This Walker Is Walking

Postcard from Emily Walker, during the Linfield College Semester Abroad Program at Nürtingen-Geislingen University in Nürtingen, German

Everything Ends

2017 essay contest winner Emily Walker\u27s Everything End

Beyond the Tutorial: Collective Cultures and Shared Grief in the Writing Center

Most writing center tutors who work on campuses with substantial numbers of ESL students know that the misunderstandings and confusions that occur in tutorials go well beyond language difficulties. While a Korean student might tend to put verbs at the end of the sentence or omit articles, she might also find herself struggling to speak in her own individual voice–something an American tutor is likely to encourage. Indeed, many problems faced every day in writing centers can be traced to conflicts that arise when the individualism associated with the ethics, ways of seeing the world, and pedagogical practices that characterize American universities come into conflict with the more communal epistemologies and practices that we often associate with Asian students. Although I do not want to rehearse the experiences of countless Asian students who struggle to make a transition from “we” to “I” (Staben and Nordhaus 73), I would like to suggest that a simple binary opposition between a Korean, Japanese, or Chinese “we” and an American “I” fails to account for the complex ways in which the writing center interrogates, manipulates, and reconfigures this binary. The very nature of a writing center tutorial puts pressure on the opposition of Asian collectivism to American individualism, for it asks students–perhaps contradictorily–to collaborate one-on-one. But if the structure of the tutorial often causes confusion, it also offers an opportunity to reflect productively on the “we” and the “I,” especially when the tutorial is understood in the context of larger events such as the Virginia Tech shootings in April 2007. This event in particular, which resonated quite differently for Korean and American students, offered a striking opportunity to explore the political tensions inherent in writing tutoring within a larger, real-life context. Recognizing the politics of the tutorial–the interested and opinionated way in which it approaches ideas such as “the individual” or “the collective”–allows for greater understanding and more effective communication between tutors and the students they seek to help.University Writing Cente

What Attributes Explain Variation in the Prices of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir?

Oregon Pinot Noir is known around the world for having a price point that many can afford while not abandoning the quality that was once only produced by reputable French Chateaus. Understanding what makes one bottle cost more than another is something that must be considered in order to find a price that will satisfy both the consumer and the winemaker. The hedonic pricing model used in this research employs data collected from winery websites such as the WineMag, a highly regarded website for ratings of wines across all price points. A cross sectional model is estimated. Results show that three factors of the eight tested are significant in explaining the prices of Pinot Noir. The significant factors are the alcohol percentage of the wine, LIVE (a sustainability certification), and the rating provided by the WineMag

AN ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SOLAR MARKETPLACE SHOPPING AND SOLAR EQUIPMENT QUALITY

Link to Powerpoint Presentation: https://clipchamp.com/watch/vCBhPdNILCE?utm_source=share&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=watchThe current Biden administration has aggressive goals to dramatically increase solar deployment across the United States. While solar is highly sustainable compared to fossil fuel electricity sources, solar modules (colloquially known as solar panels) can contain hazardous waste and solar module recycling is still in its infancy. High quality solar equipment results in less waste overall, making it pivotal to the future of solar. This study uses solar installation data from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to examine the impact of comparison shopping completed through EnergySage, the United States’ leading solar quote marketplace, on the quality of installed solar equipment. It finds that EnergySage installations include modules of higher efficiency, modules of greater wattage capacity, and more advanced module and inverter technology, compared to installations completed external to EnergySage. It also finds that over the past three years, despite supply chain constraints severely impacting the solar industry, modules have significantly increased in efficiency and capacity, at roughly the same rate for installations completed through and external to EnergySage. However, over these same three years, EnergySage installations consistently contained higher quality equipment, suggesting that competition may drive installers to quote and solar consumers to request and choose higher quality solar equipment

Humor in the Foreign Language Classroom

Humor is a notoriously vague construct, often identified not by formal definition but by individual intuition (Bell, 2009). This makes it rather difficult to study or categorize concisely – indeed, analyzing humor or explaining a joke is often thought to remove the fundamental enjoyment from the experience. Despite the inherent hazards, this research seeks to provide further insight into the effects and potential applications of humor in the foreign language (FL) classroom, guided by the following research question: How does L1 humor, specifically when used as a pedagogical tool, influence students’ affective filters in a college-level elementary foreign language classroom? Toward this end, I collected observation and interview data from students in a college-level elementary French class regarding their response to various types of humor at play in their classroom. Through qualitative data analysis, I then categorized my findings into three key themes related to the effects of humor. This study’s results lend insight that could shape language instructors’ attitudes toward humor in the classroom, and consequently their methods of teaching and interacting with students. Additionally, I hope that the gaps in this research will elucidate avenues for future study in this rich field

Surface modification of traditional and bioresorbable metallic implant materials for improved biocompatibility

Due to their strength, elasticity, and durability, a variety of metal alloys are commonly used in medical implants. Traditionally, corrosion-resistant metals have been preferred. These permanent materials can cause negative systemic and local tissue effects in the long-term. Permanent stenting can lead to late-stent thrombosis and in-stent restenosis. Metallic pins and screws for fracture fixation can corrode and fail, cause loss of bone mass, and contribute to inflammation and pain at the implant site, requiring reintervention. Corrodible metallic implants have the potential to prevent many of these complications by providing transient support to the affected tissue, dissolving at a rate congruent with the healing of the tissue. Alloys of iron and manganese (FeMn) exhibit similar fatigue strength, toughness, and elasticity compared with 316L stainless steel, making them very attractive candidates for bioresorbable stents and temporary fracture fixation devices. Much attention in recent years has been given to creating alloys with ideal mechanical properties for various applications. Little work has been done on determining the blood compatibility of these materials or on examining how their surfaces can be improved to improve cell adhesion, however. We examined thethrombogenic response of blood exposed to various resorbable ferrous stent materials through contact with porcine blood. The resorbable materials induced comparable or lower levels of several coagulation factors compared with 316L stainless steel. Little platelet adhesion was observed on any of the tested materials. ^ Endothelialization is an important process after the implantation of a vascular stent, as it prevents damage to the vessel wall that can accelerate neointimal hyperplasia. Micromotion can lead to the formation of fibrous tissue surrounding an orthopedic implant, loosening, and ultimately failure of the implant. Nanoscale features were created on the surfaces of noble metal coatings, silicon, and bioabsorbable materials through ion beam irradiation in order to improve endothelialzation and bone cell adhesion. Gold, palladium, silicon, and iron manganese surfaces were patterned through ion beam irradiation using argon ions. The surface morphology of the samples was examined using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while surface chemistry was examined through x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and contact angle goniometry measurements. It was not possible to create nanoscale surface features on the surfaces of the gold and palladium films. At near normal incidence, irradiation produced ripples on the surfaces of Si(100), while oblique incidence irradiation produced nanoislands in the presence of impurities on the surface. Iron manganese irradiation resulted in the formation of blade-shaped structures for ion energies between 500eV and 1000eV, and significant iron enrichment at the surface. ^ Chemical treatment can also be used to create surface features that will enhance cell adhesion. Ti6Al4V is one of the most commonly used alloys for permanent orthopedic devices. The creation of a porous surface in order to improve osteoblast adhesion was achieved through chemical etching using acid-peroxide solutions. While phosphoric acid etched the grain boundaries, sulfuric and nitric acid preferentially etched grains of particular orientations, creating a spongy, porous morphology that has the potential to aid in osseointegration

The practice of demolishing abandoned houses in Cleveland,Ohio is limited in its capacity to address underlying causes ofhousing injustice

In the past decade, Cleveland, Ohio has seen the demolition of 8,000 abandoned homes, with more than 5,000 further demolitions planned. Samuel Walker and Emily Rosenman argue that in asking cities with shrinking tax bases to address foreclosures – the aftereffects of the failure of speculative housing finance – the federal government is putting these municipalities in charge of cleaning up the local effects of a national financial crisis