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HIGH PROSPERITY, HIGH INEQUALITY: HOW NEIGHBORHOOD CONDITIONS ACTIVATE CLASS VOTING
No full textThis study investigates how neighborhood economic contexts condition the link between social class and electoral choice. Merging five waves of the Korean General Social Survey (2010–2014) with administrative housing records, this research assigns respondents two contextual variables: neighborhood prosperity, measured by mean apartment price, and neighborhood inequality, proxied by the price coefficient of variation. Using Erik Olin Wright’s class schema, multilevel linear probability models reveal a clear context-dependent regularity where class differences in conservative voting appear most pronounced when high prosperity coincides with high inequality. In these settings, capitalists are significantly more likely to support conservative parties, whereas working-class voters become less inclined to do so as prosperity and inequality rise, a pattern consistent with threat perceptions among the affluent and relative deprivation among lower-status groups. Conversely, where either prosperity or inequality is moderate, class gaps tend to narrow or disappear. The new middle class and petite bourgeoisie occupy intermediate positions, shifting their allegiances contingent on the local economic mix. Although the cross-sectional data warrant caution regarding causality, the results suggest that visible economic contrasts within prosperous neighborhoods are closely associated with sharper class divides at the ballot box. Broadly, this analysis demonstrates the value of combining survey evidence with asset-based contextual measures to clarify when class remains a meaningful axis of electoral conflict, highlighting the need for longitudinal research on neighborhood effects
The Role of Bacteriophages in Colorectal Cancer Pathogenesis
No full textSenior Honors Thesis, Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, University of Wisconsin-MadisonColorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, with increasing evidence implicating the gut microbiome in its pathogenesis. While bacterial contributions have been extensively studied, the role of bacteriophages, the predominant viral entities in the gut, remains poorly understood. This study investigates the relationship between prophage presence and activity in CRC, leveraging metagenomic data and viral identification tools. This study characterized viral taxa, prophage activity, and protein enrichment patterns between CRC and healthy control samples. Analyses revealed that while most prophages were dormant, specific bacterial and viral taxa, particularly from phyla such as Fusobacteriota and the Circoviridae family, were significantly enriched in CRC samples. Enriched viral proteins were functionally linked to inflammation, immune modulation, and cell proliferation, suggesting a potential mechanistic role in CRC progression. These findings offer new insights into the virome’s contribution to CRC and may support future development of virome-based diagnostics or therapeutic strategies
A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF AUDIENCE RESPONSE TO VISUAL AND AUDIO CONTENT THAT CONNECTS
No full textThis dissertation investigates how different forms of content create connection with their audience by examining the underlying factors that influence when and why certain content resonates. Across two essays, I explore how the ability of content to connect is shaped by its fit with viewer context and emotional experience. The first essay focuses on visual content and examines how the match between image characteristics and consumer goals affects engagement. The second essay turns to audio content in advertising, exploring how the emotional properties of ad audio influence audience response both within and across ads. Together, these essays offer a unified perspective on the mechanisms through which content builds audience connection in modern marketing environments. Essay 1 investigates how the match between visual content and consumer goals influences engagement across digital platforms. Drawing on the theory of goal-directed attention, this essay examines whether content that matches users’ underlying goals generates higher engagement. Using five datasets spanning non-retail and retail environments, the study applies machine learning tools to extract and classify visual themes and models engagement using negative binomial regression. Results show that engagement is highest when image content aligns with platform-specific goals: people-centric and artistic visuals on social platforms, product-focused displays on retail homepages, and contextual in-use imagery on product pages. The findings highlight the importance of goal-content fit in driving visual engagement and offer actionable insights for content strategy in marketing. Essay 2 examines how the emotional characteristics of ad audio shape audience response within and across television advertisements. Drawing on Russell’s circumplex model of affect, I focus on the role of arousal and valence in determining the extent to which an ad connects with viewers and influences their likelihood to interrupt. Leveraging audio data from television ads alongside three external music emotion datasets, each offering a distinct way of representing emotional dimensions, I develop predictive models of arousal and valence based on low-level audio features. These predictions are then used to explore how the emotional properties of one ad affect both its own performance and that of the ad that follows it. The findings reveal a consistent pattern: while emotionally rich ads perform well in isolation, emotional contrast, particularly upward transitions in arousal or valence, enhances viewer connection across ad sequences. This essay contributes to a broader understanding of emotional spillover and the importance of sequencing in audio-driven media experiences.2027-05-2
African American women survivors of intimate partner violence navigating the intersection of healthcare and law enforcement: A qualitative study
No full textIntimate partner violence is a global public health issue impacting millions of people each year. Black women constitute 7% of the United States population, but alarmingly comprise 22% of homicides resulting from intimate partner violence. Due to historical transgressions and trauma, intimate partner violence is uniquely perpetuated in the African American community. Healthcare and law enforcement are central to the care and justice for women who have experienced intimate partner violence, yet studies examining how these resources intersect are lacking. The purpose of this study was to cultivate an in-depth understanding of how individual and familial histories inform how African American women survivors navigate healthcare and law enforcement in the Midwest following intimate partner violence. A descriptive qualitative approach of critical ethnography informed the study. Black feminism and standpoint and intersectionality theories were chosen as frameworks to underpin the study. Fourteen African American women were recruited from the Midwest and participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to guide data analysis. Three major themes were identified: 1) Cumulative Trauma, 2) Navigation of Systems, and 3) Equity and Justice for African American Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence. In the first theme, the women shared their lifetime cumulative experiences of witnessing and experiencing violence in their neighborhoods, within their families, and in their relationships. In the second theme, the women explained how their cumulative trauma and previous experiences with violence informed their beliefs about what qualified as intimate partner violence. The previous experiences with violence also influenced how and if they sought help from these systems of healthcare and law enforcement after experiencing intimate partner violence. The final theme presents recommendations from the women regarding how to improve education and practice among healthcare and law enforcement professionals. The women’s narratives emphasize the need for community-informed interventions to break cycles of intergenerational trauma. Recommendations from the women inform education and practice grounded in intersectionality and cultural safety frameworks.2027-05-2
Wetland Restoration Benefits the Mukwonago River Watershed
No full textWetland Restoration Benefits the Mukwonago River Watershe
Serfdom in the Baltics: Unfree Labor Systems in Contact with Intellectual Upheaval
No full textSenior Thesi
Freeway to Skyline: I-794: What's Possible?
No full textThe UWM 794 Urban Design Seminar explored the long-term potential – If I-794 is removed, What’s Possible?
Architecture and urban planning students envision what’s possible, including the potential for significant annual tax revenue – new development opportunities, public spaces, transit upgrades, and stronger street connections between downtown and the Historic Third Ward.
Dynamic cities and neighborhoods thrive through the integration of diverse uses, scales, cultures, and populations. Strategies such as placemaking, mixed-use development, and varied densities can foster vibrant activity centers, enrich the urban experience, strengthen existing downtown districts, and enhance the overall value of cities
Implementing a massively parallel sequencing workflow for the sequencing of serially passaged influenza A virus
No full textInfluenza viruses are human and animal pathogens. Influenza viruses infect the
respiratory tract of humans and can cause disease ranging from mild discomfort to death.
In the United States roughly 30 million cases of seasonal influenza are reported yearly of
which 500,000 require hospitalization. Host-to-host transmission of influenza viruses
imposes a bottleneck wherein viral population size and diversity are dramatically
reduced. Here, we evaluate how artificial serial bottleneck events of differing sizes affect
the trajectory of influenza virus evolution. Previous work generated a panel of progeny
lines by serially passaging A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2) in cell culture in which each
subsequent round of growth was initiated by 1, 100, or 1000 viruses. I implemented a
massively parallel sequencing workflow for the sequencing of serially passaged influenza
A virus and characterized mutational patterns. We found that the amount of consensus
sequence changes was not significantly different between the three passage conditions.
Instead, the diversity of below consensus changes increased as the number of viruses
used to initiate growth increased
Making and Remaking Waters Wild: Environmental Humanities and Multispecies Justice
No full textThis dissertation investigates human-animal relationships in city conservation actions to reintroduce and resettle riverine species. I chart the cultural implication and historical context of the beaver and sturgeon as they traveled across the Milwaukee River in recent years following their reappearance and reintroduction in the river. I argue that the struggles, expectations, and impact of the last twenty years of river conservation are still based in imperial colonization. Even though these Lake Sturgeon and Beaver are native to Milwaukee, since they have been missing from the landscape for nearly 200 years, some people claim they do not belong. For instance, these recent contentious issues – (1) the federal lawsuit regarding the beaver management program and (2) the debate over exemption of Lake Sturgeon from the Endangered Species Act – reveal how the confrontations over these political and legal issues were simultaneously historical debates. They offer a lens onto how these controversies which center on lake ecologies and rivers in Milwaukee and elsewhere in Wisconsin bear wider implications for engaging with matters of multispecies justice in the past, present, and future.As a place-based approach, I trace the activities of organizations and groups whose interest in certain species, has inspired them to help create more healthy ecosystems, bringing restoration, people, and nonhuman animals together in new ecological niches. The interactions and engagement of multiple species on the Milwaukee River during resettlement and reintroduction is an attempt of recompensation. This restoration of species and environments generates unexpected faunal relations, with the Milwaukee waterways acting as liaisons and intermediaries. Enriching the local environment through cleaner waters, planting of trees along the shoreline, and the removal of manmade dams has allowed beaver to naturally return to the river. The building of fish passages, strong public support, and a network of advocates and volunteers have given sturgeon a home in Milwaukee after their disappearance in the late 1800s. Both creatures suffered dislocation, forced removal, and were killed in droves, but multiple organizations, federal and nonprofit, support the return of the sturgeon. In addition, while beavers are returning to these urban environments naturally, sturgeon are bred and reintroduced into the city’s waters. Ultimately, I detail the consequences and impact of human activities on environmental health, nonhuman beings, and Milwaukee waterways.2027-05-2
Bootstrap-Based Robustness Analysis of Parameter Optimization in Climate Models Using QuadTune
No full textTuning the parameters of climate models is essential for improving their performance, butthis process is often complicated by structural limitations, overfitting, and trade-offs between different regions or variables. This thesis combines the QuadTune optimization framework with nonparametric bootstrap resampling to analyze parameter uncertainty and identify tuning conflicts. Bootstrap replicates of input metrics are used to generate empirical distributions of parameter estimates and construct nonparametric confidence intervals. Residuals from bootstraptuned parameters are compared with default and full-dataset residuals to assess spatial bias and model robustness. A residual-based diagnostic method is introduced to detect tuning trade-offs by evaluating the minimum ℓ2 norm and correlation of residual pairs, resulting in a binary conflict map that highlights jointly untunable metrics. The analysis focuses on the SWCF (shortwave cloud forcing) variable using 10,000 bootstrap samples over a 20◦ × 20◦ spatial grid. Results show that while QuadTune improves global performance, regional tuning conflicts and structural biases remain, highlighting limitations that cannot be addressed by parameter tuning alone