284 research outputs found
[Letter from Grace Fowler to Anna Leah R. Staiti - October 27, 1918]
No full textLetter from Grace Fowler to her friend Anna Leah Staiti (née Staiti), offering sympathy regarding the passing of her husband Grover Staiti
Tudor women writers fashioning masculinity
No full textThis thesis contributes to the growing interest in early modern masculinity and its literary representations by introducing texts by women writers into dialogue with their male-authored counterparts. It argues for a more nuanced approach that recognises that the concepts of masculinity and femininity can only be fully understood when studied in relation with each other.
The first chapter explores how, notwithstanding the wisdom of conduct books and marriage guides, the demands of the state may not always be commensurate with those of the domestic realm and shows that this conflict necessitates a rethinking of existing definitions of masculinity by focusing on selected writings of the Tudor sisters Mary and Elizabeth and Jane Fitzalan’s *Tragedie of Iphigeneia*. The second chapter identifies how Elizabeth’s unique discursive strategies were designed to elicit support from her male subjects and subdue the belligerence that simmered under polemic like John Stubbs’ *Gaping Gulf*. In her letters to Anjou, the chapter examines how Elizabeth manoeuvred around her position as a beloved and as a monarch to fashion a husband who would not only be sympathetic but also subordinate to her political authority. This chapter also shows how the fabulous world of John Lyly’s *Galatea* consummates the Queen’s desire for the ideal male subject. The final chapter investigates the construction of martial manhood. It juxtaposes Mary Sidney’s *The Tragedy of Antonie* with William Shakespeare’s *Antony and Cleopatra* to determine how the figure of Cleopatra, common to both plays, challenges and revises the martial code of masculinity as embodied by Antony. By examining the authorial position appropriated by Cleopatra in the plays and its impact on the narrative, this chapter also extends this thesis’ interest in the extent to which female characters within texts compete for diegetic control with male protagonists
Civil Society and Intergovernmental Negotiations at the United Nations
No full textEPDF and EPUB available open access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations have increased at the United Nations (UN) since the 1990s. Yet few studies discuss the notion of inclusion and what it entails in intergovernmental negotiations. This book delves into the UN’s relationship with CSOs, exploring who participates in negotiations and how their input is integrated into ratified documents. Drawing on ethnographic research, the author uncovers the complexities of accreditation, participation, and the interpretation of CSOs’ contributions. Offering a sociological analysis, she highlights the increased exclusion of CSOs despite their apparent inclusion in institutions of global governance unbounded to public accountability. Leah R. Kimber examines the practices of exclusion CSOs are subjected to in UN negotiations by opening the machinery of intergovernmental negotiations in light of the UN’s future and legitimacy
Redressing disadvantage in high school students: four capabilities toward agency and equity in teaching and learning
No full textThis work addresses two questions: how can we better characterize the disadvantages faced by marginalized youth? And once characterized, how do we attend to and redress those disadvantages? In attending to these questions, I draw on Nussbaum’s (2011) capabilities approach as a broad, normative framework for characterizing individual well-being in the context of teaching and learning. Within this framework, I employ narrative inquiry into my own practice as a mathematics teacher at an alternative high school and explore the potential for hermeneutic pedagogy as a means to both interpret and cultivate capability. I set forth a tentative list of four capabilities – a disposition of expertise, autonomy, affiliation, and a hermeneutic imagination – each valuable in and of itself, but also as a means to cultivate and secure additional capabilities and redress disadvantage
Articulating a better practice
No full textviii, 107 leaves ; 29 cmThis project deals with the nature of discourse about, around, and in the teaching
profession. It begins with the researcher’s impressions that the amount and the severity of
the negative, demeaning, and disheartening language in this context is alarming and
potentially damaging to a healthy professional identity and, consequently, to the
professional reality of practicing teachers. The researcher sets out to discover how
teachers in her division experience this language and whether an awareness of the effect
of language could help assuage professional harm and difficulty.
A study of the fields of narrative inquiry, critical discourse analysis, and
appreciative inquiry are at the core of the project. These three fields form the theoretical
framework for the researcher’s ideas around the power of discourse awareness.
An online forum was built, and seven volunteer secondary teacher participants
and the participant researcher began discussions surrounding the nature of language and
the specific words and phrases that each found to be demeaning and/or uplifting to their
professional identity. As a final discussion, participants chose three to five “words to
lose” and three to five “words to use” in their practice.
The researcher performed a critical analysis of the discussions, paying attention to critical discourse and the potential transformative powers of narrative and appreciative
inquiries. Her findings and conclusions point to the resilient and adaptive teaching
professional as one who has found ways to navigate the minefield of personal, collegiate,
and public discourse with courage, determination, and grace
The ubiquitous brownfield: abandoned gas stations and their social, economic, and environmental implications
No full textAbandoned gas station sites are a common blight, particularly in urban areas. An EPA survey of Illinois mayors identified gas stations as the most predominant type of vacant or abandoned property (reported by nearly 71 percent of responding mayors). (Northeast Midwest 2002) In this study I asked: 1) What is the extent of the abandoned gas station problem? 2) What are best practices for addressing former gas station sites? 3) How is New Jersey, the most urban and densely populated state, addressing the problem of abandoned gas stations? 4) What are the economic, social, and environmental impacts of these sites? I answered these by interviewing officials engaged in the remediation and redevelopment of these sites, to catalogue the best practices nationwide and the current understanding of the extent of the problem. I next developed historical gas station inventories in three New Jersey cities, and collected information regarding their location, environmental status, reuse, ownership, taxes, and demographics. I then reviewed environmental reports for three specific gas station sites to obtain information on the extent of contamination and the cost to remediate. Officials were divided on how well they believed the threat of former gas station sites was understood. However, the city-wide case studies make it clear that only a fraction of former gas station sites were known to environmental officials. The data indicate that most former gas stations closed prior to the 1986 reporting deadline, and that most of these lack environmental records. Economically disadvantaged communities host the majority of former gas station sites with no environmental records. Further, their current use is typically still auto-dependent or as vacant property. However, those sites that are redeveloped are able to contribute jobs, services, and tax revenue to their communities. The extent of contamination and the remediation costs to address the contamination varies widely. This study shows that many former gas stations remain a threat. Shifting public policies and resources to better address these sites would have significant positive impacts on the distressed neighborhoods.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Leah Beth Benedict Yasencha
All Is Fair? Lonnie R. Speer Shatters Myths With Tales Of Mistreated Pows
No full textLonnie R. Speer is a historian and lecturer whose expertise lies in the history of Civil War prisons and prisoners of war. He is the author of Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War (Stackpole Books,1997). His latest book, War of Vengeance: Acts of Retaliation on POWs in t...
Quantifying the spatial ecology of wide-ranging marine species in the Gulf of California: implications for marine conservation planning.
No full textThere is growing interest in systematic establishment of marine protected area (MPA) networks and representative conservation sites. This movement toward networks of no-take zones requires that reserves are deliberately and adequately spaced for connectivity. Here, we test the network functionality of an ecoregional assessment configuration of marine conservation areas by evaluating the habitat protection and connectivity offered to wide-ranging fauna in the Gulf of California (GOC, Mexico). We first use expert opinion to identify representative species of wide-ranging fauna of the GOC. These include leopard grouper, hammerhead sharks, California brown pelicans and green sea turtles. Analyzing habitat models with both structural and functional connectivity indexes, our results indicate that the configuration includes large proportions of biologically important habitat for the four species considered (25-40%), particularly, the best quality habitats (46-57%). Our results also show that connectivity levels offered by the conservation area design for these four species may be similar to connectivity levels offered by the entire Gulf of California, thus indicating that connectivity offered by the areas may resemble natural connectivity. The selected focal species comprise different life histories among marine or marine-related vertebrates and are associated with those habitats holding the most biodiversity values (i.e. coastal habitats); our results thus suggest that the proposed configuration may function as a network for connectivity and may adequately represent the marine megafauna in the GOC, including the potential connectivity among habitat patches. This work highlights the range of approaches that can be used to quantify habitat protection and connectivity for wide-ranging marine species in marine reserve networks
Human Disturbance Influences Reproductive Success and Growth Rate in California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus)
No full textThe environment is currently undergoing changes at both global (e.g., climate change) and local (e.g., tourism, pollution, habitat modification) scales that have the capacity to affect the viability of animal and plant populations. Many of these changes, such as human disturbance, have an anthropogenic origin and therefore may be mitigated by management action. To do so requires an understanding of the impact of human activities and changing environmental conditions on population dynamics. We investigated the influence of human activity on important life history parameters (reproductive rate, and body condition, and growth rate of neonate pups) for California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Increased human presence was associated with lower reproductive rates, which translated into reduced long-term population growth rates and suggested that human activities are a disturbance that could lead to population declines. We also observed higher body growth rates in pups with increased exposure to humans. Increased growth rates in pups may reflect a density dependent response to declining reproductive rates (e.g., decreased competition for resources). Our results highlight the potentially complex changes in life history parameters that may result from human disturbance, and their implication for population dynamics. We recommend careful monitoring of human activities in the Gulf of California and emphasize the importance of management strategies that explicitly consider the potential impact of human activities such as ecotourism on vertebrate populations
The firing characteristics of foot sole cutaneous mechanoreceptor afferents in response to vibration stimuli
No full textSingle unit microneurography was used to record the firing characteristics of the four classes of foot sole cutaneous afferents [fast and slowly adapting type I and II (FAI, FAII, SAI, and SAII)] in response to sinusoidal vibratory stimuli. Frequency (3-250 Hz) and amplitude (0.001-2 mm) combinations were applied to afferent receptive fields through a 6-mm diameter probe. The impulses per cycle, defined as the number of action potentials evoked per vibration sine wave, were measured over 1 s of vibration at each frequency-amplitude combination tested. Afferent entrainment threshold (lowest amplitude at which an afferent could entrain 1:1 to the vibration frequency) and afferent firing threshold (minimum amplitude for which impulses per cycle was greater than zero) were then obtained for each frequency. Increases in vibration frequency are generally associated with decreases in expected impulses per cycle ( < 0.001), but each foot sole afferent class appears uniquely tuned to vibration stimuli. FAII afferents tended to have the lowest entrainment and firing thresholds ( < 0.001 for both); however, these afferents seem to be sensitive across frequency. In contrast to FAII afferents, SAI and SAII afferents tended to demonstrate optimal entrainment to frequencies below 20 Hz and FAI afferents faithfully encoded frequencies between 8 and 60 Hz. Contrary to the selective activation of distinct afferent classes in the hand, application of class-specific frequencies in the foot sole is confounded due to the high sensitivity of FAII afferents. These findings may aid in the development of sensorimotor control models or the design of balance enhancement interventions. Our work provides a mechanistic look at the capacity of foot sole cutaneous afferents to respond to vibration of varying frequency and amplitude. We found that foot sole afferent classes are uniquely tuned to vibration stimuli; however, unlike in the hand, they cannot be independently activated by class-specific frequencies. Viewing the foot sole as a sensory structure, the present findings may aid in the refinement of sensorimotor control models and design of balance enhancement interventions
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