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Articles 2761 - 2790 of 5836

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Neural Correlates Of Social Perception In Children With Autism: Local Versus Global Preferences, Abbey Jane Herringshaw Jan 2017

Neural Correlates Of Social Perception In Children With Autism: Local Versus Global Preferences, Abbey Jane Herringshaw

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The Weak Central Coherence (WCC) account of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD; Frith, 1989) posits that people with ASD utilize a detail-oriented information processing bias. Consequently, in social cognition tasks where coherence is required, people with autism falter, whereas in visual search tasks this is advantageous. Atypical brain response patterns may underlie this cognitive profile. The present study examined the neural correlates of WCC in ASD during visual and social processing. ASD (N=15) and Typically Developing (TD) (N=16) children/adolescents completed an information processing task in a Siemens 3.0 Tesla fMRI scanner. The task consisted of human characters, composed of geometrical shapes, …


Linking Residual Language Capacity, Structural Damage, And Surviving Network Function In Chronic Post-Stroke Aphasia With Multi-Modal Mri, Joseph Griffis Jan 2017

Linking Residual Language Capacity, Structural Damage, And Surviving Network Function In Chronic Post-Stroke Aphasia With Multi-Modal Mri, Joseph Griffis

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The advent of advanced neuroimaging techniques has enabled unprecedented insights into the neurobiology of language recovery after stroke. Current theories of language recovery after stroke, however, are limited by their dependence on the results of small imaging studies that have typically focused on only single imaging modalities. This likely contributes to discrepancies in the literature regarding critical topics such as how each hemisphere contributes to residual language abilities, whether different compensatory mechanisms are engaged by patients with different amounts of left hemispheric damage, whether poor long-term outcomes are primarily due to a loss of local cortical function or result from …


Ci Therapy And Neuroplasticity After Brain Injury: Repurposing Brain Structures, Michelle Haddad Jan 2017

Ci Therapy And Neuroplasticity After Brain Injury: Repurposing Brain Structures, Michelle Haddad

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assumption of homoskedastic errors is violated, the statistical model is incorrectly


School-Level Correlates Of Perceptions Of Violence And Safety In Middle And High Schools, Jonathan Adams Jan 2017

School-Level Correlates Of Perceptions Of Violence And Safety In Middle And High Schools, Jonathan Adams

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Witnessing school violence predicts poorer academic performance and psychological well-being among adolescents. Violence rates and students’ feelings of safety vary across schools, and some variance can be attributed to school-level variables. The present study examined relationships among school-level variables and perceptions of violence and safety. Middle (grades 6-8) and high (grades 9-12) school students (N = 26,313; 52.9% middle school, 47.2% female; mean age 14.44 years; 50.1% African American, 38.0% Caucasian, 11.9% other or undisclosed) from two large urban and suburban school districts self-reported how often they perpetrated violence with and without weapons, were victims of violence, or felt unsafe …


Towards Building An Efficient And Economical Cloud System Using Mobile Infrastructure, Shahid Al Noor Jan 2017

Towards Building An Efficient And Economical Cloud System Using Mobile Infrastructure, Shahid Al Noor

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Cloud computing has become the dominant computing paradigm in recent years. As cloud computing technologies evolved, researchers have explored the possibility of building clouds utilizing ubiquitous mobile computing devices and extend the domain of cloud services from traditional SAAS, PAAS, or IAAS models to distributed storage, computation, and sensing as a service models. Given the number of unused mobile devices in our environment and the invention of low cost and powerful IoT devices, we hypothesize that building a mobile cloud will be economically feasible and will provide cloud services at cheaper rates than existing cloud computing models. We prove our …


The Effects Of Pain Catastrophizing And Hiv-Related Stigma On Pain Sensitivity In Persons Living With Hiv (Plwh), Michael Alexander Owens Jan 2017

The Effects Of Pain Catastrophizing And Hiv-Related Stigma On Pain Sensitivity In Persons Living With Hiv (Plwh), Michael Alexander Owens

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Due to medical advancements in antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV has transitioned from a terminal illness to a chronic condition requiring long-term management. Despite substantial improvements in life expectancy in the modern treatment era, PLWH still face significant medical comorbidities and threats to their health-related quality of life. HIV appears to sensitize the peripheral nervous system and facilitate sensitivity to a painful stimulus. A growing body of evidence derived from animal models has shown a specific biological basis linking HIV to pain sensitivity. HIV is likely not the only factor contributing to greater pain sensitivity; there are also important psychosocial factors …


Ritual, Self-Defense, And Territoriality At The Rock Art Site Of Chaturbhujnath Nala, Jennefer Celeste Paxton Jan 2017

Ritual, Self-Defense, And Territoriality At The Rock Art Site Of Chaturbhujnath Nala, Jennefer Celeste Paxton

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"Chaturbhujnath Nala, located in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, is the longest" "rock art gallery known in the world today. It consists of open-air rock shelters found in a" "rift valley, along an ephemeral tributary that pours into the Chambal River. The shelters" "are composed primarily of Vindhyan sandstone, which has metamorphosed to quartzite" "over time. Because the site is located within the state protected Gandhi Sagar Wildlife" "Sanctuary and safeguarded by the Archaeological Survey of India, the majority of the" "rock shelter paintings are still in immaculate condition. However, these artworks have yet" "to garner much attention by …


"Did She Have A Precursor?": The Intertextuality Of Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night And Nabokov's Lolita, Allie Rabon Pennington Jan 2017

"Did She Have A Precursor?": The Intertextuality Of Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night And Nabokov's Lolita, Allie Rabon Pennington

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This thesis argues that an intertextual examination of Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night and Nabokov’s Lolita complicates our understanding of Fitzgerald’s main character, Dick Diver’s sexuality by rendering his desires as similar to those of Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert. First, by examining the biographical histories of and connections between Fitzgerald and Nabokov, I aim to illuminate the authors’ shared influences and experiences as part of their resulting novels’ intertextual relationship. The first section of this thesis applies Lolita as a lens for reading Tender Is the Night, thus highlighting Dick Diver’s problematic sexuality and presenting his character as a precedent for …


Substance Abuse Stigma And Engagement In Hiv Care: A Mixed Methods Investigation, Kristi Lynn Stringer Jan 2017

Substance Abuse Stigma And Engagement In Hiv Care: A Mixed Methods Investigation, Kristi Lynn Stringer

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Situated within a fundamental cause theory framework, this study examines the roles of multiple stigmas in HIV treatment behaviors among drug-involved people living with HIV (PLWH). Using a transformative mixed method research design, I synthesized quan-titative and qualitative data to understand the role of two specific types of health-related stigmas, HIV-related stigma and stigma related to drug involvement (SU-related stigma). For the quantitative stage (Phase One), I examined levels of HIV and SU-related stigmas, and the relationship between these stigmas and retention in care and ART adherence us-ing data collected via a self-administered questionnaire matched with data from HIV-clinic records. …


A Black Girl's Song, Marie A. Sutton Jan 2017

A Black Girl's Song, Marie A. Sutton

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A Black Girl’s Song tells of the journey of the late Jimmie Lee Elliott, a Birmingham woman who experiences a series of nearly debilitating relational, emotional and racial experiences, but goes on to become the first woman to reach the level of EAS-22 Postmaster in Alabama’s postal system. Jimmie’s is a life of interruptions, precipitated and agitated by money issues, mental breakdowns and men. But for her cast-iron will, she would have abandoned her thorny path to greatness as it had more dry patches than grassy places.


A Control Theory Examination Of Reentry Programming, Seth Undrea Lewis Jan 2017

A Control Theory Examination Of Reentry Programming, Seth Undrea Lewis

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The United States has a considerable prison population. More than 90 percent of prisoners will be released back into society. Faced with an increasing number of prisoners being released each year, reentry programs have become a popular tool to ensure successful reentry back into society. Research has indicated that successful completion of a reentry program reduces the likelihood that a former prisoner will return to prison. Travis Hirschi argued that when individuals have strong bonds to society they are less likely to exhibit criminal behavior. This study uses Hirschi’s social bond theory as a basis to identify factors that influence …


Mounting Mermaids On Alligators: Establishing The Continental Line, Christopher Long Jan 2017

Mounting Mermaids On Alligators: Establishing The Continental Line, Christopher Long

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MOUNTING MERMAIDS ON ALLIGATORS: ESTABLISHING THE GEORGIA CONTINENTAL LINE CHRISTOPHER LONG HISTORY ABSTRACT By the summer of 1776, Georgia was committed to the idea of separation from Great Britain and the formation of a union with twelve other rebelling colonies. Due to its relative youth as a colony and the presence of a popular and dynamic governor, Geor-gia was slow to embrace the revolutionary enthusiasm which gripped the other colonies. However, once the decision was made to rebel against British authorities, Georgia’s revo-lutionary leaders were eager to demonstrate their enthusiasm for the self-described cause of liberty. One method of displaying …


The Effect Of Retouched Media Images On Body Dissatisfaction, Danielle Marie Lorch Jan 2017

The Effect Of Retouched Media Images On Body Dissatisfaction, Danielle Marie Lorch

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Contemporary society, including social and main-stream media, perpetuate unrealistic body ideals through their promotion of slender, thin-ideal body shapes and sizes that are typically photo-shopped to appear even thinner. More specifically, portrayal of the thin-ideal can negatively influence body dissatisfaction. Viewing slender models is associated with increased body dissatisfaction, while viewing average or plus size models is associated with decreased body dissatisfaction. This difference in effect of model size (slender vs. average vs. plus-size) on body dissatisfaction varies based on whether individuals compare themselves to others they view as more or less attractive than themselves. The purpose of this study …


Improving Performance Portability And Productivity Of Parallel Scientific Applications For Exascale, Hadia M R M Ahmed Jan 2017

Improving Performance Portability And Productivity Of Parallel Scientific Applications For Exascale, Hadia M R M Ahmed

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The continuous emergence of new hardware architectures and software libraries create new opportunities and challenges for existing applications. While they promise better performance for applications, most of the times these applications' source code have to be modified to achieve the promised improvements. These modifications are labor intensive, error prone, and costly. Hence, users of applications either abandon the use of newer hardware and/or software and lose potential improvements, or abandon their application to build new one and lose time and effort spent on building them. Many tools are built to aid users in adapting their current application, in particular HPC …


The Evaluation Of Perampanel As A Neuroprotective Pharmacotherapy In Traumatic Brain Injury, Virginia Aida Jan 2017

The Evaluation Of Perampanel As A Neuroprotective Pharmacotherapy In Traumatic Brain Injury, Virginia Aida

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In the United States, 2.5 million people experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year and an estimated 5.3 million are living with a TBI-related disability. A TBI alters the function of the brain and the brain pathology often resulting in long-lasting cognitive impairment, motor function impairments, and emotional changes. In conjunction with the physical changes a victim of TBI experiences, the injury can take a financial toll. It is estimated that 76.3 billion dollars is attributed to the direct and indirect costs of sustaining a TBI every year in the United States. Despite improvements in managing TBI, there are …


Playing God: Sub-Creation, Rules, And Role-Playing Games, George Simeon Evans Jan 2017

Playing God: Sub-Creation, Rules, And Role-Playing Games, George Simeon Evans

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Role-playing games can allow for extreme creative freedom where world building is concerned. In this sense, they inherit much of their structure from Tolkien’s idea of sub-creation. However, along with this creative freedom, RPGs contain rote rules and restrictions that must be followed. This paradox creates an intrinsic tension that players are forced to deal with. Rather than casting off restrictions, or punishing players that do not submit, gamers need to understand the purpose and necessity of rules, and be empathetic towards other players when they have difficulty following the dictates of a gaming manual. If these principles are followed, …


Neuroanatomical Correlates Of Antisocial Traits In Adolescent Males, Emma Sartin Goodman Jan 2017

Neuroanatomical Correlates Of Antisocial Traits In Adolescent Males, Emma Sartin Goodman

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Prior research suggests that antisocial traits and behaviors often found in psychopathy are also present during childhood and adolescence. Thus, understanding the neurobiology of children and adolescents who are displaying early-signs of antisocial behavior can enhance the pace of diagnosis, allow for earlier and more effective intervention, and allow for researchers to record the developmental trajectory of these traits more accurately. This project used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) to examine the neuroanatomy of gray and white matter in 25 adolescent males, which were further analyzed using a regression model and the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory …


Non-Markovian Investigation Of An Autonomous Quantum Heat Engine, Ketan Goyal Goyal Jan 2017

Non-Markovian Investigation Of An Autonomous Quantum Heat Engine, Ketan Goyal Goyal

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A systematic study of a quantum heat engine is presented in this thesis. In particular, we study heat conduction through a two-two level composite system, which is then connected to a photon cavity to extract work, forming an autonomous quantum heat engine. The question as to what extent quantum effects such as quantum coherence and correlations impact thermodynamic properties of such a system is addressed. The investigated heat engine has been previously studied using the popular Born-Markovian quantum master equation under weak internal coupling approximation. However, we show that the used approach is quite limited in addressing such problems as …


Fabrication, Structure, And Transport Properties Of Alumina Nanofiber-Based Materials, William Anthony Brayer Jan 2017

Fabrication, Structure, And Transport Properties Of Alumina Nanofiber-Based Materials, William Anthony Brayer

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One of the most promising nano-materials is nanofibrous alumina (Al2O3) but current production methods are too slow and too inconsistent for applications outside of laboratory proof of concepts. Alumina structures were fabricated from aluminum nitrate/polyvinylpyrrolidone precursor nanofibers prepared using a novel free-surface alternating current (AC) electrospinning method. Precursor fibers were generated at the rates up to 6.4 g/h and collected as 100–300 m thick sheets suitable for direct conversion into the nanofibrous alumina structures. A computational model of the surrounding electric field was constructed to compare to experimental observations. The effects of process conditions and annealing temperature on the nanofiber …


Patterns Of Cerebellar Connectivity With Intrinsic Connectivity Networks In Autism Spectrum Disorders, Haley Bednarz Jan 2017

Patterns Of Cerebellar Connectivity With Intrinsic Connectivity Networks In Autism Spectrum Disorders, Haley Bednarz

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This study investigated the patterns of functional connectivity between three intrinsic connectivity networks (default mode, executive, salience) and the cerebellum in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is substantial evidence of cerebellar pathology in ASD, and recent evidence implicates cortico-cerebellar connectivity in the disorder. Three intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs) of the cortex have particular relevance to the conceptualization of cognitive processing in ASD: the default mode, executive control, and salience networks. In typically developing (TD) adults, the cerebellum is functionally connected with each of these networks. The contributions of the cerebellum to these three ICNs may differ between ASD …


A Comparison Of Novice And Experienced Drivers With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Haley Johnson Bishop Jan 2017

A Comparison Of Novice And Experienced Drivers With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Haley Johnson Bishop

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According to recent estimates, only 33% of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) successfully achieve licensure compared to nearly 84% of the general population. Despite this decreased number of individuals driving in the ASD population and the importance of driving in increasing independence and quality of life, research in transportation safety among drivers with ASD is limited. Many of the impairments associated with ASD such as anxiety, processing speed and executive function may negatively impact driving performance. This study is among the first to objectively assess possible demographic, cognitive and simulated driving performance differences in individuals with ASD who are …


Connectivity Of The Striatal Resting-State Networks In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Thomas Patrick Deramus Jan 2017

Connectivity Of The Striatal Resting-State Networks In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Thomas Patrick Deramus

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Social deficits and repetitive behaviors and are core features of autism. Structural and functional alterations in the striatum, brain regions highly involved in movement planning, regulation, and motivation, may underlie these core features. However, few studies have examined functional connectivity (FC) of the striatum in autism; and fewer have examined anatomical connectivity despite hypotheses of structural alterations influ-encing FC autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). To address these gaps, the current study examined FC of resting-state brain networks in the striatum in 19 typically developing and 19 children with autism (ages 7-17 years) from the Autism Brain Imaging Database Exchange II. The …


Factors Guiding Cd4 T Cell Fate Bifurcations, Daniel Francis Ditoro Jan 2017

Factors Guiding Cd4 T Cell Fate Bifurcations, Daniel Francis Ditoro

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Naïve CD4 T cells differentiate into a variety of phenotypically and functionally distinct subsets uniquely tailored to the specific inflammatory context. Despite the extraordinary heterogeneity of potential fate outcomes, two distinct but related functional bifurcations appear common to all inflammatory contexts. Following activation, CD4 T cells either home to the site of inflammation and influence peripheral events or remain in the secondary lymphoid tissue to modulate central processes. Similarly, activated cells either drive or suppress inflammation. These functional bifurcations are coincident and sufficiently independent to allow for the simultaneous generation of all four potential outcomes. Pro-inflammatory cells retained in the …


Exploring Prenatal Maternal Self-View, Early Home Environment And Toddler Socioemotional Development In First-Time Teen Low Education And Adult High And Low Education Mothers, Bethany Stenger Jan 2017

Exploring Prenatal Maternal Self-View, Early Home Environment And Toddler Socioemotional Development In First-Time Teen Low Education And Adult High And Low Education Mothers, Bethany Stenger

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Maternal self-perception and children’s early home environment have been linked to a number of areas of child development. This study looked at the influence of both prenatal maternal parenting self-efficacy and personal mastery, coined as the concept maternal self-view (MSV), on children’s 4-month home environment and 1-year socioemotional development. The effect of 4-month home environment, as measured by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) including the Supplement to the HOME for Impoverished Families (SHIF) and by the Family and Maternal Life History (FMLH), overall and in regards to the presence of television and crowding, on 1-year child …


The Role Of Cognitive Reserve In Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury, Kayla Steward Jan 2017

The Role Of Cognitive Reserve In Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury, Kayla Steward

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Objective: To examine whether cognitive reserve (CR) attenuates the initial impact of TBI on cognitive performance (passive model) and results in faster cognitive recovery rates in the first year post-injury (active model), and whether the advantage of CR differs based on the severity of TBI. Setting: Inpatient/outpatient clinics at academic medical center. Participants: Adults with mild TBI (mTBI; n=28), complicated mild TBI (cmTBI; n=24), and moderate-to-severe TBI (msevTBI; n=57), and demographically-matched controls (n=66). Design: Retrospective; longitudinal cohort assessed at 1-, 6-, and 12-months post-injury. Main Measures: Outcomes were 3 cognitive domains: processing speed/executive function, verbal fluency, and memory. Premorbid IQ, …


An Investigation Of The Neurobiological Heterogeneity In Autism, Adhd, And Typical Development, Melissa Thye Jan 2017

An Investigation Of The Neurobiological Heterogeneity In Autism, Adhd, And Typical Development, Melissa Thye

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Standard fMRI studies of healthy as well as clinical populations rely heavily on group-level averages to draw inferences about brain and behavior. This presumes neural and behavioral homogeneity within diagnostic groups resulting in group-level models which may not capture individual variability. This problem is especially relevant for studies of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which clinically present with widespread individual differences. The prevalence of comorbidity between these disorders is roughly 28% highlighting the possibility that there may be shared behavioral and neural markers which cut across the diagnostic boundaries delineating the …


Morse Theory In Finite Dimensions, William Smith Tidwell Jan 2017

Morse Theory In Finite Dimensions, William Smith Tidwell

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Morse Theory is a subset of manifold theory that looks at non-degenerate critical points of functions on manifolds. The Morse Lemma allows for a local coordinate system to be made around a non-degenerate critical point to express the function in a standard form. When these properties come together to describe the manifold on a global level it can have significant results related to its various diffeomorphisms. I will discuss some of these unique properties that Morse Theory has in identifying the generalized shape of surfaces, and then expand that into finitely many dimensions. I will show that any smooth function …


Effects Of A Cooking Program On Social Skills, Adaptive Functioning, And Dietary Behavior Of Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Eva Phui Phui Trinh Jan 2017

Effects Of A Cooking Program On Social Skills, Adaptive Functioning, And Dietary Behavior Of Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Eva Phui Phui Trinh

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by two domains: 1) deficits in social interaction and communication, and, 2) restricted and repetitive behavior, interests, or activities. Poor adaptive functioning skills is an associated feature of ASD and leads to concerns for establishing independence as adolescents with ASD transition into adults. The dietary behavior of adolescents in the United States do not meet national standards for healthy eating, which could lead to poor health outcomes. Eating and feeding problems are more prevalent in children with ASD compared to their typically developing peers. Independent skills and health are a main source of stress …


Familial Support And Mental Health Service Use: Differences Among First- And Second-Generation Asian American And Latino Older Adults, Jessica Lynn Valles Jan 2017

Familial Support And Mental Health Service Use: Differences Among First- And Second-Generation Asian American And Latino Older Adults, Jessica Lynn Valles

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While several studies have shown that US-born Asian Americans and Latinos are more likely to use mental health services than their foreign-born counterparts, the effects of generation status and familial support is unclear. Furthermore, little is known about these associations and how they affect older adults. According to the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST), as adults begin transition into advanced age, they begin to withdraw from broader social networks to focus on more intimate relations, such as those with children. In applying modernization theory to the family and aging, this theory would suggest that the status of older adults in families …


History, Counter-Memory, And Commemoration: Enacting Remembrance For The Comfort Women Of Wwii, Christina Joan Inman Jan 2017

History, Counter-Memory, And Commemoration: Enacting Remembrance For The Comfort Women Of Wwii, Christina Joan Inman

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The case of the comfort women of East Asia is one of the largest human trafficking epidemics to have taken place in the twentieth century. It remains, however, an issue that is still widely unknown to the general public and has been obscured in both Eastern and Western historical texts up until the early 1990s. Scholars have determined that an estimated two hundred thousand young girls, now referred to as the comfort women, were forced into sexual servitude for the Japanese army during WWII. Of this number, seventy percent of the women did not survive the war. Currently, only forty …