This project investigates a specific concept within architecture: the portal. Divided into eight independent chapters, all possible to read as stand-alone parts, the thesis – a hybrid essay consisting of text, images, drawings and models – uses the portal as a springboard, or tool, for approaching existing theories on the invisible forces that shape the world and our built environment.    The chapter Nature approaches the portal and architecture as separator from "nature", the chapter Ritual as a ritual device for transition, the chapter Myth as a mythological archetype, the chapter Liminal as interstitial space and recursion, the chapter Depth as an enhancer of depth, the chapter Speed as a technological machine, and finally, the epilogue concludes that architectural practice in large can be interpreted as the creation of different types of portals.   Architecture, both as a subject and as a practice, has the potential to manifest and mediate between various supplementary relationships, such as interior and exterior, nature and culture, sacred and profane, heaven and earth, past and future, between sign and signified, us and them, between order and chaos, between subject and object, thought and action, private and public, rationality and imagination, flat and three-dimensional, flesh and matter (the list can go on forever).    The portal works both as an analogy for this and as an actual tool; partly by changing the character of adjacent spaces by such basic things as placing a door in a wall or placing a building in a landscape, but partly by finding new ways to bridge between extremities, without necessarily dissolving them completely.

Automatic segmentation of the lumen of carotid arteries in ultrasound images is a starting step in providing preventive care for patients with atherosclerosis. To perform the segmentation this paper introduces a model utilizing a threshold algorithm. The model was tested with two different threshold algorithms, Otsu and Sauvola, then scored against professionally drawn masks. The scores were calculated with Dice and Jaccard-Needham as well as specificity, recall, and f1-score. The results showed promising mean and median similarity between the predictions and masks. Future work includes either optimizing the current model or augmenting it to give an even better ground to continue the work on providing preventive care for atherosclerosis patients.

The determination and application of Analytical Threshold (AT) is a vital part of the forensic Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) internal validation process. AT is the relative fluorescence unit (RFU) signal at which allelic peaks can be confidently distinguished from baseline noise. Several methods of calculating AT are currently being implemented within the forensic DNA community. These methods may utilize DNA negative sample data, DNA positive sample data, or both in their calculations. In this study, two of the DNA positive-based AT calculation techniques were chosen for assessment and comparison. The simplified upper limit approach (ULA) and the cost-based approach. ATs were calculated for each dye channel using a dilution series of 3 single source DNA samples ranging from 0.05-0.8ng. The ATs calculated via the cost-based approach consistently exhibited lower values than those determined via the ULA. As a result, the incidence of allelic drop-out exhibited by these AT values was also consistently lower, with an equivalent or only marginally increased incidence of baseline noise drop-in. These results indicated that the cost-based approach may be a more effective and practical method of calculating AT than the ULA, particularly in the analysis of low DNA template samples.

"Where the power of the wall is to deny, the power of the door is to permit, and allow entry. 1" Borders are represented on maps as thick, predetermined lines that delineate, separate, and segregate one area from another. A whole is divided into two or more parts. Borders become boundaries and, in reality, are abstract and intangible, often responsible for creating both geographic and political havoc. In between a border are thresholds that signal a transition between layers, spaces, times, and countries. This project engages within this Liminal space, an in-between of the threshold. Prompted by humanitarian and political crises, thousands of people are fleeing their homes in search of safety and protection from danger, including persecution for protected reasons such as race, religion, nationality, or political opinion. Many, like unaccompanied minors, travel dangerous paths to seek asylum at one of these borders, which promise safety and security from the violent conditions in their countries. In the USA and elsewhere, seeking asylum is a human right. Simultaneously, thousands of people whose claims for asylum are unsuccessful are detained, deported, or repatriated. In 1873, Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, the 27th President of Mexico (1872 to 1876) declared, "Let there be a desert between strength and weakness." The United States of America and the United Mexican States share a historically-contested 1,954-mile border. Any wall separating two countries belongs to both countries. This thesis considers borders as more than places that close or delimit one place from another, but also as opportunities to expand into living and organic spaces. Borders both delimit and negotiate between two sides of neither a single state nor a single place but as thresholds which hundreds of thousands of separate lives navigate every single day along the border regions. This thesis explores how architecture focused on empowering at-risk asylum seekers can shape the border space. In particular, the chosen design proposes a Halfway House on the threshold space between the twin-sister borderplex of Laredo, Texas, United States of America, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. / Master of Architecture / Borders are represented on maps as thick, predetermined lines that delineate, separate and segregate one area from another. A whole divided into two or more parts. Borders become boundaries and in reality, are abstract and intangible, often responsible for creating both geographic and political havoc. In between these borders, is where we find liminal space. Prompted by humanitarian and political crises, thousands of people are fleeing their homes in search of safety and protection from danger, including persecution of race, religion, nationality, or political opinion. Many people, including unaccompanied minors, travel dangerous paths to seek asylum at one of these borders, which promise safety and security from the violent conditions in their countries. In the USA and elsewhere, seeking asylum is a human right. Simultaneously, thousands of people whose claims for asylum are unsuccessful are detained, deported, or repatriated. This thesis considers borders as more than places that close or delimit one place from another, but also as opportunities to expand into living and organic spaces. Borders both delimit and negotiate between two sides of neither a single state, nor a single place but as thresholds which hundreds of thousands of separate lives navigate every single day along the border regions. This thesis explores how architecture focused on empowering at-risk asylum seekers can shape the border space. In particular, the chosen design proposes a halfway house between Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between personality and pain perception in healthy adults. Thirty participants completed the study. All participants were asked to scan a QR code and fill out a survey on their phones that included demographic questions and the Eysenck personality inventory (EPI). The demographics section included questions on age, sex, job activity level, and physical activity level. The researcher then evaluated their pressure pain threshold (PPT) using a handheld pressure algometer. The algometer was applied to the regions of the right paravertebral (PVM), quadratus lumborum (QL), and piriformis (PF) muscles perpendicular to the skin based on standardized palpation procedures. The participants were instructed to report when the sensation changed from “comfortable” to “mildly unpleasant pressure.” Results suggest that there was a positive correlation between PPT applied to the different muscles but there was no strong correlation found between the participants extraversion score and neuroticism score and their PPT at different muscles. This study aids in the understanding of the relationship between personality and pain sensitivity by providing a better view on which tools are the most beneficial in assessing personality and how it relates to pain in a clinical setting.

Subglottic stenosis (SGS) is an abnormal narrowing of the airway at the level of the cricoid cartilage, above the first tracheal ring and immediately beneath the vocal folds. Individuals with SGS experience a reduction in their ability to breathe as well as adverse effects on voice function. SGS can result from a variety of causes with the type of treatment depending on stenosis severity. Surgical techniques such as laryngotracheal and cricotracheal reconstruction are beneficial for airway maintenance; however, these procedures have resulted in negative effects on voice production. On the other hand, there are patients with SGS who do not require surgery and still experience voice problems. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of SGS on vocal fold vibration using an excised larynx benchtop mechanical model. Using a within-subjects repeated measures design, nine porcine larynges underwent experimental conditions including 0% (i.e., normal airway), 50% and 75% stenosed. The primary outcome measure was phonation threshold flow (PTF), which is the rate of flow observed at the onset of phonation. For all larynges, the normal and stenosed conditions were sampled three times each and averaged. Analysis of the results revealed no statistically significant differences in PTF; however, descriptive data showed decreases in PTF and increased variability in PTF values as percent stenosis increased. These findings lay important groundwork for future research in SGS, specifically those that employ ex vivo methodologies. PTF has emerged as a promising means of quantifying voice function in addition to the traditional onset pressure measures. Future studies should examine a broader range of stenosis conditions with a larger sample size to promote generalization to clinical populations including individuals with SGS.

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