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“Mom, I’m gay.” Homosexual language used in the coming out process and its effect on the family relationship
(2/11/2013) Ramón, Erika K.; Virginia E. Wheeless
Communication between homosexuals and heterosexuals has been examined by communication scholars since the gay revolution of the 1970’s. Communication scholars have sought to understand how homosexuals communicate with one another and heterosexuals. The current study examined the language used by homosexuals during the coming out process and the affect that language has on the family relationship after learning of a family member’s homosexuality. Participants included (38) homosexual students and faculty who attended a midsize university in the southern Midwest, as well as they were sought through other means (word of mouth from students, Facebook) and they completed an online survey. Results indicate that homosexuals converge their language to a heterosexual language when coming out to their parents. Use of heterosexual language and disclosure of homosexuality increased satisfaction within the family relationship. Also, relational communication about coming out was positively correlated with the relationship satisfaction of the family. Social penetration theory, communication privacy management theory, communication accommodation theory, and uncertainty reduction theory were utilized as a theoretical framework. Findings of this study suggest further attention should be given to homosexual language and the usage of it in communication with others. In addition, this study adds to the research on homosexuals by looking at how language impacts satisfaction with the family relationship.
Love: A Contextual, Ontological Form in the Classroom
(2/18/2020) Holliman, Jennifer
This research uses Hermeneutics as a qualitative method for exploring the historical conceptions of love in relation to current ideations of love among pre-service teachers. Additionally, by use of an ontological inquiry, this research examines love as an ontological form in the classroom.
Religious Radicalism in the Colonial Southern Backcountry: Jacob Weber and the Transmission of European Radical Pietism to South Carolina’s Dutch Fork
(2006-12) Moore, Peter
In this vein, this paper will first examine the conditions that led to the Weber tragedy. In the mid-eighteenth century, imperial and provincial policies seeking to promote immigration in order to buffer the frontier created a patchwork religious landscape in the Carolina backcountry, what Woodmason characterized as a “mix’d medley” of churches and sects, some of them quite remote and chronically under-churched.3 At the same time, Indian policies designed to exploit the Cherokee during the Seven Years’ War backfired, leading to all-out war between South Carolina and the Cherokee in 1759. This combination of isolation, official neglect, and settler vulnerability provided fertile soil for the growth of radical spirituality, both in the backcountry in general and the Saxe-Gotha/Dutch Fork area in particular. In this sense, the Weber tragedy was not merely the result of religious delusion; rather, it was the unintended but by no means surprising consequence of the attempt by South Carolina’s planter elite to extend mastery over slaves, Indians, and poor white Protestants. The Weber sect was a casualty of this project. Turning from the local and provincial to the transatlantic perspective, this paper will also analyze the theological links between the Weberites and European radical sectarianism. For while the relative isolation of the backcountry explains in part why the Weber sect took root, the specific forms this sect adopted grew from the region’s connectedness to the ideological currents of the Atlantic world, particularly the currents of Continental Radical Pietism. Between the 1720s and the Revolution, Radical Pietist communities took root in the British American borderlands from New England to Georgia. The Weberites drew their breath from this diffusion of Radical Pietism, appropriating its communal, prophetic, and millenarian features, although these went awry in the crisis of the Cherokee War as the sect plunged into delusion and ritual murder. Placing the Weberites in the stream of transatlantic Radical Pietism sheds new light on the religious history of the eighteenth-century south. Traditionally, historians have depicted the early south as a religious backwater, where a moribund Anglican establishment and a few upstart evangelical sects existed alongside the unchurched masses until the evangelicals captured the region and transformed it into the Bible Belt in the two generations following the Revolution.4 Recent historians have challenged this picture, viewing the region on its own terms and stressing its religious diversity, creativity, and vitality.5 In this light, the Weberites remind us of what eighteenth-century religionists like Woodmason knew all along and what current historians are only now rediscovering: that the early south, far from being a religious blank slate, was instead rife with dangerous sects and wild-eyed enthusiasts. Theirs was a world was populated as much by wandering prophets, self-deifying mystics, and immigrant sects from the fringes of the Reformation as by evangelicals and Anglicans, a place where the threat of spiritual excess was just as real as that of worldliness and unbelief. Looking through the lens of the Weber sect while widening the angle to take in the Atlantic context, the early southern backcountry thus becomes a place of intense religious energy and creativity, not merely a spiritual backwater waiting for revival.
Double the work: Challenges and solutions to acquiring language and academic literacy for adolescent English language learners
(2007) Short, Deborah J.; Fitzsimmons-Doolan, Shannon
Despite the growing societal awareness of the need for interventions and programs to increase literacy levels of adolescents, education policymakers and school reformers have mostly overlooked the needs of the large and growing English language learner (ELL) population. Though recent reports have helped to focus attention on the adolescent literacy crisis, they offer very little guidance on how best to meet the varied and challenging literacy needs of adolescent ELLs. In virtually every part of the country, middle and high schools are now seeing expanding enrollments of students whose primary language is not English. Rising numbers of immigrants, other demographic trends, and the demands of an increasingly global economy make it clear that the nation can no longer afford to ignore the pressing needs of the ELLs in its middle and high schools who are struggling with reading, writing, and oral discourse in a new language. Although many strategies for supporting literacy in native English speakers are applicable to adolescent ELLs, there are significant differences in the way that successful literacy interventions for the latter group should be designed and implemented. These differences have serious implications for teachers, instructional leaders, curriculum designers, administrators, and policymakers at all levels of government. Moreover, because adolescent ELLs are a diverse group of learners in terms of their educational backgrounds, native language literacy, socioeconomic status, and more, some strategies will work for certain ELLs but not for others. It should be understood that adolescent ELLs are second language learners who are still developing their proficiency in academic English. Moreover, they are learning English at the same time they are studying core content areas through English. Thus, English language learners must perform double the work of native English speakers in the country’s middle and high schools. And, at the same time, they are being held to the same accountability standards as their native English-speaking peers. To bring the issues and challenges confronting adolescent ELLs into clearer focus, the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), working on behalf of Carnegie Corporation of New York, convened a panel of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working in the field to offer their expertise (see list in Appendix A).The panel agreed to a focus on academic literacy, that which is most crucial for success in school, and defined the term in the following way: Includes reading, writing, and oral discourse for school • Varies from subject to subject • Requires knowledge of multiple genres of text, purposes for text use, and text media • Is influenced by students’ literacies in contexts outside of school • Is influenced by students’ personal, social, and cultural experiences The panel identified six major challenges to improving the literacy of ELLs: • Lack of common criteria for identifying ELLs and tracking their academic performance • Lack of appropriate assessments • Inadequate educator capacity for improving literacy in ELLs • Lack of appropriate and flexible program options • Inadequate use of research-based instructional practices • Lack of a strong and coherent research agenda about adolescent ELL literacy During the course of the project, CAL researchers reviewed the literature on adolescent ELL literacy and conducted site visits to three promising programs. In addition, a sub-study was commissioned from researchers at the Migration Policy Institute to collect and analyze valuable information on the demographic trends and academic achievement of ELLs. At the conclusion of the process, the panel recommended an array of different strategies for surmounting the six challenges by making changes in day-to-day teaching practices, professional training, research, and educational policy. As a result, each “challenge” section in the body of this report is followed by an extensive “potential solutions” discussion. With the small but growing research base on the best practices for developing adolescent ELL literacy becoming more widely disseminated through increased dialogue among educators, researchers, and policymakers, the right strategies for helping these students attain their full potential are being determined. For example, policymakers should consider the following: • Tightening the existing definition of Limited English Proficient (LEP) and former LEP students in Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) to ensure that states use identical criteria to designate LEP students and to determine which students are to be considered Fluent English Proficient (FEP) • Developing new and improved assessments of the adolescent ELLs’ native language abilities, English language development, and content knowledge learning • Setting a national teacher education policy to ensure all teacher candidates learn about second language and literacy acquisition, reading across the content areas, and sheltered instruction and ESL methods • Adjusting school accountability measures under NCLB to avoid penalizing districts and schools that allow ELL students to take more than the traditional 4 years to complete high school successfully Encouraging the use of proven and promising instruction for ELLs in schools • Funding and conducting more short- and long-term research on new and existing interventions and programs, and on the academic performance of these adolescent ELLs Although the potential solutions in this report are not exhaustive, they are meant to provide a sound starting point for better addressing the needs of ELLs in the nation’s schools. Moreover, by helping ELLs learn and perform more effectively in school, America’s educational system and society as a whole will be strengthened and enriched.
The Michoacanazo: A case-study of wrongdoing in the Mexican Federal Judiciary
(2015-01-01) Ferreyra, Gabriel
The Michoacanazo was a federal criminal trial in Mexico prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office against local and state public officials from the state of Michoacán who were indicted for having ties with the local drug cartel formally known as “La Familia Michoacana.” With the indictment, more than 30 public servants were arrested and sent to prison in a roundup carried out by the federal police in May 2009. Within a two-year period, all of those arrested were eventually released. This case had strong legal and political implications nationwide because it pitted the state of Michoacán against the federal government, as well as President Felipe Calderon’s administration against the Mexican Federal Judiciary. The Michoacanazo provides a glimpse into the inner workings of the Mexican federal judiciary when powerful interests collide, and corruption intermingles with politics, a drug cartel, and the complexities of handling drug-related trials.
Facebook is the yellow pages of today': South Texas Hispanic business administrator social media utilizations, relevancies, and concerns
(2015-02) Nava, Ismael Josue'
The Hispanic population is currently rising to be the most populous ethnicity and is stated to become one of the most powerful economic forces in the United States. Although persons of the Hispanic ethnicity living in America may be grouped into one culture, there are many issues regarding differences of identity and specific histories from various groups within this culture. The Hispanic population in the cultural region of South Texas can have great implications for business decisions in the 21st century in regards to technological communication advancements. Different social networking sites are now in collaboration efforts with enterprises across the country to tap into this emerging demographic. These organizations have found the importance of becoming culturally relevant toward the Hispanic culture. Qualitative methods were applied to present answers from an interview questionnaire that helped describe social media use pertaining to Hispanic business administrators in the South Texas region. Hispanic business administrators in a South Texas metropolitan area utilized social networking sites to be specifically proactive. It was also found that these applications were relevant to their business goals and that administrators were concerned with how they would manage critics in online environments.
An investigation of response competition in retrieval-induced forgetting
(Taylor and Francis Online, 2015-03-03) Glanc, Gina
It has been demonstrated that retrieval practice on a subset of studied items can cause forgetting of different related studied items. This retrieval-induced forgetting (the RIF effect) has been demonstrated in a variety of recall studies and has been attributed to an inhibitory mechanism activated during retrieval practice by competition for a shared retrieval cue. The current study generalizes the RIF effect to recognition memory and investigates this competition assumption. Experiment 1 demonstrated an effect of RIF effect in item recognition with incidental encoding of category-exemplar association during the study phase. Experiment 2 demonstrated evidence of RIF with use of an independent retrieval cue during retrieval practice. Results from this study indicate that response competition may occur outside of the retrieval-practice phase, or may not be limited to situations where there is an overt link to a shared category cue.
Lest we forget: commemorative movements in Texas, 1893-1936
(2015-08) Banks, Theodore
This thesis examines how white elite Texans deployed historical memory in constructing their cultural identity from the last decade of the nineteenth century through the Texas Centennial. As a former member of the Confederacy, Texas in many ways adhered to general patterns observable throughout the south, such as participation in Confederate veteran and auxiliary organizations and the regional celebration of the Lost Cause. As the state approached its centenary, memorialization of its frontier and revolutionary eras assumed a higher profile in the state's cultural landscape. This thesis analyzes the interplay of these two memory repertoires, Confederate and Texas frontier/revolutionary, as the state's elite celebrated the two concurrently over a period of several decades.
Life Experience as a Moderator of the Weapons Priming Effect
(2016-05) Korb, Alora; Korb, Alora; Mark Hartlaub
The weapons priming effect proposes that guns act as priming agents that lead to increased aggression. However, recent literature demonstrated that the gun user’s life experience (e.g., knowledge or years of gun use) moderates the weapons effect (Bartholow, Anderson, Carnagey, & Benjamin, 2005; Nagtegaal, Rassin, & Muris, 2009); thus, gun owners with increased gun experience do not demonstrate the gun-aggression link previously thought to be universal. This study explored the gun-aggression link with handgun life experience. Participants were primed with pictures of handguns or tennis rackets and subsequent aggressive cognitions were measured through a word completion task. Participants were also surveyed on gun use and gun life experience. Results showed no significant difference in aggression between individuals with low, average, or high handgun life experience, regardless of priming condition. In addition, when comparing individuals with low, average, and high levels of total handgun and long gun life experience, there were no significant differences in aggression, and this was true for both priming conditions; although these results did not support the directional hypotheses of previous research, these findings still suggest that despite the handgun prime, those with increased gun life experience do not exhibit an increase in aggression, which contradicts the weapons effect theory and ultimately supports the recent research on gun life experience and aggression. Finally, neither gun purpose nor target shapes have been studied in relation to the weapons effect; relationships between guns, target shapes, gun purpose and aggression were explored. The results of this study can better inform gun owners, the general public, gun-affiliated organizations, and government officials about the benefits of increasing gun knowledge and experience on decreasing aggressive acts.
There is a Rebel in Me': The Shadow-Beast and Diverse Feminine Subjectivities in Chicana Young Adult Literature
(2016-05) Rhodes, Cristina Susana; Catherine Quick
As diverse young adult literature (YA) garners more interest, the necessity to study and promote it becomes urgent. While the sample size of diverse children’s and YA literature is still small, the growing significance of diversity in children’s literature scholarship indicates the need for a lens with which to examine the nuances and particulars of these books. To this end, I have positioned Chicana theorist Gloria Anzaldúa’s identity-theory surrounding the image Shadow-Beast as a central figure in informing the self-affirmed identity of diverse female protagonists in YA literature. The Shadow-Beast is representative of counterhegemonic subjectivities posed against the normative patriarchy. The Shadow-Beast is a reactionary figure whose agency is derived from directly opposing the normative philosophies that surround her. Whereas other powerful feminine figures that occur throughout literary history demonstrate subversive tendencies, the Shadow-Beast’s entire existence is predicated upon her ability to exist counter to the dominant ideal. While the subversive figure of the Shadow-Beast works within the ulterior spaces of the world, she also learns to refigure herself within social spheres by acting as a savior to her chosen community. To demonstrate the ways the Shadow-Beast identity is actualized, I have focused on studying her emergence in Chicana YA literature. Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, published in the 1980’s, triggered a shift in the critical attention paid to adolescent Chicanas in YA literature through the advent of a subversive, Shadow-Beast-like identity in Cisneros’s adolescent narrator, Esperanza. In recognizing the significance of the figure of the Shadow-Beast identity in Chicana YA literature, this thesis proposes the continued and invested study of this identity in both Chicana and diverse YA literature. By developing a critical lens with which to view diverse YA books, the theory of the Shadow-Beast exposes the power potential of diverse, female, adolescent protagonists.
Oil and Gas Employees' Expectations for Crisis Response Messages: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study
(2016-05) Lorentson, Casandra Lynn; Maresh-Fuehrer, Michelle
The purpose of this study was to create and validate a measure of employee expectations for crisis communication in the oil and gas industry. Crisis communication researchers largely focus on reputation saving strategies while explaining that organizations also need to first attend to stakeholder basic needs. These needs are considered base crisis response strategies and, according to researchers, should always be implemented before reputation saving strategies. Yet, little research has focused on whether the messages stakeholders expect their organization to communicate during a crisis are consistent with the recommendations being made regarding base crisis response strategies. In the present study, employees from the oil and gas industry participated in two phases of research. During the first phase, 14 individuals participated in a questionnaire. The results suggest employees have the following expectations: to provide information about the crisis, to consider employee needs, to provide business continuity, to provide quick information dissemination, to provide compensation information, to send messages through multiple communication channels, and to explain future crisis prevention. The second phase involved a survey of 100 participants. The results validate one of the eight expectations. The instrument's validity was also tested through the use of three other scales. Organizational climate and identity had a strong relationship to employee expectations while job satisfaction and employee expectations had a weaker relationship. Results from the current study provide usable data which benefit crisis communication researchers and organizational crisis managers.
An examination of the effects of sexual education on American college students: sexual knowledge, sexual behaviors, and sexual opinions
(2016-05) Gabrion, Karlee E.; Houlihan, Amy
Roughly 10 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections occur in individuals aged 15 to 24 every year in the United States, and over 300,000 babies are born to women 15 to 19 years old annually (CDC 2011; CDC, 2013). Finding ways to combat these negative health outcomes has been a challenge for decades. One feasible solution to the problem may be sex education. The United States has three frequent modes of teaching public school students about sex including abstinence only, abstinence plus, and comprehensive sex education, with the primary focus being the health outcomes associated with sexual activity (Carroll, 2009; Gilbert, 2010; Schalet et al., 2014). Universities often offer courses in human sexuality that tend to focus on a wide array of topics and implement a more holistic view of sexuality (Hock, 2012). This study tested the effects that different types of sex education may have on college students' level of sexual knowledge, health, behaviors, and opinions. Results indicated that AOE, AOEP, and CSE programs did not have a significant effect on the outcome variables. However, students who had taken human sexuality in college had significantly higher levels of sexual knowledge, reported healthier sexual behaviors, and held more positive views toward sexual topics. These findings suggest that we may need to revise the way we educate teens and young adults about sexuality.
A community of convenience: an ethnographic case study of narrative relationship-building in public relations
(2016-08) Hatch, Debra Young; Michelle M. Maresh-Fuehrer
The purpose of this case study was to gain in-depth understanding of how a convenience store with a nationally recognized reputation of friendliness, creates relationships with its mobile and ever-changing customers and employees through the construction and implementation of their corporate narrative. Using an ethnographic approach, the researcher enacted the role of participant-observer to gather information and rich description of customer and employee experiences in the store. The results of the study reflect this company authentically shared their corporate narrative with their stakeholders - employees and customers. As such, that narrative, successfully passed on from their employees to their customers on a daily basis, serves to create a following, a community and brand loyalty with customers, while simultaneously fostering community among their customers. In addition, this study adds to knowledge in academic literature, as well as for the public relations practitioner. From an academic perspective, it offers a unique view inside an organization's public relations efforts through observation of customer and employee communication. Further, since there are few ethnographic studies in public relations, particularly from the customer perspective, this study provides a unique opportunity to understand the effectiveness of public relations strategies as they build relationships, community and brand loyalty. From a public relations standpoint, the case study provides specific strategies on how to create authentic relationships between employees and customer, while offering customers a uniquely personalized experience with a convenience store model.
Using orthographic neighborhood size manipulations to investigate memory deficits in aging memory
(Taylor & Francis Online, 2016-08-22) Glanc, Gina; Logan, Jessica M.; Grime, Megan; Anuwe, Antonette; Thompson, Janelle
In three previous studies, manipulations of orthographic neighborhood size and orienting task were used to differentiate between item-specific and relational processing in young adults (aged 18–35) in standard recognition tasks. The current study attempts to investigate memory deficits in older adults (aged 65+) using similar manipulations. Experiment 1 manipulated orthographic neighborhood size within an item recognition task. Young adults demonstrated a standard mirror effect, showing more accurate performance for low-N words. No such effect was found in older adults, possibly indicating a deficit in item-specific processing. Experiment 2 included an orienting task during study to emphasize a specific type of processing. While younger adults’ performance was influenced by orienting task, older adults showed consistently better performance for High-N words. These results suggest that older adults show a deficit in item-specific processing, relying more on relational processing regardless of task.
A history of the Texas Congress of Mothers-Parent Teacher Association and school reform, 1909-1930
(2016-12) Hatmaker, Amy A.
The role of the Texas Congress of Mothers – Parent Teacher Association in school reform has long been overlooked by historians. This study is meant to examine the efforts of the organization in school reform from its inception in 1909 to the 1930s as well as the response of educators toward the organization following the creating of the professional school system. Chapter One examines the poor state of the public schools in the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries. Using reports of educational surveyors, the Superintendents of Public Instruction and historians, it shows how Texas, like most of the South, lagged behind the rest of the nation in literacy, educational standards, and school funding. It includes a discussion of the early reform efforts and the emergence of the Texas Congress of Mothers – Parent Teacher Association. Chapter Two uses organizational records and state reports to show the work of the organization. The priorities of each administration are examined with particular attention given to the work that helped create the professional teacher as well as efforts that led to developing a modern system of education. The final chapter uses publications of contemporary educators and parents as well as institutional records to discuss the reaction of the school establishment to the reforms advocated by the Texas Congress of Mothers – Parent Teacher Association. It demonstrates that once education became a recognized profession, educators began to question the need to cooperate with the organization, sparking a redefinition of organizational priorities. The Texas Congress of Mothers – Parent Teacher Association was a major factor in changing the state’s educational system. Yet, the very system they helped create would later limit the organization’s future impact. A better understanding of the contribution of the organization as well as the dynamics between it and educators should be a part of the historical record. Further, an understanding of the history of cooperation and advancement made when both sets of stakeholders worked together could prove useful as a model for future reform efforts.
Recreating gender roles: an examination of dating practices among feminist college women
(2016-12) Rodriguez, Marisa; Rodriguez, Stephanie
For decades, women have used traditional gender roles to navigating dating processes. However, due to the changing social roles of women and decades of shifting feminist movements, women have the opportunity to challenge and recreate traditional norms. The current study examined (a) how feminist beliefs influenced women’s dating ideologies, (b) how women managed cognitive dissonance that occurred between feminist beliefs and traditional dating gender roles, and (c) how conversations with others influenced women’s dating practices. Fifteen college-aged women who self-identified as having feminist beliefs were interviewed about their feminist beliefs and dating experiences. Results revealed that identifying with feminist beliefs influenced participants to want egalitarian roles in their dating relationships. Also, participants experienced cognitive dissonance when dating under traditional roles because of their desire to perform egalitarian roles. Participants reduced or eliminated dissonance by changing the importance of their beliefs, terminating relationships, and being more selective when it came to future romantic partners. Finally, participants’ conversations with parents had an impact on the formation of their feminist beliefs and participants gave and received advice to friends based on their feminist beliefs. Implications of how participants recreated gender roles on dates are discussed.
Children's moral evaluations of lie-telling and truth-telling in modesty contexts
(2016-12) Zhao, Yuhang; Comparini, Lisa
Children’s moral evaluations of lie-telling and truth-telling, are influenced by culture (Lee, Cameron, Xu, Fu, & Board, 1997; Lee, Xu, Fu, Cameron, & Chen, 2001). Compared with Canadian children, eleven year olds Chinese children tend to rate modest lie-telling (lies about a good deed you have done) more positively than immodest truth-telling (admit a good deed you have done) (Lee et al., 1997; Lee et al., 2001). Additionally, older Chinese children (11 year olds) were more likely to rate modest lie-telling positively than younger children (7 and 9 year olds) (Lee et al., 2001). However, research suggested that specific social context could also influence people’s moral evaluations (Sweester, 1987). Previous research centered on this topic never considered a collaborative context in which children tend to show more modesty to their partner (Banerjee, 2000). The present study bridges this gap by investigating American children’s moral evaluations of lie-telling and truth-telling involving a collaborative context. All the children were recruited from an elementary lab school located in South Texas where the student body is comprised of 60 percent Hispanic population. We found that even American children tended to rate modest lie-telling more positively than immodest truth-telling in a pro-social situation when a collaborative context was involved. Also, there was a tendency for older (10-11 year olds) children to rate the modest lie-telling more positively than younger (7-8 year olds) children. Lastly, children spent more time in making a corresponding moral evaluation when lie-telling occurred in a pro-social context. This study suggests that the explanation of the modesty effect built on cultural factors might not be complete. Specific social contexts may also have an important effect.
Thought We Wouldn't Notice, but We Did': An Analysis of Critical Transmedia Literacy Among Consumers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
(2016-12) Moon, Meghan R.; Susan Garza
As transmedia, or what Jenkins (2010) describes as a “new mode of storytelling” (p. 948), the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) thrives on its ability to drive consumers to continue to invest in its network. However, the MCU’s lack of diversity compels marginalized MCU consumers to try to gain the attentions of Marvel Studios’ creators, whom they hope will enact changes in the future MCU. The purpose of the following thesis was to analyze both the MCU’s non-inclusive Avengers narrative, and the attention-seeking counter-narratives that its critical consumers construct in response. This analysis reassesses the MCU’s hegemonic narrative construction through the lens of its transmediated framework. Applying Althusser’s (1971/2007) concept of ideological interpellation, this analysis concludes that the MCU’s massive framework belies a limiting discourse of heterosexual, cisgender white male privilege that disempowers women and/or other minorities. In turn, marginalized female and/or minority MCU consumers use their visible difference as leverage; affronted by the gaps in representation that distinguish the MCU’s fictional world from their real world experiences, they construct digital counter-narratives that emphasize diversity and inclusion. This strategic reworking of transmedia to redress critical concerns entails a dramatic change in the relationship between media creators and their global audiences, and portends media creators’ irreversible loss of power in the digital age. Still, in order to recognize the purpose of critical MCU consumers’ practices in their full context, it is best to develop a new theoretical understanding of transmediated discourse and consumers’ digital interactivities, one identifiable as a new mode of resistance: critical transmedia literacy.
Motivations for contralateral prophylactic mastectomy as a function of socioeconomic status
(BMC, 2017-02-01) Baptiste, Dadrie F.; MacGeorge, Erina; Venetis, Maria; Mouton, Ashton; Friley, L. Brooke; Pastor, Rebekah; Hatten, Kristen; Lagoo, Janaka; Clare, Susan E.; Bowling, Monet W.; Baptiste, Dadrie F.; MacGeorge, Erina; Venetis, Maria; Mouton, Ashton; Friley, L. Brooke; Pastor, Rebekah; Hatten, Kristen; Lagoo, Janaka; Clare, Susan E.; Bowling, Monet W.
Background Despite no demonstrated survival advantage for women at average risk of breast cancer, rates of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) continue to increase. Research reveals women with higher socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to select CPM. This study examines how indicators of SES, age, and disease severity affect CPM motivations. Methods Patients (N = 113) who underwent CPM at four Indiana University affiliated hospitals completed telephone interviews in 2013. Participants answered questions about 11 CPM motivations and provided demographic information. Responses to motivation items were factor analyzed, resulting in 4 motivational factors: reducing long-term risk, symmetry, avoiding future medical visits, and avoiding treatments. Results Across demographic differences, reducing long-term risk was the strongest CPM motivation. Lower income predicted stronger motivation to reduce long-term risk and avoid treatment. Older participants were more motivated to avoid treatment; younger and more-educated patients were more concerned about symmetry. Greater severity of diagnosis predicted avoiding treatments. Conclusions Reducing long-term risk is the primary motivation across groups, but there are also notable differences as a function of age, education, income, and disease severity. To stop the trend of increasing CPM, physicians must tailor patient counseling to address motivations that are consistent across patient populations and those that vary between populations.
Not for Medical Use
(2017-05) Howard, Emily; Katz, Louis; Petican, Laura; Gron, Jack
Throughout the history of art, artists have always sought to find ways to recreate the human form in its most perfect representation. They have studied the weight and movement of the body inside and out to show the ideal figure in its totality, which has aided in the progress of medical science. This is in the pursuit of representing beauty and has led to the human figure being idealized on the surface without embracing imperfections. This does not leave room for the exploration of representing the imperfect or ill body according to social standards. One in three hundred Americans is diagnosed with a condition called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and eighty percent of those are women. Changing the perception of chronic illness or disabilities can be achieved through the research of in disabilities studies and artists’s representations of the disabled form in different art mediums. Specific Copious research about differential treatment by gender and accounts of gender bias in the medical arts informs a feminist message perspective in this research. Artists should actively be seeking a way to bridge the gap between art and scientific. This body of work seeks to represent the human figure in its imperfections and bring awareness to the hidden illnesses that affect a persons’s body that make it different and create ancontribute to individuality. Modern Contemporary artists such as Marc Quinn, Diane Arbus, Kiki Smith and others have depicted their own struggles and familiarities with health issues, medical experiences, gender bias and even how ways in which the female form is depicted in art. By using studies of art history in its the medical context, its role in representing and shaping societies’ viewsocietal views of the human figure, and how it has affected the view point of modern and contemporary artists, this body of work will bring attention to unseen illnesses and the acceptance of the imperfections of the human form. Further research and representation through personal experiences may can broaden the progress scope of this field of study.

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