Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise explores basic human connections and illustrates how they shift when viewed through the lens of post-modernity. The protagonist, Jack Gladney, tries to validate and substantiate his own existence through the connections he forges not only with his job and studies but also with his family, attempting to find meaning in the way his relatives interact...
Most parents see parts of themselves in their children. They see their own familiar eyes, their sense of humor, and their long legs. Parents desire to nurture their child’s every hope and dream, and also want to raise their children in a safe and secure environment. However, what if a father saw in his daughter everything that he hated in himself? What if this same father never...
The field of philosophy is unique, as it allows one to logically examine issues in all disciplines, from science to politics to art. One further important discipline that philosophy examines is criminal justice. In this respect, one approach philosophy can take when examining criminal justice is to assess each issue by questioning its morality—that is, whether an action within...
Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a prevalent problem in today’s society and is estimated to affect 4% of the general population (Darche, 1990; Nock & Prinstein, 2004). SIB has been described as a form of coping (Fliege et al., 2006) and a means of escaping negative feelings (Barrera, Violo & Graver, 2007; Nock & Prinstein, 2004), however it has not been examined within the...
Picture the murderous femme fatale Jane Palmer in Byron Haskin’s 1949 film noir Too Late for Tears, as embodied by the talented actress Lizabeth Scott: gorgeous blonde locks, beautiful long legs and luscious thick lips, all dolled up in a shimmery evening gown fit for a Hollywood starlet and sporting a gaudy necklace that sparkles the way stars light up the night sky. Now...
In this study, two-dimensional linear elasticity theory is used to model the lithospheric stress field that produces radial extensional fractures observed at Pantheon Fossae in the Caloris Basin of Mercury. These fractures were imaged by the MESSENGER mission flyby of Mercury on January 14, 2008 and show radial fractures extending outward from a 40-kilometer impact crater named...
More than 300,000 women and nearly 100,000 men were forcibly raped in 1995 (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006). The National Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey, the last nationwide survey on rape, which had 8,000 male and 8,000 female participants, found that one of every six women and one of every thirty-three men is raped at some point in their lifetime. Thirty-two percent of the women...
Mild Mental Retardation (MMR) is a general term that refers to impairments in intellectual ability and adaptive skills, which include activities of daily living (ADLs), communication skills and social skills. MMR can be caused by genetic abnormalities (e.g., Down Syndrome [DS]), environmental factors such as head trauma or lack of oxygen at birth, and in some cases for...
This is one chapter of a full Honors’ Thesis entitled “The Visions of Women Created by Three Major Female African American Playwrights of the Twentieth Century: Georgia Douglas Johnson, Lorraine Hansberry, and Suzan-Lori Parks”. This chapter addresses the vision of Lena Younger created by Lorraine Hansberry in A Raisin in the Sun. It analyses the vision of African American women...
In 1903, the African American intellectual and political figure W. E. B. Du Bois, in The Souls of Black Folk, introduced the concept of double consciousness. Du Bois defines double consciousness as the struggle African Americans face to remain true to black culture while at the same time conforming to the dominant white society. Du Bois writes, “It is a peculiar sensation, this...
The Sun is currently in a quiescent phase called solar minimum. We used Bridgewater State College’s (B.S.C.’s) Small Radio Telescope (SRT) to observe solar radio emission during this quiet phase and correlated our data to solar X-ray data readily available through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Previous observations made during a period of high solar...
Northern Peru will face critical water resource issues in the near future as permanent ice in the Andes Mountains continues to rapidly melt. Ironically, the melt-water from these glaciers supports the culture of 100s of thousands of people living at lower elevations, particularly during the dry season, and predictions suggest some glaciers may be gone in less than 100 years. The...
In response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, in October of 2001, the Bush Administration launched the “War on Terror,” an attempt to eliminate all terrorist threats to the United States. As part of this war, the Bush Administration began detaining individuals it believed were linked to terrorism. Instead of capturing these individuals giving them a trial to determine whether...
One of the most well known, but deeply debated, ideas presented by the philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, is the will to power. Scholars have provided a variety of interpretations for what Nietzsche means by this concept. In this paper, I argue that, under each interpretation, Nietzsche may still face what I call, the problem of moral chaos, or the problem of endorsing the claim...
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive brain disorder that gradually destroys an individual’s mental functioning and social capabilities, including the ability to carry out everyday activities. Although memory deficits affect AD patients’ ability to perform these activities, research suggests that visual perception impairments also contribute. One impaired visual perception...
Torture is defined in a variety of ways by many different sources. According to the World Medical Association’s (WMA) Declaration of Tokyo, torture is defined as, “the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more people acting alone or on the orders of any authority, to force another person to yield information, to make a confession...
Autism (sometimes called “classical autism”) is the most common condition in a group of developmental disorders known as the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and is characterized by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests (NINDS, NIH, 2009). Other ASDs include Asperger...
My research is centered on the arguments of Rene Descartes, a 17th Century philosopher, in his work The Meditations. The Meditations is composed of six entries, which are six meditations, written in form of narration. His narrative takes form in an intricately composed piece of writing, a clever argument presented through a precise and fascinating procedure. However, the artful...
The year 1994 was one of the most tumultuous in the modern history of Mexico. During that year, two major political figures were assassinated, an uprising against the federal government began in the state of Chiapas, and the government attempted to finance its deficit payments with various debt instruments. The political instability caused by the assassinations and the Zapatista...
This study focuses on 13 salvia divinorum users, specifically seeking to understand the social, situational, and individual factors influencing their decision to use. Through semi-structured, in depth interviews, patterns such as the methods of use, settings of use, other frequently used drugs, and persistence or desistance of use are explored. Currently, there is limited...
The prevalence of problematic drinking behavior in college age students is an alarming 83% (NIAAA, 2008). Unfortunately problem alcohol use is not the only problem college students face today. College students, especially females, also have a high rate of body image problems and high rates of social anxiety. With all of these problems so prevalent in this population, it is...
By the year 2030, 61 million baby boomers will be between the ages of 66 and 84. Add to that cohort the nine million “oldest old,” or those born before 1946, and significant numbers of 70 million individuals will need access to aging related services. Researchers and policy makers predict huge shortfalls in services and resources for the elderly, and document - that even now...
By Lee Torda, Published on 01/01/10