Contributions of elastic unitarity to three pion scattering

Fleming, Gordon N Univ. of Penn. 1963 국내석사

Diseased motives measured: George Eliot and selective Victorian sympathy

Fleming, Anne Purdue University 2011 해외박사(DDOD)

George Eliot's novels explore the obstacles to sympathy her characters face. Chapter One discusses characters pursuing sympathy through service. Characters must balance their sympathy for others with their desire to escape their problems in charitable works and even nationalism. Some characters find balance, others choose isolation. But that isolation suggests that, for Eliot, idealized service alone cannot create sympathy. Chapter Two discusses Eliot's interest in criminal psychology. Characters must understand their behavior to overcome their crimes and learn sympathy. Yet, criminal mindsets undermine characters' understanding what they must change. Furthermore, some characters exaggerate their crimes. They wallow in guilt as unrepentant criminals are mired in their lack of reform. Thus, reforming criminal behavior into sympathetic social behavior rarely succeeds in Eliot's novels. Chapter Three discusses Eliot's interest in self-sacrifice. Victorian literature idealizes martyrs. But in Eliot, self-sacrifice often leads to self-destruction, not sympathy. Selfish characters use self-sacrificing characters to justify their own failings. And martyrdom can become competitive, with one martyr rewarded while the other suffers. Readers are complicit in this competition, feeling more sympathy for one over the other. Only characters who both sacrifice for others and refuse to humiliate themselves actually create sympathy. Finally, Chapter Four analyzes literacy's role in promoting sympathy. Victorians debated whether education and literature could improve sympathy. Writers were criticized for glamorizing violence. Eliot occasionally sensationalizes violence and vengeance, even in her educated characters. Their literacy often feeds their anger and violence. For Eliot, education does not innately create sympathy. Further, Eliot strives to create sympathy in readers, while not dictating what they feel, creating a very tenuous link between literacy and sympathy.

The Impact of Structural Fidelity on Replication Success of the Plain Talk Program

Fleming-White, T Walden University 2012 해외박사(DDOD)

Plain Talk is an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program that has been replicated in 40 communities across the United States. Although each replication site received the same training and level of technical assistance, program outcomes varied by site. Replication sites were provided training, technical assistance, and other support in order to maintain core component fidelity. However, structural fidelity has been highlighted as a possible factor contributing to inconsistent results demonstrated in previous replication studies. Using the Pareto principle (80/20 rule or the law of the vital few) as the theoretical framework, this study included a sample of 28 Plain Talk replication sites and employed a sequential mixed-methods design to determine (a) what structural elements of Plain Talk were more prone to adaptation, (b) if a relationship existed between the most frequently altered structural elements and replication outcomes, and (c) if the Pareto principle could be applied to structural adaptations of Plain Talk. Although the use of Pareto algorithm was successful, chi square and Fisher's exact test were applied to data collected from a structured record review and the results indicated that no relationship existed between the 4 more frequently altered structural elements and replication outcomes. Additionally, the emergent themes from the case studies contradicted the quantitative findings and suggested that a strong relationship did exist between the frequently altered elements and replication outcomes. Recommendations for strengthening the design, developing stronger measures, and using validated tools could serve as a catalyst for future replication studies. Social change implications from this study include bridging the current research gap on the impact of structural fidelity on replication outcomes and movement towards a holistic approach to measuring program fidelity.

Truth, Belief, and Inquiry: A New Theory of Knowledge

Fleming, Forrest Shoup University of California, Irvine 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

My dissertation lies at the philosophical intersection of the American pragmatist tradition and contemporary epistemology. By treating truth, justification, and belief as matters of degree, I develop a measure of knowledge that captures all of our fundamental intuitions while providing answers to the problems of epistemic luck, skepticism, and scientific pessimism. Traditionally, knowledge is understood as justified true belief that is not due to luck. My project follows this general outline. First, I describe the pragmatist understanding of truth first articulated by Charles Sanders Peirce in the late nineteenth century. My first chapter offers Peirce's understanding of truth as the best explanation of our intuitive understanding of what it is for a proposition to be the case and shows how we can understand Peirce's theory as compatible with contemporary theories of truth. In my second chapter, I develop a theory of belief such that an agent believes a proposition when she acts as if that proposition were a rule governing her behavior. On this view, beliefs are theoretical entities posited to make sense of other agents' actions. Following this account of belief, I describe what it is for a belief to be true and argue that sense of truth in which beliefs are true is best understood as an approximation of the full descriptive truth. My third, fourth, and fifth chapters are an account of justification. Chapter 3 is a descriptive account of synchronic justification: we all reject or accept propositions in accordance with maximizing the coherence of our belief-networks. Chapters 4 and 5 articulate and then defend a new measure of diachronic justification, which is a measure of the degree to which a belief is appropriately revisable and therefore embeddable in an ongoing process of fallibilist inquiry. I develop a novel formal quantification of methodological justification and show that it gives plausible results when applied to popular cases. My final chapter brings justification, truth, and belief together into a scalar knowledge measure. I locate my theory in ongoing epistemic inquiry, describing its conceptual advantages over rival theories as well as its ability to replicate their successes.

Non-Markovian dynamics of open quantum systems

Fleming, Chris H University of Maryland, College Park 2011 해외박사(DDOD)

An open quantum system is a quantum system that interacts with some environment whose degrees of freedom have been coarse grained away. This model describes non-equilibrium processes more general than scattering-matrix formulations. Furthermore, the microscopically-derived environment provides a model of noise, dissipation and decoherence far more general than Markovian (white noise) models. The latter are fully characterized by Lindblad equations and can be motivated phenomenologically. Non-Markovian processes consistently account for backreaction with the environment and can incorporate effects such as finite temperature and spatial correlations. We consider linear systems with bilinear coupling to the environment, or quantum Brownian motion, and nonlinear systems with weak coupling to the environment. For linear systems we provide exact solutions with analytical results for a variety of spectral densities. Furthermore, we point out an important mathematical subtlety which led to incorrect master-equation coefficients in earlier derivations, given nonlocal dissipation. For nonlinear systems we provide perturbative solutions by translating the formalism of canonical perturbation theory into the context of master equations. It is shown that unavoidable degeneracy causes an unfortunate reduction in accuracy between perturbative master equations and their solutions. We also extend the famous theorem of Lindblad, Gorini, Kossakowski and Sudarshan on completely positivity to non-Markovian master equations. Our application is primarily to model atoms interacting via a common electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field contains correlations in both space and time, which are related to its relativistic (photon-mediated) nature. As such, atoms residing in the same field experience different environmental effects depending upon their relative position and orientation. Our more accurate solutions were necessary to assess sudden death of entanglement at zero temperature. In contrast to previous claims, we found that all initial states of two-level atoms undergo finite-time disentanglement. We were also able to access regimes which cannot be described by Lindblad equations and other simpler methods, such as near resonance. Finally we revisit the infamous Abraham-Lorentz force, wherein a single particle in motion experiences backreaction from the electromagnetic field. This leads to a number of well-known problems including pre-acceleration and runaway solutions. We found a more a more-suitable open-system treatment of the nonrelativistic particle to be perfectly causal and dissipative without any extraneous requirements for finite size of the particle, weak coupling to the field, etc..

A study of principal and teacher judgments of principal leadership orientations

Fleming, N. Jane Byers University of Maryland College Park 2003 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the patterns of principal leadership behaviors as judged by teachers and principals in Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) and non-Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (non-CSRD) schools in one mid-Atlantic state. Bolman and Deal's conceptual framework of leadership orientations (1984) served as a basis for assessing leadership orientations of principals. Data collection was conducted in 2001. The Leadership Orientation Survey, developed by Bolman and Deal (1990), was distributed to teachers and principals in 9 CSRD and 10 non-CSRD schools. The survey measures the extent to which leaders use four frames of leadership: structural, human resource, political, and symbolic. Completed surveys were returned by each of the 19 principals (100%) and 313 (71%) of the teachers. Each school's composite index provided a measurement of performance over a three-year period (1997–2000). These data identified the extent to which patterns of frame utilization were associated with student achievement. Finally, demographic data provided by respondents were examined to explain differences in judgments of frame utilization. Independent t-tests were used to compare principal frame utilization as judged by teachers and principals across all sub-groups (CSRD, non-CSRD, urban, and rural) and the relationship between frame utilization and demographic data. Two-way analysis of variance was used to examine interaction effects between the demographic variables and urbanness or ruralness of CSRD and non-CSRD schools. The structural frame was rated highest of the four frames in both rural and urban schools, followed by human resource, political, and symbolic. Principals consistently rated themselves more highly for all four frames than did their teachers. CSRD urban schools marginally out-performed non-CSRD urban schools. CSRD rural schools marginally out-performed non-CSRD rural schools. All of the CSRD and some non-CSRD rural schools made substantial gains in student improvement over the three-year period; however, urban schools made only minor gains over the same period. No pattern of frame utilization was identified that differentiated more or less effective schools. In 9 of the 12 schools showing improvement, teacher ratings of principal frame utilization identified the structural frame as highest. Differences in frame utilization associated with demographic differences were recorded for gender, years in education, and years in position.

Utilizing Cancer Resistant and Susceptible Mice to Identify the Genetic Contributions to Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Susceptibility

Fleming, Jessica Lynn The Ohio State University 2012 해외박사(DDOD)

Non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC), consisting of cutaneous basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), is the most common form of cancer in the world. In 2006, the estimated number of new NMSC cases in the United States rose to 3.5 million; of those, 700,000 were cSCCs. The most important factor for the development of primary cSCCs is cumulative exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Other environmental risk factors include viral infection, immunosuppression, chronic inflammation, and exposure to industrial carcinogens. Cancer development is not solely dependent on environmental factors as a genetic contribution for several cancers is well described. Population and family-based studies suggest that there is a genetic component to the development of cSCC. These studies suggest heritability for cSCC risk; however, the specific genetic factors remain elusive. This dissertation is comprised of three related projects that explore the genetic contribution to cSCC. These studies utilize both skin cancer susceptible and resistant mice and human samples. Because human populations are heterogeneous, the use of mouse models to map genetic risk factors is ideal. Cancer susceptibility genes identified in the mouse have been confirmed in human studies suggesting this is an effective approach to identify true genetic risk factors. Previous studies using these mice identified skin tumor susceptibility loci, including the one of focus for this study, <italic>Skts5,</italic> as well as a small number of microRNAs (miRNAs) showing differential expression. The goal of the first project was to identify and characterize novel skin cancer susceptibility genes in the mouse. We hypothesized that genes mapping to <italic>Skts5</italic> which showed expression differences and/or sequence variations between cancer susceptible and resistant mice may be playing a role in tumorigenesis. We identified aryl hydrocarbon receptor (<italic> Ahr</italic>) as a potential candidate susceptibility gene. We performed <italic> in vitro</italic> functional analyses and revealed potential roles that Ahr may be playing in tumor development and progression. The focus of the second project was to identify cancer susceptibility genes at the human <italic>SKTS5</italic> locus using allele-specific imbalance and risk association studies. We hypothesized that human cSCC tumors would show allele-specific somatic genetic changes at <italic>SKTS5</italic> and that these alterations would contribute to cSCC risk. Candidate genes identified in the mouse were analyzed in human samples. We identified single nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotypes in <italic>HDAC9</italic> that conferred risk, supporting my hypothesis. The goal of the third project was to identify and characterize miRNAs that are playing a role in cSCC tumorigenesis. This project utilized a miRNA microarray expression data set to compare expression in cSCC cancer susceptible and resistant mice. We hypothesized that miRNAs showing differential expression between the strains are important in the development of cSCC. This study identified six miRNAs and we performed <italic>in vitro</italic> functional characterization of <italic>miR-1.</italic>. Genetic discovery is important to not only understand the biology of disease, but to also facilitate better preventative measures and treatment options. The three studies of this dissertation give insight to genes and miRNAs contributing to cSCC development.

New Solution to an Old Problem: Exploring Properties of Chemical Reactions in Condensed Phases Using Molecular Simulation

Fleming, Kelly L University of Washington 2015 해외박사(DDOD)

The study of chemical reactions is a foundation of chemical engineering, yet there are limited ways to examine how their properties are influenced. Our research has explored the use of molecular simulation to characterize reaction properties in varying environments. First, we use the most common method, Quantum Mechanics (QM) with a Density Functional Theory (DFT) model to study the hydrolysis of a glyosidic bond, which is important for the breakdown of biomass. Previously unknown detailed mechanistic steps were found for the hydrolysis reaction. The reaction was subsequently simulated with a continuum model in several different acid solvents, and the reaction energetics were shown to be directly related to the inverse of the dielectric constant. However, the mechanistic details were unchanged. Based on the trend observed between acid solvents, we set out to learn more about the way the solvents affect reaction properties. In order to accurately determine how solvent molecules affect the reaction, they must be modeled explicitly, as opposed to a continuum model. In order to facilitate fast computation in a reasonable timeframe, we overcame computational limitations stemming from the explicit solvent molecules by pairing a multiscale modeling approach known as metadynamics with the Car Parrinello molecular dynamics method. We observed a stabilizing effect from the solvent. However, after several failed attempts to quantify the barrier heights, we discovered that this approach does not lead to reproducible or accurate estimates for reaction barriers, despite being the consensus approach in literature. Instead of purely using metadynamics, we demonstrated for the first time that a method called "MetaRates" can be used to make estimates of a chemical reaction rate. This was an exciting addition to a method that previously had not been used to study systems with ab initio potentials. In a detailed investigation, we were able to demonstrate that this method is successfully used to predict the energy barrier heights that match with quantum mechanics. Based on our work, we believe that MetaRates can be used to model more complex reactions, such as those taking place in enzymes, on surfaces, and in complex solvents like those we are interested in for continuing biomass reaction research.

Imagining French Atlantic Slavery: A Comparison of Mnemonic Entrepreneurs and Antillean Migrants in Metropolitan France (1980--2010)

Fleming, Crystal Marie Harvard University 2011 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation is a multi-level investigation into the historical imagination and group boundaries of commemorators and ordinary people living in metropolitan France. I use three sources of data: (1) 127 in-depth interviews with mnemonic entrepreneurs and French Antillean migrants outside of the commemorative movement (2) ethnographic observation of commemorative mobilizations and related cultural events in the Paris region between 2007 and 2010 and (3) a historical database of speeches delivered by French politicians over the course of the last 30 years. I assess the extent to which the claims-making of the organizers reflect the perspectives of non-activists on four dimensions: (1) historical narratives produced about the history of Atlantic slavery (2) normative attitudes toward remembering or forgetting slavery (3) support for public policies [reparations, official recognition and pedagogic interventions] and (4) feelings of attachment to the history of slavery. The case study of commemorations includes a broad range of events from official ceremonies to small meetings of grassroots organizations, marches, cultural shows and educational exhibitions. Of particular concern throughout the dissertation is the manner in which individuals define their group membership through both discourse and practices. In this respect, my work is an effort to bring the concept of group boundary construction to the center of research on collective memory, thereby correcting the tendency of previous studies to conflate individual and group levels of analysis. I argue that mnemonic entrepreneurs shape the meaning of group membership in two ways. First, they contribute to the definition of collective identities through references to historical protagonists and categories of persons. Secondly, mnemonic entrepreneurs orient their commemorative efforts to present-day communities of memory and interest groups that they implicitly or explicitly define. I refer to these two genres of group categorization as mnemonic boundary work. Throughout the study, I use discourse analysis and ethnographic observation to show how actors invoke groupness in the imaginings of the slavery past.

Working for a happy life in Bangalore: Gender, generation, and temporal liminality in India's tech city

Fleming, Rachel C University of Colorado at Boulder 2016 해외박사(DDOD)

In Bangalore, women who work in information technology (IT) and other white-collar professions are part of a new generation of middle-class Indian women who expect to work. Beyond previous narratives of work as a "backup" in case a normative married life is not possible, these women now consider work important for their self-confidence and identity. The opportunity to work is also tied to India's economic liberalization and ideas about what constitutes a good life as compared to the past, including a more expansive social life, more varied knowledge about the world, more gender equality at work and home, and a different kind of marriage. However, from the demands of work putting stress on families and relationships to sexism that seems ever more entrenched, the promise of work often becomes disappointment. At work, women feel exploited, yet when they leave or go part time they experience a painful loss of self. This dissertation draws on fieldwork in Bangalore with middle-class women from three generations to examine the effects of new regimes of work on women's lives and senses of identity. As elsewhere, global neoliberal reconfigurations of work in Bangalore are both exploitive and essential in constructing the self. However, using a feminist perspective, this project argues that these pressures map onto existing gendered expectations, so when women in Bangalore attempt to construct a happy life their choices are not be as expansive as they had hoped, while the responsibility for failure falls on their shoulders. Using temporality as a way to frame these anxieties, I find that the multiple identities women inhabit in the course of their daily lives have gendered and temporal constraints, creating a state of vulnerability I term "temporal liminality." These constraints are especially apparent when women combine their kinship identities with those in global capitalist workplaces, in that women must contend with social and personal ideas about the past and future, ideas about life course, and the value and use of their time on a daily basis, questions that bring gendered morality to bear on time itself.