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Rise of radicalization in Muslim majority states: a comparative case study analysis of Bangladesh and Pakistan
No full textKhan, MuqtedarThis dissertation aims to identify the underlying causes of the rise of Islamic radicalization in Muslim-majority countries. Since 9/11, many studies have been conducted on terrorism that focus on the tactics, strategies, and ideologies of jihadist groups. However, few studies have examined the underlying causes of radicalization that contribute to Islamic terrorism. To understand the causes of the rise of radicalization in Muslim-majority states, this research conducts a comparative case study analysis of two South Asian Muslim-majority states, including Bangladesh and Pakistan. These two countries represent Islam in their regions, and several Islamic movements that originated in these countries currently exist in other parts of the world. ☐ Drawing from the social mobilization literature, I argue that several key social mechanisms, such as “political opportunity structure,” “attribution of threat and opportunity,” “framing of the dispute,” “competition among contenders," “innovative collective action,” “repression,” “social appropriation,” and “strategies and tactics” contribute to Islamic radicalization in Muslim majority states. I argue that four factors contribute to increased Islamic radicalization. These factors include increased government support for Islamist groups, decreased opportunity for moderate Islamic parties (and movements), weaker secular civil society, and stronger ability of radical groups to appropriate social structures.University of Delaware, Department of Political Science and International RelationsPh.D
Comparative analysis of rodent lens morphometrics and biomechanical properties
No full textThis article was originally published in Frontiers in Ophthalmology by Frontiers Media. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fopht.2025.1562583.
© 2025 Cheheltani, Islam, Malino, Abera, Aryal, Forbes, Parreno and Fowler. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Introduction: Proper ocular lens function requires biomechanical flexibility, which is reduced during aging. As increasing lens size has been shown to correlate with lens biomechanical stiffness in aging, we tested the hypothesis that whole lens size determines gross biomechanical stiffness by comparing lenses of varying sizes from three rodent species (mice, rats, and guinea pigs).
Methods: Coverslip compression assay was performed to measure whole lens biomechanics. Whole mount staining on fixed lenses, followed by confocal microscopy, was conducted to measure lens microstructures.
Results: Among the three species, guinea pig lenses are the largest, rat lenses are smaller than guinea pig lenses, and mouse lenses are the smallest of the three. We found that rat and guinea pig lenses are stiffer than the much smaller mouse lenses. However, despite guinea pig lenses being larger than rat lenses, whole lens stiffness between guinea pigs and rats is not different. This refutes our hypothesis and indicates that lens size does not solely determine lens stiffness. We next compared lens microstructures, including nuclear size, capsule thickness, epithelial cell area, fiber cell widths, and suture organization between mice, rats, and guinea pigs. The lens nucleus is the largest in guinea pigs, followed by rats, and mice. However, the rat nucleus occupies a larger fraction of the lens. Both lens capsule thickness and fiber cell widths are the largest in guinea pigs, followed by mice and then rats. Epithelial cells are the largest in guinea pigs, and there are no differences between mice and rats. In addition, the lens suture shape appears similar across all three species.
Discussion: Overall, our data indicates that whole lens size and microstructure morphometrics do not correlate with lens stiffness, indicating that factors contributing to lens biomechanics are complex and likely multifactorial.The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NEI R01EY017724) (VF and JP). SI was supported by a predoctoral fellowship from the Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Grant (NIH/NIGMS T32GM133395) and a Doctoral Fellowship for Excellence Award from the University of Delaware. KA received an undergraduate Summer Scholar Award from the Delaware INBRE (NIH/NIGMS P20GM103446). This research also benefitted from the BioStore data management services of the Delaware Biotechnology Institute and Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Delaware ((RRID: SCR_017696), supported by NIH (NIGMS S10OD028725) and DE-INBRE (NIH/NIGMS P20GM103446)
EXAMINING THE ROLE OF FIGURE-GROUND ASSIGNMENT IN OBJECT-BASED WARPING
No full textenterObject perception is a top priority for the visual system as well as an essential
product of the perceptual process. Figure-ground organization and perceptual grouping
are two processes that aid the processing and formation of objects. To learn more
about the inner workings of object perception, we can explore perceptual illusions,
particularly object-based illusions that cannot be explained by simpler processes, such
as depth or size cues, and instead, depend on the object itself. Object-based warping is
one prominent example where the space inside of an object is warped when compared
to the surrounding space. As object-based warping affects the perception of an object,
we propose that it could be useful as a tool to study figure-ground perception to better
understand the impact of different figure cues, such as symmetry and object-recognition. For our study, we conducted two experiments. Experiment 1 examined
whether symmetry, a cue known to produce figural perception, also results in object-based warping. Experiment 2 explored whether object recognition in figure-ground
displays impacted object-based warping. For experiment 1, we found that regions
bounded by symmetric contours resulted in a larger warping effect than asymmetric
ones, implying they were perceived as the object by participants. As for experiment 2,
high denotative regions demonstrated a larger warping effect, indicating object
recognition impacted perception. From these results, this study showed object-based
warping can be used as an implicit measure of figure perception to better understand
object perception. Additionally, symmetry and object recognition both seem to serve
as figure cues that influence the perception of a scene and result in object-like
perceptions.ente
Structural-Level Stigma Within Emergency Food Assistance Programs: Perspectives from Delaware and Pennsylvania
No full textThis article was originally published in Delaware Journal of Public Health. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.32481/djph.2025.11.07
Copyright (c) 2025 Delaware Academy of Medicine / Delaware Public Health Association.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Objective: To characterize the ways in which structural stigma manifests within emergency food program settings. Methods: We conducted 30-minute semi-structured interviews with 18 emergency food program clients in Pennsylvania and Delaware between August and December of 2024. The discussion guide included open-ended questions regarding client experiences of structural stigma, with an emphasis on issues of access and quality. Demographic data and household food insecurity (Hunger Vital Sign) were also captured. A hybrid inductive and deductive coding approach was used to analyze the data. Results: Structural stigma is a persistent issue within emergency food program environments, impacting both participant access and quality. Access constraints included long wait times, limited agency over food choice, and accessibility challenges for individuals with physical disabilities, whereas quality constraints included receiving expired/spoiled foods or foods not aligned with participants’ nutritional needs. These issues led to the erosion of autonomy and dignity and perpetuated clients’ feelings of shame, frustration, and discomfort. Conclusions: Intervention strategies such as routinely assessing structural stigma, implementing and monitoring quality standards, increasing infrastructure funding for pantries, creating direct distribution channels with local growers, and revising tax incentive policies show promise for reducing structural stigma within emergency food program settings. Implications: Findings indicate the importance of addressing structural barriers related to accessibility and quality to reduce stigma and create more equitable and inclusive food assistance systems
Molecular-Scale Simulation of Wetting of Actin Filaments by Protein Droplets
No full textThis document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c07282.
This article will be embargoed 01/12/2026.Liquid phase-separating proteins can form condensates that play an important role in spatial and temporal organization of biological cells. The understanding of the mechanisms that lead to the formation of protein condensates and their interactions with other biomolecules may lead to processing routes for soft materials with tailored geometry and function. Fused in sarcoma (FUS) is an example of a nuclear protein that forms stable complexes, and recent studies have highlighted its ability to wet actin filaments and bundle them into networks. We perform coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the wetting and spreading of FUS droplets on actin filaments. We employ the Martini model and rescale the protein–protein and protein–actin interactions to tune the interfacial and wetting properties of FUS droplets. By measuring the molecular displacements in the three-phase region, we are able to relate contact angle, contact line velocity, and contact line friction in terms of a linear approximation of molecular kinetic theory. The results show that the rescaled Martini model can be used to study the molecular mechanisms of dynamic wetting at the nanoscale and to obtain quantitative predictions of the contact line friction and contact angles during dynamic wetting.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF Award DMR-1944942/DMR-2414458. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation. This work used NCSA Delta GPU at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications through allocation PHY220131 from the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS) program, which is supported by National Science Foundation grants #2138259, #2138286, #2138307, #2137603, and #2138296
Topological structures, gravitational waves and dark matter in Grand Unified Theories
No full textShafi, QaisarIn this thesis we explore the interplay between topological structures, gravitational waves, and dark matter in Grand Unified Theories, focusing on SO(10) and E_6. We uncover composite topological structures from the spontaneous breaking of SO(10) to the Standard Model, including string networks forming necklaces, dumbbells connecting monopoles with antimonopoles, and walls bounded by necklaces. By examining these structures before and after electroweak symmetry breaking, we discuss their early-universe formation and gravitational wave implications. Extending to E_6, we consider topological structures emerging from its breaking via SO(10), including novel scenarios for producing metastable and current-carrying strings. We analyze the stochastic gravitational wave background from these strings, finding compatibility with observations, including recent NANOGrav data. We investigate third-family quasi-Yukawa unification within a supersymmetric framework, finding viable sparticle mass spectra and stable dark matter candidates. We highlight collider-accessible gluino solutions, and heavy Higgsino-like states compatible with dark matter relic density and direct detection experiments. Collectively, these studies provide insights into the formation and evolution of topological structures in Grand Unified Theories, their gravitational wave signatures, and their roles in dark matter phenomenology, offering novel perspectives on the early universe's evolution and guiding future experimental searches.University of Delaware, Department of Physics and AstronomyPh.D
PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF P97 AND LIPID NANODISC
No full textenterp97’s main function in the cell is to act as a segregase, isolating misbehaving
proteins from their environment. Importantly, p97 plays this role in Endoplasmic
Reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD), a cellular pathway that removes deviant
proteins, whether they be misfolded, misbehaving, or misplaced, from the ER. For p97
to perform this role, it must be localized to the ER membrane. This job of localizing
p97 can be done by selenoprotein S, a protein embedded into the ER membrane.
Yet there are still many unanswered questions about the details of this interaction.
If we want to study this interaction, we need to purify and characterize p97 and a
membrane mimic for selenoprotein S to embed in. We expressed p97 in Rosetta2 (DE3)
cells and purified p97 with immobilized metal affinity chromotgraphy. Moreover, we
characterized p97 assembly with size exclusion chromatography.
We choose to use lipid nanodiscs as our membrane mimic. Lipid nanodiscs
are composed of a lipid bilayer surrounded by a long helical protein called membrane
scaffolding protein (MSP). We expressed MSP in BL21 (DE3) cells and purified MSP
with a series of nickel charged columns. Lastly, we assembled the nanodisc with 1-
palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) lipids and imaged the nan odisc with Negative Staining Transmission Electron microscopente
Collothalamic projections to the human amygdala: hemispheric asymmetry modulates trait anxiety
No full textThis article was originally published in Journal of Neurophysiology. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00033.2024.
Copyright © 2025 The Authors.
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Published by the American Physiological Society.In 19 people, probabilistic DTI tractography was used to visualize the topographic relationships between three white matter components of a fascicle, the supraventricular temporal bundle, that traverses above the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle: collothalamic auditory and visual projections to the amygdala via the posterior thalamus, and the amygdalofugal stria terminalis. This bundle constitutes a subcortical, “low road” pathway that transmits threat signals to the amygdala, and that projects signals that bias orienting toward visual threat to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. The course of the visual streamline passes below the brachium of the superior colliculus through the position of two thalamic nuclei that have been shown to both receive afferents from the superficial layers of the superior colliculus and to also project to the amygdala: the suprageniculate nucleus and the inferior pulvinar. The visual streamline passes laterally dorsal to the auditory streamline and both collothalamic streamlines then traverse together above the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle, dorsal to the stria terminalis, with the auditory streamline dorsal to the visual streamline, and entering the lateral amygdala dorsal and medial to it. Individual differences in the degree of hemispheric asymmetry of the fractional anisotropy of the visual streamline, but not the auditory streamline, predicted trait anxiety: weaker left hemisphere connectivity relative to those in the right hemisphere was associated with higher trait anxiety. There was no correlation between individual differences in the microstructure of either the stria terminalis or the ventral amygdalofugal pathway and trait anxiety.
NEW & NOTEWORTHY Three components of a white matter bundle, auditory and visual collothalamic projections to the amygdala and the stria terminalis, traverse above the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle. This bundle constitutes a “low road” pathway that transmits threat signals to the amygdala, via the posterior thalamus, and that biases spatial orienting toward visual threat. Hemispheric asymmetry of the microstructure of the visual pathway predicts individual differences in trait anxiety
