Narratives of Pain: Trauma and the Healing Power of Writing

Writing about traumatic events is useful, healing, and meaningful, and such work deserves a place in the composition classroom

Examining Community Attitudes Toward Manufactured Housing

Despite the need for affordable housing, consumers have failed to recognize manufactured housing as a viable alternative to site-built housing. The decline in market share for manufactured housing and subsequent decrease in sales has threatened the sustainability of manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, and support organizations. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine the extent that respondents\u27 demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, perceptions of manufactured home characteristics, and perceptions of manufactured home occupants and neighborhood characteristics predicted the acceptance of manufactured homes. The model of acceptance of manufactured homes provided the theoretical framework for the study. Data were collected from 2 surveys distributed among adult learners (n = 204) enrolled in a nontraditional degree-seeking program at university campuses in west Tennessee. One survey applied to single-section manufactured homes and another survey instrument applied to double-section homes. Correlation and multiple regression analyses techniques tested the hypotheses. Six of the 12 independent variables emerged as moderate predictors of manufactured home acceptance (R2 = .217), which were respondents\u27 housing value, perceived manufactured home occupant behavior, perceived educational levels of manufactured home occupants, respondents\u27 household size and composition, land-use mix, and respondents\u27 neighborhood population range. The research findings may contribute to social change through providing a foundation for future research on variables that influence consumer perceptions about affordable housing choices

Lacrosse Ball Feeding Device

ME450 Capstone Design and Manufacturing Experience: Winter 2015The varsity men’s lacrosse team at the University of Michigan is designing a new training facility, and would like to implement a programmable lacrosse ball launcher to simulate practice conditions for individual/small group training. The device should be able to launch balls at various speeds and angles input by the user from set locations within the facility.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111319/1/00_Report.pd

Copper Oxide Nanoparticles Impact Several Toxicological Endpoints and Cause Neurodegeneration in \u3cem\u3eCaenorhabditis elegans\u3c/em\u3e

Engineered nanoparticles are becoming increasingly incorporated into technology and consumer products. In 2014, over 300 tons of copper oxide nanoparticles were manufactured in the United States. The increased production of nanoparticles raises concerns regarding the potential introduction into the environment or human exposure. Copper oxide nanoparticles commonly release copper ions into solutions, which contribute to their toxicity. We quantified the inhibitory effects of both copper oxide nanoparticles and copper sulfate on C. elegans toxicological endpoints to elucidate their biological effects. Several toxicological endpoints were analyzed in C. elegans, including nematode reproduction, feeding behavior, and average body length. We examined three wild C. elegans isolates together with the Bristol N2 laboratory strain to explore the influence of different genotypic backgrounds on the physiological response to copper challenge. All strains exhibited greater sensitivity to copper oxide nanoparticles compared to copper sulfate, as indicated by reduction of average body length and feeding behavior. Reproduction was significantly reduced only at the highest copper dose, though still more pronounced with copper oxide nanoparticles compared to copper sulfate treatment. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of copper oxide nanoparticles and copper sulfate on neurons, cells with known vulnerability to heavy metal toxicity. Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons was observed in up to 10% of the population after copper oxide nanoparticle exposure. Additionally, mutants in the divalent-metal transporters, smf-1 or smf-2, showed increased tolerance to copper exposure, implicating both transporters in copper-induced neurodegeneration. These results highlight the complex nature of CuO nanoparticle toxicity, in which a nanoparticle-specific effect was observed in some traits (average body length, feeding behavior) and a copper ion specific effect was observed for other traits (neurodegeneration, response to stress)

Reviews

Lisa Tyler. Writing and Healing: Toward an Informed Practice. (Charles M. Anderson and Marian M. MacCurdy, eds., 2000). Fran Claggett. Revisioning Writers\u27 Talk: Gender and Culture in Acts of Composing. (Mary Ann Cain, 1995). Bruce Novak. Tomorrow\u27s Children: A Blueprint for Partnership Education in the 21st Century. (Riane Eisler, 2000). Neal Lerner. Stories from the Center: Connecting Narrative and Theory in the Writing Center. (Lynn Craigue Briggs and Meg Woolbright, eds., 2000)

Bidirectional Partner Violence Among Homeless Young Adults: Risk Factors and Outcomes

One of the most prevalent forms of violence in contemporary society is the victimization of intimate partners. Although it has been established that homeless young people experience high levels of victimization on the street, little is known about partner violence (PV) experiences among this group, especially bidirectional violence. As such, the purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of PV and bidirectional violence and to investigate risk factors and outcomes of this form of violence using a sample of homeless young adults. Overall, 59% of the sample experienced bidirectional violence. Multivariate results reveal that sexual abuse and neglect are significant correlates of PV. In addition, being either a victim or perpetrator of PV is associated with more severe substance use and higher levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Finally, there is support for bidirectional violence among homeless young adults even after controlling for early histories of maltreatment

"Modernist Jane: Austen's Reception by Writers of the Twenties and Thirties"

Despite their commitment to Ezra Pound's commandment to "make it new!:" modernist authors like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Katherine Mansfield, Edith Wharton, and Thornton Wilder referred to Jane Austen surprisingly often in their public and private writings. Although they excoriated her sexual inexperience and limited scope, they nevertheless referred to Austen as a measuring stick for evaluating modernist women writers. She influenced them in their own published work, and they admired what they perceived as her airy imperviousness to criticism

The Effect of Poor Parenting on Male and Female Dating Violence Perpetration and Victimization

This study examines the effects of poor parenting on dating violence perpetration and victimization among approximately 900 males and females from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results revealed that more physical abuse and low parental warmth were linked to greater substance use and higher rates of delinquency. In addition, low parental warmth, more neglect, and greater delinquency had positive direct effects on dating violence perpetration, whereas more physical abuse, low parental warmth, and increased delinquency were all positively associated with dating violence victimization. Finally, delinquency mediated the link between low parental warmth and dating violence perpetration and victimization. The results provide some support for both social learning theory and an antisocial orientation perspective

Reexamining Por and Para in the Spanish Foreign Language Intermediate Classroom: A Usage-Based, Cognitive Linguistic Approach

The present chapter represents the first stage in the larger investigation; it examines two aspects of applying a usage-based, CL approach to teaching por and para. First, we presented the multiple meanings of the two forms gradually, building learners’ knowledge in a series of scaffolded treatments, throughout the course of an entire semester rather than presenting them all in one concentrated lesson. Second, we presented the multiple meanings of por and para and structured their order of presentation according to a Cognitive Linguistic-inspired analysis, which emphasizes the systematic relationships among the multiple meanings. Such a systematic analysis is consistent with studies in cognitive psychology which have shown that it is easier to retrieve complexes of information if there is a systematic, organizing structure that specifies the relationship among the items, since this structure offers additional routes for accessing information (e.g. Bousfield 1953; Bower et al. 1969; Deese 1959; Lam 2009; Mandler 1967; Tulving 1962). A third area of interest was in examining the efficacy of providing explicit CL explanations of por and para, including discussion of CL concepts, such as the many meanings being represented by a systematically connected polysemy network whose central sense is a spatial relationship between a focus element and a background element, versus an approach which did not explicitly articulate CL concepts and did not explicitly present the multiple meanings as comprising a polysemy network