Potential alliances between queers and animals populate queer scholarship, while dominant culture has relegated both groups to similar sites of subjugation and abjection. My work presents utopic visions crafted from these shared sites of marginalization and asks how they can enable new biopolitical communities. I ask: can we co-habitate, with non-human animals, these particular sites of marginalization in a manner that enables cross-species, affective solidarity? And can this co-habitation also encourage ruptures within heteronormative and human-centric paradigms? Rescuing the subjectivity and cultures of animals from extent subjugations can build new multispecies communities that are essential in an era of environmental devastation and climate change. Through printmaking, installation and time-based media, I explore real, psychological and metaphorical environments of cross-species encounters.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is becoming an increasingly important modality for the diagnosis and management of a variety of eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, and diabetic macular edema (DME). Spectral domain OCT (SD-OCT), an advanced type of OCT, produces three dimensional high-resolution cross-sectional images and demonstrates delicate structure of the functional portion of posterior eye, including retina, choroid, and optic nerve head. As the clinical importance of OCT for retinal disease management and the need for quantitative and objective disease biomarkers grows, fully automated three-dimensional analysis of the retina has become desirable. Previously, our group has developed the Iowa Reference Algorithms (http://www.biomed-imaging.uiowa.edu/downloads/), a set of fully automated 3D segmentation algorithms for the analysis of retinal layer structures in subjects without retinal disease. This is the first method of segmenting and quantifying individual layers of the retina in three dimensions. However, in retinal disease, the normal architecture of the retina - specifically the outer retina - is disrupted. Fluid and deposits can accumulate, and normal tissue can be replaced by scar tissue. These abnormalities increase the irregularity of the retinal structure and make quantitative analysis in the image data extra challenging. In this work, we focus on the segmentation of the retina of patients with age-related macular degeneration, the most important cause of blindness and visual loss in the developed world. Though early and intermediate AMD results in some vision loss, the most devastating vision loss occurs in the two endstages of the disease, called geographic atrophy (GA) respectively choroidal neovascularization (CNV). In GA, because of pathological changes that are not fully understood, the retinal pigment epithelium disappears and photoreceptors lose this supporting tissue and degenerate. Second, in CNV, the growth of abnormal blood vessels originating from the choroidal vasculature causes fluid to enter the surrounding retina, causing disruption of the tissues and eventual visual loss. The severity and progress of early AMD is characterized by the formation of drusen and subretinal drusenoid deposits, structures containing photoreceptor metabolites - primarily lipofuscin - the more drusen the more severe the disease and the higher the risk of progressing to GAD or CNV. Thus, to improve the image guided management of AMD, we will study automated methods for segmenting and quantifying these intraretinal, subretinal and choroidal structures, including different types of abnormalities and layers, focusing on the outer retina. The major contributions of this thesis include: 1) developing an automated method of segmenting the choroid and quantifying the choroidal thickness in 3D OCT images; 2) developing an automated method of quantifying the presence of drusen in early and intermediate AMD; 3) developing an method of identifying the different ocular structures simultaneously; 4) studying the relationship among intraretinal, subretinal and choroidal structures.

Resin-based composite for Class IV restoration is a conservative alternative for maxillary incisor fracture. Little is known about the effect of lingual margin configurations on the longevity of these restorations. This in vitro experiment compared the mean fracture strength among four lingual margin configurations (butt joint, 45° bevel, 60° bevel and chamfer) for Class IV resin-based composite restorations. A total sample size of n=100 human extracted lower incisors were selected, then the teeth were randomly assigned to one of the four lingual margin configuration groups (n=25) and restored with resin-based composite. After thermocycling (5000 cycles, 5°C-55°C with 30 seconds dwell time), they were subjected to inter-incisal static load (135° angulation) until failure (N). Failure mode was determined. In vitro fracture strength was compared among the four groups using one-way ANOVA at alpha=0.05. Mean standard deviation of fracture strength and frequency distribution of failure modes were reported. Results revealed no significant effect on the fracture strength for the type of lingual margin configurations (F(3,96)=0.13; p=0.9435). The data showed that 71% of failure modes resulted in complete tooth fracture (intact restoration), 11% in total adhesive failure, 7% in adhesive only facial, 6% in total cohesive, 4% in cohesive only facial, 1% in avulsion. Fischer’s exact test revealed no statistically significant association (p>0.05) between the margin configurations and failure modes. Within the limitations of this study, it can be concluded that any of the four lingual margin configurations are acceptable in Class IV preparation in terms of fracture strength under static load.

The drivers of human health and changing climate are important areas of environmental and atmospheric studies. Among many environmental factors present in our biosphere, small particles, also known as ultrafine particles or UFPs, have direct and indirect pathways to affect human health and climatic processes. The rapid change in their properties makes UFPs dynamic and often challenging to quantify their effect on health and radiative forcing. To reduce uncertainty in the climate effects of UFPs and to strengthen the evidence on health effects, accurate characterizations of physical and chemical properties of UFPs are needed. In this thesis, two broad aspects of UFPs were investigated: (1) the development of particle instrumentation to study particle properties; and (2) measurement of physical and chemical properties of UFPs relevant to human health and climate. These two broad aspects are divided into four specific aims in this thesis. The measurement of UFP concentration at different locations in an urban location, from roadside to various residential areas, can be improved by using a mobile particle counter. A TSI 3786 Condensation Particle Counter (CPC) was modified for mobile battery-power operation. This design provided high-frequency, one second time resolution measurements of particle number and carbon dioxide (CO2). An independent electric power system, a central controller and robust data acquisition system, and a GPS system are the major components of this mobile unit. These capabilities make the system remotely deployable, and also offer flexibility to integrate other analog and digital sensors. A Volatility Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (V-TDMA) system was designed and built to characterize the volatility behavior of UFPs. The physical and chemical properties of UFPs are often challenging to measure due to limited availability of instruments, detection limit in terms of particle size and concentration, and sampling frequency. Indirect methods such as V-TDMA are useful, for small mass (<1 µg/m3), and nuclei mode particles (<30nm). Another advantage of V-TDMA is its fast response in terms of sampling frequency. A secondary motivation for building a V-TDMA system was to improve instrumentation capability of our group, thus enabling study of kinetic and thermodynamic properties of novel aerosols. Chapter four describes the design detail of the built V-TDMA system, which measures the change in UFP size and concentration during heated and non-heated (or ambient) condition. The V-TDMA system has an acceptable penetration efficiency of 85% for 10 nm and maintains a uniform temperature profile in the heating system. Calibration of V-TDMA using ammonium sulfate particles indicated that the system produces comparable evaporation curves (in terms of volatilization temperature) or volatility profiles to other published V-TDMA designs. Additionally the system is fully programmable with respect to particle size, temperature and sampling frequency and can be run autonomously after initial set up. The thesis describes a part of yearlong study to provide a complete perspective on particle formation and growth in a rural and agricultural Midwestern site. Volatility characterizations of UFPs were conducted to enable inference about particle chemistry, and formation of low volatile core or evaporation resistant residue in the UFP in the Midwest. This study addresses identification of the volatility signature of particles in the UFP size range, quantification of physical differences of UFPs between NPF1 and non-NPF events and relation of evaporation resistant residue with particle size, seasonality and mixing state. K-means clustering was applied to determine three unique volatility clusters in 15, 30, 50 and 80 nm particle sizes. Based on the proposed average volatility, the identified volatility clusters were classified into high volatile, intermediate volatile and least volatile group. Although VFR alone is insufficient to establish chemical composition definitively, least volatile cluster based on average volatility may be characteristically similar to the pure ammonium sulfate. The amount of evaporation residue at 200 °C was positively correlated with particle size and showed significant correlation with ozone, sulfur dioxide and solar radiation. Residue also indicated the presence of external mixture, often during morning and night time. Air quality science and management of an accidental urban tire fire occurring in Iowa City in May and June of 2012 were investigated. Urban air quality emergencies near populated areas are difficult to evaluate without a proper air quality management and response system. To support the development of an appropriate air quality system, this thesis identified and created a rank for health-related acute and chronic compounds in the tire smoke. For health risk assessment, the study proposed an empirical equation for estimating multi-pollutant air quality index. Using mobile measurements and a dispersion model in conjunction with the proposed air quality index, smoke concentrations and likely health impact were evaluated for Iowa City and surrounding areas. It was concluded that the smoke levels reached unhealthy outdoor levels for sensitive groups out to distances of 3.1 km and 18 km at 24 h and 1h average times. Tire smoke characterization was another important aspect of this study which provided important and new information about tire smoke. Revised emission factors for coarse particle mass and aerosol-PAH and new emission factors and enhancement ratios values for a wide range of fine particulate mass, particle size (0.001-2.5 µm), and trace gas were estimated. Overall the thesis added new instrumentation in our research group to measure various physical properties such as size, concentration, and volatility UFP. The built instruments, data processing algorithm and visualization tools will be useful in estimation of accurate concentration and emission factors of UFP for health exposure studies, and generate a fast response measurement of kinetic and thermodynamics properties of ambient particles. This thesis also makes a strong case for the development of an air quality emergency system for accidental fires for urban location. It provides useful evaluation and estimation of many aspects of such system such as smoke characterization, method of air quality monitoring and impact assessment, and develops communicable method of exposure risk assessment.

This body of work explores multiple technical and aesthetic methods of representing complex statistical information in an approachable visual language, bridging the boundaries between data science, graphic design and fine arts. Ordinary data charts are combined together with other charts and diagrams and transformed in unexpected ways in order to form the basic structure of mythical landscape scenes. Line plots over time become the rising and falling curves of hills and mountains, bar charts are morphed into industrial factories on the horizon, and bubble charts become billowing smoke, a forest of trees, or a school of fish. The hope is that the work will act as an engaging alternative to traditional data representation and will encourage curiosity and a fresh perspective.

DYSPHONIA is a music and dance work, for violin soloist with a live chamber orchestra, including multiple laptops and a custom-built gesture detection system worn by a dancer. The piece was choreographed by Professor Charlotte Adams of the University of Iowa Dance Department and premiered at the Faculty Graduate Dance Concerts in February of 2015. This piece is inspired by ongoing research into computer programming, gesture and music-making, artificial intelligence (AI), and creative algorithms. While the actual algorithms I developed for use in this piece are far from sentient, it is my hope that this piece may bring about discussion and further interest in creative AI. In our initial discussions, choreographer Charlotte Adams and I discovered that we both have witnessed a large number of people buying into immersive technologies without questioning the total cost to their well being, without questioning whether the technology has a positive impact on their lives, and without an understanding regarding the complex changes being wrought in our society due to the mass adoption of such technologies. Thus we designed this piece around the technology itself, so that the union between the dancer and the prosthesis is brought about by the movement and action that takes place in the piece. The intent was to create a scene where the audience suddenly becomes aware that something new is happening, namely that the dancer’s glove has started to make noise and there is a new connection made between the music and the dance.

Objectives: Tooth extraction initiates a cascade of events that often leads to local anatomic changes in the alveolar ridge. Ridge preservation is a surgical approach aimed at minimizing hard and soft tissue volume loss. There have been contradicting reports on the efficacy of socket grafting for alveolar ridge preservation. Interestingly, there is a paucity of adequately powered randomized controlled clinical trials. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of the application of a socket grafting technique on alveolar ridge dimensional changes following tooth extraction. Methods: Healthy patients requiring the extraction of one single-rooted tooth on either arch, from second premolar to second premolar, excluding mandibular incisors, and who met the eligibility criteria were recruited. Patients were then randomly assigned to either the control group, consisting of tooth extraction alone, or the experimental group, which consisted of extraction and simultaneous ridge preservation using an allograft bone material to fill the socket and a dense polytetrafluoroethylene membrane (dPTFE) to seal it. Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) was obtained immediately prior to extraction (baseline) and at 14 weeks. Linear measurements with the use of a tooth-supported stent were obtained immediately after extraction (baseline) and at 14 weeks. Linear and volumetric measurements were made using data obtained from the CBCTs. Masked, calibrated examiners performed all radiographic measurements. Measurements obtained included buccal keratinized tissue width, buccal and lingual plate height and width, alveolar ridge horizontal width (CBCT); and alveolar ridge volume changes. Digital planning of dental implants was performed in the ideal restorative location and need for additional grafting was virtually determined. The primary outcome of interest was volumetric reduction of the alveolar ridge at 14 weeks. Linear mixed model statistical analyses were used to compare the mean change in the measurements between the grafted and control groups. Results: A total of 59 subjects were recruited, of which 53 patients (27 control and 26 experimental) completed the study. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups at baseline for any of the parameters analyzed. At the 14 week follow-up appointment there was an average loss in height of the buccal plate of 1.17 mm and 0.61 mm for the control (CG) and experimental (ARP) groups, respectively, showing statistical significance (p=0.012). The lingual plate height was reduced 0.7 mm in CG and 0.47 mm in ARP with no statistical significance (0.075). A linear loss in the buccal-lingual dimension of the alveolar ridge was noted radiographically in both groups, 1.68mm in CG and 1.07mm in ARP, which demonstrated a statistical significant difference between them (p=0.023). Volumetric analysis demonstrated a mean volume loss of 15.83% in the CG showing statistical significance from the 8.36% loss shown in the ARP group. This difference demonstrates a clinical significance when virtual planning of implant placement in the ideal restorative location revealed the need for additional grafting at 13/27 or 48% of CG and 3/26 or 11% of ARP sites. Additionally, a very robust, statistically significant correlation was noted between buccal bone plate width and reduction of alveolar bone volume after 14 weeks of healing (p< 0.0001). A multivariate regression analysis revealed that within the control group a buccal plate <1mm lead to >10% volumetric reduction, while the same reduction in the graft group was only seen when the buccal plate was less that 0.6mm. Conclusions: In this study, a novel volumetric analysis of alveolar ridge reduction after tooth extraction was performed, which demonstrated that socket grafting for alveolar ridge preservation does provide a therapeutic benefit. This finding was associated to a decreased probability of requiring additional grafting at the implant site. The thickness of the buccal plate at the time of extraction appears to be a valuable factor to predict the amount of resorption that will take place, meaning that more resorption should be expected, as the buccal plate gets progressively thinner.

This dissertation posits a crucial and profound relationship between the Victorian crisis of faith and the simultaneous emergence of fantasy and science fiction novels. Grouping these genres under the term "supernatural novel," the following chapters examine this relationship through close readings of novels published between 1818 and 1897, showing the variety of ways in which this new type of literature spoke to a Victorian sense of being caught between a staunchly traditional religious faith and a newly accessible agnostic materialism. At times, for example, these texts suggest ways to negotiate a compromise between these two viewpoints, and at others they voice a longing for the experience of religious belief in previous centuries. Charles Taylor's A Secular Age highly informs the readings of these novels in its articulation of the complexity of the Victorian religious crisis, emphasizing changes in the character and experience of belief, even for the majority of Victorians who remained devout Christians. Taylor's seminal work joins with histories of religion, biographies, reviews and articles from Victorian periodicals, and theories of genre to discuss how the supernatural novel can uniquely address the anxieties and frustrations inherent to the crisis of faith. Through combining the literary form of the novel, strongly associated with realism and secular ways of knowing, with fantastic and imaginary content, this expanding genre reflected the "cross pressures" of faith and rationalism experienced by a Victorian readership.

A feeding disorder occurs when a child does not consume enough food to meet his or her caloric needs to gain weight and grow. Approximately 25% to 40% of infants and toddlers with normal development and 33% to 80% of infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities are affected by feeding problems. Types of treatments used to address feeding problems commonly include behavioral treatments that involve escape extinction or medical procedures that involve a gastrostomy tube. Both types of treatments are associated with negative side effects. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the individualistic and interactive effects of response effort and quality of reinforcement on bites accepted within an outpatient clinic program with five children diagnosed with feeding problems. The effects of effort and quality were studied as motivating operations, meaning that their presence altered the child's motivation to eat. Response effort was defined based on the oral-motor manipulations required to consume different types and textures of food. Quality of reinforcement was defined as the individual choosing to consume a food of a similar type and/or texture over another food. Interobserver agreement (IOA) was assessed across at least 30% of feeding sessions for all children with an average IOA of 98.2% for bites accepted/mouth closures and 96.9% for problem behavior for one child. For each child, three evaluations were conducted: (a) an analysis of the independent effects of quality or effort, (b) an analysis of the interaction of quality and effort, and (c) implementation of a reinforcement-based treatment matched to the results of the assessments. The assessment and treatment evaluations were conducted within single case designs. The results of the current study demonstrated that the influence of effort and quality alone or together (i.e., exclusive or interactive) functioned in a highly individualistic way as motivation operations. Effort influenced bites accepted for one child, quality influenced mouth closures for one child, quality and effort both influenced bites accepted for two children, and the interaction of effort and quality influenced bites accepted for one child. The treatment matched to these assessment results showed improvement in bites accepted with a reinforcement-based treatment that did not rely on escape extinction for three of the children. For all three children, total food consumption increased sufficiently that either the G-tube feedings were reduced or bottle feedings with a high caloric liquid (e.g., Pediasure) were decreased or eliminated. Treatment consisted of escape extinction for one child because he did not respond to the manipulations of quality and effort. Overall, the results of the current study demonstrated that specific dimensions of reinforcement function as motivating operations for food refusal and could be altered for four of the five children to improve eating without relying on escape extinction.

The dissertation explores the causes of party relabeling by focusing on four party systems: South Korea, France, Taiwan and the United States. The existing literature on political parties considers one of their primary functions to be providing a brand name. As a result, party name change has been viewed as an anomaly caused by internal and external shocks that disturb the status quo equilibrium or a phenomenon symptomatic of unstable, weakly institutionalized party systems. However, party name changes are not as rare as assumed in the existing literature. Therefore, my dissertation addresses the following questions: When and why do parties change names? What are the characteristics of a party system that hamper the development of brand-name party labels? I theorize that the combination of the following three factors increases the likelihood of party relabeling: (1) prominence of personalistic party cues, (2) strong levels of political attention in the electorate, and (3) high degree of governmental centralization. These three factors encourage vote-, office-seeking motivations in the party so greatly that the party is willing to do whatever it takes to win including such a radical strategy as relabeling. In order to test the proposed theory, I closely examine South Korea and France, where parties commonly replace their labels, in comparison to Taiwan and the United States whose parties do not change labels, respectively. These four cases are chosen because they allows cross-case and within-case analysis that is crucial for a comparative case study to gain internal and external validity. I utilize various types of data – both qualitative and quantitative in investigating these cases. My dissertation will contribute to a broad range of literatures in party politics as well as in East Asian politics. By providing a new theoretical model on this understudied phenomenon, I contribute to a better understanding of the role of party labels and initiate more active discussion over party strategy and party branding. Furthermore, by examining Korean and Taiwanese parties in depth, my dissertation provides a systematic analysis on the studies of East Asian politics.