Backfire: How the Rise of Neoliberalism Facilitated the Rise of The Far-Right

Since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, it is indisputable that there has been a notable rise in the visibility and activity of the far-right in the United States. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there was a 30% increase in the number of operating hate groups across the United States, a number that has coincided with the rise of the Trump campaign and his subsequent election as President of the United States.1 Therefore, much attention has been drawn to the rise of these movements and thus scholars have sought to seek out and identify the root cause of these movements and what can be done to prevent them. One of the most compelling and popular explanations for the rise in the far-right is that it has emerged as the result of decades of neoliberalism as the dominant form of economic ideology across the globe. This paper will examine the debate as to the cause of the increase in the far-right, specifically in regard to the role of neoliberalism, and will ultimately argue that neoliberalism acts as a parsimonious explanation for the rise in the far-right and has created the conditions for the rise in far-right groups

Backfire: How the Rise of Neoliberalism Facilitated the Rise of The Far Right

The U.S. far right has become increasingly mainstream in contemporary American politics. In this paper, I analyze the theory that the far right has gained ground due to a backlash from neoliberal policies beginning in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan. Using Process tracing, I operationalize claims made by those arguing that the white working class has moved towards the far right due to their loss of status, as well as the theory that specific wealthy actors have mobilized these groups and altered the movement against neoliberalism to suit their interests. I find that these arguments have merit, and further the resulting decline in the economic stability of the white working class and the collapse of the welfare state also have influence

Strength Property Variability in Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation Soils

Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) is an attractive alternative for a variety geotechnical ground improvement practices commonly used today and has a variety of potential applications. This research focuses primarily on its use as a soil stabilization technique using the bacteria Sporosarcina Pasteurii and a single injection point percolation method adapted from previous research in granular soils. This method, and most published data, show an inherent variability in both physical and engineering properties due to the distribution of precipitated calcite within the specimen. The focus of this research is on the quantification of the variability in shear strength parameters induced by MICP treatment in sand. Also, on the initial development of a new treatment method which aims to reduce this inherent variability and offer a more feasible option for field applications. The MICP treated soil columns were sampled at constant intervals from the injection point and then subject to direct shear testing (DST) and calcite distribution analysis. This analysis reiterates previously documented reduction in cementation as distance from injection point increases. The reduction in cementation results in reduced shear strength parameter improvements. This research also concluded a minimum of two percent mass of calcite per total mass of treated soil for significant strength improvements

Real-Time Local Volt/VAR Control Under External Disturbances with High PV Penetration

Volt/var control (VVC) of smart PV inverter is becoming one of the most popular solutions to address the voltage challenges associated with high PV penetration. This work focuses on the local droop VVC recommended by the grid integration standards IEEE1547, rule21 and addresses their major challenges i.e. appropriate parameters selection under changing conditions, and the control being vulnerable to instability (or voltage oscillations) and significant steady state error (SSE). This is achieved by proposing a two-layer local real-time adaptive VVC that has two major features i.e. a) it is able to ensure both low SSE and control stability simultaneously without compromising either, and b) it dynamically adapts its parameters to ensure good performance in a wide range of external disturbances such as sudden cloud cover, cloud intermittency, and substation voltage changes. A theoretical analysis and convergence proof of the proposed control is also discussed. The proposed control is implementation friendly as it fits well within the integration standard framework and depends only on the local bus information. The performance is compared with the existing droop VVC methods in several scenarios on a large unbalanced 3-phase feeder with detailed secondary side modeling.Comment: IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 201

Osteopathic academic heritage of OSU-COM

BACKGROUND: In 1892, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still founded the field of Osteopathic Medicine by publishing The Philosophy and Mechanical Principles of Osteopathy when his philosophy of holistic medicine and tenets of osteopathic medicine became practice. Today in 2020 osteopathic physicians find their profession threatened by single accreditation and a decrease in the number of physicians incorporating Osteopathic Principles and Practices (OPP) in their patient care, despite rising numbers of osteopathic graduates. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the osteopathic ancestry of instructors and graduates at Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OSU-COM) in order to unite past, current, and future graduates with their academic heritage in an effort to preserve a portion of the practice of osteopathic medicine.METHODS: Direct survey of current OSU-COM Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) faculty and their mentors was used to obtain the majority of data. Data was gathered in person, over the phone, and by email. Additional gratitude is provided to Dr. Amelia McConaghy for supplying information on the earlier generations of osteopaths. Once the information was collected, it was consolidated and simplified into a diagram styled after genealogical trees to visually demonstrate the generational connections.RESULTS: It was demonstrated that current OSU-COM students and graduates since 1993 are directly linked to the personal instruction of A.T. Still by as few as 5 generations of mentors. The OSU-COM lineage also includes other notable osteopaths such as Dr. Fred Mitchell Sr., who developed the muscle energy technique, and Dr. William Sutherland, who first conceptualized the primary respiratory mechanism.CONCLUSIONS: It is noteworthy that OSU-COM graduates can trace their techniques back to the physicians who developed those methods as manual skills that were passed from person to person. It is our hope that the information gathered and consolidated in this study will inspire current and future graduates to both incorporate OPP in their practices and pass along the knowledge acquired at OSU-COM to the next generation of osteopathic physicians. Though this study provides a significant analysis of academic mentorship and heritage, further studies and investigation should be conducted so as not to lose the value and roots of academic ancestry at Oklahoma State University

Jim Allen : radical drama beyond 'days of hope'

Due to a desire to establish television as a serious medium, television drama has often been seen as a forum for writers, with names such as David Mercer, Dennis Potter and Trevor Griffiths identified by critics as the driving force, or auteur, behind the works that bear their names rather than, as in much writing about film, the director. However, while this has been so, there are also many examples of writers whose contribution to television writing has been much less celebrated, often due to their close collaboration with a high-profile director who in many critics’ view remains the most influential contributor to the final piece of work. One practitioner who arguably has failed to get the critical credit he is due is Jim Allen, a writer still perhaps best known for his work with one such high-profile director, Ken Loach

Generating Caenorhabditis elegans UNC-33 antigens to be used for the Synthesis of Polyclonal Antibodies

UNC-33 and its human homolog, CRMP2 (Collapsin Response Mediator Protein-2), have been demonstrated to be involved in neurodevelopment as well as neurodegenerative disorders, primarily Alzheimer’s Disease. However, the physiology and interactions of these associations are vague. In order to further understand UNC-33/CRMP2, our group decided to use molecular biology and work toward the production of polyclonal antibodies specific to C. elegans UNC-33. To do this, we utilized the GST tag Gene Fusion System and produced two antigens- UNC-33 amino acid 48 to 212 and UNC-33 amino acid 48 to131 (UNC-3348-212 and UNC-3348-131). During this process, parameters were developed for the efficient expression and purification of these polypeptides. Once an effective protocol was established, GST fused UNC-3348-212 and UNC-3348-131 were expressed, purified, and tested for purity multiple times. Overall, these procedures resulted in the production of 3.72 mg and 2.10 mg of GST fused to UNC-3348-212 and GST fused to UNC-3348-131, respectively. Currently, these purified polypeptides are being injected into laboratory animals for the generation of polyclonal antibodies for UNC-33 research

Ida Sedgwick Proper Correspondence

Entries include brief biographical information, typed and handwritten letters on The Boston Society for Psychic Research stationery, a Boston Herald newspaper clipping with the photographic image of Braganza concerning his plans for a world congress occult convention wherein Prince disputes Braganza\u27s credentials, photographs of Prince family homesteads, a typed biography, a biographical newspaper announcement, a typed obituary, a biographical newspaper clipping with a photographic image of Prince, and note of Prince\u27s photograph of the birthplace of Artemus Ward missing from this file

Owen Davis Correspondence

Entries include brief and some erroneous, biographical information, a handwritten letter on personal stationery, and a typed letter on Walter H. Baker Company, Dramatic Publications, stationery from Johnson

Elisabeth Ogilvie Correspondence

Entries include review clippings, typed and hand written letters -- some on Tide\u27s Way stationery, a newspaper article about a historical Episcopalian pageant-drama written by Ogilvie with her photographic image, a handwritten card, and a copy of a publisher newspaper clipping