Digital Commons Network^™

Music Subcultures Online: The Indie Folk Scene And How Facebook Influences Participation, Katharine Mcgwin

Open Access Master's Theses

The following study attempts to identify an independent music subculture within the Providence, Rhode Island scene. Specifically this study will seek to identify such a subculture related to the indie folk genre of music, as this is a popular genre within this area of interest. In order to identify this subculture, a series of interviews were conducted with indie folk musicians from the Providence area. These interviews sought to identify this subculture based on the four basic characteristics of subcultures as identified by Hodkinson, which include identification, commitment, consistent distinctiveness, and autonomy (as cited in Mattar, 2003). The results of …

"Would Live Like Ancient Greeks": The Art And Life Of Raymond Duncan, Megan Martinelli

Open Access Master's Theses

Raymond Duncan, born in San Francisco in 1874, led an intriguing life immersed in artistic and creative endeavors. At his art colonies located in France, he and his followers produced hand-painted silk textiles, garments, and sandals produced at the colonies that drew inspiration from Ancient Greece. Duncan also dressed in classical-inspired attire for sixty-two years. The goal of this study is to reveal Raymond Duncan, an overlooked early twentieth-century leader in artistic textile and garment design with an Ancient Greek aesthetic and his work, to scholars of design, textile and costume history. The two objectives of this research were to …

Gender-Twisting And Bros Talking: Discursive Performance Of Gender, Power, And Recognition In The Sex Ed. Class, Odile Mattiauda

Open Access Dissertations

In American Schools, students are rarely offered educational experiences about gender and sexuality. Programs that do address sexuality are rarely based on moral beliefs and democratic values of tolerance and inclusivity. Sexuality education is predominantly taught by health teachers, rather than human sexuality educators, and their focus is on facts, statistics, and controversial issues such as the prevention of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. This limited perspective on sexuality neglects the important role of gender identity and sexual orientation (Donovan, 1989; Haffner & De Mauro, 1991; Nelson Trudell, 1993)

Using teacher-researcher-participant-observer qualitative methodology, I examined the discourse …

Marine Phytoplankton Temperature Versus Growth Responses From Polar To Tropical Waters – Outcome Of A Scientific Community-Wide Study, Philip W. Boyd, Tatiana A. Rynearson, Evelyn A. Armstrong, Feixue Fu, Kendra Hayashi, Zhangxi Hu, David A. Hutchins, Raphael M. Kudela, Elena Litchman, Margaret R. Mulholland, Uta Passow, Robert F. Strzepek, Kerry A. Whittaker, Elizabeth Yu, Mridul K. Thomas

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

‘‘It takes a village to finish (marine) science these days’’

Paraphrased from Curtis Huttenhower (the Human Microbiome project)

The rapidity and complexity of climate change and its potential effects on ocean biota are challenging how ocean scientists conduct research. One way in which we can begin to better tackle these challenges is to conduct community-wide scientific studies. This study provides physiological datasets fundamental to understanding functional responses of phytoplankton growth rates to temperature. While physiological experiments are not new, our experiments were conducted in many laboratories using agreed upon protocols and 25 strains of eukaryotic and prokaryotic phytoplankton isolated across …

Final Report As A Member Of The Lgbtq Center Staff, Joseph A. Santiago

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Center

It is with a heavy heart that I write my final report as a member of the LGBTQ Center Staff. I have been part of the Center since 2002 and have seen it grow in many ways over the years. It is my hope that it will continue to improve and establish the programs and services that make it a leader and innovator in LGBTIQQ and cultural studies. The following is a brief breakdown of the spring 2012 semester.

Being Critical In Marketing Studies: The Imperative Of Macro Perspectives, Nikhilesh Dholakia

College of Business Faculty Publications

In this article, I argue that an elevated macro-level perspective is imperative for conducting critical studies in the fields of marketing and consumer research. There are epistemic barriers to operating in this manner, and I offer several suggestions for overcoming these barriers. Finally, I review the research spaces for critical studies of marketing in various global settings and conclude that United Kingdom and Nordic Europe have the best epistemic climate, and this region needs to take leadership in promoting greater range of macro and critical studies of marketing in the rest of the world.

Gender And Women's Studies Newsletter For February 2012, Uri Gender And Women's Studies Department

Gender and Women's Studies Publications

The February 2012 issue of Gender and Women’s Studies Newsletter, a periodical with articles written by faculty members and some related to events within the Gender and Women’s Studies program.

Uri Diversity Awards Banquet Program

Programs and Events (Misc)

Program for the awards banquet in which the URI LBTQ Womens’ Group received their nomination award

New Media And Asymmetry In Cultural Identity Negotiation, Guo-Ming Chen, Xiaodong Dai

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

The advent of a new era of telecommunications and human interconnection brings with it questions of identity, community, the place of the individual in a globalizing society, the connectedness that stems from the information superhighway, and the possibility that microcultures will soon be dissolved in a diffuse macroculture. Among these trends, the impact of the emergence of new media on cultural identity is the issue most concerned by intercultural communication scholars. This paper aims to have an insight into the issue by examining the relationship between new media and asymmetry in cultural identity negotiation and its management.

The Impact Of New Media On Intercultural Communication In Global Context, Guo-Ming Chen

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

The rapid development of new media has been the main force accelerating the trend of globalization in human society in recent decades. New media has brought human interaction and society to a highly interconnected and complex level, but at the same time challenges the very existence of intercultural communication in its traditional sense. It is under this circumstance that we see more and more scholars becoming involved in the investigation of the relationship between new media and intercultural communication. Emerging topical areas in this line of research mainly include three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development …

Sheltered Program At The Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany. Facilitating Studying And Working Abroad: Best Practices, Christina M. Neidert

Online Journal for Global Engineering Education

This paper describes the sheltered program at the University Language Center at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany, which is designed to provide American undergraduate exchange students with the opportunity to enhance their language, intercultural and technical skills, thereby integrating them into the German university and preparing them for an internship abroad. Based on the experiences made in this program, a set of best practices will be described.

Journal Usage By Subject For Fiscal Year 2011, Michael A. Cerbo Ii

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Journal holdings for the University Libraries are listed alphabetically by subject than authority title. Usage statistics for the fiscal year are included along with a cost per use where available. The information is taken from each vendor and incorporated in Serials Solutions 360 Counter.

Journal Usage By Subject For Fiscal Year 2010, Michael A. Cerbo Ii

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Journal holdings for the University Libraries are listed alphabetically by subject than authority title. Usage statistics for the fiscal year are included along with a cost per use where available. The information is taken from each vendor and incorporated in Serials Solutions 360 Counter.

A Comparative Study Of Self-Disclosure In Face-To-Face And Email Communication Between Americans And Chinese, Carolyn Durand

Senior Honors Projects

Self-disclosure occurs when one person communicates personal information about his or her self to another. This information can include facts, opinions, or feelings, and can vary in both breadth and depth. The amount of self-disclosure a person offers depends on several factors. The gender and personality of the person, the relationship they have with the listener, or target, the topic they are discussing, and the medium through which they are communicating all influence how much they are willing to reveal about themselves.

Another aspect that affects self-disclosure is culture. Culture refers to a set of beliefs, values, and traditions shared …

To Know Beyond Listening: Monitoring Digital Music, Ian Reyes

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In music production, “monitoring” refers traditionally to audile strategies intended to reveal the “true” sound of mediated audio. Here, it is expanded to include new, digital technologies intended to better know and control the record-object beyond what listening and listening technologies allow. Surveying traditional, contemporary, and emerging tools of record production and distribution, this essay addresses three types of monitoring: audio, visual, and data.

In sum, monitoring entails the supplementation and subversion of the ear through protocols promising to surmount the biases and distortions of audio media. Key technologies include reference speakers, room correction systems, digital audio workstations, open mixes, …

Research & Innovation For 2009-2010, University Of Rhode Island

Publications (Research and Economic Development)

The 2009-2010 issue of Research & Innovation, a periodical focused on research at the University of Rhode Island.

Expanding The Circumference Of Intercultural Communication Study, William J. Starosta, Guo-Ming Chen

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This dialogue focuses on the specific aspects of change in the study of intercultural communication.

Trophoblasts And Endothelial Cells In Pregnancy-Associated Vascularization, Satyan Kalkunte

Open Access Dissertations

Dysregulated uteroplacental interaction and vascular remodeling are thought to be associated with the molecular events in preeclampsia. Due to the co-onset of maternal symptoms and placental pathology, we hypothesize that serum from preeclampsia patients could provide a "blueprint" of etiologic factors. To substantiate the hypothesis, a novel three dimensional dual cell culture in vitro model, a mimic of the vascular remodeling events during pregnancy, was established. In this model, unlike term trophoblasts, first trimester trophoblasts engage in a dynamic cross-talk and synchronize with the endothelial cells in a capillary network. Mechanistic studies indicate that poor expression of VEGF C and …

Homeless Chic: Cultural Contradictions In Contemporary American Literature, Jennifer Joyce Kissko

Open Access Dissertations

The dissertation, "Homeless Chic: Cultural Contradictions in Contemporary American Literature," explores and responds to certain problems and questions that matter with regards to the ways in which homelessness gets represented in literature. It considers the problems United States culture faces in its attempts to think differently about homelessness -- at the ways it appropriates or makes use of figures of homelessness, and the ways literature markets, thematizes, racializes, and symbolizes homelessness. Using contemporary American literature, the dissertation examines how U.S. culture likes certain narratives that challenge the ability to think differently. The readings model how conflicted American readers are on …

Subjectivities And Counterpublics In 20th-Century Christian Leftist Texts, Robert Leblanc

Open Access Dissertations

Subjectivities and Counterpublics in 20th-Century Christian Leftist Texts responds to the following question: How have recent film and literary voices of the Christian left addressed counterpublics suited to their emergent and pressing needs? In exploring answers to this question, the project considers the role of radical artistic expressions in addressing a politically motivated public sphere. The three core chapters provide close readings of literary texts and films from the second half of the 20th Century that seek to tie themselves to markers of Christian tradition while still operating in a radicalizing way on reading and viewing audiences. In these three …

Mitigations Of Shame: Represented And Elicited Affect In Vietnam War Films Of The Late 1980s, Bryan D. Marinelli

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the extent to which select Vietnam War films of the late 1980s can be properly labeled as "shame-inducing texts." Beginning with an analysis of the ways in which shame has been represented and mitigated, the project then seeks to understand the degree to which these films elicited shame in viewing audiences. Chapter One delineates the properties of shame that are foundational to the study and offers a rationale for selecting Vietnam films of the late 1980s as focal texts. Chapter Two examines Full Metal Jacket's (1987) rendering of the methods used to neutralize shame in Marine recruits, …

An Empathetic Approach To Physical Education Teacher Education, Tony Monahan

Open Access Dissertations

The current crisis in societal obesity and other inactivity-related chronic health disorders has become a widespread concern in the United States. Physical Education (PE) with its propensity for physical activity has the potential to provide solutions to many chronic health issues. However, a large body of literature suggests that generations of students have been "turned off' to lifelong physical activity because of negative experiences in traditional PE classes. A more student-centered approach may be needed to ensure that all students have an opportunity to lead a healthy, physical life. The purpose of this research study was to determine the effect …

Making Waves With Critical Literacy: A Teacher Researcher Study Around The Texts, Contexts, And Recontextualizations Of An Upper Middle Class Public High School, Carolyn Fortuna

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is a teacher researcher qualitative study that explores the work of critical literacy in an upper middle class public high school. As a participant and an observer, I studied how a confluence of authority, privilege, curriculum, and pedagogy created context and shaped the meaning and quality of our collective literacy learning experiences. Using the tools of teacher research through narrative inquiry, my study traces school authority figures' reproduction of dominant ideologies, my struggles as a social justice educator to break through those definitions of "normal" with a privileged student population, and the hope that resulted when my students …

Bodies Of Evidence: Critical Theory And Audience Response To American Gothic Narratives, Bruce G. Johnson

Open Access Dissertations

Some academic critics are making claims about audience reactions and responses to American Gothic literature and film in order to provide arguments about this particular genre. In presenting their predictions about audience behaviors, however, these critics typically fail to test the accuracy of their theories by providing any empirical evidence regarding the ways in which actual readers and viewers are impacted by these texts. This exploratory study, then, offers a preliminary method for measuring demonstrable audience responses to American Gothic literature and film in order to illuminate whether or not some of these critical theories about audience reactions are verifiable. …

Communication Competence And Moral Competence: A Confucian Perspective, Xiaosui Xiao, Guo-Ming Chen

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

How can meaningful and productive communication take place among people of different cultural backgrounds? This question has become increasingly important in the age of the global village. Confucians, who long ago learned to live harmoniously with those from other parts of the world, have much to offer in response to the question. Western scholars and practitioners tend to see communication competence as a goal-achieving capability and self-assertive skill. Confucians believe that every human being is endowed with a moral nature and the capacity to feel, appreciate, and respect others. From this perspective, communication is seen primarily as an ethical and …

On Identity: An Alternative View, Guo-Ming Chen

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

“Identity” has become a magic word in the disciplines of social sciences and humanities, in which, due to the impact of globalization, scholars examine the concept from different perspectives, including personal, intergroup, cultural, critical, and postcolonial approaches. Unfortunately, the plethora of research seems to further obscure and enigmatize the meaning and nature of identity, and worse, advocates of the importance of establishing, authenticating, or negotiating one’s own identity seems to encourage people to tightly hold their own identity. Like a cocoon, this can weave a stronghold, preventing a person from penetrating into the identity of others. Facing this dilemma on …

Eugenia Jambolana Lam. Berry Extract Inhibits Growth And Induces Apoptosis Of Human Breast Cancer But Not Non-Tumorigenic Breast Cells, Liya Li, Lynn S. Adams, Shiuan Chen, Caroline Killian, Aftab Ahmed, Navindra P. Seeram

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The ripe purple berries of the native Indian plant Eugenia jambolana Lam., known as Jamun, are popularly consumed and available in the United States in Florida and Hawaii. Despite the growing body of data on the chemopreventive potential of edible berry extracts, there is paucity of such data for Jamun fruit. Therefore our laboratory initiated the current study with the following objectives: (1) to prepare a standardized Jamun fruit extract (JFE) for biological studies and (2) to investigate the antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects of JFE in estrogen dependent/aromatase positive (MCF-7aro), and estrogen independent (MDA-MB-231) breast cancer cells, and in a …

A Chinese Model Of Leadership Competence, Guo-Ming Chen, Ran An

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This chapter aims to develop a model of leadership competence from the Chinese cultural perspective. In the introduction part, the impact of globalization on human society is discussed to lay down the foundation of the need for developing a model of global leadership competence. In order to examine the Chinese leadership competence, which can be integrated to a more comprehensive model of global leadership competence, the philosophical foundation of Chinese leadership competence is delineated in the second part. Based on the Chinese philosophical thinking, three dimensions of leadership competence, including self cultivation, context profundity, and action dexterity are proposed. Then …

Chinese Harmony Theory, Guo-Ming Chen

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Based on Chen’s harmony theory of Chinese communication, this entry explicated that the ability to reach a harmonious state of human relationship is the main criterion the Chinese use to evaluate communication competence. In order to achieve harmony interactants are required to follow three principles: (1) intrinsically to internalize jen (humanism), yi (righteousness), and li (rite); (2) extrinsically to accommodate shih (temporal contingencies), wei (spatial contingencies), and ji (the first imperceptible beginning of movement); and (3) strategically to exercise guanxi (inter-relation), mientz (face), and power in the behavioral level.

East Meets West: Chinese Reception And Translation Of Virginia Woolf, Guanglan Jin

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation traces the evolution of the Chinese reception of Virginia Woolf through historical contextualization and explores the cultural conflicts in the Chinese interpretation and translation of Woolf with special emphasis on her feminism from a cross-cultural perspective. It also examines Woolf s and Ling Shuhua's critique of the tyrannies in the private world in their autobiographical works. The two stages of the Chinese reception of Woolf parallel those of the western one. The first stage from the early 1930s to the late 1940s may be characterized by so-called "interaction" between the Bloomsbury and Crescent Moon groups. It includes the …