Covered in Dust: Coming of Age in a Gazebo Factory

This memoir chronicles the three summers I spent working in the factories at Chestnut Hill Gazebos. It focuses on three narrative strands: the day-to-day life of a factory worker, the struggles within and eventual breakdown of my relationship with my girlfriend, and how my job at Chestnut Hill helped me critique my fundamentalist Christian roots by forcing me into a deeper understanding of my faith and its relationship to the world outside the confines of my upbringing. The critical afterword uses essays by Leona Toker and other theorists as a framework for understanding how I approached several different problems when writing my memoir, such as how to present incomplete memories of events, whether or not to condense events for the sake of a more streamlined narrative, and whether or not a memoirist should use composite characters. I explain how various practitioners and critics influenced my decisions, and I also compare my approach to the practices of other memoirists.

Citation Methodologies in Eusebius’ Historia ecclesiastica and Other Ancient Historiography

This dissertation examines ancient historiographic citation methodologies in light of Mikhail Bakhtin’s dichotomy between polyphony and monologization. In particular, this dissertation argues that Eusebius of Caesarea’s Historia ecclesiastica (HE) abandons the monologic citation methodology typical of previous Greek and Hellenistic historiography and introduces a polyphonic citation methodology that influences subsequent late-ancient Christian historiography to varying degrees. Whereas Pre-Eusebian Greek and Hellenistic historiographers typically use citations to support the single authorial consciousness of the historiographer, Eusebius uses citations to counterbalance his own shortcomings as a witness to past events. Eusebius allows his citations to retain their own voice, even when they conflict with his. The result is a narrative that transcends the point of view of any single individual and makes multiple witnesses, including the narrator, available to the reader. Post-Eusebian late-ancient Christian historiographers exhibit the influence of Eusebius’ innovation, but they are not as intentional as Eusebius in their use of citation methodologies. Many subsequent Christian historiographers use both monologic and polyphonic citation methodologies. Their tendency to follow Eusebius’ practice of citing numerous lengthy citations sometimes emphasizes points of view that oppose the author’s point of view. When an opposing viewpoint surfaces in enough citations, a polyphonic citation methodology emerges. The reader holds the two different narrative strands in tension as the author continues to give voice to opposing viewpoints. After illustrating the citation methodologies with passages from numerous Greek, Hellenistic, and late ancient Christian historiographers, this dissertation concludes with a short computational analysis that uses natural language processing to reveal some broad trends that highlight the previous findings and suggest a possibility for future research.

Thermogravimetric analysis of the pyrolysis of several materials used in the preparation of commercial cigarettes

Comunicación presentada en forma de póster en el "12th Mediterranean Congress of Chemical Engineering", Barcelona (Spain), November 15-18, 2011

Recursos hídricos superficiais vs subterrâneos na Várzea da Nazaré : implicações na qualidade da água

Tese de doutoramento, Geologia (Hidrogeologia), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2016

Regional government and the "New Europe"

Introduction. Regional government in contemporary western Europe corresponds to a type of society and economy variously labeled "post-industrial", "post-bourgeois" or merely "the New Europe."l This New Europe evolved historically from the interconnected strands of capitalism; industrialism and pluralistic democracy. It resembles in many respects the type of economy and society familiar to us in North America. Regional government in such a society is thus merely an adaptation on the scale of half a continent of forms of social and economic organization which evolved historically at the national level. Regional government in the New Europe is the institutional and political recognition that societies have changed dramatically since 1945, so dramatically that they cannot be adequately described in the doctrines and ideologies made familiar by nineteenth and early twentieth century political thought. Hence the New Europe and its regional government is the future of that part of history which has also been aptly described as "the end of ideology."

Let’s get to Work! The Future of Labour in Europe. Vol. 1. CEPS Paperback, 8 September 2014

Work is both an essential part of our daily lives and one of the major policy concerns across Europe. Yet the public debate of labour issues is all too often driven by political rhetoric and short-term concerns. In this volume, researchers from seven European countries explain, in accessible language, the findings from various social sciences and what they mean for the future of labour in Europe. The conclusions they reach are addressed to policy-makers, the business world, journalists and fellow academics, and to anyone interested in the shape, size and character of the labour markets of tomorrow. “Many valuable synergies emerged between the various strands of NEUJOBS and the in-house analytical work of the European Commission.” László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

Regional Wage and Employment Responses to Market Potential in the EU. Bruges European Economic Research (BEER) Papers 3/November 2005

Recent theoretical work on economic geography emphasizes the interplay of transport costs and plant-level increasing returns. In these models, the spatial distribution of demand is a key determinant of economic outcomes. In one strand, it is argued that higher demand gives rise to a more than proportionate increase in production, a result known as the home market effect. Another strand emphasizes the effects of market sizes on factor prices. We highlight the theoretical connection between these two strands. Using data on 57 European regions, we show how wages and employment respond to differentials in what we call real market potential, a discounted sum of demands derived from the theory.

Is globalisation really fuelling populism? CEPS Commentary, 11 May 2016

On both sides of the Atlantic, populism on the left and the right is on the rise. Its most visible standard-bearer in the United States is Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee. In Europe, there are many strands – from Spain’s leftist Podemos party to France’s right-wing National Front – but all share the same opposition to centrist parties and to the establishment in general. What accounts for voters’ growing revolt against the status quo?

The Contribution of the Activation Entropy to the Gas-Phase Stability of Modified Nucleic Acid Duplexes

Tricyclo-DNA (tcDNA) is a sugar-modified analogue of DNA currently tested for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in an antisense approach. Tandem mass spectrometry plays a key role in modern medical diagnostics and has become a widespread technique for the structure elucidation and quantification of antisense oligonucleotides. Herein, mechanistic aspects of the fragmentation of tcDNA are discussed, which lay the basis for reliable sequencing and quantification of the antisense oligonucleotide. Excellent selectivity of tcDNA for complementary RNA is demonstrated in direct competition experiments. Moreover, the kinetic stability and fragmentation pattern of matched and mismatched tcDNA heteroduplexes were investigated and compared with non-modified DNA and RNA duplexes. Although the separation of the constituting strands is the entropy-favored fragmentation pathway of all nucleic acid duplexes, it was found to be only a minor pathway of tcDNA duplexes. The modified hybrid duplexes preferentially undergo neutral base loss and backbone cleavage. This difference is due to the low activation entropy for the strand dissociation of modified duplexes that arises from the conformational constraint of the tc-sugar-moiety. The low activation entropy results in a relatively high free activation enthalpy for the dissociation comparable to the free activation enthalpy of the alternative reaction pathway, the release of a nucleobase. The gas-phase behavior of tcDNA duplexes illustrates the impact of the activation entropy on the fragmentation kinetics and suggests that tandem mass spectrometric experiments are not suited to determine the relative stability of different types of nucleic acid duplexes.

Developmental control of H+/amino acid permease gene expression during seed development of Arabidopsis

Long distance transport of amino acids is mediated by several families of differentially expressed amino acid transporters. The two genes AAP1 and AAP2 encode broad specificity H+-amino acid co-transporters and are expressed to high levels in siliques of Arabidopsis, indicating a potential role in supplying the seeds with organic nitrogen. The expression of both genes is developmentally controlled and is strongly induced in siliques at heart stage of embryogenesis, shortly before induction of storage protein genes. Histochemical analysis of transgenic plants expressing promoter-GUS fusions shows that the genes have non-overlapping expression patterns in siliques. AAP1 is expressed in the endosperm and the cotyledons whereas AAP2 is expressed in the vascular strands of siliques and in funiculi. The endosperm expression of AAP1 during early stages of seed development indicates that the endosperm serves as a transient storage tissue for organic nitrogen. Amino acids are transported in both xylem and phloem but during seed filling are imported only via the phloem. AAP2, which is expressed in the phloem of stems and in the veins supplying seeds, may function in uptake of amino acids assimilated in the green silique tissue, in the retrieval of amino acids leaking passively out of the phloem and in xylem-to-phloem transfer along the path. The promoters provide excellent tools to study developmental, hormonal and metabolic control of nitrogen nutrition during development and may help to manipulate the timing and composition of amino acid import into seeds.

Distribution of the sand-ascidian Seriocarpa rhizoides in surface sediments of Josephine-Bank, North Atlantic (Table 4)

Seriocarpa rhizoides Diehl 1969 was collected in abundance from the calcareous sand of the Josephine Bank (between Portugal and Madeira) during the "Meteor" seamount cruises in 1967. Attachment in this loose soft substratum is effected by fine anchoring strands of the tests. Two irregular series of small polycarp-like hermaphrodite bodies which are embedded in a connective tissue lie directly below the endostyle, forming a tubular compound gonad, but without common ducts. The intermediate nature of the reproductive system with respect to arrangement and structure increases our knowledge about the polygenetic relations of the stylid-genera. Some of the hitherto known ecological facts point to the presumed "seamounts effect" on this species.

Locating the Seattle Fault in Bellevue, WA: Combining geomorphic indicators with borehole data

The Seattle Fault is an active east-west trending reverse fault zone that intersects both Seattle and Bellevue, two highly populated cities in Washington. Rupture along strands of the fault poses a serious threat to infrastructure and thousands of people in the region. Precise locations of fault strands are still poorly constrained in Bellevue due to blind thrusting, urban development, and/or erosion. Seismic reflection and aeromagnetic surveys have shed light on structural geometries of the fault zone in bedrock. However, the fault displaces both bedrock and unconsolidated Quaternary deposits, and seismic data are poor indicators of the locations of fault strands within the unconsolidated strata. Fortunately, evidence of past fault strand ruptures may also be recorded indirectly by fluvial processes and should also be observable in the subsurface. I analyzed hillslope and river geomorphology using LiDAR data and ArcGIS to locate surface fault traces and then compare/correlate these findings to subsurface offsets identified using borehole data. Geotechnical borings were used to locate one fault offset and provide input to a cross section of the fault constructed using Rockworks software. Knickpoints, which may correlate to fault rupture, were found upstream of this newly identified fault offset as well as upstream of a previously known fault segment.

Locating a strand of the Seattle Fault Zone in southeast Seattle, Washington through topographic analysis, borehole analysis and ground penetrating radar

Contributing to the evaluation of seismic hazards, a previously unmapped strand of the Seattle Fault Zone (SFZ), cutting across the southwest side of Lake Washington and southeast Seattle, is located and characterized on the basis of bathymetry, borehole logs, and ground penetrating radar (GPR). Previous geologic mapping and geophysical analysis of the Seattle area have generally mapped the locations of some strands of the SFZ, though a complete and accurate understanding of locations of all individual strands of the fault system is still incomplete. A bathymetric scarp-like feature and co-linear aeromagnetic anomaly lineament defined the extent of the study area. A 2-dimensional lithology cross-section was constructed using six boreholes, chosen from suitable boreholes in the study area. In addition, two GPR transects, oblique to the proposed fault trend, served to identify physical differences in subsurface materials. The proposed fault trace follows the previously mapped contact between the Oligocene Blakeley Formation and Quaternary deposits, and topographic changes in slope. GPR profiles in Seward Park and across the proposed fault location show the contact between the Blakeley Formation and unconsolidated glacial deposits, but it does not constrain an offset. However, north-dipping beds in the Blakely Formation are consistent with previous interpretations of P-wave seismic profiles on Mercer Island and Bellevue, Washington. The profiles show the mapped location of the aeromagnetic lineament in Lake Washington and the inferred location of the steeply-dipping, high-amplitude bedrock reflector, representing a fault strand. This north-dipping reflector is likely the same feature identified in my analysis. I characterize the strand as a splay fault, antithetic to the frontal fault of the SFZ. This new fault may pose a geologic hazard to the region.

Teaching College Writing in a High School Setting: The Impact of Concurrent Enrollment on Teacher Learning and Practice

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

One Hundred Years of the Concert Marimba: American and Japanese Innovation and Convergence, 1915 to 2014

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Washington, 2016-06