University at Albany, State University of New York
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Benjamin’s estranged Heim
Get PDFThis paper examines Walter Benjamin\u27s engagement with the motif of Heim (home) as it interweaves with his intellectual and personal experiences during the early 1920s. Through an analysis of Benjamin’s writings and correspondence, including his plans for the journal Angelus Novus and reflections on his friendship with Fritz Heinle, the study explores Heim as both a real and rhetorical space. Initially conceived as an idealized site of intellectual and spiritual communion, Heim is transformed by personal tragedy and historical crisis into an unattainable, speculative ideal—a rhetorical atopos. This evolution parallels Benjamin’s philosophical pursuit of “pure language” and his reimagining of translation as a generative act in the face of catastrophe. By situating Heim within Benjamin’s broader philosophical and political tensions, this paper argues that his work reflects a yearning for new forms of community while grappling with the irreducible fragmentation of language, memory, and belonging
Two poems by Victoria Guerrero PeiranoTwo poems by Victoria Guerrero Peirano Translated by Ilka Kressner
Get PDFTranslation of the two poems En la disco and Baile by Victoria Guerrero Peirano into English and German
Advances in Spectrum Utilization for Active and Passive Users
No full textElectromagnetic (EM) spectrum is a limited resource allocated to active radio users performing communication, sensing, navigation, imaging and passive users performing radio astronomical observation and remote sensing among other applications. Accommodating such plethora of existing and emerging applications, from scientific and engineering breakthroughs, in the fractured radio spectrum has become a significant challenge. In this thesis we identify such challenges and propose solutions curated to their requirements towards an overarching goal of improving radio spectrum utilization. Active spectrum usage is burdened by ever-increasing users and bandwidth-hungry emerging applications. This necessitates significant overhaul of current system designs or venturing into the less explored part of spectra with large contiguous bandwidths albeit with its unique challenges and a promise of record-breaking datarates - the sub-Terahertz (sub-THz) and Terahertz (THz) band. In this thesis, domain-aware data-driven methods are developed to improving designs for both parts of spectra by exploiting - 1. Fundamentals of wireless signal propagation, 2. computational capabilities of data-driven models. Such models are capable of outperforming state-of-the-art (SoTA) methods, are adaptive to changing wireless signals and media, and promotes an alternative and efficient system and protocol design for xG communication. The passive users such as radio astronomy are limited by spectrum allocation as with redshifting of spectral lines, wideband observations have become necessary beyond the protected band increasing vulnerability. Additionally, proliferation of terrestrial networks, increasingly generate unwanted radio frequency interference (RFI) in protected bands for passive users. Thus, stringent RFI mitigation techniques for their co-existence to meet their scientific goals has become a necessity. In this thesis, we propose collaborative frameworks, by distributed aggregation of concise apriori information of the interfering signals from its source and utilizing this information to mitigate the RFI encountered by passive users. These methods can adapt to the changing statistics of the RFI and are generalizable to different RFI sources. Several such collaborative methods are designed, implemented, and evaluated in this thesis and practical guidelines for system implementation of the collaborative RFI mitigation are provided
The Effects of Mindfulness on Chronic Pain in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review
Get PDFMindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions have become increasingly popular in recent years. Typically, mindfulness-based interventions and their effects on mental health and/or adult populations have been explored in the literature. Limited research has been completed looking at mindfulness’ impacts on other facets, including chronic pain symptoms. Additionally, some research has been conducted to analyze mindfulness and its effects on school aged children and their day-to-day functioning with promising results. In this systematic literature review, mindfulness interventions and their effects on children and adolescents who experience chronic pain were explored. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework was used and resulted in the identification of 14 empirical studies, each of which were reviewed and coded to explore mindfulness’ effects on youth with chronic pain. The findings and implications of this review, the limitations of the research base, and future research directions are also discussed
Understanding Earth\u27s Cryosphere: An Analysis through Spaceborne Microwave Radiometry
No full textClimate Change is a widely known global phenomenon referring to long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns which have had a deep impact on the Earth’s cryosphere. So, understanding the behavior of the cryosphere is essential for predicting future changes in the polar firn coverage which are critical to characterize the weather, climate, and the water cycle of the Earth. These are the distant parts of the world where meteorological research stations have been set up, but remote sensing is the most prevalent way for collecting any measurements due to extremely harsh environmental conditions associated with these regions along with being very challenging and costly to get in-situ measurements. In this research satellite-based microwave radiometry is used since it is highly sensitive to the physical and thermal properties of the polar firn and provides data from the cryospheric regions of the Earth irrespective of solar illumination and cloud conditions. Different frequencies within the wide spectrum of microwave radiometers result in different electromagnetic propagation losses and thereby reveal characteristics at different depths in the firn. Previous attempts have been made where microwave radiometers have been developed over a narrow frequency range and deployed to retrieve internal temperature profiles from the deep ice over the Greenland Ice sheets. This research work expanding on those analyses, explores the utilization of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) constellation as a single wideband (6.9 GHz -91.655 GHz) spaceborne radiometer covering the microwave spectrum from C-Band to W-band, to profile the subsurface properties of the Antarctic firn. To start with, initial investigations have been conducted over the Concordia and Vostok stations in Antarctica which reveal that GPM brightness temperatures can provide critical information regarding subsurface temperatures and physical properties of the firn from the near surface to several meters of depth. The overarching goal of this research is thereby the complete characterization of the Antarctic firn layers in terms of its thickness, density, grain size and physical temperature through multi-frequency wideband passive microwave remote sensing. To start, archived in-situ measurements of the Antarctic firn density, grain size and internal temperature are collected along with the recent GPM constellation measurements. A forward electromagnetic emission model is developed, and the simulated results are compared to the v GPM constellation measurements to evaluate and improve the state-of-the-art forward microwave emission models. After this, using the GPM measurements, the physical temperature, density, and grain size parameters of the Antarctic firn layers are estimated with respect to depth through retrieval algorithms based on a lookup table method and built on the improved forward emission model. Furthermore, validation of the results is conducted with scopes for future possible improvements and addressing the existing imperfections. However, the microwave radiometer operations to observe the cryosphere are very far from ideal. Firstly, they are limited to a few narrow frequency bands to avoid interference from active remote sensing sources such as radars and other wireless communication systems. Also, electrical properties of the firn, which, does determine the amount of electromagnetic radiation emitted, have also not been fully characterized in terms of frequency and temperature. So, this work includes modelling the electrical properties of the firn through a wide range of frequency and temperature, for which the complex permittivity of ice is measured across frequency range 0-50 GHz and temperature range 200-273K (∼ -70 °C -0 °C) for electrical characterization. However, due to sensitivity issues of the measurement setup to accurately measure the small subtle changes in the imaginary part of the complex permittivity of ice, only the real part is considered and a new model for the real part of complex permittivity of ice is proposed. This novel permittivity model for ice serves as a foundation for reevaluating the existing forward electromagnetic emission model. It allows for a comparison of enhanced simulated results with satellite measurements and reassesses the retrieval of firn parameters based on the improved emission model. The goal is to achieve more accurate results, with additional aspects to be explored in future work. Lastly, these retrieved parameters would further help in radiometer designs and deployments in terms of optimal measurement frequencies as well as calibration, accuracy, sensitivity, and sampling requirements, contributing to holistic research in future
Walk the Talk? Public Libraries and Organizational Responsiveness to Marginalized Communities
Get PDFPublic libraries are public service organizations, playing a critical role in ensuring equitable access to education and information for the community. Despite their growing importance, there is limited empirical evidence on how local libraries respond to the needs of diverse socioeconomic populations within their communities. This study examines the collection management decisions of local public libraries to assess whether they make differentiated service decisions and what factors influence their responsiveness. Using the concept of organizational responsiveness, it explores organizational responsiveness through the lens of equitable distribution of public service benefits and considers the role of public administrators in shaping those service decisions.
This study tests five hypotheses for each of two outcomes, the proportion of digital collections and digital collection expenditures, to address three research questions: (1) Do the collection management decisions of local public libraries respond to the unarticulated needs of socially vulnerable populations? (2) What are the organizational and managerial factors that influence the libraries’ responsiveness to the needs of socially vulnerable populations? (3) Does deliberation with the local government positively influence the libraries’ responsiveness to the needs of socially vulnerable populations?
To test these hypotheses, I use a nine-year panel dataset compiled from three different sources: (1) the Public Library Survey (PLS) administered by the American Library Association (ALA) for FY 2011 to 2019; (2) the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) using select items from the American Community Survey (ACS) administered by the U.S. Census Bureau for FY 2011 to 2019; and (3) the Local Libraries Advancing Community Goals 2016 survey administered by the ASPEN Institute and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) for FY 2016. Empirical analyses for all three research questions are conducted using high-dimensional fixed effects models, which is a linear regression designed to control for a large number of groups by absorbing group-specific heterogeneity to obtain the estimates from efficient estimation. To further unpack the overall effect, this study further provides the estimates from extensive margin and intensive margin model.
The findings provide mixed support for the hypotheses and highlight several key insights. First, public libraries adjust their digital holdings in response to the needs of socially vulnerable population, but this responsiveness does not extend to digital collection spending. Second, public professionalism acquired through accredited LIS programs is associated with reduced responsiveness in digital collections, though its effect on expenditure is not significant. Third, among libraries that have any digital collection, libraries with organizational autonomy demonstrate higher responsiveness in digital holdings. Lastly, organizational performance gaps and deliberation levels do not significantly influence organizational responsiveness.
This study makes theoretical contributions to the literature on organizational responsiveness and social equity and offers practical insights for public service organizations. First, it advances the conceptual understanding of responsiveness by (1) framing responsiveness as directed toward marginalized populations with limited political representation and engagement, and (2) emphasizing responsiveness as a means of improving public service accessibility, an area underexplored in public management research. Second, public libraries as public service organizations demonstrate responsiveness to the needs of socially vulnerable communities. Organizational characteristics such as public professionalism and, in part, organizational autonomy influence the degree of that responsiveness. Particularly, the findings highlight the importance of carefully managing public professionalism to better serve marginalized populations. This has meaningful implications for personnel management, particularly in organizations staffed by professionally trained administrators
Complex Missing Data Problems in Education Surveys
Get PDFMissing data are a nearly universal problem in human subjects research, including in education. However, reporting and addressing missing data is an issue, despite guidelines from the APA style guide and the What Works Clearinghouse, as well as guidance from prominent statisticians on the best methods to use. Prior research conducted in 2004 and 2014 found that in the field of education, most studies do not report or address missing data. In addition, no study has looked specifically at how missing data are reported and addressed in complex surveys. The current study has two main objectives: first, to determine if research using complex survey designs reports missing data, addresses it, and uses appropriate methods to handle missing data. Second, to assess the missing data methods used in the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS) of 2009. These objectives were accomplished in two separate papers: First, a systematic review of missing data in complex survey designs aims to address the first objective. Second, using the HSLS to examine the appropriateness of a two-level mixed effects model to handle missing data. The random intercept and random intercept plus slope models were each fit using five different methods of handling missing data. The five missing data methods were complete case analysis, using the HSLS dataset as is, single imputation, single-level multiple imputation, and multi-level multiple imputation. Each of the imputation models were fit using both a semi-parametric and a parametric model. Additionally, sensitivity analyses of the multi-level multiple imputation models were conducted using the delta adjustment method. Overall, the first study found that most educational surveys using complex data (76%) did not report missing data, while among the 24% that reported missing data, 54% addressed the issue in some manner. However, only two studies used a method that accounted for the clustered nature of the data, highlighting a gap in the application of advanced techniques for handling missing data in complex surveys. Regarding the second study, the imputation models were largely similar. However, the intercept for the complete cases and NCES provided dataset had a higher GPA compared to any of the imputation methods. In addition, the intercept for the single-level multiple imputation models had at least a 10% higher fraction of missing information compared to the multi-level multiple imputation models, suggesting that more sophisticated approaches can better account for missing data in a complex survey design
Immersive Extended Reality for Lower Limb Rehabilitation: Design, Deployment, and Pilot Study
Get PDFThis thesis presents the design, deployment, and pilot study of an immersive extended-reality (XR) rehabilitation system integrated with a ceiling-mounted dynamic body-weight support device (Vector Gait and Safety System), aimed at improving lower-limb rehabilitation out- comes. The implemented system combined immersive virtual tasks—such as Touch Wall, Ball Launcher, Obstacle Dodge, and Stepping Stones—with real-time movement tracking, enabling detailed kinematic analysis and personalized therapy. A pilot study conducted at Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital involved seven patients with various mobility impairments, providing quantitative performance metrics and quali- tative user feedback. Results demonstrated consistent patient engagement, measurable im- provements in gait speed and task efficiency over repeated sessions, as well as emerging adaptive movement strategies. Patients reported high motivation, comfort, and satisfaction with the XR-based tasks, supported by positive therapist observations highlighting enhanced patient autonomy and reduced self-consciousness during rehabilitation. The thesis concludes by discussing how this work fits within the broader landscape of extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) in rehabilitation. The discussion section specifically examines how the findings relate to general trends in XR and AI-based rehabil- itation, highlighting both the opportunities these technologies present and the challenges they pose. Future work will focus on integrating real-time AI-driven adaptation, natural language interfaces, and expanded rehabilitation task libraries, with particular emphasis on accommodating diverse neurological populations, including those recovering from traumatic brain injury (TBI). Overall, this research contributes significantly to the advancement of intelligent, adaptive, and patient-centered XR rehabilitation solutions, offering substantial promise for transforming clinical practice and enhancing patient recovery outcomes
Anti-feminisms, Authoritarianism, and Digital Culture: A Pedagogy Project
Get PDFThis project began, broadly, with my exposure to TikTok’s tradwives—a subset of content creators and influencers who advocate traditional gender roles as women, homemakers, wives, and mothers, with a particular focus on moral and religious beliefs and aesthetic practices of “womanhood.” To me, tradwives encapsulated the internet’s capacity to weaponize subtly: slow-paced, pastel videos, gentle music, and even gentler voices delivering increasingly extreme ideas about masculine and feminine roles, Christian nationalism, and white supremacy. But other threads began to appear as I delved deeper into the world of tradwives. I noticed the men’s rights groups who praised tradwives while openly degrading women as a singular category, the wellness and new age influencers often cited and reshared by tradwife accounts, and the ever-increasing presence of anti-trans rhetoric and condemnation of “gender ideology.” It seemed to me that tradwives—knowingly or unknowingly—were operating within a much larger web of online content that at its core relies on the promotion of bioessentialism and white supremacy
Street Outreach and Reentry: The Role of Community Violence Intervention in the Reintegration of Returning Citizens
Get PDFAmidst ongoing efforts to reduce the nation’s prison population, as well as calls to defund the police and invest in civilianized public safety strategies following the murder of George Floyd, community-based violence intervention (CVI) strategies have been increasingly recognized as a critical means by which to ameliorate the United States’ enduring gun violence problem without exacerbating the harms of overpolicing and mass incarceration. However, most contemporary CVI research has assessed program impacts on neighborhood rates of gun violence and has produced conflicting findings, leading scholars to call for the need to examine a wider range of program-related functions and outcomes. Drawing inspiration from the reentry literature, this dissertation explores the impact of CVI on the social integration outcomes of individuals returning to society after release from incarceration. Specifically, I sought to better understand 1) how employment as a violence interventionist impacts the reintegration trajectories of workers, most of whom are formerly incarcerated, and 2) how workers provide resources and services to their clients, who are often returning from incarceration. To do so, I used two data sources: survey data collected from the city-wide population of CVI workers in Boston (N=63) as part of the Violence Intervention Worker Study (VIeWS), and semi-structured interviews with a subset of formerly incarcerated Boston workers (n=15). Regarding the first research question, I found that CVI employment serves several socially integrative functions, including fostering a sense of empowerment, promoting and/or reinforcing desistance, encouraging new and strengthened connections to individuals and institutions, reducing stigma and enabling deeper community integration, and allowing workers to actively engage in a process of accountability. However, I also found that the job has the capacity to hinder reintegration, due to low wages, regular and ongoing proximity to crime, violence, and trauma, and insufficient mental health support for workers. Regarding the second question, I found that formerly incarcerated streetworkers rely heavily on their past and present credibility, which is enhanced by a deep sense of personal responsibility, to form sustained and trusting relationships with their clients. I then found that, to provide and/or connect their clients to prosocial opportunities and resources, workers adopt one of five unique “roles,” each of which helps clients overcome barriers to service access. I conclude that CVI workers function as key actors within the reentry service field, connecting some of society’s most marginalized young people to crucial forms of support that increase the likelihood of a successful reentry. By contributing to and integrating the CVI and reentry literatures to establish CVI as a case study of “reintegration in action,” this dissertation has offered a lens by which to see the field in a new way that enables a deeper understanding of the processes underlying post-incarceration social integration. Moving forward, I suggest that reentry scholars regard CVI as a form of restorative reentry and take seriously its position within the reentry service field, and that those studying CVI consider it just as much a project of social integration as it is a program of violence reduction