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An Investigation of Factors that Influence Workload Distributions of Faculty: Gender, Professional Identity, Prosocial Motivation, and Work Centrality
No full textFaculty regularly face heavy workloads and limited promotions opportunities, andwomen faculty advance more slowly and are promoted less often than men. Faculty responsibilities are typically categorized into three domains: teaching, research, and service (TRS), with research being the most valued for promotion. Literature shows women spend more time on teaching and service compared to men, but previous studies rely predominantly on retrospective self-report and rarely examine factors that could influence time allocation decisions. The present study investigates how tenured and tenure-track faculty at a large R1 university allocate their time across TRS using real-time activity reporting and examines three factors that could influence time allocation: professional identity, prosocial motivation, and work centrality. Given the gender disparity in academic promotions, this study also examines how gender moderates the relationships between these factors and time allocation. 41 faculty reported their work activities in 15-minute increments over two weeks using time tracking software and responded to two online surveys to assess additional study variables. Hierarchical regressions were used to analyze how professional identity, prosocial motivation, and work centrality relate to time spent in TRS and how these relationships differ by gender
From Corn to Chips: Rural views from inside Central Texas’ emerging techno-industrial corridor
No full textAmidst a changing climate, mitigating the loss of prime agricultural lands are of major concern for maintaining global food security without compromising planetary thresholds. Yet, often proximate to metropolitan areas, prime farmlands are highly susceptible to degradation and development. Central Texas is a hotspot for urban sprawl, development of suburbs, and the rapid conversion of agricultural lands into other uses. Furthermore, sites on urban peripheries in Texas and the American South are increasingly targeted for novel techno-industrial development for semiconductor fabrication, renewable energy deployment, electric vehicle production, and datacenter siting. Williamson County uniquely embodies these trends as home to an emerging techno-industrial corridor anchored by firms like Tesla and Samsung. Stemming from promised benefits like job creation and economic stimulation, these firms are the beneficiaries of public incentives packages unprecedented in Texas state history.The success of firms in Williamson County hinges on the ability of local government to make available the requisite land, infrastructure, and resources, a process which occurs largely in a “black box”. Discourse from local and county officials normalizes this economic development as both natural and desirable progress, while making little room for the perspectives of rural communities where techno-industrial facilities are being sited. Utilizing GIS analysis, archival research, and interviews with farmers, landowners, and other key informants, this research demonstrates patterns of land use change associated with new development typologies, reveals historic precedents that accelerate present-day acquisitions of farmland, and identifies a myriad of uneven legal, financial, and environmental pressures leveraged to “clear the way” for the techno-industrial development of rural areas. This research utilizes scholarship on land use/land cover change, agri-food regimes, and neoliberal natures to contextualize historical precursors to development and the impact of socio-natures being displaced and produced in rural Williamson County. This thesis argues that rural siting allows firms to operate in obscurity and to exercise public powers unavailable to them otherwise through unprecedented articulations of public-private partnerships. Findings reveal not only broad patterns of land use change, but also the mechanisms by which rural land is “opened” for development far beyond factory footprints—thus offering a nuanced, place-based account that adds empirical richness to the scholarly literature. This inquiry comes at a critical time as semiconductor fabrication is reshored in the US and environmental justice questions are raised about uncritical support of this industry and green technologies in general at their sites of production
SIMULATION BASED ASSESSMENT OF LEAN MANUFACTURING RESILIENCE AND PERFORMANCE
No full textIn today’s increasingly uncertain industrial landscape, manufacturing systems must be both efficient and resilient. While lean manufacturing is widely adopted for reducing waste and optimizing performance, its impact on system resilience remains contested. This thesis investigates the dynamic relationship between lean implementation and system resilience through simulation-based experimentation. Using Discrete Event Simulation (DES), two versions of the same case study are modeled, one representing the system before lean implementation and the other after. Various disruption scenarios are introduced to evaluate how each system responds over time, with a focus on system performance degradation and recovery. The findings reveal that lean and resilience are not inherently in conflict. Instead, their relationship depends on system design, the nature and timing of disruptions, and operational constraints of the manufacturing setting. This thesis aims to offer a more balanced perspective on the tradeoffs between lean and resilience methodologies
On Signs of Hecke eigenvalues of Siegel modular forms
No full textLet F ∈ Sk+n(Γ2n) be an Ikeda lift and λF(m) be the eigenvalue corresponding to Hecke operator T(m). For a fixed n and k, we show that λF(p) is positive for all large enough primes p. For n=2, we show that, given r there exists Cr such that λF(pr) > 0 for all p > Cr. Let F ∈ Sk1(Γ(2)(N1)) and G ∈ Sk2 (Γ(2)(N2)) be two eigenforms that satisfy the Generalized Ramanujan Conjecture. We compute a lower bound for the density of the set of primes, {p : λF(p)λG(p) < 0}
Imag(in)ing the Feminine: Women's Creative Portraiture as Demonstrations of Indigenous Becomingness
No full textI have chosen four works of art from four different women artists who have different relationships to and engagements with Indigeneity that are represented in their works: Sister (2016) by Kaska Dena/Jewish photographer Kali Spitzer, Loba (2017) by Mestiza mixed-media artist Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez, Untitled: Imagén de Yagul (1973) by Afro-Cuban performance and earth work artist Ana Mendieta, and Interrelation: Maqtukwek (2020) by L’nu mixed media and performance artist Meagan Musseau. Not only are these artists from different tribal/cultural communities, they hold different nationalities and represent multiple continents, and their art practices encompass an array of different mediums, processes, and styles. However, their work manages to interrogate the same systems of heteropatriarchal settler colonialism and its impacts on Indigenous peoples, particularly Indigenous women. Their rich and complex representation of themselves, their community members, and their land relationships establishes a creative practice that allows them to be seen and understood on their own terms, pursuing their own Becomingness in that process. Analyzing their works from both the perspective of the maker and that of the audience, it is evident that each artist upholds a contextually specific protocol of relational accountability that is reflective of Indigenous Feminisms and the infinite possibilities of how to Become an Indigenous woman. I argue that their works of portraiture, specifically, demonstrate an artistic mode through which Indigenous women are able to engage with understandings of the feminine self and inject these felt experiences into their current spatialities, disrupting colonial rhetorics of various disciplines wherein the Indigenous feminine is impacted. These women artists are able to utilize the woman’s physical image which has so long been commodified, exotified, and dehumanized to critique and resist the very systems that made it so. By engaging with the treatment of the feminine body in connection to issues of land, political and social stratification, and violence, Spitzer, Friedemann-Sánchez, Mendieta, and Musseau are subverting the image of the woman and feminine to rehumanize and decolonize the spaces they occupy, contributing to a narrative of Indigenous Becomingness through which they work towards personal healing and community futurity
Gross Injustices: A Qualified Defense of Moral Disgust in Criminal Law
Get PDFThis dissertation offers a limited defense of appeals to moral disgust in criminal law. Disgust already influences law in a number of ways, including serving as the primary justification for prohibitions on certain conduct. Whether it should have this influence, however, is contested. Some authors believe feelings of disgust in normative discourse are distracting, or downright misleading. Consequently, the emotion should not influence law, or any public institution. I disagree. The three main skeptical challenges raised against disgust—that it has troubling evolutionary origins, is an “unreasoned” emotion, and its status as a moral emotion, strictly speaking, is discredited by empirical research—don’t withstand scrutiny. More broadly, I argue that moral disgust’s influence on law is both positive and indispensable. In many cases, no other justificatory resource is available to ground laws most citizens consider common sense.Chapter One sets up discussion by noting that many criminal laws are already based in disgust, and repealing them would run counter to deep moral intuitions. I focus specifically on bans on disgusting, albeit arguably harmless, taboos, such as consensual cannibalism. It’s generally assumed the state needs a good reason to ban something. With harmless taboos, providing a reason is surprisingly hard to do. They don’t cause harm or violate anyone’s rights. It’s even unclear how they threaten “public morals.” This generates a dilemma: either (i) disgust, by itself, can sometimes justify laws, or (ii) bans on harmless taboos are unjustified. Because the latter option is unpalatable, subsequent chapters pursue a case for the former. Chapter Two sketches a descriptive account of disgust. I cover evidence that disgust is a “basic” emotion with universally recognized expressions and several cross-culturally consistent triggers. It originally evolved as a biological defense against unsafe foods and transmissible sicknesses but, later, was recruited by cultures to serve socio-moral functions. I describe how disgust develops in childhood, how individuals acquire specific disgust triggers, and how culture influences these processes. Moral Foundations Theory is used to explain how cross-cultural variations in what is considered “morally disgusting” track broader, cultural differences in moral beliefs and practices. Chapter Three defends the view that “moral disgust” is a genuine emotional state against recent psychological and philosophical challenges. One challenge holds that the common extension of disgust language to immoral behavior is metaphorical and doesn’t literally convey the speaker’s inner state. Another challenge holds that disgust and moral disapproval often co-occur, but this is merely coincidental, not evidence of a distinct, unified emotional response. I argue that neither challenge succeeds. First, I draw on empirical evidence suggesting that, when people report feeling disgusted by immorality, their physiological and neural responses often support a literal interpretation. Second, I argue that the claim “moral disgust is merely a co-occurrence of two unrelated states” relies on controversial metaethical assumptions we should reject on philosophical grounds. Chapter Four defends the so-called “appeal to disgust” in ethical and policy debates. The appeal cites the fact that many people feel deep disgust toward a practice as evidence that it must be seriously wrong. Critics respond by arguing that disgust, rather than offering guidance, is inherently unreliable or problematic. I rebut these types of arguments. I then argue moral disgust can be “wise.” When widespread, it provides defeasible justification for laws, even before any substantive discussion. This is because our moral disgust reactions are often underpinned by reasons that we lack introspective access to—but reasons that we would endorse, if we could access them. For support, I draw on gene-culture co-evolutionary theory, which explains how culturally transmitted norms often become opaque to their inheritors. I also examine the case of polygamy, a practice that Western lawmakers banned—guided partly by disgust—long before modern social science revealed its social harms
Scan Lines: The Gulf War, Memory, and the 24-hour News Cycle of Network News
No full textCNN’s coverage of the Gulf War is the defining media event of the early 1990s. It was the moment of an unprecedented paradigm shift in how conflict is reported on and broadcast, and on the relationship between broadcaster and the state. The narratives constructed through CNN’s coverage would go on to be lasting parts of the public memory of the Gulf War, and while many of these narratives are contested, even into the contemporary memory of the conflict, CNN’s impact in the creation of that public memory cannot be overstated. Scan Lines explores the impact of CNN’s live coverage from Baghdad and throughout Iraq and Kuwait during the First Persian Gulf War, show how it is challenged and supported in the American public memory of the war, and examines the broader implications of around-the-clock broadcast news on American public memory
Fuel for Fake News: Emotion and Partisan Bias in the Processing of Political Misinformation
Get PDFPolitical misperceptions shaped by strong emotional experiences and partisan biases can undermine individuals’ ability to distinguish misinformation from facts (Garrett & Weeks, 2013; Nyhan & Reifler, 2015; Weeks, 2015). Prior research demonstrates that emotional states (Lerner & Keltner, 2000; Lerner et al., 2015; Nabi, 2002), congruence between misinformation and preexisting beliefs (Taber & Lodge, 2006), and the strength of partisan identity – conceptualized as affective polarization (Lelkes, 2016; Sanchez & Dunning, 2021) – each shape vulnerability to political misinformation. The present dissertation investigated how three discrete emotions that differ in valence and motivational orientation – anger, fear, and joy – distinctly influence (a) accuracy in evaluating political misinformation, (b) time required to reach a judgment, (c) confidence in judgment, (d) skepticism toward statements regarded as true, and (e) willingness to share statements regarded as true. Congruence between misinformation and preexisting beliefs and affective polarization were included as moderators in a series of moderation analyses. Across a sample of US adults (N = 600), fear consistently suppressed willingness to share political information judged as true, regardless of affective polarization level. Anger amplified confidence and willingness to share among individuals high in affective polarization but decreased both outcomes among those low in affective polarization. Finally, higher congruence between misinformation and preexisting beliefs predicted poorer discernment between facts and misinformation. Implications of the findings on the affective processing of political misinformation are discussed in detail
Habitat and seasonal drivers of leukocyte profiles within and across Neotropical bat species
Get PDFFinancial support was provided by the University of Oklahoma Libraries' Open Access Fund.Land conversion is a widespread form of environmental change that can alter infection dynamics in wildlife by modifying host immune defence. Such effects may be compounded by seasonal variation in resources and reproduction and differ among members of a host community, yet the combined effects of habitat, season and species identity on wildlife immunity remain poorly understood. We tested within- and across-species effects of land conversion and seasonality on immunity in Neotropical bats by quantifying haematological markers of physiological stress and inflammation. We sampled seven species across a large forest preserve and smaller nearby forest fragment in northern Belize during the dry and wet seasons. Using phylogenetic generalized linear mixed models, we tested overall effects of habitat and season and quantified per-species impacts. Total leukocyte counts and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios showed no overall habitat or seasonal effects but displayed strong species-specific responses to these predictors. In contrast, the systemic inflammation response index was higher across species in the dry season and in the smaller fragment, suggesting poor health in unfavourable conditions. Species-specific effects did not align with diet guilds, indicating potential roles for finer-scale ecological traits. Our results highlight the complex, species-dependent effects of environmental change on wildlife immunity.Ye