Master of Applied Communication Theory and Methodology, Cleveland State University, 2013, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current critical climate in popular online video game reviews (i.e., video game criticism written for a general audience). So far, most of the research published in this area focuses on how the reviews reflect the games themselves, rather than strictly examining the content of the reviews in this growing body of literature. This study uses computer-aided text analysis (CATA) supplemented with human coding to identify typological differences between film and video game reviews, as well as differences in theory usage and critical thought and style. Video game reviews are more concerned with the price of the work being reviewed, supporting the notion for a utility theory of video games. Game reviewers also tend to find redeeming qualities even in very flawed games, suggesting they are either overly passionate and/or concerned about keeping advertisers happy. Although not at the exceedingly high levels as previous studies, the author finds support for using usability heuristics (e.g., responsiveness of controls, use of in-game tutorials) to review games. Neither body of popular criticism examined delves deeply into theoretical frameworks for auteur or feminist theories, but discussion is provided as to how the reviewers could address these issues should they choose to do so.

Committee: Kimberly Neuendorf PhD (Committee Chair); Bob Abelman PhD (Committee Member); Anup Kumar PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Mass Media

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Interdisciplinary Arts (Fine Arts)

Envisioning Feminist Genre Film: Relational Epistemology, Catharsis, and Erotic Intersubjects addresses the ways in which feminist filmmakers create narratives that unravel masculinist power paradigms in order to demonstrate different approaches to knowledge production and subjectivity as established through erotic, relational, and feminist dialogism, which foregrounds an ideology that individually and culturally we shape language through interactive and collaborative methods. This study delves into how these feminist films offer the filmmakers and viewers cathartic and pedagogical experiences to explore trauma as well as navigate expanding conceptions of gender, sexual, and relationship diversities. The focus of this project is to examine the impact of including the diverse voices and experiences of marginalized people into the modes of film production through on- and off-screen roles, arguing that these creators' ontological and experiential frames establish structures for the exploration of feminist and queer theories. While attentive to the prior approaches of feminist and queer theories when applied to film, I articulate the ways feminist filmmakers create specifically feminist films and how constructing narratives based on feminist ideologies unlocks opportunities for undoing and transforming gender and sexuality. Methodologically using close visual textual analsysis of feminist genre films, my dissertation delves into feminist film noir, queer melodrama, horror, and pornography to demonstrate how genre impacts the tools and approaches feminist filmmakers use to interogate and establish relational epistemologies in order to envision erotic intersubjectivity, as a part of the ongoing process of articulating the sovereign sexual subjecthood of the individual.

Committee: Erin Schlumpf Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Andrea Frohne Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jennie Klein Ph.D. (Committee Member); U. Melissa Anyiwo Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Aesthetics; Film Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Camp is a critical sensibility and a queer reading practice that allows women to simultaneously critique, resist, and enjoy stereotypes and conventional norms. It is both a performative strategy and a mode of reception that transforms resistance into pleasure. Scholarship on feminist camp recognizes a tradition of women using camp to engage with gender politics and play with femininity. Most of the scholarship focuses on women's camp in mainstream and popular culture and how they talk back to the patriarchy. Little work has been done on feminist camp outside of popular culture or on how women use camp to talk back to feminism. My dissertation adds to conversations about feminist camp by exploring a new facet of camp that talks back to feminism and challenges a feminist audience. I examine the work of three contemporary feminist and queer independent filmmakers: Anna Biller, Cheryl Dunye, and Bruce LaBruce to explore the different ways they subvert cinematic conventions to interrupt narrative, play with stereotypes, and create opportunities for pleasure as well as critique. I argue that these filmmakers operationalize a feminist camp gaze and open up space for a feminist camp spectatorship that engages critically with ideas about identity, sex, and feminism. In addition, I consider the ways in which other types of feminist cultural production, including sketch comedy and web series, use camp strategies to deploy a feminist camp gaze to push back against sexism and other forms of oppression while also parodying feminism, ultimately creating space for resistance, pleasure, and self-reflection.

Committee: Linda Mizejewski (Advisor); Shannon Winnubst (Committee Member); Treva Lindsey (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies; Gender Studies; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2009, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture

This dissertation examines transgender images in film, television and media from the 1950s through the present, with an emphasis on images from the 1980s through today. The primary goal of the dissertation is to interrogate the various gender and sexual ideologies contained within the representations to determine the social status of trans people in American society. How do these images function to both encourage and stymie the liberation of transgender people in the United States? The dissertation deploys trans, queer and feminist theories to critically analyze the cultural work performed by these mass-media texts. What are the trends within the trans media canon, and how do they relate to the treatment of real-world gender-nonconforming people? In order to answer these questions, I separate the trans images into four different stereotypes. For each of these stereotypes, I analyze three to four films to compare and contrast the way the films deal with the issues of gender and sexual variation. The first stereotype I examine is the Transgender Deceiver. The Transgender Deceiver utilizes drag and gender transformation to obtain something they want from society. While the films analyzed are comedies (Tootsie, Just One of the Guys, Sorority Boys, and Juwanna Mann), I argue that they are not as innocuous as they appear due to the way they stereotype gender-variant people as duplicitous, selfish and conniving. Next, I examine the trope of the Transgender Mammy. Through turning my analytical lens on To Wong Foo, Holiday Heart and Flawless, I look at the stereotype of the fabulous, servile and palatable trans-feminine subject. In these films, the characters exist to fix the problems of gender-normative people, add color and spice to their broken lives, and become worthy through their devoted service to the hegemonic class. The Transgender Monster describes the use of gender-transgressive killers in horror and slasher films. While films such as Psycho and Silence of the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Susana Peña PhD (Advisor); Bill Albertini PhD (Committee Member); Vikki Krane PhD (Committee Member); Rekha Mirchandani PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Mass Media; Womens Studies

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Arts and Sciences: Communication

This study is a qualitative investigation that uses representation theory and exemplification theory to compare and contrast how Black romance is portrayed on screen and how Black female respondents perceive Black romance in everyday contemporary society. Using thematic analysis, a method used for identifying, analyzing, and interpreting the meaning and patterns of important themes, the study includes ten Black women film viewers between the ages of 23-36. The researcher will generate recurring themes after engaging in open discussion about whether participants feel the representations of Black romance in Black films are real to them, whether they identify with the depictions, and whether the depiction portrays Black romance positively or negatively to them

Committee: Ronald Jackson II Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Kelly Merrill Ph.D. (Committee Member); Nancy Jennings Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Contemporary Music

The saxophone is relatively young compared to other instruments of the band and orchestra. Because the instrument is less constricted by traditional repertoire, composers looking to push the boundaries of concert music eagerly write for the saxophone, and saxophonists willingly experiment with new combinations of performance media. An exponential increase of works written for saxophone and multimedia has occurred since the 1960s. This increase in multimedia works for saxophone has paralleled a digital media revolution, manifested through advancements in recording, interactive media, and communication technologies. This document examines the synthesis of saxophone performance and the digital media revolution, elaborating upon existing repertoire for saxophone and digital media in a non-comprehensive manner, with emphasis placed upon electroacoustic works for saxophone and video. Possibilities for multimedia performance are rapidly expanding within the saxophone's repertoire. A poignant example, Matthew Burtner's meta-saxophone project combines motion tracking, accelerometers, and other technologies with the physical saxophone, creating a cyborg instrument. In this situation, Burtner is an auteur, acting simultaneously as the composer, performer, technologist, and sometimes visual artist, all while using the saxophone as the crux of expression. Other composers and artists take a collaborative approach while using saxophone and digital media. These combinations of saxophone and digital media create a new and exciting medium in concert performance. Yet, the combination of live performance and digital medium lacks scholarly analysis. While existing research provides valuable analysis from a performer's perspective, further examination of the interactions between mediums can reveal new potential and meaning. The introduction of elements of media theory and analysis to saxophone repertoire, using specific repertoire as micro-case-studies, will widen the artistic underst (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Sampen D.M.A. (Advisor); Ryan Ebright Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mikel Kuehn Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jerry Schnepp Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Communication; Mass Media; Music

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2017, French, Italian, and Classical Studies

This thesis, written in English, proposes an ethico-affective theory of the sound event in film in an effort to rethink the relationship of film and spectator in terms of listening. The movements of the argument progress through an analysis of a two-minute scream from Maiwenn's 2011 film, Polisse, that works to demonstrate the ways in which resonances in theoretical language on film, sound, affect and music, specifically as they relate to the interstice from Gilles Deleuze's Cinema 2: the Time-Image, help us to think of the spectator in terms of her active participation in film's material. This step away from cinematographic analysis forces us to scrutinize the methods through which film directly affects the senses of its spectators in ways that confound their ability to "read" the image. As such affections, as Baruch Spinoza suggests, influence how the spectator perceives her own capacity to act in the world, this thesis concludes that listening for sound events in film allows us to perceive the ethical dimensions of film and spectatorship.

Committee: Elisabeth Hodges (Advisor); Jonathan Strauss (Committee Member); Mack Hagood (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethics; Film Studies; Mass Media; Motion Pictures; Music

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2017, Communication

Applying feminist media theory to the 2015 Spike Lee film Chi-Raq, this thesis explores portrayals of black-female power and sexuality. In three layers this thesis examines: the language used by and toward women of color, the gender roles and power constructs within the film, and finally the either/or dichotomous thinking associated with the four controlling images of Black womanhood, particularly the role of the Jezebel as a promiscuous and socially dangerous character. This thesis seeks to understand how sexualized portrayals of Black women, despite the power associated with their sexuality, are limiting and problematic.

Committee: Mary E. Triece Dr. (Advisor); Kathleen D. Clark Dr. (Committee Member); Kathleen Endres Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2016, English

With the increased visibility of transgender figures in serialized television comes a plethora of case studies to examine the ways in which transgender identity is culturally represented and perceived. My thesis examines the representations of transgender figures in the contemporary American serialized television series Orange Is the New Black, Transparent, and I Am Cait. My goal is to explore how these male-to-female transgender people embody alternative masculinities and femininities as well as how their transitions are received by those around them. Their trans identity, I argue, results in negative treatment caused by (and especially due to) their socioeconomic status and race. The introduction outlines the film, critical race, and transgender theoretical frameworks informing the project, followed by an exploration of the three aforementioned series. The first chapter embarks on a study of the ways in which the casting of transgender actors is crucial to provide a meaningful significance to the narrative. This argument carries into the second chapter, which discusses what happens when a cisgender actor is cast as a transgender character. The final chapter moves away from casting practices and instead highlights the social ramifications of nonfictional transgender narratives on television.

Committee: Katie Johnson (Committee Chair); Erin Edwards (Committee Member); Anita Mannur (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Film Studies; Gender Studies; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, English

"A Rhetorical Approach to Adaptation" seeks to transform the longstanding debate in adaptation studies about the proper way to conceive of the relation between adaptations and their sources. More specifically, it draws upon key insights of the rhetorical theory of narrative to move beyond the debate between traditional advocates of formal fidelity to source material and more recent arguments that both sources and adaptations are infinitely intertextual. Despite their differences, both of these critical positions are content to compare events, characters, and techniques. In contrast, my rhetorical perspective closely attends to the multi-layered purposes-—thematic, affective, and ethical—-of both source and adaptation. By providing a new framework for understanding adaptation—-source and target may use different means in service of similar purposes, similar means to achieve different purposes, and so on—-I reposition fidelity as only one possible purpose for any adapter, while also detailing different kinds of intertextuality and what they accomplish in the work's own terms. My dissertation moves past the original debate by showing that adapters may consider differences not only in media, but also in historical situation, audience, and authorial vision. As a result, my rhetorical approach provides both better evaluations and better analyses of adaptations and their sources. "A Rhetorical Approach to Adaptation" combines its theoretical case for a fresh conception of adaptation with a series of new readings of modern and postmodern narratives. I have chosen narratives that foreground tricky problems of adapting print sources to film, specifically: how to deal with the shift in authorship in filming an autobiography (Susanna Kaysen's "Girl, Interrupted" and Harvey Pekar's comic series "American Splendor"); how to deal with different conceptions of—and expectations about—flesh-and-blood audiences (Annie Proulx's “Brokeback Mountain”); how to set up and deliver an effect (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brian McHale PhD (Committee Co-Chair); James Phelan PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Frederick Aldama PhD (Committee Member); Sean O'Sullivan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; British and Irish Literature; Film Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2011, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture

Women's masturbation has the potential to disrupt the patriarchal constructions of sexuality by presenting an alternative wherein women can control their own pleasure independently of relationships with men. Considering the power of film as an influential and widely-consumed medium, and given the persistent cultural climate against women's self-stimulation and sexual satisfaction in general, diverse onscreen portrayals of autoeroticism have the ability to foster feminist resistance to hegemonic discourses and potentially change attitudes regarding what is culturally considered to be normal sexual behavior. The selected depictions of female masturbation discussed in this analysis often implicitly or even explicitly address themes of power and sexuality, repression, transformation, and many other issues wrapped up in autoeroticism, suggesting that both real life masturbation and its onscreen representations are volatile and potentially revolutionary. These portrayals are examined based on their distinct intentions, audiences, and contexts in order to understand the films' reflection of and influence on women's sexuality within a patriarchal society. A comprehensive analysis of this manner calls for the reconsideration of traditionally oppressive constructions of sexuality and the re-examination of established film theory, including reevaluating spectatorship and gaze theory. Not every representation is equally feminist or sex-positive on its face, but all depictions of women's autoeroticism offer an opportunity to construct subversive readings and identify redeemable aspects, even if it is only a reminder that women can and do masturbate at all.

Committee: Kim Coates Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Ellen Berry Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Film Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, Slavic and East European Studies

The Symbolist period in Russian culture emphasized intense cross-pollination and hybridization of the arts. The purpose behind these "poetics of blending" was to show the existence of a spiritual world beyond physical-material reality and that the boundaries between them were not insurmountable. In my dissertation, I claim that this vision of the creative process as pursuing various strategies of blending draws on the overarching metaphoric conceptualization of our world, and the human domain as its integral part, as not "solid", but "fluid matter". I employ conceptual metaphor and blending theory approaches from the field of cognitive linguistics to account for the following: how three interactive arts of the period, poetry, painting and film, use the metaphor of world liquescence in their attempts to transcend the material world, realia, and to reach spiritual reality, realiora. The concept of world liquescence reveals itself not only in the choice of water as a physical substance present in the space of a given poem, canvas or film. The Symbolist arts with their close attention to the inner depths of the human psyche attempt to capture and symbolize the slightest stirrings of the soul through the domain of water and very often introduce this element through the plasticity of music. The "endless" Wagnerian melody reveals itself in poetry through protracted poetic meters and specific types of rhyme as well as various phonetic and semantic devices; in painting it is "endless, monotonic, impassive line without angles", in early filmmaking it is the use of movement vs. stasis, special lighting effects and long takes, including (extreme) close-ups of a person's face. In this connection we can also speak about moving water as a traditional metaphor for time: thus the introduction of music as a temporal element into both the temporal art of poetry and the spatial art of painting marks an attempt to convey its flow in both a congenial dynamic art and in a less congenia (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Helena Goscilo (Advisor); Irene Delic (Committee Chair); Myroslava Mudrak (Committee Member); Vitaly Bergelson (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies; Fine Arts; Literature; Slavic Literature; Slavic Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Comparative Studies

This dissertation follows Jameson's “Antinomies of Utopia” as a discursive model for thinking through the conceptual displacement from utopia to speculation and what happens with their attendant theories and ideologies in cultural critique when such a displacement is followed through. As a figure of the dynamic relation between form and content, Jameson's text advances by turns practically and theoretically, at one moment treating matters separately and in the next leaping toward ever provisional systematization. The three main chapters that follow each foreground textual reception. However, where chapters three and four examine the critical reception of a novel and a film, respectively, in the way of case studies, chapter two examines the broader conceptual reception of utopia and speculation, primarily in the Marxist tradition. The second chapter of this dissertation follows Jameson's text as it attempts to set a framework for the subsequent case studies. As a series of “Theses on Utopia and Speculation,” it develops an understanding of the two concepts progressing from relative isolation to greater complexity, interference, and incoherence. Across the contexts of literary genre, etymology and rhetoric, Marxism, theory, technology, and social life as such, the chapter endeavors to show how speculation displaces utopia in the historical present. The third chapter, “Climates of Speculation,” turns to contemporary literary fiction to see this displacement in action. Jenny Offill's 2020 Weather provides its case study for the intersection of climate fiction and autofiction, two “genres” which, when combined, problematize what Juha Raipola refers to as the “utopian propensity of speculative fiction.” Through a close reading of Offill's novel as well as its critical reception, the chapter argues that the very distinction between the speculative and the so-called realistic mobilized to assert the powers of the former actually conceals what may be most utopian about it. T (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Philip Armstrong (Advisor); Kris Paulsen (Committee Member); Melissa Curley (Committee Member); David Horn (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; Climate Change; Comparative; Film Studies; Literature; Social Research

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, College-Conservatory of Music: Theory

The filmic experience of animated multimedia can be deeply understood if sync points are identified for their functions. My methodology combines Sergei Eisenstein's film editing concepts with music theories of rhythm and meter to contribute a sync point analysis framework for studying rhythmic audio (music) and visual (image) interactions in multimedia such as American and Japanese animated musicals as well as mobile rhythm games. In this framework, music shows what image is synchronized to, while image shows how music is synchronized. I argue that applying the study of film rhythm to music-theoretical frameworks of phrase structure, formal function, and rhythm and meter helps understand the creation and consumption of films. While music theory and film theory each have specialized terminology and limitations, I connect shared concepts between fields to develop an encompassing interdisciplinary framework. This dissertation focuses on identifying sync points in animated multimedia. At the same time, I seek to push even the most on-the-nose synchronicity, commonly known as mickey-mousing, beyond its status as a mere plot accessory or visual gimmick. My use of “synchronicity” refers to precise moments when image and sound closely and rhythmically mirror each other in fluctuating periodicities. I place audio and image on equal grounds to explore how music-theoretical and visual film-editing techniques define the sync point functions. I argue that functional sync points feature visually marked moments that support musical functions, whether formal, rhythmic, metric, or cadential. That is how sync points pinpoint audiovisual relationships that are reciprocal, equal, and functional when audio and image are perceived together. In the initial chapters, I develop a framework for sync point analysis that (1) differentiates synchronous from nonsynchronous audio-image relations and (2) assigns labels to describe sync point functions. This system's originality lies (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Cristina Losada Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Samuel Ng Ph.D. (Committee Member); Christopher Segall Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Bachelor of Science of Media Arts and Studies (BSC), Ohio University, 2024, Media Arts and Studies

This thesis essay describes the research, process, preparation, and production of an animated short film that presents feminist theory and the creator's experiences with womanhood through the medium of animation.

Committee: Beth Novak (Advisor); Wolfgang Suetzl (Advisor) Subjects: Film Studies; Gender Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2024, German

At its core, this thesis delves into the intricate layers of posthumous historiography surrounding Empress Elisabeth of Austria – examining not just her history, identity, and ideas of visuality, but also probing the underlying mechanisms shaping the construction of her biographical narrative. It seeks to unravel the complexities inherent in the selection process of what information is deemed pertinent for inclusion, especially considering the nuanced treatment of sensitive or disruptive pieces of information. By scrutinizing this selection criteria, the thesis aims to shed light on the underlying motivations and biases guiding such decisions as well as the implications of their inclusion – or lack, thereof. Furthermore, this study explores the experimental possibilities of adaptation within the realm of contemporary Austrian film. It posits that the burgeoning interest in Sisi within wider Habsburg scholarship has catalyzed innovative approaches to storytelling in cinema. Through a detailed analysis of select cinematic works, the thesis elucidates how the exploration of Sisi's legacy has sparked a renaissance in Austrian filmmaking, fostering a fertile ground for experimentation and reinterpretation. By intertwining insights from historiography, film studies, and cultural analysis, this thesis not only offers a comprehensive understanding of the complexities surrounding Sisi's portrayal but also serves as a catalyst for broader discussions on the intersection of history, identity, and visual representation in contemporary discourse.

Committee: Edgar Landgraf Ph.D. (Committee Member); Christina Guenther Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Aesthetics; European History; European Studies; Film Studies; Foreign Language; Gender; Gender Studies; Germanic Literature; Literature; Mental Health; Womens Studies; World History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

From 2010 to 2019, China's film industry experienced the fastest growth in history. Along with its rapid growth, numerous opportunities and problems emerged in the industry, which are addressed by a series of film policies issued by China's government. This dissertation aims to study the dynamic relationship between the development of China's film industry and the evolution of China's film policy. By bridging the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium Theory and the concepts of competitiveness and cultural entrepreneurship, this dissertation focuses on exploring the policy process and policy system of the film in China, which are demonstrated by evidence of policy changes and industry changes. Supported by secondary data collected from multiple sources and first-hand data collected through semi-structured interviews with twenty film professionals, this case study enables an in-depth analysis of China's film policy process at the national level, the competition and mutual interests between large film enterprises and small and medium-sized film enterprises at the industry level, and the firm strategy and feedback at the organizational level. The findings from the multi-level analysis indicate a dynamic relationship between the policy change and industry change of film in China, where the subsystem plays an intermediate role bridging the government and the film industry. Large film enterprises and small and medium-sized film enterprises share mutual interests, while they participate in the film policy process to different degrees. China's film policy enables film enterprises to perform entrepreneurial practices for innovation and financial sustainability, and its focus shifts in different conditions. Policy implications for film professionals and film policymakers are discussed, and recommendations are proposed for the sustainable growth of China's film industry.

Committee: Shoshanah Goldberg-Miller (Committee Chair); Marjorie Chan (Committee Member); Margaret Wyszomirski (Committee Member); Rachel Skaggs (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Arts Management; Economics; Entrepreneurship; Film Studies; History; Public Administration; Public Policy

PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

The monster, as I will argue, is a mirror and a truth-teller. Monsters offer ways for us to consider those parts of ourselves that we might rather keep hidden. In order to see monsters as such, the personal must not be avoided for the sake of a traditional academic approach. By understanding the truth-telling powers of monsters as I set out to do here, our attention to their stories can become opportunities to look inward and heal internal ruptures between our visible and monstrous selves.

Committee: Vera Camden (Advisor) Subjects: Film Studies; Gender Studies; Literature; Pedagogy; Psychobiology; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2022, Physics

In this dissertation the structural properties of bulk alloys and thin-films are studied using a variety of di erent techniques including density functional theory (DFT) and accelerated dynamics. The first part of this dissertation involves the use of DFT calculations. In particular, in Chapter 3 the stability and mechanical properties of 3d transitional metal carbides in zincblende, rocksalt, and cesium chloride crystal structures are studied. We find that the valence electron concentration and bonding configuration control the stability of these compounds. The filled bonding states of transition metal carbides enable the stability of the compounds. In the second part of this dissertation we use a variety of accelerated dynamics techniques to understand the properties of growing and/or sublimating thin-films. In Chapter 4, the results of temperature-accelerated dynamics (TAD) simulations of the submonolayer growth of Cu on a biaxially strained Cu(100) substrate are presented. These simulations were carried out to understand the e ects of compressive strain on the structure and morphology. For the case of 4% compressive strain, stacking fault formation was observed in good agreement with experiments on Cu/Ni(100) growth. The detailed kinetic and thermodynamic mechanisms for this transition are also explained. In contrast, for smaller (2%) compressive strain, the competition between island growth and multi-atom relaxation events was found to lead to an island morphology with a mixture of open and closed steps. In Chapter 5, we then study the general dependence of the diffusion mechanisms and activation barriers for monomer and dimer diffusion as a function of strain. The results of TAD simulations of Cu/Cu(100) growth with 8% tensile strain are also presented. In this case, a new kinetic mechanism for the formation of anisotropic islands in the presence of isotropic diffusion was found and explained via the preference for monomer diffusion via exchange over hopp (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jacques Amar Professor (Advisor) Subjects: Physics

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2022, Journalism

This professional project aims to look at Covid-19's impact on the movie theater industry from a global perspective and from a specific, local angle of Athens, Ohio. The feature article - led by the voices of film in Athens - dives into how establishments like The Athena, the Athena Grand, the Athens International Film and Video Festival and the Ohio University School of Film and broader College of Fine Arts weathered the pandemic. The multimedia elements including statistical infographics, story maps and video segments accompany the piece and provide more information and discussion about the larger film and theater industry. Finally, the preliminary essay then gives context about the development and background of the piece as well as its ties to the uses and gratifications theory.

Committee: Thomas Suddes (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism