Digital Commons Network^™

Librarianship, Art, And Activism. A Transatlantic Interview With Alycia Sellie, Alycia Sellie, Martin Persson

Publications and Research

Alycia Sellie is an activist, librarian and the editor of the zine The Borough is My Library. She joined Martin Persson for a talk about hardships and possibilities for librarianship today, the intersection between art and libraries, and the struggle to promote free/open access culture and readers' rights.

Threesource: Reimagining How We Collect And Share Information About Social Issues, Jen Hoyer, Stephen Macdonald

Publications and Research

This chapter examines management of information about social justice issues through discussion of the development and implementation of an online database, threeSOURCE. Managed by the Edmonton Social Planning Council, threeSOURCE is an online research database and library catalog created to help community organizations in the Canadian province of Alberta retrieve information about local social issues that they work to address. Reflections highlight issues related to creation, design, and implementation of a database, examining new ways to think about information delivery in line with the core values of our profession.

¡No Contaban Con Mi Astucia! México: Parodia, Nación Y Sujeto En La Serie Televisiva De El Chapulín Colorado, Carlos Aguasaco

Publications and Research

¡No contaban con mi astucia! México: parodia, nación y sujeto en la serie televisiva de ‘El Chapulín Colorado’ (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, 2014) es un estudio revolucionario del impacto y la efectividad residual de la literatura del Siglo de Oro y el periodo colonial en la producción audiovisual de Latinoamérica en el siglo veinte. El trabajo de Roberto Gómez Bolaños (creador de El Chapulín Colorado) se transmite hoy en día tanto en el formato original como en series animadas en varios canales de USA. El público norte americano y la academia están presenciando la consolidación de los estudios audiovisuales …

Resources In English On The Criminal Justice System Of The People’S Republic Of China, Ellen Sexton

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Realities Of Religio-Legalism: Religious Courts And Women's Rights In Canada, The United Kingdom, And The United States, Anissa Helie, Marie Ashe

Publications and Research

Religio-legalism – the enforcement of religious law by specifically-religious courts that are tolerated or endorsed by civil government – has long operated against women’s interests in liberty and equality. In the 21st century, religious tribunals – Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim – operate throughout the world. Almost all are male-dominated, patriarchal, and sex-discriminatory. Harms to women produced by Muslim or sharia courts have come into focus in recent years, but present realities of religio-legalism operating through Christian and Jewish – as well as Muslim – religious courts in Western nations have been under-examined.

This essay by Ashe and Helie documents …

Analyzing The Influence Of Micro-Level Factors On Cctv Camera Effect., Eric L. Piza, Joel M. Caplan, Leslie W. Kennedy

Publications and Research

Objectives Despite the popularity of closed circuit television (CCTV), evidence of its crime prevention capabilities is inconclusive. Research has largely reported CCTV effect as ‘‘mixed’’ without explaining this variance. The current study contributes to the literature by testing the influence of several micro-level factors on changes in crime levels within CCTV areas of Newark, NJ.

Methods Viewsheds, denoting the line-of-sight of CCTV cameras, were units of analysis (N = 117). Location quotients, controlling for viewshed size and control-area crime incidence, measured changes in the levels of six crime categories, from the pre-installation period to the post-installation period. Ordinary least squares …

Spatial Risk Factors Of Felonious Battery To Police Officers, Joel M. Caplan, Philip L. Marotta, Eric L. Piza, Leslie W. Kennedy

Publications and Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the spatial influence of features of the physical environment on the risk of aggression toward law enforcement.

Design/methodology/approach – The spatial analytic technique, risk terrain modeling was performed on felonious battery data provided by the Chicago Police Department.

Findings – Out of the 991 batteries against law enforcement officers (LEOs) in Chicago, 11 features of the physical environment were identified as presenting a statistically significant spatial risk of battery to LEOs. Calls for service within three blocks of foreclosures and/or within a dense area of problem buildings pose as much …

Bombing For Justice: Urban Terrorism In New York City From The 1960s Through The 1980s, Jeffrey A. Kroessler

Publications and Research

From the mid-1960s into the 1980s New York City experienced a wave of political violence and urban terrorism. Groups planted bombs, hijacked airliners, and engaged in assassination and attempted assassination to advance political, racial, or nationalist agendas. They included the Jewish Defense League, the Weathermen, the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army, FALN and other advocates of Puerto Rican independence, the United Freedom Front, Omega 7 and other anti-Castro Cubans, and Croatian nationalists. Juries often failed to convict these individuals, and others received light sentences. Judges scrutinized police actions for abuses of constitutional rights, and attorneys like William Kunstler …

The Psycho-Affective Echoes Of Colonialism In Fieldwork Relations, Robert Garot

Publications and Research

This article describes the varieties of relations with African immigrant interviewees in Tuscany as experienced by a white male interviewer from the United States. Franz FANON's discussion of the psycho-affective consequences of colonialism is vital for understanding how naïve and romantic notions of fieldwork relations are disingenuous, counter-productive and perhaps destructive in a neo-colonial landscape.

The Relationship Between Hate Groups And Far-Right Ideological Violence, Amy Adamczyk, Jeff Gruenwald, Steven M. Chernak, Joshua D. Freilich

Publications and Research

This study examines whether the presence of hate groups increases the likelihood of serious ideologically motivated violence committed by far-rightists. While hate crime research has generally focused on a single state or made comparisons across several states, we seek to examine this relationship within the context of U.S. counties. A smaller unit of analysis allows for the simultaneous consideration of several social processes operating at the community level, which might also influence ideologically motivated offending by far-right extremists. We test the relationship using data from the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) for the dependent measure, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) …

The Appeal Of Narrative In Research, Colette Daiute

Publications and Research

"I saw the bird flattened on the ground outside my door . One of the kindergarten child walked toward me slowly, crying. That's when I knew it was time to act."

The very brief narrative above occurs amid myriad spheres of social relations. These relations are not all apparent, but understanding narrative meaning requires understanding narrating as an interactive process. As researchers we enhance our Methods if we know how to read narratives as complex social processes. This openi11g narrative expresses a sequence of two past events.1 The narrative involves action ("walked," "act") and consciousness ("saw," "crying," "knew"). From the …

Mercy, Stuart Ewen Ph.D.

Publications and Research

A dog named Finn makes heroic efforts to save the life of a fallen bird, while his human friend watches from a window.

El Lugar De Las Lenguas En Las Lenguas Modernas: Hacia Una Nueva Cartografía De La Lingüística Hispánica En Eeuu, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

This article analyzes the status of linguistic studies in departments of modern languages in the USA and argues for the promotion of sociological approaches to language at the expense of formal approaches to language.

The Politics Of Spanish In The World, José Del Valle

Publications and Research

This article offers an overview of the spread of Spanish as a global language focusing on the policies and institutions that have worked, particularly in the last couple of decades, on its promotion. The actions of institutions as well as corporate and cultural agencies involved in this sort of language policy are to be understood as part of a wider movement of internationalization of financial activities and political influence.

Accounting For Accountability, Celina Su

Publications and Research

Review of the book Open Budgets: The Political Economy of Transparency, Participation, and Accountability, edited by Sanjeev Khagram, Archon Fung, and Paolo de Renzio.

Pioneering Digital Sociology, Jessie Daniels, Heidi Knoblauch

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Review: Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices, Principles, And Politics, Stephen Brier

Publications and Research

Review of Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices, Principles, and Politics, edited by Brett D. Hirsch, multiple authored collection of articles on the theory as well as the practices and principles of the digital humanities and how DH can and has begun to reshape pedagogy in college teaching and learning.

The Impact Of Global Trends On Ilds, Beth Posner

Publications and Research

There are a variety of important developments in digital information, globalization, demographics, economics, education, technology and more affecting all aspects of 21st century life. These trends are also reflected in changes in new ways that libraries are facilitating the discovery and delivery of information. Using the 2014 New Media Consortium’s “Horizon Report: Library Edition” and the discussion draft of the American Library Association Policy Revolution! Initiative’s “Trends Report: Snapshots of a Turbulent World” this article examines several key trends and disruptions impacting libraries and the world and how these are likely to influence the ways libraries facilitate the discovery and …

Proceedings Of The 1st Annual Cuny Games Festival, Robert O. Duncan, Joe Bisz, Francesco Crocco, Carlos Hernandez, Kathleen Offenholley, Leah Potter, Maura A. Smale, Cuny Games Network

Publications and Research

Proceedings of the CUNY Games Conference, held from January 17-18, 2014, at the CUNY Graduate Center and Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Topics in Game Design - Teaching with Virtual and Augmented Realities - Writing with Games - Breaking the Magic Circle: Games & Real Life - Interactive Game Design (What's Your Game Plan? - Designing Ethical Games - Games and Gender - Gaming English Language and Literature - Game, Narrative, Literacy - Teaching with Games - Games, Storytelling, and Narrative - Games and STEM - Learning by Design - Students as Game Designers - Experiencing Reality in Popular Games …

Buenos Aires, Fernando Degiovanni, Fernando Rosenberg

Publications and Research

One of the most important city ports of the Western Hemisphere, Buenos Aires has a history inextricably connected to the fluctuations of the Atlantic economy as well as to its strategic position as a gateway to vast and fertile flatlands that extend far beyond the city limits. Founded and re-founded in the 16th century as a secondary colonial outpost, Buenos Aires was dramatically transformed by the demands of the European markets at the turn of both the 18th and 19th centuries. In this context, two crucial developments are decisive for understanding the physical, social, and cultural fabric of the city: …

Action Research, Assessment, And Institutional Review Boards (Irb): Conflicting Demands Or Productive Tension For The Academic Librarian?, Robert Farrell

Publications and Research

This article puts forward an “assessment/action research/publication” cycle that integrates aspects of the assessment, research, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) processes to provide academic librarians with a systematic approach for balancing competing workplace demands and give library managers a roadmap for creating a “research culture” (Jacobs, Berg, and Cornwall) within their libraries. The article argues that librarians and library managers have much to gain by integrating action research into librarians’ everyday work loads, including increased ease in meeting publication demands for tenure and/or promotion, institutionalizing habits of reflective practice across all library service areas, and overall library improvement.

Food Advertisements In Two Popular U.S. Parenting Magazines: Results Of A Five-Year Analysis, Corey H. Basch, Rodney N. Hammond, Danna Ethan, Lalitha Samuel

Publications and Research

Obesity rates among American youth have prompted an examination of food advertisements geared towards children. Research indicates children’s high exposure to these advertisements and their influence on food preferences. Less is known about the presence of these advertisements in parenting magazines. This study’s objective was to examine prevalence of food advertisements in popular parenting magazines and identify products by USDA food category. We analyzed 116 issues of two popular U.S. parenting magazines across five years. All food and beverage advertisements for USDA Food Category were coded. Breakfast cereals were coded for nutritional quality. The coding took place at varied libraries …

Microfluidic Generated Egf-Gradients Induce Chemokinesis Of Transplantable Retinal Progenitor Cells Via The Jak/Stat And Pi3kinase Signaling Pathways., Uchenna J. Unachukwu, Moira Sauane, Maribel Vazquez, Stephen Redenti

Publications and Research

A growing number of studies are evaluating retinal progenitor cell (RPC) transplantation as an approach to repair retinal degeneration and restore visual function. To advance cell-replacement strategies for a practical retinal therapy, it is important to define the molecular and biochemical mechanisms guiding RPC motility. We have analyzed RPC expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and evaluated whether exposure to epidermal growth factor (EGF) can coordinate motogenic activity in vitro. Using Boyden chamber analysis as an initial high-throughput screen, we determined that RPC motility was optimally stimulated by EGF concentrations in the range of 20-400 ng/ml, with decreased …

Reductions In Serum Igf-1 During Aging Impair Health Span, Zhenwei Gong, Oran Kennedy, Hui Sun, Yingjie Wu, Garry A. Williams, Laura Klein, Luis Cardoso, Ronald W. Matheny Jr, Gene B. Hubbard, Yuji Ikeno, Roger P. Farrar, Mitchell B. Schaffler, Martin L. Adamo, Radhika H. Muzumdar, Shoshana Yakar

Publications and Research

In lower or simple species, such as worms and flies, disruption of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 and the insulin signaling pathways has been shown to increase lifespan. In rodents, however, growth hormone (GH) regulates IGF-1 levels in serum and tissues and can modulate lifespan via/or independent of IGF- 1. Rodent models, where the GH/IGF-1 axis was ablated congenitally, show increased lifespan. However, in contrast to rodents where serum IGF-1 levels are high throughout life, in humans, serum IGF-1 peaks during puberty and declines thereafter during aging. Thus, animal models with congenital disruption of the GH/ IGF-1 axis are unable …

Mobile Information Literacy: Supporting Students’ Research And Information Needs In A Mobile World, Stefanie Havelka

Publications and Research

Mobile devices have changed everyday life and they have had a great impact in higher education. This article describes a pilot project in which an academic librarian at Lehman College, City University of New York, taught information literacy exclusively via mobile devices. The concept of mobile information literacy is also reviewed, and its role in current and future teaching practices is evaluated. Lessons learned from this project tell us that mobile information literacy, albeit in its infancy, could play an essential part in students’ learning, and therefore academic librarians could incorporate it as part of their practice.

The Role Of Power In Organizational Corruption: An Empirical Study, David Jancsics, István Jávor

Publications and Research

This article concerns the extent to which corrupt behavior is dependent on the organizational power structure and the resources available for illegal exchange. This qualitative study is based on 42 in-depth interviews with organizational actors in different organizations in Hungary. Four core themes emerged from the analysis of the interviews: (a) isolated corruption at the bottom, (b) the middle level’s own corruption, (c) “technicization” when middle-level professionals and expert groups are used to legalize the corruption of the dominant coalition, and (d) “turning-off controls” when organizational elites intentionally deactivate internal and external controls to avoid detection.

Label Retention Identifies A Multipotent Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Like Population In The Postnatal Thymus, Masako Osada, Varan J. Singh, Kenmin Wu, Derek B. Sant’Angelo, Mark Pezzano

Publications and Research

Thymic microenvironments are essential for the proper development and selection of T cells critical for a functional and self-tolerant adaptive immune response. While significant turnover occurs, it is unclear whether populations of adult stem cells contribute to the maintenance of postnatal thymic epithelial microenvironments. Here, the slow cycling characteristic of stem cells and their property of label-retention were used to identify a K5-expressing thymic stromal cell population capable of generating clonal cell lines that retain the capacity to differentiate into a number of mesenchymal lineages including adipocytes, chondrocytes and osteoblasts suggesting a mesenchymal stem cell-like phenotype. Using cell surface analysis …

Designing & Developing An Agile Web Eco-System, Stefanie Havelka, David Stevens, Stefanie Havelka

Publications and Research

Engaging your target audience requires intelligently communicating your institution's brand and strategic advantages via a distributed network including email, websites, portals, social media and mobile devices. The web landscape is vast and decentralized, and aggregating content sources via a unified and cohesive strategy poses significant challenges. This presentation demonstrates how to design a flexible website architecture facilitating the publishing, sharing and syndicating of content across an organization's distributed web eco-system

Extreme Heat Awareness And Protective Behaviors In New York City, Kathryn Lane, Katherine Wheeler, Kizzy Charles-Guzman, Munerah Ahmed, Micheline Blum, Katherine Gregory, Nathan Graber, Nancy Clark, Thomas Matte

Publications and Research

Heat waves can be lethal and routinely prompt public warnings about the dangers of heat. With climate change, extreme heat events will become more frequent and intense. However, little is known about public awareness of heat warnings or behaviors during hot weather. Awareness of heat warnings, prevention behaviors, and air conditioning (AC) prevalence and use in New York City were assessed using quantitative and qualitative methods. A random sample telephone survey was conducted in September 2011 among 719 adults and follow-up focus groups were held in winter 2012 among seniors and potential senior caregivers. During summer 2011, 79 % of …

Celebrating 200 Years Of Pride And Prejudice (1813): Austen-Inspired Literature For Young Adults, Christina Miller

Publications and Research

Annotated bibliography of Jane Austen-inspired books for young adults.