The Culture of Capital: Theses on Discipline & Embodiment

Background I am a cultural theorist focused primarily on capitalisms as cognitive, behavioral, and productive conditions. I have self-published two books on this topic, titled ‘Distruments’, and ‘Assemblies & Other Essays’. I am currently working on my third, titled, ‘Everything A Waiting Midnight’. Methods Interdisciplinary inquiry into political, poetic, and philosophical texts by Ana Tsing, Sylvia Wynter, Yannis Ritsos, Sylvia Wynter, and Christina Sharpe. Results A book length series of essays and theses, which bridge the gap between my second and third major texts, ‘Assemblies’ and ‘Everything A Waiting Midnight’. Conclusions This work attempts to create a constellation of the works before it, while declaring an additional sphere of nuanced critique into the works on and against capital which came before it: that is, that the culture of capital is a culture of discipline-of-life, entirely, and develops, first and foremost (even before that which is the ‘commodity’) a cinema of discipline, which sets the scene for the reproduction of a world where everything has a price. This price is nothing less than life, itself.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1054/thumbnail.jp

Whose Medium? Whose Message?: A Critical Media Literacy Approach to "Information Has Value"

This chapter presents a lesson that uses critical media literacy theory to introduce students to "Information Has Value" in the context of news media. Originating in cultural studies, critical media literacy is an educational theory that posits that media sources reflect and perpetuate the socioeconomic power imbalances in the society in which they are produced, and that students should learn to critically analyze and question representations in media they encounter. It is thus a powerful lens through which to help students learn about the concept "Information Has Value." The lesson discussed in this chapter combines rhetorical analysis, hands-on searching, and discussion to help students 1) begin to identify the socioeconomic conditions through which a news media source is produced, 2) understand how these conditions can shape its production and dissemination, 3) reflect on how this contributes to the marginalization and underrepresentation of certain groups within news media.Publisher does not allow open access until after publicatio

Acting in Opera: A Stanislavsky Approach.

This paper concerns operatic performance from an acting perspective utilizing the works of Constantin Stanislavsky from my personal experiences in the Opera Workshop course offered in Fall of 2011

Mixin-It Up: Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Understand Graduate Student Needs

In this presentation, I will reflect on my experience conducting a mixed methods research study of graduate students at Ohio University. Dissatisfied with previous efforts to support graduate students on our campus, two colleagues and I used focus groups, in-depth interviews, and a survey questionnaire to explore graduate students\u27 self-identified research needs as well as how they prefer to learn research skills. The data from this study was used to inform subsequent library instruction and outreach for this population. In this presentation, I will discuss why we decided to take a mixed methods approach to study graduate students, and how we went about using the qualitative data from the first stage of the study to develop a quantitative survey instrument for the second stage. I will also discuss why we found a mixed methods approach to be particularly valuable for understanding the needs of a local user population, and what changes we might implement if we undertake a similar project in the future

Superoscillations in the Quantum Harmonic Oscillator

A superoscillatory function is one that oscillates faster than its fastest Fourier component - A phenomenon created by subtle interference between Fourier components. In this thesis, the work of Professor Sir Michael Berry [1, 2] and Professor Sandu Popescu on superoscillations in free space [2] has been applied to the case of the quantum harmonic oscillator. Superoscillations in free space are seen to persist in time longer than expected and are also seen to reform periodically after times much greater than their disappearance - for the quantum harmonic oscillator superoscillations reform periodically faster. The time of disappearance, td, depends upon a larger set of variables, this is due to the added complexity of the quantum harmonic oscillator. The evolution of the wavepacket is investigated using an expansion in terms of eigenfunctions and in terms of the propagator using both an exact integration and a saddle point approximation. The creation and disappearance of superoscillations is shown to depend on the behaviour of the saddle points. The frequency of the quantum harmonic oscillator, ! is found to be an extra control parameter which dictates the strength and duration of the superoscillations

“I Changed My Mind”: Exploring Why College Students Change Majors to Become Teachers

While teacher education programs have long studied what draws students to choose a career in teaching, a less studied aspect of teacher candidates relates to students who change majors to become teachers. As a phenomenon that is common in teacher preparation, I am interested in better understanding why this happens. This article centers around six participants who began college choosing a science major, changing their course of study after at least one full year. Through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, a discussion of what led the participants to change majors, what they were looking for when deciding to become teachers, and their motivations to join the ranks of the next generation of teachers is had. The article ends with implications for practitioners, and avenues for further research

Foreign aid as a policy tool

This research sought to explain why states give foreign aid. More specifically, itaddressed recipient needs and donor interests. The dependent variable in this case was Official Development Aid (ODA). The independent variables included GDP/capita of the recipient, population of the recipient, the FDI of the recipient, defense pacts between the donor and the recipient, the colonial status of the recipient, and the donor power status. Regression analysis highlighted the importance of both recipient needs, and especially donor interests. This research is limited in its scope, and further research is recommended

Search for Antibiotic-Producing Microorganisms in Sites Affected by Acid Mine Drainage

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria are an escalating problem. Little is known about the potential of microorganisms in sites affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) to be sources of new antibiotics. Sediments from AMD sites in Letcher County, Kentucky, were collected and microorganisms isolated. These samples were screened for their capacity to produce antimicrobial compounds active against known bacteria E. coli and S. aureus. The results showed no antimicrobial activity. This could be due to sample death, incorrect pH of media, or antibiotic resistance already present in the AMD site