Digital Commons Network^™

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.

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 …

An Evening Of Grounded Theory: Teaching Process Through Demonstration And Simulation, Frances Huels

The Qualitative Report

Grounded theory can be effectively introduced in a survey course through a combination of lecture/demonstration and simulation. The class session presented here illustrates a way to introduce graduate students to the process of grounded theory and gain hands-on experience through simulation. The lesson utilizes concepts that the students are familiar with, allowing them to focus on the research process, and encourages internalization of concepts through immediate application.

Transformation Of Rural Teachers Earning Graduate Degrees, Susan A. Santo

The Qualitative Report

This study tells the stories of four successful graduate students within a cohort of learners who were earning graduate degrees in technology for education and training by distance. The students were practicing teachers in the Dakota Interactive Academic Link (DIAL) consortium. Courses were offered by the University of South Dakota, using videoconferencing through the statewide Digital Distance Network (DDN) and WebCT asynchronous discussions. Mezirows 1991 theory of transformative learning suggests that adult learners may experience a transformational experience. Results showed that the four study participants experienced major changes in their way of thinking about learning and themselves. Conducting longitudinal studies …

Using Hermeneutics As A Qualitative Research Approach In Professional Practice, Margo Paterson, Joy Higgs

The Qualitative Report

This paper is targeted primarily at doctoral students and others considering hermeneutics as a research strategy. Research using hermeneutics was carried out with occupational therapy educators and clinicians in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK. A total of 53 participants engaged in focus groups and individual interviews over a one-year. The paper explores hermeneutics as a credible, rigorous and creative strategy to address aspects of professional practice that similarly need to be flexible, adaptable to particular needs, and justifiable in the contexts of evidence-based as well as client-centred practice. The hermeneutic study produced A Model of Professional Practice Judgment …

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.

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 …

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.

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 Glamorous Humanitarian” Ad The First-Lady Of Camelot Princess Diana And Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: Larger Than Life, Female Media Icons, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Four journalism greats who were up and coming during the lives of the two 20^th century great female media icons came to speak about how capturing them in print and on film captivated the world’s literate population. The evening was spent in regards to the definition of the icon that these women were and how they achieved iconographic status and the media role in that achievement. The panel furnished their knowledge of the inner workings of the media and their experiences with these women as a base for female use of the media.

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 …

Nova Southeastern University’S Women’S Basketball, Danielle Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A newspaper article covering the performance of NSU's Women's Basketball team at their home tournament. Pictures included mirror the article as it explains the team's two performances and the selected All-Tournament team which included NSU's own Stacey Gaeth. The article allows the reader to envision the two games played by the Knights with play action and supportive statistics.

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.

Governance By The Hope Of Love, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Castiglione’s The Courtier was the decorum book of its time. Everyone was trying to achieve the perfect courtier status so Castiglione used a series of conversations at the court of Urbino to tackle the issue. Through the course of the novel, many people speak of attainable characteristics that the courtier should have. They speak of skills at arms, reputation, breeding and courtier’s dealings with others. Only one person’s speech breaks the mold. Pietro Bembo speaks not of characteristics but of love, neoplatonic love. It can be questioned as to whether this atypical characterization is a necessity in the novel, and …

Holy Cheese-Us!, Rafia Chodhry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This journalistic piece of writing is the author’s opinion about Diana Duyser who sold her holy grilled cheese sandwich for $28,000. The author describes her disbelief about the price that the sandwich was sold for and contradicts the fact that there is actually a Virgin Mary inscribed on the sandwich.

The author also mentions how religion is a sacred thing and profiting from the sale of an ambiguous figure in a sandwich is wrong.

Emilia, Marlon Villalobos

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Fear was indeed the rule he used to measure people’s worth, strength, and chances of success, a determining factor on judging whether people were below him or at his same level, but never above him since he did not believe people to exist above others. So he went through life thinking that no one nor anything could impose such a feeling on him; Marlon, however, would be unpleasantly surprised on the morning of November 29, 1987 when his friend Luciano and him were to attend a meeting in one of the small villages of the western region of the parish …

Day After The Storm, Vien Tran

Undergraduate Student Symposium

“Day After the Storm” is an essay celebrating the wonders of life. The day after a storm hits his town, the author travels on a journey through a devastated park to visit a young oak tree he helps plant there. His anxiety and imagination personify the elements of nature such as rushing wind, quiet water or fallen branches as wishing him defeat in finding his tree in a good state of being. To his own amazement, the young oak tree survives the hardship of nature. In this experience, the author gains appreciation for the victory of life, as humble as …

Black Brother, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Black brother, love me so tenderly.

         Feel you running thru my veins, pooling with joy.

I’m at natural state when I’m with you.

          Incomparable to those brighter shades of the rainbow.

Black brother, deep as the ocean runs, strong as a lion, swift like the cheetah, graceful as crane, witty like that of the feline, loyal to woman as her heart will allow, and beautifully structured in every way God’s blessed you.

An Opinion On Small Children And Gender Roles, Alisha Van Hoose

Undergraduate Student Symposium

In this article, examples of small children (i.e. between the ages of 4 and 6) who express a “men are in charge of women” attitude that goes beyond the usual playground “boys are better than girls” sort of competition are presented. Examining this, possible sources for the development of such attitudes are brought up, and the conclusion is reached that without the likelihood of prominent gender roles being observed in adults in preschools and playgroups, such attitudes are most likely learned at home. Families are cautioned to examine the expressions of decision-making and other facets of their relationships which may …

A Siren Of The Sea Clutching My Pearls, Marie Cuneo

Undergraduate Student Symposium

What is this thing inside me . . . aching breaking rejuvenating

again and again Incessant nagging at the mind

and wrenching of the heart my strand of pearls slapping against the skin

What is this thing inside me . . .

aching

breaking

rejuvenating

       again and again

Incessant nagging at the mind

and wrenching of the heart

my strand of pearls slapping against the skin

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 …

Transmission, Symptoms And Complications Of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Sherry Langstaff, Leslie Friedberg, Marisa Dominguez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A sexually transmitted disease is an infection acquired through direct sexual contact. This poster explores the symptoms and portals of entry for transmission of different STD’s. Many sexually transmitted diseases may lead to severe infections such as Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), perihepitis and infertility. These complications will be explored as well as the methods to diagnose and treat sexually transmitted diseases. The STD’s to be covered include gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, HIV/AIDS, bacterial vaginosis, chlamydia, genital warts, granuloma, lymphogranuloma, trichomoniasis, hepatitis, chancroid, and molluscum.

The Use Of Biomarkers In Diagnosis And Treatment Of Traumatic Brain Injury, Claudia X. Cortes

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major central nervous system (CNS) disorder. The most frequent indicators of TBI are magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT) scans, which are highly expensive, and their sensitivity is limited to the first 24 hours after injury. There is a substantial need for finding other reliable methods including the development of biomarkers to assess the condition of brain cells after presumed injury. Biomarkers are correlated with disease severity, time course of disease progression and drug response. This literature review focuses on four different types of biomarkers –Serum S100B, II-spectrin Breakdown Products, Serum T^{c …}

The Relationship Between Body Image And Culture, Risel Borrego, Giselle Gaviria, Jennifer Haselberger, Natasha Romero

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this research is to determine how individuals rate body image based on shape of the body and ethnicity of the person being evaluated. Further, this research explores whether culture of the participant is a variable that impacts individuals’ sense of body image. By discovering whether culture plays a role in how individuals view body image, people and organizations may be better able to work with individuals who have body image issues. The participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire is composed of 5 questions which are used when looking at 15 pictures. The pictures …

The Effects Of Media In Times Of War, Alana Trombetta, Diane Kedzierski, Monique Mendez, Jane Fray

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Throughout time and most recently, the media has been presumed to have a great impact on the way the general population forms opinions about a wide range of topics. Research shows that the media may not affect people directly, but can change their attitudes about someone or something because of the manner in which it is presented, especially highly controversial topics (Gunther & Storey, 2003; Reedy, 2003). The purpose of this study is to determine whether the media has an effect on subjects’ views on a hotly debated topic such as the Iraq War. A fifteen item questionnaire was designed …

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 …

Tgf-β Signaling And Oncogenesis, Nika Ferdowsi

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The objective of this literature-based investigation is to review the current model used to describe how TGF-β signaling is involved in the oncogenic process. The transforming growth factors-β are a group of signaling polypeptides that control cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis. TGF-βs and their receptors are expressed in virtually all tissues. TGF-β works as tumor suppressor in pre and early oncogenic stages. However, as tumor growth progresses, TGF-β switches to pro-oncogenic activities. TGF-β type proteins work via a signal transduction pathway that involves the activation of key proteins known as Smads. Smads are directly involved in transcription by entering the …