Its Skin is My Skin

This text examines the complexity of attempting to empathize with bodies that are vastly othered from my own. This broad yet nuanced subject crosses epistemological boundaries and complicates the dualities between both the mind and body, and between the corporeal and the virtual. My desire to better understand the conditions of another’s experience originates from a painful traumatic loss which caused me to feel isolated and incomplete. In response to this suffering, I long to emotionally connect with other beings and create artwork that attempts to bridge the qualia of individual experience. I am interested in the capacity (or lack thereof) to empathize with othered bodies; human, animal, non-human and virtual. As a result, my work involves discourse around the parameters that constitute being considered alive, the ability of cross-species empathy through shared experiences of embodiment, as well as corporeal relationships with digital technology and cyberspace. I utilize the media of digital photography along with 3D modeling and animation software to create abject amalgams of human flesh. Through the freedom of the digital medium, I can visually depict internal conflict in a way that transcends corporeal limitations. I manipulate representations of tangible bodies, placing them in surreal non-spaces that I intend to be suggestive of psychological states or digital voids. By doing so, I hope to not only convey intangible emotions of pain, but also speak to the complexity of understanding corporeal indeterminacy and a fragmentation of identity within a virtual environment unbound by physical limitations

Making Old Things New Again: The Northridge Psalter, with Antiphons Based on Lessons from the Revised Common Lectionary

Responsive psalmody is one of the primary musical vehicles for presenting the Psalms in worship by choir and congregation. Existing responsive psalmody features congregational antiphons with texts derived directly from the psalms. Working with the Revised Common Lectionary, this thesis presents fifty newly written and composed antiphons with texts derived from the accompanying RCL lessons. The goal of this method is to emphasize prophetic connections between the Old Testament lesson and Gospel lesson via the antiphons. This thesis also features a history of lectionary development, a detailed account of the creative process, rubrics for presenting the responsive psalmody in worship, musical-theological analysis, and psalm reflections

QUANTIFYING HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY IN MINE DRAINAGE PASSIVE TREATMENT SYSTEM VERTICAL FLOW BIOREACTORS

Heavy industrial mining has occurred in the United States for more than 100 years, and in many cases, has led to large-scale environmental degradation, especially from historical operations where mining occurred prior to environmental regulations. Many of these derelict or abandoned operations discharge abandoned mine drainage (AMD), which contains ecotoxic metal-contamination that impairs receiving stream water quality and negatively impacts local ecology. Passive treatment systems (PTS) are cost effective treatment technologies that are designed to use relatively little fossil fuels and natural physicochemical (e.g., limestone dissolution) and biological (e.g., bacterial sulfate reduction) processes for the treatment of AMD. One of the key components of PTS are vertical flow bioreactors (VFBRs). VFBRs typically include waste organic materials as microbial substrates overlying rock drainage layers. They utilize the dissolution of limestone to generate alkalinity for neutralization of excess protons and promote sulfate-reducing bacteria for additional alkalinity generation and trace metal removal as sulfides. However, long-term operation and maintenance issues in PTS include decreased hydraulic conductivity in VFBRs. Decreased hydraulic conductivity leads to either water by-passing the cell or decreased treatment efficiencies. This research focused on quantifying the hydraulic conductivity and characterizing the organic layer in VFBRs of multiple passive treatment systems with the intention of developing plans for extending the lives of the treatment systems. VFBRs at the Mayer Ranch, Hartshorne and Red Oak PTS were selected for this study. This research used four different methods to estimate hydraulic conductivity in VFBRs that have been in operation for 8-15 years. Hydraulic conductivity was compared against several different treatment media characteristics. The hydraulic conductivity measurements ranged from 9.93x10-3 to 1.74x10-5 cm/s. The comparison of the hydraulic conductivity and the treatment media characteristics indicated a trend that as particle density increased the hydraulic conductivity decreased. The comparison of the different methods did not yield one definitive method, but found that site variables dictated that certain methods may be more accurate or viable than others. The results helped to characterize the treatment media and quantified the hydraulic conductivity of the treatment media of VFBRs

Using Commodity Graphics Hardware for Real-Time Digital Hologram View-Reconstruction

View-reconstruction and display is an important part of many applications in digital holography such as computer vision and microscopy. Thus far, this has been an offline procedure for megapixel sized holograms. This paper introduces an implementation of real-time view-reconstruction using programmable graphics hardware. The theory of Fresnel-based view-reconstruction is introduced, after which an implementation using stream programming is presented. Two different fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based reconstruction methods are implemented, as well as two different FFT strategies. The efficiency of the methods is evaluated and compared to a CPU-based implementation, providing over 100 times speedup for a hologram size of 2048 x 2048

Using Commodity Graphics Hardware for Real-Time Digital Hologram View-Reconstruction

View-reconstruction and display is an important part of many applications in digital holography such as computer vision and microscopy. Thus far, this has been an offline procedure for megapixel sized holograms. This paper introduces an implementation of real-time view-reconstruction using programmable graphics hardware. The theory of Fresnel-based view-reconstruction is introduced, after which an implementation using stream programming is presented. Two different fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based reconstruction methods are implemented, as well as two different FFT strategies. The efficiency of the methods is evaluated and compared to a CPU-based implementation, providing over 100 times speedup for a hologram size of 2048 x 2048

ADVOCATING FOR ADOLESCENT SUBSTANCE USE RECOVERY: AN ALTERNATIVE MODEL

Adolescents at risk for substance use disorders face unique challenges in recovery when compared with adults. Counselors may seek to address developmental considerations with such clients, but often lack diagnostic and community resources necessary to provide holistic care. The Alternative Peer Group model shows promise in addressing adolescent recovery, however, more research is needed. We conclude from the limited research that has been conducted on APGs that there are positive aspects to consider in implementing this model including a positive peer group that offers support in recovery, 12-step meetings that are adapted specifically for adolescents, parent education and support, and community outreach to other treatment facilities and mental health providers. We also suggest that an important way to advocate for adolescent recovery from substance use disorder is for researchers to continue to conduct rigorous studies on this model as well as other promising recovery support systems for adolescents while recognizing the unique differences between adult and adolescent recovery

Rose-Ringed Parakeets

Rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri; hereafter RRPA; Figure 1) are an invasive species in the United States, present in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia, and with established populations in California, Florida, and Hawaii. They are also the most successful species of invasive parakeet, worldwide. RRPA can cause significant damage to agriculture, including grains, oilseeds, fruits, and ornamental plants. Large flocks of RRPA roost near human infrastructure resulting in concerns about human health and safety (e.g., collisions with aircraft, disease transmission, feces accumulation, and noise complaints). The population growth and spread of RRPA is of conservation concern given the potential impact on native wildlife, spread of invasive plant seeds, and destruction of native plants. RRPA are an agricultural pest with a generalist diet and feeding behaviors that increase the severity of crop damage (Figure 2). RRPA damage corn by feeding on the anthers and pollen of the inflorescence, the tender cob stage, and the milky cob stage up until maturity. RRPA perch on sunflower heads and access the seeds that are hulled prior to consumption. Damage to tree fruits is greater on the top branches compared to the side and bottom branches. RRPA attack stored grains and eat unripe fruit, extending the damage period. RRPA often discard partially-eaten food. Crop damage varies with some fields experiencing more damage due to the timing of crop maturity or location (e.g., field or orchard edges have greater damage than interior). RRPA strip roosting trees (e.g., royal palms in Kauai) of their leaves. A long-term management plan that involves sustained lethal control is necessary to reduce invasive RRPA populations and their damage. In the meantime, the following damage management methods may provide short-term relief from RRPA damage

Cultivation of Industrial Hemp on and Near Airports: Implications for Wildlife Use and Risk to Aviation Safety

Land-use planning on and near airports should consider possible revenue from land covers, associated maintenance costs, and potential for land covers to attract vertebrate species recognized as hazardous to aviation safety. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has expressed interest in recent attention given to industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.; hemp) as a revenue-producing land cover that might be cultivated on or near airports. Our purpose was to better understand the potential production value of hemp as well as its possible role in affecting aviation safety if cultivated on or near airports. Our objectives were to: (1) review the literature relative to a historical perspective of hemp cultivation in the United States, projected cultivation practices, and anticipated economic viability, (2) use our review to gather information on vertebrate use of hemp cultivars, and (3) revisit U.S. and international regulations on land covers near airports relative to attraction of species recognized as hazardous to aviation safety. We found, via review of peer-reviewed and gray literature, that hemp holds potential as an emerging crop in the United States, contributing to food, medicine, and biomass-derived products as well as evidence that birds will use, if not depredate, the crop. However, future markets promoting cultivation of hemp remain tentative. Further, there has been no objective quantification of bird and other wildlife use of hemp alone or as a component of a land cover matrix on or near airports and relative to implications for aviation safety. We make recommendations for future research on wildlife use of hemp and metrics necessary to inform aviation safety

Heroin Use and Sex: Some Patterns in Miami-Dade County, Florida

Much of the literature on heroin and opioid addiction holds that regular, long-term users of heroin and other opioids lose interest in sex as their drug using careers lengthen. Analysis of self-reports collected from IDUs in two cross- sectional surveys on patterns of risk behavior in Miami-Dade County, Florida, reveals that large proportions of IDUs report using heroin before or during sex across a wide range of self-injection experience, from as little as twelve months to over 40 years. One half or more of respondents to both surveys reported using heroin in their recent sexual experiences, with similar proportions reported by both males and females. The same IDUs, however, tend not to report using prescription painkillers before or during sex. This finding indicates that co-occurring risk behavior related to both sexual behavior and heroin use may be more prevalent among long-term IDUs than previous literature has suggested