Crisis Communications in a Natural Agricultural Disaster

Wildfires in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas in the late 2010s caused seven deaths and catastrophic damage to millions of acres of ranch and farmland. Because of the rural location of these disasters, agricultural communicators were releasing information to media, internal stakeholders, social media, and other agricultural audiences. The purpose of this study was to explore the communications efforts made and subsequent lessons learned from agricultural communicators during the fires. Through a qualitative case study, researchers interviewed 14 agricultural communicators about their experiences in disseminating information about the fires. Most of the findings align with pre-existing literature; however the researchers found that communicators should be prepared to develop a system to communicate about and accept donations, develop a network of organizations that can be supportive in a crisis situation, and let people be the subject of the messaging. The data also indicate that an undergraduate course in crisis communications would be beneficial

CORRELATES OF INTIMATE PARTNER CYBER-HARASSMENT AMONG MEXICAN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS

The social issue of intimate partner cyber-harassment among Mexican American college students continues to affect dating violence. While there is a considerable amount of literature focusing on various forms of criminal behavior in cyberspace, such as cyberbullying, cyber-pornography, hacking, online fraud and identity theft, less attention has been paid to violence facilitated through cyber-communications and digital/electronic means such as CH. This thesis examines Mexican American college students to identify which factors correlate to cyber harassment (CH) offending and which correspond to cyber victimization. In this context, intimate partner cyber harassment (IPCH) is defined as a pattern of repeated behaviors by a current or ex-partner via electronic or Internet-capable devices such as computers, tablets, or mobile phones using social media (Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram) or texting to commit behaviors in which one partner has clearly established are unwanted and harassing. To test the hypotheses that higher levels of assimilation, alcohol, low self-control, and most importantly, that Mexican American females would be positively associated with a greater likelihood of IPCH as offenders, a survey was developed in SurveyMonkey and shared via SONA. A non-probability, convenience sampling technique was used to analyze student iv responses. The results showed positive direction as hypothesized in all but one: assimilation and offending. However, key findings showed that Mexican American females are more likely to be offenders of IPCH than males. This study also found that higher level of assimilation decreases the likelihood of victimization as well as low self-control and alcohol effecting both offending and victimization as hypothesized. These results suggest that research on Mexican American college students is neglected and therefore there is a deficit in research that needs to be addressed. On this basis, the concept of IPCH among Mexican American college students should be taken into consideration when addressing the phenomena in order to effectively contribute to policy, preventive models for IPCH, and most especially educating students

Deisha Myles, Oral History Interview, 2021

A member of the Native American Student Organization at Eastern Michigan University at the time of the struggle to change the EMU mascot and logo, Deisha [Olszewski] Myles attended nearly every meeting related to the change of what many considered to be an insensitive depiction of Native American culture. Myles speaks of her experience as a student on the Logo Selection Committee, witnessing the tense interactions between university administrators and describing the divisions amongst indigenous participants, divisions that often adhered closely to differing generational values.https://commons.emich.edu/oral_histories/1073/thumbnail.jp

See You On TV: A Phenomenology of Careers on Extension Television in Oklahoma

Extension specialists are under increasing pressure to interact with audiences through emerging digital media including video. In an effort to understand how such interactions affect the careers of engaged specialists, this study seeks to explore the career effects on Extension subject-matter specialists that resulted from long-term, regular participation in an Extension television effort. Using Cultivation theory and source credibility as a lens, a qualitative phenomenology was conducted by interviewing individuals who have contributed to one such program on a weekly or bi-weekly program for multiple decades. Participants reported improved career effectiveness via increased credibility in face to face communications as well as enhanced communication when broadcast messages were seen as a continuation of in-person communications. Early career advancement was said to have resulted in spite of broadcast participation rather than as a result of participation, however, administrative attitudes toward broadcast have shifted in favor of such efforts

Hybridization and gene expression: Beyond differentially expressed genes

Gene expression has a key role in reproductive isolation, and studies of hybrid gene expression have identified mechanisms causing hybrid sterility. Here, we review the evidence for altered gene expression following hybridization and outline the mechanisms shown to contribute to altered gene expression in hybrids. Transgressive gene expression, transcending that of both parental species, is pervasive in early generation sterile hybrids, but also frequently observed in viable, fertile hybrids. We highlight studies showing that hybridization can result in transgressive gene expression, also in established hybrid lineages or species. Such extreme patterns of gene expression in stabilized hybrid taxa suggest that altered hybrid gene expression may result in hybridization-derived evolutionary novelty. We also conclude that while patterns of misexpression in hybrids are well documented, the understanding of the mechanisms causing misexpression is lagging. We argue that jointly assessing differences in cell composition and cell-specific changes in gene expression in hybrids, in addition to assessing changes in chromatin and methylation, will significantly advance our understanding of the basis of altered gene expression. Moreover, uncovering to what extent evolution of gene expression results in altered expression for individual genes, or entire networks of genes, will advance our understanding of how selection moulds gene expression. Finally, we argue that jointly studying the dual roles of altered hybrid gene expression, serving both as a mechanism for reproductive isolation and as a substrate for hybrid ecological adaptation, will lead to significant advances in our understanding of the evolution of gene expression

Coffee, Tea, or Me? Romance and Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Dr. Sara Bliss Kiser is an associate professor of business administration in the Business Administration Department, Judson College, Marion, Alabama 36756. Tyne Coley, Marsha Ford, and Erica Moore are graduates of Judson College, Marion, Alabama 36756

U.S. Agricultural Commodity Organizations\u27 Use of Blogs as a Communications Tool

Current communications trends and social media have given individuals and organizations unprecedented opportunities to build relationships with audience members while introducing and encouraging new perspectives. One particular form of social media is blogging, which allows people to share a wider variety of information than other forms of social media. The purpose of this study was to explore how agricultural commodity organizations use blogs as a communication tool. The researchers purposively selected nine U.S. agricultural commodity groups that had an organizational blog and collected data through in-depth interviews. The findings indicated the organizations started blogging because blogs were the newest communication tool they could use to reach new and traditional audiences. The commodity organizations used some online analytics and mentions on other social media outlets to measure blog success, but they did not establish goals for their blog prior to the blog’s launch. The findings offer an understanding of how agricultural commodity organizations are utilizing blogs, which provides insight for others in the agricultural industry who may decide to use this technology

On Her Own Account: How Strengthening Women's Financial Control Impacts Labor Supply and Gender Norms

Can greater control over earned income incentivize women to work and influence gender norms? In collaboration with Indian government partners, we provided rural women with individual bank accounts and randomly varied whether their wages from a public workfare program were directly deposited into these accounts or into the male household head’s account (the status quo). Women in a random subset of villages were also trained on account use. In the short run, relative to women just offered bank accounts, those who also received direct deposit and training increased their labor supply in the public and private sectors. In the long run, gender norms liberalized: women who received direct deposit and training became more accepting of female work, and their husbands perceived fewer social costs to having a wife who works. These effects were concentrated in households with otherwise lower levels of, and stronger norms against, female work. Women in these households also worked more in the long run and became more empowered. These patterns are consistent with models of household decision making in which increases in bargaining power from greater control over income interact with, and influence, gender norms

Practising the Posthumanities: evolutionary animals, machines and the posthuman in the fiction of J.G. Ballard and Kurt Vonnegut

This thesis demonstrates how selected texts by J.G. Ballard—Crash (1973), Concrete Island (1974) and High‐Rise 1975)—and Kurt Vonnegut—Player Piano (1952), Slaughterhouse‐Five(1969) and Galápagos (1985)—can be considered in terms of theoretical stances derived from posthumanism. By analysing representations of the ‘human’ in relation to both the ‘machine’ and the ‘evolutionary human animal’, this thesis illustrates the emergence of the posthuman subject. In addition, by recognising the intersection between posthumanism and evolutionary theory, a wider project of this thesis involves demonstrating how the use of various theoretical approaches, from the ‘humanities’ and the ‘sciences’, contributes to the formation of a ‘posthumanities’ approach to literature. J.G. Ballard and Kurt Vonnegut consistently present fictional scenarios in which the lines between ‘human’, ‘machine’ and ‘evolutionary animal’ are disrupted and blurred. Depictions assume various triangulations and configurations: from the protagonist Ballard’s auto‐eroticism, to the characters of High‐Rise conflating boundaries between the ‘human’ and the evolutionary animal that is conveyed as a constituent of human identity, as well as between the machinic environment and the human inhabitant. Further,comparable configurations characterise Vonnegut’s texts: Player Piano’s Paul Proteus’ war against the machine is superimposed by human affiliation with the machine, and the castaway characters of Galápagos are stranded by evolutionary forces that displace human authority and control to the uttermost limit. Each of these instances contributes to the effective intervention of posthumanist thinking when reading the texts. In addition, the utilisation of evolutionary concepts derived from contemporaneous publications circulating in the cultural and scientific sphere highlights the usefulness of acknowledging sources from beyond the remit of traditional literary studies’ methodologies when reading texts. The triangulation between literature, posthumanism and evolutionary theory results in a reconfigured methodological approach to fictional texts: the posthumanities