Scream Queen: Drag, Dance, and the Grotesque Beauty of Queer Imagination

Scream Queen is, if anything, an act of adoration for the medium of horror and the power of queer expression. This paper will detail the process and culminating product of my choreographed work, Scream Queen, presented in October 2024. I will discuss persona, drag, and the intimate relationship between horror and queerness. As a queer alternative movement artist, I hope to honor the subversive and revolutionary voices who have come before me. I will explore the belief and theory that queer people gravitate towards that which is grotesque, horrific, and villainous because it allows them to feel a sense of power within their otherness, actively witnessing aspects of their identity within figureheads that oppose the world which has demonized their existence

Schematic Bodies: Housing, Status Property, and Sexuality in U.S. Literature

“Schematic Bodies” examines literary representations of home in the context of housing policy and its transformative effects on sexual order in the United States. I develop a theory of status property that accounts for role of the family home in the naturalization of the “normal” as a racial and sexual category over time. I demonstrate how texts register concealed functions of economy in their depictions of home and the family by using representational strategies like spatial disorientation, narrative fragmentation, debt and value metaphor, and irony. Literary texts render what I call “spectral” processes in language. By reading literature alongside economic flashpoints of US housing policy such as the development of the Federal Housing Administration and mortgage-backed securities, “Schematic Bodies” develops an account of residential real estate’s influence on literary form and sexual categories over the course of the long twentieth century. Moreover, it explains how literature can function as a site for imagining kinship without property

METRIC GEOMETRY OF FINITE ENERGY CLASSES IN BIG COHOMOLOGY

This thesis investigates the metric geometry of finite energy classes in big cohomology. These finite energy classes are made of functions that correspond to singular metrics on compact K\"ahler manifolds. These spaces of functions were introduced to find the canonical K\"ahler metrics. We extend their study to big cohomology classes. On the space of finite energy potentials $\mathcal{E}^{p}(X,\theta)$ where $\theta$ represents a big cohomology class, we construct a complete geodesic metric $d_{p}$. We show that several metric properties of $(\mathcal{E}^{p}(X,\theta), d_{p})$ are the same as in the K\"ahler setting. In the end, we study the space of geodesic rays in $\mathcal{E}^{p}(X,\theta)$, $\mathcal{R}^{p}_{\theta}$, and construct a chordal metric $d_{p}^{c}$ on it. We show that $(\mathcal{R}^{p}_{\theta}, d_{p}^{c})$ is a complete geodesic metric as well

Data Set for Hygroscopicity of Isoprene-Derived Secondary Organic Aerosol Mixture Proxies: Importance of Solute Diffusion and Salting-In Effects

Surface tension measurements were obtained using a pendant drop tensiometer over a length of 300 seconds, using the methodology of Fertil et al., 2025 CCN measurements were obtained using a DMT Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter using the Scanning Mobility CCN Analysis (SMCA) method (Moore et al., 2010). Data obtained was then analyzed using the PyCAT analysis toolkit available for public use (last access: August 27, 2025; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6329787; Gohil, 2022; Gohil and Asa-Awuku 2022)Raw data (surface tension and cloud condensation nuclei counter (CCNC) measurements) files for publication "Hygroscopicity of Isoprene-Derived Secondary Organic Aerosol Mixture Proxies: The Importance of Solute Diffusion and Salting-In Effects"NSF AGS #2124489https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-193

EFFECTS OF EXTREME MECHANICAL SHOCK ON RELIABILITY OF EMBEDDED COMPONENT INTERCONNECTS IN PRINTED HYBRID ELECTRONICS AT MULTIPLE TEMPERATURES

The advantages of Printed Hybrid Electronic (PHE) assemblies are of considerable interest to designers of electro-mechanical systems, especially for applications in extreme environments, defined here as accelerations from 20,000 g to 100,000 g (causing strain rates of 1,000+ /s) and temperatures above .5 × Tmelt. With additional development, PHEs may offer reliability advantages over traditional electronic packages in fields like aerospace or applications such as conformal circuits or integrated sensors. This study focuses on durability of component interconnections in PHEs. For this work, passive components were recessed into machined cavities in injection-molded polysulfone domes and beams by way of a unique ‘mill-and-fill’ method combining traditional subtractive milling with extrusion-based paste printing. The components were interconnected to printed silver traces using printed solder, with circuits then formed from the silver traces. These assemblies were subject to large strains caused by mechanical shock at acceleration levels up to 100,000 g and at temperatures from 25 °C to 125 °C. The populated beam specimens were subjected to drop testing in a clamped-clamped configuration without secondary impact using an accelerated-fall drop tower with dual mass shock amplifier, resulting in substrate strain magnitudes of up to 50,000 µm/m at rates up to ~1,000 /s. Trace degradation characteristics were first assessed, then the number of drops to failure (as defined by component separation from the substrate) were documented across four different component locations on a beam specimen, providing failure data for four different strain histories. These four strain histories were compiled across a total of seven different test points ranging from 25,000 g to 100,000 g and 25 °C to 125 °C. Concurrently, a finite element model of the fully populated assembly was used to simulate the physical response of the sintered silver within the trace adjacent to the recessed component. This model was matched to experiments by direct strain measurement in the substrate, supported by digital image correlation. Circuit failure occurred due to component separation from the substrate caused by cracking within the sintered silver beneath the soldered interconnect – a failure mode common across all acceleration levels, strain rates and temperatures. The dependence of rates of degradation and failure on acceleration level and temperature was quantified based on strain levels expected within the silver trace. Plastic strain magnitude was used as the basis for damage accumulation in the sintered silver. Collectively the experimental results and simulation data were integrated by means of a cumulative damage model to generate an application-agnostic low-cycle fatigue curve for the sintered silver from 25-125 °C, and strain rates from 200 /s to 1,000+ /s

Lexical categories, (re)categorization, and locality in morphosyntax

This dissertation is about the nature of syntactic primitives and principles, their status in the grammar, and their interaction with extra-linguistic cognition. The dissertation has two parts unified by the common goal of streamlining the syntax by asking whether some of its proposed constructs are dispensable, whether the motivation for their existence can be found syntax-externally, and whether they must be assumed to be part of the initial state of the learner. While I discuss a range of phenomena in a number of languages, core empirical evidence throughout comes from adjectival derivation in Bosnian/Croatian/ Serbian (BCS). In the first part of the dissertation, I consider the status of lexical categories (LCs) in grammar. I argue that LCs noun, verb, and adjective are purely formal, abstract categories which have a distributional role in the syntaxes of individual languages, but which do not have a one-to-one mapping to any interpretive property. I argue against proposals that attribute universal syntactic or semantic properties to the specific LCs. In addition to discussing relevant data from a variety of languages, I provide two detailed case studies on mixed categories: passive and active participles. I show that all participles in the languages under discussion are in fact deverbal adjectives, in every syntactic position they appear in and regardless of their interpretation. While participles may denote (predicates of) properties or eventualities, I argue that these different interpretations are not cross-linguistically associated with more or less verbal or adjectival structure. This reinforces the conclusion that a direct one-to-one correspondence between an item’s LC and its interpretation does not exist. If correct, this proposal has significant con- sequences for our understanding of Universal Grammar. If there are no universal syntactic or semantic properties we can attribute to the LCs, then it becomes superfluous to assume that the individual LCs are part of the initial state of the learner. I propose that the cross-linguistic tendencies we observe around LCs may stem from the way non-linguistic knowledge is organized in the mind/brain. In the second part of the dissertation, I turn my attention to the formal principles that operate on grammatical primitives, asking specifically what kinds of locality constraints are employed by the grammar. While locality has been extensively studied in generative linguistics, the current offering of locality theories is arbitrary, redundant, baroque, and/or empirically inadequate. There are in essence three competing locality theories currently in circulation within the field: Featural Relativized Minimality (FRM), Phase theory as currently understood in the syntax literature (where it is a successor of Subjacency), and Phase theory as understood in the context of Distributed Morphology (DM). Despite recent attempts to devise a single, unified Phase theory which is responsible for both syntax-internal lo- cality and interface locality, I argue on both conceptual and empirical grounds that the unification is unfeasible. In a detailed empirical study of deadjectival derivation in BCS, I show that adjectivization imposes a DM-locality boundary (for allomorphy and morphological tone assignment), but not a ‘big syntax’-locality boundary (for punctuated movement paths). Nonetheless, I show that the original inventory of locality principles can be reduced if we assume that (i) syntax-internal locality is regulated by FRM, and (ii) interface locality is regulated by Transfer, a modified version of Phase theory which has no syntax-internal effects. I reinterpret the evidence supporting Phase theory through the lens of FRM and demonstrate that the division of labor in (i)-(ii) not only achieves the right empirical cut, but also offers insight into why the grammar may require two distinct locality principles

Willingness to Pay for Express Lanes, Heterogeneity Effects, Reliability Measures, and Optimal Control Strategies from Passively Collected Data

In March 2020, governments worldwide implemented various social restriction measures, including lockdowns, to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This led to a profound shift in travel behavior, accompanied by a notable reduction in congestion. This dissertation investigates travel demand on Express Lanes (ELs) during two time periods: before the pandemic (from January 2020 to mid-March 2020) and during the pandemic (from mid-March 2020 to the end of May 2020). A large data set of trips observed on Express Lanes derived from transponders is combined with vehicle probe measures of travel times and used to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for travel time savings and reliability. This dissertation also addresses system-wide performance optimization by integrating multiple control strategies. This dissertation is structured into four main chapters. The first chapter explores the change in travel behavior on Express Lanes and assesses changes in WTP before and during the pandemic across different temporal phases. The second chapter investigates the heterogeneity of among Express Lane users’ WTP under the impact of lockdown policy. The third chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of users’ value of travel time (VOT) and reliability (VOR) on the Express Lane before and during the pandemic. The fourth chapter extends the focus to system-wide optimization, presenting an integrated traffic management system that combines real-time ramp metering with dynamic toll pricing strategies to alleviate congestion and enhance freeway performance

MEASURING INTERFACE EFFECTS IN SOLID-STATE BATTERIES

Solid-state batteries with solid metal anodes would be a promising solution for improved energy storage. However, the unstable behaviors of solid-solid interfaces impedes implementation. Further study of these interfaces, both at the planar solid metal anode | electrolyte interface and the grain | grain interface in solid electrolytes is necessary to elucidate practical engineering techniques to improve cycling stability. We assemble three-electrode symmetric cells of Sodium | Sodium β″-Alumina | Sodium to assess the voiding and dendritic behaviors of the sodium metal electrode at varying cycling parameters and operating conditions. By modifying the applied current density and fixing areal capacities at 0.5, 1.0, and 3 mAh cm-2 and utilizing a sodium reference electrode we demonstrate polarization on plate at high current densities. Modeling comparisons with exhaustion strips, unidirectional current application to oxidize the sodium metal electrode until a cutoff potential of 1 V, indicate extensive delamination of the sodium electrode from the solid electrolyte. There is less observed delamination at lower current densities as the cutoff voltage is reached at lower areal capacities. Further study of electrode thickness and operating pressure on critical current densities, the highest achieved current density before failure to 1 V or shorting observed, and achievable capacities show limited benefit to increasing operating pressure beyond 2.0 MPa. We continue our investigation into interfacial behaviors through the assessment of hot pressing effects on argyrodite sulfide electrolytes with respect to morphology, ionic conductivity, and mechanical properties. We find that hot pressing at 150 °C improves ionic conduction without any reliance on external operating pressure with copper electrodes. Hot pressing resulted in smooth fused morphology distinct from the cold pressed (20 °C) samples with an higher modulus. Finally, our efforts in the development of an all solid-state battery database for laboratory scale single set of layer devices is discussed. We identified from the literature the core characteristics and performance metrics for a solid-state batteries and defined the ontology to capture the data for analysis. The ontology was tested and refined through the collection of fifty cells with the target of assessing the state of research, current achievements, gaps, and trends in the literature. The database now contains over 250 cells with plans for further uploads and refinements to the ontology

“HOW WE ACCOMPLISH THIS WORK:” BLACK LABOR AND U.S. IMPERIAL PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE GREATER CARIBBEAN, 1898-1934

How We Accomplish this Work: Black Labor and U.S. Imperial Public Health in the Greater Caribbean, 1898-1934” examines public health as a site of racialization in the transnational historical context of early twentieth century U.S. imperial expansion across the Greater Caribbean. Centering gendered Black labor, I foreground undertheorized disability histories of the Global South and underscore racialized disability as intertwined with the objectives of empire, the hierarchical structures of colonialism and the continued post-emancipation commodification of Black bodies. Post-war celebrations of the United States’ Caribbean empire often point to technological advancements in tropical medicine and sanitation that facilitated white occupation and the growth of tourist economies. I argue, however, that the technological advancements in tropical medicine, public health and sanitation and in infrastructure undergirding the region’s habitability for white U.S. Americans relied on forms of gendered Black labor. This multi-sited project turns to U.S. South (with particular attention to Louisiana), Panamá and Haiti and centers Black public health work, domestic labor, care work and deathcare and construction work, Black experiences of illness, injury and disability, Black intra-regional migration, and Black peoples encounters with state apparatuses, health regulations and medical experimentation. Putting archival public health materials and cultural products in conversation with women of color feminist theories, disability studies, critical race scholarship, and colonial health histories, I analyze how racialized disability is embedded in U.S. imperial public health and in the infrastructural works of territorial expansion

Built In Reefscape

In the face of climate change and rising sea levels, the most common response is to prepare for human migration inland and to implement more protections of coastal communities. A different approach considers the migration of human communities out to sea. Coral reefs and adjacent coastal habitats are biodiverse, life-supporting, but also suffer from the effects of climate change, pollution, and collisions, leading them to rely on human efforts to restore and implement protections. The relationship between reefs and humans can be strengthened to encourage environmental stewardship and also explore how to better live in marine ecosystems. This thesis will ask how can architects be inspired by the mechanics and processes of reef organisms to design a system that creates built environments that support a reciprocal relationship between humans and marine wildlife