Lifted Multiplicity Codes and the Disjoint Repair Group Property

Lifted Reed Solomon Codes (Guo, Kopparty, Sudan 2013) were introduced in the context of locally correctable and testable codes. They are multivariate polynomials whose restriction to any line is a codeword of a Reed-Solomon code. We consider a generalization of their construction, which we call lifted multiplicity codes. These are multivariate polynomial codes whose restriction to any line is a codeword of a multiplicity code (Kopparty, Saraf, Yekhanin 2014). We show that lifted multiplicity codes have a better trade-off between redundancy and a notion of locality called the t-disjoint-repair-group property than previously known constructions. More precisely, we show that, for t <=sqrt{N}, lifted multiplicity codes with length N and redundancy O(t^{0.585} sqrt{N}) have the property that any symbol of a codeword can be reconstructed in t different ways, each using a disjoint subset of the other coordinates. This gives the best known trade-off for this problem for any super-constant t < sqrt{N}. We also give an alternative analysis of lifted Reed Solomon codes using dual codes, which may be of independent interest

Educating Nursing Staff on Evidence-Based Maternal Positioning to Promote Fetal Descent During the First and Second Stages of Labor

The aim of this project was to determine whether educating Labor and Delivery (L&D) nurses on maternal positions would increase their confidence their implementation to reduce the risk of cesarean sections (c-sections, CS) and progress the first and second stages of labor. Previous studies have shown that upright positions reduce the length of both labor stages by promoting more effective uterine contractions. Although L&D nurses may be familiar with the labor positions, they may not have confidence in their utilization as the education and practice of the birthing positions is not standardized. At a Bay Area county hospital, L&D nurses were given a pre-education survey to assess their current knowledge and confidence level in implementing the labor positions. After identifying gaps in knowledge, education on evidence-based maternal positions was provided using in-person training, educational handouts, and an instructional video recording. A post-education survey revealed a significant improvement in the nurses’ knowledge and confidence level in the application of the labor positions. Despite the limited sample size, the project was successful in demonstrating the effectiveness of staff education to increase nursing knowledge and confidence in the use of maternal positioning that promote fetal descent

Stumbling Toward the Up Escalator: How Trends in International Trade, Investment, and Finance Have Complicated Latin America’s Quest for Sustainable, Diversified Economic Development

This dissertation explores economic, environmental, and social aspects of Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC’s) halting steps away from commodity dependence (the “down escalator” envisioned by Hans Singer). It focuses on the most recent commodity boom (2003-2013), during which the region shifted back toward primary commodity production under a new policy framework aimed at limiting the environmental and social costs of this production while more broadly sharing its benefits through infrastructure, social spending, and closer oversight of foreign investors. This dissertation’s three essays focus on three international flows: trade, development finance, and investment. The first essay weighs the environmental impact of LAC’s recent “China boom” in commodity exports. It finds that LAC primary commodity production is more environmentally intensive – in net greenhouse gas emissions and water use and contamination – than manufacturing. Applying these findings to the “China boom,” it finds that LAC-China exports are associated with significantly more carbon emissions and water use and contamination than other exports. The second essay evaluates environmental and social protections covering development lending for infrastructure in the Andean nations of Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, which have experienced an infrastructure boom concurrent with the end of the commodity boom. This essay measures the environmental impact (using geospatial imaging of tree cover change) associated with the 84 infrastructure projects financed by international development institutions between 2000 and 2015 in these four countries. It finds that projects undertaken under policy regimes including guarantees of prior consultation with affected indigenous communities were associated with significantly less tree cover loss, showing the importance of social protections for environmental outcomes in the Andean region. The third essay examines recent environmental and social reforms in Ecuador’s oil sector. It uses a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the extent to which new partnerships with Chinese state-owned oil investors gave Ecuador the needed policy space to implement this regulatory framework. It finds that while Chinese oil firms operating in Ecuador have avoided the environmental and social misconduct that typified some past oil FDI, the state has struggled to carry out its own social and environmental protections, endangering its new “high-road” approach to extraction

Introduction

The representations and interpretations of knowledge are crucial to the pursuit of science. They are not only central to education and the communication of the subject matter but also to the practice and evolution of the subjects. Furthermore, as there is still no single all-pervading approach to science so there is no single way of communication within or between emerging areas of knowledge. Maybe we could be reminded of the comments of two notable twentieth century scientists on this subject