This project explores historical questions of televisual form and cultural production, centering on the proliferation of media texts that mobilize real-life misfortune as a form of entertainment in U.S. television and culture. Specifically, it examines how a variety of "reality" formats in contemporary television stage and exploit spectacles of failure,...
Since its discovery, RNA interference (RNAi) has become a powerful tool used in laboratories to understand developmental processes, and it is now commonly used to investigate gene function. Using RNAi, scientists can routinely knock out specific genes to prevent their expression, observe its phenotypes, and then help determine the function...
A comprehension of the complex dynamics of gaseous combustion requires an understanding of the underlying fundamentals. In this dissertation, I examine planar diffusion flames from both an experimental and numerical perspective.
In the first part of this thesis, I study the extinction of unstrained, planar counter-diffusion flames. The theoretical model...
In this dissertation, I examine a near-century old popular theatre genre in Ghana known as the concert party to explore how contemporary political and economic circumstances shape its relationship to the spider-man trickster of Ghanaian (specifically Akan) folklore. Since the early 18th century various writers have attempted to define Ananse's...
Institutions are an important determinant of a society's economic performance. To understand why institutions affect economic activity we have to understand how they affect people's incentives in the economy. The patterns of social interaction and beliefs in a society determine the choice of institution. This dissertation focuses on societies where...
This research investigates under what conditions political institutions may induce longer and more expensive financial crisis resolutions by assessing the impact of power distribution on government responses to crisis situations. A new model is elaborated in which power distribution plays a key role in the evolution of financial crises, from...
Attendance among families in child psychotherapy is a significant issue in the delivery of mental health services, and a greater understanding of the factors contributing to attrition is needed before interventions can be developed, or modified, to improve engagement. The present study examined relationships between parent cognitions, which included treatment...
Parents are visiting the Internet in increasing numbers for guidance about the dental health of their children and are bringing this information into appointments with their children's pediatric dentists. Since the impact of this phenomenon on dental discussions is largely unknown, this study was conducted to discover what factors influence...
Caffeine is the most widely consumed methylxanthine, primarily found in beverages. As a nonspecific antagonist to adenosine, caffeine binds to both A1 and A2A adenosine receptors to increase neural activity and decrease cerebral blood flow, which allows it to alter neurovascular coupling. However, there has been much debate about the...
The measurement of weak adhesive energies has previously been difficult to obtain. To measure these energies, I designed a technique that uses the combined sensitivities of both a quartz crystal resonator and the inflation of an elastomeric polymer membrane. The surfaces of the quartz crystal and/or the membrane are modified...