21978 research outputs found
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The Shield of Sisterhood: Female Relationships and Homosocial Support in the Eighteenth-Century Texts a Dialog Between a Married Woman and a Maid and John Cleland’s Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
Get PDFThe eighteenth century is known as the period of enlightenment, both as philosophical and sexual. This period saw the re-awakening of erotic literature and art, yet these are often overlooked simply because they are explicit in nature. Within this world of ecstasy and sexual inhibition lies abstract philosophies, reflections of the human psyche, and societal critiques. While often seen as antifeminist works of literature, because of the objectification of women’s bodies, there is evidence to support that these works criticize the mistreatment of women, as well as encourage female pleasure. However, there is untapped potential in this literature as an exploration of human relationships. While the primary content of these works of literature is sexual, there are underlying themes of friendship and comradery, specifically in the anonymously written A Dialog Between a Married Woman and a Maid and John Cleland’s Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. I argue that these stories are more about the homosocial relationships of women, than the sexually explicit content. While there are detailed accounts of sex, which do play into the story, my primary concern is the interactions between women, and how they are presented in the erotica itself. The stories are not so much about sex as they are about how women must rely on one another to become educated of their place in the world, and how their connection to each other is the strongest bond they have.</p
Trade-Offs in Sustainable Energy Transition: Institutions and Interests in Shaping Energy and Electricity Mixes
Get PDFTrade-offs inherent in societal decisions about the sustainable energy transition are investigated using electricity mixes across various countries, including industrialized countries, all countries, and the states of the United States. From the array of potential drivers, this research project illuminates two key variables: those pertaining to institutions, including specific policies and a comprehensive pro-climate energy policy regime, and those related to interests, including the leverage of each coalition by electricity source types. By proposing a classification system that allows future researchers to assess trade-offs and synergies in sustainability beyond the traditional renewables and non-renewables dichotomy, this dissertation mainly suggests and employs a dynamic compositional approach that provides a new important angle to examine the trade-offs among energy sources in energy mixes.
By using compositional models, the findings of the dissertation demonstrate that institutions can serve as pivotal drivers of change on a general scale. They can facilitate a sustainable transition from other energy sources to intermittent renewable sources, such as solar and wind energy, in a fundamental manner, as evidenced by the observed relative increase. However, these influences do not always manifest in the same way, and it is important to consider the nuances of the relationship between institutions and sustainable trade-offs. This is because positive and negative feedback loops of the institutions in question—which shape relevant interests, the institution itself over time, and other institutions—may occur simultaneously. Additionally, the findings underscore the intricate and multidimensional nature of trade-offs between various viable options in energy mixes, suggesting a careful understanding to design more effective strategies for navigating the transition toward a sustainable energy future.
This dissertation contributes to the broader energy and sustainability fields by suggesting how the compositional approach can enrich the discussion related to energy transition in terms of climate change and sustainability. Moreover, it contributes to political science, political economy, and public policy studies by exploring the role of distributive politics and diverse institutions (through feedback processes) in shaping electricity mixes.</p
Development of a V-Band 2-Path (2SQCC) Continuous Calibrating Spectrometer based on the Multi Path Cross Correlation Radiometry (MXCR) Technique
Get PDFThis thesis discusses the work done towards the design, development and field testing of the first ever 2-path V-band 2SQCC digital correlating spectrometer based on the Multipath Cross Correlation Radiometry (MXCR) concept. The theoretical background and mathematical analysis of an ideal and practical 2SQCC transmission network architecture is presented. The implementation challenges encountered in instrument development and design recommendations towards the development of future instruments based on the MXCR concept are discussed. A technique to measure and compensate for the effects of cross-talk in the cross-correlation estimate between two receiver paths in the MXCR scheme is developed and implemented. The clear sky brightness temperature spectra from 51-54 GHz measured using the 2SQCC spectrometer is compared with the microwave radiative transfer model prediction. The observed spectrum is found to be matching the prediction within a few kelvins of offset attributable to the usage of an average atmospheric model. The work done towards the integration of the 2SQCC spectrometer to a spectrum broker orchestrating co-operative spectrum sharing between active and passive services is discussed.</p
Who Are My Roommates: Corporate Co-Tenancy and Information Environment
Get PDFApproximately 18% of public firms share a headquarters office building with another company. Using commercial real estate data from 2000 to 2019, I examine how sharing a headquarters office building with other firms—corporate co-tenancy—influences managers’ information environment, proxied by the likelihood and quality of EPS management forecasts. I find that corporate co-tenancy is associated with a lower likelihood of issuing EPS forecasts, suggesting a lower precision in managers' information sets. This negative association is driven by firms with different-industry public co-tenants, indicating that dissimilar information sources may introduce uncertainty. However, for firms issuing EPS forecasts, those with same-industry co-tenants provide more accurate forecasts, while most firms with co-tenants tend to issue more specific forecasts. This suggests that insights gleaned from being in proximity to similar firms contribute to a better manager information set and understanding of the firm’s operating environment. Overall, my study reveals corporate co-tenancy to be a vector of information sharing among firms, with downstream effects upon the precision of managers’ information sets, and ultimately firm disclosure behavior.</p
Influence of Impact and Ejecta Environments on Planetary Geochronology
Get PDFImpact events are a ubiquitous geologic phenomenon across the Universe affecting all planetary bodies, yet aspects of their geologic ramifications remain poorly understood. Impacts can generate extremely high temperatures and pressures that profoundly alter impacted materials, both within the crater and material ejected during the impact process. Additionally, impact events can partially and fully reset host rock geochronologic systems, often introducing complexities and uncertainties in constraining the timing of discrete impact events. A clearer understanding of how impact processes affect host rock material properties and the geochronology record is essential to refine our knowledge of planetary histories.
This dissertation investigates the effects of impacts on rock materials and radiometric systematics through microtextural and geochronologic analyses of impact crater rocks (host and newly created from host rocks) and ejecta. Project 1 examines materials within the Kamestastin Lake crater, using shock microtextural analysis of thin sections and bulk rock 40Ar/39Ar geochronology to explore the relationship between temperature, pressure, and microtextures, and how these factors influence 40Ar diffusion, retentivity, and ultimately 40Ar/39Ar ages. Projects 2 and 3 shift focus to ejecta materials, specifically investigating how the mineral zircon is altered from the high pressure-temperature environment of an impact event and how U-Pb ages derived from these altered zircons are affected in the ejecta environment. Project 2 analyzes Chicxulub impact ejecta, while project 3 examines Apollo sample 14311, an impact melt breccia, and also evaluates zircon mineral separation processing techniques to optimize lunar zircon recovery.
Collectively, this dissertation advances our understanding of the pressure-temperature complexities of impact cratering and the impact environmental effects on rocks, mineral material properties, and geochronologic systems. The findings demonstrate that high temperatures, evidenced by specific microtextures, can result in fully resetting geochronometers, therefore producing true impact ages. However, the impact cratering process is highly heterogeneous and produces heterogeneous temperature and pressure conditions, resulting in variable effects across an impact structure and different geochronologic systems (e.g., U-Pb, 40Ar/39Ar). By elucidating these processes in this dissertation, this research enhances our ability to interpret and date materials from impact events across the Solar System.</p
Three Essays in the Economics of Climate Change
Get PDFThis dissertation contains three chapters investigating the economics of climate change. It examines how rising temperatures affect labor market outcomes in developing countries, focusing on mechanisms of adaptation through economic structure, policy institutions, and social networks.
The first chapter, ‘Structural Transformation and Climate Change in India’, asks how climate change influences sectoral labor reallocation in India. Using a novel 25-year panel dataset of Indian districts, I estimate reduced-form panel regressions linking temperature shocks to productivity, household consumption, and employment shares. I find that higher temperatures significantly reduce agricultural productivity, lower household income, increase food expenditure shares, and ultimately reverse structural transformation by reallocating labor back into agriculture from manufacturing and services.
The second chapter, ‘Barriers within Borders: Structural Transformation and Climate Change in India’ builds on the first chapter and examines how internal trade barriers affect labor reallocation in response to climate change in India. I document two stylized facts. First, rising temperatures have more severe effects on agricultural productivity in already hot regions than in cooler ones, creating within-country comparative advantages in agricultural production. However, internal trade fails to capitalize on these differences and does not mitigate the rise in agricultural labor share due to rising temperatures. Second, state-level trade barriers reduce buyer competition in agricultural markets, lowering prices received by farmers and reinforcing labor immobility. These findings suggest that internal trade frictions, when combined with climate stress, constrain adaptation by preventing labor reallocation, effectively creating a new poverty trap.
Finally, the third chapter, ‘Stumped by the Sun, Saved by the Side: Estimating the role of peer and adversarial effects in adaptation to heat’ examines whether peer networks enable workers to adapt to heat. Using high-frequency, quasi-randomized data from international cricket, I estimate a high-dimensional fixed effects model and apply variance decomposition to separate individual, peer, and adversarial effects. I find that while individual productivity declines with increase in temperature, equilibrium outcomes remain stable, driven by a significant increase in peer effects at higher temperatures, particularly when peers have complementary skill sets.</p
Polyserine-Tau Interactions Modulate Tau Fibrilization
Get PDFThe aggregation of tau is observed across several neurodegenerative diseases classified as tauopathies. While tau has been studied extensively for several decades, little is known about the molecular mechanisms driving tau aggregation. One possible mechanism is the formation of cytoplasmic speckles, assemblies of mislocalized nuclear speckle proteins that contain polyserine domains, which creates a preferred site of tau aggregation. However, the nature of the interaction between tau and these polyserine containing assemblies, and the impact on developing tau pathology, are unknown.
My goal was to characterize the nature and consequence of tau-polyserine interactions, leading to a mechanistic understanding of tau aggregation with polyserine. Specifically, I performed a series of in vitro experiments with recombinant proteins and cell culture models to characterize the tau-polyserine interaction. I found that polyserine is capable of self-assembly, and that these assemblies interact directly with tau. This interaction increases the rate of formation and growth of seeding competent tau fibers. In cells, I found that polyserine-rich domains can enrich in tau aggregates independent of exacerbating tau aggregation. I used a series of separation of function polyserine variants to show that polyserine assembly and polyserine targeting to tau aggregates are distinct functions. Using a polyserine fusion protein that blocks polyserine self-assembly in cells, I show that polyserine assembly is necessary for increasing tau aggregation.
I also briefly discuss how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may result in increased diagnoses of tauopathies. I summarize previous viral pandemics and how they lead to tauopathy sequelae and propose a mechanism in which viral infection triggers neuroinflammation and tau aggregation. </p
The Wilderness Garden: Decolonizing Museum/Archive Convergence
Get PDFThe disciplines of museum collections and archives, after decades of separation, have finally begun to converge again. Despite the rise in prominence of museum archive literature beginning in the 1990s, practical guides for museum archive work and structuring of collections are still few and far between. Colonialist values of knowledge stratification and prioritization of a Western worldview have contributed greatly to the divide between fields, and decolonial work in both fields must include an assessment of the superstructures they fall under.
In this thesis, I explore the current intersection of museum cataloging and archival description by interrogating their colonial histories and the rationale behind their current standards, and by outlining the work that needs to be done to create a decolonial approach to museum archives. Through this work, I hope to contribute to the ongoing relationship between archivists and museum professionals in a way that allows both fields to appropriately preserve their forms of cultural heritage, and present a potential avenue for a new kind of museum archival practice that is capable of handling multiple contexts simultaneously.</p
Phonemic Description of San Miguel del Valle Zapotec
Get PDFSan Miguel del Valle Zapotec (SMdVZ) is a variety of Central Valley Zapotec spoken in the village of San Miguel del Valle (SMdV). It is spoken by the 3000-3500 members of the San Miguel del Valle community. This variety has not been documented nor described as far as I am aware. I visited the community over the summer of 2024 to collaborate with speakers and work on describing the language. There are 22 phonemic consonants and 7 phonemic vowels in this language. Similar to other Central Valley Zapotec varieties, there are three tones, including low, rising, and falling, and three phonation types, including modal, laryngealized, and glottalized. This thesis aims to describe this variety of Zapotec while also comparing it to other varieties, aiming to place it in relation to these other varieties. It also presents questions for further research. It should be noted that this thesis is a description of the language and is not an experimental work.</p
Pyrolysis of Phenolic Resin and Carbon/Phenolic Composites
Get PDFQuantification of gaseous products formed during the pyrolysis of ablative heat shield materials is essential for understanding the decomposition mechanism of these materials and can provide a foundation to develop improved materials response models. For this purpose, an experimental setup based on previous work has been assembled and calibrated, a data analysis method has been developed, and experimental campaigns have been conducted on three different materials relevant to atmospheric entry heat shields: pure SC-1008 phenolic resin, phenolic-impregnated carbon ablator domestic (PICA-D), and three-dimensional mid-density carbon phenolic insulation layer (3MDCP-IL). Product yields were derived from mass spectra of volatile pyrolysis products, collected as a function of sample temperature over the range of 25-1200 ºC at five linear temperature gradients with respect to time, in the range of ~1 – 25 ºC s-1. Normalized molar and mass yields for each pyrolysis product and temperature gradient have been measured for each material, and thermogravimetric analysis curves have been synthesized from the temperature-dependent mass yield data and measurements of total mass loss. The data were used in conjunction with data in the literature to identify the temperature-dependent pyrolysis mechanisms for each material and identify the effects of temperature gradient, density, temperature nonuniformity, curing procedures, and carbon fibers.</p
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