22689 research outputs found
Sort by
The Nexus of Religious Nationalism and Illiberalism in the 21st Century
Get PDFAbstract
Revolutions and coups are less likely to threaten 21st century democracies than the slow, systematic erosion of liberal democratic institutions and norms. Economics and political ideology are frequently identified as drivers of illiberalism, but not religious nationalism. While religious nationalism is not contrary to liberal democracy, illiberal, exclusionary religious nationalist messaging in the 21st century provides material and systematic support of illiberalism globally.
This messaging resonates with voters who identify as religious, but not as religious nationalists. Examples of this messaging include claims the US is a Christian nation, true Poles are Catholics and to be Indian is to be Hindu. These exclusionary claims redefine rights of citizenship based on religion rather than egalitarian principles of liberal democracy.
Four case studies find systematic, political support of illiberal agendas by religious nationalist movements in the US, Poland, Hungary, and India. Religious nationalist messages intertwine sacred and national interests, conflating religious and national identities. This appeal exploits religious belief to establish religion as a qualifier for national identity and a metric for national interests.
The nexus of religious nationalism and democratic backsliding is the use of politically charged religious messages to elect candidates who champion initiatives which undermine institutions of liberal democracy. Attacks on secularism, judicial independence, civil rights of minorities, limits on executive authority and freedom of the press were found in all four case studies. Illiberal, exclusionary religious nationalist narratives exploit the fact that institutions of liberal democracy are bound to protect such messages. Further study is needed to address false narratives in a manner consistent with liberal democratic values
How Electric Transmission Ownership Impacts U.S. Efforts to Expand the Grid
Get PDFExpansion of the U.S. electric transmission system is critical for integrating renewable energy sources and stabilizing the grid's reliability in the face of climate change. This study compares the governance structures of a federally owned system, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), with an investor-owned utility, Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G). The aim is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each structure in supporting cost-effective grid expansion while incorporating technological upgrades for enhanced grid strength and reliability.
Federal governance, like BPA's, mandates design and building standardization. Compared to PSE&G's focus on customization, standardization is key to effective grid growth and management policies, controlling costs and reducing design and build times. Long-term planning through collaborative stakeholder engagement is crucial for making large-scale changes. However, PJM's structure limits its ability to provide this type of support to PSE&G. Investor-owned utilities, driven by short-term profit maximization, may find long-term, collaborative planning challenging
NOVEL HER2 MUTATIONS CONFER ENDOCRINE RESISTANCE IN ER+ HER2- BREAST CANCER
No full textBreast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the world, and more than 70% of breast
cancer patients are found to be estrogen receptor (ER) positive. Endocrine therapy is the
foundation of the standard of care for ER+ breast cancer patients, however, resistance to
endocrine therapy is commonplace in clinical settings. We previously identified the second
major mechanism of clinical endocrine resistance through tumor acquisition of one of four
HER2 activating mutations, which also confers cross-resistance to other treatments for
breast cancer (including CDK4/6 inhibitors). We hypothesized that the spectrum of HER2
mutations that confer endocrine resistance in breast cancer was larger than the four we
initially described, and that these additional mutations may be potential biomarkers in ER+
breast cancer. We identified multiple different HER2 mutations with unknown significance
from breast cancer patients who developed resistance to endocrine therapies and/or other
treatments via database screening, cross-comparison with hits from a saturation
mutagenesis screen of EGFR, or clinical tumor sequencing. Using a structure-mechanistic
hypothesis, we identified 6 variants for further characterization, and found that 3 of them
strongly hyperactivated HER2 downstream signaling pathways, while simultaneously
conferring strong resistance to endocrine therapies and CDK4/6 inhibitor treatments, as we
previously found for four activating mutations we found. These HER2 mutations also altered
expression of ER itself as well as its downstream genes in a mixed pattern. The 3 mutants
that conferred the strongest resistance also formed HER2 homodimers via reductionsensitive
disulfide bonds, indicating a non-canonical mechanism of activation. Lastly,
endocrine resistance conferred by these mutations was partially overcome by the novel
CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib, and completely resolved with the second-generation tyrosine
kinase inhibitor neratinib
FEDERAL INTERAGENCY LED STEM LEARNING ECOSYSTEM: A CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIP ADVANCING STEM OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS OF COLOR AND DEVELOPING STEM CORE COMPETENCIES FOR THE NEXT GENERATION WORKFORCE
No full textTo stay competitive and advance innovation in the US economic marketplace, companies and federal agencies have concluded that dependence solely on school districts to develop the next-generation STEM workforce is not a viable option. Additionally, external stakeholders want to create a workforce development plan to include a diverse, STEM talent that represents the US population. To this end, a growing number of organizations are collaborating with federal agencies, industry, and universities to form STEM learning ecosystems (SLEs) for students of color. The research explores a federal interagency-led SLE with a cross-sector partnership aligned with a school district serving a diverse student population. The method of choice is content analysis, with the overarching intent of providing a cross-sector partnership blueprint for emerging SLEs to model within an organization’s workforce development plan. Highlighted are best practices, lessons learned, and approaches to forming a cross-sector partnership aligned with a school district. The research concludes with a cross-sector, SLE workforce development plan for external stakeholders’ replication at the local, state, and national levels to advance STEM opportunities for students of color and develop STEM core competencies for the next-generation workforce
Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Methods for Developing Lightweight Automotive Interior Components
No full textThe objective of this research is to identify and establish methods of reducing the carbon footprint associated with the manufacture of automotive interiors. The methods used to accomplish this goal are the replacement of synthetic fibers with natural fibers in composite materials and the reduction of the overall weight of the vehicle, thus providing extended driving range by increasing the vehicle’s efficiency.
Using existing research into the material properties of natural fibers and their composites, the research team developed prototype components matching the design of those currently used on vehicles. This provided a direct comparison for mass reduction and thus potential environmental benefit.
The research focused on optimizing large scale manufacturing processes and refining the material selection process to identify alternative materials with the potential to meet design requirements. Natural fibers, such as Bamboo or Hemp, can potentially provide sufficient mechanical properties at a lower cost and weight than their synthetic and carbon-intensive counterparts, such as glass or carbon. When carbon fiber was used during this research, an emphasis was placed on employing recycled carbon fiber to reduce its ecological impact. Further research into sustainable thermoplastics to replace Polypropylene could provide an even greater environmental benefit in tandem with the methods identified in this paper
ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL MACROECONOMICS AND INFORMATION ECONOMICS
No full textThis dissertation contains two essays on international macroeconomics and one on information economics. The first chapter studies two-way capital flow management in emerging markets. While the existing literature on capital flow management policies has mainly focused on net capital flows, this paper investigates the joint management of capital inflows and outflows. By comparing the allocations with and without public intervention in a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model, I show that it is generally ambiguous whether a social planner would increase or decrease gross capital flows relative to private agents. To resolve the ambiguity, I calibrate the model to Brazil and find it optimal for Brazil to shrink its external balance sheet by decreasing both inflows and outflows during periods of global financial easing. The optimal allocation can be achieved by introducing countercyclical capital flow taxes on the economy’s short and long-term bond purchases. The welfare gain from such policies is equivalent to an increase of 0.26 percent in permanent consumption.
The second chapter explores the dominant driver of current account dynamics of open economies. It is a joint work with Jaewoo Lee and Lukas Boer. We estimate shocks that explain most of the variation in the current account at business cycle frequencies and over the long run. We then explore, using a standard open-economy macro model, which macroeconomic shocks are behind the empirical dominant drivers of the current account at business-cycle frequency. Rather than financial shocks or aggregate shocks to supply or demand, we find that shocks to the relative demand between home and foreign goods play a pivotal role in current account dynamics.
The third chapter studies a “hospital run” phenomenon at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, where mild cold and flu patients visited hospitals for diagnosis and treatment, even though they did not do so pre-pandemic. This phenomenon arises partly due to the similar observable symptoms shared among colds, the flu, and COVID-19. Such a hospital run can exacerbate the strain on medical resources. Through the lens of a tractable model, I characterize the specific conditions that give rise to a hospital run, analyze factors that can influence its intensity, explore its social welfare implications, and suggest relevant welfare-improving policy interventions. Surprisingly, I show that uncoordinated medical care-seeking leads to insufficient hospital visits relative to the social planner allocation at the intermediate level of hospital capacity
Injured America: Home Accidents and the Voluntary Safety System, c. 1910–1980
No full textHome accidents comprise over half of the 225,000 deaths and 62 million medical cases per year resulting from unintentional injuries across the U.S. Focusing on the use, upkeep, and sale of modern appliances, my dissertation charts how the risks and realities of home injuries became central to American life. This project analyzes magazines, advertisements, conference records, technical standards, public health reports, and government documents to capture the ways experts and families worked to control accidents from the Interwar Era to the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972. These efforts coalesced into the “voluntary safety system,” which protected the public from potentially dangerous products using nonstate mechanisms and set the terms for later federal intervention.
Histories of public health, everyday technology, and capitalism have overlooked home accidents. Previous literature has paid far more attention to disease than to injuries. Risk and disaster studies, meanwhile, foreground workplace and transportation safety and events with scores of casualties. My dissertation places accident prevention within the space of the home, drawing attention to minor injuries and the intersections between safety and housework. Until the 1960s, the social ideals of free enterprise and personal responsibility kept the government from regulating domestic equipment. Citizen-consumers accordingly turned to businesses and nonprofits to perform chores like laundry safely and to buy safe devices.
My dissertation unpacks the methods and results of the voluntary safety system and its continued relevance for injury control. The first section shows how education, markets for safe goods, and engineering came together to prevent home accidents over the 1900s. Institutions like the National Safety Council instructed individuals how to live safely at home. Corporations capitalized on this deepening risk consciousness to sell “safe” appliances. Nonprofit engineers simultaneously countered the commercialization of safety with industry standards and product testing. The second section demonstrates how this system hardened after WWII. Public health practitioners used epidemiology to investigate safety “scientifically” without implementing new prevention programs. The National Commission on Product Safety (1968–1970) likewise paved the way for federal authority over risky equipment but fell back on the gendered, classed, and racialized labor of ordinary Americans
AN EXPLORATORY STUDY: THE GUT MICROBIOME ASSOCIATES WITH IMMUNE CHECKPOINT INHIBITOR RESPONSE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH NON-MELANOMA SKIN CANCERS
No full textIn skin carcinoma, although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have yielded revolutionary outcomes, a large number of individuals do not benefit from these treatments. Overall, due to its variable oncogenic and tumor-suppressive properties, the gut microbiota is hypothesized to impact ICI therapy outcomes. Prior studies examining associations between ICI efficacy and the gut microbiome have focused primarily on melanoma, for which ICI therapy was first approved, while data for microbiome features associated with ICI-responses in non-melanoma skin cancers has remained limited. To examine the association of gut microbiota structure and function with non-melanoma skin cancer ICI outcomes, we performed 16S rRNA V1–V2 gene amplicon sequencing of 68 fecal samples collected longitudinally from individuals with basal cell carcinoma (N=5), Merkel cell carcinoma (N=5), or squamous cell carcinoma (N=11), followed by tumor-dependent differential analyses of bacterial composition and untargeted metabolomics. Across all tumor types, we identified 10 differential bacterial genera between responders (R) or non-responders (NR) to ICI therapy. In squamous cell carcinoma, we identified 10 genera and 20 species that differentiated between R and NR. The predicted functional pathway analyses identified 8 pathways enriched in NR and 12 pathways enriched in R. Untargeted metabolomics to examine putative gut microbiota metabolites associated with ICI R/NR identified 9 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways associated with ICI efficacy. In summary, this exploratory study with limited sample size suggests gut microbiota features that associate with ICI efficacy in non-melanoma skin cancers and highlight the need for larger studies to validate the results
Enhanced State Estimation Using Deep Learning for Quadruped Robotics
No full textThis thesis introduces a novel method for state estimation in quadruped robots that leverages proprioceptive sensor data, including readings from one body-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU) and four additional IMUs attached to the robot's calf links. This sensor setup captures dynamic movements of both the body and legs, complemented by data from joint encoders. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) integrates these observations to estimate the robot's states relative to the world frame. To eliminate the dependence on motion capture systems or other vision-based sensors, this study employs 1D convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to estimate necessary measurements using only proprioceptive data. Experimental results using real-world data from a Unitree Go1 robot validate the effectiveness of our proprioception-based approach, demonstrating that it achieves accuracy comparable to traditional EKF methods that rely on motion capture systems, thus providing a promising alternative for robotic state estimation without the need for external visual inputs
Silacyclooctene and -yne Monomers for ROMP to Test the Mechanical Properties of Si-rich Polymers
Get PDFHeteroatoms are used in organic synthesis because of their different electronic or size properties, allowing for more synthetic tunability or differing properties of products. By taking advantage of the different directions of the dipole in a C-B compared to a C-H bond, organoborane compounds have unique abilities to access novel functionality. Using a BN 2-vinyl naphthalene (BN2VN) monomer, we developed a novel technique to produce block copolymers of polystyrene and polyvinyl alcohol. In addition to boron, we investigated substituting carbon with silicon. While silicon is found in the same group as carbon, it is significantly larger than carbon, leading to longer bond lengths and increased conformational flexibility. We investigated the differences between Si-rich monomers and polymers’ mechanical and reactivity properties compared to their carbon analogs. To quantify differences in mechanical properties we wanted to use single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS), a characterization technique that stretches a single polymer chain, measuring the force and displacement involved in the polymer elongation. We wanted to produce long Si-rich polymers that SMFS could characterize; this led us to investigate ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). We synthesized novel 7 and 8-membered cyclosilanes in attempts to polymerize via ROMP. The trans-cycloheptene monomer had sufficient ring strain to polymerize, but the cis-cycloheptene monomer and both isomers of the cyclooctene monomer were unsuccessful at polymerizing due to lack of ring strain and poor solubility. We attempted to add methyl propiolate to the silacyclooctene monomers via a 2+2 cyclization. Unfortunately, we saw evidence of Si-Si bond cleavage and no product formation. To combat the failure of silacyclooctene to polymerize by enthalpy-driven ROMP, we attempted to improve the solubility to drive the reaction with entropy. Entropy-driven ROMP is performed at higher concentrations than typical ROMP since polymers have more conformational flexibility than monomers at high concentrations. We hypothesize that the phenyl substituents on our original monomer decreased its solubility because of π-π interactions. So, we hope to increase the solubility by synthesizing rings substituted with trimethylsilyl (TMS) groups. While we could not complete this synthesis, we optimized the first synthetic step and anticipate testing our hypothesis soon