Digital Commons Network^™

Science-Fictional North Korea: A Defective History, Seo-Young J. Chu

Publications and Research

Kafkaesque, Orwellian, eerie, surreal, bizarre, grotesque, alien, wacky, fascinating, dystopian, illusive, theatrical, antic, haunting, apocalyptic: these are just a few of the vaguely science-fictional adjectives that are now associated with North Korea. At the same time, North Korea has become an oddly convenient trope for a certain aesthetic – an uncanny opacity; an ominous mystique – that many writers and artists have exploited to generate striking science-fictional effects in texts with little or no connection to North Korean reality. (The 2002 Bond film Die another Day, for example, draws from North Korea’s science-fictional aura to animate North Korean super-villains who …

Cultural Discourse In Taiwan. Ed. Chin-Chuan Cheng, I-Chun Wang, And Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek., Chin-Chuan Cheng, I-Chun Wang, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

The collected volume Cultural Discourse in Taiwan — edited by Chin-Chuan Cheng, I-Chun Wang, and Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek and published by National Sun Yat-sen Uiniversity Press in 2009 — is intended as an addition to scholarship in the field of Taiwan Studies. The articles in the volume are in many aspects comparative and the topics discussed are in the context of literary and culture scholarship. At the same time, the volume is interdisciplinary as the articles cover historical perspectives, analyses of texts by Taiwan authors, and cultural discourse as related to Taiwan consciousness, language, and linguistic issues. Copyright release …

Growing 'Homeplace' In Critical Service-Learning: An Urban Womanist Pedagogy, Vanessa Lynn Marr

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation explores the role of critical service-learning from the perspective of urban community members. Specifically, it examines the counternarratives produced by Black women community gardeners who engage in academic service-learning with postsecondary faculty. The study focuses on this particular group because of the women's deep involvement with grassroots organizing that reflects their sense of self and other community members, as well as their personal and political relationships to Detroit, Michigan. Given the city's economic disparities rooted in racial segregation, structural violence and gender oppression, Detroit is a site of critical learning within a postindustrial/postcolonial context. This intersectionalist approach to …

Clcweb Best Practices, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Mapping The World, Culture, And Border-Crossing, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek, I-Chun Wang

CLCWeb Library

Authors in the collected volume Mapping the World, Culture, and Border-crossing — edited by Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek and I-Chun Wang and published by National Sun Yat-sen University Press in 2010— begin with exploring theoretical premises about the processes and ramifications of cultural crossings to establish a clearly defined theoretical context for the case studies which follow. The case studies range from the creation of identity through patriotic songs in Taiwan under martial law, to nationality and Japanese identity, cultural autonomy in contemporary North America, Asian migration to Latin America, ethnic identity in the writings of Tan, Naipaul, Eliot, and …

Transformative Pedagogy For Social Justice Education: Teaching Technical Communication Students To Bridge Anzalduan Theories Of Social Change, Carlos Munoz

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This thesis discusses the growing challenge facing teachers of technical communication in preparing educators with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives to effectively work with an increasing diverse student population, especially with those students whose cultural, racial, language, professional, and ethnic backgrounds are different from the educator’s background. Therefore, Anzaldúan theory offers another productive way of bringing together theory and practice to address the challenge of seeing and practicing technical communication’s critical and civic aspects within diverse communities. This essay provides insight into how Anzaldúa theories for social change might fulfill civic objectives.

The Incidence And Influence Of Musculoskeletal And Nerve Injuries Among Occupational Therapists: An Exploratory Study, Alyssa A. Jenkins, Renae H. Witta

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Purpose: The purpose of this research study was to explore the incidence and influence of musculoskeletal and nerve injuries among occupational therapists. Specifically, we examined the influence of musculoskeletal and nerve injuries on work satisfaction, work performance and overall quality of life in occupational therapists practicing in physical rehabilitation settings.

Methodology: An exploratory survey research design was implemented following study approval from the University of North Dakota (UND) Institutional Review Board. Occupational therapists who were affiliated with the UND Occupational Therapy Program contract sites were invited, via email, to participate in this exploratory study. In addition, the survey was posted …

Cultural Determinants Of Status: Implications For Workplace Evaluations And Behaviors, Carlos J. Torelli, Lisa M. Leslie, Jennifer L. Stoner, Raquel Puente

Marketing Faculty Publications

Status is a valued workplace resource that facilitates career success, yet little is known regarding whether and how cultural orientation affects status attainment. We integrate status characteristics theory with the literature on individualism and collectivism and propose a cultural patterning in the determinants of status. Four studies (N = 379) demonstrate that cultural orientation influences the tendency to view high status individuals as competent versus warm (Study 1), uncover cultural differences in both individuals’ tendency to engage in competence and warmth behaviors to attain workplace status (Study 2) and evaluators’ tendency to ascribe status to individuals who demonstrate competence …

Antioxidant Potential Of Sutherlandia Frutescens And Its Protective Effects Against Oxidative Stress In Various Cell Cultures, Shakila Tobwala, Weili Fan, Connor J. Hines, William Robert Folk, Nuran Ercal

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R.Br. (SF) is a South African plant that is widely used to treat stress, infections, cancer, and chronic diseases, many of which involve oxidative stress. The aim of the study was to quantitatively assess the antioxidant potential of SF extracts in cell-free system as well as in cell lines. Dried SF vegetative parts were extracted using six different solvents, and the extracts were assessed for total phenolic and flavonoid contents, total reducing power, iron chelating capacity, and free radical scavenging power, including, scavenging of hydroxyl radicals, superoxide anions, nitric oxide, and hydrogen peroxide. We further investigated the …

'Det Ny Fra Thy': Historical Innovation In A Peripheral Place, Poul Houe

The Bridge

When we say in English that a certain innovation "takes place" or in Danish: finder sted, which means literally, "finds place" -both linguistic idioms, "takes" or "finds" place, suggest that the role of place is not accidental. This is obviously pivotal in geography, but also in anthropology, sociology, philosophy, and a host of cultural studies, sometimes in the form of "mental geography." Recent Danish book titles suggest as much: Dan Ringgaard's Stedssans (Sense of Place), Anne-Marie Mai's Hvor litteraturen finder sted (Where literature Takes Place) in 3 volumes, and Ringgaard & Mai's anthology Sted (Place).

Love's Labour's Lost: A History Of The Question "Why Is There No Socialism In The United States?", Alexander M. Dunphy

University Honors Theses

Why is there no socialism in the United States? This question has plagued radicals and scholars alike for over a hundred years, and various responses are beyond count. However, less attention has been paid to what asking the Question actually means. A chronological study of the various attempts to answer it reveals far more than a history of radicalism. As the Question has been passed from Marxists, to Socialists, to Progressives, to Communists, to Consensus oriented social scientists to the New Left, to Cultural scholars, to Neoconservatives, and up to today, each generation of scholars, commentators and activists has tackled …

Cultural Competency: A Quantitative Analysis Of Cultural Awareness In U.S. Healthcare, Jordan Nomie

University Honors Theses

A growing issue in healthcare in the United States is whether consideration and attentiveness of physicians and other healthcare providers towards a patient’s culture has an effect on the treatment process. An anthropological term, cultural competency, describes a medical professional’s respect and integration of the patients’ cultural beliefs and practices throughout the treatment process in order to reduce cross-cultural health disparities and to improve overall satisfaction. Although there is significant literature outlining a theoretical need for increased implementation of these practices, little work has been done to address actual quantitative evidence supporting or refuting the articulated need. The goal of …

Participations: Dialogues On The Participatory Promise Of Contemporary Culture And Politics Part 4: Knowledge And Education, S. Elizabeth Bird, Nick Couldry, Andreas Hepp, Sonia Livingstone, Elizabeth Losh, Jason Mittell, Gina Neff, Don Slater, S. Craig Watkins

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Appalachian Regional Dialect On Performance Appraisal And Leadership Perceptions, Amie Sparks Ball

Online Theses and Dissertations

Speakers of Appalachian English face unique difficulties in the workplace. Long-held stereotypes of Appalachian English speakers can lead to unfair presumptions about a person's competence and professionalism. Previous research has shown stereotyping on the basis of non-standard dialect can affect recruitment and hiring decisions made by employers. The present study addresses the possibility that these biases extend beyond the hiring process by investigating the impact of Appalachian regional dialect on performance appraisal, perceptions of leadership potential, promotion potential, status perceptions, and solidarity perceptions.

Treatment With 24-Epibrassinolide Mitigates Nacl-Induced Toxicity By Enhancing Carbohydrate Metabolism, Osmolyte Accumulation, And Antioxidant Activity In Pisum Sativum, Muhammad Adnan Shahid, Rashad Mukhtar Balal, Muhammad Aslam Pervez, Francisco Garcia-Sanchez, Vicente Gimeno, Tahira Abbas, Neil Scott Mattson, Atif Riaz

Turkish Journal of Botany

A pot culture study was performed to evaluate the differences between salt-stressed pea (Pisum sativum L.) plants of tolerant (Climax and Samarina Zard) and sensitive (Ambassidar and PF-400) genotypes, and to determine whether treatment with 24-epibrassinolide (EBL) could enhance the accumulation of osmolytes and antioxidant activity and thereby induce tolerance in salt-stressed plants. Three-week-old seedlings were subjected to +NaCl (5 dS m^-1) and -NaCl conditions (0 dS m^-1). After 4 days of salt stress, the plants were sprayed with Milli-Q water or EBL (0.125 mg L^-1). The plants were sampled at 32 days after sowing and at the final maturity …

A Pedagogical Heartbeat: The Integration Of Critical And Contemplative Pedagogies For Transformative Education, Juan Mah Y Busch

English Faculty Works

With so many figurative references to the heart, the heart has become an overextended metaphor and threatens to become less meaningful. Widely circulated books on Critical Pedagogies and Contemplative Pedagogies refer to the heart. Though they may share a sense of learning as transformation, each has a very different method, which I identify as dialectical or dialogical.  And, each one defines its liberatory transformation in a very different way, one with “third space” and the other in relational and holistic space, which is considered transcendent. This essay describes two forms of heartfelt awareness, first-order heart-based knowledge and the heart’s second-order …

Science Wars As Culture Wars: Fracking And The Battle For The Hearts And Minds Of Women, Jenrose D. Fitzgerald

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

In this thesis, I examine how claims regarding the environmental and health impacts of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” are constructed by industry advocates who promote the practice and environmental and social justice groups who reject it. More specifically, I examine the cultural underpinnings of the debate over fracking, and the prominence of gender as a central framing device in that debate. While the controversy over fracking is often presented as scientific or technical in nature, I maintain that it is as much a culture war as it is a science war. I demonstrate this by showing how both pro-fracking and …

Queer Alchemies: Radical Futurity In The Shell Of The Now, Elizabeth R. Canfield

Theses and Dissertations

This work operates at the intersection of academics, art, and activism. Within queer studies there is a tension between assimilation and liberation, sometimes situated as between pragmatism and utopia. This work re-examines Frankfurt school Marxist views of utopia through a queer theoretical lens in order to employ the radical imagination and queer futurity to examine new ways of practicing liberation. Drawing from theorists like Judith Butler, Jose Esteban Munoz, and Gloria Anzaldua, this work uses art (film, writing, zine-making, and sound) as a way to envision and enact a better world situated in the present.

Decolonizing Instructional Design Through Auto/Ethnography, Carolyn Marie Delorme

Education

Instructional design is the systematic process of planning and developing learning environments. In contemporary educational contexts, this has come to include also the intentional integration of digital and Internet technologies. Instructional design practitioners are trained to employ formal theoretical process models to guide their practices, roughly analogous to the ways in which a quilt maker may utilize a pattern and systematic process to guide making a quilt. There are few developed models of instructional design to be found in the literature that adequately attend to cultural orientation and none have been developed from within non-dominant cultural Indigenous education contexts. Furthermore, …

Sojourning In The Margin: Living As Wives Of International Students, Mengchun Chiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Whereas concerns for international students frequently appear in existing literature, little attention is paid to wives of international students (WoIS). This study aims at describing and understanding lives of WoIS in the United States as sojourners in the margin. The research begins with a literature review and an examination of theoretical frames: from the cultural shock literature, acculturative stress literature, to atheoretical studies; and from cross-cultural psychology, cultural psychology, to indigenous psychology. Methodologically, this study is qualitative in nature, utilizing interview data from WoIS. In addition to a description and interpretation of the WoIS's narratives, the study also wrestles with …

Promoting Fan Labor And "All Things Web": A Case Study Of Tosh.0, Rose Helens-Hart Ph.D.

Applied Business Faculty Publications

Television programs are increasingly paired with interactive media platforms in attempts to reach fragmented audiences though a medium where millions are now seeking entertainment—the Internet. Programs' online presences are cultivated and promoted by paid staffers and unpaid fan laborers. Producers monetize fan activity by guiding its form on their sites. Utilizing the concepts of sticky and spreadable media, an analysis of the Comedy Central show Tosh.0 Web site demonstrates how producers can promote particular types of interactivity through the content and architecture of a multimodal Web site. By designing a site that centralizes the use of popular social media, the …

Humanistic Psychology In Selected Plays By Lorraine Hansberry: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Shaimaa M. Saeed

English Language and Literature

Psychoanalysis has long been a breakthrough in the field of literary criticism. This book celebrates the intermarriage between two fields: psychology and literature. It provides a thorough analysis of selected dramatic texts authored by the Afro-American playwright Lorraine Hansberry. Such analysis is achieved through employing the humanistic psychology theories of the leading humanistic psychologists: Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers and Rollo May to emphasize that features of humanistic psychology are detected in Hansberry's plays. The interdisciplinary nature of the book calls for psychology and literature readers who have a passion for deduction & induction and a desire to navigate through different …

El Lugar De Las Lenguas En Las Lenguas Modernas: Hacia Una Nueva Cartografía De La Lingüística Hispánica En Eeuu, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

This article analyzes the status of linguistic studies in departments of modern languages in the USA and argues for the promotion of sociological approaches to language at the expense of formal approaches to language.

Social Policy And State Capacity In Iran: Health And Education Policy From 1981-2009, Masoumeh Qarakhani

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The fact that states operate under different structures and capacities in order to provide welfare and social justice for their citizens has been the subject of various studies. Since the capacity of states differs at various times and in different situations, their capabilities for welfare provision vary as well. The present paper draws upon the state-centered framework, applying quantitative methods and secondary data to study the relationship between state capacity and two aspects of social policy, education and health in Iran from 1981 to 2009. The findings reveal that there is no statistically significant relationship between state capacity and education …

Cronobacter Sakazakii Characterization And Analysis Of Cytotoxicity In Microvascular Endothelial Cells, Hilary Jayne Hafner

Microbiological Sciences

Contamination of powdered infant formulas by the bacteria Cronobacter sakazakii can pose serious risk to infants and neonates who consume the formula and subsequently develop C. sakazakii related illnesses such as sepsis and meningitis (1). The Gibbs’ lab assesses C. sakazakii isolates’ ability to cross the blood brain barrier and cause meningitis. This thesis research investigated C. sakazakkii cytotoxicity towards microvascular endothelial cells which comprise the first cell line encountered in the barrier. Understanding the mechanisms used to affect these cells will contribute to our understanding of early stages of invasion. Cytotoxicity assays performed for this research found that the …

Propagation Of American Hophornbeam (Ostrya Virginiana (Mill.) K. Koch.), Juan Ramon Franco Coronado

Plant Sciences

American Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana (Mill.) K. Koch) is an underutilized ornamental landscape tree with limited species improvement partially as a result of a lack of a clonal propagation protocol and its slower growth rate as compared to other commercially produced trees such as maple (Acer spp.) and ash (Fraxinus spp.). A recent decline in ash and the potential decline in maple have increased American Hophornbeam's importance. Currently, American Hophornbeam is seed propagated (sexual), with no clonal propagation (asexual) reported within the species. The objective of this research was to reduce the precise germination requirements of seed propagation as well as …

Marine Resource Use And Distribution On Ofu Island, Manu’A, American Sāmoa, Allison Katie Aakre

Sociology and Anthropology

Marine resources have played a vital role in the lives of the prehistoric populations that settled Oceania. While it is widely accepted that marine resources make up a considerable component of the diet of prehistoric peoples, distinguishing between shell fragments as a result of food procurement or debris from tool manufacture can be a difficult task. This study, in addition to examining the density and distribution of shellfish use by human populations on Ofu Island, examines the various ways these shellfish might have been procured and processed by utilizing archaeological, ethnographic, and experimental methods. By analyzing excavation data from three …

Biomimetic Nanoclay Scaffolds For Bone Tissue Engineering, Avinash Harishchandra Ambre

Materials and Nanotechnology

Tissue engineering offers a significant potential alternative to conventional methods for rectifying tissue defects by evoking natural regeneration process via interactions between cells and 3D porous scaffolds. Imparting adequate mechanical properties to biodegradable scaffolds for bone tissue engineering is an important challenge and extends from molecular to macroscale. This work focuses on the use of sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMT) to design polymer composite scaffolds having enhanced mechanical properties along with multiple interdependent properties. Materials design beginning at the molecular level was used in which Na-MMT clay was modified with three different unnatural amino acids and further characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared …

Tennessee Higher Education Fact Book 2012-2013, Tennessee. Higher Education Commission.

Higher Education Fact Book

No abstract provided.

The Interactions Between Jak/Stat Signaling Ligands In Drosophila Melanogaster, Qian Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

The development of multi-cellular organisms requires extensive cell-cell communication to coordinate cell functions. However, only a handful of signaling pathways have emerged to mediate all the intercellular communications; therefore, each of them is under an array of regulations to achieve signaling specificity and diversity. One such signaling pathway is the Janus Kinase/ Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway, which is the primary signaling cascade responding to a variety of cytokines and growth factors in mammals and involved in many developmental processes. This signaling pathway is highly conserved between mammals and Drosophila, …