“My friends taught me”: Peer networks of South Asian American emerging adults and adolescent-directed racial ethnic socializa?on

This study inves?gates how friendship diversity, bicultural iden?ty integra?on, and cri?cal consciousness predict adolescent-directed racial-ethnic socializa?on (ADRES) among second-genera?on South Asian American emerging adults. Using survey data from 190 South Asian American emerging adults, the study examines the frequency with which par?cipants ini?ate conversa?ons with their parents about cultural pluralism, awareness of discrimina?on, and avoidance of outgroups. Results indicate that greater racial- ethnic diversity in par?cipants’ peer networks is associated with more frequent ADRES messaging about cultural pluralism and awareness of discrimina?on. Higher bicultural conflict and compartmentaliza?on predict more frequent avoidance of outgroups messaging, while greater cri?cal mo?va?on is linked to less avoidance of outgroups messaging. Gender differences emerged, with female par?cipants more frequently engaging in cultural pluralism and awareness of discrimina?on messaging. These findings highlight the ac?ve role that South Asian American youth may take in socializing their parents about U.S.- related racial and cultural dynamics.Psycholog

A Scoping Review of Interventions to Help Practicing Physicians Address Nutrition in Ambulatory Care

The importance of effective nutrition counseling is underscored by the increasing prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, which collectively affect millions of individuals globally and contribute to significant healthcare costs. Despite physicians’ unique positioning to integrate dietary guidance into patient care, barriers such as insufficient training, time constraints, and inadequate resources often hinder their ability to provide effective counseling. This thesis explores interventions designed to enhance practicing physicians’ capacity for nutrition counseling in ambulatory care settings. Through a scoping review of 46 studies, four main intervention modalities were identified: workshops, screening tools, practice-based tools (including clinic reminders, clinical support tools, and patient handouts), and multimodal strategies. These interventions demonstrated varied improvements in physicians’ knowledge, confidence, and counseling practices while positively influencing patient outcomes such as weight loss and improved biomarkers. However, challenges such as implementation barriers and limited long-term sustainability were noted. The findings emphasize the importance of integrating multimodal approaches tailored to clinical workflows to maximize impact. This review also highlights critical gaps in longitudinal research and scalability assessments, underscoring the need for future studies to focus on sustainable solutions that address systemic barriers for providers and patients in nutrition care delivery.Polymathic Scholar

The Propaganda Model Revisited: Analyzing Media and Power Today

This paper revisits Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model in the context of social-media, ultimately arguing for the model’s continued relevance in analyzing power dynamics in the spread of systematic propaganda. By offering a critique and analyzing the original five filters of the propaganda model, this study explores potential modifications for the five filters to be better applicable to social-media. This study argues that the traditional theory needs to be retooled in order to encompass all of the dynamics that are found on social-media. By incorporating contemporary critiques of the theory, as well as integrating an original analysis on the topic, this paper seeks to offer a potential adaptation of the model. This paper concludes by suggesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza as a case study for an application of the retooled Propagnda Model, offering an interesting dynamic given how well the original theory works when applied to traditional media that may not hold true when used for social-media.Plan II Honors Progra

Cholera, Crisis, and Collapse: The Role of Egypt's 1947 Cholera Epidemic in Political Disillusionment in the Liberal Experiment

This thesis examines the 1947 Egyptian cholera epidemic and analyzes how the failures of the Nuqrashi government, established in 1946, combined with the political responses from the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wafd Party, fueled public disillusionment with Egypt's liberal experiment. The liberal experiment is a period lasting from 1922 to 1952 that represented a transition towards European models of governance and ideals. While the Muslim Brotherhood used the crisis to denounce British influence and the regime, the Wafd Party's inaction and hypocrisy further eroded trust in liberal leadership. Analysis of the cholera epidemic reveals the contradictions of the liberal experiment through which the legitimacy of the Egyptian state is brought into question. Using a theoretical framework derived from Max Weber's concept of state legitimacy and Timothy Mitchell's notion of techno-politics, this thesis studies how the colonial roots of Egypt's public health infrastructure failed to meet the needs of its population in the cholera epidemic. This thesis identifies a downward trend in three key dimensions of public health systems as it relates to state legitimacy: control over knowledge, equality of care, and public trust. This trend contributed to Egyptian citizens increasingly questioning state legitimacy as the liberal experiment progressed onwards to the 1952 Free Officers'Revolution. Primary sources include Arabic and English newspaper articles, government records, and political writings. Secondary sources include scholarly articles, papers, and books written of the epidemic, its background, and its aftermath. Ultimately, this thesis uses the cholera epidemic as a case study to understand how public health crises reveal deeper political instabilities within populations and serve to exacerbate existing public discontent with government.Plan II Honors Progra

The Nuclear Struggle to Great Power Status: Brazil’s Nuclear History and How It Shapes Their Role as an Emerging Power

This thesis examines Brazil’s nuclear history to understand how a regional power sought to transcend global multilateral constraints and assert itself as an emerging force on the international stage. Despite global nonproliferation efforts, through initiatives like the Treaty of Tlatelolco and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Brazil pursued covert nuclear weapons development during the Cold War. Leveraging legal ambiguities and strategic alliances, Brazil sustained its parallel nuclear program while outwardly adhering to international norms. This study argues that Brazil’s nuclear ambitions were not merely a product of military authoritarianism but reflected a broader, persistent strategy to achieve global prestige and technological autonomy. Even after the official termination of its weapons program in the 1990s, Brazil’s nuclear legacy continues to influence its foreign policy posture. Contemporary initiatives, such as its resistance to international inspections, its nuclear-powered submarine collaboration with France, and its leadership in South-South peace diplomacy, highlight Brazil’s ongoing pursuit of sovereignty and multipolar recognition. By tracing the evolution of Brazil’s nuclear efforts and its international positioning, this thesis contributes to understanding how historical patterns of ambition inform emerging powers' strategies in the evolving global order.International Relations and Global Studie

“The City Residents Do Not Get Involved”: Understanding Barriers to Community Participation in a Small Texas Boomtown

Background: Professional communication researchers have engaged communities through community research and interventions, such as town halls, charettes, and participatory design work. Such interventions rely on community members who are willing to get involved, voicing their perspectives, and engaging in productive dialogue. Yet, some communities do not have these precursor conditions for intervention: they face significant social barriers that make such interventions unlikely to succeed. In an interview- and document-based study, we examine the social barriers described by interviewees in “Permia,” a small town in the Texas Permian Basin region. In contrast to the five other communities we studied, Permia participants demonstrate little readiness to engage in community dialogue. We explore how Permia interviewees made sense of unwillingness to participate in its public life, how their understandings contrasted with the other communities we investigated, and how this research might guide professional communicators as they plan future community-based interventions. Literature review: We review the professional communication research on community interventions as well as relevant sociological literature on boomtowns. Research questions: 1. How do community leaders understand their community heritage as constraining or enabling development? 2. Where do community leaders and members see potential for change and growth in community development? Where do they see barriers, threats, and hard choices? 3. How do community leaders describe the relations among community development stakeholders? How do they describe expectations and trust among them on interpersonal, intergroup, and interorganizational levels? Research methodology: We collected documents and statistics about six small Texas towns, then interviewed community leaders about the towns’ advantages and challenges. Based on those interviews, we collected further documents. We analyzed the data using deductive and inductive coding, as well as narrative analysis. Results/discussion: Through coding, we determined that interviewees saw Permia’s residents as unwilling to engage in deliberations in traditional forums such as city council meetings, and that their explanations for this unwillingness fell into three categories of barriers: distrust of institutions, dwindling personal ties, and lack of moral expectations for residents to engage in community dialogue. These three categories contrast with the other communities we studied. Through narrative analysis, we identify stories that were told by the interviewees to explain how these barriers developed in Permia. Conclusion: We conclude by discussing how professional communicators might survey barriers to community dialogue. Such surveys can help professional communicators choose a pathway for intervention in their community projects.IC2 Institut

On the Doppelperfekt in German dialects

This paper examines the periphrastic tense formation known as Doppelperfekt (DPF), used in various non-standard German dialects. The DPF, also referred to as doppelte Perfektformen, gesteigertes Perfekt, Perfekt II, and Ultraperfekt, involves adding an additional Partizip II of the auxiliary verb to a Perfekt construction. Examples include "Ich habe dem Kunden den Brief geschickt gehabt!" and "Er ist mit dem Zug angekommen gewesen." Historically marginalized in grammar books, the DPF's usage has often been overlooked. This study emphasizes the importance of non-standard tenses like the DPF for understanding language history and usage evolution. It explores the DPF's attributes, usage, history, and theorized origins, aiming to position the DPF within the German tense system both historically and in contemporary language.Germanic Studie

Beyond the personal income tax : direct taxation without representation in colonial Africa

Recent work has emphasized the rise of direct taxation after World War I as a phenomenon of Western Europe and the United States, mostly due to the establishment of the personal income tax. However, other forms of direct taxation have been more prevalent throughout history. I analyze the example of sub-Saharan African colonies during the early twentieth century. Colonial rule in Africa reached its peak in the interwar period, consolidating dramatically after World War I. I explain this consolidation through the rise of direct taxes. I develop a theory on the shift to direct taxation, mostly in the form of head and hut taxes, as a result of increasing revenue pressures due to World War I. The theory is informed by qualitative historical evidence from British and Portuguese colonies documenting the choice by colonial administrators to increase and establish new direct taxes. A synthetic control method expands the analysis. I propose that in the colonial context, a shift to direct taxation need not be redistributive at all.Governmen

Examining physical activity among US college students following COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns : the role of race/ethnicity and acculturation

Objective: This study examined physical activity among US college students in the context following COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns, with a focus on racial/ethnic and cultural determinants. Sample: This study used cross-sectional data of the COVID-19 University Research on Education and Sustainability (CURES) project. Participants were college students from 7 public universities in the US (N = 1210; 75% female; 33.5% White, 9.1% Black, 47.6% Hispanic, and 7.1% Asian; Mage = 21.06; 85.6% born in the US, 51.6% had mother born in the US, and 49% had father born in the US). Method: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire - short form (IPAQ-SF) was used to assess physical activity and the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA) – the American version was used to assess levels of heritage and US acculturation. Results: White students reported statistically significant higher physical activity than Hispanic (p < .05, Cohen’s d = .19) and Asian (p < .05, Cohen’s d = .36). In sedentary level, White students reported statistically significant lower levels than Asian (p < .05, Cohen’s d = -.45). Asian reported lowest physical activity, highest sedentary level, and highest prevalence of not meeting physical activity recommendation. Small negative correlation was found between heritage cultural level and total weekly physical activity among Hispanic students (r = - .09, p < .05). Conclusion: Race/ethnicity and cultural perception and practices could play a role in determine physical activity and sedentary behaviors among college students. The study calls for more qualitative research, and racial/ethnic and cultural-specific interventions to improve physical activity among Hispanic/Latin and Asian student populations.Kinesiology and Health Educatio

Factors associated with food delivery app use in young adults

Food delivery apps are highly popular among young adults and are often used to purchase calorie-dense foods, which are associated with a variety of health issues such as increased risk for obesity. Limited research exists on the use of food delivery apps and the research that has been conducted, focused on adults, suggests that food delivery app use differs by sociodemographic factors. Thus, the purpose of this study is 1) to describe food delivery app use among young adults, and 2) to examine the association between young adult food delivery app use and factors including age, race, ethnicity, sex, SES, food insecurity, living arrangement, financial responsibility, and full-time student status. Data are from the Promoting Young Adult Health Survey, a cross-sectional online survey with 1,038 young adults online from the Qualtrics panel January-February 2022. Poisson regression was used to examine the relationship between food delivery app use and the sociodemographic variables. Our results suggest that participants who reported being non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic had greater food delivery app use frequency as compared to participants who reported being white. Having higher perceived subjective social status, being food insecure, being financially responsible, and being a full-time student were all significantly associated with greater food delivery app use frequency. Living with someone else was significantly associated with lower food delivery app use frequency. Age, sex, and ‘Other’ Race/ethnicity were not associated with food delivery app use frequency. Overall, young adults use food delivery apps approximately twice a week with vulnerable groups such as Black and Hispanic young adults and young adults reporting food insecurity having greater frequency of use. This study provides a first step in understanding the characteristics of young adults who use food delivery apps more frequently. Given that this new technology can both increase access to unhealthy food options as well as healthy food options, future research is needed to better understand the types of food purchased through food delivery apps and the differences by the sociodemographic factors explored in this study.Kinesiology and Health Educatio