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Wirelessly Coordinated Open-Loop Coherent Distributed Antenna Arrays Using Software-Defined Radio
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Electrical Engineering - Doctor of Philosophy, 2025Antenna arrays have become an essential piece of modern life enabling applications from high bandwidth mobile communications to radar and earth remote sensing by providing high directivity and electronically controllable beam patterns. Traditionally, these arrays have been assembled using antenna elements with fixed locations, coupled via fixed radio frequency (RF) transmission lines to a central processing location. In recent years, demands for more resilient versatile multifunction antenna arrays have spurred interest in wirelessly coordinated coherent distributed antenna arrays (CDAs) wherein individual elements or groups of elements (i.e., subarrays), referred to as nodes, can be moved freely relative to one another with the RF signals being generated and digitized on node and processed in a partially- or fully-decentralized manner. This provides CDAs with several distinct advantages over traditional fixed arrays: due to the mobility of the elements, the element locations can be reconfigured based on the desired beam pattern for a given operating mode and frequency; nodes may join and leave the array in an ad-hoc manner allowing array deployments over time and graceful degradation upon node failure; and because each node provides its own power source, the overall array gain scales as N^2 as opposed to N for conventional arrays, enabling high bandwidth communication and high sensitivity sensing with lower system power handling requirements on any single node. While these advantages are significant, the challenge of wirelessly coordinating the electrical states\u2014time, frequency, and phase\u2014of each element to a sub-wavelength level remains an area of ongoing research. Generally, these arrays can be implemented in a \u201cclosed-loop\u201d configuration where the array elements receive feedback from a cooperative receiver node in a communications-type application, or in an \u201copen-loop\u201d configuration where the nodes directly coordinate their states amongst themselves, enabling communication with conventional, noncooperative communications terminals as well as radar and remote sensing operations where the destination is typically passive.In this work, I present a system for high-accuracy coordination of the RF electrical states for CDA nodes consisting of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software-defined radios (SDRs). I will discuss a computationally-efficient high-accuracy time and phase synchronization technique which utilizes spectrally-sparse waveforms to minimize spectrum utilization while simultaneously maximizing the lower-bound on accuracy and a multi-stage refinement technique to achieve synchronization on the order of picoseconds. Furthermore, I will discuss a new high-accuracy frequency syntonization technique based on the high-accuracy synchronization method which estimates and compensates for the platform oscillator frequency offsets using temporally-sparse timing estimates. This technique provides advantages over previous techniques in that it is tolerant to relative motion, multipath, and non-line-of-sight (NLoS); it is necessarily both spectrally- and temporally-sparse which directly provides high-accuracy; and it is fully-digital and can be directly implemented on existing COTS SDR hardware without requiring voltage tunable oscillators. Finally, I will demonstrate several applications of CDAs ranging from collaborative beamforming which operates similar to conventional phased arrays to long-baseline interferometry which utilizes the spatial sparsity of the antenna elements to perform direct measurements of a scene in the spatial frequency domain.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references
EXPLORING HOW PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PRACTITIONERS INCLUDE UNDERREPRESENTED COMMUNITIES IN A POST-COVID ERA
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Planning, Design and Construction - Doctor of Philosophy, 2025Public participation is widely practiced among many democratic governments, at all scales, as a way for residents to shape policy and decision-making that affects their lives. There are changing expectations for public participation, both from providers and participants. Transportation-providing agencies acknowledge that there have been deficiencies in engaging underrepresented communities and there is also a desire to do better by going beyond legal requirements. In light of massive infrastructure investment and policy change, the questions of who is still excluded and how can public participation practitioners connect with the unconnected persist and are increasingly relevant. Additionally, Covid-19 ushered in new community engagement practices that are still being learned from and questions like how have pandemic shifts in community engagement practices evolved and how has virtual public participation impacted underrepresented populations are unanswered. This mixed-methods research helps fill the gaps by exploring how public participation is accomplished via a case study in Michigan transportation planning and design. In asking how underrepresented groups want to be engaged, this study found that participation levels and challenges of underrepresentation have not changed much since Covid-19. There is not a recipe for successful engagement with underrepresented communities, rather their context is highly important in customizing engagement that is meaningful and relevant to them, and easy for them to participate in. While there is not a preferred way to reach underrepresented populations, making sure that online options are available is important. People understand the importance of participating but do not like to do it and do not think they\u2019ll be heard when they do. Transportation planning agencies are in need of resources (training, materials, and more people) and leadership buy-in to meet these challenges and to be able to measure progress.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references
On the Application of Matrix Concentration Inequalities to the Sensor Selection Problem for State Estimation
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Electrical and Computer Engineering - Doctor of Philosophy, 2025Sensors are fundamental in observing the latent state of a dynamical system of interest. Since sensors do not directly observe the latent state in practice, sensors become a necessity to partially or fully estimating the latent state in question. Further complexity arises when the measurements outputted by the sensors are noisy. Our uncertainty of the state estimate in this dissertation is quantified using the ubiquitous Kalman filter and its model-based assumptions. In an ideal scenario, all the sensors that can be deployed are deployed. However, this scenario is unrealistic in practice due to constraints on resources. Given that the number of sensors one can choose for deployment is a fixed quantity, a problem of great interest is to choose a selection of sensors that optimally reduces our uncertainty on the state estimate. In this dissertation, we address the aforementioned problem, succinctly stated as the problem of sensor selection for state estimation, by leveraging a class of statistical tools known as matrix concentration inequalities (CIs). Specifically, we investigate the a priori guarantees that exist for the chosen selection of sensors. A priori guarantees are of great importance since they inform us about the quality (of the state estimate) we should expect prior to sampling any selection of sensors for deployment. Many contemporary works formulate such guarantees for our problem of interest by either directly or indirectly requiring the submodularity property, a property of set functions, to hold. Unlike submodular-based approaches, matrix CIs are capable of providing a priori guarantees regardless of whether submodularity is present or not. We assume the sensors we choose for deployment are chosen via a sampling with replacement policy as a consequence of utilizing matrix CIs in this dissertation.In the first part of this dissertation, we investigate the myriad of settings that matrix CIs are applicable in the sensor selection problem for state estimation. Specifically, we investigate the a priori guarantees that are possible for three settings of practical interest. Since the a priori guarantees of interest inform us on the quality of our state estimate, the guarantees in this chapter are with respect to the state estimation error covariance of the Kalman filter. Our analysis first assumes that the sampling policy for choosing an appropriate sensor selection is fixed or specified. We extend our analysis by studying the problem of finding an optimum sampling policy when the policy is not specified. We demonstrate the guarantees that are possible for the three different scenarios of interest.In the second part of this dissertation, we significantly extend the utility of matrix CIs to improve the a priori guarantees associated with our problem of interest. First, we derive a novel statistical tool, i.e., a generalization to an existing matrix CI. Second, we perform a comprehensive analysis on the feasibility, sample complexity, and guarantees of our novel result to improve the a priori guarantees of matrix CIs in general. Third, we investigate the general optimization of sums of i.i.d. and p.s.d. random matrices. Also, we highlight the applicability of our work to a variety of model-based assumptions and sampling policies. Lastly, we demonstrate our improved guarantees as they relate to the sensor selection problem for state estimation.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references
RDH5-/- cats as a model for macular degeneration and retinal dysfunction in humans
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Genetics and Genome Sciences \u2013 Doctor of Philosophy, 2025Retinol dehydrogenase 5 (RDH5) catalyzes the final oxidation for regeneration of 11-cis-retinal as part of the visual cycle in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) needed for regeneration of the visual pigments. In humans, RDH5 mutations cause fundus albipunctatus (FA) which is characterized by night blindness, accumulation of white-yellowish fundus spots and in a subset of patients, macular degeneration. Currently, the potential genetic cause of this variability of macular involvement is not well understood, leaving unmet needs for therapies for patients with RDH5 mutations. Using a large-animal cat model of RDH5-associated disease (RDH5-/-) with a spontaneously occurring Gly181Val loss-of-function missense variant in RDH5, this study aims to meet these needs through identification of modifier loci contributing to this heterogenous phenotype, characterization of the functional and structural effects of macular (area centralis: cat) degeneration, and development of gene augmentation therapy to rescue the functional phenotype of RDH5-mutations. We hypothesized a genetic modifier is contributing to the variability in the area centralis (AC) degeneration phenotype in the RDH5-/- cat. Whole-genome sequencing data for 18 RDH5-/- cats was generated at 30X coverage on a Nova Seq S4 \u2013 PE150 flowcell. As the mode of inheritance for the modifier action was not known, different segregations were filtered to account for all modes of inheritance. Variants, including single nucleotide and structural variants were then sorted by potential deleterious effects and investigated in Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV) for expected segregation. Variants in genes identified as potential candidates were tested for expected segregation of various modes of inheritance within a larger sample set after genotyping using polymerase chain reactions (PCR) and Sanger sequencing. Though unidentified during this study, variants continue to be tested to identify a genetic modifier responsible for phenotypic variation in AC degeneration in RDH5-/- cats. We hypothesized degeneration of the AC would result in structural and functional abnormalities in the RDH5-/- cats. Full-field flash electroretinograms (ERGs), including scotopic, photopic, and rod recovery protocols assessed the impact of AC degeneration on whole retinal function between RDH5-/- cats with and without AC degeneration. Cats were binned into three groups using K Means Clustering. Groups were based on outer nuclear layer thickness assessed by Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT); A: No Degeneration, B: Intermediate Degeneration, C: Severe Degeneration. Despite a heavily photoreceptor populated area of the retina degenerating (the AC), no statistical differences in ERG responses across degeneration statuses was identified. We hypothesized gene augmentation therapy would improve rod recovery and slow AC degeneration. An adeno-associated virus serotype 2 with triple capsid mutations (AAV2) vector packaged with feline RDH5 cDNA (AAV-VMD2-RDH5) was subretinally injected into 11 RDH5-/- cats. One eye was injected with the vector, while the other eye was a non-injected control. The primary outcome measures were rescue of recovery of rod function following light exposure and structural preservation. Following euthanasia, immunohistochemistry was performed to ensure therapy resulted in appropriate expression of the transgene in the cells of interest (RPE). Gene augmentation therapy resulted in statistically significant improvement in rod functional recovery in the treated vs. untreated eye up to 1.5-years post-injection. Additionally, two treated individuals with AC degeneration injected at the AC showed preserved outer nuclear layer structure in the treated vs. untreated eye. In addition to excluding potential variants as the genetic modifier, this study improved understanding of the effect of AC degeneration on retinal function through multiple ERGs assessing different parts of the retina and developed a successful gene augmentation therapy.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references
THE ROLE OF INTERLEUKIN-10 IN SEX DIFFERENCES IN PAIN AND LONG-TERM SUPPRESSION OF PAIN
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Cell and Molecular Biology - Doctor of Philosophy, 2025Chronic pain is a prevalent disorder that compromises quality of life and imposes a burden on society. Increasing evidence indicates that the immune system can cause, worsen, prolong, or, conversely, resolve pain. In particular, interleukin (IL)-10 is a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine produced by immune cells including monocytes, macrophages, T cells, and B cells. Although IL-10 has been implicated in pain inhibition in both animals and humans, its pain-resolving mechanisms or cellular sources under pain conditions remain to be further elucidated. In my Ph.D. dissertation, I investigated the role of IL-10 in 1) sex differences in pain resolution in an inflammatory pain model and 2) long-term pain suppression in chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain. 1) During skin inflammation, IL-10 in the inflamed skin resolves pain by signaling through IL-10R1+ sensory nerves innervating the skin. IL-10 is primarily produced by infiltrating monocytes, and IL-10+ monocytes serve as potent drivers of pain resolution. These cells are more abundant in males than females, which contributes to sex differences in pain resolution. The male predominance of IL-10+ monocytes is regulated by sex hormones, particularly androgen signaling, which promotes IL-10 production in monocytes. Altogether, androgen signaling enables the greater abundance of IL-10+ monocytes in males resulting in faster pain resolution compared with females. 2) In chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain model, I found that pain is being actively suppressed by IL-10 during ostensible pain recovery. IL-10 is continuously produced from spinal meningeal resident macrophages. Especially, IL-10R signaling in DRG sensory neurons is crucial to maintain IL-10-driven pain suppression. I further identified that long-term pain suppression is driven by upregulation of \u3b4OR in DRG neurons, driven by IL-10. Collectively, my result shows that IL-10 upregulated \u3b4OR in DRG to maintain remission of pain. Overall, these dissertation studies advance our understanding of IL-10-mediated crosstalk between immune cells and pain-sensing neurons, providing new insights into promising therapeutic strategies for the treatment of chronic pain.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references
JUST AND TRUSTWORTHY APPLICATIONS OF DYNAMIC ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Philosophy - Doctor of Philosophy, 2025The overarching goal of this dissertation is to contribute to more trustworthy governanceof dynamic AI systems. The general question is: what is a trustworthy approach to governance of dynamic, world-altering systems? Dynamic AI systems are those whose behavior continues to evolve post-deployment through retraining, adaptation, and environmental interaction. Unlike technologies such as pharmaceuticals or GMOs, they reshape the very contexts in which they are embedded, making them difficult to regulate through conventional frameworks. These systems pose challenges of trust, responsibility, and transparency that cannot be resolved through technical reliability alone. My dissertation develops normative and epistemic frameworks to meet these challenges, moving from interpersonal dynamics in healthcare AI, to systemic transparency strategies through Curated Information Frameworks (CIFs), and finally to the many governance challenges of Agricultural AI (AgAI), which exemplify the complex entanglements of these systems. Chapter 2, An Algorithm in Doctor\u2019s Clothing, focuses on the role of trust in the deployment of healthcare AI. Moving from Annette Baier\u2019s (1986) account of trust, I argue that current AI systems lack the agency necessary to be trusted in their own right. Instead, what I term extensional, agentially-grounded trust is needed: trust anchored in a responsible human agent (e.g., the physician as an expert), whose moral and professional obligations extend to encompass the AI system. This preserves patient-centered medicine by ensuring that discretionary judgment remains with a human who can respect patient values and autonomy. Chapter 3, Curated Information and Agricultural AI, introduces the Curated Information Framework (CIF) as a new model for appropriate, justifiable transparency. CIFs reject the extremes of \u201cblack box\u201d opacity and \u201cwhite box\u201d full disclosure. Instead, they structure information in a way that is curated, digestible, and actionable. Rather than assuming that more transparency is always beneficial, CIFs provide role-specific, context-sensitive information sharing tailored to what different stakeholders actually need and find useful. Chapter 4, Distinctive Aspects of Agricultural AI, explains why AgAI requires unique governance. Unlike other AI systems, AgAI is materially embedded, hyperlocal, and socially entangled: it interacts directly with land, ecosystems, labor, and community traditions. I propose a taxonomy of AgAI (private, public, and security-facing systems) and show why regulatory analogies from pharmaceuticals or GMOs fail to capture AgAI\u2019s distinctive risks. Governance of AgAI ought to address three features: materiality, context-sensitivity, and entanglement. I argue that governance of AgAI must be materially reflexive, epistemically plural, and participatory, drawing on local expertise and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) alongside scientific methods. My dissertation demonstrates that trustworthy AI governance requires a layered approach: moral, epistemic, and institutional. First, trust in AI must be grounded in human agents, not the systems themselves (Chapter 2). Second, information about AI systems must be curated to the needs and capacities of diverse stakeholders, avoiding both opacity and overload (Chapter 3). Third, governance frameworks must be tailored to the unique challenges of dynamic, materially embedded and entangled systems such as AgAI, which demand participatory and pluralist oversight (Chapter 4). From these analyses, I conclude that an adequate governance system for dynamic AI such as AgAI ought to pursue five characteristics: hybrid participatory governance; contextual CIFs; post-deployment monitoring; protections for local knowledge; and agroecological and cultural impact assessments (Chapter 5).Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references
The Articulatory Coordination within Syllables
No full textThesis (M.A.)--Michigan State University. Linguistics - Master of Arts, 2025This thesis investigates the temporal coordination between vowels and coda consonants within syllables, framed by Articulatory Phonology (AP). While prior research has extensively examined consonant-vowel (CV) timing, particularly focusing on onset consonants, fewer studies have addressed the timing relationship within the syllable rhyme, specifically between the vowel and coda consonant. Two experiments were conducted to explore this vowel\u2013coda (VC) timing. The first experiment analyzed corpus data from the Wisconsin X-Ray Microbeam Speech Production Database (Westbury, Turner, and Dembowski 1994), revealing that the onset of the coda consonant tends to align near the end of the vowel gesture, although with considerable variability across stimuli. The second experiment employed a controlled Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) study with native American English speakers, confirming a similar pattern of VC coordination but demonstrating greater consistency when using gestural landmarks compared to target landmarks. These findings contrast with established CV timing results that generally show more stable in-phase coordination, suggesting a less stable and more variable temporal linkage between vowels and coda consonants. The results support syllable structure models such as the \u2018body-coda\u2019 view (Vennemann 1988), where vowel and onset consonant form a more tightly coordinated unit than the coda and the \u2018C-V syllable\u2019 view (Kaye, Lowenstamm, and Vergnaud 1990a,b; Kaye and Lowenstamm 1984; Lowenstamm 1996, among others), where syllables are fundamentally composed of simple CV sequences. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of articulatory dimension selection in timing analyses, as different articulatory gestures may exhibit distinct coordination patterns. Overall, this research contributes to refining our understanding of syllable-internal coordination and encourages further investigation into the articulatory basis of syllable structure across languages and phonological contexts.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references
DEVELOPMENT OF A MECHANISTIC-EMPIRICAL FRAMEWORK TO ASSESS THE RESILIENCY OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS AT PROJECT AND NETWORK LEVELS AGAINST FLOODING
Get PDFThesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Civil Engineering - Doctor of Philosophy, 2025As a consequence of climate change, the frequency and intensity of flooding events across the United States have been increasing over the past decades. Understanding the impact of these flooding events on the performance of flexible pavement networks is crucial for the design and maintenance of these structures. Flooding increases the degree of saturation of pavement layers, which affects the mechanical behavior of the materials and accelerates the deterioration rate. The focus of this dissertation is the impact of flooding events on the performance of flexible pavement structures at both the project and network levels, using a Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) pavement analysis framework.A comprehensive literature review highlighted the limitations in current modeling approaches and underscored the need for an improved analysis system. To address these gaps, a framework was developed to incorporate the effects of flooding events on the performance of flexible pavement structures using the ME analysis procedure. This framework proposed four major modifications to the standard Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) approach, including (i) a hybrid analysis increment scheme to capture short-term flooding effects, (ii) adjustments to the Resilient Modulus (MR) of unbound layers due to increased saturation levels, (iii) modifications to the rutting prediction model for saturated pavement materials, and (iv) accounting for changes in traffic patterns during flooding events. The Unified Pavement Distress Analysis and Prediction System (UPDAPS) program, which is a ME-based pavement analysis tool, was developed as a baseline for the analysis of this research. The proposed framework was implemented into the analysis engine of the UPDAPS program, resulting in a modified version called the UPDAPS-Flood program. The distress prediction results of the UPDAPS-Flood program were validated by simulating several pavement structures from the New Orleans area under the flooding caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At the project level, the UPDAPS-Flood program was used in a case study in Miami-Dade County, Florida, to simulate the effects of nine major flooding events on a newly constructed flexible pavement structure. The findings showed significant increases in rutting, fatigue cracking, and International Roughness Index (IRI) distresses due to these flooding events. The results emphasized the advantages of the UPDAPS-Flood program in analysis and design of the flexible pavement structures in the flood-prone areas. At the network level, UPDAPS-Flood program was employed to evaluate the resiliency of 10,650 flexible pavement structures across the contiguous United States. The simulation results showed a higher loss of service life for pavement networks in the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Wet/Freeze region, areas near major U.S. rivers (e.g., the Missouri and Mississippi rivers), and along the eastern coastline. This observation was attributed to the more frequent and severe flooding events recorded in these areas, primarily caused by river flooding, coastal flooding, or high precipitation. The analysis showed an average nationwide loss of service life of nine months for pavement structures due to flooding events. Additionally, the results indicated that highly flooded sections experienced significant performance losses, emphasizing the importance of considering flooding events in pavement design and maintenance frameworks, particularly in flood-prone areas. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the impact of key input parameters in the UPDAPS-Flood program on the calculated resiliency of the flexible pavement network against flooding events. The results showed a direct correlation between the reduction in MR of saturated unbound layers and the accumulated flooding damage. The results also highlighted the critical role of the effective drainage systems in mitigating the flooding damage to the pavement network. Geosynthetic reinforcement of the unbound base layer was also investigated as a potential strategy to improve pavement resiliency against flooding events. Laboratory test results showed that geosynthetic reinforcement increased the MR of base materials by 47% and reduced plastic strain by 23.4%, offering a promising solution to improve pavement performance under flood conditions. In addition, a geosynthetic reinforcement model was implemented in the UPDAPS-Flood program by integrating a Finite-Element Method (FEM)-based pavement structural response model. The simulation results on two typical pavement structures in Michigan showed that effect of geosynthetic reinforcement on improving the pavement resiliency against flooding events was dependent on the structural capacity of the pavement. In the thinner pavement sections, the geosynthetic reinforcement not only mitigated flooding damages but also improve the overall performance of the pavement, while in the thicker pavement sections, it did not show significant improvement in the predicted distresses under flooding scenario.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references
THREE ESSAYS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIOLENCE, URBANIZATION AND THE AGRIFOOD-VALUE CHAIN
Get PDFThesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics - Doctor of Philosophy, 2025The dynamics of violence and insecurity impose shocks on the general population that can cause devastation and limit market transactions. Violence shocks have led to drops in agricultural production, investment and labor decisions, amongst others. Moreover, the effects of armed confrontation, banditry and aggression have not been homogenous across the population and have differed based on socioeconomic levels linked to urbanization and geographical differences. Within agri-food research, literature has focused mostly on the effects of violence on farmers decisions and welfare without taking into account meso- level variables such as urbanization or other value chain actors, such as traders. The purpose of this work is to understand the relationship between violence and urbanization on the structuring of agri-food value chain as well as the actors within it.The first essay analyzes how meso-level variables, access to value chains, violence levels and territorial characteristics of secondary/tertiary cities and their catchment areas (denominated rural-urban territories) have an effect firstly, on milk farmers market channel choice and secondly on the decision of milk farmers to adopt different technologies associated to breeding, pasture management and milking practices. For both analyses, we particularly focus on rural-urban development levels (degree of violence, urbanization, and urban proximity) and access to value chains, measured by the number of upstream and downstream traders, all while controlling for famer micro characteristics. The second paper studies the vulnerability of maize trader in Nigeria to exogenous shocks (such as climate, violence, or spoilage). We focus firstly on understanding the relationship among these shocks (that is, do they cluster or affect the trader as a \u201cconfluence\u201d) and second on the trader characteristics that make them more vulnerable. Specifically, we analyze if female, rural, and Northern (poorer region) traders more vulnerable to exogenous shocks than male, urban, and Southern traders. We find that There's a notable positive correlation between COVID and violence shocks, particularly affecting Northern regions, which bear a disproportionate burden of shocks due to poverty and rural violence. Gender also plays a role, with women more likely to experience violence shocks. Traders farming maize mitigate price shocks but become more vulnerable to violence shocks. The final essay examines the impact of violent conflict on maize prices in Nigeria. Drawing on survey data from 1100 maize farmers in Nigeria in 2021, we analyze both violent events and the presence of non-state armed actors (NSAA), on maize prices in the locations where a trader\u2019s base is (i.e. his main stall/firm activity is located) as well as the location of their main supplier. We find that heightened violence correlates with increased maize prices, underlining the transaction cost aspect of violence and its hindrance to market mobility. Our analysis also highlights the significant interaction effect between violence and urban density, emphasizing the pronounced impact of violence on prices in urbanized areas.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references
EXPLORING THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF PARENTS OF YOUTH INVOLVED IN A SPECIALTY COURT FOR COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION : A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY
Get PDFThesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Human Development and Family Studies - Doctor of Philosophy, 2025The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), also known as domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST), is a pervasive human rights violation that disproportionally affects youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Given this correlation, several jurisdictions across the country have developed CSEC/DMST specialty courts to address and respond to the unique needs of court-involved youth. However, a major limitation of the CSEC/DMST specialty court literature is the lack of discourse regarding family involvement and family-based services. To enhance family-level interventions in CSEC/DMST specialty courts, it is first necessary that parents\u2019 perspectives are centered to gain a deeper understanding of the parent-child relationship, their experiences of parenting a youth under court supervision, and their experiences in the specialty court program. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the experiences and perceived needs of parents involved in a specialty court program for CSEC/DMST. To achieve this goal, a phenomenological design and community-engaged research approach was utilized. Seven parents who were currently or formerly involved in a local CSEC/DMST specialty court participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke\u2019s (2006) thematic analysis approach. Data analysis resulted in a total of 19 themes and 21 subthemes. Findings from this study reveal key themes pertaining to parents\u2019 individual/family circumstances, parenting experiences, and experiences within a CSEC/DMST court. Key findings demonstrated that parents in this court experience chronic stress, limited resources, and difficulty finding appropriate services that addressed their child\u2019s behaviors. Once involved in the CSEC/DMST court, parents stress decreased as they received specialized support; however, for some parents whose child had left the program, this stress returned post-programming. Parents generally shared positive experiences about the court and offered suggestions for specific areas for improvements relating to parent involvement/engagement. The findings suggest that implementing family-level interventions within specialty courts could be a crucial factor in promoting positive, sustained outcomes. Several implications for future research were identified. Furthermore, practice recommendations for CSEC/DMST courts and therapists working with families are provided. Findings from this study fill a critical gap in the literature by helping clinical researchers and practitioners toward the understanding necessary to develop culturally attuned family-level services for court-involved youth impacted by sexual exploitation or trafficking.Description based on online resource. Title from PDF t.p. (Michigan State University Fedora Repository, viewed ).Includes bibliographical references