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Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2007.

This thesis takes as its subject the superficial nature of the normative masculine gender role. To investigate the creation of this role I have attempted to bring some understanding of recent theorisation of the postmodern, and of gendered identity, to readings of selected contemporary fiction. I have chosen to focus on several contemporary American texts. In a bid to avoid essentialising masculinity ever further I attempt to embrace the self-reflexive way in which these novels are written in conjunction with the various postmodernisms posited by Fredric Jameson, Jean-Francois Lyotard, John Frow and Jean Baudrillard. Despite differing in significant ways, these critics all explore the idea of multiple identities. The lack of fixity this multiplicity fosters ensures that masculinity as an intrinsic given becomes disputed. 'The dialogues this creates reveal a category that is insecure, mobile and fluctuating, regardless of attempts to present it as otherwise. 'The first novel looked at is 'Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. This narrative encourages the questioning of the 'standard' masculinity adopted in patriarchal society by displaying men vulnerable to Post Traumatic Stress disorder, hysteria and madness, due to the war in Vietnam and governmental law enforcement. Masculinity is portrayed as tentative, provisional and impossible to maintain to society's exacting requirements. Psychotherapy is shown to confusingly both offer a fixed and stable 'self, whilst also promoting the encouragement of potential multiple other' selves' . Don DeLillo's White Noise continues the search for these 'selves'. Jack Gladney's debilitating fear of death compromises his mental and physical health. His strivings to deal with this, whilst also fulfilling various strands of the desired male stereotype, are explored through life-threatening disasters, usually pre-empted by rapidly developing technology. Jack's career in academia raises questions about the circulation of knowledge and information. Like Vineland, White Noise also examines the role of the family unit as an inherent part of the enforcement of standardised identities. 'The Family', both in its domestic format and via its more violent reincarnation as The Mafia, plays a vital role in all of these texts. Within DeLillo's Underworld (Section Three), the protagonist's therapy brings him away from the influence of The Mob, transforming him from murderer to upstanding citizen. His career in Waste Management provides a metaphor for the text's exploration of the manner in which abject matter is expulsed as part of a bid to conform to societal requirements. I draw upon Julia Kristeva's work on abjection in this section. The ritualistic nature of what is discarded and what revered is further explored in the fourth novel, Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho. This text offers an extreme picture of the potential results of stereotypical containment, with a protagonist who is determined to hyper-conform. Patrick Bateman not only espouses the thorough commodification of society, he also strives to exceed every stipulation pertaining to consummate masculinity. Bret Easton Ellis's Glamorama, provides the material for the final chapter, it offers a chilling portrayal of surface-obsessed society. Mediated images of celebrities provide role models for the characters' identity formation. Postmodernity's purported lack of depth is explored in the light of Baudrillard's theories. The potentialities of the cybernetic post-human are raised and discussed via the theorisation of Lyotard and Donna Haroway. The texts were selected for their usefulness in demonstrating a developing notion that rather than forming a new or extended sense of masculinity, men are acknowledging a growing awareness of the self-conscious, performative, indeed 'hyper', nature of any masculine identity. Contemporary films and television programmes are examined alongside the novels.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 200-215)

Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2010. / Thesis Advisor(s): Michael, James B. Second Reader: Wingfield, Thomas C. ; Sarkesain, John F. "March 2010." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 26, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Cyberspace, Cyberspace Defense, Network Defense, Distributed Systems, Command and Control, Battle Management, Information Assurance, Situational Awareness. Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-77). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 200-215)

Universiẗat, Magisterarbeit--Tübingen. / Literaturverz. S. 139-144.

archives@tulane.edu / Losing My Dimension seeks to characterize the nature of spacetime during quarantine. Designed to be viewed in both 2D and 3D using red/cyan glasses, this body of work wields space as a medium in order to probe the dimensional qualities of our changing realities. Through a series of interactive web vignettes built with recognizable user interfaces, this work engages the viewer in an individualized reflection upon both the benefits and detriments of digital denizenship, particularly in the context of a global pandemic. / 1 / Jenna deBoisblanc

The United States and the People's Republic of China maintain a unique relationship due to the high levels of interdependence between the countries' political, economic, military, and social functions. This association has been complicated in the past by Chinese industrial cyberespionage (CE) carried out against United States organizations and individuals in pursuit of economic advancement. This paper examines the nature of Chinese-American relations and determines whether its features adhere to Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye's theory of complex interdependence in Power and Interdependence. Further, this paper also explores possible reasons for a decline in Chinese CE beginning in mid-2014 and what impact this could have on the two countries' relations moving forward. / Master of Arts / The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the United States and China have become interdependent through political, economic, military, and social means. Additionally, China has historically spied on and stolen United States’ secrets electronically for their own benefit. This trend began to slow down in mid-2014 and I offer several possible explanations for why this might have happened. Lastly, I conclude by seeing how this decline in Chinese spying reflects on the interdependent relationship between China and the United States.

New information and communication technologies have excited considerable popular and expert attention over the last decades of the twentieth century. Predictions about their social effects range along a continuum from visions of heaven; where people slip the surly bonds of time and space, to glimpses of hell; where such slippage enables new manifestations of dominance and control. Along the continuum there is a basic determinist premise evident, that the technologies have developed in a marginal sphere, and will now bring a new way of life, or at least provide materials for a new way of life, whether this be for good or evil. The notion of cyberspace as a new communicative domain has in particular engaged this kind of attention. This thesis is concerned with the ways in which the rhetoric of cyberspace sheds light on deeper social preoccupations and relations. It is an attempt to move beyond discussion of particular technologies and their possible effects to examine the ways in which habitual social intercourse is reconstructed in and around cyberspace. As a feminist scholar of communication I am particularly interested in the ways in which existing gender relations are maintained in discursive constructions of women in cyberspace, and the ways in which feminist theorists may respond to the new domain. Because I seek to elude simple determinism, I have sought to contextualise the space by some focus on the known social needs, purposes and practices to which the development of cyberspace technologies has been central. Although I acknowledge the power of discourse to maintain extant social relations, I seek to elude discursive determinism by some focus on the ways in which women have creatively appropriated new technologies; on the disjunctions of discourse and practice.