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…

Howler monkeys (Alouatta sp.) use loud call vocalizations for both intra-group
and intergroup communication (Oliveira & Ades, 2004; Whitehead, 1989; da Cunha
& Byrne, 2006; Holzmann, 2012). While much of the literature focuses on the effect
of loud call vocalizations…

The range of habitats a plant species is able to occupy is determined by a combination of
biotic and abiotic factors. Herbivores have long been predicted to play an important role in
species sorting by exaggerating the differences between soil…

Current global health interventions tend to focus on the “big 3” diseases:
malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis. This focus has led to a dearth of funding for and
research into diseases that are also endemic in areas where the big 3…

In this thesis, we investigated a sequential decision making problem. We tested
different policies for online portfolio optimization: for a given number of assets and
a time horizon, the weights on assets are rebalanced at every time step according to

The purpose of this thesis was to simultaneously test a new theoretical model,
vicarious hypocrisy, which has been shown to produce changes in people’s
sunblock usage attitudes and behavior, and to apply this model to another
important health domain, dental…

This research explores the metabolic role of the gut microbiota in the global
obesity crisis and rising threat of global warming. Enteric microbiota in the rumen emit
methane as a by-product of metabolite degradation. Experiments – primarily on mice –

Detecting and characterizing extrasolar planets has become a very relevant field in Astrophysics. There are several methods to achieve this, but by far the most difficult and potentially most rewarding approach is direct imaging of the planets. Coronagraphs can be…