YOUTH NAVIGATING PRECARITY THROUGH CLIMATE ACTION: CASE OF MATHARE

This study explores the environmental organizing of the youth in Mathare and its potential to transcend hustle into climate activism. It examines how the intervention of global climate actors and their agendas influence the youth's work. By building an empirical case through the stories and evolution of the youth, using observer participation and participant observation, the research analyzes potential pathways and possibilities for Mathare’s youth groups. Embedded in the discourse of hustle and climate adaptation in informal settlements, this paper argues that the youth's work is transitioning from opportunism to visionary practice. As the youth navigate their precarious employment situations and struggle to find identity and community through hustling, the paper explores their potential to expand their vision and scope, and to collectivize towards climate adaptation, is enabled by opportunities presented by global climate efforts. Finally, the paper invites further research on the potential of youth activism to contribute to effective climate adaptation

The Present Empyrean: Reconciling Existentialism and Fashion Through Considerations of Heaven

Transposing Heaven, goodness, and love into a clothing collection circumnavigates belief in the establishment of goodness that I investigate visually and existentially. To describe a point of heavenly perfection, I evaluated personal preference, outside opinion, and cultural beliefs as applied to life and clothing as extensions of self. I aimed to convey Heavenly influence through my senior fashion collection, from mood boards, fabric selection, and description, inspired by my questions about our perceptions of goodness and Heaven. Driven by existentialist need for meaning, I perceived morality and clothing as given context through deeper knowledge of a person. I know that reactions to actions and outfits are immediate and thus hoped to create clothing that reflected the depth of character within the person wearing it. I aimed to create ensembles that would be conducive to desire for greater knowledge of someone’s character for my 9-look collection shown at Cornell Fashion Collective’s runway, Human Centered Design’s NYC Expo, and as part of FSAD seniors’ exhibit in the Human Ecology’s Jill Stuart Gallery. In this essay, I analyze the role of the fashion designer based upon their intentions, the technical quality of their garment, or effect on the wearer and general opinion. I found value in clothing through faith in the existence of goodness and worthiness of human relationships. As part of this thesis, I searched for evidence for this existence: why we seek to look beautiful and the role our appearance plays in our lives. In my designs, I aim to reveal my philosophy considering Heaven as knowing and celebrating the particularities of a person and their stories. Empyrean Echos elaborates upon the compelling reason for dressing one’s friends as beautifully as possible

On the Frequency and Detail of Feedback

Instant feedback is the hallmark of our connected society. Customers are frequently requested to give stars to the rideshare that just took them home, the restaurant where they just ate, or the phone app they just used. Likes, emoticons, and reforwarding rates immediately measure the success of both public personalities and private individuals. Further, the seemingly infinite storage capacity of the cloud and the unrelenting progress of computing power have given firms the means to process and synthesize huge information flows that can support decision-making and control processes. In this context, it is natural to think that providing detailed feedback as frequently as possible would improve decision-making. However, that may not always be the case, as we explain in this article

From AI Workshops to Off-Campus Partnerships: A Library’s Journey of Engaging with Extension Agents

Presented at the USAIN/CBHL 2024 Biennial Meeting.PDF of a Google Slides presentationThis presentation will explore the impact of using developments in AI as a library outreach tool. K-State Libraries AI team began conducting workshops on using generative AI which sparked the interest of many groups, including Extension agents, who wanted to learn more about AI and how to use it in their own contexts because they saw the library as a place to help them learn more. The team was invited to present a professional development workshop about the basics of AI to a group of family and consumer science extension agents. K-State is focusing more on external audiences and the team saw this engagement as a way to build off-campus relationships. A “get to know each other” session was included in the workshop for the extension agents to learn more about how the library can serve them and for the librarians to learn more about the work of Extension. This engaging, reciprocal outreach opportunity would not have arisen without people’s interest in generative AI

UNDERSTANDING SUSTAINABILITY IN CLONE TOWN BRITAIN

In 2003, the British government initiated the Sustainable Communities Act to regenerate town centers across the United Kingdom. To investigate this policy’s impact, the New Economics Foundation (NEF) conducted a survey in 2004, dividing towns into 'home towns' and 'clone towns'. These categories were based on their clone town score, the ratio of independent businesses to chain stores in town centers. Home towns were towns with a high ratio of traditional stores to chain stores, while clone towns had a high ratio of chain stores to traditional stores. The NEF hypothesized that home towns would be more sustainable than clone towns. This study investigated this hypothesis by analyzing economic, social, and environmental sustainability in six towns across London. The study’s findings indicated that a town’s clone town score has little impact on its social sustainability and environmental sustainability but was far more impactful on its economic sustainability

IMPROVED DETECTION OF NON-NATIVE CLADOCERA IN THE LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKES

53 pagesThe Laurentian Great Lakes is an ecosystem that has been vulnerable to non-native species introduction and invasion from sources across the globe. Detecting and responding to non-native zooplankton species presents unique challenges for researchers and managers. Many of these organisms are microscopic and identifying them often requires extensive monitoring and taxonomic expertise. After the initial detection tasks include estimating their source and evaluating potential impacts on native zooplankton and other organisms. Zooplankton have an intermediate trophic status and thus introductions could potentially affect grazing of phytoplankton as well as the forage base for fish. Most recognized are the past invasions of predatory cladocerans (Bythotrephes longimanus Leydig 1860 and Cercopagis pengoi Ostroumov 1891) that have expanded to all five Great Lakes and caused significant damage to the ecosystem and economy (Yan et al. 2011). This thesis provides more recent examples of nonnative zooplankton species detection. Chapter 1 highlights the importance of exploratory monitoring of high traffic harbor areas with our discovery of Diaphanosoma fluviatile Hansen 1899 in the Maumee River in Toledo, Ohio. After this initial detection, further sampling using open lake long term monitoring programs revealed that D. fluviatile had expanded throughout Lake Erie’s western basin. Chapter 2 provides a second case study exploring epibenthic habitats in large lakes rich in cladocerans but poorly monitored. We surveyed the epibenthic region of Lake Ontario using benthic grabs and supplemented this survey with genetic analysis of the cytochrome oxidase 1 gene (CO1). Lake Ontario’s epibenthos included 16 different cladoceran species that were found as deep as 63 meters. Both case studies summarize improved efforts to assess biodiversity in the Great Lakes and to improve the detection of new nonnative zooplankton species introductions

Sensory and perceptual bases of abstract concepts

88 pagesAre abstract concepts maintained as pure abstractions, or are they scaffolded by more concrete, perceptually-available concepts? In this dissertation, I present three empirical papers which use two test beds, time and number, to explore the cognitive and neural basis of abstract concepts and their relationship to basic sensory and perceptual processes. In the case of time, imperceptible duration piggybacks on representations of perceptible spatial extent. In the case of number, a seemingly abstract mathematical property is rapidly extracted as a basic perceptual feature by the visual system (presumably, a similar process may take place in other primary sensory tissues). The intraparietal sulcus, long implicated in numerical cognition, appears not to be the origin of number representations, but rather a hub where numerical inputs from sensory cortex may become more abstract number concepts. These studies support an account of concepts in which "abstract" conceptual thought is rooted in, and relies upon, basic sensory and perceptual mechanisms.2026-06-1

NEURAL INSPIRED BEHAVIORS IN ELECTRONICS

207 pagesSupplemental file(s) description: None.This thesis presents groundbreaking contributions in the fields of intelligent neural interfaces and microscopic machines, specifically focusing on applications in medical implants and autonomous microscopic robots, utilizing CMOS electronic chips. In Chapter 2, an innovative ASIC accelerator is introduced, tailored for the efficient implementation of large decision tree prediction models, highlighting its unparalleled classification efficiency. Furthermore, we propose enhancements to further curtail redundancy during inference, showcasing the potential of CMOS technology to elevate scalability and adaptability in machine learning hardware. In Chapter 3, we present a novel method for achieving autonomous coordinated emergent behaviors in microscopic machines through pulse-coupling CMOS oscillators. A comprehensive analysis covers synchronization quality, scalability, and robustness, complemented by demonstrations of emergent behaviors in Matlab and realistic locomotion simulations in Unity. Chapter 4 concludes the thesis with reflections on the distinctive contributions and the wide horizon of potentials that these advancements unleash across diverse applications, ranging from transformative healthcare solutions to revolutionary advancements in intelligent and autonomous microscopic systems