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Debt (re)considered: an exploration of shame, bankruptcy, and financial resilience
Get PDFIn the wake of the 2008 Great Recession—a global financial crisis felt by millions of Americans—bankruptcy rates in the U.S. spiked; curiously, so too did stigma associated with bankruptcy (Sousa 2018). The brunt of literature grappling with these findings focuses on the external and structural consequences of stigma from bankruptcy. Prior work stays largely within the scope of the pre-bankruptcy/debt restructuring phase and within the bankruptcy process itself. A gap exists in the stigmatizing effects of the aftermath of bankruptcy. What are the emotional consequences of stigma and how does it impact financial resilience of debtors in the years after someone declares?
Employing a framework of Marxism, neoliberal orientations of political economy, and Symbolic Interactionism, this thesis explores the nexus of consumer bankruptcy, shame, and financial resilience following the Great Recession of 2008. Using semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 7 individuals who experienced consumer bankruptcy (both chapters 7 and 13) between 2007 and 2018, I find that shame mars the entirety of debtors' bankruptcy experience: before, during, and after. There are numerous structural reminders of debtors post-bankrupt status, i.e., bankruptcy staying attached to one's credit identity for years after successfully discharging. It is through structural remnants of stigma that debtors maintain their sense of shame and thus disengaged from financially resilient behavior after they discharged. Further, and in the years after discharging and living with stigma, post-bankrupt individuals both reify the very system that stigmatized them while attempting to resist the rationale that underpins it. Two phenomena occurred: 1) interviewees reified neoliberalism by affirming the stigmatized characterization of debtors and bankrupt individuals, and 2) interviewees reframed their own experiences thereby resisting the neoliberal system
Language appropriations in a 50/50 English/Spanish dual language immersion program
No full textThis dissertation presents the findings of a study informed in a 50/50 dual language immersion program in Arizona. The study looked at existing educators’ language appropriations and their impact on educational practices. The study also reviewed how and why students benefitted from bilingualism and biliteracy. The results discussed provide important insights into key pedagogical practices adopted by the educators and issues related to levels of language proficiency and biliteracy attainment and equity. The study also reviewed the relationship between language appropriations and students’ biliteracy transfer between first and second languages. Developing a better understanding of all these issues is central to the continued success of two-way immersion programs
Nitrogen and oxygen containing heteroaromatic systems: synthesis and characterization by 1d and 2d NMR techniques
No full textPolyaromatic systems containing fused benzene rings such as; fluoranthene, coronene and triphenylene and heteroaromatic systems such as; pyrylium, pyridine and pyridinium are important structures and motifs in materials, analytical, environmental, and synthetic chemistry. This research demonstrates how modular systems can be created to give a range of pyridine and pyridinium based systems as well as their potential use in material and synthetic applications. Previous work from Watson and co-workers found that if primary alkylamines were reacted with 2,4,6-triphenylpyrylium tetrafluoroborate an N-alkyl pyridinium salt would be created. In the presence of an aryl boronic acid and nickel catalyst the N-alkyl system would undergo radical fragmentation, resulting in the formation of a new C(sp2)-C(sp3), aryl-alkyl bond. This work expands on that idea by utilizing primary arylamines to synthesize a library of N-(aryl)-2,4,6-triphenylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate salts. Two different methods were developed for the synthesis of these salts. The first involving more electron-rich or electron neutral species in which both the pyrylium salt and arylamine starting materials are put into a round bottom flask with ethanol and refluxed and 7 hours. The second method was employed for more electron-deficient systems and included the addition of an acid (acetic acid) and base (triethylamine) to the previous methods. It was eventually discovered that the N-aryl salts of interest could not undergo radical fragmentation due to unfavorable thermodynamic conditions; however, a new N-aryl tetrahydroacridinium based system has recently been identified that shows the ability to fragment. This new system is currently being explored as a way to form aryl-aryl bond via nickel catalysis.
Work by Surendranath and co-workers as well as the work of Gokhale et al. have shown that hetero-polyaromatic systems are capable of binding to different metal centers. These new scaffolds are known as graphene-conjugated catalysts and have been shown to be able to perform oxygen and carbon dioxide reduction reactions. This work sets out a synthesis a library of nitrogen-containing graphene scaffolds based on the benzene, fluoranthene and triphenylene structures. Two approaches were taken to incorporate the pyridine motifs needed for transition metal binding. The first was by a 1,2-bis(pyridine)ethyne synthesized over three steps involving two Sonogashira reactions and a deprotection. This method proved difficult as many issue were discovered to occur over the course of the multi-step synthesis of the 1,2-bis(pyridine)ethyne component. The second method proved much more viable as the pyridine motifs could be incorporated into the scaffold from the aldol condensation reaction resulting in a cyclopentadienone derivative. Continuing work will investigate the ability of different transition metals to bind to these scaffolds as well as examining their photochemical and electrochemical properties
Chasing tails: Active Asteroid, Centaur, and Quasi-Hilda discovery with astroinformatics and citizen science
No full textThe discovery of activity emanating from asteroid (4015) Wilson-Harrington in 1950 (Harris, 1950) prompted astronomers to realize that comet-like activity, such as comae and tails, is not limited to comets. Fewer than 30 of these “active asteroids” have been discovered (Chandler et al., 2018) in the last 70 years, yet they promise to hold clues about fundamental physical and chemical processes at play in our solar system (Jewitt, 2012; Hsieh et al., 2015a). Activity is attributed to sublimation for roughly half of these objects, highlighting asteroids as a “volatile reservoir.” In this context a volatile reservoir is any dynamical group of bodies in the solar system that is known to harbor volatiles. Understanding the past and present volatile distribution in the solar system has broad implications ranging from informing future space exploration pro- grams to helping us understand how planetary systems form with volatiles prerequisite to life as we know it, especially water. Notably, the origin of Earth’s water is essentially unknown, although it is now believed that asteroids account for at least some of the terrestrial volatile budget (Alexander, 2017).
A second volatile reservoir came to light following the 1977 discovery of Centaur (2060) Chiron (Kowal & Gehrels, 1977). Centaurs, found between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune, are thought to be icy objects originating from the Kuiper Belt, a circumstellar region between the orbit of Neptune (30 au) and about 50 au from the Sun (Jewitt, 2009). The Kuiper Belt is roughly 200 times more massive than the Asteroid Belt. Nevertheless, active Centaurs are also rare, with fewer than 20 discovered to date (Chandler et al., 2020).
We set out to increase the number of known active objects in order to (1) enable the study of these active objects as populations, and (2) search for new volatile reservoirs. I proposed to the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) to create a Citizen Science project designed to carry out an outreach program while searching through millions of images of known asteroids in order to find previously unknown active objects. My proposal was selected for funding, and on 31 August 2022 we successfully launched Active Asteroids (http://activeasteroids.net), a NASA Partner, and discoveries have been abundant ever since.
In this dissertation I present (1) Hunting for Activity in Repositories with Vetting-Enhanced Search Techniques (HARVEST), a pipeline that extracts images of known solar system objects for presentation to Citizen Scientists, (2) our proof-of-concept demonstrating Dark Energy Camera (DECam) images are well-suited for activity detection (Chandler et al., 2018), (3) how we discovered a potential new recurrent activity mechanism (Chandler et al., 2019), (4) a Centaur activity discovery plus a novel technique for estimating which species are sublimating (Chandler et al., 2020), (5) how our discovery of an additional activity epoch for an active asteroid enabled us to classify the object as a member of the Main-belt Comet (MBC) (Chandler et al., 2021b), a rare (< 10) active asteroid subset that orbits in the Asteroid Belt that is known for sublimation-driven activity, (6) a dynamical pathway that can explain the presence of some of the active asteroids, and (7) the Citizen Science project Active Asteroids, including initial results
Evidence for late holocene multi-fault rupture in the Panamint Valley transtensional relay, Eastern California Shear Zone
No full textSeveral historic, multi-fault ruptures in the Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) reinforce the need to understand how this rupture style contributes to seismic hazard in complex and diffuse fault zones. Several historic earthquakes in the ECSZ, the 1992 Landers, the 1999 Hector Mine, and the 2019 Ridgecrest rupture sequence, involved complex and multi-fault rupture. However, paleoseismic evidence of multi-fault ruptures in the ECSZ is poorly resolved in the rock record. Here I investigate paleoseismic evidence for complex rupture in Panamint Valley, located ~50 km northeast of the 2019 Ridgecrest ruptures. Late Holocene scarps in the 10 km-wide transtensional relay between the Ash Hill and Panamint Valley faults display surface rupture geometries analogous to those produced during the 1992 Landers and 1999 Hector Mine earthquakes. I produce a 1:4000 scale tectonogeomorphic map of the 40 km² area between the Ash Hill and Panamint Valley faults using my locally-calibrated relative-age alluvial fan chronology and using NCALM lidar DEMs and aerial imagery to identify ruptures. I bracket earthquakes with post-IR feldspar infrared-stimulated luminescence dating of offset deposits. I record vertical and lateral offsets at over 250+ locations using field mapping and backslipped reconstructions of newly generated high resolution (5 cm) drone-based structure from motion digital surface models. My mapping shows that the transtensional relay consists of 100+ fault strands that occur in parallel and en échelon arrays 5-7 km in length, with spacings of 1s to 100s of meters. Using my relative-age fan stratigraphy, geochronologic dating of offset deposits, and relative cumulative offset, I identify four late Holocene ruptures at ~0.3 – ~0.7 ka, ~0.7 – 2.4 ka, ~2.6 – 3.6 ka, and ~3.6 – 4.2 ka. Displacement magnitude per event ranges from 0.6 – 1.0 m of lateral slip and 0 – 0.2 m of dip slip. Displacement-length scaling relationships suggest that these mapped faults cannot rupture independently of a larger fault system. My results show overlap in the timing of ruptures in the transtensional relay, on the Ash Hill and Panamint faults, and that the Ash Hill and transtensional relay are kinematically similar. These similarities suggest this region acts as a zone for complex strain transfer between the Ash Hill and Panamint faults over multiple earthquake cycles. These relationships may support a geometric link at depth or the reoccupation of preexisting weaknesses at depth capable of transferring strain over larger distances
Mid-infrared spectral studies of Jovian Trojan asteroids and the effects of regolith porosity
No full textJupiter’s Trojan asteroids (hereafter Trojans) make up a large group of primitive bodies that carry insight into the formation mechanisms that shaped our Solar System. Mid-infrared (MIR; 5-35 µm) spectra of Trojans exhibit puzzling silicate emission features, similar to spectra of optically thin comet comae – an odd finding because asteroid regoliths are optically thick. This discovery led to the hypothesis that Trojan surfaces may consist of a fine grained, ‘fluffy’ regolith of silicates (hereafter ‘regolith porosity’). In this dissertation, I investigate the Trojan surface composition as a window into their formation and subsequent evolution. By constraining the effects of regolith porosity on MIR spectra, Trojan surface composition can be more accurately interpreted, leading to a deeper understanding of formation mechanisms.
I began this investigation with laboratory experiments designed to constrain regolith porosity, a parameter that greatly affects MIR spectra. To simulate regolith porosity, I began by selecting two olivine, seven pyroxenes, and one mixture of olivine and pyroxene. Then, I ground the samples into the following grain sizes: 0-20 µm, 20-45 µm, and 45-63 µm, and mixed them with potassium bromide (KBr; a MIR-transparent salt) from 0%-90% with 10% intervals by weight. Finally, I measured the MIR spectra of each silicate sample mixture with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer at every regolith porosity interval. Results indicate a gradual transition from primarily surface scattering (typical for optically thick material) to primarily volume scattering (typical for optically thin material) spectral regime, supporting my hypothesis. Using these results to analyze Hektor, the largest Trojan, indicates Hektor’s regolith is highly porous (at least 84% void space).
To complete my investigation of Trojan compositions, I reduced and analyzed eleven MIR Trojan spectra taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope. I compared the Trojan spectra to spectra of meteorite powder, comets, and mineral endmember spectra. My results indicate Trojans are likely covered in a highly porous regolith of fine-particulate crystalline olivine (primarily forsterite), enstatite, diopside, and amorphous silicates. The minerals that are likely on the Trojan surface are consistent with the Nice model, which predicts the Trojans originally formed in the primordial Kuiper belt
The stability of the Woodcock-Johnson IV tests of cognitive abilities factor structure in a school referral sample
No full textWithin the field of school psychology, the currently accepted structure of intelligence is the Cattell-Horn-Carroll Model (CHC). The CHC model contains three strata of abilities: a general ability (g), multiple broad cognitive abilities, and several narrow abilities (Schneider & McGrew, 2018), although the theoretical salience of the g factor is contested. Simultaneously, school psychologists are starting to shift the loci of their cognitive assessment interpretation from the general ability to broad abilities (Benson et al., 2019). This change in assessment focus has brought increased scrutiny regarding the technical adequacy of cognitive assessments to be interpreted in this manner (Canivez & Youngstrom, 2019), with those on separate sides of the g debate (i.e., the theoretical salience of the general factor) arriving at differing conclusions due to the use of different modeling techniques. The goal of this study was to examine the underlying factor structure and technical adequacy of one CHC-based instrument, the Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ IV COG; Schneider et al., 2014). This study also observed the stability of this structure over the period of a typical psychoeducational reevaluation and aimed to consider both perspectives in the g debate. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the existence of four broad ability factors within the WJ IV COG: Processing Speed, Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, and General Memory. Confirmatory methods favored a correlated factors explanation of the general ability. While all four factors met minimum criteria for reliability, only Processing Speed and Verbal Comprehension met standards for construct replicability and mirrored closely their existence within the CHC model and current WJ IV COG interpretive output. Thus, it is recommended that practitioners are selective in the broad abilities they choose to interpret. Due to the analytic procedures utilized within this current study, definitive support towards a psychometric or psychological g cannot be provided. Future research should focus on the use of strong theory to resolve this debate. Understanding the data-generating mechanism will be directly useful to practitioners who aim to explain and treat learning disorders
Understanding the role of university passive architectural design as a strategy for energy reduction and anthropogenic climate change mitigation
No full textThe growing threat of anthropogenic climate change brings with it questions of mitigation strategies. This thesis looks at passive architectural design strategies deployed in the built environment, utilizing a case study approach, focused on NAU’s International Pavilion, to understand how this form of design performs in practice on a university campus in relation to energy usage intensity and the ideals of Anthropocene Architecture. Current research literature shows that passive-focused retrofits and commitments to carbon neutrality occur with campus-wide official commitments to climate action plans (Del Borghi et al., 2021, p. 11, Erhart et al., 2016, p. 1, Celniker et al., 2021, p. 2; see also Carbon Neutrality Initiative, 2021). The literature also shows that education and occupant behavior play a major role in energy usage (Petersen et al. 2007 referencing, Janda et al. 2002, and Schipper 1989). Finally, current research sheds light on the ability for institutional buildings in climates similar to Flagstaff, AZ, to operate at near net-zero energy levels (Hill, Less Than Zero). With NAU yet to officially adopt an updated climate action plan, although one is in the works, it is an important time to study passive design focused buildings at NAU to understand their efficacy and potential to be precedent setting for future building and retrofits. In this thesis, I used qualitative and quantitative data from an oral history contextual survey, follow-up oral history interviews, and an energy usage database - ECAP, to construct and oral history and uncover common themes regarding the International Pavilion and how passive design works in practice at NAU. The data shows that the International Pavilion, a building with passive-focused features, is outperforming other buildings of similar types and sizes that don’t include a passive focus in terms of Energy Usage Intensity. Despite this, there are some issues keeping the building from reaching its full energy potential. From the n and follow-up interviews, my participants shared that the main issues are related to education, training, and a lack of guidance. The adoption of an official climate action plan focused on rectifying these issues could propel the university toward a campus-wide reduction in EUI and a change in building culture toward the ideals of Anthropocene Architecture
Unburying Water/What We [Un]Bury : a nonbinary settler’s search for a name and the missing
Get PDFIn Unburying Water/What We [Un]Bury, I confront a confluence of erasures. My manuscript features poetry, lyric essays, and visual texts to investigate the disappearance of a creek known only by rumor in a Southeast Portland neighborhood; my two-year search for a name as a queer and nonbinary settler; and the history behind the burial of this creek and settler colonialism of Portland, Oregon. I ask what it takes to find a name and how we may recover ourselves, others, and the land.
Additional questions guide this project, including the question of what forces could have disappeared a creek from earth’s surface and historical record. Seeking answers, I have examined records at Oregon Historical Society and Portland City Archives, combed through newspapers’ online repositories and Ancestry.com, and interviewed government employees and neighbors. My inquiries into my neighborhood and my own ancestry highlight the dangers of erasure and settler amnesia.
This manuscript reflects some of my experimentation with form and use of archival records. In free verse and contrapuntal forms, for example, I engage with my search for a name. Through found and epistolary forms, I examine settler colonialism in Portland, noting Portland's engagement with eugenics and acknowledging that my existence was made possible by a step-ancestor who was an early settler. Using photography, I also engage with what has been buried.
This particular body of work draws inspiration from writers such as Abigail Chabitnoy, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Deborah Tall, Jordan Abel, Layli Long Soldier, and Deborah Miranda. Chabitnoy, Nguyen, and Tall have offered me inspiration for how to tackle themes of familial silence and absence sometimes facilitated by the state. Like Deborah Miranda (Bad Indians), I situate archival records beside poetry and prose in my manuscript. Though I did not read Injun by Jordan Abel nor Whereas by Layli Soldier until this spring, I was moved to learn of their responses to settler colonialism through engagements with novels in the public domain and federal documents. Hearing about (then later reading) these books undoubtedly increased my desire to work with texts I had found. Unlocking maps and photographs from archives (and research from scholarly journals often inaccessible to the general public), and examining what exists in the public domain, I bring the search for a creek, ancestry, and historical reckoning to a wider population, while simultaneously asking what it means to have a name.
Arguably the most important work remains to be done: additional research and writing around settler and Indigenous history, present-day realities, and the future. This is also the most sensitive work. Moving forward, I intend to engage more deeply with difficult truths about displacement of Indigenous nations from western Oregon, my step- and biological ancestors’ complicity in settler colonialism, and ongoing resistance to silencing forces.
After graduation, besides focusing on poetry around settler and Indigenous history, I intend to work on connective tissue, and determine the best sequence for my pieces. My project is ambitious, and some of what I research and write may ultimately end up in a narrative nonfiction book about settler colonialism in the Pacific Northwest
Leading in crisis: principals and COVID-19
No full textSchool principals were presented an unprecedented opportunity beginning in March 2020 when their leadership ability was tested due to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Principals relied on their leadership skills to navigate this unknown terrain of leading through a global pandemic. Through the course of leading in crisis, their leadership styles were strengthened, and their commitment to the school communities, reinforced. The aim of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of principals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 21 principals from elementary, middle and high schools across Maricopa County Arizona. Data were collected through 1:1 semi-structured interviews. The data was analyzed and coded to establish themes related to principals’ experience leading during the COVID-19 crisis.
This phenomenological study, exploring the crisis leadership of school principals during the COVID-19 pandemic, provides insight on the leadership styles and skills that were developed and utilized while leading in a crisis. The findings indicate that principals relied on decisive leadership as well as strong and transparent communication skills while leading during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research also found that principals’ emotional intelligence was a contributing competency while leading in crisis.
Identifying the leadership competencies that were developed through leading during COVID-19, could potentially support new and veteran administrators who will continue to lead during COVID-19 as well as other crises. The research may also positively influence the mental health of leaders if they are better equipped at proactively building their capacity to manage the stress related to leading in crisis