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Geochronology of PFAS in Jamaica Bay Sediment Cores
Get PDFSediment is a key component of aquatic ecosystems, as they provide habitats and nutrients for benthic plants and animals. This research is investigating the PFAS content in sediment cores from Jamaica Bay, New York. Using an approach of geochronology, the goal of this research is to produce a timeline displaying the concentration distribution of PFAS. This will allow the analysis of the efficacy of phasing out PFAS, as they are persistent chemicals that are extremely harmful to human and ecological health. We found that PFCA and PFSA concentrations are not decreasing, indicating there is continued environmental input
Microplastics in the Gastrointestinal Tract of Red Swamp Crayfish
Get PDFThis project examined how the presence of microplastic (MP) fiber balls affect MP accumulation within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of invasive crayfish in the Chicago River. After being dissected, the contents of the GI tracts were examined for the number, color, and type of microplastics. If there are significantly less MPs in the lower GI tract when a MP fiber ball is present in the upper GI tract, then the MP fiber balls influence the accumulation of plastic. Through this experience, I was able to deepen my understanding of the movement of microplastics in the Chicago River
IC Writing Center Expansion Proposal
Get PDFThe Writing Center is an incredible asset to Loyola students, aiding with a wide range of writing issues across many subjects. However, its current layout falls short of optimizing student and tutor success. Its main problem is the consistent impact of outside noise-disrupting sessions. We propose to fill the gaps between the ceiling and the walls in the rooms used by the Writing Center. By making this practical change, the Writing Center can better support its students and tutors, improving the overall satisfaction of the program in the future
The Disparity of Mental Health Education in Urban Areas
Get PDFIn urban areas that are outside Chicago itself, there is a lack of education on mental health and the services that are provided near them. During this internship, it was brought to my attention that the hard working people of Joliet do not know how important it is to value your health at the mental level. Many of the patients I have encountered do not see the need for weekly sessions or ignore professional advice. However, with a certain patient I have seen that change is happening within the younger generations
Enhancing Slum Identification and Definition Through Deep Learning and Spatial Data Integration
No full textThis research investigates key slum characteristics to enhance detection accuracy using deep learning models. Four databases were reviewed with BOOLEAN operations and keyword combinations, following PRISMA guidelines. The data was organized and synthesized in Excel for clarity. The results show that standardized slum definitions improve model performance. Additionally, integrating spatial datasets and remote sensing techniques refines detection accuracy. This work demonstrates how deep learning, combined with GIS tools and census data, can improve slum identification and boundary delineation. The findings highlight the potential of these tools to support more precise and effective slum detection strategies
Not-so-Secret Authentication: The SyncBleed Attacks and Defenses for Zero-Involvement Authentication Systems
No full textZero-involvement authentication (ZIA) offers a promising solution for autoprovisioning large IoT device networks by enabling devices to extract identical authentication keys from ambient environmental signals without user intervention.
However, we demonstrate that existing ZIA systems leak critical information during key negotiation when they exchange synchronization messages over public wireless channels.
Our novel passive attack, SyncBleed, exploits these leaked messages to reconstruct ZIA-generated keys, successfully cracking approximately 50% of keys in under one second in our testbed experiments.
To address this vulnerability, we introduce TREVOR (Time shift REsistant VEctor ExtractOR), which generates nearly identical bit sequences from environmental signals without exchanging any synchronization information. TREVOR produces keys in under 4~seconds with 90--95% bit agreement rates between legitimate devices across various environmental sources, while maintaining complete resistance to SyncBleed attacks
Poverty, internationalization, and environmental injustice: A postcolonial theoretical perspective
No full textInternational business (IB) scholarship portrays internationalization as dominantly positive for individuals and organizations. We challenge this dominant view, arguing that while internationalization can generate positive economic outcomes, it often results in environmental injustice for the masses of poor individuals living in extreme poverty. Drawing on postcolonial theory, we generate three testable propositions that specifically address the colonial legacy in former colonial nations with extreme poverty; these propositions relate to these nations’ institutional void, colonizer privilege, and racial capitalism. We then generate a future research agenda at the intersection of IB, those in extreme poverty, and environmental injustice
Pre-Migration Victimization and Fear of Violent Crime among New Arrivals in Chicago / Victimización y miedo al crimen violento en el país de origen de los migrantes recién llegados a Chicago
No full textThis project explores the situations and experiences of new arrivals/asylum seekers who have recently arrived in Chicago. Chicago has experienced a significant increase in the number of newcomers, due to Operation Lone Star, launched by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in March 2021. Since August 2022, Governor Abbott has bused more than 30,000 migrants to Chicago. The City of Chicago has acknowledged its responsibility to welcome everyone regardless of immigration status, adopting a proactive stance toward this humanitarian emergency. However, newcomers still struggle to get access to basic needs in the city. We have conducted a face-to-face, cross-sectional survey to collect data on access to basic needs such as housing, food, and healthcare, as well as the challenges newcomers have faced both in Chicago and in their countries of origin.
The survey was conducted in Spanish between April and June 2025 in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. The research team partnered with community organizations across various neighborhoods to connect with newly arrived individuals and administer the survey in trusted, safe environments, using a convenience sampling method to reach this vulnerable population. All survey administrators were bilingual and communicated with respondents in Spanish. Only one person per household was eligible to participate, and all participants were required to be at least 18 years old. Respondents completed the survey individually and in privacy using tablets equipped with Qualtrics software. The final sample includes 318 respondents
Critical Philosophy, Crisis, and Joy: A Theory and Praxis
No full textIn this dissertation, I use critical phenomenology and critical theory to guide my empirical, archival, legal, and pedagogical research. The first section of my research looks at the first-person experiences of people detained at Rushville Treatment and Detention Center (Rushville TDF), a facility that indefinitely detains people with sex offenses through a carceral practice called civil commitment. The work of Lisa Guenther, Michel Foucault, and Saidya Hartman in phenomenology and critical theory guided me through community-based, participatory action research (CBPAR) and archiving, a praxis and epistemology that intends to avoid the objectification, exploitation, and reproduction of oppressive structures of institutional research by involving the “subjects” as co-researchers. I was one of the lead researchers of Inside Illinois Civil Commitment, the only community-based, participatory research study on civil commitment in the U.S. and the first external oversight published on this facility in its 20+ years of operation. Our research study and digital archive project looked at the conditions within Rushville TDF to learn about its demographics, experiences of residents, and living conditions. We found that Rushville TDF (1) disproportionally harms people from marginalized groups, particularly LGBTQ+, Black, multiracial, and Indigenous people and (2) is a violent place with poor living conditions, including inadequate treatment and therapy for mental illness. Our research had an impact on this particular incarcerated community by contributing to community-building, education, and a sense of agency in a research process. Our findings and data also parallel and support institutional research on civil commitment, such as UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute and the Mitchell-Hamline School of Law Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center. The second section of my civil commitment research explores case law to show how the distinctions between “treatment” versus “punishment” and the civil versus criminal law allow for the legal permissibility of practices that would otherwise be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Drawing on Robert Bernasconi’s phenomenological account of human rights as the rights of others, I propose that the legal justification of civil commitment is based on “our” rights rather than the rights of the other, “we” being the people and institutions inflicting these practices on people with sex offenses. By determining a certain practice as treatment and not punishment, the justification lies on the purpose of the action we are doing to the individual rather than the protection of the other’s human dignity. I also claim that the misuse of psychiatric concepts and human rights perpetuate cruel and unusual punishment by shifting the concern for “the other,” rehabilitating people with mental disorders, to “our” rights of protection from people with mental disorders. In a sense, a human rights concept such as “freedom from fear” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948) is invoked to humiliate, inflict violence upon, and perpetuate the indefinite detention of people with sex offenses. Finally, I draw on these overarching ideas—the misuse of psychiatry and health systems, human rights, and community-based, participatory research—to develop pedagogical practices for educating the incarcerated community, university community, and general public in critical thinking toward diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice for people from marginalized groups
Parental Autonomy Support and Children’S Affect as Predictors of Children’S Stem Engagement in an informal Educational Context
No full textIn this project, we examined relations between parental talk and children’s affect on children’s STEM talk during an engineering-related activity (i.e., tinkering) in a local children’s museum. We characterized children’s affect in terms of valence (positive or negative) and activation (activating or deactivating), and parental talk was characterized as autonomy supportive or directive, as well as STEM-related or not. Parents and their 4- to 10-year-old children were recruited at the entrance of the Tinkering Lab exhibit at Chicago Children’s Museum. Parents and children were video and audio recorded during the activity. We coded parents’ and children’s behaviors using a time-sampling approach. Through a time-series analysis, we examined associations between children’s affect, parents’ talk, and children’s STEM talk minute by minute during tinkering. Results suggest that the more children expressed activating affect and positive affect in one minute of the activity, the more they talked about STEM in the next minute. In addition, the more negative affect children expressed, the more directives parents used subsequently. Finally, parents’ STEM-related directives were associated with greater STEM talk during reflection only among children who experienced high levels of negative affect, or children who experienced low levels of positive affect, during tinkering. Our findings highlight the importance of considering children’s affect when designing informal STEM activities, and they suggest that parents’ STEM-related directives can help support STEM engagement among children who are struggling during a hands-on activity