Medical Development & New Media
The Electronic Medical Records(EMR) is widely used in medical organizations nowadays, and it has many benefits both to medical staff and patients. However, information inclusion and privacy issues are possible concerns that come from patients, and solutions to the problems should be found to reduce doubts from patients, which can help maintain physician-patient relationships. This research paper tries to find out perspectives on the EMR from medical students and doctors, and the questions include recognized benefits, possible concerns, feasible solutions, and their preferences. This research paper argues that the EMR has various benefits to everyone and should be used and developed further to improve medical quality and better healthcare networks in the future.
In recent years, obesity rates worldwide have skyrocketed, causing health problems for individuals and populations. Health at Every Size or HAES, a new approach for dealing with obesity which rejects the idea of dieting and advocates for people to accept their own bodies the way they are, has quickly gained momentum in western cultures. Some contend that HAES is a more suitable approach to treating obesity compared to traditional medical approaches. Other researchers criticize the approach, explaining that following the principles of HAES may be harmful for one’s own health. The contradictions between the HAES principles and scientific consensus create the possibility of denialism. Denialism is defined as arguing against facts supported by scientific evidence, with the goal of rejecting the evidence-based ideas. Going through the principles of HAES, this study takes a look at the common beliefs of those who advocate for HAES, and the reasons they exhibit denialism if denialism is involved. This study analyzes the works and studies of individuals and groups which support HAES, and examines them from the perspective of denialism.
Cyberchondria, a behavioral pattern characterized by excessive online health information searching and amplified health anxiety, has caused a considerable waste of medical resources around the globe. In recent years, scholars have endeavored to define and classify cyberchondria. Additionally, researchers have investigated the relationship between socioeconomic status and related constructs of cyberchondria. However, there is a lack of direct investigation of the relationship between socioeconomic status and cyberchondria. In this paper, it is hypothesized that an inverse relationship exists between cyberchondria and socioeconomic status. To confirm the hypothesis, a literature review and survey research using the Kuppuswamy socioeconomic status scale and the adapted cyberchondria severity scale are conducted, using Taiwanese university students as the targeted population. The existing literature shows that cyberchondria has unique and strong relationships with problematic internet use, health anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. These psychiatric disorders are inversely linked with socioeconomic status, as demonstrated by most research. However, the survey results reject the hypothesis, showing a weak direct correlation between socioeconomic status and cyberchondria. Such result implies that the hypothesis may not apply to the targeted population and that socioeconomic status is not a significant predetermining factor of cyberchondria among the targeted population.
In the high-tech world, people use self-media to express themselves. One of the popular self-medias is YouTube. More and more people upload videos and earn money from advertisements or branding, so there is a new career called YouTubers. However, when people get involved into the Internet world, their lives are influenced by it. This paper argues that YouTube would lead to positive and negative influences on college students and it further discusses how college students can make good use of the advantages of YouTube.
Character Analysis & Writing/Narrative Structure in Films and Novels
The epistolary form is commonly used in young adult literature to express traumatic events and is believed that it can serve psychotherapeutic purposes. However, critics stated that the epistolary form in The Perks of Being a Wallflower only has one writer and the receiver’s identity remains anonymous; it is merely a selection of the writer’s thoughts. This paper argues that the writing technique in this novel can still be used to analyze the protagonist’s state of mind by using Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams to analyze the actions of the protagonist.
https://www.freelancewriting.com/creative-writing/the-epistolary-novel-writing-technique/
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/summary/
Psychology and art are two interdisciplinary fields that affect almost every aspect of daily life often shown in films. Various psychoanalytic interpretations of the character Alice in Czech surrealist Jan Švankmajer’s 1988 film Alice (Něco z Alenky) are discussed, with numerous critics focusing on Alice’s fascination with violence as a primary indicator of her psychological identity. The paper then probes into the discussions about dreams as an indication of a person’s true desires, the subversive pleasures, and Alice’s ultimate control in her dreams. Furthermore, the paper explains by substantiating that the violence-present depiction of childhood in the film respects children like adults while allowing them to be kids.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, this paper analyzes the mental state of the female protagonist Christine in The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. The paper compares Christine’s romantic relationships with both of the male protagonists, Raoul and Erik, in terms of Sigmund Freud’s theory regarding childhood fixations that originate in childhood with a focus on one’s parents. The discussion reveals how and why the loss of Christine’s father influences her choice between two men, who both show affection to her. This paper focuses on how Christine’s connection with her father forms her personality and determines her interactions with the other male characters. The analysis concludes by examining how one’s parents and childhood experiences determine the development of one’s personality and the choice of an ideal life partner.
During the 1970s American society experienced a postwar atmosphere. The Vietnam War, which began in 1955 and ended in 1975, caused the United States several noteworthy negative economic and social consequences, especially for the return of the soldiers who served in the war. The living conditions of most Americans at that time deteriorated because of high taxes and inflation. The veterans from Vietnam either suffered from physical pain or mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder and insomnia. Martin Scorsese’s 1976 movie, Taxi Driver, depicts such a degenerate and depressing atmosphere. This paper discusses the Vietnam War’s consequences on American society during the postwar era in terms of the soldiers who fought in this war, by analyzing the protagonist Travis Bickle’s behaviors, his desperation, his loneliness, and his alienation that are primarily caused and determined by his war experiences.
Sexuality & Human Rights
In the 1950s and in the 1960s in the U.S., homosexuals were not accepted by most people. Non-heterosexual people were considered abnormal and were treated violently and unfairly. In 1969, the Stonewall riots started in a gay club located in New York City. This series of protests aimed to speak up for sexual minorities and to fight against a toxic social ethos toward them. This was regarded as the starting point of the gay liberation movement in America. However, oppression toward homosexuals continued in the following decades. Set in the1980s in America, a nation which is dubbed by many as “a melting pot,” Tony Kushner’s play—Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes depicts the conflicts and predicaments of two couples, Joe and Harper vs. Louis and Prior, such as coming out as gay men and accepting that they have AIDS. This research paper’s textual analysis is based on the play and discusses the causes of homophobia in America in terms of 1980s U.S. politics, race relations, prevailing social prejudices, as well as the characters’ denials of their sexual orientations.
During the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Period– important events that have significant meaning in American history– the controversial issue of owning slaves arose in the American South. By examining two classic films, The Birth of a Nation by D. W. Griffith and Gone with the Wind by David O. Selznick, this paper discusses how these two films portray black slaves as being either rebellious or tolerant of their white oppressors after the Civil War traumatized the American South. By analyzing how the two films depict black slaves in terms of their physical appearances, their actions and reactions against or in support of white supremacy, and their social dis-empowerment and poverty, this paper compares and contrasts the lives of black slaves that the two films depict.
Black Swan features a psychiatric patient’s delusional state of mind, which adds to the surreal element in the narrative through the fusion of explicit contents and mesmerizing ballet choreography. However, as film director Darren Aronofsky refers to the ballet-themed melodrama as a “fairytale” and “fever dream,” the film is to be considered realistic since it represents mental repression against female sexuality which takes roots in female psychology studies.
Twilight is a young adult vampire-themed novel written by Stephenie Meyer, featuring traditional romance with supernatural elements. On the other hand, Fifty Shades of Grey, an erotic romance novel written by E.L. James, is formerly a Twilight’s fanfiction known as Master of the Universe. As a Fanfiction, Fifty Shades of Grey shares lots of similarities with Twilight, such as characterization and storyline. Even though both series represent feminine fantasy and female sexuality from different perspectives, deep inside it romanticizes and rationalizes abusive relationship behaviors either physically or mentally under the cloak of love. It is noteworthy that the target readership of Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey are young adult and adult, especially for female readers. Nevertheless, despite its potential treats and dangers towards female, it gains worldwide success and popularity. Therefore, this paper aims to take a closer look at the context and discuss the violent romance, abusive behaviors, and harmful values towards female sexuality in both series.
Analysis of Characterizations in Films
In the middle of the 19th century, an awareness of equality of opportunity became prevalent in the United States. More and more Americans started to argue for the individual’s right to achieve prosperity and success, therefore the ideal of the American Dream gradually came to the fore. The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 explores the theme of attaining the American Dream through the character of Jay Gatsby, who is striving for wealth and social position. By exploring the characters’ desires for wealth and power, those of Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and the Buchanan couple, this paper analyzes the extent of the characters’ attempts to enhance their social status and how their perceptions of the value of life are influenced in the process. The Great Gatsby demonstrates the impact of material wealth and social status on characters through its narrative about Jay Gatsby, the Buchanan Couple, and Nick Carraway in terms of their relationships, their emotional expressions, their senses of personal self-worth, and their perceptions of acceptable moral behavior.
When it comes to animation, people expect to see the protagonist as a role model for children. However, in Despicable Me, the filmmakers creatively use a supervillain as the protagonist. While some viewers consider the mischievous behavior and the villain identity of the protagonist is inappropriate to present in animation for children, it also is considered by some critics a new method of teaching children to look at matters from a different perspective. This paper argues that though the protagonist Gru is a supervillain, he is tender, humorous, and persistent. These diverse qualities make the animation suitable not only for children but also for their parents.
Birdman, a 2014 American black comedy film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, describes a story of a washed-up movie star named Riggan Thomson, who wants to catch audience’s attention and love once more and decides to adapt Raymond Carver's short story, What We Talk about When We Talk about Love as a Broadway play. This film focuses on the concept of play-within-a-play that shows the intertextual connection between Riggan and the character he plays in the Broadway adaptation, which also brings out its core theme—the essence of love. Therefore, this paper aims to explore how Birdman uses the function of play-within-a-play to demonstrate Riggan’s transformation from the misunderstanding to the realization of the nature of love.
The Joker (2019), directed and produced by Todd Philips and starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck (aka. the Joker), was a huge cinematic success around the globe because unlike the previous series, it tells the story of how the Joker becomes a supervillain. This story of the Joker has received good responses from the audience and the critics because it successfully induces sympathy and fascination for the Joker. However, some critics fear such sympathy may be dangerous because this film may become a "toxic rallying cry for the incels" (Barham) and thus encourage violence and demagogy. However, through its unique sympathetic characterization of the protagonist and cinematographic portrait of the protagonist, this paper argues that sympathy is engendered in the way that speaks for the underprivileged people instead of encouraging violence or creating fear of the prince of crime.
Why Everyone Is Freaking Out About ‘Joker’
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/joker-criticism-fallout-891081/
The ‘Joker’ (2019): Sympathy for the Devil or Beware the Demagogue?
To Buy or Not to Buy: Consumer Behavior
The increasing use of food delivery apps nowadays may have affected people’s food choices and changed their diets. Students are one of the groups who use food delivery apps the most often, as they regard convenience as their top priority when buying food (Oyedele). Thus, this study aims to investigate Taiwanese university students’ use of food delivery apps and how their eating habits have been influenced by the apps. A survey is designed to collect data from university students, covering their reasons for app usage, time and frequency of using the apps, the similarities or changes in eating habits before and after using the apps, and their perception and ratings toward the services. As food delivery platform is a new trend in Taiwan, few studies about food delivery’s influences on diets have been done. Thus, the findings of this study can provide an understanding on the relationship between food delivery and the younger generation’s eating habits.
www.columbian.com/news/2016/jan/10/home-delivery-pay-restaurant-meal-2016/
E-commerce industry has grown prosperously in the past few years in Taiwan. One of the most important reason is that brands and companies uses social media marketing as a marketing strategy to promote products, build consumer’s trust, and to anticipate fashion behaviors. This research aims to figure out whether social media marketing affects college students’ consuming behavior while shopping for apparels online. In addition, the hypothesis of the research is owing to the convenience of social media marketing, college students tend to compare different products and thus, choose products with higher cost performance ratio. By analyzing the results of the questionnaire, the paper argues that without established marketing strategies, supportive platform, and quality management, companies and brands are easily replaced by “masstige” or other brands with higher cost-performance ratio.
Internet becomes the major way of advertising with more and more marketers choosing to promote their products/services and build brand awareness on it. However, as consumers are more aware of their private information, which might be tracking and leaking through technology (e.g. web bugs or respawning cookies), they tend to use pop-up blockers or "Do Not Track" technology to block advertisements or the tracking of information. For marketers the ignorance and blocking might reduce the efficiency of online advertising. As a consequence, this study will analyze the factors that influence consumers’ attitude, and consumers’ impression of privacy concern; lastly, investigate solutions or useful strategies for online advertising.
https://decisionsciences.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/p1292111.pdf
The research paper aims to find out the transformation of purchasing attitudes and behaviors on university students in the greater Taipei area concerning social media advertisements through carrying out the quantitative method. University students are primary users of social media, so it is obvious that the advertisements on social media can bring impacts positively and negatively on them significantly. The study emphasizes the connection between social media advertising and college students’ purchasing behaviors from variable aspects which cover the gender differences, the types of products, the placements preference, the modus of ads. By analyzing the questionnaire result to statistical data and the correlation chart, the researchers figured out the difference of males and females’ perceptions when it comes to purchasing, and the result indicated that the specific types of products that university students tend to buy; moreover, the relationship between social media using habits and online purchasing behaviors.
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/what-is-social-advertising/