Browsing Duke Dissertations by Submit Date
Now showing items 1-20 of 5764
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Improved Localization Precision in 3D Single-Particle Localization Microscopy via Off-Center Sampling and Its Applications in Living Systems
(2023)Optimization of sampling patterns in 3D Real-time Single Particle Tracking (3D-RT-SPT) systems is crucial due to the limited photon yield and irreversible photobleaching of fluorescent materials commonly used in biological ... -
Pore-Scale Flow Mechanisms and the Hydrodynamic Porosity of Porous Media in Surface Water Treatment and Groundwater Remediation
(2023)As climate change and growing demand exacerbate water scarcity, it will become more imperative than ever to remediate our natural resources and treat our waste streams. This is especially true if we are to successfully provide ... -
Self-assembly of frustrated and disordered systems -- equilibrium microphases and out-of-equilibrium active matter
(2023)The potential for matter to self-assemble in complex morphologies and to follow intricate dynamics is of great fundamental interest as well as for a broad array of applications in nanotechnology, catalysis, drug delivery, ... -
The Impacts of Disruptive Environmental Change on Vital Microbial Ecosystems
(2023)Microbes both affect the global nutrient and carbon cycles that influence climate change and our modern environment, and are in turn influenced by environmental change. Through resource acquisition, metabolism, symbiosis ... -
I. Development of sulfonyl piperazine LpxH inhibitors against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria II. Exploration towards new TRPM8 agonists for dry eye disease
(2023)The discovery of new drug scaffolds is a time-consuming and costly process. As new technologies are developed and implemented into the drug discovery process, these costs are being lessened. Of these methods, computer-aided ... -
The Afterlives of Archaic Greek Kouroi: An Archaeology of a Greek Sculptural Type
(2023)My dissertation “The Afterlives of Archaic Greek Kouroi: An Archaeology of a Greek Sculptural Type” examines the reuses of several kouros fragments after the discard of their initial setting. The focus is centered on their ... -
Transfer Learning in Value-based Methods with Successor Features
(2023)This dissertation investigates the concept of transfer learning in a reinforcement learning (RL) context. Transfer learning is based on the idea that it is possible for an agent to use what it has learned in one task to ... -
Control through Constraint
(2023)Recently multi-agent navigation robots have been gaining increasing popularity indiverse applications such as agriculture, package delivery, exploration, search and rescue due to their maneuverability and collaborativity. ... -
Managing (Unconventional) Water: Essays on Expert Knowledge, Media Framings, and Stakeholder Debates
(2023)Ensuring access to adequate quantities of water for basic needs remains a fundamental goal and challenge in many world regions amid the ongoing climate crisis. Yet the uncertainties with existing water supplies coupled with ... -
Marginalized Voices and Nontraditional Pathways in Higher Education in the Late Roman Empire
(2023)This study analyzes marginalized voices and nontraditional pathways of higher education in the late Roman Empire and diversifies our notion of who was part of “the” educated elite in ancient higher education. I focus on ... -
Community Dispute Resolution and International Peacebuilding: Competitors or Complementary Actors? Evidence from Liberia
(2023)This dissertation explores the conditions under which international peacebuilding and community dispute resolution (CDR), or the ways in which communities try to address issues, complement or undermine one another. It argues ... -
Charge Transfer and Chiral Imprinting on Nano Particles
(2023)Quantum dots (QDs), being semiconductor particles small enough to exhibit quantum mechanical properties, are leveraged in numerous applications including energy harvesting, quantum computing, and biomedical imaging. Our ... -
Efficient and Collaborative Methods for Distributed Machine Learning
(2023)In recent years, there has been a significant expansion in the scale and complexity of neural networks. This has resulted in significant demand for data, computation, and energy resources. In this light, it is crucial to ... -
Essays on International Tax and Firm Behavior
(2023)This dissertation examines unique tax incentives faced by multinational corporations (MNCs). Although nearly all businesses engage in profit-maximizing behavior, many do not have the ability to set up numerous subsidiaries ... -
Investigating the Influence of Red Blood Cell Interactions on Large-Scale Cancer Cell Transport: Bridging the Gap through Advances in Computational Techniques
(2023)Metastatic cancer, the leading cause of cancer mortality, involves the complex process of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) spreading through the bloodstream and forming secondary tumors far away from the primary mass, which ... -
Compliance Under Pressure: Strategic Bureaucratic Control and Policy Implementation in China
(2023)Scholars contend that in weak institutional contexts, political leaders rely on informal networks or ad hoc campaigns to push through policies that challenge powerful local interests. My dissertation challenges this conventional ... -
Some Advances in Statistical modeling of Brain Structural Connectomes
(2023)It has become routine in neuroscience studies to measure brain networks for different individuals using neuroimaging. These networks are typically expressed as adjacency matrices, with each cell containing a summary of ... -
The Good Old Days: The Concept of the Golden Age in Greek Political Thought
(2023)Why are visions of “the good old days” such a prevalent part of political life? This dissertation investigates why the golden age—the idealized utopia of the past—has been employed so frequently by political thinkers and ... -
Information Intermediation in Opaque Markets: Evidence from Equity Crowdfunding Analyst Reports
(2023)Equity crowdfunding (ECF) is a growing market in the U.S., where firms issue unregistered securities to the public over the Internet. This market is characterized as informationally opaque and dominated by unsophisticated ... -
Understanding Psychosocial Treatment Non-Response in Children with Functional Abdominal Pain
(2023)Functional abdominal pain (FAP) is a commonly occurring gastrointestinal disorder in children and adolescents. It is associated with significant distress and impairment for both children and caregivers. Psychosocial treatments ...
