Experiencing the Modern American City and Addressing the Slum in the United States and Brazil: 1890-1933

This thesis examines the treatment of slum spaces in the US and Brazil spanning the period 1890-1933, seeking to understand better the ethics of representation regarding the slum as well as the varying aesthetic agendas and political engagements of four novelists. The works under consideration are A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890) by William Dean Howells, The Slum (1890) by Aluísio Azevedo, Manhattan Transfer (1925) by John Dos Passos, and Industrial Park (1933), by Patrícia Galvão. I chart the varying methods of representation associated with each novel, from Howell’s critical realism to Azevedo’s unique version of naturalism to the fragmented experiences of modernism found in the final two novels, in part to understand how each novelist engages with the slum as well as employs it as a literal and metaphoric space in his or her work. Finally, this work also engages with and contributes to the relatively new fields of metropoetics and inter- American studies, and allows me the opportunity to take a comparativist approach to the literatures of this period, a concern that motivates me as a scholar and academic

Examining the academic experiences of minorities preparing for the professoriate

The critical need to understand the socialization experiences of prospective minority faculty is apparent today. If higher education can understand more about the experiences of new minority faculty members, perhaps the academy will be able to develop continued supportive strategies that enhance their development into the academic profession. The purpose of this study was to examine the academic experiences of the minority participants in the Preparing Future Faculty program (PFF). As a consequence of participating in the PFF program, the minority participants regarded that they felt ready for a faculty position, regarded that mentoring was effective, indicated that awareness of faculty roles and responsibilities were crucial, identified that cultural dissonance, inclusiveness, and an appreciation of a diverse faculty as issues of concern, and described the concept of duality in the socialization process as it pertains to the professoriate. Based on the data gleaned from this study, networking, mentoring, and research support stand out as major strategies for addressing the problems faced by prospective minority faculty. The respondents in the study suggested themes common to those of the literature, emphasizing an improvement in professional development opportunities for prospective minority faculty. Establishing awareness to the professional culture, understanding roles and responsibilities, and defining a relationship with senior faculty are efforts to improve recruitment, retention, and advancement for prospective faculty of color. From this study, the researcher has derived that faculty development initiatives should provide more emphasis on teaching, render service to departments and develop continued respect for the academic profession (e.g., teaching, research, and service)

WORKING IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST: THE PRODUCTIVE INTELLECTUAL LABOR OF US PRISON WRITERS, 1929-2007

This dissertation seeks to revise and expand notions of US prison writing beyond the normative categories of “literature” by examining the compositional and rhetorical efforts of US prison writers working from 1929 to 2007. I situate certain modes, discourses, and texts produced by prisoners—scientific research, jailhouse legal work, letter-writing, revolutionary polemic, and testimonial writing—within a larger rubric of what I call “productive intellectual labor.” The project draws on Marxist debates to define each part of that term and employs the work of Michel Foucault to contextualize prevailing historical notions regarding penal labor, the evolution of punishment, and discursive trends of those writing back to power. I argue that all these forms of writing are legitimate forms of intellectual labor, produced in an institution historically marked by convict illiteracy and under-education on the one hand and powerful administrative and state discourses on the other. I situate this writing to the other kinds of labor, such as manual and industrial work, that are routinely undertaken by prisoners; I do so to consider the effects of mandatory, coercive prison-labor schemes and the value derived from autonomously assumed labor that is experienced by imprisoned intellectual laborers. The project shows how the work of three 20th century prison writers (Robert Stroud, Caryl Chessman, and George Jackson) and the anthologies Couldn’t Keep it to Myself and I’ll Fly Away (published by women prison writers incarcerated at York Correctional Institution in Connecticut) demonstrate the many ways that prisoners use non-literary forms of writing to produce counter-narratives and discourses about themselves; fight against the oppressive, stultifying effects of incarceration; and critique administrative and state penal practices, among many other motives for writing

Laser induced damage and fracture in fused silica vacuum windows

Laser-induced damage, that initiates catastrophic fracture, has been observed in large ({le}61 cm dia) fused silica lenses that also serve as vacuum barriers in Nova and Beamlet lasers. If the elastic stored energy in the lens is high enough, the lens will fracture into many pieces (implosion). Three parameters control the degree of fracture in the vacuum barrier window: elastic stored energy (tensile stress), ratio of window thickness to flaw depth, and secondary crack propagation. Fracture experiments were conducted on 15-cm dia fused silica windows that contain surface flaws caused by laser damage. Results, combined with window failure data on Beamlet and Nova, were used to develop design criteria for a ``fail-safe`` lens (that may catastrophically fracture but not implode). Specifically, the window must be made thick enough so that the peak tensile stress is less than 500 psi (3.4 MPa) and the thickness/critical flaw size is less than 6. The air leak through the window fracture and into the vacuum must be rapid enough to reduce the load on the window before secondary crack growth occurs. Finite element stress calculations of a window before and immediately following fracture into two pieces show that the elastic stored energy is redistributed if the fragments ``lock`` in place and thereby bridge the opening. In such cases, the peak stresses at the flaw site can increase, leading to further (i.e. secondary) crack growth

Examining the academic experiences of minorities preparing for the professoriate

The critical need to understand the socialization experiences of prospective minority faculty is apparent today. If higher education can understand more about the experiences of new minority faculty members, perhaps the academy will be able to develop continued supportive strategies that enhance their development into the academic profession. The purpose of this study was to examine the academic experiences of the minority participants in the Preparing Future Faculty program (PFF). As a consequence of participating in the PFF program, the minority participants regarded that they felt ready for a faculty position, regarded that mentoring was effective, indicated that awareness of faculty roles and responsibilities were crucial, identified that cultural dissonance, inclusiveness, and an appreciation of a diverse faculty as issues of concern, and described the concept of "duality" in the socialization process as it pertains to the professoriate. Based on the data gleaned from this study, networking, mentoring, and research support stand out as major strategies for addressing the problems faced by prospective minority faculty. The respondents in the study suggested themes common to those of the literature, emphasizing an improvement in professional development opportunities for prospective minority faculty. Establishing awareness to the professional culture, understanding roles and responsibilities, and defining a relationship with senior faculty are efforts to improve recruitment, retention, and advancement for prospective faculty of color. From this study, the researcher has derived that faculty development initiatives should provide more emphasis on teaching, render service to departments and develop continued respect for the academic profession (e.g., teaching, research, and service).</p

Former council member Charlye Heggins dies

Interview with former Denton City Council member Charlye Heggins as part of the UNT African American Remembrance Project. The interview includes Heggins' personal experiences about her childhood, raising a family, doing volunteer work in Denton, and being involved with Texas politics. She particularly talks about discrimination and race issues in Denton during the 1970s and '80s. It includes an appendix with photographs and an article about her death

Reaffirm to Affirm: Enhancing Minority Faculty Development at the PWI

The objective of this roundtable discussion is to examine the preparation of minority faculty as it relates to succeeding in an academic career. Although substantial research has been conducted on faculty preparation (Gaff, 1997; Garcia, 2000, Tice, Gaff, and Pruitt-Logan, 1998), conversations fall short when it comes to ongoing success development of faculty. This discussion will focus primarily on initiatives/plans to encourage the expansion and success of minority faculty at PWI\u27s. For the purposes of this discussion, minority faculty is defined in terms of race/ethnic and gender

Revetment Stability Tests for Sargent Beach, Texas

Source: https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/jspui/The objective of this study was to investigate, via a two-dimensional (2-D) coastal model, alternate designs for the proposed revetment. Tests were conducted at a geometrically undistorted scale of 1:24, model to prototype. Based on test results, it was concluded that: a. Four- to six-ton armor stone is stable for the maximum wave heights that can be expected to occur for 8-and 10-sec waves at still-water levels (swl's) of +4.0 to +14.0 ft mean low tide (mlt) with assumed scour depths of -3.6 and -8.6 ft mit. b. Stability of the original concrete blocks, which were 6.0 ft by 5.5 ft by 2.5 ft and had 0 percent porosity, was only marginally acceptable for the maximum wave heights that can be expected to occur for 8- and lO-sec waves at swl's of +4.0 to +14.0 ft mit with an assumed scour depth of -3.6 ft mit. c. Several modified block plans were tested and it was determined that the optimum block size was 5.75 ft by 5.75 ft by 2.5 ft. These blocks, weighing 6 tons and having a porosity of 4 percent, should prove stable for the maximum wave heights that can be expected to occur for 8- to lO-sec waves at swl's of +4.0 to +14.0 ft mit with an assumed scour depth of -lO ft mit