Digital Commons Network^™

Maps And Meaning: Reading The Map Of The Holy Land, Noga Collins-Kreiner

The Qualitative Report

The research methods of hermeneutics and semiotics were used to analyze maps of the Holy Land. The main conclusion of this study is how those methods could help us to read and understand maps. Other issues of concern are which religious elements actually appear and their form of representation in the range of maps. Narratives identified on the various maps were the holy Christian narrative- which proved the most dominant, the Jewish narrative and the Muslim narrative that was rarely found in the maps, even in those with a Palestinian narrative. A ubiquitous finding was disregarded for political issues, although …

Systematic Metaphor Analysis As A Method Of Qualitative Research, Rudolph Schmitt

The Qualitative Report

George Lakoff and Mark Johnsons theory of metaphor (1980, 1999) provides a basis for describing everyday cognitive structures using linguistic models and thus, making it possible to uncover both individual and collective patterns of thought and action. Lakoff and Johnson have not, however, developed a workable system for carrying out qualitative research. This paper outlines the fundamentals of this approach and proposes a procedure for the reconstruction of metaphorical concepts. As is normally the case in qualitative research, such guidelines can only ever represent the interplay between the ability of the researcher to understand the sense of things and the …

Research As Improvisation: Dancing Among Perspectives, Glenda-Mae Greene, Shirley Freed

The Qualitative Report

This article captures the way research methods were intertwined with core identities to understand the success development of Caribbean-Canadian women. It highlights the importance of researchers experimenting with a blend of perspectives to fit their problem as well as their identity. Viewing the research process through the eyes of the researcher and her dissertation chair, issues of validity and collaboration emerge. Ultimately both authors listen to family voices as they dance among research perspectives.

Development Of An Underwater Infrared Camera To Detect Manatees, Edward O. Keith

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

In calendar year 2004, watercraft related mortality was the second leading cause of death of the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) accounting for 25% of total known manatee deaths. In an attempt to reduce this significant cause of manatee mortality, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute has instituted two rounds of Manatee Avoidance Technology grants. Herein I report the results of an evaluation of the ability of underwater infrared video cameras to detect captive manatees and other non-living targets. If such cameras could detect manatees at sufficient distances, they could be mounted in the bows of watercraft …

The Knight Volume 15: Issue 27, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Deconstructing The “War Of All Against All”: The Prevalence And Implications Of War Metaphors And Other Adversarial News Schema In Time, Newsweek, And Maclean’S, Michael Karlberg, Leslie Buell

Peace and Conflict Studies

This study examines and critiques the discursive construction of a Hobbesian “war of all against all” in North American commercial news magazines. The prevalence of war metaphors and related adversarial news schemas is documented over a twenty year period, from 1981 to 2000, through an analysis of TIME and Newsweek, along with their Canadian counterpart Maclean’s. After documenting the pervasiveness of these discursive constructs, the paper discusses the underlying causes and potential consequences of these patterns in commercial news discourse. The paper concludes by asserting that this discursively constructed “war of all against all” is highly problematic and unsustainable in …

Volume 12, Number 1 (Spring 2005), Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

The Distancing Question In Online Education , Glenn Russell

Innovate: Journal of Online Education

No abstract provided.

Editor’S Reflections: Developing New Programs In Peace And Conflict Studies, Honggang Yang

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

The field of peace and conflict studies has grown remarkably around the globe over the past few decades. In this new millennium, there will be a greater number of educational offerings being considered or launched in various higher education institutions, for the community and the world are in need of such interdisciplinary inquiries and multi-professional applications. As a long-time academic facilitator and administrator, I would like to take this opportunity to share with the PCS readers some of my experiences and observations in this arena, from an administrative and financial perspective. My hope is to assist colleagues and students …

Selling Mediation: Mimetic, Distancing, And Appellating Practices In The Marketing Of An Emerging Profession, Andrew Woolford, R. S. Ratner

Peace and Conflict Studies

Individuals both within and outside the legal profession have been drawn by the ‘promise’ of mediation. In it they see a means for facilitating communicative exchanges between actors in conflict, which they view as a dramatic improvement on the adversarial practices of the formal legal system. However, despite the appeal of mediation to potential practitioners, there is not yet sufficient consumer demand to sustain the number of people who possess mediation skills. This has resulted in an overcrowded mediation market in which practitioners are forced to market themselves so as to compete for a limited clientele. In this context, the …

Intragroup Subgroup Attitude Clustering, External Intervention, And Intergroup Interaction Patterns: Toward A Dynamical Model Of Protracted Intergroup Conflict, Peter T. Coleman, Adam Schneider, Douglass S. Adams, Catherine James Everett, Timothy A. Gameros, Lee R. Hammons, Cecil C. Orji, Ralph M. Waugh, Richard F. Wicker Iii

Peace and Conflict Studies

Scholars and practitioners working with protracted conflicts in polarized communities have long recognized the complex dynamics between intragroup disputes and intergroup relations in these settings. In fact, the multitude of factors interacting within and between groups in these conflicts, and their tendency to change over time, largely contributes to their intractable natures. Unfortunately, the ability of scholars to conduct research on such dynamic phenomena has been largely constrained by the atomistic, linear approach of traditional research models and methods. However, recent advances in dynamical systems theory have provided a new set of tools for developing computer simulations that allow us …

The Knight Volume 15: Issue 26, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Knight Volume 15: Issue 25, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Wage Discrimination In The Workplace 1963 - 2005, Latisha Gaither

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The Equal Pay Act of 1964, Title VII of the Civil Right’s Act of 1964 and other pieces of legislation have established that “equal pay for equal work” is the law of the land. Recent studies suggest that while wage differentials are narrowing they remain significant. A 2004 study by the Department of Labor revealed that while there has been steady and significant progress in education and skill development over the past several decades, women who work full time still earn only 75 cents for every dollar that a man earns. More importantly, fully one third, or eleven cents of …

The Targeting Of Women In The Advertising And Weight-Loss Industries, Lauren Adamczyk

Undergraduate Student Symposium

“The most powerful diet pill ever discovered! No diet or workout required. The secret weight-loss pill behind Fitness models, Show Biz and Entertainment professionals! No prescription required to order” (USFTC 14).

There is an ever-increasing desire to be thin among women in the United States. Why is this? Advertising is one of the primary reasons pencil thin women have become the ideal. Previous to the depiction of women as extremely thin, full figured women were the sign of health, beauty, and status. Now that the advertising industry has chosen these images to portray success and attractiveness, the weight loss industry …

The Princess And The Dragon, Jennifer Keating

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Even if one kingdom was on friendly terms with Edinburg, King Farvuew would have to relinquish his whole kingdom to the other. Then how could he face his ancestors who had been fighting for this land for generations. No, his daughter would have to marry a knight. The thought of a man not brought up in the royal ways taking his place humiliated Farvuew, but not as much as passing over the kingdom. King Farvuew was witnessed now and again pacing around the castle muttering, “a prince? No, it must be a knight. But a knight is so degrading. But …

A Possibility, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

She’s only seventeen, naïve little thing.

Big dreams with positive motivation, as far as it seems,

      destiny confirms doubtful obligations.

She’s only a princess, praying for her prince.

What is it she strives for? What is it she lives and breathes for?

Look at her, sitting there—just waiting.

The way she smiles—there is only one.

The way she laughs—there are so many.

Social Perceptions Of Cohabitation In Undergraduate College Students, Lela Rogers-Whitson, Natasha Romero, Sivan Shammay, Ana M. Rodriguez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The present study investigated undergraduate college students’ perceptions, attitudes, and values about cohabitation. Cohabitation is operationally defined as a couple living together in an intimate, heterosexual union, without being legally married (Sassler, 2004). Current research demonstrates that cohabitation is becoming a transitional stage between singlehood and marriage in the United States (Seltzer, 2000). This study was designed to examine differences between individuals who never cohabitated versus those who would. Participants were from a private southeastern college campus. Recruited college students (N = 195) completed a Likert-test scale consisting of 50 questions about their attitudes toward cohabitation and 10 demographic questions. …

Should The Consumer Population Purchase Juvenon To Slow Down The Aging Process?, Katina Campos

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have conducted a clinical study which claims to slow down the aging process of cells, by restoring proper carnitine acetyltransferase (CAT) function via combining the substrate acetyl L-carnitine (ALCAR) with alpha lipoic acid (LA). CAT is an enzyme involved in the breakdown of food molecules in the mitochondria. One result from this study is the commercially available health supplement, Juvenon. This "award winning team of scientists" claim that Juvenon, as advertised in Popular Science magazine promotes healthy brain cell functioning, slows down the clock on your aging cells, sustains energy levels …

Rna Analysis Prior To Use In Microarrays, Zakiat Darojat

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Extracting RNA from an organism and isolation of mRNA is an intermediate step done prior to its use in further applications. Therefore, assessment of RNA presence, including its quality is important. There are many techniques that are currently available; however, they can be time consuming or sample consuming. The purpose of this experiment was to determine an efficient way to assess RNA prior to using the sample in a microarray-based study. Twenty hours after Saccharomyces cerevisiae was plated on YEPD media, RNA was extracted using Ambion’s RiboPure Yeast Kit. Different protocols were examined to determine an efficient way to analyze …

Further Studies To Determine Subspecies Identity Of Panthers By Examining The Nadh-5 Gene Obtained Originally From Clotted Blood And Hair For Conservation Applications, Marta Hubert, Marimer Gonzalez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The goal of this project to further research done previously to determine the subspecies identity of a panther (named Sasha) currently living in a zoo in Ecuador. Although Sasha is thought to be a South American puma (Puma concolor concolor). This is primarily due to local belief and she is likely to actually be a Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) brought to Ecuador from south Florida in the early 1980s. The mitochondrial gene NADH-5 (ND5) has been used as a genetic marker in several large- scale studies establishing genomic ancestry and subspecies identity of pumas. As …

Do Cells Grown In The Same Environment At The Same Time Express The Same Genes: Got Cdna?, Maria Farrell

Undergraduate Student Symposium

An innovative and powerful tool for analyzing gene expression is the microarray. In this experiment, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast cells) were examined to determine whether gene expression would be similar for two samples grown in the same environment. RNA was extracted and its quality and quantity was assessed. cDNA was made from the mRNA (taken from the total RNA sample) and its subsequent presence was verified by amplifying a known gene that should always be expressed, TDH1, and visualizing it on an agarose gel. The cDNA samples were labeled with the appropriate fluorescent dyes and hybridized to the array. The slide …

Cosmic Ray Telescope, Andrew Barry, Rezwan Alam, Adriana Ardeljan, Moataz Behairy, Fahd Sattar, Sally Gaertner, Shweta Shah

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this project was to construct an apparatus known as a “Cosmic Ray Telescope” and use it to detect cosmic ray activity by detecting the frequency and intensity of muon emittance by these cosmic rays. Muons are subatomic particles that travel at relativistic speeds and contribute to a harmless amount of “background radiation” originating from outer space. The presence of this radiation was first recorded in 1911 by Austrian physicist Victor Hess during a series of experiments with a Geiger counter in a hot air balloon to detect the radiation at that elevation level. This project has similar …

An Investigative Study Using Computer Games As A Method For Creating Friendships, Thomas Brown

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This research projects examines, if any, the relationship between establishing friendships and computer games. As more people start to play Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games or MMORPG, the chance to interact with multitudes of other people arises. The question that this research examines is whether computer games, in particular MMORPG, can be used as a basis to establish friendships. It seems only natural that friendships could be formed from playing these types of games considering the fact that on a daily basis people are interacting with one another. Unfortunately, most of the current research involving computer games is about computer …

The World Is Spoiled With Oil, Michael Bergbauer

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Alternative energy sources such as hydrogen and solar power are not feasible fuels for the automotive industry, or any industry. Despite their plausibility as energy sources, they have too many glaring drawbacks—such as cost effectiveness and compatibility—to act as primary fuel sources. As our nonrenewable oil supplies run low, many people believe that alternative fuels will serve as suitable replacements for oil. This article informs people about the serious flaws of alternative fuels—hydrogen and solar power—and the threat of oil depletion.

The Library, Stephen Deck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A short story about a librarian who breaks his glasses on his way to work, and the day he spends without them. The focus is primarily on the visual aspects of being without glasses, the world as it appears to the myopic. Freed somewhat from a reliance on normal sight, the protagonist discovers a new clarity and freedom.

Shock Collar: Love Hurts?, Vien Tran

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This is a persuasive policy speech aiming at reducing the usage of shock collar, an electronic device to stop dogs from barking. The problem with shock collar is that it produces undesirable results, such as instilling fear in the animals or increasing their aggressive behaviors. This speech calls for moderate intervention from the state government, like requiring a license for possessing shock collars, and attempts to persuade the audience to help by keeping the public informed about the ineffectiveness of shock collars.

Seppuku, Stephen Deck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A poem of self immolation and redemption. It is set in an extended metaphor of the Japanese samurai's ritual suicide, undertaken when no other option would allow the samurai's honor to survive. The poem attempts to capture the idea of discarding, violently, old identities when they are no longer viable, and the need for recreating a functional self afterwards.

Passing On The Left, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Small, everyday activities often reflect on subconscious thoughts. The world we live in grows more fast-paced by the day. There are not enough hours daily for all of the things that one wishes to do to be finished so people rush. People rush through work; they rush through life. Why? Because everyone wants to achieve and be the best. This is explored through the simple action of driving and being held up by a slow car in the left lane. The constant desire to pass people on the road is reflexive of our daily lives where we often seek to …

I Love Lucy, Rafia Chodhry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Cloning is a very controversial issue in our society today. This journalistic piece of writing is the author’s opinion about the possibility of cloning her dog Lucy. The author first describes her love for Lucy and later discusses that because she loves her so much she might actually clone her.