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Publication Language-specific Intonation in Bilingual Palenquero/Spanish Speakers: A Prosodic Transition Between Two Generations(2024-09) Lopez Barrios, WilmarIt has been suggested that Palenquero/Spanish bilinguals use penultimate lengthening in a language specific way (Correa 2017), and that these bilinguals may disambiguate language in identification tasks by using intonational cues from the Palenquero creole (Lipski 2016). Nevertheless, it has also been argued that speakers use the same intonation in both languages (Correa 2017). This research study aims to determine to what extent two generational groups of Palenquero/Spanish bilinguals (young adult and elderly speakers) maintain their languages as intonationally and temporally distinct in statements, yes/no questions and wh-questions. Palenquero/Spanish bilinguals speak both a local variety of Caribbean Spanish, and Palenquero, an Afro-Hispanic creole which still preserves some of the phonotactic restrictions of their African ancestors. Flat or plateau-shaped intonation seems to be typical in Palenquero prosody, due apparently to a stress-driven (residual) high tone from an African language. It has not been made clear, however, whether Palenquero/Spanish bilinguals keep their languages prosodically differentiated. To this end, ten Palenquero/Spanish bilinguals participated in two unilingual discourse completion tasks, from which statements, yes/no questions, and wh-questions were elicited. Phrase-final lengthening was tested with linear mixed-effects models predicting vowel length in the stressed syllable of final trochees and iambs, from both young adult (μage = 39.5, SD = 1.97) and elderly bilinguals (μage = 64.3, SD = 5.44). Language-specific intonation was explored in the most important F0 variances, using Functional Principal Component Analysis. Despite the strong similarities between the two languages, results indicate that both groups keep their two languages intonationally distinct using plateau-shaped contours in Palenquero, and initial rises followed by steeper declinations in Spanish. However, elderly speakers not only implement penultimate lengthening language-specifically in statements and wh-questions—being more pronounced in Palenquero—but furthermore tend to produce final intonation in a language specific way across yes/no questions. It seems that the elderly might have overgeneralized the truncation rule followed by young adults, and found in other Spanish varieties, so that most of the elderly’s questions end in a “truncated" way. It means that elderly bilinguals exhibit a wider degree of prosodic differentiation between their languages, while young adults show a more simplified prosodic system between their languages, behaving in a way similar to other Spanish speakers in the Caribbean.Publication Media Vessels: An Archaeology of Electronic Media(2024-09) Sun, YijunMedia Vessels: An Archaeology of Electronic Media explores the role of media vessels in the evolution of electronic media, tracing their impact from eighteenth-century electrical experiments to the rise of digital media in the twentieth century. Utilizing media archaeology and the philosophy of technology, this dissertation presents a narrative that follows the development of technical objects used for signal relay, culminating in the emergence of user-friendly digital media. Departing from traditional focuses on high technology and hard sciences, this study shifts attention to the media vessel, a modest yet significant technology with feminist implications. By examining the dual role of media vessels as both carriers and holders, the dissertation investigates how electronic media evolved and how these vessels shaped interactions between technical objects, human bodies, and the technological milieu. Positioning media vessels as the center of analysis, this dissertation analyzes their impact on the design of technical systems and emergence of media users in the modern era. It argues that media vessels provide a crucial cultural and technical framework for the transmission, storage, and processing of information within electronic media systems. By exploring the historical significance of media vessels, this work encourages a reevaluation of media evolution and transformation.Publication Manifestations of the Wound: Decolonial Healing and Resistance in Latinx Literature and Visual Arts(2024-09) Bouso Gavin, AitorThis dissertation studies contemporary Latinx literature and visual arts, with a focus on Afro-Dominican, Chicanx, and U.S. Central American writers and artists. It explores the construction of identity and subjectivity under intersectional racial trauma and other forms of wounding caused by systemic oppression and exploitation. This transdisciplinary project puts forth the conceptual paradigm of the wound to study representation of harm and damage—physical, psychological, and spiritual—in prominent Latinx literary and artistic works. By centering on the overlapping violences of colonialism, racism, and (hetero)sexism, it advances a decolonial approach to underline the role of Latinx literature and visual culture as catalysts for personal, political, and social transformation and healing. “Manifestations of the Wound” contributes to broader discussions in Latinx studies, decolonial (trauma) studies, and critical ethnic studies, addressing topics such as the disruption of Western biomedical and secular notions of wellness and the legitimization of intersectional analyses of oppression. This dissertation contests philosophical and theoretical trends dictated by White supremacy, Eurocentrism, and Enlightened Humanism. It also proposes open, expansive, and dialogic methodologies for studying Latinx literature and arts, challenging Western hegemonic thinking and addressing colonial legacies such as the body/mind split. This project offers new interpretations of the works of queer Chicanx writers like Gloria Anzaldúa and Rigoberto González, as well as poet Yesika Salgado. Additionally, it examines the art of Afro-Latinx visual artists, including Dominican Americans Firelei Báez and Bony Ramirez, who highlight the wounding and erasure of Black, Afro-descendant, and Indigenous peoples from the annals of U.S. and Caribbean histories. The first chapter examines corporeal subjectivities in the life-writings of Chicano gay memoirist Rigoberto González and Salvadoran American poet Yesika Salgado. The second chapter broadens the corpus of creative works addressing the Juárez feminicide crisis by analyzing Latinx creative responses from the North, such as the plays of Marisela Treviño-Orta’s Braided Sorrow (2005) and Isaac Gómez’s La Ruta (2019) as well as the visual production of Judithe Hernández's Juárez Series (2011-). These representations of feminicide advocate for the healing of this social crisis by enacting an ethics of interconnectedness that brings attention to the repercussions of feminicide on the U.S.-Mexico border. The third chapter presents new scholarship on Gloria Anzaldúa’s archived artwork, analyzing her sketches and glifos to highlight their decolonial potential, but, most importantly, to elucidate Anzaldúa’s healing process through the use of multidimensional techniques and imagination. The fourth chapter explores decolonial imaginaries imbued with an aesthetics of fugitivity and Afro-resistance, highlighting the healing collective endeavors in the works of Firelei Báez and Bony Ramirez. It addresses the wounds of coloniality, using these imaginaries as antidotes and tactics to suture the wounds of the past, such as the Middle Passage and the enslavement of Africans and Afrodiasporic subjects. This research ultimately offers new ways of understanding Latinx literature and visual arts, emphasizing their roles in fostering intersectional, antiracist, and decolonial frameworks. Through close-readings and visual analysis, this projects concludes that the manifestation and rendering of wounds by these artists and writers is a collective endeavor and a distinctive feature of Latinx letters and visual arts. This decolonial healing process, far from perpetuating static narratives of Latinidad, serves as a mechanism of resistance with liberatory capacities. Therefore, this project seeks to showcase a diverse and growing body of Latinx works that underpin a range of ways in which literature and art can penetrate and mobilize the political and social sphere. In so doing, Latinx literature and visual arts are also framed as sources we can tap to remedy problems such as racial and transgenerational trauma, illnesses, and physical deterioration, normally the concerns of social and medical science research.Publication Adhesion and Mechanical Properties of Brush and Comb Silicone Elastomers(2024-09) Kim, HyeminBrush and comb polymers, characterized by dense polymeric side chains attached to a backbone polymer chain, exhibit super-softness (elastic modulus < 100 kPa) in the absence of solvent. The dissertation comprised four projects. The first project was "Adhesion and Mechanical Properties of PDMS Bottlebrush Elastomers." This chapter quantified the adhesion properties of PDMS bottlebrush elastomers to glass through a contact adhesion test, comparing them to linear PDMS networks. The critical energy release rates of both materials were calculated as a function of interfacial separation velocity. This work provided insights into the distinctive attributes arising from the molecular architecture of bottlebrush elastomers. The second project was "PDMS Comb Polymers with Adjustable Hydrogen Bonding Interactions." Hydrogen bonding units were attached to the end of side chains, forming physical crosslinks. Rheological properties were measured by varying the density and strength of hydrogen bonding, with a thorough investigation of thermal reversibility to understand the dynamics of hydrogen bonding. This chapter revealed how hydrogen bonding units effectively regulated mechanical properties and promoted self-healing characteristics. The third project was "Puncture Mechanics of PDMS Bottlebrush Elastomers." This chapter explored the puncture mechanics to derive multiple mechanical properties from a single test. Through systematic variation of sample volume and indenter dimensions, the influence of confinement effects on puncture test outcomes was studied. Experiments conducted with confinement-free sample sizes demonstrated consistent results across varying volumes, offering advantages for testing limited-volume samples. Additionally, a comparison of mechanical properties from puncture testing and conventional mechanical tests revealed a reliable correlation. The fourth project was "PDMS Bottlebrush Elastomers with Mobile Crosslinks." This chapter introduced slide ring (SR) crosslinks into bottlebrush elastomers. Transparent elastomers with SR crosslinks were obtained, and their mechanical properties were evaluated and compared to those with conventional fixed crosslinks (FC). While elastomers with SR showed enhanced softness, fracture energy through puncture tests was similar to or less than FC crosslinked material, suggesting ineffective sliding of rings. The limitations of current material systems were discussed. Overall, this dissertation contributed to a deeper understanding of the adhesion and mechanical properties of brush and comb PDMS elastomers. It emphasized the importance of molecular architecture and crosslinking strategies in controlling mechanical properties and provided valuable insights for their design and application in various fields.Publication Multimodal Teacher Discourse Mediating Multiliteracies: An Ethnographic Case Study in an After-School Program(2024-09) Liu, HengyiThis dissertation presents my ethnographic study targeting City Light: a free afterschool program located in a predominantly African American community in an urban Northeastern city. The purpose of the study is to fill in some gaps of the current literature by considering the important role of multimodal teacher discourse in mediating afterschool multiliteracies. This is because current research narrows our view to posit the analysis of teacher discourse in a larger sociocultural scope in which sociocultural theories can be applied to understanding multimodal representations of meaning-making embodied in teacher discourse in an afterschool context. In this study, I adopted ethnographic methodology as my way of doing and knowing to: (1) extend the recognized boundaries of teacher discourse by locating some semiotic modes represented through both human interactions and digital technologies, (2) understand the socially and culturally situated ways of using multimodal teacher discourse in mediating afterschool multiliteracies, and (3) think in depth about the important ways power is embodied in multimodal teacher discourse to uphold or dismantle existing power relations in mediating different types of afterschool activities. The participants of the study include a focal participant who is the lead teacher of the afterschool program, a tutor volunteer, and three child-participants. To engage with my research questions, I collected multimodal data sources throughout the span of nine months in the forms of fieldnotes, audio recordings, lesson plans, images, and videos. I applied (multimodal) discourse analysis (Gee, 2014a; Norris, 2019) as the methods to understand my data sources. The findings reveal that the focal participant took advantage of the entire afterschool learning space, some available materials inside and outside the program, and digital technologies to support the children’s development of multiliteracies in a multimodal way. In addition, teacher discourse was used in socially and culturally situated ways to engage the children in their own multiliteracy practices. Finally, multimodal teacher discourse was powerful to establish and maintain important relationships between teachers and children and prompt the learners to generate new meaning and ideas across different semiotic modes.Publication Universality in Non-Equilibrium Quantum Systems(2024-09) Singh, HansveerDespite quantum mechanics being an established theory for just over a century, much of our understanding of the dynamics of macroscopic quantum systems has only emerged in the past thirty years, largely due to the advent of noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. This thesis focuses on the universal phenomena that arise in the far-from-equilibrium dynamics of macroscopic quantum systems. In the first part of this thesis, we explore emergent hydrodynamics in minimally structured models known as random unitary circuits. Despite their differences from conventional Hamiltonian time evolution, random unitary circuits capture universal features of non-equilibrium quantum dynamics. We use these circuits to examine the effects of kinetic constraints on hydrodynamics and construct a family of random unitary circuits that exhibit Navier-Stokes hydrodynamics, despite lacking continuous translation invariance. Next, we investigate the hydrodynamics of integrable spin chains, characterized by an extensive number of extensive conserved quantities and stable ballistically propa- vi gating quasiparticles. Despite the presence of ballistically propagating quasiparticles, transport does not need to be ballistic. We demonstrate that initial state fluctuations in these conserved quantities significantly influence universal hydrodynamic behavior and are the source of non-ballistic transport. Furthermore, we construct a reversible quantum cellular automaton that showcases the exotic dynamical behaviors observ- able in integrable systems, specifically illustrating that this automaton is a discrete time crystal. Finally, we discuss a class of macroscopic one-dimensional systems that fail to thermally equilibrate due to the presence of disorder, a phenomenon known as many- body localization. We specifically investigate the phase transition between thermaliz- ing and many-body localizing behavior in the presence of quasiperiodic disorder. By studying the properties of local integrals of motion characteristic of the many-body localized phase, we extract properties of the critical point using finite-size scaling. Our results suggest that this transition shares features with many-body localization originating from uncorrelated random disorder.Publication Migration, Remittances, and Social Change: Class, Gender, and Religion in Rural Bangladesh(2024-09) Sabur, Md AbdusMy research explores the complex interactions among transnational migration, remittances, gender dynamics, and religion. Through multi-sited ethnography and interviews, I examine the experiences of Bangladeshi migrant husbands working abroad and their wives living in rural Bangladesh. I interviewed 72 “unskilled” and “non-professional” migrant husbands with at least two years of experience in Wahabi Muslim countries (Qatar and Saudi Arabia) and secular, multireligious countries (Singapore and South Korea). Using respondent-driven sampling, I focused on men in agriculture, industry, and service sectors, conducting semi-structured, in-depth interviews and observing their daily lives. My research team and I also interviewed 72 of their wives across twelve Bangladeshi districts, resulting in 144 interviews with 72 couples, including 15 Hindu couples. My thesis investigates how remittances drive upward class mobility among migrant families, influencing gender norms and religious practices. The first chapter explores how transnational families become both “more modern” and “more religious” as they achieve social mobility. I argue that in Bengali Muslim families, veiling reflects not just gender roles but also class status. The second chapter examines how migrant men perform masculinity, navigating marginal and respectable masculinity across different contexts in host countries. The third chapter analyzes how labor market experiences, ethnic segregation, and class identity shape religiosity among migrant workers, finding that positive labor experiences encourage religious engagement, while negative ones do not. I reveal that many working-class migrant men rely on “unorthodox” Islamic ideologies and practices. Contrary to the idea that migrants to the Middle East adopt Wahhabi religiosity, I find that both Hindu and Muslim migrants and their wives practice religiosity to reflect their improved class status due to economic remittances. The central argument of my thesis is that migration and remittances drive upward class mobility, prompting migrant families to restructure their gender norms, masculinities, and religious practices to validate and preserve their respectable middle-class status.Publication The Role of Interleukin-12-PRMT5-Sirt1 Axis in Generating Th1-like iTregs as a Potential Cell-Based Therapy for Aplastic Anemia(2024-09) Jadon, NidhiInduced regulatory T cells (iTregs) are a heterogeneous population of immunosuppressive T cells whose therapeutic potential has been explored extensively in the past few years. Our understanding of the mechanisms that drive the phenotype and function of iTregs is still growing. Recent studies show that Treg cells are not terminally differentiated but, rather, show a range of plasticity. Under different environmental conditions, Tregs can acquire T effector-like capacities. Such is the case for Th1-like, Th2-like, Tfh-like, and Th17-like iTregs. In these scenarios, it is important to differentiate between functional plasticity and lineage instability, which can make iTregs either suppressive or pathogenic. Aplastic anemia (AA) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by the immune-mediated destruction of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in the bone marrow (BM). This immune-mediated destruction is primarily driven by T cells. In this study, we explored the potential of Th1-like iTregs as a cell-based therapy for AA, the function of an epigenetic enzyme, protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) and sirturin 1 (Sirt1) in suppressive Th1-like iTregs. We confirmed that exposing iTregs to Th1 cytokine (interleukin-12) during early events of differentiation generated a specific population of Th1-like iTregs with increased suppressive function. We also observed increased PRMT5 enzymatic activity, symmetric arginine di-methylation on histone (H3R2me2s), in Th1-like iTregs while this epigenetic marker is downregulated in iTregs. We further investigated the role of H3R2me2s in the gene regulation of Th1-like iTregs through ChIP-sequencing and discovered novel regulation of Sirt1 through PRMT5. PRMT5 acts as a negative regulator of Sirt1 transcription by occupying the gene’s promoter region through H3R2me2s. Knocking down PRMT5 in Th1-like iTreg concomitantly reduced their suppressive capacity, supporting the notion that PRMT5 is important for the superior suppressive capacity and stability of Th1-like iTregs. Conclusively, therapeutic administration of Th1-like iTregs in the mouse model of AA significantly extended their survival. Therefore, Th1-like iTregs may represent a novel therapeutic approach for treating AA.Publication Uncovering the Importance of Specialized Subsidiary Cells during Stomatal Closure in Grasses(2024-09) Liu, LeStomata (singular “stoma”) are tiny pores found on the leaf surfaces of land plants that facilitate gas exchange. However, opening these stomatal pores also leads to water loss in plants. To balance water loss and carbon gain, the plants must regulate their stomatal opening and closure in response to external and internal cues. Stomata of the plant kingdom also exhibit a highly diversified morphology despite a common design of kidney-shaped guard cells. The number, shape, and size of subsidiary cells are also variable in stomata in the plant kingdom. Some species possess subsidiary cells, and some do not, so what is the contribution of the subsidiary cells to stomatal opening and closing? The speed of stomatal opening and closing reflects the ability of stomata to perceive and transduce external and internal signals, inducing turgor changes in guard and subsidiary cells. This response speed is a crucial parameter that defines water use efficiency, which is the ratio of carbon assimilation to water loss. The variation in stomatal opening and closing among species leads to differences in water use efficiency between species. Grass stomata, composed of a pair of dumbbell-shaped guard cells, surrounded by a pair of triangular-shaped subsidiary cells, are known to possess fast stomatal opening, and closing, what are the key factors that contribute to fast stomatal responses? In my thesis, I will analyze the contributions of specialized cells - subsidiary cells to stomatal opening and closing, and how the morphology of subsidiary cells varies in different genotypes of maize.Publication Studies on Breast Cancer Dormancy using Live Cell Lineage Tree Approach and Tissue-Mimicking Hydrogels(2024-09) Kim, HyunaBreast cancer is a leading cause of global cancer-related deaths, and metastasis is the overwhelming culprit of poor patient prognosis. The most nefarious aspect of metastasis is dormancy, a prolonged period between primary tumor resection and relapse. Current therapies are insufficient at killing dormant cells; thus, they can remain quiescent in the body for decades until eventually undergoing a phenotypic switch, resulting in metastases that are more adaptable and more drug-resistant. Unfortunately, dormancy has few in vitro models, largely because lab-derived cell lines are highly proliferative. Existing models address tumor dormancy, not cellular dormancy, because tracking individual cells is technically challenging. This dissertation sought to develop a method that would enable the study of cellular dormancy of breast cancer in vitro. Here, I introduce a live cell lineage approach to find and track individual dormant cells, distinguishing them from proliferative and dying cells over multiple days. I applied this approach across a range of different in vitro microenvironments. My approach revealed that the proportion of cells that exhibited long-term quiescence was regulated by both cell-intrinsic and extrinsic factors, with the most dormant cells found in 3D collagen gels. I also fully characterized and applied existing three-dimensional bone marrow mimicking hydrogels to breast cancer studies, which can further be used to examine the role of the tumor microenvironment in regulating dormancy. When breast cancer cells were cultured in a serum-free environment in the bone marrow mimicking gels, they tend to form spheroids to proliferate rather than as single cells, compared to cells in serum-containing media. In addition, I examined the correlation between AXL and dormancy using the in vitro cell lineage tree approach and in vivo studies. Triple-negative breast cancer cells with low AXL expression showed a correlation with less detectable tumor growth in vivo. AXL knocked-out cell lines showed a larger dormant cell population, compared to the wild-type cells in vitro. I envision that this live cell lineage tracing approach will prove useful to biologists and bioengineers in the dormancy community to identify, quantify, and study dormant tumor cells.Publication High-pressure Discovery of Novel Transition Metal Carbides(2024-09) Marshall, PaulTransition metal carbides are used in a large variety of industrial applications thanks to their high-resilience properties. Most of the industrially applicable transition metal car- bides belong to the early group transition metals, as the more electron-rich systems are difficult to isolate due to their poor stability. High-pressure techniques are proving to be a robust path for synthesizing metastable compounds, often exhibiting exotic crystal struc- tures. Herein, we report the high-pressure bulk synthesis of metastable Co3C (cementite- type), Cr3C (cementite-type), the substoichiometric CrCx (NaCl-type), and single crystals of the anti-NiAs-typeMnCx. The cobalt–carbon system was explored under high pressures using traditional diamond anvil cell techniques after first-principles calculations showed the cementite phase of cobalt carbide has a favorable formation enthalpy with pressure. The cementite phase of chromium carbide existed in a crowded phase space with a number of known stable compounds. In order to achieve the precision needed to target Cr3C in a diamond anvil cell, a novel preparation technique was established where chromium and carbon were co-deposited us- ing magnetron sputtering. Finally, single crystals of a novel phase of manganese carbide, MnCx with the anti-NiAs-structure type, were recovered to ambient conditions following high-pressure synthesis in a large volume press. This work shows that high-pressure techniques continue to offer a robust route for the dis- covery of novel materials. Several metastable phases of first-row transition metal carbides have been synthesized, with the successful isolation of single crystals of MnCx at ambient conditions. These results demonstrate the promising future of using high-pressure techniques for the synthesis of novel materials.Publication Statistical Methods for Analyzing Recurrence of Cardiovascular Events(2024-09) Miu, BingCardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Conventional research often focuses on the time to the first CVD event, ignoring subsequent events crucial for fully understanding the disease burden. Accounting for recurrent events is important for studying chronic diseases like CVD. Despite recent advancements, analyzing recurrent CVD events poses several challenges due to their multiple types, varying severities, and diverse associated risk factors. Our work addresses these challenges by proposing new statistical methods and employing advanced approaches to study CVD events using data from the UK Biobank. In Chapter 1, we evaluate the impact of physical activity (PA) on recurrent CVD events using a semiparametric proportional mean model. To comprehensively analyze recurrent CVD events of multiple types and severities, we suggest adopting a weighted composite endpoint that includes all recurrent CVD and terminal events. Additionally, we apply an isotemporal substitution model to further investigate the effects of different daily activity intensities on these outcomes. In Chapter 2, we extend the semiparametric proportional mean model introduced in Chapter 1 and propose a dynamic regression model to analyze the time-varying effects of PA on the weighted composite endpoint of recurrent CVD hospitalizations and deaths. In Chapter 3, we conduct a mediation analysis to study the influence of early life experiences, such as childhood maltreatment, on recurrent CVD events. Our aim is to gain deeper insights into the dynamics of recurrent CVD events and facilitate the development of more effective prevention strategies.Publication Geographic Access to Labor after Cesarean and Perinatal Outcomes(2024-09) Ranchoff, BrittanyAccess to labor after cesarean (LAC) can be limited, as many clinicians and hospitals do not offer LAC services due to changes in clinical practice guidelines and liability concerns. Prior research suggests that LAC access varies by geography, but these studies are older and limited to a few states. Thus, the extent to which birthing people have access to LAC services in their home county in more recent years across the United States (US) is unknown. In addition, travel distance to perinatal care varies in the US and impacts pregnancy outcomes. Pregnant people who travel farther are at an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, there is paucity of research assessing travel distance to LAC services at the county-level, and whether travel impacts outcomes for people with a prior cesarean seeking vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). The three studies in this dissertation aimed to better understand LAC geographic access in the US. The first study described trends across the US in LAC access over time using Natality Restricted-Use Data Files from 2016 to 2021. Counties offering LAC access were unevenly distributed by region, with more LAC-offering counties in the Northeast region versus the South region. After adjusting for other county characteristics, fewer counties had LAC services available over time. The second study examined the association between access to LAC in one’s county of residence and travel for obstetric care among birthing people with one prior birth. Birthing people who did not reside in a LAC-offering county traveled further for delivery than individuals who resided in a LAC-offering county. Additionally, individuals with a prior cesarean traveled slightly further for birth, compared to individuals with a prior vaginal birth. The third study examined whether out-of-county birth and distance traveled among birthing people with LAC are associated with differences in (1) labor induction or augmentation and (2) VBAC. Travel for birth was associated with increased labor induction or augmentation, but similar rates of VBAC, for birthing people with LAC. There were also differences in labor and delivery outcomes for birthing people with LAC in nonmetro versus metro counties. Birthing people with LAC in nonmetro counties had a larger increase in odds of labor induction or augmentation associated with travel for birth, compared to those in metro counties. The overall findings of this dissertation demonstrate barriers to and limited access to LAC services among the US birthing population with a prior cesarean. Furthermore, birthing people must travel farther to find a hospital or clinician who provides LAC. As a result, birthing people may intentionally seek out hospitals or clinicians that align with their preferences regarding LAC. This dissertation provides an understanding that county-level LAC access is essential to create pointed solutions to best meet the needs of birthing people with a prior cesarean, as well as crucial to improving the quality of pregnancy-related care, the birth experience, and birth outcomes in the US.Publication Designing Bottlebrush Polymer Surfactants for Segregation to Fluid Interfaces(2024-09) Seong, Hong-GyuThis dissertation focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and application of amphiphilic bottlebrush copolymers and bottlebrush electrolytes, emphasizing how variations in polymer shape and size significantly influence interfacial assembly kinetics, packing efficiency, and mechanical properties. The use of a highly reactive yet stable ruthenium benzylidene catalyst (Grubbs catalyst) enabled the facile synthesis of bottlebrush polymers with different backbone and side-chain degrees of polymerization through ring-opening metathesis polymerization. This versatility allowed precise control over the resulting polymers’ shape and size. Notably, this work explores the assembly behavior of amphiphilic bottlebrush random and block copolymers at liquid interfaces, revealing distinct interfacial assembly kinetics, packing efficiency, and mechanical properties depending on the microstructure. Additionally, bottlebrush polyelectrolytes containing acrylic acid repeating units were synthesized and studied for their co-assembly with oligomeric, amine-containing counterparts in the oil phase, highlighting design principles for using bottlebrush polyelectrolytes as soft nanoparticles in liquid printing techniques. Furthermore, the amphiphilicity of core-shell bottlebrush copolymers, comprising a pH-responsive core with a hydrophobic shell, was shown to be adjustable by modulating the water pH, triggering an inversion process governed by the enthalpic penalty associated with inter-side-chain steric repulsions. Lastly, the shape and size of bottlebrush polymers was tuned during synthesis by adjusting the monomer/catalyst ratio, and through embedding redox-responsive disulfide groups along the backbone. Disulfide cleavage triggered backbone degradation, altering the final shape and size of the bottlebrush polymers.Publication Capitalist Abolitionism: Racial Capitalism after the End of Slavery(2024-09) Vega-León, RicardoIn the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, liberal political economists stood among the strongest supporters of the abolition of slavery. In this dissertation, I develop a conception of capitalist abolitionism to investigate how J.E. Cairnes, Harriet Martineau, Herman Merivale, José Antonio Saco, Adam Smith, and Alexis de Tocqueville ideologically reproduced dynamics of racial capitalism through their emancipation schemes for the British and French Caribbean, Cuba, and the U.S. South. I conceive of capitalist abolitionism as constituted by three elements. First, liberal political economists disavowed the capitalist character of enslaved labor by at once acknowledging and denying its productivity, profitability, and efficiency, and the introduction of technological development to plantation production. Second, anti-slavery liberals insisted that the process of emancipation should be managed by the state so as to transform the enslaved into disciplined and productive wage-laborers and deter them from engaging in rebellions that would be violent and economically costly. Third, I use the concept of primitive accumulation to examine how liberal political economists called for deploying coercive state power to forcibly place the land, labor, and movement of ex-slaves and migrant workers under the fold of capital accumulation. Through mechanisms restricting the purchase of cheap land, stealing wages, and constraining movement, Black workers would be separated from the means of production, transformed into poorly paid proletarians, and divided between men working in the fields and women engaging in household labor. Even more, free African American, Chinese, European, and Indian workers would be forcibly transported to the Anglo-Caribbean and Cuba in order to replace former slaves in sugar plantations. Developing a conception of capitalist abolitionism, this dissertation highlights how racial capitalism endured after slavery ended through the emancipation projects of liberal political economists, who reinforced extra-economic coercive control over workers of various races in the process of transitioning from slavery to free labor. Moreover, it traces the transnational entanglements of liberal ideologies of empire and anti-slavery that moved between various imperial spaces in the Americas and the Caribbean.Publication The Potential Health Effects of Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) Components(2024-09) Zhou, JiazhiThe influence of diet on our health extended beyond basic nutritional needs, certain components in cranberries are showing promising therapeutic potentials due to their unique biochemical properties. This dissertation explores the potential health effects of cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) components, focusing particularly on their role in modulating the gut microbiota and their anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Cranberries are rich in dietary fiber and polyphenols and have been known for their prebiotic effects that potentially enhance gut health and prevent chronic diseases. This research project includes comprehensive in vitro and in vivo studies and analysis to evaluate the impact of cranberry dietary fiber and polyphenols on anti-inflammation, anti-oxidation, and anti-cancer on cell model, and their influence on gut microbiota composition in a high-fat diet (HFD)-treated mouse model. Our preliminary research indicates that cranberry components such as dietary fibers and polyphenols can significantly affect gut microbiota diversity and functionality, reducing inflammation and lowering cancer cell viability. Our in vivo study results on microbiota modulation, short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) production, and transformation of bile acids (BAs) emphasized the complex interplay between diet, microbiota, and host health, highlighting the therapeutic potential of cranberry components in managing diet-related diseases and enhancing overall metabolic health. Through the detailed studies of these interactions, our research provides valuable insights into functional foods as a natural strategy for health improvement and disease prevention.Publication Essays on Stock Market Liberalization, Banking Stocks Volatility, and Sovereign Wealth Fund(2024-09) Almutair, KhwlahThis dissertation explores the interrelated dynamics of stock market liberalization, banking sector volatility, and the strategic utilization of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) in oil-rich countries. Comprising three essays, the study provides a comprehensive analysis of the implications of economic and financial policies on market stability and performance in an emerging market environment dominated by oil revenues. The first essay examines the impact of the 2015 liberalization of the Saudi stock market, known as Tadawul. Utilizing a natural experiment design, it assesses how the selective inclusion and exclusion of firms from market liberalization, based on their location in religiously significant areas, affected stock returns and volatility. The findings suggest that liberalization has increased stock returns and price volatility. The second essay shifts focus to the volatility of the banking sector during periods of financial crises, comparing the sector's performance to the broader market index (TASI). The research identifies resilience patterns within the banking sector using a Multivariate Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH)-in-mean model. It discusses the implications of these patterns for financial stability and regulatory policy. The third essay explores a more advanced oil-rich economy. Specifically, how has Norway managed to use its sovereign wealth fund, Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), to shield itself from further oil price volatility? The study uses a Dynamic Conditional Correlation-Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (DCC-GARCH) model to evaluate the effectiveness of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) as financial buffers against economic shocks caused by fluctuations in oil prices. These essays contribute to the understanding of financial liberalization, crisis management in banking, and the strategic use of SWFs in stabilizing economies dependent on volatile resources. The dissertation highlights the necessity of tailored regulatory structures and strategic policy interventions to augment economic stability and growth in developing economies. The findings hold significant implications for policymakers, particularly in resource-rich economies striving to balance market liberalization with financial stability and economic diversification.Publication Development and Dispossession: Class and Gender Perspectives from Neoliberal Delhi, India(2024-09) Biswas, ArpitaThis dissertation centralizes the role of space in critically exploring the processes of urban development in the global South. It does so by utilizing Soja’s (1980) framework of socio-spatial dialectic to examine the political-economic causes of dispossession and its effects on different classes and women. Using primary and secondary datasets – both quantitative and qualitative – from a developing-world city, Delhi, it develops a grounded understanding of the socio-spatial dialectic. The first essay delineates the nature of urban restructuring process undergone by Delhi in the neoliberal period and asks what the causes and consequences of such restructuring have been. It argues that a congruence of interests among the state, private capital, and urban professionals led to the widespread eviction of slum (henceforth, basti) dwellers. It finds that the poorest section of the working class has been rendered spatially estranged ix and poorer by the process, while the capitalist class has been bestowed with windfall gains through commodification of public land. The second essay aims to understand how displaced women’s market work decisions transformed as Delhi is reconfigured by neoliberal projects. It shows that labor force participation of women relocated to “resettlement colonies” (RCs) is significantly lower than that of women in bastis. Analyzing the reasons for this, the paper finds that these include fewer paid work opportunities that can be combined with household work, more daunting safety concerns outside the home, and a relative lack of community bonding and support networks in RCs as compared to bastis. Based on these findings, it makes a case for understanding bastis and RCs as differently gendered spaces. In recognizing social reproduction as a central axis of the study of dispossession, the third essay explores the impacts of displacement on women’s burden and capacities for social reproduction in Delhi. It shows that women displaced to RCs find it onerous to reproduce labor power and maintain familial and community relations. Through these, the essay visibilizes the strenuousness and vulnerabilities of displaced populace’s everyday lives and adds to our understanding of dispossession’s effects on life-making processes and how that in turn bolster capitalist system’s instabilities.Publication Manifestations of the Wound: Decolonial Healing and Resistance in Latinx Literature and Visual Arts(2024-09) Bouso Gavin, AitorThis dissertation studies contemporary Latinx literature and visual arts, with a focus on Afro-Dominican, Chicanx, and U.S. Central American writers and artists. It explores the construction of identity and subjectivity under intersectional racial trauma and other forms of wounding caused by systemic oppression and exploitation. This transdisciplinary project puts forth the conceptual paradigm of the wound to study representation of harm and damage—physical, psychological, and spiritual—in prominent Latinx literary and artistic works. By centering on the overlapping violences of colonialism, racism, and (hetero)sexism, it advances a decolonial approach to underline the role of Latinx literature and visual culture as catalysts for personal, political, and social transformation and healing. “Manifestations of the Wound” contributes to broader discussions in Latinx studies, decolonial (trauma) studies, and critical ethnic studies, addressing topics such as the disruption of Western biomedical and secular notions of wellness and the legitimization of intersectional analyses of oppression. This dissertation contests philosophical and theoretical trends dictated by White supremacy, Eurocentrism, and Enlightened Humanism. It also proposes open, expansive, and dialogic methodologies for studying Latinx literature and arts, challenging Western hegemonic thinking and addressing colonial legacies such as the body/mind split. This project offers new interpretations of the works of queer Chicanx writers like Gloria Anzaldúa and Rigoberto González, as well as poet Yesika Salgado. Additionally, it examines the art of Afro-Latinx visual artists, including Dominican Americans Firelei Báez and Bony Ramirez, who highlight the wounding and erasure of Black, Afro-descendant, and Indigenous peoples from the annals of U.S. and Caribbean histories. The first chapter examines corporeal subjectivities in the life-writings of Chicano gay memoirist Rigoberto González and Salvadoran American poet Yesika Salgado. The second chapter broadens the corpus of creative works addressing the Juárez feminicide crisis by analyzing Latinx creative responses from the North, such as the plays of Marisela Treviño-Orta’s Braided Sorrow (2005) and Isaac Gómez’s La Ruta (2019) as well as the visual production of Judithe Hernández's Juárez Series (2011-). These representations of feminicide advocate for the healing of this social crisis by enacting an ethics of interconnectedness that brings attention to the repercussions of feminicide on the U.S.-Mexico border. The third chapter presents new scholarship on Gloria Anzaldúa’s archived artwork, analyzing her sketches and glifos to highlight their decolonial potential, but, most importantly, to elucidate Anzaldúa’s healing process through the use of multidimensional techniques and imagination. The fourth chapter explores decolonial imaginaries imbued with an aesthetics of fugitivity and Afro-resistance, highlighting the healing collective endeavors in the works of Firelei Báez and Bony Ramirez. It addresses the wounds of coloniality, using these imaginaries as antidotes and tactics to suture the wounds of the past, such as the Middle Passage and the enslavement of Africans and Afrodiasporic subjects. This research ultimately offers new ways of understanding Latinx literature and visual arts, emphasizing their roles in fostering intersectional, antiracist, and decolonial frameworks. Through close-readings and visual analysis, this projects concludes that the manifestation and rendering of wounds by these artists and writers is a collective endeavor and a distinctive feature of Latinx letters and visual arts. This decolonial healing process, far from perpetuating static narratives of Latinidad, serves as a mechanism of resistance with liberatory capacities. Therefore, this project seeks to showcase a diverse and growing body of Latinx works that underpin a range of ways in which literature and art can penetrate and mobilize the political and social sphere. In so doing, Latinx literature and visual arts are also framed as sources we can tap to remedy problems such as racial and transgenerational trauma, illnesses, and physical deterioration, normally the concerns of social and medical science research.Publication Soft, Conductive, and Bio-Inspired Nanomaterials(2024-09) Rathore, PreranaNanomaterials, including nanofibers, are used for various healthcare applications, including sensors, wearable textiles, and biomedical devices. In this dissertation, electrospinning was used to fabricate nanofibers using a conductive polymer named poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). Unfortunately, the use of PEDOT is often limited by the acidic nature of polystyrene sulfonate (PSS), a common dispersant for PEDOT. For this reason, we investigated the impact of increasing the pH value of PEDOT:PSS/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) precursors on the morphological and electrical properties of the resultant as-spun fibers. We discovered that neutral and even slightly basic PEDOT:PSS/PVA precursors could be electrospun without impacting the resultant electrical properties suggesting their potential for use in wearable textiles and sensors. A second major direction of this dissertation was the investigation of oligopeptide-based nanofibers. We successfully electrospun pure oligopeptide-based fibers despite their low molecular weight. Based on their ability to form fibers, we proposed a hypothesis that electrospinnable oligopeptides self-assemble despite the dispersive nature of the solvent used (1,1,1,3,3,3 hexafluoro-2-propanol, HFIP). The intermolecular interactions between self-assembled structures at sufficiently high concentrations facilitate electrospinning. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and microrheology results support this hypothesis. The results from this fundamental study on oligopeptides hold the potential to be extended to other self-assembling small molecules. In addition to the previously mentioned major directions of this dissertation, the electrospinning of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fibers was explored, as were peptide hydrogels and their ability to serve as humidity sensors. These studies suggest that electrospun fiber mats can be used for wearable electronics, flexible humidity sensors, and functional biomaterials.