Money, Morals, and Human Rights: Commercial Influences in the Marketing, Branding, and Fundraising of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch

This thesis explores the marketing, branding, and fundraising activities of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and critically examines promotional texts used to communicate with the public. This thesis is multidisciplinary, combining scholarly work on the topics of history, humanitarianism, marketing, branding, commercialization, representation, and consumer culture. By adopting market logic and corporate strategies from the private sector, both organizations have increased revenue and created a strong identifiable brand. Each organization attempts to balance between the moral foundation or grassroots origins of the organization and the need to raise immediate revenue to sustain operations. This money-morals dilemma is also at play within the promotional material of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as each promotional text inadvertently seeks donations while also addressing the organizations’ desire to mobilize shame to aid sufferers. Humanitarian action has been dramatically redefined by both organizations to include the act of consumption and speech-acts. It is concluded that some forms of corporate-inspired marketing and fundraising efforts have changed the nature of donor involvement with the cause. Virtuous action has been made easy and thoughtless, disconnecting donors from the potential benefactors of their actions and divorcing action from duty and sacrifice (Eikenberry 2009). This notion is propagated in the promotional material of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as the technologization of action has enabled on-the-spot interventions that have simplified the spectator’s mode of engagement with the cause (Chouliaraki 2010). The promotional material of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also engage spectators in playful acts of consumerism, emphasizing the brand values of each organization (Chouliaraki 2010)

Understanding the role and purpose of warm-up activities in art education

This case study explored the role and use of warm-up activities by three art teachers at an after-school art program. The purpose of this study was aimed to examine the purpose of art-based warm-up activities that are used for elementary age art students. Two forms of data collection were utilized. Semi-structured interviews and artifacts. The semi-structured interviews helped to gain insight on the art teacher’s use of warm-up activities in their instruction, as well as warm-up activity examples provided by the teachers served as data. By comparing key words and phrases that were repeated by all three art teachers during their interviews, themes and patterns were determined through in-vivo coding and through a word cloud generator. The process of inductive coding aided in selecting the major themes of this study. These themes: discipline, focus, and skill building, emerged as the roles and purposes of warm-up activities used at an after-school art program.Art Educatio

Eukaryotic Microbes in the Deep Sea: Abundance, Diversity, and the Effect of Pressure

The dark ocean is vast, high in pressure, cold, and scarce in resources, but has been shown to support a diverse and active microbial community wherever it is studied. Such studies, however, are scarce due to the difficulty of sampling at such depths, and are difficult to interpret due to compounding effects of pressure and temperature on physiology. Protists, functionally defined as the microbial portion of the domain Eukarya, are particularly neglected in studies of deep-sea microbiology. Here, I present three studies on microbial eukaryotes in the deep sea: first, a study of the abundance of microbial eukaryotes in the deep sea, second, a quantitative approach to study broad-scale diversity in the deep sea; and last, a series of experiments to explore the effect of deep-sea conditions on surface-isolated flagellates. In the deep sea, I found that eukaryote abundances decrease much more sharply than prokaryote abundances with depth, though most of this decrease occurs in the upper 1000 m, below which eukaryote abundance is relatively constant. In water masses below 1000 m, 50-70% of total eukaryotes detected by CARD-FISH can be attributed to one of the seven groups (six taxonomic using CARD-FISH and one by morphology when stained with DAPI) . In the epipelagic 100 m samples, only 20% of total eukaryotes fall into one of these groups. This difference is driven largely by the morphotype I call the split nucleus , which does not decrease in absolute abundance with depth, instead increasing in its proportion of the eukaryotic population in deeper waters. Lastly, I found that eukaryotic microbes, typified by two heterotrophic flagellate species which appear to be ubiquitous in the world\u27s oceans, can survive and even grow despite long-term exposure to the cold, high-pressure conditions of the deep sea, indicating that protists transported to the deep sea by advection or on particles can seed populations there

A Genetic Screen for High-Copy Suppressors of the Growth Defect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae set1 Null Mutants Under Histidine Starvation Conditions

Previous research indicates that Set1 is the catalytically active protein in COMPASS, a protein methyltransferase complex associated with transcription in budding yeast cells. However, the mechanistic role that Set1 and COMPASS plays in the regulation of transcription remains poorly characterized. Current research in the Bryk lab indicates that mono-methylation of histone H3 on lysine 4 (K4) is required for 3-aminotriazole-induced transcription of the HIS3 gene by RNA polymerase II (PolII). The research shows that yeast cells lacking a functional SET1 gene (containing null alleles, either set1Δ or set1-Y967A) grow poorly on medium lacking histidine and containing 3-aminotriazole (3-AT). Overexpression screens are being performed to identify genes that suppress the growth defect of set1 null mutants. Genes when over-expressed are expected to either bypass the need for Set1 or replace Set1 function through interaction with a non-functional Set1 complex. Studying genetic suppressors may uncover clues to the role of SET1 in the Pol II transcription mechanism, providing new information on transcription, a ubiquitous vital process in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells

Engaging Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners with Technology

In this presentation, we are to present our EDU315 Mock Teaching Project designed by a group of teacher candidates for an elementary school classroom (4th grade) of culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Using TPACK as the theoretical framework, we designed an integrated lesson of Social Studies and ELA. Using reliable and age-appropriate resources we guided 4th graders to explore/research southeastern Asian countries and traditions. The main components of our lesson rested on our technological content knowledge and our technological pedagogical knowledge. These specific areas of knowledge enabled us to determine what technology tools are the most appropriate for our lesson and how these tools can meaningfully be integrated into our lesson to achieve the intended goals of our lesson. We used a series of technology tools such as iMovie and StoryJumper for 4th graders to engage in the content and learn to revamp said content creatively in different digital forms.https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/slides/1002/thumbnail.jp

The future of returning genetic test results for psychiatric conditions

Background: Genome-wide association studies are rapidly advancing our understanding of the genetic architecture of complex psychiatric conditions. In order to use findings from these studies for enhanced clinical prediction, we need to gain a better understanding of the issues surrounding the return of complex genetic results. Methods: We review the current literature on genetic literacy in the population, the public’s interest in receiving genetic test results for psychiatric conditions, how individuals react to and interpret their genetic results for psychiatric conditions, and gaps in our knowledge that will be critical to address before returning genetic results for psychiatric conditions. Results: We find that in hypothetical scenarios genetic test results indicating increased risk for a psychiatric condition lowers an individual’s confidence to control behavior, reduces self-agency, and negatively impacts affect. Individuals may believe that a change in behavior is important, but there is little evidence that genetic test results indicating increased risk for a psychiatric condition are associated with behavior change. The negative impact of results indicating an increased risk may stem from common misconceptions of complex disorders that exist in approximately 25% to 35% of individuals studied. Conclusions: Individuals with these misunderstandings about the role of genetic factors in complex disorders may have a belief in genetic determinism, the idea that behaviors and characteristics are determined solely by one’s genetic information. Regardless of one’s genetic knowledge, a majority of people are interested in receiving genetic feedback for psychiatric conditions, highlighting a need for effective communication of these genetic test results.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1069/thumbnail.jp

From Writer to Teacher: The Gradual Release of Responsibility in an Early Childhood Education Writing Course for Pre-Service Teachers

Teaching students to become confident, capable writers is imperative in today’s world. Growing attention has been paid to the amount and kinds of writing students are experiencing in schools with an urgent plea for more time and attention given to writing instruction (Nagin, 2003; National Commission on Writing, 2003). Yet, few teachers feel well prepared to teach writing. In this special issue on writing methods courses, we discuss the evolution of our writing methods course for early childhood preservice teachers (PK-5). Specifically, we examine the current pedagogical practices within the course to support preservice teachers’ experiential learning. This piece examines how a gradual release of responsibility model with multiple units of study supports preservice teachers as writers and as future teachers of writers