This dissertation is a comparative study of guilds at a time when the guild system was supposedly in decline. It is not a study of decaying institutions, however, but of successful ones. It compares the structure and function of four guilds--shoemakers, joiners, barbers and millers--in the early decades of the seventeenth century. These guilds represent a cross-section of the small businessmen and artisans of Augsburg and reflect the variety of form and activity that existed in the city. The dissertation is based on archival sources that are largely unknown and untouched. Most important of these are the petitions to the City Council written by or about guildsmen and guilds. These sources allow us to go beyond the tax books and guild regulations that form the principal sources for most guild histories. This study also utilizes these traditional sources, but expands upon them with the petitions to examine how the guilds actually functioned on a daily basis (the four guilds produced fifteen to twenty petitions a month). The petitions are invaluable to the social historian, for they are among the few collections of documents in the pre-modern era that speak with the voice of the common man. The guild system in the seventeenth century was not dead; it was not even ill. Contrary to nearly every pronouncement on early modern guilds, the evidence shows that city, guild and guildsmen generally understood one another and worked well together. The system did not work flawlessly or without friction, but it did function successfully. The success came from the ability of the guilds to adapt to changing circumstances, the ability of the city to concern itself with the minutiae of its business life, and the willingness of the guildsmen to communicate their problems and desires to the government. The guilds were a vital part of the city; they were not excessively conservative, they were not backward, they were not behind the times; rather, they were in close harmony with the urban environment that sustained them.

A cross-cultural study was conducted during the summer of 1985. Data concerning American values, roles, and consumption patterns were collected in the Hartford area, Connecticut. The Chinese data were collected in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The theoretical framework is one in which the constructs of value internalization and role-enactment are posited to influence patterns of consumption behavior. Preliminary results show significant variations between the two cultures; but not significant when compared among individuals within each of the two cultures. Recently developed computer program, LISREL, was then used to isolate the direction of influence between the theoretical constructs of value internalization, role-enactment, and consumption pattern. The hypothesized model that value internalization affects consumption behavior as well as role-enactment, and that role-enactment further affects consumption behavior, has been shown to be invariant for the two cultures. In other words, while the expressions of values, role-expected behaviors, and consumption patterns may be different between the U.S. and China, the motivating forces or the direction of influence between such constructs are the same. The aim of this study is to compare and understand the prevailing forces that motivate consumption patterns in two cultures quite different in their socioeconomic structures. The study also delineates various inventory of cultural and social issues as they relate to consumption in the U.S. and in China. Some basic marketing guidelines are generated that may be of use to American marketers doing business with China.

Prior research suggests that neighborhood context has an important role in shaping individuals' perceptions of generalized trust, which is an important ingredient in establishing informal social control. Since most of the empirical research focuses on the direct effects of neighborhood structural conditions, there is a rather limited understanding of how social processes affect individual levels of trust. As a result, it remains unclear whether several theoretically relevant social processes mediate the effects of neighborhood compositional features. The current study uses data from the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods--Community Survey (PHDCN-CS) to investigate whether social mechanisms, specifically fear and police efficacy, mediate the relationship between several adverse neighborhood conditions on individual-level generalized trust. The findings show that both fear and police efficacy are salient mechanisms in the neighborhood context and trust relationship. The theoretical and policy implications of the results are discussed, along with implications and directions for future research in this area. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2015. / May 8, 2015. / Fear, Neighborhood Effects, Police Efficacy, Trust / Includes bibliographical references. / Eric A. Stewart, Professor Directing Dissertation; John Taylor, University Representative; Patricia Y. Warren, Committee Member; Eric P. Baumer, Committee Member.

Studies of Mycenaean architecture describe materials, construction techniques and floor plans with less attention to the human actors occupying it. Spatial analysis offers a way to study those actors by investigating the behavior and social organization of the members of a society through their built environments. A combination of analytical techniques using space syntax and visibility graph analysis reveals Mycenaean society in its architecture. The objective methods of space syntax identify two separate groups of people in Mycenaean spaces: inhabitants and visitors. The arrangement of space in Mycenaean architecture and settlements allows or restricts encounter and interaction between these two groups and reveals the mutually reflexive principles of spatial and social organization. In the configuration of space for the possible encounters between inhabitants and visitors, Mycenaean architecture reflects either a private or a public nature. A private system is arranged for small household groups that are well integrated but segregated from the exterior, especially where residential activities are present. The restricted access and segregation of strangers demonstrates a social organization that aligns with a current interpretation that Mycenaean society practiced exclusionary socio-political strategies with restricted access to wealth and power. The presence of visitors in public buildings means permeable boundaries with the exterior but segregation in the visual field. In public spatial systems, access is restricted as much by visual depth as by multiple gates and doors controlling movement. The behavior of inhabitants and visitors, demonstrated through patterns of movement and visibility, correlates with the arrangement of space and the functions contained within the buildings. Integration of spaces within the walls of buildings, whether private or public, suggests a well integrated social group of inhabitants which may reflect the same social organization conjectured in contemporary chamber tombs. Settlement spaces appear to follow very similar principles to those revealed in architecture. Settlement space is configured to facilitate the activities that involve local inhabitants with the depth to control the movement of visitors. Spatial analysis confirms that movement is a strong organizing principle in Mycenaean spaces and it is controlled through the visual field. In revealing Mycenaean social organization as constituted in Mycenaean architecture and settlements, this study offers a way to think about the Mycenaeans themselves. Chapter 1 recounts the scholarship devoted to understanding Mycenaean society through its architecture. I introduce the sample of buildings and settlements analyzed. Chapter 2 explains the theory and methods used. A selection of spatial variables tested through space syntax and visibility graph analysis using a program called Depthmap reveal the nature of the spatial principles which in turn reflect Mycenaean social organization. Chapter 3 describes the spatial system of selected houses from Mycenae and Tiryns and suggests similarities among the structures assigned by Darcque to this group. Houses demonstrate segregation from the exterior but lack internal restrictions on movement and visibility, suggesting a well integrated group of inhabitants. Chapter 4 describes the small sample that includes the palaces at Tiryns and Pylos with the Residence at Gla. These structures have spatial features in common but are clearly differentiated from houses in that there is greater accessibility and the probability for social interaction. The larger size of the palatial spatial systems acts to restrict movement and make that movement difficult. Buildings of Darcque's intermediate category, described in Chapter 5, do not suggest a coherent and separate group but instead similarities with either houses or palaces. The entire sample is compared in Chapter 6 in which some of the variables confirm similar spatial principles. A statistical analysis of the results confirms asymmetry in the organization of Mycenaean space and establishes the correlation between the size of the system and the quality of movement. In Chapter 7, the four settlements containing the architecture analyzed in Chapters 3, 4 and 5 are subject to the same methods and demonstrate the application of the same spatial principles constituting the same social organization. Chapter 8 provides an opportunity to demonstrate the value and challenges of analyzing archaeological material using select houses from Akrotiri. In this chapter, I also demonstrate how the accumulated data can be used to predict the arrangement of space and to aid in reconstructing fragmentary plans using a selection of buildings from the unexcavated site of Korphos: Kalamianos. Chapter 9 concludes the dissertation summarizing the findings of this study, evaluating the methods used and suggesting directions for future research. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2015. / April 29, 2015. / Architecture, Depthmap, Mycenaean, Settlement, Space Syntax, Visibility Graph Analysis / Includes bibliographical references. / Daniel J. Pullen, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mark W. Horner, University Representative; Christopher A. Pfaff, Committee Member; Allen J. Romano, Committee Member.

The Black-White wealth gap has been a significant topic of research among social scientists studying inequality. Research on the racial wealth gap has emphasized two variables with which to measure wealth: home and business ownership. This body of research often examines relatively contemporary factors that influence racial wealth inequality. However, less attention has been paid to historical influences. Less research has assessed associations between the peculiar institution of slavery and contemporary racial wealth disparities. Because patterns of inequality are shaped over long periods of time, the historical institution of slavery is one element that likely has important implications for the racial wealth disparities we see today. Of course, wealth creation is about the accrual of assets. Yet the literature suggests that since the time of slavery African American efforts to accumulate capital have often been systematically limited.   This project aims to explore the extent to which the institution of slavery has shaped the development of contemporary levels of economic capital among Black versus White Americans. The project uses data collected from the 1860 historical census, the Census Bureau's Characteristics of Businesses: 2007, and the Census Bureau's 2007 American Community Survey. Building on prior research, I examine the association between the presence and magnitude of slavery in counties in the Southern United States and black/white differences in home and business ownership. Preliminary results show that net of other factors a historically higher slave density in a county is associated with a decrease in black business and home ownership. Conversely, for whites, an increase in slave density is associated with an increase in business and home ownership. Hence, social scientists should be attuned to how the long reach of historical institutions may be implicated in contemporary patterns of economic inequality. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / April 6, 2017. / Durable Inequality, Race, Slavery, Social History, Sociology, Wealth Inequality / Includes bibliographical references. / Daniel Tope, Professor Directing Dissertation; Patricia Warren, University Representative; John Reynolds, Committee Member; John Taylor, Committee Member.

Neuroscience focuses largely on how the brain mediates perception and cognition. However, this leaves open the basic organization and hierarchies of the brain’s neural activity by itself prior to and independent of its role in cognition. A recent model characterizes the brain’s intrinsic features in terms of temporo- spatial dynamical (rather than cognitive) terms – the brain’s spatiotemporal hierarchies shape what is called ‘brain’s intrinsicality’. The brain’s intrinsicality may provide potential applications in designing artificial intelligence (AI). In this dissertation, I explore ‘intrinsic neural timescales’ and their spatial topography as one main building block of the brain’s intrinsicality. First, I present empirical investigation of temporal hierarchy and information flux as two basic facets of brain’s intrinsicality using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. That is complemented by introducing the notion of intrinsicality through intrinsic neural timescales and how they shape input processing in the brain. Then, I propose a model for input processing through intrinsic neural timescales and provide some notes on how that model can be implemented in an artificial agent. I conclude that the spatiotemporal dynamics of the brain’s intrinsicality provides potential key insights for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

The surge in transistor scaling and integration processes has driven the growth of wireless technology, especially low-cost millimeter-wave systems. Based on mainstream Silicon technology, System-on-Chip (SoC) has become an attractive approach to achieve the required high level of on-chip integration for modern wireless systems. However, the low resistivity (ρ=10 Ω-cm) and high relative permittivity (εr=11.9) of the silicon substrate are unsuitable for hosting antennas on it, because the Radio Frequency (RF) power is lost in the lossy silicon substrate, and some of it gets radiated in a certain undesired direction due to the surface waves. This has caused such antennas, typically known as Antenna-on-chip (AoC), to be poor radiators. Introducing an on-chip artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) between the substrate and the antenna can isolate the silicon substrate from the antenna and provide in-phase reflection, thereby improving the radiation performance. However, the drawback of conventional on- chip AMC is its relatively large thickness, which is extremely difficult to achieve on the thin silicon dioxide layer of typical CMOS processes (~10-15 μm). To resolve this problem, the embedded guiding structures have been designed between the periodic structure layer and the ground plane to realize an ultra-thin AMC which is suitable for thin oxide stack up of typical CMOS processes. Specifically, a patch-based AMC with embedded guiding structures has been designed for an on-chip monopole antenna operating at 94 GHz. The performance of the AMC has been studied for different resistivity substrates (from 10-3 to 103 Ω-cm). The AMC-backed on- chip antenna has been fabricated through an in-house CMOS-compatible process. The adhesion of the metallic layer to the substrate has been improved without using a seed layer, which is typically a low conductivity metal and has a negative impact on the radiation of the AoC. The measured input impedance and radiation performance of the AMC-backed AoC are fairly consistent with the simulations. It provides 5.85 dBi gain with the return loss of 16 dB at 94 GHz. According to the author’s best knowledge, this is the thinnest AMC-based AoC design in the literature.

Simulations of blasts in an urban environment were performed using Loci/BLAST, a fulleatured fluid dynamics simulation code, and analyzed. A two-structure urban environment blast case was used to perform a mesh refinement study. Results show that mesh spacing on and around the structure must be 12.5 cm or less to resolve fluid dynamic features sufficiently to yield accurate results. The effects of confinement were illustrated by analyzing a blast initiated from the same location with and without the presence of a neighboring structure. Analysis of extreme pressures and impulses on showed that confinement can increase blast loading by more than 200 percent.

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