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

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

“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

The Privilege of Choice: Latinos and the Decision Between Select Universities and Non-Select Universities

This thesis examines the complex factors influencing Latino students' decisions to attend selective versus non-selective universities, focusing on how identity, familial expectations, financial constraints, and institutional fit shape these choices. Through qualitative, in-depth interviews from six Latino undergraduate students enrolled in various Texas universities, the study sheds light on how these students navigate the complex intersections of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and educational access. The findings shaped by testimonio narrative indicate that financial considerations, family expectations, social capital, and mentorship play equally significant roles in college choice and educational trajectories. Furthermore, Latino undergraduate students often face tensions between pursuing academic prestige and success and maintaining their cultural identity, accentuating the critical need for inclusive campus environments. Ultimately, this research underscores the importance of addressing systemic inequities, providing robust financial aid, and cultivating culturally affirming environments to enhance access, retention, and academic achievement for Latino students in higher education.Plan II Honors Progra

Corporate Accountability and Conflict Resolution: Legal and Historical Analysis of the Role of ADR and Restorative Practices in Workplace Sexual Harassment Cases

This thesis delves into the comparison of Alternative Dispute Resolutions (ADR), focusing on Restorative Practices and mediation, in handling workplace sexual harassment cases. It delves into the future of corporate accountability and conflict resolution. In composing a historical and legal analysis, the study examines that traditional responses to workplace harassment often fail to examine the systematic root in the business. Through the comparative qualitative analysis, this study clarifies the distinct advantages and limitations of mediation and Restorative Practices, and demonstrates how Restorative Practices distinctively empower victims, hold offenders meaningfully accountable, and emphasizes significant organizational and cultural transformation. There can be destructive consequences of conventional adversarial processes, advocating ADR processes instead would minimize personal and institutional harms. This research also focuses on the psychological, sociological, and procedural factors that influence the effectiveness of ADR approaches and proposes a possible method of integration between Restorative Practices and mediation. These findings highlight that future research is warranted, such as a randomized control trial, to determine the long-term efficacy of the restorative strategies in preventing workplace sexual harassment cases and transforming workplace cultures.Plan II Honors Progra

Revisiting the model minority myth : the multiple pathways after high school among Asian American students

Asian American students have long been stereotyped as a model minority who excel academically and thus gain admission prestigious four-year colleges. However, not all Asian American students pursue four-year colleges. Asian American students’ college pathways can be more diverse than the dominant narrative for Asian success. In this sense, this study focused on the factors that influence Asian American students’ college choices, including how they navigate their college pathways after high school. To that end, this study explored the context of families, schools, and communities to gain detailed knowledge and a nuanced understanding of how these factors shape the college pathways of Asian American students, including two-year community college and four-year college. I employed a qualitative research approach and conducted 24 semi-structured in-depth interviews to accomplish this purpose (19 four-year college students and 5 community college students). The research revealed a mixed picture of the resources available to Asian American students as they navigate their college pathways. On the one hand, my findings indicated that Asian American four-year college students had supportive resources in accessing college, including parents’ higher socioeconomic status, competitive high school environment, and college-educated communities. On the other hand, Asian American community college students had fewer options in navigating and accessing college due to parents’ lower socioeconomic status, career-bound programs in high school, and lack of community support. Particularly, my findings highlight that parents’ economic status not only played a more significant role than their education in shaping college pathways but also influenced parents’ expectations and authority over their child’s college pathways. In this sense, Asian American students from both higher and lower socioeconomic backgrounds decided to attend affordable colleges in consideration of their parents’ financial circumstances. My dissertation sheds light on how Asian American students, often labeled as a successful model minority, resist cultural and structural constraints in accessing college.Educational Leadership and Polic

Subjectivity, simulation, and signal bleeding : playing with reality in the remedy connected universe

This dissertation is a rhetorical and phenomenological interrogation of subjective experience in digital simulations, including but not limited to digital games. It is an attempt to articulate how the digital makes possible the feeling of presence or passage between real and virtual worlds and account for the blurring of the perceptual boundary that separates them. The term signal bleeding is introduced as a conceptual metaphor to describe how real and virtual “signals” bleed into one output or representation of reality. To account for the subject, the self is first conceptualized as an amalgamation of information organized by narrative, a linguistic product that allows the body to attend to itself and coordinate action. The “I” is a virtual operator or ghost in the machine, data organized into a story for the purposes of identification. Humans as informational organisms are mutually constituted by their representational models, figurations based on data profiles, preferences, and histories online. A symbiotic interdependent relationship with computers has developed through everyday interaction with information and communication technologies (ICTs). Digital subjectivity is interrogated at the point of interaction between human-computer and human-data as well as gamic conceptions of player through an ontology of play and avatar embodiment. Simulation is first introduced with Baudrillard’s conception of hyperreality or signs that no longer have referents, by which he argues that what we conceive of as reality is simulation. Later in the work, digital simulation is addressed as code, procedure, and narrative. Future narratives and storyplaying are also discussed as the means by which movement through digital simulations is possible. The rhetorical gameworld model (RGM) is created for the purpose of analyzing world construction and experience in digital simulations. The model is then applied to the Remedy Connected Universe, a narrative web that connects four digital games developed by Remedy Entertainment: Alan Wake, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, Control, and Alan Wake 2. The RGM serves as the framework for analysis of subjectivity, simulation, and signal bleeding across the games. Points of overlap between the real and the virtual are identified and discussed before finally sketching broader applications of the model.Communication Studie

De Spraak achter Pott un Ploog : gender and identity in the maintenance and loss of Low German in East Frisia

Language use is one method with which speakers can express their own identities and attitudes towards their language varieties and the varieties of others, whether explicitly or implicitly. For speakers of a dialectal variety or minority/regional language such as East Frisian Low German, social factors such as age and gender influence attitudes of the speakers themselves, as well as the language ideologies expressed by their communities of practice. The attitudes in turn impact their use of minority languages (Boas & Fingerhuth, 2017). Parallels to the current German dialectal situation can be seen in Irish (Gaelic) speakers in Ireland, where bureaucratic assistance and inclusion of the languages in the education system have still not led to a dramatic increase in the number of Irish speakers in Ireland (Wiggers, 2006: 289-290). Research on the question of speaker gender and the maintenance of minority languages in immigrant and minority communities exists in literature focusing on bilingualism and multilingualism (Winter & Pauwels, 2005; Pavlenko, 2001), but there is a lack among studies of dialectology, in which Low German is often included. In order to help answer the question of why a dialect or minority language is either being maintained or lost, this dissertation seeks to answer the question of whether speaker gender and the subsequent gender roles in the community are influential in this process. Speakers of Low German themselves view the ability to speak it as part of their regional identity (Wiggers, 2006), and there exists a long history of literature produced in Low German, 6 as well as other forms of media such as radio and theater (Kremer, 1997). However, despite various federal and local level efforts to encourage the maintenance of Low German, it remains endangered, and a language primarily used in the private domain with friends and family (Biehl, 1999; Reershemius, 2009: Stellmacher, 2017). This dissertation seeks to address if, and how, the role of speaker gender identity within a regional language community like that of the Low German speakers in East Frisia influences maintenance of an endangered minority language. Expanding upon questions raised by Jones (2023) about the role of speaker gender identity in the transmission and maintenance of dialectal varieties, the intention is to add to existing literature concerning speaker gender and minority/regional language maintenance, loss, and eventual death. Analyzing survey data from 172 respondents via speaker gender and age, with supporting evidence from 34 open-ended sociolinguistic interviews with Low German speakers, this dissertation argues that reported language attitudes towards East Frisian Low German itself, as well as towards language promotion, are directly influenced by the social identities held by speakers in this region. In this community, age is a factor in continued transmission, as with many heritage languages. However, the importance of the perceived value of the language by specifically female speakers became evident during interviews. While female speakers are not the ideal speaker, they remain influential in the process of language transmission and revitalization in the region. This study also gives evidence as to why support at multiple levels has not translated into an increase in speakers and renewed interest by the speakers themselves to continue maintenance of an endangered language. While speakers are generally enthusiastic about the prospect of continued transmission, demotivating responses from fluent speakers towards learners and non-speakers is negatively affecting the viability of language revitalization.Germanic Studie

Examination of CO₂ reactivity and orexin activity as predictors of extinction memory for fear, food, and alcohol cues in rats

Trauma, anxiety, and substance use disorders are highly prevalent but only half of individuals achieve remission with the best available behavioral treatment, exposure therapy. The ability to identify likely responders to exposure therapy and provide an alternative treatment to likely non-responders would allow a greater number of individuals to achieve remission. To address this, I turned to the laboratory rat to model the associative learning processes that underlie these disorders and exposure therapy to examine behavioral and neural predictors of treatment response. Rats underwent Pavlovian conditioning, extinction training, and long-term memory testing of cues associated with fear (Chapters 3 & 4), food (Chapters 2 & 4), and alcohol (Chapter 5) as well as a CO₂ challenge prior to euthanasia to examine orexin activity in the lateral hypothalamus. Behavioral CO₂ reactivity predicted extinction memory for fear, food, and alcohol cues. CO₂ reactivity also predicted fear and alcohol memories after a different treatment, retrieval-extinction, although to a lesser degree. Orexin activity did not predict extinction memory for fear, food, nor alcohol cues. My studies show that CO₂ reactivity, but not CO₂-induced orexin activity, can be used to predict extinction memory for fear and reward cues. My work provides support for CO₂ reactivity to be examined as a predictor of exposure therapy response in individuals with trauma, anxiety, and substance use disorders.Neuroscienc