Digital Commons Network^™

Law School News: A Courtroom Drama Worth Watching 10-22-2023, Suzi Morales

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Constructing Reality: Finding Realism And Finding Jessica, Amy J. Vallotton

Masters Theses

Movies are very influential. They provide enjoyable entertainment and affect the viewer's brain and how it processes the scenes, characters, and plot. Because these processes are often the direct result of the script, the screenwriter needs to understand the effect the camera shots, lighting, pacing, and other techniques have on cognition. The narrative is the script's backbone and a movie's primary source of influence. Movies' effects on the viewer will be discussed through current research and different techniques and narrative examples, as seen in well-known movies and original screenplay. Because movies are so influential, the screenwriter will understand how to …

Optical Illusions To Schizophrenic Delusions: How Your Brain Can Alter Reality, Kathryn Stanislaski

Honors College

Widely misunderstood, stigmatized and understudied, schizophrenia is often misdiagnosed and incorrectly treated. While people diagnosed with schizophrenia are often thought to misinterpret reality, they may be more adept at processing visual sensory information and perceive reality better than those without schizophrenia. Studies involving patients with schizophrenia have shown consistent and extensive insusceptibility of these patients to a variety of optical illusions. In this paper, I propose that when processing visual information, people with schizophrenia rely greater upon the dorsal stream and areas in the brain associated with bottom-up processing, as opposed to those without schizophrenia that utilize the ventral stream …

Advancing Technology & Digital Lifestyles: Facilitating A Group Independent Study, Kailey Droz

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

For my senior capstone project, I facilitated a group independent study (ISP) through Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Washington University called Advancing Technology and Digital Lifestyles. A small group of students and I critically and creatively analyzed our relationship with technology, and its impacts on the individual, interpersonal relationships, culture, and society. Prior to facilitating, I did research within the fields of cyberpsychology, social psychology, communication studies, and media studies. I am sharing my syllabus and facilitation notes, my final project (two short stories), an annotated bibliography, and a reflection on the group ISP and my process.

Here …

Challenging Faith And Gaining Power: Women In Film Who Reject And Subvert Religion, Annika Murrah

Religion and Film

This paper examines the ways that women seize power through rejection and subversion of religion by relating women in film to the real world. Rejection of faith is exemplified by characters in the films The Little Hours (2017) and The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018). Subversion of faith is understood through the films Whale Rider (2003), Jennifer’s Body (2009), and Transparent (2014). Narrative analysis of these films is contrasted with studies of orthodox religion as examined by Dr. Brenda E. Brasher and Dr. Mary Gerhart. The importance and effect of women’s newly-gained power is applied to social change as recorded …

Rwu Law News: The Newsletter Of Roger Williams University School Of Law 12-2020, Barry Bridges, Michael M. Bowden, Nicole Dyszlewski, Louisa Fredey

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Bright Anniversaries In Uncertain Times 10/06/2020, Nicole Dyszlewski, Louisa Fredey

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Virtual Reality May Be The Next Frontier In Remote Mental Health Care, Shiva Pedram

SMART Infrastructure Facility - Papers

In recent years, experts have focused on finding better ways to improve remotely delivered mental health care. Now, virtual reality (VR) may pave the way for myriad new opportunities.

Breaking The Fourth Wall, Esther Elizabeth Karram

Masters Theses

This creative, non-fiction thesis is written in memoir form and analyzes how a person perceives reality, how that perception is broken, and how a person copes with the limitations of a new reality. In examining my life, I came to realize that many of my performative tendencies stemmed from a desire to be loved and the belief that love was contingent upon perfection. What follows is my struggle to try to maintain that perfection, the failure to do so, and the slow acceptance of being an imperfect person in an imperfect world.

The Reality And The Perception Of Greek Life At Grand Valley State University, Katherine Smigelski

Honors Projects

This research was conducted in order to determine whether Grand Valley’s Greek life atmosphere is stereotypical of Greek life around the country, as portrayed in the media, or if the reality is better than the perception. 179 responses were collected from current Grand Valley State University members of Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association organizations to determine whether their reality of their organizations is accurate compared to the perception of their organizations.

Rwu First Amendment Blog: David Logan's Blog: Media Centralization Imperils Marketplace Of Ideas 04-05-2018, David A. Logan

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Other Wildernesses, Other Realities | A Framework For Shrinking Cities, Alyssa Goraieb

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis is an experiment to imagine the possible realities that emerge from a redefining of the "idea of wilderness".

Wilderness is an idea.

Its definition is slippery. It is neither a physical place nor a state of being (as the "-ness" suggests). Wilderness is a human construct defined by varying cultural and social attitude. This fluid meaning drove numerous paradigms throughout American history - from eighteenth century romanticism's sublime doctrine to today's environmentalism.

Inspired by past American paradigms, this thesis invents five other wilderness ides that exist as a parallel alternatives to our own. Each produces a …

Folklore, Stories, And Truth, Rebekah Hartshorn

Student Works

An exploration of Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story through the lens of the academic discipline of Folklore. Where is the line between reality and imagination? Stories are true because they influence lives and people interact with them. Many stories believed to be true have origins that are lost to time and their truth is questionable at best. However, when an audience interacts with a story, the story begins to exist within the timeline of the audience members’ lives. The story becomes part of the truths that they live.

The American Dream: Fantasy Or Reality?, Ellie Quick

English Class Publications

“Rags to Riches”; “Home of the Free”; “Land of Opportunity.” For centuries, the idea of the American Dream has been ingrained into the ideology of many Americans in the United States and a faraway dream for those wishing to be a part of it. The idea of anyone, rich or poor, being able to freely achieve his or her dreams and pursue happiness became enticing to not only colonists coming to the New World and immigrants wishing to leave their home countries, but as the country developed, also to individuals living in the United States. The concept of the American …

Easter Morning And New Realities: To Be Made Alive Together With, Aaron Baart

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"You and I were made alive together with Christ. So when he was raised from the dead, so were we. When he conquered sin and death, and hell, and all its final implications, in a very real way, so did we."

Posting about celebrating new life in Christ from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/easter-morning-and-new-realities-to-be-made-alive-together-with/

The Lives And Deaths Of Flora Mac-Ivor And Rose Bradwardine: Romance And Reality In Sir Walter Scott's Waverley, Monica D. Allen

Student Works

In Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley, Scott presents the problem of romance versus reality. He does this by personifying romance and reality through Flora Mac Ivor and Rose Bradwardine. Flora, with her passion, represents romance. While Rose, a more mellow character, represents reality. Waverley finds that he must choose between them. Rose is a “kindred spirit” to him, while Flora resembles “one of his daydreams.” They embody these ideas through a physical location. Flora’s location is the romantic Scottish Highlands, and Rose’s location is simply her father’s home. Besides location, the figurative deaths of Flora and Rose embody romance and …

Being Grateful For My "Stupid Little Life": Why We Need Movies, Jason Lief

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"More and more I’m convinced the current cultural paradigm leaves us too thin. The practical and objective approach to reality doesn’t attend to the complexity and mystery of the created world; it doesn’t attend to the complexity and mystery of our humanity."

Posting about how movies help make sense of our experiences from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/being-grateful-for-my-stupid-little-life-why-we-need-movies/

Delivering Sustainable Building Projects - Challenges, Reality And Success, Haleh Rasekh, Timothy J. Mccarthy

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This research concerns the delivery of sustainable building projects. These projects are defined as those which either attempt to achieve green ratings or are claimed to address certain sustainability issues. A key focus is to examine how the client's vision for sustainability is achieved or compromised by the practicality of construction. Two sustainability rating systems, the Australian Green Star and the Living Building Challenge from the U.S. are discussed. This research examines two projects; one university multipurpose building (SMART Infrastructure Facility); and an advanced research facility, the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC). The methodology used is semi-structured interviews of key …

Matteo Garrone's Reality:The Big Brother Spectacle And Its Rupture, Anna Paparcone Bronner

Faculty Journal Articles

In Garrone’s film, Reality, the protagonist Luciano Ciotola becomes obsessed with his participation in the reality TV show Big Brother to the point that his whole life turns into a spectacle. In Italian cinema studies no other scholar had yet analyzed this film, despite its success and the very engaging and up-to-date topic. In my article, at the diegetic level, I show that the spectator experiences an overlap and a (con)fusion between Luciano’s everyday reality and his life as a member of the reality TV show. However, keeping in mind Guy Debord’s seminal work The Society of the Spectacle and …

Mediating The Sacred: Popular Culture As Liturgical Icon In A Secular Age, Jason Lief

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

This presentation explores how popular culture and the new forms of technology that mediate it function as a "cultural liturgy" within the immanent frame of secularity. Poetic and symbolic expressions that mediate the sacred within the lived experience of young people will be shared. Icons within the secular experience of young people in the West can be seen positively by Christians. This paper draws from research conducted for a forthcoming book on the relationship between Heavy Metal music and Theology.

Prince Myshkin As A Tragic Interpretation Of Don Quixote, Slav N. Gratchev Phd

Modern Languages Faculty Research

Surprisingly, although virtually no one doubts Dostoevsky’s profound and direct indebtedness to Cervantes, and the Quixote–Myshkin identity is obvious, no one has ever mentioned or analyzed how Myshkin, the character more dialogically elaborate and versatile, turned out to be more limited in literary expressivity than his more “monological” counterpart. The focus on this essay is the question of what weakened the realness of Dostoevsky’s favorite hero, and what negatively affected his literary answerability.

From Science Fiction To Reality: The Dawn Of The Biofabricator, Gordon G. Wallace

Australian Institute for Innovative Materials - Papers

[extract] Science is catching up to science fiction. Last year a paralysed man walked again after cell treatment bridged a gap in his spinal cord. Dozens of people have had bionic eyes implanted, and it may also be possible to augment them to see into the infra-red or ultra-violet. Amputees can control bionic limb implant with thoughts alone.

Computerized And Virtual Reality Cognitive Training For Individuals At High Risk Of Cognitive Decline: Systematic Review Of The Literature, Hannah Coyle, Victoria Traynor, Nadia Solowij

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of cognitive training, specifically computerized cognitive training (CCT) and virtual reality cognitive training (VRCT), programs for individuals living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia and therefore at high risk of cognitive decline. After searching a range of academic databases (CINHAL, PSYCinfo, and Web of Science), the studies evaluated (N = 16) were categorized as CCT (N = 10), VRCT (N = 3), and multimodal interventions (N = 3). Effect sizes were calculated, but a meta-analysis was not possible because of the large variability of study design and outcome measures …

Moral Panics And Body Cameras, Howard Wasserman

Faculty Publications

This Commentary uses the lens of "moral panics" to evaluate public support for equipping law enforcement with body cameras as a response and solution to events in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. Body cameras are a generally good policy idea. But the rhetoric surrounding them erroneously treats them as the single guaranteed solution to the problem of excessive force and police-citizen conflicts, particularly by ignoring the limitations of video evidence and the difficult questions of implementing the body camera program. In overstating the case, the rhetoric of body cameras becomes indistinguishable from rhetoric surrounding responses to past moral panics.

We Make Ourselves Real By Telling The Truth: Merton And Aging, Glenn J. Morrison

Philosophy Papers and Journal Articles

In No Man is an Island, Thomas Merton asserts that, “We make ourselves real by telling the truth”. Where such transcendent truth uncovers the reality of the self, there is something about the “telling” of a narrative that gives life to the psyche in both the body and soul together. When the process of ageing anchors itself in a formative journey of reminiscence and storytelling, it seeks to be grounded in the reality of spirituality, the very desire to become real. Reality then takes on a transcendent perspective in terms of awakening (to the risen Christ’s narrative of truth, love, …

Studying Abroad, Toilet Paper, And Other Exercises In Missing The Point, Rashida Aluko-Roberts

SURGE

I have been in Ghana only for a few days, and I can already tell I am going to love the place­—the people, the food, the environment, all remind me of my home country, Sierra Leone.

However, I don’t think I can adjust to the constant uttering by some of my peers about how this experience “makes them appreciate how much they have.” In the past four days, I have heard that same phrase over and over again. [excerpt]

Reining Over Reality: Power And Performance In Shakespeare's Henry Viii And Richard Iii, Katherine A. Cahill

English Publications and Other Works

Plots. Hidden motives. Subtlety, falseness, treachery: Richard III, Wolsey—each of these leaders engage in the craft of deception, in subtle avenues of power-wielding, to preserve authority. Wolsey flatters, double deals, and eliminates other favorites with King Henry VIII in his desire to achieve the papacy. Similarly, Richard III lies, betrays, kills, and flatters his way to the throne. William Shakespeare’s Henry VIII and Richard III each, in following its respective monarch, examine performance as it’s used to gain, maintain, and wield power.

As the term “performance” carries with it many definitions and connotations, I will define it here as deliberate …

A Uniform Land Tax In Australia: What Is The Potential For This To Be A Reality Post The "Henry Tax Review"?, John A. Mclaren

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Land tax was one of the main issues examined by Dr Ken Henry in his review on "Australia's Future Tax System" and the review recommended its increased importance in raising revenue in Australia. The classical economists such as Smith, Ricardo and Mill recommended the imposition of a tax on land. Henry George also strongly advocated a tax on land instead of a tax on labour or capital. They also contended that such a tax was both efficient and equitable. This paper will examine the current position with land tax in Australia and the views of the early economists advocating the …

Ethnic Diversity Within Australian Homes: Has Television Caught Up To Social Reality?, Natascha Klocker

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Inter-ethnic intimacy is on the rise in Australia, bringing an unprecedented level of ethnic diversity into our homes. Yet analyses of media representations of ethnic diversity have concentrated on the community level, neglecting the intimate sphere of family life. This paper explores the possibilities and limits of love within and across ethnic boundaries on fictional Australian television programmes. The results of a nine-week content analysis reveal a mixed picture. Inter-ethnic intimacy was regularly portrayed; but committed, long-term relationships across ethnic boundaries (marriage and co-habitation) were scarce. And although Australian television producers did not shy away from portraying physical intimacy across …

Quality Of Experience-Based Image Feature Selection For Mobile Augmented Reality Applications, Yi Cao, Christian H. Ritz, Raad Raad

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Mobile augmented reality applications rely on automatically recognising a visual scene through matching of derived image features. To ensure the Quality of Experience (QoE) perceived by users, such applications should achieve high matching accuracy meanwhile minimizing the waiting time to meet real-time requirement. An efficient solution is to develop an effective feature selection method to select the most robust features against distortions caused by camera capture to achieve high matching accuracy whilst transmission and matching process of the features are significant reduced. Feature selection is also beneficial to reducing the computational complexities of the matching system so that waiting time …