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(1 - 20 of 22)
Pages
- Title
- Broken Toys.
- Creator
-
Eliot, Robin, Pugh, William, Milanes, Cecilia, Nwakanma, Obi, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This novel is about a character, Felicity Gourd. She's Cinderella, but she lives in twenty-first century Boston and knows the Cinderella story as well as anyone else. She's also one of a small number of people who are able turn into the creatures represented by their childhood toys. Felicity's toy was a mouse. Her godmother's was, of course, a fairy.Through her godmother, Felicity enters the community of Toys, where she finally finds a home. But the Toys are the only people who stand in the...
Show moreThis novel is about a character, Felicity Gourd. She's Cinderella, but she lives in twenty-first century Boston and knows the Cinderella story as well as anyone else. She's also one of a small number of people who are able turn into the creatures represented by their childhood toys. Felicity's toy was a mouse. Her godmother's was, of course, a fairy.Through her godmother, Felicity enters the community of Toys, where she finally finds a home. But the Toys are the only people who stand in the way of Clarity, a secret organization that wants to place humanity under the rule of a personality-type based master race. The Toys' victory comes at the cost of most of their lives, leaving Felicity to find her own way, with neither stepmother nor fairy godmother.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0006999, ucf:51624
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006999
- Title
- Hidden Variable.
- Creator
-
Harms, Heather, Hubbard, Susan, Rushin, Patrick, Neal, Mary, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Hidden Variable is a novel that blends linear storytelling with the novel-in-stories form. It poses questions about the nature of identity as well as the feasibility of personal power, particularly with respect to disorders of the mind.Darla Pierson, the novel's protagonist, is a woman in crisis. She is steeped in self-loathing brought on by the knowledge that she has, in effect, become her dead father(-)a genius with an epic libido, habitually using and discarding people. Her father has...
Show moreHidden Variable is a novel that blends linear storytelling with the novel-in-stories form. It poses questions about the nature of identity as well as the feasibility of personal power, particularly with respect to disorders of the mind.Darla Pierson, the novel's protagonist, is a woman in crisis. She is steeped in self-loathing brought on by the knowledge that she has, in effect, become her dead father(-)a genius with an epic libido, habitually using and discarding people. Her father has another habit that Darla doesn't share: being struck by lightning. After the second strike kills him, Darla makes a conscious attempt to recreate herself. But soon the new Darla sinks into depression, and her act begins to crumble, damaging her and those around her. Throughout the years, she and her family members experience periodic clashes with nature, never fully realizing that sometimes the most powerful, most devastating opponent comes not from without, but within.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004784, ucf:49774
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004784
- Title
- The Clockman Movement.
- Creator
-
Martin, Allison, Jones, Anna, Thaxton, Terry, Smith, Anne, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
As a genre of Neo-Victorian fiction, Steampunk is largely identified by Victorian aesthetics and technology centering on clockwork and steam power. The novel The Clockman Movement seeks to emphasize the (")punk(") in (")steampunk(") by exploring the social concerns of colonialism, including sexism, racism, and classism, while embracing the more fantastic and entertaining aspects of steampunk.Before all other labels(-)Nordlunder, daughter, woman(-)Eve Traugott is a machinist. Or she would be,...
Show moreAs a genre of Neo-Victorian fiction, Steampunk is largely identified by Victorian aesthetics and technology centering on clockwork and steam power. The novel The Clockman Movement seeks to emphasize the (")punk(") in (")steampunk(") by exploring the social concerns of colonialism, including sexism, racism, and classism, while embracing the more fantastic and entertaining aspects of steampunk.Before all other labels(-)Nordlunder, daughter, woman(-)Eve Traugott is a machinist. Or she would be, if one of the machinists in the capital would hire her as an apprentice. She thought it would be simple to find a machinist willing to take a chance on her in Aufziehburg, the mechanical center of the State of Nordlund, but so far the Aufziehburger machinists have been as narrow-minded as the one she left behind in her hometown.Her inheritance dwindling, Eve sets her sights on the clockmen, the State's automaton workers, hoping that studying them might help her learn enough to gain an apprenticeship. When her curiosity draws the unwanted attention of Statesman Bristed and the winders, procuring an apprenticeship becomes the least of Eve's concerns.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006476, ucf:51439
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006476
- Title
- The Never-Knowns.
- Creator
-
Haskins, Ryan, Marinara, Martha, Poissant, David, Rushin, Patrick, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The Never-Knowns is a novel about a high-intensity behavioral group home for adults with severe to profound developmental disabilities, its residents, and the staff who are employed there. Focusing on plural protagonists, no single narrative is ever fully realized or resolved, leaving only a cryptic aggregate of experiences, revelations, and trauma.In a typical suburban neighborhood, much like any of us grew up in or now live, there is a house down the block that no one discusses openly. This...
Show moreThe Never-Knowns is a novel about a high-intensity behavioral group home for adults with severe to profound developmental disabilities, its residents, and the staff who are employed there. Focusing on plural protagonists, no single narrative is ever fully realized or resolved, leaving only a cryptic aggregate of experiences, revelations, and trauma.In a typical suburban neighborhood, much like any of us grew up in or now live, there is a house down the block that no one discusses openly. This house seems like all the rest, well landscaped and tidy. Although three times a day much coming and going of college-aged kids and ne'er-do-wells whispers of something covert, obscure. This house is many things to many people; a workplace, or home, or burden, or profit, or prison.An unfortunate, absurd one-act play echoes infinitely for those kept here. Constance is a thirty-something disabled woman who wakes every morning by sprinting nude in a wondrous fury toward the first person or thing she can destroy. Malcolm is a new staff member who snorts meth and masturbates in his car during shift breaks. Terry is a twenty-five year old deaf mute who believes his clothes dresser is God and always knows exactly how many feet are between him and every other place he'd rather be. Jake is a veteran staff member who has finalized his plans to take all the residents of the house deep into a forest and abandon them.Using disjointed, prolix, and often dissonant approaches to storytelling, The Never-Knowns seeks to convey the perspectives of developmentally disabled individuals who possess few or no language skills, and who are so far detached from their own existence that their understanding and interaction with the world is simultaneously grotesque, beautiful, and confounding.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004861, ucf:49684
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004861
- Title
- "UNNATURAL CONDUCT & FORCED DIFFICULTIES": AUSTEN, READING, AND THE PARADOX OF THE FEMININE IDEAL.
- Creator
-
Dickens, Faith, Oliver, Kathleen, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Though some scholars have maintained that Jane Austen closely adheres to the ideology of courtesy novels and conduct literature, I argue that Austen uses her knowledge of this ideology to reveal the flaws in reader assumptions about the presumed commonsensical nature of the courtesy novel and its feminine ideal. Austen is familiar with the conventions of eighteenth-century fiction, but, rather than adopting its tropes in her own work, she uses realism to parody its excesses and...
Show moreThough some scholars have maintained that Jane Austen closely adheres to the ideology of courtesy novels and conduct literature, I argue that Austen uses her knowledge of this ideology to reveal the flaws in reader assumptions about the presumed commonsensical nature of the courtesy novel and its feminine ideal. Austen is familiar with the conventions of eighteenth-century fiction, but, rather than adopting its tropes in her own work, she uses realism to parody its excesses and improbabilities; this realism then works against reader expectations and exposes paradoxes inherent in the courtesy novel and in conduct-book literature itself. In my thesis I observe how Austen uses courtesy novel tropes to expose or even mock the courtesy novel's inherently unrealistic qualities, and I do so by examining the act of "reading" in her novels: specifically, I argue that the literal reading that Austen's characters engage in does not produce the expected outcomes predicted by conduct books and courtesy novels; that the figurative reading of one character by another demonstrates the dangerousness and unsuitability of the heroine as "open book," as conduct books and courtesy novels urged her to be, as well as the irrationality and hypocrisy of acting the part of "closed book" to her intended lover; and, finally, that the act of reading an Austen novel is intended to prevent the absorption or interpretation of unrealistic ideals, through insistence on (more) realistic outcomes and through narrative intervention.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFH0004095, ucf:44784
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004095
- Title
- A Clutch, A Pride, A Murder.
- Creator
-
Miles, John, Rushin, Patrick, Neal, Mary, Poissant, David, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A Clutch, A Pride, A Murder is a linked collection of seven short fiction pieces and one novella that examine a world much like our own, but with the cover revealed(-)a world laid bare, exposed by its desires, its emotions, its beauties, and all its machinations. All of the stories involve, either directly or indirectly, the fictional Ohio city of Milton. Some of the stories take place within this seemingly typical American city, while others only involve characters coming from or in some...
Show moreA Clutch, A Pride, A Murder is a linked collection of seven short fiction pieces and one novella that examine a world much like our own, but with the cover revealed(-)a world laid bare, exposed by its desires, its emotions, its beauties, and all its machinations. All of the stories involve, either directly or indirectly, the fictional Ohio city of Milton. Some of the stories take place within this seemingly typical American city, while others only involve characters coming from or in some cases returning to this unassuming location. Regardless, the events of these stories either in cause or effect all have their roots in Milton.The world at large also plays a part within these pages. While the stories themselves are completely fictitious, many of the peripheral events that happen beyond the principle storylines are pulled from today's real-world headlines: a series of increasingly devastating tornadoes in the American heartland; a mysterious suicide of a wealthy industrialist; the amazing technological feats of a nation's space program; the heinous crimes of a serial kidnapper. These events, each a worthy story in their own right, filter into the events of this collection, much as they do in our world(-)through the media. Television, radio, newspapers, social media all are outlets of information and current events making the stories of others part of our lives as we all live out our own personal adventures. I utilize these true-life events to add scope and breadth to the world of my fictions so that these events might at times inform and offer new perspective on the principle narratives. And while these true-life stories unfold in the backgrounds of their fictitious hosts, the hope is that the reader will be able to have a better sense of the timeline as the events unfold over the days, months, and years that these stories inhabit.Humanity in all its wonder and woe is on full display within this collection. From the journey of idyllic love to tragic romance, and the thin line that turns passion to obsession, we will see all the places theses complex emotions lead: a young botanist travels half-way around the world for a chance to reconnect with a lost love; a young girl's love for her family pushes her to extremes to protect her brother; a man's love for his city challenges his morality; the bond between brothers is put to the test; and a young man's reverence for history, and his love of family leads him down a dark path. How far will someone go to protect themselves? Their loved ones? Or even their way of life? The lengths these characters will go, or in some cases will not go, are central to the stories in this collection. I intend to show those lengths and tell my characters' all too human stories.?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005034, ucf:49988
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005034
- Title
- INCORPORATING GRAPHIC NOVELS INTO SOCIAL STUDIES BASED INSTRUCTION: AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF DETERMINING QUALITY GRAPHIC NOVELS.
- Creator
-
Johannessen, Lindsey, Hoffman, Elizabeth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
ABSTRACT It is becoming increasing important that teachers educate students about social studies in such a way so that students are interested and motivated by what they read. So often the curriculum is bombarded with physically heavy, incomprehensible, and traditional textbooks. Based upon the need for extensions to the social studies textbooks, my goal to establish a guideline for selecting quality graphic novels fitted for elementary social studies instruction. Therefore, my study will...
Show moreABSTRACT It is becoming increasing important that teachers educate students about social studies in such a way so that students are interested and motivated by what they read. So often the curriculum is bombarded with physically heavy, incomprehensible, and traditional textbooks. Based upon the need for extensions to the social studies textbooks, my goal to establish a guideline for selecting quality graphic novels fitted for elementary social studies instruction. Therefore, my study will attempt to answer the question: What is an effective means of determining quality graphic novels? Following my adaptation and creation of rubrics established for determining the needs and qualities of graphic novels, I was able to establish and analyze several social studies content related graphic novels appropriate for the elementary social studies curriculum. This investigation into social studies graphic novels provided 18 graphic novels for possible use in the elementary social studies curriculum, 5 of which were deemed quality via the established rubrics. Furthermore, the investigation proved that the books deemed quality provided more than what was established as necessary within the rubrics. The additional information found within those texts was referred to as a postlude. One strong conclusion from this study is the large void of graphic novels that teachers might link with the social studies curriculum so as to enhance elementary social studies instruction.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFH0003824, ucf:44764
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0003824
- Title
- USING YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE TO TEACH THE CLASSICS: A STUDY ON PAIRING YOUNG ADULT NOVELS WITH THE CLASSIC WORKS IN SECONDARY ENGLISH CLASSROOMS.
- Creator
-
Velazquez, Deanna, Kaplan, Jeffrey, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Young adult literature is a genre of literature that is often overlooked. Adolescents would greatly benefit from reading young adult novels, academically and also for enjoyment. Educators are not using young adult literature as often as they should in the classrooms as a tool, due to strict curricula. However, young adult literature is a perfect tool for aiding with comprehension of the classic works. Pairing certain young adult books with classics would help adolescents understand the...
Show moreYoung adult literature is a genre of literature that is often overlooked. Adolescents would greatly benefit from reading young adult novels, academically and also for enjoyment. Educators are not using young adult literature as often as they should in the classrooms as a tool, due to strict curricula. However, young adult literature is a perfect tool for aiding with comprehension of the classic works. Pairing certain young adult books with classics would help adolescents understand the classic novel, but also assist in intriguing the student enough to pick up both books. After an online survey given to nine Seminole County school English or Reading teachers, I found that high school teachers today do feel as though young adult literature would benefit the students greatly.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFH0003819, ucf:44732
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0003819
- Title
- Toward the Red Shore.
- Creator
-
Bomhoff, Gary, Rushin, Patrick, Roney, Lisa, Thaxton, Terry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A fictional novel utilizing third person limited narration from the perspective of the primary character, Ilya Kollide, who narrates the story as though it were happening in his head as it occurred, with frequent embellishments. He has come to live near an old mansion on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, named Neimasaurus, to find an antiquated, dusty world of faded aristocracy. Temporarily orphaned at the age sixteen by the recent death of his parents, he has traveled four thousand miles to live...
Show moreA fictional novel utilizing third person limited narration from the perspective of the primary character, Ilya Kollide, who narrates the story as though it were happening in his head as it occurred, with frequent embellishments. He has come to live near an old mansion on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, named Neimasaurus, to find an antiquated, dusty world of faded aristocracy. Temporarily orphaned at the age sixteen by the recent death of his parents, he has traveled four thousand miles to live with his last living relative, an uncle named Demetri, whom he has never met. The year is 1990, only this is not a world where the rule of the Tsar was supplanted by the Soviet Union. Instead, it is a logical exploration of what Russia might resemble, had communism never taken root. While the fantastical may or may not occur, depending upon how the reader chooses to interpret the point of view of the narrator, the setting in and of itself is not meant to be fantastical. Ilya discovers that all the servants who work there are deaf, as is his uncle and his own now deceased parents, whom he carries around in an urn after mixing their ashes together. While working at the great estate of the Neimasaurus family, Ilya discovers a surprising numbers of stories and people who both parallel his own experiences and serve as allegorical warnings toward his future mistakes in life. He becomes obsessed with the idea that he is to blame for his parents' death and sets out on a quest to bring redemption to the wounded inhabitants of the estate, only to discover that not everyone wants to be helped. In fact, they want him dead. They see him as an allegory, just as he sees them. To the young man Shoji Yamano, Ilya represents everything he was, and can no longer be. As such a reflection, he resolves to shatter Ilya like a mirror. The novel charts Ilya's personal growth from a neurotic wreck, incapable of normal interaction with people, to a young man capable of not just self-sacrifice, but an understanding of what it actually means to literally sacrifice himself for the well-being of someone he barely knows. He learns to value time spent with others rather than dwelling within a narcissistic and lonely fantasy world.?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004976, ucf:49591
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004976
- Title
- Escape Artist.
- Creator
-
Mujica, Alejandro, Rushin, Patrick, Bartkevicius, Jocelyn, Neal, Mary, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
My thesis, Escape Artist, is a composite novel written as a fictitious memoir, similar in style to Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, that describes my experiences between the years 2001 and 2011. During that time I went through Marine Corps Boot Camp, became a military police officer, patrolled Yuma, AZ, was sent to Iraq for a seven-month tour as a security detail just before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and made it back home four years later. The novel also looks into my...
Show moreMy thesis, Escape Artist, is a composite novel written as a fictitious memoir, similar in style to Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, that describes my experiences between the years 2001 and 2011. During that time I went through Marine Corps Boot Camp, became a military police officer, patrolled Yuma, AZ, was sent to Iraq for a seven-month tour as a security detail just before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and made it back home four years later. The novel also looks into my struggles with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms, how they affected the people around me, and what I've been trying to do to remedy them (or ignore them).
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004788, ucf:49732
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004788
- Title
- FRAT STAR.
- Creator
-
Holic, Nathan, Leiby, Jeanne, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This thesis, a social novel in the tradition of Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities and Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, is all at once an attentive first-person study of a twenty-something man close to his cracking point in his first post-college job, a detailed exposé of national fraternities, and the sweeping panoramic view of an entire generation of over-programmed college students searching for direction. Frat Star follows a fragile college...
Show moreThis thesis, a social novel in the tradition of Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities and Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, is all at once an attentive first-person study of a twenty-something man close to his cracking point in his first post-college job, a detailed exposé of national fraternities, and the sweeping panoramic view of an entire generation of over-programmed college students searching for direction. Frat Star follows a fragile college graduate named Charles Washington, who takes a position as an "Educational Consultant" with a national fraternity in his first semester after graduation. For sixteen straight weeks, he drives across the country, from college to college and fraternity house to fraternity house, meeting with alumni and students, and living on frat house couches and in seedy off-exit hotels. As he travels, the pressure mounts for Charles to convince his family and friends back home that this is a "Real Job" and that his work actually matters to the business world, but at each new fraternity house he visits, his yearning for the old college atmosphere grows--the beer, the parties, the girls!--threatening to send him into a frightening tailspin. How can he be a professional when the temptations of youth still seem so attractive? And before Charles can sort out what is happening in his own life, he finds himself stuck in a vicious tug-of-war between students, alumni, administrators, and the national fraternity, when he must deal with one particularly abrasive undergraduate fraternity and the aftermath of its disastrous decisions. Spanning thousands of miles, from Florida to California, from Illinois to New Mexico, this thesis takes us inside fraternity houses, into their attics and their basements, behind the scenes of their rituals and ceremonies, inside their parties, inside their heads, giving us a view not only of the power of the national fraternity, but the disconnect between alumnus and student, between Baby Boomer and Generation X and Millennial. Incorporating research as varied as the generational studies of Howe and Strauss, and Alexandra Robbins' psychological study of the "Quarterlife Crisis," Frat Star stretches across the country, stretches across genre, stretches from text to illustration, but is ultimately the human story of a young man's longing for morality, independence, and purpose in a world he simply has not been prepared to understand.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- Identifier
- CFE0001587, ucf:47491
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001587
- Title
- A LONGER SPOON: A NOVEL.
- Creator
-
MacDonald, Elizabeth, Hubbard, Susan, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The intent of this thesis is to create a novel-length narrative based around a premise conceived in a workshop setting. The novel, while containing elements of fantasy, will be character-driven and feature psychological character development as its primary goal. Lawrence Caligny, a young cook newly instated at a castle, is coerced by his mother, an infamous witch named Mallory, to concoct a sleeping potion for the country's crown prince, beckoning comparison to the "Sleeping Beauty" fairy...
Show moreThe intent of this thesis is to create a novel-length narrative based around a premise conceived in a workshop setting. The novel, while containing elements of fantasy, will be character-driven and feature psychological character development as its primary goal. Lawrence Caligny, a young cook newly instated at a castle, is coerced by his mother, an infamous witch named Mallory, to concoct a sleeping potion for the country's crown prince, beckoning comparison to the "Sleeping Beauty" fairy tale. As Lawrence prepares for his opportunity, he unwittingly befriends the prince and his sister and stumbles across an assassination plot. Being thoroughly inept at witchcraft himself, Lawrence fails to put the prince to sleep when he gets the chance, knocking out the entirety of the castle inhabitants and staff instead. The story concludes with the revival of those in the castle and Lawrence being fired from his (ignominious) position in the kitchens, but otherwise pardoned in acknowledgement of his help in stopping the assassination.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFH0004611, ucf:45322
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004611
- Title
- Stuffmobile.
- Creator
-
Greenberg, Ted, Rushin, Patrick, Hubbard, Susan, Neal, Mary, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The leitmotif of Stuffmobile, a modern day Florida-based novella, is that of relational healing: a son with his father, ex-lovers with one another, and, even more challenging perhaps, a son making peace with his dead mother. New beginnings are explored, both as resurrection of long dead feelings and as starting afresh after loss. A husband finds distraction in a covert project after his wife's death, so much so that his preoccupied isolation worries his two adult children. The son comes to...
Show moreThe leitmotif of Stuffmobile, a modern day Florida-based novella, is that of relational healing: a son with his father, ex-lovers with one another, and, even more challenging perhaps, a son making peace with his dead mother. New beginnings are explored, both as resurrection of long dead feelings and as starting afresh after loss. A husband finds distraction in a covert project after his wife's death, so much so that his preoccupied isolation worries his two adult children. The son comes to investigate, and his malfunctioning car leads to the beginnings of reconciliation. The characters here struggle to understand and be understood, to avoid hurting others and avoid being hurt, all while searching for respect and love: just another normal day of the human experience.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004189, ucf:49001
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004189
- Title
- SHAMING THE LOVE PLOT: INCONVENIENT WOMEN NAVIGATING CONVENTIONAL ROMANCE.
- Creator
-
Wilkey, Brittan, Jones, Anna Maria, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The love plot is one of the most widely consumed genres of fiction for women. Romance often dictates a woman's identity and her "story" or narrative, leaving little room for other avenues of self-development. However, when romance fails, even in the realm of fiction, women are left with shame. Shame might suggest a catastrophic aftereffect of the failure of women's initial investment of the love plot; however, I argue that shame functions in place of the love plot and helps to provide a...
Show moreThe love plot is one of the most widely consumed genres of fiction for women. Romance often dictates a woman's identity and her "story" or narrative, leaving little room for other avenues of self-development. However, when romance fails, even in the realm of fiction, women are left with shame. Shame might suggest a catastrophic aftereffect of the failure of women's initial investment of the love plot; however, I argue that shame functions in place of the love plot and helps to provide a critique of the oppressive and patriarchal nature of conventional romance. Using affect theory, I look at both Mrs. Henry Wood's East Lynne and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea as they rewrite the love plot typified by Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFH0004437, ucf:45089
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004437
- Title
- CUBAN JAM SESSIONS IN MINIATURE: A NOVEL IN TRACKS.
- Creator
-
Rincon, Diego, Rushin, Pat, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This is the collection of a novel, Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature: A Novel in Tracks, and an embedded short story, "Shred Me Like the Cheese You Use to Make Buñuelos." The novel tells the story of Palomino Mondragón, a Colombian mercenary who has arrived in New York after losing his leg to a mortar in Korea. Reclusive, obsessive and passionate, Palomino has reinvented himself as a mambo musician and has fallen in love with Etiwanda, a dancer at the nightclub in which he plays-...
Show moreThis is the collection of a novel, Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature: A Novel in Tracks, and an embedded short story, "Shred Me Like the Cheese You Use to Make Buñuelos." The novel tells the story of Palomino Mondragón, a Colombian mercenary who has arrived in New York after losing his leg to a mortar in Korea. Reclusive, obsessive and passionate, Palomino has reinvented himself as a mambo musician and has fallen in love with Etiwanda, a dancer at the nightclub in which he plays--but he cannot bring himself to declare his love to her. His life changes when he is deported from the United States at the height of the Cuban Missile crisis without having declared his love. Through the thirty years chronicled in the novel, Palomino does all possible in his quest to return to the United States to find Etiwanda despite the fact that he knows she has grown to be a fantasy, an obsession of his imagination. Palomino's quest takes him to the United States and back three times, as he becomes more and more desperate, as he becomes involved with drug traffickers and for-hire murderers like Polo Norte, as he loses track of what it means to feel alive. Palomino is trapped in a tug-of-war between his rational desire for a normal existence and his irrational but inescapable longing for Etiwanda. In the end, his desperation to get to Etiwanda brings the underworld of Polo Norte to her doorstep. "Shred Me Like the Cheese You Use to Make Buñuelos" tells the story of Polo Norte, Palomino's antagonist, on his last day on earth, as he is followed by a writer who has agreed to watch him commit suicide. Together, the stories explore the history and nature of the Colombian Diaspora in the United States, and the violent circumstances surrounding the relationship between both countries and the migrants stuck in the middle of it.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002627, ucf:48202
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002627
- Title
- Theoretical Studies of Nanostructure Formation and Transport on Surfaces.
- Creator
-
Aminpour, Maral, Rahman, Talat, Stolbov, Sergey, Roldan Cuenya, Beatriz, Blair, Richard, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This dissertation undertakes theoretical and computational research to characterize and understand in detail atomic configurations and electronic structural properties of surfaces and interfaces at the nano-scale, with particular emphasis on identifying the factors that control atomic-scale diffusion and transport properties. The overarching goal is to outline, with examples, a predictive modeling procedure of stable structures of novel materials that, on the one hand, facilitates a better...
Show moreThis dissertation undertakes theoretical and computational research to characterize and understand in detail atomic configurations and electronic structural properties of surfaces and interfaces at the nano-scale, with particular emphasis on identifying the factors that control atomic-scale diffusion and transport properties. The overarching goal is to outline, with examples, a predictive modeling procedure of stable structures of novel materials that, on the one hand, facilitates a better understanding of experimental results, and on the other hand, provide guidelines for future experimental work. The results of this dissertation are useful in future miniaturization of electronic devices, predicting and engineering functional novel nanostructures. A variety of theoretical and computational tools with different degrees of accuracy is used to study problems in different time and length scales. Interactions between the atoms are derived using both ab-initio methods based on Density Functional Theory (DFT), as well as semi-empirical approaches such as those embodied in the Embedded Atom Method (EAM), depending on the scale of the problem at hand. The energetics for a variety of surface phenomena (adsorption, desorption, diffusion, and reactions) are calculated using either DFT or EAM, as feasible. For simulating dynamic processes such as diffusion of ad-atoms on surfaces with dislocations the Molecular Dynamics (MD) method is applied. To calculate vibrational mode frequencies, the infinitesimal displacement method is employed. The combination of non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) and DFT is used to calculate electronic transport properties of molecular devices as well as interfaces and junctions.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005298, ucf:50504
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005298
- Title
- Ballou's pictorial Vol. IX., No. 25, December 22, 1855.
- Creator
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Ballou, Maturin Murray, Austin C. Burdick
- Date Created
- 1855
- Identifier
- DP0012649, AP2.A389 No. 233
- Format
- Set of related objects
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/DP0012649
- Title
- CHARACTERIZATION OF NOVEL ANTIMALARIALS FROM COMPOUNDS INSPIRED BY NATURAL PRODUCTS USING PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS (PCA).
- Creator
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Balde, Zarina Marie G, Chakrabarti, Debopam, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Malaria is caused by a protozoan parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which is responsible for over 500,000 deaths per year worldwide. Although malaria medicines are working well in many parts of the world, antimalarial drug resistance has emerged as one of the greatest challenges facing malaria control today. Since the malaria parasites are once again developing widespread resistance to antimalarial drugs, this can cause the spread of malaria to new areas and the re-emergence of malaria in areas...
Show moreMalaria is caused by a protozoan parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, which is responsible for over 500,000 deaths per year worldwide. Although malaria medicines are working well in many parts of the world, antimalarial drug resistance has emerged as one of the greatest challenges facing malaria control today. Since the malaria parasites are once again developing widespread resistance to antimalarial drugs, this can cause the spread of malaria to new areas and the re-emergence of malaria in areas where it had already been eradicated. Therefore, the discovery and characterization of novel antimalarials is extremely urgent. A previous drug screen in Dr. Chakrabarti's lab identified several natural products (NPs) with antiplasmodial activities. The focus of this study is to characterize the hit compounds using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to determine structural uniqueness compared to known antimalarial drugs. This study will compare multiple libraries of different compounds, such as known drugs, kinase inhibitors, macrocycles, and top antimalarial hits discovered in our lab. Prioritizing the hit compounds by their chemical uniqueness will lessen the probability of future drug resistance. This is an important step in drug discovery as this will allow us to increase the interpretability of the datasets by creating new uncorrelated variables that will successively maximize variance. Characterization of the Natural Product inspired compounds will enable us to discover potent, selective, and novel antiplasmodial scaffolds that are unique in the 3-dimensional chemical space and will provide critical information that will serve as advanced starting points for the antimalarial drug discovery pipeline.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFH2000405, ucf:45893
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000405
- Title
- Nitrogen-Containing Materials for Mechanochemical Synthesis, Luminescence Analysis, and Heterogeneous Catalysis.
- Creator
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Nash, David, Zhai, Lei, Hampton, Michael, Harper, James, Rex, Matthew, Blair, Richard, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Various inorganic nitrogen-containing materials have been exploited for their different properties. Several nitride materials are commercially attractive due to their mechanical properties making them suitable for ceramic industries and wide bandgaps fitting for use as semiconductor and insulator materials, as well as optoelectronics. Nitride materials can exhibit versatility in applications such as the use of gallium nitride to make blue LEDs, nitrides of titanium and silicon being utilized...
Show moreVarious inorganic nitrogen-containing materials have been exploited for their different properties. Several nitride materials are commercially attractive due to their mechanical properties making them suitable for ceramic industries and wide bandgaps fitting for use as semiconductor and insulator materials, as well as optoelectronics. Nitride materials can exhibit versatility in applications such as the use of gallium nitride to make blue LEDs, nitrides of titanium and silicon being utilized as medical implants for their chemical inertness and hardness, and the heavy use of boron nitride as a solid lubricant in the cosmetic industry. Amines have been used as nitrogen-containing organic ligands in organometallic complexes that exhibit phenomenal photophysical properties. These complexes have been heavily studied for potential applications in optoelectronics and chemical sensing. This dissertation will focus on two nitrogen-containing materials that have yet to be explored for the potential applications to be discussed. The first is hexagonal-boron nitride (h-BN), which was previously mentioned to have a substantial use in the cosmetic industry, giving products such as lipstick, foundation, and blush their slick feeling. Computational models have shown the possibility of altered electronic properties of defect sites in the h-BN sheets. These defect sites will be explored experimentally to determine any catalytic activity. Specifically, the hydrogenation reaction using defect-laden hexagonal-boron nitride will be investigated. Successful catalysis would add to the short list of non-metal catalyst, and provide an alternative catalyst that costs significantly less than the traditional metal catalysts commonly used in commercial industries. The second of the two nitrogen-containing materials is a class of metal complexes based on organometallic clusters of copper(I) iodide. Copper(I) iodide clusters formed with amine ligands have been studied for around four decades and the photophysics behind their photoluminescent properties are well understood. Much of the work has been done for use as a potential emissive material in the optoelectronics field. They have also been studied for applications in the sensing of environmental compounds. Here, research will display its use as a novel sensor for narcotic substances. This forensic application will be further explored to develop and eventually commercialize a complete field drug testing system for law enforcement and crime lab use, with the goal to equip law enforcement personnel with a presumptive drug testing method that is accurate, easy-to-use, safe, adaptable, and affordable. This system will consist of a narcotic drug-indicating test strip, a handheld fluorescence spectrometer manufactured in-house using relatively inexpensive parts, and a mobile app that will leverage photoemission data of the tested drug samples collected by multiple crime labs to provide the ability for sample-to-reference data matching. Law enforcement users would have the ability to rapidly identify an unknown substance by applying it to a test strip, testing it using the spectrometer, and capturing an image of the resulting photoemission and analyzing the spectral profile in search of a match with the support of a cloud database.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0007129, ucf:52297
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007129
- Title
- CRISIS, SHELL-SHOCK, AND THE TEMPORALITY OF TRAUMA: CULTURAL MEMORY AND THE GREAT WAR COMBATANT EXPERIENCE IN OWEN, GRAVES, AND BARKER.
- Creator
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Kelly, Dylan, Grajeda, Anthony, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The year 2014 will mark the centennial of the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. This historic anniversary will likely provoke several discussions from all fields in the humanities concerning the Great War's significance on contemporary culture through history, visual art, and in the case of this essay: literature. In light of this event, any serious discussion among scholars should undeniably begin with how the war continues to be represented today through a thorough, contemporary...
Show moreThe year 2014 will mark the centennial of the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. This historic anniversary will likely provoke several discussions from all fields in the humanities concerning the Great War's significance on contemporary culture through history, visual art, and in the case of this essay: literature. In light of this event, any serious discussion among scholars should undeniably begin with how the war continues to be represented today through a thorough, contemporary analysis of its many key literary texts. This thesis will examine, in this regard, how past and contemporary discourses in literary theory—primarily concerned with how an individual combatant subject attempts to construct and understand their own traumatic experiences through poetic and literary discourse—can continue to incite discussion on why literature of the Great War and its influential role in defining how it has come to be understood in our cultural memory remains relevant even today. Under the guiding influence of Paul Fussell's classic The Great War and Modern Memory, I will discuss how three important works—a poetry collection, a memoir, and a modern work of historical fiction—all contribute to how the war has become represented as a tragic rupture in history that reversed the idea of human progress and left an entire generation disillusioned in its aftermath, regardless of the historical veracity of this legacy. The texts I will be examining include: select poems of Wilfred Owen, Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves, and Regeneration by Pat Barker. In addition to this, I will conclude with an analysis of how a contemporary reading of these texts can contribute to a larger discussion of the crisis of historicity in our current post-modern cultural landscape.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFH0004557, ucf:45210
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004557
