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In the paper by Inna Ganschow, the camp experience in the Soviet Union as a result of forced conscription will be treated, specifically in its artistic processing: secretly written diaries and letters by Luxembourg Wehrmacht soldiers. Contemporary historical research today calls them ego documents – private, handwritten texts of a personal nature. The range of texts to be examined in the lecture ranges from the smuggled out notes and letters that their released comrades took with them to Luxembourg, through diaries, speeches and self-made dictionaries to poems, short stories and drawings, some of which were in the camp and some immediately after the return from Tambov and other camps in the Soviet Union. The focus is on the question of dealing with the thesis of the Auschwitz concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and neurologist from Vienna, that the meaning of camp life - logotherapy - can have a self-healing effect and increase the self-healing powers, which increases the chances of survival.

Data and R scripts for the paper:Comparing the transmission of carbapenemase-producing and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli between broiler chickens. Data includes the phyloseq RDS for the 16S rRNA v3v4 sequencing data and its metadata. Analysis scripts as used for the paper for both the modeling and the microbiome. See README for more details. Links: NCBI SRA BioProject:PRJNA948179 Paper doi: Abstract paper: Comparing the transmission of carbapenemase-producing and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli between broiler chickens Natcha Dankittipong, Jesse B. Alderliesten, Jan Van den Broek, M. Anita Dame-Korevaar, Michael S. M. Brouwer, Francisca C. Velkers, Alex Bossers, Clazien J. de Vos, Jaap A. Wagenaar, J. Arjan Stegeman, Egil A. J. Fischer The emergence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) is a threat to public health, because of their resistance to clinically important carbapenem antibiotics. The emergence of CPE in meat-producing animals is particularly worrying because consumption of meat contaminated with resistant bacteria similar to CPE, such as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae, contributed to colonization in humans worldwide. Currently, no data on the transmission of CPE in livestock is available. We performed a transmission experiment to quantify the transmission of CPE between broilers to fill this knowledge gap and to compare the transmission rates of CPE and other antibiotic-resistant E. coli. A total of 180 Ross 308 broiler chickens were distributed on the day of hatch (day 0) over 12 pens. On day 5, half of the chickens in each pen were orally inoculated with 5·102 colony-forming units of CPE, ESBL, or chloramphenicol-resistant E. coli (catA1). Amoxicillin drinking water treatment was given twice daily in 6 of the 12 pens from days 2 to 6 to evaluate the effect of antibiotic treatment on the transmission rates. Cloacal swabs of all animals were taken to determine the number of infectious broilers. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to quantify the transmission of the E. coli strains. E. coli can survive in the environment and serve as a reservoir. Therefore, the susceptible-infectious transmission model was adapted to account for the transmission of resistant bacteria from the environment. In addition, the caecal microbiome was analyzed on day 5 and at the end of the experiment on day 14 to assess the relationship between the caecal microbiome and the transmission rates. The transmission rates of CPE were 52 – 68 per cent lower compared to ESBL and catA1, but it is not clear if these differences were caused by differences between the resistance genes or between the E. coli strains. Differences between the groups in transmission rates and microbiome diversity did not correspond to each other, indicating that differences in transmission rates were probably not caused by major differences in the community structure in the caecal microbiome. Amoxicillin treatment from day 2 to 6 increased the transmission rate more than three-fold in all inoculums. It also increased alpha-diversity compared to untreated animals on day 5, but not on day 14, suggesting only a temporary effect. Future research could incorporate more complex transmission models with different species of resistant bacteria into the Bayesian hierarchical model.

POEX 65 was a transdisciplinary experiment and event which took place in Copenhagen December 10-20, 1965. Short for ’POetry EXperiment’, POEX 65 was an exhibition event curated and created by Danish artist Knud Hvidberg (1948-91). It aimed at breaking the boundaries of artgenres, the false devision of professional and amateur, as well as the autonomy of the ‘work of art’ through the active use of technological and mediated platforms such as Flexowriters, Punch Paper Poetry, and Electronic Visual Music. As such, it was a very important event in Scandinavian media art history with more than 80 participants from 5 countries – from as different field as Conceptual Art, Electronic Music, Modern Jazz Poetry, Fluxus, Performance Art, Modern Dance, Concrete Poetry, Poesie Sonore etc... Nevertheless, POEX 65 somehow was forgotten – and almost erased from the academic memory and public archives. In 1990s POEX 65 was only hesitantly recognized as one of the most ambitious and original events of the 1960s in Denmark – but in short passages and footnotes. POEX 65 remained an enigma. The event itself has reached an almost total black-out 45 years later. The works themselves are not there anymore – or are but fragments. So why bother?This paper is about why it is extremely important to bother and care about the performative & collaborative media art practices like POEX 65. It is about the methodological and theoretical considerations put into the ongoing task conducted in the research project ‘The Unheard Avantgardes’ which is part of the LARM Infrastructure (focusing on sound in archives in Denmark and Northern Europa). But first and foremost, my paper will be about POEX 65 – the artists and their ideas, the art works, the contexts and the events; And the Paradigms of Post-Performative Media Art Practices at play in POEX 65.

This dissertation contains three independent papers on labor and demographic economics. In the first paper, I develop evidence, hypothesize, and empirically examine the effects of different types of prior experience of founders on annual job creation in new ventures. I use a two-stage estimation method; a random-effects negative binomial model (second stage) corrected for survival bias using a discrete-time hazard model (first stage). The paper adds to the literature by examining how the impact of founder experience on job creation changes under uncertainty using high-tech industries and industry recession as proxies for uncertainty., In the second paper, I utilize an intersectionality framework of gender and race/ethnicity to examine retention in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce, employing a multinomial/binary logit framework. I also examine the factors impacting the movement of STEM graduates either into STEM-unrelated jobs or out of the labor force. The paper aims to contribute to the existing literature by accommodating a switch to career pathways that require STEM expertise in non-STEM environments as well., In the third paper, I explore whether the proportion of women in leadership positions (leadership diversity) is lower in the STEM sectors than in the non-STEM sector at both low- and high-level leadership positions. I then examine whether the gender gap in leadership attainment in STEM occupations is related to occupational sex composition. To achieve this, the paper applies an endogenous switching probit model to account for workers’ self-selection into public and private sectors.

Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are two large-scale safety net programs in the U.S. that provide public assistance to the low-income population. Over the years both programs have undergone several policy changes and have evolved to cover more needy individuals. This three-paper dissertation is a culmination of three research studies, two of which examine the effect of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion on outcomes of realized access to dental care i.e., dental visits and out-of-pocket dental care spending, respectively, while the third paper explores the relationship between SNAP participation and dental visits (realized access), and between SNAP participation and unmet dental care need due to cost (perceived access)., The few studies that have examined the impact of the Medicaid expansion on dental visits utilization have shown somewhat mixed findings and are mostly limited to examining early impacts (1-2 years post-expansion). Thus, Study I of this dissertation examined the longer-term impacts of states’ Medicaid expansions on dental visits utilization, by their adult dental benefits coverage level. Restricted data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for the years 2011 through 2017 were obtained; the sample included adults aged 21-64 years with income up to 138% of Federal Poverty Level. A quasi-experimental Difference-In-Difference (DID) study design was used to examine the overall and year-by-year impacts of the Medicaid expansion on annual dental visits based on a states’ adult dental benefits coverage level (i.e., extensive, limited, and emergency-only/no benefits). Overall, expansion states, compared to non-expansion states, saw a 3-6 percentage point increase in annual dental visits in the post-expansion period (2014-2017), relative to the pre-expansion period (2011-2013). Year-by-year examinations revealed that the Medicaid expansion was associated with a significant increase in the likelihood of an annual dental visit among low-income adults in states with extensive benefits in 2014 (nearly 5 percentage points), and in states with limited and emergency-only/no dental benefits in both 2014 (6 percentage points for both) and 2016 (4 and 5 percentage points, respectively)., Expanding Medicaid also has the potential to reduce out-of-pocket dental care spending among low-income adults gaining coverage through Medicaid, especially among states that provide comprehensive adult dental benefits. Thus, Study II of this dissertation examined the impact of states’ Medicaid expansion on out-of-pocket dental care spending among low-income adults residing in states that provided extensive adult dental benefits. A DID study design with a two-part (hurdle) modeling approach was utilized to analyze post-expansion year-by-year changes in: a) the probability of incurring any out-of-pocket dental spending, and b) the amount of out-of-pocket spending (conditional on any spending) between expansion states with extensive benefits and non-expansion states. Overall, a greater proportion of adults in expansion states with extensive dental benefits (58%) reported zero dollars in out-of-pocket dental care spending, compared to those in non-expansion states (31%). Our DID analysis found that, compared to non-expansion states, adults residing in states that provided extensive adult dental benefits and expanded Medicaid were significantly less likely to incur any out-of-pocket dental spending in the first two years of implementing the expansion (2014 and 2015)., There is growing interest in examining SNAP’s spillover impacts on improving healthcare access and outcomes, postulated to be due to SNAP’s ability to reduce food-insecurity thereby potentially freeing up some financial and cognitive resources to seek care. Thus, Study 3 of this dissertation examined the association between participation in SNAP and realized and perceived access to dental care among low-income adults. A sample of SNAP income-eligible adults aged 19-64 was created by pooling MEPS data for the years 2011 to 2017. Applying a propensity score method to control for important differences in characteristics between participants and eligible non-participants, and using a Doubly-Robust approach, multivariable logistic regressions modelling the impact of SNAP participation on annual dental visits and unmet dental care need due to cost were performed. Interestingly, we found that SNAP participants, compared to eligible non-participants, have significantly lower odds of having an annual dental visit (approximately 20%) and significantly greater odds of reporting unmet dental care need due to cost (approximately 40%)., In conclusion, the results of the three studies in this dissertation provide some important insights into the dental care access impacts of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and provide foundational evidence on the relationship between participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and dental care access among low-income adults. Results from Study I are suggestive of a positive link between the expansion of Medicaid and increased dental visits. However, longer-term impacts were less consistent and varied based on states’ adult dental coverage level thereby warranting further research. Study II results are encouraging and show that providing comprehensive dental benefits in Medicaid adult dental programs is protective against incurring any out-of-pocket expense for those who utilize dental care, with the potential to benefit more low-income individuals when these states expand Medicaid eligibility. Lastly, Study III results show that SNAP participation is associated with lower dental visits utilization and greater unmet dental care need due to cost. While we postulate that this may be due to several reasons, such as, SNAP benefits not being enough to offset non-food costs, and perhaps, the most disadvantaged of all SNAP-eligible families who tend to have fewer resources being more likely to enroll in the program, further research is needed to fully investigate and understand the underlying causal mechanisms through which these associations operate.

International audience; This paper is concerned with analytical developments of results firstly introduced by the authors in [1]. These developments are devoted to the optimization of upper bounds of the interval covariance matrices appearing in the Interval Kalman Filter [2]. The proposed study is mainly highlighted through two aspects. Firstly, the optimization is further performed by considering a class of upper bounds and minimizing the traces of these bounds in two stages (in terms of a gain matrix and then with respect to a scalar parameter). Secondly, the paper provides conditions under which the optimal trace value is controlled and hence the proposed Algorithm in [1], namely Optimal Upper Bound Interval Kalman Filter (OUBIKF), is ensured to perform with stability (i.e. without width explosion of the resulting interval estimators). Also under these conditions, the OUBIKF Algorithm, having a similar structure of the Standard Kalman Filter (SKF), is ensured to get a smaller trace upper bound of the covariance matrices in the correction step than the one in the prediction step. Numerical simulations based on anautomotive model is performed to illustrate the developed results.

This dissertation focuses on strategies that entrepreneurs use to start and grow a startup. The first chapter studies the link between entrepreneurial programs and types of founders. Specifically, it studies the return for entrepreneurs who participated in accelerator programs that require founders to give up equity to participate in the program compared to founders that graduated from accelerators that do not require equity. The second chapter qualifies the textual structure of ICOs’ white papers using natural language processing (NLP) following a methodology introduced by Toubia et al., (2021). The chapter focuses on the relationship between speed, volume, and circuitousness and the success of ICOs., In Chapter 1, I exploit data on startups that graduated from accelerators that are heterogeneous in equity design. I study the dilemma of going big or staying small that has been challenging entrepreneurs to wisely decide whether to trade equity in exchange for capital investment and have a more valuable equity share or retain a majority equity stake and look for noteworthy opportunities in later stages. The major heterogeneity among accelerators that I focus on is equity investment and early-stage seed funding. Using matched sample analysis, I provide evidence that although participating in an equity-investment accelerator has beneficial effects on the post-accelerator performance of portfolio companies to reach the next round of fundraising faster, they raise less capital in 12-month, 18-month, and 24-month time horizons after graduation in comparison to graduates of equity-free accelerators. In fact, I find that founders with more years of corporate experience and higher-quality business ideas tend to shorten the path to success by participating in equity-investment accelerators. On the other hand, consistent with Hallen et al. (2020) who believe that a learning mechanism is the primary cause of accelerator effects on venture development, I find that, while ventures are heterogeneous and they learn at different rates and different depths, some entrepreneurs have already learned what to do, and it is accelerator equity design and seed investment that negatively impacts acceleration and slows down venture growth., Chapter 2 exploits the content of white papers that are published by Initial Coin Offering (ICO) campaigns. We study information exchanged between ICOs and investors via disclosed information in 2149 ICO white papers. We employ natural language processing (NLP) to quantify the structure of white papers and demonstrate their contribution to the success of ICOs. Following the content analysis procedure by Toubia et al. (2021), we elicit information from ICO textual sources by calculating three measures namely, speed, volume, and circuitousness. Our findings show that ICO projects with a well-written white paper that disclose risk and routinely return to previously discussed topics (i.e., circuitousness) are likely to raise more funds. Consistent with this, white papers that cover more ground (i.e., volume) contribute positively to the successful outcomes of ICO fundraising campaigns. In contrast, white papers that transit quickly between topics (i.e., speed) are less likely to have a positive impact.

This paper examines changes in occupational crowding of immigrant women in frontline industries in the United States during the onset of COVID-19, and we contextualize their experiences against the backdrop of broader race-based and gender-based occupational crowding. Building on the occupational crowding hypothesis, which suggests that marginalized workers are crowded in a small number of occupations to prop up wages of socially-privileged workers, we hypothesize that immigrant, Black, and Hispanic workers were shunted into frontline work to prop up the health of others during the pandemic. Our analysis of American Community Survey microdata indicates that immigrant workers, particularly immigrant women, were increasingly crowded in frontline work during the onset of the pandemic. We also find that US-born Black and Hispanic workers disproportionately faced COVID-19 exposure in their work, but were not increasingly crowded into frontline occupations following the onset of the pandemic. The paper also provides a rationale for considering the occupational crowding hypothesis along the dimensions of both wages and occupational health.

My dissertation recovers the abolitionist might of the first nursing narrative of the U.S. Civil War, Louisa May Alcott’s Hospital Sketches (1863), which was published as a series of letters in Boston’s Commonwealth newspaper (1862-1896) in summer 1863 before its collection in a volume published by journalist James Redpath in fall 1863. As I uncover the abolitionist context of the original Sketches, I employ Alcott’s letters, the most enduring literary work to emerge from the pages of the Commonwealth, as an opportunity to examine the paper’s first year. Using practices of periodicals studies, I scrutinize the conditions and context in which the paper was produced in order to assess its goals, methods, and audience. I apply the same methods in my assessment of Hospital Sketches, tracing the reception of the letters in press reviews. I examine the founding of the Commonwealth in September 1862 just before the announcement of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22 and discuss its principled editors Moncure D. Conway and Franklin B. Sanborn along with its funder George Luther Stearns. Exploring their connection to John Brown’s militant abolitionism in the 1850s, I consider the paper’s aim to transform the war to preserve the union into a conflict against slavery after July 1862’s Second Confiscation Act and the Militia Act suggested the possibility. Additionally, I probe the way the Commonwealth initially defined itself as fully engaged in wartime political strategy, positioning itself against Boston’s powerhouse abolitionist newspaper and another Stearns-funded venture, The Liberator., Treating Alcott’s contributions during the weekly’s first year as a body of work that deserves comprehensive evaluation, I discuss her January 1863 short story “M.L.” alongside her series “Letters from the Mountains” and poem “Busy Bessie, At Her Spinning Wheel,” both published in fall 1863, noting Alcott’s use of the picturesque and travel sketches in her Commonwealth publications. I then discuss Hospital Sketches as it appeared in the weekly and in its collected edition, arguing that the two chapters Alcott added for the august compilation encourage an appraisal of the text as an abolitionist travel sketch. Finally, I track the development of the Sketches during the 1860s, concluding with their illustration by Alcott’s friend Elizabeth Greene in 1869’s Hospital Sketches and Camp and Fireside Stories., My dissertation shows Alcott exercising her literary dexterity by adapting Hospital Sketches for different audiences when she found success as a professional writer. In examining the Commonwealth, I also depict the context in which readers originally encountered her hospital drama and trace responses to it through press reviews and advertisements. By tying Hospital Sketches to the paper’s abolitionism, I not only investigate the use of literature to accelerate social reforms, but I also situate literary output as a primary strategy of the mid-war abolitionist effort. In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, literature could be deployed rhetorically to imagine reconstructive possibility as the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation flourished.

Tabulated list of bird names in ǃUi and Taa branches of TUU, with selected comparative reference data for KHOE and NTU languages. To accompany paper [Title] [Authors] (temporarily anonymised, pending review). Sources set out in Appendix B of the paper.

In response to concerns about university students stress and mental health, many universities offer animal visitation programs (AVPs). While popular, nothing is known about the role of students’ separation anxiety from their childhood pet(s) either in shaping experiences during the transition to university, their engagement in available AVPs, or their effects. Drawn from a random sample of first-year university students (N=2,000), this dissertation recruited incoming students separated from their family pet, and randomly assigned them to a semester long, bi-weekly AVP program featuring 2-hour sessions (N=105) or a waitlist control condition (N=104). Together, three independent manuscripts examine 1) the prevalence and predictors of pet separation anxiety (PSA); 2) the role of PSA and psychological mood symptoms predicting AVP uptake (e.g., frequency, duration); and 3) the efficacy of AVP on trajectories of psychological risk and resilience. Results from Paper 1 revealed that 1 in 4 students reported moderate-severe PSA during their first week on campus. Symptom severity was significantly related to people-substituting-pet-attachment (β=0.19, p=0.015), spending more time with pets compared to other pet owners (β=0.24, p=0.002), talking to pets (β=0.19, p=0.009), and pet-co-sleeping (β=0.16, p=0.027). Results from Paper 2 revealed that early program attendance was informed by students’ mental health history (B= -0.876, p=0.03, OR=0.417), early semester stress (B= -0.177, p=0.04, OR=0.838) and anxiety (B= 0.179, p=0.01, OR=1.196). Overall attendance frequency (β=-0.342, p=0.004, d=0.697) and duration (β=-0.286, p=0.03, d=0.529) were negatively associated with high PSA. Results from Paper 3 showed students in the AVP condition had more adaptive trajectory slopes for depression (B=-3.05, p=0.01, d=0.514), worry (B=-3.92, p=0.04, d=0.416,) stress, (B=-1.94, p=0.05, d=0.386), and self-compassion (B=4.03, p=3 sessions) and high PSA were controlled. This dissertation suggests PSA is important both in considering students' risk during the transition to university, the influence on uptake of AVPs and their effects on psychological wellbeing. In sum, while AVPs are considered a resource for students missing their pets, high PSA students are less likely to attend AVPs efficacious in preventing declines in psychological adjustment during what many experience as a stressful transition.

This paper forensically reconstructs the timings, impacts and processes that drove the sequence of explosive eruptions of La Soufrière, St Vincent in April 2021 using a combination of field-based stratigraphy and textural dissection of the deposit character together with contemporary visual observations. Explosive activity on 9th and early on 10th April involved destruction of almost all of the 2020/2021 lava dome, ∼ 60% of the 1979 dome and formation of a 600 m diameter crater by 2pm UTC on 10th April. Following the initial explosion, plumes rose to altitudes of ∼15 km and pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) formed by column collapse, first occurred on 10th April, only after > 24hrs of explosive activity. Dense PDCs reached the sea only in the Larikai and Roseau Valleys, and dilute PDCs were restricted to within 2.5 km of the Summit Crater rim. The tephra fallout deposits are stratified, composed of numerous layers of both lapilli-rich and ash-rich layers, which we have grouped into at least 7 Units, based on their common characteristics (Units 1 to 7). Volume estimates, using a range of techniques to constrain uncertainties, indicate that the bulk volume of tephra (fallout and PDC) is 1.19 x 108m3 +/− 20% making this a VEI 4 eruption. Supplementary material at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6474317

International audience; The advent of privacy laws and principles such as data minimization and informed consent are supposed to protect citizens from over-collection of personal data. Nevertheless, current processes, mainly through filling forms are still based on practices that lead to over-collection. Indeed, any citizen wishing to apply for a benefit (or service) will transmit all their personal data involved in the evaluation of the eligibility criteria. The resulting problem of over-collection affects millions of individuals, with considerable volumes of information collected. If this problem of compliance concerns both public and private organizations (e.g., social services, banks, insurance companies), it is because it faces non-trivial issues, which hinder the implementation of data minimization by developers. In this paper, we propose a new modeling approach that enables data minimization and informed choices for the users, for any decision problem modeled using classical logic, which covers a wide range of practical cases. Our data minimization solution uses game theoretic notions to explain and quantify the privacy payoff for the user. We show how our algorithms can be applied to practical cases study as a new PET for minimal, fully accurate (all due services must be preserved) and informed data collection.

Oxygen-enriched combustion technology has an important application prospect, in which Oxy-steam combustion is a new generation of potential carbon capture technology. In this paper, the effects of O₂/CO₂ and O₂/H₂O atmosphere on soot formation in laminar diffusion flame were studied. The flame image was taken by a color (CCD) camera in the visible band, the directional emission power in R and G bands was calibrated, and the two-dimensional distribution of temperature and soot volume fraction in the flame was reconstructed. The experimental results are compared with the numerical results, and the numerical results well predict the temperature of oxygen-enriched flame in O₂/N₂/CO₂ atmosphere, but overestimate the soot volume fraction. The laminar diffusion flame of ethylene in two kinds of oxygen-rich atmosphere was numerically studied by using a step-by-step decoupling method to separate the density, transport, thermal and chemical effects of the diluent by introducing four virtual substances. The calculation results show that combustion in O₂/H₂O and O₂/CO₂ atmosphere reduces the flame peak temperature, but the effect on the flame centerline temperature distribution is different. The addition of H₂O enhanced the concentration of OH through the reverse reaction rate of OH + H₂=H + H₂O, while the addition of CO₂ decreased the concentration of OH.O₂/CO₂ combustion leads to the increase of flame height and radius, while in O₂/H₂O atmosphere, the flame height is shortened. Both CO₂ and H₂O have a good inhibitory effect on soot formation. CO₂ in the oxidant affects soot nucleation and surface growth rate mainly by reducing flame temperature and H mole fraction, but not by promoting soot oxidation process. Water vapor also inhibits soot formation by increasing OH concentration through chemical effect.

The objective of this paper was to create an economical and abecedarian 3D printing method for the production of solid microneedles, as a more efficient transdermal drug delivery method, for day-to-day use in companion animals. The process of 3D printing was conducted using two types of 3D printers, utilizing the FDM and SLA printing techniques. Modulus of Elasticity was calculated for the determination of mechanical properties of the material, where the printed specimen was subjected to axial loading, and deformations were measured using an optical scanner. Post-processing was conducted by washing microneedles in isopropyl alcohol, followed by UV curing. The procedure of testing penetration capabilities was conducted at two sites of cat skin: auris externa and the lateral part of the abdomen. The SLA printing method was more precise, resulting in higher quality microneedles for animal use compared to the FDM printing technique. Modulus of Elasticity was calculated and the value E=0.9 GPa can be used. Testing proved that the printed model was able to penetrate the skin at the tested sites. The use of microneedles is simple and economical, and therefore has wide applications in small animal practice. Veterinarians can access microneedle design repositories and print them for more effective transdermal drug delivery. The multifunctionality and transferability of the design in the present study ensure that it can be further modified to provide personalized therapy., Cilj ovog rada je kreiranje ekonomične i abecedarne metode 3D printanja za proizvodnju čvrstih mikroigli, kao učinkovitije transdermalne metode aplikacije lijeka, za svakodnevnu uporabu u kućnih ljubimaca. Proces 3D printanja se provodi pomoću nekoliko tipova 3D printera, koristeći FDM i SLA tehnike printanja. Modul elasticiteta izračunat je za određivanje mehaničkih svojstava korištenog materijala, pri čemu je printani uzorak podvrgnut aksijalnom opterećenju, a deformacije su mjerene optičkim skenerom. Naknadna obrada je obavljena ispiranjem MNA u izopropil alkoholu, nakon čega je uslijedilo UV sušenje. Procedura ispitivanja sposobnosti penetracije MNs provedena je na dva mjesta na koži mačke: auris externa i lateralni dio abdomena. SLA metoda printanja bila je preciznija, što je rezultiralo mikroiglama veće kvalite za uporabu na životinjama u usporedbi s FDM tehnikom printanja. Modul elasticiteta je izračunat i može se koristiti vrijednost E=0,9 GPa. Testiranje printanih mikroigli je pokazalo da je model bio u stanju da penetrira u kožu na testiranim područjima. Uporaba mikroigli je jednostavna i ekonomična, stoga može biti široko rasprostranjena u praksi malih životinja. Veterinari mogu pristupiti repozitorijumima dizajna mikroigli i sami iste printati, kako bi ih koristili za učinkovitiju transdermalnu aplikaciju lijekova. Multifunkcionalnost i primjenjivost dizajna u ovoj studiji osiguravaju mogućnost daljnje modifikacije da bi se omogućila indivudualna terapija.

This dissertation focuses on developing solution approaches for logistics and transportation problems in disaster management and humanitarian applications motivated by real-world applications. We focus on developing improved preparedness and response methods for two kinds of humanitarian applications and evaluating these methods with real-world data., First, we have developed approaches for storing and distributing fuel to reduce the impact of disasters on islands. While most disaster-related studies focus on the mainland, this research fills this gap by providing distribution models appropriate for islands. After a disaster on an island, there is often an increased demand for fuel because islands often do not have refineries, and it could take several weeks for ships to arrive with more fuel. This study proposes a two-tier optimization approach to, first, determine how to allocate, preposition, and distribute fuel to the different regions (Chapter 1). Tier 1 focuses on the first few days after a disaster when there is no fuel available to the island other than what existed prior to the disaster. The results highlight the importance of establishing new locations with lower risk to preposition fuel. Next, we investigate how to strategically use ships to supplement the fuel after a disaster (Chapter 2). Tier 2 evaluates the strategic use of ships to reduce the arrival time of the shipments from outside sources. These results highlight the importance of using standby ships for fuel distribution., Second, we have studied how to identify the best roads and bridges in a road transportation network to strengthen to enable travel from population centers to healthcare facilities (HFCs) after a flood event (Chapter 3). Floods can deteriorate and block transport systems, leading to loss of access to HFCs. To mitigate these consequences, it is crucial to determine how changes to transportation infrastructure, such as road improvements, can improve access to emergency service facilities. The objective of this research, which addresses a pre-disaster planning problem to improve the residents accessibility to HCFs, is to minimize their travel times subject to budget and capacity restrictions. This work requires the use of geographic information systems (GIS) tools. Accordingly, we have used ArcGIS software to capture spatial data, analyze mapped data, visually display geographical data, and demonstrate solutions. We develop techniques for reducing the problem size on large road networks., In our study of two cities in Iowa, we demonstrate that the roads that are consistently selected for being upgraded are mostly the residential roads that guarantee accessibility within residential areas, even if they are far from HCFs. While a substantial number of papers in the literature define the available budget levels as the total number of upgradeable roads, our results revealed the flaw in those methods by showing that upgrading more miles of roads does not always yield a larger number of roads.

This dissertation contains three distinct papers on fertility behavior and domestic violence. Chapter one examines the effectiveness of the policy on fertility, proportion of male children, and female infant mortality. We utilize data from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (2015-2016) and use propensity score matching models to examine whether the policy influences household fertility behavior. First, fertility behavior of women residing in the policy states who married before the mandate are compared to those who married after the mandate implementation. Second, fertility behavior of women residing in the policy states are compared to those living in non-policy states. While the policy is found to lower the number of children in a household, there is no significant change in the proportion of male children in a household or in female infant mortality. However, pre-policy absence of a male child is positively and statistically significantly associated with excess fertility.Chapter two examines inconsistencies between an individual’s expectations regarding an ideal number of children and their current desire for children. The results show that societal influence does affect an individual’s fertility decision-making process and that knowledge of modern contraceptive methods has a significant impact on both spouses’ inconsistency between ideal and current desire for children. Inconsistency is significantly associated with number of children and proportion of male children in family. However, causal pathways between inconsistency and fertility outcomes may not be established using cross-sectional data and when implementing OLS estimation., Chapter three studies the causal effect of acceptance of domestic violence on actual physical and sexual abuse incidence. Both spouses’ attitudes toward the issue are analyzed. Results indicate that both husband and wife’s attitudes toward the issue are positively and significantly associated with domestic violence incidence. However, results from the IV estimation indicates only wife’s attitude have positive causal effect on husband’s abuse behavior in rural area. I also find that there is a high rate of cross generational transmission of attitudes towards domestic violence from results of the first stage regressions of the IV probit model. The results are in general consistent across different income and caste and religion groups.

The Midwest region of the United States is one of the most heavily modified regions on earth. Because of this, obtaining regional conservation goals and creating sustainable use of natural resources is extremely challenging. In order to sustainably manage these natural resources, there needs to be an understanding of the social-ecological systems in which they reside. Various actors within social-ecological systems can impact natural resources through various activities and actions. Examining how these actors work within the different governance structures and the policy mechanisms they utilize is key to creating sustainable systems. However, creating these sustainable systems can be additionally difficult in areas where there is little public land and most of the property resides in private ownership. This dissertation works to advance our knowledge of conservation in highly fragmented regions by investigating governance, private land conservation, and access to natural resources in the US Midwest.The first study aims to examine conservation stakeholders’ views of working within polycentric governance systems to understand the informal interactions of protecting natural resources. This study uses 23 semi-structured interviews with those that work on conservation within the Iowa Great Lakes region, then analyzes their responses within McGinnis and Ostrom (2014)’s SES-Framework. The results indicate that there are a variety of environmental pressures impacting these Lakes. This study also highlights the difficulty of mitigating environmental pressures when the governance system relies heavily on voluntary conservation measures. Participants provide a variety of solutions to these issues that center around changes in policy to help mitigate these pressures. This study adds to our understanding of polycentric governance by providing empirical research of understudied SES-framework variables. The second research study adds to our knowledge of private land conservation by analyzing the use of conservation easements in the US Midwest. Using geospatial analysis, this study examines the relationship between socioeconomic variables and conservation easements at the county level. Afterward, we examine the attributes of the conservation easements themselves to understand the social and environmental characteristics of these areas at the state and county level. Lastly, we identify the land cover within the conservation easement boundaries as well as their surrounding landscape. The results indicates that there are no strong relationships between socio-economic variables and conservation easements at the county level. The characteristics of conservation easements found that, in some cases, the social and environmental attributes can be contradictory. This study highlights the need for further investigation of conservation easements as a mechanism for protecting private land. The third study expands our understanding of how conservationists view and manage access. Participants from the study in Chapter 2 answer questions concerning access to the Iowa Great Lakes as well as in their own projects. We categorize their responses within Ribot and Peluso (2003) mechanisms of access to better interpret the results. The results demonstrate that access is a multifaceted concept and that participants hold differing views of similar situations concerning access. Additionally, most of the participants state that there are barriers to accessing the Iowa Great Lakes. However, the participants are split when discussing management in their own projects, due to many of them working on private land conservation. This research also pinpoints areas to improve the management of access in the Iowa Great Lakes and elsewhere. These three papers contribute to our understanding of governance, policy, and access to natural resources in highly fragmented regions to create more sustainable systems in areas like the US Midwest.

Differential mechanisms are remarkable mechanical elements that are widely utilized in various systems; nevertheless, conventional differential mechanisms are heavy and difficult to use in applications with limited design space. In this paper, a curved lightweight compliant type of differential mechanism is presented. This mechanism acquires its differential characteristic by having a high rotational stiffness when the mechanism is symmetrically actuated on two sides, while having a low rotational stiffness when actuated only on one side. The intrinsic elastic strain energy required for deformation of the compliant differential is compensated for by reintroduction of potential energy to make the mechanism neutrally stable. For the storage of potential energy, two preloaded linear springs were used. The rotational stiffness of the one-sided actuation around the neutral position of the compliant differential mechanism is hypothesized to be adjustable by changing the preload of the springs. The stiffness can be positive, zero, and negative, meaning that the mechanism can have neutral stability and bistability. The hypothesis is investigated using a simulated model in Ansys Parametric Design Language using optimized parameters to achieve the desired stiffness for the mechanism. The simulated model is validated using an experimental setup for both the one-sided and symmetrical actuation stages. The experimental results showed a high correlation with the simulations. The mechanism with optimized dimensions and preload showed neutral stability for a range of 16°. Bistability was found for preloads higher than the aforementioned optimized preload. A linear trend was found between the preload of the springs and the rotational stiffness of the mechanism at θ = 0. Furthermore, an output/input kinematic performance of 0.97 was found for the simulated results and 0.95 for the experimental results.

For scholars to have a balanced discussion about the creeping authoritarianism in Rome of the Late Republic, and the transitional period from Republic to principate, we need to focus on some basic questions: What kind of regime was the Augustan principate, how can we define it, and, adding to that, how did the Romans get from the one case of affairs to the other case of affairs. This paper will offer some perspectives on the matter. In simple terms, the Roman republic imploded because of civil war. It was indeed a republic of suffering (Faust 2008, This Republic of Suffering). Augustus, a military autocrat, was the victorious dynast. Simultaneously, the Romans were tired of civil war with all its violence, human suffering, and death. They desperately yearned for peace. No matter how we approach this, Augustus’s military coup – with its final nonviolent phase, 30-27 BCE – was the way out of the dire situation. A critique of contemporary academia is in order. Our inability to see past our own political ideals and indeed our inability to understand war and conflict, including its grave human costs, is a constant obstacle for our ability to understand the past.

In the last five years, there has been increased interest in trauma-informed digital design with practitioners in the technology field discussing and promoting the use of trauma-informed care (TIC) concepts. Practitioners are applying TIC concepts from the social work and medical fields to both the design process and products such as websites and mobile applications. However, there is a lack of a systematic overview of the methods and progress made, with no standard methodology or known best practices in applying TIC principles to technology. To facilitate both practice and education related to trauma-informed design and technology (TIDT), this scoping review offers an overview of the related knowledge that is already available in conference papers, journal articles, as well as in grey literature focused on trauma-informed design or technology such as a workshop, lectures, or case studies.

For centuries, the legal rate of interest in the Roman Empire was “one- hundredth”: 1 percent of the principal of the loan was added to it each month. Although Christian leaders and writers in the Greek and Latin west did not approve of this practice, Syriac-speaking Christian communities in the eastern Roman Empire incorporated the rate of “one-hundredth” into canon law, and some grounded it in a novel interpretation of the Syriac Bible. In this paper, I describe the incorporation of Roman lending norms into the framework of the Syriac church and discuss an early document that both reflects and modifies these norms: a “circular letter” of Symeon Stylites (d. 459), in which he commands that interest rates be lowered by 50 percent as a temporary act of piety. That letter is preserved in a manuscript of Symeon’s Syriac Life, found today in the British Library (Add. 14,484, fols. 130b–133b). I situate the letter within that Syriac tradition, and I offer the possibility that Justinian’s law of 528, which also lowered interest rates by 50 percent (CJ 4.32.26), might have been the result of contacts with this Syriac tradition, and specifically with Symeon’s regulation. I also examine the reception of the Roman rate of “one-hundredth” in early Christian normative sources (“lawbooks” and “canons”) from the Church of the East, in the Sasanian Empire. These Christians received the Roman norm of “one-hundredth” differently and did not incorporate Symeon’s pious reduction of the interest rate, or Justinian’s imperial legislation to the same effect.

Along with the developing technology, obesity and diabetes are increasing rapidly among people. Theidentification of diabetes diseases, modeling, predicting their behavior, conducting simulations, studying control andtreatment methods using mathematical methods has become of great importance. In this paper, we have obtainednumerical solutions by considering the glucose-insulin fractional model. This model consists of three compartments:the blood glucose concentration (𝐺), the blood insulin concentration (𝐼) and the ready-to-absorb glucose concentration(𝐷) in the small intestine. The fractional derivative is used in the sense of Caputo. By performing mathematicalanalyzes for the Glucose-Insulin fractional mathematical model, numerical results were obtained with the help of theEuler method and graphs were drawn.

This dissertation contains three distinct papers in health economics. Chapter one examines the heterogeneous effects of childhood bullying and chronic bullying on a wide range of outcomes using Ordinary Least Squares and Propensity Score Matching. We find that exposure to childhood bullying and chronic bullying negatively affects youths' physical and mental health. Victimized individuals are more likely to engage in risky behaviors. The adverse effects tend to increase with chronic bullying. We find no causal effects of childhood or chronic bullying on educational attainment. Childhood bullying is positively associated with social skills, whereas chronic bullying victimization is not related to cognitive or social skills. Individuals who were exposed to childhood or chronic bullying join the labor market at earlier ages than non-victims. Finally, chronic bullying victimization increases the likelihood of utilizing mental health services and experiencing life-disrupting emotional problems in adulthood. Being a victim of childhood bullying increases the likelihood of having emotional problems later in life; however, the effect is smaller than chronic victims.Chapter two focuses on measuring the direct and indirect effects of chronic bullying victimization on labor market outcomes. We find that chronic bullying victimization is directly associated with lower wages. The indirect wage penalty is driven by education, work experience, and occupational outcomes. Chronic bullying victimization is associated with fewer years of education and work experience. Victims of chronic bullying victimization work in occupations that require lower interpersonal, leadership, and independence skills. Our findings indicate that chronic bullying victimization may have a substantially larger total effect on wages due to the indirect effects than what previous studies document., Chapter three examines the relationship between a woman's mental health state and her fertility behavior. We use the discrete-time hazard model and Poisson regression to estimate the effect of mental health on the age at the first birth and the number of children. Our results show that better mental health is associated with an earlier transition into motherhood. We provide evidence that women with better mental health have fewer children. We discuss the potential implications of these results to post-pandemic fertility and future research.

Ultrasound is a frequently overlooked feature of our environment as it is not audible tohumans and little is known of its health effects on humans. Presently, regulationsgoverning noise pollution in urban areas concern only human-audible sound, and there are few regulations governing technologies that emit ultrasound as a by-product of their operation or for many devices that emit it deliberately. Moreover, developing fields of research have highlighted the role of ultrasound in non-human speciescommunication and the deleterious consequences for some species of human-produced ultrasound. If urban spaces are to become more sustainable through urbangreening—capable of sustaining significant populations of non-human species—studies must be undertaken to begin investigating the presence of ultrasoundin such areas. In this paper, we present an exploratory study of urban ultrasoundscapes aimed at measuring the presence and levels of ultrasound in theDanish city of Aalborg. Our preliminary results show that there were significantincreases in ultrasound at periods throughout the day with more or less a lowerconstant presence at locations that were furthest from major streets. In the urbanrecordings as well as one rural recording, however, the highest percentages ofultrasound occurred during the night and the lowest percentages were found duringmidday. Finally, the spectral content of the ultrasound found at locations nearest togreen spaces were most similar and our location nearest to a hospital produced thehighest levels and most dissimilar ultrasound when compared to all other locations.

The aim of this paper is to better understand the dynamics of crystallogenic and starting activity in biological fluids of patients throughout surgery and the late postoperative phase in alveococcosis. Samples of saliva from 22 individuals with alveococcosis were included in the research. Biological fluid samples were taken at the time of admission and before the patient was discharged. Following that, slides were made utilizing the teziocrystalloscopy method, which incorporates the investigation of the crystal forming activity of mixed saliva with its starting characteristics using a 0.9 percent sodium chloride solution as the foundation ingredient. Using our own set of criteria, we evaluated the outcomes of crystalloscopic and tezigraphic experiments. Specrophotometric examination of tezigraphic and crystalloscopic facies was done using a PowerWave XS microplate spectrophotometer at wavelengths of 400, 350, and 300 nm to augment the results from ocular morphometry of dried saliva micro slides. Surgical therapy results in a partial normalization of physical and chemical parameters, as well as the composition of the patient's biological fluids after the patient is discharged from the hospital. Resumo O objetivo deste trabalho foi compreender melhor a dinâmica da atividade cristalogênica e inicial nos fluidos biológicos dos pacientes durante a cirurgia e na fase pós-operatória tardia da alveococose. Amostras de saliva de 22 indivíduos com alveococose foram incluídas na pesquisa. Amostras de fluidos biológicos foram coletadas no momento da admissão e antes da alta do paciente. Em seguida, foram confeccionadas lâminas utilizando a técnica de teziocristaloscopia, que combina a investigação da atividade formadora de cristais da saliva mista com suas características iniciais, utilizando uma solução de cloreto de sódio a 0,9% como ingrediente-base. Usando nosso próprio conjunto de critérios, avaliamos os resultados de experimentos cristaloscópicos e tezigráficos. O exame espectrofotométrico da fácies tezigráfica e cristaloscópica foi feito usando um espectrofotômetro de microplaca PowerWave XS nos comprimentos de onda de 400, 350 e 300 nm para aumentar os resultados da morfometria ocular de microplacas de saliva seca. A terapia cirúrgica resulta na normalização parcial dos parâmetros físicos e químicos, bem como da composição dos fluidos biológicos do paciente, após a alta hospitalar.

Conflict in Israel and Palestine is typically characterized as a binary phenomenon. This paper interrogates this binarism. It recognizes instead that Ashkenazi hegemony operates as a major generative force of oppression and conflict in Israel and Palestine. It considers the multiplicity of populations, whether Israeli, Palestinian, migrant or refugee, and suggests how their common patterns of disenfranchisement and oppression might be leveraged in the cause of conflict resolution. We will explore a structure of dominance that affects multiple non-dominant groups in the region: Palestinians, Mizrahi Jews, migrants, and LGBTQ Israelis and Palestinians. Finally, this approach suggests a way forward: uniting a coalition of these currently disempowered groups, with the aim to transform the conflict by addressing the root cause: the persistent hegemony of one group, Ashkenazim, in political, civic, and social structures.

Phosphorus (P) use efficiency is crucial for sorghum production. P acquisition efficiency is the most important component of P use efficiency. The early-stage evaluation of plant development is a useful tool for identifying P-efficient genotypes. This study aimed to identify sorghum hybrids that are efficient in P use efficiency and assess the genetic diversity among hybrids based on traits related to P acquisition efficiency. Thus, 38 sorghum hybrids and two inbred lines (checks) were evaluated under low and high P in a paper pouch system with nutrient solution. Biomass and root traits related to P efficiency were measured. There was no interaction between genotypes and P levels concerning all evaluated traits. The biomass and root traits, except root diameter, presented smaller means under low P than high P. Efficient and inefficient hybrids under each P level were identified. The genetic diversity assessment grouped these genotypes in different clusters. The hybrids AG1090, MSK326, AG1060, 1G100, AS 4639, DKB 540, and DKB 590 were superior under low-P and high-P. Hybrids SC121, 1236020 e 1167017 presented the lowest means than all other hybrids, under both conditions. The evaluated hybrids showed phenotypic diversity for traits related to P acquisition, such as root length and root surface area, which can be useful for establishing selection strategies for sorghum breeding programs and increasing P use efficiency. Resumo A eficiência do uso do fósforo (P) é fundamental para a produção de sorgo. A avaliação no estágio inicial do desenvolvimento da planta é uma ferramenta útil para a identificação de genótipos eficientes de P. Este trabalho teve como objetivo identificar híbridos de sorgo que sejam eficientes ao uso de P e avaliar a diversidade genética entre os híbridos com base em características relacionadas à eficiência de aquisição de P. Assim, 38 híbridos de sorgo e duas linhagens (testemunhas) foram avaliados sob baixo e alto P em sistema de pastas de papel com solução nutritiva. Características de biomassa e de raiz relacionadas à eficiência de P foram mensuradas. Não houve interação entre genótipos e níveis de P em todas as características avaliadas. As características de biomassa e raiz, exceto o diâmetro da raiz, apresentaram médias menores sob baixo P em comparação com alto P. Híbridos eficientes e ineficientes sob cada nível de P foram identificados e agrupados quanto à diversidade genética. Os híbridos AG1090, MSK326, AG1060, 1G100, AS 4639, DKB 540 e DKB 590 foram superiores sob baixo-P e alto-P. Os híbridos SC121, 1236020 e 1167017 apresentaram as menores médias que todos os outros híbridos, em ambas condições. Os híbridos avaliados apresentaram diversidade fenotípica para características relacionadas à aquisição de P, como comprimento e área superficial da raiz, o que pode ser útil para estabelecer estratégias de seleção para programas de melhoramento de sorgo e aumentar a eficiência de uso do P.

Project management essentially involves temporal work, in other words, the purposive effort to orient the temporal structures that guide action around given tasks. Yet, projects often involve participants or stakeholders holding different temporal orientations that may be more or less compatible with proposed temporal structures. In this paper we consider how different forms of temporal structuring influence project behavior (i.e., how participants engage with projects, and how projects play out to produce outcomes). Specifically, building on a review of the literature on projects and temporality, we explore how and why the socially constructed nature of project tasks (open-ended vs. closed-ended) interacts with efforts at temporal structuring (open vs. closed) to orient participants’ actions, with varying consequences for behaviors and outcomes. We conclude by proposing a series of future research directions aimed at better understanding the relations between temporal structuring and project behavior.

We assume a spatial blind source separation model in which the observed multivariate spatial data is a linear mixture of latent spatially uncorrelated random fields containing a number of pure white noise components. We propose a test on the number of white noise components and obtain the asymptotic distribution of its statistic for a general domain. We also demonstrate how computations can be facilitated in the case of gridded observation locations. Based on this test, we obtain a consistent estimator of the true dimension. Simulation studies and an environmental application in the Supplemental Material demonstrate that our test is at least comparable to and often outperforms bootstrap-based techniques, which are also introduced in this paper. peerReviewed