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Marginal centers : parties on, off, and through Manhattan public access television, 1972–1983
Full text linkThis dissertation aims to expand our knowledge of New York City’s interdisciplinary, collaborative, and creative social networks in the 1970s and early 1980s through close readings of four Manhattan public access television shows: Anton Perich’s "Anton Perich Presents" (1972–ca. 1978), Glenn O’Brien’s "TV Party" (1978–1982), Andy Warhol’s "Fashion" (1979–1980), and "Andy Warhol’s T.V." (1980–1983). Inherent to this project is an investigation into methodologies for researching and writing about lived creative lives and the production, patrolling, and evolution of extensive social worlds. I argue that the shows draw upon the pace, place, and people of parties to form what I call “marginal centers,” or diverse social and creative spaces (on, off, and through television) that present alternatives to binary historical concepts of uptown/downtown, mainstream/underground, high/low, gay/straight, male/female, central/marginal, and art/life. This project also addresses the complex discourses of television and video art in the 1970s to argue not only for a difference between them, but also for the art historical ramifications of coming to grips with the divergent visual experiences embodied in their distinctive means of production, reception, and circulation. I propose that for these shows, operating at the intersection of parties and television and at the theoretical crossroads of Erving Goffman, Marshall McLuhan, and Raymond Williams, the social was the medium that was the message. The social, in this case, was not only the impetus for creation, but also the end product—one that was molded and modified, crafted and captured for television. Analyzing their modes of production, content, and viewership (both real and imagined), I argue that public access television became a semiprivate place for these participants to party and extend their social and creative fields beyond the clubs, bars, lofts, and events in New York. The production of these shows became a part of the producers’ daily lives and, in turn, watching these shows became a part of their viewers’ lives. The televisual flow and social flow met on these four public access shows—collapsing and intertwining into each other in powerful ways that redefine what socializing and meeting can be.Art Histor
More than sum of its parts : investigating episodic memory as a multidimensional cognitive process
Full text linkThere are many events we experience in our daily lives, only some of which we later remember. It remains unclear why some events are better remembered than others. While there have been numerous studies attempting to predict memory success using brain activity recorded from electroencephalography (EEG), memory prediction success has been mediocre. In this dissertation, I aimed to improve our ability to predict memory success by investigating the multiple underlying processes involved in encoding. Specifically, in Study 1, I optimized neural classification methodology to more accurately predict memory performance. Even though choosing the optimal classification methodology improved the performance, there remained room for further improvement. Along these lines, memory is a multidimensional process in which various cognitive functions contribute to memory formation. Consequently, in Study 2, I measured the contribution of visual perception, sustained attention, and selective attention (i.e., the “sources”) to encoding-related activity. I recorded EEG while 47 participants performed perception, sustained attention, selective attention, and episodic memory tasks. For each source, I designed a high vs. low performance classifier and leveraged the information about the brain states associated with low and high levels to predict memory performance from encoding-related brain activity. Results showed that this multidimensional assessment of the underlying processes happening during encoding improved memory decoding performance relative to evaluating episodic encoding as a unidimensional process. While the prediction performance improved, questions remained about the variation of involvement of these cognitive functions over time, over spatial location, based on time-on-task, and the encoding success history. Investigating these questions, in Study 3, I found successful encoding was associated with higher levels of each source than unsuccessful encoding regardless of encoding time period. As time-on-task increased, neural evidence associated with high levels of each source decreased, suggesting possible increases in fatigue and/or efficiency. Furthermore, the involvement of these cognitive functions fluctuated depending on the previous event’s memory success. Together, these studies provide invaluable insight into the underlying characteristics of successful memory encoding.Psycholog
The Dominant Major-Ninth Chord in Treatises and Textbooks
Full text linkIn connection with my blog On the Dominant Ninth Chord, I read in and put up posts about a number of treatises and textbooks. These posts are gathered here, with some additional material focused on repertoire. The survey is meant to complement my documentation of the treatment of the dominant major-ninth chord and the upper tetrachord of the major keyMusi
The homeless civic society : a study of liminal citizenship
Full text linkIn the seemingly exceptional American democracy—a country that prides itself as a beacon of progress, technology, and prosperity—millions of Americans experiencing homelessness are deprived of the most basic human needs of shelter and safety and subjected to severe economic, social, and civic exclusion. Existing approaches to this problem address the economic exclusion of people experiencing homelessness but fail to attend to their civic exclusion. This dissertation offers an alternative by exploring the potential contribution of civic participation in addressing homelessness. Considering homelessness as a civic and political problem comes to terms with the severe civic exclusion it entails. Despite being legal citizens, people experiencing homelessness are commonly excluded from enacting their citizenship or from any meaningful participation in civic, democratic life, and are considered unworthy of civic belonging. As such, they occupy what I refer to as liminal citizenship. In this dissertation, I ask how civic participation contributes to alleviating homelessness and explore how homeless individuals negotiate their liminal citizenship through daily practices of civic participation. Based on rhetorical field methods — including six months of ethnographic fieldwork and rhetorical analysis of homeless advocacy products — I explore the communicative dynamics between various housed and homeless actors and analyze their public rhetoric. Specifically, I ask what homeless individuals do to participate civically and discuss how they come to acknowledge the structural causes of their homelessness, form a shared identity, maintain social support networks, leverage their embodied knowledge, and advocate for their community. My findings indicate that civic participation is a site where homeless individuals continuously negotiate their liminal citizenship — where they are subjected to social powers and discourses while also re-affirming their civic agency. Participating civically, they undergo a process of “political healing” that facilitates restoring a diminished sense of civic efficacy and agency. Their participation grants homeless individuals a sense of meaning and belonging lacking in existing housing solutions and therefore promotes homing rather than just housing.Communication Studie
Resource allocation & estimation algorithms for improved positioning in wireless OFDM networks
Full text linkPrecise and robust positioning is a key technology enabling the next generation of connected devices, intelligent vehicles, and air mobility platforms. To achieve the high precision demands of these applications, devices are increasingly focusing on the use of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals due to their widespread availability in existing cellular network infrastructure and efficient spectral usage. However, traditional positioning methods rely on the presence of known reference signals which the user may correlate against. While existing cellular OFDM signals contain such reference signals, increased positioning accuracy may be desired and require resources or power to be diverted from the communication link, thereby decreasing data throughput. This tradeoff in communication throughput and positioning accuracy can be balanced through intelligent resource allocation and through estimation algorithms that exploit data resources without requiring the allocation of additional reference signals.
This dissertation is divided into three studies. The first study explores the design tradeoffs of OFDM signals used for both communications and ranging using traditional estimation techniques. The second study analyzes how the power and resource allocations of OFDM signal can be efficiently optimized to minimize ranging errors. The third study proposes bounds, estimators, and signal design strategies for exploiting data resources in time-of-arrival estimation, improving positioning accuracy without the allocation of any additional reference signals and minimizing overhead requirements by the network.Electrical and Computer Engineerin
Veteran teachers' perceptions of novice teacher types and their impact on working conditions in a high-poverty urban school district
Full text linkThis qualitative case study explored how veteran teachers perceive novice teachers and how the presence of novice educators influences their working conditions in high-poverty secondary schools, because much of the existing research on teacher turnover focused on novice educators and the factors contributing to novice teacher attrition rather than the effects of the increasing presence of novice teachers on veteran educators in high-poverty secondary schools. The research was carried out in the North Texas School District (NTSD) secondary schools, a large, urban public school district known for ongoing high teacher turnover rates. The teacher turnover problem had worsened in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, not only in NTSD but also across the state. As a result of widespread staffing shortages, urban schools increasingly depended on alternatively certified or non-certified novice teachers with limited pedagogical training or experience in urban school settings. A single large and urban school district, NTSD, bounded the qualitative single-case study. The data collection was guided by six domains of the workplace conditions framework developed by Leiter and Maslach: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. The application of interpretivist epistemology also immersed me in the participants' subjective experiences during analysis. Semistructured interviews represented the primary source of data collection. The interview protocol was used to gather detailed narratives from the veteran teacher participants.
Along with interviews, institutional documents related to teacher retention data, professional development records, and school policies were reviewed to gain a contextual understanding of the veteran teachers’ data and support data triangulation. Interview transcripts were analyzed using deductive coding to ensure alignment with the study’s workplace conditions framework, while inductive coding allowed for the emergence of unanticipated themes directly from participants’ responses. Six main themes emerged that depicted how secondary school environments rely on veteran teachers to uphold school culture, maintain instructional consistency, and adapt continuously with limited systemic support. Theme 1 addressed novice teacher preparedness and entry pathways. Theme 2 referred to classroom management and professional boundaries. Theme 3 focused on veteran identity, professionalism, and retention. Theme 4 described the impact of novice teachers on veteran workload. Theme 5 examined shifts in student behavior post-COVID and their effects. Theme 6 highlighted policy and legal mandates that worsen veteran teacher workloads. The study offers implications for policymakers, school districts, and school leaders, along with recommendations for future research.Educational Leadership and Polic
Understanding school based mental health professionals' experiences post Covid-19 with African American and Latinx adolescents
Full text linkAfrican American and Latinx adolescents are disproportionately impacted by mental health wellness due to social and external factors, such as exposure to poverty and a general lack of access to resources, including mental health resources. Mental health challenges adversely impact these communities in a way that other racial and ethnic groups do not experience. Yet, little is known about whether school-based mental health professionals (SBMHP) are well equipped to deal with the current mental health challenges experienced by youth in schools. Thus, the purpose of my study is to analyze how SBMHPs, which includes social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists, feel the training they receive equips them to address the current mental health needs of African American and Latinx youth, post Covid-19. With this focus, the reality of the impact of social and cultural mental health challenges can inform future training and development of SBMHPs.Educational Leadership and Polic
Master's thesis recital (conductor)
Full text linkOverture to the barber of Seville / Gioacchino Rossini ; arr. Wenzel Sedlak -- Bull's eye / Viet Cuong -- Kyrie (for Machaut and Pärt) / David Beidenbender ; arr. Tyler Austin -- Danzón no. 2 / Arturo Márquez.MusicName of supervisor not provided
Optimizing critical minerals extraction from the Fen Carbonatite Complex in Norway : statistical analysis of rare earth elements and elements of potential secondary value for sustainable mining, reduced mine waste, and an independent European value chain
Full text linkThis study presents the results from statistical analyses of geochemical datasets from the Fe-dolomite carbonatite (FDC) in the Fen Carbonatite Complex (FCC) in southern Norway to assess the relationship between Rare Earth Elements (REE), particularly NdPr, and key geochemical variables and elements of potential secondary value. The relationships interpreted aim to maximize resource recovery and reduce mine waste for a future REE-mine that can contribute to a new, independent REE supply chain in Europe. Datasets consist of 12 FCC exploration cores, organized into five sub-sets, for which whole-rock geochemical analyses (60 elements) were available at 1-meter intervals for a total of 6127 samples. Initial statistical analysis involved initial data sorting, standardization, and grouping/combining of variables, followed by variable reduction through feature ranking analysis. The following statistical analysis involved a dimensional reduction of geochemical data through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and data grouping through k-means clustering. Additional scatter plots following cluster analysis were performed with key geochemical variables to further aid in interpreting and analyzing results. Four principal components (PC), contributing to an average of 70.6% total variance explained from all sub-sets of geochemical data, were retained for further analysis and k-means clustering. PC1 represents the REE component, and PC2 represents the Fe-dolomite component of the FDC, whereas PC3 and PC4 are challenging to interpret due to limited mineralogical knowledge about the FDC. Subsequent k-means clustering shows that PC1 and PC2 are associated with distinct FDC clusters that likely represent high-grade REE-FDC rocks and a Fe-dolomite component, respectively. Uranium shows no correlation and relationship with the REE, and thorium shows a much closer relationship with Heavy Rare Earths (HREE) than Light Rare Earths (LREE), implying that thorite is precipitated in close association with HREE minerals. Further interpretation of variables of potential secondary value shows that minerals containing manganese, barium, phosphorus, and niobium show no association with the REE, implying that separating these minerals from REE may be possible. Phosphorus in apatite and monazite is found in all stages of carbonatite formation, which is implied by phosphorus in ores with high and low REE content. These results suggest that separation of REE-minerals and minerals of potential secondary value will not impede each other. This may result in reduced mine waste and an increased output of mineral products, which is crucial given the growing emphasis on sustainability and environmental considerations in mining activity. The FCC will likely play a crucial part in developing a REE source for a future European REE-value chain, and steps taken by the Norwegian government and the EU are being implemented to facilitate this development.Earth and Planetary Science
Brain region and cell-type specific gene expression in alcohol consumption and dependence
No full textAlcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic, relapsing disorder where problematic alcohol use negatively impacts quality of life. AUD is driven by long-term changes in the brain that are induced by the pharmacological and reinforcing properties of alcohol. These changes are multifaceted, and include alterations in gene expression, neurotransmitter release, neuronal excitability, and immune signaling throughout the body. Physiological responses to alcohol are complex, and can vary between brain regions and across cell-types, so understanding which cell populations within the brain are susceptible to alcohol’s pharmacological effects is crucial for developing treatments for AUD. It is important that we examine alcohol-induced changes in gene expression, so that they can potentially be normalized by new therapies. In this dissertation, I approach these issues with two distinct strategies. First, I utilized genetic tools, including AAV viral vectors and transgenic animals, to manipulate gene expression in two brain regions that are known to mediate alcohol consumption, the central amygdala and the dorsal striatum. I used these techniques to determine how multiple neurotransmitters that are released from a population of corticotropin releasing factor neurons in the central amygdala affect voluntary alcohol consumption. We determined that these cells can suppress alcohol consumption through the release of the small-molecule neurotransmitter GABA. Then, I used similar techniques to demonstrate that knocking down the immunomodulatory receptor TLR3 in the dorsal striatum decreases alcohol consumption, localizing a previously observed effect in a global knockout specifically to that region of the brain. Subsequently, I used single-nuclei sequencing techniques to examine the effects of alcohol withdrawal on diverse cell populations within the central amygdala. These experiments allowed us to perform the first ever single-cell characterization of the rodent central amygdala, and to identify specific populations of cells that had transcriptomic responses to alcohol. Two of these populations, astrocytes and PKC-Delta expressing neurons were particularly affected. These novel findings significantly contribute to our understanding of the neurobiological basis of AUD, and provide new targets for future research into the treatment of addictive disorders.Neuroscienc