Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
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AUF DER SUCHE NACH DEM WUNDER: DIE ÖSTERREICHISCHE LITERATUR DER „ZWISCHENZEIT“ VON 1930 BIS 1940.
No full textThis dissertation discusses the literary production of the Jewish Austrian authors Joseph Roth, Mela Hartwig, and Albert Drach in the context of a volatile ‘Zwischenzeit’—or interim period between the years 1930 and 1940. In their texts, the three authors react to anti-Semitism, the threat of persecution, and an acute and life-threatening political environment after the ‘Anschluss’ in 1938. Their stories convey a sense of urgency, and the characters in them are caught between the frantic search for ways out and the compulsion to wait. In the three chapters dedicated to their works, I show how Roth, Hartwig, and Drach stage a nervous and tense mode of waiting of those who are persecuted and, at the same token, address how the masses await the “messiah” and a form of salvation in the form of Hitler and National Socialism. In utilizing the trope of the “miracle,” the three writers highlight the lure of National Socialism in its technical and psychological aspects. With the help of this trope, however, they also mark an area in which the hope of survival is situated. In Roth’s texts, the miracle is always just another step away. Hartwig mobilizes the miracle as a cover-up for action and a repository for political conflicts. In Drach’s exile writings, it is, ultimately, the single event that has the potential to bring rescue in the face of a crushing and deadly trial that threatens to end in murder. Although necessarily fictional, and an auxiliary construct, the miracle is the moment, place, and event to which those texts revert when all hope seems lost. With the figure of waiting for miracles—des Wartens auf Wunder—Roth, Hartwig and Drach succeed in expanding literary space precisely when it is increasingly constricted by political circumstances and threatened with destruction.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vit
Exploring mechanisms of airway hyperresponsiveness in human airway smooth muscle cells
No full textAsthma is a chronic airway disease characterized by airflow obstruction through airway narrowing and marked by inflammation, remodeling, and reactivity of the airway wall, influenced by environmental stimuli and genetic factors. Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), a key hallmark of asthma, evokes bronchospasm through airway contraction. Airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells are the central effector driving AHR, which regulate airway lumen diameter by regulating muscle tone. In patients with asthma, ASM cells are hypercontractile, raising questions about the mechanisms behind ASM dysfunction. Effective therapeutic approaches to mitigate AHR require insight into the modulatory role ASM play in asthma development and severity. The purpose of this dissertation is to uncover targets for AHR in response to cytokines present in the airways in asthma pathogenesis by investigating drivers of ASM contraction. To pinpoint mediators of AHR, we first explored the role of environmental triggers on ASM contraction. Factors contributing to AHR such as exposure to toxicants, underlying metabolic diseases, or infection can induce structural changes in the airway lumen and stimulate airway contraction through increased cytokine secretion and expression. However, ASM are particularly prone to contraction after cytokine exposure, as inflammatory cytokines can either directly stimulate ASM contraction, act as sensitizers to contractile stimuli, or trigger the secretion of contractile mediators from surrounding cells. ASM cells shorten primarily through excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling, driven by three mechanisms: calcium signaling, calcium sensitization, and actin polymerization, all enhanced by contractile agonists and cytokine stimulation. We identified the volume-regulated anion channel (VRAC) as a potential mediator of ASM contraction, present ubiquitously throughout different tissues as a regulator of cell physiology and signaling. However, little is known about the role of VRAC in the signaling and mechanics in airway diseases. To further investigate the modulatory role of VRAC in airway physiology, we posited that VRAC affects E-C coupling and ASM contraction. We determined the effects of VRAC inhibition on E-C coupling mediators, ASM stiffening, and bronchoconstriction using human ASM cells and human precision-cut lung slices. Inhibition of VRAC attenuated phosphorylation of various proteins within E-C coupling pathways, primarily inactivating mediators of calcium sensitization and actin polymerization. ASM stiffening and bronchoconstriction were also reduced with pharmacological inhibition of VRAC. Here, we identify a mechanism of ASM contraction through modulation of highly expressed VRAC in human ASM cells. By identifying potential contractile signaling mediators, our research provides further insights into the role of membrane channels like VRAC in GPCR-mediated signaling and ASM shortening. This dissertation research highlights the investigation of potential contractile signaling mediators, providing further insight into mechanisms of ASM contraction and AHR required to identify targets for asthma therapy.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
5G-enabled smart milling
No full textThe long latency of the monitoring-learning-control loop in current smart manufacturing imposes a great challenge for enhancing product quality, operation efficiency, and productivity. The advent of 5G wireless communication promises to revolutionize various vertical domains by providing ultra-low latency, high bandwidth, and seamless connectivity. This dissertation explores the integration of 5G networks with smart milling to enhance real-time monitoring capabilities, manufacturing efficiency, and surface precision. The dissertation begins with an in-depth assessment of the state-of-the-art of smart milling. It then investigates the feasibility of 5G-enabled process monitoring in milling operations. Machine learning models have been developed and verified through milling experiments to predict surface topography and milling chattering. Key findings indicate that the 5G-enabled smart milling system enables real-time process monitoring and surface quality prediction, which leads to improved milling efficiency and reduced downtime. The findings offer valuable insights for the manufacturing industry aiming to harness the potential of 5G to advance smart manufacturing. The dissertation also examines the future challenges and provides future research directions in 5G-enabled smart manufacturing.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Designing translanguaging spaces and pedagogies in second-grade mathematics classrooms
No full textElementary mathematics classrooms are increasingly becoming linguistically and culturally diverse, presenting rich opportunities for leveraging students’ linguistic resources in learning and engaging in mathematical practices. However, there is limited research on the role of adopting a translanguaging paradigm in this context. This dissertation investigates how second-grade dual-language teachers implement translanguaging pedagogies and spaces, potentially shaping students’ translanguaging practices when reasoning in mathematics. Guided by the Translanguaging Structures Framework (TSF), (Tîrnovan, 2023), which illustrates the interplay of global and local systemic and societal structures, this qualitative study encompasses three interconnected papers exploring translanguaging in mathematics education. The study draws on data from extensive classroom observations, teacher surveys, student interviews, and analysis of student artifacts. These were gathered over several months of collaborative engagement between researchers and teachers in two second-grade classrooms within an urban elementary school in New Jersey’s dual-language program. Using a three-article format, each paper in this dissertation examines different aspects of the research objectives.
The first paper engages the TSF to review and reconceptualizes existing research on translanguaging in the field of mathematics research through the lens of global and local structures from teacher and student perspectives. By quadranting the literature into these dimensions, the review offers valuable insights into the complex interplay of language hierarchies, policies, ideologies, and classroom practices that shape translanguaging in mathematics classrooms. This synthesis reveals the intricate interconnectedness of global and local factors influencing translanguaging practices and highlights a potential disconnect between the ideological aspirations of translanguaging and its practical classroom implementation.
The second paper employs a design-based research methodology to examine how purposefully designed and implemented translanguaging spaces and pedagogies shape students’ translanguaging practices in a second-grade dual-language classroom. Through collaborative work with teachers, the study reveals the transformative potential of these spaces in creating a learning environment that transcends traditional language separation mandates and empowers students to leverage their full linguistic repertoires for mathematical meaning-making. Four emergent themes are identified: Leveraging Power Dynamics, Learning-based Translanguaging, Critical Translanguaging Spaces, and Learning through Empowerment, Identity, and Funds of Knowledge.
The third paper utilizes a qualitative case study approach to explore the implementation of critical translanguaging spaces (CTS) and their impact on students’ translanguaging agency in mathematics learning. Through the analysis of three CTS episodes - student interviews, a meta-translanguaging easel activity, and student-authored math books - the study illuminates the multidimensional nature of students’ translanguaging agency and its fluid co-construction through social interactions within mathematics learning contexts.
The findings from these studies underscore the transformative potential of translanguaging pedagogies and spaces in enhancing mathematical understanding and equity for emergent multilingual learners. This dissertation further highlights the crucial role of collaborative teacher-researcher efforts in catalyzing and cultivating translanguaging activities in the mathematics classroom. It offers practical implications for curriculum design, teacher development, and educational policy aimed at creating more inclusive and empowering mathematics learning environments. Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Constructing nearby commuting matrices for ogata's theorem on macroscopic observables
No full textResolving a conjecture of von Neumann, Ogata's theorem in cite{ogata2013approximating} showed the highly nontrivial result that arbitrarily many matrices corresponding to macroscopic observables with sites and a fixed site dimension are asymptotically nearby commuting observables as . We develop a method to construct nearby commuting matrices for normalized highly reducible representations of whose multiplicities of irreducible subrepresentations exhibit a certain monotonically decreasing behavior. We then provide a constructive proof of Ogata's theorem for site dimension with explicit estimates for how close the nearby observables are. Moreover, motivated by the application to time-reversal symmetry explored in cite{loring2016almost}, our construction has the property that real macroscopic observables are asymptotically nearby real commuting observables. This thesis also contains an introduction to the prerequisite matrix analysis for understanding the proof of the results gotten, a primer on the functional analysis of -algebras frequently used in the literature of almost commuting operators, a detailed discussion of the history and main results in the problem of almost commuting matrices, a review of the basics of measurement of observables in finite dimensional quantum mechanical systems, and a discussion of the uncertainty principle for non-commuting bounded operators with some results obtained for observables with nearby commuting approximants.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Balancing efficiency and experience: a predictive cyber physical system (CPS) for urban logistics
No full textCyber-physical systems (CPS) integrate physical entities with information systems, enabling sensing, decision-making, and control actions, which has driven the development of Intelligent Logistics. Although research has made strides in technological advancements and optimization algorithms, the development of comprehensive Performance Assessment frameworks—critical for evaluating and advancing these innovations—remains underexplored, often relying on limited or isolated metrics. This dissertation presents a comprehensive performance evaluation framework for intelligent logistics systems, focusing on three key dimensions: efficiency, experience, and their interactions. Efficiency examines operational speed and resource utilization, while user experience highlights ease of use and service quality.
Analyzing the dynamic interplay between these two helps find an optimal balance between system performance and user satisfaction.
Our key insight is that incorporating bidirectional external interactions—such as third-party traffic reports and customer feedback—enables system performance assessments to consider environmental factors beyond the system's internal constraints.
Specifically, we introduce three core systems:
i) AdaTrans, focused on efficiency, incorporates external records from other companies as environment detectors to improve real-time transportation time prediction for individual orders.
ii) COCO, centered on experience, integrates historical and real-time behaviors of couriers and customers to improve causes identification in canceled pickup orders.
iii) AdaService, emphasizing interaction, assesses last-mile terminal station performance, uncovering strategies to balance efficiency and service quality across varying operational conditions.
These systems were tested with real-world data from JD Logistics, one of China's largest logistics companies.
The results reveal that integrating external feedback and their interactions transforms the evaluation of logistics performance, surpassing state-of-the-art methods across diverse real-world scenarios.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Increasing the open-pore area of boron nitride nanotube membranes for osmotic-power applications
No full textOsmotic energy has the potential to be a key source of energy in the global transition away from carbon-based fuel sources. Harvesting this energy requires the creation of semi-permeable membranes that selectively passing ions while facilitating practical designs to generate power. A promising emerging technology to enable this power source is semi-permeable boron-nitride-nanotube (BNNT) membranes, which have been shown to have a high potential for power generation. These BNNTs provide a pore structure with high surface charge, strong 1D confinement, and attractive mechanical properties. However, in order to bring these membranes into practical use, the power density must be increased over the current state of the art. This work furthers that goal by developing a new fabrication technique that allows for the deposition of higher numbers of BNNTs into the membrane.
Here, we describe a multistage solution-based method that allows for repeated depositions of BNNTs, enabling the fabrication of higher-density BNNT membranes. This new technique decouples the alignment and deposition of BNNTs from the introduction of their supporting polymer matrix, allowing for repeated deposition and for future exploration of new matrix materials. This work explores this new technique and characterizes these new, high-density membranes. The impacts of this technique on osmotic-power generation, open pore area, and selectivity are examined. Absorption spectroscopy of the fabricated membranes showed that the estimated total nanotube densities were ~3X that of previous work. With an increased open-pore percentage, the new fabrication technique resulted in membranes that reached levels of osmotic power and open pore area that were ~4.5X what has been previously reported in the literature. The flexible and scalable membrane-fabrication process may enable ion-selective nanotube membranes optimized for energy-conversion and separation processes, including ``blue'' osmotic energy, lithium recovery, and other molecular/ionic separations.M.S.Includes bibliographical reference
Supernovae beyond the rainbow: ultraviolet, optical, and infrared spectroscopy of exploding stars with HST and JWST
No full textSpectroscopy is a powerful tool for investigating supernovae (SNe), the explosive deaths of stars. The vast majority of SN spectroscopy has been obtained at optical wavelengths. In this thesis, we analyze SN spectra that extend beyond the visible rainbow, into the ultraviolet (UV) with the Hubble Space Telescope (extit{HST}) and into the infrared (IR) with extit{JWST}, to advance our understanding of their origins. We present the first UV spectrum of a broad-lined type Ic supernova (SN Ic-bl) from observations of SN 2014ad with extit{HST}/STIS. Our analysis of the UV and ground-based optical spectra reveals exceptionally high ejecta velocities, even compared to other SNe Ic-bl both with and without gamma-ray bursts. Spectral models require high densities at these high velocities, implying either a higher total ejecta mass than previously estimated or else a source of extra central emission. Extending into the IR with extit{JWST} data, we present a nebular spectrum of the normal Type Ia SN~2021aefx at 255 days post-maximum light covering 0.3--14um. These observations reveal strong nebular iron and stable nickel emission, indicative of high-density burning in a high-mass white dwarf (WD). With extit{JWST}'s improved sensitivity and resolution, we identify numerous emission lines from iron-group and intermediate-mass elements (IGEs, IMEs), including argon. The velocity structure and line profiles reveal stratified ejecta, consistent with delayed-detonation or double-detonation explosion models. We also analyze a extit{JWST} nebular spectrum spanning 0.4--14um of SN~2022pul, a peculiar ``03fg-like" (or ``super-Chandrasekhar") SN Ia at 338 days post-explosion. SN~2022pul exhibits asymmetric emission-line profiles, strong emission from IMEs (Ar and Ca), and the first detection of central [ion{Ne}{2}]~12.81um in a SN~Ia. Our results favor a violent merger of two sub-Chandrasekhar mass WDs as the origin of 03fg-like SNe~Ia. Finally, we briefly discuss additional ongoing and upcoming extit{JWST} observations of SNe throughout the thermonuclear zoo. These results highlight the power and promise of extended wavelength spectroscopy of SNe to transform our understanding of their astrophysical origins.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Low flow anesthesia
No full textPurpose of Project: A research study performed decades ago revealed a nephrotoxic substance, compound A, in rats. In this particular study, compound A was said to be the result of running Sevoflurane (a volatile agent) with a fresh gas flow below 2L/min. Therefore, anesthesia providers often will not allow their fresh gas flow to fall below 2L. However, in recent years several research studies have proven that not only is compound A not plausible in humans but lowering fresh gas flow below 2L can benefit the patient, the environment as well as the economic status of the hospital. The purpose of our project is to educate anesthesia staff at the project site about the benefits of using low flow anesthesia, thus allowing greater patient outcomes, lower hospital costs and improved environmental status. Methodology: The methodology for this project includes two educational sessions with staff, followed by several posters re-explaining the purpose of the project/benefits and small visual aids of a “Sevo snail” placed on each anesthesia machine encouraging staff to keep their fresh gas flows below 2L. Data was collected prior to our visual aid to assess how providers originally ran their flows. During implementation, spot checks were done to assess flow rate. After 8 weeks, we reviewed results. Results: After 8 weeks of implementation, we have concluded that our interventions of educational sessions and visual aids have been successful; several providers kept their flows below 2L. However it is important to note that our results are not particularly significant. Although we have seen an overall reduction in fresh gas flows, many providers are still keeping their fresh gas flows at 2L.D.N.P.Includes bibliographical reference
Increasing The Rates of Medication Compliance In Individuals with Psychiatric Illnesses
No full textAbstract Background Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders are chronic, debilitating psychiatric illnesses whose symptoms are severe and cause changes in individuals' behavior, and cognition leading to severe significant functional impairment. The severe symptoms necessitate the need for medication. However due to the stigma attached to mental illness. There is a lot of nonadherence to medication. Medication nonadherence leads to rehospitalization, relapse, assault, poor psychosocial functioning, and substance abuse.
Purpose: This project is to increase the rates of medication compliance in adult patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders in an outpatient facility using psychoeducation.
Methodology: The intervention was 4 weeks of psychoeducation, and the sessions were approximately one hour each week. The topics covered were illness, management, and recovery. To measure the outcomes, the Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) and Brief Adherence Rating Scale (BARS) were administered to the participants before and after the intervention. Descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon signed ranks test were used to analyze the data.
Results: MARS showed a statistically significant increase in medication compliance with the implementation of psychoeducation. (p = .001). Specifically, there was a significant improvement in medication adherence behavior (p = .001) and negative side effects and attitudes to psychotropic medication (p = .003). Although not significant, the participants' attitudes toward taking medication improved after psychoeducation (p = 0.150). The BARS assessed by the clinician also showed an increase in medication compliance.
Implications: Continued use of psychoeducation in mental health facilities will increase the rates of medication compliance and participation of patients in decisions regarding their health and treatment.D.N.P.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vit