Let's just steal the rockets: 1970s feminist science fiction as radical rhetorical revisioning

Feminist utopian writings from the 1970s included a clearly defined rhetorical purpose: to undermine the assumption of hidden male privilege in language and society. The creative conversation defining this rhetorical purpose gives evidence of a community of peers engaging in invention as a social act even while publishing separately. Writers including Samuel Delany, Joanna Russ, James Tiptree, Jr., and Ursula Le Guin were writing science fiction as well as communicating regularly with one another during the same moments that they were becoming fully conscious of the need to express the experiences of women (and others) in American literary and academic society. These creative artists formed a group of loosely affiliated peers who had evolved to the same basic conclusion concerning the need for a literature and theory that could finally address the science of social justice. Their literary productions have been well-studied as contemporaneous feminist utopias since Russ's 1981 essay "Recent Feminist Utopias." However, much can be understood about their rhetorical process of spreading the meme of feminist equality once we go beyond the literary productions and more closely examine their letters, essays, and commentary. This dissertation will show that this group of utopian fiction writers can be studied as exactly that: a loosely connected, collaborative, creative group of peers with specific ideas about how humanity could be better if assumptions of male superiority were undermined and with the rhetorical means to spread those ideas in ways which changed the literary and social conversation

The True Value Of A Sustainable Business Model: A Case Study Of Appalachian Mountain Brewery

This is a case study of Appalachian Mountain Brewery, done in an effort to understand and quantify the true value of sustainable business models and material non-financial disclosure. The objective of the preliminary review of literature was to understand some of the problems associated with sustainability reporting. The research objective was to understand where certain business activities performed by AMB create value for society. The case study was performed in collaboration with executives at AMB, many of whom are Appalachian State graduate Alumni, and with employees at KPMG, a firm that is valuing businesses using non-financial metrics with their “True Value Methodology.” The case study uses this methodology and creates a simplified version of a “True Value” report, mapping the value chain of non-financial metrics which materially affect the economic, social, and environmental externalities and impacts that Appalachian Mountain Brewery has on the world around it. Research around the problems associated with sustainability reporting starts with an in-depth literature review of the value of sustainability reporting and the increased transparency associated with disclosure. A first look into this topic has yielded proven benefits such as: a better reputation, meeting the expectations of employees, improved access to capital, and increased efficiency and waste reduction (EY.com). The review then analyzes some of the challenges that currently surround sustainability reporting, including such matters as materiality and comparability. After this, the review contains an objective examination of KPMG’s True Value Methodology of reporting. The review is concluded with a brief look into the future of sustainability reporting. The research conducted describes the process of working with KPMG to understand their methodology, working with AMB to determine the feasibility and scope of any True Value analysis conducted, and the ultimate conclusion reached around mapping where the externalities created by AMB might create or take away value

Electroweak parameters of the z0 resonance and the standard model

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