This dissertation is a history of astronomy in three cultural locations in late Ottoman Egypt: the scholarly culture of Muslim ulama, the state institution of the Viceregal Observatory, and the Arabic press. Through an interwoven history of these cultures, the…

With the advancement of technology, we are able to collect, store, and transmit an ever-increasing volume of data. However, our ability to extract useful patterns from this massive amount of data is still lagging behind. Machine learning and signal processing…

This dissertation investigates "geological" literature in the 19th century, and aims to describe a poetics of the earth sciences. Focusing on the work of Adalbert Stifter (1805-1868), whose literary experiments translate and transform scientific knowledge, the dissertation argues that the…

Over the course of the twentieth century, how were real estate developers and architects involved in transforming their own professional practices and the built form of American cities? My dissertation uses historical, architectural, and urban analysis to show how real…

It is estimated that 450 million people worldwide suffer from mental and behavioral disorders.
As 75% of mental disorders onset prior to the age of 24, the college years are a particularly
critical window when mental health can be promoted…

The goal of this project was two-fold: first, to improve the performance of machine learning
algorithms for the diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis, and second, to use machine learning algorithms
to better understand the problem of diagnosis. We constructed and examined…

Although we represent other people in terms of both what they look like and how they behave, these two aspects of person knowledge have rarely been studied together. While vision scientists have focused on the processing of faces and bodies,…

My dissertation centers on the meaning of dreams as interpreted by literati in the late Ming (1368-1644), viewed through the lens of the 1636 encyclopedia Forest of Dreams. This thirty-four-juan tome is the largest extant Chinese dream encyclopedia and includes…

Malaria and diarrhea are major causes of illness and death in Africa. These preventable diseases take the biggest toll on children, mostly due to lack of education and adequate resources in the home. The purpose of the reported research project…

The United States education system is not meeting the needs of today’s youth, and
this is especially the case for minority and low socio-economic status youth. Although
there are a number of policy proposals that could improve youth academic performance,