Digital Commons Network^™

Sino-Japanese Relations Since The 1972 Normalization: Prospects For Conflict Resolution And Regional Hegemonry, Tracy Lynn Masuda

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Fahrenheit 451: A Teacher's Guide, Jaclyn Shurmack

Honors Theses

This website is a resource for teachers to reference in order to help them understand and teach various aspects of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. First, Fahrenheit 451'is a great book to teach in the classroom. It presents many ideas that will cause students to think about the world around them. Some of these ideas include thinking on one's own and also questioning information that is presented to students. One aspect of Ray Brabury's Fahrenheit 451 looks at the idea of censorship in the world- In this futuristic tale, boob are burned rather than read and the censorship of various …

Awareness Of False Information: Urban Legends, Erin Fernsler

Theses

It is typical for people to believe urban legends. An urban legend is any modern, fictional story, told as truth that reaches a wide audience by being passed from person to person. The study of urban legends helps us be more alert to false information in our everyday lives. There are very limited resources about urban legends and the impact of the stories on deaf culture. There are very few stories that are common in the deaf community. There are plenty of books about urban legends, but none includes deaf people. This is a problem for the deaf students because …

It Was Enjoyable Doing Whatever You Wanted, Leyla Safavi

Theses

Not Included

Enhancing Motivation Using The Constructs Of Flow In Museum Education Activities, Maria C. Grant Edd

Dissertations

While many extol the general value of museum fieldtrips, few can describe the specific parameters needed to make the excursion an educational benefit. Oftentimes, a day at the Museum of Natural History or time spent at the local art gallery is casually put into place with little forethought or attention to activity details. This research intended to utilize the parameters of flow theory and children's interest to investigate the phenomenon of student motivation while viewing an exhibit. Informal learning environments offer educators the opportunity to look beyond the halls of their campus in a manner that allows augmentation of curriculum …

In-Group/Out-Group Dynamics Of Native American Mascot Endorsement, John Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

The use of Native American names and mascots by professional and college sports teams has become a controversial issue. However, very litde research has investigated attitudes towards Native Americans, regarding relationships between team names and mascots on prejudice and discrimination. This study proposed that the multiple social categories created by manipulating the endorsement/opposition of Native mascots by Native and White college students at a university with a Native mascot, would allow for the identification of possible prejudice and discrimination based on race and the mascot issue. It was hypothesized that the manipulation of Native American Mascot Endorsement (NAME) in Native …

The Connection Between Gender And Literacy In A First Grade Classroom, Jessica V. Feldman

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a qualitative case study that explores the connection between literacy and gender in a first grade classroom environment. The subjects for this study are twenty first grade students in a regular education classroom located in a southern New Jersey elementary school. For this study, students were observed with the attempt to answer three questions: 1) What gender stereotypes have these first graders internalized coming into the classroom? 2) How are these gender beliefs expressed in the language arts classroom? 3) What are teachers doing to foster these biases in their students? Data collected includes student writings, discussions, …

Reaching Out @ Your Library™: Communication Practices Of New Jersey High School Library Media Specialists, Lisa B. Mutter

Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents the methodology and results from surveys of New Jersey school library media specialists at 88 public secondary schools. The study examined how LMS reached out administratively to their learning community. Specifically, it addressed the following research questions: 1. HOW did the library media specialists promote the importance of the media center and its resources and services? 2. WHAT did library media specialists communicate to the learning community? 3. WHO did library media specialists communicate with in their learning community? 4. Were the library media specialists taking advantage of the American Library Association advocacy tools to help them …

Case Study - Sequential Tart: A Unique And Successful Web Zine, Sheena Kathryn Mcneil

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A Place Apart: Myth And Sacred Space, Diana Hazel

Honors Capstone Projects - All

“When old myths are lost, new ones are needed. Myths flourish and fade and die, but new myths are born, old ones are resurrected, and hybrid forms combining new and old emerge when times change or cultures mingle” (Graves: 1959, 9).

The original concept of this project was to create a CD-ROM database of mythology from various cultures and time periods throughout history. The first few months of my work were carried out with this end in mind. Since then, the project has taken a more personal turn. Instead of presenting the mythologies of other people, I have created my …

Apocalyptic Surrealism, John Michael Bazan

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

My artistic philosophies and vision of the world are highly influenced by Surrealism, Symbolism, Romanticism, and the fantasy genre. My work is mainly Symbolic and Surrealistic, applied impressionistically and graphically, and made relative to the modern world by using religious and Apocalyptic Symbolism mixed with cosmic psychological dreamscapes of the universe. My vision of the real world is a symbolic “nightmare enigma”—like Dali's psychotic world of chaos and disorder. My imagery is associated with themes of chaos, war, death, and modern history. The academic term of Apocalyptic Surrealism is the broad mixture of religious Symbolism, political Symbolism, and historical Symbolism …

Journey From Home, Benjamin P. Varela

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

My art Is built on a foundation of personal experiences: First, as a child In New York City and Puerto Rico, and second, as a man learning his craft in universities and workshops in Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, and Mexico. I categorize this deductive process as the emergence of the personal "Me,” because most artists develop a visual language of signs and symbols that has been shaped by the artist’s family, education, and personal experiences. It is also a deductive process that has shaped the personal “Me” through an analysis of my movement away from pernicious generalities, characterized by living under …

The Gothic And Science Fiction: Shelley, Crichton, Stevenson & Wells, Sarah Renee Phillips

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Entertainment Psychology: Bypassing Treatment Resistance In Emotionally Disturbed Adolescent Males, Ryan Coon

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Emotionally-disturbed adolescent males, particularly those diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder, are notoriously resistant to traditional forms of psychotherapy. Simultaneously, adolescent males are the target market for entertainment companies that produce products via multiple entertainment venues (e.g., comic books, card games, and video games). This dissertation is the first step in synthesizing psychotherapy with entertainment venues in order to bypass treatment resistance in emotionally-disturbed adolescent males. The entertainment venue of focus for this dissertation is a comic book series. The goal of the comic books is to entertain while promoting therapeutic healing. The therapeutic value entails having multiple …

The Impact Of Anger Management Training On Students Of Skills For Managing Anger, Kristin Lynn Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research has been to study the impact of anger management training on students of the Skills for Managing Anger (SMA) program used in the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS). Conflict resolution programs are discussed as are causes of violence in school age children. The company that produces SMA suggests that its program can reduce verbal and physical violence and increase the use anger management strategies. SMA was observed from the teacher training throughout the 12 session course. An increased awareness of anger and of anger management was seen, however no evidence was found that verbal and physical …

A More Porous Postmodernity: Absurdity, Politics, Consumerism And The Cultural Authority Of Spongebob Squarepants, Annie Gaus

Honors Papers

In the wake of the recent election, there's been some talk of healing, but until today no single figure has emerged with the capacity to repair the deep fissures in the body politic. We are so hung up on blue states and red states that our only hope may lie in the primary color that has been left off the map. We need something-or someone-yellow, and also absorbent and porous enough to soak up the ill will and scrub away the lingering bad feelings...Now more than ever, the country needs Spongebob Squarepants."

In his New York Times film review of …

Music As A Rhetorical Form: The Use Of Audio In "America's Most Wanted", Josette Nicole Perrone

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

In the roughly fifty years since television programming began, the medium has gone from being a mere novelty to a major cultural force. Television is pervasive and widespread---nearly every home in America has one. It is hard to deny that because of its presence in our culture that some of its messages get through. My project is centered on the extent to which those messages affect the lives of its viewers; The purpose of the project is to examine music as a rhetorical form by analyzing a ten-minute segment of "America's Most Wanted" (AMW) on the Washington D.C. sniper case …

The Impact Pf Well-Established Source Material On The Financial Success Of Comic Book Moviesq, Joseph Gregov

Theses

No abstract provided.

Video Games: Changing The Way We Think Of Home Entertainment, Eri Shulga

Theses

In this paper the various aspects of video games in modern day households will be discussed. According to marketing trends, video games will be extremely influential in the future of home entertainment, however not all gaming companies are able to understand the importance of this growing trend deep enough to make an effort in producing family-oriented¹ video games [43, par. 2]. The need for more varied video games will be discussed in this paper and examples of successful family games will be used to solidify research conclusions.

There are issues that are clearly holding the video gaming industry back …

Ginger: The Making Of A Redhead Magazine, Carlie Jean Kollath

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

R/Evolution: Social Medicine In Ink., Philip Morais

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

R/Evolution: Social Medicine in Ink, positions composition of written words in print vis-a-vis dominance of wider social communications via multi-sensory communications media. Given no mass medium is more of an "antibiotic" perceptually for this contemporaneous "incubation" than specialized visual fragmentation of the Latin alphabet typographically set on pages, marginalized ABCs machines press in ink provide modified relevance in supplying new "circuit breaker" demands for an "electronic" jungle we swamp ourselves with. Writers who disembody their expressions by descendants of Gutenberg's technology thusly fully capitalize by writing in the mask of the artist-critic, to service to all atypically fit for facing …

The Woman, The Legend, The Power: Fictional Representations Of Marie Laveau In Twentieth-Century Literature, Elizabeth Clark Neidenbach

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Internet World Of Fan Fiction, Melissa Jean Herzing

Theses and Dissertations

Fan fiction, the most popular creative outlet for fans, allows the amateur writer an opportunity to be published and receive immediate feedback from peers. As educators, we can learn from the fan communities as they participate in online activities, especially fan fiction. Students are more likely to embrace entertaining and creative assignments. And since much of the world is linked to the Internet in one way or another, we can allow students an opportunity to not only improve their writing skills, but also enhance their knowledge of the Internet and its capabilities. My study included online interviews with fan fiction …

The Unwantables: An Exploration Of Visual Narrative, Marius I. Valdes

Theses and Dissertations

The Unwantables is a creative project that has evolved from my lifelong interest in and relationship with visual stories. To me the most compelling aspect of visual storytelling is "imagination". The author possesses the ability to create new worlds, interesting characters, and situations that can have the potential to communicate about any topic. My project explores visual narrative as a communication tool to explain the role of imagination in my life.

Query Engine Of Novelty In Video Streams, James Kang

Theses

Prior research on novelty detection has primarily focused on algorithms to "detect" novelty for a given application domain. Effective storage, indexing and retrieval of novel events (beyond detection) are largely ignored as a problem in itself. In light of the recent advances in counter-terrorism efforts and link discovery initiatives, the need for effective data management of novel events assumes apparent importance. Automatically detecting novel events in video data streams is an extremely challenging task. The aim of this thesis is to provide evidence to the fact that the notion of novelty in video as perceived by a human is extremely …

Occupational Role Portrayals Of African-American Women On Prime-Time Television, Shani Tyhirah Jefferson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined portrayals of African-American women shown in professional careers on prime-time network television during the May 2005 sweeps month. Specifically, the study compares these portrayals to actual U.S. Department of Labor workforce statistics to observe a possible similarity. Additionally, the study identifies any behavioral and conversational stereotyped attributes ascribed to AfricanAmerican female characters shown in the workplace. A quantitative content analysis of four broadcast networks (FOX, ABC, UPN, and WB) ranked by Nielsen Media as having the highest rated prime-time television programming among minority households for 2003-2004 revealed that African-American female characters on network television are over-represented in …

Shanghai Beauty, Ding Ye

Theses

Not included.

The Rise And Fall Of Ec Comics, 1950-1956: Cold War Or Cultural War Casualty?, Francis Di Menno

Open Access Master's Theses

This thesis chronicles the rise and fall of the EC (Entertaining Comics) group in the period 1950-1956. Its purpose is to determine, through a study of primary and secondary sources, to what extent the 1954 congressional inquiries concerning the harmful effects of comic books were the culmination of a series of personal and political vendettas against EC's publisher William Gaines, and to what extent these inquiries were part of a broad-based cultural crusade in which a perceived slippage of cultural values was counteracted by an imposition of regulatory strictures.

To illustrate this argument, this study also chronicles relevant aspects of …

A Comparative Study Of The United States Marine Corps And The Imperial Japanese Army In The Central Pacific War Through The Experiences Of Clifton Joseph Cormier And Hiroo Onoda, John Earl Domingue

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis is a biographical description of the lives of two men that fought in the Pacific War, 1941-1945. One was a member of the Third Marine Division, the other a member of the Imperial Japanese Army stationed on Lubang Island in the Philippines. They were connected by a very intense, almost Paleolithic conflict across the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Primary sources were drawn from the two privately published books by both. Clifton Cormier's A Postcard From Joseph (2002) and Onoda's No Surrender, My Thirty Year War (1974). In addition, Clifton Cormier graciously supplied self-written newspaper articles, private telephone …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Visual Culture On Visual Arts Practice And Visual Arts Education, Robyn Roper

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research project is based on the premise that school students have a right to an education that assists them to "develop a sense of personal meaning and identity, and be encouraged to reflect critically on the ways in which that occurs." (Curriculum Frameworks, 1998, Values, Statement 2.2 Personal meaning: 325). Not only should education offer students a sense of well being, it should make a difference to their lives and foster an appetite for life long learning. A key ingredient that makes for a rich, fulfilling and rewarding life, is an understanding of visual culture, that according to Freedman …