Digital Commons Network^™

To Kill A Vampire?: Through The Hearth, Charlsie Lamos

All Theses

Long before Dracula was terrorizing English families, Emily Brontë's Heathcliff captivated Victorian audiences. Critics such as James Twitchell propose that Emily Brontë carefully creates the possibility of Heathcliff as a metaphorical vampire, using his unknown parentage and his physical descriptions throughout the novel as evidence for this claim. Indeed, my thesis examines how Heathcliff exhibits characteristics of the vampire in his decimation of the English families in the novel by consuming the Earnshaw's and Linton's properties, monies, and women. In Brontë's and Bram Stoker's novels, the vampires prey upon humanity, consuming property, lives, and bloodlines. However, although vampires are often …

Stranger Of The House: The Evolution Of Sensation's New Man, Laura Mogel

All Theses

While Elaine Showalter argues that the 'crisis in masculinity' occurs with the emergence of the New Woman and the fin de sicle, this thesis suggests that men, specifically here wealthy men, were in crisis long before these phenomena due to their dissolved understanding of their place and position amidst immense changes in Victorian England. An interrogation of 1860s sensation fiction, and specifically Wilkie Collins's Basil and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret, suggests that men grappled with their position and masculinity prior to the fin de sicle as evidenced by the heroine-prescribed social deaths of Basil and George Talboys. After …

The Clemson Class Of 1939, Lawrence Korth

All Theses

Abstract
The Clemson graduating class of 1939 entered college in 1935, during the Great Depression. By the time they enrolled, even as teenagers, many of them had encountered the economic hardships and family disruption of the times. When they got to Clemson, they discovered a military school with strong discipline and regimentation. Shortly after graduation these same men were engaged in World War ll. These three experiences, - the Depression, military training and World War ll combat - combined to form a bond among these men that has carried forward for over 70 years.
Circumstance played a role in helping …

I Laughed Until I Cried: The Tragicomedy Of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming , Kesha Garner

All Theses

There appears to be a disconnect between the actual events of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming and the scholarly work devoted to the play--while each of the main characters are morally problematic, it is only the play's sole female character, Ruth, whose morality is questioned. This schism in which Ruth is questioned but others are not stems primarily from the time in which most of this criticism occurred: before post-structuralist understandings of gender undermined our presuppositions about the sexes. The Homecoming was written on the cusp of second-wave feminism, the movement focusing mainly on the legal and social equality of women, …

Design And Implementation Of A Genre Hybrid Video Game That Integrates The Curriculum Of An Introductory Programming Course, Cory Buckley

All Theses

Video games have a history of being exploited for education. However, all too fre- quently, the resulting educational video game is either transparent in its hijacking of video game media, or the educational content is not intelligently placed within the context of the game. In this paper we analyze existing educational video games and observe popular commercial video game mechanics to form a more player oriented development mindset. Our approach involves mingling game mechanics that are not commonly used together to create a genre hybrid educational video game with a seamlessly integrated introductory programming curriculum. We use a machine architecture …

'Losing A Life To Find It' Ben Robertson, Jr.'S Freedom Quest, Beatrice Bailey

All Theses

This thesis is a revisionist perspective on the life and legacy of Ben Robertson, Jr. Throughout the last seventy years, a few efforts have been made to assess Robertson's significant contributions. For the most part, these have focused on his accomplishments as a southern author or journalist in the first half of the twentieth century. This thesis, in contrast, examines Robertson's life trajectory in terms of his understanding of and commitment to American freedoms. It examines how Robertson, a young man from the upcountry of South Carolina, was able to become a leader in one of the most significant freedom …

Through A Glass, Darkly: The Changing Past Of Coffee County, Georgia, Jonathan Hepworth

All Theses

In 1954, Coffee County, Georgia, commemorated its centennial with a massive celebration that essentially shut down the county seat of Douglas for a week. Parades, fireworks, speeches, and above all a large-scale historical pageant, the 'Centurama,' were components of the celebration. The history celebrated in 1954, however, did not necessarily match up with Coffee County's actual history. This thesis examines the history of Coffee County and its changing nature, looking at politics, economics, and culture. It finds that historical 'memory' is not always planned out by society's elites, but can change as the result of politics, demographic shifts, and commercial …

Ancient Traditions And Personal Mythology: An Immortal Connection To Wilderness, James Brantley

All Theses

My personal experiences with nature lead me to have a very primal relationship with wildlife and landscape. These experiences elicit primal internal responses of fear and wonderment. They peak my imagination in a way that nothing else does. To effectively visualize this, I create prints and sculpture that present my personal mythology and symbols.
The use of mythology has historical precedence. The use of myth helps us make sense of the aspects of life that are ethereal, intangible and difficult to understand. To visualize my experiences in nature, I create network of personal mythology and symbolism based on personal experiences, …

Visions & Fissures, Sarah Butler

All Theses

My work references both Early Renaissance paintings and digital technology through highly-saturated and detailed hybrids of painting styles. The religious narratives combined with digital symbols and artifacts of digital processes suggest the spiritual undercurrents surrounding digital technology in its potential for enlightenment, transcendence, and evoking a sense of the infinite. To further clarify the reasoning behind this connection, I discuss three themes. Firstly, the function of illusion in Early Renaissance and in digital space, secondly, the mythology and promise associated with digital space and lastly, the fact that we currently occupy two spaces simultaneously as computer users, and aligning that …

A Node Based Volume Modeling And Rendering Toolkit For Python, Robert Kern

All Theses

This thesis covers the implementation and use of a node based volume modeling and ren- dering toolkit for python. The first part of the thesis covers the code structure of the toolkit, the implementation of the nodes, and how they are evaluated. Operator graphs are built from nodes to create and shape volumes. During volume rendering these graphs are evaluated for the density and color values. The second part of the thesis covers how the toolkit was used to create and render volumetric effects by emulating an effect seen in a movie. The animation of the effect, the use of …

Irene Nemirovsky: A Jewish-Russian Inter-War Writer, Lucy Hoffman

All Theses

Irene Nemirovsky was a woman balanced between two worlds--the world of her childhood as the daughter of a wealthy man in Russia and the world of her immigrant status in France. Many critics have maintained that the Jewish Russian writer, Irene Nemirovsky, was an anti-Semite. Writing in the interwar period of the early 20th century, Nemirovsky often used stereotypical Jewish characters in her early writing. As her writing progressed, her subject was often on immigrants and their lifestyle choices in a foreign country. Nemirovsky appears to be a woman of neither world, a woman juxtaposed in the 'borderland' world of …

Book Review: Strategies For Interpreter Education And Practice In The Health Care Setting, Debra Russell

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

A Case For Training Signed Language Interpreters For Legal Specialization, Len Roberson, Debra Russell, Risa Shaw

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Interpreting in legal settings has become a specialized area of practice that requires specific training and ongoing professional development. This study examined the training and professional development needs of ASL–English interpreters in North America. The 1,995 participants in an online survey included interpreters who provide services in legal settings and those who do not. The data suggest that interpreters desire certificate programs that are delivered in multiple formats, including face-to-face intensive experiences, online distance learning, and regional and local mentoring experiences. The training content areas participants wanted most include specialized interactions; legal discourse across a range of settings including police, …

Signed Language Academic Papers, Risa Shaw, Mary Thumann

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Signed language academic papers are a new possibility that recent developments in technologies for recording, editing, presenting, and reviewing visual materials have made practical in an academic setting. This article presents guidelines the authors developed for papers specifically in American Sign Language (ASL)interpreting courses; however, signed language academic papers can be effectively used in signed language classes of all levels in any country.

The authors offer rationales for assigning signed language academic papers to bilingual students and suggest style and practical guidelines analogous to guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA). Recommended guidelines address practical and academic considerations. The recommendations …

Community Interpreter Training In Spoken Languages In Sweden, Kristina Gustafsson, Eva Norström, Ingrid Fioretos

International Journal of Interpreter Education

The aim of this article is to analyze the community interpreter training program in Sweden and, based on the results of two research projects, describe structural conditions and shortcomings. The authors discuss Sweden’s laws and regulations, the changing demand for interpreting service in society, the open access ideology within adult education associations, and the limitation of economic resources for fulfilling the demand for trained interpreters. Interpreter training in Sweden is built on public-service needs in the areas of social insurance, the labor market, health care, and court interpreting. It is focused on factual knowledge and terminology and devotes little time …

Editorial Community Interpreting Research: A Critical Discussionof Training And Assessment, Jemina M. Napier

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Interpreting Accreditation Testing Formatsin Australia, Sedat Mulayim

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Advanced and affordable video conferencing technology has led to an increase in remote interpreting services via video, which has become a significant alternative to telephone and face-to-face interpreting. In keeping with this development, training providers are now incorporating video conference interpreting in their training. Video and audio resources are also increasingly being used as e-learning resources in online learning tools such as Blackboard and other university student learning portals. This has implications for the testing of interpreting skills, and the RMIT University Translating and Interpreting Program in Melbourne, Australia has started phasing in video assessment in examination and accreditation tests. …

Assessment And Evaluationin Labs For Public Service Interpreting Training, Carmen Valero Garcés, Denis Socarrás-Estrada

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This study reports on the development and application of two bilingual interpreting tests given to master’s students during three academic years (2009–2012) at the University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain. Its main objective is to compare trainees’ test performance at two different points in time. The study analyzes the degree of accuracy and the speed of response, considering the variables of mother tongue, gender, age, and undergraduate education. Our customized tests drew upon two aptitude tests developed by Pöchhacker (2009) and Russo (2009) and combine oral-aural exercises with tasks requiring listening skills, expressional fluency, and public-service-setting terminology. The tests are administered …

Full Issue

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Camera Creatures: Rhetorics Of Light And Emerging Media, Anthony Collamati

All Dissertations

Camera Creatures addresses the new media landscape in which cameras, in most situations, outnumber pens. The dissertation argues that despite the accessibility and power of imagemaking devices, there persists in the humanities and social sciences a hesitation to engage the possibilities for composing with optical media. A number of factors contributing to this trend are addressed, including the preference for image analysis over imagemaking practices, persistent assumptions of the camera's mechanical objectivity, and a tendency to teach visual invention as collage. As a counter-measure, a proposal is made for investment in the mediation of light, or 'photonic rhetorics.' To explore …

When The Rangers Came Home: Reconstructing Lives In Fauquier County, Virginia, 1865-1866, Madeleine Forrest

All Theses

Fauquier County, Virginia, is an idyllic spot in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. However, it has seen its fair share of heartache and pain. It is better known to history as being an integral part of Mosby's Confederacy, the postage-stamped sized area of land in Northern Virginia. It was there in the foothills of the mountains, that one of the most famous guerilla outfits in the Confederate Army operated under the command of John Singleton Mosby. Mosby's men came from many of the leading families in the county and were used to a world of wealth and privilege. …

Will The Real Miss Scarlett Please Stand Up: How The Life Of Mary Boykin Chesnut Can Be Considered A Model For Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett O'Hara, Anna Braunscheidel

All Theses

Scarlett O'Hara may well be one of the most well known Southern women of all time. Outside of the world of fiction, Mary Boykin Chesnut is probably the most famous woman of the Confederate era. There are striking similarities between both women, not only in terms of their experiences but also their reactions to these experiences, as well as their striking personalities. Because of these similarities, it is quite easy to draw parallels between the two women, and surprisingly, this subject, although it has been suggested, has not been explored in greater detail.
Mary DeCredico's introduction to her biography of …

Considerations For Creating A Believable Creature For The Short Film Li Fe, Matthew Prestridge

All Theses

This thesis illuminates the specific methods undertaken to achieve of a realistic computer-animated creature that consumes light and dwells in a cave. The animation short, Li Fe, contains seven such creatures whose anatomy required various production techniques to achieve a believable appearance appealing to viewers in a strong way. In most animations all areas of production need to be optimized for fast rendering as well as easily adaptable to change. The modeling, texturing, shading and lighting methods for Li Fe underwent such optimization to achieve a truly believable creature. The look of the creatures was made possible by relying on …

The Stone People Effect: A Visual Generated In Houdini, Shirley Yu

All Theses

The short film RhizComics, created in collaboration with Jason Helms, explores comics and comic theory. The opening scene showcases a special effect created in Houdini made to illustrate the ideas in RhizComics. The effect involves two characters morphing into stones and tumbling to the ground. This paper documents the production design for the scene and the steps taken to achieve the effect.

Producing An Animated Tattoo Visual Effect, Zachary Trabookis

All Theses

Throughout society tattoos have established a mode of expression for individuals
that allows them to communicate without verbal means. This form of interaction may
appear somewhat static to the observer, but significant meaning and emotion are often
conveyed. With the advent of visual effects tools available today, tattoo representation
can be enhanced by including motion. This thesis presents a solution for illustrating this
form of visual communication using two-dimensional compositing and three-dimensional
techniques in a short animated film entitled '< italic>Legion.'

From Confederate Expatriates To New South Neo-Filibusters: Major Edward A. Burke And The Americas, Michael Powers

All Theses

The traditional historiography of the American South presents the New South creed as a vision emphasizing national reconciliation based upon the advancement of Southern commerce and industry. In addition, scholars broadly define New South spokesmen as men who came to maturity after the Civil War and did not involve themselves in state or national politics. An examination of Major Edward Austin Burke, however, reveals that at least one pivotal New South booster was a Confederate veteran and leading political figure; it also suggests the presence of an international component inherent in the New South paradigm of the 1880s. It is …

New Directions Of Play: Native American Origins Of Modern Lacrosse, Jeffrey Carey

All Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a history of lacrosse from the seventeenth century, when the game was played exclusively by Native Americans, to the early decades of the twentieth century, when the game began to flourish in non-Native settings in Canada and the United States. While the game was first developed by Native Americans well before contact with Europeans, lacrosse became standardized by a group of Canadians led by George Beers in 1867, and has continued to develop into the twenty-first century. The thesis aims to illuminate the historical linkages between the ball game that existed among …

Inventing Laughter: Comedic Writing Practices And The Limits Of Pedagogical Power, Daniel Liddle

All Theses

This thesis conducts an examination of the writing methods used by stand-up comedians using the lens of the rhetorical canon of invention. The study applies the theories of Thomas Rickert, Diane Davis, Ann Berthoff, and Janice Lauer in order to define the relationship between humor and epistemology, and to consider how this comedic-epistemic perspective can inform pedagogical practices in the composition classroom. This study relies mainly on the rhetorical analysis of 'How To' books on writing comedy, the methodologies of schools of comedy, as well as biographies by/about comedians in order to discuss the relationship between comedians and their 'material.' …

The Explosion Effect: A Custom Volume Fx Production Pipeline, Hongyuan Jia

All Theses

Explosions are very important elements in film FX production. This paper introduces a custom volume FX production pipeline and how to use the pipeline to produce explosion FX. A detailed explanation is given of the pipeline artistic and technical aspects.

Bad Rhetoric: Towards A Punk Rock Pedagogy, Michael Utley

All Theses

This research is an analysis of early 1980s American hardcore through the lens of rhetorical theory in an effort to learn lesson from punk rock that can be applied to composition pedagogy. It relies heavily on the Kenneth Burke's Language as Symbolic Action and A Rhetoric of Motives, Lloyd Bitzer's The Rhetorical Situation and Michel Foucault's Discourse on Language. The theories are applied the genre of punk rock in an effort to expose the rhetorical strategies employed by the movement to actively question and resist the dominant norms and values of the era. Two case studies are presented - an …