1025 research outputs found
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Critical Spectatorship? Theater in the Age of a Pandemic
Full text linkHow can a diverse theater where critical spectators disagree advance ethics? What is the precise nature and function of an ethical dilemma? What is the pedagogical impact of dilemmas replacing the dead end of imposed solutions toward happy endings? How can we promote critical spectatorship under almost exclusively virtual circumstances? What can online performance as part of an ethically informed theatrical vision achieve in the realms of community and leadership? These are the main questions this project pursues. Through discussions with SU students and alumni, this project sets out to understand how possible answers to these questions have impacted the SU community, both on and off campus, as well as the theatrical world and world culture on a broader scale. To gain more insight into how current members of the theater world have adapted their work to the conditions posed by the pandemic, I have interviewed current SU students, faculty, and SU alumni about their experiences in and with the theatre, with Bertolt Brecht, and with a currently virtual theatre in the age of the pandemic. I have referred to these interviews in my forthcoming article in The Quill: “Critical Spectatorship: Theater in the Age of a Pandemic”
Socio Economics affect on Drug Treatment Courts
Full text linkOver the last 30 years, the number of Drug Treatment Courts has grown as societal values have shifted away from punishment and more towards rehabilitation within the criminal justice system. This shift in values has created a renewed focus on factors that affect recidivism rates within society. Socio economics has been shown to be a consistent indicator in affecting drug-related incidents and crime. This study aims to study how socio economics affects recidivism rates within geographic areas that have established drug treatment courts and what this could mean for their overall effectiveness
Cuba\u27s Digital Revolution: Citizen Innovation and State Policy
No full text“An important contribution to the study of the Cuban media landscape. Cuba’s Digital Revolution examines changes brought about by recent expansion of Wi-Fi access points through attention to how independent journalism, media distribution, activism, entrepreneurship, and media culture are developing alongside local and global technological and political changes.”—Cristina Venegas, author of Digital Dilemmas: The State, the Individual, and Digital Media in Cuba The triumph of the Cuban Revolution gave the Communist Party a monopoly over both politics and the mass media. However, with the subsequent global proliferation of new information and communication technologies, Cuban citizens have become active participants in the worldwide digital revolution. While the Cuban internet has long been characterized by censorship, high costs, slow speeds, and limited access, this volume argues that since 2013, technological developments have allowed for a fundamental reconfiguration of the cultural, economic, social, and political spheres of the Revolutionary project. The essays in this volume cover various transformations within this new digital revolution, examining both government-enabled paid public web access and creative workarounds that Cubans have designed to independently produce, distribute, and access digital content. Contributors trace how media ventures, entrepreneurship, online marketing, journalism, and cultural e-zines have been developing on the island alongside global technological and geopolitical changes. As Cuba continues to expand internet access and as citizens challenge state policies on the speed, breadth, and freedom of that access, Cuba’s Digital Revolution provides a fascinating example of the impact of technology in authoritarian states and transitional democracies. While the streets of Cuba may still belong to Castro’s Revolution, this volume argues that it is still unclear to whom Cuban cyberspace belongs.https://scholarlycommons.susqu.edu/facultybooks/1090/thumbnail.jp
Daughter Courage and Her Mother: Affect, Gesture, Voice
No full textThis article concentrates not on Brecht’s most famous play’s protagonist, Mother Courage, but on her daughter Kattrin Haupt. Her rape preceding the play puts a traumatic story in motion which continues with further acts of violence inflicted upon her before her life ends in her murder and self-sacrifice. By way of wordless expression, Kattrin recalls the creative potential of her suffering whose genealogy reveals neglected aspects of war history and Courage’s essentially empathic relationship to her mute daughter. Focusing on affect, gesture, and voice I analyze the family portrayed in Brecht’s antiwar play as a complex institution, where Kattrin’s female perspective is deliberately included. While Brecht effectively defamiliarizes the codified construct of intimate motherhood, he nevertheless also creates a humane space to enable empathy as a reflective agent beyond mere emotional embroilment. Through Kattrin, who expresses affect in gestures, underscores them with her nonverbal voice, and is understood by Courage, empathy, memory, and dignity are sustained in a tragicomic play that requires our considerable tolerance for shattering dilemma and painful paradox
Selection for Thermophilic Bacteria with Antibacterial Potential along Fire-Affected Soils in Centralia, PA
Full text linkIn this study, bacteria were analyzed from a near-surface environment impacted by the anthracite coal mine fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania. We hypothesized that the elevated soil temperatures created by the spread of the underground fire would provide an ideal environment for previously unstudied thermophilic bacteria. With nearly 3 million cases of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections annually, the identification of novel bacteria is critical to make new antibiotics. Surface soil samples were taken from boreholes across eight fire-impacted locations. Bacteria were isolated from these samples on actinomycetes isolation agar at an increased temperature of 50°C to mimic the soil environment. To identify the isolates, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was utilized to amplify the 16S rRNA gene that is present in all bacterial cells. The resulting fragments were sent out for sequencing and identification of the bacteria was achieved through BLAST analysis. Preliminary results revealed the presence of multiple strains of bacteria, such as Brevibacillus thermoruber, Brevibacillus SP. YT20, Fictibacillus gelatini, Bacillus psuedomycoides, and Bacillus subtilis, that have been identified in hot springs and soils globally. These analyses provide evidence that the unique Centralia environment does select for thermophiles that can display antimicrobial properties. Our ongoing work should thus allow us to isolate novel actinomycetes that may be utilized to produce new antibiotics
The Impacts of Atrazine Exposure on the Performance of Northern Two-Lined Salamander Larvae (\u3cem\u3eEurycea\u3c/em\u3e \u3cem\u3ebislineata\u3c/em\u3e)
Full text linkAtrazine is one of the most common herbicides used in the United States. Despite having a large spectrum of weed control, the herbicide has many negative consequences on stream integrity, specifically on aquatic organisms. Amphibians have many biological characteristics that make them highly susceptible to agricultural contaminants. Understanding the effects of herbicides on vulnerable species will allow for inferences to be made about the effects on the entire ecosystem. We investigated the hypothesis that herbicide exposure would affect the survival and growth of northern two lined salamander larvae (Eurycea bislineata). We exposed larvae to one of four different treatments of ecologically relevant atrazine concentrations (0 μg/L, 50 μg/L, 100 μg/L, 200μg/L) for four weeks. In the first trial in fall 2020, survival was high across all treatments and there was a significant difference in average total length between the highest concentration and the control (F3,27= 3.253; p= 0.037). Individuals exposed to 200μg/L of atrazine grew more than those in the control. A second trial ran in the spring of 2021 and those results are currently being analyzed. The results of this experiment will lead to a better understanding of the impacts of herbicide use on stream health
The Gender Effects of Audit Partners on Audit Outcomes: Evidence of Rule 3211 Adoption
Full text linkThis paper investigates whether the impact of PCAOB Rule 3211 on the quality and cost of audit services differs between female and male audit partners. We find that the improvement of audit quality is more pronounced for female audit partners than male partners after Rule 3211 adoption. Female audit partners are also associated with higher increases in fees and report lags than male counterparts after the adoption of Rule 3211. Further, we find that the presence of female CFOs (or female audit committee members) attenuate the audit fees and report lag increases in the post-adoption periods. Overall, our findings confirm the importance of the gender effect on audit outcomes, which needs further consideration by standard setters. Our study also provides empirical evidence of the benefits of gender equality in the workplace
Examination of Wastewater for Microplastics
Full text linkInfluent and effluent from the Eastern Snyder County Water Authority in Selinsgrove, PA were analyzed to determine if microplastics can be found in the wastewater. It was expected that more and larger pieces of microplastic could be found in the influent and that if there was microplastic in the effluent that flowed into the Susquehanna River, it would be very small in size and not as abundant. Influent water samples were collected, chemically treated with potassium peroxide and hydrogen peroxide to remove organics, filtered and the resulting sediment was examined using a microscope and wood burner (to test for plastic). Effluent was filtered, and also examined using a microscope and heat treatment. Preliminary data indicate that effluent samples do contain microfibers that are on average less than 60 µm in length and 0.2 µm in width. The fundamental presence of microplastics in the effluent proves that microplastics are entering freshwater environments like the Susquehanna River. Recent studies have shown that both invertebrates and vertebrates are ingesting microplastics in the Susquehanna, proving that it is moving through the food chain