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Elaborate Masks: A Phenomenological Exploration of Neurodivergent Educators’ Perceptions of Emotional Labor
No full textEmpirical research on K-12 educators’ emotional labor does not account for the experiences of neurodivergent teachers. Because of the apparent absence of scholarly examination of emotional labor based on teachers’ neurotypes, it is unclear whether neurodivergent teachers experience different and disproportionate demands for emotional labor compared to their neurotypical colleagues. In this dissertation, I examine the emotions neurodivergent high school teachers experience while working, the ways these teachers respond to demands for emotional labor, and what they experience while responding and afterward. In Chapter One, my review of existing empirical literature reveals that neurodivergent teachers must make choices about emotional labor while situated within a complex web of needs and demands. Chapter Two describes my phenomenological diary study of five neurodivergent teachers working at U.S. or American international high schools. The study aims to amplify the salient aspects of my participants’ lived experiences and insights related to emotional labor. In Chapter Three, I share the findings of my research. My participants’ narratives demonstrate that they experience the world with heightened sensitivity and often respond to the world with emotional intensity. These characteristics influence their emotional labor when managing neuronormative stigma, performing professionalism and neurotypicality, leading and being led, facing workplace injustice, and showing deep care for students. The study’s findings indicate the need for further research on neurodivergent educators’ emotional labor, increases in neurodiversity training in K–12 schools, and commitments from school leaders to ensure equitable work conditions for staff of all neurotypes
Dual use of electronic cigarette and combustible cigarette among adult smokers in the united states: effect on biomarkers of tobacco-specific nitrosamines and respiratory symptoms
Get PDFE-cigarettes are often marketed as a safer alternative to combustible cigarettes, holding promise for potential health benefits for adult smokers. However, the practice of dual use — concurrently using both e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes — introduces complexity in balancing potential benefits against health risks, with the overall health impacts remaining largely undetermined. This complexity necessitates comprehensive research to fully understand the implications of dual use on public health. This dissertation explores the effects of dual use on biomarkers of exposure and respiratory health outcomes, and evaluates its efficacy as a harm reduction strategy.
The analysis characterizing dual use among U.S. adult smokers indicates that over 70% of dual users continue cigarette smoking for at least a year. A significant inverse association was found between the perception of absolute harm from e-cigarettes and prolonged dual (consecutive use for more than 1 year), while no similar association was observed with relative harm perception compared to cigarette use. Transitioning to dual use was associated with a reduction in tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) yet accompanied by an increase in nicotine exposure, a trend particularly marked among light smokers. However, there was no consistent association between TSNAs and transitioning to dual use in heavy smokers, suggesting that dual use does not reliably reduce TSNAs, known carcinogens. Additionally, the analysis of the association between dual use and respiratory health revealed that data collected during 2014-2015 indicated a reduced risk of wheezing, which later reversed during 2016-2019, highlighting the dynamic nature of dual use impacts over time.
The findings emphasize the complex role of dual use as a harm reduction strategy and support caution in its promotion without clear cessation strategies. These underline the need for continuous monitoring and adaptive public health strategies to effectively manage the evolving dynamics of dual use. This dissertation provides vital insights for policymakers and health practitioners, informing long-term strategies in global tobacco control efforts
CURRICULAR, INSTRUCTIONAL, AND COGNITIVE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF NATURE OF SCIENCE IN A FRENCH IMMERSION HIGH SCHOOL
Get PDFInformed conceptions of epistemology of science, or nature of science, are considered a central educational outcome for developing scientifically literate citizens able to reflectively engage in socio-scientific issues and the solving of ill-structured moral, philosophical, environmental and social problems. Yet, nature of science is inconsistently taught in many educational contexts and persistently misunderstood by students. This study explored the curricular, instructional, and cognitive factors influencing the teaching and learning of nature of science in a French immersion school in the South (FISS) that implements the French national curriculum in addition to the local state science students’ standards. To the authors’ knowledge, no empirical study has been conducted in such a context. Additionally, the author was looking to explore the relationship between students’ nature of science understanding and semantic inhibitory control, which has not yet been empirically studied. The analysis of curriculum texts prescribed at FISS showed that the French national science curriculum texts contain overall more statements referring to epistemology of science than the Next Generation Science Standards, but that most of them are unlikely to be interpreted as students learning outcomes. The Next Generation Science Standards contain more explicit nature of science references, but these were not integrated in the local state science standards implemented at FISS. The author found that nature of science was not consistently taught at FISS. Teachers’ views of nature of science, personal interests, training, and sense of importance for teaching nature of science were among the factors influencing teachers’ explicit-reflective implementation of nature of science in their classroom, or lack thereof. The author argued that teacher-centered instructional practices that implicitly presented scientific knowledge as truths disconnected from their context of construction tended to tacitly convey uninformed positivist epistemologies to students. Although cognitive factors influencing the learning of nature of science could only be explored qualitatively, the author found that participants’ views of the tentative and empirical nature of scientific knowledge can be mobilized flexibly depending on the context. The author suggested that interfering prior conceptions and their inhibition were influential in that regard and discussed implications for future research, professional development, and curriculum reforms
Orderly Dispositions: Modes of Affective Governance
Get PDFThe central aim of this dissertation is to develop a concept of “affective governance” that I define as the the strategic stimulation and circulation of affects in a population guided by the state. To speak of affect is to speak of collective capacities for inclination, solicitation, and disposition that can be shared in porous transmission across bodies. To speak of governance is to speak of the strategic guidance and arrangement of inclinations and dispositions to tendentially direct people (and things) in common. As a concept, “affective governance” makes much of this complement between the joined terms and discloses important political implications in their mutual invocation. Those implications are properly the subject of this dissertation as a work of political theory. The hope is to articulate a theoretical architecture that advances recent concern for affect in political theory and improves our grasp of the governmental processes through which affective tendencies are formed, solicited and mobilized. I begin by engaging at length with two thinkers who do the most to lay the conceptual groundwork for this project: Benedict de Spinoza and Michel Foucault. I argue that there is an implicit theory of affect in Foucault that allows for a dispositional power to take hold in a population throughout the interlinked modes of biopolitics and governmentality. Foucault’s theory of governing populations through dispositional mechanisms for soliciting and circulating affects takes up where Spinoza left off, allowing for a more concrete historicization of different strategies and governmental arrangements in the direction of public emotional life. In the second half of the dissertation, I take up the concept of affective governance to reframe two pressing problems in political and legal theory: the power of police and the open-ended deployment of emergency powers. I conceptualize both as defined in substantial ways by the management of public affects by the state
PHENOTYPES OF ANTIGEN SPECIFIC T CELL RESPONSES AFTER MULTIPLE ANTIGEN EXPOSURES
No full textT cells and how their phenotypes evolve in contexts of repeated antigen exposure were assessed in this dissertation. T cells from cohorts where repeated antigen exposure occurred either by vaccination or infection were studied. Firstly, phenotypic changes in CD4 T cells in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients (SOTRs) were explored pre- and post-vaccination with SARS-CoV-2 Bivalent mRNA vaccines, encoding spike mRNA for ancestral and Omicron variant virus. Importantly, prior to receiving the Bivalent vaccine, SOTRs had been boosted repeatedly with ancestral SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines. This study demonstrated that repeated vaccination with ancestral mRNA resulted in CD4 T cell responses to conserved spike epitopes that correlate with antibody-mediated neutralization of viruses that produce variant spike proteins. Secondly, differences in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) -specific CD8 T cells from cleared and chronic primary HCV infections were compared to responses in reinfections after initial clearance. Interestingly, HCV-specific CD8 T cells from primary cleared infections were unique from the phenotypes seen in primary chronic and cleared reinfections. These data show that the anti-HCV CD8 T cell response after primary infection are defined by a robust TCR activation is a defining feature of the ability to clear HCV, even upon reinfection
On Absolute Riemann-Roch and Rings of mu-Polynomials
Get PDFWe use the machinery of Segal's -sets to extend several
constructions and results for function fields to number fields,
building on the work of Connes and Consani.
We first present a construction of a ``projective curve'' \SpecBar{\cO_K}
that serves as an Arakelov compactification of a ring of integers in a number field,
generalizing the previous construction of \SpecBar\ZZ in~\parencite{gamma-sets}.
We then produce evidence for the existence of a Riemann-Roch theorem for
real quadratic fields on the model of the ones proved for \QQ
in~\parencite{RR1,RR2},
by showing that the quantity is bounded
for Arakelov divisors of sufficiently large degree.
Finally, we examine the distribution of the -polynomial rings
introduced in~\parencite{metaphysics} among orders in number fields.
We prove that these rings exist for only finitely many ,
then enumerate all such rings existing in number fields of degree up to 3
as members of more general infinite families
DEVELOPING TARGETING AGENTS AND ADVANCED IMAGING TECHNIQUES FOR CANCER AND MOLECULAR IMAGING
No full textMolecular imaging is a cornerstone of modern medical research and clinical practice, offering insights into the biological processes underlying various diseases, particularly cancer. This dissertation spans the entire molecular imaging development pipeline, from target identification to advanced imaging techniques, with a special focus on cancer diagnosis and treatment.
The initial focus is on neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), an aggressive subtype of prostate cancer. We explore the therapeutic potential of anti-CEACAM5 antibodies, demonstrating their selective targeting and inhibition of NEPC cells, suggesting a promising new therapy. Building on this, we develop bispecific agents targeting both prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and CEACAM5, showing enhanced precision and efficacy in treating prostate cancer.
The second focus of my thesis addresses the challenge of accurately and noninvasively estimating the arterial input function (AIF) from dynamic PET images. Using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and autoencoders, we develop methods to predict AIFs with high precision, reducing the need for invasive blood sampling. Further advancing the estimation performance, we utilize transformer models to capture complex dependencies in PET data, showing superior accuracy and efficiency compared to traditional methods.
This dissertation presents significant advancements in molecular imaging and targeted therapy, contributing to the development of precise diagnostic tools and effective treatments. Through innovative research and advanced technologies, this work aims to improve patient outcomes and deepen our understanding of cancer biology, ultimately enhancing the management of this pervasive disease
PORT RISK ASSESSMENT
Get PDFSince the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland by the open ocean 984-foot container ship, Dali, Maryland and United States experienced a major disruption in commercial trade, commercial and personal traffic, and most importantly a lack of incident preparedness. This is not the first time a vessel has damaged or destroyed key infrastructure. But this devastating experience reinvigorated research about crucial infrastructure protection, risk assessment, and critical contingency planning in the path of major shipping ports. This research this will provide insight for indications, warning, and risk analysis to prepare the United States for further incidents such as the one most recently experienced
Overcoming Vocabulary Challenges in Natural Language Processing
No full textNatural language processing (NLP) applications such as machine translation (MT) have the potential to overcome language barriers and reduce the digital divide, improving information access for speakers of all languages. However, despite recent advances, it remains challenging to build language models which appropriately generalize across the world's approximately 7,000 languages and 150 scripts—a challenge which begins from one of the very first steps, designing the model vocabulary. Language models are typically defined over a finite set of inputs, even if designed to have an "open vocabulary" through common tokenization techniques like subword segmentation. Current tokenization approaches are primarily designed around how computers handle text storage (using bytes and Unicode), rather than how languages and scripts are linguistically structured, which can limit their effectiveness and adaptability in different settings. These challenges are exacerbated in multilingual models, where balancing computational costs and the need to support multiple languages and orthographies results in a "vocabulary bottleneck."
This thesis focuses on techniques to build adaptive and robust open-vocabulary language models. We address three core challenges pertaining to model vocabularies within the context of machine translation: optimizing vocabulary size, enhancing model robustness, and overcoming the vocabulary bottleneck in multilingual models. We first demonstrate the importance of tuning the size of subword model vocabularies and propose a method to do so more efficiently through online incremental vocabulary expansion. We then propose a line of work in which we overcome the vocabulary bottleneck by replacing the embedding matrix with representations built on visually rendered text (pixels). Our vocabulary-free approach improves model robustness across a linguistically diverse set of languages and also improves cross-lingual transfer both within and across scripts, particularly for under-resourced languages. Finally, we present a new benchmark for a real-world task, visually-situated translation of text in natural images, where direct multimodal models may reduce error propagation and improve robustness compared to cascaded approaches
FDI Linkages: How Political Economy Influences the Materialization of Linkages between Foreign and Domestic Firms
No full textLinkages between foreign direct investment (FDI) firms and their domestic suppliers can lead to positive impacts on these suppliers, such as productivity gains and skills and technology transfers. However, the materialization of these linkages is not automatic. Many factors can affect whether and the degree to which FDI linkages take place, which have been amply studied in existing literature. One aspect which has not received as much attention is the role of political economy factors in FDI linkages. This thesis seeks to study the impact of political economy, specifically the political influence of firms, on the materialization of linkages between FDI firms and domestic suppliers. The firm-level empirical analysis, based on the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) and using the Political Influence Index (PII) for 41 economies, finds that the political influence of a foreign firm is negatively associated with the linkages it creates. Foreign firms may use their political influence to evade any obligations, commitments, or pressures to create linkages. The negative relationship between political influence and linkages is only significant for manufacturing firms, not for services firms. It is also only present in countries with lower levels of governance as measured by the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators. The country’s level of income has no bearing on results.
The thesis also examines two case studies in the automotive sector, in Morocco and Tunisia. The automotive sector plays an important role in the economy of both countries; however, FDI linkages with domestic suppliers are limited. This is mainly due to the limited numbers and capabilities of domestic firms, the latter hindering the ability of existing would-be suppliers to offer products with the requisite quality and reliability standards. Economic policies in both countries were not highly successful in enabling domestic firm entry and upgrade to meet foreign firm standards. In Morocco, politically influential foreign automotive firms were able to shape policies to their benefit and evade excessive linkages obligations and pressures. In both countries, elite domestic firms influenced government policies to their advantage, gaining rents and protections and dominating joint ventures and supply contracts, thus limiting opportunities for non-elite firms in the automotive sector