Thoreau\u27s Melancholia, Walden\u27s Friendship, and Queer Agency

Walden queers its readers. While many have investigated Thoreau’s queerness, there has been little notice of Walden’s queerness. This project begins with a situational analysis that identifies the melancholic antecedents of Walden in Thoreau’s life and his choices that led to the illumination of his melancholia. Thoreau had already been experimenting with what Branka Arsić identified as “literalization.” Nevertheless, a period of crisis, detailed by Robert Milder, made him aware of what Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok have referred to as the melancholic’s blind skill of “demetaphorization.” I suggest that Thoreau exploited this skill to produce Walden’s unique ability to feed on and, as Henry Abelove and Henry Golemba have suggested, awaken its reader’s desires. I combine a close reading of Walden with selective study of the text’s reception. Walden delivers on Thoreau’s theory of friendship from his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Walden’s friendship with its reader is the agency that accomplishes what Henry Golemba and Lawrence Buell have noted as a blurring of the boundary between reader and text. To investigate this friendship and Walden’s accommodations of faux friendship, I construct a Burkean perspective by incongruity using research in the nature-writing and rhetoric disciplines that intersect with Thoreauvian studies. This incongruity is analyzed using not only Burke’s theories of literary form and literature as equipment for living, but also Deleuze’s process philosophy and Deleuze and Guattari’s analyses of the war machine and their spatial analysis. This project complexifies Erin Rand’s research on polemics, using Deleuze’s multiplicity not only to explain why polemics are unpredictable, but also to address what Sarah Hallenbeck has referred to as “the crisis of agency.” I suggest an expansion of José Esteban Muñoz’s research. The question of how one actually transitions from melancholia to disidentification cannot be adequately answered with terms like Stuart Hall’s ‘oppositional reading’ or Deleuze and Guattari’s ‘de/reterritorialization.’ I also suggest that queer utopian thinking and poststructuralism are more compatible than previously argued. This dissertation is itself a polemic, straining the possibilities of friendship in the service of queerness

In Situ Nanomechanical Measurements of Interfacial Strength in Membrane-Embedded Chemically Functionalized Si Microwires for Flexible Solar Cells

Arrays of vertically aligned Si microwires embedded in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) have emerged as a promising candidate for use in solar energy conversion devices. Such structures are lightweight and concurrently demonstrate competitive efficiency and mechanical flexibility. To ensure reliable functioning under bending and flexing, strong interfacial adhesion between the nanowire and the matrix is needed. In situ uniaxial tensile tests of individual, chemically functionalized, Si microwires embedded in a compliant PDMS matrix reveal that chemical functionality on Si microwire surfaces is directly correlated with interfacial adhesion strength. Chemical functionalization can therefore serve as an effective methodology for accessing a wide range of interfacial adhesion between the rigid constituents and the soft polymer matrix; the adhesion can be quantified by measuring the mechanical strength of such systems

Twenty-three steps to learning Web 2.0 technologies in an academic library

Purpose – This paper aims to report on the adoption and evaluation of a Learning 2.0 program in a pilot program at the Edith Cowan University Library during 2007. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines the suitability of Learning 2.0 for training eight “early adopters” among library staff in the new and emerging Web 2.0 technologies. The program was set up and deployed via a blog, which recorded staff progress through the nine-week implementation phase of the program. At the conclusion, a focus group was held and the pilot group members responded to questions about the relevance of the program, and the effectiveness of their learning. Findings – It was found that library staff responded positively to this program, not least because it adhered to adult learning principles. For the authors\u27 purpose, Learning 2.0 was an eminently suitable training package. Originality/value – The paper is unique in that Edith Cowan University Library was the first Australian university library to adopt Learning 2.0

Website Usability: A Window into a Learning Environment

Academic library websites provide a vital online learning environment for students. They should follow sound design principles, provide functionality, and ease of navigation. As part of a strategy to make effective changes to the library website, Edith Cowan University Library wanted to gather evidence to discover how users went about locating information resources accessible from its website. Concerns existed amongst the library staff about how intuitive it was to locate the various information resources provided. This paper will outline the action research process taken to test the website heuristics to determine what improvements were needed in the design. Using Jakob Nielsen\u27s usability testing principles as a guide, we conducted usability tests with students selected from across the three metropolitan campuses. Results provided us with an understanding of how students approached the interface, which problems related to design and which highlighted an information literacy issue

Learning 2.0: a catalyst for library organisational change

The purpose of this paper is to describe “what happened” with round two of the implementation of Learning 2.0 with a large and diverse group of library staff at Edith Cowan University (ECU) Library during 2007/2008. A previous paper reported on a study of the suitability of the 23 Things Learning 2.0 program for a small group of early adopters in the ECU Library. This follow-up paper reports challenges that library management faced when the remaining staff were given the 23 Things Learning 2.0 program. All remaining library staff members were encouraged to undertake the program, but take-up was not strong and only 25 per cent of staff completed the program. At the conclusion of round two of Learning 2.0, all staff were surveyed to find out reasons for completion or non-completion, what types of technologies they needed support with, and how they wished to learn about the emerging/Web 2.0 technologies. From the observations and survey responses in this study it was found that while Learning 2.0 was a suitable program, some staff required extra time and a more hands-on approach to their workplace learning. The paper is unique in that it follows up on previous research at the same institution, and reveals new findings

Denial of Uniquely Human Characteristics for Voluntarily Childfree Individuals: Does Violating Social Norms Lead to Dehumanization?

poster abstractNationally representative data consistently show that an increasing number of individuals are choosing not to have children (Time, 2013). Despite this trend, people who opt out of parenthood experience negativity (Berdahl & Moon, 2013). A recent study furthermore revealed that this negativity was driven by moral outrage (AshburnNardo, in press). Research on dehumanization includes moral sensibility as a characteristic of being human (Haslam, 2006). If those who forgo parenthood elicit moral outrage, it is possible that they are also seen as being less than human. The present research investigates the potential for dehumanization to occur in the form of denying uniquely human characteristics to voluntarily childfree individuals. In a between-subjects experiment, N participants were randomly assigned to evaluate a male vs. female married target who had chosen to have 0 vs. 2 children. They were then asked to rate the likelihood that the target was capable of experiencing uniquely human emotions (e.g., admiration, despair), as well as the likelihood that essential human traits (e.g., warm, irresponsible) and characteristics (e.g., rational, culturally refined) described the target. Statistical analyses are currently underway and are expected to reveal that, relative to targets who have children, targets that chose not to have children will be rated significantly less likely to experience uniquely human secondary emotions, to have complex cognitions and to have uniquely human traits. Target gender will be explored as a potential moderator of these effects. Historically, dehumanization has led to dangerous outcomes for targets. The present findings could suggest that a significant and growing portion of the population could be subject to discrimination in social and workplace situations

Evaluating Basic Science Investments: Toward a More Robust Practice

Our understanding of the world—even our well-being—is shaped by advances in basic science knowledge. Philanthropic organizations play a crucial role in supporting the research that leads to such advances. For example, they support scientists, build organizations' research capacity and help train new generations of scientists. Philanthropies making such investments in basic or discovery science share a common goal—to catalyze advances in knowledge that improve our lives by enhancing our understanding of ourselves, our world and our universe. They also share a common challenge: establishing that their investments in basic science indeed contribute to advancing knowledge. This brief summarizes learning from early efforts by a working group of philanthropies and other organizations that are tackling this challenge together

Colchicine may decrease cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease

This oral anti-inflammatory agent may offer a low-cost option for prevention of cardiovascular events in this patient population.Leslie Griffin, MD; Julia Groce, MD; Sara Conway, MD (University of Tennessee, College of Medicine, Chattanooga). Deputy Editor: Corey Lyon, DO (University of Colorado, Denver)Includes bibliographical reference

Before, During, and After Face-to-Face Meetings: The Lifecycle of Social Ties in Globally Distributed Teams

This paper explores the neglected area of social ties in globally dispersed teams. The paper proposes a framework in which three stages in the development of social ties in a globally distributed team are considered: before face-to-face (F2F), during F2F, and after F2F meetings. These stages constitute the lifecycle of social ties in globally distributed teams. Based on data collected at LeCroy and SAP, various activities and mechanisms at the individual, group, and organizational level that support the build-up and renewal of social ties between distributed teams are proposed. In applying these activities and mechanisms, the case firms shifted from investing in the introduction of remote counterparts to creating trust and rapport between remote counterparts and eventually to continuously renewing these social ties. The paper concludes by offering managers practical implications and making suggestions for future research