EVERY \u27ONE\u27 AND EVERY \u27THING\u27 CAN BE LOVED : A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF NETWORKED SELF-REPRESENTATION BY THE OBJECTùM SEXUALITY COMMUNITY

Using rhetorical criticism informed by actor-network theory (ANT), in this dissertation I explore the emergence of queer identity and queer community building within the Objectùm Sexuality Internationale Web site (OSI)--the largest source of information related to a community of over 300 hundred individuals who experience emotional and romantic desire towards objects. My goals in this study are (1) to identify and understand how rhetorical strategies are emergent and networked (rather than individually enacted) within the OSI Web site; and (2) how these emergent rhetorical strategies promote multiplicity of sexual desire and identity through the challenging of heteronormative and anthropocentric binaries and normativities via queer posthuman forms of love and connection. Using an ANT informed rhetorical criticism, I identified four layers of communication that facilitate the emergence of actor networks within the OSI Web site: (1) translation--the process by which human actors depict experience in texts); (2) enactment--the process by which actors (human and object) interact in ways that create networks of action and agency); (3) representation--the process in which certain macroactors (actors that appear as recurring and stable categories) present the interests of other actors within the network); and (4) teleaction--the movement of representations from place to place and over time through memory and text. Within these layers, I identified four categories of translation, thirteen macroactors, and four types of teleaction. The translations that emerge on the OSI Web site include how objectùm sexuality became a term and community, what it means to be objectùm sexual, how people who identify as objectùm sexual have come to make sense of their experiences, and public pleas for acceptance regarding objectùm sexuality. The macroactors that emerge include people, communication devices, purposes of OSI, orientation, animism, sensuality/intimacy, nonverbal communication, love, gender, attraction, marriage, medicalization, and the Red Fence. The processes of teleaction that emerge include verbal, nonverbal, hybrid, and symbolic actors. These four layers then led to the emergence of four higher-level rhetorical dimensions. These include: (1) terminological dimension-- the interrelationship between terms and the OS community; (2) ontological dimension--the emergence of a higher-level philosophy about the existence of beings and the meanings and modes of being, existing, living, and loving for OS; (3) axiological dimension--the emergence of criteria for ethical values and judgments in relation to OS; and (4) epistemological dimension--where the dimensions of ontology and terminology meet and the nature and scope of knowledge about OS is represented. Together, these four transcendent levels facilitate the rhetorical construction of the OS community and critiques of heteronormative/anthropocentric frames of love, desire, and sexuality. Overall, these various strategies lead to two larger rhetorical moves: (1) OSI communicates and adapts to internal and external audiences; and (2) OSI rhetoric moves from specific meanings to larger paradigmatic shifts that reveal is function as a social movement within a single rhetorical text. This process of rhetorical strategy building positions OS within intelligible frameworks of understanding in order to: (1) provide information about OS that will mitigate fear and sensationalism and facilitate acceptance; (2) construct an OSI community identity and human-object desire more generally; and (3) direct people away from heteronormative and anthropocentric worldviews and toward a queer posthuman worldviews of love, desire, and connection

Low Academic Outcomes: A Result of Food Insecurity and Student Mental Health During COVID19

Food insecurity has significantly increased throughout the United States as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many schools switched to remote learning and children lost access to free school meals, affecting them psychologically and academically. This study examined the relationship between food insecurity and low academic outcomes, accounting for student mental health, such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD, as well as parental involvement as a possible protective factor against mental health. The current study administered a survey through Amazon’s MTurk to reach a diverse group of participants across the United States. Data analysis from the study can conclude that food insecurity has a significant effect on student mental health, as well as student GPA; however, parental involvement has no effect on improving students’ mental health and mediating mental health and GPA. This study supports numerous research on the effects of food insecurity on mental health but contributes new findings to the effects of COVID-19 on student mental health and GPA. Higher levels of food insecurity lead to higher levels of anxiety, depression, inattention, and/or hyperactivity, in turn resulting in a lower overall GPA. Parental involvement moderated the relationship between anxiety/ depression and inattention but did not moderate the relationship between hyperactivity and GPA. These results provide significant implications for parents, teachers, school districts, and lawmakers to find ways to address food insecurity. Policies and programs implementing a take-home meal system, or ways of distributing food to those students affected by COVID-19 may be particularly effective. COVID-19 notwithstanding, 5 use of these programs may increase academic performance among those who struggled with food insecurity before and following COVID-19. Keywords: food insecurity, COVID-19, student mental health, academic success, pandemic, parental involvement, ADHD, depression, anxiety, inattention, hyperactivit

Communicating human-object orientation: Rhetorical strategies for countering multiple taboos

The Objectùm-Sexuality Internationale (OSI) website is the largest source of information representing a community who experiences emotional and romantic desire towards objects. This chapter presents a queer rhetorical analysis of OSI to understand how queer communities that must negotiate multiple taboos (en)counter the public. The author argues that OSI reveals two things about taboo communication: 1) the discursive and material boundaries that constitute the taboo and 2) the rhetorical work required to disrupt these boundaries. The author\u27s analysis reveals how OSI engages in complex rhetorical practices to lay the groundwork for a queer-posthuman counterpublic-a rhetorical space that disrupts the heteronormative moral divisions and anthropocentric paradigmatic distinctions that constitute certain lived experiences as taboo. Such a move exposes the possibilities and ethical implications at stake in communicating the taboo while outlining an analytic framework for understanding the rhetorical processes that facilitate (en)countering the taboo in public communication

Communicating entrepreneurial passion: Personal passion vs. perceived passion in venture pitches

Research problem: Entrepreneurial passion has been shown to play an important role in venture success and therefore in investors’ funding decisions. However, it is unknown whether the passion entrepreneurs personally feel or experience can be accurately assessed by investors during a venture pitch. Research questions: (1) To what extent does entrepreneurs’ personal passion align with investors’ perceived passion? (2) To what cues do investors attend when assessing entrepreneurs’ passion? Literature review: Integrating theory and research in entrepreneurship communication and entrepreneurial passion within the context of venture pitching, we explain that during venture pitches, investors make judgments about entrepreneurs’ passion that have consequences for their investment decisions. However, they can attend to only those cues that entrepreneurs outwardly display. As a result, they may not be assessing the passion entrepreneurs personally feel or experience. Methodology: We used a sequential explanatory mixed methods research design. For our data collection, we surveyed 40 student entrepreneurs, video‐recorded their venture pitches, and facilitated focus groups with 16 investors who viewed the videos and ranked, rated, and discussed their perceptions of entrepreneurs’ passion. We conducted statistical analyses to assess the extent to which entrepreneurs’ personal passion and investors’ perceived passion aligned. We then performed an inductive analysis of critical cases to identify specific cues that investors attributed to passion or lack thereof. Results and conclusions: We revealed that there was a large misalignment between entrepreneurs’ personal passion and investors’ perceived passion. Our critical case analysis revealed that entrepreneurs’ weak or strong presentation skills led investors either to underestimate or overestimate, respectively, perceptions of entrepreneurs’ passion. We suggest that entrepreneurs should develop specific presentation skills and rhetorical strategies for displaying their passion, yet at the same time, investors should be wary of attending too closely to presentation skills when assessing passion

Photovoice: A user-centered design method to understand apparel needs of Female to Male (FTM) in gender identity and expression

Apparel plays a significant role in gender identity and expression. For females who are transitioning to male (FTM), clothing can be used to decrease stigma, discrimination, and body dysphoria during periods of transition. This project involved transgender men as active participants in a user-centered design process, known as photovoice. Photovoice is a participant-driven qualitative research strategy in which participants use images and discussions to express themselves, share ideas, and shape future apparel design by visually describing their design needs. To date, no apparel researchers have used photovoice methods for apparel design. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to use the photovoice method to understand trans apparel needs to make apparel a health-supportive part of the FTM transition experience. Sixteen FTM participants took part in the study in four focus groups of that lasted approximately 90 minutes each. Through the data analysis, it was revealed that the two primary roles of apparel in FTM identity are to reduce body dysphoria and help people pass as their desired gender. These findings were further broken down into symbolic and functional values where it is acknowledged that the symbolic and functional values are not mutually exclusive. The symbolic values were: Clothing can reveal group membership and grow self-confidence through self-expression while attempting to achieve body satisfaction. The functional values were: For FTM Individuals, clothing can be the source of physical and physiological discomfort and body shape and fit issues. Most of the clothing items used by participants to pass as male do not have any negative health implications. However, improperly wearing a chest binder can result in physical and physiological discomfort. Because of the intense pressure of the garment on the body, participants in our study experienced restricted breathing, reduction in arm range of motion, and thermal discomfort as it cannot be ventilated easily. In this exploratory research, both symbolic and functional values of apparel for FTM were addressed. Through the photovoice process, the participants were able to visually express the relationship of gender and clothing, possibly better than through dialogue alone. The next stage of this research will use the results of this data to specify design features that can be used to address symbolic and functional properties to inform novel design concepts for FTM

Senior Recital: Sarah Fluker, bassoon

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Performance. Ms. Fluker studies bassoon with Laura Najarian.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1525/thumbnail.jp

From Genetics to Biotechnology: Synthetic Biology as a Flexible Course-embedded Research Experience

The need for changing how science is taught and the expansion of undergraduate research experiences is essential to foster critical thinking in the Natural Sciences. Most faculty research programs only involve a small number of upper-level undergraduate students each semester. The course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) model enables more students to take ownership over an independent project and experience authentic research. Further, by creating projects that fit into a curriculum\u27s learning goals and student-oriented outcomes, departments help strengthen critical thinking skills in the classroom. Here, we report on the incorporation of a synthetic biology CURE into a mid-level cellular biology course and two advanced level genetics/molecular biology courses. Synthetic biology involves systematic engineering of novel organisms, such as bacteria and plants, to work as functional devices to solve problems in medicine, agriculture, and manufacturing. The value of synthetic biology and its ultimate utility as a teaching tool relies on reusable, standard genetic parts that can be interchanged using common genetic engineering principles. This Synthetic biology CURE effectively achieves five essential goals: (1) a sense of project ownership; (2) self-efficacy: mastery of a manageable number of techniques; (3) increased tolerance for obstacles through challenging research; (4) increased communication skills; and (5) a sense of belonging in a larger scientific community. Based upon our student assessment data, we demonstrate that this course-based synthetic biology laboratory engages students directly in an authentic research experience and models important elements of collaboration, discovery, iteration, and critical thinking

A Scoping Review of Behavior Change Techniques Used to Promote Physical Activity Among Women in Midlife

Women in midlife experience health risks that could be mitigated by regular physical activity and reduced sedentary time, but this population rarely achieves physical activity levels that would protect their health. As a result, many behavioral interventions are designed to promote physical activity in this population, which are purportedly guided by theoretical models of health behavior (change) and activate an associated set of behavior change techniques (BCTs). The efficacy and effectiveness of these interventions appear to be limited, however, raising questions about their design and adaptation for women in midlife. Several aspects of these interventions are currently unclear. Specifically, which women they target (i.e., how midlife and sedentary or inactive are defined), which theoretical models or behavior BCTs are used, and how BCTs are activated in such interventions. A synthesis of this information would be useful as an initial step toward improving physical activity interventions for this at-risk group, and thus, represented the goal of the present scoping review. Eligibility required publication in a peer-reviewed journal in English between 2000 and 2021, inclusion of only women in midlife who did not have any medical or other restrictions on their physical activity (e.g., cancer diagnosis), and free-living physical activity or sedentary behavior as the target outcome (with associated assessment). Of the 4,410 initial results, 51 articles met inclusion criteria, and these described 36 unique interventions. More than half of the articles (59%) named an underlying theoretical model and interventions included an average of 3.76 identifiable BCTs (range 1-11). However, descriptions of many interventions were limited and did not provide enough detail to determine whether or how specific BCTs were activated. Interventions also used a wide range of inclusion criteria for age range and starting activity level, which has implications for targeting/tailoring and effectiveness, and many interventions focused on marginalized populations (e.g., women from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds, those un- or under-insured). The present review identifies some strengths and highlights important limitations of existing literature, as well as key opportunities for advancing the design and potential utility of physical activity interventions for women in midlife