1025 research outputs found
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The Island on the Other Side: A Novel Excerpt
Full text linkMy departmental honors project in Creative Writing is the first twelve chapters of my YA novel The Island on the Other Side, set between 2015 New York and the contemporary fictional island of Aversum. When fifteen-year-old Anya Gregory breaks into the storage room her grandmother has kept locked all Anya’s life, she finds a Portal to another dimension. Things only get crazier. Her grandmother, Cassie, comes home from a spontaneous business trip only to collapse and fall into a coma. Anya’s best friend Jam is acting weird, and his mom seems to have as many secrets as Cassie does; and then, Jam’s math teacher Mr. Matthews shows up with stories about a kingdom where people have superpowers and might be able to save Cassie from dying. The only problem is that the kingdom is locked behind a Portal that hasn’t worked in fourteen years. Except, somehow, Anya knows how to fix it. Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Gregoria, fourteen-year-old Princess Evangeline is planning a revolution. More than a decade ago, on the day Evangeline was born, King Dragaron II of neighboring Draconia invaded and killed the Royal Family—Evangeline’s parents and older sister—leaving only Evangeline alive. Now, Evangeline is engaged to his son, trusted by his wife, and conspiring with the queen’s advisor to overthrow the Draconians and take back her country. And once the Gregorian Portal comes back to life, she thinks she can get some much-needed assistance from the world on the other side
Free Riding in the Monastery: Club Goods, the Cistercian Order and Agricultural Investment in Ancien Regime France
No full textHow can transaction costs prevent effective monitoring of members in an organization? In this paper I test for a relationship between the cost of monitoring and free riding behav- ior within a religious organization by using a historical case study: the Cistercian Order in Ancien Regime France. Individuals were required to follow strict behavioral guidelines in order to maintain membership in the monastic order. Two monitoring devices emerged to identify free-riders: (1) an annual visit by the head of a ’supervising’ monastery and (2) attendance at an annual General Chapter meeting. Using digitized maps of transportation networks in eighteenth century France, I estimate travel costs as a proxy for monitoring costs. As a proxy for free-riding behavior in a monastic order, I use the value of agricul- tural investment since monks were discouraged from engaging in market-orientated be- havior such as investment. After matching each property with its owner’s costs, I find that where monitoring costs are higher, monasteries engage in more free riding behavior. The results hold after controlling for characteristics of the monasteries, potential issues of sam- ple selection and bias from major houses
Building Capacity for Creativity: Rediscovering the Inner “Superhero” as a Mechanism for Developing a Creative Mindset for Entrepreneurial Problem-Solving
No full textThis article delivers a series of activities which help participants to examine and stimulate their capacity for creativity to support entrepreneurial problem-solving. It provides a series of tools which enable entrepreneurship educators to support their students in a review, immersion and reflection of their creative capacity using the concept of childhood play, and specifically the superhero, to stimulate their imagination. Inspired by the creative mindset often found in young children, these activities help to build creative self-efficacy, challenging participants to exercise curiosity to go beyond their current resource limitations to solve problems by immersing them within a positive childhood experience. While students explore the concept of creativity and its fundamental role for entrepreneurial problem-solving, the workshop activity helps them to embody their own “superhero” and revisit their unconstrained, imaginative 5 year old selves through the use of pictures, costumes, masks, and icons. Finally, in reflecting upon the activities and acknowledging their own personal capacity for developing a creative process, participants are encouraged to use these skills for problem-solving both within the exercises of the class and throughout their entrepreneurial journey
Tracing the development of nationalist attitudes in the EU
No full textWe discuss the relevance of national attachments for European integration, reviewing the existing literature and drawing connections across the articles in this issue. We also consider that the ageing European population might be a possible explanation for why nationalism is increasingly shaping EU support especially outside the ideological extremes. Taken together with the other contributions in this issue, it is quite possible that national identity will increasingly shape the views of individuals with ideologically moderate views who in the past have supported European integration
The Role of Parental Involvement in Education
Full text linkFor my self-study, I chose to focus on the impact parental involvement has not only on my students but also myself. Growing up, my parents played an active role in my education. In this self- study, my goal was to discover the correlation between parental involvement outside of school and its effects on learning inside the classroom. Because of COVID, parents weren\u27t allowed in the school building. To gather my data, first grade students at Oaklyn Elementary School completed weekly activities with their families. Students completed academic-based activities and activities primarily for fun. Through my findings, I discovered academic and social growth among my students in addition to stronger communication and parental support between myself and families
The Ever-Accessible Evergreen: Ernst Jandl’s Poetry from Every Conceivable Angle (Essay originally written in German as Das immer-zugängliche Immergrün: Ernst Jandls Dichtkunst aus jedem denkbaren Blickwinkel )
Full text linkIn the 75 years of his life, experimental poet Ernst Jandl became a successful and critically acclaimed author in both Austria and Germany. Jandl was famous for his experiments with language and convention in the form of sound poems and visual poems (known as concrete poetry), and particularly for his political poetry. For a poet who published more than thirty collections over a period of 35 years, it stands to reason that Jandl\u27s poems can be analyzed from different perspectives, so today, literary critics and analysts interpret Jandl’s poetry through a multitude of lenses. However, most who examine Jandl today only focus on a singular aspect that they can trace throughout multiple poems, rather than analyze the larger significance of these elements’ influences on one another. This Senior Scholars presentation serves as a companion to my German Departmental Honors essay, which demonstrates how Jandl was uniquely successful in his poetic style, not only because of its accessibility to a wide audience, but also because his work is accessible in a multitude of ways
Social Media and Relationship Satisfaction
Full text linkIn this study, researchers looked at several factors between social media use and different relationships. One study showed that relationships can be torn apart if the members have different opinions on controversial topics (Kruse et al., 2008). The family systems theory suggests that family structure could shape social development and emotional functioning, caused by differences in family–level contexts (Wikle & Hoagland, 2020). Researchers looked to see if high utilization of social media within a relationship will result in lower satisfaction. To test the hypothesis, several Likert scales were put into a survey and distributed online to students from Susquehanna University enrolled in psychology courses. Questions within the scales related to information about student demographics, social media use, and self-efficacy. Students had the option to voluntarily take the survey as well as the option to withdraw at any time, but surveys that were withdrawn were not counted as part of the data. Our results did not support the hypothesis. The statistics from the t-test and the Pearson’s r correlation did not provide the statistical data that we hypothesized, t(143) = 0.21, p = 0.98, r(145) = 0.11, p = 0.201. One limitation was that we had a limited sample of psychology students at a small campus. Future research could include larger and broader sample sizes, along with more age-appropriate relationship scales. Even though the amount of time on social media did not cause less satisfaction, our implications included to use social media with caution as it could lead to potential harm, like self- consciousness or cyber-bullying
How does landscape permeability affect the movement of eastern red-backed salamanders?
No full textDemographic and genetic connectivity have important implications for population dynamics of wildlife and their ability to adapt to changing environments. Landscape features such as roads and streams can inhibit movement of species with poor dispersal capabilities and exacerbate the effects of habitat fragmentation. Terrestrial plethodontid salamanders are generally thought of as incapable of long-distance movement and may vary in their motivation to move across a landscape by sex and size classes. To examine landscape permeability to movement, we assessed how distance and natural or man-made landscape features affect recapture rates after displacement in red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). We randomly assigned marked salamanders from 6 plots at Camp Karoondinha in Millmont, Pennsylvania, USA, to a control (placed under the same cover board) or a treatment (displaced 25 m or 50 m through the forest or across a stream or road). Of 290 marked individuals, we recaptured 29.8%. We recaptured more individuals in the control treatment compared to displaced individuals, with recapture rates decreasing with the presence of a road or stream. Landscape feature type and sex did not affect the probability of recapture, but developmental stage did, with adult salamanders more likely to be recaptured than juvenile salamanders. Our results suggest that landscape permeability is reduced for terrestrial salamanders when a landscape feature is present compared to open forest. Narrow, dirt roads present a similar challenge to a natural stream for red-backed salamanders. Our study should be of value to land managers who are concerned about the negative effects of landscape permeability on terrestrial salamander populations
(Dis)Embodiment and Subject Formation in María Lourdes Pallais’s Prisionera de mi tío (2006)
No full textAvoiding dominant post-war Central American narrative approaches of disenchantment, cynicism, and neoliberalism, Nicaraguan María Lourdes Pallais’s novel Prisionera de mi tío (2006) explores the pre-Sandinista Revolution era and the notion of ideological subject formation. I argue that through processes of embodiment in the narrative, the reader’s body is placed at stake through the negotiation of meaning and emotional and sensorimotor experiences of impotence, nausea, and fetid odors, especially during the protagonist’s rape. This embodiment establishes a direct participation in the protagonist’s subject formation, which I read as an ideological strategy to further feminist social change in the 21st century
Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics: An Introduction for Physicists and Engineers
No full textThis course text provides an accessible introduction to thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, at a level that is suitable for both physics and engineering majors. Concepts are approached in a pedagogical way, using precise language, clear explanations and discussions of how the ideas developed over time. All of the material required for a one-semester (14-week) course in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics is provided, alongside worked examples, concept questions, worksheets, and independent-study exercises. The material has been thoroughly class-tested and acts as a core text for undergraduate courses, particularly for students who find the topics challenging. It also acts as valuable supplementary reading for postgraduates who would benefit from the supplementary material and clear explanations of the concepts.https://scholarlycommons.susqu.edu/facultybooks/1093/thumbnail.jp