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Nanoceria Inhibit The Development And Promote The Regression Of Pathologic Retinal Neovascularization In The Vldlr Knockout Mouse, Xiaohong Zhou, Lily L. Wong, Ajay S. Karakoti, Sudipta Seal, James F. Mcginnis Jan 2011

Nanoceria Inhibit The Development And Promote The Regression Of Pathologic Retinal Neovascularization In The Vldlr Knockout Mouse, Xiaohong Zhou, Lily L. Wong, Ajay S. Karakoti, Sudipta Seal, James F. Mcginnis

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Many neurodegenerative diseases are known to occur and progress because of oxidative stress, the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in excess of the cellular defensive capabilities. Age related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR) and inherited retinal degeneration share oxidative stress as a common node upstream of the blinding effects of these diseases. Knockout of the Vldlr gene results in a mouse that develops intraretinal and subretinal neovascular lesions within the first month of age and is an excellent model for a form of AMD called retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP). Cerium oxide nanoparticles (nanoceria) catalytically scavenge ROS by mimicking …


Losses Of Both Products Of The Cdkn2a/Arf Locus Contribute To Asbestos-Induced Mesothelioma Development And Cooperate To Accelerate Tumorigenesis, Deborah A. Altomare, Craig W. Menges, Jinfei Xu, Jianming Pei, Lili Zhang, Ara Tadevosyan, Erin Neumann-Domer, Zemin Liu, Michele Carbone, Ilse Chudoba, Andres J. Klein-Szanto, Joseph R. Testa Jan 2011

Losses Of Both Products Of The Cdkn2a/Arf Locus Contribute To Asbestos-Induced Mesothelioma Development And Cooperate To Accelerate Tumorigenesis, Deborah A. Altomare, Craig W. Menges, Jinfei Xu, Jianming Pei, Lili Zhang, Ara Tadevosyan, Erin Neumann-Domer, Zemin Liu, Michele Carbone, Ilse Chudoba, Andres J. Klein-Szanto, Joseph R. Testa

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

The CDKN2A/ARF locus encompasses overlapping tumor suppressor genes p16(INK4A) and p14(ARF), which are frequently co-deleted in human malignant mesothelioma (MM). The importance of p16(INK4A) loss in human cancer is well established, but the relative significance of p14(ARF) loss has been debated. The tumor predisposition of mice singly deficient for either Ink4a or Arf, due to targeting of exons 1 alpha or 1 beta, respectively, supports the idea that both play significant and nonredundant roles in suppressing spontaneous tumors. To further test this notion, we exposed Ink4a(+/-) and Arf(+/-) mice to asbestos, the major cause of MM. Asbestos-treated Ink4a(+/-) and Arf(+/-) …


Economic Impacts Of Non-Native Forest Insects In The Continental United States, Juliann E. Aukema, Brian Leung, Kent Kovacs, Corey Chivers, Kerry O. Britton, Jeffrey Englin, Susan J. Frankel, Robert G. Haight, Thomas P. Holmes, Andrew M. Liebhold, Deborah G. Mccullough, Betsy Von Holle Jan 2011

Economic Impacts Of Non-Native Forest Insects In The Continental United States, Juliann E. Aukema, Brian Leung, Kent Kovacs, Corey Chivers, Kerry O. Britton, Jeffrey Englin, Susan J. Frankel, Robert G. Haight, Thomas P. Holmes, Andrew M. Liebhold, Deborah G. Mccullough, Betsy Von Holle

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For …


Low-Cost Production Of Proinsulin In Tobacco And Lettuce Chloroplasts For Injectable Or Oral Delivery Of Functional Insulin And C-Peptide, Diane Boyhan, Henry Daniell Jan 2011

Low-Cost Production Of Proinsulin In Tobacco And Lettuce Chloroplasts For Injectable Or Oral Delivery Of Functional Insulin And C-Peptide, Diane Boyhan, Henry Daniell

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Current treatment for type I diabetes includes delivery of insulin via injection or pump, which is highly invasive and expensive. The production of chloroplast-derived proinsulin should reduce cost and facilitate oral delivery. Therefore, tobacco and lettuce chloroplasts were transformed with the cholera toxin B subunit fused with human proinsulin (A, B, C peptides) containing three furin cleavage sites (CTB-PFx3). Transplastomic lines were confirmed for site-specific integration of transgene and homoplasmy. Old tobacco leaves accumulated proinsulin up to 47% of total leaf protein (TLP). Old lettuce leaves accumulated proinsulin up to 53% TLP. Accumulation was so stable that up to similar …


Water Budget On Various Land Use Areas Using Narr Reanalysis Data In Florida, Chi-Han Cheng, Fidelia Nnadi Jan 2011

Water Budget On Various Land Use Areas Using Narr Reanalysis Data In Florida, Chi-Han Cheng, Fidelia Nnadi

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

1992 to 2002 data from North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) were used to investigate water budget on five land use areas: urban, forest, agriculture, lake, and wetland in the state of Florida, USA. The data were evaluated based on the anomalies of rainfall, evaporation, and soil moisture from the average condition. The anomalies were used to investigate the effect of extreme conditions on water budget parameters for various land uses in both northeast and south of Florida. The results showed that extreme events such as La Nina strongly affected the water budget on land-use areas in both regions as the …


Role Of Matrix Metalloproteinase 3-Mediated Alpha-Synuclein Cleavage In Dopaminergic Cell Death, Dong-Hee Choi, Youn-Jung Kim, Young-Gun Kim, Tong H. Joh, M. Flint Beal, Yoon-Seong Kim Jan 2011

Role Of Matrix Metalloproteinase 3-Mediated Alpha-Synuclein Cleavage In Dopaminergic Cell Death, Dong-Hee Choi, Youn-Jung Kim, Young-Gun Kim, Tong H. Joh, M. Flint Beal, Yoon-Seong Kim

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Evidence suggests that the C-terminal truncation of alpha-synuclein is equally important as aggregation of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson disease (PD). Our previous results showed that an endopeptidase, matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP3), was induced and activated in dopaminergic (DA) cells upon stress conditions. Here, we report that MMP3 cleaved alpha-synuclein in vitro and in vivo and that alpha-synuclein and MMP3 were co-localized in Lewy bodies (LB) in the postmortem brains of PD patients. Incubation of alpha-synuclein with the catalytic domain of MMP3 (cMMP3) resulted in generation of several peptides, and the peptide profiles of WT alpha-synuclein (WTsyn) and A53T mutant (A53Tsyn) were different. …


Distribution And Habitat Use Of The Big Cypress Fox Squirrel (Sciurus Niger Avicennia), Danielle A. Eisenberg, Reed F. Noss, Jane M. Waterman, Martin B. Main Jan 2011

Distribution And Habitat Use Of The Big Cypress Fox Squirrel (Sciurus Niger Avicennia), Danielle A. Eisenberg, Reed F. Noss, Jane M. Waterman, Martin B. Main

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Human population growth and development reduce the area and quality of natural communities and lead to a decline of associated wildlife populations. Sciurus niger avicennia (Big Cypress Fox Squirrel), a state-listed threatened subspecies endemic to south Florida, appears sensitive to habitat fragmentation and fire regime. This research assessed the distribution and habitat use of the Big Cypress Fox Squirrel from interviews with biologists, private land owners, and golf course managers and by transect sampling in natural areas on public and private lands in southwest Florida. Our findings indicate that the distribution of fox squirrel populations is influenced by land use …


Retention Time Variability As A Mechanism For Animal Mediated Long-Distance Dispersal, Vishwesha Guttal, Frederic Bartumeus, Gregg Hartvigsen, Andrew L. Nevai Jan 2011

Retention Time Variability As A Mechanism For Animal Mediated Long-Distance Dispersal, Vishwesha Guttal, Frederic Bartumeus, Gregg Hartvigsen, Andrew L. Nevai

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Long-distance dispersal (LDD) events, although rare for most plant species, can strongly influence population and community dynamics. Animals function as a key biotic vector of seeds and thus, a mechanistic and quantitative understanding of how individual animal behaviors scale to dispersal patterns at different spatial scales is a question of critical importance from both basic and applied perspectives. Using a diffusion-theory based analytical approach for a wide range of animal movement and seed transportation patterns, we show that the scale (a measure of local dispersal) of the seed dispersal kernel increases with the organisms' rate of movement and mean seed …


A Facile Nanoparticle Immunoassay For Cancer Biomarker Discovery, Qun Huo, Jimmie Colon, Adam Cordero, Jelena Bogdanovic, Cheryl H. Baker, Steven Goodison, Marianna Y. Pensky Jan 2011

A Facile Nanoparticle Immunoassay For Cancer Biomarker Discovery, Qun Huo, Jimmie Colon, Adam Cordero, Jelena Bogdanovic, Cheryl H. Baker, Steven Goodison, Marianna Y. Pensky

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Background: Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) scatter light intensely at or near their surface plasmon wavelength region. Using AuNPs coupled with dynamic light scattering (DLS) detection, we developed a facile nanoparticle immunoassay for serum protein biomarker detection and analysis. A serum sample was first mixed with a citrate-protected AuNP solution. Proteins from the serum were adsorbed to the AuNPs to form a protein corona on the nanoparticle surface. An antibody solution was then added to the assay solution to analyze the target proteins of interest that are present in the protein corona. The protein corona formation and the subsequent binding of antibody …


Determination Of An Optimal Dose Of Medetomidine-Ketamine-Buprenorphine For Anaesthesia In The Cape Ground Squirrel (Xerus Inauris), K. E. Joubert, T. Serfontein, M. Scantlebury, M. B. Manjerovic, P. W. Bateman, N. C. Bennett, J. M. Waterman Jan 2011

Determination Of An Optimal Dose Of Medetomidine-Ketamine-Buprenorphine For Anaesthesia In The Cape Ground Squirrel (Xerus Inauris), K. E. Joubert, T. Serfontein, M. Scantlebury, M. B. Manjerovic, P. W. Bateman, N. C. Bennett, J. M. Waterman

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

The optimal dose of medetomidine-ketamine-buprenorphine was determined in 25 Cape ground squirrels (Xerus inauris) undergoing surgical implantation of a temperature logger into the abdominal cavity. At the end of anaesthesia, the squirrels were given atipamezole intramuscularly to reverse the effects of medetomidine. The mean dose of medetomidine was 67.6 +/- 9.4 mu g/kg, keta mine 13.6 +/- 1.9 mg/kg and buprenorphine 0.5 +/- 0.06 mu g/kg. Induction time was 3.1 +/- 1.4 min. This produced surgical anaesthesia for 21 +/- 4.2 min. Atipamezole 232 +/- 92 mu g/kg produced a rapid recovery. Squirrels were sternally recumbent in 3.5 +/- 2.2 …


The Current Perspectives, Theories And Practices Of Mobile Learning, Nilgun Ozdamar Keskin, David Metcalf Jan 2011

The Current Perspectives, Theories And Practices Of Mobile Learning, Nilgun Ozdamar Keskin, David Metcalf

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Mobile learning (m-learning) is a highly popular multidisciplinary study field around the world. It has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers in different disciplines who have realized the potential to apply mobile technologies to enchance learning. Thus, mobile learning has been defined differently by different people. This study is a review of m-learning literature for understanding and discussion of current perspectives and theories in mobile learning. Additionally, some m-learning practices that are implemented in different sectors such as corporate, university and military have been mentioned.


A Proposed Methodology For Predicting The Carbon And Nitrogen Stable Isotope Measures Of K'Inich Yax K'Uk Mo', Copan Dynastic Founder, Keith Edwards Jan 2011

A Proposed Methodology For Predicting The Carbon And Nitrogen Stable Isotope Measures Of K'Inich Yax K'Uk Mo', Copan Dynastic Founder, Keith Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to show that stable isotope analysis can be used to predict K’inich Yax K’uk Mo’s stable isotope measures based on Stuart’s (2007) hypothesis that K’inich Yax K’uk Mo’, the dynastic founder of the Copan royal lineage, was a Caracol lord. There is significant and convincing evidence that K’inich Yak K’uk Mo’ had a non-Copanec origin. Stable isotope analysis is a tested and reliable method for detailing diets and migratory paths of ancient humans and this theory is applied as a predictor of the stable isotope measures of K’inich Yax K’uk Mo’, if he did …


Rawls's Theory Of Justice A Necessary Extension To Environmentalism, Andrew Greene Jan 2011

Rawls's Theory Of Justice A Necessary Extension To Environmentalism, Andrew Greene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

John Rawls‟s stated intergenerational justice scheme, known as the just-savings principle, does not include an institutional concern for the environment and is therefore incomplete and incapable of maintaining meaningfully just relations between generations. The theory‟s emphasis on economic theory and capital accumulation demonstrates a misinterpretation of environmental issues and concerns as well as their underlying causes and repercussions. This lapse in Rawls‟s intergenerational scheme exposes flaws in his larger theory of justice by leaving the stability of society in question and placing arbitrary burdens on generations and peoples without institutional recourse. However, by supplementing justice as fairness (JAF) with Rawls‟s …


Hotel Manager Attitudes Toward Environmental Sustainability Practices Empirical Findings From Hotels In Phuket, Thailand, Sivika Saenyanupap Jan 2011

Hotel Manager Attitudes Toward Environmental Sustainability Practices Empirical Findings From Hotels In Phuket, Thailand, Sivika Saenyanupap

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the attitudes of hotel managers in Phuket, Thailand, in an attempt to identify whether their attitudes influence their utilization of environmental sustainability practices. Due to the increasing number of visitors to Phuket, Thailand, the consumption of natural resources has increased in the region, causing serious environmental problems. A sustainable way forward is needed for the tourism industry in the region in order to maintain quality of service while reducing environmental damage. The data analyzed in this study came from self-administered questionnaires that surveyed hotel managers in Phuket, Thailand, with a sample of 243 respondents. Research results revealed …


Using Geographic Information Systems (Gis) In Spatial Analysis Of Mortuary Practices In The Kellis 2 Cemetery, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, Elsalam, Heba Abd Jan 2011

Using Geographic Information Systems (Gis) In Spatial Analysis Of Mortuary Practices In The Kellis 2 Cemetery, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, Elsalam, Heba Abd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to examine mortuary practices in the Romano-Byzantine period Kellis 2 cemetery located in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. The first research objective examines the relationship between age, sex and grave substructures of 701 burials in Kellis 2 cemetery. The aim of this research objective was to determine if the presence and style of grave substructures were influenced by sex or age. Although not statistically significant, GIS analysis revealed that most of the graves in the Kellis 2 cemetery have no associated substructures, but of those that did have associated substructures, …


Innovative Pollutant Load Monitoring, Eric Gurr Jan 2011

Innovative Pollutant Load Monitoring, Eric Gurr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modern streamflow measuring equipment, water quality sampling techniques and a better understanding of pollutant washoff are continuously being developed as today's society is in critical need of improving water management, minimizing developmental impacts and preventing environmental hazards. In particular, the study of the spatial, temporal and volumetric characteristics of annual pollutant loading caused by variations in precipitation, land use and other anthropogenic factors is of great significance due to their relation to future global water demands. The research presented here falls in three parts. In the first part of the dissertation, an acoustical Doppler velocity profiler installed in a submerged …


Feature Pruning For Action Recognition In Complex Environment, Adarsh Nagaraja Jan 2011

Feature Pruning For Action Recognition In Complex Environment, Adarsh Nagaraja

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A significant number of action recognition research efforts use spatio-temporal interest point detectors for feature extraction. Although the extracted features provide useful information for recognizing actions, a significant number of them contain irrelevant motion and background clutter. In many cases, the extracted features are included as is in the classification pipeline, and sophisticated noise removal techniques are subsequently used to alleviate their effect on classification. We introduce a new action database, created from the Weizmann database, that reveals a significant weakness in systems based on popular cuboid descriptors. Experiments show that introducing complex backgrounds, stationary or dynamic, into the video …


Ray Collection Bounding Volume Hierarchy, Kris Krishna Rivera Jan 2011

Ray Collection Bounding Volume Hierarchy, Kris Krishna Rivera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents Ray Collection BVH, an improvement over a current day Ray Tracing acceleration structure to both build and perform the steps necessary to efficiently render dynamic scenes. Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH) is a commonly used acceleration structure, which aides in rendering complex scenes in 3D space using Ray Tracing by breaking the scene of triangles into a simple hierarchical structure. The algorithm this thesis explores was developed in an attempt at accelerating the process of both constructing this structure, and also using it to render these complex scenes more efficiently. The idea of using "ray collection" as a …


Modeling Human Group Behavior In Virtual Worlds, Fahad Shah Jan 2011

Modeling Human Group Behavior In Virtual Worlds, Fahad Shah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Virtual worlds and massively-multiplayer online games are rich sources of information about large-scale teams and groups, offering the tantalizing possibility of harvesting data about group formation, social networks, and network evolution. They provide new outlets for human social interaction that differ from both face-to-face interactions and non-physically-embodied social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter. We aim to study group dynamics in these virtual worlds by collecting and analyzing public conversational patterns of users grouped in close physical proximity. To do this, we created a set of tools for monitoring, partitioning, and analyzing unstructured conversations between changing groups of participants …


Effective Task Transfer Through Indirect Encoding, Phillip Verbancsics Jan 2011

Effective Task Transfer Through Indirect Encoding, Phillip Verbancsics

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An important goal for machine learning is to transfer knowledge between tasks. For example, learning to play RoboCup Keepaway should contribute to learning the full game of RoboCup soccer. Often approaches to task transfer focus on transforming the original representation to fit the new task. Such representational transformations are necessary because the target task often requires new state information that was not included in the original representation. In RoboCup Keepaway, changing from the 3 vs. 2 variant of the task to 4 vs. 3 adds state information for each of the new players. In contrast, this dissertation explores the idea …


Viability Study Of A Residential Integrated Stormwater, Graywater, And Wastewater Treatment System At Florida's Showcase Green Envirohome, Matthew Allen Goolsby Jan 2011

Viability Study Of A Residential Integrated Stormwater, Graywater, And Wastewater Treatment System At Florida's Showcase Green Envirohome, Matthew Allen Goolsby

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The subject of water scarcity and the rate of water consumption has become popular topics over the last few decades. It is possible that society may consume or contaminate much of the remaining readily available water if there is not a paradigm shift. This deep rooted concern has prompted investigations to identify alternative water use and treatment methods. Within this report, information is presented from the use of innovative water harvesting and on-site sewage treatment and disposal systems (OSTDS) at Florida’s Showcase Green Envirohome (FSGE.net), while also addressing low impact development (LID) practices. FSGE is a residential home that demonstrates …


Spatio-Temporal Negotiation Protocols, Yi Luo Jan 2011

Spatio-Temporal Negotiation Protocols, Yi Luo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Canonical problems are simplified representations of a class of real world problems. They allow researchers to compare algorithms in a standard setting which captures the most important challenges of the real world problems being modeled. In this dissertation, we focus on negotiating a collaboration in space and time, a problem with many important real world applications. Although technically a multi-issue negotiation, we show that the problem can not be represented in a satisfactory manner by previous models. We propose the "Children in the Rectangular Forest" (CRF) model as a possible canonical problem for negotiating spatio-temporal collaboration. In the CRF problem, …


Data-True Characterization Of Neuronal Models, Jose Suarez Jan 2011

Data-True Characterization Of Neuronal Models, Jose Suarez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, a weighted least squares approach is initially presented to estimate the parameters of an adaptive quadratic neuronal model. By casting the discontinuities in the state variables at the spiking instants as an impulse train driving the system dynamics, the neuronal output is represented as a linearly parameterized model that depends on filtered versions of the input current and the output voltage at the cell membrane. A prediction errorbased weighted least squares method is formulated for the model. This method allows for rapid estimation of model parameters under a persistently exciting input current injection. Simulation results show the …


High Linearity 5.8 Ghz Power Amplifier With An Internal Linearizer, Yiheng Wang Jan 2011

High Linearity 5.8 Ghz Power Amplifier With An Internal Linearizer, Yiheng Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A 5.8 GHz RF Power Amplifier (PA) is designed and fabricated in this work, which has very high linearity through a built-in linearizer. The PA is designed, post-layout simulated by Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS) software and fabricated by Win-Semiconductors 0.15µm pHEMT process technology. The post-layout simulation results illustrate the power amplifier can obtained an output power of 23.98 dBm, a power gain of 32.28 dB and a power added efficiency (PAE) of 29% at saturation region, the 3rd intermodulation distortion (IMD3) of -37.7 dBc at 0 dBm input power is attained when operation frequency is 5.8 GHz. We finally …


Models To Estimate Arrival Counts And Staffing Requirements In Nonstationary Queueing Systems Applied To Long Distance Road Races, Lindon P. Fairweather Jan 2011

Models To Estimate Arrival Counts And Staffing Requirements In Nonstationary Queueing Systems Applied To Long Distance Road Races, Lindon P. Fairweather

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We examine the problem of staffing refreshment stations at a long distance road race. A race is modeled as a mixed queueing network in which the required number of servers at each service station has to be estimated. Two models to represent the progress of runners along a long distance road race course are developed. One model is a single-class model that allows a road race manager to staff service stations assuming the runners are identical to those in some historical dataset. Another model is a multi-class simulation model that allows a road race manager to simulate a race of …


Analysis Of The Relationship Between The Level Of Educational Computer Game Use And Milken Exemplar Teacher Instructional Strategies, Yaela Dahan Marks Jan 2011

Analysis Of The Relationship Between The Level Of Educational Computer Game Use And Milken Exemplar Teacher Instructional Strategies, Yaela Dahan Marks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the nature and level of educational computer-based game techniques adoption by Milken Educator Award winning teachers in achieving success in their classrooms. The focus of the research is on their level of acceptance of educational computer-based games and the nature of game usage to increase student performance in the classroom. With Davis' (1985) Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1985) as the conceptual framework, the research also examines how teachers' perceptions of educational computer-based games influence their willingness to incorporate these teaching methods in their classroom. The approach utilizes a descriptive survey to develop and evaluate responses from exemplar …


The Maze, Maria Elvira Vera Tata Jan 2011

The Maze, Maria Elvira Vera Tata

HIM 1990-2015

Many cities in Latin American countries are surrounded by slums. The inhabitants of the slums are often victims of corruption, famine and murder. The victims include everyone and especially affect the most vulnerable, women and children. They are the voiceless whose stories are lost and never told. Children who lack adult support have to pull from their inner strength to rise from hostile environments, nevertheless their lives are lived with ardor and immediacy, a way of life that is built within a culturally-layered community. It is in those layers that not only pain but marvels can be found. My creative …


Formality, Bryce Emley Jan 2011

Formality, Bryce Emley

HIM 1990-2015

Of the many aspects of the composition of poetry, the most common component of the form involves emotional response. There is an infinite number of ways to write a poem, and likewise an infinite number of forms which a poem can be structured according to. In writing this collection of poems composing my thesis, I set out to write poetry in as many ways as I could to explore how different forms, devices, voices, points of view, sounds, tones, and as many other variables as I could think of affect poetry as stimulus. The poems in this collection cover a …


Don't See, Don't Speak A Collection Of Short Stories, Jaroslav Kalfar Jan 2011

Don't See, Don't Speak A Collection Of Short Stories, Jaroslav Kalfar

HIM 1990-2015

This short story collection follows diverse characters as they long to find their place in the chaos of modern world. As the trend of postmodern literature traces our failure to understand our lives and discover a larger context, we find that our reality is ever-changing and there is not a single constant to follow. We are disappointed by modern political systems, our lovers, and our own individual capabilities. The issue of belonging means finding a place that, both physically and mentally, provides context and meaning for our existence. The five short stories presented here examine social issues, such as immigration, …


Man Vs Beast The Human-Animal Boundary In J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series, Jessica Auz Jan 2011

Man Vs Beast The Human-Animal Boundary In J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series, Jessica Auz

HIM 1990-2015

In her series of seven novels, Rowling constructs a society and a framework of characterization that allows her to explore the human-animal boundary in a variety of ways. She connects her novels to the ideology of the classical and medieval periods while still acknowledging the ways that the relationship between humans and animals has changed over the years by showcasing the influence of modern popular culture on her characterization of the human-animal boundary. Through her descriptions of werewolves, Patronuses, Animagi, and Harry Potter's and Lord Voldemort's abilities to speak Parseltongue, Rowling uses classical, medieval, and modern animal symbolism to showcase …