Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Comparative Studies

The goal of this dissertation is to demonstrate some of the ways in which neoliberal social and economic discourse, in particular the work of Friedrich Hayek and Gary Becker, has influenced the cultural evolution of the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. Chapter One introduces the scope and methods of the project and situates market-oriented social epistemology alongside the development of complexity theory in the physical and information sciences. Chapter Two situates Hayek's philosophies of social science and communication within the broader science cultures of the postwar decades, arguing that his conceptualization of prices and markets is deeply rooted in coterminous projects of cybernetics and general systems theory. Consequently, Hayek's ideas about autonomy, information, and cultural transmission are seen to dovetail with the dominant scientific paradigms and media technologies of the late twentieth century. Chapter Three argues that contemporary financial markets and telematic screen cultures have become operationally analogous in their actualization of neoliberal rationality and social thought. Expanding my reading of neoliberalism beyond Hayek's macrological approach to examine the emerging and all-consuming micrological approach of “human capital” theorists like Becker, this chapter details the ways in which new media platforms, algorithmic cultural practices, and what cultural critics have named the “financialization of daily life” have become primary agents of governmentality today. Chapter Four offers an original interpretation of Michel Foucault's 1979 lectures on neoliberalism, one that reads the abrupt change of course in his research—which, directly following his interrogations of Hayek, Becker, and others, jumped from contemporary political economy to ancient cultures of self-care—as an attempt to locate a genealogical precedent for the subjectivist governmental rationality he had revealed as a dominant theme of neoliberal discourse. (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brian Rotman (Committee Co-Chair); Philip Armstrong (Committee Co-Chair); Eugene Holland (Committee Member); Kris Paulsen (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Comparative; Economic Theory; Philosophy; Philosophy of Science; Social Research; Social Structure; Technology; Web Studies

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Animal Sciences

Animals are often used as educational resources in post-secondary educational settings across the United States, especially in animal science curricula. Yet, little is known about the effect of student-animal interactions (SAI) on students' attitudes, curiosity, and empathy (ACE) towards animals or how their demographic backgrounds, past animal experience, and previous animal science coursework affect these areas. Moreover, while these SAI impact the animals used as educational resources, there is minimal understanding regarding their effect on the animals' welfare. Thus, this study aimed to (1) determine if animal sciences students' ACE responses toward animals changed over the course of the semester while identifying any demographic factors contributing to this change and (2) evaluate the emotional states of the animals used as educational resources through measurements of behavioral responses observed during SAI. This study was conducted at The Ohio State University during Autumn semester of 2022. A pre-course (n = 215) and post-course (n = 96) survey was administered to animal sciences students to collect self-reported demographic information, prior animal experience, prior animal science coursework, and ACE responses toward animals by species to determine if there was a change over the semester. Curiosity increased between the pre-course and post-course survey (p < 0.001), with students' attitude, experience, and perceived knowledge of animals (p < 0.001) providing plausible explanations. There was a strong positive correlation between the students' perceived knowledge of species and experience with species, indicating potential for further studies to assess changes in knowledge before and after working with animals (R = 0.793, p < 0.001). The emotional state of animals used as educational resources varied depending on the level of invasiveness of the activity as well as the length of SAI. Animals exhibited a higher frequency of negative emotional states during (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kimberly Cole (Advisor) Subjects: Animal Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Anthropology

Biological anthropologists estimate sex from skeletal remains for forensic identification purposes or to reconstruct demographic profiles of past populations. Several features of the human cranium exhibit observable differences between males and females, known as sexual dimorphism. These sex-based differences are due to size disparities in muscle attachment sites as well as hormonal variations (Russell, 1985; Bass, 2005). A problem facing biological anthropologists is that of secular trends, or changes in physical traits over time; in the human skeleton. Most skeletal secular changes have been noted within the last 50 years (Jantz and Jantz, 1999, 2000). The most apparent secular trend is the increase in long bone length, and the consequent increase in height (Jantz and Jantz, 1999). Additionally, the human cranium has gotten taller and narrower, which can affect accurate sex estimation (Jantz et al., 2012). This research examines areas of the human skull that differ between the sexes and explores whether secular changes have affected sexually dimorphic areas of the cranium. The sample consists of 716 adult human crania of European European and African American ancestries from three skeletal collections: the Hamann-Todd Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Documented Skeletal Collection from the University of New Mexico's Maxwell Museum, and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection housed at the University of Tennessee. The crania come from four defined generations, spanning birth years from 1864 to 1992. The individuals in the present sample were specifically chosen to fall between the ages of 20 and 60 to eliminate those who would not reflect pubertal changes and those who might show the most exaggeratedly robust cranial features in older age. To increase measurement accuracy, crania exhibiting fragmentation, trauma, or pathological conditions were not included. This dissertation includes skeletal samples from European American a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paul Sciulli (Advisor); Samuel Stout (Committee Member); Douglas Crews (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences