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Ecosophical Artistic Praxes for Future Ecologies: Matter & Meaning in the Lower Mississippi Delta
No full textThis dissertation, “Ecosophical Artistic Praxes for Future Ecologies: Matter & Meaning in the Lower Mississippi Delta,” examines the intersections of ecology, embodiment, and feminist curatorial praxis through a collection of writing grounded in curatorial research, fieldwork, and lived experience. The project started as a curatorial initiative titled Finding Grounding, featuring the work of Heather Bird Harris, Shana M. griffin, Renee Royale, and Hannah Chalew—artists whose practices critically engage with the collapsing ecologies of Southeastern Louisiana. Through exhibitions, co-creative programming, and writing, Finding Grounding invites participants to cultivate conscious relationships with place, bridging the spiritual and material disconnections that characterize life amid ecological crisis.
Emerging from my own embodied reckoning through infertility and motherhood, this project approaches curatorial work as a space of attunement and care, where writing and practice function as mutual processes of grounding. Drawing on ecosophy—the ethical-aesthetic philosophy developed by Félix Guattari—this study positions ecology as simultaneously environmental, social, and subjective. It weaves critical theory, poetic reflection, and personal narrative to trouble conventional boundaries between academic analysis and creative expression. This transdisciplinary approach integrates perspectives from deep ecology, ecofeminism, social ecology, and material feminisms, alongside Black feminist geo-ecologies that expose the racialized dimensions of environmental degradation in Louisiana’s extractivist landscape.
By situating artistic practice within embodied experience, Finding Grounding reintroduces matter, sensation, and lived relations into discourses often constrained by abstraction and objectivity. Through fieldwork and writing as modes of encounter, this dissertation embraces diffraction and relational methodologies that foreground contact, vulnerability, and transformation. The included essays examine the entanglements of art, ecology, and being—moving fluidly between critique and poetics to propose an ecosophical curatorial approach rooted in attentiveness, care, and interconnection. Ultimately, this work argues that art and curatorial practices can act as catalysts for re-enlivening human capacities for empathy, solidarity, and ethical responses amid a world of interconnected collapse and renewal
SynthPop: A New Framework for Synthetic Milky Way Population Generation
No full textWe present SynthPop, a new open source, modular population synthesis Galactic modeling software to simulate catalogs of Milky Way stars along any sightline outward from the Sun. Motivated by a lack of flexibility in existing Galactic models, SynthPop is coded entirely in python, can be run standalone or as an imported module, and is configured by json files that allow different model components to be switched out as desired. We describe the modular code structure, how the population generation process runs, and how to use the code. We also present model validation testing and known inaccuracies and present an example of the code use, comparing Gaia data and the Gaia Universe Model Snapshot to a SynthPop implementation. The code is available now via GitHub with ReadTheDocs documentation and can be installed via pip
Lithological Modeling and Aquifer Characterization of the Coastal Lowlands Aquifer System in Texas
No full textThe Texas Coastal Lowlands Aquifer System (CLAS) is a crucial water resource for the Gulf Coast, serving millions through municipal, agricultural, and industrial supplies. However, its sustainability is increasingly threatened by factors such as population growth, saltwater intrusion, land subsidence, and climate change. A significant limitation is the absence of a comprehensive, data-rich, three-dimensional lithologic model that accurately represents the intricate structure and geometry of the aquifer. Existing models are overly simplistic, treating the hydrogeologic unit as laterally uniform and failing to capture its true hydrogeologic complexity. This study addresses this gap by developing the first high-resolution 3D lithologic model of the CLAS, integrating approximately 146,000 well logs using the existing proposed Horizon-assisted Lithologic Modeling (HALM) and natural neighbor interpolation. The resulting hydrogeologic framework provides, for the first time, an accurate 3D delineation of the five principal hydrogeologic units, capturing the distinct geometry of each unit with structurally consistent realism. It also effectively delineates the large-scale folding in the southern CLAS, accurately capturing a structural feature that had not been represented in previous models. Model validation through blind well cross-validation confirmed its reliability for groundwater flow simulation, recharge mapping, and vulnerability assessment. The hydrostratigraphic model of the dip-oriented cross-sections also identified key recharge zones and preferential groundwater flow pathways. Beyond regional utility, this methodology offers a transferable framework for characterizing complex coastal aquifers worldwide, as demonstrated in the Texas CLAS, and provides a critical foundation for groundwater resource planning in an era of increasing environmental stress
A Systematic Review of Methods for Establishing Social-Communicative Repertoires for Linguistically Diverse Learners
No full textA systematic review was conducted to evaluate present levels of support for establishing communication with linguistically diverse individuals (i.e., those residing in multiple linguistic contexts) having a high-incidence form of developmental disability (e.g., autism, intellectual disability). This pre-registered systematic review (Prospero ID: CRD42024519657) was designed to characterize the types of strategies (i.e., procedures) and materials (e.g., language-correlated stimuli) used to support effective social communication across languages (e.g., communicating preferences, responding to instruction) as well as the effects of those practices. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they targeted individuals with a developmental disability having a linguistically diverse background, emphasized communication as either a primary or secondary outcome, and provided a teaching protocol that was sufficiently defined to facilitate replication (e.g., teaching procedures and session conditions were described, evidence of procedural fidelity was provided). The results of a systematic review consistent with PRISMA guidelines revealed a total of eight studies, and reviews of study methods revealed variability in the sequencing of multiple languages (e.g., simultaneous vs. alternating presentations) and participant characteristics (e.g., differences in language exposure), but strong emphasis on the acquisition of early verbal operants (i.e., simple mands) and autistic learners. Results of this review suggest emerging support for multilingual interventions for these populations, particularly for functional communication training, but a need for additional research comparing specific methods and approaches for establishing proficiency in multiple languages for exceptional populations.
Keywords: autism, bilingualism, functional communication training, diversit
UAV Remote Sensing for Assessment of Conservative Management Practices in Maize-Soybean Cropping System
No full textSustainable agriculture practices promote cover cropping, which enhances nutrient management and impacts subsequent crop productivity in field crop rotations. Precision agriculture technology, particularly Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing, enables a detailed evaluation of crop management. The studies were conducted in a maize-soybean rotation system with winter cover cropping and fallow management. The maize experiment investigated the effect of nitrogen application rates and cover cropping, using UAV-derived Normalized Difference Red-Edge (NDRE) to monitor crop performance. NDRE effectively captured the N response and the effect of cover cropping across growth stages, particularly during mid-season (55-81 DAP), where it showed a strong correlation with yield. Fertilization up to 170 kg N ha⁻¹ increased maize yield, beyond which additional application produced diminishing returns. In the soybean experiment, the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) sensor on board of the UAV captured high-resolution imagery for soybean plant stand assessment. Soybean stand count classes were predicted using vegetation indices and RGB quantile values with different machine learning models. Pixel-level information summarized as RGB quantiles was an informative predictor, and the Neural Network was able to capture complex patterns in RGB data to predict stand class with high accuracy. Cover crop biomass was predicted using UAV-derived spectral and canopy height data with machine learning, comparing different neural network architectures, optimizers, and activation functions. The neural network model implemented with the Keras TensorFlow library, using the Adam optimizer and the sigmoid activation function, best predicted biomass with an RMSE of 96 g m−2. These findings underscore the potential of UAV remote sensing for nutrient management, crop establishment, and biomass prediction to support precision agriculture and sustainable crop production
INVESTIGATING THE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF INCONEL 939 AND INCONEL 718 THROUGH MICROMECHANICAL TESTING
No full textA detailed evaluation of fatigue crack growth (FCG) in a silicon-modified Inconel 939 alloy, fabricated via laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing (L-PBF AM), was performed using cyclic bending tests on pre-notched microscale cantilevers with a cross-sectional dimension of 25 µm × 25 µm. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that such microscale cantilever tests can effectively capture both the threshold and Paris-law regimes of FCG, despite the limited specimen size. The precise fabrication of these small-scale specimens allows for controlled fatigue crack propagation relative to the microstructure while minimizing the presence of volumetric defects. Notably, significant variations in FCG behavior were observed when the crack propagation direction was changed from parallel to perpendicular to the AM build direction. This study highlights the effectiveness of microscale specimens for FCG assessment, offering valuable insights into the relationship between microstructural characteristics and crack growth behavior
Satellite-mediated Quantum Clock Synchronization: Towards Precise Timing at a Global Scale
No full textAccurate timekeeping is essential for scientific and technological advancements, particularly in areas of communication, networking, navigation, and high precision measurements. While many methods of time resolution are already established using classical resources, they fail to combine high precision outcomes with large-scale implementations. Additionally, numerous quantum networking architectures using satellite-assisted methods have demonstrated quantum communication on scales exceeding ground-based methods. For these reasons, we propose the use of a time synchronization method by which pairs of highly time-correlated photons are exchanged between clocks on satellites and clocks on Earth, al- lowing users to reconstruct the time offsets between their clocks. This is known as Quantum Clock Synchronization (QCS). We analyze global time synchronization, via numerical simulation, using a network of satellites equipped with quantum resources, such as entangled photon sources (SPDC) and single photon detectors. We find that for satellites in low-earth orbits, a configuration of 50 evenly-space satellites provides constant visibility and sub-nanosecond time synchronization to any location on Earth. Due to practical constraints, clocks available for use on satellites are often of lesser quality than those available for ground use. However, by allowing the satellites in our network to synchronize among themselves, we overcome this limitation, forming a highly precise “master clock” capable of global, high precision time synchronization. We then examine the amount of quantum security provided by polarization-entangled photon sources as a potential way to protect an experimental implementation of QCS from attacks such as signal spoofing. To do this, we identify regions on Earth where Bell violations between exchanged entangled photons can ensure quantum security at various confidence vii levels. Combined with similar insights gained from determining the network scale of our QCS protocol at the single-link level, we demonstrate the potential for highly precise, global, and potentially quantum-secure clock synchronization. Finally, we modify our QCS protocol to support frequency, or tick-rate, offsets in addition to constant time offsets. We motivate this by presenting some relativistic effects that can introduce frequency differences between clocks in space and on Earth. Provided that relative velocities between clocks are corrected for, we identify constant and variable clock defects through numerical simulations
Disorder enhanced thermalization in interacting many-particle system
No full textWe introduce an extension of the nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory to incorporate the effects of static random disorder in the dynamics of a many-particle system by integrating out different disorder configurations resulting in an effective time-dependent density-density interaction. We use this method to study the nonequilibrium transient dynamics of a system described by the Fermi Anderson-Hubbard model following an interaction and disorder quench. The method recovers the solution of the disorder-free case for which the system exhibits qualitatively distinct dynamical behaviors in the weak-coupling (prethermalization) and strong-coupling regimes (collapse-and-revival oscillations). However, we find that weak random disorder promotes thermalization. In the weak-coupling regime, the jump in the quasiparticle weight in the prethermal regime is suppressed by random disorder, while in the strong-coupling regime, random disorder reduces the amplitude of the quasiparticle weight oscillations. These results highlight the importance of disorder in the dynamics of realistic many-particle systems
A review of flood mitigation benefit-cost analyses’ inclusiveness of environmental watershed effects and environmental vulnerability: gaps in progress towards more resilient flood hazard decision-making
No full textUS and EU flood mitigation policy both incorporate considerations of costs and benefits, and in recent years have taken steps to encourage accounting for positive and negative effects on vulnerable populations, broader non-market environmental impacts, and downstream effects beyond the target area of projects of flood mitigation projects. This work highlights the extent to which previous academic flood mitigation Benefit-Cost Analyses (BCA) papers have comprehensively considered such project effects. We do so through a systematic, PRISMA-style, review of BCA literature in the broader field of flood hazard mitigation and resilience decision-making. Our results suggest 1) most projects focus on monetizing property damages, 2) a gap exists monetizing ecosystem and environmental effects (especially linked to model-linked effects estimates), and 3) almost no BCA literature addresses distributional or economic or social vulnerability related impacts. Studies comprehensively incorporating structural, environmental, and distributional questions are almost nonexistent. This reflects the need for a larger research approach linking flood depth and exposure models to wider non-property and non-market damage assessment. Current BCA literature fails to wholistically bring together the relevant interdependent social and environmental effects of flood mitigation projects. This suggests the need for a research agenda promoting the consolidation of methods beyond traditional property damages, and models linking the environmental and distributional effects of mitigation projects
POPULATION DYNAMICS, HOST RANGE, AND IMPACT OF THE NATURALIZED WEEVIL OCHYROMERA LIGUSTRI: A POTENTIAL BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AGENT OF INVASIVE LIGUSTRUM SINENSE
No full textInvasive woody plants have become dominant components of many forest understories in the southeastern United States. These species can displace native species, disrupt ecosystem processes, and reduce biodiversity. Chinese privet (Oleaceae: Ligustrum sinense Lour.) is an invasive shrub distributed through the Southeastern United States. The ligustrum weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Ochyromera ligustri Warner) is a non-native insect that was first found in the U.S. on Ligustrum in 1959. This weevil is considered a potential fortuitous biological control agent of invasive Ligustrum spp. in the U.S. The objectives of this study were to evaluate O. ligustri as a potential biological control agent of invasive Ligustrum through (1) cataloging the existing herbivore and pathogen pressure on U.S. Chinese privet, (2) describing the population dynamics of the O. ligustri in the U.S., and (3) evaluating the host-range of the O. ligustri.
I found that (1) Ligustrum sinense in the U.S. is fed upon by diverse generalist herbivores, and low pathogen pressure, (2) adults of the ligustrum weevil Ochyromera ligustri are present when their oviposition substrate, privet fruits, are available throughout the U.S., occupies a similar ecological niche, and is correlated with multiple environmental factors, and (3) based on adult host-range folivory tests, field collections, and fruit-morphology analysis, O. ligustri appears to be a generalist feeder but develops primarily within Ligustrum fruits. Together, these results suggest that O. ligustri has potential as a fortuitous seed-feeding agent for reducing privet reproduction and spread, but that adult feeding is relatively generalist and could produce minor cosmetic damage in ornamental settings. Before any management recommendations are made, further experiments are needed to confirm host specificity of oviposition and full larval development and to assess nursery/ornamental risk thresholds. If follow-up studies confirm narrow reproductive host range and measurable reductions in invasive privet recruitment, O. ligustri could be a promising biological control agent