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"Rice Bunnies" in Chia's #MeToo: Discussion of a Feminist Movement under Censorship
Get PDFThis paper aims to assess the reception of the currently developing #MeToo movement in China from the perspective of Chinese internet users, feminists, and the state government as well as how censorship affects the way in which these individuals express their opinions on gendered sexual violence in Chinese society. By using a qualitative content analysis to comb through Chinese social media posts, Chinese state- sponsored news articles, and Western news articles, findings suggest that Chinese netizens are engaging with societal concerns over #MeToo and sexual assault, but do not define their grievances as being within a movement presumably to avoid censorship. Chinese feminist activists use public support of #MeToo-related discussions to justify local change in dealing with sexual assault while at the same time being careful to not challenge state authority. Consequently, these findings add to research previously conducted on online activism, social movements, and Chinese feminist ideology
An Exploration into the Evolution of Tutoring, A Comprehensive Business Plan for Launching the Online Tutoring Company Shortwork LLC, and A Post-Operative Analysis of Shortwork's Business Model
Get PDFThis thesis consists of a review of the history of tutoring and homework up to the modern day; the original business plan used to launch Shortwork LLC, an online tutoring company, in the Spring of 2018; and a post-operative analysis of its business model and executive decision-making, as well as discussion about the future of education. The business plan includes a competitive analysis of the online tutoring market, an overview of Shortwork’s management structure, an explanation of its product model and technology, and both the financial and strategic details of its Spring 2018 plans for 3-year growth. The concluding section of this thesis, written one year after founding, examines Shortwork’s successes and failures, resulting in critiques to the original business strategy, as well as the role technology could continue to play in education.
Formal education, which developed in different cultures millennia ago, requires only two fundamental elements: an instructor and a student. As formal education has expanded, so too have the number of instructors and students, but not at the same rate. As student populations have outpaced instructor populations, the individuality of instruction has declined.
The tutoring industry exists today because students struggle outside of the classroom and not just inside it. For the most part, it has mimicked the classroom experience; tutors meeting in person with students to teach a subject. One of the primary roles of tutors today is to assist with homework, the take-home portion of most students’ education that evolved generations ago. The digital revolution, however, has allowed online learning to challenge the traditional mold of study aids such as tutors.
Shortwork was founded to provide students with an affordable, online solution to the all-too-common problem of needing homework help. The service was built around its founders’ experience helping real high schoolers, and early versions of the service tested well with current students. Its early success carried promise, and the company attracted over $10,000 in competition prizes within only three months of establishment as an LLC.
Due to poor choice in target market and diverging entrepreneurial visions for the company, however, Shortwork failed to maintain its momentum over the summer after its founding. By the end of 2018, its founders had decided to suspend the service until further notice. This thesis examines why they came to that decision
The Diversionary Use of Media Within the Land Dispute Between Chile and Bolivia
Get PDFThe land dispute between Bolivia and Chile has been an ongoing conflict that dates back to British decolonization. The War of the Pacific, which ended in 1904 and allowed Chilean sovereignty over land that was formerly Bolivia’s remains the root of the problem, as it rendered Bolivia a landlocked nation. In 2013 Bolivia filed a case with the International Court of Justice demanding negotiations of access to the Pacific Ocean. Within this land dispute, I analyzed the use of Twitter as a method of diversionary politics, which has been largely speculated over the years, that when presidential approval ratings are low in Bolivia, the land dispute is reignited as a method to divert attention away from other domestic conflicts, and increase public approval, also known as the “rally-round-the-flag” effect. By conducting a content analysis of Twitter, I was able to conclude that during certain periods of time, the Bolivian politicians do use the dispute as a method to increase public approval, and that the Chileans remain largely ambivalent and unconcerned with land dispute
Highway 61: Good Roads, Great Migrations, and Delta Blues
Get PDFThis thesis analyzes the social and racial factors that contributed to the cultural significance of U.S. Highway 61. First, I explore the background of road building and transportation in the United States. Next I detail the history of convict labor in the South, from convict leasing to convict labor on roads as a result of the Good Roads Movement. Third, I describe how economic and social conditions contributed to the out-migration of southerners during the twentieth century. Lastly, I analyze how social conditions spawned the Mississippi Delta blues, and how Highway 61 became a symbol of opportunity for blues musicians
Student Perceptions on Being Assessed by the ACTFL OPI Before and After Studying Abroad
Get PDFIn this study I investigated students’ perceptions of being assessed with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) before and after studying abroad. This study aimed to determine if students’ study abroad experiences might affect their perceptions of being assessed by means of this exam and, if so, how. The participants were 96 college juniors and seniors who were International Studies majors at the University of Mississippi. Students in this program take a foreign language course every semester, study abroad for at least one semester, and take the ACTFL OPI before graduation. The participants completed an online survey that assessed their perceptions of being assessed by means of the ACTFL OPI. The results showed that post-study abroad students have negative opinions of being assessed by means of the OPI, and additionally, that these students feel that other aspects of their language acquisition like reading, listening, and culture would be important to highlight. Conversely, pre-study abroad students had more positive opinions on being assessed with the OPI. These important findings demonstrate that students recognize other improvements in the L2 they have developed while abroad and desire that what they have learned abroad is shown
A Pro-Life Re-Alignment: Proposing a Shift in Focus Toward Demand-Side Anti-Abortion Advocacy
Get PDFThe purpose of this thesis is to inspire a change in the conversation within the pro-life community and to create a new approach for anti-abortion proponents to use to reduce the number of abortions in the United States. Based on a supply and demand theory of economics, any pro-life strategy to destroy the market for abortion falls into one of two categories. Until now, the pro-life movement has been focused almost exclusively on limiting the supply of abortion services. While the pro-life movement should continue its efforts to ban and restrict abortion, these efforts will fail to fully end abortion because there will still be an illegal market for abortion. The pro-life movement should also decrease demand for abortion by addressing the principal causes of abortion. Abortion rates remain extremely high in the United States despite a recent downward trend. Half of the women who have abortions, 49%, are in poverty (<100% of the FPL). Another 26% are classified as low income (<200% of the FPL), which means that 75% of women who have abortions are poor or low income. The government has created several poverty relief programs that have successfully reduced the rate of abortion. However, these programs are insufficient because they only reach a fraction of the families in need of assistance. This thesis advocates for the expansion of social services, increased access to non-implantation preventing contraceptives, and the creation of free childcare providing pro-life non-profit organizations to fully confront the abortion problem in the United States
The Impact of Mindfulness-Based Yoga Interventions on Elementary Students’ Perceived Emotional Wellbeing and Classroom Transitions
Get PDFIn recent years, there have been rising expectations for students’ academic performance in the United States (United States Department of Education, 2016). As a result, many students experience stress and anxiety. Simultaneously, an increased amount of instructional time has led to more sedentary behavior in the classroom (Burns et al., 2015). Therefore, this study sought to alleviate students’ daily stress and anxiety while also giving students the chance to move and stretch through the utilization of mindfulness-based yoga interventions.
Recent studies have found that mindfulness is beneficial for people cognitively, physically, and mentally (Blair, 2007; Folleto, 2016; Mendelson, 2010). This study examined the benefits in a fifth-grade classroom through the implementation of mindfulness-based yoga interventions. Fifty-eight students in three separate fifth-grade mathematics classes in a Northwest Mississippi intermediate school participated in the study, which took place between Monday, October 15th, 2018 and Friday, November 30th, 2018. The study consisted of three weeks of observations and three weeks of interventions. Interventions took place during the first five minutes of each class and consisted of guided breathing exercises and yoga poses. A pre- and post- intervention questionnaire revealed that mindfulness-based yoga interventions had a positive impact on most students’ perceived anxiety, stress, and ability to transition. Findings also suggest that these interventions may be particularly beneficial for remedial males
Watering the Desert: Azraq, Public Opinion, and Environmental Post-Materialism
Get PDFIn this thesis, I analyze the physical, political, and societal transformations in Azraq, Jordan, caused by over-exploitation of the town’s aquifer. I also connect the changes I and others have observed in Azraq to two main theories: postmaterialism and its counterarguments, and the tragedy of the commons. In short, postmaterialism argues that societies that have advanced so that citizens do not have to devote their time and money to survival will have larger rates of environmentalism; the tragedy of the commons details the negative consequences of environmental degradation on those living around a common resource. In conducting the study, I carried out twenty-five surveys in Azraq that asked locals about the effects of the water shortage on their daily lives, their opinions on the national government’s water policy as it pertains to Azraq, and their opinions on the national government’s water policy pertaining to Jordan as a whole. Additionally, I conducted interviews with three Azraq farmers who discussed the impacts of government pumping from the aquifer on the agricultural sector; the president of the Azraq Wetland Reserve; and a representative of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. I found that the national government’s over-exploitation of the aquifer throughout the last three decades has led to increased environmental awareness in Azraq, which presents a direct counterargument to the postmaterialist thesis. I also found that Azraq presents a new way of understanding the tragedy of the commons, as the aquifer was once a common resource but is now controlled by the state. My findings imply that more shared, sustainable systems of groundwater governance will be necessary in the future
Portfolio Optimization Methods: The Mean-Variance Approach and the Bayesian Approach
Get PDFThis thesis is a discussion on the mean-variance approach to portfolio optimization and an introduction of the Bayesian approach, which is designed to solve certain limitations of the classical mean-variance analysis. The primary goal of portfolio optimization is to achieve the maximum return from investment given a certain level of risk. The mean-variance approach, introduced by Harry Markowitz, sought to solve this optimization problem by analyzing the means and variances of a certain collection of stocks. However, due to its simplicity, the mean-variance approach is subject to various limitations. In this paper, we seek to solve some of these limitations by applying the Bayesian method, which is mainly based on probability theory and the Bayes’ theorem. These approaches will be applied to form optimal portfolios using the data of 27 Dow Jones companies in the period of 2008-2017 for a better comparison. The topic of portfolio optimization is extremely broad, and there are many approaches that have been and are being currently researched. Yet, there is no approach that is proven to perform most efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to discuss two potential and popular approaches in forming optimal portfolios
Equivalent Annual Operating Cost of Reactors in A Discrete Optimized Styrene Process
Get PDFBeginning in the fall semester, I was a member of a team that simulated and optimized a styrene production process in Microsoft Excel. After the base case was simulated, parametric and topological optimizations were completed. The optimizations had to be completed in a certain order that starts with the reactor section, then move to the separation section, heat recovery section, heating/cooling utilities section, and ends with the water and effluent treatment section. During this project, the first three sections were explored. Optimizing the base case was completed by making these changes to see how they increased the net present value of the plant.
After completing the beginning of the project in the fall semester, the next semester, the additional project was assigned. Another topological optimization was to be completed by using a fluidized bed reactor instead of an isothermal or adiabatic reactor, which were the base case and optimized case respectively. Because of the differences in feeds between the isothermal and adiabatic case, a fluidized bed reactor was simulated using both feeds.
For this set of optimizations, the equivalent annual operating cost (EAOC) of each type of reactor was calculated. The EAOC is a function of capital cost and the yearly operating cost. The yearly operating cost is the yearly utility cost of the fired heater. The capital cost is different per reactor. It is the price of an equivalent heat exchanger for the isothermal, equivalent vessel for the adiabatic, and a given function for the fluidized bed. The function for the fluidized bed includes the heat transfer surface area. The part of the surface area that could be changed was the number of pipes. Since the equivalent annual operating cost is a cost, optimizations would decrease it. The only way to decrease the surface area is to decrease the number of tubes. Minimizing the EAOC would decrease the number of tubes to zero which is not possible so the optimizations for this part of the project were not possible. The EAOC was, after comparing reactors, lower for the fluidized bed. It is because there are 10 reactors of the other reactors versus 2 fluidized bed reactors