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Equipping Social Workers to Prevent Firearm-related Harm: Examining the Role of Discretion and Structural Racism
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024This four-paper dissertation examines the critical role of social workers in addressing the burden of firearm-related harm, particularly when serving clients at highest risk for disparities due to structural racism. Grounded in the theory of situated bureaucrats, it offers a nuanced understanding of social workers’ decision-making processes related to reducing firearm access for clients in crisis, along with the challenges they face in navigating complex social, medical, and legal systems. Chapter One frames firearm-related harm as an urgent social justice issue, delineates the role of social workers in addressing this challenge, and underscores equity considerations in interventions social workers may use to reduce firearm access for clients in crisis. The first paper, Chapter Two, employs qualitative narrative inquiry to identify equity considerations for implementing Extreme Risk Protection Orders by drawing insights from the historical context of Domestic Violence Protection Orders. The second paper, Chapter Three, analyzes qualitative data from ten focus groups with twenty-nine social workers to understand the ethical dilemmas they face when weighing the benefits and potential harms of referring clients to medical and legal system services based on their social identities (e.g., race and ethnicity, immigration status). In Chapter Four, the third paper draws on survey data from 1,306 social workers to investigate potential racial biases in their decision-making regarding care plan options for clients of different races, with social worker race as a moderator. The fourth paper, Chapter Five, revisits qualitative data from ten focus groups to construct an action plan model depicting the complex factors that guide social workers when choosing how to reduce firearm access for clients in crisis. Finally, Chapter Six synthesizes findings from all four papers to offer practice, policy, and training recommendations, discuss social justice implications, suggest directions for future research, and outline efforts to disseminate research findings. This dissertation underscores the pivotal role of social workers in alleviating the burden of firearm-related harm, especially in communities facing disparities, while critically examining potential biases in their discretionary practices and providing actionable policy and practice recommendations
Observational estimates of ocean energy from Argo floats
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024This dissertation investigates energy in the ocean interior, focusing on the baroclinic conversion pathway between Eddy Available Potential Energy (EAPE) and Eddy Kinetic Energy (EKE), as well as the reservoir of EKE itself. This topic is explored using observational data from the global Argo float array, compared to using the classic approach in ocean energy analysis of examining model output. A major component of this dissertation is the development of methodology for estimating energy from observational data, which requires the consideration of numerous steps of quality control, spatial averaging techniques, and merging multiple sources of data.Because the baroclinic conversion pathway is driven by vertical motion, I show the novel method for estimating mesoscale vertical velocities from Argo float data at 1,000 m. We find that the distribution of vertical velocities in the ocean is highly non-Gaussian, with a large number of small values near zero and a small number of large values up to the order of 10−4 m s-1. The spatial variability of vertical velocity is linked to the ocean depth, where the largest values of vertical velocity appear to occur as horizontal flow interacts with topographic features. Due to the small magnitudes and high spatial variability, these estimates are amongst the first for vertical velocity across wide swaths of the interior ocean.
Using these estimates of vertical velocity, I include here the result of computing the baroclinic conversion in the Southern Ocean. Using a local least-squares spatial regression for mapping, we find the anomaly components for vertical velocity and density that drive the conversion of energy by converting the EAPE in sloping isopycnals into EKE. We find that the largest values of baroclinic conversion occur in the ACC as it flows over large topographic features. The magnitude ranges from −5 to 5 Ã 10−5 kg m−1 s−3 but is positively skewed meaning that potential energy is being converted into eddy kinetic energy. This is found to agree well with model estimates of baroclinic conversion.
To further understand ocean energy, I also explore estimates of EKE throughout the water column using the horizontal velocity field from the surface to 2,000 m estimated by Argo float profiles. To examine the vertical structure in the EKE, we use the square of the Rossby wave vertical modes and apply two different boundary conditions: a flat bottom and a rough bottom. Comparing the proportion of variance in the EKE explained by the different regimes, we find that the flat-bottom boundary condition accounts for a greater proportion of the variance in fewer modes; however, this result is spatially variable where the rough-bottom modes are better suited for estimating the vertical structure of EKE where there are topographic features present.
The final part of this dissertation branches away from scientific research on ocean energy and into science education, where I discuss an introductory Python programming course for oceanographic data methods. Working collaboratively with another graduate student, we used evidence-based teaching practices and a constructivist approach to redesign a course to include a flipped structure, activities infused with active learning, an individualized final research project, and a focus on creating an accessible learning environment. By analyzing quantitative and qualitative data from surveys, online learning platforms, student work, assessments, and a focus group, we conclude that the instructional design facilitated learning and supported self-guided scientific inquiry. Students with less or no prior exposure to coding achieved similar success as peers with more experience, an outcome likely mediated by higher engagement with course resources.
The result of this dissertation is an examination of one branch of energy in the ocean from an observational standpoint and an in-depth description of effective science communication in the classroom. Capturing the structure of EKE and the pathway that contributes to it is fundamental for understanding the effects of a changing system on climate and carbon
Defining the necroptotic transcriptional signaling pathway
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024Neurons are post-mitotic, non-regenerative cells that have evolved fine-tuned immunological responses to maintain life-long cellular integrity; this includes resistance to common programmed cell death (PCD) pathways, including apoptosis and necroptosis. We have previously demonstrated a necroptosis-independent role for the key necroptotic kinase RIPK3 in host defense against neurotropic flavivirus infection. While this work showed that neuronal RIPK3 expression is essential for chemokine production and recruitment of peripheral immune cells to the infected CNS, the full RIPK3-dependent transcriptional signature and molecular mechanism underlying RIPK3-dependent transcription in neurons are incompletely understood. It also remains unclear what factors govern differential RIPK3 effector functions in different cell types. Here, we show that RIPK3 activation has distinct outcomes in primary cortical neurons and mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) during Zika virus (ZIKV) infection and sterile activation. We found that RIPK3 activation does not induce death in neurons; in these cells, RIPK3 is the dominant driver of antiviral gene transcription following ZIKV infection. While RIPK3 activation in MEF cells induces cell death, ablation of downstream cell death effectors unveils a RIPK3-dependent transcriptional program which largely overlaps with that observed in ZIKV-infected neurons. Using death resistant MEFs as a model to study RIPK3 signaling revealed that RIPK3 transcription relied on interactions with the RHIM domain-containing proteins RIPK1 and TRIF, effects mirrored in the RIPK3-dependent antiviral transcriptional signature observed in ZIKV-infected neurons. These findings suggest the pleotropic functions of RIPK3 are largely context dependent and that in cells that are resistant to cell death, RIPK3 acts as a mediator of inflammatory transcription
Vertical Transfer Experiences of Ethnic Chinese International Students from Community Colleges: Who Are They and What Have They Experienced?
No full textDoctor of Educational Leadership (EdD)International students play a significant role not only in the U.S. higher education in terms of enriching the diversity into campus community and fulfilling the internationalization mission (Chen, 2014), but also contributing $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy and supporting more than 378,000 jobs during the 2023-2024 academic year (NAFSA, n.d.). The transfer pathway for international students from community colleges to universities in the U.S. is well-established with many advantages such as open enrollment policy and affordability. There is much research on vertical transfer from community college to four-year institutions in domestic students but not international students. Another issue is that data on international students of color are not separated in many empirical studies of ethnic American students or in institution's statistics and publications. International students, often students of color, are not included or lumped with resident students of color. There is much research in recent years on various topics on Chinese international students from Mainland China, but other ethnic Chinese are relatively unstudied. The purpose of this study is to identify and understand the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, place of origin, and non-immigrant status of ethnic Chinese international community college students. This study looks at the factors that influence ethnic Chinese international community college students in their vertical transfer experiences and examine how the intertwined identities of race, ethnicity, place of origin, academic achievement, and non-immigrant status impact their educational experiences in the U.S
Impact of Silicate Limitation on Diatom Mortality in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean
No full textI explored how Thalassiosira oceanica cells responded when an infectious agent from the Equatorial Pacific Ocean entered its cells under silicate limited conditions. T. oceanica is an open ocean phytoplankton, specifically a diatom, which creates its cell walls out of silicate. T. oceanica is a model organism because of its small yet fully sequenced genome and fast growth rate. Research in host-virus dynamics in diatoms is new, especially in open ocean environments. Viruses play a significant role in the biogeochemical cycle, the movement of nutrients and elements through biotic and abiotic factors, by adding organic matter of diatoms to the microbial loop. They do so through a reproductive process called the lytic cycle when enough viruses replicate within a cell and cause it to burst or lyse. In the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, it is known that iron is the limiting factor inhibiting phytoplankton growth. However, it is hypothesized that silicate is the limiting factor instead of iron in this region. A recent study has found that silicate limited regions increase diatom virus infection due to thin cell walls, allowing for viruses to enter easily. However, research on marine viruses in open ocean environments like the Equatorial Pacific Ocean has yet to be conducted. I hypothesize that a silicate limited environment will increase diatom virus infection in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. The results from growing infected T. oceanica in well plates display that 29.7% of dying and uncertain wells in silicate limited conditions died more than in replete conditions, representing only 1.6%. Higher mortality rates of T. oceanica can impact the silicate cycle and carbon export rates in the surface oceans to decrease over time while increasing the viral shunt
Ketersediaan ruang terbuka hijau di Kota Denpasar dan strategi pengelolaannya
No full textGreen open space (GOS) plays a very important role in realizing a sustainable city and has a balance of ecological and psychological functions for urban communities. Green open space (GOS) can be divided into two categories, namely public GOS and private GOS, but only public GOS can still be controlled directly by the government. Until now, there has been no study regarding the use of public green open spaces in Denpasar City. The aim of this research is to identify the availability of public green open space in Denpasar City, analyze the implications of using public green open space in Denpasar City, and formulate strategies and policies for managing public green open space in Denpasar City. Data collection techniques in this research were interviews and questionnaires. The data analysis techniques in this research are qualitative and quantitative descriptive analysis techniques to determine the availability of public GOS, SWOT analysis for the use of public RTH, and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine management strategies and policies. The availability of public green open space in 2011 was recorded at 2,341.48, or 18.32 percent. The availability of public green open space in 2019 was recorded at 1,572,990 hectares, or 12.49 percent. The difference between 2011 and 2019 was 768,490 ha, or 5.83 percent. The minimum area of public green open space in accordance with the regulations, namely 20 percent, was 1.68 percent in 2011 data and 7.51 percent in 2019 data. The implementation of the utilization of Denpasar City Public Green Open Space (GOS) based on the results of the analysis that has been carried out does not comply with the standards of Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 1 of 2007 concerning Arrangement of Green Open Space in Urban Areas and Minister of Public Works Regulation Number 5 of 2008 concerning Guidelines for Providing and Utilizing Green Open Space in Urban Areas. Management still needs to be improved both in terms of handling, security, and maintenance as well as maintaining the availability of existing public open space
Data to accompany the article "Can Observation Targeting Be a Wild Goose Chase? An Adjoint-Sensitivity Study of the 15 November 2018 Forecast Bust"
No full textRefuge in Abundance: Puʻuhonua o Kakaʻako and Native Hawaiian Politics of Family and Place in the Early Twentieth Century
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024“Refuge in Abundance” investigates the ways early-twentieth century Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) built and perpetuated puʻuhonua (refuge and abundance) within the shoreline neighborhood of Kakaʻako, Honolulu. Native Hawaiian lands and waters allowed early-twentieth century communities to access deep memories of interconnection important to creating the Indigenous futures. As practiced through place-based cartographic and Indigenous storytelling methods, Indigenous world-making provides alternatives to capital-driven narratives of apocalyptic decline. Through a relational mapping of Hawaiʻinuiākea (Greater Hawaiʻi) that flows as water through the skies, along the streams, and out to sea, Native Hawaiian political writers across the nineteenth century engaged in intergenerational conversations that contemplated future needs and desires during a tumultuous era of imperial upheaval and U.S. colonial occupation. Kingdom-era transformations of land tenure during the Māhele ʻĀina (Land Division) of 1848 and subsequent Kuleana Act of 1850 wrought declining fortunes for makaʻāinana (commoner) Native Hawaiians. Many makaʻāinana lost access to lands as they had for generations, despite protections and laws that incentivized their private land ownership. However, by the first decades of the twentieth century, the abundant foodscape of Indigenous Honolulu challenged the interests of settler officials in the fledgling Territory of Hawaiʻi. Relying on expanded kin and food networks from mountains to sea, Native Hawaiians braided a constellation of care and anti-eviction efforts across Honolulu. In the 1910s and 1920s, where the officials and institutions of the Territory of Hawaiʻi saw crime, filth, and racial decline, Kakaʻako community members brought together their “many hands” to create joy and usher in new life. As a form of political expression, engagement in genealogical connections to lands, waters, and skies demonstrated through midwifery, child rearing, and schoolteaching provided Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian community members alternatives to participation in colonial subjecthood as “residents” of the U.S. Territory of Hawaiʻi. As frequent targets for removal and incarceration by city police and territorial lawmakers, Native Hawaiian youths circumvented colonial organization of school and playground spaces through expanded kin and familial relationships they formed with their schoolteachers. Collective joy also reverberated through the expression of multiple Indigenous genders and sexualities by the actions of Native Hawaiian artists and entertainers who critiqued colonial capitalism in their shaping of emerging tourism. The arrival of passenger steamships in the early twentieth century presented Native Hawaiian women, men, and queer folks opportunities not only to make money, but also to carve out expansive understandings of Indigenous genders that defied limited, binary definitions and roles. As exhibited bodies, fetishized companions, and musical performers, Native Hawaiian beachboys served as living souvenirs for affluent patrons on the North American continent. Native Hawaiian boys and young men circumvented the colonial and racial organization of spaces normally reserved for haole elites in Hawai‘i and elsewhere. Through the creative joy and life-affirming worlds mutually conceived by Indigenous lands, waters, peoples, “Refuge in Abundance” celebrates the generations of Native Hawaiians who fostered the future for us, their descendants and protectors for time to come
Unraveling Pregnancy-Induced Modulation of the Innate Immune Response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Through mRNA Sequencing of Infected Monocytes
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2024This thesis investigates the dynamics of monocyte-derived macrophage gene expression in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection during pregnancy, focusing specifically on the third trimester. Using mRNA sequencing, we found significant changes in gene expression related to the innate immune response, particularly in the JAK-STAT pathway associated with tuberculosis reactivation. Analysis revealed over 500 differently expressed genes in infected samples, primarily involved in cytokine signaling and inflammation. Comparing third trimester of pregnancy to pre-pregnancy highlighted differences in pathways such as calcium signaling, MAPK, TNF, MTORC, and hypoxia signaling. Downregulated genes like GBP5, TNFRSF4, and NIBAN1 suggest compromised immune response in late pregnancy, potentially worsening TB infection or reactivation of latent TB. Understanding these changes could improve TB prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in pregnant populations
Rajžaliteratur – A Journey Across the Shifting Words of Traumatic Narratives
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024The authors in this dissertation all write against a national narrative in their respective countries that exposes where their communities’ experiences are left out or disregarded. They do so by using various strategies and this dissertation will focus on their use of loanwords to fight against nationalistic impulses. As a foreign element within society, loanwords can be an explosive force that represents different perspectives on issues where multiple groups do not see concerns or events the same way. The explosive force of these loanwords also leads them to create profane narratives, which counter national narratives that can take on an almost theological quality. Maja Haderlap activates this force most directly with Rajža and the history of how her grandmother, like other oppressed or resented ethnic Slovenes in Carinthia, was sent to a concentration camp by Austrian authorities under the Nazi government, a role Austria long denied playing. Saša Stanišić also disrupts nationalist narratives, specifically of former Yugoslavia, in his writing for an audience in Germany where he explains how describing inter-ethnic relations is not as simple as either love or hate between the different groups. Marica Bodrožić critiques a trend in now-independent Croatia to remove loanwords from the language, arguing that the resulting language is artificial and does not help the speaker communicate effectively. The project of Nicol Ljubić’s protagonist, Robert, begins when he does not understand the meaning of the loanword bonaca, which his girlfriend, the Bosnian-Serb Ana teaches him. He must translate and deconstruct its German equivalent, Meeresstille, to understand how she is still affected by the trauma of the war