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Baby-Making: Motherhood and the Child in Edna O’Brien’s “The Country Girls” and Arundathi Roy’s “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
No full textM.A.This thesis examines the depictions of motherhood and the child in The Country Girls trilogy by Edna O’Brien and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundathi Roy. I track the journeys through motherhood that characters in each text go through to show the significance of the barriers placed between characters and the mothering of a child. I will show how both texts have characters perennially reaching towards motherhood, asking questions about the implication of mothering a child. I will also show how the child/children in each text is created as an incredibly significant character, examining the political weight carried by the child (or the lack thereof) within the text. I will argue that in each text, the children that appear as the text closes out serve to demand consideration of their position and their possible future. Finally, I will show how both authors offer a form of sisterhood and a reconsideration of traditional family structure through their novels
Netflix's Transcultural Odyssey: Adapting Nationality and Masculinity in Eiichiro Oda's One Piece
No full textNetflix’s Western live-action adaptation of the Japanese comic One Piece has seemingly
broken what some media outlets have called the “live-action anime curse.” Praised by both
fans and critics alike, this latest venture has strengthened relationships between Netflix
and a global fandom of Japanese popular culture, granting Netflix a decisive edge in the
ongoing streaming wars. This article expands on East Asian globalization scholarship by
scrutinizing the live-action One Piece through a critical lens. I contend that whereas the
original Japanese text is a culturally hybrid project due to its embracing of both Eastern
and Western influences, the Western live action simplifies this intercultural complexity by
predominantly recentering Western discourse in its adaptation. I build on my argument
through an examination of contrasting representations of One Piece’s male protagonists,
ultimately demonstrating how Netflix reinforces Western heteronormative expectations
surrounding masculinity, as well as Orientalist depictions of Japanese and Asian male
figures, that are produced both in the actual text and its surrounding promotional paratexts.
I argue that while Netflix’s version is rightfully praised for its unprecedented fidelity to the
source material, setting an optimistic framework for future Western adaptations, it defaults
to a reinforcement of Western perspectives that reiterates the necessity for more critical
evaluations of American media companies’ transnational strategies
The Impact of Social Media on Voter Turnout in the United States
No full textM.P.P.In this thesis, I will explore the extent to which social media impacts voter turnout in the United States. Specifically, my analysis will focus on how the increased use of Facebook, Twitter (X), and Reddit affected voter turnout during the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections. Investigating previous literature as well as survey data for an empirical analysis, my thesis will delve into the correlation between the increased use of the three social media platforms and the increase in voter turnout. The results of my analysis demonstrate a statistically significant correlation between the number of individuals using Facebook, X, and Reddit and the number of people deciding to vote in the last three presidential elections
Dataset for: Characterizing the within-person variability of food insecurity in everyday life
No full textThis is the analytic dataset to accompany the above-listed article, in press at PLOS ONE. In the paper, we characterize within-person (day-to-day) variance in food insecurity (FI) in everyday life. Low-income parents of school-aged children at risk for FI (n = 153) completed daily text message surveys in two-week bursts. Daily FI was measured with 4 yes/no items ranging in severity: worry about food, parent eating less than they should, child eating less than they should, and skipping meals. Items were analyzed as a sum score and individually (to examine FI severity). Among parents who reported FI at least once, FI meaningfully varied day-to-day within individuals (~26% of variation). Different indicators of FI, however, had different proportions of between- and within-person variability: Worry about food, a less severe aspect of FI, had 32% daily variation, whereas the more severe aspect of meal skipping had 45% daily variation. Thus, although substantial between-person differences in FI exist, there is meaningful within-person variability in FI. -person FI variability may be related to the indicator (e.g., severe FI shows greater within-person variability)
Climate-Related Natural Disasters and Public Perceptions: Evaluating Government Performance in China
No full textM.P.P.This study investigates the impact of climate-related natural disasters on public perceptions of the Chinese government's environmental governance, examining both local and central levels. It also explores whether these altered perceptions translate into actions such as migration and protests. Utilizing the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) 2021 household data and regression analysis, the findings reveal that individuals recently impacted by extreme weather events are significantly more likely to express dissatisfaction with governmental performance, irrespective of the level of government. Interestingly, the study found that dissatisfaction extended beyond local government to include the central authority, challenging the expectations outlined by the classic blame avoidance theory. This empirical evidence underscores the profound effect of extreme weather on public evaluations of governmental efforts in environmental management. Moreover, the study observes that affected individuals may channel their dissatisfaction into tangible actions, including migration, participating in protests, and reducing their trust in local authorities. These findings emphasize the need for the government to tackle the impact of extreme weather on the public and strengthen its environmental policies to mitigate the potential erosion of political trust over the long term
Unheard Voice: Communication Disenfranchisement of Women's Health in China
No full textM.A.The world has been making efforts for women’s health equality for many decades. In China, despite people’s awareness and practice of gender equality having improved, the attention to women’s health issues especially gynecological conditions lags behind due to the deficiency of health education and the persistence of social norms. Women’s health problems and concerns are not always being treated equally, and women’s discomfort and pain are often not being taken seriously. To understand and speak out for women and their experiences, this study employed the Theory of Communication Disenfranchisement (TCD) as a framework to analyze the communication challenges Chinese females are facing. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 Chinese women who experienced being disregarded, discredited, and silenced when talking about their health problems and seeking medical help. The findings reveal how communication disenfranchisement (CD) is embedded deeply in a system where discursive conditions such as limited knowledge, patriarchal society, the One-Child Policy, and collectivism, as well as material conditions of a limited healthcare system interact together to cause disenfranchised talks (DT). Enabled by various conditions, CD may happen in the family, with friends, with teachers, in intimate relationships, on media, and in the healthcare systems. As a process, CD emotionally and behaviorally influences females and iterates when they respond to the DT. This study expands the research scope of TCD by analyzing it in a specific Chinese context and provides suggestions to improve the situation
Host microbiome depletion attenuates biofluid metabolite responses following radiation exposure
No full textDepartment of OncologyDevelopment of novel biodosimetry assays and medical countermeasures is needed to obtain a level of radiation preparedness in the event of malicious or accidental mass exposures to ionizing radiation (IR). For biodosimetry, metabolic profiling with mass spectrometry (MS) platforms has identified several small molecules in easily accessible biofluids that are promising for dose reconstruction. As our microbiome has profound effects on biofluid metabolite composition, it is of interest how variation in the host microbiome may affect metabolomics based biodosimetry. Here, we ‘knocked out’ the microbiome of male and female C57BL/6 mice (Abx mice) using antibiotics and then irradiated (0, 3, or 8 Gy) them to determine the role of the host microbiome on biofluid radiation signatures (1 and 3 d urine, 3 d serum). Biofluid metabolite levels were compared to a sham and irradiated group of mice with a normal microbiome (Abx-con mice). To compare post-irradiation effects in urine, we calculated the Spearman’s correlation coefficients of metabolite levels with radiation dose. For selected metabolites of interest, we performed more detailed analyses using linear mixed effect models to determine the effects of radiation dose, time, and microbiome depletion. Serum metabolite levels were compared using an ANOVA. Several metabolites were affected after antibiotic administration in the tryptophan and amino acid pathways, sterol hormone, xenobiotic and bile acid pathways (urine) and lipid metabolism (serum), with a post-irradiation attenuative effect observed for Abx mice. In urine, dose×time interactions were supported for a defined radiation metabolite panel (carnitine, hexosamine-valine-isoleucine [Hex-V-I], creatine, citric acid, and Nε,Nε,Nε-trimethyllysine [TML]) and dose for N1-acetylspermidine, which also provided excellent (AUROC ≥ 0.90) to good (AUROC ≥ 0.80) sensitivity and specificity according to the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC) analysis. In serum, a panel consisting of carnitine, citric acid, lysophosphatidylcholine (LysoPC) (14:0), LysoPC (20:3), and LysoPC (22:5) also gave excellent to good sensitivity and specificity for identifying post-irradiated individuals at 3 d. Although the microbiome affected the basal levels and/or post-irradiation levels of these metabolites, their utility in dose reconstruction irrespective of microbiome status is encouraging for the use of metabolomics as a novel biodosimetry assay
Artificial Intelligence, Humanization, And Health Beliefs
No full textPh.D.Medical artificial intelligence (AI) has shown remarkable diagnostic and prescriptive capabilities, rivaling those of doctors. However, there is a paradox in which people regularly trust AI's recommendations less than doctors given the same recommendation. Though aversion to medical AI systems is well documented, the mechanisms driving aversion remain elusive. This dissertation aims to understand the psychological mechanisms behind this trust disparity and explores ways to bridge the trust gap. Across six preregistered studies (N > 3000), I investigated three related mechanisms influencing trust in doctors’ and AI’s recommendations and interventions. The mechanisms were how trust in doctors' and AI's recommendations are influenced by perceptions doctors’ and AI’s capabilities for quantitative reasoning and intuition, and the perception of their possession of a mind. In addition to assessing these perceptions, I conducted a study on how differences in how the source of the recommendation influenced adherence to a health intervention. This dissertation highlights how the perceived capability of doctors and AI explains differences in reported trust and how these perceptions map onto behavior. The findings have significant implications for designing and implementing AI systems in healthcare and understanding the current AI climate