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Investigating the Predictors of Sleep Paralysis Frequency Within the University Population: Hierarchical Regression Model
No full textSleep Paralysis (SP) is disproportionally present in the student population and a
common symptom of SP is fear, this study examined the predictors of SP in the
university student population. Based on pervious findings, there is a large disparity
between SP experienced in the general population and the university student population
and limited research on sleep paralysis predictors in students. This study planned to close
the gap as to what student-related behaviors and environmental factors are causing this
dissimilarity in SP. This large disparity in SP experience was hypothesized to be related
to substance use, irregular sleeping behaviors, poor sleep environments and other lifestyle
variables. We investigated this by studying a) the group comparisons between high SP
experiencers and low SP experiencers, b) correlations between common student
behaviors and SP, c) and a hierarchical regression model to find what behaviors most
predicted SP in university students, all while controlling for demographics and sleep
quality. This study was a retrospective online survey with 145 university students around
the country, recruited primary with Reddit and Facebook sleep and student-related
groups. The results showed that napping and family history of SP were significant
predictors of SP frequency when controlled by sleep quality and demographics. This
suggests that the more a student naps, the more frequent SP experiences a student will
have, and students that have a family history of SP are more prone to increased SP. The
findings produce clinical implications for future studies on classifying recurrent sleep
paralysis in the university student population
The Great Archangel of Many Names: Angelomorphic Christology and the Limits of Theological Imagination
No full textThis research focuses on Christian texts from the first and second centuries CE in which Christ, or the Son of God, is portrayed as a great angel. These works usually designate Christ as an Archangel—most often Michael, the Angel of the Lord of the Hebrew Bible, or simply as a great and glorious Angel. Three writings serve as my primary sources: the Apocalypse of John, the Epistle of Jude, and Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho. I argue that angelomorphic Christologies were not (as some maintain) simply Jewish “relics” that transferred to the Christian tradition, relics that gradually disappeared as more complex forms of Christology developed, but rather a way in which Christians intentionally expressed their views on the Messiah. I contend that “Jewish Christianity” sometimes works as a heresiological category in which early Christian theologies that eventually would not correspond to later creedal formulation or even modern theological proclivities are set aside. I also contend that the marginalization of such an important dimension of early Christology is a blatant reflection of the theological preferences of many modern scholars for whom the idea of Christ taking the form of an angel has been deemed improbable. Finally, I conclude that such a failure in imagining different Christological possibilities, including angelomorphic ones, has effectively hindered a more accurate reconstruction of the beliefs and practices of the early Christians.
In chapter one, I explore Christological imagery in John’s visionary experiences, drawing on Paul Ricœur’s theories of symbols and metaphors. Focusing on Revelation 1 and 12, I suggest that the “one resembling a son of man” in Rev 1 is featured as a principal angel, challenging traditional interpretations. Additionally, I argue that Rev 12 aligns with ancient combat narratives, indicating that the male child and the archangel Michael are one. In chapter two, I analyze Jude’s utilization of diverse judgment traditions, in which the author emphasizes a principal angel as the executor of divine will. I propose that the concept of an angelomorphic Jesus has led to variant units in the manuscript tradition as well as modern scholarly disputes. I conclude that angelology underpins Jude’s theology, with Jesus positioned as the primary Angel. Finally, chapter three delves into Justin Martyr’s portrayal of Jesus as a celestial being who appeared as an angel on Earth. I examine his exegetical practices and argue that his defense of an angelomorphic Christology is entangled with his overall theology and evangelistic objectives
How Big is the “Biggest Climate Spending Bill Ever?” Key Factors Influencing the Inflation Reduction Act’s Clean Energy Impacts
No full textThe Inflation Reduction Act could deliver more than $1 trillion in tax expenditures and outlays targeting clean energy deployment, but considerable uncertainty characterizes the economic, emissions, energy, and fiscal implications of the law. I review the features of the political system governing implementation, the regulatory system overlaying performance standards, the innovation responding to IRA incentives, and the energy networks in which IRA-supported investments operate to identify the key factors influencing IRA’s outcomes. Drawing from past research and policy experience, I illustrate how these factors could play out and how future program evaluation could reduce uncertainty and inform better climate policy.Version of Recor
Integrating CRISPR Genomics with Chemical Genetics to Study Protein-coding Stucture–Function Relationships in Gene Regulation
No full textThe advent of high-throughput and cost-effective DNA sequencing, alongside revolutionary advances in genomic editing, have democratized genome-scale methods for understanding gene regulation. One fundamental research question for the field—and this dissertation—is then: how do we configure new approaches and wield these increasingly large datasets effectively? In this dissertation, I detail efforts to innovate tiling CRISPR mutagenesis through intentional design of setups and readouts. In Chapter 2, I design a scalable single-cell chemical genomics platform to systematically interrogate agonism and antagonism in AR. I use this framework to not only molecularly define the immediate downstream effects of these processes but also to examine the mechanism of therapeutic candidates in clinical trials. In Chapter 3, I show how CRISPR mutational scanning in combination with drug treatment revealed previously uncharacterized allosteric autoinhibitory mechanism in LSD1 N-terminus. Together, these results demonstrate the potential of high-throughput, structure-agnostic methods in uncovering novel biological insights
Examining the Role of Rhetoric in Settler Colonialism and Imperialism Through the Occupations of the Shoshone Peoples of Western North America and of the Philippines
No full textThis thesis seeks to determine the role of rhetoric in the American process of occupation that includes Settler Colonialism and Imperialism. I explore the connection between these two ideas using an example of each: the United States’ occupation of the tribal territory of the Shoshone peoples of North America as an example of Settler Colonialism and the United States’ occupation of the Philippines as an example of Imperialism. I examine the contributions of rhetoric to these processes of occupation and describe each process.
This thesis expands upon the basic research of Walter L. Williams, who posited that the occupation of the Philippines was an expansion of the earlier “Indian Policy.” While the terminologies of “Settler Colonialism” and “Imperialism” were not used by Williams (in fact were not formed to the degree they are today at the time he published his work), modern scholars such as Paul A. Kramer and Julian Go have explored the use of these terms. I argue that all three authors describe a similar occupational process and that rhetoric from both the American government and from the press was a key part of executing each occupation.
Most of my research on the connection to rhetoric comes from primary sources: newspaper articles, presidential speeches, Congressional arguments, and military briefs that describe both types of occupation. I demonstrate how using rhetoric to frame the story was one key to justifying the occupation while also describing the belief system that produced it. I depict how the rhetoric of a unified American process of occupation used internal, external, and press sources to lay out the steps to justify an occupation. First, the occupied nation is characterized as weak and incapable of managing its land, resources, and population; it is deemed in need of either reestablishment or civilization by the Americans. Next, as the occupation takes shape and the occupied peoples resist, the depiction of them changes; the centers of information paint them as bloodthirsty, almost inhuman sources of danger that need to be quelled. Finally, once resistors inside the occupied nation are incapacitated (either through death, capture, or threat of both), the initial characterization of hapless native peoples returns, and the rhetorical channels depict the benevolence of the United States to help them.
As a result of my research, I outline a unified rhetorical process called American Occupation, with branching outcomes: American Settler Colonialism and American Imperialism. These differing outcomes are essentially based on (1) whether the goal of occupation was to expand the physical border of the United States by relocating the occupied peoples and settling their lands, as in Settler Colonialism, or (2) expanding the ideological border of the United States by controlling the occupied peoples and altering their lives to be more aligned with an American image, as in Imperialism. While these end goals differ, the occupational process that approaches them is unified, and the rhetoric that surrounds it is consistent
A possible direct exposure of the Earth to the cold dense interstellar medium 2–3 Myr ago
No full textCold interstellar medium (ISM) clouds, 4-5 order of magnitude denser than the diffuse ISM, exist in the galaxy and our Solar System has most likely encountered at least one of them during its lifetime. However, evidence for such an encounter [[and its effects]] have not been studied in detail yet. Here we derive the velocity field of the Local Ribbon of Cold Clouds (LRCC) by modelling the 21-cm data from the HI4PI survey and find that the Solar System may have passed through the LRCC in the constellation Lynx between 2-3 million years ago. Using a state-of-the-art simulation of the heliosphere, we show that during the passage the heliosphere had shrunk to a scale of 0.22AU, smaller than the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. This would have put the Earth in direct contact with the dense ISM for a period of time and exposed it to a neutral hydrogen density above 3000cm-3. Such a scenario agrees with geological evidence from 60Fe and 244Pu isotopes. The encounter and related increased radiation from galactic cosmic rays flux might have had substantial impact on the Earth system and climate.Version of Recor
The Rise and Fall of Odessa's Merchant Fleet
No full textFor almost two centuries, the Black Sea port of Odessa was an important center of
merchant seafaring. Straddling the periods of the Russian Empire and the USSR, this part
of Southern Ukraine was intricately linked to its merchant fleet as the hub of grain
shipments, cruise industries, as well as an extension of the Russo-Soviet political power.
By the 1980s, one of the largest merchant fleets in the world, the so-called Black
Sea Shipping Company (BSC) reached its zenith. BSC directly employed tens and
indirectly hundreds of thousands of employees. The port city was home to several naval
academic intuitions graduating thousands of students. Hundreds of vessels supported
Soviet military needs, grain and oil shipping, and even a cruise shipping industry from
France to Singapore.
Yet, within a few years of the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the BSC ceased to
exist as a going concern. The enormous ships were sold, forfeited as collateral for loans,
or scrapped for metal due to lack of maintenance. Tens of thousands of sailors began
working for foreign firms or lost their jobs. The assets that just a few years ago were
estimated to be worth billions of dollars vanished.
This thesis attempts to narrate the disappearance of the BSC and explain the
causes for the sudden downfall. This narrative could be viewed as a case study for a large
number of industrial cataclysms in the post-Soviet space. The thesis can also be used to
better understand the de-industrialization of modern Ukraine and, more narrowly, the loss
by the country of its seagoing status.
The thesis argues that the sudden pipeline disruptions of the early 1990s brought
about structural crisis. No time, resources or will existed at the time to resolve it. The
realization by the political and industry elites that the crisis was not resolvable
accelerated the downfall due to opportunistic corruption in an attempt to monetize
existing assets
Statistical Analysis of Case-Cohort Designs in Semi-Competing Risks
No full textSemi-competing risks refers to the setting where interest lies in some non-terminal event, the occurrence of which is subject to some terminal event (typically, but not always, death). While existing analysis methods generally assume complete data on all relevant covariates, it is often the case, particularly with electronic health records databases and disease registries, that some information is not readily-available. To mitigate this, outcome-dependent sampling is a commonly used design tool to collect otherwise unavailable information on a subset of participants rather than all participants. This is particularly useful in research settings where one or more covariates of interest may not be readily available, whether cost-prohibitive, time-consuming, or difficult to obtain in a resource-limited setting. Currently, researchers have only limited options for outcome-dependent sampling in the semi-competing risks setting.
In this dissertation, we present a novel class of case-cohort designs for semi-competing risks within which researchers have the flexibility to tailor allocation of resources in a variety of ways that best suit the disease context and study goals at-hand. For estimation and inference, we propose to use inverse-probability weighting for a hazard regression-based frailty illness-death model. We present asymptotic results along with a practical estimator of the asymptotic variance. Simulation results verify performance of the proposed analysis methods in finite settings and illustrate potential efficiency gains associated with the design. Additionally, we develop a framework to evaluate design options via simulations for both the case-cohort and nested case-control designs and compare various design choices. We compare the bias and efficiency of design choices through rigorous simulations and discuss practical design considerations. Finally, we illustrate to a general audience the flexibility of these two designs to tailor resource allocation for cohort-based studies with resource limitations and provide guidance for study design with a simulation-based algorithm for power and sample size analysis. The two designs are motivated by and illustrated with real-world data from the Center for International Blood \& Marrow Transplant Research, where we demonstrate the utility of the two classes of outcome-dependent sampling designs
Bom Sal
No full textThe food memoir Bom Sal focuses on popular Cape Verdean dishes as a way to
explore mother and daughter relationships while uncovering the struggle of identity as a
Cape Verdean American. The phrase “bom sal” is commonly used in Cape Verdean
kitchens to indicate that a dish is seasoned well and has excellent flavor. Salt is also used
to preserve food from bacteria and to maintain a proper balance of water and minerals in
our bodies. This thesis, the first six chapters of my memoir, aims to introduce the
foundation of multi-generational mother-daughter relationships. It follows my struggle to
preserve the culture to which I’ve attached my identity while balancing being a black
woman in America. The thesis includes recipes for popular Cape Verdean dishes and
cooking techniques that allow food to become a means to explore character and the
complexity of relationships. The audience for Bom Sal is women navigating who they are
and where they come from while unpacking and preserving who they want to be
Sodium: An Alternative to the "White Gold" of the Energy Transition?
No full textAs the world transitions towards low-carbon energy systems, scaling up clean energy technologies will drive demand for critical minerals and metals, such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements. Stakeholders in the private and public sectors must work together to implement effective and efficient strategies, policies, and regulations to ensure that supplies are secure, reliable, sustainable, and equitable.Version of Recor