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Desire, Deception, and Desertion in Aphra Behn\u27s The History of the Nun and Margaret Cavendish\u27s The Convent of Pleasure
No full textThis thesis explores desire, deception, and desertion in Aphra Behn\u27s The History of the Nun and Margaret Cavendish\u27s The Convent of Pleasure
Price Sensitivity in the Secondhand Market: An Analysis of Consumer Behavior on eBay
Get PDFThe secondhand market is rapidly expanding, driven by growing consumer interest in sustainable consumption and economic value. This thesis examines consumer price sensitivity within the online resale market. Using a unique dataset of eBay clothing transactions, I employ an OLS regression model to analyze price elasticity of demand across various categories of new and used goods. I find that used goods exhibit characteristics of Veblen goods, where higher prices correlate with increased demand, suggesting that consumers perceive elevated prices as signals of rarity, quality, or exclusivity. My results highlight the nuanced dynamics of online resale markets, where consumer behavior is shaped not only by economic principles but also by perceptions of value and status. This research contributes to understanding the complex interplay between price and demand in the growing secondhand economy
Success by Social Capital: An Exploration of Kim Kardashian\u27s Social Media Marketing & Entrepreneurship
No full textThis paper explores Kim Kardashian’s online identity in relation to the success of her brand Skims, seeking to answer the question of why consumers trust Kim given her controversial nature and record of endorsing dubious products. It examines concepts including online social capital, parasocial advertising, escapism, and perceptions of authenticity in addition to the marketing strategies of Skims itself
Memory and Myth: Archetypal Remembrance of The Holocaust
No full textThis thesis analyzes the archetypes that shape collective memory of the Holocaust in the United States and Germany, focusing on the intersections of collective memory, national identity, power, and politics. By drawing on interdisciplinary theories of memory and analyzing archetypes such as “The Good Jew,” “The Nazi,” “The Dead Jew,” and “The Void,” this thesis examines how such representations respond to and reinforce structures of power and identity. Through critical analysis of media, literature, and memorial practices, this study illustrates the intersections between memory and political identities, and thus offers insights into the ways that collective memory serves as a contested process of historical interpretation and moral responsibility. Rather than focusing on questions of effective representation, this work seeks to deepen understandings of how Holocaust remembrance is shaped by cultural and political discourses. Archetypal analysis problematizes current modes of remembrance, in particular the banalization and sacralization of Holocaust remembrance, and in so doing emphasizes a more dynamic approach to memory that is better able to address and respond to evolving contemporary political landscapes
Combining Internal Family Systems Therapy and Dance Movement Therapy to Treat Survivors of Sexual Assault
Get PDFThe mammalian nervous system is primed to connect with loved ones, flee from danger, and shut down when overwhelmed. The nervous system frequently enters a state of chronic dysregulation after a traumatic event, such as a sexual assault. In order to properly heal from such trauma, treatment must address both the body and the mind. Internal family systems therapy and dance movement therapy provide two frameworks to address nervous system dysregulation and restore balance to the system as a whole. This study combines both therapies into a hybrid therapy treatment as an attempt to address the somatic nature of stored trauma while using the IFS paradigm as an underlying roadmap. Condition I participants will do 24 weeks of regular IFS therapy, while Condition II participants will start with IFS for 12 weeks and transition to a hybrid IFS and dance movement therapy modality for the remaining 12 weeks. It is anticipated that Condition II participants will show more improved therapy outcomes than Condition I participants. Researchers will measure therapy outcomes using the IFS Scale, which measures psychological flexibility and well-being as it pertains to the IFS model
Achieving Public Goals Using Private Tools: Build-Operate-Transfer Projects in Southeast Asia
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the infrastructural challenges impeding economic development in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on the energy and transportation sectors. It examines how Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) models, a form of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), have emerged as viable mechanisms to address the region’s persistent infrastructure deficits. Drawing from six case studies across Laos, Vietnam, and Indonesia—including successful and unsuccessful BOT initiatives—this research evaluates the financial, political, and administrative constraints that affect project outcomes. It further explores the role of institutional frameworks, international organizations, and legal reforms in enhancing BOT performance and mitigating risks such as corruption, capacity gaps, and public opposition. The findings suggest that, with refined regulatory oversight and balanced risk allocation, BOT schemes can play a critical role in bridging infrastructure gaps in developing economies. Policy recommendations advocate for improved transparency, profit structuring, and multilateral cooperation to ensure sustainable infrastructure development across the region
Gain-of-Function TP53 Mutations Induce Non-Canonical NF-κB Transcriptional Targets to Promote Tumor Development
Get PDFBackground: Gain-of-function TP53 mutations have previously been shown to induce chromosomal instability (CIN) in cancer cells, triggering the cGAS-STING innate immune response and subsequently activating the non-canonical NF-κB (NC-NF-κB) signaling pathway. This signaling cascade promotes cancer cell metastasis and an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), significantly impacting tumor development and progression. However, the precise downstream mechanisms by which the mutp53-CIN-cGAS-STING-NC-NF-κB signaling pathway facilitates tumor development and progression remain poorly understood. Here, our objective was to identify direct downstream targets of mutp53-CIN-cGAS-STING-induced NC-NF-κB signaling that potentially impact the TME to promote the development and progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Methods: RNA-seq results from human oral cancer UMSCC-1 stable cell lines expressing the R273H mutant p53, with or without RelB (a component of NC-NF-κB) knockdown, were analyzed. Potential direct transcriptional targets of NC-NF-κB were characterized and evaluated by data mining of chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) databases. Both western blot and RT-qPCR assays were used to validate target protein and mRNA expression in mouse cancer 4T1 and MOC2 cells, as well as in their isogenic RelB-knockout cells.
Results: Two potential target genes of interest, TMED2 and Sec13, involved in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi secretory pathway, were identified through Reactome/KEGG pathway analysis of the gene signatures modulated by mutp53 and NC-NF-κB, as well as through data mining of RelB ChIP-seq databases. RT-qPCR and western blot analyses revealed that when RelB is knocked out in NC-NF-κB-activated 4T1 and MOC2 cells, the mRNA and protein expression levels of both TMED2 and Sec13 increase. This strongly suggests that RelB transcriptionally suppresses TMED2 and Sec13 expression.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that within the mutp53-CIN-cGAS-STING-NC-NF-κB pathway, RelB potentially acts as a transcriptional repressor of TMED2 and Sec13 gene expression. Given that TMED2 and Sec13 are important molecules in the cellular secretory pathway and play a crucial role in the immunomodulation of the TME through mechanisms such as the ER stress response, cytokine secretion, and major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) suppression, our findings provide significant insight into how p53 mutations and CIN can lead to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. This knowledge not only enhances our understanding of the cellular mechanisms of tumor cell immune evasion but also identifies potential molecular targets and strategies for the treatment of tumors with p53 mutations and CIN
Ideology and Representation: The Dialectical Relationship between Aesthetics and Politics in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.
No full textThis thesis explores the convergence of aesthetics and politics in the formation and operation of fascist regimes in twentieth-century Italy and Germany, arguing that aesthetic production functioned not merely as a supplement to political ideology, but as a constitutive instrument in the articulation, dissemination, and internalization of fascist doctrines. Through a comparative and historically grounded analysis, this study examines how the aesthetic sphere was regulated and appropriated by the state apparatus in both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany to cultivate consensus, construct identity, and reinforce hegemonic power. By interrogating the evolution of Italian and German aesthetic governance across a period marked by national unification, war, and institutional fragmentation, the research identifies the critical mechanisms wherein symbolic and material control of culture facilitated political domination. Context-driven case studies of aesthetic policy, patronage, and expression inform how fascist regimes employed aesthetic strategies not as monolithic stylistic programs, but as polyvalent modes of ideological intervention. Ultimately, this research critically reassesses the fascist aesthetic project, positing that the aestheticization of politics constituted a historically contingent yet enduring modality through which authoritarian power sought to naturalize itself within the cultural and perceptual fabric of modern mass society
Between Longing and Reinvention: Negotiating Iranian-American Identity in the Los Angeles Diaspora
No full textIn the years following the 1979 Iranian revolution, Iranian migrants—many fleeing from political, religious, and ethnic persecution—reshaped Los Angeles into the largest diasporic center outside of the homeland of Iran. For these individuals and their descendants, displacement was not simply a geographic shift, but a profound confrontation with questions of identity, belonging, and survival. Situated between memories of a lost homeland and the racialized pressures of the U.S. landscape, these individuals have continuously renegotiated what it means to be an Iranian-American. This thesis examines how Iranian Jews and Muslims in the Los Angeles diaspora perceive, reshape, and express their identities in response to the political and social forces in both the home and host land
Disabled Archives: Survival and Resistance
No full textSystems of personal archiving are integral to my process of living and surviving ableism. My longest running series is my written archives, which encompass 34 notebooks of 210 pages each. I have maintained these for a little over a decade and the number of notebooks continues to grow. The audience for my notebooks is myself. As much as I write about recent experiences, I also detail the process of getting to those experiences and the impact of those experiences on my life after the fact. The archiving process is inseparable from my process of living, both in terms of producing the archives and interfacing with the archives. I use the archives to “plan out loud;” make the decisions about my health I must navigate daily; and also to record in real time how my values, politics, and convictions evolve.
The notebooks resource me with a landscape of selves, as each contribution is written by a self that has changed just a little bit from the last contribution. The notebooks allow me to engage in dialogue with my past selves, all of whom have different perspectives and insight to offer me. My written archives are the most long-standing, but I also produce other types of archives, including logs of my time through the time-tracing app Now Then. My relationship with app has not always supported my health, and it has taken me several years to develop a way of engaging with my logs that is not maladaptive.
The two questions that guide me as I pursue this work are: How does having and producing the archives protect my life? How have I taken an active role in shaping and structuring the production of my personal crip archives with the knowledge that both I and the archives exist within the context of systems of oppression