ROAR: Repository for Open Access, Archives, and Research (Univ. of North Alabama)
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Cybernetic Hustle A Hard-Boiled Science Fiction Short Story
Get PDFIn a world where body enhancement technology, or cybernetics, should allow for exponential human progress, the gap between social classes is as wide as ever. A team of cybernetic bootleggers seek to even this playing field by providing low-cost implants to the working poor. Their operation becomes threatened when other underworld groups begin to raise police suspicions, but in this world, the cops may be more corrupt than the criminals. It is up to the team to expose the threat to their business, stay under the radar of the law, and risk their own futures in order to preserve their mission of making life-changing technology accessible to all
Color, Blood, and Drink Decolonial Resistance in Eddie Chuculate’s Cheyenne Madonna
No full textThis project analyzes how Eddie Chuculate\u27s 2009 short story collection Cheyenne Madonna represents colonial impositions on Mvskoke and Black people, while also critiquing and deconstructing these impositions through various strategies employed by the characters. Be it children collaborating in a decolonial manner, or a man leaning on his Mvskoke traditions. This paper mainly uses a critical framework of Mvskoke literary symbolism (Womack) and a conception of radical Mvskoke sovereignty, termed este-cate (pronounced shta-kati) sovereignty (Laura Harjo). Following Daniel Heath Justice\u27s writing on Native centered transnational critical theory, I too will draw on other frameworks, specifically with regards to racial subjectivities (Byrd and Wilderson) and settler colonial race construction (Wolfe).These non-Mvskoke critical sources and a history of Black slavery amongst the Mvskoke people will be used to situate the race structures and subjectivities latent in Blackness and Nativeness to best move towards a critique of settler colonial impositions. Then, I will move towards iterating how the characters, despite settler colonial impositions of racism, are able to lean on individual agency, community, and Mvskoke traditions to deconstruct the settler colonial ideologies they suffer under. The pubescent protagonists Jordan and YoYo form a decolonial bond that transcends settler-imposed racial antagonisms
A New Way Forward for Alabama Prisons
No full textBlankenship delves into the harrowing realities and historical evolution of Alabama’s prison system, offering a critical lens on Alabama’s prisons from their inception to the present day. The narrative begins with a vivid description of the dire conditions within the prisons, where systemic violence, neglect, and deprivation prevail, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive reform. It traces the roots of the current crisis back to the state’s early reluctance to establish a penitentiary system, coupled with a persistent failure to address the underlying issues of overcrowding, inadequate healthcare, and violence. The chapter highlights the historical role of federal interventions in attempting to rectify these chronic problems, detailing landmark lawsuits and judicial rulings that have shaped the state’s correctional landscape. Despite these efforts, the chapter illustrates how Alabama’s prisons remain plagued by a cycle of violence and neglect, largely due to a lack of political will and societal indifference toward the plight of people in prison. The analysis then shifts to a forward-looking perspective, proposing a new paradigm for Alabama’s prison system that emphasizes humane treatment, a genuine commitment to rectifying past injustices, and equipping people in prison for re-entry as productive citizens. By weaving together historical insights, legal analysis, and contemporary accounts of prison life, this chapter aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and challenges facing Alabama’s penal system while advocating for a more just and humane approach to correctional management
Predicting Auditor Dismissals with Shareholder Votes on Auditor Ratification Using Data Mining Tools
No full textIn this paper, we revisit the association between shareholder voting on auditor ratification and subsequent auditor changes using data mining approaches as compared to the traditional logit model. Our logit model shows that shareholder voting on auditor ratification is not associated with subsequent auditor dismissals. Although the logit model is widely used to study the relationship between dichotomous observations and influencing factors, machine learning models simulate the structure of the human brain and generate predictions through training. Our data mining tools show that the Support Vector Machine (SVM) model shows the best Area Under ROC (AUC) curve, considering AUC is particularly useful in handling imbalanced classifications. In terms of predictive accuracy, the Random Forest (RF) and the Classification and Regression Tree (DT) models outperform the traditional logit model. The predictive accuracy of the RF and DT models is above 95%, with AUC values among the top 3. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that the integration of machine learning may assist researchers in determining the prediction of auditor dismissals using shareholder voting on audit ratification and other financial variables
A Comparative Analysis of the American Revolution and the Jacobite Rebellions as “Civil Conflicts” Against Great Britain
Get PDFoai:roar.una.edu:theses-1000British history consists of a large number of armed conflicts engaged against almost every country and continent in the world. While British history has a history rich with conflicts, two particular conflicts feature front and center when one is thinking in terms of a civil conflict– the American Revolution and the Jacobite Rebellions. A civil conflict is any conflict that takes place between citizens of the same country. Both the Jacobite Rebellions and the American Revolution were conflicts against Great Britain when Scotland and America were under British rule. Despite being two separate civil conflicts that differed in many ways, the Jacobite Rebellions and the American Revolution also show multiple similarities, especially in the period of time referenced in this thesis as the “build-up to war.” Great Britain itself created a pattern of controversy surrounding finances and political representation before both conflicts. This alludes to a unique pattern in not only British history, but in the way that Great Britain handled its subjects, especially subjects who were far enough away from Great Britain proper that they essentially ruled themselves. Analyzed comparatively, the American Revolution and the Jacobite Rebellions can showcase emerging patterns at this point in world history
The Thought of Getting Lost in Space
Get PDFThe Thought of Getting Lost in Space is a poetry collection that explores nostalgic memories and connections of relationships, whether they are new or old and forgotten, and attempts to weave them together in hopes of forming constellations. There are hesitations and fears, such as rejection, failing, or even doubting oneself, when reaching out to other people. Sometimes we even get lost within ourselves and forget how to self-love our own bodies. Constellations are these amazing and beautiful wonders in the night sky that depict stories of old, yet stories that still teach lessons. The most influential people are storytellers. The Greeks often named constellations after their own mythology, and to this day we still tell these same stories
Factors That Lead to the Adoption of Alternative Energy Options in Developing Nations
Get PDFEnvironmental degradation and climate change are pressing issues nowadays. While developed nations have been improving their current energy trends by implementing alternative energy options, developing nations are falling behind and still significantly contributing to the degradation of the planet by emitting a significant amount of carbon emissions. The present study investigated the driving forces behind the deployment of renewable energy sources in developing nations. The methods of this study included utilizing data from multiple datasets on energy use worldwide for the year 2017 to create an original data set with randomly selected thirty developing countries. Regression analysis was conducted to determine factors associated with the adoption of alternative energy in developing countries. Findings indicate that pollution (CO2 emissions) is a significant predictor of the renewable electricity generating capacity of a country as well as population, adult literacy, and investment in research and development of a country
Extending the Prediction of Fear of Crime
Get PDFThis study aims to expand what we know about fear of crime to reveal the different levels of fear among genders. Although there exists extensive research on the subject matter, the current work examines how different each gender perceives crime given the predictors as vulnerability, disorder and social integration. This study therefore addresses these gaps by assessing gender differences in crime fear and how these models separately influence each gender. To do that, crosstabulations and logistic regression analysis was used in analyzing the relationship between gender, perceptions of neighborhood disorder (street graffiti/litter), social integration (family ties), to determine the relationship between fear of crime and gender. Results revealed that females were more inclined to report elevated levels of fear when compared to their male counterparts
Madwomen in Attics, Madwomen in Tombs Feminist Counterparts in Jane Eyre and Dracula
Get PDFCharlotte Brontë’s early Victorian novel Jane Eyre (1847) enjoys a steady history of feminist interpretations. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) is perhaps the best-known. Andrew Weiler sees Jane Eyre as a feminist Christian bildungsroman, and Micael Clarke finds the “feminist ethic” in the Grimms’ “Cinderella” tale in Jane Eyre (708).
However, Bram Stoker’s late Victorian novel Dracula (1897) has generated more varied responses, ranging from ambivalence, as noted by Carol Senf, to highly feminist, to highly anti-feminist. Feminist readings include that of Stephanie Demetrakopoulos, who remarks, “Stoker’s attempt at feminism in this novel is explicit” (104), and other critics, including Karen Winstead and Jordan Kistler, who assert their interpretations by analyzing Mina, Van Helsing, and Jonathan. Alternately, Phyllis Roth notes that Mina “holds in contempt” the ‘New Woman’” (113); Victoria Margree and Bryony Randall note, “Dracula has gained a reputation for being one of the most misogynistic texts in a frequently anti-feminist genre” (221). Finally, Nina Auerbach finds that Dracula and later vampire stories “collaborat[ed] to restore the patriarchy they had menaced” (“Introduction: Living with the Undead”).
Entering this debate, I argue for a feminist interpretation of Dracula that is reached by an approach not yet identified by current scholarship: comparing the pairs of women from Jane Eyre to those of Dracula as counterparts: Jane to Mina, and Bertha to Lucy. Drawing from feminist theory of Gilbert and Gubar, Sara Ahmed, and Stacy Alaimo, I examine characters’ wills and effects of their environments; I argue that the literal and figurative vampiric infection in both novels can be read as a type of environmental illness in which “blood… is a poison” (Hughes 194) and in which the true infection is not madness associated with vampiric women, but rather, the masculinist social domination that labeled it so
Revitalizing LaGrange
Get PDFLaGrange Mountain is located in Colbert County, Alabama, approximately sixteen miles from the University of North Alabama. The mountain is the site of a prehistoric bluff shelter used by Native Americans, Alabama’s first chartered college-- LaGrange College--as well as a nineteenth century village that included a school for women, and, today is the location of a distillery that is owned by the Dawson family. The LaGrange Living History Association currently manages the college site, which includes an open-air museum that explores early pioneer life and Civil War history as it connects to LaGrange College. The current interpretation of the site leaves out many important elements of the mountain’s story and does not leverage all available resources to benefit the site. This thesis provides an overview of the mountain’s history, an inventory of assets, and an analysis of how current resources are being used. It also provides suggestions for updating the current interpretation. “Revitalizing LaGrange” is meant to be a resource to be used by current and future stewards of the LaGrange College Site to begin the strategic plan process to ensure the long-term viability and success of this significant historic location