Black Horror, White Terror

By weaving literature, film, popular culture, and historical moments, I trace the historical pattern of white terror from nineteenth century lynching and rape to twentieth century mass murder and violent civil rights opposition to twenty-first century police brutality, all of which has engendered racial fears for Black men, Black women, and Black children, and I examine the effects of Black fear on the Black psyche, the Black body, and the Black family. Developing a new framework by which to read the uncanny operations of white supremacy and the new Black horror genre’s engagement with the inner/outer workings of white racism, my concept of horrifying whiteness offers an avenue for Black resistance by disrupting the centuries-old whiteness as innocence and blackness as culpability narrative; and my concept of crippling fear versus empowering fear offers an opportunity to probe the advantages/disadvantages of Black fear. I utilize horror films and tropes to address the theatricality of white violence, and to discuss how race figures into cinema which has not only reinforced racist notions about Blackness, but has also functioned as a generator of white violence. I show how Black artists who utilize the horror aesthetic counter monstrous depictions of Black people by reversing white hegemonic narratives and applying horror tropes to white supremacists. Ultimately, my project uses horror as a means of defamiliarizing white innocence and spotlighting Black fear as well as examining its impact on Black Americans

An Evaluation of Health Literacy in a Family-Based Digital Lifestyle Intervention for Hispanic Parents and Adolescents

Obesity, defined as having a BMI>30, is one of the most significant public health problems of the modern era. Obesity is associated with physical, mental, social, and economic consequences. While all groups are affected by obesity, some, including US Hispanics, are disproportionately affected. Disparities in obesity may be attributed to social determinants of health and cultural factors. Health literacy (HL) may contribute to existing health disparities. HL is important for everyone, but it is especially relevant to Spanish speakers due to a healthcare system dominated by English. Nutritional HL may be a cause of poor diet among Hispanics as low-income Hispanics are at increased risk for poor eating habits and acculturation has been associated with higher rates of fast-food consumption. Healthcare professionals and those responsible for health policy have identified HL as a modifiable factor in reducing health disparities. Few lifestyle interventions for Hispanics that likely target improvements in HL report intervention effects on HL as an outcome. This study’s purpose is to assess the HL of Hispanic parents participating in a pilot RCT of a digital lifestyle intervention named Healthy Juntos (HJ). Families were randomized to the HJ intervention or a digital health referral comparison condition. Each parent completed the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) and the preliminary effects of the intervention on HL were assessed using Hedges g. Older participants with higher levels of education at baseline had higher HL scores than those who were younger and had lower levels of education. The intervention group improved from a baseline HL score average of 2.7 to 3.2 whereas the control condition demonstrated no improvement (3.0 at both baseline and post-intervention). Participants who completed HJ modules related to nutrition demonstrated greater improvements in HL. Improvements in HL were also seen in the number of healthy eating videos watched. Altogether, the study provided useful steps toward improving how nutritional HL is assessed and potentially improved among Hispanic

Tree-Based Methods for Causal Matching and Distorted Variable Analysis

Matching is a method to estimate Average Treatment Effect (ATE) in observational studies. In order to reduce bias due to confounding, an optimal matching algorithm pairs treated and control units with similar characteristics across the covariates. Traditionally, matching methods were developed using distance-based measures, such as propensity scores or Mahalanobis distances. We propose a new method, called Balancing Recursive Partitioning (BRP) which directly optimizes for local regions of covariate balance using a recursive partitioning strategy that uses a multidimensional splitting criterion aimed at balancing the distribution of covariates between the two groups. From the resulting balancing tree, a proximity matrix can be used to weight observations and to identify a common support for treated and control units, resulting in a new estimator of ATE. In the case of the famous Lalonde datasets from causal inference world, we show that BRP has prominent advantages over other methods in estimating Average Treatment Effect.&nbsp;Health disparity has been a crucial problem in the society. There are many literatures to reveal the health disparity. Yet very little research is to address and reduce the disparity. We develop a method called Distorted Variable Analysis (DVA). Which is a tree-based method to identify the race disparity in different social levels. We are able to detect different amounts of disparity and distort the modifiable risk factors to move the individual from the high disparity group to the low disparity group. We apply the DVA to the cardiovascular disease patients and achieve a significant reduction in racial disparity.</p

Strategic Talent Hiring and Its Implications

This dissertation examines firms&rsquo; strategic talent hiring and its implications through three empirical essays. Findings from the first essay indicate that target firms strategically increase their job postings before acquisition announcements as an impression management tool to signal their growth prospects to acquiring firms. This tactic can enhance the perceived value of target firms by acquiring firms, thereby increasing the acquisition premiums that target firms receive. Findings from the second essay suggest that awareness of ongoing acquisitions encourages acquirers&rsquo; rivals to strategically post jobs near the target firms as a competitive tool. This approach can effectively poach talent from target firms, potentially disrupting acquisition success. Findings from the third essay show that executives&rsquo; long-term environmental and social (E&S) incentives motivate them to hire employees with E&S human capital, while short-term E&S incentives encourage them to acquire target firms with E&S performance that is superior to that of their own firms. E&S hiring inspired by long-term E&S incentives can reduce firms&rsquo; E&S reputation risk over the long run. This dissertation contributes to the strategic human capital literature by uncovering novel factors that drive firms to strategically hire talent and examining the implications of these hiring activities.</p

Suicidal Ideation and Attempt Among Trans Women and Femmes at the Intersection of HIV Risk and Marginalization Stress

Suicide represents a public health priority, and trans and gender diverse persons and persons living with HIV continue to face disparities in suicidal ideation and attempts. Approximately 1 in 2 trans women and femmes report a prior attempt, and 1 in 2 are living with HIV. The gender minority stress model, which posits that repeated exposure to marginalization results in chronic stress may explain suicide disparities, but prior work has not examined suicide risk at the intersection of both minority stress and HIV in this high priority population. Trans women and femmes living with or at risk for HIV acquisition completed a cross-sectional psychosocial assessment including measures of gender minority stress and suicide risk. Stochastic search variable selection was used to identify data-driven minority stress predictors of suicidal ideation and attempt. Linear and negative binomial regressions were used to examine direct and indirect associations of minority stress factors with suicidal ideation and attempt. Differences in minority stress and suicide risk by HIV status were explored. Rejection, rejection sensitivity, and nondisclosure were identified as potential predictors of suicidal ideation, and rejection sensitivity was identified as a potential predictor for suicide attempt. Higher rejection, higher rejection sensitivity, and lower nondisclosure predicted higher suicidal ideation severity. Rejection indirectly increased ideation severity via rejection sensitivity, and decreased suicidal ideation severity via nondisclosure. Rejection sensitivity did not predict the presence or severity of suicide attempt history. There were no differences in minority stress or suicide risk by HIV status. Rejection-based pathways appeared important to consider in the context of HIV in this population. Assessments of and interventions for suicide may be more responsive to the needs of trans women and femmes impacted by HIV risk when they consider the effects of compounded stigma on rejection.</p

Laugh Hard at the Absurdly Evil: Humor as Cultural Technology

Humor is weird; Richard Pryor used humor to challenge racist stereotypes, while the neighborhood bully uses derisive laughter to enforce their superiority. Philosophers generally define humor as the emotion of comic amusement. However, humor is not only a source of amusement, but also a communicative tool that we can use to do things we couldn&rsquo;t do, or do as effectively, with explicit or literal speech. For example, a caregiver may playfully tease a child that, &ldquo;if you keep making that face it&rsquo;ll stick that way&rdquo; because they are frustrated, at the same time the tease functions to reinforce expectations regarding appropriate behavior. I introduce an alternative model of humor as a discursive tool for revealing, reinforcing, and challenging social norms and show how my account captures important cultural dimensions of humor that escape philosophical accounts that identify humor as comic amusement. I then use my model to argue that humor serves as an active component in both perpetuating and challenging oppressive social practices, not merely as a psychological response to them.</p

The Effect of Patient-Reported Discharge Education and Communication on Post-Stroke Behaviors and Outcomes

The events during a patient&rsquo;s transition from hospital to home or rehabilitation facility can greatly impact a patient&rsquo;s recovery process. This dissertation defines the role of patient-perceived sufficient discharge education and communication (SDEC) (i.e., sufficient diet education, sufficient toxic habit cessation education, if applicable, and a scheduled medical appointment at discharge) on post-stroke healthy behavior changes and death or readmission among patients in the Transitions of Care Stroke Disparities Study (TCSDS), a prospective registry-derived observational study, conducted in 10 comprehensive stroke centers in Florida &nbsp;(2018-2023).Our study described the characteristics of patients who reported receiving sufficient education and communication (SDEC) at discharge and subsequently determined if SDEC predicts self-reported post-discharge behavior changes. Adequate transition of care (ATOC) is defined by the patient&#39;s achievement of at least 75% of recommended positive behaviors and activities within 30 days post-stroke hospitalization. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to show the association between SDEC and ATOC in the overall TCSD-S sample (N=1,151, Average Age 64+/-14 years, 57% Men, 54% non-Hispanic White, 23% non-Hispanic Black, 23% Hispanic) and stratified by race/ethnicity. We found that patients reporting SDEC had an increased likelihood of accomplishing ATOC when compared to patients not reporting SDEC overall and among non-Hispanic Whites and Non-Hispanic Blacks, but not among Hispanics.The last study measures the association between SDEC and all-cause death or readmission within 90 days post-stroke discharge, overall and stratified by race/ethnicity. 90-day death or readmission was highest among non-Hispanic Black patients when compared to other groups. We found that SDEC was associated with reduced death or readmission within 90 days post-stroke discharge among non-Hispanic Black patients but not in the overall TCSD-S nor among non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanics.</p

Impact of Calibration Rainfall Limits on the Accuracy of Curve-Number Models

AbstractMethods for estimating curve numbers from field measurements are investigated. It is shown that for the same calibration data set the curve number (CN) estimated using the median method will generally be greater than the CN estimated using the least-squares method. Errors in estimating runoff using curve numbers derived using different calibration methods will generally depend on both the range of rainfall-runoff measurements used in calibration and the rainfall amount for which runoff is to be predicted. It is shown that substantial errors can occur when predicting runoff from catchments with calibrated asymptotic curve numbers (CN∞) of around 40. For catchments with calibrated CN∞ of around 60, the potential for runoff error diminishes, but concerns remain particularly for rainfall amounts less than around 5 cm. For catchments with calibrated CN∞ of around 80, there is minimal potential for error regardless of the rainfall amount

From Synthesis to Visualization: Lanthanide-Doped Carbon Dots as Emerging Tools in Bioimaging Research

The lanthanide (Ln) doped CDs have been identified as a useful candidate for dual mode imaging including fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Their fluorescence and surface properties depend on the selection of the precursor and synthetic method. At present, most of the Ln-doped CDs are prepared by hydrothermal method and only few are made from microwave heating and other methods. In addition, most CDs possess a negative surface charge. Considering the diverse mode of preparation and properties, the development of Ln-CDs as a dual mode imaging agent is still in the early stage. In this work, we focus on (1) developing gadolinium doped CDs with a positive surface charge and compare the properties of CDs prepared from two synthetic methods: hydrothermal and microwave, (2) comparative study of Gd-CNDs produced from gadopentetic acid and gadolinium chloride as a Gd-source, and (3) study of Dysprosium doped CDs. The optical properties of CDs, cytotoxicity, and their applications in bioimaging were discussed. During the study, the Gd-CDs obtained from microwave (MW) method were found less toxic compared to those obtained from hydrothermal (HT) method. In addition, these CDs are less toxic to the non-cancer cells compared to the cancer ones. Furthermore, the magnetic resonance (MR) images produced from the CDs indicate that the Gd-MW CDs appeared much brighter than the images produced from Gd-HT CDs. The overall results and observations indicate that the microwave route of synthesis is preferable over hydrothermal, and the Gd-MW CDs could be a promising candidate for a multimodal theranostics agent due to their capability to image and target the tumor cells simultaneously. In other studies, the properties of Gd-CNDs prepared from two different gadolinium sources (gadopentetic acid and gadolinium chloride) were studied.&nbsp; In addition, Dysprosium doped CDs were presented as a future candidate for contrast agent in the high magnetic field MR imaging.</p