Bioculture Journal
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The Discourses of Sex Crimes
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017This project critically examines the language of sex crimes in order to reveal the ways that legal structures are embedded with what Susan Ehrlich describes as “androcentric and sexist assumptions that typically masquerade as ‘objective’ truths.” I use a feminist interdisciplinary approach to assess the common discourses of acquaintance rape and sex work in the United States in order to demonstrate how cultural myths of sexual behavior inform legal standards. These presumably neutral legal standards in turn influence broader discourses of sexuality and sexual crime, lending them a convincing authority. Consequently, these inherently gendered discourses have become inextricable from the legal realities of sexual crime and serve to mitigate or justify violence against women while at the same time defending perpetrators. My research supports the idea that legal reform of sex crimes and the eradication of harmful sex crime discourses requires a two-pronged approach on a legal level and a cultural level. Changing societal attitudes about sex crimes, in particular ideologies of sexuality and gender, is necessary for these harmful discourses to be discontinued. Simultaneously, more attention needs to be paid to judicial training and continuing education regarding sexual crime in order to eradicate these discourses from our legal system and achieve successful legal reform of these crimes
Evaluation of the Fennel Weyerhaeuser Mine within the Fennel Creek Delta; McMillian, WA
No full textThis report is an evaluation of aggregate resources for the 60 acre Fennel Weyerhaeuser active sand and gravel mine located in McMillian, Washington. The Fennel Weyerhaeuser mine is one of two sand and gravel mines located within the 900 acre Fennel Creek delta complex and has been active since 2015. The Fennel Creek delta complex is a series of four nested Gilbert-type deltas. Gilbert-type deltas are coarse grained deltas that form when a high energy drainage intersects a low energy marine or lacustrine environment. Thirty-eight borings have been completed within the delta complex. The USCS soil classification scheme was used to describe the materials encountered in each boring. The regional stratigraphy was developed from open pit exposures and from the information obtained from each bore log. Groundwater data was collected for seventeen of the borings. The USCS and groundwater data were entered into Rockworks 16 software to create a three dimensional model of the Fennel Weyerhaeuser mine. Gradation data from samples taken from the borings was compiled for each of the three major stratigraphic units within the study area.
The 3D model generated from Rockworks 16 utilized a 2H:1V final mine perimeter slope and a 5-foot vertical groundwater buffer. A maximum volume of 14.5 million cubic yards (about 26 million tons) of sand and gravel is available with a 2H:1V final mine slope. Including the groundwater buffer in the Rockworks model reduces the total possible extractable sand and gravel to 8.8 million cubic yards (15.8 million tons).
The extraction plan for the mine will be guided by two equally important aspects, 1) the aggregate products that will be produced, and 2) the infrastructure to support aggregate production. The Fennel Weyerhaeuser mine primarily produces ìgravel borrow,î a multiuse, free draining, fill material consisting of sand and gravel typically mixed in the proportion of native occurrence, i.e without deliberate mechanical prescriptive blending. In order to produce gravel borrow, the topset and foreset beds will be combined at a ratio of 2:5 respectively. To accomplish the material mixing a 1H:1V mine face will be exposed extending from the upper surrounding land surface to the bottom of the mine. In addition, the mine face will be roughly perpendicular to the front slope of the delta. The foreset beds have alternating debris flow and turbidite facies which have different gradations. By mining perpendicular to the delta face the two facies are combined, resulting in a more consistent feed material.
Mining and conveying infrastructure in place as of March 2017 will be expanded. The mining plan calls for five mining phases lasting a total of 15-20 years. The first mining phase will expose the 1H: 1V face toward the center of the mine and will include the installation of a 900ft conveyor. The second phase will extract the material in the northwest area comprising 10 acres and an additional 200ft of conveyor. Phase three calls for the extraction of 21 acres to the southwest and 900ft of conveyor. Material extraction of phases four and five will vary as mine conveyors will need to be removed from the site
The Play of History: The Svaminarayan Religious Community in Modern India
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017-08Providing a window into the pre-nationalist phase of colonial rule in modern South Asia, this study examines the role that devotionalism (bhakti) played in shaping ideas about the individual self, community and in forging notions about public good through the nineteenth-century Hindu formation of the Svaminarayan community (sampraday) in Gujarat. Under its founder Sahajanand Svami, the formation gained authority across western India in parallel to British colonial and Indian princely rule. By advocating new ways of thinking about social identity and ethics, Svaminarayan devotion served as an adaptive strategy of survival for non-elite practitioners facing hardships in the period. Foundational to this model was the position of modern re-enchantment. Specifically, it was represented in a conceptual apparatus termed the “play of history” (lila), which braided together notions of devotion and temporality. Engaging in “play” helped practitioners locate the sampraday and themselves in the world and explore new self-possibilities that surpassed their surrounding social constraints. This powerful apparatus underwritten by a heterogeneous outlook of wonder and reason was a form of sacred historiography. Based on textual, archival and ethnographic research, the four chapters of the dissertation trace repositories of time and space and the archival institutions themselves—including published hagiographic texts, temples, materiality, natural landscapes and paintings—which produced individual and collective formations by re-envisioning daily existence. In considering devotion historically, this research shows how expressing, creating, documenting, recalling and articulating the past allowed both for creating religious power and for unleashing individual agency. Drawing on ideas of ethnohistory, the case study reveals that maintaining a systematic relationship with the past using textual and non-textual tools resulted in change for the material conditions of practioners. It promoted an attitude of hope and action to change one’s life circumstances, rather than inhabiting a posture of despair or passivity. In considering how devotion was a transformative force in society, this dissertation contributes to scholarship in the field of South Asian history by participating in wider discussions of historical continuity between the early modern period and the colonial modern period, early colonial statecraft, and the emergence of princely states and their role in larger political and social debates in colonial India. More broadly, this project participates in ongoing discussions about non-European historiographical technologies and the diverse avenues of modern re-enchantment of the world
Cable Driven Robots: Hysteretic Cable Stretch, Cable-Pulley Network Friction, Fatigue Life, and Kinematics of Two-Arm Multi Staged Flexible Manipulator
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017-06Cable driven mechanisms face control challenges associated with hysteretic response of cable and dynamic friction from guide pulleys due to variable cable tension. In this thesis, a new dynamic models of cable driven mechanism, cable-pulley network friction and hysteretic stretch of longitudinally loaded cable, are developed in order to improve control accuracy and robustness. Moreover, fatigue life of cable is investigated and a prediction model is presented which can ensure safe operation of the robot. The specifications used for the experimental setups for the model development are based on the RAVEN II cable driven surgical robot and the model verification was performed using the same system. This thesis also presents the kinematics of the Roboscope, surgical robot for skullbase surgery and neurosurgery. The system has two-arm flexible cable driven manipulator which faces coupling effect. Detailed kinematics the system with the coupling effect is developed and analyzed
Surface Alpha Interactions in P-Type Point-Contact HPGe Detectors: Maximizing Sensitivity of 76Ge Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Searches
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017-08Though the existence of neutrino oscillations proves that neutrinos must have non-zero mass, Beyond-the-Standard-Model physics is needed to explain the origins of that mass. One intriguing possibility is that neutrinos are Majorana particles, i.e., they are their own anti-particles. Such a mechanism could naturally explain the observed smallness of the neutrino masses, and would have consequences that go far beyond neutrino physics, with implications for Grand Unification and leptogenesis. If neutrinos are Majorana particles, they could undergo neutrinoless double-beta decay (0nBB), a hypothesized rare decay in which two antineutrinos annihilate one another. This process, if it exists, would be exceedingly rare, with a half-life over 1E25 years. Therefore, searching for it requires experiments with extremely low background rates. One promising technique in the search for 0nBB is the use of P-type point-contact (P-PC) high-purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors enriched in 76Ge, operated in large low-background arrays. This approach is used, with some key differences, by the MAJORANA and GERDA Collaborations. A problematic background in such large granular detector arrays is posed by alpha particles incident on the surfaces of the detectors, often caused by 222Rn contamination of parts or of the detectors themselves. In the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, events have been observed that are consistent with energy-degraded alphas originating near the passivated surface of the detectors, leading to a potential background contribution in the region-of-interest for neutrinoless double-beta decay. However, it is also observed that when energy deposition occurs very close to the passivated surface, high charge trapping occurs along with subsequent slow charge re-release. This leads to both a reduced prompt signal and a measurable change in slope of the tail of a recorded pulse. Here we discuss the characteristics of these events and the development of a filter that can identify the occurrence of this delayed charge recovery (DCR) effect, allowing for the efficient rejection of passivated surface alpha events in analysis. Using a dedicated test-stand called the TUM Upside-down BEGe (TUBE) scanner, we have characterized the response of a P-PC detector like those used in the DEMONSTRATOR to alphas incident on the sensitive surfaces, developing a model for the radial dependence of the energy loss to charge trapping and determining the dominant mechanism behind the delayed charge effect. We have also used these measurements to demonstrate the complementarity of the DCR analysis with the drift-time analysis that is used to identify alpha background candidate events in the GERDA detectors. Using these two methods, we demonstrate the ability to effectively reject all alpha events (to within statistical uncertainty) with only 0.2% bulk event sacrifice. Applying the DCR analysis to the events observed in the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, we find that it reduces the backgrounds in the 0nBB region-of-interest by a factor of 29, increasing the expected experimental sensitivity by a factor of 3 over the lifetime of the DEMONSTRATOR. The results of the dedicated measurements in the TUBE scanner can be used to build a background model for alpha decays in the DEMONSTRATOR; here, we examine two simplified geometric models for the alpha source distribution and find that the observed spectral shape is consistent with alpha events originating in the plastics of the detector units
Development and Access to Information
No full textCan access to information create more socially and economically inclusive societies? Given the unprecedented ability we have today to gather, use, create, and exchange information, how can we capitalize on the strengths of the information society to help combat poverty and inequality, make governments more transparent and accountable, improve gender equity, increase youth’s social and economic participation, and promote civic life in our communities? Development and Access to Information (DA2I) is a joint project between the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) at the University of Washington Information School that aims to address these questions and demonstrate how access to information and libraries contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This report is the first in a series of annual Development and Access to Information (DA2I) reports that will monitor the impact of access to information on a number of relevant SDGs and related targets. The overall objective of these annual reports is to bring together different voices to show the importance of access to information, in all its dimensions, in promoting more socially and economically inclusive societies. In order to accomplish this, this report establishes a baseline of access to information indicators to track progress over the lifespan of the SDGs Agenda (2015-2030) and examines the different ways in which access to information and libraries are contributing to advancing the SDGs, focusing specifically on the priority areas identified by the High Level Political Forum in 2017. This report demonstrates that meaningful access to information requires four key elements: (1) information and communications access infrastructure; (2) a positive social context for use; (3) sufficient capabilities in communities and their members; and (4) a favorable legal and policy landscape
Host land or homeland?: Civic-cultural identity and banal integration in Latvia
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017-06This dissertation challenges conventional approaches in the study of minority integration by looking at the spaces in which integration occurs, rather than at instances of conflict. It develops a framework that considers banal manifestations of social integration in quotidian and national life. Concentrating on the case study of Russian-speakers and ethnic titulars in Latvia, it compares top-down, elite-led discourse on integration with lived interethnic interactions. In many conventional analyses, Latvia is considered a divided society wherein ethnic, linguistic, and cultural cleavages separate ethnic Latvians from the proportionally large population of Russian-speakers “left behind” when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. This population has been analyzed through immigrant, diaspora, and fifth column frameworks that suggest Russian speakers remain outside of the Latvian state and nation, if not always civically, then certainly culturally. This dissertation argues the frameworks and indicators traditionally used to measure integration do not sufficiently consider integration in everyday experiences, and therefore overlook much of the integration that is occurring on the ground. Rather, banality – or the lived experiences that fade into the hum of everyday life – is an indicator of significant interpersonal and socio-national integration that incorporates minorities as active members of the nation. The dissertation considers relevant theories in the study of integration, nationalism, and identity to create frameworks of interpersonal and socio-national banal integration. These capture both person-to-person experiences and minority engagement with society and the state. The dissertation then links the theoretical concept with three critical elements in the Latvian integration debate. First, it notes the disconnect between top-down integration priorities and ground-level realities. Second, it examines banal integration in daily life, looking at interpersonal interactions, public spaces, and civic connections with the state. Finally, the dissertation considers the ways in which minorities engage as embedded members of the Latvian nation, looking at participation in cultural events and national holidays. Theoretically, this dissertation highlights the necessity of prioritizing banal, quotidian experiences over elite-led discourse in the study of integration. Methodologically, it accomplishes this goal through a multi-method approach, using extant document summary and analysis, medium-n survey data, and qualitative ethnography. Empirically, the dissertation pushes back against a narrative of conflict in Latvian and Russian-speaker relations. Indeed, it argues that not only is Latvian society far less divided than it discursively appears, in many cases, minorities see themselves as active members of the Latvian cultural and civic nation, not tangential to it. This dissertation is a dedicated analysis of the Latvian case, but contributes more broadly to the literature on post-Soviet diaspora and migration studies, integration studies, and questions of nationalism and identity in the modern global context
Developing Zwitterionic Hydrogel for Biomedical Applications
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017-03Ultra-low fouling zwitterionic hydrogels offer unique advantages over conventional biomaterials in biomedical applications. By exclusively using zwitterionic monomer and crosslinker, pure zwitterionic hydrogels can be prepared with highly tunable mechanical properties and functionalities for diverse applications. This thesis summarizes the recent work in zwitterionic hydrogels. Firstly, zwitterionic hydrogel can repair itself independent of time after damage under physiological conditions due to a new mechanism, "zwitterionic fusion". In addition, we explored the properties of zwitterionic hydrogels in controlling the self-renewal and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. Finally, by developing a biodegradable zwitterionic hydrogel, we realized ex vivo expansion of mesenchymal stem cells and hematopoietic stem cells without differentiation
Impact of Beam Strength on Seismic Performance of Chevron Concentrically Braced Frames
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2017-06Special concentrically braced frames (SCBFs) are a popular choice for lateral force resisting systems in regions of high seismicity. SCBFs with braces oriented in a chevron (or inverted V) configuration are often preferred for their architectural advantages. Current design provisions require the beam in chevron SCBFs to develop the unbalanced load resulting from one brace at its maximum tensile capacity and the other brace at a significantly degraded compressive capacity. This results in large, expensive beam sections in chevron SCBFs and as a result the popularity of this system has declined. Very little research has been done to support the current beam strength provisions, and several studies have indicated that beams that do not meet this requirement still allow the system to achieve adequate strength and ductility. The objective of this research is to systematically evaluate the effect of beam strength on the seismic performance of chevron SCBFs. Three full-scale frames were tested under a quasi-static cyclic displacement history to achieve this objective – one with a beam that met current strength provisions and two with beams weaker than currently required. The results show that chevron SCBFs with yielding beams achieve somewhat smaller lateral resistance but increased ductility and energy dissipation compared to frames that meet current beam strength requirements
System-level factors associated with performance of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services in Côte d’Ivoire
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2017-08Background Although the coverage of antiretrovirals (ARVs) for prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) has increased globally after efforts, the uptake of PMTCT services remains low. We aim to identify system-level barriers to uptake HIV test and maternal prophylaxis during pregnancy in the existing national program in Côte d’Ivoire. Method Data of 46 sites during November 2011 to October 2015 were analyzed. Multiple Poisson regression models were used to 1) investigate systems-level factors associated with HIV testing and the delivery of maternal ARVs under Option B (Nov. 2012- Oct. 2015); 2) and highlight the differences in these associations between the Option A (Nov.2011-Oct.2012) and the Option B (Nov. 2012- Oct. 2015) periods. A significance level of 0.05 was used to determine factors associated with each outcome. Result In those 46 sites, 39 (85%) sites are public and 7 (15%) sites are privately-operated. During the Option B period, after adjusting for confounders, regional hospitals had higher rates of HIV testing compared to other health facilities (RR: 1.24; p=0.001) and lower rates of maternal ARV delivery (RR: 0.73; p=0.02). Conversely, privately-operated health facilities reported lower rates of HIV testing than public facilities (RR: 0.92; p200 first antenatal care per month) were associated with higher delivery ratio of appropriate maternal prophylaxis (RR:1.39, p=0.01) as were available charts (RR:1.04, p=0.01) during the Option A period, but those associations were not significant during Option B period. Discussion HIV testing rates were higher in public health facilities and health facilities with a laboratory, while the privately-operated health facilities performed better in the delivery of appropriate maternal prophylaxis. Thus, when access to HIV tests is improving in low prevalence areas, especially in public facilities, specific attention should be paid to risks of loss to follow up from HIV testing to delivery of ARVs. Regional hospitals which served the largest population size had higher HIV testing rate but lower prophylaxis ratio. This implies bigger challenges to follow up pregnant women after HIV tests in facilities which serves a large population. Stock-outs of HIV test kits, general supply of ARVs limited the performance of HIV tests and maternal prophylaxis delivery. And supply of ARVs became more challenging when Option B guidelines were applied, which is likely to be an increasingly important issue as Option B+ guidelines are implemented. This study also highlights the need for further research regarding the association between system-level factors and adherence to ARVs, which might be one of the biggest challenges to improve PMTCT in Côte d’Ivoire under Option B+