Generative AI and Photographic Transparency

There is a history of thinking that photographs provide a special kind of access to the objects depicted in them, beyond the access that would be provided by a painting or drawing. What is included in the photograph does not depend on the photographer’s beliefs about what is in front of the camera. This feature leads Kendall Walton to argue that photographs literally allow us to see the objects which appear in them. Current generative algorithms produce images in response to users’ text prompts. Depending on the parameters, the output can resemble specific people or things which are named in the prompt. This resemblance does not depend on the user’s beliefs, so generated images are in this sense like photographs. Given this parallel, how should we think about AI-generated image

Rafael Trujillo is Not Dead: The Role of the Memory of the 1937 Massacre in Reshaping Anti-Haitianism and Education in the Dominican Republic

In 1937, dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the massacre of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent along the border dividing Dominican Republic and Haiti. This killing of over 20,000 people was informed by an ideology known as anti-Haitianism, which formed under the guise of Trujillo’s “Dominicanization” policy. After Trujillo’s death, his allies created a political dynasty that has helped to shift this anti-Haitian sentiment from a state sponsored ideology to a social norm that has prevailed to the present. This anti-Haitian sentiment is used to control and abuse immigrant Haitian sugar workers. It made thousands of people stateless as of 2013. Yet the massacre has been mostly forgotten. My thesis examines how this forgetting was carried out and used by Dominican elites. It argues that educational policy has been central in the control of the Haitian massacre narrative. By not discussing and understanding the significance of this event and the hate that has emerged from it, Dominicans have followed the anti-Haitian agenda of the people in power. I use a combination of oral histories, newspaper reports, and government documents to demonstrate this repeated manipulation of history. My thesis discusses the importance of education in this racial tension and memory of the genocide, which scholars have not yet discussed. I show how the continual manipulation of the memory of this massacre over time has affected the way that Dominicans more generally think about past and present injustices that Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent face in the country

Investigating the Effects of Vitamin K1 and K2 on the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cell Line SUM159PT

Vitamin K serves as a cofactor in the post-translational carboxylation of glutamate to γ-carboxyglutamate (GLA) by the enzyme gamma-glutamyl carboxylase (GGCX). Vitamin K epoxide reductases (VKOR) then oxidize the vitamin K to regenerate the compound’s reduced form. While most of the known γcarboxylated proteins function in coagulation and bone homeostasis, the presence of GGCX and VKOR in a wide variety of tissues suggests that the vitamin and its pathway has more extensive physiological roles. Our previous research has assessed the expression of the vitamin K pathway in triple negative breast cancer cells (TNBCs) and compared the effects of vitamin K1 to those of vitamin K2. These data indicated that K1 promoted, while K2 suppressed, TNBC cell growth and aggressive phenotypes. Here, using cell culture techniques, western blotting, cell-based assays, and qPCR, we expanded on this research by assaying for the effects of K1 and K2 on GLA expression, cell density, viability, cycle kinetics and the expression of the oncogenes cyclin D1 and c-Myc in the TNBC cell line SUM159PT. Our data demonstrated that short term (24h) treatment with K1 did not alter GLA modified protein expression in SUM159PT cells. Despite lack of evidence for γ-carboxylation, K1 exerted biphasic effects on the density of SUM159PT cultures, with minimal impact at low at concentrations and a reduction in density at higher concentration. Neither K1 nor K2 affected cell viability, but the compounds had opposite effects on cell cycle progression. Vitamin K1 tended to reduce the percentage of cells in S and G2/M phases with increasing treatment concentrations, whereas K2 induced dose-dependent entry and accumulation of cells in G2/M coupled with exit from G0/G1. The expected changes in expression of cyclin D1 and c-Myc by 5 μg/mL K1 or K2 treatment were not correlated with the effects of K1 and K2 on cell cycle. In summary, these data highlight novel actions of vitamins K1 and K2 in TNBC cells that may be independent of γ-carboxylation

Wireless Emergency Alerts and organisational response: Instructing and adjusting information in alerts

In the United States, alerting authorities are authorized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to notify the public of imminent hazards and threats by sending Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). Although recent efforts have been made to examine historical WEA compliance with frameworks such as Mileti and Sorenson\u27s (1990) Warning Response Model, less attention has been paid to information included in WEAs that is not prescribed by message design frameworks from risk communication scholarship. This paper explores the presence of Situational Crisis Communication Theory\u27s (SCCT) instructing and adjusting information in terse mobile alerts. The authors conducted a content analysis of 4777 WEAs sent between 2019 and 2022 to determine how often and in which contexts (i.e., hazard types, 90‐ or 360‐character messages) these strategies are used. We find that the limited definition of adjusting information used in prior research (e.g., direction to mental health resources) is rarely included in WEAs. Additionally, we identify differences in use by message length (90‐ vs. 360‐characters) and hazard type. We conclude that adjusting information in WEAs most frequently takes the form of organisational response information, thereby amending prior definitions of adjusting information to more closely align with the objectives and goals of warning message design

Analyzing the Market Cap Responsiveness to Capital Discipline Policies for Us Oil and Gas Producers

In this paper, the effect of specific capital discipline policies, capital structure and capital expenditures, is measured. Financial data from 2014 to 2022 are used to measure the impact of capital discipline policies on market cap. Capital structure measured through the debt-to-equity ratio and capital expenditures were both regressed against market cap to determine correlation. The regressions were sorted according to correlation strength and then grouped based off certain firm characteristics: Market cap, Resource produced, Geographical diversity, and level of integration. The results show little to no relationship between the studied characteristics and the level of market responsiveness to the studied capital discipline policies

A study of Cranf 1927: Woo Kwang Kien and Translation-cultural Capital

Largely ignored by Gaskell scholars, the early Chinese translations of Gaskell’s works have not been carefully looked at. From 1920 to 1945, the publication of four stories by Gaskell-- Cranford, Cousin Phillis, Hand and Heart, and The Old Nurse’s Story, witnessed the transformation from politics-orientated to independence in China’s publishing history. With their growing understanding of foreign literature, Chinese scholars had been translating and criticizing Gaskell’s works, and gradually formed a focus on Cranford. It was not by accident that Cranford has received great popularity: there is no similar novella in contemporary Chinese literature that has ever treated the topic ‘balance and modernization’ so gently and delicately, yet the translators’ handling of the texts indicates cultural compromise too. As a result of that, I argue: the reception of Gaskell in China, especially during this period, sheds light on how western literature has been domesticated and accepted in another language, which also showcases why in that way could Gaskell become popular in an eastern country

The Quest to End Human Trafficking: An Educational and Practical Guide for Everyone Who Wants to Help Break the Bonds and Assist Survivors

People often assume that only legislators and law enforcement personnel can take meaningful steps to fight human trafficking, one of the most lucrative transnational crimes in the world. This inquiry sought to assess the validity of that belief. The study was informed by the author’s experience as a college instructor of human trafficking and the inspiration he drew from the range and quality of his students’ projects. The methodology included examining the strategies that governmental and non-governmental organizations are using to fight trafficking and assist survivors. It also considered the work of individual activists and service providers such as social workers and health/mental health professionals. Business allies selected for review included convenience store managers and those in the lodging, tourism, airline, and transportation industries. Community influencers such as public officials, members of the press, spiritual leaders, and college instructors were studied as well. The research demonstrated that each group is making a valuable contribution. The analysis first summarizes major concepts and laws that every antitrafficking activist needs to know. The author then organized the insights and lessons learned into five types of activities: Awareness, political advocacy, prevention, reducing demand (shopping wisely), and survivor intervention/aftercare. A separate discussion focused on ideas for student service projects, internships, and relevant career opportunities. The concluding chapters offer an easy-to-follow game plan for anyone interested in joining the cause. Altogether, the Guide has more than 1,100 hyperlinks to articles and free resources that advocates can use to pursue their personal antitrafficking interests and priorities

A Decade of Wireless Emergency Alerts: A Longitudinal Assessment of Message Content and Completeness

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) provide a direct way for public safety officials to reach at‐risk publics via text‐based messages on their mobile devices. Although WEAs were introduced over a decade ago and can be either 90 or 360 characters in length, we currently do not know what these messages have contained. To address this gap, we quantify the contents of the last decade of WEA messages using the principles of effective warning message design. Specifically, we use quantitative content analysis to conduct a longitudinal assessment of 6080 WEAs sent by Alerting Authorities from 2012 to 2022. We code these messages according to the concepts in the Warning Response Model, which establishes that WEAs need to include information about the hazard, location, source, guidance, and time. Our results indicate that source and timing information are included at a much lower rate than location, hazard, and guidance information. Furthermore, only 8.5% of these messages are complete—or include all five pieces of WRM content. Complete WEA messages can minimise protective action delay while maximising message understanding, belief, and personalisation. We also find that 360‐character WEAs are more likely to be complete than 90‐character WEAs. Thus, those responsible for crafting WEAs should continue to take full advantage of the increased number of characters to write complete messages that warn populations at risk, rather than simply alert them to the existence of a hazard

Werewolf on Campus: A Case Study in Inoculation Theory and Gamified One-Shot Library Instruction

This case study details the development and results of an information literacy game in which undergraduate students evaluated fictional sources to learn how to recognize a werewolf on campus. The game relied on inoculation theory and fiction to teach students to identify indicators of mis and disinformation outside of any real-world examples that might affect their learning experience. The game showed promise as students were far more engaged and demonstrated better retention later in the semester than students who received a more traditional lecture about disinformation and source evaluation. However, the game would likely be more effective if it were expanded beyond the one-shot model