Digital Commons Network^™

The Virgin Mary: Bridging Muslims And Catholics, Carl Chudy, Sx

The Journal of Social Encounters

This article reflects on Maryam of Islam, and what she may say to the Virgin Mary of Christianity through our sacred scriptures. Beginning with the Qur’an, the focus is on key verses that are relevant to her birth and early life (Q 3:33-37a), the annunciation of ‘Isa (Jesus) (Q 19: 17b-21; 3:45-51), and the birth of ‘Isa (Q 19:22-26). Likewise, there is a brief consideration of the Qur’an regarding Maryam’s submission to God. The scripture traditions of the Qur’an and Bible together underline convergence as well as divergence in their distinctive journeys of faith and how they see the Virgin …

Julius Nyerere’S Understanding Of African Socialism, Human Rights And Equality, Fr. Innocent Simon Sanga, Ron Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

Julius Kambarage Nyerere, African philosopher, anti-colonial leader, first president of the United Republic of Tanzania, and respected international statesman, served as president of the newly independent Tanzania from 1964 through 1985., after which he remained politically active in Tanzania and on the global stage. Trying to steer a post-colonial course of self-reliance, he developed and implemented African Socialism in Tanzania, articulated in the Arusha Declaration in 1967. As an anti-colonial leader, Nyerere referred to international human rights standards such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and maintained a commitment to human rights as president and afterwards. In this essay …

Tribute To John S. Mbiti, Joseph G. Healey, Mm

The Journal of Social Encounters

We continue to mourn John S. Mbiti, the Kenyan professor, author and theologian who died in Switzerland on 6 October, 2019 at the age of 87. He was one of the founders of our African Proverbs Project and the African Proverbs Working Group. He was one of cornerstones of our African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories Website.

Herb Mayer Interviewed By Irene Burgess And Bruce Gentry, Herb Mayer, Irene Burgess, Bruce Gentry, Stephanie Opperman

Collecting the Past

In this week’s special episode, Irene Burgess and Bruce Gentry interview Herb Mayer.

Contextual Note: Prior to this conversation, Herb Mayer attended a virtual discussion between Dr. Angela Alaimo O’Donnell and Fr. Mark Bosco about O’Donnell’s recently released book, Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O’Connor, so there are frequent references to her work

Fujio Cho Legacy Lecture Notes, Fujio Cho, Kozo Saito

Institute of Research for Technology Development Textbook Gallery

The Fujio Cho legacy lecture was created in 2013 as part of UK Institute of Research for Technology Development (IR4TD)’s True Lean Systems program to assist industrial clients to transform their organizations to a True Lean organization by effectively using principles and tools of Toyota Production System (TPS). During the years 1987-1994, Cho and Saito worked together to layout the foundation of the now well-established Toyota-University of Kentucky relationship on R&D, True Lean Systems, and production engineering, housed in IR4TD, the Toyota endowed Institute established in 2007 with the support from the Commonwealth of Kentucky under the research competitiveness trust …

Wombling For Spatial And Spatiotemporal Processes: Applications To Insurance Data, Aritra Halder

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation we focus on developing a framework for detecting zones of rapid change within a surface that is spatially or spatiotemporally indexed, which is termed as wombling. This is considered under two different approaches featuring a semi-parametric model and a model based parametric setup. The second approach starts with a Gaussian process specification on the spatial or spatiotemporal component. We focus on applying the developed framework to build models for analyzing spatiotemporally referenced insurance data arising from losses due to automobile collision in the state of Connecticut, in the year 2008. For the semi-parametric models we adopt a …

Climate Change And The Human Rights Responsibilities Of Business Enterprises, Sara L. Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The causes of climate change and solutions to it are inherently tied to non-state actors, including businesses. As multinational business enterprises are at the heart of global emissions, historical and current, it is vital to understand how the attribution of climate change impacts goes beyond the responsibilities of states. The first lawsuits targeting companies have begun. Meanwhile, businesses are increasingly focused on sustainability at different levels of their organizations, including by endorsement of business responsibilities for human rights. What independent responsibilities do business enterprises have when they undertake to respect the human rights of those who are vulnerable to climate …

Does Immigration Help To Explain Child Stress?, Elizabeth Marie Koch Sigler

Theses and Dissertations

The impacts of childhood stressors are harmful to the emotional and physical well-being of children of all ages. Past research has suggested that children experience increased stress due to change. One subgroup of the United States population that experiences change, is immigrants. Research provides empirical evidence of adolescent immigrant stress but has failed to examine stress experienced by immigrant children at a young age. The present study investigates how immigration status and child immigration generation might impact child stress at a young age using OLS regression. I predict that immigrant children will experience more stress than non-immigrant children and that …

A Content Analysis Of Sexuality-Related Scholarship For Sexual Minorities, Chelise Fox

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minority individuals face disparities of treatment from clinical and medical health professionals. In particular, there is a dearth of research and training surrounding human sexuality topics for sexual minorities. Research on sexual minority groups in this area can contribute to reducing treatment disparities. Consequently, the proposed study is a content analysis of social science literature in order to gauge trends in the amount of research focused on the intersection of sexual minorities and sex research. Articles from a database search of relevant keywords were coded for several variables, including overall level of focus on sexual minorities and on human …

Housing Insecurity During The Coronavirus Response, Lauryn Quick, Colleen Heflin

Population Health Research Brief Series

COVID-19 has created numerous challenges for Americans in their ability to meet their basic needs. One specific economic challenge is the ability to pay mortgage or rent.

Understanding Relapse In Self-Perceived Problematic Pornography Users, Erin L. Rackham

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored reasons for relapse among a sample of 938 self-identified problematic pornography users. A combination of numeric content analysis and qualitative coding of responses to an open-ended question about pornography relapse revealed six main categories of reasons for relapse. The mental, emotional, and relational categories were then analyzed in detail, and this analysis revealed significant overlap of responses from the emotional and relational categories. Hence, a new category of relational-emotional reasons for relapse was created and analyzed. The findings from this study highlight the complex interactions of different types of factors driving relapse in self-perceived problematic pornography users …

Assessment Of Agricultural Advisory Messages From Farmer-To-Farmer In Making A Case For Scaling Up Production: A Qualitative Study, Nana Afranaa Kwapong, Daniel Adu Ankrah, Dominic Boateng-Gyambiby, Joseph Asenso-Agyemang, Lydia Oteng Fening

The Qualitative Report

Inadequate access to agricultural extension services often results in poor farm practices, affecting yields and subsequently the income and wellbeing of smallholder farmers. Given the high demand for agricultural information and the limited capacity of extension services, a farmer-to-farmer extension approach has been explored by many underserved farmers. In this study, we use a qualitative case study approach explore how cassava farmers who had limited access to agricultural advisory services from public extension agents managed to up-scale their farming business. Our research question was: what lessons can be learned from the lived experience of these farmers to address current challenges …

Innovative Methods For Researching Leadership Emergence, Leanne Gibbs, Frances Press, Sandie Wong, Tamara Cumming

The Qualitative Report

There is a growing understanding, internationally, that effective leadership has an influence on the quality of early childhood education programs. The leadership research agenda has expanded accordingly but despite this expansion there is little empirical research on the emergence and development of leadership in early childhood education. The article focuses primarily on the methodological challenge of studying the phenomena of emerging and developing leadership. We describe the innovative methods for data generation that were used to address these challenges for an Australian study of leading within early childhood education sites. We explain in detail two of the methods—a field observation …

How Do They Feel About It? Testing A New Mixed Methods Survey Tool To Assess Collective Emotional Status, Michael G. Schwab, Vasileios Margaritis

The Qualitative Report

Emotions are now widely accepted as important elements of qualitative research, in studies of individuals and communities. However, collective emotional status—what a community feels about a given situation or proposition—can be challenging to assess. In this study, we examined the validity and acceptability of a new mixed methods survey tool, primarily qualitative, to address this challenge—the Assessment of Collective Emotional Status (ACES). The tool begins with an adjustable set of questions about emotion, to draw respondents’ attention to their own feelings. These are followed by an emotional self-assessment, in which respondents select and prioritize five emotional responses to a standardized …

Understanding The Diverse Field Of “Educational Technology” As Revealed In Twitter Job Postings: Encoding / Decoding Approach, Merve Basdogan, Zulfukar Ozdogan, Curtis J. Bonk

The Qualitative Report

In this study, we attempt to understand discursive interrelationships among five professional job advertisements which are often used interchangeably, including educational technology, educational design, instructional design, learning design, and instructional systems design. The purpose is to better understand the distinctions, interactions, and overlaps of these disciplines using Encoding/Decoding Model over the discourses of the jobs’ announcements. We collected data using a social network analysis tool, NCapture, and imported to qualitative analysis software (i.e., NVivo) to conduct thematic analyses. For this study, 171 job postings in Twitter were captured by using NCapture as a Web-browser extension. Findings indicated that the relations …

Utility Of High-Definition Fiber Tractography And Eye-Tracking For Measuring Outcome In Chronic Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Hannah M. Lindsey

Theses and Dissertations

A complete understanding of the functional and structural impairments driving persistent post-concussive symptom (PCS) expression in approximately one-third of those who suffer from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is essential for the development of effective treatment strategies and improving quality of life. While traditional outcome measures, such as neuropsychological testing and structural magnetic resonance imaging, are sensitive to the severe functional impairments and widespread tissue damage frequently seen after moderate-to-severe injuries, more advanced measures that are sensitive to the subtle changes in cognitive function and tissue microstructure that may underlie persistent PCS are necessary for the assessment of recovery from …

Aerobic Exercise Alters Opioid Receptors Following Chronic Alcohol Exposure, James N. Brundage

Theses and Dissertations

Opioid receptors have been a target of pharmacological manipulation in alcohol use disorder (AUD) recovery protocols for many years. Aerobic exercise, a common adjunct in AUD recovery, is known to modulate opioid receptors (ORs) both during both acute and long term exposure. The three subtypes of ORs: mu (MOR), delta (DOR), and kappa (KOR) are all expressed on neurons in the mesocorticolimbic circuitry. Kappa-opioid receptors are expressed directly on dopamine (DA) neuron terminals in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Mu and Delta ORs are expressed on cholinergic interneurons (CINs) and GABA neurons in the NAc. In alcohol dependent rodents, KORs are …

Men, Women And Witchcraft: The Feminist Reclamation Of The Witch In The Modern Horror Film, Brian Joseph Hadsell

Theses and Dissertations

The witch as a figure possesses a powerful and enduring legacy in Euro-American culture; she is both a victim of patriarchal persecution and the natural enemy of a deeply-gendered society. Recent horror films that employ the witch, however, have generally done so in the form of reclaimed feminist icon: a violently retributive figure avenging the wrongs done to women both past and present. The purpose of this research is to provide insight about our acutely gendered society and culture in the times during and preceding the #MeToo movement through a semiological analysis of three recent horror films that center on …

An Introduction In Two Parts: Three Months Of The Global Covid-19 Pandemic: A Selection Of Liberatory, Anti-Racist, Feminist Webinars, Panels And Interviews, Diana J. Fox, Fawzia Afzal-Khan

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

10 Theses On Feminist Economics (Or The Antagonism Between The Strike And Finance), Luci Cavallero, Verónica Gago

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article, “10 Theses on Feminist Economics (or the antagonism between the strike and finance),” Luci Cavallero and Verónica Gago are interested in a feminist economics that is able to redefine, based on the bodies and territories in conflict, labor and exploitation, communal and feminized modes of doing and resisting, and popular innovation in moments of crisis. They write from the position of having formed part of the organizing for the feminist strike that, since 2016, has driven what they characterize as a massive, radical, and transnational movement. They root the theses that they synthesize here in that dynamic …

Social Reproduction Theory And The Form Of Labor Power, Aaron Jaffe

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Social Reproduction Theory (SRT) centers the production and reproduction of labor power under capitalism. This power to labor is determined individually, socially, and in relation to the totality of capital. These powers are produced and reproduced in and through social relations that, while capitalist, have tremendously diverse local conditions and histories. SRT provides a framework to think through the oppressive logics shaping the production, reproduction, and potencies of labor powers understood as diversely constituted. It argues that SRT is committed to the diversity of these labor powers over and against conditions that constrain both these powers and their actualizations in …

Commencement 2020 (Program, Video And Messages From The Virtual Ceremony), Illinois Wesleyan University

Commencement Ceremonies

Planning for the 2020 Commencement ceremony was a dynamic process due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several links below contain the messages distributed to students and their families in the months leading up to the event which ultimately took place online on August 2, 2020.

This event also celebrated the students who earned scholastic and activity honors during the 2019-20 academic year by distributing the Honors Day Convocation program.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant Program Evaluation 2019-2020, Government Research Bureau

Inclusive Science Initiative Program

No abstract provided.

Turning The Covid-19 Pandemic Into Opportunities For Digital Transformation: Sharing The Singapore Management University Libraries Experience, Bethany Wilkes, Rajendra Munoo

Research Collection Library

No abstract provided.

The Retiree Center Newsletter - Fall 2020, Retiree Center - Winona State University

WSU Retiree Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Murmurs Of Revolution: Mythical Subversion In Dostoevsky, Connor Guetersloh

English (MA) Theses

Throughout history, revolutions have been plagued by unpredictability; it is all but impossible to know when cultural systems will be turned on their heads. Is there a common motivator, to predict social unrest bubbling beneath the surface of society? I suggest the development of this motivator is detectable by deconstructing Ferdinand de Saussure’s semiotic patterns within the field of rhetorical mythology. “Mythology,” in the rhetorical and linguistic sense developed by Roland Barthes, is the study of a collective system of thinking we subconsciously subscribe to when interpreting meaning, perpetuated by greater society. The struggle for meaning is split into the …

Giving And Receiving: A Study Of Barriers And Enablers In Asian Philanthropy, Dalvin Sidhu, Jinwen Chen

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

This report provides an insight into Asian philanthropy through engaging with philanthropic entities (PEs) in Greater China, India and Indonesia. Issues pertinent to this research include (1) challenges and opportunities for philanthropy in the region, (2) the interest and readiness of PEs to address common regional problems, (3) identifying support and platforms that would effectively help translate giving strategies into impact, (4) the interest and readiness of PEs to explore and engage in innovative ways, and (5) identifying the major areas in which these PEs are involved.

A Study Of Select World-Federated International Piano Competitions: Influential Factors In Performer Repertoire Choices, Yuan-Hung Lin

Dissertations

In the last ninety years, international music competitions have increased steadily. According to the 2011 Yearbook of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC)—founded in 1957—there were only thirteen world-federated international competitions at its founding, with at least nine competitions featuring or including piano. One of the founding competitions, the Chopin competition held in Warsaw, dates back to 1927. The number of world-federated international competitions has since increased to 122 in 2019, with a total of fifty-nine piano competitions (thirty-two dedicated solely to piano). More and more, pianists strive to participate in several competitions in order to win a …

Watching Disability: A Discourse Analysis Of Representations Of Disabled Characters In Scripted Television Programs, Wilbur Martin

Dissertations

This dissertation is a discourse analysis of three television series, Speechless, Atypical, and Breaking Bad. A close reading of those series was performed to analyze the representations of disability in those television series and whether those representations enforced classic stereotypes or differed from those classic stereotypes for disabilities. The representations were also analyzed to see if those representations enforced the medical or social model of disability.

All three series had instances of stereotypical representations as well as representations that were not stereotypical. All three series representations identified with the medical and social model of disabilities. Series that …

Teacher Beliefs And The Intent And Current Use Of Movement As It Influences Students With And Without Adhd, Kimberly Mcquagge

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to add to the knowledge base regarding utilizing movement in the classroom as it influences reading and mathematics achievement for students with and without Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Mississippi public school teachers (n= 379) responded to an online questionnaire that gathered demographic data and collected ratings based on teacher beliefs and both their current use of movement and intent to use movement in the classroom based on a 5-point Likert scale.

In order to predict if a relationship existed between teacher beliefs of utilizing movement in the classroom and both their current use of movement …