26400 research outputs found
Sort by
Working in the Shadows: The Impact of Wage Theft Among Undocumented Workers in El Paso, Texas
No full textThe documentary film titled Working in the Shadows: The Impact of Wage Theft Among Undocumented Workers in El Paso, Texas sheds light on the pervasive issue of wage theft experienced by undocumented workers in the region. Through personal testimonies, interviews with workers, legal experts, and government officials, the film delves into the challenges faced by undocumented workers who are vulnerable to exploitation due to their legal status.Undocumented workers in El Paso face a host of challenges, including unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions, and fear of retaliation if they assert their rights. The film highlights the critical role of community organizations, legal experts, and law enforcement in addressing wage theft and advocating for the rights of undocumented workers. Additionally, the documentary emphasizes the importance of extending legal protections to all workers, regardless of their immigration status.Wage theft not only takes a financial toll on undocumented workers but also has significant social and psychological repercussions. The film explores the stigma, stress, and anxiety experienced by workers, who are pushed deeper into poverty by unscrupulous employers. By amplifying the voices and struggles of undocumented workers, the film aims to educate the public about the pervasive problem of wage theft and inspire empathy and understanding among viewers.Ultimately, Working in the Shadows serves as a powerful educational tool that encourages viewers to act against wage theft and support the rights of undocumented workers in El Paso and beyond. By shedding light on this often-overlooked issue, the documentary strives to inspire change, promote social justice, and advocate for fair labor practices for all workers, regardless of their legal status
Vidas Perdidas
No full textVidas perdidas es una novela coral que, como muchas otras novelas del género, puede ser leída como un libro de cuentos. La idea central de este proyecto no es otra que desarrollar una tesis muy sencilla pero que, en sí misma, constituye una gran alegoría sobre la existencia humana: La mayoría de nosotros pasaremos por el mundo sin la menor trascendencia histórica —artística, científica, política, espiritual… entre muchos otros campos— y, sin embargo, dichas experiencias vitales no serán vidas perdidas si en esas ventanas de posibilidades que vivimos —Heidegger definía la vida por oposición a la muerte como la posibilidad de todas las posibilidades— encontramos un significado profundo para nosotros mismos, para nuestras propias realidades y, en últimas, para nuestras propias limitaciones
On Hannah Arendt\u27s Study of Constitutionalism in the Aftermath of Totalitarianism: A Philosophical Search for the Principle to Secure the Foundations of Modern Politics
Get PDFHannah Arendt faces the grotesque appearance of totalitarianism, and with bravery goes on the offensive, herself armed with contemporary philosophical tools of analysis, to do battle in the field of existential-phenomenology against this modern monster. Totalitarianism, birthed from the seeds of lawless action, claims to be the most lawful mode of human existence. The monstrous existence of totalitarianism demonstrates a crisis in the very foundations of modern manâ??s political mode of being. In order to find a solution to this modern political crisis Arendt closely studies the experience of constitution writing at the moment the men of action are about to will themselves into the abyss of freedom. The American Revolution, as a prior experience to constitution writing, gives Arendt the elements for a powerful instrument to wield against the modern monster of totalitarianism. From these revolutionary elements Arendt fashions an instrument to wield against totalitarianism, the vital activity of pluralistic power. But the shadow of totalitarianism runs deep in the spirit of man, who can easily be atomized. Arendt teaches one that one must enact thoughtfulness in our speech and be judicious in our action
Quince días en el desierto
No full textEchar raíces quizá sea la necesidad más importante e ignorada del alma humana», de acuerdo con Simone Weil, y es ese el motor de Quince días en el desierto, la búsqueda del hogar, un hogar que es centro —y también periferia— de residencia, de intimidad. La vivienda no sólo es un derecho humano-ciudadano, morar es uno de los símbolos fundamentales en la literatura, la poética del espacio de los escritores, ese lugar al que siempre vamos para configurar nuestros escenarios primigenios. ¿Cómo? Retornando a la Soledad del encuentro con nuestro yo —un yo fronterizo entre el Ello y el Superyó—, un yo biográfico frente a nuestro yo universal, ese cuya condición es compartida por todos los Otros. El yo que busca desenmascararse. Desde este planteamiento, el hogar es parte del Ello —nuestras pulsiones—, así como un símbolo de arraigo, aquello que nos da peso frente a la incertidumbre que siempre ronda la vida. Un símbolo de lo sagrado, del mito del origen
Prelimbic Cortex Neuronal Assemblies In Behaviors Predictive Of Drug-Seeking Before And After Cocaine Self-Administration
Get PDFLiterature has established that there are certain behaviors that are predictive of drug seeking and relapse such as impulsivity, distress tolerance (DT), Pavlovian conditioned approach (PCA), anxiety, and sensation-seeking. However, few studies have examined the behavioral interactions among these tasks and drug-seeking, and none have examined the neural interactions in the prelimbic cortex, which has an essential role in drug-seeking and is implicated in each of the aforementioned behaviors of interest.We therefore hypothesized that certain behaviors including high impulsivity, low distress tolerance, high anxiety, and high locomotor activity would predict high cocaine-seeking. We further hypothesized that the neuronal activity in the prelimbic cortex during these predictive behaviors would also predict cocaine-seeking. Sprague Dawley rats underwent a GCAMP6s viral infusion and lens surgery and performed various tasks upon recovery, and their prelimbic activity was recorded via calcium imaging. Afterwards, rats underwent cocaine or water self-administration for 2 weeks followed by an extinction task to measure drug-seeking, and the original behaviors were reassessed. Sex differences were observed, with females showing less anxiety and higher distress tolerance. Cocaine decreased distress tolerance. Neuronal activity didn\u27t significantly change following cocaine but correlated with self-administration behaviors. Notably, there were significant interactions between behaviors and their neuronal activity with self-administration and reward-seeking. Specifically, sensation-seeking behavior predicted water and cocaine seeking, prelimbic activity during DT predicted cocaine and water self-administration, and prelimbic activity during PCA predicts cocaine and vii water seeking. Overall, cocaine reduced distress tolerance but had limited effects elsewhere. However, behaviors and prelimbic activity significantly predicted drug intake and reward-seeking. Understanding these connections could inform targeted therapies for individuals prone to drug seeking and relapse
Why Fully Consistent Quantum Field Theories Require that the Space-Time Be at Least 10-Dimensional: A Commonsense Field-Based Explanation
Get PDFIt is known that quantum field theories that describe fields in our usual 4-dimensional space-times are not fully consistent: they predict meaningless infinite values for some physical quantities. There are some known tricks to avoid such infinities, but it is definitely desirable to have a fully consistent theory, a theory that would produce correct results without having to use additional tricks. It turns out that the only way to have such a theory is to consider space-times of higher dimensions, the smallest of which is 10. There are complex mathematical reasons for why 10 is the smallest such dimension. However, from the physics viewpoint, it would be nice to supplement these complex mathematical reasons with a more commonsense explanation. There exists a particle-based commonsense explanation for this phenomenon. In this paper, we supplement it with a field-based commonsense explanation
Why Angles Between Galactic Center Filaments and Galactic Plane Follow a Bimodal Distribution: A Symmetry-Based Explanation
Get PDFRecent observations have shown that the angles between the Galaxy Center filaments and the Galactic plane follow a bimodal distribution: a large number of filaments are approximately orthogonal to the Galactic plane, a large number of filaments are approximately parallel to the Galactic plane, and much fewer filaments have other orientations. In this paper, we show this bimodal distribution can be explained by natural geometric symmetries
Development of 3D human cardiovascular and cancer tissue model within a self-driven microfluidic platform for preclinical drug screening
Get PDFAccording to the American Heart Association and World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide. Monolayer cell culture (2D) and animal models are conventional methods to study CVDs, however, they limit researcherâ??s ability to simulate the human cardiovascular cellular microenvironments and accurate predication of pharmaceutical drug responses. Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs), biomaterials, and microfluidic technologies can be combined to create a controlled, reproducible 3D platform to study physiologically-relevant cellular responses to biochemical and physical changes in the microenvironment. My dissertation work demonstrates the development of novel self-driven microfluidic devices designed with capillary action fluid flow principles that can be fabricated with 3D Stereolithography (SLA) printing and polymer casting methods. The integration of 3D cardiovascular tissue models within these microfluidic devices allowed for the evaluation of cell organization, function, and responses to biochemical and physical changes within the system. This work is significant because the 3D cardiovascular tissue models demonstrated differences in cellular morphology and structural reorganization in devices with or without microposts up to 5 days in culture relative to standard culture methods. Multiple cell types were cultured in 3D within the microfluidic devices, including human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), human AC16 cardiomyocytes, hiPSC-CMs, SKBR3 breast cancer cells, and patient derived xenograft (PDX) breast cancer cells, demonstrating the versality of the microfluidic devices. Furthermore, the microfluidic device was integrated into two specific technology applications (TA), including a cardiovascular-breast cancer tissue model (TA-1) and cardiovascular model in simulated microgravity (TA-2). The TA-1 results indicate hiPSC-CMs are susceptible to reduced viability when treated with Herceptin, a HER2+ breast cancer chemotherapy drug. The TA-2 results demonstrated hiPSC-CMs cultured in microgravity maintained their phenotype relative to control studies in standard culture conditions. This work provides significant advancements in the design, fabrication, and study of capillary-driven microfluidic devices and their use as a platform for CVD research in multiple areas of biotechnology research
Determining Heterogeneous Growth Rates Of Brucite On Magnesia Using Multiharmonic Qcm-D And X-Ray Scattering Methods
Get PDFThe Earth’s temperature has increased in the last six decades mainly due to the emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2). Mineral looping using magnesium oxide (MgO) is a promising approach for direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 from the atmosphere at the GtCO2/yr scale. The presence of humidity during the carbonation process will lead to a reaction between the MgO and water resulting in magnesium hydroxide formation, Mg(OH)2, growing over the MgO surface forming a shell-like structure. The influence of temperature and relative humidity variation on heterogeneous nucleation and crystal growth kinetics of Mg(OH)2 on MgO is not well understood under environmentally/DAC-relevant conditions. In this thesis, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) commercial crystals were coated with a ~90nm-thick MgO film using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Experiments to investigate brucite formation using multiharmonic QCM with Dissipation analysis (QCM-D) were conducted by flowing deionized water at 20 µl/min over the MgO film, as well as under water vapor exposure. Results of QCM-D analysis using first-order kinetic models will be presented. Batch experiments were also conducted using three distinct types of MgO powder. Similar quantities of each powder were exposed to varying levels of relative humidity (RH) over different durations. The mass changes in these samples were meticulously measured. Subsequently, the results were analyzed using first-order kinetic models. These samples were analyzed using small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and wide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) to relate molecular and nanoscale structural changes to the QCM studies. This work allowed estimates of growth rates by analyzing the time-dependence of mass loss under each experimental condition