Processes of Racialization through Media Depictions of Transracial Violence

In this research project, I explore the process of racialization in media coverage of White-on-Black violent events (both crimes and incidents not recognized by the legal system as crimes) using a critical race theory framework. The past three years have seen a series of killings of and assaults on African American people that have become newsworthy, as they have been seen, often controversially, as unjustified. The controversy has largely broken down on racial and political lines, with minority Americans and the left seeing these incidents as evidence and example of ongoing racial inequality, with whites and the right, in particular right-wing whites, denying that race is a relevant category. By using critical race theory’s understanding of race and racism as active social processes, I trace the assumptions, politics, and social consequences of media coverage across conservative, centrist, and left media outlets. For the purposes of this research, 298 news articles from varying sources were collected and examined

Processes of Racialization through Media Depictions of Transracial Violence

In this honors thesis, I explore the process of racialization in media coverage of White-on-Black violent events (both crimes and incidents not recognized by the legal system as crimes) using a critical race theory framework. Recent years have seen a series of killings of and assaults on African American people that have become newsworthy, as they have been seen, often controversially, as unjustified. The controversy has largely broken down on racial and political lines, with minority Americans and the left seeing these incidents as evidence and example of ongoing racial inequality, with whites and the right, in particular right-wing whites, denying that race is a relevant category. By using critical race theory’s understanding of race and racism as active social processes, I trace the assumptions, politics, and social consequences of media coverage across conservative, centrist, and left media outlets. The shooting and killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager from Ferguson, MO., by white police officer Darren Wilson and the coverage of the event were examined as a case study. Over 300 articles and videos from national, regional, and local media outlets covering the incident were compiled and analyzed based on their content. Additionally, interviews were conducted with students of the Bridgewater State University’s Criminal Justice department to assess their perceptions of the incident and how those perceptions may have been influenced by exposure to specific media coverage. From the content analysis (chapter 3) I conclude that the media did in fact racialize the shooting of Michael Brown and fueled racial tensions by creating two distinct narratives of events through the use of racialized language and frames. From the interviews conducted and reviewed in chapter 4, I further conclude that the perceptions formed by my peers, based on their exposure to media coverage of the event, can be understood as racialized when examined through Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s four racial frames

Conditional Love: Imitation, Inheritance and Violent Relations in Early Modern Revenge Tragedies

In Conditional Love, I reread narratives that seem to confirm normative kinship structures as excessive iterations of their very normativity. Examining revenge tragedies by Shakespeare, Marston, Middleton, Tourneur and Kyd, I argue that the metaphors each playwright uses to portray familial emotions reveal the ideologies underpinning both excessive and normative versions of familial relationships. For example, the pietas that causes Titus to refurbish his elaborate family tomb also leads him to murder one of his sons. It is because Piero, the villainous father in Marston\u27s Antonio\u27s Revenge, imagines his daughter as a physical part of him as near my heart as is my liver that when she disobeys he can imagine rend[ing] her off. I argue that the metaphors used to express normative familial relations reveal the pressures placed on family emotions by economic and political ideologies. The foundational topos of primogeniture: that the father can live on in the son) requires the son to resemble the father, which creates relationships founded on reproduction through imitation. These imitative relationships are then vulnerable to disruption should a son fail to resemble his father. While critics have traditionally read instances of violent family breakdown in plays as moments that violate kinship norms, I argue that such moments of violence are caused by ideologies associated with inheritance structures which underpin descriptions and experiences of normative familial emotions. Revisiting tragedies commonly read as non-normative from the position that these violent behaviors are not exceptions but excesses, I am able to uncover the ideologies which create and, under pressure, distort familial relationships

Conditional Love: Imitation, Inheritance and Violent Relations in Early Modern Revenge Tragedies

In Conditional Love, I reread narratives that seem to confirm normative kinship structures as excessive iterations of their very normativity. Examining revenge tragedies by Shakespeare, Marston, Middleton, Tourneur and Kyd, I argue that the metaphors each playwright uses to portray familial emotions reveal the ideologies underpinning both excessive and normative versions of familial relationships. For example, the pietas that causes Titus to refurbish his elaborate family tomb also leads him to murder one of his sons. It is because Piero, the villainous father in Marston\u27s Antonio\u27s Revenge, imagines his daughter as a physical part of him as near my heart as is my liver that when she disobeys he can imagine rend[ing] her off. I argue that the metaphors used to express normative familial relations reveal the pressures placed on family emotions by economic and political ideologies. The foundational topos of primogeniture: that the father can live on in the son) requires the son to resemble the father, which creates relationships founded on reproduction through imitation. These imitative relationships are then vulnerable to disruption should a son fail to resemble his father. While critics have traditionally read instances of violent family breakdown in plays as moments that violate kinship norms, I argue that such moments of violence are caused by ideologies associated with inheritance structures which underpin descriptions and experiences of normative familial emotions. Revisiting tragedies commonly read as non-normative from the position that these violent behaviors are not exceptions but excesses, I am able to uncover the ideologies which create and, under pressure, distort familial relationships

Fast-food offerings in the United States in 1986, 1991, and 2016 show large increases in food variety, portion size, dietary energy, and selected micronutrients

BACKGROUND US national survey data shows fast food accounted for 11% of daily caloric intake in 2007-2010. OBJECTIVE To provide a detailed assessment of changes over time in fast-food menu offerings over 30 years, including food variety (number of items as a proxy), portion size, energy, energy density, and selected micronutrients (sodium, calcium, and iron as percent daily value [%DV]), and to compare changes over time across menu categories (entrées, sides, and desserts). DESIGN Fast-food entrées, sides, and dessert menu item data for 1986, 1991, and 2016 were compiled from primary and secondary sources for 10 popular fast-food restaurants. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Descriptive statistics were calculated. Linear mixed-effects analysis of variance was performed to examine changes over time by menu category. RESULTS From 1986 to 2016, the number of entrées, sides, and desserts for all restaurants combined increased by 226%. Portion sizes of entrées (13 g/decade) and desserts (24 g/decade), but not sides, increased significantly, and the energy (kilocalories) and sodium of items in all three menu categories increased significantly. Desserts showed the largest increase in energy (62 kcal/decade), and entrées had the largest increase in sodium (4.6% DV/decade). Calcium increased significantly in entrées (1.2%DV/decade) and to a greater extent in desserts (3.9% DV/decade), but not sides, and iron increased significantly only in desserts (1.4% DV/decade). CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate broadly detrimental changes in fast-food restaurant offerings over a 30-year span including increasing variety, portion size, energy, and sodium content. Research is needed to identify effective strategies that may help consumers reduce energy intake from fast-food restaurants as part of measures to improve dietary-related health issues in the United States.Accepted manuscrip

Using Biomechanical Optimization to Interpret Dancers\u27 Pose Selection for a Partnered Spin

Swing dancing is a high tempo, athletic form of dancing. In performing their physically rigorous jumps, lifts, and spins, dancers often talk about using the laws of physics. However, they do not have mathematical evidence to support these claims. Our goal was to determine whether expert swing dancers physically optimize their pose for a partnered spin. In a partnered spin, two dancers connect hands and spin around a single vertical axis. A biomechanical model built in Mathematica allowed comparisons of mathematically produced optimal poses to live dancers with the use of a motion capture system. We hypothesized that expert swing dancers would achieve a higher fraction of their optimal acceleration than beginners. We were unable to determine a statistically significant difference between the posses of expert and beginner dancers. However, the optimal pose predicted by the model was intuitively reasonable

Transfer of care – a randomised control trial investigating the effect of sending the details of patients’ discharge medication to their community pharmacist on discharge from hospital

Objective: There is substantial evidence demonstrating that transferring patients between care providers is a high-risk area for medicines management. This study aimed to investigate the effect of sending patients’ hospital discharge letters to their nominated community pharmacists on the number of discrepancies between the patient’s general practitioner (GP) records and the discharge letter and between the patient’s self-described medication regime and the discharge letter. Methods: In a randomised, controlled trial, 33 participants in two groups, control and intervention, had their discharge letter sent to either their GP only or their GP and nominated community pharmacy after hospital discharge. At least 3 weeks after hospital discharge, the participant’s current GP’s medication record and their self-described medication regime was obtained. Discrepancies between their GP medication record and their discharge letter and between the participant’s self-described medication regime and their discharge letter were counted. The number of discrepancies (relative to the number of drugs pre- scribed) in the intervention group was compared with the control group for each of the above two categories, using the chi-squared test to determine the statistical significance of any differences between the two groups. Results: The intervention group had statistically fewer discrepancies than the control group for both data sets: GP records compared with the discharge letters (P < 0.0005); participants’ self-described medication regimes compared with the discharge letters (P < 0.00005). Conclusions: Sending a copy of patients’ discharge letters to their community pharmacists could be beneficial in reducing post-discharge prescribing discrepancies and improving patient understanding of the changes made to their medicines

Potential Implications of Elevated CO2 for Enhanced Rock Weathering in Croplands

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are increasing by 2.37 ppm year, and levels have increased from about 370 ppm in 2000 to about 420 ppm in 20231 Increased CO2 levels result in climate change, including increased temperatures and drought which impacts soybean crops Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) is the process of spreading basalt on fields to accelerate the natural reaction between rocks, CO2, and water2 Enhanced Rock Weathering is a possible way to combat increasing CO2 levels because of its carbon sequestration properties

Las Estrellas

Durante siglos la gente ha puesto estrellas en sus árboles de navidad. Ha traído luz en la parte más oscura del año. Ha sido una manera de cerlibrar las tradiciones, la familia, la esperanza y la religión de las personas