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DreamVisions+: Virtualizing Medieval Poetics in Multimedia Performance
Full text linkDreamVisions+ is a transdigital and transhistorical odyssey into the realm of fiction and truth, reality and virtuality. Rooted in the tradition of late medieval dream-vision poems—wherein religious or political allegories unfold through dreaming protagonists—DreamVisions+ stages a multimedia dream vision of the digital age, reading medieval dream visions as proto–virtual reality. Through the creation and analysis of DreamVisions+, a full-length solo multimedia performance, I synthesize live electroacoustic music, XR technologies, and 3D game environments with medieval textual and visual iconography to construct a porous, unstable dream world that collapses medieval and digital imaginaries.
Situating my work within broader political and cultural currents—such as the rise of technofeudalism, the resurgence of medieval aesthetics in digital subcultures, the instability of “reality” in the wake of post-truth politics, and the hauntology of online dream rhetoric—I argue that both medieval dream visions and contemporary digital landscapes offer virtualized spaces for the speculative negotiation of identity, desire, and reality. This thesis weaves historical research, theoretical inquiry, and personal creative practice into an interdisciplinary investigation of improvisation, digital poetics, and collective mythmaking in the age of cloud capital. As tech utopian billionaires cascade invention towards their dream of inevitable extended reality hegemony, DreamVisions+ becomes a site for both cultural reflection, personal manifesto, and doomsday preparation: simultaneous optimism and pessimism, admonition and relinquishment, daydreams and nightmares
Pluriversal Energy Justice Through an Intersectional Feminist Lens: Analyzing Rural Electrification Injustices and Policy Pathways at Kenya\u27s Garissa Solar Park
Full text linkLocated approximately 4 km from Raya village in Garissa County, the Garissa Solar Park spans
85 hectares and was envisioned as a flagship renewable energy project. Yet, despite its scale and proximity, the marginalized pastoralist community of Raya continues to face acute energy poverty, limited irrigation capacity, and exclusion from the material and socio-ecological benefits of the green energy project. This study critically examines the systemic energy injustices embedded within the Garissa Solar Park—specifically procedural, distributive, and recognition-based inequalities—and critiques the project’s failure to deliver on principles of equity, local meaningful and democratic participation, and gender inclusion.
The research assesses the project’s planning and governance processes, equitable benefit- sharing frameworks, and local community engagement strategies through a case study approach grounded in semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and local community members. Central to this humanistic inquiry is deploying a novel and critically integrated framework: Intersectional Feminist-Informed Pluriversal Energy Justice (IFIPEJ) Framework, which synthesizes insights from energy justice, feminist political ecology, Decolonial African feminism, and feminist energy systems. This revolutionary framework privileges a nuanced, context-sensitive analysis that centers marginalized rural pastoral communities\u27 embodied and lived realities and surfaces epistemic, geographical, and gendered exclusions in green energy transitions.
Findings reveal that the Raya community, particularly women, has been systematically disenfranchised in both planning and implementation phases, raising critical concerns about the legitimacy and inclusivity of Kenya’s national renewable energy strategy. The study concludes with a targeted policy recommendations to guide more democratic, just, and community-responsive rural electrification efforts in Kenya and comparable global South contexts.
KEYWORDS: Energy justice, Gender, Energy Equity, Intersectionality, Energy mix, Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC), Energy insecurity, energy poverty, Feminist Energy systems, embodied experiences, Energy democracy, Burdens of energy systems, misrecognition, Decolonial African Feminist Thought, Pluriversal, Feminist Political Ecology
Current Continuity in Auroral System Science
Full text linkThe Earth relies on the Sun\u27s energy, but at times this energy can be overwhelming; the Sun expels plasma which, were it not for our humble magnetic field, would erode our atmosphere (Mars, c. 4 Ga). The protective interaction Earth has with the solar wind results in spectacular auroral displays---one such auroral form is discussed in this thesis: quiet discrete auroral arcs.
Such arcs have long been studied; they are abundant, have usable symmetries, and they can predict magnetic substorms that wreak havoc in our magnetosphere. The auroral emissions, albeit beautiful, are however only the visible end of a self-consistent system of currents, electric fields, particle precipitation, and ionospheric conductivity. To study electric currents surrounding auroral arcs, it turns out, requires knowledge of all these aspects.
This thesis enhances our understanding of auroral arcs through the lens of ionospheric current closure. The ionosphere has its plasma transition to being collisional with the neutrals over only about 100 km altitude, which allows for currents to flow perpendicular to the local magnetic field---something they cannot do outside our ionosphere. This couples the ionosphere and magnetosphere through magnetic-field-aligned current closure, where the ionosphere can present load characteristics not unlike those in a circuit resistor.
The discrete auroral arcs come into play because they are the result of attempting to host field-aligned currents through magnetic flux tubes that can be too tenuous to fulfill their amperage without the creation of parallel electric fields. Such fields can cause electrons to accelerate to energies high enough to ionize the atmosphere. This enhances the ionospheric conductivity, affecting the pathways for current closure.
This thesis outlines the methodology and use of a plethora of heterogeneous, multi-platform auroral measurements curated for driving fully-three-dimensional ionospheric simulations of auroral arcs. This filters for solutions that are geophysical and self-consistent, and allows for the investigation of sensitivities to various input parameters. This work highlights, not just various considerations in performing such simulations, but the very fact that they require all three dimensions for a complete picture. After all, the equations that govern auroral arc systems are inherently three-dimensional in nature
Leveraging epigenomics and transcriptomics to develop high-dimensional biomarkers of neuroinflammation
No full textNeuroinflammation is a critical physiological phenomenon implicated in most neurological disorders, either as a cause or a consequence of pathology. Our understanding of neuroinflammation is limited by the inability to directly profile the cells of interest. Thus, developing biomarkers of neuroinflammation is clinically urgent as we know neuroinflammation correlates with patient outcomes and treatment success. The recent advances in “omics” technologies, particularly epigenomics and transcriptomics, provides the opportunity for high-dimensional profiling of biospecimens for potential biomarkers. Within this dissertation, I demonstrate that biomarkers obtained from “omics” platforms can detect neuroimmunological phenomena in clinical and preclinical settings. In chapter one, DNA methylation-based biomarkers are utilized to demonstrate that immunological perturbations in the blood that are associated with Parkinson’s disease can manifest prior to the onset of motor deficits. In chapter two, I show that DNA methylation biomarkers can be utilized to measure immune infiltration in glioma biopsy samples, that these estimates correlate with patient survival, and that this approach is scalable and amendable to current clinical practices in using DNA methylation to aid in the diagnosis of glioma. Lastly, in chapter three, I demonstrate an optimized tissue processing method that allows for accurate transcriptomic profiling of the spinal cord meninges in a preclinical model of neuroinflammation. Altogether, this work underscores the potential of epigenomic and transcriptomic profiling for studying neuroinflammation in clinically or pathologically relevant samples. In the future, I hope to expand upon this work in a two-pronged approach in which I can continue to prepare “omics” based neuroinflammation biomarkers for clinical implementation as well as use these tools to learn more about the basic immunophysiology and immunopathology underlying neurological diseases
ENABLING LITHIUM-BASED BATTERIES WITH WIDE-RANGING TEMPERATURE OPERABILITY
No full textLithium-ion batteries have been extensively employed in portable electronics and electric vehicles because of their high energy/power density. However, they inevitably suffer from severe energy/power losses in cold environments, especially when temperatures drop below −20 °C. Such poor low-temperature performance limits their applications for aeronautics/space missions, polar expeditions, and many military and civil facilities in cold regions, in which a battery operating temperature below −40 °C is typically required. Therefore, improving the battery performance (energy density, rate capability, and lifetime) at low temperatures requires exploiting new battery materials and chemistries to minimize the need for ancillary thermal systems. The first part of this thesis investigates non-concentrated ether-based electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries with graphite anode. We demonstrate that ether-based electrolytes can achieve reversible graphite intercalation even at 1 M salt concentration by tailoring the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) structure through the preferential decomposition of anion and fluorinated additive. The optimized electrolyte enables lithium-ion batteries with outstanding fast-charging capability, long-term cycling stability, as well as widetemperature operability down to −40 °C. The second part of this thesis replaces the graphite anode with Li metal for high energy density and examines the importance of SEIs to the low-temperature performance of Li metal plating and stripping. We find that both solvent chemistry and solvation chemistry play critical roles in tuning Li+−anion coordination, which in turn promotes anion-derived SEIs with inorganic-rich compositions. By tailoring the anion distribution in the bulk electrolyte and hence the interphase, we demonstrate that Li metal can be cycled under extreme temperature conditions (e.g., −80 °C) with high Coulombic efficiencies. In the final part, we present a series of lithium thiophosphate complex materials dissolved in organic solvents as high-capacity cathodes for lithium−sulfur (Li−S) batteries. The complexation chemistry can effectively accommodate discharge reaction products without precipitation. Therefore, major issues in Li−S batteries, such as sluggish redox kinetics, volume expansion, and voltage polarization, are mended. With the novel complexes as cathode materials, high specific capacity and excellent cycling stability are achieved at room temperature. Moreover, the highly reversible all-liquid electrochemical conversion enables wide-range cell operability down to −60 °C
Evolutionary Dynamics of Artificial Agents: Exploration and Learning in Games
Full text linkThe natural world abounds with examples of complex behavior in humans and many other species. Evolutionary game theory is a powerful mathematical framework to understand the origins of many such behaviors like cooperation. Since these behaviors are often selected against initially, understanding why they are so widespread has been a longstanding question. Rather than assuming agents\u27 rationality, like in traditional game theory, this approach studies the mutation and selection of strategies themselves. However most behavior is neither perfectly rational nor entirely determined by genetics. This dissertation works to bridge the gap between these two perspectives by analyzing models where individuals follow a variety of approaches to learning their strategy. One series of models characterizes the stability of equilibria in the notoriously intractable issue of exploration vs exploitation, consider constant, frequency, and time dependent selection. We extend this to groups of agents who simultaneously learn from their surroundings, advancing theory for a Machine Learning method combining Reinforcement Learning with Genetic Algorithms. We then examine agents that consider general types of norms, finding examples the can and cannot promote cooperation. Lastly we find the counter-intuitive effect that introducing trivial topics can completely change whether a population will polarize or reach consensus, based on an opinion dynamics model where agents partially adopt the behavior of those around them. Taken together, these results improve our understanding of why particular behaviors have spread so successfully. This goal of understanding and optimizing behavior has applications to many fields, from biology, computer science, and economics, to psychology, ecology, and sociology. Several open questions remain, making evolutionary game theory a promising area for future research with broad scientific impacts. As we see rapid shifts in society brought on by advances in artificial intelligence and changes to the political and literal climate, it becomes increasingly important to understand how to foster cooperation within and between communities
METABOLITE ANALYSIS TO UNDERSTAND FACTORS LIMITING MICROBIAL FERMENTATION AT HIGH SUBSTRATE CONCENTRATIONS
Full text linkClostridium thermocellum, a thermophilic anaerobic bacterium, holds promise as a biocatalyst for conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels. This microbe has been subjected to various metabolic engineering strategies, including the deletion of genes encoding secondary fermentation products such as H₂, formate, acetate, and lactate, as well as the expression of heterologous genes to redirect carbon flux toward ethanol production. Despite these efforts, achieving economically viable ethanol titers remains a challenge. We hypothesized that studying how intracellular metabolite concentrations change as fermentation stops could reveal metabolic bottlenecks or regulatory mechanisms limiting ethanol production at high titers. However, metabolomics studies at the elevated substrate concentrations (≥ 50 g/L) needed to observe cessation of fermentation limited by ethanol are challenging. Filtration, a key step in metabolite quenching and extraction, initially did not work for C. thermocellum cells at elevated substrate concentration. We eventually determined that the filter pore size could be substantially increased without loss of cells, allowing 20-fold increase in the initial substrate concentration that could be used during fermentations to study intracellular metabolites. We used this technique to reveal a metabolic bottleneck at the phosphofructokinase (PFK) reaction, where C. thermocellum uses PPi instead of ATP, making this reaction thermodynamically less favorable. Our study demonstrated that replacing PPi-linked pfk with ATP-linked pfk, substituting pyruvate dikinase with pyruvate kinase, and expressing a soluble pyrophosphatase (PPase) in engineered strains of C. thermocellum increased the thermodynamic driving force which led to an average 38% increase in ethanol titers. Further intracellular metabolite analysis suggested substantial metabolite leakage, indicating a previously unrecognized limitation in C. thermocellum that could restrict high-titer ethanol production. This highlights membrane-associated metabolite loss as a new avenue for investigation to enhance product titers. Additionally, we investigated ethanol production cessation in ethanologen strains of Escherichia coli and Thermoanerobacterium saccharolyticum by profiling glycolysis metabolites during fermentation. Our results showed that ethanol production cessation is characterized by pyruvate accumulation, followed by the accumulation of upper glycolysis metabolites. These findings highlight new targets for strain optimization, emphasizing the need to improve pyruvate-to-ethanol conversion and address metabolite leakage to enhance ethanol titers.
Keywords: Clostridium thermocellum, biofuels, ethanol, extracellular polymeric substance, metabolic bottleneck, metabolic engineering, metabolomics, viscosit
Paleomagnetic Assessment of the Appekunny and Greyson Fms., Lower Belt Supergroup, Montana, USA.
No full textThe Belt Supergroup of the northwestern United States is one of the most extensive Mesoproterozoic sedimentary successions in North America. Although certain stratigraphic units have been well studied, correlations across the entire outcrop region remain unresolved. This project uses magnetostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy to investigate a potential lateral equivalency between the 1.4 billion-year-old (Ga) Appekunny Formation (Fm.) in Glacier National Park, MT and the 1.4 Ga Greyson Fm. in the Helena Embayment, MT. Both formations consist predominantly of shallow-water mudstones and contain the only North American occurrences of Horodyskia moniliformis, one of the oldest known macrofossils. Paleomagnetic analyses were conducted on two mineralogically distinct sample populations as confirmed through rock magnetism: magnetite-bearing green and gray lithologies and hematite-bearing red beds and carbonates. Magnetite-bearing lithologies dominate both formations, but did not yield a coherent result beyond that of the present local field. Hematite-bearing beds appear intermittently within the stratigraphy, but revealed more coherent and fully demagnetized data. Combining a subset of coherent paleomagnetic directions from the Greyson Fm. and Appekunny Fm. indicates a normal magnetic polarity (225.83!/47.21!, ↵95: 17.50, n = 50), matching previous data from the overlying Spokane and Grinnell Fms. Additional paleomagnetic analyses on the Newland Fm. (underlying the Greyson Fm.) also found a normal magnetic polarity (237.17!/53.63!, ↵95: 23.75, n = 8). Meanwhile, the red beds from the lowest-sampled red bed layer of the Appekunny Fm. record a reversed magnetic polarity (052.94!/-41.49!, ↵95: 22.56, n = 5). While the lateral equivalency of the Appekunny and Greyson Fms. remains uncertain from both paleomagnetic and stratigraphic perspectives, the detection of a magnetic reversal in the lower Appekunny Fm.—but not elsewhere—suggests a potential temporal discontinuity between the two units. This study also expands our understanding of the Greyson Fm. by documenting a new stratigraphic section at Smith River, Montana, where a new occurrence of Horodyskia moniliformis was found. Further study of these exceptionally well-preserved Mesoproterozoic units is vital to understanding early eukaryotic evolution and the origins of multicellular life, and our successful identification of magnetically reliable lithologies provides a foundation for further magnetostratigraphic and paleomagnetic studies
The Ghannouchi Test: The compatibility of religious ideas and secular democracy
Full text linkSecular, democratic societies and governments evolved out of religious societies and defined themselves partially in opposition to religious authority. This historical relationship has led to a debate about the compatibility between religious ideas and modern, secular society. Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde posited that secular, democratic societies still depend on religious foundations. Jürgen Habermas disagrees, claiming that processes of rational dialogue can provide sufficient support.
Two prominent twentieth century theologians, Reinhold Niebuhr and Abraham Joshua Heschel demonstrate that democratic systems are enriched and protected by theistic ideas, thus supporting Böckenförde’s dictum. However, they both recognize the importance of epistemic humility and a process of iterative improvement through open dialogue, which reflects Habermas’ aversion to unchallengeable religious dogma. Using Niebuhr and Heschel as guides, this thesis will develop a test to determine whether a particular religious thinker or set of ideas is compatible with the functioning of a democracy. Using this framework to evaluate the religious and political writings of Rachid Ghannouchi will show that his challenges to Western secularism are, in fact, compatible with democracy
Navigation by Smartphone: A Field Geologist Argues That Devices Complement Physical Maps
Full text linkAn argument that smartphones—in the right hands, and with the right app—replace gadgets like alarm clocks, cameras, and weather radios and can outpace physical maps with the right apps