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Navigating The Starless Night: Strategies For Understanding Autobiogeography, Matthew Wolf-Meyer, Davin Heckman

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Ancient mapmakers relied upon the presence of celestial bodies for their conceptualization of the world, for their external knowledge-making tools, as if a far-off body could help to make sense of our terrestrial life/as if it couldn't. Cosmology, as a practice, relied on the construction of an external body of knowledge that the local meaning-maker could situate him- or herself into, and more broadly, their entire society and culture -- the interior is determined by its relationship to the exterior (or the exteriorized). For the ancient Greeks then, the font of Western culture, this cosmology works at once …

Autobiography And Geography: A Self-Arranging Question, Frédéric Regard

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The border between fiction and truth in autobiography has been the subject of numerous investigations, yet the question of what we might call the assignations to residence of the author remains largely ignored. Critics have written abundantly about autobiography in its relation to the origin of the author as living personality with his own story, but never truly treated the idea of the spatial modalities, the layout, of the author's writing self. In his relatively unknown 1967 article On Other Places, Michel Foucault, then on assignment in Tunis, saw in this thematic situation the stage of a …

Processes Of Embodiment And Spatialization In The Writings Of Paul Auster, Markus Rheindorf

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Processes of embodiment and the spatialization of interior categories such as thought and memory are defining characteristics of Paul Auster's novels, essays, and poetry, and a brief survey of these aspects can offer a new perspective on Auster's oeuvre as an organic whole. It is the underlying assumption of this paper that the transformation of interior into exterior constitutes a specific instance of the transpositional processes discussed therein. Within the theoretical framework of cultural studies -- as opposed to the more narrowly defined literary studies -- such transformations can be regarded as processes of embodiment, that is to …

Framing Intelligibility, Identity And Selfhood: A Reconsideration Of Spatio-Temporal Models, Sally Munt

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The relationship between intelligibility and identity over the past thirty years has largely been approached through the linguistic construct of the subject. Proposing that our subjectivities be theoretically comprehended (made intelligible) as discursive effects is now common sense. Poststructuralism, following particularly Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan, has ensured that the subject is a cardinal category of contemporary thought; in any number of disciplines, it is one of the first concepts we teach to our undergraduates. But are we best served by continuing to insist on the intellectual primacy of the subject, formulated as it has been …

On Public Culture 12.3: Special Issue On Cosmopolitanism (2000), Dorothy Barenscott

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

For those engaged in any dimension of the vastly complex and highly contentious network of ideas, theories, and interdisciplinary projects under the rubric Cultural Studies, <> is a valuable, if not essential, journal. Since its inception some fourteen years ago, <> has maintained its mandate of intervention, creating a valuable and much needed space to publish politically charged and critically engaged work, often by unknown and marginalized scholars. Today these names read like a virtual who's who of the cultural studies world -- Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, Jurgen Habermas, Michael Taussig, Dipesh Chakrabarty to name but a few. This of …

Organizational Climate And Commitment: A Case Study Of An Urban Nonprofit Organization, William Sawyer Grant

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This qualitative study investigates the relationship between the two constructs: Organizational Climate and Organizational Commitment.

Litwin and Stringer (1968) suggested that a molar model is needed to explain employee behavior and motivation. Climate was proposed as this molar construct. Research concerning Organizational Climate resulted in multiple definitions and little consensus concerning the number and use of multiple dimensions of this construct. The almost exclusive use of survey methods coupled with methodological confusion with Organizational Culture created difficulty with the use of this important construct.

Organizational Commitment research resulted in a number of competing definitions. Research by Meyer and Allen (1997) …

Activist Desire, Cultural Criticism, And The Situationist International, David Banash

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In the world of Anglo-American criticism, Situationism was once the province of hip theorists, progressive art historians, and a few scattered Marxists. No more, for the nineties saw Situationism come from obscure movement to the defiant avant of our cultural-critical-garde. Not only has the past decade seen the publication of a dozen books, countless articles, dissertations, and both academic and activist web-sites, the Situationists have moved right into the main line of pop-culture. Situationist graffiti turns up as the epigraph for gen-xer Elizabeth Wurtzel's Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women (1988), and, with Rolling Stone darling Greil Marcus's …

Peptide Hydrolysis, Amino Acid Oxidation, And Nitrogen Uptake In Communities Seasonally Dominated By Aureococcus Anophagefferens, Margaret R. Mulholland, Christopher J. Gobler, Cindy Lee

OES Faculty Publications

Elevated levels of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) are among the factors implicated in the initiation of algal blooms. However, the degree to which phytoplankton augment their autotrophic metabolism with heterotrophic uptake of organic carbon that is associated with DON is unknown. We evaluated the relative importance of peptide hydrolysis, amino acid oxidation, and amino acid uptake over a seasonal cycle in an embayment on Long Island, New York, that had high concentrations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and a bloom of the brown tide pelagophyte, Aureococcus anophagefferens. Amino acids were a significant component (up …

Phosphorus Dynamics In Cultures And Natural Populations Of Trichodesmium Spp, Margaret R. Mulholland, Sheri Floge, Edward J. Carpenter, Douglas G. Capone

OES Faculty Publications

Trichodesmium spp. fix atmospheric N₂ and so an element other than N limits production by these species in the oligotrophic ocean. Because dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) is in short supply in many marine systems, it has been hypothesized that P is a growth-limiting nutrient for these species in nature. However, Trichodesmium is capable of hydrolyzing dissolved organic P (DOP) compounds and the inorganic products from hydrolysis may provide an additional source of P for growth. We investigated P dynamics and alkaline phosphatase activity in cultures and natural populations of Trichodesmium from the Atlantic Ocean and the north coast of …

Latin American-United States Security Relations And The Power Asymmetry Divide, Matthew R. Slater

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Security relations between Latin American and the United States are generally well explained by hegemonic stability theory. Succinctly stated, hegemonic stability theory explains that in systems with a hegemonic power there is a greater likelihood of security cooperation. This is because a hegemon provides public goods, such as a stable currency or security from outside interference, and in turn, the less powerful states acknowledge the leadership of the dominant state. When compared to other regions it is readily apparent that the U.S. and Latin America do not have major security issues on the level of East Asia, the Middle East, …

Geek Culture: An Annotated Interdisciplinary Bibliography, William L. Svitavsky

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In recent years, there have been numerous studies on science fiction fans, role-playing games, comic book fans, and the culture of those strongly interested in computers. When a study profiles a group engaged in one of these activities, it is not unusual for the group's participation in the other activities to be mentioned as well. In popular culture (as opposed to studies of popular culture), this overlap has been recognized all along. Each of these groups has been ridiculed as geeks or nerds, and each has subverted those terms into proud self-identification. In his work on media fandom, …

The Effects Of Cultural Values On Acceptance Of Human Resource Management Decisions, Ying Liu

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined the effects of six culture values, including Hofstede's (1984, 1991) power distance, individualism/collectivism, long-term and short-term orientation, Trompenaars'1994) achievement/ascription, universalism/particularism, and relationship to nature, on reactions to human resource management decisions. Data were collected from 110 Chinese students in China and 82 American students in the U.S. A questionnaire containing vignettes depicting different human resource management practices was used to measure the impact of cultural values. Omnibus multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences between Chinese and Americans on the cultural values of power distance, collectivism/individualism, long-term and short term orientation, ascription/achievement, and the relationship to …

The Role Of The Internet In Chinese Foreign And Domestic Affairs, Jean Bowman Leedy

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Problem: Rapid dissemination of Internet technology and the free access to information it affords poses a threat to non-democratic states that rely on control of information to maintain power and stability. This is of substantial concern to the Communist regime in The People's Republic of China due to the fact that its repressed population constitutes the fastest growing body of Internet users in the world.

Methods: This paper examines the potential impact of the Internet on Chinese foreign and domestic policy through interpretation of existing literature as it applies to the Internet, interviews with experts studying the emergence of China's …

Bolshevism And The Avant-Garde: Marxist Ideology And The Aesthetics Of Soviet Film, 1923-28, Garrett H. Booker

History Theses & Dissertations

When Eisenstein's Strike burst onto the cultural scene in 1925, Soviet cinema began a creative odyssey that left to posterity a brilliant collection of films that redefined the manner in which audiences viewed them. Not only was the form of these films dynamic and innovative, but their content captured the heroic actions of a new historical subject, the revolutionary proletariat. As the Soviet State assumed control over the production of films, politics imprinted its indelible mark on the content of these films, especially as Stalin tightened his grip over all aspects of artistic life. The author of this project will …

Market Orientation: Towards An Understanding In Developing Marketplaces Of South America, Howard Warren Olsen

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Theory development is essential for the health and wellbeing of marketing as it provides boundaries and a foundation for the growth of the discipline. Kohli and Jaworski's (1990, 1993) efforts provided the critical first step in the evolution of market orientation theory. However, evidence has not confirmed regularities in various industry circumstances as well as different international marketplaces. The literature is replete with a variety of different scales that have been used. Finally, the concept of market orientation is based upon the premise that such activities enhance business performance, but requisite performance measures have not been properly matched with the …

Incorporating Heterogeneity In Command Center Interactions, Holly A. H. Handley, Alexander H. Levis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

One of the many complexities of multinational coalition operations stems from differences in culture, military procedures, and command and control processes between the cooperating command centers. These differences can influence the interactions between decision makers of different command centers and can affect the outcome of the coalition operation. A coalition model, composed of individual models of the five-stage interacting decision maker model, was used in a virtual experiment. The subjective parameters included in the decision maker model can be any attribute that characterizes the heterogeneity of the decision makers. In this case, the parameters of power distance and uncertainty avoidance …

From Johnson To Nixon: Narrative Shifts In Gay Male Pornography, Jeremiah Smith

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility, Michael Bronski argues that dramatic differences occurred in gay male pornographic magazines around the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City. With a sample of gay male print pornography my partner and I have collected, ranging from 1966 to 1970, this article will explore the differences proposed by Bronski and ultimately prove their truth. On the surface, it does appear that the magazines prior to 1969 attempt to masquerade their gay prurience while the artifacts published after 1969 had shed the shame and secrecy of the closet rejoiced in …

Control Of Phytoplankton Growth By Iron Supply And Irradiance In The Subantarctic Southern Ocean: Experimental Results From The Saz Project, P. W. Boyd, A. C. Crossley, G. R. Ditullio, F. B. Griffiths, D. A. Hutchins, B. Queguiner, Peter N. Sedwick, T. W. Trull

OES Faculty Publications

The influence of irradiance and Fe supply on phytoplankton processes was studied, north (47°S, 142°E) and south (54°S, 142°E) of the Subantarctic Front in austral autumn (March 1998). At both sites, resident cells exhibited nutrient stress (F_v/F_m 0 at 47°S and 9% I₀ at 54°S because of MLDs of 40 (47°S) and 90 m (54°S), when these stations were occupied. The greater MLD at 54°S is reflected by tenfold higher cellular chlorophyll a levels in the resident phytoplankton. In the 47°S experiment, chlorophyll a levels increased to >1 μg/L^-1 only in the high-Fe treatments, regardless …

Caste, Desire, And The Representation Of The Gendered Other In U. R. Ananthamurthy's “Samskara,” “Ghatashraddha,” And “Akkayya”, Krishna Manavalli

English Theses & Dissertations

U.R. Ananthamurthy is an important Kannada writer who is situated in the navya (modern) literary movement that emerged in Karnataka in the post-independence South Indian context. This modern writer's works provide crucial insights into the postcolonial tensions of tradition-modernity, which figure importantly in modern Kannada literature. They engage with the issues of caste and gender in terms of the conflict between tradition and progress in the modern South Indian cultural discourse. Ananthamurthy's novel Samskara written in the 60's, and his short story “Ghatashraddha,” and “Akkayya,” written later, show how this writer's location within the upper caste discourse impacts his commitment …

A Study To Determine The Differences Between On-Campus Degree Seeking Students And Teletechnet Degree Seeking Students In Academic Performance, Tiffany K. Doxsee

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

To find the solution to this problem, the following hypothesis was established: There will be no difference in academic success between on-campus degree seeking students and TELETECHNET distance learning degree seeking students in the undergraduate Occupational and Technical Studies program at Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Virginia.

Sales Training Practices In Malaysia: Comparisons Of Domestic And Multinational Companies, Mohamad Asri Jantan

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation expands the domestic sales training research into international settings by examining and comparing sales training practices of domestic and multinational companies (MNCs) in Malaysia. Fourteen hypotheses were proposed and examined: (1) the two groups' comparative sales training practices; (2) the two groups' sales managers' perceptions toward important sales training tasks; (3) the relationships of the different perceptions toward important sales training tasks to sales 9 managers' performance measures; and (4) the effect of two groups' demographic variables on perceived adequacy of the overall sales training programs.

Cross-sectional data were collected via self-administered questionnaires distributed to sales managers, marketing …

Comparative Literature In The United States, Manuela MourãO

English Faculty Publications

In her article, "Comparative Literature in the United States," Manuela Mourão offers a historical overview of the debates about comparative literature as a discipline, from the early years of its institutionalization in the United States until the present. Mourão summarizes the most pointed -- and anxious -- interventions of prominent scholars in the field and she discusses the permanent sense of crisis that has typically been part of the discipline. Further, Mourão links the permanent anxiety of the discipline with the prescriptive tendencies that have continued to endure until the present. She then looks at the debates that followed the …

A Content Analysis Of Advertising In Magazines Directed At United States And United Kingdom Seniors, Ray Markham Smith

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The seniors (55+) market is a growing, attractive market. While this market represents almost one-fourth of the total population in the United States and is slightly higher in the United Kingdom today, this segment is projected to grow to approximately one-third of the population over the next quarter century.

Relative to their proportion of the total population, seniors, and especially women, have historically been underrepresented as general advertising models. When seniors are portrayed, they are often used in supporting roles or in a negatively stereotyped manner. While the aging process is associated with declines in mental and physical capabilities, and …

Pfiesteria Piscicida And Dinoflagellates Similar To Pfiesteria, Harold G. Marshall

Virginia Journal of Science

Pfiesteria pisiccida is a microscopic, unicellular organism that is classified as both a mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellate, which has been associated with both fish deaths and a cause of human illness (Burkholder et al., 1992; Glasgow et al., 1995; Burkholder and Glasgow, 1997). This species possesses a complex life cycle that includes motile forms (e.g. zoospores, gametes, amoebae) and a cyst stage that may remain dormant in the sediment (Burkholder et al., 1995b). Pfiesteria piscicida is known to have toxin and non-toxin producing populations, where cyst transformation into the toxic motile zoospores may be initiated by the presence of certain …

Fairness In Chinese Organizations, Kai-Guang Liang

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the roles of organizational justice and individual cultural characteristics in affecting employees' work attitudes and behaviors, in particular, the contextual aspect of job performance in Chinese organizations. Data were collected from 232 employee-supervisor dyads in three Sino-western joint ventures in the People's Republic of China. Results indicated that distributive justice had a significant impact on one dimension of contextual job performance, i.e., interpersonal facilitation, and various attitudinal outcomes, such as job satisfaction, pay satisfaction, affective commitment and turnover intention. Among the three procedural justice variables (participation at company level, participation at job level, and appeal mechanism) examined, …

Psychological Influencers Of A Consumer's Innovative Propensity: A Cross-Cultural Examination, Angela D' Auria Stanton

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The purpose of this effort was to focus on measuring the psychological characteristics (specifically perceived risk, dogmatism, fatalism, self esteem, empathy, and cognitive complexity) of the innovative consumer. In order to assess the various relationships and interrelationships that exist in the psychological determinants of innovativeness, a structural modeling approach was employed. The model was also tested in a two country setting in order to determine its robustness cross-culturally. The innovative behavior measure focused on a single domain, the Internet, since innovativeness does not typically overlap across product categories (e.g. Gatignon and Robertson 1985).

Overall, the results of the test of …

Cultural Adaptability Of Students Attending Culturally Diverse And Non-Culturally Diverse Dental Hygiene Programs, Katrina White Magee

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive investigation was to determine the cultural adaptability of students attending culturally diverse and nonculturally diverse dental hygiene programs throughout the U.S. The dental hygiene schools were identified according to their ethnic diversity as reported by the ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation in the 1996-1997 Survey of Dental Hygiene Education Programs. Once the programs were identified, a random sample was taken from the diverse and non-diverse dental hygiene programs. A 50-item inventory, the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), was mailed to the participating dental hygiene programs. One-hundred eighty-eight students represented U.S. dental hygiene programs in the …

Pfiesteria Piscicida And Dinoflagellates Similar To Pfiesteria, Harold G. Marshall

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Pfiesteria pisiccida is a microscopic, unicellular organism that is classified as both a mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellate, which has been associated with both fish deaths and a cause of human illness (Burkholder et al., 1992; Glasglow et al., 1995; Burkholder and Glasgow, 1997). This species possesses a complex life cycle that includes motile forms (e.g. zoospores, gametes, amoebae) and a cyst stage that may remain dormant in the sediment (Burkholder et al, 1995b). Pfiesteria piscicida is known to have toxin and non-toxin producing populations, where cyst transformation into the toxic motile zoospores may be initiated by the presence of certain …

Cross-Racial Facial Identification: Black And White Oriented Elaborative Processing, Tonika E. Duren

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study was conducted to affect the own-race bias effect in facial recognition by using an elaboration process. According to method, 45 Black and 45 White college male and female participants completed the experiment. Participants were presented Black and White faces on a screen. Each face was rated using 1)Black-Oriented instructions which focused on features such as eye size, nose width, and lips, 2)White- Oriented instructions which focused on eye color, hair color, and hair texture, 3) Attitude- Oriented instructions which focused on intelligence, friendliness, and honesty. The primary dependent variable was a measure of discriminability using proportion of …

A Study Of Child Abuse: Race Gender And Family Structure, Linda Wyatt Faircloth

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Using 1989-1994 data collected from the Portsmouth Department of Social Services in Portsmouth, Virginia, this study looked at severity and recidivism of child abuse in Portsmouth from 1989-1994. Analyses of data from the Portsmouth Department of Social Services indicated that children living in single parent families are more likely to be severely abused than children living in two parent families but no differences were observed for race and age.