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“Do You Want to Get Rich or Do You Want to Stay Poor?”: Peter Carey’s “Exotic Pleasures,” the Romance of Space, and The War of the Worlds
No full textThis article argues that, despite widespread acclaim, the significance of Peter Carey’s early short story publications is still underappreciated. Through exploring the ways in which the powerfully imagined but critically neglected Carey short story “Exotic Pleasures” (1979) uses the template of alien invasion pioneered by H.G. Wells in The War of the Worlds to critique imperialism and colonialism in Australia, I show why critical analysis of this story illuminates the enduring importance of Carey’s science fiction short stories. Through close reading, the article shows how the story’s aesthetics deliver its political and emotional impact and that its use of telling detail anchors the story’s critique to the Australian environment and economy in ways previously unrecognized by critics
The Category Is: Body: A Pcsim Approach To Culture-Specific Bid Healing Programming For Bgcm
No full textBlack gay cismen (BGCM) are among the highest population demographics to experience body image dissatisfaction (BID) and among the least likely to seek healing programming. Culture-specific experiences such as sexual racism have been linked to body image dissatisfaction among BGCM. While the harmful experiences of sexual racism have been studied among BGCM, body image healing programming continues to address the needs of predominantly White straight ciswomen. Additionally, medical mistrust, identity preservation, and culturally incongruent healing practices have been linked to reasons BGCM are reluctant to seek healing practices. This dissertation aims to address the gap in existing literature by employing the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM) to develop, implement, and evaluate a culture-specific body image dissatisfaction healing program for BGCM ages 14 to 29. Furthermore, researchers conduct a systematic review of BID healing literature to understand the effective healing practices enacted with this community, while employing grounded theory methodology to understand what BGCM perceive as the core components in developing a culture-specific healing program. Lastly, a pilot study design is implemented to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of the body image dissatisfaction healing program for BGCM called The Category is: Body (TCiB)
The Impact Of Heterogeneity On Endothelial Function Under Hyperglycemia
No full textEndothelial cells (ECs) play a critical role in managing vascular homeostasis and neovascularization. EC functions vary significantly depending on their anatomic locations, especially for ECs forming macrovascular versus microvascular vessels. ECs possess heterogenic signaling pathways, energy metabolism, and cellular behaviors to handle physiologic and hyperglycemic conditions. These variations can impact the efficacy of pharmacotherapy and influence the likelihood of unexpected side effects. In this study, we compared human aortic ECs (HAECs) and human dermal microvascular ECs (HDMVECs) to observe the functional and proteomic differences potentially contributing to EC heterogeneity. Compared to HAECs, HDMVECs exhibited faster proliferation, but lower migration and permeability. Under high glucose conditions, migration function worsened for both cell types whereas proliferation was unaffected and permeability increased for HDMVECs. Using proteomic analysis, we identified 126 proteins whose abundance was significantly different between HAECs and HDMVECs. DAVID analysis of these proteins revealed their biological processes, cellular compartments, molecular functions and pathways. Furthermore, under high glucose conditions, WARS1 was increased while SOD2 was decreased. Reversing WARS1 or SOD2 expression levels improved HDMVEC migration and permeability functions. Our studies provide novel molecular insights into EC heterogeneity and identified WARS1 and SOD2 as potential targets for dermal angiogenesis during tissue repair
Frequency And Polarization-Diversified Linear Sampling Method For 3d Spectrally-Encoded Microwave Tomography And Remote Sensing Using Metamaterial Leaky Wave Antenna
No full textMetamaterial leaky-wave antennas (MTM-LWAs) represent an innovative class of frequency-scanning antennas that intrinsically support frequency-to-angle radiation mapping. This unique characteristic enables them to perform spatial beam scanning simply by varying the operating frequency, eliminating the need for mechanical rotation or electronic phase shifting. Such properties make MTM-LWAs particularly advantageous for electromagnetic imaging applications where wide field-of-view (FOV), compact hardware, and efficient signal acquisition are required. In this work, I exploit these distinctive features to develop a novel framework for spectrally encoded three-dimensional (3D) microwave tomography and remote sensing, capable of reconstructing the shape and spatial distribution of conductive objects with minimal prior information. The proposed imaging approach is centered around the LSM, a qualitative inverse scattering technique widely recognized for its robustness, computational speed, and non-iterative structure. Traditionally, LSM implementations have relied on single-frequency illuminations and fixed incidence angles, which inherently limit spatial coverage and reconstruction resolution. In contrast, the method introduced here utilizes a frequency-scanning MTM-LWA array that performs natural frequency-to-space mapping across a 3D background domain. This enables the acquisition of diverse angular perspectives using a single-port frequency sweep, thereby enhancing imaging performance without introducing mechanical complexity. To further improve the reliability and accuracy of the reconstructions in challenging environments, we propose a hybrid imaging strategy that combines both frequency and polarization diversity. This dual-domain diversity introduces additional independent measurements, significantly mitigating the effects of noise, measurement uncertainty, and the inherent ill-posedness of inverse scattering problems. The integration of polarization diversity allows the system to access different scattering mechanisms from the same object, enhancing sensitivity to structural features and improving image fidelity, especially in complex or high-contrast scenarios. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through a comprehensive series of numerical simulations and experimental validations. The experimental setup, implemented at the Wayne State University Microwave Laboratory, utilizes MTM-LWAs operating over the 1.8–3.0 GHz frequency band to illuminate and reconstruct various unknown targets, including multi-layered and coaxially aligned cylindrical objects with different diameters and material compositions. Results consistently show that the system is capable of accurately reconstructing object shapes and positions with minimal computational overhead and without requiring detailed a priori knowledge of the target or environment.Compared to conventional LSM-based imaging systems, the approach presented in this work offers substantial improvements in spatial resolution, field of view, and computational efficiency. It also demonstrates greater flexibility and adaptability in practical scenarios where complex object geometries and inhomogeneous media are involved. By integrating MTM-LWAs with a hybrid frequency-polarization LSM framework, this work establishes a powerful and scalable solution for advanced 3D microwave imaging and remote sensing applications, with potential relevance in biomedical diagnostics, security screening, and subsurface exploration. KEYWORDS: Inverse Scattering; Leaky Wave Antenna; Linear Sampling Method; Metamaterial; Microwave Tomography; Polarization; Remote Sensin
Passing The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act: Gun Control After 30 Years
No full textIn June of 2022, the United States Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) after nearly 30 years of inaction. This dissertation analyzes why after decades of status quo maintenance (lack of gun control action), Congress decided to act following the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde Texas. This research uses hypotheses generated from Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET) to compare six different mass shootings to examine what set the Uvalde shooting apart from other similar shooting within the last 15 years. This study analyzes media coverage, public opinion shifts, political saliences, election cycles, and victim characteristics to break down what set Uvalde apart from other shootings in Newtown Connecticut, Parkland Florida, Las Vegas Nevada, Orlando Florida, and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Key findings suggest that victim age, number, and election cycle timing was important to Congressional action gun control among other key factors set forth by PET. Overall, this dissertation creates insight into how policies can change on polarized political issues while also posing important questions for future research on gun policy change in the future
Graph Theory Based Planning Of Distributed Energy Resources Integrated Power Distribution Networks For Resiliency Enhancement Against Extreme Weather Events
No full textIn recent years catastrophic events threatening the viability of power grids have become more significant. On the one hand, the situation in the US is of more interest mainly due to the aging infrastructure and increase in the number and intensity of extreme weather events, wind-induced in particular. On the other hand, statistics point out the distribution networks as the most vulnerable sector of a power system. Extreme events are High-Impact-Low-Probability (HILP), whereas power grids are designed to conform to legacy reliability criteria, which are associated with Low-Impact-High-Probability (LIHP) events. The global transition towards more clean and sustainable energy sources is pushing renewables to the forefront. Recent studies show although weather dependent distributed energy resources (DERs), such as photovoltaics (PVs), are non-dispatchable and intermittent, blackout intensities and extreme weather vulnerability are mitigated under high-penetration levels of such DERs. One of such DERs is bifacial PV systems, which has gained interest in recent years due to their advantageous properties versus conventional mono-facial ones. During a blackout a power grid may partition into islands where PV systems, which lack black-start capability, need to be accompanied by dispatchable sources such as energy storage units. Energy storage technologies are growing worldwide and facilitating market regulations are being ratified to ease their use. Battery energy storage systems (BESSs), Li-ion batteries in particular, possess attractive properties and are taking over other types of storage technologies. Therefore, in this research study the proper modeling of the aforesaid types of DERs (i.e., bifacial PVs and Li-ion BESSs) is discussed in detail and then are used in a resiliency enhancing two-stage stochastic MILP model to provide strategic response to likely outages caused by extreme wind events. Grid topology, grid permissible bounds, AC power flow equations, resource availability, transfer capacities, and DERs’ practical limitations will be among the model constraints while the objective is to minimize capital investment of DERs and load curtailment costs over a set of outage scenarios