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The Employment Situation of Veterans: June 2025
No full textIn June 2025, U.S. employment rose by 147,000, with gains in state government and health care, while the overall unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%. Veteran unemployment slightly increased overall, though trends varied by age, gender, and race, with younger veterans and Hispanic veterans seeing improvements, while older veterans and Post-9/11 veterans experienced higher unemployment rates
Primary Care Brief Mindfulness Treatment Reduces Need for Clinical Services and Behavioral Healthcare
No full textBehavioral healthcare engagement is low for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) even in systems where high-quality evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) are available. Mindfulness based interventions (MBI) may mitigate avoidance in treatment through self-regulation and non-judgmental self-awareness. This study analyzed treatment engagement and service utilization of Veterans engaged in a randomized clinical trial MBI for PTSD (A Primary Care Brief Mindfulness Training (PCBMT)) to assess its impact on behavioral healthcare engagement in populations with PTSD
Veteran\u27s Service in Research Veteran\u27s Advance Complementary and Integrative Mental Healthcare
No full textThis poster encompasses findings from research using complementary and integrative health interventions for Veterans with traumatic stress/PTSD. These studies encompass: a.) the use of mindfulness-based interventions for treatment of PTS/PTSD, suicidality, and depression (Possemato, Bergen-Cico et al, 2016) b.) implementation science involving Veteran peers as co-facilitators of primary care delivery of mindfulness-based interventions for Veterans with PTS/PTSD (Possemato, Bergen-Cico et al, 2022) c.) the efficacy of mindfulness-based intervention as evidenced by changes in biomarkers like cortisol a stress hormone(Bergen-Cico, Possemato, et al, 2014) d.) dog ownership and companionship for management of PTS/PTSD (Bergen-Cico et al, 2019; Ramon, Bergen-Cico Possemato, 2022
Discovery of Film
No full textIn this paper, I introduce my personal journey into film—how I came to fall in love with it, and how my relationship with genres has shaped that passion. I explore how genres helped me shape my understanding of film, guiding the way I interpret and engage with different stories through their distinct characteristics and elements. I will explain why I\u27m fascinated by genres and how I aspire to blend them in my own creative work to craft unique experiences for my audience. My goal is to evoke connection and catharsis through films that reflect my understanding of genre, drawing from a variety of elements to communicate my message. Ultimately, I believe that genres are deeply personal; they resonate differently with each viewer and leave a unique impact on every individual
It Was Always Designed to Kill Us: How Discrimination, Biopolitics, Necropolitics, and Orientalism Shape the Design of Dragon Age: The Veilguard
No full textThis thesis is an analysis of how necropolitics, discrimination, and Orientalism shape the design of the game Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024). In examining how the game depicts race, gender, and sexuality, I explore the tension between the game’s intended progressive message and the design decisions that run counter to it. The first chapter explores how the game’s design shapes the player character and their allies into citizens and defenders of the status quo, and the problematic implications of connecting citizenship to humanity. This chapter goes into depth about how this defense of the status quo naturalizes some forms of oppression, such as misogyny and transphobia, by reproducing the effects of patriarchy and cissexism while disavowing structures of power that create these conditions. In the second chapter, I explore how Veilguard uses Orientalism as a marker of monstrosity for its enemies. To protect the player’s heroic fantasy and the need for self-reflection, enemies are reduced to Orientalist caricatures to be mowed down by the player character. I conclude by examining how this design ultimately hollows out queer and progressive ideas into a thin aesthetic coving fascistic logic. Keywords: Orientalism, Necropolitics, Monstrosity, Role-Playing Games, Transgende
ILLUSTRATION AS ANALYSIS: DISCUSSING GENDER BIAS AND STEREOTYPES IN THE DESIGN OF FEMALE CHARACTERS IN CHINESE VIDEO GAMES
No full textThis research is dedicated to examining gender bias in the design of female characters in Chinese video games, and exploring how illustration strategies can effectively promote the transformation of female characters from stereotypical and one-dimensional to more diverse and three-dimensional representations.Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, this research synthesizes and applies a multifaceted research approach that includes a literature review, sociological and feminist theoretical frameworks, semi-structured interviews, in-depth case studies, and visual cultural analysis. By combing the existing literature and several computer game cases on the market, this research reveals the profound influence of traditional cultural concepts o female character design in contemporary Chinese video games. The specific ways in which gender bias is reflected in multiple dimensions of female characterization, costume design, action performance, and characterization are further analyzed. These gender biases not only limit the diversity and complexity of female characters, but may also have a profound impact on players\u27 gaming experience, gender perceptions, and even societal notions of gender. On this basis, this research highlight illustration strategy as an effective tool to break gender stereotypes and women\u27s diversity and strength. Using traditional Chinese culture and style as a backdrop, the series of illustrations shows how visual language can be used to challenge traditional gender norms, presenting the diverse aspects of female characters and their powerful inner strengths
Leaning In: Diversity, Dialogue, and Whiteness at a Quaker Independent School
No full textDiversity has emerged as a hallmark of institutional excellence in several fields. At the same time, it has been vilified and maligned by conservative pundits and politicians as Donald Trump has worked to frame diversity as un-American and unmeritocratic. This tension makes diversity worthy of sociological analysis. Though there is an emerging critical sociology of diversity, much of that work has been primarily concerned with the discursive, ideological, and symbolic dimensions of diversity. In contrast, this dissertation examines how diversity moves through and is contested and supported within the organization and cultural context of Friends Prep (FP), a progressive Quaker independent school in the United States. This project asks why it is that a progressive school, with so many hallmarks of diversity, equity, and inclusion excellence, continued to struggle with diversity in general and race in particular. In pursuit of this question the author collected two years of ethnographic data that included 37 semi-structured interviews, hundreds of hours of participant observation, and archival research. The findings identify three core points of friction. First, while FP was robustly committed to diversity, other organizational weaknesses hampered a more robust organizational structuring of diversity work. Second, while FP students were quite adept at talking about race in the abstract, their dialogical skills were far less developed. This meant that talking about race and diversity tended to generate tensions on campus. Finally, though FP community members had developed a critical consciousness around race and racism, White racial habitus continued to shape the terms and conditions of inclusion in the campus community. Ultimately, these findings suggest that diversity work is a process not a product or outcome. This is work that happens at multiple registers, scales, and temporalties, and synergizing these is hard work. Thus, leaning in emerged as both a personal disposition and organizational commitment to striving for a more equitable future
Nanoscale Mapping of Charge Carrier Dynamics in Photovoltaic or Optoelectronic Devices
No full textIn recent years, solution-processable photovoltaic (PV) technologies such as organic solar cells (OSCs), perovskite solar cells (PSCs), and perovskite tandem cells have rapidly advanced, achieving certified power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of approximately 20%, 27%, and 30.1%, respectively. Despite this progress, challenges remain in fully understanding and controlling performance-limiting factors in the photoactive layers of OSCs and PSCs, including nanoscale surface conductivity, topography, and morphological distortions. This work provides an in-depth exploration of nanoscale imaging and mapping techniques for OSCs and PSCs, highlighting how addressing nanoscale defects can enhance PV device performance. We examine the similarities and differences between these two technologies in key processes such as charge generation, separation, transport, collection, and recombination. Furthermore, we connect these mechanisms to the intrinsic material properties of organic and perovskite semiconductors, elucidating their impact on overall photovoltaic performance. Furthermore, some optoelectronic samples like perovskite nanocrystals (NCs), perovskite-based Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and some other nanostructure materials have been successfully tested by this technique. To resolve the standard degrading issue in the semiconductor field, the experimental setup has been upgraded with a PID thermal management system and an adjustable pressure gas delivery system to minimize sample degradation caused by moisture and oxygen exposure. An improved fitting algorithm has been applied to measure special samples with short TPV and TPC
Consumers\u27 Choice Models for Food and Beverage Businesses
No full textThis dissertation comprises two essays to investigate how consumers make purchase choices under product quality variation and macroeconomic volatility. The analysis employs both analytical modeling and empirical methods to help businesses and policymakers in their efforts to foster sustainable and resilient agriculture and food supply chains. In this first essay, we focus on food retailers who have to deal with imperfect produce. We define imperfect produce as produce with cosmetic imperfections but perfect nutritious quality. We develop consumer choice models and consider three common retailing strategies to manage imperfect produce: Discarding, bunching with perfect produce, and differentiating imperfect produce from perfect produce with price discounts. The analysis identifies optimal strategies across varying market conditions and consumer preference profiles. In addition to the food retailers\u27 strategies to sell imperfect produce, we also examine the impact of several policies pertaining to consumer awareness and food waste. Specifically, we evaluate two prominent food waste reduction policies — consumer education and relaxed grading standards — and demonstrate how such interventions may paradoxically increase food waste at the retail level. The second essay explores consumer purchasing behavior under hyperinflation in developing economies, illustrated through evidence from Türkiye’s beverage market. Leveraging transaction-level data from Türkiye’s largest kombucha producer, Kombucha 2200, we estimate a structural multinomial logit model to examine how inflation rates and inflation ambiguity --- stemming from discrepancies between the figures reported by different sources of organizations --- influence purchase decisions. The findings provide evidence that while higher inflation may accelerate consumption, ambiguity about the true inflation rate dampens demand due to increased uncertainty. Moreover, our results show that both higher prices and larger deviations between observed and expected prices are significantly associated with a lower likelihood of consumer purchase. Our study provides guidelines for policymakers in terms of the impact of reporting inflation rates to gain consumer confidence and stimulate the economy from the measure of consumer spend. Together, these essays make theoretical contributions to consumer choice modeling and provide practical implications for improving retailing strategies and policy design in dynamic market environments
How is Food Insecurity Measured in the United States and What Share of Older Adults are Food Insecure?
No full textThe U.S. Department of Agriculture measures food insecurity based on whether households had problems affording food during the last twelve months. Based on the current definition, in 2023 9.2% of households with adults ages 60 and older were food insecure. But there are many problems with the existing definition for accurately capturing food insecurity among older adults.
Based on the book, Food for Thought: Understanding Older Adults Food Insecurity, this brief summarizes those limitations, noting that existing measures do not account for barriers that are common among older adults, such as mobility, physical distance, and transportation barriers