The prevalent and ongoing exposures to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) demands an understanding of the threat they pose and also a means in which to mitigate their potential toxicity. This thesis set out to investigate a phenomenon associated with a specific PCB congener, 3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB126), for the underpinnings of its mechanism, and also its usefulness as a toxin against which to establish a mitigative strategy. The phenomenon in particular is the disruption of hepatic trace elements, specifically an increase in copper and decreases in zinc, selenium, iron, and manganese in the liver. Four questions were posed to address the overarching goals: 1) When does micronutrient disruption occur in the context of liver pathology? 2) What metal transporters or chaperones are involved? 3) Can the previously shown beneficial micronutrient, zinc, alter the disruption and improve outcome? 4) What is occurring spatially within the liver acinus where micronutrients are distributed? By answering these four questions, a fundamental understanding of this occurrence will be ascertained. A chronology of PCB126-hepatotoxicity showed onset of liver pathology at 36 hours and later alterations in micronutrients at 3 days, suggesting disruption of hepatic trace elements is likely the result of liver degeneration. In addition, a key metal transport protein, metallothionein, was induced by PCB126. Utilizing a double knockout animal model, metallothionein was shown to abrogate some toxicity but had little involvement of micronutrient perturbation. Previous investigations have suggested the unique property of zinc in rescuing/preventing hepatic damage by a variety of toxic agents. Dietary zinc had a modest effect in ameliorating PCB126 hepatotoxicity and preserving micronutrient homeostasis. This suggests that the mitigative potential of zinc supplementation on PCB126 exposure is limited. Finally, a fine spatial investigation of the liver acinus was conducted to establish the levels of trace elements from the portal triad to the central vein. In addition, novel findings of high concentrations of extracellular zinc were discovered. In all, this dissertation has shown that disruption of hepatic micronutrients caused by PCB126 are likely the result of liver degeneration by means of disturbing the spatial trace element gradients and provides appropriate context for therapeutic/preventive strategies against PCBs.

This dissertation argues that the symbolic force of deindustrial Rust Belt decline is expressed through patterns of rhetorical invention, what I call ruination rhetorics. Ruination, I argue, works to construct divergent orientations toward space and time in representations of the Rust Belt. I trace these orientations as a way of charting the contours of how we understand domestic urban decay in our contemporary political and economic climate. This project argues that ruination's inventive force hints at a number of thematics including: ruination as urban waste; ruination as a claim to forms of nostalgia and authenticity; ruination as a linkage between temporal configurations of the past and the present; and ruination as a narrative form enabling what I call a "melancholic" rhetorical style. In all of these instances, ruination supports differentiated orientations toward time and space, creating temporal and geographical connections and boundaries through rhetorical manipulations. In this way, the times and spaces of and for industrial ruination shift, and in so doing, their discursive manifestations elucidate the diversity and instability of spatio-temporal structures. Conceptually, I argue that ruination shapes an understanding of space and time as fluid concepts, rather than stagnant or pre-determined categories. And by unpacking the ways that ruination traffics in representations of Rust Belt geographies and citizens, we discover an increasingly complex discursive field out of which meaningful relationships to decay and renewal might be forged. In this way, ruination does not weave a cohesive narrative of what the Rust Belt is, where the Rust Belt is, or who does or does not lay claim to its political realities and challenges. Rather, its divergent and contradictory modes of rhetorical invention suggest ruination expresses the incoherencies and compatibilities constitutive of an everyday life lived in the ebbs and flows of a material space that is always-already a site of ongoing decay and renewal.

Supervision literature has indicated the importance of the supervisory working alliance in the development of effective supervision (Landy, Ellis, & Friedlander, 1999). While there has been a wealth of research on the role of the supervisory working alliance within supervision, there is a dearth of information on how this alliance is formed (Cooper & Ng, 2009). The purpose of this study is to examine if supervision cognitive complexity is a unique aspect of cognitive complexity within counseling and better understand its role in the formation of the supervisory working alliance. Forty-two participants were selected from CACREP accredited masters and doctoral programs located in the North Central region of the Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors (NCACES). Cognitive complexity was measured via two different measures: the Counselor Cognitions Questionnaire (CCQ) and Supervision Cognitive Complexity Questionnaire (SCCQ). The supervisory working alliance was measured by the Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory-Trainee (SWAI-T) which measures the supervisory working alliance from the perspective of the trainee. Results indicated a strong correlation between counseling cognitive complexity and supervision cognitive complexity. Further, the supervision working alliance was not significantly correlated with either measure of cognitive complexity. Supervision cognitive complexity did provide a significant contribution to the variance accounted for in the subscale of client focus in the SWAI-T. Implications for counselor educators and supervisors are discussed.

Electrostatic Dust Collectors (EDCs) are a passive sampling method that has not yet been fully validated. Our first study investigated the effect of EDC mailing and EDC deployment in front of and away from heated ventilation on endotoxin concentrations. Endotoxin sampling efficiency of heated and unheated EDC cloths was evaluated. EDCs express mailed cross-country yielded no significant changes in endotoxin concentrations when dust-only samples were compared to high quality control (QC) spiked-EDCs (p=0.21) and low QC spiked-EDCs (p=0.16). EDCs were deployed in 20 apartments with one EDC placed in front of the univent heater and another EDC placed on a built-in bookshelf. Endotoxin concentrations were significantly different (p=0.049) indicating that EDC placement impacts endotoxin sampling. Heated and unheated EDCs were deployed for 7 days in farm homes. There was a significant difference between endotoxin concentrations (p=0.027). The electrostatic charge of 12 heated and 12 unheated EDC cloths were significantly different (p=0.009). These studies suggest that heating cloths may diminish their electrostatic charge and endotoxin sampling capabilities. The EDC sampling time needed to achieve detectable and reproducible loading for bioaerosols has not been systematically evaluated. In our second study, EDCs were deployed in 15 Iowa farm homes for 7-, 14-, and 28-day sampling periods to determine if endotoxin and allergens could be quantified and if loading rates were uniform (i.e. doubling from 7 to 14 days and 14 to 28 days and quadrupling from 7 to 28 days). Loadings between left and right paired EDC cloths were not significantly different and were highly correlated for endotoxin, total protein, and cat (Fel d1), dog (Can f1) and mouse (Mus m1) allergens (p<0.001). EDC endotoxin sampling had close agreement between paired samples (Pearson p=0.96, p<0.001). EDC endotoxin loading doubled from 7 to 14-day deployments but the loading rate decreased from 14 to 28 days of sampling with only a 1.38 fold increase. Allergen exposure assessment using EDCs was less satisfactory. Paired EDCs and daily Button aerosol samplers (BS) were used in our third study to concurrently sample endotoxin in 10 farm homes during 7 day periods in summer and winter. Winter sampling included an optical particle counter (OPC) for particulate size and number concentration data. OPC particulate matter (PM) data were divided into PM2.5 and PM10-2.5. Summer sampling yielded geometric mean and geometric standard deviation values of 0.82 EU/m3 (2.7) for inhalable aerosol BS and 737 EU/m2 (1.9) for EDCs. Winter values were 0.52 EU/m3 (3.1) for BS and 538 EU/m2 (3.0) for EDCs. Seven day endotoxin values of EDCs were significantly and highly correlated with the 7-day BS sampling averages (p=0.70; p<0.001). An Analysis of Variance indicated a 2.37-fold increase in EDC endotoxin concentrations for each unit increase of the ratio of PM2.5 to PM10-2.5. A 10-fold increase in BS endotoxin concentrations was associated with a 12.2-fold increase in EDC endotoxin concentrations. Our fourth study established QC protocols use of EDCs in large field studies. QCs were developed for endotoxin, peptidoglycan, and glucan for analysis alongside the Agricultural Lung Health study EDC samples. The coefficient of variation percentage (CV) for each QC was used to determine variability. For each QC, 20 EDC cloths were analyzed to establish an acceptable range (mean ± 3 standard deviations). Two QCs were established for endotoxin analysis. The high QCs were dust-spiked EDCs with a CV of 29.7%. The low QCs were spiked with E. coli standard and had a CV of 15.6%. One QC was established for peptidoglycan analysis using dust-spiked EDC extracts. Two glucan QCs were established using dust-spiked EDCs with a high CV (51.7%) and yeast-spiked EDCs with a CV of 26.0%. Endotoxin and glucan concentrations of AGLH EDC samples were found to be significantly correlated (p=0.71; p<0.0001). In conclusion, EDCs are an effective passive sampling method for endotoxin exposure assessment in farm homes.

This thesis is composed of three chapters. Chapter 1 considers the existence of equilibria in games with complete information, where players may have non-ordered and discontinuous preferences. Chapter 2 studies the issues on the existence of pure and behavioral strategy equilibria in games with incomplete information and discontinuous payoffs. We consider the standard setting with Bayesian preferences as well as the case in which players may face ambiguity. Chapter 3 extends the classical results on the Walras-core existence and equivalence to an ambiguous asymmetric information economy, where agents maximize maximin expected utilities (MEU). These results are based on the papers He and Yannelis (2014, 2015a,b,c, 2016a,b). In the first chapter, we propose the condition of "continuous inclusion property" to handle the difficulty of discontinuous payoffs in various general equilibrium and game theory models. Such discontinuities arise naturally in economic situations, including auction, price competition of firms and also patent races. Based on the continuous inclusion property, we establish the equilibrium existence result in a very general framework with discontinuous payoffs. On one hand, this condition is sufficiently general from the methodological point of view, as it unifies almost all special conditions proposed in the literature. On the other hand, our condition is also potentially useful from the realistic point of view, as it could be applied to deal with many economic models which cannot be studied before because of the presence of the discontinuity. In the second chapter, I study the existence problem of pure and behavioral strategy equilibria in discontinuous games with incomplete information. The framework of games with incomplete information is standard as in the literature, except for that we allow players' payoffs to be discontinuous. We illustrate by examples that the Bayesian equilibria may not exist in such games and the previous results are not applicable to handle this problem. We propose some general conditions to retain the existence of both pure strategy and behavioral strategy Bayesian equilibrium, and show that our condition is tight. In addition, we study the equilibrium existence problem in discontinuous games under incomplete information and ambiguity, and show that the maximin framework solves the equilibrium existence issue without introducing any additional condition. In the last chapter, I study a general equilibrium model with incomplete information by adopting the maximin expected utilities. The model is powerful enough to describe the behaviors of risk averse agents that cannot be explained by the standard assumption of subjective expected utilities. I use this new formulation to extend many classical results in general equilibrium theory by incorporating ambiguity into the model. In addition, the desirable incentive compatibility property is shown in our model with maximin expected utilities, while this property will typically fail in the traditional setup. Specifically, the existence results are shown for various equilibrium notions in a general equilibrium model, and the incentives can be guaranteed when all agents use the maximin expected utilities.

Agnew's (1992) general strain theory (GST) provides a framework for understanding individual and social factors that influence juvenile delinquency. Given the breadth of ideas encompassed by GST, tests typically focus on particular elements rather than testing the theory as a whole. Studies have provided a great deal of support for many of the core tenets of GST (e.g., Agnew and White 1992), while failing to produce conclusive support for others (e.g., Paternoster and Mazerolle 1994). Specifically, Agnew (1992) argues that the relationship between strain and delinquency is conditional, although research regarding what factors and through what mechanisms these factors shape the relationship is not conclusive. This project studies particular forms of strain -- noxious peer relationships and bullying victimization -- as well as tests the conditioning effects of self-efficacy within the strain-delinquency relationship. Self-efficacy is defined as one's personal evaluation of their ability to produce desired outcomes in a given situation (Bandura 1987, 1997). Agnew (1992) suggests self-efficacy is a coping resource that will condition the relationship between strain and delinquency. It is hypothesized that variations in self-efficacy will translate to differences in selected methods for coping and engagement in conventional coping adaptations to strain. I test the relationship between various forms of strain, self-efficacy and delinquency using two distinct data sets and methodologies. Findings from cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses indicate noxious peer relationships and bullying victimization are both positively related to delinquency. The theoretical implications surrounding the importance of self-efficacy as a coping resource, which promote conventional cognitive coping, are highlighted. But, indirect tests suggest this idea is not supported. In this research, self-efficacy does not moderate the relationship between strain and delinquency in the expected manner. Across methods and measures, strain and self-efficacy influence delinquency independent of each other. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of future research possibilities and policy implications.

The objective of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the prevalence of perineural invasion in cases of mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC). The study will determine if previously assessed perineural invasion by original pathology reports would be increased by re-review of the originally hematoxylin-eosin-(H &E) stained slides as well as review of slides reacted immunohistochemically with S100 to enhance visualization of nerves. The study will also assess whether perineural invasion or its absence in MEC is associated with clinical outcome. Thirty-one cases of major and minor salivary gland MEC were reviewed for perineural invasion and compared to the perineural invasion status stated on the original pathology report when available (13/31). All H & E-stained slides were reviewed as well as S100-reacted sections of each case’s tissue blocks that contained tumor. Patient demographics and clinical outcome were collected from electronic medical records. Perineural invasion was identified in 23% (3/13) of tumors in the original reports, 13% (4/31) of the authors' re-review of the same slides, and 29% (9/31) when cases were reacted with S100. A positive relationship was seen between the discovery of perineural invasion on H & E-stained slides and a greater number of foci of perineural invasion. Perineural invasion and larger-diameter nerve involvement was significantly associated with death at 5-year follow-up. In conclusion, immunohistochemical enhancement improves the accuracy, ease and speed of perineural invasion determination. Perineural invasion is a significant factor in the decreased survival outcome of cases of MEC. These findings support continued inclusion of the presence or absence of perineural invasion as a grading parameter in MEC.

The problem of characterization of active sonar target response has important applications in many fields, including the currently cost-prohibitive recovery of unexploded ordinance on the ocean floor. We present a method for recognizing these objects using a multidisciplinary approach that fuses machine learning, signal processing, and feature engineering. In short, by taking inspiration from other fields, we solve the problem of object recognition in shallow water in an inexpensive way. These techniques add to the body of explored knowledge in the field of active sonar processing and address real-world problems in the process.

The goal of this dissertation is to formulate a novel characterization of subjunctive complements in Spanish, based on semantico-pragmatic and syntactic evidence. The analysis is informed by, and has consequences for, theories that the pragmatic and semantic components of the grammar interface with the syntax. Thus, the proposal carries implications for the interpretive components of the grammar at the C-I interface. I argue that the indicative mood, in Romance, corresponds to propositions which carry assertive force. Data from Greek and Bulgarian provide evidence for a syntactic representation of this feature. I provide evidence for a novel tripartite classification of subjunctive clauses: (i) those that are lexically-selected by volitional verbs and carry strongly intensional semantics, (ii) those licensed by a non-veridical operator (i.e. negation) and carry anti-veridical semantics and (iii) those which lack illocutionary force, with the subjunctive mood surfacing as the default (uninformative) mood in complements to emotives and negated epistemics. Complements to emotive and negated epistemic predicates are the only subjunctive complements which may be extensionally anchored (to the real world), yet are incompatible with ‘point of view’ phenomena, which is unexpected in extensional contexts. The data indicate that the subjunctive surfaces in uninformative contexts, in the absence of (intensional or assertive) illocutionary force. The observations lead to a novel syntactic analysis, relying on Speas and Tenny’s (2003) representation of pragmatic arguments, which captures the fact that subjunctive clauses are anchored to a particular individual (either the matrix subject or the speaker). I propose that subject obviation occurs only in deontic and causative contexts, a novel hypothesis supported by data which illustrate that the addition of an evaluative component (an epistemic ordering source) renders subject obviation violable. I argue that a feature-checking relationship between the subordinate Seat of Knowledge position and matrix deontic or causative v anchors the complement proposition to the matrix subject’s model of evaluation. Co-reference is then banned due to a semantico-pragmatic parameter setting in Romance which disallows a de se (self-ascribing) reading in finite contexts, which facilitates the processing of pronominal reference. I argue that the semantico-pragmatic status of subjunctive complements to negated epistemic predicates overlaps with those to both emotives, which are evaluative, and those to other negated predicates (i.e. perception verbs, verbs of reported speech), which are evidential. Their dual status accounts for the (previously unobserved) overlapping syntactic and semantic properties exhibited in their subjunctive complements. Partee’s (1991, 1995) proposal for a tripartite structure of negation elegantly captures the interpretive facts. Subjunctive complements to negated evidential predicates are interpreted in the scope of negation, while those to evaluative (emotive) predicates are interpreted in the restrictor, with those to negated epistemics allowing both options. Two different types of negation are identified, following Horn’s (1989) analysis. The pragmatic classification of the predicate as either evidential or evaluative determines the type of negation with which it may surface. Metalinguistic negation surfaces with evaluative predicates, and does not scope into the complement clause. True negation-triggered subjunctive (i.e. evidential contexts) results from the scope of descriptive negation into the complement clause, which carries a negative clause-type feature. I show that negation-triggered subjunctive clauses constitute unbounded events, which is attributed to their anti-veridical status. In conclusion, the analysis characterizes subjunctive clauses in Spanish, and carries implications for cross-linguistic analysis. More research is needed to verify the claims cross-linguistically, and the analysis lacks a precise characterization of indicative complement clauses which, like subjunctive clauses, require a more fine-grained characterization.

The following pages are thoughts and ideas that go through my head when creating art that is intended to be seen, analyzed and somewhat understood by an audience. Though there are some aspects contained within that may touch directly on how I make sculpture on a practical and aesthetic level, my hope is that this document will function more as a work that will provide the reader with a sense of hope as it relates to art making, that while what we do as makers can often seem pointless, we must have some kind of faith that art can be useful, and we ought to try to make sense out of things if we can. If there is any reason at all why I continue to make things, beyond general foolishness or to prevent from being bored, it lies somewhere said or unsaid within this document. The title of this document, “Why the Ocean’s Near the Shore” comes from the song the Scarecrow sings in The Wizard of Oz “If I Only Had a Brain”, stating that if only he were smart enough he could tell Dorothy something meaningful like why this is the case; this may not be so impressive to someone with a brain, but for someone without, it is certainly profound.