n\geq 1$, there is a poset on at most $2^{2n/3+C\sqrt{n}}$ elements that contains each $n$-element poset as an (induced) subposet.

Mathematics Subject Classifications: 06A07, 06A06

Keywords: Universal Structure, Poset

Applications of Gaussian Processes to Stochastic Control and Optimization for Grid-Scale Battery Energy Storage Systems

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Grid-scale battery energy storage systems require decision-making under uncertainty while respecting hard operational constraints. This dissertation develops Gaussian-process methods for two related stochastic control and optimization problems in grid-scale battery operation. The first contribution is SHADOw-GP, a backward actor–critic method that learns continuation-value and control emulators from simulated transitions. It accommodates continuous states and actions, nonlinear objectives, non-Gaussian dynamics, and hard constraints, and is applied to two complementary battery applications: renewable firming and energy arbitrage in electricity markets. The second contribution is ARBO-DART, a Bayesian optimization framework for battery co-optimization across day-ahead and real-time electricity markets. In this setting, evaluating each day-ahead dispatch profile requires SHADOw-GP to solve an expensive stochastic control problem for recourse in real-time electricity market. ARBO-DART...

The Next Generation of Trade and Environment Conflicts: The Rise of Green Industrial Policy

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A major shift is transforming the trade and environment field, triggered by governments’ rising use of industrial policies to spark nascent renewable energy industries and to restrict exports of certain minerals in the face of political economy constraints. While economically distorting, these policies do produce significant economic and environmental benefits. At the same time, they often violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, leading to increasingly harsh conflicts between trading partners.

This Article presents a comprehensive analysis of these emerging conflicts, arguing that they represent a sharp break from past trade and environment disputes. It examines the causes of the shift and the nature of the industrial policies at issue. The ascendance of these Next Generation conflicts transforms both the international and domestic political economies of trade litigation and environmental policy. It raises implications for the choice of forum for trade litigation,...

Structural Basis for Recognition of a Gonococcal Lipooligosaccharide Epitope by Monoclonal Antibody 2C7 Informs Vaccine and Immunotherapeutic Design

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the causative agent of gonorrhea, represents an escalating global health concern because of the rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance and the continued lack of an effective vaccine. The lipooligosaccharide (LOS) epitope targeted by monoclonal antibody 2C7 is highly conserved and expressed by the majority of clinical isolates, highlighting its potential as an attractive target for therapeutic and vaccine-based interventions. To define the molecular basis for 2C7 recognition, we structurally characterized mAb 2C7 bound to an LOS-derived octasaccharide. NMR and a 1.6 Å crystal structure of the Fab 2C7–octasaccharide complex showed that mAb 2C7 recognizes the β- and γ-glycan chains through an extensive network of hydrogen-bonding and hydrophobic interactions within the Fab binding cleft. MD simulations indicated that β and γ chains form stable, specific interactions with 2C7, whereas α-chain contacts are transient. Guided by structure, we synthesized...

Braiding and Dynamics of Quasiparticles in the Graphene Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The fractional quantum Hall effect actualizes a surprising prediction of quantum mechanics in two dimensions: the emergence of anyons, particles whose exchange phase can take any value between that of the fermions and bosons. This work summarizes our recent experiments probing the nature of these anyons in graphene devices.First, we utilize recent advancements in sample fabrication to create Fabry-P´erot edge-state interferometers in graphene van der Waals heterostructures, and use them to directly measure the braiding statistics of e/3-anyon quasiparticles. Replicating the original confirmation of this braiding phase in GaAs quantum wells, we establish that detecting individual e/3 anyons at ν = 1/3 is an increasingly routine experimental achievement. With this capability, we design dynamical experiments which test the applicability of the simplest theoretical description of a doped FQH state as a system of dilute, weakly-interacting anyons. Measurements of the time-varying quasiparticle...

Super Markov numbers and signed double dimer covers

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We provide a superalgebraic analogue of Markov numbers, which are defined as the Grassmann integer solutions to the equation $x^2 + y^2 + z^2 + (xy + yz + xz)\epsilon = 3(1+\epsilon)xyz$, as well as applications to the decorated super Teichmüller spaces associated to the once-punctured torus and certain annuli. We conclude with further directions for study.

Mathematics Subject Classifications: 13F60, 17A70, 30F60, 11D25, 05C70

Keywords: Markov numbers, Super Teichmüller space, snake graphs, double dimer covers

Possible observational survey strategies to maximize exoplanet yields: a report from the survey strategies task group in the exoplanet science yields working group

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We present a variety of possible observational sequences from planet detection to characterization (i.e., survey strategies) for the initial exoEarth detection and characterization survey phase of the Habitable Worlds Observatory. An array of survey strategies were collated by the HWO Exoplanet Survey Strategies Task Group; by investigating and comparing expected resultant exoEarth yields for multiple survey strategies, we can better understand the most efficient strategy to characterize multiple planets in unconventional ways. We present eight varied survey strategies, presented as steps of Detection, Photometry, Orbit Measurement, and/or Characterization, including discussion of possible shortcomings and benefits of each strategy. We present exoEarth yield calculations from the Altruistic Yield Optimizer (AYO) and the Exoplanet Open-Source Imaging Mission Simulator (EXOSIMS) for select strategies, with initial considerations of thermal emission and detector noise. Herein, a...

Black, Queer & Liberated: Pilot & Evaluation of a Community-Partnered Mental Health Intervention for Black Queer Young Adults

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Black queer young adults are disproportionately impacted by individual mental health symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and suicidality (Boyd et al., 2024; Xu et al., 2024), worsened by systemic oppression (e.g. racial trauma, queerphobia, discrimination, stigma) (DeSon & Andover, 2024; Mereish et al., 2025). Although Black queer communities may experience resilience through community organizing, radical hope, and political resistance (Briggs 2024; Parmenter et al., 2024; Pease et al., 2024), evidence-based approaches grounded in these principles are absent. This dissertation aimed to address this gap by developing an intervention to improve mental health and political efficacy in Black queer young adults. The study developed and piloted a six-week, community-partnered support group grounded in Radical Healing framework (French et al., 2020). The intervention was successfully developed by the research team in partnership with a community partner organization based in Los...

Functional Effects of Cortisol Increases in Novel Environments

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cortisol, and the broader class of glucocorticoid (GC) hormones, are generally viewed as ‘stress hormones’, with their function understood to be one inextricably linked to the regulation of physiology and behavior in the context of stress. However, this perspective ignores the flexibility of adaptive endocrine responses, which can elicit diverse suites of effects depending on the specific context an organism is situated in. In this dissertation, I take a deeper look at cortisol responses that have been observed in nonhuman animals introduced to a novel context, typically interpreted as “novelty stress”. I propose an alternative explanation: this may instead represent an adaptive response to the challenge of exploring and extracting value from a novel environment, in which cortisol increases represent a coordinating signal to engage cognitive, behavioral, and physiological processes to facilitate this task.Several lines of past research on glucocorticoids present key evidence informing...

Strategic Opportunities in Competitive Resource Allocation

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This manuscript studies strategic resource allocation problems in competitive environments. Competitive interactions arise naturally in a wide range of domains, ranging from R&D races to multi-agent task allocation. While classical frameworks characterize optimal resource allocation through equilibrium analysis, strategic agents can often improve their performance through alternative mechanisms such as information acquisition, coordination, and cooperation.The first part of this manuscript investigates competitive resource allocation through the framework of contest games. In this setting, we analyze how strategic agents can influence their outcomes by modifying the structure of their interactions through mechanisms such as information acquisition, alliances, and incentive design. Our results characterize the impact of these externalities on equilibrium outcomes and quantify the potential performance improvements available to the participants.The second part focuses on dynamic...

Compact Cell Complexes for Finite Complex Reflection Groups and their Braid Groups

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The subspace of monic centered polynomial of degree d with distinct roots is known to be a classifying space for the braid group on d strands. In the last few decades, another classifying space known as the dual braid complex emerged as a good candidate to study the geometric properties of the braid group. However, while these two spaces are homotopic equivalent, their precise relationship was mysterious. Recently, Dougherty and McCammond compactified this space of polynomials and gave the compactified space a piecewise Euclidean cell structure. They achieved this by studying the relationship between the polynomials and their multiset of critical values using the Lyashko-Looijenga map. The new cell structure allowed the author to build an explicit homotopy between the two classifying spaces of braid group.In this thesis, we extend the result of Dougherty and McCammond to a space of polynomials that is a classifying space for the Artin group of Type Bn. In particular, by studying...

Ectomesenchymal identity emerges via relief of Twist1 transcript destabilisation

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

During vertebrate development, a subset of cranial neural crest cells (CNCCs) termed ‘ectomesenchyme’ differentiates into cell types canonically associated with the mesoderm (cartilage, bone and muscle). While the molecular decisions that guide CNCCs toward ectomesenchymal identity remain incompletely understood, the transcription factor Twist1 plays a central role. Here, we show that while Twist1 transcripts accumulate in late migratory CNCCs as cells enter the pharyngeal arch environment, a Twist1 enhancer within Hdac9 is active in the neural tube and CNCCs. We reconcile the temporal discrepancy between enhancer activity and transcript accumulation by showing that the Twist1 3’ UTR from multiple vertebrate species (but not the non-vertebrate chordate Ciona intestinalis) destabilises transcripts in the ectoderm via a conserved AU-Rich Element. Together, these findings reveal a vertebrate-specific, two-tiered regulatory mechanism that uncouples enhancer activity from transcript...

Framing triangulations and framing posets of planar DAGs with nontrivial netflow vectors

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The polyhedron of unit flows on a directed acyclic graph (DAG) with one source and one sink is known to admit regular unimodular triangulations induced by framings of the DAG. The dual graph of any of these triangulations may be given the structure of the Hasse diagram of a lattice, generalizing many variations of the Tamari lattice and the weak order. We extend this theory to flow polytopes of DAGs which may have multiple sources, multiple sinks, and nontrivial netflow vectors under certain planarity conditions. We construct a unimodular triangulation of such a flow polytope indexed by combinatorial data and give a poset structure on its maximal simplices generalizing the strongly planar one-source-one-sink case.

Mathematics Subject Classifications: 05C21, 05E45, 52B11

Keywords: Framing triangulations, flow polytopes

Extending Kernel Graph Regression for High-Dimensional Spatiotemporal Modeling and Causal Inference

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Graph signal processing (GSP) has given rise to kernel graph regression (KGR) models, an emerging class of methods that use graph-based operators and kernel functions to represent complex dependence structures in high-dimensional data. These models are especially useful in spatiotemporal settings, where conventional covariance estimation may be difficult to interpret, computationally expensive, or numerically unstable. This thesis builds on this literature by extending the KGR framework in several directions and demonstrating its value in environmental health applications involving respiratory-related mortality, excess heat mortality, and wildfire smoke exposure.First, a broader Bayesian KGR framework is developed for high-dimensional non-Gaussian spatiotemporal data by combining spatial clustering, graph estimation when graph structure is unknown, latent Gaussian modeling, and approximate Bayesian inference through the Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA). The resulting...

Symmetric noncrossing partitions of an annulus with double points

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

For affine Coxeter groups of affine types $\widetilde{\text{D}}$ and $\widetilde{\text{B}}$, we model the interval $[1,c]_T$ in the absolute order by symmetric noncrossing partitions of an annulus with one or two double points. In type $\widetilde{\text{B}}$ (and almost in type $\widetilde{\text{D}}$), the diagrams also model the larger lattice defined by McCammond and Sulway.

Mathematics Subject Classifications: Primary: 20F55, 05E16; Secondary: 20F36

Keywords: Absolute order, affine Coxeter group, marked surface, noncrossing partition

Active Control of Structure and Morphology in Phase-Separated Systems

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The interaction between active fluids and deformable interfaces gives rise to a wide range of nonequilibrium phenomena that are absent in passive systems. In this dissertation, I investigate this interplay using a microtubule–kinesin active fluid coupled to a polyethylene oxide (PEO)–dextran aqueous two-phase system. This experimental platform enables the study of how internally generated active stresses reshape liquid–liquid interfaces and drive new phase-separated morphologies.First, I study the structure and dynamics of the bulk interface driven by active stress on one side. Turbulent-like active flows power giant interfacial fluctuations, which exhibit pronounced asymmetry between regions of positive and negative curvature. Complementary theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that this asymmetry arises because the interface breaks the spatial symmetry of the bend instability characteristic of extensile active fluids. The magnitude of interface deformations increases...

Widespread Chemosynthesis Across McMurdo Sound, Antarctica Through the Lens of Infaunal Communities

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Antarctica is estimated to hold up to 400 Gt C in methane reservoirs, with the role of Antarctica in the global methane cycle poorly constrained. Recent seep emergence, including discovery of the Cinder Cones Seep in 2011, and many more around McMurdo Sound, offer the opportunity to explore the impact of methane seepage on benthic communities. Here I characterize the role of seep-derived nutrition to macrofaunal trophic support and community composition shifts. I used community structure and sequencing-based gut-content analysis coupled to stable isotopic composition across sites and years to quantify the impact of seepage in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The area of active seepage has become one of the densest macrofaunal communities known globally with densities up to 283,006 ± 20,808 individuals per m2. The main members of this community were the sand anemone Edwardsia meridionalis, the spionid polychaete Spiophanes tchernai, and the tanaid Nototanais dimorphus. These were occasionally...

Lift and Drag Calculations with a 2D Finite Difference Navier–Stokes Solver

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Lift and Drag Calculations with a 2D Finite Difference Navier–Stokes Solver

Improved bounds on the zeros of the chromatic polynomial of graphs and claw-free graphs

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We prove that for any graph $G$ the (complex) zeros of its chromatic polynomial, $\chi_G(x)$, lie inside the disk centered at $0$ of radius $4.25 \Delta(G)$, where $\Delta(G)$ denotes the maximum degree of $G$. This improves on a recent result of Jenssen, Patel and Regts, who proved a bound of $5.94\Delta(G)$. Moreover, we show that for graphs of sufficiently large girth we can replace $4.25$ by $3.60$ and for claw-free graphs we can replace $4.25$ by $3.81$.

Our proofs add some substantially novel ideas to those developed by Jenssen, Patel, and Regts, while building on them. A key novel ingredient for claw-free graphs is to use a representation of the coefficients of the chromatic polynomial in terms of the number of certain partial acyclic orientations.

Mathematics Subject Classifications: 05C31, 68W25

Keywords: Chromatic polynomial, acyclic orientation, complex zeros, broken circuit, maximum degree, claw-free graphs

Ultra-clean rhombohedral graphene devices: from broken symmetries to hydrodynamics

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Graphite consists of many two-dimensional sheets of carbon, bound to one another only by the van der Waals interaction. In its familiar form it is a semimetal, with electrons well described as non-interacting quasiparticles in Bloch states and transport that is essentially ballistic at low temperatures under most conditions. Its low density of states means no isospin symmetry breaking is expected, and its weak electron-phonon coupling suggests it should not superconduct. All of this holds for the energetically favorable Bernal configuration, in which successive layers are shifted by a third of a unit cell in alternating directions. In the metastable rhombohedral structure, where every layer is shifted in the same direction, the low-energy wavefunctions instead localize on the outermost two layers, and the system acquires a high density of states. Indeed, superconductivity and magnetism have been observed in rhombohedral N-layer graphene (RNG) for N ≥ 2. Unfortunately, its metastability...

Fantasy, Dream, and Memory in “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”: Environmental Imagination and the Child in Grahame’s Pan

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

For this Field Exam 1 for the Comparative Literature Program, I propose to examine the utility and poetics of fantasy as an environmental strategy in children’s literature in a research paper that draws on close reading, thematic analysis, and prior foundational scholarship into fantasy, environment, and children’s literature. By looking at the case study of Kenneth Grahame’s “Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” we can comparatively view the abundance of editions and adaptations to reveal a poetics of fantastical environmentalism. Furthermore Wind in the Willows as a major work in early children’s literature, written in a moment of environmental and cultural turbulence, and imbued with the influence that comes with belonging to the canon of classic English children’s literature speaks to the memory and intergenerational potential of children’s literature. This intersection of fields represents to the historical connection between the mythologies of nature and the nature of the child...

Insights about the Mechanism of Processivity and Substrate Discrimination by Cell Cycle Regulated Methyltransferase (CcrM), including Preliminary Methods for a Structural Justification using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM)

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cell cycle regulated methyltransferase (CcrM) is a bacterial DNA adenine N6 methyltransferase found in Caulobacter Crescentus that methylates adenines within GANTC sites. CcrM has orthologs in bacteria that are pathogenic to humans, animals, and agricultural plants. This makes studying its mechanism relevant for the design of novel antibiotics against these pathogens. CcrM’s mechanism of processivity and discrimination between DNA and RNA was examined through mutagenesis efforts. Novel and previously published radiochemical and fluorescent assays were used to study the mechanistic changes that occurred during these mutation studies. For the processivity studies, mutants were made of residues that interacted with phosphate groups of nucleotides outside of the GANTC site. A mutant that maintained an interaction with a phosphate group through conservation of the amino acid’s positive charge, K187R, showed minimal changes in processivity from WT. Unexpectedly, a mutant that lost an...

“Pipe dreams” and realities: Taiwanese Americans' intergenerational identity and heritage language transmission

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sinophone studies have gained traction in the past two decades, emphasizing the necessity of looking away from a model of a centralized, monolithic Chinese speaker and more at those who may fall at the periphery of this world. This narrative inquiry focuses on one of these groups and an area that does not receive as much specific attention: second-generation Taiwanese Americans and their heritage language (HL) maintenance. While there are existing studies of Chinese as a HL (CHL), they seldom focus on Taiwanese Americans, who need to simultaneously combat native speaker ideologies and those with controversial politics that disagree with their identity. These unique experiences that Taiwanese Americans have can greatly influence their choices when it is time to raise their own third-generation Taiwanese American children. Particularly, their experiences are different from other Asian Americans and other immigrant groups because of the added strand of being distinct from China....

Pluri-Arabism: Language Change in Arab Popular Culture

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This dissertation examines language change in contemporary Arab popular culture. Throughout much of the twentieth century, Egyptian media occupied a dominant position within the Arab world, and the Cairene dialect functioned as the primary spoken medium of transregional cultural production. Through cinema, radio, television, and popular music, Egyptian Arabic became the most widely understood dialect and served as the principal vehicle of cultural circulation across national boundaries. In recent decades, however, the rise of satellite television, digital media, and Gulf-based entertainment industries has altered this landscape. As new centers of media production have emerged, interactions among Arabic dialects have become increasingly visible in popular culture. This study investigates how these transformations have reshaped linguistic practices and cultural production across the contemporary Arab world.The research draws upon textual analysis of popular music, television dramas,...

The Social Responsibilities of Singer-Songwriters in Spain and Latin America: How Cantautores Changed the World in the 20th Century

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is a multi-nation study of the different ways that singer-songwriters (cantautores) function in society. Studying the relationships between these musicians and their publics, the political atmospheres of the times, and the artistic production of the cantautores, I consider what troubadours mean to the popular imaginary and how they function in modern society. The principal contexts of this study are Argentina, Chile, Cuba, and Spain from the 1950s through the 1980s. Focusing primarily on the works, characters, and sociohistorical contexts of Facundo Cabral, Pablo Milanés, Violeta Parra, Silvio Rodríguez, and Joan Manuel Serrat, I study the affective power of the popular song in the construction of collective cultural identities. The aim of this project is to study the sociological work done by politically committed singer-songwriters in Latin America and Spain during the mid 20th century.Adopting a theoretical frame based in affect—using as a starting point ideas developed...

Realizing resolutions of powers of extremal ideals

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Extremal ideals are a class of square-free monomial ideals which dominate and determine many algebraic invariants of powers of all square-free monomial ideals. For example, the $r^{th}$ power ${\mathcal{E}_q}^r$ of the extremal ideal on $q$ generators has the maximum betti numbers among the $r^{th}$ power of any square-free monomial ideal with $q$ generators. In this paper we study the combinatorial and geometric structure of the (minimal) free resolutions of powers of square-free monomial ideals via the resolutions of powers of extremal ideals. Although the end results are algebraic, this problem has a natural interpretation in terms of polytopes and discrete geometry. Our guiding conjecture is that all powers ${\mathcal{E}_q}^r$ of extremal ideals have resolutions supported on their Scarf simplicial complexes, and thus their resolutions are as small as possible. This conjecture is known to hold for $r \leq 2$ or $q \leq 4$. In this paper we prove the conjecture...

The Demon’s Kuse: Dramaturgical Characterization of Demons Across Muromachi Nō Playwrights

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The demon is among the oldest figures of nō, and across the Muromachi period it took many forms. It has often been studied for its role in a play’s story, as the sympathetic ghost of the early plays or the monster that is slain in the later ones. Less has been said about how the demon was constructed. In this thesis, I ask how each playwright built his demon, and where in the play he did so. I look at the demon in the nō plays of the Muromachi period, examining one play by each of four playwrights — Zeami Motokiyo’s Nue, Komparu Zenchiku’s Shōki, Kanze Nobumitsu’s Momijigari, and Kanze Nagatoshi’s Miuegatake — through the kuse, the sung and danced passage in which a figure conventionally gives its own account of itself. I measure each play’s kuse against the framework for the demon set out in Zeami’s treatises. Zeami conceived the demon worth staging as demonic in form and human in intent, and in his practice the kuse is where that human intent is delivered. Whether a later play...

Examining the Role of Religion and Concealment of Sexual Orientation on Mental Health and Alcohol Use among Black and Latine Sexual Minority Women

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Alcohol misuse has steadily increased among women in the U.S., with certain subgroups, such as sexual minority women (SMW), showing alarmingly high rates of problematic drinking. In fact, 30 years of clinical research demonstrates that SMW hit the threshold for alcohol use disorder 8-11x more than heterosexual women (Hughes et al., 2020). However, the great majority of this research is devoid of systemic, intersectional considerations, like racial stigma and discrimination. The focus of this dissertation was to investigate how cultural and identity-related factors—particularly religiosity and concealment of sexual orientation—affect mental health outcomes and problematic drinking among a community sample of 176 Black and Latine SMW in Los Angeles. Path analysis revealed that higher levels of religiosity and concealment were associated with lower stress; perceived stress significantly predicted both general alcohol use and drinking to cope, underscoring stress as a key mediator....

Aura Hysterica: Hysterical Pathologies and a Mad Femme Future

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

My dissertation, Aura Hysterica: Hysterical Pathologies and a Mad Femme Future, offers a queer history of hysteria informed by queer and mad/crip theory. I approach hysteria not only as a medical diagnosis, but also as a performance, a politics, and a methodology for queer world-making. Focusing on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, I examine how queer and feminine-presenting subjects navigate shifting demands of femininity, sexual normativity, and the pathologization of desire within emerging medical regimes.This project builds on feminist scholarship on hysteria by foregrounding its entanglement with colonial, patriarchal, racial, and psychiatric orders. I argue that hysteria is central to the production and regulation of femininity, sexual normativity, and whiteness. The professionalization of medicine coincides with hysteria’s diagnostic peak, as medical discourse increasingly consolidates Western colonial ideals of gender, sex, and race. In this context, the treatment...

Physics-inspired Machine Learning with Probabilistic Computers

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Energy-based models offer immense representational capacity for both generative artificial intelligence and complex quantum many-body physics, yet scaling them on conventional, deterministic hardware remains a fundamental computational challenge. This dissertation advances probabilistic computing through hardware-algorithm co-design, utilizing field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to physically emulate massively parallel networks of stochastic bits (p-bits).First, the dissertation demonstrates that hardware-aware sparse deep Boltzmann machines (DBMs) can be efficiently trained for classical machine learning tasks. By mapping sparse DBMs to an FPGA, the system matches the classification accuracy of dense restricted Boltzmann machines using two orders of magnitude fewer parameters. Furthermore, this deep probabilistic framework unlocks generative synthesis capabilities, effortlessly generating novel images where highly parameterized shallow architectures fail.Building on this,...

Entropy, Chaos and Observable Algebras in Solvable Models of Quantum Gravity

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

AdS/CFT gives a nonperturbative definition of quantum gravity in terms of ordinary quantum systems, and therefore sharply frames the black hole information paradox: microscopic time evolution should be unitary, while semiclassical observables can still see horizons, thermality, and apparent information loss. To understand how these descriptions are reconciled, it is useful to turn to solvable models of lower-dimensional gravity and their microscopic duals, where the emergence of spacetime, entropy, and observable algebras can be studied explicitly. The goal of this dissertation is to use such models to understand how spacetime, black hole interiors, and gravitational dynamics can emerge from quantum many-body systems, and how their semiclassical interpretation depends on the algebra of observables retained in the limit.The main laboratory is the double-scaled Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev model, whose large-N limit reorganizes correlation functions into chord diagrams. This chord description...

A Unique Form of Cooperation: Cognitive Specializations for Collaboration

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cooperation in human societies takes distinct forms, such as exchange, risk-pool sharing, and collaboration. Whether these variations arise from the same cognitive system or several specialized ones remains unresolved. Here I test the hypothesis that there exist cognitive adaptations specialized for collaboration.Chapter 2 reports eight pre-registered experiments (N=3194) using a novel foraging game to test whether collaboration activates a functionally organized suite of design features that differ from those activated by risk-pool foraging. Because both domains elicit sharing, comparing them tests a central prediction from previous studies: Producing resources collaboratively activates the intuition that partners deserve equal shares. In a virtual fishing task, partners either collaborated in assembling their traps or worked independently. To activate risk-pool sharing, luck created unequal catches (9 versus 3), allowing me to distinguish generosity (giving 1–2 fish) from equality...

Towards diamond spin-opto-mechanical systems: Design, fabrication, and characterization of optomechanical crystals with embedded spins

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Hybrid quantum systems open new possibilities in quantum information science by linking different platforms to combine their advantages. Mechanical resonators play a crucial role as intermediaries to connect distant isolated quantum platforms. We specifically focus on the spin-opto-mechanical system, which shows great potential for novel measurement schemes that overcome the low collection efficiency and limited single-shot fidelity of conventional optical spin readout. Diamond is a promising material platform for these hybrid systems due to its excellent material properties and the ability to host highly coherent color centers like the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) and silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers. To build a working spin-opto-mechanical system in diamond, it is crucial to realize a device with high optical and mechanical quality factors while preserving spin coherence.This thesis presents the entire quantum hardware development cycle, including the design, fabrication, and characterization...

A New Interpretation of Locke’s Theory of Abstraction

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this dissertation, I argue for a new interpretation of Locke’s theory of abstraction—the Range Interpretation—and further argue that this interpretation provides unexpected consilience in regard to understanding Locke’s theory and its place in the history of philosophy. The Range Interpretation identifies precisely what Locke’s theory is—especially the precise mechanism of mental separation in the formation of Lockean abstract ideas. On this new interpretation Lockean abstraction is a process of mentally separating ranges of perceived similarity from a background context of imagistic content (and all circumstances of time and place) and storing these ranges of perceived similarity in memory as abstract ideas. I argue that this interpretation has two unexpected beneficial results: (1) it breaks the impasse in the long-standing debate over how best to interpret Locke’s theory of abstraction in the scholarly literature and (2) it provides the grounds for a new defense of Locke’s...

Partial permutations and character evaluations

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Let $I = (i_1, \dots, i_k)$ and $J = (j_1, \dots, j_k)$ be two length $k$ sequences drawn from $\{1, \dots, n \}$. We have the group algebra element $[I,J] := \sum_{w(I) = J} w \in {\mathbb {C}}[{\mathfrak{S}}_n]$ where the sum is over permutations $w \in {\mathfrak{S}}_n$ which satisfy $w(i_p) = j_p$ for $p = 1, \dots, k$. We give an algorithm for evaluating irreducible characters $\chi^\lambda: {\mathbb {C}}[{\mathfrak{S}}_n] \to {\mathbb {C}}$ of the symmetric group on the elements $[I,J]$. This algorithm is a hybrid of the classical Murnaghan-Nakayama rule and a new path Murnaghan-Nakayama rule which reflects the decomposition of a partial permutation into paths and cycles.

These results first appeared in arXiv:2206.06567, which is no longer intended for publication. We originally used the character theoretic results in this paper to prove asymptotic results on moments of certain permutation statistics...

Passive Survivability of Lithium-Ion Batteries Exposed to Lunar Night Conditions

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Future missions to the lunar surface must consider the moon’s extreme thermal environment, where equatorial temperatures oscillate between approximately −180 ◦C and 120 ◦C over the lunar day–night cycle. Lithium-Ion batteries could potentially hibernate during the lunar night and recover at dawn, but questions remain regarding degradation over long mission durations and at small length scales. This work examines state-ofthe-art commercial Lithium-Ion cells under mission-relevant electrochemical and thermal cycling rates. During a nearly four-week testing campaign, 18650 form-factor cells underwent cryogenic cycling in a vacuum chamber and were characterized using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, X-ray computed tomography, and ultrasonic measurements. Thermally cycled cells were compared with room-temperature control cells to isolate the effects of cryogenic exposure. No measurable difference in degradation was observed between the cryogenically cycled cells and the controls....

Relationships Between Quantum Cryptographic Primitives

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Quantum mechanics enables cryptographic primitives that are impossible using classical computation and classical communication. Prominent examples include quantum key distribution and private-key quantum money, both of which achieve unconditional security without relying on any computational assumptions. Many other primitives, however, still require computational assumptions.In classical cryptography, the existence of one-way functions is the minimal assumption underlying most of cryptographic tasks. In the quantum setting, one-way functions have traditionally served as the starting point for studying tasks that require computational assumptions. Recent advances in quantum cryptography have significantly reshaped our understanding. The central primitives are pseudorandom unitaries (PRUs) and pseudorandom states (PRSs) introduced by Ji, Liu, and Song. Subsequent works construct cryptographic primitives based on PRUs and PRSs without using one-way functions. In this dissertation,...

The mechanisms and casting parameters employed by Controlled Diffusion Solidification to reduce hot tearing susceptibility in wrought aluminum alloys

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study investigates the efficacy of Controlled Diffusion Solidification (CDS) in refining grain structure and improving castability in Al-4.5%Cu and 6061 alloys. Experimental results demonstrate that CDS, in combination with high cooling rates, produces smaller grains than either method alone with only minor reductions in the globular morphology, challenging existing theories on globular grain growth. Chromium additives further refine the grain structure, suggesting avenues to improve fluidity in 6061 cast by CDS. The study also reveals limitations in existing mixing methods, calling for improved techniques for solute homogenization.Hot tearing tests on are conducted on 6061 cast by CDS. Castability is influenced by both hot tearing susceptibility and fluidity; CDS excels in reducing the former but compromises the latter. High-pressure die casting emerges as the most suitable casting process for CDS, consistent with other semi-solid metal processes. Finally, a new mechanistic...

Towards III–V Quantum Photonic Systems

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Integrated photonics provides a path toward scalable classical and quantum optical systems by enabling compact, stable, and reproducible devices for communications, sensing, networking, and quantum information processing. However, no single photonic platform simultaneously provides all of the capabilities required for fully integrated quantum photonic systems, including efficient nonlinear light generation, low-loss passive routing, active tunability, and compact coherent laser sources. III–V semiconductor platforms are promising candidates because they combine large refractive indices, strong second and third-order optical nonlinearities, direct bandgaps, and compatibility with heterogeneous integration.This thesis explores III–V integrated and heterogeneous photonic platforms as building blocks toward scalable quantum photonic systems. First, AlGaAs-on-insulator microring resonators are used to demonstrate ultrabright entangled-photon-pair generation through spontaneous four-wave...

Graphs with large minimum degree and no short odd cycles are $3$-colourable

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Answering a question by Letzter and Snyder, we prove that for large enough $k$, any $n$-vertex graph $G$ with minimum degree at least $\frac{1}{2k-1}n$ and without odd cycles of length less than $2k+1$ is $3$-colourable. In fact, we prove a stronger result that works with a slightly smaller minimum degree.

Mathematics Subject Classifications: 05C35, 05C15

Keywords: Chromatic profile, Minimum degree, Graph colouring

Calibrating and Modelling High-Contrast Polarimeters

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

High-contrast polarimetry separates faint polarized astrophysical signals from the much brighter, predominantly unpolarized light of a central star. In circumstellar disks, quantitative measurements of polarized surface brightness and polarization fraction constrain the properties of dust grains and their scattering behavior. For unresolved brown dwarfs, their measured degree of linear polarization can provide information about cloud structure.These applications require accurate calibration because instrumental polarization and crosstalk can bias the measured signals and their physical interpretation. Turning polarimetric differential measurements into accurate Stokes parameters requires calibration of the full optical path. This dissertation demonstrates calibration and simulation procedures for quantitative polarimetry that involve Mueller matrix modeling, developing internal calibration sequences, standard star observations, observation planning, instrument commissioning, and...

Economic Statecraft of Rising Powers: Responses to Weaponized Interdependence

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Scholarship on weaponized interdependence has shown that states occupying central nodes in global financial and technological networks, above all the United States, can exploit that position either to surveil others (the panopticon effect) or to deny them access (the chokepoint effect). The implicit analytical arrow in that literature runs outward from the hub toward the states that depend on it. This dissertation seeks to reverse the implicit analytical arrow. Its central question is - how do rising powers respond to conditions of weaponized interdependence? It attempts to study not how a hegemon weaponizes networks, but how large rising powers, which are analytically distinct from middle and small powers, act to (or not) insulate themselves from actual or potential weaponization. Three questions guide this study. First, a question of typology: what ideal types of economic statecraft do rising powers employ? Second, a question of variation: why do we observe different statecraft...

Recommended by me: Theoretical foundations, measure development, and empirical validation of perceived self-endorsement in personalized recommender systems

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Personalized recommender systems increasingly shape everyday decision-making, influencing what people watch, purchase, and engage with online. Although research has largely examined how AI-driven recommender systems influence users as external communicators, personalized recommendations generated from users’ online data may also be perceived as originating from the self. This possibility is consistent with prior self-endorsement research, which suggests that messages incorporating self cues may be perceived as originating from the self rather than from an external source (Ahn et al., 2017; Ahn & Bailenson, 2011; Hamilton et al., 2021). Although personalization research has established that personalized messages can increase persuasive outcomes such as brand attitudes and purchase intentions, whether self-endorsement contributes to these effects remains poorly understood. At the same time, prior self-endorsement research has largely inferred self-endorsement from changes in...

Reducing Auxiliary Power Unit Reliance through Decision-Sufficient Information: A Game-Theoretic Framework for Airport Gate Electrification

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When parked at airport gates, commercial aircraft need electricity and conditioned air to power avionics, lighting, cabin services, and passenger comfort. Aircraft typically use an auxiliary power unit (APU), a small gas-turbine engine located at the rear of the aircraft that burns jet fuel as a power source. Ground power (GP) and preconditioned air (PCA) can reduce auxiliary power unit (APU) use during aircraft turnaround, but their availability alone does not ensure adoption. Reliability, coordination, timing and perceived delay risk can make continued APU reliance a rational airline response. This study develops a game-theoretic framework that links diagnosis of persistent APU reliance to the evidence needed for airport intervention. Each airline–gate pair is represented as a two-player airport–airline game. Four information packages are ordered by expected acquisition burden, with decision sufficiency defined as preserving both the equilibrium classification and selected...

Diffraction, Occlusion, and Flows: Exploiting Wireless Propagation Phenomena for Environmental Inference

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The world is increasingly instrumented with ubiquitous wireless hardware, with the number of connected devices projected to surpass 30 billion by 2030. WiFi access points are now deployed across our homes, offices, and public spaces, while millimeter-wave (mmWave) radars are finding their way into vehicles, smart buildings and industrial automation. These systems interact with the physical world and implicitly encode information about objects and human activity, yet this sensing potential remains far from fully exploited. This thesis demonstrates that commodity RF hardware can be used to recover rich environmental information by uncovering previously overlooked information embedded in wireless propagation, transforming propagation effects traditionally regarded as sensing impairments into sources of information, and developing new mathematical frameworks to exploit them. It does so across three thrusts: imaging static scenes and shaping wireless fields by leveraging the physics...

Using Chiral Lithium Amides for Enantioselective Reactions with Allenoic Acids

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Allenes and allenoic acids are structural motifs commonly found in natural products and pharmaceutical compounds, yet their installation with high enantioselectivity has historically posed a significant synthetic challenge, often requiring careful synthetic planning to control the stereochemical outcome. In this work, we report the use of chiral lithium amides (CLAs) as traceless chiral auxiliaries and allenoic acid derivatives as nucleophilic substrates to achieve enantioselective Michael addition reactions. Unlike traditional covalent chiral auxiliaries, CLAs impart stereochemical control through the formation of a chiral lithium-based aggregate in solution, obviating the need for auxiliary attachment and removal steps. Herein, we describe the synthesis of a chiral tetraamine ligand, an initial reactivity study establishing optimized reaction conditions, and a proposed mechanism for the observed stereoselectivity. To further probe the reactivity of this system, a series...

Search for a leptoquark in events with a hadronically decaying τ-lepton and missing transverse momentum using pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A search for leptoquark signals is performed in final states with a hadronically decaying τ-lepton and missing transverse momentum, using data from proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during Run 2 (2015–18), corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb − 1 . The analysis is designed to probe both resonant production and non-resonant t-channel exchange of the leptoquark, covering a wide range of coupling scenarios. No excess above the Standard Model background prediction is observed. Limits are set on the couplings in the benchmark U 1 vector-leptoquark model at 95% confidence level for masses between 1.5 TeV and 3.0 TeV.

A comprehensive phage-bacteria interaction atlas links phage lineage and capsule serotype to genome-guided machine learning prediction in Klebsiella pneumoniae

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a WHO critical-priority pathogen for which strain-specific bacteriophages are being explored as precision antimicrobials, yet rapid phage-host matching remains a major barrier to therapeutic deployment. We constructed a comprehensive interaction atlas comprising 84 taxonomically diverse phages and 101 globally sourced, clinically representative K. pneumoniae strains, including multidrug-resistant isolates. Systematic pairwise profiling produced 8,484 interaction measurements, of which 2,656 (31.3%) scored positive for bacterial clearance. Genus was the dominant phage-side determinant of host range, while capsule K-serotype was the strongest host-side determinant of susceptibility; aggregate defense, prophage, plasmid, and antimicrobial-resistance features contributed comparatively little. A genome-guided machine learning model predicted interactions without curated host annotations (AUROC, 0.882; AUPR, 0.765), outperforming a model based...

The Zipper Algebra

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The zipper algebra Zn was defined by Stephen Bigelow in 2005. While the zipper algebra itself is infinite-dimensional, it was introduced with the suggestion that it could yield new and interesting finite-dimensional quotients of the braid group algebra if suitable relations were identified and imposed. Notably, the Iwahori–Hecke and Birman–Murakami–Wenzl algebras are isomorphic to two such quotients. Bigelow asked whether a distinguished element X3 vanishes in the algebra and its quotients, and which relations make the algebra finite-dimensional. This thesis takes up both questions.We show that finiteness may be imposed by a family of so-called untwisting relations. We describe a convergent rewriting procedure, the zipping algorithm, which writes any element of RBn as a linear combination of certain elements up to cyclically generated factors. The algorithm produces a spanning set for Zn, implies the finite-dimensionality of every untwisting quotient, and yields a recursive bound...

Bayesian Optimization Applications in Electrical Distribution Grid Planning and Tensor Network Structure Search

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This work presents two independent applications of Bayesian Optimization (BO).The first application considers the problem of identifying scenarios of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) panel adoption critical for electrical distribution grid planning tasks, i.e. those that drive bus voltages and line flows beyond their tolerated capacities. Distribution planning relies on long-term forecasts of demand and DER penetration to decide where and when to reinforce a feeder, but such a forecast gives the total capacity a feeder will host, not which of its customers install it. However, beside PV capacity, the exact location of PV adoption also affects how the grid experiences stress. For each PV scenario, modeled as a high-dimensional binary vector, an expensive optimal power flow simulation estimates the bus voltages and line powerflows, both proxies for grid stress. We thus treat grid stress as a function of PV scenarios and we pose the search for critical scenarios as a multi-objective optimization...

Directed Evolution, Characterization, and Computational Studies of Heme and Nonheme Fe Enzymes for Radical Biocatalysis

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Developing enzymatic mechanisms for C–F bond formation remains a long-standing challenge. In Chapter 1, we repurposed the biosynthetic nonheme Fe enzyme MthEgtB, which features a three-histidine facial triad, to catalyze C(sp3)–H fluorination reactions. Directed evolution of MthEgtB afforded two new-to-nature fluorine atom transferases with opposite enantiopreference, EgtBCHF1 and EgtBCHF2, with up to 28-fold improved total activity. The evolved EgtBCHF variants displayed unexpected hydroxylation activity. 18O-labeling experiments showed that the hydroxy group originated from water rather than residual O2. Furthermore, evolved fluorinases EgtBCHF displayed a high level of promiscuous rebound activities with other anions, allowing for enzymatic C–H azidation and thiocyanation to be carried out without additional protein engineering. Together, the development of the first examples of new-to-nature fluorinases provides a new avenue to further expand the catalytic repertoire of enzymes...

J.M. Coetzee and the Deployment of Form: Toward a Theory of Style for the New Formalism

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

After decades in the critical wilderness, formalist approaches have returned to literary studies, seeking to correct what Fredric Jameson once called their “anti-diachronic” tendencies with theoretical enrichments drawn from Marxism, poststructuralism, design theory, and various historicisms. The most prominent of these resurgent formalisms, the New Formalism, while producing admirable scholarship, evinces what this dissertation calls a critical “stylophobia,” a persistent neglect of or outright hostility toward style as a valuable critical term, which in turn leaves blind spots in its nascent theory and method. Engaging with past and contemporary thinkers on style including Erich Auerbach, Roland Barthes, Jeff Dolven, D.A. Miller, and Susan Sontag, this dissertation asserts the value of style in the critical vocabulary of formalism, particularly in further rectifying its “anti-diachronic” biases and in addressing shortcomings in the scholarship of the New Formalism as practiced...

Behavioral Footprinting from Memory-Access Heatmaps: Lightweight Classification of SPEC and Serverless Workloads

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cloud and serverless platforms routinely execute untrusted code, creating a need for mechanisms that can characterize unexpected execution behavior and identify individual workloads using signals observable outside the guest. A natural way to observe program behavior is through memory-access heatmaps, which encode the temporal and spatial locality of memory activity as two-dimensional images. This thesis investigates whether these heatmaps can serve as behavioral fingerprints for workload identification using lightweight convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Prior work has shown that memory traces can be represented as images for architectural analysis. Building on this approach, this thesis investigates whether the same representation preserves sufficient workload-specific information to identify the program or function responsible for a given trace. We develop a reproducible, manifest-based classification framework that standardizes dataset partitioning, preprocessing,...

How does neighborhood location affect the cost of producing affordable housing?

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

How does neighborhood location affect the cost of producing affordable housing?

Healing and Solidarity: A Phenomenological Study of Jewish-Palestinian Solidarity Activism

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Counseling psychologists have long been called to promote social justice (Adams & Bell, 2007; Vera & Speight, 2003) to support mental health in the context of interlocking systems of oppression that shape individual and collective wellbeing (Prilleltensky, 1997). Within counseling psychology, there have been growing calls to engage in research investigating “acts of solidarity and compassion with others” (French et al., 2020, p. 33). Gaps in the literature about intergroup solidarity underscore the need to understand not only what solidarity is, but how it develops and endures across diverse, intersectional identities and under conditions of sociopolitical strain. Literature across psychology and social movement scholarship suggests that healing and solidarity activism are interconnected through transformations in meaning-making, identity, and emotion. Jewish solidarity with Palestinians has deep historical roots, but remains contentious within Jewish communities, where...

Regulatory Exit

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Exit is a ubiquitous feature of life, whether breaking up in a marriage, dropping a college course, or pulling out of a venture capital investment. In fact, our exit options often determine whether and how we enter in the first place. While legal scholarship is replete with studies of exit strategies for businesses and individuals, the topic of exit has barely been touched in administrative law scholarship. Yet exit plays just as central a role in the regulatory state as elsewhere – welfare support ends; government steps out of rate-setting. In this article, we argue that exit is a fundamental feature of regulatory design and should be explicitly considered at the time of program creation.

Part I starts from first principles and sets out the basic features of regulatory exit. It addresses the design challenges of exit strategies and how to measure success of exit. With these descriptive and normative foundations in place, Part II develops a framework that explains the...

General purpose programming and OS principles for heterogeneous SoCs

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

There is a fundamental limit in how we architect System-on-Chips (SoCs) today. We lack the freedom to vary the accelerators we ship together to yield the best power and performance for a given SoC area. In practice, today’s SoCs carry mainly coarse-grained units that sit behind a driver, such as video codecs and neural engines that offload computation-heavy work. While some accelerators can operate well under this offload- only mode, many others whose work demands close and frequent interaction with software threads and with each other are second-class citizens, whether they serve applications, like encryption and hashing stages inside a data pipeline, or the system itself, like network processing, memory allocation, and garbage collection. Even for those that are built into SoCs, there is no uniform way to integrate them. Each effort today is ad hoc, with its own driver interface, programming model, and custom memory management. When accelerators were separate ASICs with their...

Intersecting hypergraphs with large cover number

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In their famous 1974 paper introducing the local lemma, Erdős and Lovász posed a question—later referred to by Erdős as one of his three favorite open problems: What is the minimum number of edges in an $ r $-uniform, intersecting hypergraph with cover number $ r $? This question was solved up to a constant factor in Kahn's remarkable 1994 paper. More recently, motivated by applications to Bollobás' "power of many colours" problem, Alon, Bucić, Christoph, and Krivelevich introduced a natural generalization by imposing a space constraint that limits the hypergraph to use only $n$ vertices. In this note, we settle this question asymptotically, up to a logarithmic factor in $n/r$ in the exponent, for the entire range.

Mathematics Subject Classifications: 05D05

Keywords: Hypergraphs, cover number, intersecting

Timing, Context, and Space: An Agent-Based Model of Anti-Bullying Policy Effectiveness in Academic Departments

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The phenomenon of workplace bullying is a prevalent issue affecting organizations and their employees, leading to negative physical and mental health problems for the perpetrator of bullying, the target, and those who witness this behavior. While a considerable body of research has examined this phenomenon in workplaces more broadly, higher education is also affected, with faculty members experiencing bullying from students, colleagues, and administrators, with these same negative effects. Characteristics specific to higher education such as high value of autonomy, the presence of tenure, and a competitive work environment make it a unique context in which this behavior occurs. In addition to these factors, the physical environment that faculty occupy (i.e., office space) has been shown to impact collaboration, but less is known about how these same spaces may be associated with negative behavior such as bullying.One strategy commonly recommended for organizations to reduce bullying...

Taking the heat off tantalum

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Krypton-assisted growth of low-loss α-phase tantalum on silicon stays within back-end-of-line semiconductor thermal budgets while delivering state-of-the-art qubit coherence.

Measurement of the cross-section for the production of a W boson in association with b-jets in pp collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents a measurement of the production cross-section of a W boson associated with one or two jets, where at least one jet originates from a b-quark. The data are collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at s=13$$ \sqrt{s}=13 $$ TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb-1. Differential cross-sections are presented as a function of the transverse momentum of the b-jet for both the electron and muon decay modes of the W boson. The results corrected for all detector effects are presented in a fiducial region defined with basic lepton and jet kinematics, and compared with theoretical predictions. The combined fiducial cross-section of W + b-jets for the electron and muon channels is measured to be 16.6 ± 1.9 pb, which is consistent with the next-to-leading-order QCD prediction of 16.8 ± 2.3 pb. The relative precision of this measurement is improved by approximately a factor of two compared with the previous ATLAS measurement...

Understanding how visual information is extracted for navigation in Drosophila melanogaster

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

As animals navigate the world, their brains extract prominent visual features from the environment and integrate them with self-motion to create a sense of direction. This internal directional representation enables animals to navigate accurately toward their goals and is essential for survival. Yet we know little about which visual features are used for navigation or how visual information is transformed in the brain to generate the directional sense. In this dissertation, we investigated the visual feature extraction strategies that support navigation and how these strategies are implemented at the neural circuitry level in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. In flies, the Anterior Visual Pathway (AVP), which connects the early visual organs to the head direction cells, or the “compass” neurons, is a dedicated pathway for conveying visual information to generate the sense of direction. By analyzing the neural connections in the AVP, we predicted potentially all visual features...

A Queen, King, and Menagerie: Drawings on Papyri as Tools of Ancient Egyptian Artists

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A Queen, King, and Menagerie: Drawings on Papyri as Tools of Ancient Egyptian Artists

Expanding the scope of redox-balance growth coupling techniques with a carbon co-feeding strategy

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Metabolic engineering to produce molecules not naturally synthesized by the host often requires directed evolution to improve pathway enzyme performance. Growth-coupled selection can dramatically increase directed-evolution throughput, and manipulation of redox balance has proven effective for tying reductase fitness to microbial growth. However, most redox-balance selections require feeding the reductase substrate because of stoichiometric constraints. This is impractical for many biosynthetic pathways either due to practical limitations on cost or complexity of bulk substrate synthesis, or the lack of an ability to transport substrate into cells, for example intracellular acyl-CoA/ACP intermediates. Here we define stoichiometric constraints that make substrate feeding necessary for many acetyl-CoA-derived reduction pathways in NADPH-imbalanced hosts. We overcome these constraints with a dual-feedstock strategy in which glucose provides reducing power while acetate supplies additional...

Continuum Studies of Biological Tissues

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Biological tissues can be described on mesoscopic scales (larger than a cell but smaller than the tissue) through continuum formulations where properties of the tissue are described by fields that vary in space and time (like density or velocity). The material state of the tissue determines which fields are chosen to describe the tissue and how they evolve. Biological matter makes these descriptions more complex because cells are 'active' materials — they generate mass, chemicals, motion, and material-stresses by consuming energy.This work spans the three common material states of biological tissues — an active solid, an active liquid, and an active viscoelastic substance. These studies are informed by experimental realizations of hydra as a solid, human dermal fibroblasts as liquid-crystals, and epithelia as viscoelastic materials. We study unexplained facets of tissue properties — integer topological defect proliferation in hydra, collective reorientation in fibroblasts, and...

UC Comments on Draft NIH Policy on Sharing Summary Level Study Results with Clinical Research Participants (NOT-OD-26-113)

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This comment letter responds to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s Draft Policy on Sharing Summary Level Results with Clinical Research Participants. UC supports sharing summary-level study results with participants but urges NIH to let IRBs make study-specific decisions and to pilot the policy before implementation, particularly to assess its scope, privacy risks, communication methods, timelines, exceptions, and infrastructure needs. UC also recommends model templates and clearer guidance, flexible dissemination and record-retention requirements, adequate federal funding, and a substantially longer implementation period to prevent unintended harms and excessive administrative burdens.

Physical drivers of phytoplankton abundance in the Santa Barbara Channel inner shelf

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Phytoplankton support abundant coastal ocean ecosystems in Southern California, including the kelp forest food web, which contains zooplankton, planktivorous fish, and benthic filter feeders, all of which reside in the kelp forests and feed on suspended phytoplankton. The kelp forest ecosystem provides many services to humans, including shoreline protection, fishery habitat, and recreation. While large-scale drivers of phytoplankton in the Southern California Bight are well known, understanding the drivers of inner shelf phytoplankton abundance has received comparatively less attention, and is of particular importance for the role phytoplankton play in nearshore kelp forest food webs. The goal of this thesis is to characterize the physical drivers of inner shelf phytoplankton abundance using insights afforded by satellite sensors and long-term in situ observations. In Chapter 1, I investigated spatial variance in the surface ocean on the scales of important vertical motions,...

Emergency Department-Centered Digital Health Transformation: Narrative Review and Three-Pillar Implementation Framework

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction: Emergency departments (EDs) face escalating pressures from rising patient volumes, workforce shortages, and documentation burdens. Digital health technologies have shown promise individually, but most are implemented in isolation, limiting their collective impact. This narrative review synthesizes evidence for six digital health technologies applicable to the ED and proposes a three-pillar framework for their coordinated implementation, positioning the ED as a convergence point for health system digital transformation.

Methods: We searched PubMed and Google Scholar for peer-reviewed literature published from 2018 through July 2026 on ambient artificial intelligence (AI) documentation, telehospitalist programs, virtual nursing, remote patient monitoring, virtual specialty consultation, and postdischarge transitional care, prioritizing systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Fifty-one sources met inclusion criteria and were...

From Foraminifera to Whales Bones: Proxy Records of Coastal Change from California to Antarctica

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Coastal sedimentary environments preserve detailed records of environmental change across timescales ranging from decades to millennia. These natural archives provide an opportunity to reconstruct past environmental conditions and evaluate the processes that shape coastal systems through time. This dissertation applies sedimentological, stratigraphic, geochronologic, and geospatial approaches to investigate three different problems in coastal geology: refining the Southern Ocean radiocarbon reservoir correction, reconstructing the paleoseismic history of the northern San Andreas Fault, and identifying watershed controls on tidal marsh development and evolution.The first study refines estimates of the Southern Ocean radiocarbon reservoir age using pre-bomb Antarctic whale bones collected during the early twentieth century. Radiocarbon analyses from multiple whale species and collection sites provide new estimates of reservoir age while evaluating spatial and ecological variability....

Enumeration of planar bipartite tight irreducible maps

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We consider planar bipartite maps which are both tight, i.e. without vertices of degree $1$, and $2b$-irreducible, i.e. such that each cycle has length at least $2b$ and such that any cycle of length exactly $2b$ is the contour of a face. It was shown by Budd that the number $\mathcal N_n^{(b)}$ of such maps made out of a fixed set of $n$ faces with prescribed even degrees is a polynomial in both $b$ and the face degrees. In this paper, we give an explicit expression for $\mathcal N_n^{(b)}$ by a direct bijective approach based on the so-called slice decomposition. More precisely, we decompose any of the maps at hand into a collection of $2b$-irreducible tight slices and a suitable two-face map. We show how to bijectively encode each $2b$-irreducible slice via a $b$-decorated tree drawn on its derived map, and how to enumerate collections thereof. We then discuss the polynomial counting of two-face maps, and show how to combine it with the former enumeration...

Noise-State Calculus for Dynamic Games with Strategic Information

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Dynamic games with dispersed private information look hard, even when linearized, because each player needs forecasts of others’ forecasts, without end. The regress comes from a loop. Actions move the state, the state generates observations, observations update beliefs, and beliefs determine actions. Current approaches become tractable by cutting the loop. This dissertation builds a noise-state calculus that keeps the loop intact.Each player keeps estimates of the primitive shocks instead of belief hierarchies about the endogenous state. Under perfect information, these estimates are the shocks themselves, and the calculus reduces to ordinary impulse responses. Beliefs, prices, and policy rules are deterministic impulse responses in continuous-time linear-quadratic-Gaussian games. Equilibrium is a fixed point in those functions and is solved numerically. A finite-deviation identity verifies a computed Nash equilibrium against arbitrary admissible deviations.The information wedge...

Embedded metasymplectic spaces of type $\mathsf{F_{4,4}}$

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We determine the generating and embedding rank of the metasymplectic spaces whose symplecta are either symplectic polar spaces in characteristic distinct from $2$, or Hermitian polar spaces (including the quaternion case), and provide a characterisation of the associated projective varieties in the context of the Freudenthal-Tits magic square.

Mathematics Subject Classifications: 51E24, 51B25, 20E42

Keywords: Metasymplectic space, embedding, Freudenthal-Tits magic square

Methodological Advances in Multiscale Simulation of Surfactant Self-Assembly

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Surfactant formulations can form micelles, liquid-crystalline mesophases, and coexisting mesostructured phases whose stability depends sensitively on molecular chemistry, composition, temperature, and additives. Predicting this phase behavior remains challenging because the interactions originating at the atomistic length scale determine the structures and thermodynamics that emerge over mesoscopic length scales. Molecular simulations have the potential to aid in surfactant formulation design as a predictive tool for self assembly and phase behavior. With particle-based simulations, all-atom models are the most chemically detailed and predictive but are generally too computationally expensive for routine phase behavior prediction, whereas coarse-grained models often rely on experimental data, limiting the scope of their applicability in the chemical design space. This dissertation develops a multiscale route for bridging chemical information from all-atom simulations with coarse-grained...

Lexicon against naturalness: Unnatural gradient phonotactic restrictions in Tarma Quechua

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract: It has been shown in separate studies that phonological grammar can operate probabilistically and in phonetically unnatural directions. This paper documents a case in which both of these properties of phonological grammar are true at the same time. We create a new corpus of Tarma Quechua vocabulary (based both on published and unpublished data), and argue that the unnatural probabilistic phonotactic trends in the Tarma Quechua lexicon are statistically significant and show some signs of productivity based on morphophonological alternations. We also perform an acoustic analysis of existing recordings to support the phonetic status of the unnatural gradient restriction. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a fully unnatural gradient phonotactic restriction on segmental structure. The existence of unnatural probabilistic phonology has broad theoretical consequences because it requires probabilistic approaches to phonology to derive unnatural...

The Blacker the Brain Joy Assessment: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Exploring Practitioners' Experiences with a Liberatory, Eco-Womanist Approach to Healing

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Culturally and historically, joy has been a powerful source of liberation and resistance to oppression (Lewis-Giggetts, 2022; Mullan 2023). Although joy has been associated with healing (Neville, 2024) and linked to increased resilience, wellbeing, creativity, and meaning (Chida & Steptoe, 2008; Fredrickson, 1998; Fredrickson, 2001; Stellar et al., 2015; Watkins et al., 2018; Arnett, 2023; Edwards & Edwards, 2018; Johnson, 2020), few studies have explored how healing practitioners integrate joy within their healing practice. The purpose of this study was to explore how healing practitioners experienced and made sense of their engagement with the Blacker the Brain Joy Assessment–a reflective tool rooted in a liberatory, eco-womanist approach to healing. Five healing practitioners who engaged with the Joy Assessment completed in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Participants were also asked to share a photo, art piece, poem, song, or other form of creative expression, representing...

Conspiratorial Thinking from Marcos to Duterte

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This dissertation examines the proliferation of conspiratorial thinking in the Philippines under Rodrigo Duterte as a key factor in the political resurgence of the Marcos family and the presidential election of Bongbong Marcos. Through a study of historical revisionist campaigns extending from the post-EDSA period into contemporary online media cultures, I develop a triangulated theoretical framework of conspiracy, spectrality, and mourning to understand the continuities between the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and the Duterte administration. This project is a work of critical and cultural theory that draws on an array of media objects including social media posts, online discussions, viral videos, and feature films to argue that conspiracy functions as an anxious expression of national loss as well as a productive political mode that operationalizes these unresolved affects into forms of collective identification and authoritarian power. I contend that the election of Duterte...

Mexican Palimpsest, American City: Visualizing Los Angeles's architecture and built environment, 1835-1883

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This dissertation uses visual evidence of the built environment to identify key responses to significant movements and turning points in the ethnically and racially diverse community of Los Angeles during its transition from a Mexican ciudad to a U.S. city.It analyzes innovations in designed and vernacular buildings, and the claims that new forms, materials, and their location made on the existing cityscape, to bring into focus the impacts of the U.S.-Mexico War, the 1848 Gold Rush, and the rush to capitalize on the arrival of railroads. Using over one hundred photographs, maps, sketches and illustrations drawn from a wide range of archives, this dissertation examines the diverse reactions occurring simultaneously to these events, and its analysis of the context for these changes makes visible not only the processes of social stratification and racial/ethnic marginalization but also the negotiation between them.It contributes to recent scholarship on the fluidity between frontiers...

Electrochemical Interrogation of Catalyst Durability One Particle at a Time

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The global transition toward a carbon-neutral economy relies fundamentally on the development of robust electrocatalysts to interconvert electrical and chemical energy. While decades of research have focused on maximizing initial catalytic activity, the critical paradigm is shifting toward understanding catalyst durability. Traditional macroscopic electrochemical measurements capture the ensemble average across billions of particles, inherently masking the precise mechanisms by which individual catalytic sites degrade over time. To rationally design longer-lasting materials for sustainable electrochemical manufacturing, a mechanistic understanding of single-particle deactivation is required. This dissertation establishes a single-entity electrochemical method to probe fundamental metrics of catalyst durability, specifically the turnover number (TON) at the single nanoparticle level. By utilizing stochastic nanoimpact electrochemistry, the inherent particle-to-particle heterogeneity...

Articulating Efficiency and Equality in College Access: A Systematic Review of Statewide Transfer Articulation Research

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Articulating Efficiency and Equality in College Access: A Systematic Review of Statewide Transfer Articulation Research

Advancing Heterocyclic Scaffolds for Drug Development I. Structural Investigations of Phthalazinones as DNMT3A Inhibitors II. Expanding ortho-Quinone Methide Reactivity to Quinolines for Novel C–C Bond Formation

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The discovery of new therapeutics depends on both the development of biologically active molecular scaffolds and the synthetic methods required to access them. My doctoral research integrates medicinal chemistry with synthetic organic methodology to address these complementary challenges through the design, synthesis, and functionalization of medicinally relevant heterocyclic systems. The first portion of this work focuses on the development of first-in-class allosteric inhibitors of DNA methyltransferase 3A (DNMT3A), an epigenetic writer frequently mutated in acute myeloid leukemia. Unlike clinically approved nucleoside analogs that inhibit DNA methyltransferases through nonspecific covalent trapping, this project sought to optimize a mechanistically distinct phthalazinone scaffold that disrupts the DNMT3A–DNMT3L protein–protein interaction. Through the design and synthesis of a focused structure–activity relationship library, critical pharmacophore elements governing inhibitory...

A Multi-disciplinary Approach towards Sexual Propagation of Caribbean Corals in the Anthropocene

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Coral reef systems host a diverse array of life, ranging from large megafauna to unicellular microbiota and viruses. This spectrum of life exists and interacts within an amalgamation of physical and chemical processes. Together, this biochemical landscape is a major driver of coral health, although these complexities are often overlooked in a coral restoration framework. This dissertation assesses settlement and survival outcomes, as well as holobiont trajectories, of early life history corals in the Caribbean from both a restoration and a molecular lens. Its results aim to inform applied restoration techniques and advance molecular tools for more accurately examining early life history corals and their associated bacterial communities. I begin with an ecological and economic evaluation of three rearing investment strategies for sexually propagated corals, finding that in situ nurseries confer significantly higher survival in comparison to direct outplanting or aquaculture facility...

Translation of Court Documents: The Impacts of Experiential Avoidance and Emotional Content on the Translator and Translation Process

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

While connections between emotion, cognition, and bilingualism have long been documented in the literature, very little investigations have been conducted on how emotions, words of differing emotional valence, and emotional or even traumatic content impacts the translation process and the translator/interpreter. Research in Cognitive Translation and Interpretation Studies has begun to investigate and acknowledge the presence of vicarious trauma in interpreters and its impact on interpreters and the interpretation process (Darroch, & Dempsey, 2016; Lai, & Costello, 2021; Lai, Heydon, & Mulayim, 2015). To the best of my knowledge, this impact has not been studied on translators and the translation process. However, recent studies have attempted to investigate whether text content might impact the way translation is carried out. For instance, according to a study conducted by Rojo and Naranjo (2021), optimistic versus pessimistic framing of a text about the COVID-19 pandemic...

Differential measurements of γγ → ττ and constraints on τ-lepton electromagnetic moments in Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV with ATLAS

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents the first differential fiducial measurements of γγ → ττ using 1.93 nb−1 of Pb+Pb data at sNN=5.02$$ \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02 $$ TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector. Events in which one of the τ -leptons decays into a muon and two neutrinos τ→ντν¯μμ$$ \tau \to { u}_{\tau }{\overline{ u}}_{\mu}\mu $$ are selected and are categorized into three regions by the presence of an electron or either one or three charged-particle track(s) from the second τ-lepton decay. The measurement is performed in events where both Pb ions remain intact and no neutrons are emitted. Differential cross-sections are measured for seven variables in three fiducial regions at particle level. The measurements are compared to theory predictions with different photon flux models and spin correlation effects. For the fiducial region with one muon and one electron in the final state, comparisons to next-to-leading-order electroweak predictions are also made. The transverse momentum (pT) of...

Study of charge correlations in a kagome superconductor

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Topological superconductors, and particularly kagome metals, are a crucial area of research to understand strongly-correlated electron phenomena and to explore their applicability in quantum computing. The interaction between lattice vibrations, electrons, and topology constitutes a complex landscape that fosters the emergence of exotic new states of matter.Here we present five studies on kagome materials of the AV3Sb5 family through the lenses of doping, X-ray diffraction and neutron Larmor diffraction. In Chapter 2 we explore the role of thermal hystheresis and mechanical strain on the charge density wave state in CsV3Sb5 by means of high-dynamic range reciprocal space mapping. We find that the answer to some of inconsistency of the CDW phases observed across different experiments, may lie in the material’s internal microstructure of competing domains and stacking arrangements. Chapter 3 dives into the contrasting role of electron-doping versus hole-doping in the electronic...

Gonococcal Peptide Mimetic Vaccine Antigen Forms a Beta-hairpin Structure and Binds to a Chimeric Antibody Primarily through Hydrophobic Interactions

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Gonococcal Peptide Mimetic Vaccine Antigen Forms a Beta-hairpin Structure and Binds to a Chimeric Antibody Primarily through Hydrophobic Interactions

Essays on Applied Econometrics

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Identification and estimation of policy effects without randomized assignment typically require conditioning on observable, often high-dimensional, covariates that may both confound the treatment of interest and shape the heterogeneity of responses to it. The growing availability of administrative and behavioral data, together with the maturation of causal machine learning in econometrics, has expanded the set of empirical environments in which this conditioning is feasible. Yet the integration of these methods into the workhorse strategies of applied work, difference-in-differences designs and structural estimation in particular, remains uneven. In this dissertation I apply and extend recent semiparametric methods to three substantive questions: the effect of targeted credit access on entrepreneurship in underserved communities; prompt-level preference heterogeneity over large language models and its use in cost-aware deployment; and identification and estimation of per-dose...

Dynamic changes in brain structure and cerebrovasculature across the transition to parenthood

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Matrescence is one of the most transformative, all-encompassing experiences in a woman’s lifespan, involving not only extreme physiological adaptations, but also a profound mental shift as a woman enters an entirely new stage of life. Other major transition periods across the lifespan, including puberty and aging, are linked to neural remodeling and reported shifts in behavior, not unlike what we see during pregnancy, and yet neuroscience has only begun to probe the impact of matrescence on the brain in the last couple decades. Further, non-birthing parents, including fathers, may also experience a myriad of unique but also similar neural adaptations associated with the transition to parenthood. This dissertation aims to fill in the gaps in our understanding of the transition to parenthood by utilizing a precision imaging design to map the brain at regular intervals throughout the perinatal window in a group of first-time mothers, second-time mothers, fathers, and non-pregnant...

Estimating Kinetic Parameters from the Impedance Response of Proton-Exchange-Membrane Fuel Cells Using Continuum Models

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A mathematical framework for simulating the impedance response of a proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was developed to provide insight into the coupled physics and chemistry that influence observed spectra. The model was based on a cell-level continuum model that was linearized and represented in the frequency domain, which allowed for the accounting of coupled transport in a PEMFC and the simulation of full spectra in seconds. Good agreement was observed between experimental and simulated polarization and impedance data. Consistency between steady-state and frequency-domain continuum models was confirmed, which allowed for the extraction of kinetic information from the experimental impedance spectra. The model framework was used to estimate contributions associated with ohmic, charge-transfer, and transport resistances, which was shown to align with power-loss voltage breakdown analyses of steady-state simulations. A proposed equivalent-circuit model facilitated estimates...

Ecology and Prevention of Tick-borne Diseases in Madagascar and California

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Vector-borne diseases emerge from interactions among pathogens, vectors, hosts, landscapes, and human behavior. Yet researchers often study these components separately, limiting our ability to predict where pathogen risk arises and how to reduce exposure. To address this limitation, my dissertation investigates tick-borne disease from two angles: investigating the anthropogenic drivers on the ecology of disease transmission and evaluating public health strategies that prevent tick-borne disease exposure. Specifically, I examine tick-borne disease ecology and prevention across two systems: tick-host-Rickettsia interactions in northeastern Madagascar and tick-bite prevention education in California. Together, these chapters ask how ecological change structures tick-borne pathogen systems and how public health outreach can translate ecological knowledge into prevention.In Chapter 1, I characterized tick and tick-borne pathogen communities associated with small mammals and domestic...

The Prekindergarten School Entry Profile: Development and Psychometric Properties of a Multidimensional School Readiness Screener

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

School readiness has been a central focus in early childhood research, with compelling evidence highlighting the critical role of early experiences in shaping children's development and later outcomes. In 2021, California passed a statewide initiative promising universal prekindergarten access for all 4-year-olds and income-eligible 3-year-olds by 2026. This initiative signifies major expansion within public education, encompassing transitional kindergarten (TK), the California State Preschool Program, Head Start, and other locally funded programs. As a result, increased enrollment in early childhood programs is anticipated and schools will need more developmentally appropriate, reliable, and cost-effective tools to assess students under the age of five. However, most psychometric research has focused on K12 populations, leaving a gap in the number of school-based readiness screeners designed specifically for young children. While measures for this age group exist, they are often...

Variations of $(\alpha,t)$-Eulerian polynomials and their gamma positivity

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In 1977, Carlitz and Scoville introduced the cycle $(\alpha,t)$-Eulerian polynomials $A^{\mathrm{cyc}}_n(x,y,t \mid \alpha)$ by enumerating permutations with respect to the number of excedances, drops, fixed points, and cycles. In this paper, we propose a nine-variable generalization of the Eulerian polynomials $A_n(u_1,u_2,u_3,u_4,f,g,t \mid \alpha,\beta)$ defined in terms of descent-based statistics of permutations, and we establish a connection formula linking these two families of generalized Eulerian polynomials. By means of this connection formula, we derive explicit exponential generating functions and several $\gamma$-positive expressions for various Eulerian-type polynomials. In particular, our results unify and strengthen recent findings of Ji and Ji-Lin. In related work on the transition matrix between the Specht and web bases, Hwang, Jang, and Oh recently introduced the web permutations, which can be described in terms of cycle André permutations. We show that...

Rethinking Rhythm: How endocrine disruption shapes the brain

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Rhythmic fluctuations in ovarian hormones shape brain structure and function across the female lifespan, yet the neural consequences of disrupting these normative endocrine rhythms remain poorly understood. My dissertation research investigates how perturbations to the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis influence the human brain using longitudinal and multimodal neuroimaging approaches. In Chapter 1, I examine oral contraceptive use as a model of endocrine manipulation, demonstrating widespread changes in cortical and subcortical brain morphology during a hormonally suppressed state. In Chapter 2, I investigate endometriosis, a prevalent yet understudied reproductive disorder, integrating MRI, cognition, mood, and pain measures to characterize its broader neurobiological correlates. In Chapter 3, I study pharmacological ovarian hormone suppression as a translational model of acute endocrine disruption, revealing that neural variation during suppression may be more closely linked...

Reclaiming Motherhood: Navigating Family, Stigma, and Identity After Incarceration

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Formerly incarcerated mothers face significant challenges in rebuilding their maternal roles and relationships with their children following release. While existing literature has examined reentry broadly, less attention has been given to the mother-child relationship specifically in the years following release. Drawing on Role Theory, Maternal Identity Theory, and Ecological Systems Theory, this qualitative study centers the lived experiences of six formerly incarcerated mothers through semi-structured interviews, examining how they experience role disruption, reconstruct their maternal identities, and rebuild family relationships after release. Findings reveal that mothers experience powerlessness in reclaiming their maternal roles, with stigma frequently emerging within the family and reflecting broader societal perceptions of incarceration. These challenges were particularly evident as mothers worked to rebuild relationships with children who had grown into adolescence or...

Connecting Community and Liberation: An Evaluation of Engagement Strategies Utilized by Community Health Workers Working Within Predominantly Latino Communities

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Caregiver engagement in behavioral parent training (BPT) interventions can have a significant impact on treatment outcomes and implementation. However, diverse and marginalized families often experience low rates of engagement in treatment due to barriers rooted in systemic inequities. BPT models partnering with community health workers (CHWs) have shown promise in addressing these barriers and increasing treatment engagement. Liberation psychology is a framework that aims to address systemic inequities and social injustices marginalized groups experience through principles such as critical consciousness, empowerment, and collective action. The engagement work of CHWs appears to be heavily connected to the principles described by liberation psychology, yet little is known about this connection and the ways in which these principles impact engagement among marginalized families. The present study examined engagement strategies utilized by CHWs when providing support to families...

Emergence of Staggered Bosons, their Non-Invertible Symmetries, and the Challenges and Successes of Semidefinite Programming in Spin Chains

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Spin chains sit at a crossroads of high-energy theory, condensed matter physics, and quantum information, where critical exponents, phase transitions, and symmetries reveal deep structural features of quantum many-body systems. This dissertation focuses on developing our understanding not only of novel systems, but also, interconnectedly, of previously studied systems, in which our new lens reveals new insights. First, I develop the staggered boson model on the lattice and the spin chain clock models derived from it, showing that single-site translation realizes a non-invertible symmetry tied to T-duality and that this symmetry fundamentally determines self-dual critical points. Using this framework, I argue that the self-dual ZN clock models for N ≥ 5 flow to a c = 1 conformal field theory with U(1) current algebra at radius √ 2N, with the natural translation-invariant model occurring precisely at the self-dual coupling. I validate these predictions using exact diagonalization...

Impact of Ramp Metering Queue Override on the Capacity of an Isolated Freeway Merge

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Freeway ramp metering is an effective control strategy to preserve freeway capacity, reduce freeway delays, and improve travel time reliability. The ramp metering operation may cause on ramp queue spillback that interferes with the adjacent surface streets. In such situations, most ramp metering systems employ a “queue override” function, which temporarily suspends ramp metering to dissipate the on-ramp queues. A detailed field study was performed at a metered freeway on-ramp merge in San Jose, California using video recordings. The analysis of the collected field data over a two week period show that the freeway bottleneck discharge flow is reduced by 10% on the average when the queue override is activated. The paper provides suggestions for managing queue spillbacks at metered on-ramps.

Recent root items

Coxeter groups and the polynomial Hurwitz action

Permit outcomes and timelines: Comparing state and sub-state permitting authorities for large-scale energy facilities

Static in the Radiosphere: Radio and the Public Good, Broadcasting Power and the Battle for the Airwaves

Stochastic Sampling for Sparse, Hardware-Efficient Inference and Optimization

Smaller universal poset

Applications of Gaussian Processes to Stochastic Control and Optimization for Grid-Scale Battery Energy Storage Systems

The Next Generation of Trade and Environment Conflicts: The Rise of Green Industrial Policy

Structural Basis for Recognition of a Gonococcal Lipooligosaccharide Epitope by Monoclonal Antibody 2C7 Informs Vaccine and Immunotherapeutic Design

Braiding and Dynamics of Quasiparticles in the Graphene Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

Super Markov numbers and signed double dimer covers

Possible observational survey strategies to maximize exoplanet yields: a report from the survey strategies task group in the exoplanet science yields working group

Black, Queer & Liberated: Pilot & Evaluation of a Community-Partnered Mental Health Intervention for Black Queer Young Adults

Functional Effects of Cortisol Increases in Novel Environments

Strategic Opportunities in Competitive Resource Allocation

Compact Cell Complexes for Finite Complex Reflection Groups and their Braid Groups

Ectomesenchymal identity emerges via relief of Twist1 transcript destabilisation

Framing triangulations and framing posets of planar DAGs with nontrivial netflow vectors

Extending Kernel Graph Regression for High-Dimensional Spatiotemporal Modeling and Causal Inference

Symmetric noncrossing partitions of an annulus with double points

Active Control of Structure and Morphology in Phase-Separated Systems

Widespread Chemosynthesis Across McMurdo Sound, Antarctica Through the Lens of Infaunal Communities

Lift and Drag Calculations with a 2D Finite Difference Navier–Stokes Solver

Improved bounds on the zeros of the chromatic polynomial of graphs and claw-free graphs

Ultra-clean rhombohedral graphene devices: from broken symmetries to hydrodynamics

Fantasy, Dream, and Memory in “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”: Environmental Imagination and the Child in Grahame’s Pan

Insights about the Mechanism of Processivity and Substrate Discrimination by Cell Cycle Regulated Methyltransferase (CcrM), including Preliminary Methods for a Structural Justification using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM)

“Pipe dreams” and realities: Taiwanese Americans' intergenerational identity and heritage language transmission

Pluri-Arabism: Language Change in Arab Popular Culture

The Social Responsibilities of Singer-Songwriters in Spain and Latin America: How Cantautores Changed the World in the 20th Century

Realizing resolutions of powers of extremal ideals

The Demon’s Kuse: Dramaturgical Characterization of Demons Across Muromachi Nō Playwrights

Examining the Role of Religion and Concealment of Sexual Orientation on Mental Health and Alcohol Use among Black and Latine Sexual Minority Women

Aura Hysterica: Hysterical Pathologies and a Mad Femme Future

Physics-inspired Machine Learning with Probabilistic Computers

Entropy, Chaos and Observable Algebras in Solvable Models of Quantum Gravity

A Unique Form of Cooperation: Cognitive Specializations for Collaboration

Towards diamond spin-opto-mechanical systems: Design, fabrication, and characterization of optomechanical crystals with embedded spins

A New Interpretation of Locke’s Theory of Abstraction

Partial permutations and character evaluations

Passive Survivability of Lithium-Ion Batteries Exposed to Lunar Night Conditions

Relationships Between Quantum Cryptographic Primitives

The mechanisms and casting parameters employed by Controlled Diffusion Solidification to reduce hot tearing susceptibility in wrought aluminum alloys

Towards III–V Quantum Photonic Systems

Graphs with large minimum degree and no short odd cycles are \(3\)-colourable

Calibrating and Modelling High-Contrast Polarimeters

Economic Statecraft of Rising Powers: Responses to Weaponized Interdependence

Recommended by me: Theoretical foundations, measure development, and empirical validation of perceived self-endorsement in personalized recommender systems

Reducing Auxiliary Power Unit Reliance through Decision-Sufficient Information: A Game-Theoretic Framework for Airport Gate Electrification

Diffraction, Occlusion, and Flows: Exploiting Wireless Propagation Phenomena for Environmental Inference

Using Chiral Lithium Amides for Enantioselective Reactions with Allenoic Acids

Search for a leptoquark in events with a hadronically decaying τ-lepton and missing transverse momentum using pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A comprehensive phage-bacteria interaction atlas links phage lineage and capsule serotype to genome-guided machine learning prediction in Klebsiella pneumoniae

The Zipper Algebra

Bayesian Optimization Applications in Electrical Distribution Grid Planning and Tensor Network Structure Search

Directed Evolution, Characterization, and Computational Studies of Heme and Nonheme Fe Enzymes for Radical Biocatalysis

J.M. Coetzee and the Deployment of Form: Toward a Theory of Style for the New Formalism

Behavioral Footprinting from Memory-Access Heatmaps: Lightweight Classification of SPEC and Serverless Workloads

How does neighborhood location affect the cost of producing affordable housing?

Healing and Solidarity: A Phenomenological Study of Jewish-Palestinian Solidarity Activism

Regulatory Exit

General purpose programming and OS principles for heterogeneous SoCs

Intersecting hypergraphs with large cover number

Timing, Context, and Space: An Agent-Based Model of Anti-Bullying Policy Effectiveness in Academic Departments

Taking the heat off tantalum

Measurement of the cross-section for the production of a W boson in association with b-jets in pp collisions at s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Understanding how visual information is extracted for navigation in Drosophila melanogaster

A Queen, King, and Menagerie: Drawings on Papyri as Tools of Ancient Egyptian Artists

Expanding the scope of redox-balance growth coupling techniques with a carbon co-feeding strategy

Continuum Studies of Biological Tissues

UC Comments on Draft NIH Policy on Sharing Summary Level Study Results with Clinical Research Participants (NOT-OD-26-113)

Physical drivers of phytoplankton abundance in the Santa Barbara Channel inner shelf

Emergency Department-Centered Digital Health Transformation: Narrative Review and Three-Pillar Implementation Framework

From Foraminifera to Whales Bones: Proxy Records of Coastal Change from California to Antarctica

Enumeration of planar bipartite tight irreducible maps

Noise-State Calculus for Dynamic Games with Strategic Information

Embedded metasymplectic spaces of type \(\mathsf{F_{4,4}}\)

Methodological Advances in Multiscale Simulation of Surfactant Self-Assembly

Lexicon against naturalness: Unnatural gradient phonotactic restrictions in Tarma Quechua

The Blacker the Brain Joy Assessment: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Exploring Practitioners' Experiences with a Liberatory, Eco-Womanist Approach to Healing