Witnessing Empire: U.S. Imperialism and the Emergence of the War Correspondent

Thesis advisor: Christopher P. WilsonWitnessing Empire is a cultural history of the American war correspondent. I trace the figure through various points of crisis in the making of U.S. sovereignty including the U.S.-Mexico War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War. Locating correspondents like Herman Melville, Richard Harding Davis, and Stephen Crane in what Mary Louise Pratt terms "contact zones"--areas of cross-cultural exchange and contest--I show in this interdisciplinary work how the figure emerged through confronting U.S. state power with "on the spot" visual and textual witness accounts of the violence entailed by that power in a period of territorial expansion across the hemisphere, mass media development, and renewed aesthetic challenges to representing war. Revising critical appraisals of U.S. empire, including those of Amy Kaplan, that argue that the war correspondent is simply an apologist for U.S. imperialism through a facile use of romance, realism, spectacle, and sensationalism, I argue that the figure carves out a unique vision via such familiar conventions to unveil the contradictions of U.S. imperialism--particularly, its reliance on a narrative of liberation and protection through conquest. The dissertation thus unveils the correspondent as ambivalent towards this narrative as his witnessed accounts reveal subjects less protected, than abandoned by the state. I argue that through exposing the violence of this abandonment, the correspondent develops a new literary convention that exposes the consequences of modern war. In Chapter 1, I historically situate war correspondence as an emergent form, comparing the writings of the New Orleans-based Picayune war correspondent George Wilkins Kendall, composed on the eve of the U.S.-Mexico War, with Herman Melville's Typee. An unorthodox travel narrative, Typee can be more effectively read as an inaugural work of war correspondence in its challenging of "race war" as a discourse employed to cement state power in the contact zone. Chapter 2 takes up the "on the spot" pencil line drawings of the Civil War "special artists." Comparing these artists' works with the published engravings in the newspapers at the time and the illustrated histories at the turn-of-the-century, I address the visual rhetoric by which war correspondents depicted the crisis of sovereignty entailed by the Civil War. The second half of the dissertation illustrates the emergence of war correspondence as a unique aesthetic form. Chapter 3 looks at how Richard Harding Davis crafts war correspondence as a critique of U.S. imperialism's spectacle-oriented "anti-imperialist" liberation narrative by opposing the production of an "imperial news apparatus" at the turn-of-the-century with the advent of the Spanish-American War. In Chapter 4, I show how Stephen Crane, like Davis, was inspired by the anti-statism and transnationalism of the antebellum filibuster. From his initial experiments in Red Badge of Courage, Crane was focused on the subjectivity of the witness in his correspondence and fiction, ultimately allegorizing the violence of U.S. imperial power and its abandonment of citizens and non-citizens alike in war zone.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: English

Staging Unincorporated Power: Richard Harding Davis and the Critique of Imperial News

This essay contextualizes the work of war correspondent Richard Harding Davis within an evolving “imperial news apparatus” that would culminate in his reporting of the Spanish-American War. Critics have conventionally framed Davis squarely within the imperial cause, associating him with his admirer Roosevelt and naval admiral Alfred T. Mahan. Contrary to readings of Davis as an apologist for US imperialism, Trivedi contends that Davis understood how US imperial power relied on an information apparatus to communicate to an increasingly media-conscious American public through culture, that is, via familiar narratives, symbols, and objects—what Trivedi calls “imperial news.” The essay follows Davis’s development from his fictional representation of the new war correspondent in “The Reporter Who Made Himself King” to his own war correspondence before and after the Spanish-American War as collected in the memoirs A Year from a Reporter’s Notebook (1897), Cuba in War Time (1897), and Notes of a War Correspondent (1912). Davis’s war correspondence and fictional work effectively stage US imperialism as “unincorporated power”: that is, as power reliant on a developing news-making apparatus that deploys particular discursive strategies to validate its political claims. This staging critiques strategies of US imperial sovereignty—specifically its “privatization of knowledge” and its promotion of the war correspondent as nothing more than a spectator and purveyor of massacres

Promoting Self-regulated Learning in the First-year Seminar: Evidence and Future Directions

Presented at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning International Conference Link to Program:https://issotl18.w.uib.no/friday/friday-psi/ At many institutions, the first-year seminar serves as an introduction to the learning culture of higher education. As such, first-year seminars have an important role to play in helping students understand college expectations and demands. To be successful in college, students must go beyond surface-level learning, taking ownership of learning by choosing and using the best resources and strategies for the task, as well as reflecting upon and monitoring their progress toward learning goals (Kitsantas, 2002), skills often grouped under the umbrella term “self-regulated learning” (e.g., Zimmerman, 2008). The research discussed in this panel is grounded in the literature on self-regulation strategies and college success, and seeks to answer the question of whether metacognitive and self-regulation skills can be taught effectively through an assignment which requires deliberate practice of the strategies in an authentic context – another course in which the student is currently enrolled. In the Strategy Project assignment, students learn time management, communication, and study strategies in the process of preparing for an actual test, then demonstrate that learning by submitting their test preparation activities as part of a graded project in a first-year seminar course. By encouraging and providing feedback on reflective thinking and goal-directed interaction with faculty and peers, instructors model the process of self-regulation. In this paper, we will report briefly on four completed studies of the efficacy of the strategy project. Results from the first three studies indicate that at specific institutions, the strategy project was successful in improving students’ metacognition and self-regulation, management of time and study environment, and peer learning over the course of a semester. In study 4, which involved the use of the project at another institution, no significant changes in motivation, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, or resource management strategies were observed. However, it appears that regardless of institution, students who completed the strategy project increased their use of deeper level learning strategies, including concept maps, practice problems, and self-quizzing, as well as some surface level strategies such as making flashcards, and working with a group. Given this information, students in a first-year seminar tend to use more effective learning strategies as a result of the project, but further work is needed in varied learning environments. Participants who attend this session may generate ways they can modify the strategy project for their own use in order to create a lasting impact on how their students approach learning

Investigation of sediment erosion phenomenon for different blade angle distribution in Francis runner

Wear and tear of hydraulic turbine due to sediment erosion is one of the major problems in hydropower plants located in the Himalayan and Andes regions. High sediment concentration in water of such areas wears down the mechanical components rapidly which causes significant operational challenges. In the present work, a prototype high head Francis runner with speed number 0.32 has been considered as reference case and other designs have been obtained modifying the blade angle distribution with same hydraulic parameters. Full turbine steady state numerical calculations were carried out at the best efficiency point and corresponding performance and erosion pattern are observed. Hydraulic efficiency and sediment erosion rate density are compared for the different cases taken into consideration. Sediment erosion analysis gives an indication of relative erosion intensity and critical zones of erosion damage in runner. Erosion was observed at the inlet near hub and shroud region and was mostly concentrated at the outlet of runner blades for all cases, where relative velocity is higher. Numerical results from CFD are also compared with the actual eroded turbine from the powerplant

Leakage Vortex Progression through a Guide Vane’s Clearance Gap and the Resulting Pressure Fluctuation in a Francis Turbine

A clearance gap (CG) between guide vanes (GVs) and facing plates exists at both ends of a Francis turbine and allows the opening angle to be adjusted for varying operating conditions. Leakage flow is induced through this gap due to the pressure difference between the two sides of the guide vanes. While some research works have used qualitative approaches to visualize and predict the strength of a leakage vortex (LV), this paper presents a method for quantifying vortices along a trajectory. In this paper, a prototype high-head Francis runner with specific speed of 85.4 is considered as a reference case. A systematic investigation across both space and time is carried out, i.e., analysis of the spatial temporal progression of LV for three operating conditions. While travelling from the CG to runner leading edge, LV evolution and trajectory data are observed and the values of vorticity and turbulent kinetic energy are calculated for the LV trajectory. Frequency spectrum analyses of pressure oscillations in the vaneless space, runner blade, and draft tube are also performed to observe the peak pressure pulsation and its harmonics. Unsteady fluctuations of the runner output torque are finally studied to identify the patterns and magnitudes of torque oscillations

From the Ground Up: Shaping Community, Collaboration, and Multiliteracies at Georgia Tech

This chapter discusses three dynamic spaces of the Writing and Communication Program at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech): the Laptop Classroom in the Skiles Classroom Building, the Communication Center in the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, and the Stephen C. Hall Building. The authors recount how these spaces were deliberately designed by and for them. They describe how they worked with designers, architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and information technology experts in the planning and design stages to match the physical spaces with the Writing and Communication Program’s philosophy, pedagogy, and research practices. This chapter focuses on physical and digital affordances that contribute to the Writing and Communication Program’s core philosophies of rhetoric, process, and multimodality. It also offers implications and conclusions flexible enough for readers at a range of other institutional contexts to consider and apply

Unlocking clean gas with hydrogen: A combustion optimization study

Combining hydrogen with natural gas, a hydrocarbon fuel, is seen as a critical step towards reaching net-zero emissions and creating a cleaner environment. To tackle climate change, major organizations like the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Innovation, and the International Renewable Energy Agency are promoting the use of hydrogen blended with natural gas. This approach can potentially cut emissions in half compared to relying solely on natural gas. Using the Ansys 2022 R1 CHEMKIN tool, the study analyses combustion features in H2-CNG (compressed natural gas) -air mixtures, considering atmospheric conditions and operational parameters. Blending 50 % hydrogen with CNG results in significant changes, including an increase in laminar flame speed from 48.78 cm/s to 71.52 cm/s. As the hydrogen content in the CNG blend increases from 0 to 50 %, the concentration of free radicals like H, O, and OH rises by 42.86 %, 28.57 %, and 20.00 %, respectively, reaching these values at a 50 % hydrogen blend compared to pure CNG. NSGA-II multi-objective optimization identified that a 50 % hydrogen-blended CNG surpasses pure CNG in laminar flame speed and free radical generation. The research confirms that H2-CNG creates a promising fuel with several advantages. When combusted, H2-CNG mixtures exhibit superior characteristics, including potentially increased efficiency through increased free radical formation and laminar flame speed. This innovation has the potential to significantly reduce carbon footprint and contribute to achieving carbon neutrality goals. The cleaner and more efficient combustion properties of H2-CNG offer a compelling pathway for mitigating climate change

Impact of collagen-induced arthritis on the pharmacokinetic disposition of voriconazole, a widely used antifungal agent: <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> investigations in DBA/1J mice

<p></p><p>Pharmacokinetics of voriconazole, an anti-fungal agent, was determined in collagen-induced arthritic (CIA) and healthy DBA/1J mice. CIA was confirmed in DBA/1J mice by clinical scoring and histological analysis.</p><p><i>In vivo</i> oral pharmacokinetic study (3 mg/kg) and <i>in vitro</i> stability assessment in liver microsomes were performed in CIA vs. healthy DBA/1J mice. Additionally, hepatic portal vein cannulated (HPVC) CIA and healthy mice were used to clarify the role of gut first-pass effect. Voriconazole/N-oxide metabolite was measured in plasma and <i>in vitro</i> samples using liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry method.</p><p>Voriconazole exposure was reduced in CIA by 27% as compared to healthy mice. Formation of voriconazole N-oxide was higher in CIA mice as evidenced by higher molar C_max ratio (i.e. metabolite/parent) of 2.08 vs. 1.66 in healthy mice. Because voriconazole was stable in microsomes, involvement of presystemic gut metabolism was suspected for decreased voriconazole exposure and formation of higher molar ratio of metabolite. HPVC work revealed higher formation of voriconazole N-oxide in CIA relative to healthy mice resulting in C_max/AUC ratios of 0.41/0.54 and 0.08/0.17, respectively, confirming first-pass effect.</p><p>The findings may have implications in the clinical therapy of arthritis patients who are concomitantly given voriconazole for the management of fungal infections.</p><p></p> <p>Pharmacokinetics of voriconazole, an anti-fungal agent, was determined in collagen-induced arthritic (CIA) and healthy DBA/1J mice. CIA was confirmed in DBA/1J mice by clinical scoring and histological analysis.</p> <p><i>In vivo</i> oral pharmacokinetic study (3 mg/kg) and <i>in vitro</i> stability assessment in liver microsomes were performed in CIA vs. healthy DBA/1J mice. Additionally, hepatic portal vein cannulated (HPVC) CIA and healthy mice were used to clarify the role of gut first-pass effect. Voriconazole/N-oxide metabolite was measured in plasma and <i>in vitro</i> samples using liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry method.</p> <p>Voriconazole exposure was reduced in CIA by 27% as compared to healthy mice. Formation of voriconazole N-oxide was higher in CIA mice as evidenced by higher molar C_max ratio (i.e. metabolite/parent) of 2.08 vs. 1.66 in healthy mice. Because voriconazole was stable in microsomes, involvement of presystemic gut metabolism was suspected for decreased voriconazole exposure and formation of higher molar ratio of metabolite. HPVC work revealed higher formation of voriconazole N-oxide in CIA relative to healthy mice resulting in C_max/AUC ratios of 0.41/0.54 and 0.08/0.17, respectively, confirming first-pass effect.</p> <p>The findings may have implications in the clinical therapy of arthritis patients who are concomitantly given voriconazole for the management of fungal infections.</p