Trusting an Abusive System: Systemic Racism and Black Political Engagement

Africana people in America have relied upon the utilization of political participation in order to address the economic and societal ills that plague its community. Africana people have made strides at all levels of the American government. Africana people were a vital voting block that helped to elect the first American President of African descent. However, studies have shown that the conditions of Africana people in America have not substantially changed since the Voting Rights Act of 1 965 was enacted. Africana political participation has not equated to socioeconomic equality on a large scale for the Africana community. Utilizing Feagin\u27s Systemic Racism Theory, this project looks to examine why solely relying upon the American political system is symptomatic of disagency for Africana people and argues that this dis-agency does not empower our people to seek solutions. It places the power to liberate in the oppressor\u27 s hands, thus maintaining the inequality that continues to exist in America. This article also argues for Africana people to look to themselves as the avenue for addressing the societal ills that it faces. It also argues that Africana people must be their own mechanism for liberation. In addition, the terms Africana and Black will be used interchangeably in the project because those terms are most readily identifiable to people of African descent living in America

On the Dolbeault--Dirac Operator of Quantized Symmetric Spaces

The Dolbeault complex of a quantized compact Hermitian symmetric space is expressed in terms of the Koszul complex of a braided symmetric algebra of Berenstein and Zwicknagl. This defines a spectral triple quantizing the Dolbeault-Dirac operator associated to the canonical spin^c structure.Comment: 25 page

Synthesis of Fe-oxide nanoparticles using microreactors

The work described in this thesis focuses upon the development of a novel adaptable continuous flow technique for the synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles using commercially available microreactor system, to allow for easy scaling up towards a larger industrial scale. The development of the technique focussed around the conversion of commonly used research techniques, which require the use of specifically designed microreactors, for use upon commercially available microreactors in which the design is fixed. A 2D continuous flow focussed technique was developed based upon the attempted conversion of the droplet coalescence and co-axial flow technique which has been previously used for nanoparticle synthesis by other research groups.The nanoparticles produced using this technique were extensively characterised, in terms of physical and magnetic properties, and seen to be comparable, to those produced by other groups and those currently used as magnetic cores for MRI contrast applications. A critical evaluation of the effect of reaction parameters, e.g. reagent concentration, flow rate, and temperature upon nanoparticle size was made, however little quantifiable conclusions could be drawn. The structure of the nanoparticles was further investigated using a previously developed powder X-ray diffraction calibration technique which relied upon the asymmetry of peaks relating to specific reflections in the γ-Fe₂O₃ and Fe₃O₄ phases present in the nanoparticles. The structures were determined to contain higher quantities of γ-Fe₂O₃ which is more chemically stable but less magnetically favourable of the two phases. Further analysis using Mössbauer and solid state Infra-red analysis confirmed these findings, and as such attempts were made to control the amount of these phases within the nanoparticles. The synthesis technique was therefore adapted to allow for control of the amount of these phases within the nanoparticles by addition of oxidation and reducing agents into the synthesis. By doing this it proved able to synthesise nanoparticles which using the above powder X-ray diffraction technique were seen to be almost completely formed of γ-Fe₂O₃, synthesis of nanoparticles with higher weight percentages of Fe₃O₄, however proved not to be possible.Further work upon attempting to alter the magnetic properties of the nanoparticles has involved developing cation substitution reactions performed using microreactors. In batch these reactions are common place, however to the best of the author’s knowledge however no attempt has yet been made at cation substitution using microreactors. Partial replacement of Fe with another metal cation in the spinel structure was attempted to create a series of MxFe₃₋ₓO₄ compounds, this has been seen to alter the cation distribution and magnetic properties of the nanoparticles by other research groups. Several attempts at substituting Co, Mn, Zn, V, and Sn into the structure in batch. Zn substitution appeared the most successful in batch, and the synthesis was adapted to form ZnxFe₃₋ₓO₄ nanoparticles, with greater amounts of substitution into the nanoparticles seen when performing the synthesis in microreactors rather than batch.The 2D continuous flow focussed technique would therefore prove a useful tool for the synthesis of biomedical nanoparticles. Not only those it produce nanoparticles with the correct physical and magnetic properties, but also allows for their adaptation and manipulation of these properties to be tailored for specific applications

Quantum Algebras Associated to Irreducible Generalized Flag Manifolds

The first part of this thesis deals with certain properties of the quantum symmetric and exterior algebras of Type 1 representations of $U_q(g)$ defined by Berenstein and Zwicknagl. We define a notion of a commutative algebra object in a coboundary category, and we prove that the quantum symmetric algebra of a module is the universal commutative algebra generated by that module. That is, the functor assigning to a module its quantum symmetric algebra is left adjoint to a forgetful functor. We also prove a conjecture of Berenstein and Zwicknagl, stating that the quantum symmetric and exterior cubes exhibit the same amount of "collapsing" relative to their classical counterparts. We prove that those quantum exterior algebras that are flat deformations of their classical analogues are Frobenius algebras. We also develop a rigorous framework for discussing continuity and limits of the structures involved as the deformation parameter q varies along the positive real line. The second part deals with quantum analogues of Clifford algebras and their application to the noncommutative geometry of certain quantum homogeneous spaces. We introduce the quantum Clifford algebra through its spinor representation via creation and annihilation operators on one of the flat quantum exterior algebras discussed in the first part. The proof that the spinor representation is irreducible relies on the Frobenius property discussed previously. We use this quantum Clifford algebra to revisit Krahmer's construction of a Dolbeault-Dirac-type operator on a quantized irreducible flag manifold. This operator is of the form $d+d^*$, and we relate $d$ to the boundary operator for the Koszul complex of a certain quantum symmetric algebra, which shows that $d^2=0$. This is a first step toward a Parthasarathy-type formula for the spectrum of the square of the Dirac operator.Comment: 146 pages. This is the author's PhD thesi

A Quantitative Genetic Analysis of the Ancestry of Neil Trask Line Bred Hereford Cattle

Diverse expression of any given trait within a breed is required to protect the breed from the unwanted consequences of selective breeding. Within the cattle industry, the fluid state of selective breeding trends, and consumer demand, creates a need for intermediate/moderate type cattle within individual breeds. These cattle have the ability to stabilize a given breed and bring it back from the extreme ends of the popular selection trends. This allows cattle breeders to change the genetics of their cattle, with relative speed, and meet consumer demands. Also, it protects individual breeds from harmful genetic mutations. This is evident in the increase in demand for intermediate cattle herds, like the Trask cattle, during the time period when most of the prominent Hereford breeders had carriers of snorter dwarfism in their herds. For this reason, it is important to preserve intermediate cattle lines like the Trask cattle, which have not conformed to popular cattle breeding trends. The genetic influence of various groups of ancestors on Trask bred bulls in current/recent herds was assessed using Wright’s Relationship Coefficient (Rvxvy), and the inbreeding coefficient (Fvx). Mean inbreeding coefficients of a group of 26 representative bulls from Trask bloodlines were compared to the mean inbreeding coefficient of all cattle in the available pedigree. Mean relatedness of the same 26 bulls with 1) a group of 15 prominent ancestors in the Hereford and Polled Hereford breeds, 2) a group of 30 ancestors that had the most descendants in the pedigree, and 3) a group of 19 prominent Trask line ancestors, was compared to the entire pedigree mean relatedness with the same groups. These comparisons were tested by 1) approximating a beta distribution representing the distribution of relatedness or inbreeding coefficients and testing the mean against that approximated distribution, and 2) employing resampling methods to generate a bootstrapped distribution and compare means to those distributions. These two analysis methods produced slightly different results; the beta P-values resulted in a failure to reject the H0, and the bootstrap resulted in the rejection of the Hv0. This difference highlighted the beta distribution method’s inability to account for the variation that occurs among samples drawn from a given population. The bootstrap resampling method was able to account for this variation because it draws numerous random samples to use in the calculation of the empirical P-values. Results provide a scientific assessment on the genetic influence of the Trask pedigree ancestors on the Trask bred bulls in recent/current herds. Testing against approximated beta (β) distributions may have resulted in type II errors (failure to reject the null hypothesis when it is in fact false). Mean relationship coefficients for the ancestors show the Trask herd ancestors had the closest relationship with the Trask bulls (mean Rxy = 0.208), followed by the top 30 ancestors (mean Rvxvy = 0.150), and then the key breed ancestors (mean Rxy = 0.132). The Trask herd ancestor group not only had the closest relationship to the Trask bulls, they also had the smallest relationship coefficient (mean Rxy = 0.072) with the Trask pedigree as a whole. This may indicate that the genetic distance that accumulated between the Trask cattle and the rest of the Hereford breed is due to isolation and inbreeding associated with linebreeding. The mean Fx values showed the sample of 26 Trask bulls (Fvx = 0.130) was more inbred than the animals in the Trask pedigree (Fvx = 0.056)

Status of the tiger beetle Cicindela hirticollis Say (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) in New York City and on Long Island, New York, USA

Coastal species are under considerable threat from recreational activities and climate change. The tiger beetle Cicindela hirticollis Say (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae) was recorded historically from 30 locations along the shores of New York City and Long Island, New York. We conducted surveys for extant populations of this species at 40 sites from 1989 to 2010. Adults of C. hirticollis were found at 13 beaches. Only four sites had 40 or more adults of C. hirticollis active at the time the beach was surveyed. No beetles were detected on the large coastal beaches that were formerly occupied by this species. Many coastal beaches of New York receive heavy human foot and vehicle traffic and are therefore unlikely to provide suitable habitat for C. hirticollis without a shift in beach management that recognizes the potential of some beaches as wilderness systems capable of supporting the full array of beach-dependent species

Relations among higher Whitehead maps

We define generalised higher Whitehead maps between polyhedral products. By investigating the interplay between the homotopy-theoretic properties of polyhedral products and the combinatorial properties of simplicial complexes, we describe new families of relations among these maps, while recovering and generalising known identities among Whitehead products.Comment: 44 page

Human-Machine Interfacing via Epidermal Electronic Systems

Surface electromyography (EMG) is rapidly becoming a viable control source for interfacing with machines. By measuring the electric potential generated by the contractions of skeletal muscles, systems can be controlled with a mere flick of the wrist, allowing intuitive and versatile control to the wielder. As sensors and classification algorithms become more sophisticated, EMG control has increasing potential to revolutionize the way we interact with and utilize technology. Prosthetics in particular have benefited the most from these recent advances, with one research team successfully returning ambulation to a leg amputee last year. However, this technology is not yet suitable for practical use, as implementations often require bulky hardware and is limited by the complexities of the software. To amend these issues and facilitate further research in this field, we propose a consolidated solution that will handle the acquisition and classification of an EMG input while providing protocols to interface with an external system. Where most setups are cumbersome and impractical, usually requiring a piece of dedicated hardware for each step in the signal chain, we have made our system as small and cost-effective as possible. By consolidating our solution onto a single circuit board with bluetooth integration, we will maximize portability and afford researchers flexibility when working with our system. This portability will allow our device to be placed in close proximity to the EMG sensors to transmit the signal wirelessly to a central hub, which will process it further. Here the central hub will classify the waveform and map it to a definitive command that can be used to interface with an external system. This will abstract the classification aspect away from the developer, simplifying the process and allowing them to focus on what they are trying to accomplish. Our system will also allow for further extension by being robust enough to handle multiple EMG inputs and allowing researchers to easily configure the device for their purposes. To accommodate future advances in classification algorithms or future improvements to the system itself, we will also provide frameworks that will allow researchers and developers to program the device themselves. By giving researchers the tools to quickly implement this technology, we allow them to focus on other aspects of what they are trying to build instead of worrying about the technicalities that go into designing a system like this. Further development in this field will give us unprecedented ways to interact with the world around us and change how we utilize technology. Given this technology’s proclivity towards those who are disabled, our project has the potential to drastically improve the quality of life for the unfortunate as well.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1040/thumbnail.jp