36214 research outputs found
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Laser-induced Graphitization of Lignocellulosic Nanofiiber and Lignin-based Substrate
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2025Laser-induced graphitization (LIG) has emerged as a promising technique for the synthesis of conductive carbon materials. This process involves the controlled ablation of a material using a laser beam, leaving behind a patterned conductive carbon material. This technology has garnered significant attention due to its potential applications in the fabrication of all-carbon electronics, including electronics, energy storage devices, and new technology. Current methods for laser-induced graphitization often rely on expensive pulsed lasers and petroleum-derived polymer substrates, limiting their scalability and sustainability. Additionally, recent research explores using renewable substrates, such as wood, cellulose paper, and other biomaterials for laser scribing, these approaches often necessitate the addition of harmful chemicals, such as fire retardants or metal catalysts, undermining their environmental and economic advantages.To address these limitations, the present study investigated laser-induced graphitization of lignin-coated filter paper pre-adsorbed with cellulose nanofibrils using a low-cost, continuous diode laser with an output power of 10W. The Taguchi method, a statistical design of experiments technique, was employed to optimize the laser processing parameters and achieve tailored electrical conductivity and kerf roughness. As-synthesized materials were thoroughly characterized using four-point probe resistance measurements, optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction to elucidate their structural and electrical properties. This work demonstrates a sustainable and cost-effective approach to laser-induced graphitization using lignocellulosic nanofiber and lignin-based substrate in combination with a continuous wave laser, offering a promising pathway for scalable fabrication of carbon-based electronics
Interpretable Analysis of Melanoma in Whole Slide Imaging: Detection, Virtual Staining, and Diagnostic Insights
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2025Whole slide imaging (WSI) has transformed digital pathology, offering extensive details in skin biopsies used for melanoma diagnosis. However, clinical assessments remain challenging, with diagnostic accuracy and efficiency limited by the inherent complexity and variability of these images. While computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems can analyze WSIs using deep learning approaches, they often treat the images as pure data inputs, lacking the clinical understanding essential for nuanced assessment. Developing an accurate and reliable CAD model therefore requires not only detecting diagnostically relevant structures but also capturing the clinical context in which these structures are assessed. This dissertation aims to address these needs by introducing a novel diagnosis model that integrates both the key diagnostic structures and the interpretive processes pathologists use to evaluate WSIs. The initial focus of the work is on detecting and segmenting diagnostically relevant structures within WSIs, beginning with a method for identifying melanocytic proliferations using sparse and noisy annotations to highlight suspicious regions that guide diagnostic reasoning. To further investigate cellular entities, VSGD-Net was developed to accurately detect melanocytes in H&E-stained slides, a crucial step for analyzing melanocyte distribution and growth patterns in melanoma. Additionally, VSGD-Net enables virtual synthesis of IHC-stained images from standard H&E WSIs, facilitating further insights without the need for additional staining procedures. This method is extended by CC-WSI-Net, which enables seamless synthesis across entire slides rather than isolated patches, enhancing contextual coherence at the whole-slide level. To support pathologists' diagnostic workflow, the Semantics-Aware Attention Guidance (SAG) framework is introduced, integrating semantic information to guide model's attention toward regions with high diagnostic relevance. Finally, a Multi-level Region-of-Interest Attending Network (MiRA) is developed to emulate how pathologists diagnose WSIs by integrating information from both low-resolution whole slides and high-resolution regions of interest. This dual-level approach improves diagnostic efficiency and aligns the model's behavior with clinical workflows, making it both effective and interpretable for pathologists. In summary, this dissertation presents deep learning methods for interpretable melanoma diagnosis, integrating key diagnostic structures with clinical reasoning. These advancements aim to improve the reliability and consistency of melanoma diagnoses, supporting more efficient clinical workflows and better patient outcomes
Shaping Civil Society: Media, Donors and Public Trust in Southeast Asian NGOs
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2025This dissertation examines how perceptions of civil society are shaped by social media, organizational attributes, and elite media narratives. Empirically, I focus on perceptions of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) in Southeast Asia. Combining a cross-national survey, a conjoint experiment, and machine learning analysis, this three-paper dissertation investigates the following questions: (1) How does social media usage influence trust in NGOs compared to governmental institutions in hybrid and authoritarian regimes? (2) What organizational traits drive donor support for ENGOs? (3) How do elite media portrayals of ENGOs differ based on their service or advocacy orientations? Chapter 1 utilizes the Asian Barometer Data to explore if social media enhances trust in NGOs by creating civic spaces for political expression, while eroding confidence in governmental institutions due to public scrutiny of the state on these platforms. I determine that social media usage is associated with reduced trust in governmental institutions but enhances trust in NGOs. Chapter 2 uses a conjoint experiment in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore to examine donor preferences for ENGOs. I find that individual donors favor organizations that prioritize regional issues, partner with regional organizations and promote gender inclusive leadership. Chapter 3 analyzes English-language media coverage of Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) using machine learning techniques. I find systematic biases against advocacy orientated organizations. Service-oriented ENGOs like WWF received positive, trust-laden portrayals while groups like Greenpeace are framed as disruptive and face negative sentiment. This dissertation advances debates on civil society's role under restrictive regimes and the potential future of environmental organizations in emerging donor markets. The findings highlight the importance of a locally rooted civil society, one that is funded and supported by domestic actors, as a foundation for greater legitimacy
Characterizing the Effect of Mitochondria Uptake on Macrophages
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2025As central hubs for many cellular processes, mitochondria are crucial for cellmetabolism and survival. For a long time, it was widely assumed that mitochondria are constrained within the cytoplasm of the cell. However, a decade of research has revealed the possibility of intercellular mitochondria migration, involving the movement of mitochondria from one cell type to unrelated cell types. Energy-intensive cells such as cardiomyocytes and brown adipocytes are subjected to a high rate of ROS (reactive oxygen species) generation. Mitochondria quality control pathways are critical in preserving mitochondrial health and homeostasis to maintain cellular functions. Cardiomyocytes export dysfunctional mitochondria as an alternative method of quality control. Resident macrophages in the environment actively capture and degrade cardiac mitochondria. While this process benefits cardiomyocytes by preserving their mitochondrial function, the biological consequences of acquiring cardiac mitochondria have not been fully characterized in macrophages. Here, we used an in vitro system combining primary macrophages and the artificial
transfer of cardiac mitochondria to investigate macrophage respiration, proliferation, as well as the morphology and turnover of their endogenous mitochondria after mitochondria uptake
Conceptualizations of Equity Across the Landscape of Education Policy
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2025Our education system is rife with ongoing work to pursue equity and equitable outcomes, but equity itself is rarely well-defined in this work. To date, little work has been done to examine what definitions of equity exist across this broad landscape and how their alignment or misalignment contributes to our collective capacity to pursue equity or address inequity. I drew on Critical Policy Analysis and Critical Sensemaking Theory to conduct a descriptive case study to examine conceptualizations of equity (Allbright et al., 2019) in teacher cognition, school structures, and local, state, and federal policy. In line with previous research, I found that liberal and democratic liberal conceptualizations of equity–equity of access and equity of outcomes, respectively–were most prevalent in policies at all levels. I demonstrate how my participants’ took up a liberal conceptualization of equity regarding their work and that plausibility played a central role in elevating a liberal conceptualization over a democratic liberal conceptualization. I found that liberal and democratic liberal conceptualizations of equity were embedded in school structures by policies and school leaders and this process influenced teachers’ sensemaking about equity. Finally, I contextualize this in the broader policy context to show that supporting multiple conceptualizations of equity in policy has the potential to address both questions of access and outcomes according to these two conceptualizations of equity. I build on the extant research by demonstrating that conceptualizations of equity become mixed in policy language. This refers to situations when the identified success measure for a policy does not align with the expected outcome measures from the conceptualization of equity framed in that policy. I argue that mixed conceptualizations can undermine or delegitimize efforts to pursue equity and often create difficult or impossible expectations for local actors engaged in equity work
Shaping Sound: A Pianist’s Guide to the Journey Through the Lifecycle of Notes and Musical Connection
No full textThesis (D.M.A.)--University of Washington, 2025This dissertation examines the pianist’s engagement with sound through a five-stage “lifecycle of a note”: intention, birth, life, death, and memory. By framing each note as an evolving event—from mental conception to physical attack, audible existence, conclusion, and recollection—the dissertation sheds new light on how pianists can refine both technical facility and expressive depth. Central to this inquiry is the primacy of the ear. While the fingers and arms are indispensable for producing sound, it is ultimately the ear that shapes artistic decision-making. Drawing on insights from pedagogues and theorists such as Boris Berman, Seymour Bernstein, György Sándor, Alfred Cortot, and Heinrich Schenker, the study argues that developing a refined awareness of each note’s “lifecycle” leads to improvements in tone production, dynamic control, and musical interpretation. Further, it explores strategies to enhance voicing in chords, manage nuanced pedal usage, and employ various touch techniques (legato, staccato, “in” touch, “out” touch) for clearer articulation. The concept of memory, in particular, emerges as a connecting force, bridging chords, phrases, and entire sections of a piece. By conceptualizing the internal relationships between notes—whether shaped by harmonic function or contrapuntal lines—pianists can create more cohesive performances. Ultimately, Shaping Sound: A Pianist’s Guide to the Journey Through the Lifecycle of Notes and Musical Connection seeks to integrate technical exercises with aural perception, ensuring that every note is approached with deliberate listening and clear intent. In doing so, it aspires to cultivate a heightened musical consciousness, where technique and interpretation serve a unified artistic vision
Point-of-Care Diagnostic Device Development for Multiplexed Detection of Infectious Diseases
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2025The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted major weaknesses in the global healthcare system for patient accessibility to diagnostics. The pandemic led to a significant increase in demand for respiratory disease testing to facilitate treatment and limit transmission, demonstrating in the process that most existing test options in centralized facilities were too complex and expensive to perform in point-of-care settings. While laboratory-based nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) assays remained the gold standard of clinical diagnosis, their reliance on complex equipment, cold-chain storage, and trained personnel initially limited their accessibility to testing in well-equipped labs and kept them out of low-resource or home environments. As transmission of SARS-CoV-2 led to national lockdown orders around the world, remote and home testing for infectious pathogens emerged as the new standard in patient care and clinical research. There was a major demand for multi-disease detection tools that could be implemented in point-of-care or home settings and could readily be adapted for new variants or different diseases entirely. In this thesis, I explored the design and development of multiple integrated point-of-care devices to perform simultaneous detection of multiple infectious diseases from a single patient sample. First, we demonstrated a point-of-care, paper-based rapid analysis device that could simultaneously detect multiple viral RNAs (for COVID-19 and influenza A) that had been spiked onto a commercial nasal swab. This compact and affordable device, enabled by novel valving innovations, not only enabled fast, sensitive detection of both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A viruses from a single sample, but also opened the possibility for simple applications in other nucleic acid-based detection systems. Next, we adapted the multiplexing UbiNAAT platform for screening of two sexually transmitted illnesses (gonorrhea & chlamydia) in vaginal lysate samples from female clinical patients. We demonstrated the device’s compatibility with different assays and sample types, while incorporating additional processing steps for clinical sample treatment. The results highlighted the UbiNAAT’s potential for multiplexed screening of clinical samples across a multitude of infectious diseases. Lastly, we explored the development of an at-home testing platform for early-stage HIV using fingerstick blood samples. Toward this end, a novel point-of-care device with onboard plasma separation, chemical lysis, target concentration, isothermal amplification, and an innovative pull-tab valving system was integrated alongside extensive assay development for fluorescence and colorimetric detection. In future work, we anticipate that the findings and technologies developed in this thesis could be employed for a multitude of other targets, sample types, and detection systems that may enable large-scale, sensitive point-of-care testing
Are Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Vulnerabilities a Threat to Public Health?
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2025Policymakers have deemed the current state of the United States pharmaceutical supply chain a risk to public health and economic and national security. The ongoing issue of drug shortages calls into question the resilience of the pharmaceutical supply chain. High geographic concentration and low redundancy heighten its vulnerability to geopolitical tensions, natural disasters, and public health threats. Underlying these risks is a critical dependence: 45% of finished dosage form (FDF) units and 60% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) used in US medications are manufactured in India or China. Market dynamics have driven the manufacturing of drugs offshore, particularly the key ingredients used in generic drugs. Given these factors, federal trade policies and potential tariffs under the current administration merit consideration, as they could create pharmaceutical supply chain disruptions and consequences for patients and manufacturers
How to Politely Re-dip Your Chip! On the Use of Data-Based Informative Priors in Linear Mixed Models
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2025The use of Bayesian analyses in social science research has been on the rise, yet the issue of prior specification still poses theoretical controversies and practical challenges. In educational psychology, the prevalence Bayesian analysis and choice of priors is currently unknown, and the impact of using sample-model-based informative priors for multilevel models has yet to be evaluated. The current study therefore investigates: 1) the use of Bayesian analyses and prior specification choices in recent applied educational psychology research, and 2) the consequences of using increasingly informative sample-model-based priors (“double-dipping”) on fixed effect coefficient parameter recovery for 2-level hierarchical linear models. Our results show that, first, applied researchers tend to rely on software default priors (i.e., noninformative or weakly informative priors), and on rare occasions where informative priors are used, about one-third rely on sample-related values. Second, our simulation results show that posterior standard errors are progressively underestimated (leading to over-credibility) as fixed effect coefficient sample-model-based prior informativeness increases, particularly for conditions involving a larger number of clusters (L2 sample size). Third, the best approach for obtaining unbiased fixed effect coefficient credible intervals is to use weakly informative priors; the next-best alternative is to use a cross-validation method whereby a random half of the data is modeled using uninformative priors to obtain sample-model-based priors for a subsequent model for the other half of the data. These findings are consistent with previous methodological work warning that data-based priors require careful implementation. Limitations and future directions are discussed
Exploring Genetic Testing Conversations in the Context of Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Survivors: A Thematic Analysis
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2025Background:Hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) survivors face complex medical decisions
throughout their long-term follow up (LTFU) care, including considerations around genetic
testing. While research has examined genetic testing in various oncology settings, little is known
about how HCT survivors engage with genetic testing conversations in LTFU care.
Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study with 23 HCT survivors receiving LTFU care.Semi-structured interviews exploring genetic testing experiences were conducted with 23
survivors who responded to genetics-specific questions (13 with original genetics questions and
10 with updated questions). Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results:
Three key usage patterns emerged in how survivors engaged with genetic testing
conversations: active integration (n=8), treatment-focused use (n=10), and non-integration (n=5).
Family communication emerged as a central mechanism influencing engagement with genetic
information. Key barriers included limited access to genetic services and varying levels of family
involvement. Age-related differences appeared in how survivors approached genetic testing
conversations, with younger survivors more focused on future implications and older survivors
emphasizing immediate treatment decisions.
Conclusions:
Findings suggest opportunities to better support HCT survivors in genetic testing
conversations through systematic approaches that consider age, family communication patterns,
and timing of genetic services in LTFU care