Digital Commons Network^™

Necessary Medicine: Rethinking Health Communication At Burning Man, Raquel Irene Polanco

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study turns to the annual Burning Man Festival held in Black Rock City, Nevada as a site of cultural performance where participants negotiate health meanings. I adopt a culture-centered approach to health communication and utilize critical performance ethnography and narrative performativity as methodological and theoretical frameworks to investigate the specific communication practices that bring about health meanings at the festival. Analysis revealed the significance of everyday life practices performed through narrative for understanding how Burning Man participants understand, reinforce, and counter various health meanings with implications for the field of health communication and performance studies.

Synthesis Of Functional Polypeptides And Development Of New Synthetic Strategies Toward Polypeptides, Jinbao Cao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this work is to develop a new synthetic strategy for synthesizing advanced functional polypeptides or polypeptides in general. Polypeptides are amino acids based polymers with appealing properties for different applications. One of the key challenges in polypeptide research is the synthesis of functional polypeptides under mild conditions. We developed a system based on ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of N-thiocarboxyanhydrosulfides (NTAs) to synthesize polypeptides with wide range of molecular weights under mild conditions. Owing to NTAs’ good stability, our system serves as an excellent alternative to the traditional ROP of N-carboxyanhydrides (NCA). In Chapter 1, the fundamental knowledge and …

The Instruction Of Eros: A Content Analysis Of Sex Education Texts, Nicholas Ensley Mitchell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study is a directed content analysis that employs a memetic framework done in order to determine what discourses are evident in, how diversity is represented in, and how intersectionality is represented in two sex education texts, and to compare the relevant frequencies. Theories from the dominant schools of thought concerning sex education and sexuality are enumerated, compared, and contrasted. A historiography of sex education in the United States is provided to establish context for the sampled texts. A explanation of the content analysis process in general and the methodology specifically used in this study is discussed followed by the …

Ann Arbor And The Ann Arbor Public Schools: A Cultural Geography, Lisa R. Anglin

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the persisting disparity in academic achievement between Caucasian and African American students within the Ann Arbor Public School District. This research analyzed the historical and geographical evolution of the city of Ann Arbor, specific to the organization of its public schools. This study sought to define the dominant cultural groups of Ann Arbor, how they evolved, as well as how they migrated to the region. In addition, a critical component of this study was to explain the relationship between the cultural geography of Ann Arbor and structure of the school organization, which …

After Images: Using Augusto Boal's Image Theatre To Balance Artistry, Analysis, And Activism In The Performance Composition Process, Bonny Leah Mcdonald

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this study, I describe several performance experiments in which I applied Brazilian theatre artist Augusto Boal’s Image Theatre method to mobilize a composition process that is artistically exciting, politically relevant, and pedagogically engaging. Over the span of about seven years I used Image Theatre as the bedrock of my artistic practice as a director of social justice themed works for the stage. I show how using Image Theatre as a tool for performance composition can balance artistry (theatrical practice), analysis (cultural studies), and activism (collaborative struggles toward justice). To do so, I review relevant literature on Boal and Image …

Decolonizing Queer Epistemologies: Section Introduction, R Kulpa, Jm Silva

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

A Network Of Ideas: Brokerage And Success Among Visual Artists In South Florida, Patricia Hoyos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This study looks at artists’ careers as paths defined by their relative position in a dynamic professional network where innovation and creativity are highly regarded. Today, the theoretical and empirical study of networks has demonstrated that in some professions the individuals’ position in the network can facilitate or constrain their success. In studies about diffusion of information, for instance, some authors have found that individuals connected to a greater variety of sources are more creative and perform better. I explored this idea by looking at a network of visual artists and art institutions in Miami, and found a positive correlation …

Can Priming A Firm’S Organizational Identity Overcome The Influences Of National Culture On Auditor Judgment?, Michael Killey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

A significant challenge faced by large auditing firms is offering consistent quality across the global network. Unfortunately, variation in judgments and decision-making, resulting from cultural differences, can undermine the provision of a uniform level of audit quality for these international firms. Previous research has determined that national culture influences an auditors’ professional judgments and decisions. Relying on Social Identity Theory, I explore whether inducing one’s organizational identification can both enhance auditor judgment and mitigate any deleterious impact that culture may have on the provision of a uniform level of audit quality. I also examine current cultural variations in auditor judgment …

Elementary School Teachers’ Perceptions Regarding The Inclusion Of Lgbtq Themed Literature, Dominic Grasso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This critical explanatory mixed methods study examined elementary teachers’ perceptions regarding the inclusion of LGBTQ-themed literature in the curriculum. An electronic survey questionnaire and focus group sessions were used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data that described the perceived benefits and barriers of LGBTQ-themed literature and teachers’ level of interest in attending professional developing on this topic. The sample population for this study consisted of 100 participants. All 100 participants completed the electronic survey questionnaire, and a subset of 10 of the survey respondents participated in focus groups to explore further the perceived benefits and barriers relating to the …

Gender, Myth, And Warfare: A Cross-Cultural Analysis Of Women Warriors, Anne-Louise Lyttle Boomer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

A combination of cross-cultural and symbolic methodologies suggests that women warriors occur in societies where there is both an emphasis on the sacred feminine that allows women greater access to positions of power and authority (as per Peggy Sanday) and where marital residency rules permit female fighters (following David B. Adams´s theory on women warriors). While neither theory can stand alone in explaining the existence of women warriors, when combined both theories give a solid picture of societies that allow for female combatants. In this paper I propose that by combining Sanday’s work on female power and Adams’s work on …

Investigating Approaches To Media Literacy: An Analysis Of Media Literacy Organizations, Michael Francis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Media literacy is a competency needed for success in the 21st century yet a clear purpose does not exist that is useful in curriculum design. The purpose of this study was to investigate a combined (eclectic) approach to media literacy education according to selected international media literacy organizations. Determining an eclectic approach from subject area experts will be useful in designing and integrating media literacy curriculum. Methodologically, this study was a qualitative content analysis and is thematic in nature using a constant comparative method of analysis. Supporting frameworks were established through standards based curriculum development and Schwab’s (1969, 1971, 1973, …

The Legitimacy Of Cookbooks As Rhetoric Of Southern Culture, Cynthia Carrico-Rausch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Community cookbooks operate through a rhetoric of place as ways of thinking about belonging and influencing communal identities. They reveal much about a community, including the sharing of memories and tradition, geographical identification, and representation of socio-cultural hierarchies and habits. For that reason, this paper advances the claim that the discourse and visuality in community cookbooks, specifically the cookbooks 200 Years of Charleston Cooking, Charleston Receipts, and Charleston Receipts Repeats published during the height of a renaissance in Southern literature, influenced the identity of “Southerness” which, taken in conjunction with place, space, and time has resulted in a unification of …

Understanding The Cultural Changes Of Family Creation, Size And Unity Through The Analysis Of The Changing Behaviors And Meanings Of Their Symbols, Ida Everest-Aranguren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This study seeks to explore longitudinally the changing behaviors and meanings of the symbols bound to family creation, size and unity in order to understand why and how they changed. The research method fuses historical facts collected from historical literature, the data from the participant’s interviews, and the ethnology of the American family made by David Schneider (1980), using symbolic anthropology as the guiding theoretical framework. The imposed gender differentiation, religious precepts, the shifting economic models, economic recessions, World War I and World War II, intellectual and technological developments, and the ideologies accompanying these events caused changes of human behavior …

Women’S Plasticity During Childhood And Their Influence On Rape-Avoidance Behaviors, Sammy Penaloza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Evolutionary theory predicts that sexual coercion and rape are likely to occur in any species in which males are more aggressive, more eager to mate, more sexually assertive, and less discriminating in choosing a mate (Thornhill & Palmer, 2000). McKibbin and Shackelford (2011) state that males of many species have evolved strategies to sexually coerce and rape females. It is for this reason that researchers have speculated that several female traits or behaviors evolved to reduce the risks of being raped (McKibbin & Shackelford, 2011). The rationale behind the proposed experiment examined whether parents’ childrearing practices and women’s plasticity during …

Rethinking Counterterrorism In The Age Of Isis: Lessons From Sinai, Sahar F. Aziz

Nebraska Law Review

I. Introduction

II. Economic Deprivation and Political Marginalization in the Sinai … A. The Sinai’s Strategic Significance ... B. Neglect and Criminalization of the Bedouin

III. Bringing the Sinai into the National Fold ... A. Long-Term Investment in Development ... B. De-Securitizing Development in Sinai ... C. Political Inclusion and Integrating Bedouin into Security Services

IV. Contextualizing Sinai’s Transition into a Failing Sub-State ... A. Festering Grievances and Militants in Sinai before the 2011 Uprising ... B. 2011 Uprisings Create a Security and Political Vacuum ... C. Violence in Sinai Reaches New Heights after Morsi Is Deposed

V. Conclusion

Career Motivations, Role Expectations And Curriculum Knowledge Of Prospective Secondary English Teachers In Western Australia, Brian Moon, Barbara Harris

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teacher quality, teaching standards, and entry criteria for teacher education courses are currently subjects of intense national debate and policy development in Australia. As tertiary institutions respond to calls for a review of standards, there is a need for more data on the characteristics of entrants to teacher education and the factors that are likely to influence their performance as teachers. This survey-based study investigated the entry characteristics of four cohorts of secondary English majors at one institution. Prior studies have focussed on graduate-level students in one-year preparation courses, and addressed fewer factors. This study surveyed undergraduate students embarking on …

The Future Of Arabic Music: No Sound Without Silence, Nesma Magdy Khodier Vcuq

Theses and Dissertations

For centuries, Arabic music has been intrinsically linked to Arab culture and by extension bonded to the environmental landscape of the region, reflecting their emotions, moods, and behaviors. Numerous technological advancements in the latter half of the twentieth century, have greatly affected the rich legacy of Arabic music, significantly impacting the natural progression of traditional Arabic musical genres, scales, and instrumentation.

This thesis serves as an introduction to generative methods of music production, specifically music generated through gestures. Through generative music, and its unique ability to map gestures to different musical parameters, music can be produced using computer algorithms.

The …

Part 5: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender And Queer Community In Hampton Roads, Center For Economic Analysis And Policy, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

A 2012-2014 Gallup Poll reported that 4.4 percent of the population of Hampton Roads is LGBTQ in orientation. Available data suggest that LGBTQ women fare relatively better economically speaking than LGBTQ men. Norfolk and Virginia Beach are viewed as the region’s friendliest cities for members of the LGBTQ community.

Icon Of Heroic “Degeneracy”: The Journey Of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’S Self-Portrait As A Soldier, Meghan E. Mette

Honors Papers

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, a globally renowned German Expressionist, painted one of his most famous works, Self-Portrait as a Soldier, in 1915. Today it hangs in Oberlin College's Allen Memorial Art Museum and is greatly sought after around the world for loan exhibitions. Yet the painting did not always have such a great demand; painted during Kirchner's experience as a World War I Soldier and publicly denounced by the Nazis, the painting realized a complicated journey to the United States and its eventual global fame. So how did it arrive at where it is today and why? This paper will examine …

Recent Publications, Editorial Office

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Macabre Fascination And Moral Propriety: The Attraction Of Horror, Marius A. Pascale

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Why does the horror genre serve as a source of pleasure, given its aim to induce fear in the audience? I examine two general solutions to this phenomenon, referred to as the paradox of horror, which differ based upon their position regarding the possibility of deriving pleasure from fear. Each of the possible solutions contains significant flaws. I argue that, by adjusting a meta-theory originally proposed by Susan Feagin, it is possible to craft a solution that addresses the paradox while preserving the idea that, at times, fear can be enjoyed. The article concludes by considering the moral status of …

Drawing On The Victorians: The Palimpsest Of Victorian And Neo-Victorian Graphic Texts, Anna Maria Jones, Rebecca N. Mitchell

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Late nineteenth-century Britain experienced an unprecedented explosion of visual print culture and a simultaneous rise in literacy across social classes. New printing technologies facilitated quick and cheap dissemination of images—illustrated books, periodicals, cartoons, comics, and ephemera—to a mass readership. This Victorian visual turn prefigured the present-day impact of the Internet on how images are produced and shared, both driving and reflecting the visual culture of its time.

From this starting point, Drawing on the Victorians sets out to explore the relationship between Victorian graphic texts and today’s steampunk, manga, and other neo-Victorian genres that emulate and reinterpret their predecessors. Neo-Victorianism …

Defining Place Image, Candi Clouse, Ashutosh Dixit

Business Faculty Publications

The image of a place is important as it has implications for investments made in cities, workforce locations, and tourism. Place image incorporates concepts including brand, visual image, reputation, the sense of place, and the identity of the place - all of which create an overall image of a place and can lead to investment or abandonment. Place image has ramifications for decisions made about the place, including where businesses locate, where workers live, and where tourists visit (Smith, 2006). Place image has serious ramifications for decisions made about the place as people choose to stay, work, visit, and invest. …

Policies And Clinical Practices Regarding Candidacy And Auditory Treatment For Hispanic Pediatric Patients In Cochlear Implant Centers In The United States, Matthew Ehrenburg

Senior Independent Study Theses

This research sought to investigate the policies and clinical practices regarding candidacy and auditory treatment for Hispanic pediatric cochlear implant patients at cochlear implant centers in the United States. More specifically, the study investigated treatment services provided to pediatric patients who are raised in monolingual Spanish, English as a second language (ESL), and bilingual English-Spanish speaking homes. The study made use of survey research to examine cochlear implant centers regarding their policies, clinical practices, and their referral processes for this specific group of cochlear implant recipients. The survey was distributed electronically through the online survey software Qualtrics via email to …

Unf Journal Winter 2016, University Of North Florida

UNF Journal

A university periodical for alumni and friends of the University of North Florida

Nature As Spiritual Lived Experience: How Five Christian Theologians Encounter The Spirit In And Through The Natural World, Brad A. Martell

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative study explored five Western Christian theologians’ religious lived experience of God’s Spirit in and through Nature. The hermeneutic phenomenological research method was utilized. Rich descriptions of lived experience were collected through 60-90 minute long phenomenological interviews which were recorded and transcribed verbatim into a text for analysis. Analysis included repeated readings of the text, identification of themes, and validation and/or correction of themes. Synthesis looked at the research as a whole and established implications and applications for Christian theology, particularly ecotheology. The study contributes to the literature of phenomenology and theology, calls for a place for lived experience …

Guns And Drugs, Benjamin Levin

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Article argues that the increasingly prevalent critiques of the War on Drugs apply to other areas of criminal law. To highlight the broader relevance of these critiques, the Article uses as its test case the criminal regulation of gun possession. The Article identifies and distills three lines of drug-war criticism, and argues that they apply to possessory gun crimes in much the same way that they apply to drug crimes. Specifically, the Article focuses on: (1) race- and class-based critiques; (2) concerns about police and prosecutorial power; and (3) worries about the social costs of mass incarceration. Scholars have …

Highly Efficient F, Cu Doped Tio2 Anti-Bacterial Visible Light Active Photocatalytic Coatings To Combat Hospital-Acquired Infections, Nigel S. Leyland, Joanna Podporska-Carroll, John Browne, Steven J. Hinder, Brid Quilty, Suresh Pillai

Articles

Bacterial infections are a major threat to the health of patients in healthcare facilities including hospitals. One of the major causes of patient morbidity is infection with Staphylococcus aureus. One of the the most dominant nosocomial bacteria, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have been reported to survive on hospital surfaces (e.g. privacy window glasses) for up to 5 months. None of the current anti-bacterial technology is efficient in eliminating Staphylococcus aureus. A novel transparent, immobilised and superhydrophilic coating of titanium dioxide, co-doped with fluorine and copper has been prepared on float glass substrates. Antibacterial activity has demonstrated (by using Staphylococcus …

Department Of English Newsletter, Winter 2015-2016, Illinois State University, Department Of English

Department of English Newsletter

Newsletter of the Illinois State University Department of English

The Remembered Experience Of Adoption: Factors Supporting Healthy Adjustment, Crystal R. Gonsalves

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative research study is designed to explore ideas, customs, and practices related to adoption from the perspective of adult adoptees. While many studies seek to explain the negative impact of adoption, minimal literature exists with regard to a phenomenological exploration of adoption practices that successfully promote healthy adjustment and a sense of resilience and well-being in adopted children. Existing research on adoption has largely been conducted quantitatively, which can fail to capture the personal, lived experience of a positive adoption experience that leads to healthy adjustment. Specifically, little is known about which factors of the adoption experience adoptees perceive …