The 50 most-cited articles in Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research, 2021

As illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, risk and crisis communication are crucial responsibilities of modern governments. Existing research on risk and crisis communication points to the importance of trust, both as a resource in and an end goal of communicative activities. In this paper, we argue that revisiting the classical rhetorical concept of ethos in combination with the modern concept of the rhetorical situation can contribute to fitting responses in risk and crisis communication. The paper examines how appeals to ethos may build trust in health authorities’ public communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through interviews and participant observation in public health institutions that handle the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway, the paper finds that understanding the rhetorical situation of the pandemic allows for a better understanding of the available means of persuasion. For instance, through the active communication of transparency and independence when faced by uncertainty and rapidly changing information.

The crisis and emergency risk communication (CERC) model is a five-stage theory that merges established public health practices with principles of crisis communication. Although CERC has been regularly applied on the ground, it has been criticized as lacking the coherence and unity necessary to serve as a framework for research. To determine the extent and type of research CERC has generated since its original presentation to the academic community 15 years ago, we conducted a systematic review of research using CERC as a theoretical lens. A total of 4,471 articles in 20 languages were screened, 400 full texts examined, and 19 articles included in the research and theory analysis, of which one tested tenets of the CERC model. We conclude that CERC has rarely been theoretically tested, and we argue that reformulation of the propositions is necessary for empirical support of the model to proceed.

The COVID-19 pandemic started in January 2020 and has rapidly spread around the globe. Among the institutions at the forefront of responding to COVID-19 are U.S. colleges and universities. These institutions frequently face crises, but they have not always managed these episodes successfully. Given the gravity of the pandemic, best practices research can help higher education institutions combat public health crises and other threats. This study examines and assesses the crisis communication of U.S. colleges and universities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic using the best practices framework. Findings indicate that higher education institutions have employed communication consistent with best practices, with some important modifications. Findings also answer calls to contextualize crisis communication best practices within specific organizational contexts and as a values-based framework.

This article examines the position of victims and those affected within communication theory. Current research has broadly been skewed toward reputation management and protecting brand value as primary goals of crisis communication efforts. As crises affect real people, crisis communication theory needs to be adapted to include their needs. To assure their needs are met, an integration of business ethics and psychosocial mechanisms in the field of crisis communication is proposed. This integration prevents crisis communication output from becoming an additional source of stress to the affected in the aftermath of crises. We offer recommendations for crisis communication scholarship to be inclusive and beneficial to victims and the affected in the aftermath of crises.

Government trust is generally helpful for societies, especially in crisis situations, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, because governments rely on citizens to follow directives. Worldwide, with supporting evidence accumulating, a key directive has been to wear face masks. However, in Sweden, the government has questioned their usefulness. On other behavioral recommendations, such as handwashing, the government has taken a conventional path. We rely on this non-recommendation of face masks to examine the causal impact of government trust on behavior. Based on a large Swedish survey fielded during the pandemic, we find that higher government trust reduces the likelihood of wearing face masks. In contrast, higher trust increases the likelihood of handwashing. The findings qualify the conclusion about the beneficial consequences of trust.

The field of crisis and risk communication research has experienced significant growth and increasing institutionalization in the past decades. However, there are still geographic and perspective blind spots. Up to date, by far the most research focuses on the U.S.; non-Western perspectives remain marginal. Moreover, the focus on organizational crises still clearly dominates. We therefore call for more research better reflecting the global environment and diverse crisis and risk contexts in which our field can make contributions. This argument is supported by the current pandemic mandating cross-cultural and multi-perspective approaches.

This study provides an understanding of how employees’ perception of organizational transparency during the long-lasting situation of the COVID-19 pandemic engendered their job engagement as well as job disengagement. Data were collected by means of an online survey among 410 employees in Austria during March 2021. Results show that employees’ perception of their organization’s approach to transparency directly influenced their job engagement and disengagement. Importantly, the relationship between transparency and job engagement was also mediated through organizational trust, and job-specific state anxiety mediated the relationship between transparency and job disengagement. The results imply the importance of transparency during times of great uncertainty and emphasize the necessity to closely consider employees’ emotional states and worries during a crisis.

How individuals experience unintended effects of risk messages is an understudied area. Focusing on three types of unintended effects (i.e., message fatigue, risk tolerance, and psychological reactance) associated with health risk communication, we conducted an online survey among Italian adults (N = 507) to investigate how perceived message fatigue and risk tolerance might induce psychological reactance and whether trust in public health information might mediate this relationship. Results from mediation models revealed: (a) greater message fatigue and risk tolerance increased psychological reactance; (b) greater message fatigue and risk tolerance led to distrust in government-shared health information; (c) trust in public health information mediated the effects of message fatigue and risk tolerance on psychological reactance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

These letters, written by Daniel Richards to Elihu B. Washburne, throw considerable light on the hectic days of Reconstruction in Florida. Not only do these friendly messages reveal much of what the author actually witnessed of the United States military occupation in the peninsula state but a number of referenes are made to the chaotic economic conditions which existed generally at that time. Although Florida had fewer Negroes in proportion to population than some of the former Confederate states, the problem of relations between the races was one with great complexities. At least some of the obstacles to the establishment of good relations between the two races in Florida just after the Civil War are revealed in these letters of Daniel Richards.

This article describes a functional approach to language development. This approach draws on functional linguistic perspectives to offer ways for teachers to identify language patterns to help dual language learners (DLLs) see how language works and engage them in exploring meaning in texts as they develop their linguistic repertories in more than one language. The authors contextualize the approach as part of the new WIDA Standards and present a case study to showcase how the functional approach can be used in dual language classrooms, with annotated science texts in English and Spanish.

This qualitative study analyzes the Greek government’s crisis management practice and public communication efforts during two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Integrating both crisis management theories and the World Health Organization’s pandemic control plans, discourse analysis and case study approaches were taken to analyze how Greek’s key government and public health authorities communicated with the public using different frames and crisis response strategies. Evaluations were conducted to assess the Greek government’s crisis communication procedures and the effectiveness of different rhetorical strategies used as evidenced in public briefings and public speeches.

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing incessant disruption to the social and economic lives of societies. Public health and crisis communicators have recommended some best practices in crisis and emergency risk messaging for effective health messages during pandemics. Thus, this study utilized seven crisis and emergency risk messaging best practices to qualitatively analyze 14 speeches delivered by the Ghanaian President on the COVID-19 pandemic in the country to demonstrate how the speeches conveyed information about the pandemic to the public. The study found that all seven best practices (i.e., explain what is known, explain what is not known, explain how or why the event happened, promote action steps, express empathy, express accountability, and express commitment) were demonstrated in all the 14 speeches. Implications for practice are discussed.

This article discusses differences between invisible and visible hazards, and how these differences can affect risk and crisis communication. Invisible hazards are risks that we cannot see, and often cannot touch, taste, nor smell. Examples are COVID-19, radon gas, mold spores, or asbestos fibers. Invisible hazards are often uncertain, complex, and ambiguous risk problems. Results from a Norwegian study show that authorities need to be aware of the possible differences in risk perception among authorities, stakeholders, and the general public. Involving citizens, creating trust, and being honest is important for all risk and crisis communication. However, the less we know about a hazard, the more we need to rely on others to make decisions, and consequently trust is particularly important when dealing with invisible hazards.

The varieties of English have led to the paradigm of Global Englishes, which describes the ideologies of English as a lingua franca (ELF) and World Englishes (differential uses of English internationally) in diverse sociolinguistic contexts. Global Englishes literature complicates intelligibility and comprehensibility since it tends to problematize “native norms” as the only benchmarks for successful lingua franca use. Intelligibility and comprehensibility studies have recently been concerned with the interaction between non-native speakers using English as a second language for communication. Thus, this paper critically evaluates research on intelligibility and comprehensibility of second language (L2) English speakers. It is observed that various speaker, listener, and contextual factors may affect intelligibility and comprehensibility. Based on the influencing factors, this paper also makes several recommendations for how intelligibility and comprehensibility can be improved. It is suggested that further research is needed for L2 instruction that may be promising for improving…

For more than a year the world has tried to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This special issue of the Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (JICRCR) provides an expert evaluation of how different countries have responded to this global threat. As the pandemic has fundamentally affected most of our lives in a multitude of ways, lessons learned and insights gained from innovative and inclusive research have also advanced theory and practice in public health crisis and risk communication.

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. had lost over a half million lives to the virus. Organizations had to shift the way they operated, requiring effective communication to help employees transition. This study examines two important time periods during the pandemic: early May, just after stay-at-home orders began to be lifted, and late November, as infection rates soared. This study quantitatively examines the role of perceived severity, organizational trust, reputation, and credibility on participants employed during the pandemic expectations of leadership at the organizational, state, and federal levels. Then, participants were interviewed to understand perceptions of leadership. Results illustrate the relationship between perceived severity of the threat and trust in leadership and uncertainty about mitigation measures from state and federal levels.

Based on the theoretical frameworks of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and person-centered messages (PCMs), this interdisciplinary study conducted a 2 x 3 experiment to examine the role of PCMs in crisis management on social media. Our findings suggest that crisis type (victim, preventable) has an effect on people’s perceptions/reactions toward an organization and that PCM levels (low, medium, and high person-centered messages) in crisis communication on social media influence organizational reputation and participants’ intention to post negative feedback about the organization in crisis. We suggest that when organizations are responding to crisis online, they provide additional attention to the interpersonal dynamics of those interactions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Higher education institutions and their students face a wide range of infectious disease threats (IDTs). However, there is a lack of theory-driven research on how to provide communication for multiple IDTs to motivate protective action taking. To close this gap, this study focuses on college students and two IDT types: respiratory and sexually transmitted infections. We tested an IDT appraisal model with data from an online survey conducted at two U.S. universities with 842 students. Findings indicate that IDT type led to different patterns of threat appraisal and protective action taking intentions. More specifically, participants perceived sexually transmitted threats as significantly more predictable and more controllable than respiratory threats. Participants also had higher intention to take protective action in response to respiratory threats than sexually-transmitted threats. We also found that external attribution-dependent (EAD) emotions (i.e., anger, sadness, surprise, and confusion) and an internal-attribution-dependent (IAD) emotion (i.e., hope) were sequential mediators…

Understanding the social-psychological processes that characterize communities’ reactions to a pandemic is the first step toward formulating risk communications that can lead to better health outcomes. This study examines comments on Facebook pages of five Singapore media outlets to understand what topics are being discussed by the public in reaction to the implemented precautionary measures in Singapore so as to infer their psychological concerns. Using Anchored Correlation Explanation as a topic modelling technique, this study examines around 10,000 comments and identifies 21 topics that are discussed. The 21 topics were categorized and organized into seven broad themes of psychological concerns. Implications for theory and practice are then discussed.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique environment from which each individual state, in the United States, has been forced to address their publics. In order to understand how each state has engaged with this pandemic, a textual analysis of each state’s governor’s first press release was conducted; five thematic trends were identified. Through use of the social trust approach to risk communication and the contingency theory of strategic conflict management (using external threat variables), the implications of these press releases are discussed.

Risk tolerance, identified by scholars over two decades ago as an essential concept in risk communication, has remained understudied without clear conceptual and operational definitions. As the first study developing a multiple-item scale for measuring at-risk publics’ tolerance of different risk types, this study refines the conceptualization of risk tolerance and advances its operationalization in the setting of individual health risks. Qualitative research (in-depth interviews: n = 28; focus group: n = 30) and two survey datasets (sample 1: n = 500; sample 2: n = 500) were employed for scale development and testing. Results identify that two types of individual health risk tolerance exhibited by at-risk publics: (1) Compulsive tendency toward risk taking (CTRT), as evidenced in their unwillingness to refrain from risky behaviors even if they know the negative consequences and (2) inertial resistance to risk prevention (IRRP), as indicated by their indifference toward or intentionally ignoring health messages advocating for behavioral changes. The two-factor 13-item scale’s…

Morocco is often regarded as a regional leader in addressing climate change. This may not come as a surprise given recent reports that also show that it is particularly vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change, including extreme water shortages. Therefore, what has the state been doing in response to this crisis, and even more, how have state initiatives impacted the country's most vulnerable populations and the environment? This thesis focuses on the Green Morocco Plan (GMP), an agricultural strategy launched in 2008 that intended to address environmental concerns while also increasing modern agricultural productivity and improving the conditions of small farmers. Specifically, the thesis seeks to address the question: What have been the goals of the plan as well as the socioeconomic impacts on the country's most vulnerable populations? A historical political economy approach is utilized, paying particular attention to agricultural policy from the colonial period, the makhzen system, and EU-Morocco trade relations. The analysis is conducted based on official discourse,…

This study aims to investigate how situationally motivated publics respond to misinformation in the context of the Yemeni refugee issue in South Korea. In particular, this study examined how situational motivation in problem-solving on the issue is associated with belief in misinformation and active communication behaviors in the framework of situation theory of problem-solving (STOPS). The results of this study showed that individuals with a high level of situational motivation are more likely to believe misinformation on a given issue. In addition, the result found that belief in misinformation mediates between situational motivation in problem-solving and information forwarding. The results of this study contribute to government crisis management dealing with refugee issues.

https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism/1703/thumbnail.jpg

The field of crisis and risk communication research has always been multidisciplinary bringing together researchers from many fields like business, public relations, political science, sociology, psychology, journalism, tourism, and public health. However, there is often a common perception outside the fields of crisis communication that is a corporate discipline focused mostly on helping organizations manage their reputations. As the pieces in this issue demonstrate, our field serves the public interest in many ways and is a growing global field of study.

Argues for including epistemic performance (aims, ideals, and practices) throughout the curriculum to facilitate the identification and evaluation of false or misleading information; recommends five instructional practices to accomplish this goal.

Living shoreline stabilization is a technique that utilizes plants and other natural elements to protect estuarine coasts. Research has provided minimal information about which vertebrate species utilize living shorelines post-deployment. For this project, ten wildlife cameras were placed along a living shoreline site in Canaveral National Seashore (CANA) to document which vertebrate species utilize the living shoreline and surrounding vegetation. This shoreline was stabilized with red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) and eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) shell bags in June 2019. The cameras, activated by motion sensors, remained at the site for five days a month for seven months (September 2019 - March 2020) to identify vertebrates and their behaviors. Wildlife camera footage provided data on which vertebrate species visited the site, what behaviors were exhibited, and what impact (if any) the vertebrate species had on the stabilization materials. Birds (i.e., wading birds and songbirds) and mammals (i.e., raccoons, feral hogs, deer, opossums, rats, and bobcats) were observed…

This thesis examines the unique representation of death in independent videogames. Specifically, in three titles: That Dragon, Cancer, Spiritfarer, and A Mortician's Tale. These three games break traditional norms of death in video games and how death is presented in other more traditional mediums. These unique perspectives are more concerned with the personal and societal side of death, the reflection, and confrontation of our mortality. Each game is a stand-out example of a growing trend in independent titles coined as "death positive" games. These types of games are made with the intent to approach death differently, potentially providing comfort to those struggling with death fear and anxiety. Through a close play of each game, analyzing their developer's design intentions and how they were received by audiences, I am to illustrate how independent games have become an ideal space to confront and manage death fear and anxiety. This is achieved through their unique ability to occupy a moment in ludic space and time, where a player can rest, reflect, and give up – an experience I…

Conventional methods of classifying droplet breakup are evaluated in the context of unique variation in environmental and droplet fluid conditions. Most characterization is developed for subsonic speeds and Newtonian fluids, so this study extends understanding on how these forms change to a span of applications outside these conditions. Presented examples include the impact effects on hypersonic vehicles travelling through precipitation, where even smallest of rain drops at such speeds can cause damage. Before the droplet even reaches the vehicle, it interacts with the detached bow shock that leads it. Another example of exceptional recent concern is risk of viral transmission by breakup function within human saliva in sneezes, coughs and speaking. Such biofluid behavior is complicated by viscous and elastic properties, subject to molecular composition that varies person to person by function of their age, gender, and medical conditions. Both phenomena are difficult to image on the scale of internal droplet fluid flow and droplets of aerosolizing diameters. Thus, this study uses a…

Glyphosate is the world’s most used and controversially debated herbicide. Its approval in the European Union (EU) is expiring in 2022. At the time of its last approval procedures in the EU in 2016/2017, there was a heated public debate in Germany about the carcinogenic risk of glyphosate. In this context, the Munich Environmental Institute published a study which concluded there were chemical residues of glyphosate in the 14 most-popular German beers. In this article, I analyze the “Gift im Bier” (poison in beer) case by examining central stakeholders’ reactions using a message-centered approach for risk communication and reflect on culturally-rooted messages, including the use of humor, within risk communication. Ultimately, I will argue for a contextsensitive and message-centered approach to risk communication analysis.

Recent advancements in material technology have led to the development of non-porous negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) materials (also called auxetic structures) by making spherical inline dimples on both sides of an elastic sheet. Manufacturing technologies such as 3-D printing and additive manufacturing paved the way to realize the complex shapes needed to achieve NPR behavior. These materials are desirable in many engineering applications, especially in the gas turbines hot-gas-path, due to their unique properties. In the current study, an effort is made to understand the flow physics and surface heat transfer mechanism for channel flow having one wall with spherical dimples and protrusions. An equivalent geometry, with dimples on both sides of the flat sheet with density beyond a certain threshold, would have NPR characteristics. Furthermore, dimples and protrusions are also studied in isolation to understand what key differences are brought by the combination of these two. Flow field measurements, in-and-around these features, are done using the stereoscopic PIV. The transient TLC…

The rush to English and English medium education (EMI) is fashionably a global tendency, and research in the domain has extensively explored the effects of such rush on social justice, quality education, economic and power dynamics across contexts. Given the multifaceted challenges related to the provision of English and accessibility to EMI, the relationship between UNESCO’s Education For All vision and access to English tends to be complicated. This paper examines the commonly-stated quest for English in Cameroon with a focus on attitudes towards English and EMI. The purpose is to understand the interface between the rush to EMI and attitudes towards English in the essentially French-speaking country. Data were collected from 1367 students and 29 teachers in two urban and two rural schools, specifically on their attitudes towards school subject disciplines in their curriculum through open-ended questionnaires. Overwhelming negative attitudes from students towards English were confirmed by the teachers sampled. Significant differences in attitudes towards English between student…

Soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects are relevant for the seismic analysis of tall buildings on shallow foundations since the dynamic behavior of structures is highly affected by the interaction between the superstructure and supporting soils. As part of earthquake-resistant designs of buildings, considering SSI effects in the analysis provides more realistic estimates of its performance during a seismic event, particularly when both the structure and soil undergo large demands that can compromise serviceability. Oversimplifications of structural or soil modeling in the analysis introduces variability and biases in the computed seismic response. The main goal of this dissertation is to investigate the interaction between archetype tall buildings and its supporting soils using numerical simulations. This dissertation develops the following objectives: i) to estimate the differences in the seismic performance of archetype tall building under different SSI approaches and compared to idealized fixed-base conditions; ii) to evaluate the seismic performance of tall building models by…

Tensiomyography (TMG) is a non-invasive tool used to assess skeletal muscle tissue, including Displacement (Dm), Contraction Time (Tc), Sustain Time (Ts), Relaxation Time (Tr), and Delay Time (Td). This tool can be used clinically to determine muscular response to exercise. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of TMG measurements. METHODS: Studies were identified from multiple databases and evaluated for inclusion. All studies underwent a quality assessment using the Modified Downs and Black checklist for assessing quality studies, and results were extracted from qualified articles. RESULTS: 635 studies were identified with 16 studies retained following full article reviews. 12 studies had poor quality, whereas 4 had fair quality. Within-subject reliability was reported in 11 articles, finding good to excellent reliability for all TMG measurements, except Ts and Tr, in 10 articles (CV ranges: Tc: 2.6-9.4, Ts: 5.3-21.3, Tr: 6.4-32.8, Td: 1.16-4.2, Dm: 8.0-14.8). Between-subject reliability was reported in 14 articles, finding fair to excellent…

What motivates tourists to choose one destination over another and how does tourism impact those who live in tourist areas? As more parts of the world begin to reopen after the devastating health, social, and economic impacts they have suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the time is right to consider the link between tourism competitiveness and human development. New research led by Rosen College's Associate Dean Dr. Robertico Croes, Dr. Jorge Ridderstaat and Dr. Valeriya Shapoval presents a new theory and typology.

If there is one sector that cannot move 'online', it is accommodation, and SLEs (small lodging establishments) have taken a merciless beating from COVID-19. Typically family-owned and managed, they have relatively high capital costs and overheads which means that even when revenues stop coming in, those liabilities still have to be met. This study by Dr. Manuel Rivera, Dr. Murat Kizildag, and Dr. Robertico Croes, of the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, shows how a detailed break-even analysis can inform a business’s strategy for survival within the important SLE sector.

Combination of topology and material could play an important role in giving rise to nontraditional behavior in mechanical structures and is a typical strategy in nature. Topology is concerned with the geometrical and spatial properties of the objects, which are preserved under continues mechanical deformation of the object such as stretching, bending, twisting, etc. In this work, we focus on structures based on fish scale inspired surface topology. The utilized idea for surface topology is a bioinspired design on the substrate of biological scale-covered systems. Scales are a path breaking evolutionary adaptation that accompanied vertebrate evolution for the past 500 million years. Fish scales are inherently lightweight with diverse shapes, sizes, materials, and distribution, and they provide remarkable architecture-material enhancement, typical of metamaterials. Here we provide a perspective on mechanical behavior of fish scale inspired structures and quantify the origins of some of their striking mechanical properties that include nonlinear and directional strain stiffening in…

In recent years universities have tried to address fraternity and sorority drinking and hazing culture by utilizing pauses on fraternity and sorority activity. This study of this phenomena appears to be absent from the extent literature on prevention strategies. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the phenomena of campus-wide pauses of fraternity and sorority communities. The two cases examined were at large public research institutions with robust fraternity and sorority communities. Analysis occurred through a process of open coding, theoretical propositions, derived from Bolman and Deals organizational frames and cross case analysis. Data was collected through a series of semi-structured interviews and documents collected through a combination of web searches, public information request and provided by six interviewees across both institutions. Analysis revealed several themes associated with the strategies used during a campus-wide pause of fraternity and sorority communities including policy, people, and message. The study also revealed that campuses engaged…

Obsolescence is an unavoidable reality in manufacturing systems and supply chain environments as systems are needed to be sustained for longer and longer periods of time. These extended life cycle products include airplanes, ships, industrial equipment, medical equipment, and military systems. The United States military has coined this issue as Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS). Research shows that the main areas of concern for obsolescence are cost optimization, obsolescence management, system life cycle, design/system refresh planning, architecture/open systems, and end-of-life (EOL) predictions. This effort suggests a need for a more effective management approach to tackling obsolescence with an emphasis on proactive management. The goal of this research was to create an obsolescence management framework for the purpose of managing obsolescence issues with military based systems. This research shows the potential for using machine learning as a life cycle forecasting tool over traditional data mining tools. The results for this small-scale case…

A prominent theory of binge eating is the affect regulation theory, which posits that individuals binge eat to alleviate negative affect, and subsequently reduced negative affect reinforces the behavior. Although it is well-supported that individuals experience elevated negative affect pre-binge, findings do not consistently evince reduced negative affect after binge eating. Therefore, the affect regulation theory does not fully account for binge eating. However, habitual binge eating without reliable improvement in affect may be accounted for by expectancy theory. Expectancies may be predictive of behavior whether the outcomes of a behavior are inconsistent. Additionally, there is an increasing scientific awareness that a sense of loss of control over eating is the most clinically relevant and psychologically distressing component of binge eating and is still associated with adverse outcomes even without objective over-eating. The psychological correlates of low distress tolerance and difficulty regulating one's emotions may contribute to loss-of-control-eating (LOCE), although…

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) is an additive manufacturing technique with growing relevance in industry. However, alloys with a high susceptibility to micro-cracking during solidification cannot be feasibly manufactured through LPBF, such as in selected high-strength Al-alloys. The cracking susceptibility (CS) of Al-alloys varies with composition, so modeling CS with respect to composition is crucial in designing compatible alloys for LPBF. In a theoretical modeling of solidification cracking based on the Scheil equation, the relative CS is taken as the maximum value of |dT/d(fs^1/2)| when solidification is near completion. However, experimental observations of the crack density in Al-alloys suggest that the composition at which the crack density is maximum occurs at a higher solute concentration than predicted. This shift in the maximum CS can be observed in the theoretical model when a back-diffusion Fourier number was incorporated into the Scheil equation to account for solid-state diffusion during solidification. This shift can also be observed by increasing the partition…

The contemporary fitness industry has evolved from a performance-oriented service sector into a competitive experiential marketplace where program design plays a critical role in brand building and consumer retention. This study investigates how holistic, technique-driven fitness programs influence brand visibility and consumer loyalty by integrating principles of movement quality, personalization, and mind–body engagement. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from participants enrolled in structured fitness programs emphasizing technical rigor and holistic well-being. Quantitative analyses, including regression and mediation models, revealed that movement instruction quality and technique correction significantly enhance brand visibility, while emotional engagement and perceived movement quality strongly mediate consumer loyalty. Canonical correspondence analysis further demonstrated distinct yet synergistic relationships between program components and branding outcomes, highlighting differentiated pathways through which technical and experiential elements contribute…

Rural and urban hospitals must respond differently to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, given their unique situations. In this study, we performed a rhetorical analysis of press releases from rural and urban hospitals in Texas to better understand the crisis communication strategies of the two hospital systems. Following previous literature on narrative sensemaking, place-based storytelling, and pre-crisis management, we found that the examined press releases used setting details to ground their health-related information in their specific communities. Such a strategy made the information accessible and attainable, but potentially reinforced place-based tensions and inequalities. Our study has implications for preventative sensemaking research as well as for crisis communicators attempting to better reach specific communities during a long-term, developing crisis.

Perceived workload and usability are crucial components of human-computer interactions. Currently, there is a gap in research comparing Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) systems for workload and usability. This study attempts to bridge that gap through the comparison of the HP Windows Mixed Reality system and the Meta 2 system for a ball-sorting task. Subjective questionnaires on workload and usability were implemented as comparative measures for three game scenarios of increasing difficulty. Forty-one participants were recruited from the University of Central Florida and its surrounding communities. Results showed significantly lower cumulative total workload and greater usability (for the subscale of ease of use) for the HP Windows Mixed Reality system when compared to the Meta 2 system. There were no statistically significant differences reported for the other usability subscales between the two systems. Also, there were no statistically significant differences in total workload within the three scenarios for both systems. The findings could be attributed to…

High-order harmonics from bulk solids were first observed in 2011 by focusing an intense mid-infrared laser through a bulk crystal and detecting the harmonics in a transmission geometry. Due to birefringence and possible nonlinear effects in bulk crystal, the polarization state of the laser can change as it propagates through the crystal in this transmission geometry. This can result in harmonic signal generated with an unknown polarization of light, disrupting the signal. Alternatives to bulk crystal, such as a reflection geometry or thin films, are not always ideal – reflection geometry can introduce nonlinear reflection coefficients, while crystalline thin films can be difficult to produce and are not available for all materials. We propose Jones calculus as a new method to analyze high-order harmonics from bulk solids in a transmission geometry. We predict the laser’s polarization changes due to propagation through a bulk crystal and we show that these changes can be accounted for using a combination of wave plates. Our results indicate that linear birefringence dominates the…

With increasing student diversity across our nation, there is a growing need to scale up educational innovations related to building holistic relationships. Many students in K-12 public schools enter educational settings with uncommon and nontraditional ways of building and developing longitudinal relationships that allow students to thrive and not just survive. Specifically, teachers/educators feel ill-equipped and ill-trained to adequately support the increasing number of English learners(ELs) and Exceptional education students (specifically Students of Color (SOC) with emotional and behavioral disorders) identified in inclusive classrooms. Thus, there remains an urgent need to share uncommon and non-traditional strategies to develop and build relationships. To support teachers and educators in diverse, inclusive classrooms through educational, cultural, social events, and community activities, educators and researchers must look backward if the desire is to move forward. Through authentic and practical application, this brief will encourage educators to examine their current…

Gender Studies scholarship has argued that one significant way contemporary hegemonic masculinities are constructed and reinforced is through meat consumption. Conversely, plant-based diets such as veganism and vegetarianism are considered feminine. This paper builds on an emerging body of research that traces this gendering of meat and plant-based diets to British colonialism in India. Drawing on ecofeminist and postcolonial theory, it shows how British colonizers feminized Indian dietary cultures, specifically Hindu vegetarian diets, to reinforce their own sense of masculinity. Through critical analyses of marketing and media, it demonstrates how these colonial gendered food images continue to populate contemporary imaginations. Finally, it considers some potential current implications of these constructions of diet and gender, including the effect of a patriarchal food system on the climate crisis.

An increase in the English learner (EL) population is evident in public schools throughout the United States. Academic achievement gaps between ELs and non-EL peers persist from early childhood through the post-secondary level (Florida Department of Education, 2019c). The gap in the literature is the lack of studies analyzing the language acquisition of ELs enrolled in dual language programs to narrow the achievement gap of ELs. Transformative Learning Theory and the Dynamic Systems Theory are the foundation of the theoretical framework. Key research questions seek data on the relationship between standardized assessments measuring language acquisition and academic performance of third-grade ELA students. The purpose of the quantitative correlational study will be to determine if a significant relationship exists between ACCESS for ELLs and iReady Diagnostic 2 Tool for EL students at five elementary school sites in Central Florida, located in the southeast quadrant of the United States. Dual language and mainstream instruction will be independent variables in the quantitative…

This qualitative phenomenological study explores mainstream classroom teachers’ language assessment literacy as it relates to English learners. In Southwest Florida, Fifty-five teachers were interviewed about their knowledge and use of English language proficiency assessments in mainstream classrooms. We conducted content analysis of the individual interviews and field note data. The findings indicated that teacher’s knowledge of language proficiency assessments includes: (a) awareness of language proficiency assessments, (b) one size fits all: misuse of content assessment, (c) language proficiencies confined solely to reading skills, and (d) preference for formative assessment. Findings also indicated that teachers’ limited use of language assessment results for guiding instruction, and some teachers’ deficit views of English learners. These findings call attention to further professional development in language assessment literacy and to a more systematic deconstruction of negative views of English learners.

This study examined graduate students' experiences with social support in relation to stress and uncertainty during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Graduate students as a population have significant levels of stress and uncertainty which may have negative effects on their lives and academic experiences. Graduate students often utilize social support as a way to cope with or mitigate the effects of stress and uncertainty. This qualitative study consisted of six focus groups, ranging from three to six participants, total of 22 participants, who were found using a purposeful snowball sampling method. The participants were masters and doctoral level students in communication graduate programs. Findings were made using thematic analysis which identified main themes of; stress, uncertainty, social support, the program, and feelings words. Findings were also examined through the lens of Relational Dialectics and found evidence of openness-closedness, autonomy-connection, and novelty-predictability. Implications, limitations and suggestions for future research were discussed in chapter five.