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Gender Disparity In Social Security, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Facially neutral, the U.S. Social Security system structurally discriminates against women because it prefers those who successfully fulfill the traditional male breadwinner role rather than the traditional female caregiving role. Overall, women receive lower worker benefits, are much more likely to claim spouse and surviving spouse benefits, and are more dependent on Social Security for their retirement benefits than are men.

This Article assesses Social Security’s disparate treatment of women and how Social Security might be reformed to enhance benefits for women. It begins by providing a broad overview of Social Security benefits. It then discusses how women and couples …

The Migration Of Abolition Theory, Matthew Boaz

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article considers whether and how theories of abolition developed by criminal law scholars are transferrable to the realm of immigration enforcement. A key question is how abolitionist principles might be employed in support of critiques of the United States’ immigration regulatory regime in the same way that these principles have been deployed in denouncing racialized policing and an injurious, industrialized prison system.

This Article makes two contributions: First, it identifies and illuminates a methodology adopted by critical and decarceral criminal law scholars: (i) denouncing the harms of a structural system, (ii) identifying the normative justification(s) for this system, and …

Knee Health Is A Major Determinant Of Mobility Across The Healthspan, Brandon M. Peoples, Kenneth Harrison, Michael A. Samaan, Christopher B. Mobley, David T. Redden, Jaimie A. Roper

Kinesiology and Health Promotion Faculty Publications

Knee health constitutes a pivotal determinant of locomotor function and overall mobility throughout the healthspan. Impairments in knee function lead to a series of biomechanical and physiological alterations that pose substantial public health challenges and economic burdens worldwide. This review synthesizes evidence that delineates the complex and multifaceted relationship between knee health and mobility, emphasizing the interplay across various domains in adult populations. Knee health is conceptualized as a dynamic, interconnected system whereby structural integrity, neuromuscular mechanisms, biomechanical adaptations, and functional mobility are intricately interrelated through cascades of mechanistic processes operating across different temporal stages. A comprehensive understanding of these …

Chronic Alcohol Consumption Induces Phenotypic And Functional Alterations Consistent With A Hyper-Inflammatory State In Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell-Derived Microglia In A Rhesus Macaque Model, Hami Hemati, Madison B. Blanton, Heather E. True, Jude Koura, Rupak Khadka, Kathleen A. Grant, Ilhem Messaoudi

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Alcohol-induced dysregulation of microglial activity is associated with neuroinflammation, cognitive decline, heightened risk for neurodegenerative diseases, alcohol dependence, and escalation of alcohol drinking. Given the challenge of longitudinally sampling primary microglia, we optimized an in vitro method to differentiate peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from rhesus macaque (RM) into induced microglia-like cells (RM-iMGLs). The RM-iMGLs displayed transcriptional profiles distinct from monocyte progenitors and closely resembling primary microglia. Notably, morphological features showed that differentiated RM-iMGLs derived from subjects with chronic alcohol consumption (CAC), while bigger, exhibited a bipolar-like morphology. Additionally, dysregulation in key inflammatory and regulatory markers, along with increased baseline …

You’Re Too Slow! Self-Selected Volitional Efforts Reveal Unexploited Neuromuscular Reserve Capacity Compared To Maximal Efforts During Fatiguing, Load Equated Resistance Exercise, Brian Benitez

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

This investigation examined how movement intent influences neuromuscular excitation strategies during fatiguing resistance exercise, comparing maximal intended concentric efforts versus self-selected volitional efforts during load-equated Smith machine back squat exercise to quantify reserve capacity and characterize underlying neuromuscular mechanisms. Twenty-three resistance-trained participants (12 males, 11 females) completed a repeated-measures design, with replication, across six visits, performing smith machine back squat repetitions-to-failure at 70% 1RM under maximal intent (accelerate rapidly) and volitional intent (self-selected effort) conditions. Maximal voluntary isometric contractions used rapid (instantaneous 10-second effort) and ramp (5-second build-up, 5-second maximal) protocols. Surface electromyography (sEMG) was recorded from vastus lateralis and …

Bridging Awareness And Access: Outdoor Recreation And Physical Activity In Eastern Kentucky, Timothy Mckay

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Physical inactivity remains a pressing challenge in Appalachian Kentucky, where high obesity rates intersect with limited access to structured exercise facilities. This dissertation investigated the extent to which participation in outdoor recreation supports adherence to physical activity (PA) recommendations and explored community awareness of local public lands. Surveys from 52 adult participants in Knox County revealed strong engagement in outdoor activity, with participation significantly predicting compliance with national PA guidelines. Educational attainment was also associated with higher rates of PA compliance, pointing to the influence of literacy and awareness in health behaviors. Reliability testing of the Outdoor Physical Activity Attitude …

Magnetic Heating Efficiency Of Magnetite Nanoparticles: Dependence On Size And Alternating Magnetic Field, Sarah E. Kubican

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Magnetic heating mediated by magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MION) has several clinical applications including cancer thermal therapy, tissue thawing for organ preservation, and magnetogenetics. However, current models of magnetic heating, including the widely used linear response theory, inadequately predict MION heating efficiency. An experimental study covering alternating magnetic field (AMF) strengths and frequencies ranging from 3.98 – 27.85 kA/m and 103.6 – 984.1 kHz, respectively, with a range of MION core diameters 9.5- 30.3 nm was conducted to elucidate the relationships between these AMF parameters and MION sizes and the resulting heating efficiencies. Heating efficiency was found to increase approximately …

No Hope?: Queer Negativity, Afropessimism, And The Limits Of Futurity, Colton Barton

Theses and Dissertations--English

Since their inceptions, black and queer studies have sought to articulate the positions of “black” and “queer” within American social life—often converging on the goal of liberation. This thesis examines the intersection of two “negative” theoretical frameworks—Afropessimism and anti-social queer theory (or “queer negativity”)—to interrogate both the limits and generative potential of radical negativity. Though emerging from distinct intellectual traditions, these frameworks conceptualize blackness and queerness as constitutive negations—gaps within the dominant social order that render those so marked inassimilable to normative notions of humanity. While the convergences of these theories can be illuminating, their shared pessimism risks obscuring alternative …

Preserving Nature: Mapping Patriarchal And Imperial Control In Victorian Fiction, Hannah Schultz

Theses and Dissertations--English

In Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a group of fallen women see “themselves and surrounding nature forming an organism of which all the parts harmoniously and joyously interpenetrated each other” (65). As relational, boundary-dissolving, ecological subjects, these women are empowered above society’s judgment, made “sublime as the moon and stars” (65). By analyzing such representations of ecological relationality in Victorian fiction, my dissertation reveals new forms of agency for women and racialized others. While many ecofeminists have historically disavowed the nature-gender link as reinforcing the shared oppression of nature and marginalized groups, I depart from this standpoint, as …

Fatal Futures: Slow Violence, Utopia, And The Postnatural Human In Contemporary American Literature, Shelby Roberts

Theses and Dissertations--English

Fatal Futures: Slow Violence, Utopia, and the Postnatural Human in Contemporary American Literature investigates the ways in which ideas of futurity are articulated in narratives that conceptualize both the end of the world and post-calamity society through the lens of a pessimistic, queer approach to understanding the future. The purpose of this project is to not only build previous research in the configurations of the body in queer, gothic, and speculative American writing as a whole, but to enter into a developing conversation surrounding Appalachian literature through the idea of kinship (the broadening of relationships both chemical and postnatural) as …

"These Are The Concepts Of The Father": Proclus' Solution To Parmenides' Dilemma, Daniel J. Grifferty

Theses and Dissertations--Modern and Classical Languages, Literature and Cultures

This master’s thesis will attempt to solve a dilemma presented by Parmenides in Plato’s dialogue of the same name. This dilemma arises because the young Socrates suggests that the forms may be thoughts that come to be in the soul. Parmenides responds to this statement by attempting to force Socrates to admit that this can only lead to one of two outcomes: (1) each thing thinks because it is composed of thoughts or (2) each thing does not think, even though it is composed of thoughts. Both of these outcomes are unsatisfactory and do not provide a solid grounding for …

Geochemical And Sedimentological Signals Of Bottom Water Oxygen Dynamics From Lake Tanganyika (Zambia), Njahi Mwangala

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Lake Tanganyika is a large, ancient freshwater body with exceptional biodiversity that is located in the East African Rift System. Lake Tanganyika’s size and longevity make its sedimentary record useful for understanding environmental changes that cross spatial and temporal boundaries. Lake Tanganyika is known to be susceptible to global warming given its tropical location. Over 12 million people living within Lake Tanganyika’s watershed rely on fishing for their income and nutrition. Changes to limnological function driven by climate could therefore have serious implications for human health and biodiversity conservation. This study focuses on using geochemical properties of modern lake bottom …

Late Holocene Paleolimnology Of Lake Tanganyika (East Africa), Leandro Domingos Luz

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Understanding the long-term responses of ecosystems to climate variability is crucial for predicting and mitigating future changes in the Afrotropics, a region where a significant portion of the population is highly vulnerable to extreme climatic events. Lake Tanganyika, the largest rift lake in East Africa, offers a unique sedimentary archive that can be used to investigate the limnological changes, hydroclimatic shifts, and vegetation dynamics across various timescales. A multi-proxy approach was employed to assess the landscape responses to hydroclimatic fluctuations in the Late Holocene, integrating paleoenvironmental records from radiocarbon-dated sediment cores. This approach involved sedimentology, mineralogy, geochemistry, phytolith analysis, and …

How To Eat Right And Why We Ask That Question, Heather N. Carpenter

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

What does it mean to “eat right?” The notion is, of course, culturally, historically, nationally, politically, ethnically, and class determined. For the purposes of this project, however, I am particularly interested in changing notions of what it means to “eat right” within the post-World War II to the early new millennium American context, as such notions are represented within the prescriptions of popular culture. I turn to popular culture because this is the commons of the hegemonic call to “normalcy”—this is where we all learn to imitate, aspire, or rebel against a generic American consumer-self in conformity with the biases, …

Woke-Lahoma: Anti-Trans Ideology On The Frontlines, Sarah H. Fogel

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

The past decade (2015-2025) of American politics has been marked by a sharp rise in anti-trans politics. Indeed, during this period, anti-trans rhetoric and legislation have become central to American conservative politics more broadly. As the Republican party under Donald Trump works daily to remake the federal government in its image, studying the recent past of Republican-controlled states like Oklahoma offers a window into the future of anti-trans politics at the national scale. This thesis uses a mix of discourse analysis of anti-trans media and participant observation at 2SLGBTQ+ Pride events to analyze the ideological underpinnings of the present-day anti-trans …

Spatializing The Tax Code: Using Property Records To Locate The Fiscal Face Of Rentiership, Michael J. Mccanless

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation analyzes how the tax code shapes housing financialization in mid-sized US cities. Employing a mixed-methods approach that integrates critical computational analysis with qualitative fieldwork in Memphis, I examine the role of public rent-seeking in shaping housing financialization in U.S. cities. The first article analyzes the property tax appeal strategies of corporate landlords and their implications for public revenues and municipal budgets. The second article explores how the IRS 1031 exchange provision—which allows for capital gains deferrals when the proceeds of a property sale are reinvested in a ‘like-kind’ property—facilitates the movement of capital from high-cost coastal markets into …

The Houston Climate Justice Museum As A Catalyst For Environmental Justice: Exploring The Intersection Of Art, Activism, And Creative Placemaking In Houston, Texas, Aylin Castro

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This thesis explores how the Houston Climate Justice Museum (HCJM) functions as a site for environmental/climate justice education through art and community engagement. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, this research examines how the museum’s curating practices generate new understandings of environmental in/justices, fosters local partnerships, and creates a welcoming space for community dialogue. Findings show that the HCJM does more than exhibit art, it demonstrates how art can be leveraged to advance both activist and educational projects. This study positions the HCJM as a model for how local and justice orientated museums and cultural spaces can contribute …

Yaoi Lesbians: Media, Identity, And Desire, Olivia Marquardt

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Media consumption reflects aspects of identity while also assisting in identity formation (Koller, 2008; Zemmels, 2012; Wu, 2006). This thesis examines the phenomenon of lesbians who engage with men-loving-men (MLM) media. The practice seems odd due to the contrast of lesbians desiring women for their social, platonic, romantic, and sexual relationships, but this thesis finds that repeated consumption of media that display men and their desires can index lesbianism. This practice helps lesbians construct their identities through three processes of indexicality: indexical disjuncture, indexical bleaching, and indexical denial (Barrett & Hall, 2024). Through a discourse analysis of five semi-constructed interviews …

Hugo Chávez, El Camino Hagiográfico: Religión Y Bolivarianismo En La Construcción Discursiva Del Culto A Un Presidente, Lilia Malavé Conley

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

This dissertation examines the discursive construction of the political-religious cult surrounding Hugo Chávez through a theoretical and methodological approach that integrates Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA). Its central objective is to identify and interpret the incorporation of elements from the Venezuelan religious imaginary–particularly from popular Christianity–into the symbolic configuration of Chávez as a sacred figure within official discourse. The corpus analyzed includes official transcripts from the television program Aló Presidente, as well as two animated short films titled Chávez Nuestro que Estás en el Cielo (“Our Chávez Who Art in Heaven”), broadcast on Venezuelan public …

“A True And Broad Sympathy:” Thomas Hughes, Medievalism, And Social Justice In The Nineteenth Century, Sarah E. Stapleton

Theses and Dissertations--History

Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1857), used medievalism to help solve social problems of the Nineteenth Century. This contravenes the traditional view of medievalism, especially Anglo-Saxonism, since others have used it to justify the subjugation of people of lower social status, namely the poor in England, enslaved African Americans in the United States, and Indians under British rule.

While the use of medievalism is veiled in Hughes’ work, the subtext of Tom Brown’s Schooldays demonstrated Hughes’ Anglo-Saxonism. Tom Brown and the intertextual material surrounding his narrative exhibit the characteristics of Anglo-Saxonism through cultural primitivism, the concept of allodial, …

Applied Essays In Industrial Organization: Pricing In Short-Term Rental Markets And Policy Implications In Tobacco Consumption, Richard J. Applin

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

Economics 101 teaches that the interaction between supply and demand determines the prices and quantities consumers face. In econometric research, it is critical to remain aware of this canonical fact, as failure to do so can introduce bias in the estimation of economic parameters. This dissertation empirically demonstrates the importance of factoring in economic structure in three applied essays.

In the first essay, I estimate the impact of rating visibility on Airbnb pricing using a two-way fixed effects model. To do so, I primarily rely on an instrumental variables approach that I argue should identify a supply-side relationship. I provide …

Investigating Regulation And The Regulome Of The Nucleic Acid Binding Protein Spovg Within Borrelia Burgdorferi, Timothy C. Saylor

Theses and Dissertations--Medical Sciences

Prior studies indicated Borrelia burgdorferi SpoVG protein was regulated, SpoVG binds specifically to a number of nucleic acids, and SpoVG binds to the non-variable section of the major virulence factor vlsE. Although a direct transcriptional activator or inhibitor was not elucidated, it is shown that SpoVG is regulated based on cell culture density independent of the growth rate of B. burgdorferi, indicating that SpoVG regulation is outside the scope of the alternative sigma factor RpoS. Using a dCas9 CRISPRi construct to target SpoVG resulted in protein expression trending towards upregulation of the BosR-RpoS regulon, and a marked decrease …

Cellular And Behavioral Consequences Of Psychedelic Drug Action In The Claustrum, Tanner L. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

Psychedelics are rapidly garnering research attention for their ability to successfully treat a variety of psychiatric diseases after one or a handful of treatments in recent clinical research. Among the conditions treated is substance use disorder (SUD), which afflicted 48.5 million (16.7%) Americans aged 12 and older in 2023 (NSDUH). As clinical trial results continue to show lasting positive effects of psychedelic psychotherapy, there remains an enormous gap in knowledge regarding how these drugs cause lasting changes in the brain to achieve these therapeutic effects. It has been suggested that psychedelics must induce rapid and long-lasting neuronal plasticity in order …

Leveraging Clinical Standards To Improve The Translational Relevance Of Therapies For Experimental Spinal Cord Injury, Aaron L. Silverstein

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

Efforts to improve treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI) often use animals to develop effective therapeutics, intending to improve the survival and the quality of life of persons with SCI. Over half of all SCIs in the United States occur at the cervical level and often cause locomotor deficits and life-threatening breathing dysfunction. Thus, my dissertation is focused on this important patient population.

After beginning with a description of translational research and surveying SCI from a clinical standpoint, I turned to describe experimental models of cervical SCI and more detailed neuroimmunological findings relevant to my work. Then, I conducted a …

Immune Dynamics And B Cell Contributions To Neuroplasticity And Recovery After Stroke, Thomas A. Ujas

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

This dissertation explores the dynamic interplay between the immune system and the brain across stroke and aging using clinical, post-mortem, and pre-clinical models. The immune system plays critical roles in shaping brain function, responding to injury, and mediating recovery. These studies aim to enhance our understanding of neuroimmune dynamics across spatial and temporal dimensions.

In the first part, we conducted longitudinal sampling of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) patients to track immune cell and cytokine changes at days 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14 post-stroke, with a focus on delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI), a common complication. We observed distinct temporal patterns, …

Hannah Arendt As Hermeneutic Phenomenologist: Natality And The Miracle Of Philosophy, Andrew H. Marquis

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

I argue that Hannah Arendt practiced hermeneutic phenomenology in the canonical mode of her mentor, Martin Heidegger. Hermeneutic phenomenology is not a philosophical school defined by methods, results, or topics. It is a practice of transformative thinking by which we work through the burdens of who and how we have been towards the possibilities of who and how we could be. Heidegger, burdened by the scientism of his philosophical milieu, articulated this practice not by rejecting scientistic philosophies outright but by interpretively recovering their most promising tendencies.

Though seldom recognized as a hermeneutic phenomenologist, Arendt’s philosophical response to Nazism reveals …

Anxiolytic Intervention: Modulation Of Cell Types Due To Nicotine Withdrawal, Taylor Elder

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Nicotine use disorder (NUD) remains a leading cause of preventable disease, yet the neurobiological mechanisms underlying nicotine withdrawal are incompletely understood. Emerging evidence implicates neuroimmune signaling and astrocytic regulation of glutamate in shaping the withdrawal-associated affective phenotype. This dissertation investigated these processes using multiple nicotine administration paradigms including osmotic minipump implant, cigarette smoke exposure, and nicotine vapor inhalation to model diverse routes of human nicotine intake.

Chapter 2 examines the effects of these three modes of administration on neuroinflammation and validation of nicotine delivery. Nicotine exposure was confirmed through receptor [³H]Epibatidine nAChR binding assay and serum cotinine measurements. …

Analysis Of Dynamic And Final Surface Subsidence Movements Over Subcritical Panels In The Eastern Us, Mauricio Parra Valencia Sr

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Subsidence prediction is a critical field in mining engineering, focusing on anticipating ground movements caused by underground coal extraction. Accurately forecasting these movements is essential for protecting surface structures and infrastructure from damage. However, despite extensive research by mining professionals worldwide, reliable prediction remains challenging, especially in complex environments like subcritical mining areas and locations characterized by highly variable topography. These conditions introduce non-linear rock mechanics that often complicate the application of traditional predictive models. This thesis utilizes measured subsidence data related to the extraction of two adjacent longwall panels in a deep coal mine in the eastern US to …

Simulation-To-Hardware Validation Of Mpc For Binary Thruster 2d Cubesat Control, Aevar Amundinusarson Oefjoerd

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Small satellites must execute precise, fuel-limited maneuvers under strict actuation and operational constraints. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a suitable approach because it optimizes future actions while explicitly enforcing these limits. This work evaluates (1) whether MPC can operate in real time using binary (on/off), asymmetric thrusters, and (2) whether a high-fidelity digital twin can be used to tune and validate the controller prior to hardware testing.

An MPC framework was implemented on a planar satellite prototype that floats on air bearings, operates at 16.7 Hz (60 ms period), and uses eight binary thrusters exhibiting up to 13.2% variation in …

M1 Macrophage-Engineered Vesicles Have Anti-Cancer Activity In Ovarian Cancer, Connie Du Cao

Theses and Dissertations--Clinical and Translational Science

Ovarian cancer typically presents at an advanced stage, has a poor prognosis, and is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-derived membrane-bound nanoparticles that function in specific cell-to-cell communication and are under development as novel drug delivery vehicles and modulators of the tumor microenvironment. Artificial cell-derived vesicles (ACDVs) derived from M1 macrophages are able to repolarize M2 macrophages to the M1 phenotype and target tumor cells in in vitro studies.

In this study, we generated engineered EVs (EEVs) by membrane disruption of M1 macrophages (MEVs) in the presence and absence of cisplatin to generate …