ETD -- Ph.D. Dissertations
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For information about submitting electronic theses and dissertations, please see the ETD information page
Recent Submissions
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ELUSIVE ALLIANCES: LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, TRANSNATIONAL CAPITAL, AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN POST-REFORM MEXICO
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-04-18)This dissertation seeks to explain the economic performance of Mexican states during and after the implementation of political and economic reforms by the central government beginning in the 1980s. Existing studies have ... -
MEASUREMENT AND APPLICATION OF GEOMETRIC IMPERFECTIONS IN COLD-FORMED STEEL MEMBERS
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2016-08-31)Cold-formed steel members provide a unique solution to framing walls and floors of buildings and are popular in low and mid-rise construction in North America. Members are formed from coils of thin sheet steel and cold ... -
A Unified Framework Which Uses Multi-Scale Microstructural Information for Modeling Dynamic Failure in Brittle Materials
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2014-06-13)Developing improved armor ceramic materials necessitates an understanding of the active failure mechanisms during an impact event and the interactions between these mechanisms that lead to material failure. Similarly, ... -
Using a Virtual Reality Environment to Train Special Educators Working with Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder to Implement Discrete Trial Teaching
(Johns Hopkins University, 2018)Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the fastest growing disability category receiving special education services in schools with a current prevalence rate of 1 in 68 children in the United States, a 30% increase since 2012. ... -
PEER-MEDIATED SOCIAL SKILLS INTERVENTION OF ELEMENTARY STUDENTS WITH HIGH-FUNCTIONING AUTISM
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-28)Successful generalization of learned social skills in elementary students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be promoted through rehearsal and practice with typically developing peers in natural settings. However, ... -
Natura narrans: Landscape as Literature in Early Modern Italy
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-23)This dissertation uncovers literary self-consciousness in the forest settings of early modern Italian narratives, which exploit the symbolic and ecological properties of forest environments to fashion meditations on various ... -
Robust Estimation from Multiple Graphs
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-24)Estimation of graph parameters based on a collection of graphs is essential for a wide range of graph inference tasks. Often, this problem is especially difficult because the sample size is relatively small as compared to ... -
Use of routine program data & evaluation data to maximize the impact of prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programs in Nigeria & Malawi
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-21)Background Great progress has been made in preventing mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), however programmatic and operational challenges remain. Utilizing routinely collected PMTCT program data to refine ... -
Acts of Reference: An Essay on the Rational Powers of Proper Names
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-24)My topic is the way we entertain and express thoughts about the particular items we know by proper name. A major goal is to escape teetering between the unsatisfying extremes of Millianism and Descriptivism that continue ... -
MINDFULNESS IN THE SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOM: A MIXED METHODS PILOT STUDY OF THE LEARNING TO BREATHE MINDFULNESS CURRICULUM
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-21)Self-efficacy impacts the thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes students have towards activities such as reading or completing difficult homework. Using the social cognitive theory as a framework for understanding self-efficacy ... -
The Teacher's Role in Fostering Self-Regulated Learners: A Professional Development Model
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-21)Despite decades of educational research on the importance of fostering students to develop self-regulated learning (SRL) skills, teachers may continue to struggle with offering SRL opportunities in the curriculum and/or ... -
Essays on Political Constraints and Fiscal Policy
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-21)This dissertation contributes to the literature on the relationship between political constraints and fiscal policy outcomes. In the first two chapters, we focus on the level of detail of a government’s budget, analyzing ... -
Higgs Boson Properties and Search for Additional Resonances
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-23)The Higgs boson was predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics and jointly discovered by the CMS and ATLAS experiments at LHC, in 2012. Following its discovery, the property measurements of the Higgs boson and the ... -
Fostering Self-Regulated Learning at an Independent School
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-20)Self-regulated learning is described as a process in which students become empowered and independent learners. This quasi-experimental mixed methods study of secondary school students at an independent (i.e., private) ... -
The Trumpet and the Lyre: Torquato Tasso and the Problem of Vernacular Epic in 16th-century Italy
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-20)In this dissertation, I analyze conceptions of epic poetry in sixteenth century Italy, specifically the debates surrounding vernacular poetic language, which ultimately produce the first successful Italian epic, Torquato ... -
Black-White Difference in Performance Discounting: Academic Self-Concept and Achievement and Student-Teacher Racial Mismatch in the Classroom in U.S. Elementary and Middle Schools
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-19)In comparison to white students, African-American students typically display relatively high academic self-concept despite having relatively low achievement. The literature suggests that one reason for this phenomenon is ... -
Essays on International Trade and Economic Growth
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-18)My dissertation studies the dynamics of specialization patterns in relation to economic growth. The first chapter employs a quantitative framework to study whether and how knowledge diffusion could explain the cross-country ... -
IMPACT OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON TEACHER UNDERSTANDING OF LOW SOCIOECONOMIC STUDENT CONTEXTS AND
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-19)This study examines the teacher understanding of low socioeconomic status (SES) students and its influence on motivation, specifically motivation to read. The study will investigate the use of professional development to ... -
DESEGREGATION IN AN ERA OF RESEGREGATION: HOW HETEROGENEOUS SECONDARY SCIENCE CLASSES INCREASE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND ENTRANCE INTO THE STEM PIPELINE
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-18)African American students are underrepresented in high-level secondary science courses that preclude them from pursuing post-secondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees and careers. A significant ... -
Characterizing the Evolution of Circumstellar Systems with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini Planet Imager
(Johns Hopkins UniversityUSA, 2017-07-19)The study of circumstellar disks at a variety of evolutionary stages is essential to understand the physical processes leading to planet formation. As the earliest stage of planet formation, massive, optically thick, and ...