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Title: Recycling nursery runoff : understanding plant sensitivity to nutrients and residual pesticides
Creator: Poudyal, Shital
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Runoff generated from landscape nursery operations contains agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, which, if released off-site, may pollute the environment. Nursery producers are increasingly interested in alternatives to using freshwater for irrigation due to increased environmental awareness and reduced water availability. As a result, some progressive nursery growers are already adopting the Runoff generated from landscape nursery operations contains agrochemicals such...
Show moreRunoff generated from landscape nursery operations contains agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, which, if released off-site, may pollute the environment. Nursery producers are increasingly interested in alternatives to using freshwater for irrigation due to increased environmental awareness and reduced water availability. As a result, some progressive nursery growers are already adopting the Runoff generated from landscape nursery operations contains agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, which, if released off-site, may pollute the environment. Nursery producers are increasingly interested in alternatives to using freshwater for irrigation due to increased environmental awareness and reduced water availability. As a result, some progressive nursery growers are already adopting the practice of retaining and recycling nursery runoff water for irrigation. While retaining and recycling runoff may be a practical solution, growers' concerns about the potential negative impact of residual pesticides on crop growth and quality still impede its adoption. Therefore the objectives of my studies were to reduce the concentration of nutrients in runoff water and to evaluate the impact of irrigating with recycled runoff water on growth and physiology of nursery crops.The first study was to identify minimum phosphorus concentration required for the optimum morphological and physiological performance in three common woody ornamental taxa; Hydrangea quercifolia (Queen of hearts), Cornus obliqua (Redtwig dogwood) and Physocarpus opulifolius (Seward). The optimum phosphorus concentrations for growth and photosynthetic biochemistry ranged between 4 and 7 mg·L-1, depending on taxa. For the second study, I investigated the response of common landscape nursery plants to residual pesticide commonly found in nursery runoff. Hydrangea paniculata (Limelight), Cornus obliqua (Powell Gardens), Hosta (Gold Standard) were exposed to low residual concentrations of isoxaben, chlorpyrifos and oxyfluorfen, simulating irrigation with nursery runoff. Exposure to oxyfluorfen produced phytotoxicity symptoms (visual leaf damage), while chlorpyrifos and isoxaben did not produce phytotoxicity. Among the three taxa, H. paniculata was the most sensitive species, and C. obliqua was the most resistant. Therefore the effects of pesticides were pesticide-specific and taxa-specific. For the third study, I investigated whether phytotoxicity in response to residual herbicide exposure was dependent on the growth stage of plants. In this study, H. paniculata plants were exposed to a low residual concentration of oryzalin and oxyfluorfen at the various growth stages, starting shorty after bud-break. Residual herbicide exposure had more impact on growth and photosynthetic physiology at early growth stages; however, the recovery rate of those plants was also rapid. For my final study, I conducted three-year field research replicating an actual nursery grower practice of recycling nursery water. Six ornamental species were irrigated with recycled water obtained from a nursery bed receiving ten different pesticides. In addition, the efficacy of woodchip bioreactors to reduced pesticides in water was also tested. Results from this study established the possibility of using recycled water to irrigate ornamentals plants such as Hydrangea macrophylla (Let's dance blue jangles), Hydrangea paniculata (Limelight), Thuja occidentalis (American Pillar), Juniperus horizontalis (Blue rug), Hydrangea arborescens (Invincibelle Spirit II®) and Rosa sp. (Oso Easy Double Red®) without impacting the growth and physiology of those plants. Woodchips bioreactor was also found to be effective in remediating pesticides from water. The results of three greenhouse studies and a field study together provide new information on reducing the concentration of nutrients and pesticides in nursery runoff water and demonstrate the possibility of recycling nursery runoff. The findings of this dissertation are vital in solving the emerging problem of agrochemical pollution and water scarcity that is currently faced by nursery growers.
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Title: Measurement of the charged current muon neutrino differential cross section on scintillator with zero pions in the final state with the T2K on/off-axis near detectors
Creator: Cudd, Andrew Bruce
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan producing precise measurements of neutrino oscillations and neutrino interactions with nuclear targets. T2K utilizes a muon (anti-)neutrino beam produced at the J-PARC proton accelerator facility which is measured at a suite of near detectors, ND280 and INGRID, and the far detector, Super-Kamiokande. One of the dominant systematic uncertainties for the oscillation analysis is from the uncertainty in...
Show moreThe Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan producing precise measurements of neutrino oscillations and neutrino interactions with nuclear targets. T2K utilizes a muon (anti-)neutrino beam produced at the J-PARC proton accelerator facility which is measured at a suite of near detectors, ND280 and INGRID, and the far detector, Super-Kamiokande. One of the dominant systematic uncertainties for the oscillation analysis is from the uncertainty in neutrino interaction modeling with complex nuclei, which will eventually become the limiting uncertainty for the next generation of neutrino oscillation experiments. Therefore measurements of neutrino cross sections on nuclear targets is essential for understanding how to model these complicated nuclear interactions. This thesis presents a novel neutrino cross section measurement utilizing both of the T2K near detectors, ND280 and INGRID, in a joint statistical fit. Because the T2K near detectors are exposed to neutrinos from the same beamline, the uncertainties in the neutrino flux prediction will be correlated. This fact combined with the different neutrino energy spectra seen at each detector will allow for some separation of flux and cross section effects, and presents an opportunity to study the neutrino cross section as a function of energy using the same neutrino beam. This analysis is the first cross section measurement on T2K to use samples from multiple detectors in the same beamline. This thesis presents a description of the statistical analysis framework, the event selection, the treatment of systematic uncertainties, and the extracted muon neutrino CC0pi double differential cross section in bins of muon kinematics for ND280 and INGRID, including the correlations between the detectors.
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Title: Online innovization : towards knowledge discovery and achieving faster convergence in multi-objective optimization
Creator: Gaur, Abhinav
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Ì0300nnovization'' is a task of learning common principles thatexist among some or all of the Pareto-optimal solutions in amulti-objective optimization problem. Except a few earlierstudies, most innovization related studies were performed onthe final non-dominated solutions found by an evolutionary multi-objective algorithm eithermanually or by using a machine learning method.Recent studies have shown that these principles can be learnedduring intermediate iterations of an optimization run...
Show moreÌ0300nnovization'' is a task of learning common principles thatexist among some or all of the Pareto-optimal solutions in amulti-objective optimization problem. Except a few earlierstudies, most innovization related studies were performed onthe final non-dominated solutions found by an evolutionary multi-objective algorithm eithermanually or by using a machine learning method.Recent studies have shown that these principles can be learnedduring intermediate iterations of an optimization run and simultaneously utilized in thesame optimization run to repair variables to achieve a fasterconvergence to the Pareto-optimal set. This is what we are calling as ò0300nline innovization'' as it is performed online during the run of an evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithm. Special attention is paid to learning rules that are easier to interpret, such as short algebraic expressions, instead of complex decision trees or kernel based black box rules.We begin by showing how to learn fixed form rules that are encountered frequently in multi-objective optimization problems. We also show how can we learn free form rules, that are linear combination of non-linear terms, using a custom genetic programming algorithm. We show how can we use the concept of k0300nee' in PO set of solutions along with a custom dimensional penalty calculator to discard rules that may be overly complex, or inaccurate or just dimensionally incorrect. The results of rules learned using this custom genetic programming algorithm show that it is beneficial to let evolution learn the structure of rules while the constituent weights should be learned using some classical learning algorithm such as linear regression or linear support vector machines. When the rules are implicit functions of the problem variables, we use a computationally inexpensive way of repairing the variables by turning the problem of repairing the variable into a single variable golden section search.We show the proof of concept on test problems by learning fixed form rules among variables of the problem, which we then use during the same optimization run to repair variables. Different principleslearned during an optimization run can involve differentnumber of variables and/or variables that arecommon among a number of principles. Moreover, a preferenceorder for repairing variables may play an important role forproper convergence. Thus, when multiple principles exist, itis important to use a strategy that is most beneficial forrepairing evolving population of solutions.The above methods are applied to a mix of test problems and engineering design problems. The results are encouraging and strongly supportsthe use of innovization task in enhancing the convergence of an evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms. Moreover, the custom genetic program developed in this work can be a useful machine learning tool for practitioners to learn human interpretable rules in the form of algebraic expressions.
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Title: "My life is changed but the trust ain't there to trust somebody else" : experiences of recovery from intimate partner abuse of women of Mexican heritage in a mid-size city in Michigan
Creator: Palma-Ramirez, Evangelina
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This exploratory qualitative study aimed to gain an understanding of the experiences of recovery from intimate partner abuse (IPA) of 17 women of Mexican heritage in a mid-size urban city in Michigan. IPA was defined as any type of physical, sexual, stalking, psychological harm or coercive control by a former intimate partner or spouse. Two aspects were explored: experiences of abuse and experiences of recovery from abuse. The study used a feminist theory and intersectionality perspective as...
Show moreThis exploratory qualitative study aimed to gain an understanding of the experiences of recovery from intimate partner abuse (IPA) of 17 women of Mexican heritage in a mid-size urban city in Michigan. IPA was defined as any type of physical, sexual, stalking, psychological harm or coercive control by a former intimate partner or spouse. Two aspects were explored: experiences of abuse and experiences of recovery from abuse. The study used a feminist theory and intersectionality perspective as a guiding framework to understand the experiences of women considering their contextual situation. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using a constructivist grounded theory by Charmaz. The findings revealed that women understand their experiences of abuse as being connected to their early socialization about gender roles, history of child abuse, lack of sexual education, and the influence of the environment. Also, the participants revealed they experienced overlapping types of abuse: psychological, coercion, economic, physical, sexual, and stalking. Despite the negative impact of the abuse on participants' physical and mental health, findings showed that women were able to recover from the abuse and to move on with their lives. Data suggested that the recovery was a gradual ongoing process of physical and psychological healing. Participants identified empowering experiences that helped them in their recovery from IPA. Such empowering experiences included life-changing religious realizations, receiving services in Spanish, acquiring more education, receiving counseling services, and getting a job. Receiving social support from family and friends and having access to resources were identified as factors that aided in the recovery from IPA. However, some participants experienced limited access to such resources due to economic constraints, cultural beliefs about gender roles, and the impact of immigration policies.Lastly, findings revealed that experiences of recovery from IPA vary based on whether women decided to leave their partners or to remain with them. Implications for culturally sensitive interventions for Latinas of Mexican heritage are discussed as well as implications for future research on issues of recovery for this specific Latino subgroup.
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Title: Use of administative claims data to design and emulate a clinical trial in acute stroke patients comparing rehabilitation at inpatient rehabilitation facilities to skilled nursing facilities
Creator: Simmonds, Kent P.
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Stroke affects nearly 800,000 people every year in the United States and is a leading cause of adult disability. After hospitalization half of stroke patients continue to require medical and rehabilitation services provided at inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) or skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). In general, IRFs provide time-intensive therapy for two to three weeks, while SNFs provide moderately intensive therapy for four- to five-weeks. There is substantial variation in the...
Show moreStroke affects nearly 800,000 people every year in the United States and is a leading cause of adult disability. After hospitalization half of stroke patients continue to require medical and rehabilitation services provided at inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) or skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). In general, IRFs provide time-intensive therapy for two to three weeks, while SNFs provide moderately intensive therapy for four- to five-weeks. There is substantial variation in the utilization of these alternative rehabilitation settings, but their relative comparative effectiveness remains uncertain. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) would provide an unbiased comparative effectiveness estimate, but the design of such a trial is complicated by several practical and ethical issues. The overarching purpose of this dissertation was to use Medicare claims data to inform the design and to emulate such a trial. In the first aim, we sought to identify patient and hospital level factors that were associated with IRF or SNF discharge and characterize the heterogeneity of hospital effects that influenced discharge to an IRF (vs. SNF). From a retrospective cohort of 145,894 stroke patients, we used multi-level multivariable models to identify several patient- and hospital- level factors that were independently associated with discharge setting. We also showed that hospitals contributed around a third of the variation in IRF (vs. SNF) discharge, but there was substantial variation in the effect that specific hospitals had on influencing IRF discharge. The second aim, was to identify a target trial population that optimized the explanatory-pragmatic balance of a subsequent RCT. To identify this population, we profiled hospitals based on their propensity to discharge stroke patients to IRFs (vs. SNFs) and inferred IRF and SNF referral networks for each hospital. The final target trial population included 44,950 patients (30.8% of the starting sample) who were treated at 441 hospitals (14.5%) and subsequently discharged to 745 IRFs (64.8%) and 5,974 SNFs (48.2%).The third aim was to emulate three alternate RCTs that compared patient outcomes at IRFs vs. SNFs. Trial #1 used the target trial population identified in Aim 2, while trials #2 and 3 excluded increasingly infrequently used IRFs and SNFs. Comparative effectiveness was estimated using a matched propensity score analysis. Overall, on a relative basis, patients treated at IRFs were between 18-35% more likely to be successfully discharged home (i.e., alive and at home for >30 days) and were between 11-15% less likely to die within one year of acute care discharge. The variation in the effect size estimates across the trials was driven by poorer outcomes among patients treated at infrequently used SNFs. Finally, we identified that a moderate sized unmeasured confounder would nullify the observed differences.In conclusion, we identified that referring hospitals are a major driver of IRF or SNF use, and that patients treated at IRFs had better outcomes (relative to SNF patients). However, our results were limited by the inability to adjust for potentially important unmeasured confounders. A pragmatic RCT would eliminate such biases and provide a more valid comparative effectiveness estimate of these two alternative rehabilitation settings.
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Title: Understanding free-carrier accumulation in semiconductor nanomaterials : plasmonic behavior, charge storage energetics, and quantum confinement resilience of colloidal indium nitride nanocrystals
Creator: Liu, Zhihui
Date: 2019
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Heavily doped semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) are promising materials that can reversibly and substantially store electrical charges. Indium nitride (InN) is a particularly interesting semiconductor material for studying charge storage processes. Colloidal InN NCs are spontaneously degenerately doped with carrier densities large enough to lead to strong localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) in the infrared (IR) part of the spectrum. Unfortunately, many fundamental quantities that...
Show moreHeavily doped semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) are promising materials that can reversibly and substantially store electrical charges. Indium nitride (InN) is a particularly interesting semiconductor material for studying charge storage processes. Colloidal InN NCs are spontaneously degenerately doped with carrier densities large enough to lead to strong localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) in the infrared (IR) part of the spectrum. Unfortunately, many fundamental quantities that ultimately control the behavior of colloidal InN NCs are currently unknown. In this thesis, we focused on advancing our current understanding of the properties of colloidal InN NCs, with special emphasis on the quantification of free electron density, the LSPR behavior, the charge storage ability, the screening effect on phonon behaviors and few other important fundamental quantities such as the electron effective mass, Fermi level, conduction band (CB) edge potential and IR transition oscillator strength.To understand the LSPR behavior of InN NCs, we first evaluated the free carrier density with a direct, model-independent quantification. We found that the number of free electrons per as-prepared InN NC is directly proportional to the NC volume, such that the free electron density is a size-independent quantity. Furthermore, we demonstrated that free electrons in InN NCs can be reversibly extracted with redox species, which leads to a direct way to manipulate the LSPR. Importantly, the LSPR energy in InN NCs barely shifts with free electron density, a behavior strikingly at odds with what is typically observed in other semiconductor plasmonic systems. These unusual plasmonic signatures are shown to arise from the nonparabolicity of the CB dispersion, which leads to a change in the electron effective mass with the number of free electrons per NC, thus mitigating the shift of LSPR in InN NCs.Consequently, we estimated the charge storage capability of InN NCs by pinning the chemical potential of InN NCs to redox-active molecular species. These studies directly yielded precise information on the Fermi level and on the chemical capacitance of InN NCs, which allowed the CB edge potential of InN NCs to be quantitatively determined for the first time. Surprisingly, the CB edge in InN NCs hardly showed any sign of quantum confinement effects, even for NCs sizes that were clearly smaller than the excitonic Bohr radius of InN. This "resilience to quantum confinement" effect was shown to also arise from the same nonparabolic dispersion effects described above.In addition, the light harvesting ability of free electrons in InN NCs was evaluated by calculating the molar absorptivity per free electron. This value directly yielded the optical oscillator strength of LSPR. We found that optical oscillator strength (per free electron) is independent of NC.Finally, the effects of free electrons on lattice vibrations were also explored. We demonstrated that free electrons weakened the A1(LO) phonon mode by screening the Coulombic restoring force induced by the lattice distortion. The A1(LO) mode frequency red-shifted linearly with the increasing free electron density. This relationship provided a fast way to estimate free electron density of InN NCs by measuring Raman spectroscopy.
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Title: ER stress sensor IRE1-alpha and its implications in progression of hepatocellular carcinoma
Creator: Oak, Amrita
Date: 2019
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: "The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the site for protein folding and maturation. ER stressors, both physiological and pharmacological, can result in activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Palmitate, a saturated fatty acid, is one such ER stressor and leads to induction of the UPR. This is primarily through the activation of Inositol Requiring Enzyme-1 (IRE1) leading to splicing of XBP1 mRNA. However, the mechanism of this activation is unclear. With the aid of a bimolecular...
Show more"The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the site for protein folding and maturation. ER stressors, both physiological and pharmacological, can result in activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Palmitate, a saturated fatty acid, is one such ER stressor and leads to induction of the UPR. This is primarily through the activation of Inositol Requiring Enzyme-1 (IRE1) leading to splicing of XBP1 mRNA. However, the mechanism of this activation is unclear. With the aid of a bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assay, we identified two crucial residues on the transmembrane domain (TM) of IRE1, S450 and W457, that are drivers of palmitate mediated activation. Previous research from our group suggested that IRE1 also has binding sites for palmitate on its cytosolic domain (CD). However, IRE1-CD protein expressed in E. coli was over-phosphorylated which possibly affected its binding to PA. To investigate this, we developed a protocol for expression and purification of wild type and mutant IRE1-CD protein in insect Sf21 cells. A fluorescence polarization based binding assay was performed to determine whether palmitate binds to residues on the IRE1-CD protein. Previously our laboratory demonstrated that palmitate induced the migration of cancer cells as well as transcription factors (TF) involved in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Here, we investigated the role of IRE1 activation on these processes. Using CRISPR gene editing to generate IRE1 knockouts in liver and breast cancer cell lines, we observed that IRE1 mediates the upregulation in EMT-TFs, a decrease in the expression of the desmoplakin (DSP) protein, and an increase in the migration of liver and breast cancer cells. DSP is a critical component of desmosomes, which function to maintain the structural integrity at adjacent cell-cell contacts.In addition to migration, the effect of XBP1 splicing on metabolism has not been studied. We found the activation of IRE1-XBP1 is accompanied by changes in the metabolic genes involved in glycolysis, fatty acid oxidation, gluconeogenesis, and ceramide metabolism, suggesting that some of the metabolic effects of palmitate are mediated through IRE1. These results could have implications on the development of chemotherapeutic strategies. This study paves the way for further investigations into the far-reaching effects of activation of the UPR on cell survival, metabolism, and chemo-tolerance."--Pages ii-iii.
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Title: Intra-household human capital measures and child and maternal health : evidence from Zambia
Creator: Faas, Simone Margaret
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Zambia has one of the highest rates of childhood stunting in the world. Traditional health production functions model that good health quality for young children is dependent on the necessary inputs of parental influences, including parental health, parental education, and household wealth. Using data from a Feed the Future survey from rural Zambia and the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index, I examine the relationship between several measures of spousal human capital and the health...
Show moreZambia has one of the highest rates of childhood stunting in the world. Traditional health production functions model that good health quality for young children is dependent on the necessary inputs of parental influences, including parental health, parental education, and household wealth. Using data from a Feed the Future survey from rural Zambia and the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index, I examine the relationship between several measures of spousal human capital and the health outcomes of young children and women of child-bearing age. I find the ability to read and write of both spouses is highly correlated with positive changes in children's and women's health outcomes. Literacy and education campaigns which target both boys and girls should be heavily emphasized among rural and disadvantaged communities in southern Africa, as men's literacy and education as well as women's literacy are both important to improving future health outcomes for children and adults.
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Title: Analysis of the petrology and geochemistry of the magmas of the Galema range in the Somalian Plateau, Ethiopia : a probe of lithospheric processes of the northern east African rift system
Creator: Chiasera, Brandon
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: As a continental rift evolves towards a mid ocean ridge, the continental lithosphere must rupture and extension must become accommodated exclusively by seafloor spreading. During this process, extensional strain is initially accommodated along the nascent rift margins, subsequently localizing to zones of focused magmatic intrusion. Asthenospheric conditions such as increased mantle potential temperature or presence of an upwelling, deep seated mantle anomaly may influence, or be responsible...
Show moreAs a continental rift evolves towards a mid ocean ridge, the continental lithosphere must rupture and extension must become accommodated exclusively by seafloor spreading. During this process, extensional strain is initially accommodated along the nascent rift margins, subsequently localizing to zones of focused magmatic intrusion. Asthenospheric conditions such as increased mantle potential temperature or presence of an upwelling, deep seated mantle anomaly may influence, or be responsible for, these extensional processes. While these processes are integral in the process of continental rifting, how they relate and influence each other remains an area of active scientific inquiry and debate. The Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) in East Africa is the ideal location to study extensional processes. We examine the Galema range, an area of focused magmatic activity along the eastern margin of the Central Main Ethiopian Rift, which is morphologically similar to areas of focused magmatism within the rift. To better understand the complex processes involved in continental rifting and how they are related, we present whole-rock, major and trace element data on 77 samples of the Galema range magmas, including isotopic geochemistry on 22 of these samples. We find that whole rock thermodynamic modeling and thermobarometric calculations on mineral-liquid pairs suggest that fractionation (and hence magma stalling depths) within the Galema range is polybaric (70303 and 30303 kbar). These results, when compared to zones of focused intrusion within the rift, indicate an incipient magmatic plumbing system. Trace element models of melt generation reveal melting conditions of 1418-1450°C at 2.9-3.2 GPa. These conditions reveal that Ethiopian mantle TP is elevated by 603038-100°C over ambient. In contrast, Si/Mg activity thermobarometry, which probes the point at which these magmas last re-equilibrated with the mantle, yielded broadly similar temperatures (1435-1474°C) but at lower pressures (2.1-2.6 ± 0.2 GPa). We interpret these results as evidence for magma stalling at a thermo-mechanical boundary to ascent, which we contend is the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB). Isotopic analyses of the magmas of the Galema range indicate the presence of signatures of the Afar plume, Pan-African lithosphere, and depleted mantle. A subset of these isotopic analyses indicates the presence of a previously unknown, 4th mantle end member, which we attribute to be a contribution from a recently created, and destroyed, sub-continental lithosphere beneath the eastern Ethiopian plateau. We contend that diking associated with the Galema range, which pre-dates magmatic belts within the rift; thermomechanically modified the lithosphere along this margin. The thermomechanical modification of the lithosphere mantle along this margin facilitated the subsequent development of within-rift magmatic chains. The implications of this are that off-rift magmatic activity may play an integral role in facilitating the development of rift architecture. We interpret contrasting results between two trace element modeling approaches as evidence for magma ponding subsequent to melt generation. While the continental lithosphere has thinned during extension, the lithosphere remains relatively thick late into the rifting process, despite the development of magmatic extension at crustal depths. The presence of an isotopic signature of a sub-continental lithospheric mantle indicates rapid creation and destruction of lithospheric material in processes attributed to the upwelling Afar plume. This process may be one way in which the lithosphere is thinned in the EARS, along with foundering and assimilation of material into the depleted asthenosphere.
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Title: Fluid reasoning as a predictor of deviant workplace behaviors
Creator: Matusik, James Garrett
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Relative to the sizable body of work investigating the relationship between intelligence and task performance, one facet of overall job performance, very little research has been conducted on the relationship between intelligence and counterproductive work behavior, a different but equally important facet of job performance. Furthermore, the little research that has been conducted on the intelligence-counterproductive work behavior relationship has yielded entirely inconsistent results -...
Show moreRelative to the sizable body of work investigating the relationship between intelligence and task performance, one facet of overall job performance, very little research has been conducted on the relationship between intelligence and counterproductive work behavior, a different but equally important facet of job performance. Furthermore, the little research that has been conducted on the intelligence-counterproductive work behavior relationship has yielded entirely inconsistent results - while some researchers have found a negative relationship between intelligence and counterproductive work behavior, others have found null or positive relationships. This, coupled with the reality that none of these studies have explicitly tested causal mechanisms, provides us with an entirely unclear understanding of this relationship. Thus, the goal of this dissertation is to more carefully examine the potential relationship(s) between intelligence and counterproductive work behavior by (a) capturing both overt and covert counterproductive work behaviors, (b) testing a previously identified, but thus far untested, mediating mechanism, and (c) incorporating moderators, selected based upon criminology research that has leveraged a psychological approach in the explanation of individual deviance.
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Title: The strengths and needs of Palestinian youth : perspectives of youth service providers in Bethlehem, Palestine
Creator: Al-Zoughbi, Lucas
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Background: Palestinian youth are subject to a reality predicated on political and social injustice. The extant literature tends to view these youth through a deficit lens without adequate contextualization. This study aims to address this gap by documenting Palestinian youth strengths, challenges, and root causes according to youth-service providers. Methods: We conducted interviews with youth-service providers in the Bethlehem area. Interviews were followed by a member-checking survey to...
Show moreBackground: Palestinian youth are subject to a reality predicated on political and social injustice. The extant literature tends to view these youth through a deficit lens without adequate contextualization. This study aims to address this gap by documenting Palestinian youth strengths, challenges, and root causes according to youth-service providers. Methods: We conducted interviews with youth-service providers in the Bethlehem area. Interviews were followed by a member-checking survey to improve accurate capture of their experiences. Results: Utilizing Graneheim and Lundman's (2004) pragmatic qualitative data analysis, we extracted nuanced themes that mapped onto the analytical categories. We identified five analytical categories: educational, societal, political, economic, and individual. Discussion: Our findings suggest a complex and nuanced perspective of Palestinian youth according to youth service providers in the Bethlehem area. We discuss implications for practitioners and researchers interested in youth development and well-being in the Palestinian context.
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Title: The role of affect in binge eating phenotypes : an examination of individual differences in emotion experience and interactions with ovarian hormones
Creator: Mikhail, Megan Elizabeth
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Ovarian hormones significantly influence dysregulated eating in females. However, most women do not develop appreciable disordered eating, suggesting that ovarian hormones may not affect all women equally. In the first study of this thesis, I examined whether individual differences in trait negative affect (NA) moderate ovarian hormone-dysregulated eating associations in 446 women who provided saliva samples for hormone measurements and ratings of NA and emotional eating daily for 45...
Show moreOvarian hormones significantly influence dysregulated eating in females. However, most women do not develop appreciable disordered eating, suggesting that ovarian hormones may not affect all women equally. In the first study of this thesis, I examined whether individual differences in trait negative affect (NA) moderate ovarian hormone-dysregulated eating associations in 446 women who provided saliva samples for hormone measurements and ratings of NA and emotional eating daily for 45 consecutive days. Women were at greatest risk for emotional eating when they had high trait NA and experienced a hormonal milieu characterized by low estradiol or high progesterone. While effects were significant in all women, the combination of high trait NA and high progesterone was particularly risky for women with a history of clinically significant binge eating episodes. These findings provide initial evidence that affective and hormonal risk interact to promote dysregulated eating, and that effects may be amplified in women with clinically significant binge eating.Low emotion differentiation (the tendency to experience vague affective states rather than discrete emotions) is associated with psychopathology marked by emotion regulation deficits and impulsive/maladaptive behavior. However, research examining associations between emotion differentiation and dysregulated eating is still nascent. In the second study, I therefore examined associations between several measures of emotion differentiation and binge eating phenotypes across a spectrum of severity.
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Title: Sex-specific effects of developmental dieldrin exposure on synucleinopathy
Creator: Gezer, Aysegul Ozgur
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Human and animal studies have shown that exposure to the organochlorine pesticide dieldrin is associated with increased risk of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Previous work showed that developmental dieldrin exposure increased neuronal susceptibility to MPTP toxicity in male C57BL/6 mice, possibly via changes in dopamine (DA) packaging and turnover. However, the relevance of the MPTP model to PD pathophysiology has been questioned. We therefore studied dieldrin-induced neurotoxicity in the α...
Show moreHuman and animal studies have shown that exposure to the organochlorine pesticide dieldrin is associated with increased risk of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Previous work showed that developmental dieldrin exposure increased neuronal susceptibility to MPTP toxicity in male C57BL/6 mice, possibly via changes in dopamine (DA) packaging and turnover. However, the relevance of the MPTP model to PD pathophysiology has been questioned. We therefore studied dieldrin-induced neurotoxicity in the α-synuclein (α-syn)-preformed fibril (PFF) model, which better reflects the α-syn pathology and toxicity observed in PD pathogenesis. Specifically, we used a “two-hit” model to determine whether developmental dieldrin exposure in mice increases susceptibility to α-syn PFF-induced synucleinopathy. Dams were fed either dieldrin (0.3 mg/kg, every 3-4 days) or vehicle corn oil starting 1 month prior to breeding and continuing through weaning of pups at postnatal day 22. At 12 weeks of age, male and female offspring received intrastriatal PFF or control saline injections. Consistent with the male-specific increased susceptibility to MPTP, our results demonstrate that developmental dieldrin exposure exacerbates PFF-induced toxicity in male mice only. Specifically, in male offspring, dieldrin exacerbated PFF-induced motor deficits on the challenging beam and increased DA turnover in the striatum 6 months after PFF injection. However, male offspring showed neither exacerbation of phosphorylated α-syn (p-syn) aggregation in the substantia nigra (SN) at 1 or 2 months post-PFF injection, nor exacerbation of PFF-induced TH and NeuN loss in the SN 6 months post-PFF injection. Collectively, these data indicate that developmental dieldrin exposure produces a male-specific exacerbation of synucleinopathy-induced behavioral and biochemical deficits. This sex-specific result is consistent with both previous work in the MPTP model, our previously reported sex-specific effects of this exposure paradigm on the male and female epigenome, and the higher prevalence and more severe course of PD in males. The novel two-hit environmental toxicant/PFF exposure paradigm established in this project can be used to explore the mechanisms by which other PD-related exposures alter neuronal vulnerability to synucleinopathy in sporadic PD. We also assessed the expression of total α-syn, DAT and VMAT2 by western blotting, inflammation by TaqMan Mouse Immune Array, and levels of dopamine (DA) and DA metabolites by HPLC in striatal tissue following developmental dieldrin exposure. We found that while developmental dieldrin exposure had no effect on total α-syn, DAT or VMAT2 levels or on striatal DA levels in both male and female F1 pups, exposure produced distinct effects on the male and female inflammatory gene profile. Finally, we also characterized the α-syn PFF model in female animals for the first time. Our results showed that female mice have reduced loss of nigral DA neurons and a behavioral resilience to the same level of DA loss compared to their male counterparts. This is the first study to show sex differences in sensorimotor function in the PFF model and suggests that the PFF model may be a valuable tool to model sex-differences in PD pathology and etiology that does not require any additional surgery or other treatments to manipulate hormonal state.
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Title: Local identity and language attitude in standardization : evidence from Tianjin Chinese tone sandhi
Creator: Wang, Xiaomei (Graduate of Michigan State University)
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation investigates the roles of local identity, language attitude, social awareness, as well as social meanings in dialect change by examining Tianjin Chinese tone sandhi in apparent time. It studies the process by which local variants become stigmatized and also the process by which local features increase. Tianjin Chinese is in the process of standardization (Gao & Lu, 2003; Gu & Liu, 2003), but the current study finds that only stigmatized local features are disappearing, while...
Show moreThis dissertation investigates the roles of local identity, language attitude, social awareness, as well as social meanings in dialect change by examining Tianjin Chinese tone sandhi in apparent time. It studies the process by which local variants become stigmatized and also the process by which local features increase. Tianjin Chinese is in the process of standardization (Gao & Lu, 2003; Gu & Liu, 2003), but the current study finds that only stigmatized local features are disappearing, while an unmarked local feature seems to be immune to standardization. I interpret this in line with Labov's (1972) study of Martha's Vineyard, whereby traditional local features may come to index resistance to standardization and to the incursion of new people into the speech community. Ninety sociolinguistic interviews, including a word list, were conducted in Tianjin in the local dialect in 2014-16 (48f, age 18-82). Participants were categorized as 'middle class' or 'working class' using a combined measure of occupation, education and income. Qualitative assessments of 'positive' or 'negative' were assigned to speakers' attitudes to Tianjin and to migrants. The variables of the dissertation are three of the four traditional Tianjin tone sandhi, referred to as (53-53), (53-21) and (21-21) after their input tonal values respectively. Application of the (53-53) and (53-21) variables produce local outputs; non-application makes a speaker sound more like a Standard Chinese speaker. The old output variant of (21-21) is traditional; the new variant is closer to Standard Chinese. 7462 tokens of (53-53), 5683 tokens of (53-21), and 4117 tokens of (21-21) were extracted from the interviews and word lists (N = 17262). Tokens were impressionistically coded for the application or non-application of (53-53) and (53-21), and for the new or old variant of (21-21), and a subsample were checked in Praat. (53-53) application and the old variant of (21-21) have decreased substantially in frequency over time, probably because their outputs include or are similar to the most salient Tianjin low tone: Tone 1 (Han 1993). Mixed effects regression shows that they are avoided in word list style, by the middle class, by women, and by people with a negative attitude to Tianjin.In contrast, (53-21) has increased from 73.5% among speakers aged 65+, to 93% among speakers under 65. I speculate that because (53-21) is below public awareness, with little style-shifting, it is available for 'recycling' (Dubois & Horvath 2000) as a positive marker of 'new' Tianjin identity. Tianjin natives may be linguistically contrasting themselves with the many migrants who have moved to the city in the last three decades, and indeed a negative attitude to migrants significantly increases the likelihood of (53-21) application in the regress.The reduction or elimination of prominent stereotyped dialect features has been observed in languages with large numbers of speakers, often because of migration and language contacts (Hinskens, 1998). Unmarked dialect features have been observed to persist or increase to keep local identity (Labov 1972, Dubois & Horvath 2000). These two conflicting forces might lead to a stable compromise dialect (Hinskens, 1998). Here the case study of Tianjin Chinese tone sandhi also exhibits signs of changing to a compromise dialect, with stereotyped local features disappearing and unmarked local features increasing, adding to the expanding number of non-Western case studies of language change (Stanford & Preston, 2009) that support earlier generalizations made from Western communities.
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Title: Cross-disciplinary integration : through argumentation and for sustainability
Creator: Laursen, Bethany
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Today's sustainability problems require wisdom that can only come by integrating different ways of knowing for each situation. When academic researchers undertake sustainability work, many of these ways of knowing come from different disciplines. However, years of cross-disciplinary research and practice have yielded only metaphorical or abstract understandings of what researchers actually do to integrate disciplinary contributions. Without a clear understanding of the actions researchers...
Show moreToday's sustainability problems require wisdom that can only come by integrating different ways of knowing for each situation. When academic researchers undertake sustainability work, many of these ways of knowing come from different disciplines. However, years of cross-disciplinary research and practice have yielded only metaphorical or abstract understandings of what researchers actually do to integrate disciplinary contributions. Without a clear understanding of the actions researchers take to accomplish integration, we have been left with confusion, inconsistent proxy measures, or lengthy learning by trial and error. This has left sustainability and other wicked problems either in the hands of veterans with decades of experience or subject to unreliable integrative attempts by newer investigators. To aid practice through clearer understanding, I open the black box of cross-disciplinary integration, explicating one the main processes that investigators use to integrate disciplinary contributions into cross-disciplinary insights: reasoning together.Through three articles, the dissertation shows that (1) as a field, argumentation studies provides valuable, actionable insights into cross-disciplinary integration, (2) one of the main processes of cross-disciplinary integration is reasoning together, and (3) the details of cross-disciplinary reasoning specify and clarify two existing, more abstract models of cross-disciplinary integration. Thus, overall, the dissertation clarifies what has been an urgent but confusing process in sustainability investigations, and, in doing so, it points the way to practical improvements in sustainability research policies, norms, and education.
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Title: The effects of postnatal growth restriction on cardiac function in mice
Creator: Visker, Joseph
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Annually, 15 million babies globally will undergo growth deficits from an inadequate postnatal nutritive environment. Growth restriction during key developmental windows can lead to the occurrence of chronic disease in adulthood such cardiovascular disease [CVD]. The purpose of this dissertation was to characterize heart function following postnatal growth restriction. Investigations were performed to reveal alterations in electrical conductance, cardiac protein abundance, and cardiac...
Show moreAnnually, 15 million babies globally will undergo growth deficits from an inadequate postnatal nutritive environment. Growth restriction during key developmental windows can lead to the occurrence of chronic disease in adulthood such cardiovascular disease [CVD]. The purpose of this dissertation was to characterize heart function following postnatal growth restriction. Investigations were performed to reveal alterations in electrical conductance, cardiac protein abundance, and cardiac energetics from postnatal growth restriction.To experimentally represent postnatal growth restriction, FVB mice were used since they do not discard their neonates when managed, thus allowing for cross fostering. Two weeks prior to mating, dams were nourished with either a control [CON; 20% protein diet], or a low protein diet [LP; 8% protein diet]. Mouse pups that are nourished from LP dams experience growth restriction from an 18% reduction of milk volume. After birth [postnatal day 1; PN1], pups from LP dams were euthanized while half of the pups from CON dams were cross fostered to a either a LP dam or a different CON dam. At PN21, all pups were weaned and fed CON diet ad libitum until adulthood at PN80. Therefore, our nutritive model isolated growth restriction to the postnatal developmental window in early life.At PN80, CON, EUN, LUN and PUN mice were placed under anesthesia and a 5-minute ECG was recorded at baseline. Next, the heart was pharmacologically stressed with an intraperitoneal [IP] injection of dobutamine, and another 5 minutes of ECG was recorded for all groups. ECG showed the CON mice did not experience any abnormal arrhythmias. However, in the restricted groups, the LUN had a higher prevalence of atrial flutter, EUN had 1st degree AV block, and PUN had an increased risk for ventricular depolarization arrhythmias. These results led to the conclusion that postnatal growth restriction increased the risk of abnormal electrical activity of the heart during adulthood, with the most severe impairments present in the PUN.The goal for the second study was to determine proteomic alterations between the hearts of CON and PUN mice. Thus, at PN21, hearts of CON and PUN were subjected to two-dimensional in-gel electrophoresis [2D DIGE] and mass spectroscopy to identify differences in cardiac protein abundance. Cardiac function was measured in adulthood via echocardiography. Results showed a reduced protein abundance of p57kip2, Ttn, and collagen proteins. Additionally, PUN mice had diastolic dysfunction in adulthood. Next, we constructed a potential mechanism for cardiac impairment to allow for future therapeutic countermeasures.The last project determined if growth restriction impaired mitochondrial energetics in the hearts of the PUN mice. Oxygen flux [JO2], and reactive oxygen species [ROS] were recorded using O2k-High resolution respirometry [HRR] at PN22 and PN80. Results from this investigation showed that postnatal growth restriction caused elevations in LEAK respirometry, which reduced the efficiency of PUN mitochondria. ROS emission was also significantly elevated in the PUN mouse hearts, indicating oxidative stress. In conclusion, postnatal growth restriction in early life impairs cardiac mitochondrial function and may increase the risk for CVD.Results from this dissertation show postnatal growth restriction causes permanent damage to cardiac structure and function in adulthood. Future research should focus on determining evidence-based practices with therapeutic countermeasures to mitigate the damage and counteract CVD in those that have experienced postnatal growth restriction.
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Title: Barriers and facilitators to the utilization of the ACT SMART implementation toolkit in community agencies : a qualitative study
Creator: Sridhar, Aksheya
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Evidence-based practices (EBPs) have been shown to improve outcomes for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Wong et al., 2015). Research suggests that the utilization of these practices in community settings is varied (Paynter & Keen, 2015; Pickard, Meza, Drahota, & Brikho, 2018); however, the utilization of implementation guides may bridge the gap between research and practice (Drahota et al., 2017). The Autism Community Toolkit: Systems to Measure and Adopt Research-Based...
Show moreEvidence-based practices (EBPs) have been shown to improve outcomes for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Wong et al., 2015). Research suggests that the utilization of these practices in community settings is varied (Paynter & Keen, 2015; Pickard, Meza, Drahota, & Brikho, 2018); however, the utilization of implementation guides may bridge the gap between research and practice (Drahota et al., 2017). The Autism Community Toolkit: Systems to Measure and Adopt Research-Based Treatments (ACT SMART Toolkit; Drahota, Meza, & Martinez, 2014) is a web-based implementation toolkit developed to guide ASD implementation teams through the phases of EBP implementation in community agencies. This study examined the barriers and facilitators (collectively termed "determinants") to the utilization of this toolkit, based on the perspectives of implementation teams at six ASD community agencies. Two independent coders utilized the adapted EPIS model (Drahota et al., 2017; Moulin et al., 2019) and the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (Venkatesh & Bala, 2008), to guide thematic analyses of participant interviews. Salient determinants were identified, and analyses highlighted two themes: (a) Inner Context Determinants to use of the toolkit (e.g., funding), and (b) Innovation Determinants (e.g., facilitation teams). Finally, determinants that differed across adapted EPIS phases of the toolkit were identified. Findings highlight areas of improvement for the ACT SMART Implementation Toolkit, as well as factors to facilitate the use of this implementation guide. Additionally, findings may inform the development, refinement, and utilization of implementation guides with the aim of increasing the uptake of evidence-based practices in community agencies providing services to children with autism spectrum disorder.
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Title: From sitting to living : examining the role of meditation in understanding the emotion regulatory mechanisms of mindfulness
Creator: Lin, Yanli
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Mindfulness has received widespread interest for its purported benefits to emotional well-being. Despite a rapidly growing literature base supporting the salutary relationship between mindfulness and emotion regulation, little is known about how mindfulness confers its emotion regulatory benefits. A pertinent, yet underexplored, approach to addressing this question is to examine neural mechanisms involved in the effects of mindfulness training via meditative practice to "off-the-cushion"...
Show moreMindfulness has received widespread interest for its purported benefits to emotional well-being. Despite a rapidly growing literature base supporting the salutary relationship between mindfulness and emotion regulation, little is known about how mindfulness confers its emotion regulatory benefits. A pertinent, yet underexplored, approach to addressing this question is to examine neural mechanisms involved in the effects of mindfulness training via meditative practice to "off-the-cushion" changes in emotion regulation. The primary aim of the present study was therefore to determine the extent to which change in neural oscillatory activity (i.e., alpha and theta power) during mindfulness meditation related to subjective (i.e., self-reported negative affect) and neural (i.e., late positive potential [LPP]) measures of emotional reactivity elicited during a subsequent affective picture viewing task. Toward this end, a multimodal experimental paradigm was employed to test three predictions: 1) participants randomized to engage in brief guided mindfulness meditation, relative to those randomized to a control condition, would exhibit increased alpha and theta power during meditation relative to rest; 2) participants in the meditation group, but not those in the control group, would exhibit attenuated LPP responses and report lower negative affect during the picture viewing task; 3) the predicted increases in alpha and theta power during meditation would correlate with the predicted reductions in the LPP and self-reported negative affect during picture viewing. Contrary to expectations, the guided meditation did not produce demonstrable effects on alpha and theta power, the LPP, or self-reported negative affect relative to the control condition. Change in theta, but not alpha, power during meditation was, however, positively correlated with the early time window of the LPP, suggesting that change in neural activity during meditation may relate to subsequent emotion processing. Overall, the study demonstrated the utility of investigating the relationship between what occurs during mindfulness meditation and its purported effects on emotion regulation. Moreover, reflections on the unexpected nature of the null findings dovetail with the prevailing consensus that theoretical and methodological factors unique to the construct of mindfulness are integral in shaping the direction, design, and interpretability of mindfulness research.
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Title: Systematic analysis of the signal responsive gene regulatory network governing Myxococcus xanthus development
Creator: Saha, Shreya
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Studies of signal-induced gene expression in bacteria have contributed to understanding of how bacteria cope with environmental stress. As an extensively studied model, Myxococcus xanthus provides fascinating insights into how changes at the level of gene expression enable which bacteria to survive environmental insults such as nutrient limitation. Upon starvation M. xanthus cells glide into aggregates and form mounds that mature into fruiting bodies as some cells form spores. Previously, our...
Show moreStudies of signal-induced gene expression in bacteria have contributed to understanding of how bacteria cope with environmental stress. As an extensively studied model, Myxococcus xanthus provides fascinating insights into how changes at the level of gene expression enable which bacteria to survive environmental insults such as nutrient limitation. Upon starvation M. xanthus cells glide into aggregates and form mounds that mature into fruiting bodies as some cells form spores. Previously, our group defined 24-30 h poststarvation as the critical period for commitment to spore formation, when cells commit to form spores despite perturbation of the starvation signal by nutrient addition. The process of multicellular development that culminates in sporulation is governed by a network of signal-responsive transcription factors that integrate signals for starvation and cellular alignment. In this dissertation I present the first systematic approach to elucidate the network dynamics during the commitment period.In the network, MrpC is a starvation-responsive transcription factor, whereas FruA is a transcription factor that responds to cellular alignment conveyed by C-signaling. Transcription of fruA is dependent on MrpC binding, and FruA activity is proposed to be posttranslationally regulated by C-signaling, although the mechanism is unknown. FruA and MrpC cooperatively regulate transcription of the dev operon. My systematic analysis of the network dynamics supported a model in which posttranslational activation of FruA by C-signaling is critical for dev transcription and for commitment to spore formation. Similar to dev, MrpC and C-signal-activated FruA combinatorially controlled transcription of the late-acting fadIJ operon involved in spore metabolism. Regulation of late-acting operons implicated in spore coat biogenesis (exoA-I, nfsA-H, MXAN_3259-MXAN_3263) was discovered to be under complex control by MrpC and FruA. My evidence suggests that transcription of these operons depends at least in part on a C-signal-dependent switch from negative regulation by unactivated FruA to positive regulation by activated FruA during the period leading up to and including commitment to sporulation. MrpC negatively regulated exo and MXAN_3259 during mound formation, but positively regulated nfs. During commitment to sporulation, MrpC continued to positively regulate nfs, switched to positive regulation of MXAN_3259, and continued to negatively regulate exo. A third transcription factor, Nla6, appeared to be a positive regulator of all the late genes. We propose that in combination with regulation by Nla6, differential regulation by FruA in response to C-signaling and by MrpC controls late gene expression to ensure that spore resistance and surface characteristics meet environmental demands.
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Title: Turkish teachers and imams and the making of Turkish German difference
Creator: Van Wyck, Brian
Date: 2019
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation investigates the intersections of education, Islam, and knowledge production in the history of postwar migration to West Germany. It focuses on how Germans and Turks grappled with the permanent presence of Turkish guest workers, refugees, and their families in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from the 1960s onward. To understand how ideas about this population of Turkish Germans shaped notions of race, culture, and belonging in both countries, two surprisingly under...
Show moreThis dissertation investigates the intersections of education, Islam, and knowledge production in the history of postwar migration to West Germany. It focuses on how Germans and Turks grappled with the permanent presence of Turkish guest workers, refugees, and their families in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from the 1960s onward. To understand how ideas about this population of Turkish Germans shaped notions of race, culture, and belonging in both countries, two surprisingly under-researched groups are used as a lens: Turkish teachers and imams. Both were charged with seeing to the educational and spiritual needs of what was West Germany's largest immigrant population by 1973. As such, policies, practices, and debates surrounding the hiring, supervision, and activities of relatively small numbers of teachers and imams offer insight into what a broad spectrum of state and civil society stakeholders in both countries believed they knew about Turkish Germans, what differentiated them from the German majority or Turks in Turkey proper, and what interventions were made necessary by that difference. Teachers and imams were simultaneously actors producing knowledge about Turks in the FRG for audiences in both countries, agents tasked with carrying out interventions at the behest of various stakeholders on the basis of this knowledge, and, as Turkish Germans, were themselves subjects of this knowledge regime. As such, they reveal the complicated dynamics underlying why and how what was known about Turkish German difference changed over time. This in turn identifies shifts in ideas about the nation, race, and Islam in Turkey and Germany.Comparing teachers and imams and using sources in Turkish and German as diverse as theater, poetry, oral history, diplomatic correspondence, and the academic and popular press, this dissertation breaks with several common scholarly and popular assumptions. First, it demonstrates the contingency of the emergence in the 1980s of Islam as the most salient aspect of Turkish difference and an essential element of Turkish national identity, rather than a marker of membership in the broader, international "Muslim world." The project identifies the centrality of Islam to the racialization of Turkish difference and the role of Turkish expertise in this process of essentialization. Second, the comparison between teachers and imams highlights the contextual nature of the construction of this essential difference. Even as imams were positioned as experts with proprietary knowledge of Turkish Islam, Turkish teachers lost their privileged status and their cultural and linguistic knowledge was increasingly understood as backwards and irrelevant in the context of the universalistic German school. Thus, Turkish difference in German schools was perceived differently than when it was imagined in a mosque or Koran course. The dissertation offers an account of the development and implications of this interplay between belonging and exclusion, and knowledge and ignorance. This allows it to complicate previous literature which has located German policies and attitudes toward foreigners in the legacies of the Third Reich or in an unchanging and particularly German ethnoracial conception of the nation.
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