University of Illinois at Chicago
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Urban Spaces and Ethnic Places: Special Service Areas in Ethnically Defined Neighborhoods
No full textSpecial Service Areas (SSAs) is a local government program that promotes business activities in different zones across Chicago. City government, in coordination with neighborhood nonprofits, creates a special district to collect an extra tax on top of property taxes. The funds gathered from that extra tax are used to pay for additional services in that area. This program is meant to spur revitalization by funding maintenance and beautification activities. As used in Chicago, a portion of the work that SSAs fund also goes towards marketing and promoting the areas that they serve. This dissertation examines what happens when the SSA program is deployed in two economically viable, and ethnically defined places, Devon Avenue in the West Ridge community area and 26th Street in the South Lawndale community area. In this research, I ask: how do majority-ethnic or ethnically defined neighborhoods form, how do they sustain themselves over time, and what, if any, is the role of the SSA policy in the resiliency of these urban areas? My ethnographic study makes use of original data, including interviews with community members, local leaders, and small business owners along with primary documents including city records, SSA meeting minutes and budgetary reports. While SSAs are praised for empowering communities, decentralizing revitalization, I find that this may not always be the case. Instead, a significant portion of the activities that the SSAs on Devon Avenue and 26th Street fund are directed towards promoting the real or imagined ethnic identities of these shopping streets. These promotional activities obscure the realities of communities and their lived experiences in these spaces
Anomalous Dissipation and Non-uniqueness of Fluid Equations
No full textWe introduction some pathological behaviors of the weak solutions to
several fluid equations, including Navier-Stokes equations, Euler equations, Electron Magneto Hydrodynamics equations and Surface Quasi-geostrophic equations. Chapter I provides the background for the fluid equations in discussion. In Chapter II, the proof of the main theorem regarding to the anomalous dissipation of Euler and Navier-Stokes equations is given. Chapter III proved the existence of the weak solutions to the stationary EMHD equations via convex integration. Finally, in Chapter IV, using convex integration a non-uniqueness result of the forced SQG equations is proven
Computational Modeling and Optimization of Cell Focusing in Inertial and Elasto-Inertial Microfluidics
No full textInertial and elasto-inertial microfluidics offer promising platforms for high-throughput, label-free cell sorting by leveraging hydrodynamic forces to focus particles and cells within confined flows. This dissertation presents a computational investigation into the mechanisms governing cell migration and focusing in such systems, with an emphasis on enhancing performance and specificity in biomedical and agricultural applications.
This work systematically explores how parameters such as channel geometry, flow conditions, particle size, and shape affect lateral migration and equilibrium positioning. Particular attention is given to biologically relevant cells, including sperm cells, whose asymmetric morphology and mechanical properties pose challenges for traditional sorting techniques. The numerical models developed in this work capture fluid–structure interactions and complex dynamics in both Newtonian and non-Newtonian (viscoelastic) flow regimes.
Key contributions include the quantification of lift and drag forces acting on non-spherical sperm cells, the analysis of particle focusing trajectories, and the introduction of metrics for evaluating focusing quality and alignment. The study also highlights the role of viscoelasticity and Dean flow effects in enhancing separation resolution. Simulated results are validated against available experimental data, demonstrating strong agreement and predictive capability.
The insights gained from this computational framework provide a basis for optimizing microfluidic device design to improve sorting and separation efficiency and selectivity. This is particularly valuable in applications such as cancer diagnostics, and sperm sex sorting, where precise cell focusing can lead to improved outcomes. By reducing dependence on trial-and-error experimental approaches, the findings support the development of robust and scalable sorting platforms
We Are What We Eat… and See on Social Media: A Multi-Method Descriptive Analysis
No full textThe current study investigates the experiences of Black and Latinx college students during the COVID-19 pandemic as related to their time spent using social media and their food behaviors. Given the pivotal role of young adulthood in establishing healthy food habits and the significantly high rates of social media usage among this age group, this research explores the nutritional content of participants’ food choices and of the products posted on social media by food and beverage companies. Specifically, the study focuses on data provided by 11 Black and Latinx first-year college students living in an urban, Midwestern city during Fall 2020. Through ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology, participants provided food photos and descriptions three times per day for one week. Images of foods and beverages uploaded to social media during the study period by companies that participants’ reported following were also collected. Photos were analyzed using thematic content analyses and nutritional analyses rooted in psychological theory. Descriptive analyses were conducted to determine patterns in the data across days and participants. Findings were consistent with existing literature, revealing high daily rates of social media use and overall consumption of unhealthy foods across all participants during the pandemic. This study emphasizes the need for regulatory measures on social media activities of Big Food and Beverage companies and education on healthy eating to mitigate negative health impacts on vulnerable populations. These insights aim to inform long-term health strategies addressing the role of social media in shaping dietary behaviors during significant lifestyle disruptions
Comparison Principle for Stochastic Heat Equation on Torus
No full textWe study the comparison principle for the stochastic heat equation on torus, associated with white-in-time and colored-in-space noise. We begin with the review of foundation for stochastic integration, followed by the result of existence and regularity properties for the equation from previous work. Then we prove the weak and strong comparison principle
Associations of Peer and Student-Teacher Relations to Well-Being in Middle School Students
No full textEarly adolescence is a critical period marked by significant social, emotional, and cognitive changes, alongside growing concerns about mental health and well-being, highlighting the need for effective support systems. Supportive student-teacher relationships and peer acceptance are essential for early adolescent development and well-being. However, much of the existing research examines these relationships separately or fails to consider both perspectives simultaneously. The current study examined the alignment between students’ ratings of teacher supportiveness and teachers’ ratings of relationship closeness. It also explored the combined contributions of student-teacher and peer relationships to students’ overall well-being. Data were collected from 252 6th and 7th-grade students from 15 middle school classrooms in a large urban public school district in Western Canada. Measures included students’ reports of their well-being and ratings of supportive student-teacher relationships, teachers’ ratings of close student-teacher relationships, and peer nominations of peer acceptance. Results from multi-level modeling showed that students’ ratings of supportiveness significantly predicted teachers’ ratings of closeness, though this explained a small portion of the variance. Notably, although teachers’ ratings did predict student well-being, students’ ratings of a supportive relationship were the strongest predictor of well-being. Additionally, girls and those identifying outside the binary reporting lower well-being. These results together shed light on the importance of students’ subjective experience and the importance of supportive student-teacher relationships through an ecological, strengths-based lens. Limitations, future directions, and educational applications are discussed
The Beautiful Soul in Schiller and Hegel
No full textThis dissertation uses Friedrich Schiller’s description of the “beautiful soul” to develop and defend an account of moral beauty, according to which a person who is morally good is for that reason beautiful. The "beautiful soul" as a moral exemplar was popular at the turn of the 19th century, but has since fallen out of philosophical favor, in part due to a critique leveled by Hegel in his Phenomenology of Spirit. While some have assumed that Schiller's account of the beautiful soul succumbs to Hegel's critique, I argue that, in fact, Schiller's account of moral beauty has more in common with Hegel's own conception of ethical life than with the version of the beautiful soul popularized by the German Romantics. Because Schiller's philosophical work is chronically underrepresented in English-language scholarship, I first reconstruct a full account of Schiller's beautiful soul: an ethically good person's inclinations are in accordance with reason, which makes her actions appear free; since beauty is the appearance of freedom, the actions of an ethically good person will appear beautiful. I then defend this account against the Hegelian critique by expanding on Schiller's conception of freedom and the role of moral beauty in the functioning of an ethical community. The account of the beautiful soul I develop on Schiller's behalf is equipped to respond to current worries about the viability of moral beauty in general. Moreover, recent work in aesthetics has tended to focus on the moral status of art works. By approaching this issue from the other direction, and addressing the aesthetic status of moral value, my historical project also enriches current conceptions of moral agency and value
Spatial Transcriptomics of Microenvironmental Niches in Periodontitis and Oral Cancer
No full textBACKGROUND: Chronic wounds and tumors share many dysregulations of stromal pathways, including hyper-inflammation, aberrant angiogenesis and fibrosis. Periodontitis (PD) lesions may be described as non-healing wounds, whereas oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) are akin to over-healing wounds. Single-cell studies highlighted the cellular heterogeneities within PD and OSCC microenvironments. Spatial transcriptomics (ST) enables the profiling of global gene expression within histological tissue sections
OBJECTIVE: The study's aim was to use comparative ST analyses of PD and OSCC lesions to identify cellular niches driving their pathogenesis.
METHODS: ST datasets of human PD (GSE206621,N=3) and OSCC Stages I-IV (GSE208253,N=12) were obtained from GeneExpressionOmnibus. R(v4.4.1) in RStudio(v2024.09.0) was used to re-analyze datasets. Seurat(v5.1.0) was used for quality-control, individual and integrated analyses of ST and OSCC datasets, including batch-correction and visualization. SPOTlight(v1.8.0) was used for spatial voxel deconvolution into predicted cell types. CellChat(v2.1.2) was used to identify putative cell-cell interactions among spatially-adjacent voxels. SPATA2(v3.0.0) was used for histological image annotation. EnrichR was used to functionally enrich spatially/differentially expressed genes.
RESULTS: Integrated spatial voxel analysis of PD and OSCC resulted in ten transcriptionally-distinct niche clusters. Functional annotation resulted in: four epithelial clusters, ranging from basal/proliferative to more differentiated cell niches; six stromal clusters, ranging from matrix-enriched/fibrotic to immune-enriched/inflammatory niches. Deconvolution showed varying contributions of several epithelial, immune and mesenchymal cell subtypes to the spatial niches, and CellChat predicted strong interactions between proliferative epithelial and fibrotic stromal niches. Histological annotation and subsequent comparative analyses revealed common enrichment of fibrotic vs non-fibrotic stromal niches in areas closer to the PD lesion and the OSCC leading edge but differential enrichment of immune-rich niches
CONCLUSION (S): PD and OSCC activate adjacent stromal niches toward a common pro-fibrotic signature. Future studies will integrate additional datasets, including gingivitis and premalignant lesions to study dynamics of pathogenesis
High Pressure Studies of Cuprate High Temperature Superconductors
No full textSince the discovery of high temperature superconductivity in La5−xBaxCu5O5(3−y) at an unprecedented 35 K over 35 years ago the nature superconductivity in cuprates has been intensely studied, with the use of pressure as an experimental parameter often playing a critical role. The effect of pressure on cuprate superconductivity is analogous to the effect of hole doping, with experiments establishing a pressure- Tc relation that closely tracks the well established hole doping concentration (nH)- Tc relation in nearly all cuprates. The structure and electronic properties of cuprate superconductors with nominal composition Bi2Sr2Can−1CunO2n+4+δ (n=1,2,3) have been studied using x-ray diffraction and magnetic susceptibility up to 144 GPa for n=3, 100 GPa for n=2, and 50 GPa for n=1. Anomalous compression mechanisms were observed in all three compounds, which allowed us to reconcile discrepancies in the literature. The development of novel techniques to characterize these materials is discussed, with an emphasis on complications that arise in high pressure environments. Finally, connections to the non-monotonic behavior of Tc in pressurized Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ are discussed, with data suggesting a second superconducting dome for pressure overdoped cuprates that are typically not stable at ambient conditions. This second superconducting dome supports significantly higher Tc’s than the well known
ambient pressure dome
Exploring Time-Domain Floating-Point Computation for Neural Network Training in Compute-in-Memory Systems
No full textIn this thesis, we introduce TimeFloats, an efficient train-in-memory architecture that im-
plements 8-bit floating-point scalar product computations in the time domain. By building on
the compute-in-memory paradigm—which consolidates both storage and inference within the
same memory array—TimeFloats adds support for floating-point operations, making it possible
to train deep neural networks directly on-chip.
Conventional compute-in-memory solutions often rely on ADCs and DACs, incurring high
power consumption and increased design complexity—especially at advanced CMOS technology
nodes. In contrast, TimeFloats employs time-domain signal processing to eliminate the need
for these domain converters, using mainly digital circuit blocks to minimize power usage and
noise sensitivity. This approach also enables high-resolution computations and straightforward
integration with standard digital circuits.
Simulation results in a 15,nm CMOS technology indicate that TimeFloats achieves an energy
efficiency of 22.1TOPS/W, underscoring its potential for low-power, high-performance edge
training applications
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