JBC Commons (New College of Florida)
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Effects of COVID-19 on the PC and PC Games Market: An Analysis of Time Use
No full textDuring the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, society became increasingly reliant on the internet and digital media due to the increasing need for remote work and learning, as well as entertainment. In this thesis, I present evidence in support of the hypothesis that the conditions of the early pandemic created an increased interest in personal computers (PCs) and a subsequent increase in PC gaming. This is supported by a mix of outside evidence and a visual analysis of data provided by the American Time Use Survey using Python and several of its visualization libraries. I also outline my creation of a website that shows off my findings and provides resources for beginning PC builders
My Parents as Adam and Eve
No full textThis thesis is composed of an introduction, a collection of original poetry divided into four sections, and a reflection on my writing. In my introduction, I introduce my background in writing and briefly introduce the themes in my poetry which are generational trauma, Puerto Rican identity, religious violence/oppression against women, and healing. After the introduction, there is my collection which is structured into four sections based on the main themes that are present in the poetry. In my reflection, I discuss how confessional poetry has influenced my work and I analyze two poems from my collection to illustrate how confessionalism appears in the poetry. In addition to my reflection, I also have a section on thematic structure in which I do an in-depth analysis on how I chose to structure my collection and how every theme is presented in a poem from that section
People of the Land : Changing Land Ownership, Migration, and Identity of the Mapuche in Chile
No full textThe Mapuche are an indigenous group that originally inhabited the south-central valleys of modern Chile. Today, the majority of the over one million Mapuche live in Chilean cities. They are known for their resistance to Spanish colonization in the 16th century, becoming one of the few indigenous groups in Latin America who maintained their autonomy then. Yet, they would eventually become Chilean citizens after the occupation and surrender of their territory in 1883. Most scholarship on Mapuche separately addresses issues of resistance, land occupation, identity, and displacement, often focusing on a particular time period. This thesis intends to examine the long-term historical changes to Mapuche land ownership, migration, and identity to demonstrate how the Mapuche negotiated and resisted various classifications and regulations imposed by colonial and nationalistic forces. It argues that the three issues of land ownership, migration, and identity are deeply interconnected and have historically been at the center of Mapuche struggles, thus being crucial to understanding their past and present. Despite centuries of oppression, the Mapuche have continuously negotiated and resisted imposed systems outside their indigenous norms, and in the process, they formed and strengthened their identity while adapting to the changing political circumstances of the time
Escapism and Empowerment in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
No full textNo abstract provided
HOME ON THE GRANGE: Ethnobotanical Entrevues in Outaouais
No full textThis thesis is based on two months of ethnographic research on a farm/apothecary homestead in Outaouais, Québec. There I strived to unearth the approaches both botanical and market employed by Twin Lakes Apothecary to better understand and contextualize the contemporary manifestations of ethnobotany in Québec. I pursued this primarily through a participant-observer approach in which I opportunistically followed networks of exchange and information to gradually traverse the life history of products and people at the apothecary. In examining the apothecary through such a lens, I illuminate the mythos and notions of production and validity in sectors often described as organic, alternative, holistic, ethnomedicinal, naturopathic, etc. The following themes will be primary; foraging, spacetime and labor, food and medicine, and network. The overall paper approaches these through the lens of practice at Twin Lakes as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
JUVENILE DELINQUENTS OF TAIWAN NEW WAVE CINEMA: VISUAL LANGUAGE AND POLITICAL TRANSITION IN A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY AND REBELS OF THE NEON GOD
No full textThis thesis is an examination of A Brighter Summer Day (1991, dir. Edward Yang) and Rebels of the Neon God (1992, dir. Tsai Ming-liang) as two Taiwan New Wave films depicting juvenile delinquency in settings of political transition. Through an analysis of visual language (the use of lighting, shot composition, color, set design, and costuming) in each film, this work explores depictions of the search for personal identity through delinquent acts under the pressure of two transitional periods in Taiwan: the beginning of the White Terror and the beginning of the shift to democracy in the birth of the technological age. Through a focus on two different directors from separate phases of the Taiwan New Wave movement, this work examines the differences and similarities between visual representations of juvenile delinquency across separate edges of modern Taiwanese history. This thesis shows the power of visual language in film in reflecting upon political and social repression across generations, and the unique capability of the visual aspects of film, specifically Taiwan New Wave film, in displaying and emphasizing the anxious mood and atmosphere created by political repression
MOTHERHOOD AND FEMININITY FOR SUPERNATURAL WOMEN IN PU SONGLING’S LIAOZHAI ZHIYI (STRANGE TALES FROM A CHINESE STUDIO)
No full textPu Songling (1640-1715) was a prolific author well-known for his stories that centered around strange and supernatural occurrences. His main female characters, usually love interests or mothers, display an understanding of women and the potential they hold narratively. By analyzing his ghost and fox spirit women, this thesis shows that despite keeping a conservative perspective in his works, Pu Songling played with the feminine ideals popular at the time to create characters with depth and nuance. With his ghost women portraying innocent eroticism and the fox women displaying a more mature sexual desire, he was able to use the differences between his character types to portray different kinds of women within different situations. Looking into his portrayal of motherhood for both supernatural and human women sheds light on the mentality that followed mothers and how certain women undertook the important task of having and raising children. By focusing on works like Lotus Fragrance, Nie Xiaoqian, and A Chivalrous Woman, this paper specifically delves into Pu Songling’s ghost and fox characters that break the norm of the genre, the precedent either set by Pu’s previous works or years of previous works. These characters display an understanding of societal pressures and ideals as well as their effect on women. A Chivalrous Woman, while not a supernatural creature, displays a woman that deviates heavily from the norm of acceptable behavior for women, specifically in reference to motherhood. Pu Songling’s characters show an interest in displaying women that were unique and unexpected while still being appealing to the male audiences reading his work
Effects of Exercise on Telomere Biology and its Implications for Cellular Aging
No full textTelomeres are regions of repetitive DNA-protein sequences found at chromosomal ends. They play a crucial role in preserving the information in our genome by protecting the ends of chromosomes from fraying or tangling. Each time a cell divides, a small portion of telomeric DNA is lost and telomeres become slightly shorter until the cell can no longer divide properly, and the cell undergoes replicative senescence or apoptotic cell death. Telomere length is associated with a number of age-related diseases, lifespan, and cancer. Different factors that have an effect on telomere length, like oxidative stress and telomerase activity, are reviewed in this thesis to discuss how shorter telomeres could possibly be prevented or treated depending on the lifestyle a person leads, and more specifically, with the addition of exercise into daily life routine. Although the exact molecular mechanism by which exercise and telomere length are connected is not yet fully known, there is evidence that shows that exercise could have an effect on both oxidative stress reduction and increased telomerase activity. Evidence is presented showing that certain types of exercise like endurance, interval, and resistance training lead to reduced telomere attrition by upregulating antioxidants like superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and catalase (CAT), which work together to diminish oxidative stress. Additionally, studies have also shown that exercise increases telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene expression, and telomerase activity. Because understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms is crucial to finding ways to slow down cell aging and prevent/treat age-related diseases, I propose a study that would give a better idea into how moderate exercise affects both antioxidant and telomerase activity and their association with telomere length in different age groups. This study would also take into consideration how different covariates like gender, parental age, prenatal conditions, early life, and ethnicity and race could impact the effect of exercise on telomere length on people with different experiences. Because it would just be a pilot study, future studies should include more participants and age groups, as well as people with various disabilities, and look into the effect of different exercise modalities on telomere length
HONORGUARD, A VISUAL NOVEL/RPG EXPERIENCE
No full textMy goal for this project was to create a Visual Novel/Role Playing Game (RPG) in the Unity Game Engine, producing a creative work that would allow me to experiment with branching narratives and my coding capabilities in a game engine used by thousands all over the world. The game itself is a fantasy themed journey across multiple kingdoms, in which the player (you) takes the role of a Military Captain leading their forces to fight against an invading army in a distant land. The game was planned to include readable text supported by background and companion sprites, branching stories, companions who reacted to the player’s choices dynamically via having their own numerical affinity scores, and a save/load system that allowed the player to save their progress at any time. While not every feature listed was implemented, the majority of them were, resulting in a story set within a mountain city where the player must prepare for the long journey ahead, defining what kind of Captain they are while facing threats to the progress of their mission right out the gate. It’s a vertical slice I’m very proud of, that I plan to continue iterating upon until it is a complete and fleshed out creative work
Ecopoetry Collection: The Anaerobic Summers
No full textThe Anaerobic Summers is a collection of sixty-six pages of ecopoems divided among six sections— “Plastic Causation,” “Neptune Wallows,” “Rewash (Hose-Down),” “The Forest,” Mother’s Apartment: 2B (Open-Invitation),” and “Expiration”—that give intrinsic value and respect to the other than human world. In my introduction, I not only work to define ecopoetry, but show how society\u27s views of wilderness are detrimental and how ecopoetry acts as a bridge between wilderness and society. These ecopoems challenge the belief that humans have supremacy over the wild world. As Long writes in his “Introduction to Ecopoetics,” “Ecopoetry uses language to deepen a sense of nature’s presence in our lives; and these invocations of nature’s presence— celebratory of the biological fact that we are nature— suggest an ecological understanding of nature and its processes” (Long, 2008). The Anaerobic Summers offers readers a portal into the energies that bond humans and wilderness together, helping us to see that humans are intertwined with the wild, not separate from it. These ecopoems bring the readers closer to the wilderness and the wild within (Butler xv)