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Collaborative Development of a Cygnss Flood Product for Enhanced Disaster Risk Management and Response
No full textVariations in Earth’s surface water play a crucial role in the global hydrological cycle. Unexpected changes such as flooding are among the most devastating natural hazards, endangering millions of lives and livelihoods worldwide with the impact enhanced as socioeconomic vulnerability increases. Mitigating these impacts is a key priority for government agencies and industries like insurance. As flooding becomes increasingly complex and its impact more challenging to pinpoint, even with growing data availability, the most vulnerable and underserved communities remain at high risk of impact as climate, socioeconomic, and political drivers of risk continue to evolve
Why Games Stop Feeling Fun: A Computational Approach to Emotional Demand in Play
No full textVideo games are often pursued for relaxation and social connection, yet players frequently report experiences of stress, frustration, and emotional exhaustion, particularly in online multiplayer environments. This thesis investigates the paradox of why games stop feeling fun by analyzing how players articulate interactive demands and affective experiences in naturally occurring online discourse. Grounded in Bowman’s Interactivity-as-Demand framework and informed by Flow theory and Mood Management perspectives, the study conceptualizes game play as a system of competing cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and controller-related demands. Using an observational computational approach, 1,457 posts and comments were collected from eleven gaming-related subreddits, focusing on competitive first-person shooter communities. The analysis employs a triangulated strategy combining theory-driven multi-label coding for demand detection with a multi-method sentiment analysis using keyword-based methods, VADER, and a fine-tuned DistilBERT model. Results indicate that cognitive and emotional demands are the most frequently discussed dimensions, often co-occurring to reflect the high-stakes nature of competitive play. While less frequent, controller and physical demands are associated with disproportionately high negative sentiment, functioning as "hygiene factors" that disrupt enjoyment when they fail. Furthermore, social demands exhibit a polarized sentiment profile, acting as both a source of deep satisfaction through teamwork and intense frustration through toxicity. The findings suggest that player frustration is driven less by high demand intensity alone than by the misalignment of these demands with player resources and expectations. This study extends the Interactivity-as-Demand framework by demonstrating the compound nature of gameplay stressors and illustrates the value of computational methods for understanding player experience at scale.
Keywords: Interactivity-as-Demand, Player Experience, Natural Language Processing, Sentiment Analysis, Multiplayer Online Game
Online Supplement 7 Appendix for Bowers et al. (2025) Mapping Public Open Access K-12 State Education Indicator Data Across 7 States and Washington D.C. Using the FAIR Data Principles: Texas v1.3 Metadata Megatable
No full textThis .csv is an Online Supplement for the following report published online:
Bowers, A.J., Choi, Y., Huan, Y., Huang, Y., Jiang, J., Cibrian Lopez, G., Murdoch, A., Pu, K., Sill, M., Williams, J., Wu, Y., Xu, G., Saldaña, C., Halverson, R. (2025) Mapping Public Open Access K-12 State Education Indicator Data Across 7 States and Washington D.C. Using the FAIR Data Principles. Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.7916/c0jk-5e64
This .csv includes metadata on hundreds of Texas public open access K-12 education datasets mapped to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's (NASEM) 16 equity indicators. The metadata catalogue (the metadata megatable) includes metadata variables including each dataset's filename, format, year, direct URL, indirect URL, and categorization to each of the 16 indicators.
For more information on the variables in the file please see the data dictionary for this project: https://doi.org/10.7916/ydwn-1s20
For more information, please see the research report
Online Supplement 8 Appendix for Bowers et al. (2025) Mapping Public Open Access K-12 State Education Indicator Data Across 7 States and Washington D.C. Using the FAIR Data Principles: Washington, D.C. v1.3 Metadata Megatable
No full textThis .csv is an Online Supplement for the following report published online:
Bowers, A.J., Choi, Y., Huan, Y., Huang, Y., Jiang, J., Cibrian Lopez, G., Murdoch, A., Pu, K., Sill, M., Williams, J., Wu, Y., Xu, G., Saldaña, C., Halverson, R. (2025) Mapping Public Open Access K-12 State Education Indicator Data Across 7 States and Washington D.C. Using the FAIR Data Principles. Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.7916/c0jk-5e64
This .csv includes metadata on hundreds of Washington, D.C. public open access K-12 education datasets mapped to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's (NASEM) 16 equity indicators. The metadata catalogue (the metadata megatable) includes metadata variables including each dataset's filename, format, year, direct URL, indirect URL, and categorization to each of the 16 indicators.
For more information on the variables in the file please see the data dictionary for this project: https://doi.org/10.7916/ydwn-1s20
For more information, please see the research report
Revisiting Electronic and Nuclear Sputtering from Ions at Mercury using Linear Cascade Theory
No full textThis study revisits calculations using linear cascade theory (LCT) to estimate the relative importance of the ion-induced collisional sputtering yield (also referred to as knock-on, nuclear, or kinetic sputtering) and the ion-induced electronic sputtering yield. We focus on sputtering of Na from Mercury’s surface using data from the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission. The updated nuclear and electronic sputtering yields for H and He solar wind ions at 1 keV amu⁻ ¹, respectively, are approximately an order of magnitude larger than the values calculated using LCT in M. A. McGrath et al. Compared to this earlier work, our study uses a factor of 10 larger Na surface fraction and a factor of 3 lower total atom surface density based on MESSENGER data that were not available when the McGrath et al. study was carried out. Additional differences are the use of new data more relevant to Mercury’s surface minerals for the nuclear and electronic stopping-power cross sections and the surface binding energies. For the conditions considered in this study, the nuclear sputtering yields calculated using LCT show good agreement with the values calculated using recent binary collision approximation models. We qualitatively compare estimates of the Na sputtering source rate to other source processes for Mercury’s exosphere, considering recent studies of the precipitating ion flux based on MESSENGER data. Future experiments that measure the yield and ejecta energy spectra for simulated Mercury surface conditions, along with advanced modeling of ion–surface interactions, are required to reduce uncertainties and support exospheric studies
Introduction: Socialism: the 100-year-old Misnomer
No full textThe "Introduction" argues that concepts function as epistemic shortcuts that help people navigate reality, but naming alone does not produce understanding. Durable knowledge requires empirical inquiry and reflective insight grounded in commonsense reasoning. The book focuses on socialism, a concept that possesses both a theoretical essence and a historical practice, yet whose meaning has been persistently distorted. While socialism properly refers to a democratic and egalitarian framework aimed at collective welfare, the term has also been applied to authoritarian systems that bore little resemblance to its foundational values. The book labels these systems “ersatz socialism,” arguing that they were, in reality, forms of illiberal state monopoly capitalism.
Tracing socialism’s history in the United States, the Introduction shows that although socialist ideas influenced labor movements and cultural empathy, the U.S. never adopted an economic system aimed at social redistribution. Instead, state planning consistently served capitalist consolidation, contributing to corporate monopolies despite regulatory efforts such as antitrust legislation. By contrast, twentieth-century Soviet and Eastern and Central European regimes appropriated the socialist label to justify authoritarian governance and economic monopoly.
The Introduction further situates these misrepresentations within broader debates about democracy, oligarchy, capitalism, and technological mediation. Drawing on philosophy, political economy, law, and cultural analysis, it argues that capitalism is highly adaptable and can thrive under both democratic and authoritarian conditions. The book’s aim is to demystify socialism, distinguish it from its historical misnomers, and recover its original meaning through a methodology grounded in commonsense knowledge and insight
Decoding neuronal fate specification in the pharynx of Caenorhabditis elegans
No full textSantiago Ramon y Cajal’s lifelong pursuit of understanding the intricate cell types in the nervous system ignited a pivotal inquiry in neurobiology. Despite advancements, the fundamental question persists: How does the human brain generate its diverse neuronal cell types? While progress has been made, the mechanisms governing neuronal diversity during brain development remain elusive. Numerous transcription factors and their regulatory mechanisms await elucidation, posing a formidable challenge due to the complexity of the task.
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans serves as an ideal model organism for investigating neuronal fate specification, owing to its small size, rapid generation time, transparency, and well-annotated genome. This dissertation focuses on the pharyngeal nervous system of C. elegans, comprised of only 20 neurons delineated into 14 distinct types. This simplicity enables detailed analyses of neuronal specifications within a largely autonomous circuit.
This study employs two main approaches: a candidate gene analysis and an unbiased forward genetic screen. Through expression analysis in the laboratory, several homeodomain transcription factors were identified in pharyngeal neurons. Subsequent mutant analysis of these candidate genes tested their roles in specifying the pharyngeal nervous system.
Additionally, this research explored the shifts in homeotic identity between pharyngeal neurons governed by these transcription factors. The forward genetic screen led to the discovery that the chd-7 chromatin regulatory factor plays an essential role in regulating I2 neuronal identity. These insights deepen our understanding of neuronal fate specification and suggest broader implications for understanding complex neural systems
Residential Segregation, Municipal Competition, and Local Decision Making
No full textIn this dissertation, I explore the relationship between race and ethnic conflict, demographic composition, and the provision of local public goods across U.S. cities. Specifically, I aim to understand how the preferences of neighboring, often conflicting, racial and ethnic groups are reflected in local political outcomes. To do this, I examine how urban segregation has evolved in recent decades, whether local public finance allocations correlate with differences in racial and ethnic composition, and how animosity between groups influences distributive bargaining decisions and municipal decentralization.
Chapter 1 addresses a significant challenge in analyzing demographic composition and municipal finance: the lack of an open-source, robust dataset for evaluating changes in segregation over time. To fill this gap, I introduce the Multi-Level Segregation Database (MLSD), a comprehensive resource that spans the 48 contiguous U.S. states and covers four Census years—1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. The MLSD provides detailed entropy-based measures of total, within-place, and between-place segregation, offering a rich dataset for analysis. Specifically, the database includes 30,846 Census place observations representing 9,561 unique places in 481 Urbanized Areas (UAs) and 49,778 Census place observations representing 15,986 unique places in 363 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). A key contribution of this chapter is the application of the Kullback-Leibler (KL) Divergence metric to quantify the distance between a place’s racial group population distribution and that of its broader region. The utility of the KL Divergence measure is demonstrated through a mathematical proof and a case study of Birmingham, AL. Using the MLSD, I conduct a descriptive analysis that reveals, contrary to previous findings, that segregation within and between places has generally declined from 1980 to 2010 in both UAs and MSAs. These findings challenge the prevailing notion that segregation patterns have predominantly shifted in recent decades from within cities to between cities. Instead, they reveal both forms of segregation have decreased over the four-decade period. This suggests a need for new theoretical approaches to understand what declining segregation truly signifies for group dynamics and political power at the local level. On one hand, lower levels of segregation might indicate improved intergroup relations and a greater willingness among groups to live in closer proximity. On the other hand, these trends could reflect ongoing processes of reshuffling and re-stratification—such as gentrification or the suburbanization of poverty—that perpetuate new forms of inequity.
In Chapter 2, I reexamine the relationship between demographic composition and public expenditures using a dataset encompassing over 9,000 cities across six 5-year intervals between 1982 and 2007, resulting in more than 45,000 observations on city-level demographics and public finance outcomes. I test hypotheses suggesting that measures of demographic composition—used as proxies for race and ethnic conflict—explain differences in aggregate spending behaviors of U.S. cities. Specifically, I examine whether increasing diversity and/or segregation at the local level is associated with lower public expenditures. To do this, I extend the MLSD to cover the intercensal years between 1980 and 2010, allowing for the pairing of robust diversity, segregation, and divergence measures with municipal financial data collected by the U.S. Census in years ending in 2 and 7. The Extended Multi-Level Segregation Database (EMLSD) enables the testing of various hypotheses using segregation metrics that are less prone to measurement error and account for changes in municipal boundaries over time. The analysis challenges the prevailing consensus that diverse or segregated communities necessarily experience lower public expenditures. Instead, the findings suggest that the relationship between demographic composition and public spending is more complex than previously understood, with no consistent evidence linking diversity or segregation to significant changes in public goods provision. This study therefore contributes to the literature by questioning long-held assumptions about the impact of demographic heterogeneity on aggregate public finance measures and by emphasizing the importance of considering alternative explanations, such as institutional design and inequitable distributions within cities, in understanding public budgeting outcomes.
Finally, in Chapter 3, I develop a two-stage model of legislative bargaining that examines how conflict between groups shapes distributive outcomes and municipal decentralization. The project begins with a single-stage game that recognizes that city council are often comprised of representatives from groups with intense animosities toward each other. Despite strong partisan divisions or cleavages along racial, ethnic, or religious lines, legislatures must still make collective decisions about the distribution of resources. In this chapter, I present a Baron and Ferejohn (1989) style model that captures how animosity shapes distributive bargaining payoffs and the prospects for legislation advanced through cross-party coalitions. I consider a two-party legislature with three members, where each member experiences some level of disutility from allocations to opposing party members. In equilibrium, I find that the expected payoff for majority (minority) party members increases (decreases) as animosity between groups rises. However, only a majority party proposer accrues the increased ex-post payoffs associated with higher animosity, as the proposer can use the threat of cross-party coalition formation to extract additional surplus from co-party members.
I then embed the new animosity bargaining framework in a two-stage model of municipal decentralization. The model indicates that the threat of decentralization in stage two can lead to a more equitable—though still unequal—distribution of resources across districts in stage one. When animosity between opposing groups is relatively low, the power to threaten decentralization compels players to form unanimous coalitions and allocate resources to every district, rather than excluding one legislator as seen in the single-stage model. Moreover, the option to decentralize diminishes the proposer’s ability to extract additional resources from other players, ensuring that all players receive the same payoff regardless of whether they are the proposer or a coalition member. Still, like the single-period game, the majority party players are better off than the minority player in equilibrium. Finally, at higher levels of conflict, the ability to initiate a decentralization effort does provide the minority party player with the opportunity to improve its payoffs in a decentralized setting
Political Economies 1787-1800
No full textIn the late eighteenth century, political thinkers did not envision an entity called “the economy” the way that most of us do today. They were, however, quite interested in the statesman’s practice they increasingly called “political economy,” the management of public resources in a manner akin to the management of a household’s resources. Thus those who discussed “political economy” necessarily envisioned a political body, unified enough that they could imagine it managing its own resources. In 1776, thirteen self-declared American states theoretically took control of their political economies. During the Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation, the states, in carefully delimited ways, acted as a composite body with a political economy of its own. In 1787, the ratification of the federal constitution transformed American political economy once more. The Constitution, though a historically contingent compromise at the moment of its ratification, became a blueprint for a particular project of economic, political, and social ordering. Seen in this light, the history of US political economy is the story of an emerging One.
Soon, however, this One became a battleground. During the 1790s, two opposing political economies emerged, envisioned and promoted by famous rivals Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. While Hamilton succeeded in establishing the Bank of the United States and other long-lasting elements of American state infrastructure, not all of his ideas came to fruition, and not all of them were successful. As some scholars have emphasized, the defeat of the Federalists in the election of 1800 represented the triumph of an alternative, and by some measures more enduring, American political economy. Seen in this light, the story of American political economy 1787–1800 is not the story of a One, but of a Two.
Recent scholarship, however, has moved beyond visions of early American political economy either as a constitutionally defined One or as a partisan Two. It insists, instead, on integrating the One and the Two into a post-constitutional landscape composed of many political economies – competing, overlapping, and continually evolving
A Model of Resilience against Hate and Violence: Muslim-Jewish Relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Get PDFThe ideological underpinnings of the Great Replacement Theory, which frames Muslims as a threat to Europe, originated in Serbia and emboldened a wider narrative of anti-Muslim hate across Western milieus (Dillon, Joshi and Sabic-El-Rayess, 2024; Vieten and Poynting, 2022; Dixit, 2022; Mujanovic, 2021). The othering of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks), an autochthonous ethnic group in Southeastern Europe, has contributed to the normalization of the alienation of Muslims throughout Europe, engendering Educational Displacement—an internalized sense of invisibility and devaluation within targeted individuals, diminishing their participation and trust in the societal institutions. In this complex socio-political and historical context, Bosniaks have nonetheless chosen to principally champion interfaith coexistence, offering an instructive and community-based model of resilience to hate and violence. The study investigates the Bosniaks’ affinity for coexistence by examining the underexplored case of interfaith solidarity and entente between Muslims and Jews in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1540 to the present