Transcendental Visions in Wixárika Art, The Nierika_Osiris González Romero

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Subir Sachdev - 20 selected papers with commentaries

PhysicsAuthor's Origina

Computerizing Diagnosis: Minds, Medicine and Machines in Twentieth Century America

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Mosaic nucleic acids that bind purine nucleotides

Models for the origin of life have maintained that the first cells relied upon a single biopolymer for both genotype and phenotype. RNA may have provided these activities through its ability to transfer information via base-pairing and its ability to fold into functional structures. It follows that a comprehensive account of abiogenesis would include an understanding of prebiotic ribonucleotide synthesis. However, studies along these lines have shown that, depending on conditions, prebiotic chemistry may yield diverse nucleotides; some of which are based on sugars other than ribose. This monomer pool would likely support the polymerization of nucleic acid molecules characterized by a heterogeneous sugar-phosphate backbone. Copies of such mosaic nucleic acid (MNA) would conserve sequence information, but not the order and content of sugars in the sugar-phosphate backbone. Might MNA represent a possible source of early biological activity? The answer to this question largely depends on whether the structural heterogeneity of the sugar-phosphate backbone would allow for the emergence of selectable function. To test this possibility, we used in vitro selection to isolate purine nucleotide-binding MNA aptamers from a large library of random MNA sequences (containing an ∼1:1 mixed assignment of deoxy- and ribonucleotides). We report two MNA aptamers that bind either ATP or GTP with weak affinity (apparent KDs = ∼350 µM each) and moderate to high specificity. We conclude that variations in nucleic acid backbone content, perhaps introduced by imprecise synthesis, may not have posed an insurmountable barrier for the emergence of simple biological function.Medical SciencesMedical Science

Sublime Frequencies: Metaphysics of Resonance in Arvo Pärt, Cecilia Vicuña, and M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen

Through an inter-disciplinary and comparative study of the acoustic phenomenon of resonance—i.e., the synchronous vibration between two or more sounds—this dissertation thinks through a socially-engaged “sonic metaphysics” and phenomenology of sound in the field of religious studies, in three case studies of contemporary aesthetic and mystical works: Eastern Orthodox Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s (1935-present) selected works from his early tintinnabuli period of composition; Mestizo Indigenous Chilean poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña’s (1948-present) selected Précario and Quipu works; and transnational Sri Lankan Sufi Shaikh M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s (?-1986) The Resonance of Allah: Resplendent Explanations Arising from the Nūr, Allāh’s Wisdom of Grace. Critically, the study discovers how these three contemporary forms and dimensions of sonic religiosity act formally (through their content, form, and reception) to open up within and beyond established discourses of mysticism, animism, and aesthetics, to speak in new and socially-engaged ways about actual human and environmental relations and transformations. Each case study traces clear, detailed connections between metaphysical ideas about resonance and the impact of resonance on concerns such as self-realization and healing, social and environmental justice, humanitarian aid, medical care, and inter-religious tolerance, while examining the capacity of resonance to express continuities between metaphysics and the phenomenology of lived religious experience; to convey meaning across religious, political, and aesthetic categories of belonging; and to expand our capacity for listening and ethical action. Each case study likewise contributes both theoretical and ethnographic insights into how resonance, and sound more generally, convey roles as prayer, as presence, and as mode(s) of attunement that enact the creation of the cosmos and dialogue with the divine. The dissertation also uncovers the psychoacoustics of the listener’s embodied relationship with sound and presence and the capacity of resonance to elucidate commonalities in intersubjective experience (relational ontologies). The study contributes methodologically to the study of religion by situating resonance as a vital concept of contemporary interdisciplinary and comparative inquiry and positioning the listening subject and their experience at the center of the unfurling of sound within complex multi-religious and secular global spaces. More broadly, the study addresses how developing an account of the metaphysics of resonance in religion helps us to hear differently, with and for each other

Revolution of the Heart: The Alternative New Woman in Early Soviet Media

The early Soviet government of the 1910s and 1920s was one of the first countries in the world to grant women equal rights with men. Among the Bolshevik Party members was a belief that so-called “new people” would come into being through the material and economic changes that the Revolution accomplished. For women and their representation in fictional narrative arts, this change in political and economic systems provided them with new opportunities for self-determination. State propaganda campaigns sought to bolster and harness women’s empowerment for political goals. Against this, a variety of authors of the 1920s instead explored a more individual-focused application of new opportunities for women. The authors analyzed in this project are Aleksandra Kollontai, the noted Bolshevik advocate for women’s rights, author Evgeni Zamyatin, avant-garde playwright Sergei Tret’yakov and Abram Room, filmmaker. I identify a fictional construct in works by these four artists which I call the “Alternative New Woman” through a feminist-informed close reading of key fictional works by these authors. Vasilisa Malygina by Kollontai, We by Zamyatin, I Want a Baby! by Tret’yakov, and Bed and Sofa by Room all feature a female protagonist who pursues her own desires (rather than conforming to societal expectations) throughout her narrative arc, which forms the basis for my definition of the Alternative Woman. The Alternative New Woman challenges both traditional and Bolshevik understandings of gender, femininity, and individuality. The Alternative New Woman of the 1920s also explores the changing social and material conditions of everyday life during the New Economic Policy (NEP), especially on topics that are traditionally understood as part of the feminine domain: family, marriage, sexuality, and reproduction.Slavic Languages and Literature

Good, Bad, or Indifferent: Effects of Brain Stimulation for Those Affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological disorder that affects the social and behavioral abilities of those who are impacted by it. Because the disorder is not specific in who it affects (due to genetic and environmental factors), it is not easy to pinpoint the cause to apply a solution across the board. Which symptoms are displayed, and the severity in which they are experienced is a roll of the dice. From the time the term autism was first documented to have been spoken, consistent change is all we have known. Today, individuals who are on the spectrum have access to a more inclusive and accommodating experience when compared to historical accounts of those with ASD-like impairments. Person-specific treatment plans and targeted therapies are available to increase quality of life while also managing the symptoms of ASD. While traditional methods such as treatment programs, medication, and the like have given this population relief, I think it is time for us to push the boundaries for our impaired brethren and sistren. Various forms of brain stimulation, as well as electroconvulsive therapy, currently provide alternative treatment measures that may be able to offer more than momentary relief for the individual as well as the caretaker. While the methodology was misused as a weapon in the past, I say we reclaim this restorative tool and look to give this population some life back to their years. By introducing case studies and other works, we will see how this tool can be utilized for the good of the ASD community.Extension Studie

A Quantum Memory Network Based on Diamond Nanophotonics

Quantum networks hold the potential to enable quantum-secured communication, distributed quantum computing, and non-local quantum sensing. To realize these applications, a versatile quantum network infrastructure must support entanglement between network nodes capable of storing, processing, and distributing quantum information, alongside high-fidelity photonic qubits that efficiently interface with these nodes. The silicon-vacancy (SiV) center in diamond, coupled to nanophotonic cavities, has recently emerged as a promising platform to meet these requirements. This system provides access to an electron spin as an optically active communication qubit and a 29Si nuclear spin as a memory qubit, capable of storing quantum information for extended periods. We first demonstrate that the SiV center's electron spin can efficiently generate single photons with complex spatiotemporal waveforms, facilitated by a novel asymmetric nanophotonic cavity design. We then establish a two-node quantum network between two SiV centers housed in separate laboratories and connected via optical fiber. To do so, we use photonic qubits to mediate entanglement between two spatially separated electron spins, as well as between two spatially separated nuclear spins. Finally, using bidirectional quantum frequency conversion, we convert the photonic qubits to telecommunication frequencies, enabling entanglement generation between the two nuclear spins via a 35 km fiber deployed in the Boston metropolitan area. These advancements mark progress toward large-scale, deployable quantum networks using SiV centers coupled to nanophotonic cavities.Physic

Job Loss and Work Among Older Workers

In recent decades the older worker population has grown significantly, and its sociodemographic composition has become more diverse. Yet it is not clear what the implications of these demographic changes are for work in older age. Prior research on aging and work has predominately studied more advantaged workers. This dissertation improves our understanding of the labor market experiences of marginalized workers in older age. In Chapter 2, I evaluate whether Black-White disparities in reemployment likelihood increase, decrease, or remain constant among older workers relative to younger workers and what factors explain these differences. I draw on scholarship on racial disparities in health and evaluate three hypotheses: cumulative dis/advantage (inequality increases over time), aging-as- leveler (inequality decreases over time), and persistent inequality (inequality does not change over time). I test these hypotheses using hazard models and data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. I find that Black-White inequalities in reemployment narrow by about 70 percent in older age, supporting the aging-as-leveler perspective. Relative to their younger counterparts, White older workers experience a greater decline in reemployment likelihood than Black older workers. Though Black older workers face the lowest chance of reemployment. Prior experience, education, and skills do not explain Black-White differences in reemployment across age, suggesting that hiring discrimination and other post-job-loss factors likely underlie these differences. In Chapter 3, I generate more comprehensive estimates of Black-White differences in the costs of job loss across age and test which theories account for these differences. Scholarship on job loss typically examines changes in earnings only for workers who reemploy and likely underestimates the financial implications of late-career job loss, particularly for minority older workers. In my sample I include individuals who do not reemploy to account for Black and older workers’ lower likelihood of reemployment. Using fixed effects models and data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, I find that workers experience a large decline in earnings following job loss, ranging from 65 to 81 percent 1-3 years after job loss. Older and Black workers experience greater declines in earnings than their White and younger counterparts, but I do not find evidence of Black-White disparities changing across age. I find that job tenure partially accounts for age differences, pointing to human capital, job matching, and deferred compensation theories. However, age and race differences in earnings losses remain either partially or totally unexplained, suggesting that differences stem from unobserved factors that likely emerge after job loss, such as job search characteristics and age and racial discrimination. In Chapter 4, I examine why less-educated men are more likely to exit the labor force than their more-educated counterparts prior to retirement age. In recent decades there has been an increase in early retirement (labor force exit by around age 60) among men, particularly among those without a college degree. This gap in labor force attachment by educational attainment (what I refer to as the education gap) is of concern because working into older age is critical for creating a sufficient nest egg for retirement. Is the education gap in labor force participation due to choice or constraint? I use the Health and Retirement Study to estimate how much of the education gap is a function of less-educated men disproportionately being unable to work (health status) and disproportionately lacking access to higher-quality jobs with employee retirement benefits that encourage working longer (pensions). I find that differences in health status and in pension coverage account for 67 percent and 22 percent of the gap, respectively. Together these findings suggest that less-educated men likely exit the labor force due to constraint, prior to saving enough for retirement. The education gap in labor force participation could therefore be a precursor to retirement security inequalities in older age.Social Polic

Frame to Foreground: Translating Documentary Landscapes in Braddock, PA

The project posits that critical photography should be adopted as a design methodology – starting from the representation of a diagnostic relationship between a subject and their setting to grasp at the ineffable affect that artists capture beautifully, and often revealing social issues, left in tension within the frame through photographic techniques. This thesis project argues the translation of critical photography into spatial elements is crucial for our understanding of place. Furthermore, this new methodology reveals the concept of defining landscape as a set of relationships between living beings. The project is about preserving what every local in Braddock, Pennsylvania holds—a strong relationship to place. Using Frazier’s framing techniques, this thesis injects photography directly into the method of design. The project imagines a system of public landscapes that are centered in belonging, gathering, and reclaiming space. A riverfront park, a gathering pavilion, a public plaza, and a garden work as one to knit together a post-industrial steel mill town that has been disinvested for forty years. This thesis is advised by Sara Zewde.Department of Landscape Architectur