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A Conversation About Cultural Appropriation as Explored by an Emerging Media Professional
Get PDFThis thesis investigates cultural appropriation for the benefit of emerging media professionals. I use a personal encounter with cultural misappropriation as a starting point for the study. To further my exploration, I call upon the theory of symbolic interactionalism and scholarship in sociology, anthropology, and art criticism to better understand the concept. Then I interviewed many students and faculty members in the university community and they provided both insight and personal reflections on the concept, especially the media’s role in how they view cultural appropriation. Finally, I provide case studies, choosing three areas where cultural misappropriation has occurred, and suggest dialogue to enhance understanding and make recommendations for practice
Structures, Energetics, and Vibrational Frequencies of Microhydrated Hexafluorophosphate, PF6−(H2O)n=1,2 from DFT and Ab Initio Computations
Get PDFThis study systematically examines an anion commonly used in room temperature ionic liquids, hexafluorophosphate PF6−, and its non-covalent interactions with up to two explicit water molecules (PF6 − (H2 O)n where n = 1, 2). Initial low-energy configurations are identified via a set of relaxed angular scans across the edges and faces of the PF6− octahedron using the global hybrid M06-2X density functional with a triple-ζ correlation consistent basis set augmented with diffuse functions on all non- hydrogen atoms (cc-pVTZ for H and aug-cc-pVTZ for P, O, F; denoted haTZ). Full geometry optimizations are performed on these initial structures using a variety of common density functionals theory (DFT) methods (B3LYP, B3LYP-D3, M06-2X, and ωB97XD) as well as the MP2 and CCSD(T) ab initio methods with the same haTZ basis set. The corresponding harmonic vibrational frequencies are computed for all identified stationary points. Single point energy computations are also performed on the CCSD(T)/haTZ geometries using the CCSD(T) method with an analogous quadruple-ζ basis set (haQZ). A new PF6−(H2O)2 minimum has been identified that is approximately 2 kcal mol−1 lower in energy than any other structure previously reported in the literature. For the PF6−(H2O)1 system, DFT computations identify two unique stationary points competing for the lowest energy configuration, which is consistent with prior work. However, only one of these structures is a stationary point on the MP2 and CCSD(T) potential energy surfaces. This result suggests that some DFT methods might not correctly describe the interaction between PF6−and H2O
Understanding Juuling Trends Among Differing Age and Gender Demographics Through Social Sensing
Get PDFMiddle schoolers, high schoolers, and college students have increasingly begun using the Juul, which is a type of e-cigarette. In fact, in 2017 a study showed that “2.1 million high schoolers and middle schoolers used e-cigarettes” (Richtel and Kaplan, 2018). The reason why my research specifically addresses the Juul is that it “is now the largest e-cigarette brand measured by retail sales companies” (Huang et al., 2018b). Studies have been done to show the short time it takes for a child to lose autonomy over tobacco use, ranging from 2 to 30 days of first inhaling a cigarette (DiFranza et al., 2007). What are the potential consequences of a nicotine addiction for developing youth? Nicotine is widely believed to inhibit normal mental development. (Goriounova and Mansvelder, 2012). Additionally, youths are much more susceptible to nicotine relative to adults (Goriounova and Mansvelder, 2012). Companies have claimed that they are unintentionally trying to market their product to youth and that a Juul’s primary purpose is to act as an alternative to currently smoking adults above the age of 35. Recently from The University of Mississippi Medical Center, a documentary came out about vaping in Mississippi (Remedy, Aired 08/30/18). Nicotine aside, is it healthy to breath in propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin after being heated? To summarize, more middle, high school, and college students are beginning to use e-cigarette products. More specifically, they are using the most popular e-cigarette product, the Juul. Because we know the dangers of nicotine addiction in developing brains coupled with the uncertainty of the safety of the chemicals within a vape device in general, strong concern for youth from associations such as the FDA and cancer society has succeeded in putting pressure on the Juul company to discourage young students from partaking in their products. Recently at the completion of this thesis, the FDA has been a force to be reckoned with. In order to understand the appeal of Juul, one can examine the tweets of those who mention the Juul.
Additionally, in order to understand the total appeal of the Juul from twitter, one should explore its perception in di↵erent age and gender demographics, a method which has not been widely explored to date. As far as I am aware, this is the first attempt to make a model which takes into account gender and age demographics. This is a complicated task considering that Twitter does not provide age and gender information about their users. Why is this problem important to my research, scientific, and academic community? Computer Scientists have the ability to dive into Large Data questions and have a moral responsibility to look into the safety of the younger generation. The Honors College at Ole Miss states that it seeks to prepare citizen scholars who are fired by the life of the mind, committed to the public good and driven to find solutions. This is a citizen question, because many of my contemporaries partake in Juuling and I am driven to help explore the nature of their subsequent nicotine addiction and the nicotine addiction of those younger than us. My computer science department states that it seeks to enable its undergraduate students to master the fundamental principles of computing and to develop the skill needed to solve practical problems using contemporary computer-based technologies and practices. Data analyses is a growing field in Computer Science, and I will have the opportunity to use these skills to help solve this problem. Lastly, the scientific community is eagerly trying to understand the e↵ects of vaping and how to produce some oversight on this industry.
Understanding each demographic (age and gender) attraction to the product through Twitter content will allow one to compare which aspect of the Juul is most appealing to each age band. Further research into this may begin to uncover particular ways to help the FDA combat the current youth epidemic in terms of knowing where to cut o↵ the appeal of the Juul at its source.
I have collected as many tweets which contain content regarding #Juul, normalize the data, determine whether or not a tweet comes from a person or an organization, identify the age and gender of each Twitter user, and implement LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) Topic Modeling and Association Rule Mining on the processed data. From this information, I will determine the most popular topics regarding Juul in each demographic as well as rules which reveal correlations between the Juul and other words from the tweets. This information will provide useful knowledge that can be utilized when considering how best to implement Juul policy while waiting to better understand its e↵ect on health
Internalizing Disorders Among Mississippi Public School Students and the Need for Intervention
Get PDFChildhood anxiety disorders traditionally do not garner much attention in academic settings. However, many studies have concluded that approximately 1 in 8 children has an anxiety disorder by age 12, often beginning at earlier ages but going undiagnosed. Further, studies have shown that these disorders strongly affect both behavior (e.g. bullying, school attendance, and social performance) and academic performance (e.g. literacy, mathematical learning). Under several existing pieces of legislature, public schools should already be providing treatment for these disorders; however, due to financial costs and the silent nature of these internalizing disorders, few schools have any provisions for the numerous students silently struggling. The primary objective of this study was to show rates of anxiety and depression in a broad sample of Mississippi students from public school districts around the state in order to evaluate the need for interventions. Participants included 10,891 students from a wide variety of school districts, ranging in grade levels from 2-12. The ethnicity of students was highly diverse and representative of the state of Mississippi. The diagnostic measure used was the Revised Childhood Anxiety and Depression Scale, which measures symptoms of social phobia, panic disorder, major depression, separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. As hypothesized, given the low socioeconomic status of the area, the rates of depression and anxiety in students from Mississippi are slightly higher than the national average; however, it is important to note there are many possible contributing factors. Given these findings and the outlined risks associated with these disorders, public education should be providing clinical interventions for students with internalizing disorders
An Exploration of Key Accounting Concepts Through Case Studies
Get PDFAccounting is a profession characterized by precision, innovation, and evolution. In an everchanging environment, it essential to ascertain a firm foundation in understanding Generally Accepted Accounting Principles as set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The following case studies present extensive explanations to promote the understanding of key accounting concepts, preparation and analysis of financial statements, as well as spotlights special topics in the current accounting climate.
These case studies contextualize critical accounting concepts to demonstrate the connection between the principles and standards presented in academia as they are adapted in practice. The case studies were completed under the direction of Victoria Dickinson in fulfillment of requirements for the University of Mississippi’s Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College and Patterson School of Accountancy ACCY 420 course in the 2017-2018 academic year
Code-Switching Practices in the Foreign-Language Classroom: Instructor Nativeness and Students' Perceptions
Get PDFIn this study we investigated code-switching practices in the foreign language classroom among instructors who are native speakers of the target language (Spanish) and instructors who are non-native speakers of the target language, as well as students’ perceptions of L1 use. Participants were three college instructors of Spanish and 38 college students in an intermediate level Spanish course. The participants were observed and recorded during two hour-long classes involving group work. After the observations, the instructors completed an interview, and the students completed an online questionnaire. This study found that native instructors use less English than non-native instructors and the native English-speaking Spanish instructor used the most amount of English. Students’ perceptions of English use in the classroom align with the amount of English used in the classroom. Students with the native instructor found English use less advantageous while students with the non-native instructors found English more advantageous. The findings in this study suggest that students’ perceptions may be influenced by the amount of English to which they are exposed
A Synopsis of Basic Components of Accounting
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to discuss different components of accounting and discuss how they appear on financial statements. These topics are ones that accountants run into everyday while on the job. Each case covers a company or companies and focuses on one of the major themes of the accounting process for that company. Along with this it also gives us a set of scenarios to discuss. These scenarios forced me to dive deeper into the financial statements to see how this is related to the United States generally accepted accounting principles. These cases go far beyond the everyday journal entries we see perceived most accountants doing
Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia
Get PDFThe primary auditory cortex being linked to the AVHs could be due to it being overly sensitive when being stimulated by processing found internally, opposing to outward stimulation. The 173 individuals who were available for both structural data and resting state, 83 were found to have schizophrenia or schizoaffective. Resting state echo planar image (EPI) volumes had 32 slices of 4mm 64x64 matrix with 4mm thickness (voxel size = 3x3x4mm), with repetition time (TR) of 2000ms and echo time (TE) of 29ms. A total of 150 volumes (5 minutes) were used in the analysis. The auditory cortex in the SZ group showed significantly weaker connectivity to the right supracalcarine cortex, left lingual gyrus, and right precuneus cortex and significantly stronger connectivity to the right caudate
Social Media and Collegiate Athletic Recruitment: Friends or Foes?
Get PDFThe purpose of this thesis is to better understand the effects of social media on college athletic recruitment through student-athlete exposure, the transition from a coach-controlled recruitment process to a player-controlled recruitment process, student-athlete and collegiate athletic program reputation management, and overall increased revenue.
The effects will be examined through a review of nineteen published literature sources and the qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with high-school senior student-athletes, university recruitment and media relations staff, and college freshmen student-athletes. Qualitative research will be conducted with interviews of high-school seniors who are at least 18 years of age who are currently going through the process of collegiate athletic recruitment by Division I universities. The interviews consisted of seven questions that measure and evaluate their experience with social media and their recruitment process. These interviews were designed to gauge the impact social media has on high school athletes and their current recruitment process. Selected high school athletes were chosen from top-performing high schools in the athletics sector from the state of Mississippi based on state rankings by the Mississippi High School Athletics Association and top-performing athlete lists such as Mississippi’s Dandy Dozen list and ESPN’s athlete rankings. Qualitative research was also done with college freshmen student-athletes. Like the high school senior student-athletes, these college freshmen student-athletes received the same seven interview questions to measure their experience with social media and their recently completed recruitment process.
Qualitative research also consisted of interviews with recruitment and media relations staff of Ole Miss Athletics and Louisiana State University Athletics due to their past experiences with recruitment issues. These interviews were comprised of ten questions that measured and provided further understanding of the role of social media in collegiate athletic recruitment
A Compilation of Case Studies in Financial Accounting
Get PDFThe following exploratory project delves into relevant accounting concepts in today’s economic and financial landscape. Using U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the topics of financial reporting, deferred taxation, mergers and acquisitions, internal controls, financial ratio analysis, revenue recognition, inventory management and cost accounting, leases, and dissolution are investigated through the use of case studies. Over the course of the 12 cases presented here, the purpose is to provide a comprehensive understanding regarding the current landscape of accounting as it pertains to the topics mentioned above.
The cases were conducted under the direction of Dr. Victoria Dickinson in the Patterson School of Accountancy in conjunction with the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. The Honors College thesis requirement has been satisfied through the alternative thesis track provided to accountancy honors students. The 12 cases were completed on a biweekly basis through the fall and spring semesters with accounting professionals spending time with our class on the opposite weeks to provide real-world insight into the topics that we were researching in our case studies