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With the discovery of the Higgs Boson in 2012, particle physics has decidedly moved beyond the Standard Model into a new epoch. Though the Standard Model particle content is now completely accounted for, there remain many theoretical issues about the structure of the theory in need of resolution. Among these is the hierarchy problem: since the renormalized Higgs mass receives quadratic corrections from a higher cutoff scale, what keeps the Higgs boson light? Many possible solutions to this problem have been advanced, such as supersymmetry, Randall-Sundrum models, or sub-millimeter corrections to gravity. One such solution has been advanced by the Lee-Wick Standard Model. In this theory, higher-derivative operators are added to the Lagrangian for each Standard Model field, which result in propagators that possess two physical poles and fall off more rapidly in the ultraviolet regime. It can be shown by an auxiliary field transformation that the higher-derivative theory is identical to positing a second, manifestly renormalizable theory in which new fields with opposite-sign kinetic and mass terms are found. These so-called Lee-Wick fields have opposite-sign propagators, and famously cancel off the quadratic divergences that plague the renormalized Higgs mass. The states in the Hilbert space corresponding to Lee-Wick particles have negative norm, and implications for causality and unitarity are examined.
This dissertation explores a variant of the theory called the N = 3 Lee-Wick
Standard Model. The Lagrangian of this theory features a yet-higher derivative operator, which produces a propagator with three physical poles and possesses even better high-energy behavior than the minimal Lee-Wick theory. An analogous auxiliary field transformation takes this higher-derivative theory into a renormalizable theory with states of alternating positive, negative, and positive norm. The phenomenology of this theory is examined in detail, with particular emphasis on the collider signatures of Lee-Wick particles, electroweak precision constraints on the masses that the new particles can take on, and scenarios in early-universe cosmology in which Lee-Wick particles can play a significant role.
This dissertation explores a variant of the theory called the N = 3 Lee-Wick
Standard Model. The Lagrangian of this theory features a yet-higher derivative operator, which produces a propagator with three physical poles and possesses even better high-energy behavior than the minimal Lee-Wick theory. An analogous auxiliary field transformation takes this higher-derivative theory into a renormalizable theory with states of alternating positive, negative, and positive norm. The phenomenology of this theory is examined in detail, with particular emphasis on the collider signatures of Lee-Wick particles, electroweak precision constraints on the masses that the new particles can take on, and scenarios in early-universe cosmology in which Lee-Wick particles can play a significant role.
ContributorsTerBeek, Russell Henry (Author) / Lebed, Richard F (Thesis advisor) / Alarcon, Ricardo (Committee member) / Belitsky, Andrei (Committee member) / Chamberlin, Ralph (Committee member) / Parikh, Maulik (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Climate change poses a threat to the emotional well-being and livelihood strategies of individuals in biophysically vulnerable communities. While the biophysical effects and possibilities of climate change are well-documented, understanding the emotional impacts on individuals in these communities is an avenue of research that requires more exploration. Using an ethnographic approach, this study analyzes the emotional responses of individuals, first in three biophysically vulnerable communities in the United States, and second, in island communities. Study sites in the United States include Mobile, Alabama; Kodiak, Alaska; and Phoenix, Arizona, each of which have different vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change. Internationally, we conducted research in Viti Levu, Fiji; Nicosia, Cyprus; Wellington, New Zealand; and London, England. Using the 2014 Global Ethnohydrology Study Protocol respondents were asked about their emotional responses to the current effects of climate change, the effects of climate change on livelihoods in their area, and the effects of climate change on the younger generation. Using cross-cultural data allows for a broader understanding of emotional distress and wellbeing in response to climate change in areas with similar expected climate change outcomes, although with different levels of biophysical vulnerability, as well as understanding emotional distress and wellbeing in areas with different expected climate change outcomes, and similar levels of biophysical vulnerability. Results from this research can be used to understand possible mental health outcomes, the possibilities for political activism, and how to create mitigation strategies that resonate with local community members.
ContributorsDu Bray, Margaret V (Author) / Wutich, Amber (Thesis advisor) / BurnSilver, Shauna (Thesis advisor) / Bolin, Bob (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Suicide is one of the fastest-growing and least-understood causes of death, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMIC). In low-income settings, where the technical capacity for death surveillance is limited, suicides may constitute a significant portion of early deaths, but disappear as they are filtered through reporting systems shaped by social, cultural, and political institutions. These deaths become unknown and unaddressed. This dissertation illuminates how suicide is perceived, contested, experienced, and interpreted in institutions ranging from the local (i.e., family, community) to the professional (i.e., medical, law enforcement) in Nepal, a country purported to have one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Drawing on a critical medical anthropology approach, I bridge public health and anthropological perspectives to better situate the problem of suicide within a greater social-political context. I argue that these complex, contestable deaths, become falsely homogenized, or lost. During 18 months of fieldwork in Nepal, qualitative, data tracing, and psychological autopsy methodologies were conducted. Findings are shared through three lenses: (1) health policy and world systems; (2) epidemiology and (3) socio-cultural. The first investigates how actors representing familial, legal, and medical institutions perceive, contest, and negotiate suicide documentation, ultimately failing to accurately capture a leading cause of death. Using epidemiologic perspectives, surveillance data from medical and legal agencies are analyzed and pragmatic approaches to better detect and prevent suicidal death in the Nepali context are recommended. The third lens provides perceived explanatory models for suicide. These narratives offer important insights into the material, social, and cultural factors that shape suicidal acts in Nepal. Findings are triangulated to inform policy, prevention, and intervention approaches to reduce suicidal behavior and improve health system capabilities to monitor violent deaths. These approaches go beyond typical psychological investigations of suicide by situating self-inflicted death within broader familial, social, and political contexts. Findings contribute to cultural anthropological theories related to suicide and knowledge production, while informing public health solutions. Looking from the margins towards centers of power, this dissertation explicates how varying institutional numbers can obfuscate and invalidate suffering experienced at local levels.
ContributorsHagaman, Ashley (Author) / Wutich, Amber (Thesis advisor) / Hruschka, Daniel (Committee member) / Kohrt, Brandon (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Criticisms of technocratic and managerial sustainability responses to global environmental change have led scholars to argue for transformative shifts in ideology, policy, and practice favoring alternative, plural transformation pathways to sustainability. This raises key debates around how we build transformative capacity and who will lead the way. To further this critical dialogue, this dissertation explores the potential for sustainability experiential learning (SEL) to serve as a capacity building mechanism for global ecological citizenship in support of transformation pathways to sustainable wellbeing. In the process it considers how the next generation of those primed for sustainability leadership identify with and negotiate diversity—of perceptions, values, agency, and lived experiences—in what constitutes sustainable wellbeing and the approaches needed to get there.
Inspired by the STEPS (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) Centre’s transformation pathways approach, this research proposes a Transformative Capacity Building model grounded in a Transformation Pathways to Sustainable Wellbeing framework that integrates and builds upon tenets of the original pathways approach with transformative learning, Value-Believe-Norm, and global ecological citizenship (eco-citizenship) theories and concepts. The proposed model and framework were applied to an in-depth ethnographic case study of sustainability experiential learning communities formed within the four Summer 2015 Global Sustainability Studies (GSS) programs at Arizona State University. Using mixed methods, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and Photovoice, this study examines the values, perceptions, and perceived agency of participants post-program in relation to the knowledge-making and mobilization processes that unfolded during their international GSS programs. Of particular interest are participants’ cognitive, moral, and affective engagement as SEL community members.
Through multi-level thematic analyses, key values, perceptions, agency and engagement themes are identified and influencing relationships highlighted across the different SEL communities and programs. Implications of these factors and their relationships for capacity building for eco-citizenship and future program development are considered. The dissertation concludes by translating study findings into actionable pathways for future research AND practice, including the proposal of program development and implementation recommendations that could enable future sustainability experiential learning programs to better contribute to transformative capacity building for eco-citizenship.
Inspired by the STEPS (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) Centre’s transformation pathways approach, this research proposes a Transformative Capacity Building model grounded in a Transformation Pathways to Sustainable Wellbeing framework that integrates and builds upon tenets of the original pathways approach with transformative learning, Value-Believe-Norm, and global ecological citizenship (eco-citizenship) theories and concepts. The proposed model and framework were applied to an in-depth ethnographic case study of sustainability experiential learning communities formed within the four Summer 2015 Global Sustainability Studies (GSS) programs at Arizona State University. Using mixed methods, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and Photovoice, this study examines the values, perceptions, and perceived agency of participants post-program in relation to the knowledge-making and mobilization processes that unfolded during their international GSS programs. Of particular interest are participants’ cognitive, moral, and affective engagement as SEL community members.
Through multi-level thematic analyses, key values, perceptions, agency and engagement themes are identified and influencing relationships highlighted across the different SEL communities and programs. Implications of these factors and their relationships for capacity building for eco-citizenship and future program development are considered. The dissertation concludes by translating study findings into actionable pathways for future research AND practice, including the proposal of program development and implementation recommendations that could enable future sustainability experiential learning programs to better contribute to transformative capacity building for eco-citizenship.
ContributorsGwiszcz, Julianna Marie (Author) / Eder, James (Thesis advisor) / Haglund, LaDawn (Committee member) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Under-representation of women doctors in medical work force despite their overwhelming majority in medical schools is an intriguing social issue for Pakistan raising important questions related to evolving gender relations in Pakistani society. Previous research on the broader issue of under-representation of women in science has focused primarily on the structural barriers to women’s advancement. It does not account for the underlying subtle (and changing) gendered power relations that permeate everyday life and which can constrain (or enable) the choices of women. It also does not address how women are not simply constructed as subjects within intersecting power relations, but actively construct meaning in relation to them. It raises interesting questions about the cultural shaping of subjectivities, identities and agency of women within the web of power relations in a society such as Pakistan.
To analyze the underlying dynamics of this issue, this dissertation empirically examines the individual, institutional and social factors which enable or affect the career choices of Pakistani women doctors. Based on the ethnographic data obtained from in-depth, person centered, open ended interviews with sixty women doctors and their families, as well as policy makers and the stake holders in medical education and health administration in Lahore, Pakistan this dissertation seeks to address the complex issues of empowerment and agency in the context of Pakistani women, both in individual and collective sense.
Participation in medical education is ostensibly an empowering act, but dissecting the social relations in which this decision takes place reveals that becoming a doctor actually enmeshes women further in the disciplinary relations within their families and society. Similarly, the medical workplaces of Pakistan are marked by entrenched gendered hierarchies constraining women’s access to resources and their progression through medical career. Finally, the political implications of defining work in medicine, and devaluing care in capitalist economies is explored.
To analyze the underlying dynamics of this issue, this dissertation empirically examines the individual, institutional and social factors which enable or affect the career choices of Pakistani women doctors. Based on the ethnographic data obtained from in-depth, person centered, open ended interviews with sixty women doctors and their families, as well as policy makers and the stake holders in medical education and health administration in Lahore, Pakistan this dissertation seeks to address the complex issues of empowerment and agency in the context of Pakistani women, both in individual and collective sense.
Participation in medical education is ostensibly an empowering act, but dissecting the social relations in which this decision takes place reveals that becoming a doctor actually enmeshes women further in the disciplinary relations within their families and society. Similarly, the medical workplaces of Pakistan are marked by entrenched gendered hierarchies constraining women’s access to resources and their progression through medical career. Finally, the political implications of defining work in medicine, and devaluing care in capitalist economies is explored.
ContributorsMasood, Ayesha (Author) / Tsuda, Takeyuki (Thesis advisor) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / Gaughan, Monica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Collective action among non-governmental organizations working in maternal and child health in Haiti
Description
This mixed-methods research study examined the level of collective action that is occurring among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in maternal and child health in Haiti. This study takes the view that health, and by extension, maternal and child health, is a global public good; global public goods are most efficiently provided by the means of collective action. Therefore, to the extent that maternal and child health services are provided efficiently in Haiti, collective action should be occurring.
This study utilized a semi-structured interview approach to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. A total of 17 participants who were managers or executives of NGOs working in maternal and child health in Haiti were interviewed. The interviews also gathered quantitative data that characterized types of cooperation that were occurring among NGOs. The qualitative data that were collected in these interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, and quantitative data were analyzed using social network analysis. The findings concluded that while there is cooperation occurring among NGOs in Haiti, the cooperation levels are low, networks are not very dense and there is overall general consensus that more cooperation is needed
This study utilized a semi-structured interview approach to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. A total of 17 participants who were managers or executives of NGOs working in maternal and child health in Haiti were interviewed. The interviews also gathered quantitative data that characterized types of cooperation that were occurring among NGOs. The qualitative data that were collected in these interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, and quantitative data were analyzed using social network analysis. The findings concluded that while there is cooperation occurring among NGOs in Haiti, the cooperation levels are low, networks are not very dense and there is overall general consensus that more cooperation is needed
ContributorsMcCool, Sarah (Author) / Gaughan, Monica (Thesis advisor) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / York, Abigail (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This dissertation combines three research projects to examine the people affecting and affected by urban environmental change across multiple scales of decision making. In the Phoenix Metropolitan area and the Colorado River Basin, I study the social influence around the implementation of water use innovations among city-level stakeholders (Chapter 2) and I emphasize that water insecurity still exists in wealthy cities (Chapter 3). In Chapter 4, I ultimately consider grassroots solutions for achieving resource security alongside positive social change in a historically underserved community. In this dissertation, I have conceptualized my research questions by envisioning urban change as an opportunity for actors, at multiple scales, to simultaneously reduce resource waste and promote positive social change.
ContributorsDeMyers, Christine (Author) / Wutich, Amber (Thesis advisor) / White, Dave (Committee member) / BurnSilver, Shauna (Committee member) / Glegziabher, Meskerem (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
This dissertation provides a foundation for understanding who decides and proceed local climate change policymaking, how race and ethnicity, class, and political ideology inform climate beliefs, the role of personal exposure to heat-related illnesses in climate change beliefs, and finally differences in perceptions of local extreme heat and global manifestations of climate change. The first focus examines urban climate governance, the influence of state policy, and stakeholders’ climate agenda-setting in a state-centric urban governance structure. A new conceptual model is developed to explore climate governance in Istanbul, a Turkish megacity, under a unitary system of government, in a transcontinental country straddling Europe (in candidate status with the European Union) and Asia. The qualitative analyses show that swings in political leadership, the divergence between the existing laws and newly adopted urban climate agenda, and conflicting priorities between policy entrepreneurs generate barriers to long-run and tangible climate change actions in Istanbul. The second focus unveils the influence of personal heat exposure and sociodemographic characteristics affecting climate change perceptions in a large American city facing substantial climate change impacts, Phoenix, Arizona. Using the 2011 Phoenix Metropolitan Area Social Survey, a two-level logistic model examines what factors influence a belief that “global warming and climate change are already occurring.” The integrated econometric model of climate beliefs and justice shows that climate change and global warming are positively associated with non-white race and non-Latinx ethnicity, high levels of education, personal experience with heat-related illnesses, and liberal beliefs. The last focus of this dissertation explores how threats of extreme local weather conditions and global climate change are perceived differently by individuals depending on their vulnerability and adaptive capacity to the changing climate. Using the 2017 Phoenix Social Survey, the individual-level regression models demonstrate that greenspace and tight-knit communities, aspects of adaptive capacity, serve as protective elements reducing the perception of climate risk. Factors such as ethnic identity and connection to place are more closely associated with local versus global risks. In contrast, political ideology and personal experiences moderate perception of both local and global risks.
ContributorsYazar, Mahir (Author) / York, Abigail (Thesis advisor) / BurnSilver, Shauna (Committee member) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
"It's Always A Part Of You and Aloha ʻĀina": Sacred Spaces and Indigenous/Aboriginal People’s Health
Description
Background: Indigenous/Aboriginal People (IAP) since the beginning of colonization have fought for their inherent rights to follow their way of life. They continue to face mistreatment for their beliefs and on the sacred spaces that are apart of them. The purpose of this dissertation is to share how the desecration of sacred spaces impacts Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples’ health. Two research studies were designed to better understand how Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples’ health is affected when their sacred spaces are desecrated. Methods: The first research study was conducted in Arizona, and Hawaiʻi with eight participants who are members of American Indian nations and Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian). The first study focused on sacred spaces in general, with some additional focus on the San Francisco Peaks (Nuvtukya’ovi in Hopi) and Mauna A Wākea. The second study was conducted virtually with seven Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) and focused solely on Mauna a Wākea. Qualitative data collection was through key informant interviews. Qualitative data analysis centered on a thematic analysis characterizing sacred spaces, and the ways in which participants explained how different forms of sacred space desecration impact IAP health. The analysis included the relationship IAP have with sacred spaces, and how their health is connected to sacred spaces. Results: The first qualitative study found that desecrating sacred spaces negatively impacts Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples’ cultural identity and health. The second study found that participants are connected to sacred spaces, including having a loving relationship with and responsibility to sacred spaces. Conclusions: The conclusions from the study show that Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples’ health is negatively impacted when their sacred spaces are desecrated, because their relationship to the sacred space is a part of their cultural identity. IAP’s relationship with sacred spaces is one filled with love and the responsibility to care for them. Sacred spaces also heal and maintain IAP health. For the future public health implications, laws and policies need to be upheld and created to protect IAP’s health rights and their sacred spaces.
ContributorsCooper, Danelle (Author) / SturtzSreetharan, Cindi (Thesis advisor) / Wutich, Amber (Thesis advisor) / Riding In, James (Committee member) / Taualiʻi, Maile (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Over the last four centuries, Black women have been overwhelmingly understood, imagined, and defined through a Eurocentric and oppressive lens. The Eurocentric or white lens places pseudo-characteristics on Black women that inaccurately describe them. The qualities ascribed to Black women are rooted in racial ideologies that benefit and progress the interest of White supremacy. This history has placed Black women in tension with institutionalized medicine, discouraging them from seeking or using healthcare resources. Without trust in a system positioned to heal, treat, and prevent health ailments, Black women cannot dialogue with those that are a part of that system. Paulo Freire argues that "dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world (Freire, 2000, p. 90)." By centering Black women and their voices, I envision (re)naming the world. Understanding how Black women from Lincoln County, Mississippi describe their health and bodies sheds light on their daily experiences that facilitate self-care, womanhood, and identity. This dissertation covers three related studies that are addressing: 1) how Black women from Mississippi see their bodies outside of deficit health, 2) how Black women’s sisterhood has been a collective effort to build womanhood and health, and how societal stereotypes can interfere or damage the progress of sisterhood, and 3) the importance of allowing for Black women’s ways of knowing to create liberatory data collection methods that represent who they are and their truth. I examine these dynamics using a mixed-methods approach including community-based participatory research and rapid ethnographic assessment sampling techniques (e.g., working with a community advisor), semi-structured interviews, Sister-girl Talks (focus groups), participant observation, and autoethnography. The results of the three-study mixed methods dissertation has both theoretical and practical implications for understanding the vital role that Black women need to play bring healing to their health in both healthcare settings (e.g., clinics) and healthcare planning (health evaluation programs and interventions.
ContributorsMitchell, Charlayne (Author) / Slade, Alexandra (Thesis advisor) / SturtzSreetharan, Cindi (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Olga I (Committee member) / Ore, Ersula J (Committee member) / Wutich, Amber (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021