This thesis explores the ways in which selfhood is constructed and expressed in The Oprah Winfrey Show. The current debate on talk shows within Media Studies tends to cohere around two positions. On the one hand, talk shows are seen as exemplars of Trash TV in which confessions of private pain are exploited for commercial gain. On the other hand, the programmes are seen as a site of empowerment for marginalised people normally denied a voice in the public sphere. This thesis moves away from this binary by examining the cultural context in which Oprah is produced. It examines the show in the light of two distinctive, but at times, overlapping, traditions of thought in American culture in which conflicting versions of self are constructed. These two traditions are the' elite' cultural criticism, and an African American mode of thought that includes a black feminist perspective. The thesis argues that these traditions represent systematic discursive cultural practices that are available as a means through which to read the show. In the 'elite' cultural criticism, selfhood is constructed as empty, anxious, fragmented and dislocated. This version of self is the product of commercialism, commodification and image saturation and is made manifest in the popularisation of therapy. In the strand of African American thought that this thesis discusses, the self is posited as recoverable through the excavation of a personal and collective history, through story-telling, and is situated in relation to close, significant others. The thesis argues that Oprah is an ambivalent text in which both versions of selfhood are identifiable. Further, it is argued that the persona of Oprah Winfrey is the embodied site of these conflicts, acting as the conduit for the expression of a self that emerges from the clash of antagonistic forces. Thus, The Oprah Winfrey Show is used as a case study for the exploration of the ways in which contradictory cultural constructions of self combine in a carnivalesque play to produce something new. This thesis makes the case for an avoidance of the binary that marks the TV talk show debate by exploring the ambivalence that constitutes the text. This, it is argued, presents a fruitful way of thinking through the complexities of a popular cultural phenomenon such as Oprah.

A Study Of Texas Youth Livestock Exhibitors Knowledge Within The Constructs Of The Quality Counts Assessment. (August 2013) J. D. Ragland, B.S., M. S. Chairman of Advisory Committee: Dr. Steve Fraze. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the current Quality Counts program and assessment. This on-line training and assessment is a required program of completion for all youth exhibiting livestock at all major livestock shows in Texas. The studies additional purposes was to evaluate assessment results of participants within their respected age groups and club affiliation, and to identify their relationships of the four program objectives as well as the three research objectives outlined for this study to determine where curriculum improvements maybe needed. It was concluded that the Quality Counts program needs revision to be a more effective tool for youth exhibiting livestock.

There is no abstract available for this thesis. / Department of Communication Studies

This is a comparative linguistic essay aimed to investigate how closing sections construct social interaction in a number of talk shows, primarily The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. The talk show data is analyzed by means of Conversation Analysis (CA) which considers how language performs social interaction and the structures and norms which give the frames for this. The results of the analysis are compared to the results of a study carried out in 2003 by Esperanza Rama Martinez on the same subject matter. Martinez´ study is in fact the foundation for this study. In her study Martinez concludes that the closing phase is initiated by the interviewer and that there are always pre-closing components before the closing components begin. The results of this study are in line with Martinez´ study.

My work explores the gray area and the shifting border between "us" and "other." It investigates the helplessness and the submissiveness on both sides of this spectrum and one's passivity that makes the "pain of others" inevitable. Moreover, it examines the individual and collective experiences of guilt and complicity in relation to world events. I am interested in the selective and repressed memories of individuals and nations, the reluctance to look and the ability to forget.

My work focuses on the fantastic and the peculiar. It grows out of an interest in animals, myth, and the human tendency to anthropomorphize.

The goal of this paper is to create a framework through which the television programs The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and South Park can be evaluated collectively. The framework of "serious play" permits the analysis of the relationship between the three programs, specifically regarding their comedic, political and religious functions. This textual analysis proposes that when examined together through serious play, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and South Park are best visualized through a legal analogy which is supported by serious play.

BACKGROUND: There is a need to identify the populations at high risk of nonadherence to outpatient lung cancer appointments in order to reduce the delay from diagnosis to treatment. The patient navigation system, which helps patients with barriers navigate the health care system, was examined to see if the correct high-risk groups were being addressed. METHODS: A case-control study with 195 subjects from the lung cancer clinics at Boston Medical Center (BMC) was conducted examining three nonadherence case groups: no-shows (n=40), cancelations (n=64) and combined (n=20). Nonadherence was defined as any patient who was a no-show for at least one appointment or who canceled more than one appointment over the three month study period. The combined group incorporated both of these factors. The patients were stratified by 10 patient characteristics, including patient navigation. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used for the analysis. A second analysis was done on patients in the patient navigation program (n=33) to determine if the high risk groups identified were being addressed. This was done using ORs and 95% CIs. RESULTS: This study has shown that there are certain patient groups in the lung cancer clinics at BMC that are at higher risk of being nonadherent to lung cancer outpatient appointments. Among those are Hispanic/Latino patients, Spanish and Haitian Creole speaking patients, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients, and those patients who have Medicaid, and with late stage lung cancer patients at significantly higher risk (no-shows: OR-5.26 (1.85, 14.95), cancelations: OR-2.49 (1.12, 5.54), combined: OR-12.49 (1.48, 105.46)). Patients in the patient navigation system were also found to be at significantly higher risk of nonadherence (no-shows: OR-3.85 (1.72, 8.65), cancelations: OR-4.13 (1.89, 9.00), combined: OR-5.15 (1.93, 13.72)) than those not in the program. Some patients were also found to be at significantly decreased odds of nonadherence, including those who were: 1000-1999 days post diagnosis (no-shows: OR-0.14 (0.03, 0.59), cancelations: OR-0.20 (0.06, 0.65), combined: OR-0.07 (0.01, 0.64)); 2000-2999 days post diagnosis (no-shows: OR-0.09 (0.01, 0.80), cancelations: OR-0.06 (0.01, 0.50)); aged 71-75 (cancelations: OR-0.25 (0.08, 0.79)). The subset analysis with the patient navigation data yielded no statistically significant results. CONCLUSIONS: The study identified high-risk populations within the total lung cancer population at BMC that should be addressed by the patient navigation program. This study demonstrated that while the program does have its flaws, it is decreasing the odds of nonadherence of many of the high-risk populations.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-09-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:39:48Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 bacchin_rb_me_arafcl.pdf: 820214 bytes, checksum: bcd94b19a1e859c449e6b1e655f1bcee (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A presente dissertação tem por objetivo analisar o Big Brother – programa freqüentemente caracterizado como o maior destaque dentre os reality-shows – como um produto característico da indústria cultural na era da globalização. Idealizado pela produtora holandesa Endemol, ele foi o primeiro programa do mundo a ser simultaneamente apresentado em TV aberta, TV a cabo (pay-per-view) e pela Internet. Ele se tornou rapidamente um fenômeno mundial tendo sido, até hoje, exibido em 70 países diferentes. Sua principal característica é ser um programa interativo, produzido para ser consumido em diferentes mídias. Assim sendo, a pesquisa procura compreender como se configura a indústria cultural a partir das novas possibilidades trazidas pelo processo de globalização. Portanto, propõe uma avaliação da validade deste conceito no mundo globalizado, após assinalar algumas das principais características da globalização. Considerando que se trata de um programa televisivo, foi realizada uma análise crítica da televisão, a fim de demonstrar a falsidade da tese de que ela é um meio de comunicação neutro, isento e sem conseqüências. Também, a partir das possibilidades abertas pelo processo de globalização, a dissertação assinala as principais características da televisão na era da globalização, dando destaque à convergência entre a televisão e a Internet. Finalmente, demonstra a especificidade da relação entre os realityshows e a globalização, principalmente com o programa Big Brother. Ainda, destaca a proximidade da produtora Endemol com a dinâmica da globalização, que desponta como um importante ator para a compreensão do objeto de pesquisa. Por fim, debate questões importantes suscitadas pelos reality-shows e especialmente pelo Big Brother, relacionadas a proximidade destes programas com a etapa globalizada do capitalismo. / This dissertation intents to analyze the Big Brother – a TV show usually presented as the most important among the reality-shows – as a typical product of the culture industry in the globalization age. Idealized by the dutch producer Endemol, it was the first program in the world to be simultaneously presented in broadcast TV, cable TV (pay-per-view) and Internet. It quickly became a global phenomenon and, until today, it has been broadcast in 70 different countries. It’s main characteristic is to be a interactive TV show, produced to be consumed in different medias. Therefore, this research intends to comprehend the configuration of the culture industry as a result of the new possibities brought by the globalization process. Consequently, it proposes an evaluation of the validity of this concept in the globalized world, after indicating some of the main characteristic of globalization. Considering that it is a TV show, it was performed a critical analysis about television, intending to demonstrate the falsehood of the thesis that it is a neutral, exempt and without consequences mass media. Besides, through the possibilities brought by the globalization process, this dissertation indicates the main characteristic of television in the globalization age, emphasizing the convergence between television and Internet. Finally, it demonstrates the specificity of the relation between the reality-shows and the globalization, especially the Big Brother. Yet, it emphasizes the proximity involving the producer Endemol with the globalization dinamics, which appears as an important player to comprehend the research object. In conclusion, it discusses important issues brought up by the reality-shows and, specially, by the Big Brother, both related with the proximity of these TV shows with the globalized stage of capitalism.

Master of Science / Department of Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources / Candice A. Shoemaker / Seed saving, whether performed by subsistence farmers, by breeders at land grant universities, or the seed industry, provide the world’s farmers with the needed supply of seeds to produce food crops annually. This thesis considers historical agricultural trends as they relate to the process of seed saving. It utilizes information gathered from primary source materials, historical monographs, and FAO and NGO publications. Chapter two discusses six universal agricultural dichotomies and how they relate to seed saving over time and globally. The dichotomies examined as they relate to seed saving include: subsistence and commercial, commons and commodity, public and private, basic and applied, global north and south, and urban and rural food production. Subsistence and commons oriented agricultural systems have historically traveled towards commercial and commodity forms in developed countries like the United States. As a result, seed saving moved from something farmers did to either public or private institutions that performed basic and applied research for genetic improvement of agricultural crops. As breeding programs looked outward for better breeding materials (germplasm) the importance of the Global North and South and Urban and Rural locales became important. Based on the results of this examination, it is clear that prioritizing subsistence practices and understanding seeds as a commonly held resource play important roles in maintaining agricultural diversity, particularly for more commercialized and commodity oriented agricultures. This shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture in the Global South jeopardizes subsistence agriculture’s ability to maintain agricultural diversity. Chapter three utilized a case study framework and focused on American seed saving within the Corn Belt from 1890 to 1950. The Corn Show, a common annual showcase of corn seed savers in the Midwest, supported both subsistence and commercial agricultural ideals. It also set the stage for the introduction of hybrid corn and suggested an alternative to the commodification of seeds by the industry. These results suggest that seed saving programs today could benefit from a culture that values subsistence practices while still utilizing the benefits of contemporary methods that are common to commodification. The added benefit of community and diversity that are realized by seed saving could develop a culture of seed production that is capable of contributing to rural development goals. This thesis concludes by tying together its discussion of dichotomies, reinforcing the connectedness between different agricultural production systems, and thus, the need for many different types of seed saving.