A Feminist Reading of the Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

In the United States, where equality is preached, a severe inequality can still be seen in the treatment of women. In Junot Diaz’s, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Diaz voices this inequality and discusses machismo and rape culture, exemplifying the appalling effects it has on women as well as society. Using characterization and harsh diction, Junot Diaz juxtaposes the objectification of women with its toxic properties. Diaz crafts his story in a way that confronts the frequently ignored issues of machismo, and allows his readers to see for themselves how unequal treatment of women manifests itself as venomous for society. While Junot Diaz discusses these ideologies within a Dominican Republic society, my paper spreads past these borders, and evaluates how America maintains the idea of women as objects. America displays staggering rape statistics, yet fails to follow through in efforts to alleviate and discuss this plaguing issue. The view of women as sex objects is not confine to the pages of Junot Diaz’s book, but can be seen stretching across our world today. My paper will illustrate why The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao should be viewed as a feminist text, despite its derogatory language, and will also elaborate on the crippling effects of machismo and rape culture upon equality and untainted love. This project will closely evaluate the degradation of women and illuminate why men and women must not fall silent on issues of injustice, but voice their fight for fair treatment

Toxicological Differences Between Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Isomers Using Developmental Biomarkers

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are metabolically stable synthetic chemicals that have been manufactured for commercial and industrial purposes since the 1950s. PFAS possess surfactant properties that make them ideal to fight hydrocarbon fires and are therefore present in aqueous film forming foams (AFFF). Furthermore, AFFF may contain blends of both linear and branched PFAS isomers. Research suggests that branched PFAS isomers have greater relative placental transfer efficiencies than their linear counterpart, but few studies have evaluated their toxicity. Therefore, the sustained use of AFFF in the U.S. Air Force presents a risk of branched PFAS exposures in pregnant females. This study investigated the toxicological differences between branched and linear PFAS isomers in vitro using the JEG-3 human placental cell-line as a model. Cells were exposed to linear and branched perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHXS) for 24 to 48 hours at concentrations ranging from 0.2 M to 50 M. Subsequently, changes in three specific biomarkers were examined. No significant statistical differences in cellular proliferation and cellular viability were highlighted in cells exposed to both compounds at equivalent concentrations; however, mean cell proliferation appeared greater when exposed to linear PFHxS. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was statistically higher in JEG-3 cells exposed to branched PFHxS isomers at corresponding concentrations

Hydrodynamic characterisation of layered herringbone microchannels

This paper was presented at the 2nd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2009), which was held at Brunel University, West London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IPEM, the Italian Union of Thermofluid dynamics, the Process Intensification Network, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.The performance of a layered herringbone microstructured channel is compared with the staggered herringbone micromixer (SHM) originally proposed by Stroock et al. (2002). The layered configuration uses a single set of herringbone structures for two adjacent channels. Mixing and residence time distributions (RTDs) are studied both theoretically, via computational fluid dynamics and particle tracking algorithms, and experimentally. Experimental RTD measurements were performed by monitoring the concentration of a tracer dye by means of a LED-photodiode system. The proposed layered design gives similar results in terms of mixing and RTD as the standard SHM and it outperforms the behaviour of a rectangular channel

ASA Task Force on First Generation and Working Class Persons in Sociology Infographic

We created this infographic from the American Sociological Association Task Force Report on First Generation and Working Class Persons in Sociology (2022). The infographic outlines the findings by exploring themes such as loan debt, mobility, and social inequality. Study findings include data collected on faculty and graduate students in sociology

Residence time distributions in laminated microstructured plate reactors

This paper was presented at the 2nd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2009), which was held at Brunel University, West London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IPEM, the Italian Union of Thermofluid dynamics, the Process Intensification Network, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.Residence time distributions (RTDs) have been investigated experimentally for systems with straight and zig-zag channels. The channels are formed by microstructured plates placed on top of each other and containing obstacles and holes to allow flow in 3 dimensions. Experimental RTD measurements were performed by monitoring the concentration of a tracer dye by means of a LED-photodiode system. The RTD was obtained for five different flowrates for both geometries. It was found that the zig-zag channel configuration gives a narrower distribution as compared to the straight channel one. Furthermore, as the flowrate increased the standard deviation of the distribution increased

Determining Force Field Parameters Involved with Metal Organic Framework Synthesis

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are synthetic materials made of a cage-like lattice with consistently spaced pores. The size of these pores are the defining characteristic of a MOF, as it determines which gases are allowed to pass through and which can be trapped. Examples of their potential use can be greenhouse gas sequestration or storage. Currently, the synthesis of MOFs is based on trial-and-error, and the successes are not well understood. We are working on building the theoretical framework that describes how a particular MOF, MIL-101, comes together during synthesis. Our initial approach was to simulate the possible reactions with chemical kinetics through Cantera (a software suite that works through Python). To do this, a list of all possible intermediates with their thermodynamic properties is required. Another approach is to calculate the chemical force field potentials, and simulate how the atoms themselves behave during the synthesis process. For both purposes we minimized the energy of the structure of one known intermediate, called ML3 (a metal core with three linkers) through Assisted Model Building with Energy Refinement (AMBER) and with electronic structure calculations through Gaussian 09. In the end, the parameters that defined this minimized structure of ML3 were found. These can be used further to build the MIL-101 mechanism for use in Cantera, as well as the force field simulations

Effects of noise on hysteresis and resonance width in graphene and nanotubes resonators

We investigate the role that noise plays in the hysteretic dynamics of a suspended nanotube or a graphene sheet subject to an oscillating force. We find that not only the size but also the position of the hysteresis region in these systems can be controlled by noise. We also find that nano-resonators act as noise rectifiers: by increasing the noise in the setup, the resonance width of the characteristic peak in these systems is reduced and, as a result, the quality factor is increased.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Sent to PRB (in revision

Covert Computation in Self-Assembled Circuits

Traditionally, computation within self-assembly models is hard to conceal because the self-assembly process generates a crystalline assembly whose computational history is inherently part of the structure itself. With no way to remove information from the computation, this computational model offers a unique problem: how can computational input and computation be hidden while still computing and reporting the final output? Designing such systems is inherently motivated by privacy concerns in biomedical computing and applications in cryptography. In this paper we propose the problem of performing "covert computation" within tile self-assembly that seeks to design self-assembly systems that "conceal" both the input and computational history of performed computations. We achieve these results within the growth-only restricted abstract tile assembly model (aTAM) with positive and negative interactions. We show that general-case covert computation is possible by implementing a set of basic covert logic gates capable of simulating any circuit (functionally complete). To further motivate the study of covert computation, we apply our new framework to resolve an outstanding complexity question; we use our covert circuitry to show that the unique assembly verification problem within the growth-only aTAM with negative interactions is coNP-complete