Over the past twenty years, the United States has experienced what Dr. Thomas Philippon calls "The Great Reversal," or a slow drift away from the free market competition which defined the American economy for the last century, towards an increasingly oligopolistic consolidation of market power. What does this mean? For the average American, prices have increased, wages remain stagnant, quality has declined, and the variety of goods has diminished. The reason? The growing political power of incumbent firms, who use their established economic power to influence the political process in their favor, towards high barriers to entry and decreased antitrust scrutiny, through lobbying and the financing of campaigns. Or have they? "The Great Reversal," and hypotheses like it, are far from a consensus... This Thesis is a meta study of the literature surrounding domestic competition in the United States and the impact that the lobbying activity of industry leaders has on said competition. Analyzing over 20 papers covering economics, political science, and political economy, this Thesis argues that domestic competition in the United States has indeed declined over the past two decades and that the growing political power of firms, rather than "unique" technological or structural changes in the economy, has caused this drift away from free markets. Using this analysis, this Thesis further suggests a few solutions to "The Great Reversal" and restoring competition in the American economy.

Despite George Washington’s warning against political parties, the United States we know today consists of two political parties that are becoming even more polarized. Since President Trump’s first run for the Republican party candidate and presidency, these partisan tensions have been recharged with further polarization and many individuals swearing on social media they would never date a Trump supporter. According to Pew Research Center, “45% [of Democrats and those who lean left who are currently seeking relationships] say they definitely would not consider seriously dating a Trump voter” (Brown 2020). The divide between parties and the importance of political beliefs amongst partners has appeared to only increase after the actions taken at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. My research aims to quantify this phenomenon and then discover the “why?” behind it. How many people really consider their partner’s partisan affiliation and political beliefs a deal-breaker? Further, is it a deal-breaker because of the individual’s identity and political beliefs? Using intersectionality as a framework to examine identity and the confluence of identifiers and oppressors, will allow for a deeper understanding and personal account of why individuals find partisanship to be such a big criterion in a partner.

Through three generations of Iranian Jewish women's; my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, this qualitative study aims to shine a light on the complexities of their identities. This is done through a re-telling of their histories and an analysis of their views regarding gender, juxtaposed against the sociocultural and political shifts taking place in Iran. Through interviewing the women in my family, I was able to offer them a voice and highlight the importance regarding their harrowing life stories that had been previously overlooked by the world. There will be a purposeful intertwining of their individual stories with those in a larger context of Iranian Jewish history, and the history of Iranian Jewish women. By the end of this thesis, I hope the reader will have a more in-depth understanding of Iranian Jewish women and their relationship to their gender and sexual identities. More generally, I hope that the intriguing and unprecedented intertwining of Iran with Judaism and the unstable historical nature of this association are more widely known and identified.

The clothing and textile industry is often referred to as one of the largest polluters in the world. Over the last two decades, global annual consumption has increased, and the volume of discarded clothing in America has doubled from 7 to 14 million tons a year (Shirvanimoghaddam, 2020). Over 60% of textile waste overall is exported to the Global South. In the Global South, landfills that receive this waste often lack proper funding and legislation to implement effective waste management systems (Schiros). Textile waste bears a carbon and water footprint that disrupts environmental and health standards on egregious levels, disproportionately harming the health of the populations situated near to those disposal sites, and preventing so-called “developing populations” from economic independence and from sustaining critical environmental health standards. The exploitation of the Global South as a dumping ground also erodes the possibility of economic development by local production and economic self-reliance. Structural adjustments and trade regulated by the ‘developed’ country subjugate the Global South to neo-colonialist, exploitative economic partnerships with the Global North. Rwanda is one example of a country attempting to rise to the World Bank’s classification as a middle-income country, but has been accused of trading human rights for development in the process.

My investigation first seeks to answer, What are the specific health threats of post-consumer textiles? I consider the human health impacts of textiles from cultivation to disposal. This study examines the role of waste as a potential function in the production process, where waste is not considered a negative economic value. My second question is How is the Global South's participation in international collaboration empowered by acts of resistance against the assumptions, research, and policies that suggest Western aid and medicine is superior and the basis for innovative technology? Acts of resistance are pursued within the public sphere (especially in terms of community building and art making), low technology, and locally situated science (that consider the culture, approach, and resources of the Global South before scaling up to the North). Corporations and state policy are considered to expand research, but the focus is largely on acts of resistance by the public, and acts of resistance at a community-level of cooperation. Through the framework of the zine, audiences can better understand the relationship between the US and countries in the East African Community, in South Africa, in shared regions. This creative project informs and challenges the reader to think critically about their role in a postcolonial context. I seek to understand how colonialism pervades the economic relationship and import-export business today between the Global North and the Global South. My purpose is to provide the reader with a vision that suggests the most critical changes that should be made to secure humane and environmentally sustainable solutions. It also serves as a catalyst for additional research on the Global South.

There is a lot of literature and research in both the fields of culinary history and ideology studies, but there is little about the two combined. While food and culture are undeniably connected, former literature fails to connect food and thought through direct culinary creations. Therefore by analyzing an ideology’s actors, their diet, food origins, culinary symbolism, history(culinary, political, economic, and social), and physical representation, we can successfully create a recipe that reflects feminism, black liberation and gay liberation.

This paper examines the possible ties between social media influencers and their potential impact on the rise in affective polarization in the United States. With the growth of social media, its transition into a primary source of news, and with the open political atmosphere, one is left to wonder about the potential impact social media and its influencers may have on American affective polarization. The survey presented within the paper was designed in hopes of drawing a connection between the two, and to what extent it might be happening.

This thesis/creative project is a guide for other universities to follow in making their campuses more inclusive and accessible via maps. This guide will be offered in different formats (ex – PDF, a website, audio, etc.) to accommodate the disabled community. Hopefully, this guide will serve as inspiration and starting point for universities around the country to better the college experience for all.

U.S. border colonias, otherwise known as Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities, are rural settlements along the U.S. Mexico border with substandard housing conditions. Colonia residents often face inadequate access to necessities such as appropriate shelter, septic and sewer systems, and potable water. Water insecurity in colonias poses a particularly difficult challenge for residents who require clean water not only for consumption, but also household use in sanitation and hygienic practices. As of 2015, an estimated 30% of over five million US colonia residents lack access to clean drinking water, resulting in health complications and unsanitary living conditions. Preliminary health data collected indicates that due to water insecurity, colonia residents are more likely to contract gastrointestinal disease, be exposed to carcinogenic compounds from contaminated water, and experience psychosocial distress. Yet more comprehensive research needs to be conducted to understand the full breadth of the public health issue. A scoping review on water insecurity in colonias has not been completed before and could be beneficial in informing policymakers and other stakeholders on the severity of the situation while advising possible solutions.

This research highlights the experiences of mothers diagnosed with preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome through qualitative data analysis of social media comments. I collected 300 comments from the Instagram accounts @preeclampsia.foundation and @HELLPsyndrome. The two overarching themes found were: (1) Experiences with maternal healthcare and (2) Virtual Healing Spaces. These Instagram accounts represented unique communities that provide support and information that cannot be found elsewhere. These findings address gaps in the literature on maternal experience with preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome and identify directions for further research. The conclusions drawn add to current research that points to the need for reform in maternal healthcare.

Annually approximately 1.5 million Americans suffer from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) increasing the risk of developing a further neurological complication later in life [1-3]. The molecular drivers of the subsequent ensuing pathologies after the initial injury event are vast and include signaling processes that may contribute to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). One such molecular signaling pathway that may link TBI to AD is necroptosis. Necroptosis is an atypical mode of cell death compared with traditional apoptosis, both of which have been demonstrated to be present post-TBI [4-6]. Necroptosis is initiated by tissue necrosis factor (TNF) signaling through the RIPK1/RIPK3/MLKL pathway, leading to cell failure and subsequent death. Prior studies in rodent TBI models report necroptotic activity acutely after injury, within 48 hours. Here, the study objective was to recapitulate prior data and characterize MLKL and RIPK1 cortical expression post-TBI with our lab’s controlled cortical impact mouse model. Using standard immunohistochemistry approaches, it was determined that the tissue sections acquired by prior lab members were of poor quality to conduct robust MLKL and RIPK1 immunostaining assessment. Therefore, the thesis focused on presenting the staining method completed. The discussion also expanded on expected results from these studies regarding the spatial distribution necroptotic signaling in this TBI model.