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Assessing the Relationship Between Renewable Portfolio Standards and Development of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Projects
No full textM.P.P.Climate change is increasingly viewed as a global challenge that requires mitigation. In the U.S., binding efforts to address climate change have largely been in the form of state-level policies that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from various sectors over time; one of the most common forms of such policy is renewable portfolio standards. Private sector innovation has also led to the development and deployment of technologies to abate emissions directly at their source. Carbon capture, utilization, and storage is one such technology and it is increasingly viewed as a key element of a comprehensive climate mitigation framework. I estimate probit and Poisson models using cross-sectional data from the International Energy Agency on 142 CCUS projects announced in the U.S. between 2021 and 2023. In these models I distinguish CCUS projects for permanent CO2 storage from CCUS projects for use of CO2. I find that states with relatively newer RPSs are less likely to have CCUS projects and fewer CCUS projects. I do not find a relationship between older RPSs and CCUS project development. I identify several other state-level factors that are related to the probability of a state having CCUS projects and the number of projects, including cap-and-trade and greenhouse gas emissions policies, citizen and government ideologies, and CO2 emissions. Future research should focus on including other policy controls. Moreover, study of causality will add to this new area of policy research
Behind the PLUS: An Evaluation of the Effect of Parent PLUS Loans on Educational Attainment for Black Students
No full textM.P.P.This study evaluates the effect of Parent PLUS Loans on bachelor’s degree attainment for Black students. There is little research on the outcomes of Black students and their relationship to the Parent PLUS Loan as a contributor to intergenerational debt. This study uses a Linear Probability Model (LPM) and the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to analyze the relationship between Parent PLUS Loans and degree attainment for Black students. This study finds that being a Parent PLUS Loan recipient is negatively correlated with bachelor’s degree attainment for Black students. This relationship likely reflects the variation in experiences of Black students and greater economic disadvantages faced by families that utilize Parent PLUS Loans that cannot be adequately measured resulting in omitted variable bias
The Internet’s Effect on Voters Turnout in Argentina Since 2012
No full textM.P.P.Argentina's democratic evolution, marked by the 1994 constitutional reform, mandated voting as a patriotic duty. However, forty years after the return to democracy in 1983, a sense of discontent invades the electorate, challenging the once-celebrated act of voting. Against this backdrop, this research delves into the understudied influence of the internet on voter turnout in Argentina, seeking to comprehend the contemporary dynamics of democratic participation. The central research question asks: How has the internet affected voter turnout in Argentina since 2012? This is a critical inquiry given the shifting landscape of democratic engagement, where the act of voting, once eagerly anticipated, now faces a record-high absenteeism rate. The hypothesis posits that the internet has played a pivotal role in diminishing trust in the Argentine electoral system and exacerbating social division, therefore eroding the foundations of democracy. Using participation in presidential and legislative elections as a metric for democratic trust, the study also explores the intricate relationship between the internet, WhatsApp, and X, formerly Twitter, usage, and voter turnout. This research extends beyond mere observation, aiming to provide actionable insights for public policy recommendations.
Pharmacological and Toxicological Characterizations of New-Generation Antiseizure Drugs in Neonatal Rodents: An Update and Assessment of Efficacy and Safety
No full textPh.D.Epilepsy is a serious neurological brain condition, characterized by spontaneous and reoccurring seizures. Despite the fact that there are many available antiseizure medications (ASMs), many individuals do not achieve adequate seizure control with current medications. The treatment of seizures during critical periods of brain development (e.g., during pregnancy or early in life) is further complicated by the fact that many ASMs induce adverse neurotoxic effects. Thus, for infants and young children, as well as pregnant women with epilepsy, the treatment of seizures presents unique challenges. Antiseizure medications are typically screened for efficacy in adult animal models, and clinical trials rarely directly evaluate ASMs in either young populations or in pregnancy. As a result, there is an urgent need to identify and examine newer-generation medications for the treatment and management of seizures during early life and pregnancy. Several newer-generation ASMs may be promising drugs for controlling excessive neuronal activity, given their unique pharmacological profiles for modulating both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission. Moreover, since several newer-generation ASMs have mechanistic profiles that mimic ASM that are generally regarded safe, they may offer additional therapeutic options for managing seizures during periods of vulnerable brain development. The overarching objective of my dissertation was to assess the efficacy and safety of newer-generation ASMs for treatment and management of seizures. Using neonatal rats as a model, I evaluated the efficacy of cannabidiol to protect against seizures; the efficacy and potential for drug toxicity of padsevonil and cenobamate; and the potential neurotoxicity profile of three voltage gated sodium channel blockers that are increasing in clinical use (rufinamide, zonisamide and lacosamide).My work indicates that these drugs all display promising safety profiles compared to first generation compounds such as phenobarbital, phenytoin, and valproate. While many ASMs remain to examine, my work expands the current understanding of the efficacy and safety of drugs for the treatment of epilepsy and fills what was previously a clear gap in our preclinical knowledge of this class of drugs
Developing L2 Literacy in the Written Mode at the Introductory Level through Task- and Genre-based Instruction: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Approach
No full textPh.D.The employment of genre-based pedagogy and Task-Based Language Teaching in second language education is representative of a paradigmatic shift towards a focus on meaning-making. Despite this shift, second language acquisition (SLA) research continues to predominantly rely on complexity, accuracy, and fluency metrics to assess learner production without considering if and how learners achieve their communicative goals and how they appropriate linguistic resources to do so. Though research has confirmed the benefit of textual borrowing from a model within genre-based pedagogy, scarce attention has been paid to the practice at the novice foreign language level. To fill these gaps, this mixed-methods study focused on 12 first-year foreign language learners of German who wrote personal emails after receiving a model text. Through textual analysis of their texts using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) frameworks and semi-structured interviews, I investigated their linguistic choices and the resources borrowed from the model in support of their communicative goals. Because building the relationship with the reader is one of these goals, I employed the SFL MOOD and ATTITUDE frameworks to assess dialogic interaction and how they appealed emotionally to their readers.
The participants adhered closely to the model’s generic structure, though 25% of the participants omitted up to two stages, and borrowed lexicogrammatical features characteristic of the genre, including words, word groups, and clauses. The interviews revealed that the students most appreciated the model for the structure, though they also confirmed appropriating vocabulary and grammatical structures. Two interviewees conveyed apprehension about borrowing too closely from the model, indicating that textual borrowing may require additional contextualization. The MOOD analysis showed that participants primarily produced declaratives to give information and only sparingly integrated interrogatives and imperatives to elicit a response from their readers. To connect with their readers emotionally, all expressed evaluations of judgment, affect, and appreciation. In addition to demonstrating assessment methods that focus on the linguistic choices that contribute to achieving a communicative goal, the findings of this study show a need to assist learners in making form-meaning connections to foster strategic borrowing and language development
A Cross-Sectional Study of the Association between Sucrose, Fructose, and Total Fat Mass Among African American Women
No full textM.S.The obesity epidemic is particularly prevalent among African-American populations in the U.S., with dietary habits such as high intake of sucrose and fructose being potential contributors. This study investigates the association between consumption of these sugars through carbohydrate-rich foods and liquid carbohydrates found in sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and total body fat within this demographic catered toward African-American postmenopausal women. A cross-sectional analysis of 213 postmenopausal African-American women was conducted using food frequency questionnaires to assess sucrose and fructose intake. Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) scans were used to measure total body fat percentage. Linear regression analyses adjusted for age, BMI, smoking status, and alcohol intake were utilized to explore the associations. The average intake of sucrose and fructose among participants was 20% above the recommended limits, and the average body fat percentage was indicative of high adiposity, with the average body fat percentage standing at 35%. Regression analysis yielded an R-squared value of 0.05, showing limited variance explained between sucrose or fructose consumption and total body fat mass, p > 0.05. No predictive factors, including the intake of these sugars, reach significance in the model. The findings indicate a lack of significant associations between sucrose and fructose intake and total body fat among postmenopausal African-American women. The results are probably limited due to a relatively homogenous population of obese women, i.e., no variability in body fat mass
Women on the Water: Madrinas Making Community in the Chinampas of Xochimilco, 1700-1840
No full textPh.D.In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century New Spain, and then Mexico, indigenous women from Xochimilco traveled by canal to deliver essential vegetables, herbs, and flowers to Mexico City’s markets. The produce grown by the market women’s families in the wetland agricultural plots to the south, called chinampas, had provisioned the urban center for centuries. Now as Mexico City, the urban center’s importance to global trade resulted in a capital full of wealth and increasingly full of people - all needing to eat, pray, and celebrate. Women sold food and flowers, and, at the end of the day, they returned on the canal to chinampa cultivating communities. Back home, women blended market lives with roles as mothers, wives, and daughters, church-goers and neighbors, landowners and leaders, and, critically for this dissertation, as godmothers.These women of the chinampas are the focus of this study of the development and maintenance of family networks, gendered commerce, and community resilience in Xochimilco. Active at the intersection of market, family, and communal life, indigenous women were central to the strength and longevity of the chinampa system that sustained their communities and Mexico City for centuries. Baptismal records over 140 years show indigenous women fulfilled diverse economic, social, and religious priorities for families. Over and over again, the majority of parents bringing children to the baptistry selected a sole woman as godmother, sponsoring by herself with no godfather. The gendered trends that emerged in Xochimilco’s godparentage selections reflected women’s strength in the community. How women built these positions of stability and built community deserves consideration and explanation.Even as Xochimilco retained ecological, political, and cultural structures that shared much with its pre-hispanic past, the community continuously adapted strategies to face everyday local and regional challenges. Their communal support systems changed to accommodate evolving needs. Long-term shifts and short-term pivots in network-building reflected dynamic relationships that connected commerce and cultivation on the edge of the lakes. Indigenous women’s roles in the context of their families, their broader community, and their regional engagements reveals that resilience in Xochimilco was gendered, flexible, and evolving
You Are What You Eat? The Convergence of Consumer and Political Identities as a Measure of Political Polarization in the United States
No full textM.P.P.In recent years identity politics and polarization have become the defining features of elections in the United States. Observing the increasing convergence between consumer identity and political identity, I examine the correlation between business locations that are associated with one of the two major political parties and electoral outcomes in those counties in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Based on political advertisement targeting, I determined that the Trader Joe’s grocery chain is associated with Democrats and the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain is associated with Republicans. After controlling for population density, race, age, income, and unemployment, I found a statistically significant correlation between business locations and the electoral outcomes of their associated political party’s presidential candidate. The correlation was strongest among Democrats where a Trader Joe’s location translated to approximately 3.2% higher vote share while Chick-fil-A locations translated to approximately 0.3% increase for the Republican candidate in those counties in 2016. In 2020 this effect increased modestly for Democrats and logistical model analysis demonstrated a Trader Joe’s location in a county was associated with a 92.9% chance of the Democrat candidate winning in that year. While more research will be required to explore the connection between consumer and political identities, my findings provide preliminary evidence of their convergence
Who Pays the Price for the Cost of Voting? An Analysis of the Impact of Voting Policies on Minority Turnout in Presidential Elections, 1996-2016
No full textM.P.P.The gap between the percentage of registered White voters who cast a ballot and that of registered nonwhite voters in the 2020 United States Presidential election was approximately 13 percent. This trend varies widely across the United States due to state legislators having jurisdiction to craft, enact, and implement election and voting legislation. In 2022, 408 pieces of legislation that would have made it more difficult to register to vote, cast a ballot, or stay on the voter rolls were considered in 39 states and 11 made it into state codes across the country. Given the increase in legislation considered and passed by legislatures, this paper explores the effect of such policies on voter turnout by race in Presidential elections between 1996 to 2016. Utilizing state-level data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and the Cost of Voting Index, the analyses indicate that voting policies that increase the costs associated with voting have a moderate, negative relationship on voter turnout levels for overall voters, White voters, and Black voters. Fore Asian voters, the relationship is not statistically significant, therefore, it cannot be concluded by this analysis alone that there is a relationship between the cost of voting and voter turnout rate for Asian voters
The Relationship Between Student Homelessness and Reading Achievement in Virginia
No full textM.P.P.In just six years (2008-2014), the number of students experiencing homelessness in the United States approximately doubled. Student homelessness in Virginia has increased in line with the national average. Research consistently shows the negative academic consequences of economic disadvantage for students, but results are mixed on whether homelessness further disadvantages students when compared to housed students with otherwise similar economic conditions. The potential negative effects on reading achievement stemming from homelessness are particularly concerning, as childhood reading achievement is a key predictor of graduating high school, health outcomes, and economic security in adulthood. This paper examines the effect of homelessness on reading achievement in Virginia using administrative data from the Virginia Department of Education for the 2018-2019 school year. I find that there is a sizable, negative relationship between homelessness and reading achievement. The largest negative effect is seen at the upper level of reading achievement, where homeless students fell behind housed students at the highest rates