Substance abuse is one of the most critical public health problems affecting juvenile detainees. Previous research suggests that a significant proportion of juvenile detainees with substance use disorders do not receive treatment prior to or during detention. Using data from the Northwestern Juvenile Project, a large-scale longitudinal study of juvenile...
Saccades are rapid eye movements that bring visual images into focus by placing them on the fovea. The control of accurate and precise saccades is essential for normal visual perception of the world around us. Disruptions in saccade production are the hallmark of several neurological disorders such as schizophrenia and...
This dissertation consists of three essays on the identification analysis of econometric models.
The first essay explores the identification question in semiparametric binary response models when all regressors have discrete support. I suggest a recursive procedure that finds sharp bounds on the parameter of interest and can be applied to...
Researchers have long recognized that schools are powerful environments for shaping students' worldview and identity. The structured content, activities, and resultant culture of schools profoundly impact the way in which students learn to make sense of the world around them. In the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community this function of schooling is...
This project argues that displays of humanist learning in diplomacy served to demonstrate the extraordinary good will of the Florentine regime towards a host ruler. I call this act of surpassing previous oratorical gestures a "cultural gift". Although the singular goal of humanism in diplomacy remained offering cultural gifts in...
The small heat shock protein αB-crystallin is expressed primarily in lens and muscle tissue, but it is also found in lung, kidney and many cancers. Regulators of αB-crystallin have been identified almost exclusively using mouse muscle and lens specific models. It has been well documented that αB-crystallin is expressed in...
In urban areas, an accurate evaluation of ground deformations from various construction activities requires one to properly consider both the probable ground strain level under expected working conditions and the recent stress history of the soil. For well-designed projects, the levels of ground strains typically are less than 0.5%, emphasizing...
Cells are known to respond to external stimuli such as chemical, physical and mechanical cues from their microenvironments. In this work, we developed the technology to to complement the previously reported studies that deal with substrates' mechanical property by developing thin polydimethlysiloxane (PDMS) membrane microdevices using microfabrication technology. Typically, multiples...
Aluminum alloys strengthened with coherent (L1<sub>2</sub>), nanosize Al<sub>3</sub>Sc precipitates may be used as structural materials at elevated temperatures. They are creep resistant at 300°C and exhibit a threshold stress, below which creep is not measurable. Introducing ternary alloying additions, such as rare-earth elements (RE=Y, Dy, Er), that segregate within Al<sub>3</sub>Sc...
The macroscale mechanical and physical properties of materials are inherently linked to the underlying microstructure. Traditional continuum mechanics theories have focused on approximating the heterogeneous microstructure as a continuum, which is conducive to a partial differential equation mathematical description. Although this makes large scale simulation of material much more efficient...