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Public Preferences for Flood Warning Improvements: an Inferred Valuation Approach Addressing Social Desirability Bias
No full textDespite the crucial role of flood warning systems in mitigating disaster impacts, their economic value—particularly the value of specific attributes—remains poorly understood. This study evaluates public preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for three flood warning attributes: advance notice, warning reliability, and geographical precision, using a choice experiment conducted in Tokyo\u27s Koto 5 Wards. To address social desirability bias, the study employs both standard and inferred valuation methods, with the latter asking respondents to predict their neighbors\u27 choices. The findings reveal that warning reliability is the most highly valued attribute, with an inferred WTP of ¥2,345 per household annually for improving warning accuracy from 30 % to 80 %. In contrast, significant improvements in geographical precision show a negative inferred WTP, reflecting privacy concerns associated with highly granular, location-specific warnings. Advance notice, while positively valued in the standard valuation, is not statistically significant in the inferred valuation—likely due to concerns about increased false alarms associated with longer lead times. The estimated societal benefit of enhancing warning reliability across the study area amounts to ¥3.07 billion annually. These results suggest that policymakers should prioritize reliability improvements while maintaining the current levels of lead time and spatial granularity. Transparent communication about data usage and privacy is essential to fostering public trust and maximizing the effectiveness of disaster management systems
Germanic Identity and Othering at the Inception of Modernity: a Critical Translation of the Geographic Addendum of the \u3ci\u3eNuremberg Chronicle\u3c/i\u3e (1493)
No full textThe Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) is a late medieval humanist world chronicle compiled in its original Latin by Hartmann Schedel and translated into vernacular German by Georg Alt in the same year. It features exquisite woodcut illustrations from the studio of Michael Wohlgemut which bolstered the text\u27s contemporaneous popularity among scholarly and lay audiences along with the unauthorized cheaper editions released by Johann Schönesperger within the decade. This project investigates depictions of collective identity as presented in the Geographic Addendum, a section of the endmatter discussing the peoples and lands of Europe which Schedel compiled from the writings of humanist scholar Enea Silvio Piccolomini, later known as Pope Pius II. This thesis offers the first faithful English translation from the German edition of this section of the text, emphasizing directness of translation and the retention of the Germanophone naming conventions, followed by assessment of its contents through ethnographic analysis and comparison to its source text. This research demonstrates the twofold process by which the Nuremberg team adapted Piccolomini\u27s politically-motivated geographic writings for common German audiences: firstly, Schedel strategically excerpted and augmented Piccolomini\u27s texts to highlight the ethnocultural identities of the described collectives from an ethnocentric German perspective lauding military might and Christianity; secondly, Alt reshaped Schedel\u27s text to be accessible to broader German audiences, while using Germanophone names for each collective. These transformations ultimately superimpose Piccolomini\u27s imperialist and Roman Catholic values into a German ethnocentric worldview, thus shaping how the German laity interpreted their continental contexts
Rebuilding Consent: Fear, Trust, and the Future of Nuclear Energy
No full textThis thesis traces the cultural and emotional roots of nuclear fear in the United States and explores how those inherited anxieties continue to shape public resistance to nuclear energy in the face of a worsening climate crisis. Drawing on personal narrative, risk perception theory, and the history of nuclear discourse - from Hiroshima to Chernobyl to today - the research examines how trust, rather than technology, remains the largest barrier to progress. By analyzing the stories we tell about energy, disaster, control, and overall perceived risk, this work asks what it would take for Americans to imagine nuclear energy not as a symbol of catastrophe, but as a public good. Through a blending of scientific context and cultural reflection, the thesis reframes the conversation around energy, showing that our future power systems will depend as much on rebuilding narrative consent as on engineering innovation
Grid Services Demonstration Using Service-Oriented DERMS
No full textThis work demonstrates four grid service use cases using a service-oriented DER Management System within an Energy Grid of Things network. Imposed by a set of rules referred to as the Energy Service Interface, the DER Management System uses IEEE 2030.5 as its primary communication protocol. To simulate the efforts of Grid Operators, Grid Service Providers, and consumers to provide grid services, a co-simulation environment that leverages the GridAPPS-D simulation platform was developed. The results show that a service-oriented DER Management System provides a means of achieving reliable and impactful grid services while protecting customers’ privacy and ensuring their agency over their Distributed Energy Resources
Let\u27s Chat About Spoken Discourse: A Tutorial to Support Use of Spoken Discourse Analysis when Providing Aphasia Clinical Services.
No full textSpoken discourse is integral to everyday communication; improving discourse outcomes is a primary goal for individuals with aphasia and their families. Consequently, the application of discourse analysis in aphasia assessment and treatment has gained increasing attention in both research and clinical settings. Despite its recognized value among researchers and clinicians, several barriers-such as limited time, inadequate training, and lack of resources-continue to impede the widespread use of discourse analysis into clinical practice. To facilitate its broader adoption, speech-language pathologists require access to comprehensive resources that include information on discourse tasks, outcome measures, psychometric properties, and practical examples of how to implement spoken discourse assessments effectively. The purpose of this tutorial is to equip clinicians with this knowledge, promoting the consistent and effective application of discourse analysis in clinical settings
Analyzing Rap through Poetry: “zen scientist” by milo & Kenny Segal
No full textmilo, now known as R.A.P. Ferraria, has described his music as synonymous with poetry. This article examines his song “zen scientist,” testing the linkage of poetry and rap through poetic analysis. Jensen analyzes the song through metrical systems, marking it in scansion, poetic feet, and rhyme to delineate rhythm and to show how rhythm is created and experimented with. Jensen then applies Vendler and Chan’s methods for deriving poetic meaning, providing potential interpretations of “zen scientist.” Jensen argues these poetic methods dissect the rap song into perspicuity. The article concludes that poetic analysis can be used effectively to analyze rap and that future research should investigate the relationship between rap and poetry by using their analytic frameworks interchangeably
Woman-to-woman Marriage in West Africa: a Vanishing Tradition of Power and Agency
No full textIn lieu of an abstract, here is an excerpt: Marriage in west Africa has played a central role in shaping aspects of society, and has evolved over time. While traditional heterosexual unions dominate discussions, a lesser-known but significant practice – woman-to-woman marriage – has existed for centuries. In my research, I examined this institution, which allows a woman to assume the role of a husband by marrying another woman. There’s evidence of woman-to-woman marriage in more than 40 societies across west Africa, including the Igbo of Nigeria, the Frafra of Ghana and the Dahomeans of present-day Benin
The Legend of the Renata, Part One
No full textThis story takes place in the Atlantic Ocean. In this story, characters encounter supernatural obstacles, murder, and disaster. While facing these challenges, characters learn that their world is being pushed at and pulled by another world that lurks beneath
Price-Signal-Based Control Strategy for Heat Pump Water Heaters in Demand Response Applications
No full textThis work presents a price-signal-based control strategy for residential Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWHs) aimed at reducing electricity costs and shifting load away from high-price periods. By integrating the California Load Flexibility Research and Development Hub (CalFlexHub) prototype price signals, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA-2045-B) communication protocol, and the Object-oriented, Controllable, High-resolution Residential Energy (OCHRE) simulation framework, a rule-based controller was developed to align HPWH operation with dynamic electricity pricing while maintaining hot water availability.
The control strategy was evaluated through two case studies: one using a fixed water draw profile under varying levels of price signal foresight, and another incorporating diverse, realistic draw patterns across 192 seasonal simulations. Results demonstrate consistent performance across both scenarios, achieving electricity cost savings of 11-33% and peak-period load reductions of 86-91%, with modest increases in total energy use, 6-8%, due to strategic preheating.
These findings confirm the viability of HPWHs as flexible demand-side resources and highlight the practical benefits of day-ahead, price-responsive control without requiring perfect foresight. The proposed strategy supports both consumer economic goals and grid-level flexibility, offering a scalable solution for residential demand response and electrification
A Mixed-Methods Study on Extended Parental Separation Among Mexican and Central American Immigrants: Insights From Legal Violence and the Stress Process
No full textMy mixed-methods dissertation examines the mental health effects of legal violence on Mexican and Central American immigrants experiencing prolonged parental separation amid heightened immigration enforcement. The study encompasses three papers utilizing Menjívar and Abrego\u27s (2012) framework of legal violence and Pearlin\u27s (1989) stress process model. The first paper employs quantitative analysis of the Mesoamerican Migration Project data, revealing that heightened immigration enforcement is associated with increased distress among Mexican immigrants in the context of parental separation, the use of coyotes, and the Trump era. The second paper offers qualitative insights from 29 Mexican and Central American immigrants, highlighting the emotional complexities and mental health challenges stemming from extended parental separation during adult life stages and its generational impacts. The third paper combines quantitative and qualitative methods that focus on the psychological impacts of Mexican immigrants facing parental separation. The quantitative results suggest that extended parental separation significantly raises distress levels. The qualitative analysis supplements the quantitative findings by focusing on the mental health effects, the cumulative consequences of anti-immigrant rhetoric and the COVID-19 pandemic, and legal obstacles to family reunification. Overall, this dissertation research underscores the influence of structural and social factors on the psychological well-being of immigrants, who report mental health concerns such as depression, loneliness, and feelings of powerlessness while dealing with separation and immigration enforcement. I conclude with policy recommendations provided by Mexican and Central American immigrants that should be considered by community leaders and policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels