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Using Machine Learning to Estimate Near-ultraviolet Magnitudes and Probe Quenching Mechanisms of z = 0 Nuggets in the RESOLVE and ECO Surveys
Get PDFWe present a z = 0 census of nuggets—compact galaxies that form via gas-rich violent disk instability—within the luminosity- and volume-limited RESOLVED Spectroscopy Of a Local VolumE (RESOLVE) and Environmental COntext (ECO) surveys. We use random forest (RF) models to predict near-ultraviolet (NUV) magnitudes for ECO galaxies that lack high-quality NUV magnitudes, thereby doubling the number of ECO galaxies with reliable extinction-corrected star formation rates (SFRs) and red/green/blue classifications based on specific SFRs (sSFRs). The resulting RF-enhanced RESOLVE+ECO nugget sample allows us to analyze rare subpopulations—green nuggets and nuggets with active galactic nuclei (AGN)—likely associated with quenching. Green nuggets are more similar to red nuggets than to blue nuggets in halo mass (Mhalo) distribution, with both red and green nuggets being found mainly at Mhalo ≥ 1011.4M⊙, where permanent halo quenching is predicted. At these masses, the AGN frequency for green nuggets is higher (48.2% −5.3%5.3% ) than for either blue (39.2% −2.8%2.9% ) or red (29.3% −2.8%3.0% ) nuggets. Between Mhalo = 1011.4–1012M⊙, at the onset of permanent quenching, the AGN frequency for green nuggets is nearly double the frequency for blue or red nuggets, implying AGN are associated with this transition. At Mhalo < 1011.4M⊙, where temporary cyclic quenching is expected, the AGN frequency for blue nuggets (7.5% −1.2%1.4% ) is lower than for either green (31.3% −7.5%8.7% ) or red (18.8% −7.8%11.5% ) nuggets. At all masses, nuggets with AGN have reduced sSFRs and likely also atomic gas content compared to nuggets without AGN, but the quenching is more extreme below Mhalo = 1011.4M⊙
Black and Gilded Gold: Analyzing Steelers Mythology in Post-Industrial Pittsburgh
Get PDFThis thesis explores the Pittsburgh Steelers mythology and its influence on the city in the 1970s. The project interrogates the stories around the team with the lens of class, race, ethnicity, and gender.Bachelor of Art
The Interaction of Global Aid and National Policy: Aligning PEPFAR’s Global Reach with Malawi’s Fight Against HIV/AIDS
Get PDFThis thesis evaluates the extent to which PEPFAR-funded HIV programs align with Malawi’s National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV and AIDS (2020–2025). Using a mixed-methods approach of combining PALMS and amfAR database analysis with informal interviews from implementing partners and Ministry of Health officials, the study assesses whether the priorities of a major donor are effectively advancing Malawi’s national goals in HIV prevention, treatment, and health system strengthening. Findings demonstrate that while PEPFAR’s technical programming broadly supports NSP targets, particularly in areas like ART scale-up, viral load suppression, and HIV testing, critical gaps remain. Key populations, including adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), men who have sex with men (MSM), and pediatric patients, continue to face barriers to access and retention. Prevention programming remains underfunded relative to treatment, and legal and structural challenges further limit equitable care. These gaps are compounded by Malawi’s heavy reliance on external aid, as more than 90% of the HIV response is donor-funded, leaving the system vulnerable to geopolitical changes and funding instability. The analysis concludes that alignment on paper does not guarantee sustainability in practice. Without a transition toward greater domestic investment and institutional capacity, the long-term resilience of Malawi’s HIV response remains at risk.Bachelor of Art
IT’S HARD TO GIRLBOSS WHEN THERE IS GATEKEEPING: UNDERSTANDING WHAT HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS AND WOMEN 18+ KNOW ABOUT DIETARY INTERACTIONS WITH GYNECOLOGICAL HEALTH
Get PDFThis thesis seeks to determine how everyday women understand dietary impacts on their gynecological health, including conditions such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and overall menstrual health. Drawing on 42 semi-structured interviews—30 with biological women 18+ and 12 with health care providers including gynecologists, nurse practitioners in women’s health and in preventative and functional medicine, a specialist in pain management and function medicine, a medical resident in Ob/Gyn, and registered dietitians/registered dietitian nutritionists—I compared and contrasted what women are told by their providers regarding dietary interactions with gynecological health and the clinical knowledge and practices of providers. Throughout this research I address existing literature on dietary-gynecological connections, what women are told about dietary interactions with gynecological health and what health care providers are taught about dietary-gynecological connections, and the social and institutional barriers—including stigma, gender bias in medicine, and nutritional reductionism—that shape how knowledge is produced, shared, and received by women. Overall, these findings suggest that both women and providers operate with fragmented information. Women do not receive any information from providers, but instead often rely on anecdotal or peer-sourced advice. Providers report limited training in nutrition, specifically in how nutrition impacts women’s health. This research highlights the need for more integrated, evidence-based, and openly communicated dietary guidance in gynecological care, while also highlighting systemic issues that hinder such progress including the lack of value given to nutritional and dietary treatments as they are historically utilized by marginalized groups and minorities.Bachelor of Art
A case study of social-structural impacts on participation in a Palestine solidarity organization in the United States
Get PDFSociologists have identified microstructural factors (micro-level interpersonal ties and social commitments) as influencing participation in social movements. Taking McAdam’s (1986) advice to study “specific demonstrations, actions, campaigns, or other bounded forms of activism” toward the end of avoiding overgeneralizations about the impacts of microstructural factors, I used a survey and interviews to assess how various microstructural factors influenced people’s varying levels and forms of participation or non-participation in activities involving a specific organization in the ongoing Palestine solidarity movement. I found that microstructural factors both facilitated and constrained participation in various ways. Also, the functioning of microstructural factors was interlinked with the functioning of attitudinal factors not just among people in general but also among those who mainly or fully supported the demands of The Organization. Positive emotions arising from participation were also important in keeping participants engaged in the long term, even if microstructural and attitudinal factors were almost entirely responsible for their initial participation.Bachelor of Art
Adolescent Alcohol Induced Reductions in Choline Acetyltransferase Expression: Association with Sex and Behavioral Flexibility
Get PDF3.3 million adolescents aged 12-20 report binge alcohol consumption in the past month, according to the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Preclinical work has shown that adolescent binge alcohol consumption is known to reduce choline acetyltransferase positive (ChAT+) neuron quantities within the basal forebrain, leading to reduced behavioral flexibility and adaptive decision making in adulthood. Previous studies have not yet investigated sex specific differences within adolescent alcohol induced ChAT+ reductions. Additionally, no studies have assessed functional connectivity and basal forebrain ChAT+ reductions due to binge adolescent alcohol exposure in the same individuals. To fill this gap, our lab exposed both male and female Sprague Dawley rats to AIE. Specifically, from postnatal day (P)25-54, adolescent rats received ethanol or water (5 g/kg) via gavage technique, on a 2-day-ON/2-day-OFF regimen. At adulthood (~P65), the rats were trained for 4 weeks using a Pavlovian conditioned approach. They additionally underwent a 2-week attentional set shifting task (ASST). Post behavioral training, the rats underwent resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using a 9.4T magnet for a whole-brain analysis. Immunohistochemical analysis was then performed on basal forebrain slices, focusing on the medial septal (MS) nuclei to visualize ChAT+ density. Within ASST collapsed across sex, AIE did not significantly alter the total trials required for initial acquisition. Within reversal 1, AIE rats showed significant alterations in active, prepotent, and subsequent errors (p < 0.05). Reversal 2 showed significant alterations in total trials as well as prepotent, initial errors ( p< 0.05) active, regressive, and subsequent errors (p < 0.001). Our analysis of ChAT+ quantities revealed a highly significant effect of condition on neuron count, reinforcing previous literature (p < 0.001). Additionally, we identified a novel and significant interaction between sex by exposure (p = 0.04). While the main effect of sex was only marginally significant (p = 0.078), the stronger sex by exposure interaction suggests that there are sex-specific factors that play a key role in shaping the neurobiological effects of adolescent alcohol exposure. Ultimately, these findings highlight a path for the development of sex-specific interventions.Bachelor of Art
Which Water Bodies does SWOT Observe? A Case Study of Orange County, North Carolina.
Get PDFIn December 2022, NASA launched the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite to conduct the first global study of Earth's water resources. SWOT uses interferometric synthetic aperture radar to measure terrestrial water features such as lakes and rivers. This study evaluates SWOT's performance in a regional case study of Orange County, North Carolina, from January 2024 to January 2025. According to the United States Geological Survey's National Hydrography Dataset, Orange County contains 1,400 permanently recorded water bodies, ranging from less than 0.01 to over 1.5 square kilometers in surface area. Using SWOT's Level 2 High Rate Raster product at 100-meter resolution, 53 observations were compared against these water bodies to determine the ratio of observed to possible observations. Larger water bodies are consistently observed more frequently than smaller ones, suggesting that the size of the surface area plays an important role in observation likelihood. Water bodies start to be more likely observed than not around 0.04 square kilometers. Still, smaller features have a non-zero chance of detection, indicating a probabilistic decline in observation likelihood with decreasing size rather than a strict cutoff size. Cross-track distance of the water bodies from the nadir position showed a weak positive correlation with observation ratio, however, the relationship is secondary to size. This study provides a quantitative baseline for SWOT's performance with inland water body observation. The limited detection of smaller water bodies is not necessarily a failure of SWOT, but rather a reflection of design trade-offs. These findings suggest that size should be a primary consideration when applying SWOT data to future hydrological studies, and it helps inform next-generation satellite missions that increased spatial resolution ought to be a priority to observe the smallest water bodies.Bachelor of Scienc
Beauty and Her Feast: The Impact of Domestic Expectations on Women’s Experiences in Professional Kitchens
Get PDFThere is a lack of research on women's role in professional kitchens and how domestic expectations of women influence women’s experience in professional kitchens. Professional kitchens are masculinized spaces that lead women to face many barriers regarding work in professional kitchens. Professional kitchen culture is male-dominated, which results in a masculine work environment where women are sexualized, forced to prove their competency, and seen as generally unfit. Through sixteen in-depth interviews with women who work in professional kitchens, I explore how professional kitchens utilize gendered expectations of domestic and professional work to maintain male domination and affect women’s sense of belonging in the industry. I examine barriers that prevent women from advancing to higher positions, such as chef, in professional kitchens and I want to explore the tools women chefs used to overcome these barriers. This study also examines how women navigate the masculine and male-dominated workplace environment of professional kitchens. I ask about challenges that arise from this and how these women navigate them. Additionally, I explore how women navigate their own domestic duties and family while working in professional kitchens. Finally, I discuss how the #MeToo Movement and COVID-19 pandemic benefited women in the industry. I expect to find that societal expectations of women in domestic kitchens negatively affect the career advancement, workplace experiences, and work/family balance of women chefs. Bachelor of Art
Spurs, Sabers, and Shot: The Maturation of Union Cavalry, 1861-1865
Get PDFSenior Honors Thesis that explores the development of the Union Cavalry from 1861-1865. It argues that the Union cavalry began in a poor state, largely due to the influence of George B. McClellan alongside an early adherence to Napoleonic light cavalry doctrine. Through better organization, technological advancements, and better leadership, however, the Union cavalry gradually began dominating its Confederate counterparts. In 1864, with the rise of Ulysses S. Grant, two generals emerged who finalized the cavalry's evolution: Philip H. Sheridan and James H. Wilson. Under both, the cavalry in the East and West emerged as a potent weapon that heavily contributed to ending the Civil War.Bachelor of Art
Motivational Internalism in Calvin’s Doctrine of Knowledge of God
Get PDFThe first section of this paper discusses Calvin’s views on knowledge of God as they are apparent in the Institutes, drawing on secondary literature for clarification. The connection between knowledge of God and action is grounded in the nature of God’s revelation. All revelation is given with the purpose of eliciting sanctification and worship for the respective purposes of salvation and God’s glorification. These purposes serve to determine the substantive content of revelation, which in turn produces those responses—the knowledge provided by revelation has a uniquely “existential” quality in that it is always knowledge of facts that have immediate importance to believers; for instance, that all goods that they receive come from God. This knowledge is available to all human beings in nature and through created human nature in the form of the sensus divinitatis; however, the fall of Adam and Eve made access to this knowledge impossible, necessitating a second revelation in the form of the person of Christ which serves to restore proper access to knowledge of God. The second section lays out relevant concepts from literature on motivational internalism, highlighting two versions which are potentially applicable to Calvin’s view: first, John Tresan’s de dicto internalism, which holds that the concept of moral belief is such that a belief only counts as moral if it is accompanied by other mental states which provide motivation; second, the views of John McDowell and Mark Platts, which hold that the nature of moral facts is such that, when properly recognized, they motivate. Finally, the third section uses these concepts to construct an original “Calvinist” description of the motivational structure of knowledge of God in which knowledge of existentially significant theological facts includes content which, when perceived, necessarily motivates. The ability to perceive these facts is constantly developed—through the process of sanctification, believers come to learn how theological concepts apply to their lives and become more fully motivated as their understanding of the “existential” aspects of revelation increases.Bachelor of Art