From Motley To Green: The Influence Of Yeats And Joyce On Irish National Identity

This essay takes a historical approach on the works of William Butler Yeats and James Joyce. By exploring the history of Ireland, including the 1798 Rebellion in comparison to the Easter 1916 Rising, the literature takes on new meaning as a force for social change. Whereas Yeats focuses on the history of Ireland as a precedent for the future, Joyce seeks to bring Ireland into the modern era by rejecting the institutions and norms that have kept Ireland from evolving. These approaches to the past, as conflicting as they may be, incorporate Irish history into literature, thus creating a collective identity based on a shared history and interaction between the past and present

"Happy are those who sing and dance" : Mobuto, Franco, and the struggle for Zairian identity

In this thesis, I examine the public rhetoric of two very big men of post-colonial Zaire: master musician Franco Luambo Makiadi, and military dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, whose careers were roughly contemporary. The rhetoric employed by these men held great sway over a newly independent African country and populace seeking to enter the modern world. This rhetoric breaks down along the lines drawn by postcolonial theorists such as Paulo Freire, who analyzed colonialism in terms of a dehumanization/humanization binary perpetuated by a subjective/objective disconnect between postcolonial “revolutionary” leaders and their subjects. Mobutu was such a leader whose rhetoric revealed a pathological separation from his subject audience and a drastic divergence between his “action” and “agenda,” which deliberately obfuscated his neocolonial kleptocracy. Franco, in contrast, held deep identification with his audience, the subjects of Mobutu, and his action and agenda, as delivered in hundreds if not thousands of popular songs, converged in terms of this audience. Audience identification and the convergence of stated and ulterior purpose in his rhetoric defined him as a spokesperson for a cultural movement that postcolonial history has largely ignored. Yet this movement, defined through the most beautiful of African popular musics, sustained a population sliding into ever-increasing poverty and voicelessness by inviting them to construct meaning from the coded semantics of Lingala, the creole tongue favored by Franco and the people of Kinshasa. Within these coded semantics, Franco fostered a critical spirit of inquiry in his audience by offering veiled, consistent criticism of the despotic governance of Mobutu wrapped in sublime rumba, a music as hybrid in construction as its Lingala lyrics. Franco was not a political activist, but a cultural revolutionary of tremendous popularity operating under the thumb of a dictator. Over a three decade career, he dedicated himself to the construction of an “authentic” Zairian identity with his audience, an identity based on a genuine synthesis of the poles of identification that defined postcolonialism in Zaire, and throughout Africa: the tribe and the colony. History states that Mobutu defined postcolonial Zaire, and he did, unfortunately. But Franco?s music has outlived that history and has assumed a preeminent space in postcolonial African culture. In fact, his music continues, long after his death, to define the liminal space between history and culture

"...the whole river is a bustle some about their children, brothers and husbands and the rest of us about our salt." : the antebellum industrialization of the Kanawha Valley in the Virginia backcountry

The Kanawha River of West Virginia begins at the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers. It runs northwest for 97 miles through south central West Virginia until it reaches the Ohio River at the town of Point Pleasant. The Great Kanawha Valley is an area long recognized for its rich resources. Although not always fully appreciated, the history of the valley is one of relentless and innovative exploitation of its bounty. The development of the Kanawha salt industry in particular, with its late eighteenth- early nineteenth century beginnings, presents itself as a valuable lens through which to examine the historical assumption of post-bellum Appalachian industrialization. An examination of the early Kanawha Valley salt industry exposes a valley near the nation’s frontier which relentlessly pursued the industrial development of salt and monopolized the mineral’s supply across swaths of the Great West. In doing so, valley salt-makers created innovations which are still the basis of oil and gas drilling today, severely degraded their environment, created a unique slave-labor community, and began a pattern of relentless industrialization of the Kanawha Valley which continues to this day. This thesis intends to illuminate this early industry in the Kanawha Valley as a way of chipping away at myths of Appalachia and place Appalachian industrialization’s beginnings far earlier than is commonly considered. The introductory chapter focuses on the historiography of the Kanawha Valley, West Virginia and more importantly, Appalachia. It is important to establish why the proposed paper is important in the context of other writings, but more importantly, to help explore how the Kanawha Valley fits with past and present ideas of the Appalachian region. Chapter one explores the Kanawha Valley as a focal point in Virginians’ dreams of a commercial thoroughfare stretching from the Chesapeake Bay to the Mississippi River through Virginia. This includes discussions the formation of salt domes beneath the Kanawha River, the necessity of salt as a food preservative, and the mineral’s role in early American society. The chapter then discusses Native American uses of the salt marshes in the Kanawha, European exploration of the Kanawha Valley, valley settlement, land speculation in the region, and the inception of the salt industry on the banks of the Kanawha River. Chapter two begins with the early development of the commercial salt industry and follows that development until approximately 1815. The purpose of this is to root the Kanawha Valley salt industry in the larger context of the rise of the Ohio Valley’s meat packing industry and the region’s role in the international salted meat trade. Chapter three explores the innovation which was integral to the industry, making the Kanawha Valley the site of a number of developments, techniques and inventions which remain fundamental to the oil and gas well drilling industry to this day. This exploration of innovation marks the progress of the salt industry as well as serve as a contradiction to stereotypes of Appalachia. Chapter four explores the nature of slavery that the Kanawha Valley salt industry relied upon. The Kanawha Valley salt-makers relied heavily on agricultural slaves leased from owners in eastern Virginia. This extremely heavy reliance on hired slaves for industrial work a mere forty miles from the freedom of Ohio suggests unique innovations may have existed in the nature of slavery. The industrial slavery of the Kanawha Valley not only suggests possible unique facets to bondage there, it also provides a new light in which to examine Appalachia, a region where slavery remains less studied than agricultural regions. The thesis conclusion, points out the uniqueness of the Kanawha Valley. This thesis does not intend to suggest the post Civil War industrialization if Appalachia is incorrect, but that it cannot be assumed. This thesis serves to chip away at the assumption that the industrialization of the region was a post-Civil War event

The Effect Of Lead Tutoring At Appalachian State University On Grades And Student Confidence

Chemistry is an incredibly difficult, yet vitally important, subject for students to learn. Students face challenges such as difficulties in visualizing problems, connecting difficult subjects, and switching between the macroscopic and microscopic levels. Supplemental instruction (SI) is a method to combat these challenges and increase student success in high risk classes. Supplemental instruction is unique from private tutoring. It creates a consistent and safe environment over the course of the semester for students to return to in order to work closely and develop a relationship with a SI instructor. SI leaders encourage collaborative learning and bring strategies to students for mastering course material. SI participation has been found to significantly increase the grades earned in a class. At Appalachian State University, the SI model has been implemented for chemistry classes. The program is a part of University Tutorial Services (UTS) and is called LEAD Tutoring. The LEAD Tutoring program has many objectives including to increase student grades through better understanding of course materials and to teach skills that will impact students long term. In Fall 2019, the LEAD program had record high participation numbers in comparison to recent years. With no increases in resources for UTS or the LEAD program, it is important that the increased participation and strain on tutors did not negatively impact the enrichment quality of the program or hinder the ability of the program to reach its objectives

Effects Of Peripheral Revascularization On Blood Pressure And Calf Muscle Oxygen Saturation In Peripheral Artery Disease

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) reduces oxygen supply to skeletal muscle that causes an exaggerated blood pressure response to exercise. Revascularization procedures have been important for treating impaired limb perfusion caused by PAD. However, to what extent these procedures improve tissue perfusion during exercise or normalize the exercise pressor reflex in PAD remains unknown. The purpose of the study was to examine whether revascularization reduces the exercise pressor reflex and improves skeletal muscle oxygen saturation (SmO2) measured using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Six PAD patients performed incremental supine plantar flexion exercise, starting at 0.5 kg and increased by 0.5 kg every minute for up to 14 minutes, pre- and one-month post peripheral revascularization procedure. SmO2 was measured continuously from the gastrocnemius muscle, while heart rate and blood pressure were measured beat-by-beat. Reductions in SmO2 from baseline to 1.5 kg were attenuated post-revascularization when compared to pre-intervention (-6.5 ± 6.2% vs. -39.8 ± 22.5%, P < .05). The change in mean arterial blood pressure was reduced post-revascularization (4 ± 4 mmHg vs. 16 ± 12 mmHg P < .05). These data suggest that revascularization reverses the rapid decline in SmO2 and attenuates the blood pressure response during exercise in patients with PAD

Diversity patterns of 16S rDNA of bacteria and amoA of Archaea and bacteria from eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) rhizosphere soil

Traditionally microbial communities were assessed through culturing, which limits the populations detected. Molecular techniques are becoming more popular when assessing microbial communities. To illustrate gene variability between sites terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) was used in this study. Bacterial 16S rDNA and archaeal and bacterial amoA diversity was examined from Albright Grove, Cataloochee, and Purchase Knob in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) using T-RFLP. Bacterial 16S rDNA T-RFLP electoferrogram peak data revealed that Cataloochee and Purchase Knob had a greater diversity compared to Albright Grove, with 60 different peaks and 17 unique peaks at each site, and 60 different peaks and 18 unique peaks, respectively, while Albright Grove had a total of 45 different peaks and 9 unique peaks. A comparison showed 28.6% of major peaks were shared between all three. Archaeal amoA T-RFLP electoferrogram peak data revealed that Cataloochee and Purchase Knob had a greater diversity compared to Albright Grove, with 105 different peaks and 30 unique peaks, and 103 different peaks and 22 unique peaks at each site, respectively, while Albright Grove had a total of 82 different peaks and 13 unique peaks at the site. No major peaks were shared between all three sites. PCR products for bacterial amoA were only produced from Purchase Knob and generated a total of 10 peaks. Overall diversity appeared to be higher in the disturbed sites of Cataloochee and Purchase Knob compared to the undisturbed site of Albright Grove. Since, the rhizosphere is a complex system a number of other variables could impact the structure of the microbial community, and must be taken into consideration when examining diversity. This study has provided insight into the spatial variability of the microbial community in the Eastern Hemlock rhizosphere, and further examination may help mediate the devastating loss of the hemlock due to an exotic adelgid species

“no key to the tangle”: History And Poetic Consciousness In Louis Zukofsky’s “A”

This thesis explores the question of poetry’s relationship with history. My inquiry is centered on the epic poem “A” (1974) by American author Louis Zukofsky, considering the ways in which Zukofsky reconceptualizes the role that the past plays in the construction of a modern poetic consciousness. The project is divided into two sequences: historical representation of movements “A”-22 and “A”-23 and historical engagement in movements “A”-21 and “A”-24. The first sequence is a survey of the ways in which Zukofsky recreates the last 6,000 years of history in a manner that resists linearity and narrative. I read his poetry alongside Walter Benjamin’s “On the Concept of History” (1940) and Gilles Deleuze’s Essays Clinical and Critical (1997) in order to consider the extent to which Zukofsky problematizes historical and literary language in the poetic-now. The second sequence focuses on the historical materials with which Zukofsky engages, primarily the Roman playwright Plautus, as well as Zukofsky’s own previous writing. I contend that Zukofsky method of participating with history in his work is a kind of creative engagement with the past, one that acknowledges history as a living thing and seeks to absorb it into the formation of a new poetics

The History Of The Exploitation Of The Forests Of Santa Rosa County, Florida

It was the purpose of this study (1) to trace the history of the exploitation of forests in Santa Rosa County, Florida; (2) to determine how this exploitation has affected the economy of the county; (3) to discover the factors leading to the termination of this exploitation; and (4) to show to what extent reforestation has occurred

Setting The Norm: Exploring The Lack Of Standardization In The Management Of Route Setting Teams In The Climbing Wall Industry

This Honors Project is intended to highlight certain institutional weaknesses within the climbing gym industry as a whole and to spark a dialogue therein. Specifically, it is meant to highlight the need for standardization within the management of a route setting team in order to help the industry to become more standardized--especially in safety practices. In addition to this philosophical perspective aimed at igniting a dialogue in the climbing wall industry, a survey was conducted in order to identify and to highlight certain necessary standards (staff training practices, such as having a manual, for example) and to analyze if there is ideal number of setters for climbing walls of different sizes. Lastly, this project contains resources (such as a glossary of setting-specific terms), gives concrete examples of sections of a hypothetical staff manual, and shows other examples of standardizing practices that could be tailored by a manager or even implemented as is

Interaction Of Anxiety Level, Lecture Atmosphere, And Testing Atmosphere On Test Scores

Environmental atmospheres of lecture and test for high anxious and low anxious students were factorially manipulated in order to assess the effect on classroom test performance. Results indicated that an unrelaxed lecture atmosphere was more conducive to optimal test performance than a relaxed lecture atmosphere. Other factors and all interactions were found to be insignificant. Theoretical implications were discussed