Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2008, Sociology

This thesis is a critical examination of U.S. foreign intervention from 1948 to 2008. Using a comparative/historical analysis of seven cases – Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia, Chile, Nicaragua, Panama, and Iraq – this study finds patterns of U.S. state/state-sponsored terror and intervention. Using world-system theory and G. William Domhoff's class-domination theory of power, this study explains how and why the U.S. government, the U.S. military, the CIA, and U.S. corporations participate in economically motivated terrorist acts to support the capitalist mode of production, U.S. investments, and access to markets and natural resources. Finally, this study reveals patterns (in addition to the use of terror) that the U.S. government follows while intervening in the affairs of foreign nations.

Committee: Elias Nigem (Committee Chair); Dwight Haase (Committee Member); Marietta Morrissey (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Economics; European History; History; International Law; International Relations; Labor Economics; Latin American History; Middle Eastern History; Military History; Petroleum Production; Political Science; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2024, International and Comparative Politics

How alliance structures form and why states balance, bandwagon, or remain neutral against other states is an enduring and important question in international relations. This thesis adds to the discussion of how states make alliance decisions by testing whether perceptions matter in predicting state balancing behavior and by proposing a new theoretical framework which allows for a better understanding of the mechanisms which drive the perception of aggressive intentions as a factor within Stephen Walt's balance of threat theory. In this thesis, I explore the construction of threat through a comparative case study analysis of border states of Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine to explore how differing states responded with varying levels of threat perception of Russia and how actions and characteristics of these states shaped their differing responses in balancing. The case studies for this analysis include Ukraine, Finland, and Mongolia in relation to their perception of threat of Russian aggressive intentions.

Committee: Vaughn P. Shannon Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Pramod Kantha Ph.D. (Committee Member); Liam Anderson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: International Relations; Political Science

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2023, Political Science (Arts and Sciences)

This project aims to intervene into Nicos Poulantzas' Structural Marxist theoretical framework of the state. It brings the theoretical contributions of Black Marxist and Black feminist writers, scholars, and activists into conversation with Poulantzas in order to develop a dialectic between Black Marxism and Black feminism on the one hand, and Structural Marxism on the other. By intervening into Poulantzas' framework with the introduction of this dialectic, this project aims to begin working toward bringing the analytical categories of race and gender within the Structural Marxist framework of understanding the state while also highlighting some of the potential explanatory limitations of Poulantzas' approach. This should enhance and deepen the scope of his analysis to include an account of racial capitalism in the case of the United States in the first part of the twenty-first century while at the same time criticizing some of the limitations of his framework.

Committee: Judith Grant (Committee Chair); Andrew Ross (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender Studies; Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Social Work

Background: Approximately 50% of individuals seeking treatment for substance use and mental health conditions in behavioral healthcare settings have a lifetime history of TBI affecting their ability to engage in behavioral health treatment. Identifying lifetime history of TBI using validated screening methods can optimize interventions for these individuals, however, TBI screening adoption has failed in these settings. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior and Diffusion of Innovations Theory, this explanatory sequential mixed methods study aimed to improve our understanding about how provider characteristics (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), intentions), innovation-level factors (acceptability, feasibility, appropriateness), and contextual determinants affect TBI screening adoption in behavioral healthcare settings. Methods: In Phase I, 215 behavioral health providers in the United States completed a training introducing the OSU TBI-ID, followed by a web-based survey assessing attitudes, PBC, subjective norms, and intentions to screen for TBI (Time 1). After one-month, providers completed a second survey assessing the number of TBI screens conducted, and the acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness of TBI screening (Time 2). Data were analyzed using structural equation modelling with logistic regressions (SEM) and logistic regression with moderation effects. Results informed development of a qualitative interview guide. In Phase II, 20 providers from Phase I participated in interviews to build upon the quantitative results. Data were analyzed thematically and integrated with the quantitative results. Barriers to adoption were also identified and linked to constructs from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Results: Approximately 25% of providers adopted TBI screening, which was driven by motivations to trial the innovation. SEM demonstrated that more favorable attitudes toward TBI screening were (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alicia Bunger (Advisor); Alan Davis (Committee Member); Jennifer Bogner (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Health Care; Public Health; Social Research; Social Work

Honors Theses, Ohio Dominican University, 2025, Honors Theses

This thesis will begin by identifying climate change as a threat multiplier that has the capacity to worsen preexisting structures of inequality, fostering social fragmentation and increasing the likelihood of political instability. Using strain theory as a theoretical framework, we contend that environmental stressors resulting from global warming will overwhelm governmental adaptive capacities and response mechanisms, culminating in tipping points beyond which social instability is inevitable. Unable to achieve its institutional goals, the United States government may adopt one of Merton's adaptations to strain, potentially resulting in maladaptive behavior by means of innovation, retreatism, or rebellion. We implement Green & Ward's paradigm of state crime to examine three state crimes recognized under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), that are expected to increase as result of global warming: discriminatory allocation of resources, restriction of movement, and the use of state sanctioned violence against constituents. This essay will conclude by proposing several interventions based on three dimensions of environmental justice; social, political, and economic.

Committee: Sonja Goshe Ph.D., J.D. (Advisor); John Marazita Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michael Dougherty Ph.D. (Advisor); Ronald Carstens Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Climate Change; Criminology; Political Science

EDD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

This Dissertation in Practice (DIP) explores the experiences of Black male faculty at Kent State University, a predominantly White institution, employing counter-narrative, a tenet of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Using qualitative narrative inquiry and autoethnography, the study investigates how race, gender, access to resources, and preparedness intersect and impact Black male faculty members' professional identities, sense of belonging, and pursuit of success. By centering the voices of five Black male faculty members, this research uncovers systemic barriers such as racial bias, isolation, and lack of mentorship that impact their career trajectories and overall wellbeing. The dissertation aligns with the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) principles by focusing on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), generating new insights into institutional practices that could affect recruitment, retention, and advancement of Black male faculty. Key findings underscore the importance of tailored support systems, recognition of invisible labor, and the establishment of community as mechanisms for fostering resilience and empowerment. The study concludes with actionable recommendations for academic institutions to enhance DEIB initiatives and support Black male faculty members, ultimately contributing to a more inclusive and equitable higher education landscape.

Committee: Elizabeth Kenyon (Committee Chair) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Educational Leadership; Higher Education

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Engineering and Applied Science: Aerospace Engineering

Liquid-vapor phase change is a key to modeling countless multiphase flows, notably in the storage of cryogenic propellants during long-term space missions. Although recent studies have progressed our understanding of the physics of phase change, reliable models to compute the interphase mass transfer remain elusive, and popular phase change models rely heavily on tuning coefficients to model the phase change mass transfer. Large inconsistencies in the phase change calculations occur due to the unpredictable nature of these tuning coefficients. In this work, several pieces of the kinetic phase change mechanism are used from other studies to build a new computational routine capable of modeling kinetic phase change without the need for tuning parameters. A common problem with implementing kinetic phase change models is the need for values of the accommodation coefficient. This problem is solved by using a transition state theory-based model to compute the accommodation coefficient as a function of the liquid and vapor densities. Vapor temperature is found to play a critical role in the accurate prediction of phase change rates. Errors as large as one order of magnitude are seen for deviations as small as 0.1% in the values of the vapor temperature. Accurate modeling of phase change rates requires vapor temperature within the Knudsen layer to be used as inputs to the kinetic models. Due to the inability of macro-scale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models to capture temperature gradients in the Knudsen layer, a new parameter, γ, is introduced to approximate the Knudsen layer vapor temperature. This new computational routine is implemented within Ansys Fluent™ with the help of User-Defined Functions (UDFs). CFD simulations are used to recreate phase change experiments from recent studies involving Hydrogen and Methane. Data from the CFD simulations are used to correlate γ to the evaporation rate. A function to calculate γ using the area-averaged phase change molar f (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kishan Bellur Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Prashant Khare Ph.D. (Committee Member); Shaaban Abdallah Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Fluid Dynamics

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Physics

In quantum many-body systems, fractionalization stands as a hallmark of quantum emergent phenomena, where an elementary degree of freedom, such as an electron, decomposes into distinct pieces with a fraction of quantum numbers due to frustration or strong quantum fluctuations. A canonical well-understood example of this is observed in one-dimensional quantum systems. In one-dimensional systems, the pronounced quantum fluctuations facilitate the deconfinement of these fractionalized quasiparticles, allowing them to exhibit independent dynamics, where electrons, carriers of both charge and spin, undergo spin-charge separation which results in the dynamical deconfinement of spinon and chargon. In two dimensions, however, the physics is more intricate. In the presence of frustrating interactions between spins, the interacting spins are unable to order. Instead, they create long-range patterns of entanglement leading to states of matter such as quantum spin liquids, heralding the topological quantum matter with novel fractionalized particles and emergent gauge fields. These states are characterized by topological order: ground state degeneracy on a manifold of non-zero genus, and fractionalized excitations with abelian and non-abelian quantum statistics. In these states, the original localized spin degrees undergo further fractionalization to give new degrees of freedom, such as Majorana fermions and spinons. In these states, both charges and spins are localized. However, the emergent fractionalized degrees of freedom can be remarkably delocalized and able to transport energy. Identifying and studying the phenomena of fractionalization presents a dual challenge: discerning fractionalized particles and finding material candidates that realize fractionalization. This dissertation presents a comprehensive theoretical study of fractionalization in both one and two dimensions, focusing on these challenges. In one-dimensional systems, we explore quantum and frustrated ma (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nandini Trivedi (Advisor); Mohit Randeria (Committee Member); Marc Bockrath (Committee Member); Christopher Hirata (Committee Member) Subjects: Physics

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Mechanical Engineering

Metal Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) is a type of additive manufacturing process that incrementally builds parts by fusing 2D slices of the geometry into layers of metal powder, using either a laser (L-PBF) or electron beam (E-PBF), and is among the emerging technologies of Industry 4.0. The predominant quality control methods for PBF are pre- and post-process tests of the part and materials, which are inefficient because they cannot prematurely halt malfunctioning builds as errors occur. Live (In-situ) monitoring of the PBF process for defects, in which the defects are oftentimes due to improper thermal management, and in-situ control of the PBF process to ensure good thermal management, are areas of active research. These efforts are currently dominated by constructing data-driven PBF thermal models and using the corresponding estimations to judge the current thermal state (process monitoring) and to decide correction factors (process control). Collecting the data for training these methods is costly and renders them inflexible with respect to changes in part design and processing conditions, because they do not offer guaranteed performance in environments that lay outside the scope of the training data. Since PBF exists to increase production flexibility, lessening this dependency on training data is essential. To address this challenge, we demonstrate the efficacy of applying training data-free algorithms to the in-situ PBF thermal process monitoring and control problems. Our process monitoring algorithm is the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF), which is a type of state estimator that uses a particle swarm to generate self-tuned, approximately 2-norm optimal, model-based estimates of the relevant process signatures. Here, the signatures are all temperatures in the PBF build. Our control algorithm is Model Predictive Control (MPC), which uses model-based predictions of future process signatures (here, temperatures) to determine a sequence of process inputs that reg (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Hoelzle (Advisor); Andrew Gillman (Committee Member); Andrea Serrani (Committee Member); Mrinal Kumar (Committee Member); Michael Groeber (Committee Member) Subjects: Mechanical Engineering

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

Compact stars (CSs) are the remnants of “dead” stars that were too small to form black holes; the category includes both white dwarfs (WDs) and neutron stars (NSs). To produce a full description of any magnetized compact star requires solving Einstein's equations in unison with Maxwell's equations. However, when putting these two sets of equations together, there is an additional degree of freedom that requires the inclusion of the equation of state (EOS) of the stellar matter in question. The most notable difference between CSs and other stars is that CSs consist of degenerate fermion matter. Fermionic matter exists in a degenerate state when the temperature is low compared to the Fermi energy. Such states arise due to the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that no two identical fermions (particles with half integer spin) in the same quantum system may inhabit the same quantum state. In the case of WDs, this degeneracy is caused solely by electrons; whereas, in NSs, the degeneracy is in several species of particles including neutrons and protons, but also more “exotic” baryons, such as Lambdas, Sigmas, and Cascades. In the grand canonical ensemble, the stellar EOS is typically expressed as the relation between the total energy density of a gas of particles and their pressure. It is calculated using thermodynamics with, in the NS case, an additional contribution from the strong nuclear force, which must be modeled. Due to computational difficulty, the EOS is often calculated in a simplified way, assuming that one aspect or another is not significant. As such, EOSs exist with temperature effects or with magnetic field effects, but not with both. For example, higher temperatures (without additional degrees of freedom) lead to higher pressures at the same energy density; the EOS is “stiffer.” Magnetic fields lead to a pressure anisotropy and Landau quantization, which gives rise to De Haas-Van Alphen oscillations in the EOS. This thesis breaks new ground by sim (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Veronica Dexheimer (Advisor); Michael Strickland (Committee Member); Gokarna Sharma (Committee Member); Lothar Reichel (Committee Member); Khandker Quader (Committee Member) Subjects: Astrophysics; Electromagnetism; High Temperature Physics; Particle Physics; Physics; Plasma Physics; Quantum Physics; Theoretical Physics

PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

In 2015, then-Higher Education Minister Rodolfo Alarcon said in response to many Cubans' inability to communicate in the international language, English fluency would be required by students as a university exit requirement (“Mastering English,” 2015). The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was to understand the experiences of Cuban university English instructors, who encountered these curricular changes. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews with six university instructors and emailed responses from another six. The participants included both current and former faculty members who left the teaching profession for more lucrative careers in private tutoring or tourism. Motivational Systems Theory (Ford, 1992), various aspects of social identity (Gray & Morton, 2018) and my own experience as an EFL instructor guided the study in understanding the instructors' social identity, motivation, and self-agency. The data were analyzed using computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software. The findings showed differing experiences among men and women and urban and rural instructors. Faculty expressed both positive and negative teaching experiences, and, as a result of some unfavorable experiences, some instructors left the field of teaching altogether and applied their talents to the growing tourism and private business sectors. In addition to understanding the experiences of the study's participants, the investigation also provides valuable insight into the evolution of English teaching in Cuban higher education, the consequences of educational borrowing and the complexity of conducting research within an authoritarian regime.

Committee: Martha Merrill (Advisor) Subjects: Bilingual Education; Caribbean Studies; Comparative; Education; Education History; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Theory; English As A Second Language; Foreign Language; Higher Education Administration; Latin American History; Latin American Studies; Linguistics; Modern Language; Multicultural Education; Multilingual Education; Personality Psychology; School Administration; Teacher Education; Teaching; Technology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Geography

Introduction Much is known about human trafficking, but alarmingly little is known about anti-trafficking practices. In general, and without substantive investigation, the anti-trafficking movement is taken-for-granted as a force for good, beyond reproach, and somehow magically uncoupled from trafficking per se. Yet the animating logics and practices of the anti-trafficking movement reproduce some of the very same violences of trafficking itself. By investigating the mechanics and logics of anti-trafficking, as well as the ways in which gendered and sexual violence constitutes both illicit and licit forms of gendered and sexualized labor related to human trafficking and rescue, this project pushes back against the normative logic of much of the trafficking research which to date has exempted anti-trafficking from serious, sustained critical analysis. My dissertation research remedies this situation by subjecting recent federal anti-trafficking legislation SESTA/FOSTA to rigorous social scientific scrutiny and specifically by learning from the people who occupy the liminal space between victim and worker, in order to situate anti-trafficking efforts in their historical, economic and political contexts. Chapter 1: Sex, Labor and the Consent Gap Despite many shared goals and investments, the anti-trafficking movement has long been at odds with the sex worker's rights movement. The anti-trafficking movement is characterized by a commitment to radical feminist values which view heterosexual sex as inherently violent and consent to paid sex impossible. In this view, the sex industry is painted as uniformly violent and exploitive. For this reason, the anti-trafficking movement has advocated the increasing criminalization of the sex industry (what Elizabeth Bernstein calls “carceral feminism”). Taking seriously the implications of an emerging sex worker literature which is critical of work, I argue that to understand consent when sex is work, the term's component (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mathew Coleman (Advisor); Madhumita Dutta (Committee Member); Jennifer Suchland (Committee Member); Joel Wainwright (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Political Science

Much political science has studied how governments choose to spend money, largely through a literature on the rise of the welfare state. In turn, many study (I) how much revenue must be raised in taxes and (II) from whom, across the income spectrum, these funds must come from. In contrast, this paper studies the political determinants of tax-mix. Decisions to use some tax-instruments over others – be it the income tax or property tax, Value-Added Taxes (VATs) or corporate taxes – not only implicate vertical redistribution within society (redistribution across income-levels), but also horizontal redistribution (redistribution within income-levels) and taxation's efficiency. In turn, tax-mix decisions implicate such vitals as: whether a society raises public revenues in a manner consistent with distributive justice; how much revenue a government is able to raise; and the extent to which raising government revenues will harm the private economy. This dissertation project offers a theory and, consequently, tests by which to understand how tax-mixes are determined across societies. Central to my claim, much political science literature on taxation can be reoriented around the concept of elasticity. Implicitly, many studies argue that citizens prefer taxes that they can most easily avoid paying – either by opting for taxes they believe they can most easily cheat-on without getting caught; selecting taxes on behaviours that they do not engage-in; or pursuing taxes that implicate behaviours from which they can easily “shift away.” In all of the above cases, I make explicit the under-girding concept at play, elasticity. Elasticity informs an individual's preferences over tax policy. These preferences interact with a society's institutions, which determines who has the necessary political power in society so as to attain their (elasticity-driven) tax policy preferences in the form of tax policy outcomes. Understanding why governments pick certain tax-mixes will, then, a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jan Pierskalla (Committee Chair); Philipp Rehm (Advisor); Sara Watson (Advisor) Subjects: Economics; Political Science; Public Policy

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Journalism (Communication)

In Western world, government intervention via media policy is supposed to help correct market failures such as the existence of external cost/benefit on third parties, the lack of public goods, or the abuse of monopoly power (Rolland, 2008; Hoskins et al., 2004; Picard, 1989). In communist nations, government intervention is more often viewed as to protect political ideas (Lee et al., 2006; Silverblatt & Zlobin, 2004; Siebert et al., 1978). However, in the post-communist era, communist governments were steered towards a market economy with a socialist orientation, leading to the ambiguity of their media policies' goals and subsequently, their policy outcomes. In this study, I choose to analyze media policies in Vietnam, a still communist nation, to understand its current policy goals and to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy on news quality and financial performance of Vietnamese press organizations. The study is done based on Freedman's (2008) definition of media policy, normative analyses and the public interest theory outlined by Hoskin et al. (2004), and financial commitment model developed and tested by many media economists (Lacy, 1989; Martin, 2003; Lacy & Martin, 2004). Three research questions are asked as following: (1) What changes in press laws have occurred in Vietnamese history in terms of Freedman's identified key policy tools, such as regulations regarding ownership, subsidies, taxes, advertising and content restrictions?; (2) Can the current, state-run news media policy be justified on the grounds of market failures according to the economic theory of government intervention?; and (3) How do news organizations perform under the current news media policy, assuming the positive relationship between media competition, as a result of changes in market structure, and media performance, including financial performance and news quality? A qualitative document analysis of 270 legal documents drawn from the Ministry of Information and Communication Arc (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Hugh Martin (Committee Chair) Subjects: Journalism

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Sociology

This dissertation consists of three distinct substantive papers that are designed to stand on their own as published articles, but which are also arranged in such a way as to form a coherent whole, with a logical progression from paper to paper. They are unified around the theme of terrorism, specifically its ideological aspects. The first substantive paper (comprising chapter 2) examines one of the most sophisticated criminological theories of terrorist put forward to date, and shows how although general strain theory of terrorism contributes a great deal to conversations surrounding the sources of violent extremism, it is nonetheless hampered by insufficient attention to the role that shared narratives play in constructing subjective strains. The second substantive paper (chapter 3) breaks new ground by putting forward a novel taxonomy of master frames that recur throughout terrorist discourse. Although these frames were derived from work on jihadist movements such as Al Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State, there is reason to believe that they can actually be applied to movements that engage in terrorism more broadly, and this promises to be a fruitful area for future research. Finally, the third substantive paper (chapter 4) shows what this kind of work would look like in practice by content coding Al Qaeda and ISIS propaganda to measure how frames get utilized in the context of real-world information warfare.

Committee: Edward Crenshaw (Advisor) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Communication; Criminology; Middle Eastern Studies; Military Studies; Political Science; Religion; Social Psychology; Sociology

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2019, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

The Washington State Supreme Court has strongly recommended that culture should be considered as a factor for multicultural defendants when questions regarding competency to stand trial have been raised and an evaluation is ordered by the Court. This represented a departure from prior decisions, which have ignored culture as a factor for consideration in such cases. Though culture had long been identified as a core pillar within clinical psychology, research in the sub-field of forensic psychology has shown a dearth in the literature regarding culture as a factor in forensic assessment. Despite the recent cases in Washington State, the criminal justice system generally remained silent on how to address culture, which led to a form of systemic cultural suppression. Given the dichotomy that exists at the intersection of the criminal justice system with psychology, forensic examiners have struggled in their efforts to address culture, which has become a nuisance variable. Using a grounded theory methodology, this study identified a spectrum of reactions that have risen from the attitudes and strategies forensic examiners have developed in their response to systemic constraints, bias, individual case and defendant characteristics. Furthermore, the identification of examiner reactions within the context of multicultural cases is a critical step towards developing best practice guidelines on how these cases should be addressed.

Committee: Jude Bergkamp Psy. D. (Committee Chair); Willaim Heusler Psy. D. (Committee Member); Maile Bay Psy. D., J.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychological Tests; Psychology

BA, Kent State University, 2016, College of Arts and Sciences / School of Peace and Conflict Studies

This honors thesis aimed to look at the changeability of American Exceptionalism over time by examining presidential rhetoric in in State of the Union Addresses from 1965 to 2016. This thesis asked the questions, does American Exceptionalism rhetoric decrease during times of failed military intervention, do Republican presidents use more American Exceptionalism rhetoric than Democratic presidents, and is presidential rhetoric of American Exceptionalism increase during times of war compared to times of peace. State of the Union Addresses were coded by groups (i.e. times of failed military intervention and times in the absence of failed military intervention, for the first research question.) and group means were compared using independent samples t-tests. For the qualitative analysis the Constant Comparative method was used to code the statements into three categories: uniqueness, superiority (social identity theory), and miscellaneous. This research found that Republican presidents use American Exceptionalism rhetoric more often than Democratic presidents and that intensity of American Exceptionalism increases over time (from 1965-2016). Further research is needed to develop more coherent conclusions on the finding of a detected increase in intensity over time

Committee: Landon Hancock (Advisor) Subjects: Political Science; Psychology; Social Psychology; Social Research

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2016, English/Literature

The Gothic has become a mode of transforming reality according to the writers' and the audiences' imagination through the reproduction of hellish landscapes and nightmarish characters and occurrences. It has also been used though to address concerns and criticize authoritarian and power relations between citizens and the State. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass are stories written during the second part of the 19th century and use distinct Gothic elements to comment on the political situation in England as well as the power of language from a child's perspective. Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth on the other hand uses Gothic horror and escapism to demonstrate the monstrosities of fascism and underline the importance of revolt and resistance against State oppression. This thesis will be primarily concerned with Alice and Ofelia as Gothic protagonists that become agents of revolt against their respective states of oppression through the lens of Giorgio Agamben and Hannah Arendt. I will examine how language and escapism are used as tools by the literary creators to depict resistance against the Law and societal pressure; I also aim to demonstrate how the young protagonists themselves refuse to comply with the authoritarian methods used against them by the adult representatives of Power.

Committee: Piya Pal-Lapinski (Committee Chair); Kimberly Coates (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Cinematography; Comparative Literature; Film Studies; Gender Studies; Literature; Philosophy; Political Science

BA, Kent State University, 2015, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science

China's Communist revolution served as a rebellion against both its despotic mandarin elite and their traditions as well as the presiding global trade order that flooded China with narcotics and ensnared all the rungs of society within its grasp. Together, dynastic decay and foreign intrigue fractured the country s ability to function as a coherent society. With both aspects of the limping Republican China discredited alongside the defunct dynastic system, the intervening period between the end of the civil war, the Communist revolution, Mao s reign, his death, and the coronation of Deng Xiaoping led the People s Republic of China (PRC) to shed its official doctrines even as its foundational organization, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), survived. Thanks to China s success after the Communist revolution and Deng s coronation, the PRC s story meanwhile not only became the larger story of East Asia, but also that of both the United States; special postwar San Francisco framework, and of the United States; broader projection of Open Door policies worldwide. Within the hierarchy of global capitalism, China consequently assumed a special role in East Asian and global production; guided in many ways by the hand of the United States. High level dialogue at the twilight of the Obama Administration suggests a world in which China's place is perceived with great suspicion even as the country's prospects continue to slide and grow more uncertain. This suspicion casts a shadow over the many nearby opportunities for cooperation within the most important bilateral relationship in the world from the outset of the 21st century. For China and the CCP, nothing here onward may be viewed with certainty, but for the world America made, any significant, continued Chinese climb, however likely, portends major repercussions both for the global liberal order and for the survival of the human species and the many factors that weigh upon it.

Committee: Leslie Heaphy Dr. (Advisor); Richard Robyn Dr. (Committee Member); Joshua Stacher Dr. (Committee Member); Kimberly Winebrenner Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Economic History; Economic Theory; International Relations

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Geological Sciences

The structure, dynamics, and composition of Earth's deep interior have direct control on plate tectonics and surface-to-interior exchange of material, including water and carbon. To properly interpret geophysical data of the Earth's interior, accurate and precise measurements of the material properties of the constituent mineral phases are required. Additionally, experimentally derived data need to be augmented by computational chemistry and modeling of physical properties to elucidate the effect of compositional variations and deep storage of volatile components (e.g. H2O and CO2) within the crystalline phases. This dissertation uses in situ high pressure, high-temperature experiments in the laser-heated diamond anvil cell (LHDAC) coupled with synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction. The thermal expansion and bulk modulus of Ni and SiO2 are measured to P = ~110 GPa and T = ~3000 K. Nickel is a significant component of the Earth's core and SiO2 is the fundamental building block of the Earth's mantle and crust. We have designed the first controlled-geometry samples of Ni and SiO2, manufactured using nanofabrication techniques, and specifically tuned to reduce systematic errors in the measurement. Knowledge of the thermoelastic properties of Ni and SiO2 has implications for subduction rates, plume buoyancy, dynamics of the Earth's convective heat engine, and planetary formation. Complimentary to the Ni/SiO2 experiments, the energetics of different hydrogen defect mechanisms in garnet (MgSiO3-Mg3Al2Si3O12) and associated geophysical properties (P- and S-wave velocities) are calculated using atomistic simulations and first-principles calculations to a depth of 700 km. Garnet accounts for as much as 40 percent of the rock volume at 500 km. By calculating and comparing the defect energies associated with charge-balanced substitutions of hydrogen for magnesium or silicon, the hydrogarnet defect has the lowest energy and is therefore predicted to be the most favorable in the ga (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Wendy Panero (Advisor); Berry Lyons (Committee Member); Michael Barton (Committee Member); David Cole (Committee Member) Subjects: Earth; Geological