Finding Common Feminist Ground: The Role of the Next Generation in Shaping Feminist Legal Theory

This article explores the ways in which current feminist frameworks are dividing the women’s movement along generational lines, thereby inhibiting progress in the struggle for gender equality. Third-wave feminists, or the generation of feminists that came of age in the 1990s and continues today, have been criticized for focusing on personal stories of oppression and failing to influence feminist legal theory. Yet this critique presupposes that third-wave feminism is fundamentally different from the feminism of past generations. In contrast, this article argues that third-wave feminism is rooted in the feminist legal theory developed in the prior generation. This article demonstrates that the third-wave appears to be failing to influence feminist legal theory not because it is theoretically different, but because third-wave feminists approach activism in such a different way. For example, third-wavers envision “women’s issues” broadly, and rely on new tactics such as online organizing. Using the case study of Spark, a nonprofit organization employing third-wave activism to support global grassroots women’s organizations, this article provides a model of this new brand of feminism in practice. This article proposes the adoption of social justice feminism, which advocates casting a broader feminist net to capture those who have been traditionally neglected by the women’s movement, such as low-income women and women of color. Social justice feminism is a way to broaden the focus from a rights-based approach to an examination of the dynamics of power and privilege that continue to shape women’s lives even when legal rights to equality have been won. Adopting social justice feminism can be a way to bridge second- and third-wave feminism and create a more robust and unified feminist movement, thereby mending the divisions that currently prevent unification in the women’s movement

TWO-DIMENSIONAL FLUIDIZATION OF NANOMATERIALS VIA BIOMIMETIC MEMBRANES TOWARDS ASSISTED SELF-ASSEMBLY

Materials that take advantage of the exceptional properties of nano-meter sized aggregates of atoms are poised to play an important role in future technologies. Prime examples for such nano-materials that have an extremely large surface to volume ratio and thus are physically determined by surface related effects are quantum dots (qdots) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The production of such manmade nano-objects has by now become routine and even commercialized. However, the controlled assembly of individual nano-sized building blocks into larger structures of higher geometric and functional complexity has proven to be much more challenging. Yet, this is exactly what is required for many applications that have transformative potential for new technologies. If the tedious procedure to sequentially position individual nano-objects is to be forgone, the assembly of such objects into larger structures needs to be implicitly encoded and many ways to bestow such self-assembly abilities onto nano objects are being developed. Yet, as overall size and complexity of such self-assembled structures increases, kinetic and geometric frustration begin to prevent the system to achieve the desired configuration. In nature, this problem is solved by relying on guided or forced variants of the self-assembly approach. To translate such concepts into the realm of man-made nano-technology, ways to dynamically manipulate nano-materials need to be devised. Thus, in the first part of this work, I provide a proof of concept that supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) that exhibit free lateral diffusion of their constituents can be utilized as a two-dimensional platform for active nano-material manipulation. We used streptavidin coated quantum dots (Q-dots) as a model nano-building-block. Q-dots are 0-dimensional nanomaterials engineered to be fluorescent based solely on their diameter making visualization convenient. Biotinylated lipids were used to tether Q-dots to a SLB and we observed that the 2-dimensional fluidity of the bilayer was translated to the quantum dots as they freely diffused. The quantum dots were visualized using wide-field fluorescent microscopy and single particle tracking techniques were employed to analyze their dynamic behavior. Next, an electric field was applied to the system to induce electroosmotic flow (EOF) which creates a bulk flow of the buffer solution. The quantum dots were again tracked and ballistic motion was observed in the particle tracks due to the electroosmosis in the system. This proved that SLBs could be used as a two-dimensional fluid platform for nanomaterials and electroosmosis can be used to manipulate the motion of the Q-dots once they are tethered to the membrane. Next, we set out to employ the same technique to carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which are known for their highly versatile mechanical and electrical properties. However, carbon nanotubes are extremely hydrophobic and tend to aggregate in aqueous solutions which negatively impacts the viability of tethering the CNTs to the bilayer, fluorescently staining and then imaging them. First, we had to solubilize the CNTs such that they were monodisperse and characterize the CNT-detergent solutions. We were able to create monodisperse solutions of CNTs such that the detergent levels were low enough that the integrity of the bilayer was intact. We were also able to fluorescently label the CNTs in order to visualize them, and tether them to a SLB using a peptide sequence. Future directions of this project would include employing EOF to mobilize the CNTs and use a more sophisticated single particle tracking software to track individual CNTs and analyze their motion

Examining the Effect of Perseverative Thinking on Physiological Activation in Response to Stress

The current study had two aims: (1) measure changes in heart rate variability from the time of learning about a stressor task to completion of the task and (2) measuring the change in heart rate during and after the stressor task. Thirty participants were recruited from a midwestern university campus as well as surrounding communities. The study utilized a laboratory based stressor to examine the influence of perseverative thinking on stress recovery over a 24-hour period. Participants were involved in the study for a continuous 48 hours that included three lab visits. Participants’ activities and heart rates were measured through texted questionnaires and Fitbits between visits. Participants who scored high on measures of anxiety were expected to exhibit longer latency of stress recovery (i.e., return to baseline) after the stressor task. Results indicated a non-significant relationship between trait anxiety and latency of stress recovery; however, significant results were found for the indirect effects of perseverative thinking on the direct relationship

Public and stakeholder values and knowledge of wildlife in Victoria, Australia

Prompted by a lack of human dimensions research in Australia, this study investigated the values and knowledge relating to wildlife held by members of the public within distinct demographic subsets of the Victorian population and members of wildlife management stakeholder groups; and compared these characteristics with how Victorian wildlife managers perceive these groups. A combination of semi-structured interviews and postal questionnaires were used. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted to explore how wildlife managers perceive the values and knowledge of wildlife held by members of various subsets of the Victorian population. A total of 1,431 questionnaires were completed by members of 13 public and stakeholder groups throughout Victoria, and these were analysed to explore values and knowledge relating to wildlife in Victoria. The findings of this study suggest that Victorian people have a strong emotional attachment to individual animals (the humanistic value), and an interest in learning about wildlife (the curiosity/learning/interacting value). The dominionistic/wildlife-consumption, utilitarian-habitat, aesthetic and negativistic values were not expressed by the majority of respondents from the public samples. The data also suggest that Victorian people have relatively low levels of factual knowledge about Australian wildlife. Thus, wildlife managers should expect support for wildlife management objectives that reflect the strong humanistic orientation of Victorians and tailor management and education programs to appeal to this value and Victorians\u27 interest in learning about wildlife. Members of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV), Bird Observers Club of Australia (BOCA), Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) stakeholder groups and management agency Parks Victoria expressed a strong interest in learning about wildlife. Members of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) obtained high humanistic value scores; and members of the Victorian Field and Game Association (VFGA) obtained high domimomstic/wildlife-consumption value scores. Importantly, the humanistic and curiosity/learning/interacting values were the most strongly expressed values in all six groups and these values could be the key to more effective communication and collaboration between groups. Relationships between demographic factors, and values and knowledge relating to wildlife were found. For example, rural Victorians held a stronger dominionistic/ wildlife-consumption value than urban Victorians; females held stronger humanistic, curiosity/learning/interacting and negativistic values than males; young Victorians (18-34 years) held a lower curiosity/learning/interacting value and lower factual knowledge of wildlife than older Victorians; and more highly educated Victorians were more knowledgeable about wildlife than people with less formal education. No statistically significant differences were found between the values and knowledge of wildlife held by different income classes. While relationships between demographic factors, and values and knowledge relating to wildlife were found, they were generally much smaller than expected based on wildlife managers\u27 perceptions and previous research. For example, the results suggest that Victorian females have a slightly stronger humanistic value of wildlife than males do. However, the important message emerging from the data is that males and females both express a strong emotional attachment to individual animals. Importantly, the results indicate that the effects of demographic factors on values and knowledge relating to wildlife are not always consistent across different geographic locations and stakeholder groups. For example, the slightly stronger interest in learning about wildlife among females when compared with males was observed in the rural and urban-fringe samples but not in the urban samples. This suggests that caution must be used when generalising the findings from human dimensions studies from one type of community or stakeholder group to another. Management programs should be tailored to the specific characteristics of the target audience. The findings also indicate that Victorian wildlife managers have diverse perceptions about the values and knowledge of wildlife held by members of different publics and stakeholder groups, and that the perceptions held by wildlife managers are not always consistent with the actual values and knowledge of wildlife held by members of different publics and stakeholders. For example, counter to the perceptions expressed by the interviewed wildlife managers, the interest in and factual knowledge of wildlife held by members of voluntary conservation groups equalled or surpassed that of wildlife managers; young Victorian adults (18-34 years) held a slightly lower curiosity/learning/interacting value and slightly lower level of factual knowledge of wildlife than older Victorians; and rural and urban communities in Victoria held low dominionistic and utilitarian values. Such discrepancies highlight the importance of investigating the actual values and knowledge held by members of such groups, so that appropriate and effective wildlife management programs can be implemented. Inaccurate perceptions and assumptions may contribute to ineffective communication between managers, stakeholders and publics; and adversely effect the success of wildlife management programs

Torts - Negligence - Liability of an Occupier

The California Supreme Court has stated that the proper test to be applied to the liability of a possessor of land is whether in management of his property he acted as a reasonable man in view of the probability of injuries to others, and plaintiff\u27s status as a trespasser, licensee, or invitee is not determinative. Rowland v. Christian, 70 Cal. Rptr. 97, 443 P.2d 561 (1968)

Senior Recital:Kathleen Kelly, Soprano

Kemp Recital Hall Saturday Afternoon April 12, 2008 4:00p.m