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More and more applications have gone into the cloud over the last decade through Web-based applications which work consistently on virtually any device that runs almost any operating system. The days of using an Iso for a single programme are probably mostly behind us. Now we can store cloud data , access it from the Web app, change it in the contents of our hearts, and then store them, upload them, or share them with just a couple of taps or clicks.
Many coding languages share similar features, so it’s easier to pick up another language once you know one
The Internet and the migration of many applications into services on remote, cloud-based hardware is naturally at the core of this development. This removes many of the resources needed to run the app correctly for a minimal number of specifications, based primarily on the OS version of your computer.
Behind all our services is a talented team of web developers who code the entire piece of the puzzle — from the website or portal, to the networking to back-end systems from the UI experience to the safety protocols that protect all for hundreds of thousands of users. And they do this with exactly the same experience every day and with fast precision for each single person.
For those who have coding abilities or work diligently to polish them, a list of the most advanced programming languages used to build (and maintain) such services is given below.
1. Python
Python is once again the top of most programming language lists in recent years. Can’t it do anything? This language is known for its versatility in web-based applications; its capability to run on most devices , which means that Python-designed applications can be used without further modification across all supported device types and for its ease of use. These aspects make it easier to learn about the programming languages that are useful to work with.
It’s not without its drawbacks, however, particularly if it is used in mobile space or because it is generally slower because the language is interpreted. Python developers also find their abilities stronger than their total shortcomings.
3. PHP
PHP is known as a back-end programming language, which often focuses more on how interconnections between servers and data handling are managed than the overall look and GUIs users prefer to concentrate on. This said, PHP has a range of strengths in this area, such as being a robust, mature language, with many powerful frameworks to be the basis for driving almost any kind of website or service. It is supported by a very broad group ecosystem, which includes testing and deployment software and automated tools.
Pros apart, among PHP ‘s drawbacks, development in PHP is often slower than in other languages in this list. It is also not as design stable as its rivals and relies a little more on plugins to add support and functionality.
4. Go
This language, also known as Golang, has great support for multi-threading and is perfect for distributed systems as it stands out in scaling. It also allows Google Engineers to build and strongly support the search giant and even incorporate it as a basis for its compiler toolchain and webassembly. The programming language is one of the newer than the other ones on that list, but as Han Solo said about the Millennium Falcon, “It’s where it counts, Kid.” Adding to its superlates, Go is one of the easiest languages to learn because it depends on cleaner syntax and it is compiled so that it’s quick and secured by design.
Certain problems with the use of Go arise from the lack of polyvalence, since it is mainly designed to fix issues arising from working with multicored, networked, and large datasets. Complex apps written in Go can also often be less effective because of its virtual machine lack.
5. Java
Java is not only one of the most mature programmes languages, but also one of the most widely used ones, since Java is not only found in web applications, but also Blu-Ray players, business applications, smartphones, and so on. The fundamental belief that ‘write once, run anywhere’ is one of the key reason behind its omnipresence. This leverages the Java foundation across all boards to be the same regardless of the computer or application that includes it, so it should theory be running the same each time.
There is a reason Java relies so heavily on because of its stability and independence of the platform, but this also costs its memory management capability and slows down its performance compared to native applications operating on similar resources.
Hon. Bonus Language: Ruby
While this list was just about to concentrate on the top 5 languages, I could not help but include Ruby — and Ruby on Rails by extension — by the system that makes it one of the web development leaders. Like PHP above, Ruby is also more considered a backend programming language and has a vast group of well-trained supporters, a wide variety of libraries, resources and standards-based enforcement to create feature-rich websites.
Although not as popular as some of the competing languages on this list, it is known for its e-commerce strengths, as demonstrated by some websites built using Ruby, including AirBNB and Hulu. Not without its problems, including excessive use of resources, can lead to poor results, and it can become very complicated, so that beginners to the language can have quite difficult times with the learning curve. | https://www.austinsincubator.com/top-5-programming-languages-web-developers-should-learn/ |
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Android Game Programming: A developer's guide
by
Horton, John
Gain the knowledge to design and build highly interactive and amazing games for your phone and tablet from scratch. Create games that run at super-smooth 60 frames per second with the help of these easy-to-follow projects. Understand the internals of a game engine by building one and seeing the reasoning behind each of the components.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781787125780
Publication Date: 2016
The Art of Assembly Language
by
Randall Hyde
Widely respected by hackers of all kinds, The Art of Assembly Language teaches programmers how to understand assembly language and how to use it to write powerful, efficient code. Using the proven High Level Assembler (HLA) as its primary teaching tool, The Art of Assembly Language leverages your knowledge of high level programming languages to make it easier for you to quickly grasp basic assembly concepts. Among the most comprehensive references to assembly language ever published, The Art of Assembly Language, 2nd Edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect recent changes to the HLA language. All code from the book is portable to the Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and FreeBSD operating systems.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781593272074
Publication Date: 2010
Implementing Domain Specific Languages with Xtext and Xtend
by
Lorenzo Bettini
Leverage the latest features of Xtext and Xtend to develop a domain-specific language.Integrate Xtext with popular third party IDEs and get the best out of both worlds.Discover how to test a DSL implementation and how to customize runtime and IDE aspects of the DSLWho This Book Is ForThis book is targeted at programmers and developers who want to create a DSL with Xtext. They should have basic familiarity with Eclipse and its functionality. Previous experience with compiler implementation can be advantageous. However, this book will explain all the development stages of a DSL.What You Will LearnWrite an Xtext grammar for a DSLUse Xtend to customize all aspectsWrite constraint checks using the validator mechanismCustomize the UIWrite a code generator and an interpreter for a DSLTest the DSL implementation with JUnitMaster the Xtext scoping mechanism for symbol resolutionBuild your Xtext DSL with Maven/Tycho and GradleUse an Xtext editor in a web application and in IntelliJUnderstand best practices in DSL implementationsGet familiar with XbaseManually maintain the EMF model for an Xtext DSLIn DetailXtext is an open source Eclipse framework for implementing Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) together with their integration in the Eclipse IDE. Xtext covers all aspects of a language infrastructure, including the parser, code generator, interpreter, and more. This book will enable you to implement DSLs efficiently, together with their IDE tooling, with Xtext and Xtend. Opening with a brief coverage of Xtext features involved in DSL implementation, the book will then introduce you to Xtend (a language that's completely interoperable with Java). You will then explore the typical programming development workflow with Xtext starting from the grammar of the DSL. The book will then explain the main concepts of Xtext, such as validation, code generation, and customizations of runtime and UI aspects. You will learn how to test a DSL implemented in Xtext with JUnit and advanced concepts such as type checking and scoping. The book will show you how to build and test your DSL with Maven/Tycho and Gradle, and how an Xtext DSL editor can also be used in a web application and in IntelliJ. You will also familiarize yourself with Xbase. At the end of the book, you will also learn how to manually maintain the EMF model for an Xtext DSL.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781786464965
Publication Date: 2016
Logics and Languages for Reliability and Security - Volume 25 NATO Science for Peace and Security Series - D
by
J. Esparza (Editor); B. Spanfelner (Editor)
Software-intensive systems are today an integral part of many everyday products. Whilst they provide great benefits in terms of ease of use and allow for new applications, they also impose enormous responsibilities. It is vital to ensure that such applications work correctly and that any data they use remains secure. Increasing the reliability of such systems is an important and challenging research topic in current computer science.This volume presents a number of papers which formed the basis for lectures at the 2009 summer school Formal Logical Methods for System Security and Correctness. The topics include: program analysis and verification by abstract interpretation, principles and applications of refinement types, multi-valued automata and their applications, mechanized semantics with applications to program proof and compiler verification and using security policies to write secure software, among others.This book delivers an interesting and valuable overview of state-of-the-art in logic- and language-based solutions to system reliability and security to anyone concerned with the correct functioning of software systems.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781607500995
Publication Date: 2010
Object-Oriented Programming Languages and Event-Driven Programming
by
Dorian P. Yeager
Essential concepts of programming language design and implementation are explained and illustrated in the context of the object-oriented programming language (OOPL) paradigm. Written with the upper-level undergraduate student in mind, the text begins with an introductory chapter that summarizes the essential features of an OOPL, then widens the discussion to categorize the other major paradigms, introduce the important issues, and define the essential terms. After a brief second chapter on event-driven programming (EDP), subsequent chapters are built around case studies in each of the languages Smalltalk, C++, Java, C#, and Python. Included in each case study is a discussion of the accompanying libraries, including the essential container classes. For each language, one important event-driven library is singled out and studied. Sufficient information is given so that students can complete an event-driven project in any of the given languages. After completing the course the student should have a solid set of skills in each language the instructor chooses to cover, a comprehensive overview of how these languages relate to each other, and an appreciation of the major issues in OOPL design. Key Features: *Provides essential coverage of Smalltalk origins, syntax, and semantics, a valuable asset for students wanting to understand the hybrid Objective C language *Provides detailed case studies of Smalltalk, Java, C++, C#, and Python and features a side-by-side development of the Java and C++ languages--highlighting their similarities and differences *Sets the discussion in a historical framework, tracing the roots of the OOPLs back to Simula 67. *Provides broad-based coverage of all languages, imparting essential skills as well as an appreciation for each language's design philosophy *Includes chapter summary, review questions, chapter exercises, an appendix with event-driven projects, and instructor resources
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781936420377
Publication Date: 2014
Practical Foundations for Programming Languages
by
Robert Harper
"This book offers a fresh perspective on the fundamentals of programming languages through the use of type theory"-- Provided by publisher.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781107029576
Publication Date: 2012
Programming Distributed Computing Systems
by
Carlos A. Varela
An introduction to fundamental theories of concurrent computation and associated programming languages for developing distributed and mobile computing systems. Starting from the premise that understanding the foundations of concurrent programming is key to developing distributed computing systems, this book first presents the fundamental theories of concurrent computing and then introduces the programming languages that help develop distributed computing systems at a high level of abstraction. The major theories of concurrent computation--including the p-calculus, the actor model, the join calculus, and mobile ambients--are explained with a focus on how they help design and reason about distributed and mobile computing systems. The book then presents programming languages that follow the theoretical models already described, including Pict, SALSA, and JoCaml. The parallel structure of the chapters in both part one (theory) and part two (practice) enable the reader not only to compare the different theories but also to see clearly how a programming language supports a theoretical model. The book is unique in bridging the gap between the theory and the practice of programming distributed computing systems. It can be used as a textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in computer science or as a reference for researchers in the area of programming technology for distributed computing. By presenting theory first, the book allows readers to focus on the essential components of concurrency, distribution, and mobility without getting bogged down in syntactic details of specific programming languages. Once the theory is understood, the practical part of implementing a system in an actual programming language becomes much easier.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9780262018982
Publication Date: 2013
Real Time Programming: Languages, Specification and Verification
by
R. K. Shyamasundar; S. Ramesh
The primary aim of this monograph is to present the current research efforts that have gone into/or going on in the systematic design of real-time programs. Such an effort would help researchers and users in the area to get a clear picture of the issues of specification, verification and design of real-time reactive programs. It will clearly enable us to identify languages that can be used for different kinds of applications. Obviously, in an upcoming area like this, this presentation is far from complete.The quintessence of the monograph can be captured by the following question:How can we design and develop Robust Reactive (real-time) Programs?We address this question in this monograph through the various underlying issues listed, such as characteristics of real-time/reactive programs, reactive programming languages, verification and refinements.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9789810225667
Publication Date: 1998
Systematic Program Design: From Clarity to Efficiency
by
Yanhong Annie Liu
"A systematic program design method can help developers ensure the correctness and performance of programs while minimizing the development cost. This book describes a method that starts with a clear specification of a computation and derives an efficient implementation by step-wise program analysis and transformations. The method applies to problems specified in imperative, database, functional, logic, and object-oriented programming languages with different data, control, and module abstractions. Designed for courses or self-study, this book includes numerous exercises and examples that require minimal computer science background, making it accessible to novices. Experienced practitioners and researchers will appreciate the detailed examples in a wide range of application areas including hardware design, image processing, access control, query optimization, and program analysis. The last section of the book points out directions for future studies"-- Provided by publisher.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781107036604
Publication Date: 2013
Theory of Computation
by
George Tourlakis
"In the (meta)theory of computing, the fundamental questions of the limitations of computing are addressed. These limitations, which are intrinsic rather than technology dependent, may immediatly rule out the existence of algorithmic solutions for some problems while for others they rule out efficient solutions. The author's approach is anchored on the concrete (and assumed) practical knowledge about general computer programming, attained readers in a first year programming course, as well as the knowledge of discrete mathematics at the same level. The book develops the metatheory of general computing and builds on the reader's prior computing experience. Metatheory via the programming formalism known as Shepherdson-Sturgis Unbounded Register Machines (URM)--a straightforward abstraction of modern highlevel programming languages--is developed. Restrictions of the URM programming language are also discussed. The author has chosen to focus on the highlevel language approach of URMs as opposed to the Turing Machine since URMs relate more directly to programming learned in prior experiences. The author presents the topics of automata and languages only after readers become familiar, to some extent, with the (general) computability theory including the special computability theory of more "practical" functions, the primitive recursive functions. Automata are presented as a very restricted programming formalism, and their limitations (in expressivity) and their associated languages are studied. In addition, this book contains tools that, in principle, can search a set of algorithms to see whether a problem is solvable, or more specifically, if it can be solved by an algorithm whose computations are efficient. Chapter coverage includes: Mathematical Background; Algorithms, Computable Functions, and Computations; A Subset of the URM Language: FA and NFA; and Adding a Stack to an NFA: Pushdown Automata"-- Provided by publisher.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781118014783
Publication Date: 2012
Topics in Programming Languages
by
Luis Manuel Cabrita Pais Homem
Topics in Programming Languages'explores the arch from the formation of alphabet and classical philosophy to artificial programming languages in the structure of one argumentative topics list: as if it were philosophy interpreted and programmed. One such endeavour is taken to tend toward phonetics and sounds of speech analysis with λ-calculus, and, ultimately, Prolog - the programming language of choice in artificial intelligence - born of the natural language processing reverie and delusion.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781909287723
Publication Date: 2013
Using OpenCL Programming Massively Parallel Computers
by
J. Kowalik (Editor); T. Puzniakowski (Editor)
In 2011 many computer users were exploring the opportunities and the benefits of the massive parallelism offered by heterogeneous computing. In 2000 the Khronos Group, a not-for-profit industry consortium, was founded to create standard open APIs for parallel computing, graphics and dynamic media. Among them has been OpenCL, an open system for programming heterogeneous computers with components made by multiple manufacturers. This publication explains how heterogeneous computers work and how to program them using OpenCL. It also describes how to combine OpenCL with OpenGL for displaying graphical effects in real time. Chapter 1 describes briefly two older de facto standard and highly successful parallel programming systems: MPI and OpenMP. Collectively, the MPI, OpenMP, and OpenCL systems cover programming of all major parallel architectures: clusters, shared-memory computers, and the newest heterogeneous computers. Chapter 2, the technical core of the book, deals with OpenCL fundamentals: programming, hardware, and the interaction between them. Chapter 3 adds important information about such advanced issues as double-versus-single arithmetic precision, efficiency, memory use, and debugging. Chapters 2 and 3 contain several examples of code and one case study on genetic algorithms. These examples are related to linear algebra operations, which are very common in scientific, industrial, and business applications. Most of the book's examples can be found on the enclosed CD, which also contains basic projects for Visual Studio, MinGW, and GCC. This supplementary material will assist the reader in getting a quick start on OpenCL projects.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781614990291
Publication Date: 2012
Web Developers Reference Guide
by
Joshua Johanan; Talha Khan; Ricardo Zea
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781783552139
Publication Date: 2016
Programming Languages
C# and C++
Clojure
Dart
Java
Julia
Python
Raspberry Pi
Scala
Tcl
Other Languages
Boost. Asio C++ Network Programming
by
John Torjo
What you want is an easy level of abstraction, which is just what this book provides in conjunction with Boost.Asio. Switching to Boost.Asio is just a few extra #include directives away, with the help of this practical and engaging guide.This book is great for developers that need to do network programming, who don't want to delve into the complicated issues of a raw networking API. You should be familiar with core Boost concepts, such as smart pointers and shared_from_this, resource classes (noncopyable), functors and boost::bind, boost mutexes, and the boost date/time library. Readers should also be familiar with “blocking” versus “non-blocking” operations.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781782163268
Publication Date: 2013
Boost C++ Application Development Cookbook
by
Antony Polukhin
This book follows a cookbook approach, with detailed and practical recipes that use Boost libraries.This book is great for developers new to Boost, and who are looking to improve their knowledge of Boost and see some undocumented details or tricks. It's assumed that you will have some experience in C++ already, as well being familiar with the basics of STL. A few chapters will require some previous knowledge of multithreading and networking. You are expected to have at least one good C++ compiler and compiled version of Boost (1.53.0 or later is recommended), which will be used during the exercises within this book.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781849514880
Publication Date: 2013
C++ Multithreading Cookbook
by
Milos Ljumovic
The book is an easy-to-follow guide for creating multi-threaded applications using C++. Each topic is thoroughly explained with multiple illustrations. Many algorithms, such as Dinning Philosophers Problem give you thorough explanations that will help you to understand and solve concurrent tasks. The book is intended for enterprise developers and programmers who wish to make use of C++ capabilities to learn the multithreaded approach. Knowledge of multithreading along with experience in C++ is an added advantage. However it is not a prerequisite.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781783289790
Publication Date: 2014
Learning Object-Oriented Programming in C# 5. 0
by
B. M. Harwani
Learning object-oriented programming in C♯ 5.0 is a uniquely practical, hands-on guide to the powerful features of C♯ 5.0, one of the most common, general-purpose object-oriented programming languages in use today. The examples and projects in this book progress from easy to advanced, covering the principles and benefits of object-oriented programming for developing real-world applications. With the expert guidance of programmer, author, and teacher B.M. Harwani, you will explore: object-oriented programming fundamentals; advanced class features such as generics and operator overloading; web services, LINQ, multiple threading, and security features;.NET features, including assemblies, interfaces, delegates, events; web application development, and ADO.NET; and much more. Expand your programming skills today with Learning object-oriented programming in C♯ 5.0, a refreshingly helpful guide to developing with C♯.'--
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781285854564
Publication Date: 2014
Modern C++ Programming Cookbook
by
Marius Bancila
Explore the most important language and library features of C++17, including containers, algorithms, regular expressions, threads, and more,Get going with unit testing frameworks Boost.Test, Google Test and Catch,Extend your C++ knowledge and take your development skills to new heights by making your applications fast, robust, and scalable.Who This Book Is ForIf you want to overcome difficult phases of development with C++ and leverage its features using modern programming practices, then this book is for you. The book is designed for both experienced C++ programmers as well as people with strong knowledge of OOP concepts.What You Will LearnUnderstand the standard support for threading and concurrency and learn how to put them to work on daily basic tasksLook in depth at the C++17 filesystem libraryWork with various types of string and look at the various aspects of compilationExplore functions, lambda expressions and callable objects with a focus on modern featuresLeverage the standard library and work with containers, algorithms, and iterators I/O, time and utilitiesSolve text searching and replacement problems using regular expressionsUse the new utility additions to the standard library to solve common problems developers encounter, including string_view, any, optional, and variant typesExplore the widely-used testing frameworks for C++ and implement various useful patterns and idiomsIn DetailC++ is one of the oldest and most widely used programming languages. Fast, efficient, and flexible, it is used to solve many problems. The latest versions of C++ have seen programmers change the way they code, giving up on the old-fashioned C-style programming and adopting modern C++ instead.Beginning with the modern language features, each recipe addresses a specific problem, with a discussion that explains the solution and offers insight into how it works. You will learn about concepts such as concurrency, variadic templates, lambda expressions, regular expressions, streams and filesystem utilities, algorithms and iterators, move semantics and performance, exception handling, testing, and more in the form of recipes. These recipes will ensure you can make your applications secure and fast.By the end of the book, you will understand the newer aspects of C++ 11/14/17 and will be able to overcome tasks that are time-consuming or would break your stride while developing.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781786465184
Publication Date: 2017
Professional Functional Programming C#: Classic Programming Techniques for Modern Projects
by
Oliver Sturm
"Take advantage of the growing trend in functional programming. C# is the number-one language used by.NET developers and one of the most popular programming languages in the world. It has many built-in functional programming features, but most are complex and little understood. With the shift to functional programming increasing at a rapid pace, you need to know how to leverage your existing skills to take advantage of this trend. Functional Programming in C# leads you along a path that begins with the historic value of functional ideas. Inside, C# MVP and functional programming expert Oliver Sturm explains the details of relevant language features in C# and describes theory and practice of using functional techniques in C#, including currying, partial application, composition, memoization, and monads. Next, he provides practical and versatile examples, which combine approaches to solve problems in several different areas, including complex scenarios like concurrency and high-performance calculation frameworks as well as simpler use cases like Web Services and business logic implementation... Shows how C# developers can leverage their existing skills to take advantage of functional programming. Uses very little math theory and instead focuses on providing solutions to real development problems with functional programming methods, unlike traditional functional programming titles. Includes examples ranging from simple cases to more complex scenarios.. Let Functional Programming in C# show you how to get in front of the shift toward functional programming."-- Provided by publisher.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9780470744581
Publication Date: 2011
Qt5 C++ GUI Programming Cookbook
by
Lee Zhi Eng
Learn to make use of Qt5 to design and customize the look-and-feel of your applicationImprove the visual quality of your application by utilizing the graphic rendering system and animation system provided by Qt5A good balance of visual presentation and its contents will make an application appealing yet functionalWho This Book Is ForThis book intended for those who want to develop software using Qt5. If you want to improve the visual quality and content presentation of your software application, this book will suit you best.What You Will LearnCustomize the look and feel of your application using the widget editor provided by Qt5Change the states of the GUI elements to make them appear in a different formAnimating the GUI elements using the built-in animation system provided by Qt5Draw 3D graphics in your application by implementing OpenGL, an industry-standard graphical library, in your projectBuild a mobile app that supports touch events and export it to your deviceParse and extract data from an XML file, then present it on your software's GUIAccess MySQL and SQLite databases to retrieve data and display it on your software's GUIIn DetailWith the advancement of computer technology, the software market is exploding with tons of software choices for the user, making their expectations higher in terms of functionality and the look and feel of the application. Therefore, improving the visual quality of your application is vital in order to overcome the market competition and stand out from the crowd.This book will teach you how to develop functional and appealing software using Qt5 through multiple projects that are interesting and fun. This book covers a variety of topics such as look-and-feel customization, GUI animation, graphics rendering, implementing Google Maps, and more. You will learn tons of useful information, and enjoy the process of working on the creative projects provided in this book.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781783280278
Publication Date: 2016
Clojure for Domain-Specific Languages
by
Ryan D. Kelker
An example-oriented approach to develop custom domain-specific languages.If you've already developed a few Clojure applications and wish to expand your knowledge on Clojure or domain-specific languages in general, then this book is for you. If you're an absolute Clojure beginner, then you may only find the detailed examples of the core Clojure components of value. If you've developed DSLs in other languages, this Lisp and Java-based book might surprise you with the power of Clojure.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781782166504
Publication Date: 2013
Clojure for Java Developers
by
Eduardo Diaz
Write apps for the multithreaded world with Clojure's flavor of functional programmingDiscover Clojure's features and advantages and use them in your existing projectsThe book is designed so that you'll be able put to use your existing skills and software knowledge to become a more effective Clojure developerWho This Book Is ForThis book is intended for Java developers who are looking for a way to expand their skills and understand new paradigms of programming. Whether you know a little bit about functional languages, or you are just getting started, this book will get you up and running, using your existing skills in Clojure and functional programming.What You Will LearnUnderstand the tools of the Clojure world and how they relate to Java tools and standards (such as Maven)Get to grips with immutable data structures, and what makes them feasible for everyday programmingWrite simple multi-core programs using Clojure's core concepts, such as atoms, agents and refsUnderstand that in Clojure, code is data, and take advantage of that fact by generating and manipulating code with macrosLearn how Clojure interacts with Java, how class loaders work, and how to use Clojure from Java or the other way aroundDiscover a new, more flexible meaning of polymorphism and understand that OOP is not the only way to get itUnravel the enigma of Leiningen – the building tool for ClojureIn DetailClojure offers the chance to write high quality, multi-core software faster than ever, without having to leave your current platform.This book aims to unleash the true potential of the Clojure language so you can apply it in your projects. It begins with the installation and setup of the Clojure environment before moving on to explore the language in-depth. Get acquainted with its various features, such as functional programming, concurrency, and so on with the help of example projects. Additionally, you will also learn how the tool works, and how it interacts with the Java environment.By the end of this book, you will have a firm grasp of Clojure and its features, and use them effectively to write more robust programs.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781785281501
Publication Date: 2016
Learning ClojureScript
by
Rafik Naccache; W. David Jarvis; Allen Rohner
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781785887635
Publication Date: 2016
Mastering Clojure
by
Akhil Wali
Learn to handle data using sequences, reducers, and transducers in ClojureExplore the lesser known and more advanced features, constructs, and methodologies of the Clojure language and its ecosystem, such as asynchronous channels, actors, logic programming, and reactive programmingSharpen your Clojure skills through illustrative and comprehensive examplesWho This Book Is ForIf you're looking to learn more about the core libraries and dive deep into the Clojure language, then this book is ideal for you. Prior knowledge of the Clojure language is required.What You Will LearnMaximize the impact of parallelization, functional composition, and process transformation by composing reducers and transducersProcess and manipulate data using sequences, reducers, and transducers in ClojureModify and add features to the Clojure language using macrosExplore concepts from category theory and logic programming in ClojureOrchestrate parallelism and concurrency using built-in primitives as well as community libraries in ClojureHandle data with asynchronous and reactive programming methodologies and leverage it using the core.async libraryTest your code with unit tests, specs, and type checksTroubleshoot and style your code to make it more maintainableIn DetailClojure is a general-purpose language from the Lisp family with an emphasis on functional programming. It has some interesting concepts, such as immutability, gradual typing, thread-safe concurrency primitives, and macro-based metaprogramming, which help to create modern, performant, and scalable applications.Mastering Clojure will start off by exploring the details of sequences, concurrency primitives, and macros, followed by parallel, asynchronous, and reactive programming techniques. Packed with examples, this book will give you a walkthrough of orchestrating concurrency and parallelism. Later on, we'll discuss the advantages of Clojure's powerful macro system and how it also supports other programming paradigms, such as pure functional programming and logic programming. We also explain how reducers and transducers can be used to handle data in a more performant manner. Lastly, we'll show you how to test and troubleshoot your code to allow you to deploy the code faster.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781785889745
Publication Date: 2016
Dart Cookbook
by
Ivo Balbaert
If you are a Dart developer looking to sharpen your skills, and get insight and tips on how to put that knowledge into practice, then this book is for you. You should also have a basic knowledge of HTML, and how web applications with browser clients and servers work, in order to build dynamic Dart applications.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781783989621
Publication Date: 2014
Learning Dart
by
Dzenan Ridjanovic; Ivo Balbaert
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781849697422
Publication Date: 2013
by
Ved Antani; Gaston C. Hillar; Stoyan Stefanov; Kumar Chetan Sharma
Learn popular Object-Oriented programming (OOP) principles and design patterns to build robust appsImplement Object-Oriented concepts in a wide range of frontend architectures
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781787123595
Publication Date: 2016
by
Jonathan Chaffer; Karl Swedberg
This is a practical hands-on book with clear instructions and lot of code examples. It takes a simple approach, guiding you through different architectural topics using realistic sample projects. A single project is implemented using different architectural styles to make the reader understand the details of each style. There are also many small independent code samples to explain design patterns, WCF, and localization. This book is for people familiar with the ASP.NET framework using either C# or VB.NET. You don't need to be an ASP.NET guru – the book is ideal for novice and intermediate developers. If reading about application architecture usually confuses you or sends you to sleep, then this book will be perfect for you! In short, any ASP.NET programmer who is confused or disoriented reading different books or materials on architectures wondering how and what to implement in their application, will definitely benefit from this book!
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781849516549
Publication Date: 2011
Undocumented Secrets of MATLAB-Java Programming
by
Yair M. Altman
Preface The Matlab programming environment uses Java for numerous tasks, including networking, data-processing algorithms, and graphical user-interface (GUI). Matlab's internal Java classes can often be easily accessed and used by Matlab users. Matlab also enables easy access to external Java functionality, either third-party or user-created. Using Java, we can extensively customize the Matlab environment and application GUI, enabling the creation of very esthetically pleasing applications. Unlike Matlab's interface with other programming languages, the internal Java classes and the Matlab-Java interface were never fully documented by The MathWorks (TMW), the company that manufactures the Matlab product. This is really quite unfortunate: Java is one of the most widely used programming languages, having many times as many programmers as Matlab. Using this huge pool of knowledge and components can significantly improve Matlab applications. As a consultant, I often hear clients claim that Matlab is a fine programming platform for prototyping, but is not suitable for real-world modern-looking applications. This book aimed at correcting this misconception. It shows how using Java can significantly improve Matlab program appearance and functionality and that this can be done easily and even without any prior Java knowledge. In fact, many basic programming requirements cannot be achieved (or are difficult) in pure Matlab, but are very easy in Java. As a simple example, maximizing and minimizing windows is not possible in pure Matlab, but is a trivial one-liner using the underlying Java codeʹ:"--Provided by publisher.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781439869031
Publication Date: 2011
Julia 1.0 Programming: Dynamic and High Performance Programming to Build Fast Scientific Applications
by
Balbaert, Ivo
Enter the exciting world of Julia, a high-performance language for technical computingKey FeaturesLeverage Julia's high speed and efficiency for your applicationsWork with Julia in a multi-core, distributed, and networked environmentApply Julia to tackle problems concurrently and in a distributed environmentBook DescriptionThe release of Julia 1.0 is now ready to change the technical world by combining the high productivity and ease of use of Python and R with the lightning-fast speed of C++. Julia 1.0 programming gives you a head start in tackling your numerical and data problems. You will begin by learning how to set up a running Julia platform, before exploring its various built-in types. With the help of practical examples, this book walks you through two important collection types: arrays and matrices. In addition to this, you will be taken through how type conversions and promotions work. In the course of the book, you will be introduced to the homo-iconicity and metaprogramming concepts in Julia. You will understand how Julia provides different ways to interact with an operating system, as well as other languages, and then you'll discover what macros are. Once you have grasped the basics, you'll study what makes Julia suitable for numerical and scientific computing, and learn about the features provided by Julia. By the end of this book, you will also have learned how to run external programs. This book covers all you need to know about Julia in order to leverage its high speed and efficiency for your applications.What you will learnSet up your Julia environment to achieve high productivityCreate your own types to extend the built-in type systemVisualize your data in Julia with plotting packagesExplore the use of built-in macros for testing and debugging, among other usesApply Julia to tackle problems concurrentlyIntegrate Julia with other languages such as C, Python, and MATLABWho this book is forJulia 1.0 Programming is for you if you are a statistician or data scientist who wants a crash course in the Julia programming language while building big data applications. A basic knowledge of mathematics is needed to understand the various methods that are used or created during the course of the book to exploit the capabilities that Julia is designed with.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781788990059
Publication Date: 2016
Julia: High Performance Programming
by
Balbaert, Ivo
Leverage the power of Julia to design and develop high performing programsAbout This BookGet to know the best techniques to create blazingly fast programs with JuliaStand out from the crowd by developing code that runs faster than your peers'codeComplete an extensive data science project through the entire cycle from ETL to analytics and data visualizationWho This Book Is ForThis learning path is for data scientists and for all those who work in technical and scientific computation projects. It will be great for Julia developers who are interested in high-performance technical computing.This learning path assumes that you already have some basic working knowledge of Julia's syntax and high-level dynamic languages such as MATLAB, R, Python, or Ruby.What You Will LearnSet up your Julia environment to achieve the highest productivitySolve your tasks in a high-level dynamic language and use types for your data only when neededApply Julia to tackle problems concurrently and in a distributed environmentGet a sense of the possibilities and limitations of Julia's performanceUse Julia arrays to write high performance codeBuild a data science project through the entire cycle of ETL, analytics, and data visualizationDisplay graphics and visualizations to carry out modeling and simulation in JuliaDevelop your own packages and contribute to the Julia CommunityIn DetailIn this learning path, you will learn to use an interesting and dynamic programming language―Julia! You will get a chance to tackle your numerical and data problems with Julia. You'll begin the journey by setting up a running Julia platform before exploring its various built-in types. We'll then move on to the various functions and constructs in Julia. We'll walk through the two important collection types―arrays and matrices in Julia.You will dive into how Julia uses type information to achieve its performance goals, and how to use multiple dispatch to help the compiler emit high performance machine code. You will see how Julia's design makes code fast, and you'll see its distributed computing capabilities.By the end of this learning path, you will see how data works using simple statistics and analytics, and you'll discover its high and dynamic performance―its real strength, which makes it particularly useful in highly intensive computing tasks. This learning path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package. It includes content from the following Packt products:Getting Started with Julia by Ivo BalvaertJulia High Performance by Avik SenguptaMastering Julia by Malcolm SherringtonStyle and approachThis hands-on manual will give you great explanations of the important concepts related to Julia programming.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781787125704
Publication Date: 2016
Julia Cookbook
by
Jalem Raj Rohit
Follow a practical approach to learn Julia programming the easy wayGet an extensive coverage of Julia's packages for statistical analysisThis recipe-based approach will help you get familiar with the key concepts in JuliWho This Book Is ForThis book is for data scientists and data analysts who are familiar with the basics of the Julia language. Prior experience of working with high-level languages such as MATLAB, Python, R, or Ruby is expected.What You Will LearnExtract and handle your data with Julia using TSVs and CSVsUncover the concepts of metaprogramming in JuliaConduct statistical analysis with StatsBase.jl and Distributions.jlBuild and customize your data science models and apply them to various data science modelsSolve common problems of handling data arrays, distributions, estimation, and sampling techniquesFind out how to visualize your data with GadflyExplore big data concepts in JuliaUnderstand how to use the MapReduce frameworkIn DetailWant to handle everything that Julia can throw at you and get the most of it every day? This practical guide to programming with Julia for performing numerical computation will make you more productive and able work with data more efficiently. The book starts with the main features of Julia to help you quickly refresh your knowledge of functions, modules, and arrays. We'll also show you how to utilize the Julia language to identify, retrieve, and transform data sets so you can perform data analysis and data manipulation.Later on, you'll see how to optimize data science programs with parallel computing and memory allocation. You'll get familiar with the concepts of package development and networking to solve numerical problems using the Julia platform.This book includes recipes on identifying and classifying data science problems, data modeling, data analysis, data manipulation, metaprogramming, multidimensional arrays, and parallel computing. By the end of the book, you will acquire the skills to work more effectively with your data.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781785882012
Publication Date: 2016
Julia High Performance
by
Avik Sengupta
Learn to code high reliability and high performance programsStand out from the crowd by developing code that runs faster than your peers'codesThis book is intended for developers who are interested in high performance technical programming.Who This Book Is ForThis book is for beginner and intermediate Julia programmers who are interested in high performance technical computing. You will have a basic familiarity with Julia syntax, and have written some small programs in the language.What You Will LearnDiscover the secrets behind Julia's speedGet a sense of the possibilities and limitations of Julia's performanceAnalyze the performance of Julia programsMeasure the time and memory taken by Julia programsCreate fast machine code using Julia's type informationDefine and call functions without compromising Julia's performanceUnderstand number types in JuliaUse Julia arrays to write high performance codeGet an overview of Julia's distributed computing capabilitiesIn DetailJulia is a high performance, high-level dynamic language designed to address the requirements of high-level numerical and scientific computing. Julia brings solutions to the complexities faced by developers while developing elegant and high performing code.Julia High Performance will take you on a journey to understand the performance characteristics of your Julia programs, and enables you to utilize the promise of near C levels of performance in Julia.You will learn to analyze and measure the performance of Julia code, understand how to avoid bottlenecks, and design your program for the highest possible performance. In this book, you will also see how Julia uses type information to achieve its performance goals, and how to use multiple dispatch to help the compiler to emit high performance machine code. Numbers and their arrays are obviously the key structures in scientific computing – you will see how Julia's design makes them fast. The last chapter will give you a taste of Julia's distributed computing capabilities.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781785880919
Publication Date: 2016
Introduction to Python Programming and Developing GUI Applications with PyQT
by
B. M. Harwani
Teaches Python programming step-by-step through practical examples that readers can see in action right away. It begins with a solid introduction of Python from scratch, covering loops, control structures, sequences, functions, classes, and exception handling. Thereafter, the book explores file handling and GUI application development in PyQT, the powerful cross-platform GUI layout and forms builder that allows programmers to rapidly design and build widgets and dialogs. This is a great book for newbie programmers interested in learning Python
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781435460973
Publication Date: 2011
Maya Programming with Python Cookbook
by
Adrian Herbez
Improve your modelling skills and reduce your scripting problems using Python in MayaLearn to communicate with web applications using Python for easier team developmentA quick and practical answer to every problem you can have whilst scripting in Maya with PythonWho This Book Is ForThis book is for anyone that wants to use Python to get more out of Maya. It's expected that you have a decent familiarity with Maya's interface and toolset. Knowledge of Python or other programming languages is helpful, but not required.What You Will LearnFind out how to use Python scripting to automate tedious tasksCreate functional user interfaces to make scripts easy to share with othersAdd new functionality to Maya via the power of scriptingImport and export arbitrary data into and out of MayaImprove your workflow and your team's workflowCreate custom controls to make rigs that are easy to work withImplement a system to render 3D assets for isometric gamesIn DetailMaya is the premier tool for creating 3D content for film and games, but its complexity can sometimes be overwhelming. Python is a powerful scripting language with extensive support and a wide range of libraries. By using Maya's built-in support for Python scripting, it is possible to do much more, and in less time.This book is about creating powerful tools to make your Maya workflow easier, faster, and better integrated into production environments. Through a series of concrete examples, you will learn how to leverage the power of Python at every stage of a project- from modeling and texturing, to rigging and animation, and finally rendering. You will also learn how to interface Maya with larger pipelines, by reading and writing custom data and communicating with web servers. Whether you're an individual user that needs to get the most out of Maya in the least amount of time, or part of a team that needs to develop custom tools for their pipeline, this book will give you what you need.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781785283987
Publication Date: 2016
Python Web Scraping - Second Edition
by
Katharine Jarmul; Richard Lawson
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781786462589
Publication Date: 2017
Raspberry Pi Computer Architecture Essentials
by
Andrew K. Dennis
Explore Raspberry Pi 2's hardware through the Assembly, C/C++, and Python programming languagesExperiment with connecting electronics up to your Raspberry Pi 2 and interacting with them through softwareLearn about the Raspberry Pi 2 architecture and Raspbian operating system through innovative projectsWho This Book Is ForRaspberry Pi Computer Architecture Essentials is for those who are new to and those who are familiar with the Raspberry Pi. Each topic builds upon earlier ones to provide you with a guide to Raspberry Pi's architecture. From the novice to the expert, there is something for everyone.What You Will LearnSet up your Raspberry Pi 2 and learn about its hardwareWrite basic programs in Assembly language to learn about the ARM architectureUse C and C++ to interact with electronic componentsFind out about the Python language and how to use it to build web applicationsInteract with third-party microcontrollersExperiment with graphics and audio programmingExpand Raspberry Pi 2's storage mechanism by using external devicesDiscover Raspberry Pi 2's GPIO pins and how to interact with themIn DetailWith the release of the Raspberry Pi 2, a new series of the popular compact computer is available for you to build cheap, exciting projects and learn about programming.In this book, we explore Raspberry Pi 2's hardware through a number of projects in a variety of programming languages. We will start by exploring the various hardware components, which will provide a base for the programming projects and guide you through setting up the tools for Assembler, C/C++, and Python. We will then learn how to write multithreaded applications and Raspberry Pi 2's multi-core processor. Moving on, you'll get hands-on by expanding the storage options of the Raspberry Pi beyond the SD card and interacting with the graphics hardware. Furthermore, you will be introduced to the basics of sound programming while expanding upon your knowledge of Python while building a web server. Finally, you will learn to interact with third-party microcontrollers.From writing your first Assembly language application to programming graphics, this title guides you through the essentials.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781784397975
Publication Date: 2016
Raspberry Pi Media Center
by
Sam Nazarko
Constructed as a set of simple-to-follow, step-by-step instructions, this book will take you through numerous aspects of creating a fully functional media center with your Raspberry Pi. It is an easy-to-follow yet comprehensive guide to setting a complete media center experience using the revolutionary ARM GNU/Linux board.This book does not require any prior knowledge of the Raspberry Pi, but it does assume you are computer literate and comfortable with Mac OS X, Linux, or Windows and concepts such as installing software.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781782163022
Publication Date: 2013
Raspberry Pi User Guide
by
Eben Upton; Gareth Halfacree
Learn the Raspberry Pi 3 from the experts! Raspberry Pi User Guide, 4th Edition is the "unofficial official" guide to everything Raspberry Pi 3. Written by the Pi's creator and a leading Pi guru, this book goes straight to the source to bring you the ultimate Raspberry Pi 3 manual. This new fourth edition has been updated to cover the Raspberry Pi 3 board and software, with detailed discussion on its wide array of configurations, languages, and applications. You'll learn how to take full advantage of the mighty Pi's full capabilities, and then expand those capabilities even more with add-on technologies. You'll write productivity and multimedia programs, and learn flexible programming languages that allow you to shape your Raspberry Pi into whatever you want it to be. If you're ready to jump right in, this book gets you started with clear, step-by-step instruction from software installation to system customization. The Raspberry Pi's tremendous popularity has spawned an entire industry of add-ons, parts, hacks, ideas, and inventions. The movement is growing, and pushing the boundaries of possibility along with it--are you ready to be a part of it? This book is your ideal companion for claiming your piece of the Pi. Get all set up with software, and connect to other devices Understand Linux System Admin nomenclature and conventions Write your own programs using Python and Scratch Extend the Pi's capabilities with add-ons like Wi-Fi dongles, a touch screen, and more The credit-card sized Raspberry Pi has become a global phenomenon. Created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to get kids interested in programming, this tiny computer kick-started a movement of tinkerers, thinkers, experimenters, and inventors. Where will your Raspberry Pi 3 take you? The Raspberry Pi User Guide, 3rd Edition is your ultimate roadmap to discovery. -- ONIX annotation.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781119264361
Publication Date: 2016
Programming in Scala, Third Edition
by
Martin Odersky; Lex Spoon; Bill Venners
Artima is very pleased to publish a new edition of the best-selling book on Scala, written by the designer of the language, Martin Odersky. Co-authored by Lex Spoon and Bill Venners, this book takes a step-by-step tutorial approach to teaching you Scala. Starting with the fundamental elements of the language, Programming in Scala introduces functional programming from the practitioner's perspective, and describes advanced language features that can make you a better, more productive developer.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9780981531687
Publication Date: 2016
Scala Functional Programming Patterns
by
Atul S.Khot
Understand functional programming patterns by comparing them with the traditional object-oriented design patternsWrite robust, safer, and better code using the declarative programming paradigmAn illustrative guide for programmers to create functional programming patterns with ScalaWho This Book Is ForIf you have done Java programming before and have a basic knowledge of Scala and its syntax, then this book is an ideal choice to help you to understand the context, the applicable traditional design pattern, and the Scala way. Having previous knowledge of design patterns will help, though it is not strictly necessary.What You Will LearnGet to know about functional programming and the value Scala's FP idioms bring to the tableSolve day-to-day programming problems using functional programming idiomsSolve day-to-day programming problems using functional programming idiomsCut down the boiler-plate and express patterns simply and elegantly using Scala's concise syntaxTame system complexity by reducing the moving partsWrite easier to reason concurrent code using the actor paradigm and the Akka libraryApply recursive thinking and understand how to create solutions without mutationReuse existing code to compose new behaviorCombine the object-oriented and functional programming approaches for effective programming using ScalaIn DetailThis book begins with the rationale behind patterns to help you understand where and why each pattern is applied. You will discover what tail recursion brings to the table and learn to create solutions without mutations. It explains the concept of memorization and infinite sequences for on-demand computation. This book also takes you through Scala's stackable traits and dependency injection, a popular technique, for producing loosely-coupled software systems.You will also explore how to curry favors to your code and simplify it by deconstruction via pattern matching. You will learn to do pipeline transformations using higher order functions, such as the pipes and filters pattern, further guiding you through the increasing importance of concurrent programming and the pitfalls of traditional code concurrency. Lastly, the book takes a paradigm shift to show you the different techniques that functional programming brings to your plate.This book is an invaluable source to help you understand and perform functional programming and solve common programming problems using Scala's programming patterns.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781783985845
Publication Date: 2015
Tcl/Tk 8. 5 Programming Cookbook
by
Bert Wheeler
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781849512985
Publication Date: 2011
Tcl/Tk: A Developer's Guide
by
Clif Flynt
Newly updated with over 150 pages of material on the latest Tcl extensions, Tcl/Tk: A Developer's Guide is a unique practical tutorial for professional programmers and beginners alike. Starting with a clear picture of the basics, Tcl/Tk covers the variety of tools in this'Swiss army knife'of programming languages, giving you the ability to enhance your programs, extend your application's capabilities, and become a more effective programmer. This updated edition covers all of the new features of version 8.6, including object-oriented programming and the creation of megawidgets, existing data structure implementations, themed widgets and virtual events. Extensive code snippets and online tutorials in various languages will give you a firm grasp on how to use the Tcl/Tk libraries and interpreters and, most importantly, on what constitutes an effective strategy for using Tcl/Tk. Includes the latest features of Tcl/Tk 8.6Covers Tcl development tools, popular extensions, and packages to allow developers to solve real-world problems with Tcl/Tk immediatelyProvides straightforward explanations for beginners and offers tips, style guidelines, and debugging techniques for advanced users
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9780123847171
Publication Date: 2012
Beginning R
by
Mark Gardener
Conquer the complexities of this open source statistical language R is fast becoming the de facto standard for statistical computing and analysis in science, business, engineering, and related fields. This book examines this complex language using simple statistical examples, showing how R operates in a user-friendly context. Both students and workers in fields that require extensive statistical analysis will find this book helpful as they learn to use R for simple summary statistics, hypothesis testing, creating graphs, regression, and much more. It covers formula notation, complex statistics, manipulating data and extracting components, and rudimentary programming. R, the open source statistical language increasingly used to handle statistics and produces publication-quality graphs, is notoriously complex This book makes R easier to understand through the use of simple statistical examples, teaching the necessary elements in the context in which R is actually used Covers getting started with R and using it for simple summary statistics, hypothesis testing, and graphs Shows how to use R for formula notation, complex statistics, manipulating data, extracting components, and regression Provides beginning programming instruction for those who want to write their own scripts Beginning R offers anyone who needs to perform statistical analysis the information necessary to use R with confidence.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781118164303
Publication Date: 2012
CoffeeScript Programming with JQuery, Rails, and Node. Js
by
Michael Erasmus
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781849519588
Publication Date: 2012
D Cookbook
by
Adam Ruppe
A recipepacked reference guide filled with practical tasks that are concisely explained to develop and broaden the user's abilities with the D programming language. If you are an experienced programmer who is looking to explore a language that offers plenty of advantages over more established programming languages, this is the book for you. We assume that you are already familiar with general programming language basics, but you do not need to be a proficient user of D.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781783287215
Publication Date: 2014
Functional Programming Using F#
by
Michael R. Hansen; Hans Rischel
Getting started In this chapter we will introduce some of the main concepts of functional programming languages. In particular we will introduce the concepts of value, expression, declaration, recursive function and type. Furthermore, to explain the meaning of programs we will introduce the notions: binding, environment and evaluation of expressions. The purpose of the chapter is to acquaint the reader with these concepts, in order to address interesting problems from the very beginning. The reader will obtain a thorough knowledge of these concepts and skills in applying them as we elaborate on them throughout this book. There is support of both compilation of F# programs to executable code and the execution of programs in an interactive mode. The programs in this book are usually illustrated by the use of the interactive mode. The interface of the interactive F# compiler is very advanced as e.g. structured values like tuples, lists, trees and functions can be communicated directly between the user and the system without any conversions. Thus, it is very easy to experiment with programs and program designs and this allows us to focus on the main structures of programs and program designs, i.e. the core of programming, as input and output of structured values can be handled by the F# system"-- Provided by publisher.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781107019027
Publication Date: 2013
Gradle Essentials
by
Kunal Dabir; Abhinandan
Write beautiful build scripts for various types of projects effortlesslyBecome more productive by harnessing the power and elegance of the Gradle DSLLearn how to use Gradle quickly and effectively with this step-by-step guideWho This Book Is ForThis book is for Java and other JVM-based language developers who want to use Gradle or are already using Gradle on their projects.No prior knowledge of Gradle is required, but some familiarity with build-related terminologies and an understanding of the Java language would help.What You Will LearnMaster the Gradle DSL by identifying the building blocksLearn just enough Groovy for GradleSet up tests and reports for your projects to make them CI readyCreate library, stand-alone, and web projectsCraft multi-module projects quickly and efficientlyMigrate existing projects to a modern Gradle buildExtract common build logic into pluginsWrite builds for languages such as Java, Groovy, and ScalaIn DetailGradle is a modern, advanced build automation tool. It inherits the best elements of the past generation of build tools, but it also differs and innovates to bring terseness, elegance, simplicity, and the flexibility to build.Starting with your first build file, this book will gently guide you through its topics in a step-by-step fashion. You will learn to compile, unit test and package Java projects, build web-applications that run on Servlet containers like Jetty, Tomcat. You will write custom tasks, declare dependencies and write the multi-project builds. You will also learn variety of topics such as migrating from Ant and Maven based projects, publishing artifacts, integration testing, code coverage, running Gradle on CI Servers like Jenkins and writing Gradle plugins. By the end, you'll build polyglot projects in Groovy and Scala with Gradle.You will also learn the key aspects of Groovy that are essential to understand the Gradle build files. The unique approach taken in this book to explain Gradle DSL with help of Groovy and Gradle API will make Gradle DSL more accessible and intuitive for you.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781783982363
Publication Date: 2015
Learning Cython Programming
by
Philip Herron
Learn how to extend C applications with pure Python codeGet more from Python – you'll not only learn Cython, you'll also unlock a greater understanding of how to harness PythonPacked with tips and tricks that make Cython look easy, dive into this accessible programming guide and find out what happens when you bring C and Python together!Who This Book Is ForThis book is for developers who are familiar with the basics of C and Python programming and wish to learn Cython programming to extend their applications.What You Will LearnReuse Python logging in CMake an IRC bot out of your C applicationExtend an application so you have a web server for rest callsPractice Cython against your C++ codeDiscover tricks to work with Python ConfigParser in CCreate Python bindings for native librariesFind out about threading and concurrency in relation to GILExpand Terminal Multiplexer Tmux with CythonIn DetailCython is a hybrid programming language used to write C extensions for Python. Combining the practicality of Python and the speed and ease of the C language, Cython is an exciting language that's worth learning if you want to build fast applications with ease.This new edition of Learning Cython Programming shows you how to get started, taking you through the fundamentals so you can begin to experience its unique powers.You'll find out how to get set up, before exploring the relationship between Python and Cython. You'll also look at debugging Cython, before moving on to C++ constructs, Python threading, and GIL in Cython. Finally, you'll learn about object initialization and compile time, and gain a deeper insight into Python 3, which will help you not only become a confident Cython developer, but a much more fluent Python developer too.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781783551675
Publication Date: 2016
Learning Elixir
by
Kenny Ballou
Explore the functional paradigms of programming with Elixir through use of helpful examplesConcise step-by-step instructions to teach you difficult technical conceptsBridge the gap between functional programming and ElixirWho This Book Is ForThis book targets developers new to Elixir and Erlang, in order to make them feel comfortable in functional programming with Elixir. Although no knowledge of Elixir is assumed, some programming experience with mainstream object-oriented programming languages such as Ruby, Python, Java, and C# would be beneficial.What You Will LearnExplore Elixir to create resilient, scalable applicationsCreate fault-tolerant applicationsBecome better acquainted with Elixir code and see how it is structured to build and develop functional programsGain an understanding of effective OTP principlesDesign and program distributed applications and systemsWrite and create branching statements in ElixirLearn to do more with less using Elixir's metaprogrammingBecome familiar with the facilities Elixir provides for metaprogramming, macros, and extending the Elixir languageIn DetailElixir, based on Erlang's virtual machine and ecosystem, makes it easier to achieve the scalability, concurrency, fault tolerance, and high availability goals that are pursued by developers using any programming language or programming paradigm. Elixir is a modern programming language that utilizes the benefits offered by Erlang VM without really incorporating the complex syntaxes of Erlang. Learning Elixir will teach many things that are beneficial to programming as a craft, even if at the end of the day you aren't using Elixir. This book will teach you concepts and principles important to any complex, scalable, and resilient application. Applications are historically difficult to reason about, but using the concepts in this book, they will become easy and enjoyable. It will show you the functional programming ropes to enable you to create better and more scalable applications, and you will explore how Elixir can help you reach new programming heights. Furthermore, you will learn the basics of metaprogramming: modifying and extending Elixir to suit your needs.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781785881749
Publication Date: 2015
Learning Jupyter
by
Dan Toomey
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781785884870
Publication Date: 2016
Mastering Concurrency in Go
by
Nathan Kozyra
A practical approach covering everything you need to know to get up and running with Go, starting with the basics and imparting increasingly more detail as the examples and topics become more complicated. The book utilizes a casual, conversational style, rife with actual code and historical anecdotes for perspective, as well as usable and extensible example applications. This book is intended for systems developers and programmers with some experience in either Go and/or concurrent programming who wish to become fluent in building high-performance applications that scale by leveraging single-core, multicore, or distributed concurrency.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781783983483
Publication Date: 2014
Modern Fortran: Style and Usage
by
Norman S. Clerman; Walter Spector
Fortran is one of the oldest high-level languages and remains the premier language for writing code for science and engineering applications. This book is for anyone who uses Fortran, from the novice learner to the advanced expert. It describes best practices for programmers, scientists, engineers, computer scientists and researchers who want to apply good style and incorporate rigorous usage in their own Fortran code or to establish guidelines for a team project. The presentation concentrates primarily on the characteristics of Fortran 2003, while also describing methods in Fortran 90/95 and valuable new features in Fortran 2008. The authors draw on more than a half century of experience writing production Fortran code to present clear succinct guidelines on formatting, naming, documenting, programming and packaging conventions and various programming paradigms such as parallel processing (including OpenMP, MPI and coarrays), OOP, generic programming and C language interoperability.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9780521514538
Publication Date: 2011
Node Cookbook
by
David Mark Clements
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781849517188
Publication Date: 2012
Professional Swift
by
Michael Dippery
Transition from Objective-C to the cleaner, more functional Swift quickly and easily. Professional Swift shows you how to create Mac and iPhone applications using Apple's new programming language. This code-intensive, practical guide walks you through Swift best practices as you learn the language, build an application, and refine it using advanced concepts and techniques. Organized for easy navigation, this book can be read end-to-end for a self-paced tutorial, or used as an on-demand desk reference as unfamiliar situations arise. The first section of the book guides you through the basics of Swift programming, with clear instruction on everything from writing code to storing data, and Section II adds advanced data types, advanced debugging, extending classes, and more. You'll learn everything you need to know to make the transition from Objective-C to Swift smooth and painless, so you can begin building faster, more secure apps than ever before.-- Source other than Library of Congress.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781119016779
Publication Date: 2015
Scratch Cookbook
by
Brandon Milonovich
A practical approach with hands-on recipes to learn more about Scratch and its features.Scratch Cookbook is great for people who are still relatively new to programming but wish to learn more. It assumes you know the basics of computer operation. The methods of using Scratch are worked through quickly with a focus on more advanced topics, though readers can move at their own pace to learn all the techniques they need.
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781849518420
Publication Date: 2013
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Programming is simply telling a computer to do a task. It is very much like teaching a toddler how to add numbers. In programming individuals, we usually employ several languages the person can understand like English or French. In the same way, writing a computer program requires humans to employ languages that can be read by the computer such as C, Pascal, Java, and Python.
One of the reasons for most programming errors is improper use of syntax. There are many programs that have features that can be used to check the syntax of each command as well as integral functions that you want to utilize. The fewer the number of instructions the faster the rate of execution of the program. Most of the time, we use complex logic in getting a task done. Little do we know that this task can easily be performed if we utilize the built-in functions of the programming language. To avoid these problems, you should have enough knowledge of all the inbuilt functions available in the program.
Computer programming is one of the most interesting subjects on earth if you will just take the right approach. Unlike those major subjects in schools, programming should be treated differently. Programming for beginners require that the wannabe programmer has full understanding on how it is done and what the basics of are.
The majority of the programs let you break the program into functions. These functions need to be written with the least number of instructions. They must be designed in such a way that they can be reused over and over again.
Logic is considered the backbone of any program. It needs to be prepared based on the resources your chosen programming language allow. Preparing the logic must be done prior to the real coding process. You should make a flow chart for your program, or write its algorithm before you start with the process of writing the program. | http://www.apple-developers-inc.com/comments-emotional-eating-tips-to-help-you-fight-the-battle/ |
Java is a class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible.
• Developer: Oracle Corporation et al
• First appeared: May 23, 1995; 25 years ago
What is Java Programming used for?
• One of the most widely used programming languages, Java is used as the server-side language for most back-end development projects.
• Java is also commonly used for desktop computing, other mobile computing, games, and numerical computing
Is Java written in CPP?
The Java libraries ( java. language, java. util etc, often referred to as the Java API) are themselves written in Java, although methods marked as native will have been written in C or C++ .
Is Python harder than Java?
Python programs are generally expected to run slower than Java programs, but they also take much less time to develop. Python programs are typically 3-5 times shorter than equivalent Java programs.
Is Java hard for beginners?
Java is not easy or hard. Many beginners had a problem in concepts of Java but once you start programming and playing with it’s GUI features you will love Java. Java is a strong language which run fast and supports almost all platforms like windows, Linux, mac.
JAVA VS PYTHON
Java, however, is not recommended for beginners as it is a more complex program. Python is more forgiving as you can take shortcuts such as reusing an old variable. Additionally, many users find Python easier to read and understand than Java.
TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
• Get the basics right.
• Understand your code and algorithm.
• Do not forget to allocate memory.
• Interface is better than abstract class. | https://www.educationtrick.com/java-programming/ |
03/07/2011 · In order to understand the meaning of object in our context, you should first understand the concept of classes. Everything in C.NET is a class. From integer data type to complex encryption and ADO.NET classes. So, for example, when you write the following code, you are actually using FileStream. Learn C: This C tutorial covers all the C programming concepts such as arrays, struct, pointer, loops, strings, oops concepts, control statements etc.
The C language inherits a lot of C language syntax. That’s why people who know C Programming language can easily learn C. This tutorial is written for people who want to learn C Programming Language absolutely from scratch. In this tutorial you will find useful information about the following C topics. C Basics. C keywords; Data types. This tutorial series covers the C programming concepts systematically, which makes learning a lot easier for newcomers. Required Knowledge. In the upcoming chapters, you will see that this language construct is the same as C and C. Therefore, learning C will become easy if you have already experience using programming languages like C and C. This tutorial will introduce you to.NET framework using C language. You will also learn to create a C Sharp based web application using.NET framework. This is a complete online course and covers topics like accessing data, classes & objects, file commands, window forms etc.
C Language These tutorials explain the C language from its basics up to the newest features introduced by C11. Chapters have a practical orientation, with example programs in all sections to start practicing what is being explained right away. Preface Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming Using C. Peter Müller pmueller@uu-gna. Globewide Network Academy GNA /. If you are familiar with the C language, you can take the first 3 parts of this tutorial as a review of concepts, since they mainly explain the C part of C. There are slight differences in the C syntax for some C features, so I recommend you its reading anyway. The. We recommend reading this tutorial, in the sequence listed in the left menu. C is an object oriented language and some concepts may be new. Take breaks when needed, and go over the examples as many times as needed. like a record in Pascal, or a structure in c. When a program is executed, the objects interact by sending messages to one another. Foe example, if “customer” and “account” are to object in a program, then the customer object may send a message to the count object requesting for the bank balance.
Welcome! Log into your account. your username. your password. C Tutorial for Beginners is an amazing tutorial series to understand about C programming language, OOPS concepts in C etc.
|Introduction to OOPS in C: Object oriented programming is a way of solving complex problems by breaking them into smaller problems using objects. Before Object Oriented Programming commonly referred as OOP, programs were written in procedural language, they.||What is an OOPS concept in C? Explanation Object oriented programming is method of programming where a system is considered as a collection of objects that interact together to accomplish certain tasks.||In this part of the C tutorial we cover object-oriented programming. Object-oriented programming OOP is a programming paradigm that uses objects and their interactions to design applications and computer programs.||iTutorialist, oops-c-training Tutorial page.|
Learn OOP’s Concepts in.NET – C Tutorial. We cover how object orientation is better than non object orientated programming languages like ‘C’. After. Encapsulation, Inheritance, Polymorphism & Object Creation and Instantiation. Related Posts 9.2 Object Oriented Java Tutorial: GETTER and SETTER to get and set Field. Introduction to C. C, as we all know is an extension to C language and was developed by Bjarne stroustrup at bell labs. C is an intermediate level language, as it comprises a confirmation of both high level and low level language features. The Java Tutorials have been written for JDK 8. Examples and practices described in this page don't take advantage of improvements introduced in later releases and might use technology no longer available. This tutorial about OOPS Principles, OOPS concepts in order to design strong object-oriented design for Java or J2EE Web Applications. All OOPS concepts are explained with real-world examples, lots of source code with an explanation, applicability, class diagrams, etc.
C tutorial-Learn C programming language abstract class:An abstract class is created for the purpose of being inherited. We cannot create objects from the abstract class. 16. Object Oriented Programming¶ There are at least three different approaches to object oriented programming in R. We examine two of them, the S3 and S4 classes. 27/11/2019 · PHP is the most popular scripting language on the web. Without PHP Facebook, Yahoo, Google wouldn't have exist. The course is geared to make you a PHP pro. Once you digest all basics, the course will help you create your very own Opinion Poll application. Just a full form of PHP. In the 1960s, object-oriented programming was put into practice with the Simula language, which introduced important concepts that are today an essential part of object-oriented programming, such as class and object, inheritance, and dynamic binding. Simula was also designed to take account of programming and data security. “Object-oriented programming is an exceptionally bad idea which could only have originated in California.” -- Edsger Dijkstra, 1972 Turing Award winner. 5 Tutorial Progression • Idea – I progressively add features, rather than throwing many new ideas in all at once.
¿Hay Algo Como Siri Para Android? | http://creationqc.com/Oops%20C%20%20%20%20Tutorial |
It takes about three to six months to learn PHP depending on how much time you commit. PHP has a favorable syntax which makes it a great starting point for anyone interested in learning about back-end web development. If you commit to studying part-time, learning PHP in three to six months is a reasonable goal.
Is PHP difficult to learn?
In general, PHP is regarded as an easy programming language to master for people just starting to learn to program. As with any programming language, PHP has rules of coding, abbreviations, and algorithms. … Naturally, if you have a background in programming, you’ll probably have a head-start in the process.
Is PHP worth learning in 2020?
Is learning PHP worth it in 2021?
How can I learn PHP fast?
6 tips to learn PHP fast and effectively
- Build an application. After learning the basic language constructs start making something on your own. …
- Start using an mvc framework. …
- Read the documentation. …
- Start freelancing. …
- Watch other applications and learn. …
- Go to irc.
Is PHP easier than Python?
For beginners, Python is much easier. PHP, on the other hand, can be a bit tough for novice programmers. PHP was designed to create simple personal pages but off late it has grown in complexity. The PHP developer community is trying hard to provide a lot of support for new programmers.
Is C++ similar to PHP?
C++ and PHP share some similarity in paradigm and syntax. Both are imperative, object-oriented languages and both use C-like syntax, such as similar control structures, curly-brackets for code blocks and semi-colon to terminate statement.
Can I replace PHP with python?
Is it possible to use Python for web development in the same way that PHP is used? In other words, can I add some python code among my HTML that gets run on the server and possibly adds to the HTML? yes, you can.
Is Java better than PHP?
Java is considered to be a more secure language, compared to PHP. It has more built-in security features while PHP developers have to opt for other frameworks. However, in terms of security, Java works better for complex projects because it can block some features in low-level programming to protect the PC.
Does Facebook still use PHP?
Facebook still uses PHP, but it has built a compiler for it so it can be turned into native code on its web servers, thus boosting performance. Facebook uses Linux, but has optimized it for its own purposes (especially in terms of network throughput).
Is YouTube still written in PHP?
Their development typically involves server-side coding, client-side coding and database technology. The programming languages applied to deliver similar dynamic web content however vary vastly between various sites.
…
Programming languages used in most popular websites.
|Websites||YouTube|
|Perl||No|
|PHP||No|
|Python||Yes|
Should I learn PHP or WordPress?
It depends on the purpose, you are using WordPress. If you are a non technical user and just want to use WordPress to make your website. Then no need to learn PHP. If you are a developer and want to make career in WordPress development, then yes you must lean about PHP to better understand about WordPress.
Can I learn PHP in a week?
Well, learning PHP in one week it’s possible it’s not that difficult. if you have good background in programming. in one week you will be able to understanding the basic of PHP but you won’t be able to create a complicated application.
Is PHP good for beginners?
For beginner coders and those just diving into WordPress development, PHP is one of the best places you can start. It’s a super simple and straightforward language, making it one of the best programming language to learn, so it’s fairly easy to get into, and it makes up the backbone of online development.
Which is best PHP or Python? | https://solution4magento.com/java/how-long-will-it-take-me-to-learn-php.html |
The choice of what techniques to use in bridging the gap between the pure ideas of computer science and the realities of practical programming is impacted by the venue - the workplace, the classroom and the laboratory all have different needs. Van Roy and Haridi present “a new way to teach programming” that exposes and challenges the basic assumptions of typical classroom computer science education, with the goal of empowering the student with a strong grasp of underlying principles balanced by some experience with practical application.
The classroom is the first place many people get exposed to computer science and programming but many professional programmers are self-taught, and regardless of their pedigree, classroom computer science education is a scarce resource. Ultimately I’m interested in how the concepts that Van Roy and Haridi champion can be applied to professional programming. How can we harness the power of kernel language concepts and shine the light on the eternal question of “how computers work.”
“We present the kernel language approach, a new way to teach programming that situates most of the widely-known programming paradigms (including imperative, object-oriented, concurrent, logic, and functional) in a uniform setting that shows their deep relationships and how to use them together.”
“Widely-different practical languages…are explained by straightforward translations into closely-related kernel languages, simple languages that consist of small numbers of programmer-significant concepts.”
These two quotes sum up the what and the how of the kernel language approach. In terms of the kernel language itself, it is in fact its own programming language, a sort of “runnable pseudocode” that is executable in the Mozart/Oz platform.
At this point it is easy to indulge the “practical” part of your brain that says that there’s no point in studying a language that you can’t use in production. I often have to remind myself that I didn’t learn to program in a language that I ended up using in any professional capacity, and that many around me learned with an entirely different toolchain, an entirely different mindset, an entirely different venue. The point isn’t to learn a new language, it’s to learn new concepts, how to apply them, and how to draw conclusions about what paradigms are applicable to what situations based on that understanding.
According to the text, programming is typically taught in one of three different ways:
As a Craft - You learn one language, deeply. Its paradigms become the lens through which you learn everything practical and theoretical about Computer Science. Your knowledge and experience veer more toward the practical than the theoretical. You end up, for example, being an “Object Oriented Java Developer” or a “Functional Haskell Developer.” The authors criticize this method by citing an example of how the defects of a specific language or paradigm may excessively shape the thinking and practice of a student, e.g. believing that “Concurrency is hard” because “Concurrency in Java is hard.” This is how most professional programmers that I have met learned the language that they use professionally, and consequently how they have learned many concepts of Computer Science.
As a Branch of Mathematics - Your practical knowledge is superseded by a deeper understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of programming, typically limited to one language and paradigm. You are restricted in terms of practical application by the theoretical approach. The authors criticize this approach as narrow, citing semi-successful attempts by such luminaries as Dijkstra, but themselves aim to cover a broader range of concepts.
In Terms of Concepts - Your knowledge is concept first, typically taught with a programming language that, like Scheme, has “no syntax” and is as transparent as possible. Concepts such as logic, recursion, algorithms, etc. are covered. This approach, which the authors feel their work is most in line with, is also found in The Structure and Intrepretation of Computer Programs. Criticisms are leveled at the single language approach, lack of formal semantics, and missing fundamental concepts of their predecessors in this category, however.
Considering the pitfalls of the above approaches, the central question of the text becomes:
“How can we teach programming as a unified discipline?”
Because it seems apparent that teaching each separate concept through a representative language (some each of Haskell, Java, Erlang, etc.):
“…multiplies the intellectual effort of the student and instructor (since each language has its own syntax and semantics) but does not show the deep connections between the paradigms.”
My own personal computer science education history consists of:
After many many years of the above, reading through the kernel language approach material in CTM made the syntax and semantics connections clearer, and also improved my understanding of the actual mechanics of the abstract machines that run them.
After outlining the methods that they have observed, the authors make it clear that they want to communicate through concepts, to highlight the interface between the programmer and the raw concepts involved in interpreting and computing results from programs. In other words:
“In the kernel language approach, programming paradigms and their requisite languages are emergent phenomena”
This is a very powerful idea. It highlights the interconnectedness of programming languages by placing them on something like a continuum. Instead of using a practical programming language to learn concepts, you use concepts to learn programming languages. Not only programming languages, but their motivations, their design, the beauty in their structure. All that, and a reasonable intermediate representation to boot.
The essence of the approach is:
This diagram shows the steps for extending the initial kernel language to become more expressive by adding functional abstractions and syntactic sugar:
The simplest core of the language is functional. Various types of state are added, cautiously, as are concurrency, object systems, and more. The authors are very clear, especially with respect to state and concurrency, that these powerful concepts have to be added and treated seriously. In my opinion the semantics they lay out for each successively more complex language are very clear, insightful representations of the essence of what these languages can express. The progression from one kernel language to another is simple and easy to follow.
One of the more interesting sections of the paper is where the authors outline the approach known as the “Creative Extension Principle” that they use to systematize the means by which kernel languages are extended. They explain that they consider the simplicity of the semantics and the potential complexity of the resulting programs when determining when and how to add features to the kernel languages. This “layered” approach is very continuous and allows for a lot of different combinations of concepts.
I thought I would include an example kernel language, in this case the language for relational programming, as presented in the CTM book. It’s not necessary to explain any of it here, and they don’t include it in the paper, but if you’re just experiencing these ideas for the first time, it’s nice to be able to see some context, so you can get a sense of the limited number of forms that the language has, of its capabilities syntax wise, and a basic sense of the semantics.
Teaching each of the concepts represented in the flow diagram, and showing how simple steps in combination can be used to actually “create” the syntax and semantics of new languages like the one above is the core of the paper’s message.
Because you can see very clearly how the interactions between the available operations work in a more correct, pure environment, you can apply that understanding when you write code in a practical programming language. For example, Van Roy and Haridi cite experience with students who knew how to program in Java with objects and state, but gained an actual understanding for how objects operate by using the kernel language approach.
The authors do not concern themselves with many of the practical aspects of professional programming in this paper by virtue of the fact that they’re trying to explain their approach to concepts, not design. However the novelty of the kernel language approach does apply to at least a few different professional scenarios:
There is often an artificial line drawn between the professional and the academic, but this isn’t necessary. The formal aspects of the kernel language approach may seem intimidating at first but are very much digestible.
Many professional programmers jump straight into the most complex form of programming without exposure to the concepts the kernel language approach encompasses. This raises the question: are we limiting the potential of our workforce by limiting people’s exposure to one paradigm only? This causes a tremendous amount of churn and cognitive dissonance that doesn’t have to hold back developers as much as it does. My personally very slow, arduous journey towards making the connections between the various programming languages and paradigms (even those I have experience with) is a testament to the power of the potential of the kernel language approach.
Instead of hiring developers to write code in a specific language, we should encourage cross-paradigm movement and expose our developers to as many different concepts of Computer Science as possible. Those who know both broadly and deeply will have a better chance of forming the kinds of intuition that make for successful, productive programmers.
Thank you to @gordondiggs, @timonk, amd @eallam for your thoughtful and helpful reviews. | https://michaelrbernste.in/2013/02/23/notes-on-teaching-with-the-kernel-language-approach.html |
Godina izdanja: 2020.
Python is the preferred choice of developers, engineers, data scientists, and hobbyists everywhere.
It is a great language that can power your applications and provide great speed, safety, and scalability. It can be used for simple scripting or sophisticated web applications. By exposing Python as a series of simple recipes, this book gives you insight into specific language features in a particular context. Having a tangible context helps make the language or a given standard library feature easier to understand.
This book comes with 133 recipes on the latest version of Python 3.8. The recipes will benefit everyone, from beginners just starting out with Python to experts. You'll not only learn Python programming concepts but also how to build complex applications.
The recipes will touch upon all necessary Python concepts related to data structures, object oriented programming, functional programming, and statistical programming. You will get acquainted with the nuances of Python syntax and how to effectively take advantage of it.
By the end of this Python book, you will be equipped with knowledge of testing, web services, configuration, and application integration tips and tricks. You will be armed with the knowledge of how to create applications with flexible logging, powerful configuration, command-line options, automated unit tests, and good documentation.
Table of contents
• Marjan
Knjiga koja stoji pored laptopa/tastature računara. | https://knjige.kombib.rs/modern-python-cookbook-second-edition |
# Imperative programming
In computer science, imperative programming is a programming paradigm of software that uses statements that change a program's state. In much the same way that the imperative mood in natural languages expresses commands, an imperative program consists of commands for the computer to perform. Imperative programming focuses on describing how a program operates step by step, rather than on high-level descriptions of its expected results.
The term is often used in contrast to declarative programming, which focuses on what the program should accomplish without specifying all the details of how the program should achieve the result.
## Imperative and procedural programming
Procedural programming is a type of imperative programming in which the program is built from one or more procedures (also termed subroutines or functions). The terms are often used as synonyms, but the use of procedures has a dramatic effect on how imperative programs appear and how they are constructed. Heavy procedural programming, in which state changes are localized to procedures or restricted to explicit arguments and returns from procedures, is a form of structured programming. From the 1960s onwards, structured programming and modular programming in general have been promoted as techniques to improve the maintainability and overall quality of imperative programs. The concepts behind object-oriented programming attempt to extend this approach.
Procedural programming could be considered a step toward declarative programming. A programmer can often tell, simply by looking at the names, arguments, and return types of procedures (and related comments), what a particular procedure is supposed to do, without necessarily looking at the details of how it achieves its result. At the same time, a complete program is still imperative since it fixes the statements to be executed and their order of execution to a large extent.
## Rationale and foundations of imperative programming
The programming paradigm used to build programs for almost all computers typically follows an imperative model. Digital computer hardware is designed to execute machine code, which is native to the computer and is usually written in the imperative style, although low-level compilers and interpreters using other paradigms exist for some architectures such as lisp machines.
From this low-level perspective, the program state is defined by the contents of memory, and the statements are instructions in the native machine language of the computer. Higher-level imperative languages use variables and more complex statements, but still follow the same paradigm. Recipes and process checklists, while not computer programs, are also familiar concepts that are similar in style to imperative programming; each step is an instruction, and the physical world holds the state. Since the basic ideas of imperative programming are both conceptually familiar and directly embodied in the hardware, most computer languages are in the imperative style.
Assignment statements, in imperative paradigm, perform an operation on information located in memory and store the results in memory for later use. High-level imperative languages, in addition, permit the evaluation of complex expressions, which may consist of a combination of arithmetic operations and function evaluations, and the assignment of the resulting value to memory. Looping statements (as in while loops, do while loops, and for loops) allow a sequence of statements to be executed multiple times. Loops can either execute the statements they contain a predefined number of times, or they can execute them repeatedly until some condition is met. Conditional branching statements allow a sequence of statements to be executed only if some condition is met. Otherwise, the statements are skipped and the execution sequence continues from the statement following them. Unconditional branching statements allow an execution sequence to be transferred to another part of a program. These include the jump (called goto in many languages), switch, and the subprogram, subroutine, or procedure call (which usually returns to the next statement after the call).
Early in the development of high-level programming languages, the introduction of the block enabled the construction of programs in which a group of statements and declarations could be treated as if they were one statement. This, alongside the introduction of subroutines, enabled complex structures to be expressed by hierarchical decomposition into simpler procedural structures.
Many imperative programming languages (such as Fortran, BASIC, and C) are abstractions of assembly language.
## History of imperative and object-oriented languages
The earliest imperative languages were the machine languages of the original computers. In these languages, instructions were very simple, which made hardware implementation easier but hindered the creation of complex programs. FORTRAN, developed by John Backus at International Business Machines (IBM) starting in 1954, was the first major programming language to remove the obstacles presented by machine code in the creation of complex programs. FORTRAN was a compiled language that allowed named variables, complex expressions, subprograms, and many other features now common in imperative languages. The next two decades saw the development of many other major high-level imperative programming languages. In the late 1950s and 1960s, ALGOL was developed in order to allow mathematical algorithms to be more easily expressed and even served as the operating system's target language for some computers. MUMPS (1966) carried the imperative paradigm to a logical extreme, by not having any statements at all, relying purely on commands, even to the extent of making the IF and ELSE commands independent of each other, connected only by an intrinsic variable named $TEST. COBOL (1960) and BASIC (1964) were both attempts to make programming syntax look more like English. In the 1970s, Pascal was developed by Niklaus Wirth, and C was created by Dennis Ritchie while he was working at Bell Laboratories. Wirth went on to design Modula-2 and Oberon. For the needs of the United States Department of Defense, Jean Ichbiah and a team at Honeywell began designing Ada in 1978, after a 4-year project to define the requirements for the language. The specification was first published in 1983, with revisions in 1995, 2005, and 2012.
The 1980s saw a rapid growth in interest in object-oriented programming. These languages were imperative in style, but added features to support objects. The last two decades of the 20th century saw the development of many such languages. Smalltalk-80, originally conceived by Alan Kay in 1969, was released in 1980, by the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Drawing from concepts in another object-oriented language—Simula (which is considered the world's first object-oriented programming language, developed in the 1960s)—Bjarne Stroustrup designed C++, an object-oriented language based on C. Design of C++ began in 1979 and the first implementation was completed in 1983. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the notable imperative languages drawing on object-oriented concepts were Perl, released by Larry Wall in 1987; Python, released by Guido van Rossum in 1990; Visual Basic and Visual C++ (which included Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC) 2.0), released by Microsoft in 1991 and 1993 respectively; PHP, released by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994; Java, by James Gosling (Sun Microsystems) in 1995, JavaScript, by Brendan Eich (Netscape), and Ruby, by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, both released in 1995. Microsoft's .NET Framework (2002) is imperative at its core, as are its main target languages, VB.NET and C# that run on it; however Microsoft's F#, a functional language, also runs on it.
## Examples
### Fortran
FORTRAN (1958) was unveiled as "The IBM Mathematical FORmula TRANslating system." It was designed for scientific calculations, without string handling facilities. Along with declarations, expressions, and statements, it supported:
arrays. subroutines. "do" loops.
It succeeded because:
programming and debugging costs were below computer running costs. it was supported by IBM. applications at the time were scientific.
However, non IBM vendors also wrote Fortran compilers, but with a syntax that would likely fail IBM's compiler. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) developed the first Fortran standard in 1966. In 1978, Fortran 77 became the standard until 1991. Fortran 90 supports:
records. pointers to arrays.
### COBOL
COBOL (1959) stands for "COmmon Business Oriented Language." Fortran manipulated symbols. It was soon realized that symbols didn't need to be numbers, so strings were introduced. The US Department of Defense influenced COBOL's development, with Grace Hopper being a major contributor. The statements were English-like and verbose. The goal was to design a language so managers could read the programs. However, the lack of structured statements hindered this goal.
COBOL's development was tightly controlled, so dialects didn't emerge to require ANSI standards. As a consequence, it wasn't changed for 25 years until 1974. The 1990s version did make consequential changes, like object-oriented programming.
### Algol
ALGOL (1960) stands for "ALGOrithmic Language." It had a profound influence on programming language design. Emerging from a committee of European and American programming language experts, it used standard mathematical notation and had a readable structured design. Algol was first to define its syntax using the Backus–Naur form. This led to syntax-directed compilers. It added features like:
block structure, where variables were local to their block. arrays with variable bounds. "for" loops. functions. recursion.
Algol's direct descendants include Pascal, Modula-2, Ada, Delphi and Oberon on one branch. On another branch there's C, C++ and Java.
### Basic
BASIC (1964) stands for "Beginner's All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code." It was developed at Dartmouth College for all of their students to learn. If a student didn't go on to a more powerful language, the student would still remember Basic. A Basic interpreter was installed in the microcomputers manufactured in the late 1970s. As the microcomputer industry grew, so did the language.
Basic pioneered the interactive session. It offered operating system commands within its environment:
The 'new' command created an empty slate. Statements evaluated immediately. Statements could be programmed by preceding them with a line number. The 'list' command displayed the program. The 'run' command executed the program.
However, the Basic syntax was too simple for large programs. Recent dialects added structure and object-oriented extensions. Microsoft's Visual Basic is still widely used and produces a graphical user interface.
### C
C programming language (1973) got its name because the language BCPL was replaced with B, and AT&T Bell Labs called the next version "C." Its purpose was to write the UNIX operating system. C is a relatively small language -- making it easy to write compilers. Its growth mirrored the hardware growth in the 1980s. Its growth also was because it has the facilities of assembly language, but uses a high-level syntax. It added advanced features like:
inline assembler. arithmetic on pointers. pointers to functions. bit operations. freely combining complex operators.
C allows the programmer to control which region of memory data is to be stored. Global variables and static variables require the fewest clock cycles to store. The stack is automatically used for the standard variable declarations. Heap memory is returned to a pointer variable from the malloc() function.
The global and static data region is located just above the program region. (The program region is technically called the text region. It's where machine instructions are stored.)
The stack region is a contiguous block of memory located near the top memory address. Variables placed in the stack, ironically, are populated from top to bottom. A stack pointer is a special-purpose register that keeps track of the last memory address populated. Variables are placed into the stack via the assembly language PUSH instruction. Therefore, the addresses of these variables are set during runtime. The method for stack variables to lose their scope is via the POP instruction.
The heap region is located below the stack. It is populated from the bottom to the top. The operating system manages the heap using a heap pointer and a list of allocated memory blocks. Like the stack, the addresses of heap variables are set during runtime. An out of memory error occurs when the heap pointer and the stack pointer meet.
### C++
In the 1970s, software engineers needed language support to break large projects down into modules. One obvious feature was to decompose large projects physically into separate files. A less obvious feature was to decompose large projects logically into abstract datatypes. At the time, languages supported concrete (scalar) datatypes like integer numbers, floating-point numbers, and strings of characters. Concrete datatypes have their representation as part of their name. Abstract datatypes are structures of concrete datatypes — with a new name assigned. For example, a list of integers could be called integer_list.
In object-oriented jargon, abstract datatypes are called classes. However, a class is only a definition; no memory is allocated. When memory is allocated to a class, it's called an object.
Object-oriented imperative languages developed by combining the need for classes and the need for safe functional programming. A function, in an object-oriented language, is assigned to a class. An assigned function is then referred to as a method, member function, or operation. Object-oriented programming is executing operations on objects.
Object-oriented languages support a syntax to model subset/superset relationships. In set theory, an element of a subset inherits all the attributes contained in the superset. For example, a student is a person. Therefore, the set of students is a subset of the set of persons. As a result, students inherit all the attributes common to all persons. Additionally, students have unique attributes that other persons don't have. Object-oriented languages model subset/superset relationships using inheritance. Object-oriented programming became the dominant language paradigm by the late 1990s.
C++ (1985) was originally called "C with Classes." It was designed to expand C's capabilities by adding the object-oriented facilities of the language Simula.
An object-oriented module is composed of two files. The definitions file is called the header file. Here is a C++ header file for the GRADE class in a simple school application:
A constructor operation is a function with the same name as the class name. It is executed when the calling operation executes the new statement.
A module's other file is the source file. Here is a C++ source file for the GRADE class in a simple school application:
Here is a C++ header file for the PERSON class in a simple school application:
Here is a C++ source file for the PERSON class in a simple school application:
Here is a C++ header file for the STUDENT class in a simple school application:
Here is a C++ source file for the STUDENT class in a simple school application:
Here is a driver program for demonstration:
Here is a makefile to compile everything: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperative_programming_language |
A beginner data system developer can choose to focus on one of the programming languages, which will help master the difficult science of machine learning as quickly as possible. Nonetheless, it would be hard to advise which programming language is the best. The success of the developer in this area depends on various factors, so let's try to analyze them in detail in this article.
Specificity
You have to be ready for the fact that as you deepen your specific knowledge in this area, you will have to reinvent the wheel on your own over and over again at each stage. Besides, you will have to find out how to correctly use all kinds of software packages and modules necessary for mastering the language you chose. How well and quickly you master it depends, first of all, on the availability of subject-oriented software packages for PL you chose.
Versatility
An experienced data specialist should possess excellent overall programming abilities, be able to carry out calculations and draw appropriate conclusions independently. Most of the regular work in the area of data science is aimed at finding, processing and adjusting the source data. Unfortunately, even the most advanced solutions for machine learning will not help solve the task in an automatic mode completely.
Efficiency
Commercial data science is developing rapidly in the modern world, offering new opportunities to get the expected result quickly. However, due to the rapid development of machine learning technologies, they are constantly accompanied by technical flaws, and your hard work can minimize them.
Performance
You are to improve the performance of the code you created quite often, especially processing massive arrays of data of particular concern. Important to note is that as a rule, compiled languages work much quicker than interpreted ones. Statically typed languages are much more fault-tolerant than dynamically typed ones. It appears that a decrease in productivity will be the only compromise.
Each of the programming languages presented below, to varying degrees, has one parameter in one or another group: versatility - specificity; performance - convenience.
The Most Sought-After Machine Programming Languages
Given these basic principles, let's find out more about some of the most famous languages used in machine learning. All the information below on the advantages and disadvantages of programming languages is based on the experience of highly qualified specialists.
Python
The Python PL was introduced by Guido van Rossum in 1991. This language has become very popular with general-purpose and machine learning and is broadly used by specialists from all over the world lately. Python has a wide scope: it can be used in web development, game development, data analysis, and much more. The main working versions are currently represented by Python 3.6 and Python 2.7. Besides free license and numerous professional modules, developers of online services are attracted by a number of advantages:
- The simplicity of learning the product. Python has a comfortable low entry threshold, and therefore it is an ideal programming language for beginners.
- Using software like scikit-learn, pandas, and Tensorflow makes Python one of the most reliable machine learning applications.
Perfect software does not exist yet, so you need to be aware of Python’s flaws:
- Like all dynamically typed languages, Python does not provide absolute type-safety. When working with Python, a developer should be especially careful as errors are often encountered with type mismatches. For example, when passing an argument (string) to a method that expects an integer.
- When analyzing data or statistics, the R language is often faster and safer than Python.
Python is used by programmers who:
- Want to understand data analysis quickly;
- Are beginners to data analysis;
- Work with statistical methods.
Conclusion: Python is a great option for machine learning at all levels - from beginner to advanced. Since the main task is to extract/convert/load data, Python is an optimal language in this regard. Programs such as Google's Tensorflow are worthy of a machine learning developer`s attention. The simple syntax allows you to write and debug code easily. It is easier for a Python developer to display information or visualize data on a site or in a web application.
R
This programming language appeared in 1995; it was written in C and Fortran and represents a new generation of programming languages. This project, with a free license, has been one of the most popular for more than twenty years. The advantages of R:
- An excellent set of high-quality open source object-oriented packages. R has at its disposal packages for almost any quantitative and statistical application that you can imagine. This covers neural networks, nonlinear regression, phylogenetics, the construction of complex diagrams, charts, and much more.
- Besides the basic installation, we have the opportunity to install extensive built-in functions and methods. R also handles matrix algebra data perfectly.
- The capability to visualize data is an important advantage, as is the ability to use various libraries, for example, ggplot2.
Advantages for software developers:
- R allows working with large amounts of data;
- Statistical models are written in several lines;
- Work with complex calculations is greatly simplified.
Disadvantages:
- Far from the highest performance. There is nothing to say in its defense: R is not fast.
- Specificity. R is great for statistical research and data science, but not so versatile when it comes to programming for general purposes.
- Other features. R has several unusual features that can confuse developers who are used to working with other languages: indexing starts with 1, the use of several assignment operators, and unusual data structures.
Conclusion: R is ideal for initial purposes. In the past, R was primarily used in scientific research, but it is rapidly expanding to the corporate market due to the growing popularity of BigData now. This is a powerful language that has a huge range of applications for collecting statistical data and data visualization, and this open-source language has many fans among developers. This programming language achieved wide popularity due to its effectiveness for the initial purposes.
C#
The C# programming language has a lot of fans today, a large number of which are companies and start-ups creating indie games and 3D games. The benefits of this language include:
- Support for the vast majority of Microsoft products.
- Tools Visual Studio, Azure Cloud, Windows Server, Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro, and many others are free for small companies and individual developers.
- A large amount of syntactic sugar, which is a special construct designed to understand and write code.
- The C# language entry threshold is low. Its syntax has a lot in common with other programming languages, making the transition easier for programmers. The C# is considered the most understandable and suitable for beginners.
- After purchasing Xamarin in C#, you can write programs and applications for operating systems such as iOS, Android, macOS, and Linux.
- There is a whole community of experienced developers.
- There are many job opportunities for C# developers nowadays.
Disadvantages:
- Priority focus on the Windows platform;
- The language is free only for small firms, individual programmers, startups, and students. The licensed version of this programming language will cost quite a sum for a large company;
- The language left the possibility of using the unconditional jump operator.
Conclusion: the C# language is not particularly difficult for beginners, as it is easy to learn and understand.
Final Verdict
R is becoming the most popular programming language for the implementation of the data analysis task, but some experts still turn to Python, since it is more convenient for manipulating data, displaying it, and analytics on web pages and applications, as well as working with repetitive tasks. If there is a need to create a tool for analytics at the initial stage of a project, it is better to choose R.
What about C#? This programming language is designed specifically for Microsoft products, so it is ideally integrated into Windows and absolutely all existing and upcoming Microsoft products. Certainly, C# will be in demand as long as Microsoft is relevant. If we consider the immediate approach, today’s 20-30 years old developer will have more than enough work until they grow old. | https://www.ssa-data.com/blog/archive/best-programming-languages-for-machine-learning/ |
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a server-side language that was specifically designed for web development in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf. While PHP is often considered easier to learn as a first programming language, special consideration and best practices need to be followed to ensure security and proper implementation. As with many programming languages, Procedural PHP is where many get their start. However, with the popularity and usefulness of Object Oriented Languages such as Java, C#, C++ and Python; PHP evolved to be optionally written using Object Oriented principles. Older Object Oriented Languages including C# and Java have libraries of classes and methods that "come with" the language itself. Although PHP's implementation is much different in this respect, what it lacks in pre-written functionality allows it to be extremely flexible when the programmer is allowed to write custom classes, methods and libraries.
PHP frameworks also assisted in the solution of pre-written classes and methods. Early frameworks, which are commonly debated as frameworks, were Phplib and PEAR which were introduced between 2000 and 2002. While the amount and sophistication of PHP frameworks slowly grew, its truly powerful object oriented and MVC (Model View Controller) really took off in 2005 when both CakePHP and Symfony took off. Alongside them were TinyMVC, CodeIgniter, and Zend.
While Symfony, Zend, and CodeIgniter each provided follow up versions in the meantime, Laravel (an MVC framework based on Symfony itself) was introduced in 2011 with Laravel 2 upgrading it the same year. Laravel is currently on version 5 and is arguably the most popular and widely used PHP frameworks. Of course, CakePHP, Zend, and Symfony continue to advance as well.
One of the forthcoming examples is an application that I originally developed as a course project which involved listing course ID's, course title, the semester in which the course was taken, professor's name, and the grade received. The program demonstrated the ability to create, update, view and remove courses and fields in this list, which was displayed in HTML using a table. This is otherwise known as a CRUD application, which is an acronym for "Create, Read, Update, and Delete".
CSS (or Cascading Styling Sheets) is still one of my favorite codes to play with even though isn't programming. The challenge of achieving the visual/user interface design along with the "WOW" factor has always been exciting. CSS is a stylesheet language that was introduced in 1996 after styling had begun to be added to HTML standards as need to give pages more than a "white background and black text" look quickly arose. It's still often explained to beginners that HTML is the structure, CSS is the "look and feel". CSS's syntax ranges from very simple to fairly complex. Much can be done using HTML tags alone, however without classes and ID's, it would be extremely difficult to maintain even the most basic of sites. Pseudo-classes are also extremely useful to put conditions on styles without the use of programming, such as when a link is being hovered by a mouse. CSS Preprocessors have also evolved by, at least, when Sass(Syntatically Awesome StyleSheets) was introduced in 2006. Other very common examples are Less (influenced by Sass) and Stylus.
Python is a general-purpose programming language, some refer to it as a scripted or interpreted language, that was developed by Dutch programmer, Guido van Rossum in 1991. Python is used in both web applications and desktop applications for a range of very small to very complex projects. It comes with a standard library "out of the box" which contains many of the components needed for complex applications. Many programmers prefer this language for smaller applications that can be written and developed very quickly. However, it's also used in very large web applications such as Reddit, which is written entirely in Python. It is also used within development to script tests and other simple scripts to be run within applications.
Arriving in 2010, C# is a strong-typed programming language that is based on both C++ and Java. C# was developed as a multi-paradigm programming language which allows it to encompass the object oriented, functional, and many other programming paradigms. It was also designed and developed for CLI (Client Language Infrastructure) which enables the ability to write code that doesn't have to be rewritten or amended for different platform architectures. It's often referred to be platform agnostic meaning a C# compiler (which translates human readable program code into machine language(binary) could be C++ based.
Though other high-level programming languages such as Java, Python, Perl, Ruby and many more implement specific features and classes that enable functionality such as encapsulation (which increases security), C# is arguably particularly popular with many developers for various reasons. A very common reason is the frequency in which C#'s syntax and libraries are updated. Version 5.0 add Async Features and Caller Information, Version 6.0 added primary structures, exception filters and other features.
Built with C# and ontop of Microsoft's ASP.NET foundation and alongside another ASP.NET CMS (Kentico) is the hugely popular Content Management System, Umbraco. Known for being both user friendly as well as developer friendly, Umbraco features a powerful "BackOffice" that allows access and manuplation to data types, document types, macros/partials, templates and XSLT files conveniently through its BackOffice interface. Additionally, using Visual Studio, Umbraco can be extended into a full fledged MVC system to apply and implement even further customizations. Unlike PHP's Wordpress, developers have much more freedom in customizing and mixing high level programming code with HTML markup using ASP.NET's templating and rendering language: Razor. Specific web server configurations can be modified through the web.config files as well as configuring specific properties, rules, and even assigning specific CSS stylesheets to more than one property editor and events. Umbraco also boasts its "friendliest community" and documentation at Our.Umbraco. | http://portfolio.brianwardwell.com/coding/general |
This episode is about compile-time metaprogramming, and specifically, about implementing DSLs via compile-time metaprogramming. Our guest, Laurence Tratt, illustrates the idea with his (research) programming language called Converge.
We started by talking about the importance of a custom syntax for DSL and took a brief look at the definition of DSLs by a chap called Paul Hudak. We then briefly covered the disctinction between internal and external DSLs.
More to the point of this episode, we discussed the concept of compile-time metaprogramming, and the language features necessary to achieve it: in converge, these concepts are called splice, quasi-quote and insertion. We then looked at how the Converge compiler works, and at the additional features that are required to implement DSLs based on the metaprogramming features mentioned above. Using an example, we then walked through how to implement a simple DSL.
Looking at some of the more technical details, we discussed the difference between the parse tree and the abstract syntax tree and at different kinds of parsers – specifically, the Earley parser used by Converge. In multi-stage languages (i.e. languages that execute programs and meta programs) error reporting is important, but non trivial. We discussed how this is done in Converge. We finally looked at how to integrate Converge’s expression language into your DSL and how to package DSL definition for later use.
The last segment look at the process of implementing a DSL in converge and about some of the history and practical experience with Converge. Lessons learned from building Converge wrap up the episode.
Episode 52: DSL Development in Ruby
In this episode, we’re talking to Obie Fernandez about agile DSL development in Ruby. We started our discussion by defining what a DSL is, the difference between internal and external DSLs as well as the importance of the flexibly syntax of the host language in order to make DSLs worthwhile. We then looked at a couple of real world examples for DSLs, specifically, at Business Natural Languages. We then progressed to the main part of the discussions, which centered around the features of Ruby that are important for building DSLs. These include the flexible handling of parentheses, symbols, blocks as well as literal arrays and hashes. We then discussed Ruby’s meta programming feautures and how they are important for building DSLs: instantiation, method_missing callback, class macros, top level
functions and sandboxing. Features like eval, class_eval, instance_eval and define_method are also important for DSLs in
Ruby, as well as using alias_method for simple AOP.
Episode 49: Dynamic Languages for Static Minds
In this Episode we talk about dynamic languages for statically-typed minds, or in other words: which are the interesting features people should learn when they go from a langauge such as Java or C# to a language like Python or Ruby. We used Ruby as the concrete example language.
We started the discussion about important features with the concept of dynamically changing an object’s type and the idea of message passing. We then looked at the concepts of blocks and closures. Next in line is a discussion about functions that create functions as well as currying. This lead into a quick discussion about continuations. Open classes, aliasing and the relationship to AOP was next on our agenda.
We then looked considered a somewhat more engineering-oriented view and looked at the importance of testing and what are the best steps of getting from static programming to dynamic programming. Finally, we discussed a bit about the current (as of October 2006) state of dynamic languages on mainstream platforms. | https://www.se-radio.net/tag/meta-programming/ |
YARN:
- Big Bad Wool Weepaca (50% fine washable merino, 50% baby alpaca; 95 yds / 86 m per 50 g skein): 1 skein each of 2 colors
- US size 6 / 4.0 mm straight needles (or appropriate size needles to achieve correct gauge)
- Tapestry needle
- Crochet needle for Provisional Cast-On
- Stitch markers
Pattern Download Information
Patterns are in PDF format. You will be able to download your pattern direct after checkout and through an emailed link. Patterns purchased from Pam Powers Knits will be stored under your account and can be downloaded at any time. You will also be given the option to store your pattern in your Ravelry library after checkout.
Yardage Information
Gauge is extremely important for all of our patterns. The yardage for yarn included in our knitting kits is based on the amount of yarn required to make the sample plus an additional 15%.
If your row and/or stitch gauge is larger than what is listed on the pattern, you may not have enough yarn to complete your project. If you require more yarn, additional yarn is available at the regular per skein cost and will be shipped to you free of charge. | https://www.pampowersknits.com/collections/knitting-kits/products/skinny-weepaca |
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5’7” X 8′ Modern Wool & Silk Tufted Shown In Terracotta Orange Red Beige DETAILS Style: modern Size (width): 5’7” Size (length): 8′ Material: Wool & Silk Pattern: Overall Primary Color: Terracotta Additional Colors: Orange,Red,Beige Sku: T0526
This beautiful, Contemporary, Hand-Knotted Tibet Rug is made of high quality wool. It is primarily colored multi-colored. This rug is 5’8”x7’6”. Rug #: 000769
DETAILS Style: Traditional Size (width): 9’2″ Size (length): 11’10” Material: Wool Pattern: Terracotta Primary Color: Salmon Additional Colors: Red and Green Sku: 000515
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A password will be sent to your email address. | https://rugimport.com/product-tag/terracotta/ |
This time, we will introduce you to the “gradation” of digital photos.
We’ll tell you beforehand that in digital images, the term “gradation” is not a gradation representing a continuous color, but a “number of colors” in which colors and colors change intermittently. Therefore, in this article, the gradient representation based on the number of colors is called “gradation.”
8-bit JPEG images for digital cameras
What is a bit?
A bit is the smallest unit of digital data handled by a computer. “1-bit” can indicate two states: “1 or 0” or “On or Off.” As the number of bits increases, the number of information increases. For image data, it is the number of colors.
As shown in the figure above, 2 colors (gradation) are white and black in a 1-bit image and 4 colors (gradation) in a 2-bit image. In the case of 3-bit, the amount of information is doubled with each increment of 1-bit, as in the case of 8 colors (gradation) of “2*2*2.”
Bit and information quantity (number of colors that can be represented)
|1bit||2||2 colors|
|2bit||2*2||4 colors|
|4bit||2*2*2*2||16 colors|
|8bit||2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2 (2 to the power of 8)||256 colors|
|16bit||2*2*2*2*……2*2*2*2*2*2 (2 to the power of 16)||65536 colors|
The “JPEG” data, which you use to shoot with digital cameras, upload to the Internet, and print, has RGB (red, green, blue) information. Each color information is 8-bit (8-bit = 2 to the power of 8), so it has 256 colors. The 256 colors are multiplied to reproduce the full color.
For this reason, a typical JPEG image can display R (256 colors) * G (256 colors) * B (256 colors) = 16777216 colors.
Since this color image has 8-bit information for each RGB channel, it is sometimes referred to as an “8-bit/channel image” or “24-bit image” by adding the number of bits of each color.
Is the amount of information of 8-bit data large? Or Small?
If you hear about 16.67 million colors of the matching, we think some people think it’s a sufficient number of colors, but on the other hand, if you hear about 256 colors of each color, some people think it’s a small number. In order to make the story simple, we would like to introduce a monochrome image as an example first.
Let’s say you’ve taken a photograph of a subject that has a gradient from white to black.
If you shoot with a camera with a pixel count of 4000 pixels on the long side, the 8-bit digital image represents only 256 monochrome colors, so the width of one color is 4000px/256 colors = approximately 16px.
This results in a so-called “stepped gradient” in which the colors change in a band approximately every 16 pixels. As a result, colors and colors may have borders and appear striped.
This is why we introduced digital images as an intermittent “number of colors” rather than a series of “gradations” in the introduction. Especially for monochrome images, it cannot multiply RGB to increase the number of colors, so the 256 achromatic colors are all the colors that can be represented. Even if the data of the digital camera is 50 million or 100 million pixels, the number of colors that can be represented in the data is “256 colors only.”
When an 8-bit image is edited
If you use a tone curve or other method to edit an 8-bit image as described above and change the ratio of light and dark, the original striped borders may become more intense and the connection between color and color may appear worse.
When an RGB image is edited
Since each color is 256 colors even in the RGB solid color gradient, striped borders may become noticeable as in monochrome when editing images. In conclusion, the connection of the gradient will become poor, so 8-bit images are “viewing” data that does not assume adjustment and are not suitable for “image editing” data.
Deterioration in image quality due to editing of JPEG images
Editing 8-bit JPEG images with photo retouching software will result in poor image quality. The degradation of image quality is more pronounced when it comes to color connections (gradations). Now let’s compare the pre-adjustment and post-adjustment images by decomposing them into RGB channels.
Before
The above image is before adjustment. Gradient connections are good, but the dark contrast is low, so we try editing the image with brighter and higher contrast as shown in the image below.
After
The image is now bright and vivid, but at the cost of a tone jump is occurring in the empty gradient of (1). Looking at the RGB channel, you can see noticeably a breakdown in tone, mainly on the red and blue channels.
“RAW development” is a method of suppressing the deterioration of tone and image quality caused by image editing. By using RAW development, you can minimize image corruption.
Using the RAW files appropriate for editing images
As mentioned above, 8-bit image editing will result in image quality degradation due to gradation breakdown.
Therefore, in addition to JPEG, which is a common file format for image editing, some digital single-lens reflex cameras, mirrorless cameras, and high-end compact digital cameras, it is possible to record RAW files. More information about RAW files can be found here.
While typical JPEG images are 8-bit per color (256 colors), RAW files often have a wealth of 12 to 14-bit data. In order to edit RAW files, it is necessary to use RAW development software, and general RAW development software makes it possible to edit images by utilizing the amount of information.
When an 8-bit image is edited with JPEG photo retouching (1), the image quality will be degraded. The degraded image will be saved as the adjusted image.
In RAW files + RAW development of (2), internal processing is performed in 16-bit, so the image processing can be performed with the deterioration of image quality minimized. The image is saved as an 8-bit JPEG or TIFF with no image degradation compared to when JPEG is edited with the photo retouch software.
*The number of RAW files bits recorded differs depending on the camera. As the number of information increases, image quality degradation can be minimized, so SILKYPIX processes RAW files recorded by any camera using 16-bit images suitable for image editing.
RAW development uses RAW files with more information than 8-bit, enabling both a “your image” and “image quality” to be achieved. Then, let’s look at the actual image of what kind of difference will come out.
Comparison of JPEG image retouching and RAW development
Original
The brightness of the entire image is dark and the contrast is low, making the color appear cloudy. For this reason, we made separate adjustments to brighten the Exposure (brightness) and increase the contrast using JPEG + photo retouching software and RAW files + RAW development software and compared the connections between the gradations.
JPEG + photo retouching software
Color, brightness, etc. were able to approach the finished image. However, if you look at an empty gradient, you can see a tone jump that appears in stripes.
RAW files + RAW development software (SILKYPIX)
We developed the image in RAW so that the final image would be the same as the one adjusted by “JPEG + photo retouching software.” The streaky tonal jumps were seen with “JPEG + photo retouching software” did not occur. The gradation of the sky has been beautifully reproduced.
With RAW development, anyone can easily edit images without worrying about poor image quality. If you are using a camera that supports RAW shooting, why not try RAW development to create your own unique photos?
SILKYPIX
The SILKYPIX series is a series of RAW Development software produced in Japan that enables high-quality editing of RAW images taken with digital cameras to produce beautiful pictures. This product is compatible with the RAW files* of camera manufacturers.
It is also supported by many professional photographers and photographers.
In addition, many camera manufacturers have also adopted the software packaged with cameras.
* For more information about supported cameras, please refer to the details of each product.
Check out the video for basic operation instructions! | https://silkypix.isl.co.jp/en/how-to/useful/digital-camera-gradation/ |
Most terminal emulators can support a minimum of 16 colors up to typically 256 colors.
Code for the Perl script to test your terminal: http://pastiebin.com/?page=p&id=4f366a1f3c194
This page will explain how to customize CenterIM5 for basic 16 color support.
Edit colorschemes.xml inside .centerim5 in your home folder.
0 = Black 1 = Red 2 = Green 3 = Yellow 4 = Blue 5 = Purple 6 = Cyan 7 = Gray
When the attributes='bold' is used, the above 8 colors are brighter.
Support beyond 16 colors depends on how your copy of CenterIM5 was built. The method for using additional colors is the same. | http://bugzilla.centerim.org/index.php/Customizing_colors |
DetailsEach pack of Remnant Yarn contains a variety of lengths, sizes, and colors of yarn. Especially suitable to craft projects where varying colors and lengths of yarn are needed. Colors can range from white to bright, fluorescent to earthtone. Contents of each reclosable bag is different.
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UPC 0029444004405 ISBN No Brand Pacon Corporation Mfr Part Number N/A Language N/A Color N/A Season N/A Holiday N/A Theme Other Subject N/A Collection N/A Age No Grade No Media Mail No Aliases PACPAC00440,BJ00440,PAC0000440,BJ-00440
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- See all of the Pacon Corporation products we carry in our school supplies manufacturer section.
- Looking for something similar? View our Yarn or Arts & Crafts sections to find more teacher supplies items similar to Remnant Yarn 1/2 Lb Asst.
- This item may also be listed in our educational supplies store catalog with item IDs PACPAC00440,BJ00440,PAC0000440,BJ-00440. | https://www.dkclassroomoutlet.com/remnant-yarn-1-2-lb-asst |
As already mentioned multiple times the context of an IS matters. As my research takes place within Ethiopia, which definitely is a developing country, it make sense to find some challenges commonly met in developing counties when implementing an IS. Developing countries are very diverse, so I will have to paint with a broad brush here. Challenges meeting developing countries are many, but I will focus on challenges in connection with ICT and IS. In this section I will first explain the importance of social informatics and cultural understanding when working with ICT in developing countries, then I will focus on the worthy goals of increasing democracy and empowering the marginalised through ICT. After that I will review some literature about the digital divide. Last I will review literature about the transfer or translation of western technology into the different contexts in the developing world.
Walsham (2001) argues that social systems methodologies that emphasises the importance of the organisational, cultural, social and political context are highly suitable for developing countries. Culture are often portrayed as constraining, inhibiting the effective use of technology, by western analysts. This perception is marked by heavy cultural bias. This does not mean that we should naively accept all aspects of a culture, but we should think twice before labeling aspects of a culture as limiting. Perhaps the technology is inappropriate, not the culture. Most of the worlds ISs are made for western markets. From ST we can say that this ISs seeks to support social practices common in the western world.
Walsham emphasises the importance of obtaining deep understanding of the local culture when working with ICT in a particular context. A lot of understanding can be obtained by reading extensively about a particular region or country, but to really understand the subtleties of a culture and its social rules you have to immerse yourself in the culture.
There are various way in which cultural understanding can be developed, not least by living in a particular country, and thus being immersed in the culture. . . . An expatriate manager of a multinational company, staying at a five-star hotel, may be physically present in a particular country, but may have little access to or interest in local culture. Understanding through immersion require a starting point of respect for local cultural values, and considerable effort to understand these.
(Walsham 2001, p.201)
Braa (1997) argues why social systems methodologies are even more appropriate in the developing world than in the developed world. The social systems in the developing world tend to be more fleeting and informal. Stable structures are easier to formalise, and developing countries tend to have more unstable structures. As mentioned earlier, the more stable a structure is the better candidate for an ICT it is. Within developing countries development can be at very different stages, with substantial differences between different regions and between urban and rural areas.
Braa argues that the Scandinavian participatory approach to system development can also be useful in developing countries. The Scandinavian approach focus on the local scale, process, empowerment and mutual learning. A typical scenario in developing countries “40 people, 20 units and 1 computer”. This makes ISs into predominantly social systems, with some computerised support. With few computers and little ICT experience the need for support/training is important and will have to be established during the development process. IS development in developing countries need to be rooted in the local social system and driven from within. To attain sustainability a process which leads to empowerment and a sense of ownership towards the IS have to be cultivated.
Kimaro and Titlestad (2005) introduces the concept of participatory customisation. It is within the same tradition as PD, but shifts the focus from designing a system from scratch into adapting a preexisting system to a local context. Users, that are not computer savvy, should be able to make basic changes.
Customisation means that the intended users change the system design in order to reflect their work practices and needs. The design of an already existing system is customised with user participation where intended users, not necessarily with high technological skills, are initially trained to be able to participate.
Because of limited resources in developing countries it makes sense to adapt an already existing system, rather than building from scratch. This approach have challenges similar to other participatory approaches, like motivating and selecting the right participants, but it is even more important that the participants develop basic computer skills. A customisable system should have the ability to easily implement visible changes.
The digital divide is the increasing gap between the people that do and the people that do not have access to computers and computer communication. This do not only refers to computers and computer networks, but also the knowledge needed to make use of computers. There is a digital divide between countries, between the developed and developing world. Within countries there is a digital divide between urban and rural areas, this is especially evident in the developing world. There is also a digital divide between the different strata of society, like between educated and uneducated people. (Gurstein 2003)
If the digital divide is not bridged it is believed that marginalised groups might become even more marginalised. ICT gives those with the ability to effectively use the technology an advantage compared tho those who are not able to effectively use ICT. A popular label for the time we live in is the information age and ICT gives access to a vast body of information, through the Internet for the most part. The C in ICT is also important through technologies like the Internet and to a lesser extent through conventional communication technologies like a telephone (fixed or mobile), you can communicate with people all over the world. You can promote your views and explore information about subjects that interests you, or you can sell handicraft or buy a digital camera. In other words you can participate in an emerging virtual marked and a global virtual community. The hope is that the bridging of the digital divide will improve social and economic equality, academic advancement and self improvement, economic growth and democracy3.
The arguments used to advocate the importance of bridging the digital divide are flavored by techno-optimism. Even if digital divide proponents states that it is not a panacea they non the less predicts that ICTs will have a substantial positive impact. Gurstein (2003) argues that the digital divide rhetoric to narrowly focuses on access to computers and the Internet, and go as far as to conclude that the concepts and strategies underlying the notion of the digital divide are little more than a marketing campaign for Internet service providers. In his article Gurstein argues for a shift from a narrow focus on access to a focus on what he labels effective use. Effective use he defines as follows:
The capacity and opportunity to successfully integrate ICTs into the accomplishment of self or collaboratively identified goals.
Warschauer (2002) gives three case examples where efforts at improving peoples life through ICT had disappointing results due to the lack of consideration of the socio-technical context of the case sites. This three cases too narrowly focused on providing hardware and software. Warschauer have categorised the resources needed to make effective use of ICT into four categories illustrated in Figure 2.3. This resources have an iterative relationship with ICT which can lead to an upward or downward spiral to the effective use of ICT.
The organisation Bridges which is a leading Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in the application of ICTs to economic and social development, links effective use to the term e-readiness4.
With the specter of the growing digital divide looming large, world leaders in government, business, and civil society organizations are harnessing the power of information and communications technology (ICT) for development. They seek to improve their countries’ and communities’ e-readiness – the ability for a region to benefit from information and communications technology. It is increasingly clear that for a country to put ICT to effective use, it must be ’e-ready’ in terms of infrastructure, the accessibility of ICT to the population at large, and the effect of the legal and regulatory framework on ICT use. If the digital divide is going to be narrowed, all of these issues must be addressed in a coherent, achievable strategy that is tailored to meet the local needs of particular countries.
In order to bridge the digital divide technology has to be “transferred” one way or the other. The developed countries are driving technological innovation while the developing countries are falling behind. The process of transferring the technological artifacts and “know how” from the developed to the developing world are frequently labeled technology transfer.
Different perspectives have been used to understand the technology transfer process. Nhampossa (2006) discusses three perspectives; diffusion, transfer channels and transfer life-cycle. The diffusion perspective argues that the adoption of technology tend to follow a S-shaped curve. This perspective give a prominent position to the individual adopter, and do not take the social system where the diffusion takes place into account. The transfer channels perspective describes technology transfer as being facilitated through channels like sale of technical artifacts, foreign investments and education. This explains technology transfer as a one way sequential process, and it suggest that the success or failure of ICT project can be explained by the effectiveness of the different channels. For the third perspective, the technology life-cycle perspective, I will give a more detailed explanation.
In their paper on donor-funded ICT transfer Baark and Heeks (1998) have derived a conceptual framework that they label information technology transfer life-cycle. This framework is visualised in Figure 2.4. Because of the regular infusion of new technology the process is depicted as cyclical and seen as a continuous process. Each cycle have up to five phases:
Nhampossa (2006) advocate a fourth perspective, the technology translation perspective. He argues that the previously mentioned three perspectives are limited due to the following reasons:
Technology created in developed countries are designed for social systems quite different from the realities in developing countries. For strongly context sensitive technologies like health information systems this poses real problems. Heeks (2002) calls this design mismatch a design-reality gap, and use this to explain why most ISs in developing countries fail either totally or partially.
The technology translation perspective is seen as the process of cultivating sustainable networks. For a technology translation process to be successful the technology and the surrounding network must have the capacity to endure over time and space, in other words be sustainable.
Technologies or systems become sustainable if they are institutionalized in the sense of being integrated into the everyday routine of the user organization. However, sustainable technology or systems need not only be institutionalized, but also need to be flexible in order to allow for changes as the user needs them.
(Nhampossa 2006, p.57)
Nhampossa defines technology transfer as a process defined by three point.
A key characteristic of this definition, Nhampossa argues, is the need to balance flexibility and stability. Sustainable systems must be institutionalised and at the same time remain flexible enough to accommodate changes occurring over time and space. Relating to ST this need for balancing stability and flexibility can be expressed as stabilising social systems, but at the same time be able to adapt to changes in the social practices. ICTs are best suited for stabilised social systems, but the social systems in developing countries tend to be more unstable. This lead me into thinking that the process of technology translation involves making the social system more stable and at the same time making the ICT more flexible.
Nhampossa (2006) further identifies four key influences that are influencing and influenced by the process of technology translation.
The theoretical framework for technology translation is summed up in Figure 2.5. | http://www.gjerull.net/site_media/static/html/masterthesis/masterthesisse7.html |
Terms, theories and conceptual approaches
Trends and challenges on the use of Information and Communication Technology to address development goals:
IC = Telecommunications + Computers: Convergence of audiovisual, phones and networks; tools that enable information access, storage, transmission, and distribution, including software, middleware, audiovisual systems
The "Digital Divide": Economic and social inequality according to demographic categories in the access to, use of, or knowledge of ICT
ICT Development Index (IDI): Global indicators for measuring the digital divide:
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Access: fixed/mobile telephony, internet bandwidth, households with computer/internet
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Usage and Intensity: number of internet users, fixed and mobile broadband
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Skills and Capability:adult literacy, secondary and tertiary enrollment
To be discussed: How the digital divide reflects other previous social divides or inequalities, such as informational, educational and economic ones?
To be considered:Digital inclusion matters, but it does not guarantee socio-economic inclusion, access to education, nor even freedom of expression.
Heavy use of internet and ICT can also help oppressive regimes stifle dissent: concerns on surveillance, civic movements monitoring, counter-revolution intelligence, loss of privacy and data expropriation
"iPod liberalism": the assumption that tech innovation always promotes freedom, democracy. (Evgeny Morozov, "The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom" (2011). TED Talk: How can Internet helps oppressive regimes)
Some conceptual approaches:
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Development Informatics: application of IT systems in socio-economic development
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ICTD: use of ICTs in developing countries (access, usage, intensity, skills, capability)
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ICT4D: use of ICTs for delivery of specific development goals (education, health etc.) and contribute to poverty reduction
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Civic Media: cultural uses of practices, protocols, and technologies as a medium that fosters civic engagement
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Radical Media: action-oriented and marginal communication practices that seek the amplification of social movements and protests
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Community Media: created and controlled by the community, fostering civic engagement through the involvement of its members in content production and communication
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Citizen Journalism: news gathering and reporting by public citizens who play an active role in collecting, analyzing, editing, and disseminating journalistic information.
The ICT4D perspective:
Hypothesis: more and better communication furthers the development of a society
General method: applying ICT directly among communities or through NGOs pursuing specific development goals
Expected outcomes: poverty reduction, improvement of basic services, enhanced
Landscape: Organizations with specific ICT4D purpose, commercial companies with ICT4D activities (marketing or corporate social responsibility), social entrepreneurism with focus on ICT4D (so called "2nd ½ sector"), academic programs, university outreach projects, and research initiatives etc.
Examples on ICT4D initiatives: Computer Aid International (1998), NetHope Consortium (2001), UN ICT Task Force (2001-2005), World Summit on the Information Society (2005), Global Alliance for ICT and Development (2006), The One Laptop per Child Project (OLPC)
ICT4D Criticism:
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ICT are tools. Not a solution per se.
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"Pilotitis": inability to break out of pilot stage.
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Most projects lack sustainability, always requiring more funds and support.
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"Cultural imperialism" through ICT
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Most of the content and software aren't locally built
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(and usually bought from big corporations)
Digital Development Principles
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Design with the User
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Understanding the Existing Ecosystem
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Design for Scale
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Build for Sustainability
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Be Data-Driven
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Use Open-Standards, Open Data, Open Source, and Open Innovation
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Reuse and Improve
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Address Privacy and Security
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Be Collaborative
Takeaways from practice and research
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Built not "for" the community, but "with and by" them (co-creation)
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Prefer simple, useful, maintainable, sustainable, low cost technology
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Consider idioms, identity, dialogue, diversity
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Connect to other projects, human mediation
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ICT can be useful tools, but not a solution per se
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Project "pilotitis": inability to break out of pilot stage
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Focus on sustainability, not more funds and support
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Need to go beyond "cultural imperialism" (again!)
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Are the content and the software locally built?
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Or just being bought or adapted from big corporations?
Video: Why Most ICT4D Projects Fail?
Quotes and questions for debate:
"It is more beneficial to use ICTs to enhance existing practices than to promote new activities for the primary purpose of using ICTs. In this light, the creation of telecenters that are disconnected from existing community organizations and initiatives is unlikely to contribute to development"
(Ricardo Gómez and Juliana Martí̀nez: "Internet... for what?", apud Gumucio-Dragon)
"Technology—no matter how well designed—is only a magnifier of human intent and capacity. It is not a substitute. If you have a foundation of competent, well-intentioned people, then the appropriate technology can amplify their capacity and lead to amazing achievements. But, in circumstances with negative human intent, as in the case of corrupt government bureaucrats, or minimal capacity, as in the case of people who have been denied a basic education, no amount of technology will turn things around."
(Kentaro Toyama, "Can technology end poverty?")
"The ICT component, as any communication component, should develop along with the development process, not in isolation from it. The interaction between community participation, the technical inputs for development and the communication and knowledge tools will define the success or failure of a particular development communication effort."
(Alfonso Gumucio-Dragon, Take Five: A handful of essentials for ICTs in development)
Questions:
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How ICT and digital media can empower members of a community to enable and improve actions driven to socio-economic development?
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How it can be effectively applied to enhance educational programs, health services, environmental conservation, social security, transportation, and economic growth
New approaches on participatory communication
Media and interpersonal communication applied as tools to empower communities to share views and knowledge, and to discover solutions to their development issues.
Participatory civics = Communication + Digital Media + Civic Engagement : "The use of digital media to engage in political discussion or share civic media" (Cohen, Kahne, 2012, apud Zuckerman, 2014)
"I use the term to refer to forms of civic engagement that use digital media as a core component and embrace a post- 'informed citizen' model of civic participation. Practitioners of participatory civics have grown up on participatory media: they are used to being able to share their perspectives and views with the world, and to seeing their influence in terms of how many people read and share their words."
(Ethan Zuckerman, "New Media, New Civics?")
Towards a Civic Tech Taxonomy
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Hacktivism
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Digital engagement
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Peer production
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e-Democracy, e-Participation
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e-Governance Open government
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Solutions journalism
Social Activism in the Internet
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Close connections between participatory culture and social activism in the internet
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Catalyst for protests and social change
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"Slacktivism", "clicktivism", "cyberactivism" | https://www.media4development.org/concepts |
Issues and challenges in the use of ICT for education
For a tender I wrote earlier thiss summer I was asked to comment on a series of challenges and issues related to the use of ICT in education. I think the challenges and issues were well framed. This is a draft of what I wrote.
Fast changing and developing Information and Communication Technologies offer great opportunities for education but also considerable challenges. How can educational policies and practices be developed to utilise the potentials of ICT and modernize education whilst safeguarding students, promoting inclusion and lifelong learning and ensuring equal opportunities? What are the implications for the design of educational institutions, teacher education and curriculum development? What are the ethical implications of the use of ICTs in education?
ICT in Education policy review and development
The development and implementation of policies for using ICT in education needs to be an ongoing and continuous process, incorporating monitoring and review. It also has to link policy to practice. A technology centred approach is not enough alone. More important perhaps, is a focus on developing and implementing new pedagogies for the use of ICTs. Policy processes have to incorporate not only technology companies but educational experts and practitioners.
The issue of the digital divide and the subsequent risk of digital exclusion remains a barrier to ensuring equity and equality in access to technologies. Policies have to ensure infrastructures are fit for purpose if the potential of technology to open up and extend learning is to be achieved. There are major issues as to how to scale up project driven and pilot programmes to widespread adoption and in how to negotiate access to commercial hardware and software and infrastructure for schools from vendors.
Policy has to be developed to safeguard students but at the same time encourage their creative use of ICTs. Education policies also have to address the issues of privacy, bullying and digital literacy, particularly understanding the veracity and reliability of data sources. Further issues include privacy and data ownership. Policy development needs to consider ethical concerns in using not only educational technologies but big data and social networks
Teacher competences and professional development in ICT
While early initial programmes focused on training teachers in how to use ICT, there is an increasing focus on their confidence and competence in the use of ICT for teaching and learning in the classroom. Rather than ICT being seen as a subject in itself, this new focus is on the use of technology for learning across the curriculum. Programmes of initial teacher training need to be updated to reflect these priorities. In addition, there is a need for extensive programmes of continuing professional development to ensure all teacher are confident and competent in using ICT for teaching and learning. New models of professional development are required to overcome the resource limitations of traditional course based programmes.
The ICT Competence Framework for Teachers provides a basis for developing initial and continuing teacher training programmes but requires ongoing updating to reflect changes in the way technologies are being used for learning and changing understandings of digital competence. The development and sharing of learning materials based on the Framework can help in this process.
Mobile learning and frontier technology
There are at any time a plethora of innovations and emerging developments in technology which have the potential for impacting on education, both in terms of curriculum and skills demands but also in their potential for teaching and learning. At the same time, education itself has a tendency towards a hype cycle, with prominence for particular technologies and approaches rising and fading.
Emerging innovations on the horizon at present include the use of Big Data for Learning Analytics in education and the use of Artificial Intelligence for Personalised Learning. The development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) continue to proliferate. There is a renewed interest in the move from Virtual Learning Environments to Personal Learning Environments and Personal Learning Networks.
Mobile learning seeks to build on personal access to powerful and increasingly cheap Smart Phones to allow access to educational resources and support – in the form of both AI and people – in different educational contents in the school, in the workplace and in the community. However, the adoption of mobile learning has been held back by concerns over equal access to mobiles, their potential disruption in the classroom, privacy, online safety and bullying and the lack of new pedagogic approaches to mobile learning.
The greatest potential of many of these technologies may be for informal and non formal learning, raising the challenge of how to bring together informal and formal learning and to recognise the learning which occurs outside the classroom.
The development and sharing of foresight studies can help in developing awareness and understanding of the possible potential of new technologies as well as their implications for digital literacies and curriculum development. Better sharing of findings and practices in pilot projects would ease their development and adoption.
Once more there is a challenge in how to recognise best practice and move from pilot projects to widespread adoption and how to ensure the sustainability of such pilot initiatives.
Finally, there needs to be a continuous focus on ethical issues and in particular how to ensure that the adoption of emerging technologies support and enhances, rather than hinders, movements towards gender equality.
Open Educational Resources (OER);
There has been considerable progress in the development and adoption of Open Education Resources in many countries and cultures. This has been to a large extent based on awareness raising around potentials and important practices at local, national and international level, initiatives which need to continue and be deepened. Never the less, there remain barriers to be overcome. These include how to measure and recognise the quality of OERs, the development of interoperable repositories, how to ensure the discoverability of OERs, and the localization of different OERs including in minority languages.
While progress has been made, policy developments remain variable in different countries. There remains an issue in ensuring teachers understandings of the discovery, potential and use of OERS and importantly how to themselves develop and share OERs. This requires the incorporation of OER use and development in both initial and continuing professional development for teachers.
Finally, there is a growing movement from OERs towards Open Educational Practices, a movement which will be important in developing inclusion, equity and equal opportunities in education.
ICT in education for Persons with Disabilities
Adaptive technologies have the potential to provide inclusive, accessible and affordable access to information and knowledge and to support the participation of Persons with Disabilities in lifelong learning opportunities.
Assistive, or adaptive, technology has undergone a revolution in recent years. There is a wide range of established commercial and free and open source software products available (such as screen readers, on-screen keyboards and spelling aids), as well as in-built accessibility features in computers and programs.
More people use mobile and portable devices with assistive apps. One significant benefit of ICTs is the provision of a voice for those who are unable to speak themselves. Apps for tablet devices for example that use scanning and a touch screen interface can now provide this at a fraction of the cost of some of the more complex and advanced hardware technologies.
Most countries have moved towards including young people with Special Educational Needs within mainstream educational provision. The use of technology for learning can allow differentiated provision of learning materials, with students able to work at a different pace and using different resources within the classroom.
Regardless of these potentials there is a need to ensure that institutional policies include the needs of students with disabilities and that staff have time to properly engage with these and to provide staff awareness and training activities. Alternative formats for learning materials may be required and the adoption of OERs can help in this process.
Developing digital skills
The importance of digital skills is increasingly recognised as important for future employability. This includes both the skills to use digital technologies but also their use in vocational and occupational contexts. Discussions over the future of work, based largely on the growing applications of AI and robots, suggest future jobs will require higher level skills including in digital technologies. This will require changes in a wide range of curricula. Mapping of changing needs for digital skills provide a reference point for such development. Some countries are already including coding and computational thinking in primary schools: a trend which is likely to spread but once more requiring professional development for teachers. The rapid development of technology is also leading to changes in understandings of digital skills. Reference Frameworks are important in providing a base line for curriculum development and teacher training but require updating to reflect such new understandings.
It is important that digital skill development is not reduced to an employability agenda. Instead it needs to include the use of such skills for providing a decent life within society and community and to equip young people with the skills and understanding of the appropriate use of technology within their social relations and their life course. Yet again, such skills and understanding require continuing considerations of ethical issues and of how digital skills can advance gender equality. | http://www.pontydysgu.org/category/foresight/ |
Title IV, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 is intended to improve students’ academic achievement by increasing the capacity of States, local educational agencies (LEAs), schools, and local communities to provide all students with access to a well-rounded education, improve school conditions for student learning, and improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students.
Use of Funds
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Well Rounded Education
Activities to support well-rounded educational opportunities for students may include, but are not limited to:
- STEM programs
- Music and art programs
- Foreign language offerings
- The opportunity to earn credits from institutions of higher learning
- Reimbursing low-income students to cover the costs of accelerated learning examination fees
- Environmental education
- Programs and activities that promote volunteerism and community involvement
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Safe and Healthy Students
Activities to support safe and healthy students may include, but are not limited to:
- School-based mental health services
- Drug and violence prevention activities that are evidence-based
- Integrating health and safety practices into school or athletic programs
- Nutritional education and physical education activities
- Bullying and harassment prevention
- Activities that improve instructional practices for developing relationship-building skills
- Prevention of teen and dating violence, stalking, domestic abuse, and sexual violence and harassment
- Establishing or improving school dropout and reentry programs
- Training school personnel in effective practices related to the above
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Educational Technology
Activities to improve the use of educational technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students may include, but are not limited to:
- Building technological capacity and infrastructure
- Developing or using effective or innovative strategies for the delivery of specialized or rigorous academic courses through the use of technology
- Carrying out blended learning activities (must include ongoing professional development for teachers)
- Providing professional development on the use of technology to enable teachers to increase student achievement in STEM areas
- Providing students in rural, remote, and underserved areas with the resources to take advantage of high-quality digital learning experiences
- Providing educators, school leaders, and administrators with the professional learning tools, devices, content and resources to:Personalize learning
- Discover, adapt, and share relevant high-quality educational resources
- Use technology effectively in the classroom
- Implement and support school and districtwide approaches for using technology to inform instruction, support teacher collaboration, and personalize learning
Use of Technology Special Rule
At least 85 percent of the educational technology funds must be used to support professional learning to enable the effective use of educational technology. Districts may not spend more than 15 percent of educational technology funds on devices, equipment, software applications, platforms, digital instructional resources and/or other one-time IT purchases. | http://thecommons.dpsk12.org/Page/2084 |
The Bett team interviewed Brajesh Panth, Chief of the Education Sector Group and Jian Xu, Senior Education Specialist – Education Technology from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), exploring the challenges, opportunities and future course of education and technology in Asia.
These views are of the education specialists and should not be attributed to the ADB.
What have been the main challenges and opportunities experienced by educators, parents and students during periods of home learning in Asia?
We have seen three main challenges:
- Disadvantaged students who were previously at risk of falling behind have suffered the most during this period of remote learning, resulting in an increased risk of dropping out of school even after schools reopen.
- Much of Asia’s youth population – especially migrant workers, informal workers and independent workers – have been disproportionately impacted by unemployment. Asian countries have the option of repurposing the workforce and rescale their upskilling and reskilling provision, ensuring that the youth population can secure employment in the current turbulent labour market.
- Governments are currently facing the combined challenge of decreasing revenues and rising costs. Education budgets have tightened due to other emergency needs such as health, social protection and economic recovery. As a result, education delivery and access may turn into an emergency from the current crisis. This has presented countries with a critical need to collaborate with global partners and non-traditional sources of funding.
Despite these challenges, Asian countries are transforming the crisis into an opportunity in the following key areas:
- Although efforts were underway to address the learning crisis pre-pandemic, progress had been extremely slow in improving learning outcomes. The pandemic has accelerated progress through amplifying the pre-existing problems, in turn increasing the urgency and necessity to find innovative, scalable and equitable distance learning solutions to complement face to face approaches.
- It is now more important than ever for education to look outwards: we are at a critical juncture where cross-sectoral collaboration has become essential. For example, many educational institutions have already benefited from collaborating with the health sector to ensure that they meet on-campus health and hygiene standards. Partnerships both within the education community and with industry will be instrumental in overcoming financial barriers, creating synergies and sharing targeted expertise linked to emerging labour market demand.
- Digital skills have become essential for teachers, trainers and students to prepare for the transition to a digital economy and to futureproof the current and future workforce.
- There is growing realization about the urgency to mobilize more financing – traditional and non-traditional – for education by drawing on lessons from sectors like health.
To transform these challenges into opportunities, countries need to consider how they can best utilise their currently limited funding to align short-, medium- and long-term investment.
In what ways do you see SEA countries needing to set up strategies and processes to address the skills gap required to be a viable part of the 21st Century workforce?
When designing and implementing curricula, it has become crucial for SEA countries to view education in terms of the skills required for industry and the relevant learning pathways running throughout primary, secondary and tertiary education. In light of the accelerated technological disruption, educational institutions must look to continuously refine and rescale these skills pathways.
The investment of AI and big data analytics could be utilised to ensure real-time labour market intelligence and analyse professional job portals (as well as other related databases in public and private domains) to see how demands for certain skills and occupations are changing. Such would enable jobseekers to effectively align and develop their skillset with that of the labour market and find relevant training institutions and programs. All these interconnected digital systems can help reduce the skills gap and minimise unemployment by connecting key stakeholders.
Ensuring the objective, credible assessment and recognition of 21st Century skills such as creative thinking and collaboration is key to closing the skills gap. Particularly in higher education, there is already some evidence that the ASEAN community is co-creating a unified system for recognising 21st Century skills, which will facilitate labour mobility for the overall benefit of different countries in the region. Countries need to extend and apply this system to K12 and TVET, building a cohesive, cross-phase framework for the development and assessment of 21st Century skills and integrating cross-sectoral approaches such as STEAM education.
What are the key priorities for government education strategy & policy in Asia?
There are two major priorities in education and training: to improve the quality of education at all levels (measured by the achievement of learning outcomes) and to improve employability levels at all levels of graduation. As more countries in the Asia Pacific region become middle-income countries, their continued success will depend on not just investing in infrastructure, but also in human capital. This will be critical for countries to move up the value chain.
The current crisis has triggered and amplified the challenge of youth unemployment. It is therefore not surprising that there is an increased appetite for TVET projects within Asia since the shorter duration of TVET programmes offers a more immediate solution. For this to be effective, Asia’s training institutions need to substantially enhance collaboration with private sector employers to develop effectively-aligned, responsive partnerships, ensuring that the TVET experience yields a viable workforce. There is also a need to ensure that TVET students have 21st-century skills.
To what extent do these priorities differ between Asian countries?
Priorities mainly depend on countries’ levels of development, differing in terms of economic maturity and their relative situation with infrastructure and human capital investment. Although some countries may be looking to secure fundamental technological infrastructure and connectivity to ensure universal access, more developed countries are looking to invest in data analytics for continuous monitoring and refinement of their infrastructure performance. Despite differences in their development stage, all Asian countries are broadly following the same trajectory of technological investment and implementation – innovative practices and approaches to fulfilling universal access remain to be very important for countries who are at an earlier stage of development.
How do you see the challenges of helping lower-income countries invest in the technologies for the classroom being addressed, particularly in cases where teachers have limited digital literacy skills?
Lower-income countries require a more robust technology investment strategy for their schools. In addition to investing in hardware devices, it is more important to invest in the corresponding software running systems to develop a robust and sustainable technology provision.
Teachers are central to a smooth transition towards technology-enabled classrooms. The gradual introduction of upgrades to learning solutions are vital to ensuring that teachers are engaged and empowered when adopting new technologies and developing their digital literacy skills.
How should solutions providers respond to and effectively support the shift in teaching & learning delivery in Asia?
Before the pandemic, we have seen that most education technology solutions providers have been focusing on technology at a more developed infrastructure level, limiting their penetration to higher-income families and organisations. However, the pandemic has triggered the massive need from governments for low cost and low infrastructure solutions. For countries with lower levels of infrastructure, we will likely see more public-private partnership opportunities that the solutions providers to provide efficient, scalable and affordable solutions for the majority of public sector education systems.
To sustain and optimise partnerships with lower-income Asian countries, solutions providers need to shift their focus and innovations to supporting low-tech environments. Developing offline capabilities will be vital to ensuring universal access to education – particularly those within rural, hard-to-reach areas and the public education system.
In what ways has the pandemic impacted investment into infrastructure for digital/online learning across the region?
Although the pandemic has positively shifted mindsets towards digital learning, it is critical to ensure a balance between the short-term investment securing teaching & learning continuity, and the long-term investment to transform and reimagine teaching & learning.
For example, we see that some national governments and international organisations are investing heavily in video lessons and data consumption packages to address immediate learning needs. However, these solutions are not being invested with the view to move towards a longer-term, multimodal learning strategy.
To ensure learning outcomes are met for all students – regardless of individual access to devices and level of connectivity – countries’ long-term strategy for teaching & learning will be better served by accounting for differences in delivery modes. For instance, the use of lower-tech media such as radio and TV for students with lower levels of connectivity may require a greater emphasis on strengthening what can often be a relatively weak feedback loop between educators and students.
If there is no substantial investment in digital infrastructure, it will be difficult for countries to build on the short-term investment to move to a more robust system in the longer term. Such investment will benefit the education sector and beyond during the transition to a digital economy. Similarly, the pandemic has demonstrated that digital infrastructure needs to support both in- and out- of school learning. While we understand that resources are scarce and redirected to address other urgent needs, it is critical for countries to strategically approach short-term investment to secure and underpin long-term teaching & learning delivery.
What are your predictions for upcoming EdTech investment priorities for ASEAN countries?
The pandemic has undoubtedly impacted students across all learning environments and levels of accessibility, transforming the pre-existing learning crisis into a universal concern. Asian countries are now very keen to invest in reliable, affordable and stable internet connectivity for all learners and education institutions with different provisions, including low-cost and low-power consuming devices and systems.
Following this, we would expect to see a further drive to develop digital content, specifically through leveraging partnerships for providing open-source learning materials. AI and big data will also play a critical role in developing labour market intelligence systems to align job seekers, training providers and employers.
These views are of the education specialists and should not be attributed to the ADB. | https://www.bettshow.com/bett-articles/investing-in-the-future-of-asias-education |
· You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and subsections as appropriate,
· All work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system.
· Please also provide a bibliography using the Harvard referencing system.
· The recommended word limit is 2,000–2,500 words, although you will not be penalised for exceeding the total word limit.
Please follow the structure as described below and provide
· Main page
· Table of Contents
· Introduction
· Main body
· Conclusion
· References
|Aim of the unit:|
|The aim of this unit is to offer students the opportunity to engage in sustained research in a specific field of study. The unit enables students to demonstrate the capacity and ability to identify a research theme, to develop research aims, objectives and outcomes, and to present the outcomes of such research in both written and verbal formats. The unit also encourages students to reflect on their engagement in the research process during which recommendations for future, personal development are key learning points.
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On successful completion of this unit students will have the confidence to engage in problem solving and research activities that are part of the function of a manager. Students will have the fundamental knowledge and skills to enable them to investigate workplace issues and problems, determine appropriate solutions and present evidence to various stakeholders in an acceptable and understandable format.
Pearson Set-Theme for Sep-2017- August-2018
The Impact of Digital Technology on Business Activity
Digital technology has revolutionised the way we conduct business. Over the last decade it has dramatically changed traditional business models and transformed business activities. The use of digital mobile technology has provided businesses with a wealth of choice and opportunity. This has enabled existing products to become more profitable and innovative new products to be developed, leading to increasingly diverse product portfolios.
This unit will enable students to examine the impact of digital technology on how we conduct business through the context of their chosen research objective. This will provide the opportunity for students to contextualise the implications of digital technology in the workplace and how it is shaping the future workforce. It will also enable them to explore both the challenges and opportunities rapid technological advances represents for businesses.
Choosing Research Objectives/Questions
Students are to choose their own research topic for this unit. Strong research projects are those with clear, well-focused and defined objectives. A central skill in selecting a research objective is the ability to select a suitable and focused research objective. One of the best ways to do this is to put it in the form of a question. Students should be encouraged to discuss a variety of topics related to the theme and from here to generate ideas for a good research objective.
The range of topics discussed could cover the following:
• The stages that organisations have to go through for digital transformation
• The challenges of integrating emerging technologies within organisations
• The implications of digital technology on SMEs
• E-commerce and how it drives business success
• Engaging with stakeholders through digital technology
|For this assignment, you should assume you are a newly appointed Research trainee officer of your selected organisation and write a research report whilst focusing on the questions (P, M and D) below:
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Note** P=Pass, M=Merit & D=Distinction
Learning Outcome (1, 2, & 3)
|P1: Produce a research proposal that clearly defines a research question or hypothesis supported by a literature review (P1)
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Guidance: The learner is required to develop the research proposition as developing the methodical and valid proposition as the foundation for a research project. The learner should set the research topic as per Pearson Set-Theme ‘The impact of digital technology on business activity’ such as the use of social media to online shopping.
P2: Examine appropriate research methods and approaches to primary and secondary research
Guidance: The learner is required discuss approaches like Inductive or deductive, Qualitative or Quantitative, Observational, experimental or survey research, Correctional, causal, exploratory or descriptive design.
M1: Evaluate different research approaches and methodology and make justifications for the choice of methods selected based on philosophical/theoretical frameworks (M1)
P3: Conduct primary and secondary research using appropriate methods for a business research project that consider costs, access and ethical issues (P3)
Guidance: The learner should use the appropriate research methods to support the coherent and logical argument. This includes use of observation, interview, questionnaire or secondary method for collection of data.
P4: Apply appropriate analytical tools, analyse research findings and data (P4)
Guidance: The importance of gathering data and information whether qualitative or quantitative to support research analysis. The learner must select the sample size from the selected population and techniques such as probability and non-probability sampling.
M2: Discuss merits, limitations and pitfalls of approaches to data collection and analysis (M2)
D1: Critically evaluate research methodologies and processes in application to a business research project to justify chosen research methods and analysis (D1)
P5: Communicate research outcomes in an appropriate manner for the intended audience (P5)
Guidance: The learner should be using the data collection tools such as interviews (if qualitative) or questionnaire (for quantitative). These analytical techniques such as trend analysis, coding or themes help learner in presenting the research outcomes.
M3: Coherently and logically communicate outcomes to the intended audience demonstrating how outcomes meet set research objectives (M3)
D2: Communicate critical analysis of the outcomes and make valid, justified recommendations (D2)
|The learner is required to submit the presentation covering the questions as under whilst using the selected case study or any other organization of your choice.
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Note** No more than 10-12 slides using MS PowerPoint and it should be supported with 500 words notes and P= Pass, M= Merit and D= Distinction
Learning Outcome (LO4)
|P6: Reflect on the effectiveness of research methods applied for meeting objectives of the business research project (P6)
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Guidance: The learner should be able to explain if the research methods that have been used i.e. interview or questionnaire, have been useful in achieving the objectives or any alternative method would better address the research requirements.
To achieve the merit, the limitations and potential pitfalls of the chosen methods.
P7: Consider alternative research methodologies and lessons learnt in view of the outcomes (P7)
Guidance: The learner should avoid the generalisation but focus on personal development and the research process (what did you learn and improved while conducting this process) and the providing the critical reflective account (discussing the limitations and challenges during this research process)
M4: Provide critical reflection and insight that results in recommended actions for improvements and future research considerations (M4). | https://myonlinehomeworkhelper.com/the-impact-of-digital-technology-on-business-activity/ |
“In the twenty-first century, the capacity to communicate will almost certainly be a key human right. Eliminating the distinction between the information-rich and information-poor is also critical to eliminating economic and other inequalities between North and South, and to improve the life of all humanity.” -Nelson Mandela, TELECOM 95, October 3, 1995 (Wilson, 2004, 1)
The global digital divide is a term used to describe “great disparities in opportunity to access the Internet and the information and educational/business opportunities tied to this access … between developed and developing countries”. Unlike the traditional notion of the "digital divide" between social classes, the "global digital divide" is essentially a geographical division.
Over 30 years ago, “Hans Singer (1970) introduced the concept of international technological dualism, by which he meant essentially unequal developments in the area of science, technology, between rich and poor countries” (James, 2004, p. 11-12). Today, the "rapidly growing disparities in the utilization, expenditure, and availability of technology" (Pick & Azari, 2008, p. 91) on a worldwide scale is known as the Global Digital Divide. The global digital divide involves "economic, educational, and social aspects" (Pick & Azari, p. 92) that influence the levels of information communication technology development in each country. A 2002 World Economic Forum report on the global digital divide found that, "88% of all Internet users are from industrialized countries that comprise only 15% of the world's population" (Pick & Azari, p. 93).
The Internet threatens to magnify the existing socioeconomic disparities, between those with access and those without, to levels unseen and untenable. Therefore, urgent actions are needed at the local, national, and international levels to bridge the global digital divide.
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Contents
Within countries around the world there is a gap that exists among those that have access to information and communication technology (Azam, 2007), including computers and the Internet, and those that do not. This term has been coined the “digital divide”. In addition to access, it is noted that the ability to use these technologies, as well as find and produce relevant content, define the “digital divide” as well (Azam, 2007).
The "global digital divide" is distinguishable from the "digital divide", in that “Internet has developed unevenly throughout the world” (Guillen, M. F. & Suarez, S. L. 2005, p. 681) causing some countries to fall behind in technology, education, labor, democracy, and tourism. The concept of the “digital divide” was originally popularized with regard to the disparity in Internet access between rural and urban areas of the United States of America. The “global digital divide” relates to disparity among less developed nations from developed nations. Unlike the case in many classical economic analyses of income disparity, there is no claim in this case that the developed nations' advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) have fed off the labor or resources of developing nations. Conversely, there is generally no claim that developing nations are faring absolutely worse because developed nations are doing better.
It is argued that developed nations with the resources to invest in and develop ICT infrastructure are reaping enormous benefits from the information age, while developing nations are trailing along at a much slower pace. This difference in rates of technological adoption has been blamed for widening the economic disparity between the most developed nations of the world (primarily Canada, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Western Europe and Australasia) and the underdeveloped and developing ones (primarily some Latin American countries, Africa, and Southeast Asia), thus creating a digital (that is, digitally-fostered) divide. This global divide is often characterized as falling along what is sometimes called the north-south divide of "northern" wealthier nations and "southern" poorer ones.
Despite the explosive growth of the Internet access and use in developing countries, a disproportionate number of users are still concentrated in developed countries, especially the United States (Chen & Wellman, 2004, p. 40). The G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US) are home to almost 50% of the world’s total Internet users even though they had just 15% of the world’s population (WSIS, 2005, Did you know that…? Section). Discrepancies in international Internet bandwidth are even higher because developing countries often have to pay the high full cost of a link to a hub in a developed country (WSIS, 2005). For example, Denmark has more than twice the international Internet bandwidth that the whole of Latin American and the Caribbean combined (WSIS, 2005). Even within the Americas, it has its own North-South divide: the United States and Canada have roughly 6 times the Internet penetration rate of the countries of Central and South America and the Caribbean (WSIS, 2005, Americas section). Asia-Pacific region is the world’s most diverse region and it also has the most pronounced digital divide (WSIS, 2005, Asia-Pacific section). The Internet penetration ranges from below 1% in countries like Bangladesh, to above 65% in countries like Australia and Republic of Korea (WSIS, 2005, Asia-Pacific section). The top three countries in terms of broadband penetration were Republic of Korea, Hong Kong (China) and Netherlands in 2004 (WSIS, 2005).
The differences in the Internet penetration rate both within and between countries are contributed by socioeconomic, technological and linguistic factors (Chen & Wellman, 2004, p. 39). High costs, economic priorities, English language dominance, the lack of relevant content, the lack of technological support and disparity in literacy rate are some of the barriers for disadvantaged communities to be overcome (Foulger, 2001; Chen & Wellman, 2004). Appropriate public policies and regulatory frameworks in telecommunication, social resources, education and infrastructure are prerequisites for the developing countries to narrow the gap (Chen & Wellman, 2004; WSIS, 2008). In some countries, the digital divide is even deepening even as the number of Internet users increases because the newcomers to the Internet are demographically similar to those already online. The disadvantaged social groups or nations may be increasingly excluded from knowledge based societies and economies and continued to be affected by the social inequality (Chen & Wellness, 2004).
The Internet has been hailed as a “great equalizer” (Brynjolfsson and Smith 2000),” allowing the smallest of businesses to access markets and have a presence that allows them to compete against the giants of their industry (Borland, 1998). It is also a revolutionary technological tool that enables efficient transfer of information on a global scale. This global information could be used for international trade, online digital libraries, online education, telemedicine, e-government and many other applications that would solve vital problems in the developing world. Norris states that, “in poorer villages and isolated communities, a well-placed computer, like a communal well or an irrigation pump, may become another development tool, providing essential information about storm warnings and crop prices for farmers, or medical services and legal land records for villagers” (Norris, 2001, p. 40).
The fundamental commonality of this class of problems is the realization that the developed nations have in abundance many of the resources that the developing ones could use to solve some of their problems, but geographical, political, philosophical, ideological, and cultural barriers exist that make it difficult or impossible for these solutions to be transferred effectively.
Sources of widespread public information such as broadcast television, telephone services, educational institutions and public libraries are considered a norm in developed countries. In developing countries, however, these modes of communication and information sources are not easily accessible. This limits citizens’ ability to gather information and coordinate with each other to solve their problems. The Internet’s ability to promote the efficient dissemination of information promises huge improvements to internal communications in and among developing countries.
Many argue that basic necessities need to be considered before achieving digital inclusion, such as an ample food supply and quality healthcare. Minimizing the global digital divide requires considering and addressing the following types of access:
Involves, “the distribution of ICT devices per capita…and land lines per thousands” (Wilson, III. E.J., 2004, p. 306). Individuals need to obtain access to computers, landlines, and networks in order to access the Internet.
The cost of ICT applications, technician and educator training, software, maintenance and infrastructures require ongoing financial support.
In order to use computer technology, a certain level of information literacy is needed. Further challenges include information overload and the ability to find and use reliable information.
Computers need to be accessible to individuals with different learning and physical abilities including complying with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
In illustrating institutional access, Wilson (2004) states “the numbers of users are greatly affected by whether access is offered only through individual homes or whether it is offered through schools, community centers, religious institutions, cybercafés, or post offices, especially in poor countries where computer access at work or home is highly limited” (p. 303).
Guillen & Suarez (2005), argue that that “democratic political regimes enable a faster growth of the Internet than authoritarian or totalitarian regimes” (p. 687). The Internet is considered a form of e-democracy and attempting to control what citizens can or cannot view is in contradiction to this. Recently situations in Iran and China have denied people the ability to access certain website and disseminate information. Iran has also prohibited the use of high-speed Internet in the country and has removed many satellite dishes in order to prevent the influence of western culture, such as music and television (Tait, 2006).
In the early 21st century, residents of First World countries enjoy many Internet services which are not yet widely available in Third World countries, including:
Using previous studies (Gamos, 2003; Nsengiyuma & Stork, 2005; Harwit, 2004 as cited in James), James asserts that in developing countries, “internet use has taken place overwhelmingly among the upper-income, educated, and urban segments” (James, 2008, p. 58) largely due to the high literacy rates of this sector of the population. As such, James suggests that part of the solution requires that developing countries first build up the literacy/language skills, computer literacy, and technical competence that low-income and rural populations need in order to make use of ICT.
From an economic perspective, Pick & Azari (2008) state that “in developing nations…foreign direct investment (FDI), primary education, educational investment, access to education, and government prioritization of ICT as all important” (p. 112). Specific solutions proposed by the study include: “invest in stimulating, attracting, and growing creative technical and scientific workforce; increase the access to education and digital literacy; reduce the gender divide and empower women to participate in the ICT workforce; emphasize investing in intensive Research and Development for selected metropolitan areas and regions within nations” (Pick & Azari, p. 111).
There are projects worldwide that have implemented, to various degrees, the solutions outlined above. Many such projects have taken the form of Information Communications Technology Centers (ICT centers). Rahnman explains that “the main role of ICT intermediaries is defined as an organization providing effective support to local communities in the use and adaptation of technology. Most commonly an ICT intermediary will be a specialized organization from outside the community, such as a non-governmental organization, local government, or international donor. On the other hand, a social intermediary is defined as a local institution from within the community, such as a community-based organization” (Rahman, 2006, p. 128).
Other proposed solutions that the Internet promises for developing countries are the provision of efficient communications within and among developing countries, so that citizens worldwide can effectively help each other to solve their own problems. Grammen Banks and Kiva loans are two microcredit systems designed to help citizens worldwide to contribute online towards entrepreneurship in developing communities. Economic opportunities range from entrepreneurs who can afford the hardware and broadband access required to maintain Internet cafés to agribusinesses having control over the seeds they plant.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the IMARA organization (from Swahili word for "power") sponsors a variety of outreach programs which bridge the Global Digital Divide. Its aim is to find and implement long-term, sustainable solutions which will increase the availability of educational technology and resources to domestic and international communities. These projects are run under the aegis of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and staffed by MIT volunteers who give training, installed and donated computer setups in greater Boston, Massachusetts, Kenya, Indian reservations the American Southwest such as the Navajo Nation, the Middle East, and Fiji Islands. The CommuniTech project strives to empower underserved communities through sustainable technology and education.
Other examples include:
Some cities in the world have started programs to bridge the digital divide for their residents, school children, students, parents and the elderly. One such program, founded in 1996, was sponsored by the city of Boston and called the Boston Digital Bridge Foundation. It especially concentrates on school children and their parents, helping to make both equally and similarly knowledgeable about computers, using application programs, and navigating the Internet. | http://www.thefullwiki.org/Global_digital_divide |
Patients are reconsidering the role of the in-person visit as their first point of contact with their care team, and physicians are increasingly on board. A 2020 Accenture survey of 2,700 patients in six countries found that 60% want to use technology more frequently to communicate with their healthcare providers or manage their conditions remotely. Another 2021 survey by EY found that 83% of physicians are more comfortable using digital health technology today than prior to Covid-19.
In the white paper, Patient Partnership Maturity Model, our experts emphasize the need for education, engagement, and partnership efforts to be a strategic priority at the institutional level, and for health systems to look beyond the traditional physician-patient relationship when developing this strategy.
Now is the time for health systems to consider which digital-first encounters implemented during the pandemic will have a place in their long-term care delivery and patient engagement strategies.
Room for improvement on providers’ websites
As patients continue to seek alternatives to in-person encounters, hospitals and health systems’ websites take on added importance as a source of information, a way to schedule virtual visits, or a place to request medical records. A 2020 review of websites of 32 leading hospitals suggests that many organizations have room for improvement. Many sites direct patients to take action elsewhere, whether it’s downloading a telehealth app, faxing a records request, or completing a form to request an appointment. This creates a disjointed patient experience and can have a negative impact on overall satisfaction.
An opportunity for greater patient partnership
A 2021 literature review concluded that most health systems emphasized clinical consultations in their shift to virtual care during the first six months of the pandemic. This was understandable given the pressing need to see patients remotely, researchers noted, but it left little room for encounters that were more participatory in nature, such as working with patients to discuss and design new care pathways or engage in shared decision-making. The limitations of this experience can make care seem transactional — a clear obstacle to the larger goal of patient partnership.
Ongoing disparities in telehealth access
Many health systems have devoted time and resources to encouraging physicians to participate in telehealth, but these efforts alone may not be enough to reduce disparities in access. A 2021 review of video visits for the Massachusetts General Hospital Corrigan Minehan Heart Center found that providers who conducted more than 70% of visits over video were less likely to see patients who were Black, Hispanic, older, or covered by public insurance. In addition, patients seeing providers via video were more likely to be users of the system’s patient portal, suggesting that digital literacy affects access as much as racial, ethnic, age, and socioeconomic disparities. Researchers highlighted the importance of patient-focused design in efforts to increase access to telemedicine.
A vital role for health coaches
As the novel Sars-CoV-2 spread, it became clear that certain populations faced a higher risk of contracting Covid-19 due to social determinants of health, like socioeconomic status and age, as well as specific comorbidities like chronic diseases. Similar factors influenced the likelihood of individuals to receive Covid-19 vaccines, and they impacted the extent to which patients received adequate treatment for Covid-19.
A 2021 research paper highlighted the valuable role of health and wellness coaches in engaging with these populations, particularly due to the coaches’ trusted role in encouraging self-autonomy and independent decision-making while maintaining a non-judgmental tone. However, the author added, health systems need to take two additional steps to truly meet the long-term needs of these patient populations: Recruit health coaches from more diverse backgrounds and provide coaches with the skills and resources to address social determinants of health.
Learn how to empower patients to become active partners in an optimized care experience in our white paper, The Patient Maturity Model: Five steps to better care. | https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/a-new-paradigm-for-engaging-patients |
Indeed, for peacekeeping, there is no escaping the digital revolution and transformation that is heading its way. Failing to evolve along with the momentous changes brought on by digital technologies would consign peacekeeping to Ozymandias-like oblivion.
For UN peacekeeping to continue adapting to new threats and challenges in conflict, the UN secretariat has endeavored to set an ambitious agenda for digital change. The Strategy for Digital Transformation of UN Peacekeeping is part of the secretary-general’s broader commitment to leveraging the potential of digital technologies throughout the organization.
The Strategy for the Digital Transformation of UN Peacekeeping seeks to set peacekeeping on a course where it can make fuller use of digital technologies, especially data, to protect civilians and peacekeepers and to deliver on mandated tasks. It recognizes the need for a “transformation” process that goes beyond the delivery of technology to field missions to address systemic and cultural issues and ensure the sustainability of UN missions.
The strategy was widely consulted over the course of its eight-month gestation period—drawing on UN staff at headquarters and in field missions, agencies, funds and programs, other international organizations, academia, research, and civil society—reflecting the multidisciplinary nature that is essential for the success of the whole undertaking.
Identifying the Challenges
The consultations among peacekeepers revealed unfulfilled needs: whereas 83 percent of some 500 field and headquarters staff surveyed felt that there were opportunities to apply digital technologies in mandate implementation, over half felt that key tech tools were unused, or underused. And despite conflict actors’ widespread reliance on digital technologies to propagate mis- and disinformation, almost half of senior leaders surveyed felt that they did not have the tools to respond. COVID-triggered changes to work arrangements were embraced by peacekeepers, but there was an overall sense of frustration from field and headquarters colleagues with slow processes, unsuitable technology, fragmentation, siloed information sharing and communication, as well as limited skills, capacity, and understanding of the potential of technology.
In addition, common challenges arose in virtually all field missions. The strategy describes these in some detail, but here, we focus on four main issues that contextualize the strategy’s content.
First, understanding what is happening in the peacekeeping theater is central to mandate implementation. Civilian and uniformed components of missions gather a wealth of information, but this is not always translated into knowledge because information from different sources is often insufficiently integrated and information sharing remains a struggle. The UN has made some progress with tools like the Situational Awareness Geospatial Enterprise (SAGE)—a web-based database system that allows UN military, police, and civilians in UN peace operations to log incidents, events, and activities to obtain dynamic dashboards visualizing hotspots—and the Comprehensive Planning and Performance Assessment System (CPAS)—a tool to link the context of a country with peacekeeping planning, data, results, and reporting to assess performance and inform future plans. But the challenge is not solely technical, as working cultures, mindsets, and capacities also impact the lack of integration.
The second challenge and underlying impediment is the disconnect between technology providers and users. Technology specialists require a fuller understanding of field challenges and work closely with field colleagues to co-create suitable and user-friendly responses. Mandate implementers on the other hand need a fundamental understanding of the potential of technology, and the digital literacy to identify and articulate how technologies can support their work.
Third, peacekeeping must increasingly grapple with the impact of emerging technologies on the conflict environment. This entails deterring, detecting, and defending against the hostile use of digital technologies—such as sophisticated, remotely-triggered improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or armed unmanned aerial vehicles, and averting physical attacks on civilians and on peacekeepers. The spread of mis- and disinformation is a growing challenge that can directly threaten or breed animosity against peacekeepers. Peacekeeping must gain an understanding of how digital technologies shape conflict dynamics, empower conflict actors, and heighten political influence, but also create spaces for dialogue and enhance inclusivity and participation. At present, peacekeeping is still at an early stage of being aware and able to recognize and utilize this realm.
Fourth, a serious gap exists between the troop and police-contributing countries (T/PCCs) with widespread digital access and acquisition of skills, and the majority of TCCs where digital access and skills are limited. This is particularly stark in theaters where the security stakes are the highest. Associated challenges regarding which contributing countries can access information critical to safety and security were also highlighted. A central thrust of the strategy is inclusivity—transformation must be for all, and for this, a strong push is needed for partnerships among T/PCCs to level the playing field through capacity-building and training support, as well as technology sharing. Of importance will also be the removal of barriers to sharing critical information between peacekeepers.
What’s in the Strategy?
The strategy proposes solutions to the overarching challenges identified, and defines four goals with related actions:
The first is on cultivating technological innovation. The strategy proposes the establishment of a liaison function that connects technology users and technology developers to collaboratively match mandate implementation challenges with technology solutions. A process of co-creation between techies and mandate implementers will ensure that technology solutions are applied where they are most needed. In addition, the strategy suggests that an innovation and digital transformation space be created at headquarters that allows leadership to elevate, propagate and promote innovation in support of mandate implementation and safety and security.
The second goal is to make sure that we maximize the potential of technology in use today. Many new tools have been introduced to peacekeeping missions, but there is a way to go to ensure that systems are interoperable, that operators know how to use the tools, and that personnel have access to them, even in remote forward positions. Peacekeeping is a complex undertaking—it brings together personnel from 121 countries, many who rotate in and out after six months or a year, and many with no prior familiarity with peacekeeping technology. That means that we need to have a constant cycle of consistent training, capacity-building, and awareness-raising on technology tools, both pre-deployment and in theater.
Third, the strategy seeks to put in place the mechanisms to ensure that peacekeepers detect, analyze and address potential threats in a timely and integrated manner. Peacekeeping host countries are dangerous. Armed groups are nimble and adaptive, and are several steps ahead in terms of the weaponization of digital technologies. The strategy proposes a strengthening of situational awareness for better-informed planning and decision-making, as well as developing an integrated approach to mis- and disinformation and hate speech. It calls for measures to reduce the likelihood and impact of cyberattacks, as well as other attacks enabled by digital technologies, including through remote-activated IEDs and uncrewed aerial vehicles.
With greater reliance on digital technologies come greater risks and vulnerabilities. That is why the fourth goal of the strategy proposes measures to mitigate the risk, through the establishment of clear principles for the ethical use of digital technology, especially data, in peacekeeping, as well as guidelines for how these should be applied. Regular reviews and a complaints mechanism should be put in place to ensure that deviations are corrected and weaknesses addressed.
Key Considerations for Implementation
The challenges related to a mission’s ability and willingness to actively use digital technologies vary greatly among missions, but also between different locations in the same mission. This means that developing mission-specific approaches that build on what has already been achieved and meet the respective most-pressing demands will be essential to maintaining the support of missions for the implementation of the strategy and the envisioned digital transformation.
It has been said that reforming UN peacekeeping is akin to changing the course of an oil tanker. Keeping abreast of, adapting, and using fast-evolving technology effectively, across the 85,000 plus peacekeepers deployed in three continents is a steep challenge. Agile, nimble, and flexible peacekeeping has been a central theme of review and reform initiatives, from the 2015 High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO) report, to the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative. Digital technologies are key enablers for this, as is recognized by A4P+, the A4P implementation strategy for 2021-2023.
Technology in and of itself will not make the difference; the culture, systems, and processes put in place by the people who run peacekeeping will. That is why leadership is key. Senior-level commitment, advocacy, and active use of digital technologies are essential for successful transformation at all levels. The strategy alone will not change anything unless its implementation is deliberately and purposefully pushed and supported by peacekeeping leaders—at all levels—in the field and at headquarters. Further, the strategy should not be a one-off; with the establishment of systems to enable it, digital transformation must be an ongoing process.
From their inception, peacekeeping operations have relied on partnerships and a recognition of common challenges and collective responses. In their presidential statement on this topic, the Security Council called on the secretary-general “to continue to work with member states in exploring available and future technologies.” Member states will remain at the heart of this partnership, but the advent of digital technologies in peacekeeping calls for the net to be cast wider to bring in those that are driving innovative thinking in the technology sector, academia, and civil society. Forging an alliance of different stakeholders—public and private, government and society, and policy and operational—will be the key to unlock the opportunities offered by digital technology, while, of course, helping to guard against its excesses and potential abuses.
Similarly, conceiving and managing the digital transformation process will need a multidisciplinary approach. Bringing together people with diverse backgrounds sparks ideas and helps to push the boundaries of what is possible. For this, technology specialists, political analysts, communications teams, and military and police officers need to come together both at headquarters and in the field.
Finally, as the UN secretariat embarks on the digital transformation of peacekeeping, some concrete opportunities to galvanize diverse stakeholder support lie ahead: the Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting, to be held in December 2021 in Seoul, Republic of Korea, and the next Partnerships for Technology Symposium, to be held in South Africa in 2022. Building on both events’ track record of generating tangible initiatives to address challenges and move peacekeeping forward, they are occasions to solicit specific technology and financial commitments, establish collaborative training partnerships, or promote knowledge sharing that can accelerate and empower the implementation of the Strategy. This agenda is ambitious but indispensable for ensuring that UN peacekeeping remains an effective and valuable peace and security tool for the 21st Century.
Annika Hansen is a senior researcher and Head of the Analysis Division at the Center for International Peace Operations, Berlin, Germany. Naomi Miyashita is Policy Planning Team Leader in the UN Department of Peace Operations, New York. | https://theglobalobservatory.org/2021/09/un-peacekeeping-embraces-the-digital-world/ |
Globalisation has contributed to the fact that crises and shocks, whether economical, ecological or political in nature, have drastically increased in frequency and destructive power. Developing countries are particularly affected by this trend. How can we prevent them from destroying hard-won development progress? One approach is adaptive social protection systems that can handle crisis response. The current issue of Development in Brief describes the types of challenges social protection systems are facing and how they need to be further developed to meet these challenges.
Adaptive social protection – getting social protection systems in shape for crisis response (PDF, 176 KB, accessible)
KfW Development Bank supports the development and expansion of sustainably fundable social protection systems in its partner countries on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and various clients. We work together with our partners to develop country-specific solutions and innovative concepts.
Portfolio Analysis Social Protection 2016 (PDF, 245 KB, non-accessible)
In rich countries it is quite common to insure oneself against substantial risks like illness, unemployment, natural disaster or crop failure due to drought. In developing countries insurance solutions are also on the rise. However, for the most poor and vulnerable it is hard to gain access to insurances. Their ability to pay for insurances is limited and they often live in areas, which are hard to access for insurance companies.
The lasted issue of our Development I Brief series describes innovative approaches for overcoming the mentioned difficulties. Thereby poor households may be able to insure themselves against typical risks and enhance resilience.
Innovations in insurance: protecting poor households in developing countries
This paper discusses the policy options available to developing countries commited to offering universal pension coverage and maximising the incomes of older people. It presents a basic model of a pension system comprising up to three tiers that can be adapted to the circumstances of all countries.
PDF for download:
Digitalisation has revolutionised the everyday lives of many people: information can be called up in seconds and messages sent internationally at high speed. Even in developing countries, there appears to be significant potential for using these technologies. However, what is access to information and communication technology lin in these countries?
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Digital divide - how widespread is inequality in the digital world? | https://www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de/International-financing/KfW-Development-Bank/Publications-Videos/Publications-by-topic/Social-protection/ |
As a further way to define and structure WISR’s curricula—across all of our degree programs—the seven core areas of learning or “meta-competencies” (below) will provide WISR students and faculty with some guiding directions, within all degree programs. Furthermore, each course within each program will aim to help students to develop further their competencies in more than one of these areas, and in some cases at least, in most of these competency areas.
The degree program learning outcomes at WISR are conceptualized and articulated within learning goal areas defined by these meta-competencies. The required learning outcomes for each degree program from BS to MS to EdD progress, by evidencing increasing levels of knowledge and skills–from advanced beginner (and ready to become competent) to competent (and ready to become proficient) to proficient (and ready to become expert).
At the Bachelor’s degree level students will develop the general education skills of “learning how to learn” and will explore knowledge and relevant real world practices in a number of areas, and begin to define one or more areas in which they will focus and begin to develop the knowledge of an “advanced beginner” within the interdisciplinary field of Community Leadership and Justice.
Master’s degree students will develop special competence and in-depth knowledge in at least one field of specialization (e.g., Marriage and Family Therapy, Community Leadership or Educational Leadership) and in one or more particular areas of personal interest within that field.
Doctoral degree students will 1) develop specialized knowledge in one or more areas of special interest within the interdisciplinary field of higher education and social change, and 2) engage in creating new knowledge and/or new practices in the interdisciplinary field of higher education and social change, and especially in one or more areas of the special, personal interest within that field.
THE SEVEN CORE AREAS OF LEARNING OR “META-COMPETENCIES”:
1. Developing Skills as a Self-Directed Learner, Including Becoming a Conscious, Intentional, and Improvising Learner
Engaging in lifelong, self-directed, self-motivated and improvisational learning, in the realm of professional practice, and in other domains in one’s life. Developing strong skills in self-assessment is especially important to this area of meta-competency.
Willingness and ability to re-evaluate and change directions and plans—ability to improvise, including the inclination and ability to turn challenges and problems into opportunities.
Developing and Using Curiosity, along with one’s own sense of purpose and meaning.
Pursuing Long-term plans, alternatives, goals and pathways.
Quite importantly, consciously and intentionally building bridges to the next important phases of one’s life–this means that learning activities at WISR should lay a foundation for the next steps, and more than this, should create pathways and movement along the pathway to the next significant things the learner wishes to do in her or his life.
In using the Internet, this means becoming aware of strategies for finding material–readings and information from a variety of sources, and learning how to critically evaluate the usefulness and validity with the extensive material, resources and data available.
2. Gaining Expertise in Methods of Participatory Action-Inquiry and Qualitative Research
Seeing oneself as a builder of knowledge
Learning from the experience and knowledge of others
Developing methods of critical inquiry in order to evaluate the strengths and methods of specific approaches to sampling, data gathering, data analysis, and uses of findings.
Use of participatory action-inquiry to build knowledge and to fashion effective improvisations
Using Stories and concrete examples to develop and convey theories.
Developing a broadly informed perspective on science and scientific methods, in order to better inform one’s own inquiries and the inquiries of others within one’s profession and chosen area(s) of specialization.
3. Developing a Multicultural, Inclusive perspective
Developing and using multicultural perspectives to inform one’s purposes, and one’s views of social issues and challenges and opportunities in one’s chosen fields or arenas of endeavor—profession, workplace, community.
Developing a sense of empathy, compassion and community toward, and with, others.
Appreciating and Understanding the broad spectrum of perspectives and consciousness, and how those arise out of people’s culture, gender, economic background, religious and sexual preferences.
4. Developing Skills in Making Connections with the Bigger Picture and Inquiring into Ways of Creating Change for Social Justice, Greater Equality and Environmental Sustainability
Developing Economic/political/societal/cultural/environmental literacy and social change in a multicultural society.
Understanding of issues and challenges of sustainability, in relation to current decisions being made today.
Ability to understand, appreciate, act with awareness of the bigger picture as well as the immediate tasks to be accomplished.
Understanding and appreciating the connections between individual transformations and societal change, including how societal circumstances, especially injustices and inequalities, skew the way people understand and make sense of their experiences and make decisions about themselves and others.
Understanding the impact of political/social/economic inequities and injustices, and possible directions and strategies toward greater justice.
5. Communicating Clearly to One’s Audiences, in One’s Own Voice, and on Topics that Matter to the Learner, and to Learn to Collaborate with Others
Writing and communicating clearly, purposefully and inquiringly, and in one’s own voice.
Using stories, ideas, visions and proposals, and questions to communicate.
Reading Critically and for Relevance.
Developing Imaginative (Creative) and Critical Thinking.
Integrating Theory and Practice—learning how to develop and use theory and practice in relation to one another, and how to communicate to others about this interplay.
Ability to think and communicate within one’s sphere of professional practice, and the ability to step outside the boundaries and scope of that professional community, in order to better contribute to one’s profession, as well as the larger society.
Ability to collaborate—experience, motivation and understanding in working with others.
Understanding the Uses and Limitations of the Technology, including but not limited to the internet, multimedia, social networking; this includes further developing one’s technical and computer literacy, as part of the collaborative process, and understanding the limitations of technology as well.
6. Developing the capability of pursuing employment opportunities and/or community involvements, appropriate to one’s capabilities, experience and interest
Exploring and gain knowledge of professional and/or community leadership career paths that incorporate one’s interests, values and purposes.
Gaining experience in leadership and in professional and/or community engagement (practical learning, experiences, identifying and using resources, challenges and opportunities, leadership skills and strategies, profit and non-profit).
Gaining sufficient competence and expertise in one or more areas of specialization to be considered for positions that make good use of one’s competence, skills and expertise.
Ability to use one’s knowledge, skills, and ability as self-directed learners to make one’s current job positions more interesting, meaningful and /or productive; and/or to create one’s own options and alternatives for employment and/or community involvement, such as for, graduate level learners, especially, starting a new program in an existing organization, starting a non-profit, or creating one’s own self-employed practice or community involvement efforts.
7. Becoming Knowledgeable in One’s Major Field of Study, and in One’s Particular Area(s) of Specialization
Understanding the “lay of the land” in terms of what others have done and learned—theory and practice.
Competencies Need in One’s Specific, Chosen Areas of Professional Specialization
Engagement with some portions of the communities of professionals, practitioners, writer/researchers, and/or engaged citizens in one’s chosen area(s), or at least engagement with the ideas, stories, lessons, problems and questions, and practices of these communities
Understanding the limitations of and problems facing people in this/these area(s)
Progress in beginning to formulate one’s own ideas and sense of direction in the chosen area(s) of specialization
Developing the capability of pursuing employment opportunities and/or community involvements, appropriate to one’s competencies, experience, and interests. | https://www.wisr.edu/academics/sample-page-2/grading-and-awarding-academic-credit/meta-competencies/ |
Until leaving Open Lab in 2016, I worked as a research associate exploring socially engaged arts approaches to participatory design in relation to place and ageing as part of MyPlace.
My PhD focus was on technology design for sharing digital media in during transitions and disruptions, in the context of migration and violence. I worked in a long-term embedded way with charities who support Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee (BAMER) women, combining speculative design thinking and making with digital literacy skills. Informed by performance, narrative and community-based arts, we explored digital storytelling and digital portraits, developing multi-sensory ways in which photographs might be shared sensitively through technology using the photo-parshiya; a digital photo-album. This has led to a long-term partnership project BAM! Sistahood project encouraging dialogue around the future of digital infrastructure, archives and access.
I have a BA (Hons) in Contemporary Art from Nottingham Trent University and an MA in Visual Culture from Lancaster University. Prior to undertaking my PhD at Open Lab, I have worked as a freelance digital artist, facilitator and project manager working with heritage, arts and theatre organisations nationally and internationally on participatory engagement with technology.
http://racheleclarke.wordpress.com
Associated Projects
- Metro FuturesAugust 30, 2011The Tyne and Wear Metro has used the same trains since it opened in 1980, but these will soon need to be replaced. Nexus, which owns and manages the Metro collaborated with Open Lab to design methods and digital tools to involve more of Metro’s 40 m...
- Digital PortraitsAugust 30, 2011Digital portraits is a workshop process developed to explore the presentation of self using digital media. Participants are given portrait packs with inspiration tokens to generate ideas on the things that are valuable in their lives, including obj...
- Photo-parshiya: Digital photo-albumAugust 30, 2011Parshiya is an ancient word that means to be part of a group, family, community, or collective. The photo-parshiya is a digital photo-album designed to support the sharing of cultural heritage in an international women’s centre in the UK. It can ...
- Photo-Sharing After a Life DisruptionAugust 30, 2011Experience-centred design has focused on enriching emotional and relational aspects of technology use in people’s everyday lives. However, recent research in designing for sensitive areas of human experience has also focused on technology use in wha...
- Sundroids: Energetic WorkshopsAugust 30, 2011Sundroids was a series of workshops developed with secondary schools to explore solar electronic kits and kinetic sculpture. A design team of artists, engineers, and education researchers from University of Bremen, and Culture Lab worked together w...
- My Great North RunAugust 30, 2011‘My Great North Run’ is a multimodal museum installation and connected website that archives stories, photographs and drawings from the last thirty years of the Great North Run. | https://openlab.ncl.ac.uk/people/nrec2/ |
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively examine the relationship between a problem‑based learning context, authentic assessment and the role of community in fostering learning in digital contexts. The authors used Digital Moments to crea te a meaningful learning environment and build the online class community. They then collaboratively developed assessment strategies and tools with students following problem‑based learning methodologies. Given that the pace of information is rapid and c hanging, the authors argue that online learning must occur in a context that embraces these three concepts 1. Students must be empowered through PBL to choose real world tasks to demonstrate their knowledge, 2. Students are allowed to choose the modality to represent that knowledge and participate in designing the tools for assessing that knowledge and 3. They do so in a supportive online community built through the sharing of Digital Moments. The paper chronicles the interconnection between problem ba sed learning, authentic real world assessment tasks and a supportive online community. This resulted in developing learner autonomy, improving student engagement and motivation, greater use of meaningful self and peer assessments and shared development o f collective knowledge.. Further to this, it builds a foundation from which authentic assessment, student ownership of learning and peer support can occur in an ongoing way as learners make the important shifts in power to owning their learning and becomi ng problem‑based inquirers in future courses. As a result, in order to fully embrace the online learning environment, we cannot limit ourselves to simple text based measures of student achievement. Stepping into this brave new world requires innovation, creativity and tenacity, and the courage to accept that as the nature of knowledge has evolved in the digital landscape, so must our means of assessing it.
Mitigating the Mathematical Knowledge gap Between High School and First Year University Chemical Engineering Mathematics Course pp68‑83
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Abstract
Abstract: This paper reports on a study carried out at a University of Technology, South Africa, aimed at identifying the existence of the mathematical knowledge gap and evaluating the intervention designed to bridge the knowledge gap amongst students stu dying first year mathematics at the Chemical Engineering Extended Curriculum Program (ECP). In this study, a pre‑test was used as a diagnostic test to test incoming Chemical Engineering students, with the aim of identifying the mathematical knowledge ga p, and to provide students with support in their starting level of mathematical knowledge and skills. After the diagnostic test, an intervention called the autumn school was organized to provide support to bridge the mathematical knowledge gap identified. A closed Facebook group served as a platform for providing student support after school hours. After the autumn school, a post‑test was administered to measure whether there was an improvement in the knowledge gap. Both quantitative and qualitative metho ds of collecting data were used in this study. A pre‑test was used to identify the mathematical knowledge gap, while a post‑test was employed to measure whether there was a decrease in the knowledge gap after the intervention. Focus group interviews were carried out with the students to elicit their opinions on whether the intervention was of any help for them. Students participation on Facebook in terms of student post, post comments and likes and an evaluation of students academic performance in comp arison to their Facebook individual participation was also conducted. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data was analysed using inductive strategy. Results showed that all the students in this study had the mat hematical knowledge gap as no student in the class scored 50% on the overall pre‑test. Findings further revealed that the intervention played a major role in alleviating the mathematical knowledge gap from some of the students (with 1/3 of the students s coring 50% and above in the post‑test) and no positive correlation between students academic performance on the post‑test and students participation in the Facebook group was noted. We hope that insights generated in this study will be of help to other institutions looking into designing interventions for bridging the knowledge gap. Reasons for lack of improvement in the knowledge gap of 2/3 of the students in this class will be highlighted.
Keywords: Keywords: knowledge gap, extended curriculum program, descriptive statistics, inductive strategy, diagnostic test, autumn school, Facebook closed group
Telling Tales: Towards a new Model of Literacy Development Using e‑Readers in Teacher Education in Chile pp84‑96
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Abstract: Current debates on quality standards in education often look to the levels of an increasingly diverse array of literacies as a measure of that standard. At the same time, while mobile technologies are profoundly changing the way we live, communi cate and learn in our everyday lives, relatively little seems to be known about their potential to influence even basic literacy in formal education sites. Examining the use of practical and affordable emerging technologies in many countries worldwide whe re literacy rates are an issue, seems as yet to have been overlooked. Considering the implication of multiple literacy and communication skills to economic and cultural development and stability in emerging countries and increasingly in developed ones as well, finding immediate answers to challenges in this area is critical. This paper reports on a longitudinal study that examined the power of e‑readers to support change in the literacy habits and ultimately the learning cultures of a group of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers‑in‑training in Chile. The aim of the study was to determine if access to low‑cost mobile readers and a social‑learning driven, technology‑supported, guided reading program, could reverse their literacy challenges. The s tudy is based on social‑cultural theory in which learner agency, access to funds of knowledge and social interaction are imperative ingredients for developing engaged, life‑long learners and readers. Participatory Action Research (PAR) is used to condu ct the inquiry. Working within a qualitative research paradigm, ethnographic tools and numerical data from pre‑ and post‑test results, helped to uncover how the use of technology influenced both the literacy practices and identities of the teachers‑in‑tra ining. The findings have led to the proposal of a new 21st century model for literacy education for such challenging contexts. This model could have important implications for Chile as well as learners, educators and policy makers elsewhere.
Keywords: Keywords: education in Chile, multi-literacies, teacher education, mobile learning, e-books, literacy in challenging contexts
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Abstract: The paper explores the role of Open Access (in licensing, publishing and sharing research data) and Open Educational Resources within Distance Education, with a focus on the context of the University of London International Programmes. We repo rt on a case study where data were gathered from librarians and programme directors relating to existing practice around Open Access; the major constraints in using Open Educational Resources and the main resource implications, when adopting Open Educatio nal Resources, were also investigated. Our aim was to (a) raise awareness and understanding of what is possible to achieve in higher education by embracing the Open Access movement (b) identify next steps and actions that could be taken to improve ins titutional use of Open Access materials, including Open Educational Resources, (c) examine the implications of such actions for Open Distance Learning and generally the higher education sector. Our investigation highlighted some opportunities and the fi ndings resulted into some clear recommendations that emerged from our investigation both for practitioners and for students in this area. There seems to be a clear synergy between the different but related movements of Open access and OERs as both have to address issues of ease of access, quality and visibility in order to become accepted in higher education.
Keywords: Keywords: Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Education, open and distance learning, Open Access publishing and licensing, digital scholarship
The Flipped Classroom, Disruptive Pedagogies, Enabling Technologies and Wicked Problems: Responding to the Bomb in the Basement pp106‑119
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Abstract: The adoption of enabling technologies by universities provides unprecedented opportunities for flipping the classroom to achieve student‑centred learning. While higher education policies focus on placing students at the heart of the education pr ocess, the propensity for student identities to shift from partners in learning to consumers of education provides challenges for negotiating the learning experience. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are grappling with the disruptive potential of te chnology‑enabled solutions to enhance education provision in cost‑effective ways without placing the student experience at risk. These challenges impact on both academics and their institutions demanding agility and resilience as crucial capabilities for universities endeavouring to keep up with the pace of change, role transitions, and pedagogical imperatives for student‑centred learning. The paper explores strategies for effective change management which can minimise risk factors in adopting the disrupt ive pedagogies and enabling technologies associated with â flipping the classroomâ for transformative learning. It recognises the significance of individual, cultural and strategic shifts as prerequisites and processes for generating and sustaining cha nge. The analysis is informed by the development of a collaborative lifeworld‑led, transprofessional curriculum for health and social work disciplines, which harnesses technology to connect learners to humanising practices and evidence based approaches. R ich data from student questionnaires and staff focus groups is drawn on to highlight individual and organisational benefits and barriers, including student reactions to new and challenging ways of learning; cultural resistance recognised in staff sceptici sm and uncertainty; and organisational resistance, recognised in lack of timely and responsive provision of technical infrastructure and support. Intersections between research orientations, education strategies and technology affordances will be explored as triggers for transformation in a â triple
Keywords: Keywords: Transformative learning, change management, flipped classroom, technology-enabled learning, role transitions, organizational change
An Assessment of Students Perceptions of Learning Benefits Stemming from the Design and Instructional Use of a Web3D Atlas pp120‑137
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Abstract: This article has a dual purpose: it describes the development of First Year Dental Anatomy (FYDA), a web‑based 3D interactive application used in the dental curriculum at a major Canadian university, and it reports on the results of a research study conducted to assess the perception of learning benefits students experienced through the use of FYDA in a dental anatomy course. Questionnaires administered upon the completion of three semesters during which FYDA was used reveal some benefits for learning, but also a few deterrents for use, primarily related to some aspects of design. Generally, the students received the application with interest and viewed it as a useful aiding tool in learning dental anatomy. The results suggest the overall 3D m odels met the students learning objectives and expectations and, in their view, were conducive to their understanding of internal and external dental anatomy. Issues related to the over‑sensitive controls, navigational flaws and manipulation difficulties caused some learners a certain level of frustration, but these were not severe enough to hinder the students learning.
Keywords: Keywords: higher education, first year dental anatomy, web-based atlas, web3D technologies, 3D graphics, 3D animations
Location‑Based Augmented Reality for Mobile Learning: Algorithm, System, and Implementation pp138‑148
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Abstract: AR technology can be considered as mainly consisting of two aspects: identification of real‑world object and display of computer‑generated digital contents related the identified real‑world object. The technical challenge of mobile AR is to iden tify the real‑world object that mobile device's camera aim at. In this paper, we will present a location‑based object identification algorithm that has been used to identify learning objects in the 5R adaptive location‑based mobile learning setting. We wi ll also provide some background of the algorithm, discuss issues in using the algorithm, and present the algorithm empowered mobile learning system and its implementation. | http://ejel.org/volume13/issue2/p68 |
Reports on the role of teachers in developing students' competencies in media, computer and visual literacy. Definition of visual literacy; Diverse means of developing visual literacy skills; Method of analysis for helping children study magazine and newspaper advertising and their favorite...
- Seventh Grade Students and the Visual Messages They Love. De Abreu, Belinha // Knowledge Quest;Jan/Feb2008, Vol. 36 Issue 3, p34
The article reports on the role of the media for seventh grade students. Most of these students partially define themselves through everyday media messages. It discusses the collaboration of teachers and their curricular experiments to develop a unit to help students learn how visual messages...
- Media Literacy and Information Literacy: Similarities and Differences. A. Y. L. Lee; C. Y. K. So // Comunicar;ene2014, Vol. 21 Issue 42, p137
In knowledge society, there is currently a call for cultivating a combination of media literacy and information literacy. This, however, requires cooperation from these two separate fields of study, and uncertainty regarding their boundaries hinders a smooth merger. It is unclear whether they...
- You Can Teach Old Dogs New Tricks: The Factors That Affect Changes over Time in Digital Literacy. Eshet-Alkalai, Yoram; Chajut, Eran // Journal of Information Technology Education;2010, Vol. 9, p173
The expansion of digital technologies and the rapid changes they undergo through time face users with new cognitive, social, and ergonomic challenges that they need to master in order to perform effectively. In recent years, following empirical reports on performance differences between...
- Assessing the computational literacy of elementary students on a national level in Korea. Jun, SooJin; Han, SunGwan; Kim, HyeonCheol; Lee, WonGyu // Educational Assessment, Evaluation & Accountability;Nov2014, Vol. 26 Issue 4, p319
Information and communication technology (ICT) literacy education has become an important issue, and the necessity of computational literacy (CL) has been increasing in our growing information society. CL is becoming an important element for future talents, and many countries, including the USA,...
- Towards Qualitative Computer Science Education: Engendering Effective Teaching Methods. Adenowo, Basirat A.; Adenle, Stephen O.; Adenowo, Adetokunbo A. A. // International Journal of Modern Education & Computer Science;Sep2013, Vol. 5 Issue 7, p16
An investigation into the teaching method(s) that can effectively yield qualitative computer science education in Basic Schools becomes necessary due to the Nigerian government policy on education. The government's policy stipulates that every graduate of Basic Schools or UBE (Universal Basic...
- Enhancing teachers' ICT capacity for the 21st century learning environment: Three cases of teacher education in Korea. Hyeonjin Kim; Hyungshin Choi; Jeonghye Han; Hyo-Jeong So // Australasian Journal of Educational Technology;2012, Vol. 28 Issue 6, p965
Korean teachers are generally considered well trained to integrate ICT into their teaching since the inception of the first IT Master Plan of Korea in 1996. However, the emergence and adoption of cutting-edge technologies create demands for evolving roles and competencies of teachers in the new...
- Towards an intergrated. Markauskaite, Lina // Information Research;Apr2006, Vol. 11 Issue 3, p5
Introduction. Theoretical approaches and frameworks that help us to understand the contemporary notion of information and communication technology literacy (ICT literacy) in the formal education sector are reviewed and examined. Method. The analysis is conducted from a technology (i.e., computer...
- Are gender differences in perceived and demonstrated technology literacy significant? It depends on the model. Hohlfeld, Tina; Ritzhaupt, Albert; Barron, Ann // Educational Technology Research & Development;Aug2013, Vol. 61 Issue 4, p639
This paper examines gender differences related to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy using two valid and internally consistent measures with eighth grade students ( N = 1,513) from Florida public schools. The results of t test statistical analyses, which examined only gender... | http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/32766769/visual-literacy-one-21st-century-literacies-science-teaching-learning |
Texts tabled :
Debates :
Votes :
Texts adopted :
on digitalisation for development: reducing poverty through technology
(2018/2083(INI))
Committee on Development
Rapporteur: Bogdan Brunon Wenta
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Articles 208, 209, 210, 211 and 214 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),
– having regard to the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development and the outcome document adopted by the UN General Assembly on 25 September 2015 entitled ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, and to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
– having regard to the European Consensus on Development - ‘Our world, our dignity, our future’, adopted in May 2017 (2017/C 210/01),
– having regard to the Commission communication of 14 October 2015 entitled ‘Trade for All: Towards a more responsible trade and investment policy’ (COM(2015)0497),
– having regard to the Commission staff working document of 2 May 2017 entitled ‘Digital4Development: mainstreaming digital technologies and services into EU Development Policy’ (SWD(2017)0157),
– having regard to the Digital Single Market for Europe (DSM) strategy adopted in May 2015,
– having regard to the European External Investment Plan,
– having regard to the Commission report to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the implementation of the Trade Policy Strategy, ‘Trade for All – Delivering a Progressive Trade Policy to Harness Globalisation’ (COM(2017)0491),
– having regard to its resolution of 12 December 2017 entitled ‘Towards a digital trade strategy’(1),
– having regard to its resolution of 16 December 2015 on preparing for the World Humanitarian Summit: Challenges and opportunities for humanitarian assistance(2),
– having regard to the Commission communication of 13 May 2014 entitled ‘A Stronger Role of the Private Sector in Achieving Inclusive and Sustainable Growth in Developing Countries’ (COM(2014)0263),
– having regard to the Council conclusions on ‘Digital for Development’ of November 2017,
– having regard to the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO, held in Buenos Aires (Argentina) from 10 to 13 December 2017,
– having regard to the UN International Telecommunication Union’s initiatives in support of Developing Countries (ITU-D),
– having regard to the World Trade Organisation’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA),
– having regard to the ministerial declaration made in Cancún in 2016 by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the digital economy,
– having regard to the joint declaration made by the ICT ministers of the G7 at their meeting held in Takamatsu (Japan) on 29 and 30 April 2016,
– having regard to the ‘eTrade for All’ initiative of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD),
– having regard to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol (A/RES/61/106),
– having regard to Rule 52 of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the report of the Committee on Development (A8-0338/2018),
A. whereas the European Consensus on Development 2017 highlights the importance of information and communications technologies and services as enablers of inclusive growth and sustainable development;
B. whereas the Commission’s Digitalisation for Development strategy (D4D) covers economic growth and human rights, health, education, agriculture and food security, basic infrastructure, water and sanitation, governance and social protection, as well as cross-cutting goals in terms of gender and the environment;
C. whereas digital technologies offer a potential for ensuring sustainability and environmental protection; whereas, however, the production of digital equipment uses certain rare metals with low recyclability and limited accessible reserves, and electronic and electric waste represents an environmental and health challenge; whereas, according to a joint study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Interpol(3), Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is a priority area of environmental criminality;
D. whereas according to the 2017 update of the World Bank database Identification for Development Global Dataset (ID4D), an estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide cannot officially prove their identity, including their birth registration, and of those 78 % live in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia; whereas this is a major barrier to achieving target 16.9 of the SDGs, but also to being an actor in and benefiting from the digital environment;
E. whereas the SDGs explicitly mention digital technologies in five of the goals (SDG 4 on education; SDG 5 on gender equality; SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth; SDG 9 on infrastructure, industrialisation and innovation; and SDG 17 on partnerships);
F. whereas the SDGs stress that providing universal and affordable access to the internet for people in least developed countries (LDCs) by 2020 will be crucial for fostering development, as the development of a digital economy could be a driver of decent jobs and inclusive growth, export volumes and export diversification;
G. whereas according to UNCTAD, digitisation is increasingly giving rise to monopolies and poses new challenges for antitrust and competition policies of both developing and developed countries(4);
H. whereas in its overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society(5), the UN General Assembly committed to harnessing the potential of ICTs in order to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other internationally agreed development goals, noting that ICTs could accelerate progress across all 17 SDGs;
I. whereas connectivity remains a challenge and a concern lying at the root of various digital divides in both access to and use of ICTs;
J. whereas the speed at which the digital economy is unfolding, and the significant gaps that exist in developing countries with regard to the digital economy in terms of development of secure national policy, regulations and consumer protection, point up the urgent need to upscale capacity-building and technical assistance to developing countries, and especially to LDCs;
K. whereas digital literacy and skills are key enablers for social and personal improvement and progress, as well as for promoting entrepreneurship and building strong digital economies;
L. whereas digitalisation should also help improve the delivery of humanitarian relief and resilience, disaster risk prevention and transitional support, linking humanitarian aid and development aid in fragile and conflict-affected contexts;
M. whereas more than half of the world’s population is still offline, and progress has been slow towards achieving the SDG 9 target of significantly increasing access to ICTs and striving to provide universal and affordable access to the internet in LDCs by 2020;
N. whereas a huge increase in mobile services is occurring across the planet and the numbers of mobile users are now surpassing the numbers of people having access to electricity, sanitation or clean water;
O. whereas humanitarian innovation must be consistent with the humanitarian principles (humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence) and the dignity principle;
P. whereas humanitarian innovation must be conducted with the aim of promoting the rights, dignity and capabilities of the recipient population, and it should be possible for all members of a crisis-affected community to benefit from innovation without discriminatory barriers to use;
Q. whereas risk analysis and mitigation must be used to prevent unintentional harm, including harm affecting privacy and data security and impacting on local economies;
R. whereas experimentation, piloting and trials must be undertaken in conformity with internationally recognised ethical standards;
The need to support digitalisation in developing countries
1. Welcomes the Commission’s D4D strategy, insofar as it mainstreams digital technologies into EU development policy, which should aim at contributing to the achievement of the SDGs; insists on the importance of enhancing an SDG-centred digitalisation; recalls that the digital revolution presents societies with a whole set of new challenges, bringing both risks and opportunities;
2. Reiterates the huge potential of digital technology and services in the achievement of the SDGs provided that action is taken to address the disruptive effects of technologies, such as automation of jobs impacting on employability, digital exclusion and inequality, cybersecurity, data privacy and regulatory issues; recalls that any digital strategy must be fully in line with and contribute to the realisation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, notably with reference to SDG 4 on quality education, SDG 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth, and SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure; recalls that if the SDGs are to be achieved by 2030, a strengthened global, national, regional and local partnership is needed between governmental, scientific, economic and civil society actors;
3. Points out that, despite the increase in internet penetration, many developing countries and emerging economies lag behind in benefiting from digitalisation, many people still have no access to ICTs, and major disparities exist both between countries and between urban and rural areas; recalls that digital technology remains a tool and not an end, and considers that given financial constraints priority should be assigned to the most effective means of achieving the SDGs, and that in some countries, even though digitalisation may be useful, it is still necessary to ensure the fulfilment of basic human needs, notably in terms of access to food, energy, water and sanitation, education and health, as highlighted by the UN report on the SDGs of 2017; considers, however, that the conditions for digital development must be provided for at the design stage of infrastructure, even if implementation takes place at a later stage;
4. Stresses the imperative that any digital trade strategy must be fully in line with the principle of Policy Coherence for Development (PCD), which is essential for achieving the SDGs; underlines that access to internet connectivity and digital payment methods that are reliable and compliant with international standards, with legislation protecting consumers of online goods and services, intellectual property rights, rules protecting personal data and tax and customs legislation appropriate to electronic commerce are pivotal to enabling digital trade, sustainable development and inclusive growth; notes in this regard the potential of the Trade Facilitation Agreement to support digital initiatives in developing countries to facilitate cross-border trade;
5. Calls for the development of an action plan for technical innovation for humanitarian assistance, to ensure compliance with the legal and ethical principles laid down in documents such as the New European Consensus on Development - 'Our world, our dignity, our future' and ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’;
6. Underlines that all aspects of humanitarian innovation should be subject to evaluation and monitoring, including an assessment of primary and secondary impacts of the innovation process; stresses that ethical review and risk analysis should be undertaken prior to embarking on humanitarian innovation and digitalisation projects, and should incorporate external or third-party experts where appropriate;
7. Calls for the implementation in EU external action of the principles embodied in the Digital Single Market for Europe (DSM) strategy, through support for EU partners’ regulatory frameworks;
8. Calls for sufficient funding under the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 to enable the streamlining of digital technologies into all aspects of development policy;
9. Notes that the introduction of digital technology in developing countries has often outpaced the establishment of state institutions, legal regulations and other mechanisms that could help manage new challenges that arise, notably regarding cybersecurity; stresses the importance of deepening collaboration between researchers and innovators at interregional level, encouraging research and development activities that promote scientific progress and the transfer of technology and know-how; calls for digitalisation to be featured prominently in the future post-Cotonou agreement as an enabler of inclusive and sustainable development, in accordance with the negotiation guidelines;
10. Calls for further joint actions in digital infrastructure cooperation, as this should become one of the key activities in the EU’s partnerships with regional organisations, particularly the African Union; points to the importance of technical assistance and transfer of expertise to institutions that are developing digital policies at national, regional and continental levels;
11. Calls for digitalisation to be incorporated into Member States’ national strategies for development;
12. Calls for a more concerted and holistic cross-sectoral effort from the international community, including non-state actors such as representatives of civil society, the third sector, private companies and academia, to ensure that the shift towards a more digital economy leaves no one behind and contributes to the achievement of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, guaranteeing access to digital technologies and services to all economic actors and citizens and avoiding an excess of different approaches that would create incompatibilities, overlaps or gaps in legislation; calls for the improvement of political articulation between the EU, the Member States and other relevant actors, with a view to enhancing coordination, complementarity and the creation of synergies;
13. Points out that technology, artificial intelligence and automation are already replacing some low and mid-skilled jobs; calls on the Commission to promote an SDG-centred digitalisation and stresses that state-funded social protection floors, such as minimum income security, are essential in addressing some disruptive impacts of new technologies, in order to overcome the changes in global labour markets and the international division of labour, affecting especially low-skilled workers in developing countries;
14. Calls on the private sector to responsibly contribute to D4D through technology and innovation, expertise, investment, risk management, sustainable business models and growth, which should include prevention, reduction, repair, recycling and reuse of raw materials;
15. Regrets that less than half of all developing countries have data protection legislation, and encourages the EU to provide technical assistance to the relevant authorities in drafting such legislation, relying in particular on its experience and its own legislation, which is internationally recognised as a model of its kind; stresses the need to take into account the cost that may be involved in standardising such legislation, particularly for SMEs; observes that because of the cross-border nature of digital technology data protection legislation should not vary too much, since that would lead to incompatibilities;
16. Calls on all stakeholders to collect, process, analyse and disseminate data and statistics at local, regional, national and global levels in order to ensure a high level of protection of data, in accordance with the relevant international standards and instruments and so as to pursue the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; notes that accurate and timely collection of data ensures adequate monitoring of implementation, adjustment of policies and intervention where necessary, as well as evaluation of results achieved and their impact; recalls, however, that while the ‘data revolution’ makes it easier, faster and cheaper to produce and analyse data from a wide range of sources, it also raises huge security and privacy challenges; stresses, therefore, that innovations in data collection in developing countries should not replace official statistics but complement them;
17. Deplores the persistent digital divides existing within each country relating to gender, geography, age, income, ethnicity, and health condition or disability, among other factors of discrimination; insists, therefore, that international development cooperation should work towards greater advancement and inclusion of persons who are disadvantaged or in vulnerable situations, while promoting the responsible use of digital tools and an adequate awareness of possible risks; calls for support for innovation that is adapted to local needs and the transition to knowledge-based economies;
18. Calls, therefore, for increased efforts to address the challenges of digital exclusion through education and training in essential digital skills, as well as initiatives to facilitate the appropriate use of ICTs and the utilisation of digital tools in the implementation of participative methodologies, in accordance with age, personal situation and background, including elderly people and persons with disabilities; notes that international development cooperation could build on digital technologies geared to better integration of disadvantaged groups on condition that they have access to digital technologies; welcomes the initiatives such as the Africa Code Week, which contribute to the empowerment of the young African generation by fostering digital literacy; stresses the importance of e-learning and distance learning in reaching remote areas and people of all ages;
19. Calls for the introduction of digital literacy in curricula at all levels of education, from primary school to university, in developing countries, with a view to the acquisition of the skills needed to improve access to information; believes, however, that ICT tools and new technologies should not substitute real teachers and schools, but should be used as a means of improving access to education and enhancing its quality; stresses that new technologies are a key tool for the dissemination of knowledge, the training of teachers and the management of establishments; insists also on the need for enhanced local training centres (including programming schools), to train developers and to encourage the creation of digital solutions and applications corresponding to local needs and realities;
20. Highlights that bridging the digital divide implies deployment of and access to infrastructure, especially in rural and remote areas, that is adequate in terms of high-quality coverage and is affordable, reliable and secure; notes that the main causes hampering connectivity include poverty and lack of essential services, together with underdeveloped terrestrial networks, lack of enabling public policies and regulatory frameworks, high taxation of digital products and services, low market competition and absence of an energy grid;
21. Expresses its concern regarding technological dependence on a small number of operators, and especially on GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon), and calls for alternatives to be developed to promote competition; notes that this aim could be pursued in partnership between the EU and Africa;
22. Recalls that developing countries are far from being immune to cyber-attacks and underlines the risks of disruption of economic, political and democratic stability if digital security is not guaranteed; calls on all stakeholders in the digitally connected world to take active responsibility by adopting practical measures to promote greater cybersecurity awareness and know-how; points out, to this end, the importance of developing human capital at all levels in order to reduce threats to cybersecurity through training, education and increased awareness, and of establishing appropriate criminal law and transnational frameworks to combat cybercrime, as well as participating actively in international fora such as the OECD Global Forum on Digital Security;
23. Recalls the potential of digitalisation for reducing disparities in social inclusion, for access to information and for reducing economic marginalisation in peripheral areas;
Digitalisation: a tool for sustainable development
24. Welcomes the EU’s External Investment Plan promoting investment in innovative digital solutions for local needs, financial inclusion and decent job creation; points out that digitalisation is an important investment opportunity and that, on a basis of working together with European and international financial institutions and the private sector, blending would therefore constitute an important tool for leveraging financial resources;
25. Calls on the Commission to launch new initiatives with a special focus on developing digital infrastructure, promoting e-governance and digital skills, strengthening the digital economy and fostering SDG-centred start-up ecosystems, including funding opportunities for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), to enable them to interact digitally with multinational enterprises and to access global value chains;
26. Calls on the Commission to further mainstream digital technologies and services into the EU’s development policy, as outlined inter alia in the D4D agenda; underlines the need to promote the use of digital technologies in specific policy areas, including e-governance, agriculture, education, water management, health and energy;
27. Calls on the Commission to increase investment in digital infrastructure in developing countries, in order to bridge the significant digital divide in a development-effective and principle-based manner;
28. Recalls that MSMEs in developing countries make up the majority of businesses and employ the majority of manufacturing and service sector workers; reiterates that facilitating well regulated cross-border e-commerce can have a direct impact on improving livelihoods, fostering higher living standards and boosting employment and economic development; reaffirms the contribution that such endeavours could make to gender equality, since a great number of these companies are owned and run by women; stresses the need to reduce legal, administrative and social barriers to entrepreneurship, particularly with regard to women; calls for digitalisation to be used also to promote education and capability-building for entrepreneurship in developing countries, while also creating a favourable environment for start-ups and innovative companies;
29. Stresses the need to stem trade in minerals whose exploitation finances armed conflicts or involves forced labour; recalls that coltan is the basic raw material for many electronic devices (e.g. smartphones) and that the civil war that has engulfed the Great Lakes region of Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to its exploitation and extraction and illegal trade in it has resulted in more than eight million deaths; calls for an end to the exploitation of children in coltan mines and to illegal trading in coltan, in order to bring about a situation in which it is extracted and marketed in an acceptable way which also benefits the local population;
30. Points out that as the largest sector of the African economy, agriculture can potentially benefit from digital technologies; highlights that digital platforms can be used in developing countries to inform farmers about market prices and link them with potential buyers, as well as to provide practical information about growing methods and market trends, weather information, and warnings and advice about plant and animal diseases; underlines, however, in a context where agriculture is becoming more and more knowledge-intensive and high-tech, that digital agriculture can also have a huge social and environmental disruptive effect in developing countries, as access to the latest technology may remain restricted to big and industrialised farms active in the export market and cash crops, while limited knowledge and skills could marginalise further small-scale farming in developing countries;
31. Insists that EU funding for agriculture in developing countries must be in line with the transformative nature of Agenda 2030 and the Paris Climate Agreement, and consequently with the conclusions of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) and the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food; stresses that this implies the recognition of the multifunctionality of agriculture and a rapid shift from monoculture cropping based on the intensive use of chemical inputs towards a diversified and sustainable agriculture, based on agro-ecological farming practices and strengthening local food systems and small-scale farming;
32. Points out that ICT tools can be used for information dissemination which can be crucial during both natural and technological disasters and emergencies, as well as in fragile and conflict-affected areas; highlights that digital technologies can enable low-income communities and other vulnerable communities to have access to quality basic services (e.g. health, education, water, sanitation and electricity), as well as to humanitarian relief and other public and private services; highlights the importance of the fight against online disinformation (fake news), and emphasises the need for specific programmes focusing on media literacy as a tool to tackle these challenges;
33. Underlines that technological innovation in humanitarian assistance is a priority, most especially in the context of forced displacements, for contributing to sustainable solutions that bring stability and dignity to people’s lives and may facilitate the humanitarian development nexus; welcomes global initiatives to facilitate humanitarian innovation, such as the Global Alliance for Humanitarian Innovation (GAHI), the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) and UN Global Pulse, and calls for the EU to promote open data and strongly support the global communities of software developers and designers who are building practical open technology with a view to solving international development and humanitarian problems;
34. Stresses that digital technologies such as SMS and mobile phone applications can provide affordable new tools for circulating important information, which could be used by poor or isolated people and people with disabilities; notes the potential of mobile phone technology, which may have advantages including lower access costs due to increasing network coverage, user-friendliness and falling costs of calls and text messages; recalls equally, however, that mobile phones generate health and environmental risks, notably due to extraction of mineral resources and increasing levels of electronic and electric waste; underlines that digitalisation has the potential to either boost or undermine democracy, and calls on the EU to duly reflect upon these risks with a view to controlling the misapplication of digital technologies, when promoting the use of technological innovation in development aid, and also to promote internet governance;
35. Stresses the importance of building a sustainable ecosystem for the digital economy in order to reduce the ecological impact linked to digitalisation by developing an efficient use of resources in both the digital and energy sector, notably by prioritising the circular economy; calls for the External Investment Plan (EIP) to support producer responsibility, concretely by supporting SMEs which develop reuse, repair and refurbishment activities and incorporate take-back schemes into their business activities with the aim of removing the hazardous components used in Electric and Electronic Equipment (EEE); calls for enhancement of consumer awareness of the environmental effects of e-devices and for the effective addressing of business responsibility in the production of EEE; stresses likewise the need to support electronic and electric waste statistics and national e-waste policies in developing countries, so as to help minimise e-waste production, prevent illegal dumping and improper treatment of e-waste, promote recycling, and create jobs in the refurbishment and recycling sector;
36. Acknowledges that digital technologies provide the energy sector with innovative tools to optimise the use of resources; however, recalls that digital technologies have a significant ecological footprint, as a consumer of energy resources (digital CO2 emissions are estimated to account for 2-5 % of total emissions) and metals (such as silver, cobalt, copper and tantalum), calling into question their long-term sustainability; reasserts the need to shift patterns of production and consumption in order to combat climate change;
37. Acknowledges the potential role of digital technology in promoting democracy and citizens’ participation in decision-making;
38. Stresses the importance of creating and implementing state-run digital information platforms which increase opportunities for people at large to inform themselves fully about their rights and the services that the state makes available to its citizens;
39. Stresses that e-government applications contribute to making public services faster and cheaper to access, improve consistency and citizen satisfaction, facilitate the articulation and activities of civil society, and increase transparency, thus contributing significantly to promoting democratisation and fighting corruption; stresses the vital role of technology and digitalisation for effective fiscal policy and administration, enabling an effective increase in domestic resource mobilisation and helping fight tax fraud and tax evasion; insists that it is imperative to create secure digital identities, as this could help determine the numbers of those in need of certain basic services;
40. Calls for exploitation of the opportunities afforded by digital technology as a means of improving registration of children in registers of births, deaths and marriages; stresses that UNICEF estimates that, in sub-Saharan Africa alone, 95 million children remain unregistered at birth(6) and therefore have no birth certificate, and that this fact prevents the children concerned from being legally recognised, so that their existence as members of society goes unrecorded from birth and through into adult life, which distorts countries' demographic data, with significant consequences for the assessment of the needs of populations, particularly in terms of access to education or healthcare;
41. Acknowledges the central role of digital technology in management of health services, emergency response to epidemics, dissemination of public health campaigns, public access to health services, as well as in the training of health workers, the support and promotion of basic research, and the development of health and e-health information services; calls, therefore, on policymakers to introduce the appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks to scale up e-health projects; asks the Commission to provide the necessary financial resources in this regard;
42. Welcomes the 'DEVCO Academy' on-line programme, which makes it possible to train people from the EU's partner countries on-line; calls for the further development of training programmes for local leaders and the establishment of procedures for applying for EU subsidies, so that those partners can gain a clearer picture of expectations, aims and conditions and thus improve the prospects of gaining acceptance for their projects; stresses that such initiatives, provided they are easily accessible, efficient and relevant, would have a positive impact on the absorption of aid and on the image of the EU among its partners;
43. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the EEAS.
Texts adopted, P8_TA(2017)0488.
Texts adopted, P8_TA(2015)0459.
UNEP-Interpol study, ‘The Rise of Environmental Crime: a growing Threat to Natural Resources, Peace, Development and Security’, 2016.
UNCTAD, ‘South-South Digital Cooperation for Industrialisation: A Regional Integration Agenda’ (2017).
UN General Assembly, GA/RES/70/125.
https://www.unicef.org/french/publications/files/UNICEF_SOWC_2016_French_LAST.pdf
‘Communication technologies have transformed the way people live and the manner in which countries develop. They have the potential to enable us to solve many of the critical problems confronting us. If this potential is to be realised, then we must find ways of turning these technologies into a resource for all people despite the challenges they face within their communities.’
Nelson Mandela
Digitalisation is global and it affects all aspects of our lives. And yet still, some people are left behind, although new technologies create opportunities. Internet is not only the place for goods and services, but it also helps us to exercise our economic, civic and political rights. In developing countries, modern communication technology is a necessity and can allow people to participate successfully in the changing world.
According to the 2016 World Development Report on digital dividends, six billion people lack access to high speed internet and four billion still have no internet access at all. At a time when digitalisation is growing exponentially, this lack of access is a major challenge to development as it continues to widen gaps and inequalities in the world.
Bridging the digital divide must be given a central role in all development policies: not just as a stand-alone policy but mainstreamed into every other policy area. Affordable access to broadband connectivity must be the basis for any such effort.
The Sustainable Development Goals recognise and take on this challenge. Several of the Goals incorporate a digital dimension; SDG 9 on infrastructure, industrialization and innovation has as one of its targets to ‘significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020’.
Delivering on the SDGs requires a joint and continuous effort by all countries, developing and developed, and by all actors, both public and private.
The European Union has shown commitment to the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and must continue to show leadership in acting on the SDGs.
As regards action to bridge the digital divide, the European Consensus on Development makes the commitment very clear, saying that the EU and its Member States will continue to support information and communication technologies in developing countries as powerful enablers of inclusive growth and sustainable development and will work on better mainstreaming digital solutions in development and promoting the use of digital technologies in a range of priority areas. They will also support digital literacy and skills to empower people, especially women and people in vulnerable and marginalised situations, to promote social inclusion and to facilitate their participation in democratic governance and the digital economy.
Digitalisation: a tool for sustainable development
Digitalisation can be a powerful development tool in a number of policy areas, such as governance, education, health, gender equality, economic growth and agriculture.
For micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, e-commerce can facilitate cross-border commerce and create business opportunities on the global market. For farmers, digital platforms can provide information on weather forecasts, growing methods and outbreaks of plant and animal diseases.
E-government applications can provide faster, cheaper and more easily accessible public services and information, which promotes a participatory democracy and transparency and contributes to fighting corruption. Digitalisation is also a useful tool for an effective tax policy, contributing to improved domestic resource mobilisation.
In education, digitalisation can help through e-learning and distant learning, reaching remote areas where schools are far apart and there is a short supply of teachers.
Promoting education in ICT and digital skills is a necessary ingredient to digitalisation policies. It needs to be inclusive and put emphasis on access for all, both in rural and remote areas.
In the health sector, e-health services can go a long way to reach populations who would otherwise not have any access to such services.
Finally, ICT can also play an important role prior to and during natural disasters and emergencies, by issuing warnings and providing up to date information on developments and humanitarian assistance.
The need to support digitalisation of developing countries
The European Union actions to bridge the digital divide must be comprehensive. Digital technologies should be part of the answer in all EU development policy, while remaining fully in line with the principle of Policy Coherence for Development. The Commission strategy ‘Digital4Development’ does precisely this and is therefore very welcome.
Key to implementing such action will be to involve all actors, in developing countries as well as in the international community, in the public and in the private sector, both in the civil society and in the scientific community. Only by such an inclusive approach can we ensure that the digitalisation process leaves no one behind.
Public funding will not be sufficient for a truly transformative digitalisation process. Further funds will need to be leveraged. In this context, the EU External Investment Plan can play an important role. The private sector can play an instrumental role through its expertise and its technology and innovation know-how. Of course, any public-private cooperation in this area must be solidly based on development principles and objectives.
Infrastructure, in particular in rural and remote areas, needs to be central in any digitalisation strategy, to improve coverage, quality and security. Creating energy grids, reducing taxation on digital products and services and promotion market competition are among the factors promoting a better infrastructure and improved access.
With increasing digitalisation, further measures will also be taken to address the downsides, namely cybercrime and cyber terrorism. All digital strategies should therefore include action to promote cybersecurity and data protection through legislation, training, education and awareness-raising.
In summary, investing in digitalisation can be a strong engine for inclusive growth in developing countries, provided such investment reaches everyone regardless of gender, geography or economic status. With the further commitment to this process from the developing countries themselves as well as with strong support from the European Union, the international community and the public and private sector, we can reduce the digital and economic divide. It is therefore time to deliver.
Date adopted
9.10.2018
Result of final vote
+:
–:
0:
19
1
5
Members present for the final vote
Beatriz Becerra Basterrechea, Ignazio Corrao, Nirj Deva, Mireille D’Ornano, Enrique Guerrero Salom, Maria Heubuch, Teresa Jiménez-Becerril Barrio, Stelios Kouloglou, Linda McAvan, Norbert Neuser, Vincent Peillon, Lola Sánchez Caldentey, Eleni Theocharous, Mirja Vehkaperä, Bogdan Brunon Wenta, Anna Záborská, Joachim Zeller, Željana Zovko
Substitutes present for the final vote
Thierry Cornillet, Ádám Kósa, Cécile Kashetu Kyenge, Florent Marcellesi, Kathleen Van Brempt
Substitutes under Rule 200(2) present for the final vote
Krzysztof Hetman, Kati Piri
+
ALDE
Beatriz Becerra Basterrechea, Thierry Cornillet, Mirja Vehkaperä
ECR
Nirj Deva, Eleni Theocharous
PPE
Krzysztof Hetman, Teresa Jiménez‑Becerril Barrio, Ádám Kósa, Bogdan Brunon Wenta, Joachim Zeller, Željana Zovko, Anna Záborská
S&D
Enrique Guerrero Salom, Cécile Kashetu Kyenge, Linda McAvan, Norbert Neuser, Vincent Peillon, Kati Piri, Kathleen Van Brempt
-
GUE/NGL
Stelios Kouloglou
0
EFDD
Ignazio Corrao, Mireille D'Ornano
Lola Sánchez Caldentey
VERTS/ALE
Maria Heubuch, Florent Marcellesi
Key to symbols: | https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2018-0338_EN.html |
Plains Cree playwright creates respectful theater
TORONTO - "I work to create bridges between traditional Native elements and the professional contemporary stage," Floyd Favel said. "I venture to go beyond the superficial or clich?d representations of Native ritual, social, and folk customs that have appeared in theater."
The prolific Plains Cree theater director and playwright, Favel was recently in Toronto to conduct research on his latest ongoing endeavor: how to create contemporary theatrical performances from a Native perspective while respecting cultural sensitivities.
During a four-year tenure as artistic director of the Native Theatre School in Toronto - the precursor to the Centre for Indigenous Theatre - Favel recognized a flaw in the modern theater world. "I came to the realization that no contemporary performance methods existed that were based on indigenous peoples' ritual and social traditions," he said.
Instead, he saw methods that took rituals and customs out of their cultural context and treated without the respect he was taught to give them.
Raised on the Poundmaker Reserve in Saskatchewan, Favel was brought up speaking Cree at home and many of his works utilize his mother tongue. His parents taught him and his siblings to respect and cherish the traditions they practiced.
"It was always a special time when rituals or events were held," he said. "But these also were not talked about a lot in daily life. They were held in the highest esteem and are still a very important and large part of my life."
A conflict emerged early in Favel's artistic career. "In theater and writing, childhood is often a major source of inspiration. I cannot avoid these cultural elements but also I must respect these traditions and not take them out of context and call it a performance," he said.
This challenge was reconciled with the creation of a methodology Favel identifies as "Native Performance Culture," a way of creating theatrical works informed by Aboriginal rituals and customs. He pursues this process through Takwakin, a theater company he created in 1990 with Ruth Smillie.
"As a contemporary theater artist, I create contemporary works," he said. "I also have a responsibility to not show directly the rituals and customs I have learned as a traditional person. I have to look for what is the art - the bridge - that can make them reborn in a contemporary context while respecting the cultural sensitivity and sacredness."
His last show - "Governor of the Dew" - was performed at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and for Prince Edward's royal visit to Saskatchewan. Based on a Cree folk tale, the work portrays spiritual themes that are central to Cree beliefs. However, rather than simply attempting to transplant this story to the stage, Favel used his methodology to create a music and dance performance to represent his Cree beliefs.
"It is essential to explore how to respect traditions while at the same time having them as sources of inspiration for contemporary work," he stated.
In Toronto, Favel conducted a workshop - "a lab session" - on Native Performance Culture for a book he is writing on theater methodologies. His work has struck a chord in the international theater world. Including two future speaking engagements in Moscow and Mexico, Favel recently returned from the International Festival of Theatre Methods held in Latvia where he presented his methodology.
"People are realizing the lack of indigenous traditions in theater that are not cultural misrepresentations," he said.
Favel's desire to see theater evolve is also a prosaic one. "The health of a language and culture is reflected in its utilization in its media and arts," he said. "In Canada as in the United States, Natives don't hear our languages or see our cultures represented in the media very much. Our languages are not healthy and are seen by many people as obsolete. But we can influence this by utilizing our languages in arts and media and using our cultures as inspiration."
For more information on Floyd Favel's work, visit www.takwakin.com. | https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/plains-cree-playwright-creates-respectful-theater |
The Arlee Rehabilitation Center acknowledges that the land of the Flathead Indian Reservation upon which it stands comprised the traditional seasonal grounds of the Kootenai, Salish and Pend d’Oreille people, continues to be their legitimate home and was the site of traumatic personal and political events that continue to leave their mark on the consciousness, psyche and economy of its modern native residents. This includes not only known historical incidents like the 1904 Flathead Allotment Act but also countless unknown personal incidents that happened to real people in specific places that continue to be haunted by the stories and memories to this day.
We commit to take the implications of this history seriously. For one, this calls for respect for cultural differences and traditions and sensitivity to the psychological effects of historical trauma. It means that the native community carries the inordinate burden of the accumulated history of political and cultural persecution, and A.R.C. hopes to compensate, is a small way, for that history by predominantly (although not exclusively) serving the Tribal community members of the Flathead Indian Reservation who need support.
Further, ARC pledges a proactive effort at every opportunity to recruit, hire, involve and embrace native community members so that they have an active role not only in the daily operations but also in the envisioning and governance of the organization. This reflects an acknowledgment that Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille people need and deserve empowerment and autonomy rather than paternalism or help.
Finally, ARC will seek to shape its programs in a manner that is culturally relevant and reflects the specific needs, customs and understandings of Tribal residents, not to exclude other exogenous ideas.
We are grateful for the opportunity to launch and build a project on a Reservation that is uniquely well endowed with Tribal governance, infrastructure, business and community organization. We see this as a launchpad for building a powerful NGO that will serve its own community and ultimately serve as an example inspiring and supporting similar efforts on other Reservations within our region and beyond.
Whereas it is recognized that any genuinely helpful initiative on any Reservation must integrally involve the resident Tribes, must gain their participation, trust and buy-in, must meaningfully benefit their communities and listen to their indigenous voices in identifying needs, and must create opportunities for their community members to have some ownership over the implementation of programs in the form of participation on all levels (i.e., Board of Directors, Officers, Staff, volunteers, beneficiaries, etc.), we have adopted the adjacent Cultural Sensitivity Position Statement, which must be endorsed by every Director, Employee and Agent of ARC.
Arlee Rehabilitation Center
[email protected]
Copyright © 2019 Arlee Rehabilitation Center - All Rights Reserved.
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The holidays are finally approaching, a time that for many of us means an exciting reunion with our family and traditions. Normally, in Spain, people come together to sing Christmas carols, eat roscón on Three Kings’ Day and celebrate together the beginning of a new year. Through these traditions we get closer to our community and reinforce our sense of belonging to the culture that surrounds us, preserving our cultural identity.
For those who live in the country of their culture of origin, participation in traditional events, rites and festivities is often a natural, intuitive and simple approach to their own culture. But what happens to families who are immersed in a culture different from that of their country of origin? How do they adapt to the customs of their country of destination? How important is it for them to maintain the customs of their own culture?
Cultural identity in TCKs
Cultural identity is the unifying element within a social group. In other words, it allows people to develop a sense of belonging to a community with which they share a series of common elements. Culture, therefore, is made up of all social facts that are common to people within the same group: language, norms, values, religion, artistic manifestations, expressions, humor, symbols… Moreover, its acquisition is essential for the construction of the individual identity.
These cultural patterns are acquired through primary socialization, that is, at home, and continuously in other social contexts. That is why parents play an important role in transmitting their customs, values and traditions to their children.
As previously mentioned in this blog, one of the groups most likely to experience situations of ambiguity in framing themselves within a specific culture is that of third culture kids, TCKs (https://www.sinews.es/en/challenges-of-third-culture-kids/).
For some of these children and adolescents, the abandonment of the activities of their culture of origin, as well as the difficulty of adapting to the cultural practices of their country of destination, constitute one of the most complex challenges they usually face: the definition of their own identity.
Cultural assimilation and distancing from roots
Through the process of cultural assimilation, these children and adolescents adapt to the characteristics of new cultures. This is a progressive, natural and essential process for their correct adaptation to a new culture and for their proper social and school functioning. However, it is usually accompanied by a loss of some of the characteristics of their original culture.
The immersion of TCKs in a new sociocultural context can generate certain barriers in the expression of typical behaviors of their culture of origin. For example, it will be much more difficult to celebrate the traditional celbrations of their culture due to the absence of context.
In addition, in the new environment, these families are involved in different dynamics and cultural expressions that may indirectly contribute to an omission or oppression of their own culture. In other words, factors related to the new culture, such as administrative issues, socioeconomic level, school, language, activities, calendar or festivities, may pose certain «obstacles» to the maintenance of the culture of origin.
This process of assimilation explains the ease with which TCKs can distance themselves from their culture of origin, developing a complex sense of «loss or abandonment of their roots», of disconnection from their traditions and of loneliness in the world.
The importance of cultural transmission: some tips for parents
The purpose of this article is to explain families that, just as adaptation to new cultures is important for TCKs, so is the maintenance of the culture of their country of origin. This is relevant to their well-being and the development of their own identity.
By transmitting the culture of origin, the parents of these children and adolescents can foster a sense of belonging to a community, facilitate the understanding of their own behavior, broaden and enrich their vision of the world, and give greater continuity to their own values and customs.
Here are some tips for transmitting your own culture to your children:
a) Maintain the language alive at home: try to make them learn the language as fluently as possible, including its expressions and gestures. Language helps us build our ideas about the world, so speaking it will help them understand and identify with your culture.
b) Don’t forget to celebrate important holidays: dress in traditional clothing, listen to the music that has always been played on this day, dance as you would have done in your country of origin, and invite your children to celebrate with you. Invite them to feel the union with their roots.
c) Cook and eat traditional dishes with them: a flavor can remind us of a country, a culture, a moment or even a person. Food can be an excellent vehicle to transport your children to their previous cultural context and, at the same time, take pleasure in it.
e) Educate them in the activities and customs of the culture: talk to them and teach them those activities that in their culture of origin imply a pleasant way to spend time or having fun. Some examples might be playing musical instruments, playing games, playing sports, craft activities, etc.
f) Share with them the art and folklore of your community: one of the most special ways in which people connect and communicate our culture is through music, dance, writing, painting and any other artistic expression. Promote your children’s curiosity in the art of your culture and educate them in the most representative creations of your community.
g) Travel to the country of origin: one of the most obvious ways to transmit your culture to your children is to put them in direct contact with it, promoting the link with the land in which this culture was born and developed.
h) Place your children in schools that keep your own culture as a reference: this will help your child to find in school a community of children and adolescents in the same situation, with whom they can share common experiences and concerns.
i) Make use of new technologies: through blogs, videos, games, movies and many other online contents, you will be able to educate and bring your child closer to his or her culture, in a broad, entertaining and very accessible way. Through video calls, they will be able to maintain contact with their previous environment in a more frequent and less expensive way. | https://www.sinews.es/en/como-celebrar-las-tradiciones-en-familia-siendo-expatriados/ |
In 2016, the Pueblo restructured its cultural programming and created the Department of Cultural Preservation (DCP). The department is tasked with expectations to unify and preserve cultural programs, services and resources. The New framework aligns the Cultural Center, Cultural Development, and Repatriation efforts.
The goals of the department involve educating the public about the history, customs, traditions, and ideologies of the tribe, both current and historical. Due to the nature of these goals, the department has a high level of interaction with individuals outside of its realm of employment and more so in the public sphere of influence. Therefore, a main focus of the department is to provide information which addresses the aforementioned target areas with the highest degree of accuracy, while also being aware of the need for cultural sensitivity when discussing these topics with the general public. The main avenues the department uses to present this information is through the various educational exhibits located in its museum, guided tours, guest lectures from a variety of individuals, and demonstrations which provide windows into tribal traditions such as the youth Social Dancers, native artists, and traditional bread makers.
Keeping in line with the educational nature of the Cultural Center’s goals, the department also provides educational artistic classes, and scholarly guest talks which are restricted in attendance to tribal members and their families. Another goal of the department is to foster a sense of community and promote interconnectivity between all the individuals that walk through its doors. This is accomplished by hosting events which provide an environment which fosters community building such as festivals and local markets. | http://www.ysletadelsurpueblo.org/html_pages.sstg?id=79 |
During a trip to Iceland, I was visiting an exhibit at a local museum. The museum had created an exhibition to explore one of Iceland’s unique holiday traditions. For 13 days leading up to Christmas, children put shoes on their windowsills. On each of the nights, a corresponding Yule Lad or jólasveinarnir stops by and leaves small presents for “good children” and rotting potatoes for naughty ones. The Yule Lads are elf-like creatures with names that translate from Spoonlicker to Sausage-Swiper, giving a hint of the mischief they’re credited with. It’s a charming and quirky insight into how this predominantly Lutheran country celebrates the holiday. The museum leveraged that to explore the history of their own traditions– and as a way to educate visitors, guests and tourists about the nation’s holidays. The experience left me thinking about the role of museums in how we celebrate the winter holiday season.
In a recent post on Museum Questions, the author raised an important point: Should museums celebrate the holidays at all? The author goes on to quote colleagues who cite a wide variety of reasons for partaking in holiday festivities, from a desire to share global traditions to the reality that it can help cash flow. For example, the Executive Director of the Montshire Museum of Science said, “Some children’s museums create large holiday events for their towns/cities–and they can be huge attendance drivers. Because earned revenue is an important component to many children’s museum’s operating budgets, they have to think about how to be competitive with other events and spaces that draw families away from the museum–including malls.”
However, there are some fundamental questions around how museum goals and holiday celebrations link up. On one level, there’s the museum goal to educate its patrons. The holidays can open up natural avenues to explore the history of holidays and customs from around the world. It can also help broaden dialogues around cultural awareness and tolerance as museums explore non-Christmas holidays that often fall around the same time: Hanukkah, Sukkot, Diwali (in certain years), and Kwanzaa. Some worry, however, that approaching the season through the lens of exploring “other” holidays feeds into the precedent that Christmas is the cultural norm.
Other museums are using the holidays to create events that help increase attendance and foster a community spirit. Many zoos, aquariums and museums, for example, create holiday light displays that help guests experience their space in a whole new way. Spreading cheer and creating a “warm and fuzzy” feeling is sometimes viewed as part of the museum’s mandate. Many create programs to appeal to children during the school holiday. From a design perspective, a wide variety of museums are opting for a “holiday neutral.” The goal is to convey a festive feeling, while simply acknowledging a general winter holiday season. Lights, wreaths and snowflakes are the décor du jour.
One museum that’s using the holidays to anchor a major exhibit is Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Their Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light is in its 74th year. The exhibit includes a variety of trees and light displays connected with global holidays. The lineup also features regular entertainment with holiday performances representing traditions from Wales to the Philippines. There’s a strong visual component and a programmatic focus that uses the holiday as a means to help visitors – especially younger guests – embrace a wide variety of diverse traditions and modes of celebrating.
Museums with a broad mandate tend to take a wider approach to exhibit design. Yet museums that have a more specific focus – say trains or baseball – find unique angles between the holiday and their core areas of expertise. For example, the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory has opened two seasonal exhibits. Best. Toys. Ever. explores the most successful toys from the last century that different generations might have found under the tree. The Art of Rankin/Bass takes guests into a nostalgic exploration of the company that created holiday classics like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.
It’s clear that museums face important questions around the holidays with respect to their exhibit development and programming priorities. On one level, Christmas and other winter holidays create a natural opportunity to develop exhibits that help draw in guests. The holiday season also lets museums explore history and other cultural connections to Christmas. Beyond that, It can open a dialogue about different cultural perspectives and holidays that extend beyond Christmas. Yet many worry – and perhaps rightly so – that creating holiday-themed designs beyond the most basic decorations is perpetuating cultural norms around Christmas and even detracting from the organization’s important missions. However, from the iconic trees at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC to holiday-themed exhibits at the smallest regional museum, most continue to embrace the holidays in some form. We’re watching with great interest how different museums approach this important issue and how it continues to develop from an entertainment design perspective in the years ahead. | https://entertainmentdesigner.com/news-category/museum-design-news/how-museums-are-celebrating-the-holidays/ |
For many newcomer parents, the primary motivation behind moving to Canada is to ensure greater opportunities and a better life for their children. Children who are born in Canada or raised here from an early age find it easy to embrace Canadian culture and adapt to their new life. However, as parents, it can sometimes be difficult to find a balance between raising your children as Canadians and helping them stay in touch with their cultural roots and values.
Teaching your kids to respect and value their heritage in addition to the culture and customs of Canada can help them develop a strong sense of individuality and belonging. In this article, we share tips from two newcomer parents raising Canadian children in touch with their roots. Diana Contreras, who moved from Mexico with her husband and three kids in 2018, and Paula Perez, who moved from Chile in 2007 and is now raising two children, provide valuable advice on how to keep your kids connected with their culture while simultaneously embracing a new one in Canada.
In this article:
- Helping your kids maintain their native language
- Upholding traditions and customs
- Staying in touch with your ethnic community
- Dealing with kids who may be embarrassed by their foreign roots
Helping your kids maintain their native language
As newcomer children adapt to their new life in Canada, it’s possible their fluency in English (or French) will surpass that of their first language. While mastering English or French will help your kids thrive in their new environment, it’s important they also learn and maintain their native language skills. This is especially important if one or both parents are new to the English language and communicate mainly in their native language at home.
By learning the native language, your children can continue to communicate well with family members and friends back home who don’t speak English. In addition, speaking, reading, and writing in their first language enables them to experience the many ways their heritage is expressed, such as through literature, songs, and cultural expressions. In a country as diverse as Canada, bilingualism or multilingualism is always an asset and can also open doors for job opportunities later in life.
Learning the language at home
One of the easiest ways for you to preserve and grow your kids’ first language skills is by speaking it in the home. This can be challenging when kids prefer to respond in English, as is the case with Diana who speaks to her kids in Spanish, but often gets replies in English. “It’s easier for them to answer in English,” says Diana. “They push back a little because they’re tired after being in school all day. But I keep at it because it helps them stay fluent.”
Exposing your kids to books and TV programs in their native language also helps maintain the language connection. In Paula’s household, where Spanish is her kids’ second language (because they were born in Canada), she ensures they watch TV shows in Spanish whenever possible, thanks to streaming platforms that have the option to dub shows in different languages.
Your local public library is also a great resource for international movies, CDs, and books in multiple languages––all free to borrow with a library membership. Diana and Paula both insist they don’t want their kids to reach adulthood regretting the loss of their Spanish language. Paula explains, “I don’t want my kids to grow up and say ‘I wish you’d forced me to learn Spanish’ as many people here have said to me as adults.”
Formal language lessons
As parents, taking on all the responsibility for maintaining your kids’ first language can be a lot of work. Sometimes, kids are more willing to learn from a teacher, rather than from mom or dad. You can supplement your efforts at home with formal language classes. Most school boards across Canada offer international language classes, free of charge, for elementary school students on evenings and Saturdays. Check your local school board to discover your options. For example, the Toronto School Board offers language classes for students during school hours.
You can also explore creative ways to make language practice interesting for your kids, such as through summer camps, clubs, places of worship, or lessons offered in your first language. Paula’s daughters attended Spanish summer camp last year, and Diana’s son takes online drum lessons in Spanish, led by an instructor who lives in Mexico.
Upholding traditions and customs
Honouring the traditions you grew up with will help your kids understand and appreciate your cultural values and find ways to absorb them into their Canadian way of life. Here are some ideas to consider:
Celebrating Canadian and ethnic holidays
In Canada, there are several national and provincial holidays you may choose to celebrate, such as Family Day, while there may be others you are unfamiliar with. Chances are your children will be curious about all Canadian holiday traditions as they become exposed to them through their friends and school.
All cultural celebrations are respected in Canada and newcomer families are encouraged to honour their holidays. Celebrating your traditional holidays is a great way to spark your children’s interest in their culture and keep traditions alive. You may find it easier to expose your kids to annual celebrations by getting involved with your region’s ethnic community where you can be among other families with a similar background. Paula celebrates Chile’s holidays, such as Independence Day, as well as Canadian holidays which she customizes to her culture. “We celebrate Christmas a little differently than most Canadians by following our tradition of opening gifts at midnight on Christmas eve, not the morning,” she says.
Bonding over traditional cuisine
Cooking traditional recipes is an easy and fun way for kids to discover more about their culture. Stories about family dishes and recipes, especially how you ate meals growing up or local ingredients used, can shed light on your upbringing and heritage and help your kids to respect and honour their roots. Cultural dishes also offer an interesting contrast to Canadian-style dishes your kids have grown accustomed to.
Learning about culture through music
Music is a powerful expression of a culture. Singing traditional songs to your children and playing music that you grew up listening to are wonderful ways to share your culture with them. Music has been an important tool in Diana’s family. “My husband plays guitar and we sing Mexican songs and lullabies at bedtime which all our kids like,” she says. You may also discover local cultural concerts to attend with your kids through your ethnic community, as well as organizations that teach kids cultural music and dance.
Staying in touch with your ethnic community
Building a cultural network will help your kids grow increasingly familiar with their roots. The saying “it takes a village to raise a child” holds true and, even when your children aren’t actively learning, they can pick up values and behaviours from people they interact with regularly. Engaging with people who share your culture can make it easier for your kids to learn about their roots. Stay connected with extended family and friends back home and look for ethnic community groups in your region to expand your kids’ exposure to their native culture.
Family influence
Today’s technology makes it easier than ever for your children to build strong bonds with family back home, regardless of geographical distance. When in-person visiting is infrequent or impossible, your kids can still connect regularly with family members through phone calls, video calls, and messaging. Diana’s kids use a kid-safe messaging app to chat and share photos with family in Mexico whenever they want. “We also have a family group chat so everyone can share what’s happening in their lives,” she says.
Both Paula and Diana say visiting their birth country for long periods of time is key to helping their children build strong relationships with family and exposing them to traditional customs. Paula visits Chile about every two years with the kids: “I want them to be comfortable with my relatives and my friends’ kids.” Her children enjoy the trips so much, they ask when they can return. Her daughters also rely on their grandmother to help them stay fluent in Spanish. “My mother comes from Chile and stays with us for six months,” says Paula. “She doesn’t speak English, so the kids’ Spanish improves when she is here.”
Finding your local ethnic community
Connecting with other families who share your ethnic background can help your children improve their language skills as well as provide opportunities to participate in traditional customs and celebrations. Children learn from their friends and pick up language skills in the playground from an early age, so make sure their friend circle includes some kids who speak your language. There are several ways to build your social network in Canada, including:
- Seeking out ethnic community groups in your local area.
- Through settlement agencies to direct you to organizations related to your culture.
- Visiting parks in your neighbourhood.
- Attending places of worship.
- Attending or volunteering at cultural events, festivals and celebrations.
Diana has developed strong ties in the community of Spanish speakers in Toronto. “We share the same idea that we want our kids to connect to their culture and language,” she says. In the summer, Diana and her kids meet other Latin American families at the local park and even organize camping trips together. Through a group chat app, the parents trade Spanish resources, such as kids’ books and language programs.
|Tip: Our Taste of Home article series provides tips on finding cultural cuisine, ethnic communities and events, places of worship, and settlement support in various Canadian cities:
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Dealing with kids who may be embarrassed by their foreign roots
Cultural duality can be challenging for kids who value their cultural roots, but also want to belong in their new school environment. As a parent, you want to see your children adjust to life in Canada, but what happens if they are embarrassed by their foreign background? While this can be distressing, understanding the reasons behind the behaviour can help address it.
Your child may struggle to fit in because of language barriers, unfamiliarity with social norms, or other kids’ intolerance. As a parent, knowing the source of their embarrassment can help you come up with solutions to address the situation. Encourage open communication at home and, instead of forcing your children to adhere to your traditions and culture blindly, try sharing your own experience with your heritage, including why you practice and cherish your beliefs.
On the other hand, you may notice your child adapting more easily into Canadian culture than you. It may be tempting to counteract that, or in some cases, become reliant on them to act as interpreters or cultural liaisons. This can disrupt normal parent-child dynamics and prevent your kids from adjusting to life outside the home.
A better approach is to meet them halfway and do more to educate yourself about Canadian culture and learn the language on your own, while taking a genuine interest in your kids’ experiences. A supportive home that practices traditional customs and welcomes Canadian values will help your kids develop resilience and nurture a healthy sense of individuality that bridges both their cultures.
One of the biggest challenges faced by newcomer parents raising children in a new country is helping them adapt to Canadian culture while staying in touch with their own. Many newcomer children struggle to embrace both cultures, but by encouraging open communication, maintaining the bond with family back home, and following some of the tips shared by other newcomer parents, you can help your children find and cherish their individuality. | https://arrivein.com/daily-life-in-canada/how-to-raise-canadian-children-who-stay-in-touch-with-their-culture/ |
They believe on restoring health acupuncture and some of their medicinal practices are being accepted in the United States today. The Smith family comes from a mixed background of Hispanic and German heritage. The approach is of critical importance, especially in the United States of America where a good proportion of the population is comprised of the immigrants who come from all over the world. The Heritage Assessment Tool is beneficial with the efficiency of understanding the requirements of a person as a whole before treating a patient. Health care has to be specific with patients need and patients traditional and cultural values should be consider.
Applying assessment results to client is essential is assisting individuals who may be coping with stressful situations. It will identify common health traditions and practices based on their cultural heritage. Louis Missouri: Elsevier and Mosley. The World of Irish Nursing, 8 7 , 14-15. The adoption of health assessment tool helps meet the prerequisites of diverse patient populations to offer quality all-inclusive care. Words: 1371 - Pages: 6. The heritage assessment tool helped me to determine the needs of the whole person based on their beliefs and practices.
Varying Health Maintenance Two of the families the writer interviewed shared similar values when it comes to health maintenance. The basis of this paper is to familiarize myself with the Native American, African American, and Hispanic cultures. It is important for the practitioner to understand the beliefs of their patient to better facilitate treatment compliance and enhance rapport with the patient and family. How deeply does a given person identify with their traditional heritage? Each of these families placed values in their family relationships as well as their support system and their overall health maintenance. The ultimate goal of heritage assessment in nursing is to collect information about the various beliefs that will establish traditional competence among the health care providers. This assessment is useful in many ways. Census Bureau's categories of the population for a statistical overview of the diversity of patient populations.
Connell Boston College School of Nursing, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The heritage assessment is also a benefit for nurses on their practice, they are able to evaluate the patient has a whole, their family including where their ancestors were born, there ethnic background. The purpose of this paper is to discuss applying the heritage assessment tool, identify health traditions of certain cultures and interviewing individuals from three different cultures for comparison and how they subscribe to their traditions. We also consult the internet to see what infectious agents may be making the rounds in our area and what is most effective against them. Perhaps kids just do it without thinking about it? This tool allows one to understand and respect the role of cultural awareness in health and illness. Therefore, the providers of health care services must accentuate the dynamic variations surrounding the cultural exchanges essential in modern day context. Heritage Assessment Tool for nursing culture class 1.
There are lots of dancing at these festivals and the people beliefs it helps maintain their health. About The Assessment Tool When discussing the usefulness of applying a heritage assessment in evaluating the needs of the whole person, it behooves nurses to remember that treating an individual as a whole, includes understanding the patient, family and community. Giving feedback to the individual after each observation made or piece of work marked against criteria. Also as health care professional, the assessment tools served as a guide for us to understand individuals, families and communities from 3 difference culture, therefore it is important for all health care workers especially nurses to have a deep insight of individual culture associated with illness and diseases. You should carefully read the following terms and conditions before installing or using this software. Cultural diversity in health and illness 6th ed.
Culture also impacts how people solicits for health care and how they act toward health care providers. It is vital that the cultural backgrounds of a group have influential influences on dealing with health care concerns. Evaluate and discuss how the families ascribe to traditions and practices. Assessment 6, Assessment 6 Essay writi. Assessments can take many different forms i. The birth of community consciousness concerning awareness of comprehensive healthiness and illness deterrence has stimulated the formation of system that allows it to be uncomplicated for medical specialists to appreciate their patients. The noteworthy social drive worldwide has elevated apprehension over tailored health care.
This identifies the cultural differences and similarities, social factors, and stress factors of patients Jarvis, 2011. This student assessed individuals from Africa which is her native country, families from the Philippines and from India community. This suggests that dissimilar cultures are no not restricted to geographical boundaries. Heritage consistency as a consideration in counseling Native Americans. Did most of your aunts, uncles, cousins live near your home? There is a framework for evaluation of physical, mental and spiritual values and beliefs in which outlines health maintenance, protection, and restoration. Heritage his what differentiates one individual, families and communities to another.
I was raised in a religious home with my parents practicing Pentecostal religious beliefs. In Hindu religion, health is defined as a balance between biological, psychological… 1246 Words 5 Pages Heritage assessment Danielle Sumner Grand Canyon University Heritage assessment Introduction The Heritage Assessment Tool can be adopted as a dependable tool to gauge, health maintenance, restoration and safeguard of personal, cultural beliefs. The heritage assessment tool helped me to identify that families with diverse cultures have different perceptions on wellness and disease. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 56A, 89-94. The Martinez family had great respect and appreciation for their ancestors and for their Mexican heritage. Traditional medication and advice are offered by elders whom are deemed as wise. In the paper, there was the identification of diversity that was the key constituent linking the three ethnic groups measuring the diversity and similarity between Americans along with the sub groups of Irish or German, Hispanic, along with the Filipino cultural group.
Compare the differences in health traditions between these cultures. Each family interview will be summarized with an evaluation of how each subscribes to health traditions, and how each addresses health maintenance, health protection, and health. It is not enough to merely be aware of the prominent origins and statistics of different cultures and ethnicities, but rather it is crucial to be inquisitive and focus on the family and individual as practices differ and evolve over time. Cultural heritage is an expressions developed by a community and passed through generation to generation including practices, customs, objects, places and values. Culture heritage is the legacy that each generation receives and passes to the next generation. Cultural Heritage and History 3. Words: 1128 - Pages: 5.
The author immediate family structure consists of mother, father, two sisters, and one brother. The eighth edition of this well-respected book continues to promote an awareness of the dimensions and complexities involved in caring for people from diverse cultural backgrounds. It examines the differences existing within North America by probing the health care system and consumers, and examples of traditional health beliefs and practices among selected populations. Every effort should be made to stop the disparities surrounding cultural differences while attempting to understand the cultural health behaviors, increase cultural competence cultural, and increase sensitivity to cultural difference associated with the decision making process and health care preferences. Heritage assessment is one of them. They considered themselves to be social drinkers and habitual tobacco users, as they were raised with these substances in their households. | http://elexicons.com/spector-heritage-assessment-tool.html |
# Strange Fruit: A Dutch Queer Collective
Strange Fruit was a Dutch queer collective active in the Netherlands from 1989 to 2002. They worked to challenge their marginalization within both their ethnic communities and the Dutch gay scene. With a focus on a non-hierarchical self-help approach, they offered support and conversation without taking the role of experts. Instead they used creative discourse, activism, art and poetry to implement change. Their activism and work was definitely ground breaking in Europe, but is not widely recognized around the world.
## History
Strange Fruit originated in Amsterdam in 1989 and was created by Muslim and Afro-Caribbean youth who felt marginalized within the society they lived in. Amsterdam is thought of as a very liberal state; with "values of humanism, equality and tolerance" yet migrants and people of colour in particular within the queer community faced discrimination that did not reflect these values. Whilst queer culture was embraced and celebrated, Muslim queers and queers of colour were marginalized. Strange Fruit responded to that by creating safe spaces for queer Muslims and queers of colour, who also made up the body of members active in the organization.
Strange Fruit embraced, what normative society considered, "non canonical bodies" . Brown and Black bodies were marginalized and othered because they were see as "unable to fit" within the western cultural ideal so therefore they were not acceptable. They were seen as unable to attain a true gay identity because they did not fall under the conceptualized "white standard" of being queer . As such these bodies were considered bodies as not able to "properly be gay." Next to their activism within the queer community, Strange Fruit recognized and responded to the struggles queer people of colour faced within their respective communities.
In their practice Strange Fruit embraced a non-hierarchical and self-help approach . They aimed to not conform to the ideals of the COC - an LGBT organization active in Amsterdam at the time - and instead took on their own structure and their own approach. Everyone within the group was considered an equal and there was not a specified director or member that had more control than others. Whilst started as a grass-roots activist group without formal structure, Strange Fruit later became an independent foundation.
Strange Fruit advocated for finding ways that made the group united, not what would divide or marginalize individuals within the group further. This meant that the group did not just consist of queer Muslim men but consisted of African, Middle Eastern, Afro-Dutch, Asians, Asian-Dutch and women. There were no limitations to who could join or become involved it was an open and welcoming space. Members of Strange Fruit tended to be youth with a migration background who lived under "precarious conditions" and were often involved in "sex work". The group was sensitive to that and catered and offered support in light of these issues.
Strange Fruit operated for over a decade and came to an end in 2002. There were a multitude of factors that enabled their success. Tayeb notes that their ability to avoid instilling normative practices was one key factor in being so influential. Other factors include their "fusionist approach in combining cultural influences, their consistent outreach programs, their key self help principle, and keeping hierarchical order to an absolute minimum and instead maintaining an even ground between members and the target group". Their principles and influence reached beyond European borders which made them that much more effective and successful.
## Activities
Strange Fruit took on a creative approach and used a variety of mediums to convey their key messages and forms of support. Whilst they emphasised the migrant perspective as their primary concern in their activities, Strange Fruit organized various projects, offered support sessions, discussion nights and actions on a range of topics. This included conversations on LGBT culture and their struggles in Amsterdam, with a specific focus on being gay in the communities that were represented within Strange Fruit. Examples of their involvement in other events is their relation to the Denkvloer Conference in 1996 where they carried out a poetry poster project where lesbians of colour across the world (including women within Strange Fruit) created one hundred posters with poetry expressing the struggle of being both queer and coloured.
### Safe sex and HIV/AIDS awareness
The group offered a broad spectrum of support when it came to HIV/AIDS awareness. They organized weekly discussions on safe sex practices, AIDS education seminars and AIDS awareness actions targeting clubs frequented by queers of colour. They created a safe space for queers of color to come and be themselves and meet others like themselves. They addressed the specific issues they faced within their immediate communities. Jai Haime was one of the group's members who was heavily involved in the group's cultural activism and promoted outreach programs focusing on AIDS. Haime coordinated events such as "safe sex parties" that were exclusive to members that promoted safe sex practices.
#### Cause of Death: Nothing
Another member of Strange Fruit who was actively involved in addressing HIV/AIDS was Dutch filmmaker Andre Reeder; he created a documentary in 1996 entitled Cause of Death: Nothing which was a "moving portrait of the Dutch Surinamese community's response to the AIDS crisis". In the documentary Reeder addresses the denial and stigma surrounding AIDS in the Surinamese community. The title derives from a conversation he had with the brother of a friend who passed away. Whilst Reeder was aware that he died from AIDS related causes, the brother stated that he had died "from nothing." The film was broadcast on cable network MTV (Migrant Television). In an interview with Reeder in 2019, he describes the impact of the film on the Surinamese community, stating:
"We are only half a million population in Suriname, but, I think everybody who could see it saw it. All of a sudden I and other people from my team got telephone calls from people saying that they had seen the film, and of course, for those times, it broke taboos because I think in general AIDS was a big taboo in society, but in particular in our community."
Tayeb explains how the film emphasizes how Strange fruit as a collective goes against the "dominant dogma" within the Netherlands and instead embraces traditions from migrant and minority cultures. Strange Fruit mixed traditions together to enforce a diverse experience appreciating all cultures involved from "African customs to Oriental traditions".
### Legal support for Refugees
Queer refugees when coming to the Netherlands face troubles with getting granted refugee status. In order to be granted refugee status they are expected to provide "proof of anti-queer policies within home countries". This can be very difficult because how would they access this type of information in a form that is providable; Strange fruit uses an "alternative archive which provides legal support to these refugees" helping them attain their refugee status. They also offer emotional support. They used personal stories of people who did not have the option to live freely as queer within their nations. Strange fruit also worked directly with lawyers to help refugees. They also worked with "Vluchtelingenwerk" which was the nation's largest refugee support organization, they worked against homophobic policies. Strange Fruit took on a very artistic approach and emphasized self-expression and held poetry workshops for refugees.
### Global Perspectives
Strange Fruit ran a radio program called Global Perspectives in which they discussed topics ranging from LGBT culture; African American literature, theatre, dance, music; LGBT struggles and events in Amsterdam; Black and migrant cultures in Amsterdam and being gay in these communities; news and developments from community-members' countries of origin - Suriname, Morocco, Curaçao, Turkey, Ghana; and HIV and AIDS in black and migrant as well as global perspective. The program was broadcast by a local LGBT media club MVS and ran by four members of Strange Fruit; Andre Reeder as presenter, Marlon Reina as producer, Kenneth McRooy as columnist, and technical support from MVS. Marlon Reina says of the importance of the radio program: "The radio was important as it was (in the pre-internet period) Strange Fruit's only communication tool."
## Homophobia in Islam
One of the group's main incentives is to provide support to members in light of the ridicule they face from their cultural community, especially in the Muslim culture. Being gay or queer and Muslim was considered an oxymoron in Islam, you could not be one as well as the other, you had to be either or. The idea of "coming out" was not seen as necessary nor was it common because being open about a queer sexuality was not seen as possible. Many migrant/minority gays and lesbians were forced to live a "double life" because if they were to be open about their sexuality it would bring shame to their families and communities. The relationship between Islam and homosexuality is one that is considered to be "antagonistic." European culture is quite Islamophobic and Islam is quite homophobic so individuals who identified as both were left in an alienated space. Muslim culture in Islam is rooted in customs and traditions (as this is exemplified through subtle traditions as the hijab) and therefore exercising the mobility of modernity and modern ways of life (i.e.: queer culture) could be problematic. Homosexuality is in a way not acknowledged as a real thing within Islam; it is understood that you cannot be queer and be Muslim, if you are queer you go against what it is to be Muslim. This is where the difficulty comes, these individuals are shunned from their Muslim communities because they cannot identify as gay and then as a Muslim and neither can they identify as Muslim and then properly identify as gay or queer, leaving them no space to fit. They are left as marginalized beings who hold no space in society. Momin Rahman discusses the issues of a queer intersectionality where individuals who try to identify as both get caught in this problematic space where they end up feeling like they are not much of either. Rahman also discusses the difficulty these identity categories and identity politics create difficult and complex boundaries where they cannot feel free to be who they are, they end up being mindful of being enough of the other identity.
It is important to recognize that this issue does not only lie on the solely the homophobia within Muslim culture, but also there is an issue with Western gay exclusivity and the affirmations of queer culture that Western society likes to paint as strictly for those who fit the western ideal. It is a never ending battle and struggle on both ends of identity. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit:_A_Dutch_Queer_Collective |
We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation as the traditional custodians of this place we now call Sydney.
Our vision for reconciliation
Our vision for reconciliation is a Sydney that values the living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, embraces the truthful reflection of the histories and experiences of First Nations peoples, and is dedicated to equity, opportunity and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
In taking action, we strive to reflect the needs and aspirations of Sydney's First Nations communities and recognise their impact and contribution. We’ll listen to and elevate the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Why we’re doing this
By acknowledging our shared past, we lay the groundwork for a future which embraces all Australians based on mutual respect and shared responsibility for our land.
In 1788, the British established a convict outpost on the shores of Sydney Harbour. This had far reaching and devastating impacts on the Eora Nation, including the occupation and appropriation of traditional lands.
Despite the destructive impact of this invasion, Aboriginal cultures endured and are now globally recognised as the world’s oldest continuous living cultures.
Action areas
Cultural support & fundingEora Journey: Recognition in the public domainCelebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Strategies & action plansEora Journey economic development planA dynamic 10-year plan to contribute to sustained prosperity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.Published 30 November 2016
Building new infrastructureCreating a local Aboriginal knowledge and culture centre in RedfernWorking with our communities to share First Nations cultures.Planned · Redfern
Strategies & action plansReconciliation action planOur plan to build and strengthen meaningful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.Published 23 November 2020
PoliciesAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocolsObserving customs demonstrates respect for cultural traditions and histories.Published 12 November 2012
PoliciesBusking and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural practice policy – local approvals policyAims to support and promote busking culture while balancing the expectations and needs of all users of public space.Published 13 May 2019
Programs and initiatives
We support and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and communities with a range of projects and events.
Advisory panels
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel
Important dates and events
Below is a summary of formal and informal dates that correspond to milestones in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history. We encourage the entire community to celebrate and commemorate Indigenous culture on these days.
City of Sydney News
NewsWhat to do in Sydney this JulyFrom musicals to making cocktails, NAIDOC Week events to dancing the night away, we’ve got you covered for things to do in the city.1 July 2022
NewsWays to celebrate NAIDOC Week in SydneyThere are plenty of ways to get involved in NAIDOC Week. Here are our picks of the program, which runs from 3 to 10 July.27 June 2022
NewsPromote your NAIDOC Week event free onlineThe week celebrating and recognising the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is on from 3 to 10 July.21 June 2022
NewsVideo: ‘bara’, a monument to the traditional custodians of Gadigal Country‘bara’ by Aboriginal artist Judy Watson is a major new permanent artwork to celebrate the First Peoples of Sydney.16 June 2022
NewsIn pictures: Celebrating National Reconciliation WeekPeople came together at Redfern Community Centre for dancing, a hearty lunch and film screening.3 June 2022
News7 ways to engage with First Nations culture and community Make an impact beyond National Reconciliation Week.3 June 2022
NewsMonument to First Nations people unveiled on Gadigal Country At a headland ceremony overlooking Sydney Harbour, dancers unveiled 'bara', one of Sydney’s most significant public artworks.30 May 2022
NewsIn pictures: ‘bara’ unveiled on Sydney HarbourA soaring 6-metre high monument honours the clans of the Eora nation and the traditions of their fisherwomen.28 May 2022
NewsArtwork points the city centre to a greener wayLearn the meaning behind ‘Ancient Tracks’ by Kungarakan graphic designer Toby Bishop.6 April 2022
NewsNAIDOC in the City event management tenderWe invite tenders for management services for NAIDOC in the City 2022.10 January 2022
Welcome to Country
As a mark of respect to the traditional custodians of Sydney, the City incorporates ‘Welcome to Country’ and ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ proceedings for appropriate events, functions and meetings.
We encourage other organisations in the local area to do the same and, as we receive many requests, we have put together a guide to organising a Welcome to Country.
Every year before Sydney’s world-renowned New Year’s Eve celebrations get underway, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land.
The 2018 New Year’s Eve fireworks featured a harbour-wide ceremony embracing and honouring the Dreaming of this place and our relationship to it.
Signs in the City's parks now welcome people with the words bujari gamarruwa, which means ‘good day’ in the language of the Gadigal. Hear the pronunciation of bujari gamarruwa and find out more about the Aboriginal language of Sydney. | https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/culture-creativity/reconciliation |
Religious Holidays and Losing the Older Generation
With religious holidays such as Easter, Ramadan, and Passover just around the corner, it is common for those of faith to follow their respective traditions. As more of the younger generations become less religious or secular, it can be important to consider your family’s traditions. Our elders are often the keepers of our family traditions, and it is important to learn from them before they are gone.
Preserving Traditions
Talk with your family elders about the different traditions of your cultural and faith-based holidays. It is important to record these practices and recipes for the years to come. Making a record can help preserve the customs and ensure that they don’t pass away with your elders. While many elderly individuals will be protective of their recipes, they will often want the younger generation to get involved. Keeping these traditions alive well after their passing may be important to them.
Honoring Traditions After a Loved One Passes
The traditions held by your family can be a way to honor those who have passed. Try following the holiday recipes and following the traditions of your family. If you did not get a chance to compile recipes or a list of traditions before your elders passed away, consider reaching out to family, friends, or others in your community for help. Those still with you can be a great source of strength and tradition. While faces may change around the table over the generations, some traditions should still hold true.
Breaking Tradition
Traditions can be important, but they can also change. Our elders are usually the keepers of tradition, but can often be the most averse to change. While it is important to honor those we lose, it can also be important to recognize a chance for something new. Creating new family memories with those around you can still be fulfilling. Talk with your family, and consider which family customs you may want to change. Should you introduce new dishes to the holiday? You may want to discontinue practices that no one enjoys but were customary to the holidays. Exploring your options and making new holiday traditions with your family can be fun and exciting. You may even want to change things up each year. While it is important to respect tradition, spending time with family and friends is the most important part of the holidays.
For over 50 years, Matthew Funeral Home has been serving the Staten Island community. We can help with almost every aspect of your loved one’s memorial service. Our family is here to serve yours, every step of the way. | https://matthewfuneralhome.com/blogs/blog-entries/1/News-Events/115/Religious-Holidays-and-Losing-the-Older-Generation.html |
At Earley St. Peter’s Primary School we take very seriously our responsibility to prepare children for life in modern Britain. We ensure that the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs are introduced, discussed and lived out through the ethos and work of the school.
Through RE, PSHE, spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development, we are able to make real links between the values of our pupils and the lives of others in their community, country and the world in general. Through our curriculum we teach about democracy, civic responsibility, rules and laws, the monarchy, equality, values, environmental awareness and understanding of other faiths.
As a school we value and celebrate the diverse heritages of everybody at ESP. Alongside this, we value and celebrate being part of Britain. In general terms, this means that we celebrate traditions, such as customs in the course of the year and we value and celebrate national events.
Providing a Nurture room for our Pastoral Programme which provides support for children (sometimes with outside agencies) to develop specific social and emotional skills.
Challenging pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to the values we hold as a school, including ‘extremist’ views.
The importance of rules/laws at every level - class, school, or the country, are consistently reinforced on a daily basis. We also link our Key Code to stories about Jesus’ work and the choices he made when discussing behaviour through school assemblies.
Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind law – they learn that they are there to govern and protect us. The responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken.
Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make choices safely, through provision of a safe environment and empowering education. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and we advise how to exercise these safely, for example, through our Online Safety and PSHE lessons.
Respect, kindness, honesty, forgiveness and an expectation to Be the Best you can Be underpin our school ethos and behaviour policy. These core values form part of discussions and assemblies related to what this means and how we will see them in action in our community at ESP.
We value the diverse ethnic backgrounds of all pupils and families and undertake a variety of events and lessons to celebrate these and they are built in to our whole school curriculum map. We have found this approach to be enriching for all parties as it teaches tolerance and respect for the differences in our community and the wider world. Underpinning all of this are a range of creative curriculum topics which have strong links to British values.
The Diamond Jubilee anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II where all year groups were given the opportunity to develop their understanding of the British Monarchy through the school’s curriculum.
The First World War and the Second World War. Each year Upper Key Stage Two learn about the Second World War.
We place great emphasis on having traditions and special events throughout the school year. This is to create opportunities for performance; to bring the school together as a community; to raise money for charity and to create a sense of belonging. Traditions at ESP – Year 3 lead our Harvest Festival, Christmas Song Performances by Nursery and FS2, KS1 lead the Nativity and Year 6 lead the Carol Service, Year 4 lead the Easter Service and Year 5 lead St Peter’s Day Service and Year 6 Leaver’s Service. | http://www.earley-st-peters.wokingham.sch.uk/website/british_values_in_action_at_esp/178577 |
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) provision.
We recognise that the personal development of students, spiritually, morally, socially and culturally plays a significant part in their ability to learn and achieve. We therefore aim to provide an education that provides our students with opportunities to explore and develop their own values and beliefs, spiritual awareness, high standards of personal behaviour, a positive caring attitude towards other people, an understanding of their social and cultural traditions and an appreciation of the diversity and richness of other cultures.
At Whittington Green School:
All curriculum areas have a contribution to our students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
All adults will model and promote expected behaviour, treating all people as valuable individuals and showing respect for students and their families. Students should learn to differentiate between right and wrong in as far as their actions affect other people. They will be encouraged to value themselves and others.
Students should understand their rights and responsibilities and the need to respect the rights of others. All curriculum areas should seek to use illustrations and examples drawn from as wide a range of cultural contexts as possible. This will be reflected in the teacher’s planning and learning resources.
We aim to ensure:
- That everyone connected with the school is aware of our values and principles
- A thorough approach to the delivery of SMSC issues through the curriculum, assembly programme and the general life of the school
- That a student’s education is set within the context that is meaningful and appropriate to their age, aptitude and background
- That we promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths
Spiritual Development aims to:
- Sustain their self-esteem in their learning experience
- Develop their capacity for critical and independent thought
- Foster their emotional life and express their feelings
- Discuss their beliefs, feelings, values and responses to personal experiences
- Form and maintain worthwhile and satisfying relationships
- Reflect on, consider and celebrate the wonders and mysteries of life
Moral Development aims to:
- Recognise the unique value of each individual
- Listen and respond appropriately to the views of other
- Gain the confidence to cope with setbacks and learn from mistakes
- Take initiative and act responsibly with consideration for others
- Distinguish between right and wrong
- Show respect for the environment
- Make informed and independent judgements
- Take action for justice
Social Development aims to:
- Develop an understanding of their individual and group identity
- Helping others in the school and wider community
Cultural Development aims to:
- Recognise the value and richness of cultural diversity in Modern Britain
- Develop an understanding of Modern Britain’s local, national, European, Commonwealth and global dimensions.
Through class based discussions we will give students opportunities to:
- Share their achievements and successes with other,
- Talk about personal experiences and feelings
- Express and clarify their own ideas and beliefs
- Speak about difficult events, e.g. bullying, death etc
- Explore relationships with friends/family/others
- Consider the needs and behaviour of others
- Show empathy
- Develop self-esteem and a respect for others
- Develop a sense of belonging
- Develop the skills and attitudes that enable students to develop socially, morally, spiritually and culturally e.g. empathy, respect, open-mindedness, sensitivity, critical awareness etc.
- Many curriculum areas provide opportunities to:
- Listen and talk to each other
- Learn an awareness of treating all as equals, accepting people who are different because of physical and learning difficulties
- Agree and disagree
- Experiencing good role models
- Take turns and share equipment
- Work co-operatively and collaboratively
Practical activities to develop SMSC include:
- Involvement in Volunteering eg helping out during school events/open evenings
- Working together in different groupings and situations
- Taking responsibility e.g. Ambassadors, Librarians, Roving Reporters, Reading Partners.
- Encouraging teamwork in PE and games
- Meeting people from different cultures and countries
- Participation in a variety of different educational visits
- Participation in live performances
- Use of assembly themes to explore important aspects of our heritage and other cultures e.g. British Values, festival days,
- Opportunities to make and evaluate food from other countries
- Opportunities in music to learn songs from different cultures and play a range of instruments
- Studying the contributions to society that certain famous people have made. | https://www.wgs.derbyshire.sch.uk/Curriculum/SMSC/ |
The importance of intangible cultural heritage is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next.
Intangible cultural heritage includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants. This heritage includes oral traditions, the performing arts, social customs, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices related to nature and the universe, or the knowledge and know-how of traditional handicrafts. Intangible cultural heritage as such can only be recognized by the communities, groups or individuals who create, maintain and pass it on.
Intangible cultural heritage is at once traditional, contemporary and dynamic. Since it also includes the rural and urban practices of today. It evolves because it is rooted in communities, and it depends on those whose knowledge of traditions, skills and customs is passed on from generation to generation or to other communities.
Whilst it is fragile, intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization. Having an understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of different communities is indispensable to intercultural dialogue, and encourages respect for other ways of living.
The Hopping Procession of Echternach
The Hopping Procession of Echternach takes place every year on Whit Tuesday in homage to St Willibrord (658-739), a missionary from Ireland, founder of the Abbey of Echternach. It is difficult to determine the origin of this practice due to the lack of historical documents. It was first mentioned at the end of the 15th century. Some see the origin as related to the processions of the flagellants of the 13th and 14th centuries and explain dance as a way of preventing or curing seizures of certain nervous diseases such as epilepsy through homeopathic imitation of these movements. Others believe that the origin of the procession was due to a wish of the parishioners of the locality of Waxweiler in the "Eifel", following a great calamity. On the other hand, many commentators of the procession believe that the origin of the procession is to be considered in the context of the Christianization of our regions. It would be a transformed pagan rite, where dance, a universal expression of human feelings, would express the people's gratitude to St Willibrord for the benefits received. It is true that Father Thiofrid, around 1100, already mentioned a large gathering of pilgrims on the days of Pentecost without mentioning the dance. The procession has survived many prohibitions and each year brings together some 8,000 dancers in a friendly atmosphere to "pray with their feet" and continue the tradition.
The pilgrims line up in rows of 5, joined by the handkerchiefs or scarves they hold, folded in triangles. They move forward with hopping steps to the rhythm of the brass bands playing an old popular melody. The procession leads them through the narrow streets of Echternach to the tomb of St Willibrord in the crypt of the basilica.
On 16th November 2010, UNESCO’s intergovernmental Committee for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage voted unanimously to place the Hopping Procession of Echternach on the list representing the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. | https://unesco.public.lu/en/patrimoines/immateriel.html |
Photographs from Henry Bourne’s British Folklore Portrait project will be a part of a new exhibition of photographs at the Towner gallery, Eastbourne – the contemporary art museum for South East England.
“Since 1897, when Sir Benjamin Stone established the National Photographic Record Association (NPRA), photographers have had a fascination with the rites and rituals of Britain.
This exhibition explores the complimentary relationship between photography and folklore practice – featuring contributions from Henry Bourne, Faye Claridge, Tom Chick, Matthew Cowan, David Ellison, Sara Hannant, Brian Shuel, The Benjamin Stone Collection, Doc Rowe and Homer Sykes.
There are 720 recorded events, rites and customs practiced in the UK each year, and folklore is reflected in every element of our community, life and values. Folklore is a vibrant element of ‘Britishness’ and a living cultural heritage that links the past to the present, helping us to understand our communities and cultures as well as our shared humanity.
Collective Observations will consider the enduring appeal of vernacular traditions
as rich subject matter for image makers, and explore how photographers have
consistently turned their lenses toward the spectacle of these archaic customs –
whether by documenting events (like Homer Sykes and Sara Hannant), making
portraits (Henry Bourne, David Ellison) or taking a more conceptual approach
(Matthew Cowan, Tom Chick). | http://www.henrybourne.com/towner-gallery-exhibition/ |
Want to join a company where doing good is what we do?
The feeling is mutual.
Responsibilities:
• Ensure optimal levels of integrity, performance, reliability, and availability of the enterprise business application systems, services and applications
• Work with cross functional resources to develop and gain approval for high level delivery plans of various sized software development projects
• Participate in the planning and development of the technical strategic vision
• Collaborate and communicate within the matrixed organizational structure
• Oversee the day to day operational support for the service
• Promote and ensure compliance with industry best practices, as well as, the overall technical strategy
Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 5 years’ experience managing/coordinating projects and/or teams, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Possess strong conflict-resolution skills
• Solid oral, written, communication and interpersonal skills across all levels of the organization, including senior leadership. Maintain a high level of diplomacy and the ability to see and rationalize multiple points of view
• Able to make timely decisions in a fast paced, high expectation environment
• Possess proven leadership abilities
• High attention to detail and proactive in following-up
• Highly adaptable, with a continuous improvement mindset and an ability to support and drive change
• Committed to increasing functional and technical knowledge
• Willing to pursue relevant certifications, as well as, ITIL certification
Perks and Benefits:
• Paid vacation, holidays and sick days
• Generous leave programs, including paid parental bonding leave
• Medical, dental, vision coverage, short- and long-term disability, and life insurance
• Generous retirement benefits
• Opportunities for advancement in a successful and growing company
Equal Opportunity Policy: All qualified applicants who are authorized to work in the United States will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, family status, ethnicity, age, national origin, ancestry, physical and/or mental disability, mental condition, military status, genetic information or any other class protected by law. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of age with respect to individuals who are 40 years of age or older. Employees are subject to the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act. | https://careers.amica.com/job/enterprise-system-delivery-lead/J3V7XQ6970179GZZYR2/ |
Under general supervision, the Heavy Equipment Mechanic is fully experienced at journey-level mechanical work and skilled in the repair and maintenance of heavy duty on/off road, and automotive equipment. Incumbent performs a variety of difficult inspections, mechanical diagnosis, maintenance and servicing, and repair work on all types of vehicles used by the district including Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) mobile and stationary equipment. May perform other job related duties as required.
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:
This classification is senior to the Heavy Equipment Technician I/II and incumbents must possess the knowledge and skill to perform complex and skilled mechanical work on heavy equipment.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
The incumbent in this position provides lead direction and work coordination for Heavy Equipment Technician I/II and/or other District personnel as assigned.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The following duties are typical of this classification and are intended only to describe the various types of work that may be performed, the level of technical complexity of the assignment(s), and are not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties. The omission of a specific duty statement does not exclude it from the position if the work is consistent with the concept of the classification, or is similar or closely related to another duty statement to address business needs and changing business practices.
Knowledge of:
Ability to:
Training, Education and Experience: Any combination of training, education and experience which would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the required knowledge and abilities would be:
Five (5) years of increasingly responsible journey level work experience performing skilled maintenance and repair work on automotive, heavy, industrial, and other power-driven equipment, including substantial experience on diesel engines, hydraulic systems, and heavy equipment drivetrain and electrical systems. High School Diploma and two years of college level course work in automotive repair or related field, desired.
Special Requirements:
TYPICAL WORKING CONDITIONS:
The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by employees to successfully perform the essential functions of this class. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Physical Demands - Frequently stand and walk on flat and uneven surfaces, steps and ladders; bend at waist and reach over mechanical equipment for extended periods of time, lay under equipment for extended periods of time; ability to frequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds; vision sufficient to read printed material and/or manuals, acute vision, depth perception and peripheral visions, visual color discrimination; hearing sufficient to conduct in person and telephone conversations; physical agility to push/pull, squat, crouch, kneel, twist, turn, bend at waist, stoop and reach overhead; physical mobility sufficient to move about the maintenance shop and District grounds during inspections; manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination sufficient to use hand tools and shop equipment; write, use telephone, computer, business machines and related equipment.
Mental Demands - While performing the duties of this class, employees are regularly required to use oral communication skills; read and interpret data, information and documents; learn and apply new information or skills; perform detailed work on multiple, concurrent tasks with constant interruptions; work under deadlines and interact with all levels of District management and personnel, and the public.
Work Environment - Normally work is performed in both indoor and outdoor environments; occasionally will be exposed to varying temperatures; regular exposure to exposure to dirt, dust, fumes, grease, oil, noise, garbage, foul odors; moderate exposure to electrical current and energy; often works around moving vehicles and equipment; constant contact with staff and the public.
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Join SWANA today! | https://careers.swana.org/jobs/13691530/heavy-equipment-technician-mechanic-yellow-iron |
Great runners aren’t born – they’re made. Or so say the cross-country coaches of two Southern Oregon schools.
Travis Dick, head cross-country coach and math teacher at Hedrick Middle School in Medford, oversees a program that takes beginning runners in sixth through eighth grades and shapes them into athletes. Having coached for eight years, Dick says that while cross-country is a sport in which almost anyone can participate, middle schoolers present unique challenges. “They usually aren’t used to adversity,” he says. “They haven’t learned about ‘mental toughness’ yet, so it’s easy for them to give up and stop running almost as soon as they’ve started.”
Dick particularly enjoys the challenge of motivating his runners, helping them develop the mental toughness needed to compete and persevere, and seeing them improve during the season.
Justin Loftus, head coach at Crater High School in Central Point, helps turn budding runners into elite racers, and often, college scholarship recipients. Having coached and taught P.E. for 19 years, Loftus agrees that cross-country is fairly unique among youth sports in that it’s approachable to a wide range of participants.
Everybody’s welcome to run
“There’s really no qualifying criteria, except good attitude,” says Loftus. “High school cross-country can be challenging and rewarding for runners of all skill levels. We love to take everybody on the team who wants to be here.”
Loftus’ teams at Crater, who won the Oregon 5A state championship in 2018, typically have about 40 runners, with close to even male/female participation. “We’ve got both competitors and noncompetitive kids on our teams,” he says. “There’s something to offer both. Participation is open to everyone, and we don’t cut anyone.”
Each of the past three years, the Hedrick team has had more than 80 participants. At the middle-school level, the races are short—just 3 kilometers (1.8 miles)—so nearly everyone can compete. Dick says that young beginners don’t require much training to be able to cover the race distance, but some still don’t quite know what they’ve signed up for.
“I’m always blown away on the first day of fall training when some kids show up who’ve run 10-mile races or half-marathons, and there are others don’t really know anything at all about running,” says Dick. At those first practices he has everyone run a half-mile loop around the school; many will do lots of walking at first and working with those children in particular is one of Dick’s favorite challenges.
“Often I have to trick them into running further,” he says. “We play games while we run. I try to figure out what makes them tick, and it helps them run further without knowing it.”
It’s different from track
Cross-country races are run on what’s known as ‘open courses.’ This means a course can take runners through fields, parks, forested trails, hills, over steeplechase (water jump) hurdles, and even through golf courses. Each school’s course offers a different set of racing challenges.
By high school, most runners have developed the mental and physical toughness needed for more intense training and racing. High school cross-country races are typically 5 kilometers—3.1 miles—and the competition is there for more than just athletic accomplishment.
“Each year we have multiple athletes who may go on to run in college,” says Loftus, speaking from Sunriver Resort, where he leads an annual training camp for high school runners.
Choosing running over other sports
Future college runner and 2019 Crater graduate Andy Monroe played football, basketball and baseball in middle school, but during his freshman year he decided to focus on cross-country.
“Letting go of those other sports my freshman year was fairly easy, because I knew running was special,” says Monroe, who earned a track scholarship to Stanford. “It came down to what I saw myself doing in the future. Running is so simple compared to other sports, and it’s such a good escape from everything else in life.”
For another of Loftus’ 2019 graduates, deciding to focus on running wasn’t as easy. Jantz Tostenson played football, basketball, soccer and baseball. “For me it was the team aspect that attracted me to those sports,” says Tostenson. “Running has ups and downs and you got to put in the effort every day, and that commitment is what builds a team.”
Many middle-school cross-country runners play club soccer or volleyball during the fall, and run track in the spring, and Dick encourages that variety. “Cross-country develops that foundation of endurance and mental toughness that will be assets in any other sport they choose to pursue.”
Preparing for the season
Now is the time to start preparing for the upcoming season. “I always tell runners to get some miles on their legs over summer,” says Dick. “Not a ton, and it doesn’t have to be fast.” He also encourages all runners—even those who run year-round—to run some community races, like the annual Pear Blossom 10-mile or 5K runs.
At Sunriver, Loftus’ campers train twice each day, although he says the running is not really intense. “We’re just getting them back into the groove before some harder summer training to come,” he says.
Once the season begins
Regardless of skill and fitness level, most runners will have their slowest times at the beginning of the season. “But throughout the season, all runners will get stronger,” says Dick. “They can see the improvement in their times, and they feel so much better, stronger and faster.”
In-season training consists of rotating the focus of each practice among speed, distance and recovery. With meets on most Thursdays, each day’s practice takes on a special function to help runners improve and endure through the season.
Monroe, the incoming Stanford runner, says getting faster sets cross-country apart from other sports. “People enjoy the idea of self-improvement,” he says. “You can see your times go down, and that’s the most important aspect.”
For coaches, determining the right level of effort is key. “I’m always trying to find balance between how hard to push, versus letting them run at their own pace,” says Dick. Knowing that cross-country may be the only time many of them compete in any sport, he strives to keep it fun. “I hope to develop in them a love of running, of doing hard work, and the satisfaction that comes with persevering through difficult challenges.”
The joy of running with the pack
Most runners will never reach elite status, yet still want to compete and improve their race times. Known as ‘midpackers,’ they compete knowing they’re not necessarily going up against the front-runners, but instead, are motivated by racing against the clock.
Levi Jackson, an assistant coach at Crater, describes the appeal. “There’s a contagious aspect of being midpacker,” he says. “They see the elite runners and they look up to them, and just want to get better and improve.”
Tostenson appreciates the social aspect to midpack running. “They stick with it because they develop friendships that can last forever,” he says.
Another aspect of cross-country’s appeal is that young or old, virtually anyone can start running at any point in their life. Runners can set their own personal record (PR) at almost any age and keep setting new PRs year after year. | https://oregonhealthyliving.com/fitness/cross-country-running/ |
PE & SPORTING OPPORTUNITIES
At Roebuck Academy, we believe that every child should enjoy a range of experiences within physical education and sport. Through our curriculum, extra-curricular clubs and active opportunities, we promote positive attitudes to health, exercise and wellbeing, the development of physical skills and a love for being active and having fun.
Intent
The main vision of Physical Education at Roebuck Academy is to enrich the lives of individuals through active lifestyles. This is achieved by encouraging the children to access as many sporting opportunities in school as possible. In addition, the children are encouraged to access their chosen passion through attending and participating in local clubs, sporting events and festivals.
The lessons in a unit aim to progress the children quickly through a range of stimulating activities. They also include differentiated activities to allow for different abilities within the class. Pupils start units of learning by playing the game, where the teacher assesses prior knowledge and build future lessons from this starting point. The end goal is to participate in a competitive situation, such as competition or house challenge.
We also hold various sports clubs for children across the school, such as Football, Basketball, Hockey, Netball, Multi-Sports, Athletics and Tennis. These are run and organised by the teachers either during or after school.
Implementation
During the academic year, the children spend time with their teacher and sports coaches for PE lessons. The sports and topics have been carefully devised to allow children to access a range of skills and situations. The skills they will be learning will be transferable skills to use in other similar games.
Similarly, to last year, children in Upper Key Stage Two children have many opportunities to access Level 2 competitions throughout the year. Therefore, topics in these year groups have been selected to help prepare the children for these situations. In addition to this, Key Stage One children have accessed some sporting opportunities on a wider scale so that informal practice opportunities have also been put in place to prepare these children suitably.
From September, we need to recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic could have an effect on the fitness levels of many children in the school. They will be encouraged to participate in active learning sessions and vigorous PE lessons that focus on raising the heart rate sufficiently to improve fitness levels.
Impact
At the end of each unit, teachers are asked to assess their children based on skills developed throughout the unit. These skills are represented as ‘I can’ statements which are child and teacher friendly to use. In dance sessions, teachers can observe the children more closely and intervene when necessary.
The children are encouraged to pursue their passion for PE and sport by being signposted to relevant sports clubs out of school as well as in school. The current sports mark level of ‘Bronze’ (July 2019) reflects a sound grasp of opportunities offered. Going forward, the School seem well set to achieve ‘Silver’ and have ambitions to achieve even higher in the coming years.
Physical Education programmes of study: Key Stages 1 and 2
Purpose of study
A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. It should provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.
Aims
The national curriculum for physical education aims to ensure that all pupils::
- develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
- are physically active for sustained periods of time
- engage in competitive sports and activities
- lead healthy, active lives.
Attainment targets
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
Schools are not required by law to teach the example content in [square brackets].
Subject content – Key stage 1
Pupils should develop fundamental movement skills, become increasingly competent and confident and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others. They should be able to engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations.
Pupils should be taught to:
- master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination, and begin to apply these in a range of activities
- participate in team games, developing simple tactics for attacking and defending
- perform dances using simple movement patterns.
Subject Content – Key Stage 2
Pupils should continue to apply and develop a broader range of skills, learning how to use them in different ways and to link them to make actions and sequences of movement. They should enjoy communicating, collaborating and competing with each other. They should develop an understanding of how to improve in different physical activities and sports and learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success.
Pupils should be taught to:
- use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and in combination
- play competitive games, modified where appropriate [for example, badminton, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders and tennis], and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending
- develop flexibility, strength, technique, control and balance [for example, through athletics and gymnastics]
- perform dances using a range of movement patterns
- take part in outdoor and adventurous activity challenges both individually and within a team
- compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.
Swimming and water safety
All schools must provide swimming instruction either in key stage 1 or key stage 2.
In particular, pupils should be taught to:
- swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
- use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke]
- perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations. | https://www.roebuck.herts.sch.uk/page/?title=PE+%26amp%3B+SPORTING+OPPORTUNITIES&pid=132 |
Growth of the mental toughness required and shown in competitive actions should be developed concurrently with, and on the basis of, the improvement of physical abilities and skills. The physical and mental facets of training are joined at the hip, and so are emotions and the physical changes accompanying them. For instance, imitating different emotional expressions causes the bodily changes, such as fluctuations in heart and breath rate, that are typical for a given emotion.
This has practical use as one of the means of prompting the emotional state optimal for peak performance. Mental training has the objective of developing a strong will and the basic mental skills essential in sports and in all types of human activity. The basic mental abilities are control of concentration and the capacity to relax physically and mentally. Strong will is advanced by overcoming difficulties. The complications have to be overcome methodically, not occasionally, and the greater than before degree of difficulty should not make them impossible to overcome. An individual must be educated to carry out the training or competitive undertaking.
It must become a habit to always finish a task and to be reliable. An individual must be persuaded that there are no easy shortcuts to triumph, and as this success comes closer the grade of difficulty of effort escalates. Carrying out a task to the end is particularly difficult in competition. Impartial and subjective conditions may stand in the way of finishing the competitive task. Not completing competitive tasks lets the individual pick up a lack of obligation that results in a habit of stopping to struggle as soon as the degree of difficulty increases. This is how mental barriers are fashioned. One of the methods of disabling psychological barriers is to fruitfully complete a competitive exercise under the same circumstances (in the same location, on the same contraption) as in the preceding fruitless performance. | https://fitnesshealth.co/blogs/running/13823233-developing-mental-toughness |
Provide level one telephone support for PacSun systems and applications. Responsible for receiving and monitoring customer requests according to operating procedures and agreements. Practice Total Contact Ownership, manage assigned cases including assignments to higher support tiers and ensure service levels are maintained. Provide support during assigned shifts and perform assigned systems and operation checks per operating procedures. Communicate frequently with the Service Desk Manager to apprise of problems in maintaining service levels.
The individual must possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities and be able to explain and demonstrate that he or she can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation, using some other combination of skills and abilities.
Education/Experience:
Licenses Or Certificates:
Physical Requirements:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that are required by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
Position Type/Expected Hours of Work:
This is a full-time position. As an International Retailer, occasional evening and/or weekend work may be required during periods of high volume. This role operates in a professional office environment and
routinely uses standard office equipment.
Other Considerations:
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the associate for this job. Duties, responsibilities and
activities may change at any time with or without notice. Reasonable accommodations may be made to qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to perform the essential functions of the role. | https://careers-pacsun.icims.com/jobs/19908/support-services-representative/job |
Authors: Gulsum Bastug * (1), Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Turkey.
(1) Gulsum Bastug, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences is a doctoral professor. She works in the field of exercise and sports psychology.
The aim is to examine the attention, concentration, and mental toughness characteristics of tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes. A total of 61 athletes participated in the study, with a mean age of 21.18 ± 2.96, playing tennis, table tennis, and badminton. The Concentration Endurance Test (d2 attention test) developed by Brickenkamp (1966) was used to determine the level of attention of the athletes participating in the study. The Letter Cancellation Task, developed by Kumar and Telles (2009), was used to determine the concentration level, and Sheard et al. (2009) developed the “Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire-SMTQ-14”. In the Analysis of Data, the ANOVA test was used to identify differences between groups, and Tukey Honest Significant Difference (HSD) analysis was used to determine which branches were different. As a result; concentration performance was significantly different between the groups. It was determined that tennis athletes were more successful in concentration performance than table tennis and badminton athletes.
Keywords: Tennis, Table Tennis, Badminton, Attention, Concentration, Mental Toughness.
Attention is the essential key element to control opinion processes, concentrate on a duty, and show an effective performance in sport (25). Attention is a basic component of the human data processing system. Since human beings cannot process all relevant information at once, human capacity is described to be a limited system. Attention is necessary for providing information to a processor in this limited capacity (13). Concentration is defined as the mental effort that one is willing to put on the most important thing in any situation (24). Concentration is the ability to focus on relevant environmental cues (32). A high-concentration athlete tries to do his job in the best way, speeds up the new skills learning process, increases self-confidence, controls stress and anxiety in the high levels of experience, and focuses on the factors that are in control (16). The internal factors that influence concentration are the athlete’s negative thoughts, fears, sadness, and worries. External factors are; umpire decisions, spectators, competitor athletes, weather conditions, and media (34). Mental toughness is defined by the concepts such as coping with pressure and difficulties effectively, recovery after failures, challenge, being insistent and not giving up, competition with its own and others, being unaffected or flexible in adverse situations, having a firm belief in taking control of their future, show improvement under pressure, and having a superior mental skill (11, 23, 20, 8, 18, 17, 30, 22, 33). Anaerobic capacity is the forefront of tennis and coordination, speed, and power are the most important components (12). As with other racket sports, badminton has short-term maximal or cumulative loads and short rest periods. In such sports branches, besides speed, strength, coordination, reaction, perception, game skills, and technique (4), high aerobic capacity is required to be able to move continuously and quickly (15). Hereby, the aim of this study is to examine the attention, concentration, and mental toughness of tennis, badminton, and table tennis athletes.
How do the scales, used in the research, show a distribution?
Are there differences in attention, concentration, and mental endurance performances in tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes?
This study is important for tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes to contribute to their attention, concentration, and mental endurance studies. It is important in terms of providing reference to the work done in the field of sports sciences.
A total of 61 athletes participated in the study, with a mean age of 21.18 ± 2.96, playing tennis (n: 21), badminton (n: 20) and table tennis (n: 20). The Concentration Endurance Test (d2 attention test) developed by Brickenkamp (1966) was used to determine the level of attention of the athletes participating in the study. The Letter Cancellation Task, developed by Kumar and Telles (2009), determined the concentration level, and Sheard et al. (2009) developed the “Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire-(SMTQ-14)”.
The d2 Attention Test: Developed by Brickenkamp (1966) and adapted to Turkish by Caglar and Koruc (2006), was used to determine d2 attention test. It was passed through various revisions in the following years. The aim of the test is to evaluate the ability of constant attention and visual screening (29). The d2 Test is a measure of selective attention and mental concentration. The “attention and concentration” structure in the test manual was used as a performance-oriented, continuous, and focused choice of a stimulant (7). On the front page of the test, there is a section where the researcher can record personal information and performance results and an exercise track. On the back page, there is a standard test form. The test page consists of 14 rows, each of which has 47 signs. Each row contains 16 letters consisting of the letters “p” and “d” with one, two, three, and four small signs. During the test, the subject has to ignore other unrelated letters to find the letters “d” with two signs and to scan the rows to draw on them. The subject is given 20 seconds for each row. It can be applied individually or as a group (6, 7, 29).
The Concentration Measurement; Letter Cancellation Task as used by Kumar and Telles (2009) were used to measure the level of concentration in participants. The task consisted of a block of randomly placed letters in 14 columns and 22 rows with six assigned letters listed at the top of the page which participants were required to cancel within the block in 90 seconds. Scores of concentration on the Letter Cancellation Task were calculated by counting the number of correctly canceled letters within the grid. This score represented the speed and accuracy of the participants’ completion, and therefore their concentration level (21).
The Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire-(SMTQ); in order to determine the level of mental toughness in the sports environment, SMTQ-14 which was developed by Sheard et al. (2009), consists of 14 items. In addition to the general mental stability, the scale consisting of three sub-dimensions (Confidence, Continuity, and Control) is in the 4-point Likert type (1 = False, 4 = Fully True). The Cronbach Alpha values for the subscales of the original scale were 0.81 for the confidence subscale; 0.74 for the continuity sub-dimension; and 0.71 for the control subscale. There are three sub-dimensions in Mental Durability Inventory in Sport: Confidence: It is believing in talents to reach the goal in challenging situations and thinking better than competitors (Articles 1, 5, 6, 11, 13, 14). Control: It is becoming cool and comfortable under pressure or unexpected situations (Articles 2, 4, 7, 9). Continuity: It is taking responsibility, concentrating, and struggling in the direction of the specified objectives (Articles 3, 8, 10, 12), (27, 28).
Collected data were saved in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 22.0 program. The Analysis of Data (ANOVA) test was used to identify differences between groups, and Tukey (HSD) analysis was used to determine which branches were different.
In the findings of the study, for tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes, information on the mean values of attention, concentration, mental toughness, and whether there is significance between the groups is given.
Table 1. Investigation of the attention, concentration, and mental toughness level of tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes participating in the research according to their branches.
According to the findings; attention (tennis: 514.48 ± 97.37, table tennis: 521.45 ± 69.45, badminton: 531.70 ± 61.08) and mental toughness performance (tennis: 32.46 ± 3.27, table tennis: 34.40 ± 4.83, badminton: 35.55 ± 3.34). There were no significant differences between the groups (p> 0.05). However, concentration performance (tennis: 39.38 ± 7.55, table tennis: 36.20 ± 10.16, badminton: 29.20 ± 10.93) was significantly different between the groups (p <0.05). It was determined that tennis athletes were more successful in concentration performance than table tennis and badminton athletes.
In this study where the performance of attention, concentration, and mental toughness of tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes were investigated; attention and mental toughness performance in tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes, did not differ significantly between groups (p> 0.05). However, according to the average performance of attention and mental toughness of the groups, the researchers can say that badminton athletes’ attention and mental toughness performance is better than tennis and table tennis athletes. It is believed that the reason for not having significant differences between groups in attention and mental toughness performance is that the number of athletes participating in the research is low and the athletes are caused by various uncontrollable variables such as fatigue and nutrition status. According to the research, it has been determined that mental toughness can be changed for each specificity and be influenced by different dynamics (19, 8). According to the study of the level of mental toughness of tennis and basketball athletes, tennis athletes’ mental toughness was found to be better than basketball athletes’ (9). The 9-12 age group of badminton training program has been determined to improve the motor skills of children and to improve their reaction time (26).
It was determined that concentration performance of tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes showed a significant difference between groups (p<0.05). According to the concentration performance averages, the researchers can say that the concentration performance of tennis athletes is better than table tennis and badminton athletes (Table 1). In the study of the reaction time and balance relation in badminton athletes, no significant relationship was found between the visual and auditory reaction times of the athletes and the dynamic balance scores (2). In a study conducted on the development of positive attention and concentration of table tennis sport, regular table tennis exercises were applied to 9-13-years-old students and after eight weeks, table tennis exercises showed positive improvement in the attention values of the group (3). It was observed that table tennis, badminton, and tennis athletes have different sensing times. It was observed that tennis athletes have a better sensing time when the flow rate of caution was slow; badminton athletes have a better sensing time when the flow rate of caution was middle; table tennis athletes have a better sensing time when the flow rate was high (1). In the study where attention and imagination performance of badminton athletes were investigated, there was a significant relationship between imagery and attention for badminton athletes. When capacity for motivational specific imagery rises, attention capacity rises in athletes. When athletes win the match or perform well, they imagine to be appreciated (Motivational Specific Imagery), this positively affects attention capacity (5). Tennis players' sub dimensions of structural style, future perception, social ability and psychological resilience are better than basketball players'. Psychological resilience of tennis and basketball players is not affected by chronological age and sport age (9). Tennis and table tennis athletes affect physical and motor characteristics at a different level based on the size of playing field, games in said disciplines, duration of games as well as the materials used in these games (14). Tywan (31) indicated that coordination training program help athletes to learn and perform the forehand and backhand tennis skills better. These findings confirmed the researchers work.
As a result; there was no significant difference in attention performance between tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes. However, when the average values are taken into consideration, it was determined that badminton athletes’ attentive performance is better than tennis and table tennis athletes. When tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes were examined in terms of the concentration performance, there was a significant difference between the groups. This significant correlation between the concentration values of tennis and badminton athletes is favored by tennis athletes. The concentration performance of tennis athletes was better than badminton and table tennis athletes. There was no significant difference in mental toughness performance between tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes. However, according to the mean values, badminton athletes’ mental toughness performance was found to be better than tennis and table tennis athletes. Badminton athletes are better at attention and mental toughness performance than tennis athletes. The common feature of the athletes participating in the survey is to do racket sports. Variables such as racket and ball, playing field, playing time used in tennis, table tennis and badminton sports branches are thought to affect the attention, concentration and mental toughness scores of athletes.
It is suggested that attention, concentration, and mental toughness tests be carried out increasing the number of athletes and studying by considering different variables such as sleep, nutrition, and fatigue. The major problem the researchers faced in this study is the limited similar work in which the performance of attention, concentration, and mental endurance in tennis, table tennis, and badminton athletes are investigated. The results of this research, it is recommended that the athletes be used in training programs to develop attention, concentration, and mental endurance skills.
1. Akpinar, S., Devrilmez, E., & Kirazci, S. (2012). Coincidence anticipation timing requirements are different in racket sports. Perceptual & Motor Skills: Exercise & Sport, 581- 593.
2. Arslanoglu E., Aydogmus M., Arslanoglu C., & Senel O. (2010). The relationship between reaction times and balance in elite badminton players, Nigde University Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, 4(2), 131-136.
3. Asan, R. (2011). The effect of eight-week table tennis exercise related to the attention among 9–13 aged children. Selcuk University, Institute of Health Sciences, Master Thesis, Konya.
4. Baron, R., Petschnig, R., Bachl, N., Raberger, G., Smekal, G., & Kastner, P. (1992). Catecholamine excretion and heart rate as factors of psychophysical stress in table tennis. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 13(7), 501-5.
5. Bastug, G., Agilonu, A., & Balkan, N. (2017). A study of attention and imagery capacities in badminton players. Turkish Journal of Sport and Exercise, 19(2), 307-312.
6. Brickenkamp, R. (1966). Die stabilitat des Aufmerksamkeits-Belastungs-Tests (Test d2) über langere Zeitabschnitte.
7. Brickenkamp, R. & Zillmer, E. (1998). The d2 Test of Attention. Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.
8. Bull, S. J., Shambrook, C. J., James, W., & Brooks, J. E. (2005). Towards an understanding of mental toughness in elite English cricketers. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 17, 209-227.
9. Bulbul, A. (2015). Examination of psychological durability levels of tennis and basketball players and comparison, Gedik University, Institute of Health Sciences, Master Thesis, Istanbul.
10. Caglar, E., & Koruc, Z. (2006). Reliability and validity of d2 test of attention for athletes, Hacettepe Journal of Sport Sciences, 17 (2), 58-80.
11. Clough, P.J., Earle, K., & Sewell, D. (2002). Mental toughness: The concept and its measurement. (In I. Cockerill Ed.), Solutions in Sport Psychology (pp. 3243). London: Thomson Publishing.
12. Crespo, M., & Miley, D. (1998). Advanced Coaches Manual-1, P.O. Box N-7788 West Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas Canada,149.
13. Dewey, D., Brawley, L.R., & Allard, F. (1989). Do the TAIS attentional-style scales predict how visual information is processed? Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 11, 171-186.
14. Erdogan, R. (2016) Comparison of some selected physical parameters of the students who plays at Firat University table tennis and court tennis teams, Firat University, Health Sciences Institute, Master Thesis, Elazıg.
15. Faude, O., Meyer T., Rosenberger, F., Fries, M., Huber, G., & Kindermann, W. (2007). Physiological characteristics of badminton match play, European Journal of Applied Physiology, 100, 479–485.
17. Golby, J., Sheard, M., & Lavallee, D. (2003). A cognitive behavioral analysis of mental toughness in national rugby league teams. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 96, 455-462.
18. Goldberg, A. S. (1998). Sports slump busting: 10 steps to mental toughness and peak performance. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
19. Gucciardi, D., & Gordon, S., & Dimmock, J. (2008). Towards an understanding of mental toughness in Australian football. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 20, 261- 281.
20. Jones, G., Hanton, S., & Connaughton, D. (2002). What is this thing called mental toughness? An investigation of elite sport performers. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 14, 205-218.
21. Kumar, S., & Telles, S. (2009). Meditative states based on yoga texts and their effects on performance of a letter-cancellation task. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 109, 679-689.
22. Luthans, F. (2002). Positive organizational behavior: Developing and managing psychological strengths, Academy of Management Executive, 16(1), 57-72.
23. Middleton, S. C., Marsh, H. W., Martin, A. J., Richards, G. E., & Perry, C. (2004). Self-Research Centre Biannual Conference: Discovering mental toughness: A qualitative study of mental toughness in elite athletes. Berlin.
24. Moran, A. (2004). Sport and Exercise Psychology: A critical introduction. London: Routledge.
25. Nideffer, R. M., & Segal, M. (2001). Concentration and attention control training. In J. M. Williams (Ed.), Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance (4th ed., pp.312-332). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
26. Polat, G. (2009). The Effects of the 12-week-period basic badminton education trainings on 9 to 12 year-old kids’ motoric features and the reaction, Cukurova University, Institute of Health Sciences, Master Thesis, Adana.
27. Sheard, M., Golby, J., & Van Wersch, A. (2009). Progress towards construct validation of the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ). European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 25, 186-193.
28. Sheard, M. (2013). Mental toughness: The mindset behind sporting achievement. Second Edition, Hove, East Sussex: Routledge.
29. Spreen, O., & Strauss, E. (1998). A compendium of neuropsychological tests (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
30. Thelwell, R., Weston, N., & Greenlees, I. (2005). Defining and understanding mental toughness within soccer. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 17, 326-332.
32. Weinberg, R. S. & Gould, D. (2015). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology (6th Ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. 372.
33. Zorba, E., Göksel, A. G., Pala, A., & Zorba, N. (2016). Evaluation of trait anxiety levels of football referees according to certain variables (Sample of the Aegean Region). Ankara University Faculty of Sport Sciences Spormetre, 14(2). 175-181. | http://thesportjournal.org/article/investigation-of-attention-concentration-and-mental-toughness-properties-in-tennis-table-tennis-and-badminton-athletes/ |
Create a Growth Mindset Research by psychologist Carol implies that you will find 2 standard mindsets which affect how folks really feel about themselves and also their abilities: the repaired frame of mind as well as the progress mindset.1?
Individuals that have a fixed mindset think that things including intelligence are unchangeable and static:
All those with a fixed mindset think that good results is not a consequence of work that is hard – it is just a consequence of inborn talents. Because they think that such skills are a thing individuals are often born with and without, they have a tendency to quit more quickly in the face of a struggle. They give up when things don’t come readily since they feel they missing the inherent ability required to succeed.
Those who possess a growth mentality, on another hand, experience they can change, develop, and also find out through effort. Individuals that feel they’re able to development are much more apt to become successful. When things get difficult, they look for solutions to enhance the skills of theirs and continue working hard toward success.
Precisely what can you do to create a growth mindset?
Trust that your attempts matter. Instead of contemplating their capabilities are fixed or even trapped, individuals with a growth mindset think that hard work and effort is able to result in significant growth.
Learn new abilities. When dealing with a challenge, they search for methods to create the knowledge and abilities they have to conquer and triumph.
View problems as learning experiences. People with growth mindsets do not think that failure is a manifestation of the abilities of theirs. Rather, they see it as an invaluable supply of expertise from which they are able to discover and also improve. “That did not work,” they could believe, “so the point I will try something a bit of different.”
Boost Your Emotional Intelligence
Overall intelligence is definitely thought to be a single element contributing to good results in various aspects of life, though several professionals claim that emotional intelligence might in fact mean even more.2? Emotional intelligence describes the capability to know, utilize, and purpose with emotions. Emotionally sensible individuals are capable to learn not just the own emotions of theirs, but all those of others too.
In order to boost your mental intelligence:
Give consideration to the own emotions of yours. Focus on determining what you’re feeling and what’s causing those feelings.
Control the emotions of yours. Step back and also attempt to look at items with an impartial eye. Stay away from bottling up or perhaps repressing the feelings of yours, but look for appropriate and healthy methods of coping with what you’re experiencing.
Listen to others. This not merely involves listening to what they’re thinking, but also focusing on nonverbal body and signals language.
Develop Mental Toughness
Mental toughness describes the resilience to continue and go on to try maybe even in the facial skin of obstacles.3? Individuals that possess this mental strength observe difficulties as options. Additionally they think they’ve command over the own destiny of theirs, are positive in their capabilities to be successful, and are dedicated to completing whatever they begin.
what can you do boost the mental of yours and increase the chances to be successful in life?
Trust in yourself. Cut out bad self talk and also search for methods to remain self-encouraging and positive.
Keep trying. Even when things appear to be impossible or maybe setbacks continue holding you back, concentrate on ways in which you are able to improve the skills of yours and also continue soldiering forward. Among the important practices of people that are successful is usually to constantly look at failures or setbacks as learning opportunities.
Set goals. Mentally difficult folks are aware that to be able to achieve, they have to begin by getting goals that are attainable. These objectives aren’t always effortless to achieve, but by getting a thing to strive for, you are going to be far better able to move ahead and also get over obstacles.
Find assistance. Doing things solely is able to be hard, but getting a solid support system could make things simpler. Family members, co-workers, friends, and mentors are able to cheer you on when matters become difficult, and also provide help and help which will help you boost the chances of yours for success.
Improve The Willpower of yours
In a long running longitudinal analysis, psychologists followed a team of kids that were identified by the teachers of theirs as extremely intelligent. As they compared how these topics fared throughout youth and into adulthood, scientists discovered that people who eventually had been most profitable in life shared several key traits
which includes willpower.4 and perseverance?
These traits often be a part of an individual’s general style, though they’re also a thing you are able to greatly improve. Delayed gratification, learning how to persist within the facial skin of difficulties, and watching for the benefits of the hard work of yours can usually be the key to success in life.
Techniques you are able to apply to enhance your willpower include:
Distraction. For instance, in case you’re attempting to lose some weight but are having a problem staying away from the favorite snacks of yours, distracting yourself during the moments of yours of weakness could be a good way to stay away from providing in to urge.
Training. Willpower is a thing you are able to develop, though it requires effort and time. Begin by making little goals that require will power to attain, like staying away from sugary snacks. As you develop the ability of yours to work with your will power to realize such little objectives, you might find your willpower is additionally better when working on lots of bigger goals. | https://www.uasforum.ae/blog/tips-on-how-to-be-successful-in-life/ |
Under general supervision, independently sets up and operates one or more of the following pieces of equipment for production requirements:
Observes all safety regulations including personal protective equipment applicable to the use of electrical tooling and equipment, applicable to the use of heavy equipment and machinery, and applicable to the use of chemicals including isopropyl alcohol, flux, solder, glues, epoxies, urethane foam, and aqueous cleaning solution.
General Responsibilities:
Belt Sanders:
Manual Lathes:
Schleuniger Eco-Strip 9300:
Craymills Liftkleen Degreaser and Rinse Tank:
High school education or equivalent background. 3 months of work experience operating production machinery. Basic math skills and able to read, comprehend and follow BOMS. Ability to use basic measuring instruments such as rulers, digital timers, etc. Good visual acuity, manual dexterity, and attention to detail.
Individuals must possess knowledge, skills and abilities or be able to explain and demonstrate that the individual can perform the primary functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation, using some other combination of skills and abilities, and to possess the necessary physical requirement, with or without the aid of mechanical devices, to safety perform the primary functions of the job.
If you meet these criteria, please forward your resume to: [email protected].
AIRMAR Technology Corporation is a world leader in the design and manufacture of sensing technology for marine and industrial applications. Established in Amherst, New Hampshire in 1982, the Company's product line has grown to include advanced ultrasonic transducers, flow sensors, WeatherStation® instruments, and electronic compasses used for a wide variety of applications including fishing, navigation, meteorology, survey, level measurement, process control, and proximity sensing. Airmar’s headquarters are located in Milford, New Hampshire, with distribution offices in Lake City, South Carolina; and Saint Malo, France. Airmar continues to expand our product lines and Technology Corp. | http://airmar.com/ge-machine-operator-i.html |
Curriculum Intent - P.E.
The PE department at Three Rivers Academy will be striving to be the best in the country. The department will bring out the best of all students by connecting them to the power of sport and physical activity, so that they are motivated to participate both now and in the future. We will facilitate this by delivering high quality physical education where students can compete and experience a wide variety of sport and activities. Our goal is to provide all students with challenging and stimulating learning experiences that install an ethos that hard work is the foundation for success, ensuring that all students gain a positive experience of PE. The vision of the department is to have every student in school actively participating in extra-curricular sport. By getting students to take part in at least one extra curricula club, we aim to instil a positive ethos of a “sporting habit for life”.
Curriculum Aims
- To stimulate student interest and enjoyment in physical activity and promote exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle.
- To employ teaching methods and provide appropriate resources that allow students to have equal opportunity to experience success and enjoyment in PE.
- Provide every student the opportunity to develop skills in physical activity in a range of physical activities.
- Provide opportunities to make and apply decisions within a variety of physical activities.
- Provide students the opportunity to develop their physical and mental capacity in a range of physical activities.
- Provide students the opportunity to evaluate and improve their own performance through head, hands and heart assessment
- Provide opportunities for students to make informed choices to help them lead a healthy active lifestyle.
- Provide a positive a learning environment so students feel confident to achieve.
- To help enhance students’ self-esteem through the development of their physical confidence and personal qualities.
- To develop social, moral and cultural ethics based on sportsmanship, teamwork, discipline and commitment.
- Provide opportunities for leadership skills to be developed.
- To realise there must be rules and relevant safety procedures and to adhere to them in the various aspects of sport and recreation.
- To encourage participation in extra-curricular activities and offer opportunities for students to perform their skills in a variety of competitive and non-competitive situations to encourage lifelong participation in physical activity.
Our Learning Journey
Please click here for KS3 P.E. road map
Please click here for KS4 P.E. road map
Why study PE at GCSE and beyond?
Please click here to view the P.E. option information
Qualifications and exam board information
|Qualification||Subject||Exam Board||Website|
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GCSE
Year 10
|Sports (1PE01)||AQA||
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https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/physical-education-2016.html
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Level 1&2 Cambridge National Award
|Sport Science (J812)||OCR||
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https://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/cambridge-nationals/sport-science-level-1-2-j802-j8012/
Who to contact? | https://www.threeriversacademy.org/Curriculum/Physical-Education/ |
As it is human nature, people have judged a book by its cover. It is a grave mistake, and we have, time and again, failed over this habit. Like Special needs persons, the society has underestimated the community’s favorite course of study- Special Education. A significant number of people outside of the Disability Community, when you tell them about the course that you have studied, they would look at you with confusion and disdain and wonder what on earth you are talking about. However, if at all they know about the course, they would ask why you had gone to read “something like that.” Weren’t there other “cooler courses?”
Well, there’s never been anything, any course of study so significant, so humane, and so practical and down-to-earth like Special Education. This isn’t so because I’m a Special needs person with Special needs Degrees from Special needs schools in the line of Special needs career, plying my trade at the world’s premier Special needs university. No. I have said that Special Education is one of the truly most significant courses not because of my status. I have believed in the uniqueness of Special Education because of the many incredible roles it has been playing in not only making education a possibility for all and sundry regardless of your mental, physiological and psychosocial challenges, but as well as in alleviating human suffering and making the planet a much healthier place for all of us.
This writer is, by all means, a Special needs teacher and practitioner and has a sense he is well qualified to present insightful writing that can propagate Special Education outside of the confines of the Disability Community into the environments of the much larger social and beyond. It is my greatest pleasure to talk about the concepts and practice of Special Education, its enormous benefits, and possible careers, as well as the remarkable joy it provides to both its students and its practitioners. As part of my mental preparedness for this work, I thought about a couple maxims. I would want you to consider them too as we go along.
“CHILDREN HAVE DIFFERENT ABILITIES LEVELS IN DIFFERENT AREAS”
President John F. Kennedy once said: “Not every child has an equal talent or equal ability or equal motivation, but they should have equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation.”
Fantastic! JFK was right. But how did the President know and understand variations in the abilities, talents and learning pace in children? He had lived it. As a brother to a sister with mental retardation, President John F. Kennedy appointed Samuel Kirk, the pioneer and father of the field of Special Education to a post in his administration.
Now, imagine that you walk into a classroom full of schoolchildren. You haven’t begun to communicate yet on why you think the Earth is round. Common observation shows you that some of these kids are tall and skinny; some are short and stocky, while you observe that a lot of them fall somewhere in-between that’s just physical differences.
Further along, as you bring forth words out of your mouth- word after word about the planet and all its glory, while also at the same time receiving feedback from the children, another subtle observation hits you. It reveals that there are significant differences in these learners- in the areas of intelligence, emotional maturity, and social development. As a great teacher, you want to make sure that everyone is carried along, which is a good thing.
But further down, you develop a greater sense that these schoolchildren are different than one another in a lot of respects, including learning characteristics and pace, physical make-up, and sensory perception and achievement levels. These children differ from average/normal children either because they possess some pretty special abilities or them, unfortunately, obvious unusual limitations in their sense of hearing or sight, in their sense of breathing or cognition hence they require special attention from you. What are you going to do to help them, to carry them along like you have wanted, and how are you going to do it? Well, these are the children and youths for which Special Education considers and caters for. Special Education is merely an instruction for children with Special needs.
But Special Education isn’t just about the education of individuals with disabilities. Special education is also about the rehabilitation of learners and individuals with various disabilities so that people can live emotionally-healthier lives.
GENERAL EDUCATION AND SPECIAL EDUCATION
However, the differences between Special Education and public education are pretty massive. Our world isn’t made of one kind of thing or people. Our world is complex and multivariate, with diversities of people and personal characteristics. Unknown to General Education Teachers and its students, including the non-disabled community, there are always going to be anomalies- people and learners who aren’t just like everyone, learners, and individuals who do not apparently act or write or read like everyone and that’s OK. General Education teaches general learners with no disabilities or apparent irregularities; Special Education identifies “challenged learners,” sees them as unique individuals with unique educational needs, and bring in unique tools and unique strategies in giving them an education. In Special Education, there is an appreciation of individual differences- in the brain, in looks, in talents, in strengths, in weaknesses, and in physical/emotional characteristics but it is only befitting that there are provisions in place for exceptional learners.
KINDS OF SPECIAL NEEDS
There are hundreds of Special needs. For the scope of this essay, we will identify and briefly discuss the most common exceptionalities. I have classed them under sensory impaired, physical disability, developmental disability, behavioral/emotional disorder.
• Sensory Impaired - Blind, visually impaired, Deaf and hard of hearing, and communication disorder
• Physical Disability - muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, chronic asthma, epilepsy
• Learning Disability - dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, processing disorder
• Developmental Disability - intellectual disability, down syndrome, autism, behavioral/emotional disorder- ADD, bi-polar, other emotional disorder.
· Visual impairment (Blindness)
Individuals with visual impairment experience inability to see objects and persons. Causes of poor visual acuity may be due to diseases, viral infections, genetics, and environmental factors.
· Hearing Impairment (Deafness)
Individuals with hearing impairment experience inability to hear speech or sounds. Hearing impairment may be mild, average, moderate, profound or severe. It varies from individual to individual. Also, there are pre-lingual Deafness and post-lingual Deafness. The former had occurred before a person acquired language. The latter has happened after a person has learned and acquired language.
· Intellectual Disabilities (Retards)
People with intellectual disabilities have substantial limitations in intellectual functioning with sub-average intelligence and poor adaptive social skills. In the past, people called them retards or imbeciles. These terms are not right.
· Communication Disorder
Individuals with communication disorder experience inability to receive, send process and understand concepts of verbal, non-verbal, and graphic symbols of a system.
· Learning Disabilities
There are a great number of children and learners with normal cognitive functioning but yet are unable to learn well. Individuals with specific learning disability often have problems with one or a combination of the following: reading, writing, drawing, spelling, and computing (mathematics)
· Physical Disabilities
These include individuals with physical challenges- within capacities to use one or two of their limbs or other essential bodily organs. Common physical disabilities include muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis.
· Behavioural/Emotional Disorder
These are individuals with attention deficit disorders, chronic restlessness, emotional troubles such as bipolar disorders. These individuals are often testy and are highly behaviorally unpredictable.
A hard look at those identified Special needs would give an impression that it is impossible to not have as many as learners and individuals with one or two kinds of disabilities. Anyone can be disabled at any point in time. But in fact, no one is infinitely abled. Disability is a part of the human condition, and almost anyone- regardless of position or status can fall into any of those listed categories. However, they would deserve as much right as others in the getting an education that accommodates their condition or uniqueness. And well, somebody- a particular course or teacher has to prepare persons for providing this education.
CAREERS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION
Apart from being a Special Education teacher that helps learners with disabilities to learn, there are some exciting careers that graduates of Special Education can launch into. The good news is that the society will always be in search of these professionals- in a wide variety of settings o matter the economic or political climate.
1. Clinical Psychologist: This focuses on diagnosing and treating mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Some of the more common disorders that you might address include learning disabilities, substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
2. Therapist: A therapist (psychotherapist) is a certified mental health professional who helps people improve their lives, develop better cognitive and emotional skills, reduce symptoms of mental illness and cope with various problems.
3. Educational Counselor: This is a counselor who works with school students in a school environment. As an educational counselor, you will assist Special needs children with their studies, provide career counseling, based upon the options available to students and you are also going to help with their personal issues because they will somehow interfere with their studies.
4. Social worker: The National Association of Social Workers define the profession as one seeks to “enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.” You will address personal and social problems. However, I must tell you, this is an extraordinary profession. It is the hardest, most dangerous profession beyond the police work. You work with a wide variety of people. Still, it is the most beautiful work in the Universe. You will make very significant and sweet impacts.
5. Educational Audiologists: Depending on your specialist subject during your study, you, as an educational audiologist will conduct audiological evaluations for students with hearing problems. You will determine the extent of hearing problems of learners and workers, and recommend appropriate intervention activities.
6. Interpreter for the Deaf (if you are hearing): A Special Education degree can prepare for an interpreting service for the Deaf. Interpreting with sign language has become a favorite profession.
7. Occupational Therapist: an occupational therapist makes use of assessment and intervention to work with individuals who have trouble adjusting or functioning on a job, or occupation. It is an allied health profession.
Humanly saying, Special Education is an extraordinary discipline. We can see a more full scope of the role of Special Education in its professional capacity to work efficiently with members of the community and the government in addressing personal and social problems- in schools and beyond. But in fact, the course is multidisciplinary, multivariate and multidimensional- requiring a generalist perspective, evidence-based programs, as well as a whole lot of soft skills such as self-awareness, emotional intelligence, cultural competence, critical-thinking abilities, empathy as well as useful communication/sign language skills.
There is not yet another discipline where the most significant difference can be made other than Special Education. It accommodates and respects conditions and cultures. It rehabilitates and alleviates human suffering so that our resources and opportunities may be improved by getting a unique education that provides our individual differences.
But these special instructions are provided to Special needs persons, in a unique setting, with special tools and special methodologies in order that the less than perfect individuals- the persons with inability to hear, see, learn, write, think, walk, to relate, like every other normal one, may get an education that’s just right for them so that they may realize their full potentials.
For that, the idea of Special Education endures. | https://www.meetcheetablog.com/2018/01/special-education-concept-and-practice.html |
Generally, sports involve activities that can improve physical and mental health, which are associated with a corresponding level of competition. These activities often involve social interactions and result in competition at various levels. Sports are widely popular, especially in countries where there is strong support for organized sports. But what makes sports different from other activities? Here are four main differences between sports. This article aims to clarify each difference and offer a more balanced view of the subject. Here are the main differences between sports and other activities.
o Develop a positive attitude: Despite the pressure of the game, sports teach us that we must not give up, regardless of the circumstances. We should learn to focus on the present moment, be honest and persistent, and develop positive self-image and attitude. In addition to this, physical activity improves five components of fitness:
o History of sports: Before the emergence of modern sports, children have always played games. As evidenced by the first detailed sports report in Homer’s Iliad, Greece’s culture had unique cultural significance. Archery matches were held months before the game, and their patron saints would march behind them. During these matches, lower classes were often offered contests by the elite. In addition to archery matches, grand feasts were also held, during which drunkenness was common. There was even a Pritschenkoenig to maintain order and entertain the crowd with clever verses.
Applied sports psychology uses a combination of psychological knowledge and skills to address psychological issues related to physical activity and athletic performance. They study teamwork and emotional regulation in order to improve the physical and mental health of athletes. Applied sports psychology dates back to the early 20th century, when scientists started to study Babe Ruth’s mental state, and expanded their interest to include the mental aspects of the game. Today, several universities and colleges offer coursework in sport psychology. | https://wearefront.com/the-differences-between-sports-and-other-activities/ |
In the age of technology, most students are absorbed in using electronic sources to either read or listen to academic information and usually attempt to memorize facts as far as possible. While electronic devices such as Android phones, iPads, Kindles, and other devices provide students with an amalgamation of information at their fingertips and students are very well informed regarding what is happening in the world and how various things work, they often lack the ability to form and express their opinions in their own words.
This skill is often seen non-existent amongst prospective university students, who possess a great degree of knowledge regarding numerous topics, but struggle when they are required to write their personal statements to when they are required to write their dissertations in their final years. It is important for prospective university students to recognize the importance of good writing skills in order to help them get through their university years. The issues of plagiarism, use of vocabulary, and proper structuring must be addressed adequately in order to help prospective university students achieve good grades. The following tips may help university students improve their writing skills:
- Adopting the habit of reading: Listening to music, playing sports, and hanging out with friends are common activities found in young adults nowadays. However, a study found that approximately 21% of university-aged students said that they enjoyed reading while the majority of students did not express this interest (CollegeXpress, 2013). However, this hobby is highly important for students in order to help them improve their structuring, their ability of expression, and their vocabulary skills.
- Writing a diary or a blog: While diaries may be slightly out-dated, students can create a blog on a topic of interest which will help them regularly post their thoughts, feelings, and opinions regarding various topics. This will help enhance their creativity, expressive abilities, and enable them to generally enhance their writing skills to capture the interest of readers.
- Becoming a freelance writer: While prospective university students search for various part-time jobs, it may be beneficial for them to look for jobs as freelance writers. Indulging in activities such as writing advertising and marketing messages, writing emails, and other small tasks to earn a small income may pay a long way in their future.
- Avoid using slang when chatting, writing emails, or in any other form of communication: Using slang impairs a person’s spelling and vocabulary skills and may often hinder a person’s ability to write properly structured sentences. Hence, avoiding the use of such language can help a student write more appropriately in the future.
Having good writing skills can help prospective students in their university years and can also pay a long way when looking for prospective careers. Most employers are looking for candidates with a good level of expression, excellent writing skills, and a high level of creativity. Research has found that individuals with good writing skills score 80% higher than those who do not possess such skills in university and tend to find jobs 30% quicker than others (Aims Community College, 2013). | https://writepass.com/journal/2016/12/the-importance-of-good-writing-skills-for-prospective-university-students-2/ |
The public is an important stakeholder in health policy. A vast literature explores how the public thinks about health matters, whether attitudes toward health policy mirror those in other policy domains, and whether government health policy making is responsive to public sentiment (for a thoughtful review, see Schlesinger 2013). Typically, the relationship between health policy and public attitudes is subtle, complex, and multistaged. Most health policy decisions are made by government officials. While leaders are certainly aware of public attitudes on health care (as expressed in opinion polls), they may not possess a political incentive or capacity to follow them. As long as politicians avoid taking actions that a large segment of the public strongly opposes, they may possess the discretion to implement whatever policies they want.
For its part, the public tends to be poorly informed about the details of health policy. Citizens lead busy lives and do not have the time to devote their attention to public affairs. As a result, they tend to rely on political elites and “heuristics” (such as partisan cues) to reach judgments about health policy. Yet in certain cases the relationship between public attitudes and health policy is potentially much closer. The articles in this issue examine several of these cases, focusing on the ways that the public may directly shape health policy—or be directly shaped by it.
One way that the public can directly influence health policy is by voting on ballot initiatives on proposed changes to health care programs. In our first article, David A. Matsa and Amalia R. Miller take a close look at Maine's 2017 referendum on Medicaid expansion. The authors merged election results from localities across the state to identify the characteristics of areas that supported expansion. They found a strong relationship between Medicaid vote share and educational attainment—places with a higher share of the population with at least a bachelor's degree were more supportive of Medicaid expansion, even after controlling for income. Their study also suggests that interests matter: areas with more uninsured individuals and greater hospital employment were more supportive of expansion, whereas areas populated by more nonhospital providers (whose incomes might decrease from expansion if it crowds out higher-paying private insurance) were less supportive. The authors used the Maine results to predict the outcomes of hypothetical ballot initiatives on Medicaid expansion in other states. They found that ballot initiatives (if they were allowed to go forward—something that would require a change in the laws of some states) would be likely to pass in 5 of the 18 states that had not expanded Medicaid at the time of Maine's vote. While this exercise is speculative, it does suggest that direct democracy could be a mechanism to expand the social safety net.
While referenda allow the public to express its views on health policies, the implementation of health policies may have the potential to change public opinion in an era when partisanship is a primary determinant of public attitudes toward government. In our second article, Adrienne Hosek used longitudinal data from the American Life Panel to follow the same individuals repeatedly over the first year of Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation. Hosek found that opinions of the ACA among individuals who enrolled in insurance plans on the marketplaces improved in the few months between the start and close of open enrollment among both Democrats and Republicans. She also found that individuals who resided in states that did not expand Medicaid and who failed to obtain insurance developed significantly more negative opinions of the ACA. These findings suggest that health care is not an abstraction for Americans—it impacts their material well-being and sense of security, and these effects can change people's attitudes even in an age of polarization.
Another direct connection between public beliefs and health policy arises when patients and citizens participate in key health care decision-making processes. In our third research article, Katherine Boothe used interviews and data from reports and hearings to examine how participation in Canadian drug assessment committees (which make recommendations about which drugs should be reimbursed by various public drug insurance plans) affects the beliefs of different kinds of participants with respect to health technology assessment and the benefit of public and patient involvement. She found that the degree and content of ideational change varied by participant type. In particular, her study reveals an increase in Canadian patient groups' acceptance of the principles of health technology assessment (which may reflect a learning process as lay persons gain a closer view of how the process works) but less change in the ideas of technical members of drug assessment committees.
In another piece on health policy outside the United States, Claus Wendt's “Beneath the Surface” essay looks at the current status of social health insurance programs in five European nations. He examined the impact of privatization and competition policies and whether these programs are experiencing a crisis of trust or loss in support among the public. Wendt found that, while costs and cost-sharing burdens have increased, public support for European social health insurance has not been declining. Indeed, the traditional value of solidarity has even been strengthened over the past few decades.
Finally, in the issue's “Politics and Policy of Health Reform” essay, Petra W. Ramussen and Gerald F. Kominski examine the success of California's individual marketplace under the ACA, which today covers some 1.3 million consumers. The authors argue that California's success reflects a variety of political, organizational, and technical design factors, including proactive outreach programs to encourage enrollment, a high level of stakeholder enragement, and innovative approaches to stabilize the market in the face of uncertainty.
Over the past several years, JHPPL has published a number of articles that explore the role of the public in the health care arena. The articles in the current issue add materially to our knowledge by highlighting the diverse roles that members of the public play as voters, patients, participants, and evaluators of the performance of public and private health care systems. While interest groups and policy elites exercise tremendous influence over how health care is organized, delivered, and financed, the articles in this issue also provide an important reminder that the public is the most important stakeholder in health policy and that scholars need to attend carefully to its behavior and views. | https://read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/article/doi/10.1215/03616878-7530789/138070/Editor-s-Note |
A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over. - Joe Hill, labor organizer and songwriter
In the study of political communication we explore many different sources of political information such as campaign advertising, broadcast and cable news coverage, political speeches, newspaper content, radio programming, various forums found on the Internet, and entertainment such as comedy shows. One form of communication that often contains political information but is regularly overlooked is music. This chapter largely draws on scholarship on public opinion and political communication to examine music effects, an area developed primarily by social psychologists. In this regard, the main argument is that music is a potentially powerful transmitter of political information and therefore warrants further study as it pertains to political attitudes and behavior.
Through an original survey designed to explore the relationship between music preferences and political attitudes and political behavior (N = 888), this chapter demonstrates that music and politics are often correlated at the individual-level for listeners of particular genres of music. This survey is designed to examine the more detailed political attitudes that previous research has left untapped. To provide direction for future research and to better approximate the causal mechanism of influence, this chapter develops a novel theory that attempts to explain the group level influences of music on individual-level political attitudes and behaviors.
Music is a pervasive form of communication, especially among youth. National studies conducted by the Kaiser Foundation found that on average, individuals who reported having attended “some college” listen to music for two hours per day where they only spend 40 minutes reading print media (Roberts, et al., 2005), and youth aged 8-18 spend on average two-and-a-half hours per day listening to music (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010). Granted, not all music contains political information or coherent political messages, but some music does. In fact, some genres of music are thought to identify overtly with political ideologies, such as country music (conservative) or folk (liberal). The question that drives this research is: What influence does music have, if any, on political attitudes and behaviors? If youth in particular spend so much time listening to music, and music often sends political messages, then it is likely that some effect would be observed, and this effect is likely to be similar to what we would expect to find from traditional media.
While music is similar to other media formats in its ability to convey information, it is different because it is mainly a form of entertainment – not a primary source of political information. Because music is entertaining, its potential to inform and influence listeners may seem questionable to some. However, music may be influential because it is entertainment and may attract an audience that would otherwise avoid public affairs programming in exchange for entertainment (Prior, 2007). While we see evidence of preference-based selective exposure minimizing the persuasive and informative effects of media today (Arceneaux & Johnson, 2013; Prior, 2013), perhaps music is different because political information in music is a byproduct of first-order entertainment seeking, and therefore not as susceptible to informational selective exposure (Baum, 2005). In other words, music may be a significant source of influence because it is attractive to people who would otherwise tune out of political information; coincidentally, these are the same populations that are most susceptible to media effects (Converse, 1962). | https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/its-not-only-rock-and-roll/178012 |
Objective. The objective of this article is to examine the trend in attitudes toward gay marriage through the analysis of data from the General Social Survey. Methods. Using linear decomposition techniques, I explain the change in attitudes toward gay marriage from 1988 to 2006. Results. Attitudes significantly liberalized over time; 71 percent opposed gay marriage in 1988, but by 2006, this figure dropped to 52 percent. Approximately two-thirds of this change was due to an intracohort change effect, or individuals' modifying their views over time, and one-third was due to a cohort succession effect, or later cohorts replacing earlier ones. This pattern was replicated across many subgroups of the U.S. public, including age, sex, residential, educational, and religious groups. Conclusion. The results suggest that the use of the “equality/tolerance” framing of gay marriage by its supporters and other societal events or “moments” may have convinced some people who used to disapprove of gay marriage in 1988 to approve of it by 2006.
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A comparison of Hispanic and Anglo compromised birth outcomes and cause-specific infant mortality in the United States, 1989-1991
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D Forbes
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Best Practice Guidelines on Publishing Ethics: A Publisher's Perspective, 2nd Edition
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Full-text available
Chris Graf
Lisa Deakin
Martine Docking
[...]
Deborah Wyatt
Wiley has updated its publishing ethics guidelines, first published in 2006. The new guidelines provide guidance, resources, and practical advice on ethical concerns that arise in academic publishing for editors, authors, and researchers, among other audiences. New guidance is also included on whistle blowers, animal research, clinical research, and clinical trial registration, addressing cultural differences, human rights, and confidentiality. The guidelines are uniquely interdisciplinary, and were reviewed by 24 editors and experts chosen from the wide range of communities that Wiley serves. They are also published in Advanced Materials, International Journal of Clinical Practice, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Social Science Quarterly, and on the website http://exchanges.wiley.com/ethicsguidelines.
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Alternative abortion policies: what are the health consequences?
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Patricia Bayer Richard
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Restricting federal funds for abortion: another look
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Paul M Sommers
Laura S Thomas
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The role of gender in determining abortion attitudes
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Susan Walzer
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Abortion Decisions Among Hispanic Women Along the Texas-Mexico Border
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Robert Brown
Todd Jewell
Jeffrey Rous
Objective. This paper examines the abortion decisions of Hispanic women who reside in the Texas counties that border Mexico. We hypothesize that ethnicity as well as geographic location may capture differences in assimilation to the U.S. culture that, ultimately, influence fertility-control decisions. We concentrate on the connection between the abortion decision and provider availability as measured by distance to the nearest abortion provider. Methods. The empirical model uses a logit specification to compare the abortion decisions of border Hispanics to both Hispanic and Anglo women residing in nonborder regions of Texas. The data consist of all births and abortions for women 20 years old and older for 1993 in Texas. Results. We find characteristic differences among the abortion decisions of Texas women by ethnicity and geographic location. In particular, Hispanics along the border region are quantitatively more responsive to variations in the availability of abortion providers, poverty rates, female employment rates, and urbanization. Conclusions. The abortion decisions of nonborder Hispanics appear to more closely resemble those of Anglo women rather than those of their Hispanic counterparts in the border region. Also, economic development in the Texas-Mexico border region is likely to have a significant impact on abortion and fertility rates in the region.
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Core Beliefs and Abortion Attitudes
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Sean M. Bolks
Diana Evans
J L Polinard
Robert D. Wrinkle
Objective. This research examines the variables that influence the abortion attitudes of the three largest Latino populations: Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. Methods. Using data from the Latino National Political Survey, we use multivariate analyses to examine the effects of selected variables on abortion attitudes. We also model attitudes toward abortion by using ordered logit. Results. We find that attitudes toward abortion among the Latino populations are influenced by the same sets of variables that influence the attitudes of non-Latinos. Conclusions. Abortion is not an "ethnic issue" in the sense that the term is generally used.
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The Effect of Child Support Enforcement on Abortion in the United States
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Jocelyn Elise Crowley
Radha Jagannathan
Galo Falchettore
This project aims to answer a critically important question of public policy: Does effective child support enforcement lead to a change in the incidence of abortion across the United States? Using state-level data collected from 1978–2003 from a variety of sources, we employ fixed effects regression analysis to examine whether financial security as measured by five types of child support enforcement effectiveness impacts abortion outcomes. We find that child support enforcement effectiveness decreases the incidence of abortion as measured by the abortion rate, but not the abortion ratio. Income transfer policies such as child support enforcement can affect certain fertility outcomes such as abortion rates across the states.
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The Supreme Court's abortion rulings and social change
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David W Brady
Kathleen Kemp
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State policies on funding of abortions: a pooled time series analysis
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Kenneth J. Meier
Deborah McFarlane
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Exploring the Academic Benefits of Friendship Ties for Latino Boys and Girls*
Article
Catherine Riegle-Crumb
Rebecca Marie Callahan
Objectives. We examine how the racial/ethnic and generational status composition of Latino students' friendship groups is related to their academic achievement and whether there are differential effects by gender. Methods. We use multivariate regression analyses to examine the effects of friends' characteristics on Latino students' end of high school grades, utilizing data from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study (AHAA), and its parent survey, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results. For Latina girls, there are positive effects of having more friendship ties to third-plus-generation Latino peers in contrast to dominant culture peers; yet Latino boys benefit academically from ties to all co-ethnic peers. Having friends with higher parental education promotes achievement of both genders. Conclusion. Our results counter notions of a pervasive negative peer influence of minority youth and suggest that co-ethnic ties are an important source of social capital for Latino students' achievement.
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Fitting In: The Roles of Social Acceptance and Discrimination in Shaping the Daily Psychological Well-Being of Latino Youth
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Stephanie Potochnick
Krista Perreira
Andrew Fuligni
Objectives: We examine how acculturation experiences such as discrimination and social acceptance influence the daily psychological well-being of Latino youth living in newly emerging and historical receiving immigrant communities. Methods: We use data on 557 Latino youth enrolled in high school in Los Angeles or in rural or urban North Carolina. Results: Compared to Latino youth in Los Angeles, Latino youth in urban and rural North Carolina experienced higher levels of daily happiness, but also experienced higher levels of daily depressive and anxiety symptoms. Differences in nativity status partially explained location differences in youths’ daily psychological well-being. Discrimination and daily negative ethnic treatment worsened, whereas social acceptance combined with daily positive ethnic treatment and ethnic and family identification improved, daily psychological well-being. Conclusions: Our analysis contributes to understanding the acculturation experiences of immigrant youth and the roles of social context in shaping adolescent mental health.
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Contextual Effects of Acculturation on Perinatal Substance Exposure among Immigrant and Native-Born Latinas
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Brian Karl Finch
J D Boardman
B Kolody
William Armando Vega
Objective. The objective of this paper is to determine whether community SES and community acculturation have an effect on substance exposure rates among pregnant Latinas. Methods. The hypotheses in this paper are tested with logistic regression analyses based on a file which merges individual-level data from the 1992 Perinatal Substance Exposure Study in California with 1990 census data. Results. Our findings indicate that community SES did not have a linear effect on substance prevalence rates for Latinas, except for a category of overall drug exposure. Higher levels of community acculturation had a direct relationship with prevalence rates for tobacco, marijuana, amphetamines, anc any drug. Community acculturation also had a direct relationship with alcohol prevalence for English speakers, but an inverse relationship with Spanish speakers. Conclusions. Our results suggest that community acculturation is an important component of substance use studies of Latinas, above and beyond individual-level measures of acculturation.
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School Context and the Effect ESL Placement on Mexican-Origin Adolescents' Achievement
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Rebecca Marie Callahan
Lindsey Wilkinson
Chandra Muller
Objectives. Immigrant adolescents' academic achievement is crucial to our future economic stability, and Mexican-origin linguistic minority youth in U.S. schools generally demonstrate lower levels of achievement. English as a Second Language (ESL) programs provide an institutional response to these students' needs, the effect of which may vary by the proportion of immigrant students in the school. Measures. Using propensity score matching and data from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study (AHAA) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we estimate the effect of ESL placement on Mexican-origin achievement for first-, second-, and third-generation adolescents separately in schools with many and few immigrant students. Results. The estimated effect of ESL placement varies by both immigrant concentration in the school and by students' generational status. Conclusions. We find that ESL enrollment may be protective for second-generation Mexican-origin adolescents in high immigrant concentration schools, and may prove detrimental for first-generation adolescents in contexts with few other immigrant students.
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Opportunities for Making Ends Meet and Upward Mobility: Differences in Organizational Deprivation Across Urban and Suburban Poor Neighborhoods
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Alexandra K Murphy
Danielle Wallace
Objectives. Given the recent rise of poverty in U.S. suburbs, this study asks: What poor neighborhoods are most disadvantageous, those in the city or those in the suburbs? Building on recent urban sociological work demonstrating the importance of neighborhood organizations for the poor, we are concerned with one aspect of disadvantage—the lack of availability of organizational resources oriented toward the poor. By breaking down organizations into those that promote mobility versus those that help individuals meet their daily subsistence needs, we seek to explore potential variations in the type of disadvantage that may exist. Methods. We test whether poor urban or suburban neighborhoods are more likely to be organizationally deprived by breaking down organizations into three types: hardship organizations, educational organizations, and employment organizations. We use data from the 2000 U.S. County Business Patterns and the 2000 U.S. Census and test neighborhood deprivation using logistic regression models. Results. We find that suburban poor neighborhoods are more likely to be organizationally deprived than are urban poor neighborhoods, especially with respect to organizations that promote upward mobility. Interesting racial and ethnic composition factors shape this more general finding. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that if a poor individual is to live in a poor neighborhood, with respect to access to organizational resources, he or she would be better off living in the central city. Suburban residence engenders isolation from organizations that will help meet one's daily needs and even more so from those offering opportunities for mobility.
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Fine tuning well-being: food stamp use and nutritional adequacy of children's diets
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David Gregorio
James R Marshall
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The politics of mental retardation during the Kennedy Administration.
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E D Berkowitz
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Ambition Gone Awry: The Long-Term Socioeconomic Consequences of Misaligned and Uncertain Ambitions in Adolescence
Article
Ricardo Sabates
Angel L. Harris
Jeremy Staff
The objective of this study was to investigate whether misaligned or uncertain ambitions in adolescence influence the process of socioeconomic attainment. Using 34 years of longitudinal data from the British Cohort Study (BCS70), we considered whether youth with (1) misaligned ambitions (i.e., those who either over- or underestimate the level of education required for their desired occupation), (2) both low occupational aspirations and educational expectations (low-aligned ambitions), and (3) uncertainty with regard to their future occupations (uncertain ambitions) at age 16 experienced more unemployment spells, lower educational attainment, and lower hourly wages in adulthood compared to youth with high occupational aspirations and educational expectations (high-aligned ambitions). Youth who hold misaligned or uncertain aspirations show long-term deficits in employment stability and educational attainment, which in turn leads to lower wage attainments at age 34. Misaligned and uncertain ambitions in adolescence compromise the construction of life paths and the realization of long-term educational and occupational goals.
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Adolescent Weight and Depressive Symptoms: For Whom is Weight a Burden?
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Michelle L. Frisco
Jason Houle
Molly A Martin
Adolescent weight and depressive symptoms are serious population health concerns in their own right and as they relate to each other. This study asks whether relationships between weight and depressive symptoms vary by sex and race/ethnicity because both shape experiences of weight and psychological distress. Results are based on multivariate analyses of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data. There are no associations between adolescent girls' weight and depressive symptoms, but these associations vary considerably among boys. Underweight is associated with depressive symptoms among all boys and subpopulations of White and Hispanic boys. Among Hispanic boys, those who are overweight (versus normal weight) have a lower probability of reporting depressive symptoms. Finally, among normal weight boys, Hispanics and Blacks are more likely to report depressive symptoms than Whites. Findings are a reminder that understanding population health issues sometimes requires a focus on subpopulations, not simply the population as a whole.
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Relationship Characteristics and the Relationship Context of Nonmarital First Births Among Young Adult Women
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Jennifer Manlove
Elizabeth Wildsmith
Kate Welti
[...]
Erum Ikramullah
OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to examine whether and how characteristics of the relationship dyad are linked to nonmarital childbearing among young adult women, additionally distinguishing between cohabiting and nonunion births. METHODS: We used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort and discrete-time event history methods to examine these objectives. RESULTS: Our analyses found that similarities and differences between women and their most recent sexual partner in educational attainment, disengagement from work or school, race/ethnicity, and age were linked to the risk and context of nonmarital childbearing. For example, partner disengagement (from school and work) was associated with increased odds of a nonmarital birth regardless of whether the woman herself was disengaged. Additionally, having a partner of a different race/ethnicity was associated with nonmarital childbearing for whites, but not for blacks and Hispanics. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that relationship characteristics are an important dimension of the lives of young adults that influence their odds of having a birth outside of marriage.
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Adult Mortality Differentials among Hispanic Subgroups and Non-Hispanic Whites
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Robert A Hummer
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Adult Suicide Mortality in the United States: Marital Status, Family Size, Socioeconomic Status, and Differences by Sex
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Justin T Denney
Richard G. Rogers
Patrick M Krueger
Tim Wadsworth
Objective. This article addresses the relationship between suicide mortality and family structure and socioeconomic status for U.S. adult men and women. Methods. We use Cox proportional hazard models and individual-level, prospective data from the National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality File (1986–2002) to examine adult suicide mortality. Results. Larger families and employment are associated with lower risks of suicide for both men and women. Low levels of education or being divorced or separated, widowed, or never married are associated with increased risks of suicide among men, but not among women. Conclusions. We find important sex differences in the relationship between suicide mortality and marital status and education. Future suicide research should use both aggregate and individual-level data and recognize important sex differences in the relationship between risk factors and suicide mortality—a central cause of preventable death in the United States.
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Nativity Status and Depressive Symptoms Among Hispanic Young Adults: The Role of Stress Exposure
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Kathryn Harker Tillman
Ursula Keller Weiss
OBJECTIVE: This article documents nativity differentials in depressive symptoms among Hispanics during their initial years of adulthood and explores how ethnicity, socio-demographic characteristics, and exposure to stressful life events and changes in social roles help to explain those differentials. METHODS: Data is drawn from a large-scale two-wave community study of stress, psychiatric well-being, and substance use disorders among young adults. Our analytic sample includes 553 Hispanic respondents and we employ multivariate regression techniques. RESULTS: Regardless of age at immigration, foreign-born women experience greater declines in depressive symptoms than native-born women during early adulthood. This advantage is explained by differences in perceptions of discrimination, family-based stress, and social role changes. The association between nativity and depressive symptoms is not conditioned by ethnicity, but ethnicity does condition the association between stressful events and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that mental health treatment and prevention efforts should focus more heavily on stress exposure.
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The coming on of years: social science perspectives on aging and death.
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H J Friedsam
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Separate and Unequal: Post-Tsunami Aid Distribution in Southern India
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Full-text available
Daniel P. Aldrich
Objective. Disasters are a regular occurrence throughout the world. Whether all eligible victims of a catastrophe receive similar amounts of aid from governments and donors following a crisis remains an open question. Methods. I use data on 62 similarly damaged inland fishing villages in five districts of southeastern India following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to measure the causal influence of caste, location, wealth, and bridging social capital on the receipt of aid. Using two-limit tobit and negative binomial models, I investigate the factors that influence the time spent in refugee camps, receipt of an initial aid packet, and receipt of 4,000 rupees. Results. Caste, family status, and wealth proved to be powerful predictors of beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries during the aid process. Conclusion. While many scholars and practitioners envision aid distribution as primarily a technocratic process, this research shows that discrimination and financial resources strongly affect the flow of disaster aid.
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Single‐Mother Families and Air Pollution: A National Study*
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Liam Downey
Brian Hawkins
OBJECTIVE: This study uses tract-level demographic data and toxicity-weighted air pollutant concentration estimates for the continental United States to determine whether (1) single-mother families are overrepresented in environmentally hazardous Census tracts and (2) the percentage of single-mother families in a Census tract is a significant predictor of tract-level toxic concentration estimates. METHODS: After calculating tract-level toxic concentration estimates for the average female-headed family, male-headed family, and married-couple family with and without children, we use fixed-effects regression models to determine whether the percentage of single-mother families in a tract is a significant predictor of tract-level toxic concentration estimates. RESULTS: Single-mother families are overrepresented in environmentally hazardous Census tracts, and the percentage of single-mother families in a tract remains a significant predictor of estimated toxic concentration levels even after controlling for many of the most commonly used variables in the literature. CONCLUSION: Environmental inequality researchers need to broaden their focus beyond race and income to include groups such as single-mother families in their research.
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Allocating resources for rehabilitation: a historical and ethical framework
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Edward D Berkowitz
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Stress, Allostatic Load, and Health of Mexican Immigrants
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Robert Kaestner
Jay Pearson
Danya Keene
Arline Geronimus
Objective. To assess whether the cumulative impact of exposure to repeated or chronic stressors, as measured by allostatic load, contributes to the “unhealthy assimilation” effects often observed for immigrants with time in the United States. Methods. We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994, to estimate multivariate logistic regression models of the odds of having a high allostatic load score among Mexican immigrants, stratified by adult age group, according to length of residence in United States, controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and health input covariates. Results. Estimates indicate that 45–60-year-old Mexican immigrants have lower allostatic load scores upon arrival than U.S.-born Mexican Americans, non-Hispanic whites, and non-Hispanic blacks, and that this health advantage is attenuated with duration of residence in the United States. Conclusions. The findings of our analysis are consistent with the hypothesis that repeated or chronic physiological adaptation to stressors is one contributor to the “unhealthy assimilation” effect observed for Mexican immigrants.
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Reforming highway safety in New York State: an evaluation of alternative policy interventions
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J S Legge
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Population Growth in High-Amenity Rural Areas: Does It Bring Socioeconomic Benefits for Long-Term Residents?
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Jarron Saint Onge
Lori M Hunter
Jason D Boardman
OBJECTIVE: A widely noted concern with amenity-driven rural population growth is its potential to yield only low-wage service-sector employment for long-term residents, while raising local costs of living. This research examines change in socioeconomic status during the 1990s for long-term residents of high-amenity, high-growth rural counties in the United States. METHODS: Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, in combination with county-level information, we estimate growth-curve models to examine the extent to which the socioeconomic status of long-term residents is associated with amenity-related in-migration. RESULTS: We find that, on average, residents in high-growth, amenity-rich rural areas have higher income growth over time and higher levels of initial occupational prestige compared to those from other rural areas, but that socioeconomic gains are primarily for individuals with low baseline prestige. CONCLUSIONS: The socioeconomic gains made by long-term residents of high-growth, amenity-rich rural areas associated with net in-migration may be limited to individuals with low initial prestige and growth may be due to low-skill service-sector jobs.
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Generation, Female Education, and Mexican-American Fertility
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Frank D. Bean
Gray Swicegood
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Beyond the Epidemiological Paradox: The Health of Mexican‐American Children at Age Five*
Article
Yolanda C. Padilla
Erin R Hamilton
Robert A Hummer
OBJECTIVE: This study investigates how prenatal demographic, social, and behavioral characteristics of Mexican origin immigrant mothers, which are linked to their relatively healthy birth outcomes, influence the subsequent health of their children in comparison to other racial and ethnic groups. METHODS: We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study of a cohort of 2,819 children born between 1998 and 2000 to analyze chronic health conditions at age 5 using logistic regression models. RESULTS: Multivariate analyses revealed no significant differences in chronic health conditions at age 5 between children of Mexican immigrant mothers and non-Hispanic white children, controlling for socioeconomic status and access to health care. In contrast, children of U.S.-born Mexican American mothers had significantly higher odds of chronic conditions compared to non-Hispanic white children. Social support and health care use are related to child health outcomes but do not explain racial and ethnic differences. CONCLUSIONS: Health policy must respond in order to help maintain the healthy outcomes of Mexican American children of immigrants and reverse the deteriorating health of children in subsequent generations, in light of considerable socioeconomic disadvantage and inadequate access to health care.
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Population redistribution in the American past: empirical generalizations and theoretical perspectives
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J Sharpless
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Social service innovation in the American states: deinstitutionalization of the mentally retarded
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L Sigelman
P W Roeder
Carol Kimball Sigelman
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Reassessing the Impact of Hispanic Stereotypes on White Americans' Immigration Preferences
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Lingyu Lu
Sean Nicholson-Crotty
Objectives. There is disagreement in the literature on immigration attitudes regarding the relative importance of ethnic stereotypes and more general cultural and economic concerns about increasing immigration in the formation of those attitudes. We argue that the impact of stereotypes relative to these other factors may have been underestimated for a variety of reasons. Methods. We test the impact of stereotypes on immigration preferences in data from the Multi-Ethnic Module of the 2000 General Social Survey. Because the dependent variables analyzed herein are ordinal, we estimate ordered logistic regressions that correct for diagnosed hetereoskedacticity. Results. Statistical analyses confirm that negative stereotypes are a significantly larger predictor of ethnicity-specific immigration preferences relative to general attitudes about immigration. Intervening variables analyses also suggest that the impact of stereotypes has been underestimated relative to cultural and economic anxieties because these variables significantly mediate its observed impact. Conclusions. The results suggest that ethnic stereotypes are significantly more important in determining immigration preferences among Americans than has been reported in previous research.
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Phenotypic Bias and Ethnic Identity in Filipino Americans
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Lisa Kiang
David Takeuchi
Objective. Links between phenotypes (skin tone, physical features) and a range of outcomes (income, physical health, psychological distress) were examined. Ethnic identity was examined as a protective moderator of phenotypic bias. Method. Data were from a community sample of 2,092 Filipino adults in San Francisco and Honolulu. Results. After controlling for age, nativity, marital status, and education, darker skin was associated with lower income and lower physical health for females and males. For females, more ethnic features were associated with lower income. For males, darker skin was related to lower psychological distress. One interaction was found such that females with more ethnic features exhibited lower distress; however, ethnic identity moderated distress levels of those with less ethnic features. Conclusions. Phenotypic bias appears prevalent in Filipino Americans though specific effects vary by gender and skin color versus physical features. Discussion centers on the social importance of appearance and potential strengths gained from ethnic identification.
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Generational differences in fertility among Mexican Americans: Implications for assessing the effects of immigration
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Frank D. Bean
Ruth M. Cullen
Elizabeth Hervey Stephen
Gray Swicegood
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Assessing Cultural Assimilation of Mexican Americans: How Rapidly Do Their Gender-Role Attitudes Converge to the U.S. Mainstream?
Article
Dejun Su
Chad Richardson
Guang-zhen Wang
Objective. This study assesses the pace of cultural assimilation of Mexican Americans by comparing changes in their gender-role attitudes over generations to the European-origin U.S. mainstream. Methods. Using cumulative data from the 1972–2004 General Social Survey, we examine the rate at which progressive generations of Mexican Americans approach the mainstream gender-role attitudes. We also employ a set of logistic regressions to assess the differences in gender-role attitudes between Mexican and European Americans. Results. For five out of the eight gender-role-related questions considered in the study, Mexican Americans of the third or later generations show more liberal or egalitarian gender-role attitudes than those of the first or second generations. A comparison between Mexican and European Americans suggests that Mexican Americans in the sample have more conservative gender-role attitudes than European Americans in terms of division of labor at home and women's participation in politics. Conclusion. Mexican Americans become more likely to adopt egalitarian gender-role attitudes as generation progresses. The differences between Mexican and European Americans in terms of gender-role attitudes are sensitive to the particular domains of attitudes under consideration.
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The Importance of Type, Amount, and Timing of Internet Use for Understanding Psychological Distress
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Shelia R. Cotten
Melinda Goldner
Timothy M Hale
Patricia Drentea
Objective. Few social scientists have examined how Internet usage, including using the Internet for health purposes, may affect mental health. This study assesses whether the type or amount of online health activities and the timing of Internet use are associated with psychological distress. Methods. We use data from the National Cancer Institute's 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey. Results. When we compare Internet users to non-Internet users, using the Internet and using the Internet for health purposes are negatively associated with distress. However, among Internet users, the number of online health activities is positively associated with distress. Greater distress is also associated with using the Internet on weekdays and looking online for information on sun protection. Conclusions. Internet usage is not necessarily positively associated with psychological distress. The effects depend on the type, amount, and timing of Internet usage.
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Infant mortality among New Mexican Hispanics, Anglos, and Indians
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Richard G. Rogers
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Poverty, Socioeconomic Change, Institutional Anomie, and Homicide*
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Sang-Weon Kim
William Alex Pridemore
Objective. This study examined institutional anomie theory in the context of transitional Russia. Methods. We employed an index of negative socioeconomic change and measures of family, education, and polity to test the hypothesis that institutional strength conditions the effects of poverty and socioeconomic change on homicide rates. Results. As expected, the results of models estimated using negative binomial regression show direct positive effects of poverty and socioeconomic change and direct negative effects of family strength and polity on regional homicide rates. There was no support, however, for the hypothesis that stronger social institutions reduce the effects of poverty and socioeconomic change on violence. Conclusions. We interpret these results in the Russia-specific setting, concluding that Russia is a rich laboratory for examining the effects of social change on crime and that empirical research in other nations is important when assessing the generalizability of theories developed to explain crime and violence in the United States.
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Human Rights and Mexico's Anti-drug Campaign
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Richard B. Craig
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A Reassessment of the Association Between Social Disorganization and Youth Violence in Rural Areas
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Maria T Kaylen
William Alex Pridemore
To study the association between social disorganization and youth violence rates in rural communities. We employed rural Missouri counties (N = 106) as units of analysis, measured serious violent victimization data via hospital records, and the same measures of social disorganization as Osgood and Chambers (2000). Controlling for spatial autocorrelation, the negative binomial estimator was used to estimate the effects of social disorganization on youth violence rates. Unlike Osgood and Chambers, we found only one of five social disorganization measures, the proportion of female-headed households, to be associated with rural youth violent victimization rates. Although most research on social disorganization theory has been undertaken on urban areas, a highly cited Osgood and Chambers (2000) study appeared to extend the generalizeability of social disorganization as an explanation of the distribution of youth violence to rural areas. Our results suggest otherwise. We provide several methodological and theoretical reasons why it may be too early to draw strong conclusions about the generalizeability of social disorganization to crime rates in rural communities.
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Parental Job Loss and Children's Educational Attainment in Black and White Middle-Class Families
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Ariel Kalil
Patrick Wightman
Objectives. We aim to understand why blacks are significantly less likely than whites to perpetuate their middle-class status across generations. To do so, we focus on the potentially different associations between parental job loss and youth's educational attainment in black and white middle-class families. Methods. We use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), following those children “born” into the survey between 1968 and 1979 and followed through age 21. We conduct multivariate regression analyses to test the association between parental job loss during childhood and youth's educational attainment by age 21. Results. We find that parental job loss is associated with a lesser likelihood of obtaining any postsecondary education for all offspring, but that the association for blacks is almost three times as strong. A substantial share of the differential impact of job loss on black and white middle-class youth is explained by race differences in household wealth, long-run measures of family income, and, especially, parental experience of long-term unemployment. Conclusions. These findings highlight the fragile economic foundation of the black middle class and suggest that intergenerational persistence of class status in this population may be highly dependent on the avoidance of common economic shocks.
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Race, Racial Resentment, Attentiveness to the News Media, and Public Opinion Toward the Jena Six
Article
Kirby Goidel
Wayne Parent
Bob Mann
Objective. We outline the role of race, racial resentment, and attentiveness to news in structuring public opinion toward the prosecution of the Jena Six, the name given to six African-American high school students who beat a white student, five of whom were subsequently charged with attempted second-degree murder. Method. We rely on a telephone survey of 428 registered voters collected in the aftermath of the protests in Jena, Louisiana. Results. Public reactions were heavily filtered by race and associated with measures of racial resentment. African Americans followed news about the protests more closely, believed race was the most important consideration in the decision to prosecute, and believed the decision to prosecute was the wrong decision. Racially conservative white respondents were less likely to believe race was the most important consideration in the decision to prosecute and were more likely to believe that the decision to prosecute was the right decision. Consistent with theories of agenda setting and framing, attentiveness to the news influenced perceptions regarding the importance of race in the decision to prosecute but not whether the decision was the right decision. Conclusions. At least within the context of the Deep South, race and racial attitudes continue to be an important predictor of public reactions to racially charged events. Attentiveness to the news influenced the lens through which events were interpreted, but not perceptions of whether the outcome was the right decision.
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Religion and Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Marriage Among US Latinos
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Christopher G Ellison
Gabriel A. Acevedo
Aida Isela Ramos
Objectives. This study examines links between multiple aspects of religious involvement and attitudes toward same-sex marriage among U.S. Latinos. The primary focus is on variations by affiliation and participation, but the possible mediating roles of biblical beliefs, clergy cues, and the role of religion in shaping political views are also considered. Methods. We use binary logistic regression models to analyze data from a large nationwide sample of U.S. Latinos conducted by the Pew Hispanic Forum in late 2006. Results. Findings highlight the strong opposition to same-sex marriage among Latino evangelical (or conservative) Protestants and members of sectarian groups (e.g., LDS), even compared with devout Catholics. Although each of the hypothesized mediators is significantly linked with attitudes toward same-sex marriage, for the most part controlling for them does not alter the massive affiliation/attendance differences in attitudes toward same-sex marriage. Conclusions. This study illustrates the importance of religious cleavages in public opinion on social issues within the diverse U.S. Latino population. The significance of religious variations in Hispanic civic life is likely to increase with the growth of the Latino population and the rising numbers of Protestants and sectarians among Latinos.
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Challenges to societal attitudes toward homosexuality in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
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V L Bullough
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Susan L Cutter
University of South Carolina
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University of Western Australia
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Princeton University
Eszter Hargittai
University of Zurich
Douglas Massey
Princeton University
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. | https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Social-Science-Quarterly-1540-6237 |
For the first time in American history, the 2000 United States census allowed individuals to choose more than one race. That new policy sets up our exploration of whether and how multiracialism is entering Americans’ understanding and practice of race. By analyzing briefly earlier cases of racial construction, we uncover three factors important to understanding if and how intensely a feedback effect for racial classification will be generated. Using this framework, we find that multiracialism has been institutionalized in the federal government, and is moving toward institutionalization in the private sector and other governmental units. In addition, the small proportion of Americans who now define themselves as multiracial is growing absolutely and relatively, and evidence suggests a continued rise. Increasing multiracial identification is made more likely by racial mixture’s growing prominence in American society–demographically, culturally, economically, and psychologically. However, the politics side of the feedback loop is complicated by the fact that identification is not identity. Traditional racial or ethnic loyalties and understandings remain strong, including among potential multiracial identifiers. Therefore, if mixed-race identification is to evolve into a multiracial identity, it may not be at the expense of existing group consciousness. Instead, we expect mixed-race identity to be contextual, fluid, and additive, so that it can be layered onto rather than substituted for traditional monoracial commitments. If the multiracial movement successfully challenges the longstanding understanding and practice of “one drop of blood” racial groups, it has the potential to change much of the politics and policy of American race relations.
How ACORN Was Framed: Political Controversy and Media Agenda Setting
Peter Dreier and Christopher R. Martin
September 2010
ABSTRACT
Using the news controversy over the community group ACORN, we illustrate the way that the media help set the agenda for public debate and frame the way that debate is shaped. Opinion entrepreneurs (primarily business and conservative groups and individuals, often working through web sites) set the story in motion as early as 2006, the conservative echo chamber orchestrated an anti-ACORN campaign in 2008, the Republican presidential campaign repeated the allegations with a more prominent platform, and the mainstream media reported the allegations without investigating their veracity. As a result, the little-known community organization became the subject of great controversy in the 2008 US presidential campaign, and was recognizable by 82 percent of respondents in a national survey. We analyze 2007-2008 coverage of ACORN by 15 major news media organizations and the narrative frames of their 647 stories during that period. Voter fraud was the dominant story frame, with 55 percent of the stories analyzed using it. We demonstrate that the national news media agenda is easily permeated by a persistent media campaign by opinion entrepreneurs alleging controversy, even when there is little or no truth to the story. Conversely, local news media, working outside of elite national news media sources to verify the most essential facts of the story, were the least likely to latch onto the “voter fraud” bandwagon.
Varieties of Obamaism: Structure, Agency, and the Obama Presidency
Lawrence R. Jacobs and Desmond S. King
September 2010
ABSTRACT
President Obama’s record stands out among modern presidents because of the wide range between his accomplishments and the boldness of his as-yet unfulfilled promises. Obamaism is a complex phenomenon, with multiple themes and policy ends. In this paper we examine the administration’s initiatives drawing upon recent scholarship in political science to consider the political, economic and institutional constraints that Obama has faced and to assess how he has faced them. Our key theme is the importance of integrating the study of presidency and public leadership with the study of the political economy of the state. The paper argues against personalistic accounts of the Obama presidency in favor of a structured agency approach.
Reconstituting the Submerged State: The Challenges of Social Policy Reform in the Obama Era
Suzanne Mettler
September 2010
ABSTRACT
President Barack Obama came into office with a social welfare policy agenda that aimed to reconstitute what can be understood as the “submerged state”: a conglomeration of existing federal policies that incentivize and subsidize activities engaged in by private actors and individuals. By attempting to restructure the political economy involved in taxation, higher education policy, and health care, Obama ventured into a policy terrain that presents immense obstacles to reform itself and to the public’s perception of its success. Over time the submerged state has fostered the profitability of particular industries and induced them to increase their political capacity, which they have exercised in efforts to maintain the status quo. Yet the submerged state simultaneously eludes most ordinary citizens: they have little awareness of its policies or their upwardly redistributive effects, and few are cognizant of what is at stake in reform efforts. This article shows how, in each of the three policy areas, the contours and dynamics of the submerged state have shaped the possibilities for reform and the form it has taken, the politics surrounding it, and its prospects for success. While the Obama Administration won hard-fought legislative accomplishments in each area, political success will continue to depend on how well policy design, policy delivery and political communication reveal policy reforms to citizens, so that they better understand how reforms function and what has been achieved.
Institutional Strangulation: Bureaucratic Politics and Financial Reform in the Obama Administration
Daniel Carpenter
September 2010
ABSTRACT
The politics of financial reform represent a genuine test case for American politics and its institutions. The Obama administration’s proposed reforms pit common (largely unorganized) interests against well-organized and wealthy minority interests. I describe how the withering and unfolding of financial reform has occurred not through open institutional opposition but through a quieter process that I call institutional strangulation. Institutional strangulation consists of much more than the stoppage of policies by aggregation of veto points as designed in the US Constitution. In the case of financial reform, it has non-constitutional veto points, including committee politics and cultural veto points (gender and professional finance), strategies of partisan intransigence, and perhaps most significantly, the bureaucratic politics of turf and reputation. These patterns can weaken common-interest reforms, especially in the broad arena of consumer protection.
The American Labor Movement in the Age of Obama: The Challenges and Opportunities of a Racialized Political Economy
Dorian T. Warren
September 2010
ABSTRACT
The relative weakness of the American labor movement has broader political consequences, particularly for the ambitions of the Obama presidency. Absent a strong countervailing political constituency like organized labor, well-organized and more powerful stakeholders like business and industry groups are able to exert undue influence in American democracy, thereby frustrating attempts at political reform. I argue that it is impossible to understand the current political situation confronting the Obama administration without an account of the underlying sources of labor weakness in the U.S. In such an account two factors loom especially large. One is the role of the state in structuring labor market institutions and the rules of the game for labor-business interactions. The second is the distinctively racialized character of the U.S. political economy, which has contributed to labor market segmentation, a unique political geography, and the racial division of the U.S. working class. In our current post-industrial, post-civil rights racial and economic order, whether and how the labor movement can overcome its historical racial fragmentation will determine its possibilities for renewal and ultimately its political strength in relation to the Obama presidency. If the labor movement remains an uneven and weak regional organization hobbled by racial fragmentation, the Obama Administration’s efforts to advance its core policy agenda will lack the necessary political force to be effective.
The Road to Somewhere: Why Health Reform Happened
Or Why Political Scientists Who Write about Public Policy Shouldn’t Assume They Know How to Shape It
Jacob S. Hacker
September 2010
ABSTRACT
Why did comprehensive health care reform pass in 2010? Why did it take the form it did–a form that, while undeniably ambitious, was also more limited than many advocates wanted, than health policy precedents set abroad, and than the scale of the problems it tackled? And why was this legislation, despite its limits, the subject of such vigorous and sometimes vicious attacks? These are the questions I tackle in this essay, drawing not just on recent scholarship on American politics but also on the somewhat-improbable experience that I had as an active participant in this fierce and polarized debate. My conclusions have implications not only for how political scientists should understand what happened in 2009-10, but also for how they should understand American politics. In particular, the central puzzles raised by the health reform debate suggest why students of American politics should give public policy–what government does to shape people’s lives–a more central place within their investigations. Political scientists often characterize politics as a game among undifferentiated competitors, played out largely through campaigns and elections, with policy treated mostly as an afterthought–at best, as a means of testing theories of electoral influence and legislative politics. The health care debate makes transparent the weaknesses of this approach. On a range of key matters at the core of the discipline–the role and influence of interest groups; the nature of partisan policy competition; the sources of elite polarization; the relationship between voters, activists, and elected officials; and more–the substance of public policy makes a big difference. Focusing on what government actually does has normative benefits, serving as a useful corrective to the tendency of political science to veer into discussions of matters deemed trivial by most of the world outside the academy. But more important, it has major analytical payoffs–and not merely for our understanding of the great health care debate of 2009-10.
Democracy and Distrust
A Discussion of Counter-Democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust
Philippe C. Schmitter, Donatella della Porta and Mark E. Warren
September 2010
ABSTRACT
Pierre Rosanvallon is one of the most important political theorists writing in French. Counter-Democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust is a book about the limits of conventional understandings of democracy. Rosanvallon argues that while most theories of democracy focus on institutionalized forms of political participation (especially elections), the vitality of democracy rests equally on forms of “counter-democracy” through which citizens dissent, protest, and exert pressure from without on the democratic state. This argument is relevant to the concerns of a broad range of political scientists, most especially students of democratic theory, electoral and party politics, social movements, social capital, and “contentious politics.” The goal of this symposium is to invite a number of political scientists who work on these issues to comment on the book from their distinctive disciplinary, methodological, and theoretical perspectives.–Jeffrey C. Isaac, Editor
Dreaming Blackness: Black Nationalism and African American Public Opinion. By Melanye T. Price
Robert Gooding-Williams
September 2010
ABSTRACT
This is a timely, engaging, and illuminating study of Black Nationalism. The book’s “fundamental project,” Melanye T. Price writes, “is to systematically understand individual Black Nationalism adherence among African Americans in the post-Civil Rights era” (p. 60). Black Nationalism has a long history in African American politics, but with the demise of Jim Crow and the election of our first black president, we may reasonably wonder whether ordinary African American citizens are disposed to endorse it. Price’s book is important because it addresses this question head-on, defending the thesis that a renewal of Black Nationalism remains a viable possibility in post-Obama America.
Response to Robert Gooding-Williams’ review of Dreaming Blackness: Black Nationalism and African American Public Opinion
Melanye T. Price
September 2010
ABSTRACT
In Dreaming Blackness, I had two major goals. First, I hoped to elucidate how changes in the American racial landscape have impacted African American support for black nationalism. To this end, I used a mixed methodological approach that included both statistical and qualitative analysis and allowed me to make claims based on a national cross section of African Americans and on more intimate discussions in smaller groups. Second, I wanted to ground my arguments in a robust discussion of African American political thought. This would ensure that my hypotheses and findings were resonant with a longitudinal understanding of how black nationalist ideology is characterized. Robert Gooding-Williams, with some caveats, suggests that I have accomplished these goals. I now address his two areas of concern related to evolving definitions of black nationalism and possible alternative interpretations, and I conclude by addressing our differing impressions of the future viability of this ideological option.
From Public Opinion Quarterly
Probabilistic Polling And Voting In The 2008 Presidential Election
Evidence From The American Life Panel
Adeline Delavande and Charles F. Manski
September 2010
ABSTRACT
This article reports new empirical evidence on probabilistic polling, which asks persons to state in percent-chance terms the likelihood that they will vote and for whom. Before the 2008 presidential election, seven waves of probabilistic questions were administered biweekly to participants in the American Life Panel (ALP). Actual voting behavior was reported after the election. We find that responses to the verbal and probabilistic questions are well-aligned ordinally. Moreover, the probabilistic responses predict voting behavior beyond what is possible using verbal responses alone. The probabilistic responses have more predictive power in early August, and the verbal responses have more power in late October. However, throughout the sample period, one can predict voting behavior better using both types of responses than either one alone. Studying the longitudinal pattern of responses, we segment respondents into those who are consistently pro-Obama, consistently anti-Obama, and undecided/vacillators. Membership in the consistently pro- or anti-Obama group is an almost perfect predictor of actual voting behavior, while the undecided/vacillators group has more nuanced voting behavior. We find that treating the ALP as a panel improves predictive power: current and previous polling responses together provide more predictive power than do current responses alone.
The Effect of Question Framing and Response Options on the Relationship between Racial Attitudes and Beliefs about Genes as Causes of Behavior
Eleanor Singer, Mick P. Couper, Trivellore E. Raghunathan, Toni C. Antonucci, Margit Burmeister and John Van Hoewyk
September 2010
ABSTRACT
Prior research suggests that the attribution of individual and group differences to genetic causes is correlated with prejudiced attitudes toward minority groups. Our study suggests that these findings may be due to the wording of the questions and to the choice of response options. Using a series of vignettes in an online survey, we find a relationship between racial attitudes and genetic attributions when respondents are asked to make causal attributions of differences between racial groups. However, when they are asked to make causal attributions for characteristics shown by individuals, no such relationship is found. The response scale used appears to make less, if any, difference in the results. These findings indicate that the way questions about genetic causation of behavior are framed makes a significant contribution to the answers obtained because it significantly changes the meaning of the questions. We argue that such framing needs to be carefully attended to, not only in posing research questions but also in discourse about genetics more generally.
The Macro Politics of a Gender Gap
Paul M. Kellstedt, David A. M. Peterson and Mark D. Ramirez
September 2010
ABSTRACT
What explains the dynamic movement in the gender gap in public opinion toward government activism over the past 30 years? The thermostatic model of politics suggests that aggregate public opinion adjusts to liberal changes in public policy by preferring less government and to conservative changes in policy by preferring more government. Given the cross-sectional differences in policy preferences between men and women, we argue that the dynamic movement in the gender gap in policy preferences for more or less government spending is a function of asymmetrical responses by men and women to changes in public policy. We find that both men and women respond to changes in public policy by shifting their policy preferences in the same direction. But men appear more responsive to policy changes than do women. It is this asymmetrical response to changes in public policy that is responsible for the dynamics of the gender gap in policy preferences across time. Our results show that the gap increases when policy moves in a liberal direction, as men move in a conservative direction at a faster rate than women. In contrast, when policy moves to the right, the opinions of both men and women will respond by moving to the left, but the greater responsiveness among men will decrease the gap, bringing male preferences closer to the preferences of women.
“Sour Grapes” or Rational Voting? Voter Decision Making Among Thwarted Primary Voters in 2008
Michael Henderson, D. Sunshine Hillygus and Trevor Tompson
September 2010
ABSTRACT
During the 2008 presidential campaign, journalists and pundits debated the electoral consequences of the prolonged and hard-fought nomination contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Previous research, typically using aggregate vote returns, has concluded that divisive primaries negatively impact the electoral prospects of the winning candidate. It is thought that supporters of the losing candidate are less likely to vote and more likely to defect because of psychological disaffection, or “sour grapes.” Using a new panel dataset that traces individual candidate preferences during the primary and general election campaigns, we are able to explicitly examine individual-level decision making in the general election conditioned on voting behavior in the primary. Although “sour grapes” had a modest effect on eventual support for the party nominee, fundamental political considerations–especially attitudes on the War in Iraq–were far better predictors of the vote decision among thwarted voters. Moreover, we find that supporters of losing Democratic candidates were far more likely to vote for Obama if they lived in a battleground state.
Political Parties and Value Consistency in Public Opinion Formation
Michael Bang Petersen, Rune Slothuus and Lise Togeby
September 2010
ABSTRACT
Many have been concerned about the ability of citizens to ground their specific political preferences in more general principles. We test the longstanding intuition that political elites, and political parties in particular, can help citizens improve the quality of their political opinions–understood as the consistency between citizens’ specific opinions and their deeper political values. We integrate two major areas of research in political behavior that rarely speak together–political parties and framing–to argue that the structure of party competition frames issues by signaling what political values are at stake and hence enables citizens to take the side most consistent with their basic principles. With a unique experimental design embedded in a nationally representative survey, we find strong support for this argument. Our findings imply that low levels of value-opinion consistency are driven not only by citizens’ lack of interest in politics but also by parties failing in providing clear signals.
The Polls–Trends
Attitudes About The American Dream
Sandra L. Hanson and John Zogby
ABSTRACT
Results from a number of U.S. public opinion polls collected in the past two decades are used to examine trends in attitudes about the American Dream. Trends are examined in the following areas: “What is the American Dream?” “Is the American Dream achievable?” and “What is the role of government and politics in the American Dream?” Findings suggest that a majority of Americans consistently reported that the American Dream (for themselves and their family) is more about spiritual happiness than material goods. However, the size of this majority is decreasing. Most Americans continued to believe that working hard is the most important element for getting ahead in the United States. However, in some surveys, an increasing minority of Americans reported that this hard work and determination does not guarantee success. A majority of respondents believe that achieving the American Dream will be more difficult for future generations, although this majority is becoming smaller. Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the opportunity for the working class to get ahead and increasingly optimistic about the opportunity for the poor and immigrants to get ahead in the United States. Although trends show consistency in Americans blaming Blacks for their condition (not discrimination), a majority of Americans consistently support programs that make special efforts to help minorities get ahead.
From American Political Science Review
Leapfrog Representation and Extremism: A Study of American Voters and Their Members in Congress
Joseph Bafumi and Michael C. Herron
September 2010
ABSTRACT
We consider the relationship between the preferences of American voters and the preferences of the U.S. legislators who represent them. Using an Internet-based, national opinion survey in conjunction with legislator voting records from the 109th and 110th Congresses, we show that members of Congress are more extreme than their constituents, i.e., that there is a lack of congruence between American voters and members of Congress. We also show that when a congressional legislator is replaced by a new member of the opposite party, one relative extremist is replaced by an opposing extremist. We call this leapfrog representation, a form of representation that leaves moderates with a dearth of representation in Congress. We see evidence of leapfrog representation in states and House districts and in the aggregate as well: the median member of the 109th House was too conservative compared to the median American voter, yet the median of the 110th House was too liberal. Thus, the median American voter was leapfrogged when the 109th House transitioned to the 110th. Although turnover between the 109th and 110th Senates occurred at approximately the same rate as between the 109th and 110th Houses, the Senate appears to be a more moderate institution whose median member does not move as abruptly as that of the House.
From Politics and Society
Economic Ideas and the Political Process: Debating Tax Cuts in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1962-1981
Elizabeth Popp Berman and Nicholas Pagnucco
September 2010
ABSTRACT
While sociologists and political scientists have become interested in the role of ideas in the political process, relatively little work looks at how ideological claims are actually deployed in political discourse. This article examines the economic claims made in two pairs of Congressional debates over tax cuts, one (in 1962 and 1964) generally associated with Keynesian economic theories, and one (in 1978 and 1981) tied to supply-side ideas. While these bills were indeed initiated by groups subscribing to different economic ideologies, subsequent debates look surprisingly similar. The bills were closer in substance than one might expect, and while their proponents came from opposite political camps, in both cases supporters focused more on supply-side than demand-side effects and emphasized tax cuts’ ability to pay for themselves through economic stimulation. The authors propose that politically acceptable economic claims may evolve more slowly than the economic theories that inspire policy entrepreneurs, and that this “discursive opportunity structure” may not only constrain the political process but may potentially shape the political effects of expert knowledge.
Undocumented Migrants and Resistance in the Liberal State
Antje Ellermann
September 2010
ABSTRACT
This article explores the possibility of resistance under conditions of extreme state power in liberal democracies. It examines the strategies of migrants without legal status who, when threatened with one of the most awesome powers of the liberal state–expulsion–shed their legal identity in order to escape the state’s reach. Remarkably, in doing so, they often succeed in preventing the state from exercising its sovereign powers. The article argues that liberal states are uniquely constrained in their dealing with undocumented migrants. Not only are they forced to operate within the constraints of the international legal order–making repatriation contingent on the possession of identity documents–but the liberal state is also constitutionally limited in its exercise of coercion against the individual. The article concludes that it is those individuals who have the weakest claims against the liberal state that are most able to constrain its exercise of sovereignty. | https://thedemocraticstrategist.org/2010/09/politcal_science_research_-_se/ |
On May 19th, Lenka Drazanova and Jerome Gonnot, researchers from the European University Institute (EUI), will participate in the MPC webinar entitled “Public attitudes towards immigration and immigrants: what are the factors affecting them and what can we do about it?”
This MPC Webinar will examine what are the most influential factors affecting public attitudes to immigration and immigrants, with a special focus on disentangling the differential effects of economic factors and cultural values. Drawing on empirical evidence from global data, the Webinar will also provide recommendations for future action by actors seeking to influence these attitudes.
For this MPC Webinar, the MPC will provide a summary of factors affecting attitudes to immigration and immigrants in a systematic manner while highlighting the differential effects of economic and cultural influences. This allows us to bridge together the state-of-the-art knowledge about what people think of immigration, why they do so and how can we potentially influence their attitudes. We will also highlight how evidence on attitudes towards immigration can be used to inform future migration policy, advocacy and practice. | https://www.itflows.eu/2021/05/11/migration-policy-centre-webinar-on-attitudes-towards-immigration-and-immigrants/ |
The COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. has been characterized by rapidly changing information, a high degree of uncertainty, and conflicting information about transmission, vulnerability, and mitigation methods. Several studies focused on public perceptions of the pandemic and the impact of media will be presented during two sessions on December 15, from 2:30-4:00 during the Society for Risk Analysis virtual Annual Meeting, December 13-17, 2020.
In the first of a pair of studies on public attitudes about the pandemic, Zhuling Liu, University at Buffalo, examined Americans’ support for various measures such as stay-at-home orders and the temporary closure of nonessential businesses. The study, “Public support for COVID-19 responses: Cultural cognition, risk perception, and emotions,” focused on three factors: cultural cognition, emotions (such as fear and anger), and risk perception.
Liu found that:
People who believe that individuals should fend for themselves and social resources should be distributed according to social status are less likely to support government responses. However, when they sense higher risk from the pandemic and experience more anger, they are actually more likely to express support.
Angry people may blame others for the situation, and thus are less likely to support government response measures, whereas fearful people are the opposite.
In a second study, “How Americans’ perceptions of COVID-19 risk have changed over time and why,” Branden B. Johnson, Ph.D., and Marcus Mayorga, Ph.D., Decision Research, conducted a longitudinal survey of the same people using the same questions three times from February to August to examine changes in perceptions of risk from COVID-19 to themselves, the U.S. and the world.
Johnson and Mayorga found that:
Risk perceptions increased for everyone, with no individual differences in trends across people by political ideology or other variables
People with greater dread of COVID-19, more sense that it was close to them in time space, or impact on people like them, deference to scientific judgments, and following of U.S. news about COVID-19 had higher risk perceptions
Those favoring individualism perceived lower risks, and those trusting the Office of the President had lower U.S. and global risk perceptions, but no differences for personal risk
Behavioral intentions (e.g., for mask-wearing) were indirectly affected by news following’s effects on (particularly) perceived knowledge’s effects on threat and stakeholder perceptions
A second pair of studies explores how public opinion has been shaped by national news coverage of the pandemic. In the first study, “Public opinion & news coverage of COVID-19: Risks & responsibility in U.S. perceptions of the pandemic,” Emily Howell, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, assessed news coverage of the pandemic to see who was being blamed for negative outcomes and who was being credited for positive outcomes. She then compared those levels of blame and credit with public opinion.
U.S. news coverage tends to blame actors for negative outcomes more than it credits actors for positive outcomes, and that blame is typically directed at national-level officials and agencies. A similar trend was detected in public opinion. “People have been paying more attention to the news during the pandemic than they were before,” states Howell, “and the news has an impact on peoples’ views of risks and who is responsible for avoiding or worsening certain risks. We’ll be able to see how well public opinion and news coverage mirror each other and how changes in one might affect the other to shape what we are paying attention to right now.”
In a related study, “The blame frame: Predicting the U.S. public’s prosocial responses during the coronavirus pandemic,” Jody Wong, University at Buffalo, examined how Americans understand COVID-19 related information and the effects that the information has on their emotions and socially responsive behavior.
Wong’s research shows that when people were exposed to a mock news article with a blame frame, they were less likely to engage in careful information processing. From here, they experienced lower negative emotions and pro-social emotions such as sympathy and solidarity. Emotions subsequently led to lower support for government response measures and lower intention to make monetary donations.
“When the public turn to trusted media sources for COVID-19 information, the use of a blame frame can lead to quick judgment,” states Wong, “Media framing strategies can influence public opinion. Media establishments should frame news stories that are informative and socially responsible as most Americans rely on news information to make informed decisions.”
These studies will be presented during the COVID-19: Risk Communication and Social Dynamics of Transmission and Vulnerability symposia and the Individual Impacts of Global Pandemic Risks session, both from 2:30-4:00 p.m. ET on December 15, 2020. | https://scitechdaily.com/whos-to-blame-how-the-media-has-shaped-public-understanding-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/ |
I am a professor of Political Science and Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University. I teach in the areas of political parties, interest groups, environmental policy, and American politics.
Elections, Election Administration, and Voting Behavior
Political Parties and Interest Groups
Political Communication
American Political Parties
Media Election Coverage
Campaigns And Elections
Campaign Coverage
United States
I write a textbook, Party Politics in America. I also research and write about media coverage of politics, including campaigns, elections, and coverage of the presidency. I'm currently also involved in a study of the ways in which political organizations construct their histories - how they interpret major events in their past and what lessons they've learned from those events.
While we find that ideological extremism, income, and education are most commonly associated with political activism, the relationships are not always straightforward. Although differences in education matter a great deal in determining who votes and who doesn’t, educational differences are substantively unimportant in determining who works for a campaign. Similarly, ideological extremism is strongly related to the likelihood of attempting to influence someone else’s’ vote choice, while extremism does little to motivate one to attend a rally. Moreover, extremism works differently within one form of participation: across the ideological spectrum, the well-educated are likely to report voting. This is not the case among the poorly educated, whose likelihood of voting increases dramatically as their extremism increases. These findings raise important questions about the dominant approach in the literature, which treats different forms of political activities as interchangeable, and equivalent in terms of the types of participants they draw. Second, we find that even when controlling for extremism, different issues motivate political activists. Campaign donors are more likely to be concerned with the social safety net, while button wearers are more concerned with racial and cultural issues. Those motivated to political activity may participate in one way, but not another, depending on the issues that spur their activity. Third, when focusing on the pathways (resources, information, and nominations) where activists are most likely to influence elected officials, we find that extremism tends to motivate activity. Simply put, extremists are more engaged than moderates are. Accordingly, politicians are more likely to hear from, and depend for their campaign resources upon, the more extreme segments of the population. While the CCES does not allow for the creation of a three-factor measure of ideology, it follows from the ANES analysis that candidates are particularly exposed to extremism on social, rather than racial and cultural issues. Fourth, our analysis shows that we need to more carefully specify the relationship between activism and issue/ideological extremism. Much of the literature in this area compares those who engage in several types of activities with those who engage in none. We compare types of activists with one another (including with those who only vote), and we find that there are complex patterns of difference that are not necessarily characterized by the statement that activists are more extreme. It is worth noting that the most striking findings of a strong relationship between activism and extremism have been reported in surveys of national convention delegates, a population that may not be highly representative of the larger population of political activists, and in studies that examine “core partisans” (Bartels 2016) or the “engaged public” (Abramowitz 2010, Chapter 2) – those who not only take part in political activities but who also report political knowledge and interest, concern about election outcomes, and a much higher level of enthusiasm for their own party than for the other party. Our findings, then, raise questions about both the theory and the data on the relationship between activists and political polarization. We offer some support for the common notion that political activists are more likely to be characterized as extreme liberals or conservatives than are other citizens. The relationship between activism and extremism is not as marked or as consistent as it is often portrayed, however, and the findings about attitudes toward specific issues vary by issue. Our data are not intended to question the findings that politically active people are more partisan than are their inactive neighbors, more intense in their political views, or more strongly negative in their affect toward their party’s opposition (Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012: 413-414). They do suggest, however, that political activists may not be uniformly motivated by ideologically extreme views as has often been assumed.
How political activists and journalists develop explanations for election results, given that the numbers of votes themselves have no intrinsic meaning other than who won and who lost.
The main text on American political parties: their organization, activities, ideology, leadership, and impact on citizens and public policy.
Edited volume containing 33 chapters by political scientists expert in all areas of party politics: party organization, voting and elections, parties in government, party ideology, and US parties in comparative perspective.
Presidents have always had a symbiotic relationship with media coverage. President Donald Trump's relationship with the media has differed in a number of ways from that of earlier presidents, including especially his use of social media to promote his own version of events. | https://womenalsoknowstuff.com/profile/marjorie-hershey |
Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please [email protected]. Recommended Citation Dodge, Pamela R., "Managing school behavior: a qualitative case study" (2011).
The role of ethics in employee behavior - UTC Scholar
This thesis is aimed at better understanding the role of media priming in biases and aggression while using social media platforms to consume news. Priming theory holds that exposure to media can have short-term impacts on people’s subsequent behaviors or judgments. (Roskos-Ewoldsen et al., 2009)
Media and Politics, Essay Sample
The Political Impact of Media Bias Stefano DellaVigna and Ethan Kaplan Introduction I n a representative system of government, policy outcomes are affected by the political preferences and the beliefs of the voters. The media play a key role in shaping these …
THREE ESSAYS ON THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN SOCIAL
Political parties and candidates tend to find the media, and in particular television, more and more important for campaigning and seek to appear as much as possible on the television. Television is widely regarded as the most important instrument for campaigning and communication to the voters in countries with widespread coverage and audience.
Behavior Dissertation In Media Political Role
Mar 15, 2013 · As the Internet plays a larger role in governance, campaigns and activism, the debate continues about how social and digital media are changing politics. Ongoing research is addressing topics such as whether or not the Internet is leading to increased political polarization — the tendency of like-minded individuals to cluster even closer
Behavior Dissertation In Media Political Role
Nov 13, 2019 · The role of homework in the lives of immigrant adolescents. Using media reports, create dissertation research about corruption schemes. Political risk and its influence on emergency management Explain how political crises affect and shape emergency management.
THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN POLITICAL
PUBLIC OPINION IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA ERA: TOWARD A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPIRAL OF SILENCE This thesis investigates the role of social media on opinion-forming variables, the role of the social publishing platforms themselves on opinion-forming and how various social media environments impact that behavior.
Elections and the Mass Media - Duke University
WHAT ROLE FOR ETHNICITY? POLITICAL BEHAVIOR AND MOBILIZATION IN POST-CONFLICT SIERRA LEONE AND LIBERIA Fodei Joseph Batty, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2010 This dissertation examines political behavior in Sierra Leone and Liberia following the end of their civil wars. Dominant theories on politics in African societies
Essays on Religion and Political Behavior: How Religion
Theses/Dissertations from 2019 PDF. The Role of Social Media Journalists in TV News:Their Effects on the Profession and Identity of TV Journalism, the Quality of News, and theAudience Engagement, Yousuf Humiad AL Yousufi. PDF. Relationship Management Communications by NHL Teams on …
The Unveiled power of NGOs: how NGOs influence states
Jun 08, 2011 · Mass media have been considered a powerful agent of political socialization, affecting political attitudes and behaviors of voters and non-voters. This study employed a survey of international students in the US to investigate the effects of print, television and online news on political socialization during the 2008 US presidential race.
Media Effects in Politics - Political Science - Oxford
The role of social media in promoting of the democratic behavior is the statement key problem in my research. The research finds the promoting rate of the social media in democratic behavior in this media period. How social media promote democratic behavior as like competition, participation and liberty.
Media Influence Essay | Bartleby
Aug 29, 2019 · Political campaigns can tap into a wealth of information or analytics about the people who are following them on social media and customize their messages based on selected demographics. A campaign may find one message appropriate for voters under …
The Role of the Media in Politics - Ethics Sage
Media learning influence Mass media plays a pivotal role in the learning process as it provides a general learning platform for everyone using the channel. Transmission of information through the mass media is effective due to the accessibility and the different forms that it is accessed.
Political Advertising and Election Results
Behavior Dissertation In Media Political Role had to do your homework. At , we focus Behavior Dissertation In Media Political Role on building long-term, highly satisfactory relationships with all of our clients. You will never want to use Behavior Dissertation In Media Political Role another homework help service once you used ours.
Media in Election Campaigns
This project advances the media and politics literature by demonstrating the capacity for extreme media to alter political behavior, attitudes, and information processing. This dissertation examines the role of extreme media (i.e. political talk radio and cable news opinion shows) on the political attitudes of viewers and listeners.
THE ROLE OF MEDIA VIOLENCE IN VIOLENT BEHAVIOR | Annual
ELECTIONS AND THE MASS MEDIA and it is doubtful that most of us understand them now, in the sense that we have examined them critically and found them good. Our own views of elections, of the significance of the vote, of proper and improper forms of political action, are a faith.
Influenced by Peers: Facebook as an Information Source for
Mar 09, 2015 · ABSTRACTScholars continue to debate how information and communications technology (ICT) influences civic behavior. Existing studies may be grouped into two approaches: ICT as a tool used to achieve a civic end, and ICT as an unanticipated influencer of how citizens view civic roles. This paper develops the second theory by testing moderated relationships between social media use, political
Behavior Dissertation In Media Political Role
group. The influence of mass media on adults is closely related to their influence on young peo ple, and just as difficult to study. The positive values in today's mass media are also significant. Young people today, without leaving home, can hear the world's best music and …
The Social Media And Politics Media Essay
Oct 08, 2013 · Politics and perceptions: Social media, politics collide in new study making broad yet vague claims about the role social media plays in political participation. Politics and perceptions
Politics and perceptions: Social media, politics collide
These media outlets can influence voters not only through the slant of a particular report, but also merely by choosing which to stories to cover. Recent studies suggest that media exposure can have a sizable impact in shaping the public's political knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.
"The Effects of Extreme Media on Political Behavior
significant role in political campaigns. Given the support for social media‘s role in political campaigns, research would show how social media affected previous campaigns, specifically President Barack Obama‘s 2008 presidential campaign, and the growing importance of social media to future political …
AP Gov Unit 4 Flashcards | Quizlet
Political Advertising and Election Results J org L. Spenkuch David Toniatti Northwestern University Analysis Group March 2018 Abstract We study the persuasive e ects of political advertising. Our empirical strategy ex-ploits FCC regulations that result in plausibly exogenous variation in the number
DISSERTATION THE AFFECT AND EFFECT OF INTERNET
In the realm of politics, social media went from being not known to budding platform for increasing political participation and communication in the 2008 US presidential elections. The 2008 presidential campaign was the first to play out in the world of YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and political blogging-the major Internet-based social media.
How does social media use influence political
Free media plays an important role in influencing political discourse during elections. When free and balanced, traditional media (print and broadcast) foster transparency and the determination of important electoral information. The rise of new media provides further opportunities for participatory citizenship.
Social Media and Political Campaigns
Oct 18, 2015 · It is worth noting that many studies in this area take social media use as the starting point or “independent variable,” and therefore cannot rule out that some “deeper” cause — political interest, for example — is the reason people might engage in SNS use in the first place. Further, some researchers see SNS use as a form of participation and engagement in and of itself, helping
How Social Media Influences Attitudes & Behaviors - Video
A classic textbook on the role of media in American democracy. It covers a range of topics, including the historical evolution of the media. Iyengar, Shanto, and Jennifer A. McGrady. Media Politics. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007. E-mail Citation » An exploration of how media influences politics with a focus on new media effects.
200 Good Dissertation Topics and Thesis Ideas for PhD
DISSERTATION THE AFFECT AND EFFECT OF INTERNET MEMES: ASSESSING PERCEPTIONS AND (e.g. political vs. non-political) and attributes of memes (i.e., the role of images), the main study (N = 633) was comprised of five experimental conditions with characteristics operating in line with other humorous political media, and should be
Use of Social Media for Political Engagement: A Literature
Factors Influencing Online Shopping Behavior: The Mediating Role of Purchase Intention The results implied that families, friends and the media only have a minor influence on the actual internet purchasing. Subjective norm was the second most influential factors after perceived behavioral control to influence the purchase intention to shop
Managing school behavior: a qualitative case study
Explain how public opinion polling and polling results impact elections, political behavior, and policy process. The media's use of polling results to convey popular levels of trust and confidence in government can impact elections by turning such events into "horse races" based more on popularity and factors other than qualifications and
A Study of How Political Social Media Accounts Impact
The role of social media in political discourses, engagement, and mobilization is widely realized and practiced and has become an important mode of political communication in India. | http://jobsinusa.ml/behavior-dissertation-in-media-political-role-133244.html |
Brock-Petroshius, K., Garcia Perez, J., Gross, M., Abrams, A. Colorblind Attitudes, Empathy, and Shame: Preparing White Students for Anti-Racist Social Work Practice. Journal of Social Work Education.
What are the cognitive, affective, and behavioral patterns of white Masters of Social Work (MSW) students in response to racial issues? We analyzed 121 white respondents from a cross-sectional survey of California MSW students conducted in May 2018. Statistical techniques, including Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, were used to analyze the relationships between anti-racist behaviors and racial cognitive and affective responses. Data indicated that colorblind attitudes and white shame, after controlling for other factors, were significantly correlated with fewer anti-racist behaviors. Empathy was significantly related to more anti-racist behaviors after accounting for other variables. These results provide evidence that while cognitive understandings of racism influence anti-racist behaviors, affective responses also impact behaviors. Even when white students cognitively understand racism as a problem, white shame may serve as a barrier to effective critical race praxis in social work settings. This study’s results implicate social work education to develop group-differentiated approaches to engaging MSW students about the emotional responses they have to racial issues. A cognitive-only focus on increasing knowledge about race, racism, and racial equity may be inadequate to prepare white MSW students to engage in social work critical race praxis.
Brock-Petroshius, K., Mikell, D., Washington, Sr., D.M., James, K. From Social Justice to Abolition: Living Up to Social Work’s Grand Challenge of Eliminating Racism. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work.
[How can social work live up to the 13th Grand Challenge of Eliminating Racism? In this article we argue for the replacement of the predominant social justice paradigm with a framework for anti-racist social work praxis informed by abolitionist principles. The primary aim of anti-racist social work praxis needs to be the building of power in Black, Indigenous, or Brown and poor communities. We define additional praxis principles, including engaging with critical theories, advancing macro-approaches, targeting racism at the source, and developing interventions to eliminate and address the effects of racism. We end by sharing concrete anti-racist praxis tools.
Under Review
Carceral Justification Scale: Construction and Initial Validation (with Brian Keum)
[Invited to Resubmit] Recently Black-led social movements have called on government to make sweeping changes to the criminal legal system. There is a need for research that examines the underlying carceral logics people use to bolster support for existing carceral institutions, as a means to assess influences on such attitudes. Applying System Justification Theory and a framework of carceral logics, we developed the Carceral Justification Scale (CJS) using data collected from 1,394 Alameda County, California registered voters. Items were developed via literature review, qualitative analysis of canvasser conversations, and expert review. Exploratory (N = 461) and confirmatory (N = 463) factor analyses suggested an oblique 2-factor structure and produced 6-items with the following factors: (a) System Works, and (b) Lesser Bad. Internal consistency estimates were .71 and above and the scales accounted for 28% and 27% of variance, respectively. Initial construct validity was established as CJS scores were associated with racial resentment, system justification, political ideology, and anti-Black bias awareness in ways consistent with theory. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Manuscripts In-Preparation
Dangerous, Deserving, or Harmed: Understanding the Formation of Carceral Reform Attitudes among Urban, Liberal Voters
Why do many voters in diverse, urban areas express racially egalitarian values but oppose anti-carceral policies that would weaken structural racism? How does this manifest particularly among people whose racial groups and neighborhoods are not saturated by police, surveillance, jail, and prison contact––voters in majority white neighborhoods? Based on 34 canvassing interviews conducted in 2019 in Los Angeles County, this study shows that non-Republican voters typically use one of three ideological schemas to make sense of their opinions on a proposed jail decarceration policy: viewing all criminalized people as dangerous, some criminalized people as deserving of treatment or alternatives to incarceration, or most criminalized people as harmed by an unjust or ineffective system. These schemas consist of the following predispositions voters expressed during the opinion formation process: 1) conceptions of criminalized people, 2) beliefs about the purpose and effects of the criminal legal system, 3) the weight given to structural racism as a problem, and 4) the activation of racialized emotions. Several predispositions were associated with less support for a jail decarceration policy: imagining most criminalized people as dangerous, perceiving the purpose of the criminal legal system as rehabilitation, not giving much weight to structural racism as a problem, and expressing fear of criminalized people. These predispositions are in part formed by a lack of accurate political information in the domain of carceral politics, demonstrating one way that whiteness and its associated absence of geographically racialized group targeting play a large role in creating the attitudes responsible for carceral reproduction. | https://kristenbrockpetroshius.com/research/ |
The temperature goals set in the Paris climate accord are likely to become unattainable if global emissions of greenhouse gases continue to rise after 2020, according to a June 2017 commentary published in Nature by some of the world's leading authorities. To avoid the most serious impacts of climate change, the global community must dramatically reduce its use of fossil fuels within the very near future.
While individual behavior changes can reduce emissions, their contributions are insufficient in the absence of large-scale, systemic change. For emissions to rapidly fall, the policies, regulations, and technologies that shape our energy use must change in ways that promote sustainable lifestyles and remove existing barriers to sustainable actions. These changes are more likely to be made if citizens and consumers demand them. Thus, collective action by citizens and consumers is sorely needed to prod legislators and corporations into enacting the policies and practices that can stabilize the climate.
A majority of Americans—and people in many other nations—tell pollsters they are concerned about climate change and support mitigation policies, but this support has yet to develop into a social movement with sufficient momentum to move mitigation to the top of the political agenda. Over half of Americans believed global warming should be a high priority for the Congress and president in May 2017, but only 12 percent had actually contacted a legislator in support of mitigation policies over the prior year.
There are signs that activism may be growing, however. In the 2 weeks following the Nov. 2016 election, 11,000 new monthly donors signed up with the Sierra Club—nine times their previous monthly record—and this surge was shared by other environmental groups, like the Environmental Defense Fund and National Resources Defense Council. Meeting attendance and volunteerism have reached new highs, and the April 2017 climate march drew 200,000 protesters in Washington, D.C., as well as tens of thousands in hundreds of sister marches across the country. More recently, school strikes across the globe led by Greta Thunberg and the growing influence of organizations such as the Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion, indicate growing social and political momentum for climate action.
This growth may reflect political changes in Washington, D.C., but it may also reflect innovation within the climate movement itself. The movement is advancing the field of strategic communication, with communities like the Climate Advocacy Lab that foster collaboration between researchers and advocacy groups; tools like the Yale Climate Opinion Maps that permit national polling data to be downscaled to local and regional levels; and sophisticated targeting that permits advocacy groups to effectively identify potential new members.
In this Research Topic, we explore collective action on climate change and the development of public will. The study of mobilization and collective action is interdisciplinary and draws on psychology (Van Zomeren et al., 2008), sociology (Jasper, 1998; van Stekelenburg and Klandermans, 2013), and political science (Tilly, 2001; McAdam, 2017). Following Raile and colleagues' definition of public will as “a social system's shared recognition of a particular problem and resolve to address the situation in a particular way through sustained collective action,” we feature papers that elucidate the individual, institutional, and social factors that lead people to become active politically on climate change, as well as the barriers that inhibit them from doing so.
What role do individual factors—anger, hope, efficacy and risk perceptions—play in motivating people to engage in collective climate action, and what inhibits them from doing so? Marlon et al. found that constructive hope and doubts are positively correlated with policy support and political engagement, while false hope and fatalistic doubt has the opposite relationship—indicating that focusing on constructive hope and doubts may help mobilize action on climate change. Geiger and Swim explored how gendered impressions of activists predict interest in engaging in activism. Their results point to a potential “dark side” of appearing masculine: perceptions of negative masculine traits were associated with counter-productive activism intent. Ballew et al. found that Latinos are more likely than Whites to report contacting government official about climate change, with stronger risk perceptions best predicting differences in climate change activism between Latinos and Whites.
What impact do different communication framings have on public attitudes and motivation to engage in climate activism? Velautham et al. showed that communicating the local impacts of sea level rise results is an effective way to motivate acceptance and engagement with the issue of climate change. Bloodhart et al. found that while people say they prefer messages framed without emotion, climate change messages framed with negative emotions are preferred over non-emotional messages.
How does the media cover the issue of climate change, and what role does this play in fostering or inhibiting activism? Stecula and Merkley content analyzed news coverage of climate change in influential media sources such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. They found that frames that reduce support for climate action, such as frames emphasizing uncertainty or potential economic harms of climate mitigation policy, have been on the decline. In another study, Swim et al. conducted surveys before and after the 2017 March for Science and People's Climate March. They found that collective efficacy beliefs increased after the marches, with the greatest effect among consumers of conservative news sources (consistent with the fact that conservative media dedicated less coverage than liberal news sources to the marches prior to the marches).
Finally, how might research into collective action inform the strategies employed by environmental groups? Han and Barnett-Loro offer a framework for synthesizing research on movement-building that demonstrates ways to build political power, and identifies areas where additional research is needed. They emphasize the importance of more research into the strategic leadership choices and collective contexts that facilitate movement-building in addition to tactics designed to influence public opinion and individual behaviors.
We asked the contributing authors to specifically identify how they feel their research contributes to social science theory about public will and climate change activism, using Slater and Gleason's (2012) framework. The framework includes nine categories of contributions, most of which have sub-categories: advancing fundamental conceptual issues; extending a theory's range; elucidating causal mechanisms and contingencies; creating a new theory; describing phenomena and generating hypotheses; or comparing, synthesizing or reviewing theories. We encourage the journal to adopt this approach going forward, as we feel it's helpful to readers and to the field at large when authors are clear about how their scholarship has helped to advance the field.
In conclusion, this Research Topic offers valuable insights into the factors influencing people's willingness to engage in collective action, as well as potential barriers. These findings inform possible ways forward for communicators and organizations seeking to build public will and inspire people to become more politically active. It also provides frameworks for further research into this area.
Author Contributions
JC wrote first draft of editorial. EM, JK, and NS edited draft to produce final draft.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
References
Jasper, J. M. (1998). The emotions of protest: affective and reactive emotions in and around social movements. Sociol. Forum 13, 397–424. doi: 10.1023/A:1022175308081
McAdam, D. (2017). Social movement theory and the prospects for climate change activism in the United States. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 20, 189–208. doi: 10.1146/annurev-polisci-052615-025801
Slater, M. D., and Gleason, L. S. (2012). Contributing to theory and knowledge in quantitative communication science. Commun. Methods Measures 6, 215–236. doi: 10.1080/19312458.2012.732626
Tilly, C. (2001). Mechanisms in political processes. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 4, 21–41. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.4.1.21
van Stekelenburg, J., and Klandermans, B. (2013). The social psychology of protest. Curr. Sociol. 61, 886–905. doi: 10.1177/0011392113479314
van Zomeren, M., Postmes, T., and Spears, R. (2008). Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: a quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives. Psychol. Bull. 134:504. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.134.4.504
Keywords: climate change communication, environmental activism, consumer activism, public will, strategic communication
Citation: Cook J, Kotcher J, Stenhouse N and Maibach E (2019) Editorial: Public Will, Activism and Climate Change. Front. Commun. 4:72. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2019.00072
Received: 16 August 2019; Accepted: 12 November 2019;
Published: 29 November 2019.
Edited by:Dara M. Wald, Iowa State University, United States
Reviewed by:Winnifred R. Louis, University of Queensland, Australia
Copyright © 2019 Cook, Kotcher, Stenhouse and Maibach. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00072/full |
Agenda-setting describes the "ability (of the news media) to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda". The study of agenda-setting describes the way media attempts to influence viewers, and establish a hierarchy of news prevalence. Nations judged to be endowed with more political power receive higher media exposure. The agenda-setting by media is driven by the media's bias on things such as politics, economy and culture, etc. The evolution of agenda-setting and laissez-faire components of communication research encouraged a fast pace growth and expansion of these perspectives. Agenda-setting has phases that need to be in a specific order in order for it to succeed.
Agenda-setting theory was formally developed by Dr. Max McCombs and Dr. Donald Shaw in a study on the 1968 presidential election deemed "the Chapel Hill study". McCombs and Shaw demonstrated a strong correlation between one hundred Chapel Hill residents' thought on what was the most important election issue and what the local news media reported was the most important issue. By comparing the salience of issues in news content with the public's perceptions, McCombs and Shaw determines the degree to which the media sways public. The theory also suggests that media has a great influence to their audience by instilling what they should think about, instead of what they actually think. That is, if a news item is covered frequently and prominently, the audience will regard the issue as more important.
The history of study of agenda-setting can be traced to the first chapter of Walter Lippmann's 1922 book, Public Opinion. In that chapter, "The World Outside And The Pictures In Our Heads", Lippmann argues that the mass media are the principal connection between events in the world and the images in the minds of the public. Without using the term "agenda-setting", Walter Lippmann was writing about what we today would call "agenda-setting". Following Lippmann's 1922 book, Bernard Cohen observed (in 1963) that the press "may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about. The world will look different to different people," Cohen continues, "depending on the map that is drawn for them by writers, editors, and publishers of the paper they read." As early as the 1960s, Cohen had expressed the idea that later led to formalization of agenda-setting theory by McCombs and Shaw. The stories with the strongest agenda setting influence tend to be those that involve conflict, terrorism, crime and drug issues within the United States. Those that don't include or involve the United States and politics associate negatively with public opinion. In turn, there is less concern.
Although Maxwell McCombs already had some interest in the field, he was exposed to Cohen's work while serving as a faculty member at UCLA, and it was Cohen's work that heavily influenced him, and later Donald Shaw. The concept of agenda setting was launched by McCombs and Shaw during the 1968 presidential election in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They examined Lippmann's idea of construction of the pictures in our heads by comparing the issues on the media agenda with key issues on the undecided voters' agenda. They found evidence of agenda setting by identifying that salience of the news agenda is highly correlated to that of the voters' agenda. McCombs and Shaw were the first to provide the field of communication with empirical evidence that demonstrated the power of mass media and its influence on the public agenda. The empirical evidence also earned this theory its credibility amongst other social scientific theories.
A relatively unknown scholar named G. Ray Funkhouser performed a study highly similar to McCombs and Shaw's around the same time the authors were formalizing the theory. All three scholars – McCombs, Shaw, and Funkhouser – even presented their findings at the same academic conference. Funkhouser's article was published later than McCombs and Shaw's, and Funkhouser doesn't receive as much credit as McCombs and Shaw for discovering agenda setting. According to Everett Rogers, there are two main reasons for this. First, Funkhouser didn't formally name the theory. Second, Funkhouser didn't pursue his research much past the initial article. Rogers also suggests that Funkhouser was geographically isolated at Stanford, cut off from interested researchers, whereas McCombs and Shaw had got other people interested in agenda setting research.
In the 1968 "Chapel Hill study", McCombs and Shaw demonstrated a strong correlation coefficient (r > .9) between what 100 residents of Chapel Hill, North Carolina thought was the most important election issue and what the local and national news media reported was the most important issue. By comparing the salience of issues in news content with the public's perceptions of the most important election issue, McCombs and Shaw were able to determine the degree to which the media determines public opinion. Since the 1968 study, published in a 1972 edition of Public Opinion Quarterly, more than 400 studies have been published on the agenda-setting function of the mass media, and the theory continues to be regarded as relevant.
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See also: Mass communications field of study, Influence of mass media, and Schema
There are following 3 models of analyzing "the effect of agenda-setting":
The research on the effect of agenda-setting compares the salience of issues in news content with the public perceptions of the most important issue, and then analyses the extent of influence by guidance of the media. There are three models by Max McCombs: the "awareness model", the "priorities model" and the "salience model". Most investigations are centered on these three models.
Different media have different agenda-setting potential. From the perspective of agenda-setting, the analysis of the relationship between traditional media and new virtual spaces has witnessed growing momentum. One of the most critical aspects in the concept of an agenda-setting role of mass communication is the time frame for this phenomenon.
Most researches on agenda-setting are based on the following:
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See also: Political warfare, Media bias, Yellow journalism, Sensationalism, and Public relations Spin
Research shows that the media agenda, audience agenda and policy agenda influence the agenda setting as described in the following section. Rogers and Dearing describe how following types of agenda setting (dependent variable in research) are influenced by other factors:
Studies have shown that what the media decides to expose correlates with their views on things such as politics, economy and culture. Aside from bias, other critics of the news media claim that news in the United States has become a form of entertainment. Instead of providing the public with the information they need, journalists instead strive to fill the publics' appetite for shocking and sensational headlines. Countries that tend to have more political power are more likely to receive media exposure. Financial resources, technologies, foreign trade and money spent on the military can be some of the main factors that explain coverage inequality.
Mass communication research, Rogers and Dearing argue, has focused a great deal on "public agenda setting" (e.g. McCombs and Shaw, 1972) and "media agenda setting", but has largely ignored "policy agenda setting", which is studied primarily by political scientists. As such, the authors suggest mass communication scholars pay more attention to how the media and public agendas might influence elite policy maker's agendas (i.e. scholars should ask where the President or members of the U.S. Congress get their news from and how this affects their policies). Writing in 2006, Walgrave and Van Aelst took up Rogers and Dearing's suggestions, creating a preliminary theory of political agenda setting, which examines factors that might influence elite policy makers' agendas.
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See also: Political agenda, Political ethics, Demagogue, Media transparency, Media manipulation, and Indoctrination
Agenda setting occurs through a cognitive process known as "accessibility". Accessibility implies that the more frequently and prominently the news media cover an issue, the more instances of that issue become accessible in audience's memories. When respondents are asked what the most important problem facing the country is, they answer with the most accessible news issue in memory, which is typically the issue the news media focused on the most. The agenda-setting effect is not the result of receiving one or a few messages but is due to the aggregate impact of a very large number of messages, each of which has a different content but all of which deal with the same general issue. Mass-media coverage in general and agenda-setting in particular also has a powerful impact on what individuals think that other people are thinking, and hence they tend to allocate more importance to issues that have been extensively covered by mass media. This is also called schemata theory. In psychology and cognitive science, a schema (plural schemata or schemas) describes a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them.
As more scholars published articles on agenda-setting theories it became evident that the process involves not only active role of media organizations, but also participation of the public as well as policymakers. Rogers and Dearing described the difference between agenda-setting and agenda-building based on the dominant role of media or public. Thus "setting" an agenda refers to the effect of the media agenda on society, transfer of the media agenda to the public agenda, while "building" an agenda includes "some degree of reciprocity" between the mass media and society where both media and public agendas influence public policy.
According to Sun Young Lee and Daniel Riffe, the agenda-building theory speculates that the media does not operate within a vacuum. The media agenda in fact is the result of the influences that certain powerful groups exert as a subtle form of social control. Journalists have limited time and limited resources that can contribute to external sources getting involved in the news media's gatekeeping process, and some scholars have attempted to reveal certain relationships between information sources and the agenda the news media has made up, probing who builds the media agenda. There are multiple sources that can participate in this agenda-building process through various different ways, but researchers have been the most interested in the effectiveness of information aids such as media kits and press releases within the news media agenda, and this is a measure of the success of organizations public relations efforts.
Berkowitz has implemented a more nuanced analysis of agenda-setting and agenda-building theories by introducing the terms policy agenda-setting and policy agenda-building. He argues that when scholars investigate only the linkage between media and policymakers, it is still appropriate to use the notion of policy agenda-setting. However, when the focus is placed not only on policymakers' personal agendas, but also on the broader salient issues where media represent only one indicator of public sentiment, Berkowitz suggests talking about policy agenda-building.
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See also: Political agenda, Political ethics, Political warfare, Demagogue, Indoctrination, Sensationalism, and Public relations Spin
The agenda-building perspective ascribes importance not only to mass media and policymakers, but also to social process, to mutually interdependent relation between the concerns generated in social environment and the vitality of governmental process. Thus according to Cobb and Elder, the agenda-building framework makes allowances for continuing mass involvement and broaden the range of recognized influences on the public policy-making process. Although the public does have a place on the list of possibly influencing the media agenda, they are not thought to powerfully shape media agendas. It seems the more correct to argue the possibility that when journalists look to their own interests for story ideas, they are actually trying to predict their audience's needs.
This idea of mass involvement has become more prominent with the advent of the Internet and its potential to make everyone a pamphleteer. Increase in the role of citizens in agenda setting sheds light on a new direction in the traditional agenda-building research. This is now the case because the general public can now create their own media. Social media has changed the way people view and perceive things in today's world. Mass involvement within social media lets the general publics voices be heard. Comments and reply's give potential for people to address your thoughts or open new doors for conversation.
Kim and Lee noted that the agenda-setting research on the Internet differs from traditional agenda-setting research with respect that the Internet is in competition with traditional media and has enormous capacity for contents' and users' interactivity. Lee, Lancendorfer and Lee argued that "various opinions about public issues are posted on the Internet bulletin boards or the Usenet newsgroup by Netizens, and the opinions then form an agenda in which other Netizens can perceive the salient issue". Scholars also stated that the Internet plays role in forming Internet user's opinion as well as the public space.
Kim and Lee studied the pattern of the Internet mediated agenda-setting by conducting a case study of 10 cases that have a great ripple effect in Korea for 5 years (from 2000 until 2005). Scholars found that a person's opinion could be disseminated through various online channels and could synthesize public opinion that influences news coverage. Their study suggests 'reversed agenda effects', meaning that public agenda could set media agenda. Maxwell McCombs also mentioned "reverse agenda-setting" in his recent textbook as a situation where public concern sets the media agenda.
According to Kim and Lee, agenda-building through the Internet take the following three steps: 1) Internet-mediated agenda-rippling: an anonymous netizen's opinion spreads to the important agenda in the Internet through online main rippling channels such as blogs, personal homepages, and the Internet bulletin boards. 2) agenda diffusion in the Internet: online news or web-sites report the important agenda in the Internet that in turn leads to spreading the agenda to more online publics. 3) Internet-mediated reversed agenda-setting: traditional media report online agenda to the public so that the agenda spread to both offline and online publics. However, scholars concluded that the Internet-mediated agenda-setting or agenda-building processes not always occur in consecutive order. For example, the agenda that was reported by traditional media can come to the fore again through the online discussion or the three steps can occur simultaneously in a short period of time.
Several studies provide evidence that the Internet-community, particularly bloggers, can push their own agenda into public agenda, then media agenda, and, eventually, into policy agenda. In the most comprehensive study to date, Wallsten tracked mainstream media coverage and blog discussion of 35 issues during the 2004 presidential campaign. Using time-series analysis, Wallsten found evidence that journalists discuss the issues that bloggers are blogging about. There are also anecdotal pieces of evidence suggesting bloggers exert an influence on the political agenda. For instance, in 2005 Eason Jordan, the chief news executive at CNN, abruptly resigned after being besieged by the online community after saying, according to various witnesses, that he believed the United States military had aimed at journalists in Iraq and killed 12 of them. Similarly, in 2002, Trent Lott had to resign as Senate majority leader due to his inappropriate racist remarks that were widely discussed in the blogosphere. However bloggers attract attention not only to oust journalists and politicians. An online investigation on technical problems with electronic voting machines started by an activist Bev Harris in 2003 eventually forced traditional media outlets to address issue of electronic voting malperformance. This in turn made Diebold, a company that produces these machines, to acknowledge its fault and take measures to fix it. Many studies have been performed to test the agenda setting theory within global news coverage. One of the findings determined that foreign news that had any mentions of the United States or the UK, greatly influenced public opinion compared to global news that didn't involve either country.
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See also: Influence of mass media, Media transparency, Media manipulation, Indoctrination, and Sensationalism
Some groups have a greater ease of access than others and are thus more likely to get their demands placed on agenda than others. For instance, policymakers have been found to be more influential than the overall group of news sources because they often better understand journalists' needs for reliable and predictable information and their definition of newsworthiness. Cobb and Elder ascribed even more importance to decision makers, claiming that in order for an issue to attain agenda status, it must be supported by at least some of key decision makers as they act as guardians of the formal agenda. They also asserted that certain personages in the media can act as opinion leaders and bring media coverage to a particular issue. Government-affiliated news sources have higher success rates in becoming media agenda and have been found by a number of scholars to be the most frequently appearing of sources at the local, state, and national levels.
News sources can also provide definitions of issues, thus determining the terms of future discussion and framing problems in particular ways. As McCombs and Valenzuela stated; "We don't need the media to alert us about inflation as routine purchases reveal its presence. But to learn about abstract economic topics such as budget deficits, our main- if not only- source is the news media." What interpretation of "reality" will dominate public discourse has implications for the future of the social problem, for the interest groups and policymakers involved, and for the policy itself. For example, Gusfield argues that the highway deaths associated with alcohol consumption can be interpreted as a problem of irresponsible drunken drivers, insufficient automobile crashworthiness, a transportation system overly dependent on cars, poor highway design, excessive emphasis on drinking in adult social life. Different ways of framing the situation may compete to be accepted as an authoritative version of reality, consequently spurring competition between sources of information for definition of an issue. Very powerful resources of information can even influence whether an issue receives media attention at all.
The relationship of media and policymakers is symbiotic and is controlled by shared culture of unofficial set of ground rules as journalists need access to official information and policymakers need media coverage; nevertheless the needs of journalists and policymakers are often incompatible because of their different orientation in time as powerful sources are at their best in routine situations and react more slowly when crisis or disaster occur. Consequently, policymakers who understand the rules of this culture the best will be most capable of setting their agendas and issue definitions. On the other hand, media also influence policymakers when government officials and politicians take the amount of media attention given to an issue as an indirect expression of public interest in the issue.
Various critiques have been made of agenda-setting theory:
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See also: contingency factors
In an attempt to overcome mirror-image effects of agenda-setting that implied direct influence of media agenda on the audience, several scholars proposed that the model of agenda-setting should include individual/collective audience characteristics or real-world conditions that are likely to affect issue importance. They discovered that certain individual and group characteristics are likely to act as contingent conditions of media impact and proposed a model of "audience effects".
According to the audience-effects model, media coverage interacts with the audience's pre-existing sensitivities to produce changes in issue concerns. Thus, media effects are contingent on issue-specific audience characteristics. For instance, for high-sensitivity audiences who are most affected by a certain issue or a problem, the salience of this issue increases substantially with news exposure, while the same exposure has little effect on other groups. Erbring, Goldenberg and Miller have also demonstrated that people who do not talk about political issues are more subject to agenda-setting influence because they depend more heavily on media content than those who receive information from other sources, including their colleagues and friends.
Another factor that causes variations in the correlation between the media and public agenda is whether an issue is "obtrusive" or "unobtrusive"; i.e., whether it has a high or low issue threshold. Obtrusive or issues with low threshold are generally the ones that affect nearly everyone and with which we can have some kind of personal experience (e.g. citywide crime or increases in gasoline prices). Because of their link to personal concerns, these issues almost compel attention from political elites as well as the news media. Moreover, with this type of issues the problem would be of general concern even without attention from the news media.
Unobtrusive or high threshold issues are those issues that are generally remote from just about everyone (e.g., high-level wrongdoing, such as the Watergate scandal; plight of Syrian refugees). Research performed by Zucker suggests that an issue is obtrusive if most members of the public have had direct contact with it, and less obtrusive if audience members have not had direct experience. This means that the less direct experience people have with an issue, the greater is the news media's influence on public opinion on that issue.
Moreover, unobtrusive or high-threshold issues do not pertain into media agenda as quickly as obtrusive issues and therefore require a buildup, which is a function of more than the amount of space or time the media devote to the story. The latter may push the story past the threshold of inattention, but it is also important to look at the kind of coverage to explain how a certain incident becomes an issue.
Agenda-setting studies typically show variability in the correlation between media and public agenda. To explain differences in the correlation, McCombs and colleagues created the concept of "need for orientation", which "describes individual differences in the desire for orienting cues and background information".
Two concepts: relevance and uncertainty, define an individual's need for orientation. Relevance suggests that an individual will not seek news media information if an issue is not personally relevant. Hence, if relevance is low, people will feel the need for less orientation. There are many issues in our country that are just not relevant to people, because they do not affect us. Many news organizations attempt to frame issues in a way that attempts to make them relevant to its audiences. This is their way of keeping their viewership/readership high. "Level of uncertainty is the second defining condition of need for orientation. Frequently, individuals already have all the information that they desire about a topic. Their degree of uncertainty is low." When issues are of high personal relevance and uncertainty low, the need to monitor any changes in those issues will be present and there will be a moderate the need for orientation. If at any point in time viewers/readers have high relevance and high uncertainty about any type of issue/event/election campaign there was a high need for orientation.
David Weaver (1977) adapted the concept of "individual's need for orientation" defined regarding relevance and uncertainty. Research done by Weaver in 1977 suggested that individuals vary on their need for orientation. Need for orientation is a combination of the individual's interest in the topic and uncertainty about the issue. The higher levels of interest and uncertainty produce higher levels of need for orientation. So the individual would be considerably likely to be influenced by the media stories (psychological aspect of theory).
Schonbach and Weaver (1985) focused on need for orientation showed the strongest agenda-setting effects at a moderate need for orientation (under conditions of low interest and high uncertainty).
"After first-level agenda-setting effects were established, researchers began to explore a "second-level" of agenda setting that examines the influence of attribute salience, or the properties, qualities, and characteristics that describe objects or people in the news and the tone of those attributes." The second level of agenda setting was suggested after research confirmed the effects of the theory. As agenda-setting theory was being developed, scholars pointed out many attributes that describe the object. Each of the objects on an agenda has a lot of attributes containing cognitive components such as information that describes characteristics of the object, and an affective component including tones (positive, negative, neutral) of the characteristics on agenda. The agenda setting theory and the second level of agenda setting, framing, are both relevant and similar in demonstrating how society is influenced by media, but they describe a different process of influence. One tells us what information to process and the other tells us how to process that information. Framing theory, an extension of agenda setting, describes how the "stance" an article of media may take can affect the perception of the viewer. It is said that there are two main attributes of the second-level of agenda setting. Those include substantive and affective. The substantive factor has to do mainly with things such as personality and ideology. The affective factor is focused on the positive, negative, and neutral side of things. For example, media coverage of a political candidate's experience would be included in the substantive dimension of second-level agenda-setting, whereas the attitude toward the candidate's experience (positive, negative, or neutral) would be included in the affective dimension.
Coleman and Wu (2009) emphasized the similarities between the hierarchy of effects theory and agenda-setting theory, and how the latter can be used to analyze the former. The hierarchy of effects theory has three components: knowledge, attitude, and behavior, also known as "learn, feel, do." The first level of agenda-setting, such as a policy issue gaining public attention, corresponds to the "knowledge" component of the hierarchy of effects theory. The second level of agenda-setting, such as how the public views or feels about a policy issue, corresponds to the "attitude" component. Coleman and Wu's study is not so much focused on the order of these components, but instead on which component, knowledge (level one) and attitude (level two), has a greater effect on public behavior.
McCombs et al. (1997) demonstrated that agenda-setting research at the second level deals with the influence of 'attribute' salience, whereas the first level agenda-setting illustrates the influence of 'issue' salience. Balmas and Sheafer (2010) argued that the focus at the first level agenda-setting which emphasizes media's role in telling us "what to think about" is shifted to media's function of telling us "how to think about" at the second level agenda-setting. The second level of agenda-setting considers how the agenda of attributes affects public opinion (McCombs & Evatt, 1995). Furthermore, Ghanem(1997) demonstrated that the certain attributes agendas in the news with low psychological distance, drove compelling arguments for the salience of public agenda. The second-level agenda-setting differs from traditional agenda-setting in that it focus on attribute salience, and public's attribute agenda is regarded as one of the important variables.
One example that helps illustrate the effects of framing involves president Nixon's involvement in the watergate scandal. According to a study conducted by Lang and Lang, the media coverage at first belittled the watergate scandal and the President's involvement. It wasn't until the story was framed as one of the highest political scandals in US history that the public opinion changed (Lang & Lang, 1981) This event depicts how the media personnel have a great deal of power in persuading the public's opinions. It also suggests that framing is a form of gatekeeping, similar to the agenda setting theory.
There is a debate over whether framing theory should be subsumed within agenda-setting as "second-level agenda-setting". McCombs, Shaw, Weaver and colleagues generally argue that framing is a part of agenda-setting that operates as a "second-level" or secondary effect. Dietram Scheufele has argued the opposite. Scheufele argues that framing and agenda-setting possess distinct theoretical boundaries, operate via distinct cognitive processes (accessibility vs. attribution), and relate to different outcomes (perceptions of issue importance vs. interpretation of news issue).
When talking about the second-level of agenda setting, as well as the political aspects of the theory, its pivotal to include priming. Priming is considered to be the step past agenda setting, and is also referred to as the last step of the process. Priming is primarily used in political settings. It discusses how the media will choose to leave some issues about the candidates out of coverage, while presenting other issues in the fore front. This process creates different standards by which the public evaluates candidates. As well, by reporting the issues that have the most salience on the public; they are not objectively presenting both candidates equally.
According to Weaver, framing and second-level agenda setting have the following characteristics:
Similarities:
Differences:
Based on these shared characteristics, McCombs and colleagues recently argued that framing effects should be seen as the extension of agenda setting. In other words, according to them, the premise that framing is about selecting "a restricted number of thematically related attributes" for media representation can be understood as the process of transferring the salience of issue attributes (i.e., second-level agenda setting). That is, according to McCombs and colleagues' arguments, framing falls under the umbrella of agenda setting.
According to Price and Tewksbury, however, agenda-setting and framing are built on different theoretical premises: agenda-setting is based on accessibility, while framing is concerned with applicability (i.e., the relevance between message features and one's stored ideas or knowledge). Accessibility-based explanation of agenda-setting is also applied to second-level agenda-setting. That is, transferring the salience of issue attributes (i.e., second-level agenda-setting) is a function of accessibility.
For framing effects, empirical evidence shows that the impact of frames on public perceptions is mainly determined by perceived importance of specific frames rather than by the quickness of retrieving frames. That is, the way framing effects transpires is different from the way second-level agenda-setting is supposed to take place (i.e., accessibility). On a related note, Scheufele and Tewksbury argues that, because accessibility and applicability vary in their functions of media effects, "the distinction between accessibility and applicability effects has obvious benefits for understanding and predicting the effects of dynamic information environments".
Taken together, it can be concluded that the integration of framing into agenda-setting is either impossible because they are based on different theoretical premises or imprudent because merging the two concepts would result in the loss of our capabilities to explain various media effects.
(a) Accessibility (Agenda-setting)
Increasing attention has been devoted to examining how agenda-setting occur in terms of their psychological mechanisms (Holbrook & Hill, 2005). Price and Tewksbury (1997) argued that agenda-setting effects are based on the accessibility model of information processing. Accessibility can be defined as "how much" or "how recently" a person has been exposed to certain issues (Kim et al., 2002). Specifically, individuals try to make less cognitive effort in forming social judgments, they are more likely to rely on the information that is easily accessible (Higgins, 1996). This leads to a greater probability that more accessible information will be used when people make judgments on certain issues (Iyeanger & Kinder, 1987; Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007).
The concept of accessibility is the foundation of a memory-based model (Scheufele, 2000). It assumes that individuals make judgments on the issues based on information that is easily available and retrievable from their memory (Tulving & Watkins, 1975; Hastie & Park, 1986; Iyengar, 1990). Tversky and Kahneman (1974) also argue that the formation of individuals' judgments directly correlates with "the ease in which instances or associations could be brought to mind" (p. 208). When individuals receive and process information, they develop memory traces that can be easily recalled to make decisions on a certain issue. Agenda-setting, in this regard, can make certain issue to be easily accessed in individual's memory when forming judgment about the issue.
(b) Applicability (Framing)
The idea of framing theory is closely related to the agenda-setting theory tradition but it expands more upon the research by focusing on the substance of certain issues at hand rather than on a particular topic. This means that the framing theory's basis is that of the media focuses its attention on certain events and then places them within a field of meaning. is the process of selecting certain aspects of an issue to bring people's attention and to lead them a particular line of interpretation (Entman, 1993; Scheufele, 1999). Also, the media's selective uses of certain frames can affect the way the audience thinks about the issue (Oh & Kim, 2010). This may sound similar to attribute agenda-setting. Both seem to examine which attributes or aspects of an issue are emphasized in the media (Kim et al., 2011). Some scholars even argue that framing should be considered as an extension of agenda-setting (McCombs, 1997).
However, framing is based on the applicability model, which is conceptually different from the accessibility model used in agenda-setting. According to Goffman (1974), individuals actively classify and interpret their life experiences to make sense of the world around them. These classifications and interpretations then become the individual's pre-existing and long-standing schema. Framing influences how audience thinks about issues, not by making certain aspects more salient than others, but by invoking interpretive cues that correspond to the individuals' pre-existing schema (Scheufele, 2000). Also, framing is when these interpretive cues correspond with or activate individuals' pre-existing cognitive schema (Kim et al., 2002). Applicability, in this regard, refers to finding the connection between the message in the media and the framework individuals employ to interpret the issue (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007).
Kim and his colleagues (2002) provide distinction between the applicability and accessibility models is important in terms of issue salience. Framing assumes that each individual will have its own interpretation of an issue, regardless of the salience of an issue. Specifically, it focuses on the "terminological or semantic differences" of how an issue is described. Agenda-setting, on the other hand, assume that only salient issues in the media will become accessible in people's minds when they evaluate or make judgments on the issue. Taken together, the accessibility of issue salience makes the two models of information processing different (Scheufele, 2000).
According to the theory of affective intelligence, "emotions enhance citizen rationality". It argues that emotions, particularly negative ones, are crucial in having people pay attention to politics and help shape their political views. Based on that, Renita Coleman and H. Denis Wu (2010) study whether the TV portrayals of candidates impacts people's political judgment during the 2004 U.S. presidential Election. They find that apart from the cognitive assessment, which is commonly studied before, emotion is another critical dimension of the second-level affects in agenda-setting. Three conclusions are presented:
Recent research on agenda-setting digs into the question of "who sets the media agenda". In the broad field of political communication there is a current that draws on both political science and communication science, and is concerned with the extent to which and how the media contribute to the establishment of the political agenda. The original agenda-setting study by McCombs and Shaw found that the amount of media exposure given to a topic influences the public salience of that topic. Meaning, repeated exposure is what causes the public to deem, a topic as important. Politicians and political organizations fight for media time and space, following the theory that exposure increases important. Politicians put a lot of time and resources into campaigns, the 2010 Citizens United ruling held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting spending on political speech. This means that politicians and their parties set their agenda through social media and traditional media campaigns. Study by Gilardi researching the relationship between three agendas: the traditional media agenda, the social media agenda of candidates, and the social media agenda of politicians, found that they have significant influences among the several agendas.
Littlejohn and Foss (2011) suggest that there are four types of power relations between media and other sources:
News organizations affect one another's agendas. McCombs and Bell (1996) observe that journalists live in "an ambiguous social world" so that they will "rely on one another for confirmation and as a source of ideas". Lim (2011) finds that the major news websites in South Korea influence the agendas of online newspapers and also influence each other to some extent.
According to McCombs and Funk (2011), intermedia agenda setting is a new path of the future agenda setting research.
In addition to social media, popular daily publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post are "agenda setters" within the United States Media. These publications have a direct effect on local newspapers and television networks that are viewed on a less elite scale.
Website networks favor other websites that tend to have a higher viewing and SEO. This type of relationship is known as Power Law which allows the media to have a stronger effect on agenda setting. "Furthermore, the "birds of a feather" argument suggests that because news now exists in a network of connected websites, elite and other types of news media are now more motivated to behave similarly."
The most recent agenda-setting studies explore "the extent to which the news media can transfer the salience of relationships among a set of elements to the public". That is, researchers assume that the media can not only influence the salience of certain topics in public agenda, but they can also influence how the public relate these topics to one another. Based on that, Guo, Vu and McCombs (2012) bring up a new theoretical model called Network Agenda Setting Model, which they refer to as the third-level agenda-setting. This model shows that "the news media can bundle sets of objects or attributes and make these bundles of elements salient in the public's mind simultaneously". In other words, elements in people's mind are not linear as traditional approaches indicate; instead, they are interconnected with each other to make a network-like structure in one's mind; and if the news media always mention two elements together, the audience will "perceive these two elements as interconnected".
Over the last few years, the increase in social media use has had a direct effect on political campaign strategy, particularly on the Social Media platform Twitter. Its unique platform allows users to showcase their political opinion without functioning two directions. It is currently being viewed as a platform for political advancement. Before the use of Twitter, political candidates were using blogs and websites to portray their message and to gain more attention and popularity among their followers. Some of the most followed users on Twitter are past and current Presidents of the United States and other political figures. In terms of retweets, politicians and political parties have been labeled "influentials" on Twitter. Twitter is being used as a resource to gather information, reach a larger audience and engagement, stay up to date with current social and political issues, and to achieve the agenda building role. Twitter helps express public opinion which in turn allows a relationship to form between the media and the public. Some may argue that Twitter is still being used as a place for people to follow celebrity news and the culture of Hollywood more than it is being used for important issues and world news. Some may also argue that Twitter does not have the ability to set an agenda as much as conventional news outlets. A 2015 study found a positive correlation between issue ranks in news coverage and issue ranks in Twitter feeds, suggesting that Twitter and conventional news outlets by and large reflected each other. The influence of Twitter may not always seem direct and can change during different phases.
McCombs and Shaw originally established agenda-setting within the context of a presidential election. Many subsequent studies have looked at agenda setting in the context of an election or in otherwise political contexts. However, more recently scholars have been studying agenda setting in the context of brand community. A brand is defined as what resides in the minds of individuals about a product or service. Brand community is described as a "specialized, non-geographically bound community based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand." Under these definitions more than just material products can qualify as a brand, political candidates or even celebrities could be viewed as a brand as well. The theory can also be applied to commercial advertising, business news and corporate reputation, business influence on federal policy, legal systems, trials, roles of social groups, audience control, public opinion, and public relations.
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See also: Framing effect and Schema
Since the Chapel Hill study, a great deal of research has been carried out to discover the agenda-setting influence of the news media. The theory has not been limited to elections, and many scholars constantly explored the agenda-setting effect in a variety of communication situations. This explains that agenda-setting has a theoretical value which is able to synthesize social phenomena and to build new research questions.
Another contribution of agenda-setting is to show the power of media. Since the study of 1940 presidential election in Erie County, Ohio, by Paul Lazarsfeld and his colleagues, little evidence of mass communication effects was found over the next twenty years. In 1960, Joseph Klapper's Effects of Mass Communication also declared the limited effect of media. Agenda-setting caused a paradigm shift in the study of media effects from persuading to informing by its connection of media content and its effects on the public.
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See also: Internet influences on communities
The advent of the Internet and social networks give rise to a variety of opinions concerning agenda-setting effects online. Some have claimed that the power of traditional media has been weakened. Others think that the agenda-setting process and its role have continued on the Internet, specifically in electronic bulletin boards. With the presence of rapid mass communication, like social media, the agenda setting theory is both supported and challenged to evolve. Some suggest that social media and traditional media in political campaigns will integrate. Social media is the next step of agenda setting because now popular Twitter handles can now choose what they want their followers to see. While some theorize that the rise of social media will bring a downfall to journalists ability to set the agenda, there is considerable scholarship to counterbalance this form of thinking. People can also chose which accounts they want to follow on any social media platform. This has changed the way in which agenda setting is going and will continue to change throughout the evolution of technology and different media platforms.
One example that provides realistic criticism for this theory was the use of Twitter by reporters during the 2012 presidential election and the role that two way communication models now exist within the news media discourse.
Traditional media such as newspapers and broadcast television are "vertical media" in which authority, power and influence come from the "top" and flow "down" to the public. Nowadays vertical media is undergoing rapid decline with the growing of "horizontal media" – new media enables everyone to become a source of information and influence, which means the media is "distributed horizontally instead of top-down".
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See also: Cultural values, Herd behavior, Conflict resolution, and Agenda building
Another change of Agenda-setting Theory is known as agenda-melding, which focuses "on the personal agendas of individuals vis-à-vis their community and group affiliations". This means that individuals join groups and blend their agendas with the agendas of the group. Then groups and communities represent a "collected agenda of issues" and "one joins a group by adopting an agenda". On the other hand, agenda setting defines groups as "collections of people based on some shared values, attitudes, or opinions" that individuals join. This is different from traditional agenda setting because according to Shaw et al. individuals join groups in order to avoid social dissonance and isolation that is also known as "need for orientation". Therefore, in the past in order to belong people would learn and adopt the agenda of the group. Now with the ease of access to media, people form their own agendas and then find groups that have similar agendas that they agree with.
The advances in technology have made agenda melding easy for people to develop because there is a wide range of groups and individual agendas. The Internet makes it possible for people all around the globe to find others with similar agendas and collaborate with them. In the past agenda setting was limited to general topics and it was geographically bound because travel was limited.
One under-researched concept in the context of agenda-setting theory is the concept of agenda-cutting. However, to which extent agenda-cutting relates to agenda-setting is subject to further inquiry. Colistra defines agenda-cutting as the attempt to direct attention away from relevant issues “(1) by placing an item low on the news agenda (burying it), (2) by removing it from agenda once it is there, or (3) by completely ignoring it by never placing it on the agenda in the first place”. Moreover, agenda-cutting is seen to occur to news issues that are significant and controversial. Agenda-cutting needs to be motivated by the deliberate intention to drop a news issue from the agenda; otherwise, a case of news omission does not qualify for agenda-cutting but rather constitutes a result of news selection (which tries to differentiate between the relevant and the irrelevant).
Despite being first mentioned in the 1980s by Mallory Wober and Barrie Gunter, agenda-cutting has only been sporadically taken up in scholarly research. One reason for the academic neglect of this concept is seen in the fact that there have been only few empirical investigations on the one hand, while no sufficient theoretical basis has been established on the other. First steps towards conceptualizing and operationalizing agenda-cutting have been put forward by Buchmeier.
To date, only a handful of empirical studies focusing on media content exists, among them studies from Germany, Egypt, Malaysia, the US, and Japan (in chronological order).
Other studies shed light on the editorial processes in the newsroom which potentially lead to agenda-cutting.
There are two non-profit media watchdog organizations whose mission is to draw attention to neglected and censored issues in the news: Project Censored in the US and INA (Initiative News Enlightenment) in Germany. | https://db0nus869y26v.cloudfront.net/en/Agenda-setting_theory |
Our Senior Program Officer and Researcher Eva Bognar talked to the primetime news program of RTL Klub, the TV channel with the largest reach in Hungary, about the impact of government propaganda.
Media and Technology
Independent media is a pillar of democracy and key to sustaining healthy political engagement and public debate. The Institute extends CEU’s existing research into transparency and public trust in media, the origins and impact of disinformation, and power dynamics that enable or hinder democratic processes. The Institute deepens CEU’s work examining strategies deployed by de-democratizing forces to control media, how changes of ownership structures influence the scope of independent journalism, and how new rules on privacy and freedom of speech impact public debate.
The Institute also incorporates the Center for Media, Data and Society, founded in 2004 for the study of media, communication, and information policy and its impact on society and practice. Conducted through independent investigation as well as partnerships with academic organizations, think tanks and journalists, the center’s research includes analysis of political, regulatory and policy developments, comparative and data-based studies on the shifts of power in media and journalism, and the interaction between these developments and broader political and social processes, including de-democratization, polarization and corruption. Members of CMDS participate in debates and forums, share expertise with practitioners, researchers and civil society actors, and teach and explain media policy in workshops, lectures and conferences.
Within this research area, the Democracy Institute has partnered with Ranking Digital Rights to create the Democracy & Digital Technology CoLab to explore the impact of digital platforms and technologies on democratic participation and processes.
Research Projects
Impact of ownership structures on democracy and media
Researcher: Marius Dragomir
This project aims to study globally the new forms of ownership and financial concentration in the media and technology field.
Uncovering Media Influence in the UK
Researchers: Eva Bognar, Dumitrita Holdis
The project is part of the Media Influence Matrix project that investigates the profound influence that rapid shifts in policy, sources of funding and technology companies in the public sphere are having on journalism today. The project seeks to research the changing media landscape of the United Kingdom in three fields: government and policy space, with a focus on the changes in the policy and regulatory environment; funding, with a focus on the key funding sources of journalism and the impact on editorial coverage; technology in the public sphere, with a focus on how technology companies, through activities such as automation and algorithm-based content distribution, impact news media and journalism. The project is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
Journalism Breakthroughs
Researchers: Eva Bognar, Dumitrita Holdis
The project is aimed at methodically collecting data and information about innovation in journalism globally. The project includes the research of the potential audience of such content and the development of a concept of a journalism innovation clinic. The project is funded by the Open Society Foundations.
Strengthening quality news and independent journalism in the Western Balkans and Turkey
Researcher: Eva Bognar
The aim of the project is to enhance media trust among citizens and create a safe environment for journalists to produce independent news content through training, mentoring, technical and financial support, and publishing. The project is funded by the European Commission's EuropeAid program.
Digital News Report (with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford)
Researcher: Eva Bognar
Eva Bognar is part of the research team that produces The Digital News Report: an annual research publication of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University that surveys and analyzes the trends of news consumption habits and attitudes of digital news consumers across 40 countries. Some of the main themes of the project is trust in media, and news audiences' attitudes towards and knowledge about misinformation.
The representation of contested issues and vulnerable groups in the media
Researcher: Eva Bognar
A publication on the representation of the quota-debate in Hungary is coming out with Endre Sik (Hungarian Academy of Sciences). Further research is to be conducted on the concept of “moral panic button” in relation to the Hungarian governments’ techniques to manipulate public opinion, including the analysis of the Hungarian media landscape as the backdrop of such strategies. These studies are closely related to media capture and pluralism.
The contribution of media to the democratization and de-democratization of Central and Eastern European societies: 1990-2020
Researchers: Marius Dragomir, Eva Bognar
A series of studies looking at the role of media and journalism in the process of democratization in post-communist Europe.
News
Orban’s landslide victory shows the “dramatic level of manipulation of the Hungarian society by a group of powerful businessmen and politicians” as well as the pro-Russian discourse gaining ground in the past 12 years, Marius Dragomir, Director of our Center for Media, Data and Society said to Hungarian weekly 168 Ora.
Before the Hungarian elections, pro-government media employed “smear campaigns and disinformation – narratives that are in favor of and produced by the government,” our Senior Program Officer and Researcher Eva Bognar told the Los Angeles Times.
“As soon as Fidesz won the elections in 2010, they embarked on this process of achieving media capture in the country,” Marius Dragomir, Director of our Center for Media, Data and Society told Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.
“Orban knows that many Hungarians are against the war, and he balances: the state media spread pro-Russian propaganda while he speaks against the war in general, but not against Putin,” Marius Dragomir, Director of our Center for Media, Data and Society told El Diario.
Audiovisuals
In the third episode of the CMDS podcast series the hosts, Dumitrita Holdis and Justin Spike explore the question whether journalism cooperatives and subscription newsletters will put power back in the hands of journalists.
In the second episode of the podcast series produced by CEU Democracy Institute’s Center for Media, Data and Society, the hosts, Dumitrita Holdis and Justin Spike talk about Belarus Free Theatre, and Al-Hudood, two organizations that overcame geographical distances to report on their homes from abroad.
The first episode of the new podcast series of CEU Democracy Institute’s Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) addresses political interference and reader solidarity by focusing on the story of Telex.hu. | https://democracyinstitute.ceu.edu/research/media-technology?page=%2C0%2C1%2C0%2C0 |
How Is Public Opinion Measured?
Bradley effect the difference between a poll result and an election result in which voters gave a socially desirable poll response rather than a true response that might be perceived as racist
exit poll an election poll taken by interviewing voters as they leave a polling place
leading question a question worded to lead a respondent to give a desired answer
margin of error a number that states how far the poll results may be from the actual preferences of the total population of citizens
push poll politically biased campaign information presented as a poll in order to change minds
random sample a limited number of people from the overall population selected in such a way that each has an equal chance of being chosen
representative sample a group of respondents demographically similar to the population of interest
straw poll an informal and unofficial election poll conducted with a non-random population
What Does the Public Think?
heuristics shortcuts or rules of thumb for decision making
political culture the prevailing political attitudes and beliefs within a society or region
political elite a political opinion leader who alerts the public to changes or problems
The Effects of Public Opinion
bandwagon effect increased media coverage of candidates who poll high
favorability poll a public opinion poll that measures a public’s positive feelings about a candidate or politician
horserace coverage day-to-day media coverage of candidate performance in the election
theory of delegate representation a theory that assumes the politician is in office to be the voice of the people and to vote only as the people want
What Is the Media? | https://library.achievingthedream.org/monroeccamericangovernment/chapter/glossary-8/ |
Drug concentrations in serum (in subjects with tympanostomy tubes and perforated tympanic membranes), in otorrhea, and in mucosa of the middle ear (in subjects with perforated tympanic membranes) were determined following otic administration of ofloxacin solution. In two single-dose studies, mean ofloxacin serum concentrations were low in adult patients with tympanostomy tubes, with and without otorrhea, after otic administration of a 0.3% solution (4.1 ng/mL (n=3) and 5.4 ng/mL (n=5), respectively). In adults with perforated tympanic membranes, the maximum serum drug level of ofloxacin detected was 10 ng/mL after administration of a 0.3% solution. Ofloxacin was detectable in the middle ear mucosa of some adult subjects with perforated tympanic membranes (11 of 16 subjects). The variability of ofloxacin concentration in middle ear mucosa was high. The concentrations ranged from 1.2 to 602 μg/g after otic administration of a 0.3% solution. Ofloxacin was present in high concentrations in otorrhea (389 - 2850 μg/g, n=13) 30 minutes after otic administration of a 0.3% solution in subjects with chronic suppurative otitis media and perforated tympanic membranes. However, the measurement of ofloxacin in the otorrhea does not necessarily reflect the exposure of the middle ear to ofloxacin.
Studies 002/003 (BID) and 016/017 (QD) were active-controlled and comparative. Study 020 (QD) was open and non-comparative.
For pediatric patients (from 6 months to 13 years old): Five drops (0.25 mL, 0.75 mg ofloxacin) instilled into the affected ear once daily for seven days.
For patients 13 years and older: Ten drops (0.5 mL, 1.5 mg ofloxacin) instilled into the affected ear once daily for seven days.
The solution should be warmed by holding the bottle in the hand for one or two minutes to avoid dizziness which may result from the instillation of a cold solution. The patient should lie with the affected ear upward, and then the drops should be instilled. This position should be maintained for five minutes to facilitate penetration of the drops into the ear canal. Repeat, if necessary, for the opposite ear.
Five drops (0.25 mL, 0.75 mg ofloxacin) instilled into the affected ear twice daily for ten days. The solution should be warmed by holding the bottle in the hand for one or two minutes to avoid dizziness that may result from the instillation of a cold solution. The patient should lie with the affected ear upward, and then the drops should be instilled. The tragus should then be pumped 4 times by pushing inward to facilitate penetration of the drops into the middle ear. This position should be maintained for five minutes. Repeat, if necessary, for the opposite ear.
Ten drops (0.5 mL, 1.5 mg ofloxacin) instilled into the affected ear twice daily for fourteen days. The solution should be warmed by holding the bottle in the hand for one or two minutes to avoid dizziness that may result from the instillation of a cold solution. The patient should lie with the affected ear upward, before instilling the drops. The tragus should then be pumped 4 times by pushing inward to facilitate penetration into the middle ear. This position should be maintained for five minutes. Repeat, if necessary, for the opposite ear.
BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW FOR THE PATIENT’S SPECIFIC EAR INFECTION.
In patients with an Ear Canal Infection ("Swimmer’s Ear"), Ofloxacin Otic Solution ear drops should be given once daily at about the same time each day (for example, 8 AM or 8 PM) in each infected ear unless the doctor has instructed otherwise.
In patients with an Ear Canal Infection (“Swimmer’s Ear”), it is important that you take the drops every day. If you miss a dose which may have been scheduled for earlier in the day, (for example 8 AM), you should take that day’s dose as soon as possible and then go back to your regular daily dosing schedule. | https://www.drugs.com/pro/ofloxacin-ear-drops.html |
Objectives: To assess the combination of propofol and remifentanil for sedation to reduce shoulder dislocations in an ED.
Methods: Eleven patients with anterior glenohumeral dislocation were given propofol 0.5 mg/kg and remifentanil 0.5 μg/kg iv over 90 seconds and then further doses of 0.25 mg/kg and 0.25μg/kg, respectively, if needed. Another practitioner attempted reduction using the Milch technique.
Results: Reduction was achieved in all patients within four minutes of giving sedation (range 0.3–4; mean 1.6). Seven required one attempt at shoulder reduction, three required two attempts, and one required three attempts. Mean time to recovery of alert status was three minutes (range 1–6). The mean pain score during the reduction was 1.7 out of 10 (range 0–5). Nine patients had full recall, one had partial recall, and one had no recall at all. Eight patients were “very satisfied” with the sedation and three were “satisfied”. There were no respiratory or haemodynamic complications that required treatment.
Conclusions: Propofol and remifentanil provide excellent sedation and analgesia for the reduction of anterior glenohumeral dislocation, enabling rapid recovery.
- ASA, American Society of Anesthesiologists
- ECG, electrocardiogram
- ED, emergency department
- propofol
- remifentanil
- conscious sedation
- shoulder dislocation
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Acute glenohumeral dislocation is a common presentation to emergency departments (EDs). Many methods of reduction have been described but all require a “relaxed” patient and good analgesia. This is commonly achieved by combining an intravenous opioid with a benzodiazepine.
Although studies have compared intra-articular lignocaine with intravenous sedation, using intravenous agents such as meperidine, morphine, fentanyl, midazolam, and diazepam,1–4 few studies have evaluated alternative intravenous agents for sedation. Etomidate combined with fentanyl has been used successfully for this purpose with faster recovery times.5 In this paper we describe the use of propofol and remifentanil to facilitate shoulder reduction.
We set out to assess the efficacy of propofol and remifentanil for sedation and analgesia for the closed reduction of acute anterior glenohumeral dislocation. Our local ethics committee requested that we conduct this pilot study, using careful supervision, before undertaking a comparison with our current method.
METHODS
We recruited eleven patients with acute anterior glenohumeral dislocation. We chose patients aged 16–65 years, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I or II, and included patients with an avulsion fracture of the greater tuberosity or of the glenoid labrum. We excluded those with more major fracture/dislocations and patients with posterior dislocations or major injuries.
Patients were pre-oxygenated with a Mapleson C circuit and a well fitting facemask. Intravenous sedation was administered by an anaesthetist in seven cases and an emergency physician in the other four. A separate practitioner performed the reduction. Baseline heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturations were recorded. During the sedation period, the electrocardiogram (ECG) and oxygen saturations were continuously monitored, and non-invasive blood pressure was measured every two minutes in the normal way. An end tidal carbon dioxide monitor was used, which served to demonstrate adequate mask seal and detect apnoea (apnoea was defined as no detectable expired CO2 for more than 20 seconds).
The initial sedative doses were 0.5 mg/kg of propofol plus 0.5 μg/kg of remifentanil, given intravenously over 60 and 30 seconds, respectively. The first two patients were given 200 μg of glycopyrrolate to prevent potential bradycardia, but this appeared to be unnecessary and was subsequently omitted. Shortly after the injections were given, reduction was attempted using the Milch technique. If unsuccessful, additional doses of 0.25 mg/kg of propofol plus 0.25 μg/kg of remifentanil were given and the procedure repeated.
We recorded the total sedative dose, number of attempts at shoulder reduction, and success rates. After reduction, the patients were asked about recall of events, overall satisfaction, and to assess discomfort on a scale from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain imaginable) with an integer. We noted the times from sedation to reduction, to recovery of alert status, and to discharge.
RESULTS
We studied nine males and two females. The average age was 28 years (range 17–49). Seven had suffered at least one prior shoulder dislocation. All eleven patients had a successful reduction within four minutes. Seven required one attempt at shoulder reduction, three required two attempts, and one required three attempts.
All patients had adequate sedation and analgesia within three minutes. In eight of the eleven subjects, only one dose of 0.5 mg/kg propofol and 0.5 μg/kg remifentanil was required. One patient required one additional dose and two patients required two additional doses of 0.25 mg/kg propofol and 0.25 μg/kg remifentanil. The mean (range) total doses of propofol and remifentanil were 47 (30–80) mg, and 48 (30–80) μg, respectively.
The mean time to achieve reduction after dosage was 1.6 minutes (range 0.3–4). The mean time to recovery, being clinically alert, was 3.0 minutes (range 1–6). Time spent in the ED after reduction was an average of 81 minutes (range 30–312). Four patients had their discharge delayed for reasons unrelated to their dislocated shoulder. In the other seven, the mean time to discharge was 49 minutes.
All subjects remained verbally responsive throughout. Recall was reported as full in nine patients, partial in one patient, and one patient had no recall of the reduction. The worst pain scores were a mean of 1.7 (range 0–5). Eight of the eleven patients described the sedation and reduction as “very satisfactory” and the remaining patients described it as “satisfactory”.
There were no respiratory or circulatory complications that required treatment. Mean heart rate decreased by 13 beats per minute (16% decrease from baseline) (range 1–25 bpm, 1–33%), and mean systolic blood pressure decreased by 18 mmHg (12% decrease from baseline) (range −12–59 mmHg, −8–34%). Oxygen saturation decreased in two subjects to 95% and 94%, but no episodes of apnoea were detected.
DISCUSSION
Propofol and remifentanil are commonly combined for total intravenous anaesthesia and are being used as conscious sedation for painful procedures.6–9 Propofol is rapidly redistributed and a single dose has a short clinical effect. Remifentanil is a potent μ-opioid agonist with an ester linkage that is rapidly broken down by non-specific esterases in tissues and blood. It has an elimination half life of about ten minutes.10 Both agents have a rapid onset of action and prompt recovery, ideal for short procedures. They are synergistic both pharmacodynamically11,12 and pharmacokinetically.13 Using both propofol and remifentanil may be better than using either agent alone.6,8 The doses used are approximately a third of those used during anaesthetic procedures.
We found that propofol and remifentanil gave rapid and adequate sedation and analgesia while maintaining patient responsiveness. This allowed shoulder reduction in all patients with a minimal level of discomfort. Traditional agents have lengthy actions so that patients are drowsy for a long time. Rapid recovery is a marked feature of the technique we describe. The subjects became alert quickly and were able to walk unaided in less than 30 minutes. A potential disadvantage of short acting analgesics could be less satisfactory pain relief after the procedure. We did not assess this feature specifically, but no patients needed further analgesics after reduction. In a busy department with limited resources for supervision for long periods, reduced recovery time is a major advantage. The technique was highly acceptable to both patients and staff.
Cardiovascular effects were mild and did not require treatment. Respiratory depression is the most likely complication with this method. There were no recorded apnoeic episodes although two subjects had mild respiratory depression that did not require intervention. The inhibition of ventilation by a 0.5 μg/kg bolus of remifentanil peaks at 2.5 minutes after injection and has ceased after 15 minutes.14 Adequate pre-oxygenation using a Mapleson C circuit gives two important safeguards. First, hypocapnia is prevented so that apnoea is less likely. Second, full pre-oxygenation extends the safety period considerably if transient hypoventilation occurs. This is an important part of our method and we would not consider the procedure without it. Once breathing has re-started, as seen by the bag movements, then a prolonged period of observation is not required.
This evaluation showed that in relatively young fit patients, a combination of propofol and remifentanil provides effective sedation and analgesia while enabling a rapid recovery. A randomised controlled comparison with current methods for reduction of dislocations is now in progress. Specific aspects of the study include assessment of safety in the hands of less experienced administrators and how well the method can be used in older patients.
Acknowledgments
GD had the original idea for the study and co-wrote the paper. RM and CDS performed the study and edited the paper. MD performed the study, co-wrote the paper, and will act as guarantor for the paper.
REFERENCES
Footnotes
-
Funding: none.
-
Competing interests: none declared.
-
Lothian Research Ethics Committee approval was obtained for this study.
The Corresponding Author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors and does grant on behalf of all authors, an exclusive licence (or non-exclusive for government employees) on a worldwide basis to the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd to permit this article (if accepted) to be published in EMJ and any other BMJPGL products and sublicences such use and exploit all subsidiary rights, as set out in our licence (http://emj.bmjjournals.com/misc/ifora/licenceform.shtml).
Request Permissions
If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways. | https://emj.bmj.com/content/23/1/57 |
Health Score:
4,5 / 10
Difficulty:
moderate
Difficulty
Preparation:
35 min.
Preparation
ready in 4 h. 35 min.
Ready in
Calories:
224
calories
Calories
Nutritional values
1 <none> contains
(Percentage of daily recommendation)
(Percentage of daily recommendation)
|Calorie||224 kcal||(11 %)|
|Protein||3.09 g||(3 %)|
|Fat||14.02 g||(12 %)|
|Carbohydrates||12.78 g||(9 %)|
|Sugar added||4.19 g||(17 %)|
|Roughage||0.39 g||(1 %)|
more nutritional values
|Vitamin A||116.44 mg||(14,555 %)|
|Vitamin D||0.39 μg||(2 %)|
|Vitamin E||0.34 mg||(3 %)|
|Vitamin B₁||0.02 mg||(2 %)|
|Vitamin B₂||0.09 mg||(8 %)|
|Niacin||0.42 mg||(4 %)|
|Vitamin B₆||0.03 mg||(2 %)|
|Folate||6.21 μg||(2 %)|
|Pantothenic acid||0.3 mg||(5 %)|
|Biotin||2.51 μg||(6 %)|
|Vitamin B₁₂||0.23 μg||(8 %)|
|Vitamin C||0.99 mg||(1 %)|
|Potassium||54.46 mg||(1 %)|
|Calcium||62.08 mg||(6 %)|
|Magnesium||3.69 mg||(1 %)|
|Iron||0.3 mg||(2 %)|
|Iodine||11.98 μg||(6 %)|
|Zinc||0.26 mg||(3 %)|
|Saturated fatty acids||7.35 g|
|Cholesterol||84.25 mg|
Author of this recipe:
EAT-SMARTER
all recipes of this author
Ingredients
for
1
- Ingredients
- ½ Vanilla bean
- ⅞ cup milk
- 3 egg yolks
- ¼ cup superfine caster sugar
- ⅞ cup sour cherry Brandy (clear unsweetened cherry brandy)
- 0.333 cup white chocolate (chopped)
- 0.333 cup Mascarpone
- ½ cup cream
- ⅔ cup Cherries (from a jar)
- ½ cup dried Cranberry
- 2 ounces butter Cookie
- Cranberry sauce (to serve)
How healthy are the main ingredients?CherryMascarponeCranberry
Preparation steps
1.
Line a 600 ml round pudding bowl with clingfilm.
2.
Slit the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Place in a saucepan together with the pod and the milk and bring to the boil. Pour the milk through a sieve.
3.
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and kirschwasser over a hot water bath until creamy. Slowly stir in the milk (do not boil!).
4.
Roughly chop the chocolate and melt over a hot water bath. Allow to cool slightly over an iced water bath, then stir into the egg mixture. Now stir in the mascarpone, whisk the cream until stiff and fold in.
5.
Drain the cherries and mix with the cranberries. Place the butter biscuits into a freezer bag and crush to fine crumbs with a rolling pin. Fold the fruit and biscuits into the ice-cream mix and pour into the prepared pudding bowl. Freeze for at least 4 hours.
6.
About 10 minutes before serving take the ice-cream out of the freezer. Turn out the pudding and remove the clingfilm, decorate with cranberry sauce and serve. | https://eatsmarter.com/recipes/festive-frozen-bombe |
USD Dollar (USD) – The Dollar fell across the board on the FED decision to leave interest rates at their historic lows of 0.25%. Stocks ended mostly up in the U.S. but far from their daily highs. The ADP National Employment Report came out -203K worse than -190K expected. The Dow Jones rose by 0.31%, The Nasdaq closed almost unchanged with -0.09% decrease and the S&P added 0.1%. Gold (XAU) continued to rise and posted new record highs at $1,097. Crude oil rose for the 4th day in a row and is back above $80 a barrel. Today, The Nonfarm Productivity is expected at 5.8% versus 6.6% previously. The Unit Labor Cost is expected -3.7% vs. -5.9% previously. The Initial Jobless Claims is expected 520K vs. 530K previously.
EURO (EUR) – The EUR/USD continued on its uptrend for the week and soared against the Dollar. The Producer Price Index came out -0.4% worse than -0.3% expected. EUR/USD traded with a low of 1.4701 and with a high of 1.4907. Today, The European Central Bank will release their interest rate decision, expected unchanged at 1%.
EUR/USD - Last: 1.4838
Resistance 1.4925 1.498 1.5045
Support 1.48 1.476 1.47
British Pound (GBP) – The Pound posted sharp gains against the Dollar and extended its 2 day rally after the Fed's rate decision. The Services PMI came out 56.9 better than 55.4 expected. Overall, GBP/USD traded with a low of 1.64 and a high of 1.6595. Today, The Bank of England will release its' decision on the interest rate, the economists expect it unchanged at 0.5%. The Manufacturing Production is expected at 1.1% vs. -1.9% previously. The Industrial Production is expected at 1.1% vs. -2.5% previously.
GBP/USD - Last: 1.6515
Resistance 1.6605 1.664 1.6695
Support 1.6495 1.6455 1.642
Japanese Yen (JPY) – The Yen tumbled across the board. BOJ said on its minutes it is not planning to raise interest rates soon even after ending the emergency programs. Overall, USD/JPY traded with a low of 90.03 and a high of 91.30. Today, Leading Indicators are expected higher with 86.4% versus 83.2%.
USD/JPY-Last: 90.55
Resistance 91 91.3 91.55
Support 90.4 90.25 90.05
Canadian dollar (CAD) – The Canadian Dollar ended higher as commodity prices kept advancing and higher yielding assets demand remained high after U.S interest rate decision was released. Overall, USD/CAD traded with a low of 1.0587 and with a high of 1.0683. Today, Building Permits are expected at 1.2% vs. 7.2% previously. Ivery PMI is expected at 60.9 vs. 61.7 previously. | http://www.forexfloor.com/the-gbp-posted-sharp-gains-110509.html |
The detection of intracellular antigens requires a cell permeabilization step prior to staining. The method described below produces excellent results in our hands; however, other permeabilization techniques have been published, and may also be used successfully for this application.
In some ‚Äécases specific recommendations are provided on product datasheets, and these methods should always ‚Äébe used in conjunction with product and batch specific information provided with each vial. Please note ‚Äéthat a certain level of technical skill and immunological knowledge is required for the successful design ‚Äéand implementation of these techniques – these are guidelines only and may need to be adjusted for ‚Äéparticular applications. ‚Äé
Note: Specific methodology for blood appears in [ ] brackets.
Reagents
1. Leucoperm ()
2. Wash Buffer
Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) containing 1% PBS and 0.09% Sodium azide.
- Harvest cells and determine the total number present. Adjust cell suspension to a concentration of 1 x 107 cells/ml in PBS containing 1% BSA.
[Whole blood samples may also be used. AbD Serotec recommends the use of EDTA anti-coagulant in these circumstances, although satisfactory results may be obtained using heparin or acid-citrate dextrose.]
- Add 100 μl of cell suspension/whole blood to the appropriate number of test tubes.
- If required, perform staining of cell surface antigens using appropriate directly conjugated monoclonal antibodies at this stage. Following staining, wash cells once in PBS/BSA and discard the supernatant.
- Resuspend cells in LeucopermTM Reagent A (cell fixation agent) using 100 μl per 1 x 106 cells. Incubate for 15 minutes at room temperature.
- Add 3ml PBS and centrifuge for 5 minutes at 300 g.
- Remove supernatant and add 100 μl LeucopermTM Reagent B (cell permeabilization agent) per 1 x 106 cells and add 10 μl of the appropriate, directly conjugated antibody.
- Vortex at low speed for 1-2 seconds and incubate for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Wash once in wash buffer, and then resuspend in sheath fluid for immediate analysis or with 0.25 ml of 0.5% formaldehyde in PBS/BSA if required.
[To the blood suspension add freshly prepared red cell lysis buffer e.g. 2 ml of AbD Serotec’s Erythrolyse and mix well. Incubate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Centrifuge at 400 g for 5 minutes and discard the supernatant]
- Acquire data by flow cytometry. Analyse fixed cells within 24 hours.
Appropriate standards should always be included e.g. an isotype-matched control sample.
Please contact for details of available reagents. | http://kssyywx.cn/page_id/2150.html |
Objective—To compare blood biochemical values obtained from a handheld analyzer, 2 tabletop analyzers, and 2 diagnostic laboratories by use of replicate samples of sea turtle blood.
Design—Validation study.
Animals—22 captive juvenile sea turtles.
Procedures—Sea turtles (18 loggerhead turtles [Caretta caretta], 3 green turtles [Chelonia mydas], and 1 Kemp's ridley turtle [Lepidochelys kempii]) were manually restrained, and a single blood sample was obtained from each turtle and divided for analysis by use of the 5 analyzers. Hematocrit and concentrations or activities of aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, glucose, total protein, albumin, BUN, uric acid, P, Ca, K, Na, Cl, lactate dehydrogenase, and alkaline phosphatase were determined. Median values for each analyte were compared among the analyzers.
Results—Significant differences were found among the analyzers for most values; however, data obtained from the 2 diagnostic laboratories were similar for all analytes. The magnitude of difference between the diagnostic laboratories and in-house units was ≥ 10% for 10 of the 15 analytes.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Variance in the results could be attributed in part to differences in analyzer methodology. It is important to identify the specific methodology used when reporting and interpreting biochemical data. Depending on the variable and specific case, this magnitude of difference could conceivably influence patient management.
Abstract
Objective—To determine safety and efficacy of an anesthetic protocol incorporating medetomidine, ketamine, and sevoflurane for anesthesia of injured loggerhead sea turtles.
Design—Retrospective study.
Animals—13 loggerhead sea turtles.
Procedure—Anesthesia was induced with medetomidine (50 µg/kg [22.7 µg/lb], IV) and ketamine (5 mg/kg [2.3 mg/lb], IV) and maintained with sevoflurane (0.5 to 2.5%) in oxygen. Sevoflurane was delivered with a pressure-limited intermittent-flow ventilator. Heart rate and rhythm, end-tidal partial pressure of CO2, and cloacal temperature were monitored continuously; venous blood gas analyses were performed intermittently. Administration of sevoflurane was discontinued 30 to 60 minutes prior to the end of the surgical procedure. Atipamezole (0.25 mg/kg [0.11 mg/lb], IV) was administered at the end of surgery.
Results—Median induction time was 11 minutes (range, 2 to 40 minutes; n = 11). Median delivered sevoflurane concentrations 15, 30, 60, and 120 minutes after intubation were 2.5 (n = 12), 1.5 (12), 1.25 (12), and 0.5% (8), respectively. Heart rate decreased during surgery to a median value of 15 beats/min (n = 11). End-tidal partial pressure of CO2 ranged from 2 to 16 mm Hg (n = 8); median blood gas values were within reference limits. Median time from atipamezole administration to extubation was 14 minutes (range, 2 to 84 minutes; n = 7). | https://avmajournals.avma.org/search?f_0=author&q_0=Jean+F.+Beasley |
Chocolate Almond Macaroon Cookies Recipe
More Recipes:
Looking for an easy Chocolate Almond Macaroon Cookies recipe? Learn how to make Chocolate Almond Macaroon Cookies using healthy ingredients.
Submitted by bailsj
Makes 13 servings
These cookies have a slightly crisp outer shell and a soft, gooey centre
Recipe Ingredients for Chocolate Almond Macaroon Cookies
|1||tbsp Flaxseed Meal|
|0.5||cup, shredded Coconut Meat, Dried (Desiccated), Sweetened, Shredded|
|1/2||cup Almonds Ground|
|0.25||cup, unpacked Sugars, Brown|
|6||tsp No Calorie Sweetener|
|0.25||cup Cocoa, Dry Powder, Unsweetened|
|0.5||tsp Baking Powder|
|1||dash Salt, Table|
|2||tsp Vanilla Extract|
|0.25||cup Almond Butter, Plain|
|1||fl oz Original|
|4||tbsp Organic Dark Chocolate Chips|
Recipe Directions for Chocolate Almond Macaroon Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Mix flax egg with water in a small bowl and set aside for 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. Add wet to dry and mix well. The dough will be very, very thick, but not to worry!
- Stir in the chocolate chips until combined.
- With wet hands, shape small balls and place on prepared baking sheet. I made 13 small cookies.
- Bake for 14-15 minutes at 350F. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- (sometimes this makes 10 - 11 cookies not 13)
Dessert, Vegetarian
|Nutrition Facts|
|
|
Serving Size 23.2g
|
|
Amount Per Serving
|
|
Calories
99
Calories from Fat
58
|
|
% Daily Value*
|
|
Total Fat
6.4g
10%
|
|
Saturated Fat
2.0g
10%
|
|
Trans Fat
0.0g
|
|
Sodium
37mg
2%
|
|
Potassium
78mg
2%
|
|
Total Carbohydrates
10.3g
3%
|
|
Dietary Fiber
1.8g
7%
|
|
Sugars
5.8g
|
|
Protein
2.3g
|
|
|
|
* Based on a 2000 calorie diet
Nutritional details are an estimate and should only be used as a guide for approximation.
Legend
Calorie Breakdown
Daily Values
Fat
Protein
Carbs
Alcohol
Other
Protein
Carbs
Alcohol
Other
Calorie Breakdown
Daily Values
Health Information
|Nutrition Grade
|
88% confidence
|
Good points
||
Bad points
|
Join Calorie Count - It's Easy and Free! | https://www.caloriecount.com/chocolate-almond-macaroon-cookies-recipe-r1035693 |
Saucy n’ Spicy Prosciutto-Wrapped Meatballs
Hand-rolled meatballs simmered in fresh tomato-basil sauce then baked into crispy prosciutto cups. The spicier the sausage, the better the meatball!
Ingredients
- 0.5 lb 0.5 lb 0.5 lb Hot Italian Sausage, casings removed
- 2 - 3 whole 2 - 3 whole 2 - 3 whole Roma Tomato, roughly chopped
- 6 whole 6 whole 6 whole fresh Basil, leaves, sliced
- 1 clove 1 clove 1 clove Garlic, minced
- 0.25 tsp 0.25 tsp 0.25 tsp ground Cinnamon
- .5 tsp .5 tsp .5 tsp Sea Salt
- 3 oz 3 oz 3 oz Prosciutto
Process
Note, these instructions are written assuming the standard serving size, since you have modified the number of servings, these steps may need to be modified for best results
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. That was easy. In a mini muffin tin, create prosciutto cups by ripping each slice in half lengthwise and overlapping the halves in an u201cXu201d pattern in each muffin tin. Make sure the bottom is completely covered. You will want 8 prosciutto cups total.
- Form the sausage into 8 mini meatballs, about 1 T sausage per ball.
- Place tomatoes in a small pot on medium-low heat. As the tomatoes begin to simmer, break them up with a wooden spoon. Once the tomatoes are crushed (about 5 minutes), sprinkle in the cinnamon and u00bc tsp of salt. Now mix in your basil.
- Carefully add meatballs to tomato sauce and spoon some sauce over the top of the meatballs. Cover the pot and let meatballs cook in the tomato sauce for 8-10 minutes on medium-low heat. Most of the tomato liquid will evaporate, but that is okay. We donu2019t want too much sauce or it will make for a soggy cup!
- Spoon 1 meatball into each prosciutto cup. Top with a teaspoon of tomato sauce.
- Bake in oven 15 minutes until the prosciutto is crispy. The tomato sauce may begin to caramelize but make sure it does not burn. Let cool in pan for a few minutes before removing.
- Garnish with fresh basil leaves. | https://www.primalpalate.com/paleo-recipe/saucy-n-spicy-prosciutto-wrapped-meatballs/?wpfpaction=add&postid=17874 |
By Joshua Ostrer
Could Einstein be wrong? Computer scientist, astrophysicist and now author, Phil Bouchard, believes so. Bouchard uses his experience in the fields of computer science and astrophysics to prove the Theory of General Relativity to be wrong.
Bouchard’s theory of disproving Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity is by no means simple.
“The theory is objective and predicts low scale GPS gravitational time dilation, the perihelion precession disparity for all planets, the gravitational light bending, up to the rotation curve for all galaxies, the natural faster-than-light galactic expansion, even the constitution of a black hole and the center of the Universe,” says Bouchard’s academic paper, Finite Theory of the Universe, Dark Matter Disproof and Faster-than-light Speed.
Bouchard believes that his research in this field is essential. “My motivation for the book was just that it was something that had to be done. It just felt right. I wrote the mathematics over 10 times. I just knew the old system didn’t make sense since the beginning,” said Bouchard.
All that is required to understand Bouchard’s theory is a background in mathematics and a little astrophysics. “My computer science degree is half mathematics, really; it’s just a matter of understanding astrophysics. I had the right skills… All I’m doing is calculus based on the laws of astrophysics,” said Bouchard.
The process of formulating and proving the theory has been a long process for Bouchard.
“The core mathematics took me a year or two, adding things to it once a week for a year. I tried to understand most of everything on my own. [The theory] was officially completed since October last year, using the Hubble constant (the speed of the galaxy as a function of distance from Earth),” said Bouchard.
However, it is not the creation of the theory that has caused Bouchard trouble, but more so the manner in which it has been received.
“The hardest part was professors were ignoring my work, washing their hands of it because they didn’t have time. Even if I did have the right answers, they didn’t have time. I don’t know why they didn’t support me if I had the answers,” said Bouchard.
Claiming to have proved Einstein wrong has also stirred up controversy for Bouchard. “Since 2009 I’ve been saying Einstein is wrong and there were plenty of astrophysicists who reacted negatively…they’d just tell me what didn’t make sense. It’s a tough crowd,” said Bouchard.
It is the implications of Bouchard’s theory that are the most attention-grabbing. “There are a lot [of implications]. I’m basically saying: faster than light speed is possible, gravity is a particle, and we should be able to create a tunnel that allows us to move faster than light to someone standing outside the tunnel,” said Bouchard.
“I can’t say if people will understand, but [his theory] is based on simple facts and we just need to move forward with technology and science,” said Bouchard.
Bouchard’s theory, contained in both his academic paper “Finite Theory of the Universe, Dark Matter Disproof and Faster-than-light Speed” and book by the same name can be found online and in stores. | http://www.concordy.com/uncategorized/2012/04/could-einstein-be-wrong/ |
Will we ever be able to upload our minds to a computer?
My answer to a Quora question: What percent chance is there that whole brain emulation or mind uploading to a neural prosthetic will be feasible within 35 years?
I think the concept is still incoherent from both philosophical and scientific perspectives.
We don’t know what the mind is from a scientific/technological perspective.
We don’t know which processes in the brain (and body!) are essential to subjective mental experience.
We don’t have any intuition for what “uploading” means in terms of mental unity and continuity.
We have no way of knowing whether an upload has been successful.
You could of course take the position that clever scientists and engineers will figure it out while the silly philosophers debate semantics. But this I think is based on shaky analogies with other examples of scientific progress. You might justifiably ask “What are the chances of faster-than-light travel?” You could argue that our vehicles keep getting faster, so it’s only a matter of time before we have Star Trek style warp drives. But everything we know about physics says that crossing the speed of light is impossible. So the “chance” in this domain is zero. I think that the idea of uploading minds is even more problematic than faster-than-light travel, because the idea does not have any clear or widely accepted scientific meaning, let alone philosophical meaning. Faster-than-light travel is conceivable at least, but mind uploading may not even pass that test!
I’ll now discuss some of these issues in more detail.
The concept of uploading a mind is based on the assumption that mind and body are separate entities that can in principle exist without each other. There is currently no scientific proof of this idea. There is also no philosophical agreement about what the mind is. Mind-body dualism is actually quite controversial among scientists and philosophers these days.
People (including scientists) who make grand claims about mind uploading generally avoid the philosophical questions. They assume that if we have a good model of brain function, and a way to scan the brain in sufficient detail, then we have all the technology we need.
But this idea is full of unquestioned assumptions. Is the mind identical to a particular structural or dynamic pattern? And if software can emulate this pattern, does it mean that the software has a mind? Even if the program “says” it has a mind, should we believe it? It could be a philosophical zombie that lacks subjective experience.
Even if we had the technology for “perfect” brain scans (though it’s not clear what a “perfect” copy is), we run into another problem: we don’t understand what “uploading” entails. We run into the Ship of Theseus problem. In one variant of this problem/paradox we imagine that Theseus has a ship. He repairs it every once in a while, each time replacing one of the wooden boards. Unbeknownst to him, his rival has been keeping the boards he threw away, and over time he constructed an exact physical replica of Theseus’s ship. Now, which is the real ship of Theseus? His own ship, which is now physically distinct from the one he started with, or the (counterfeit?) copy, which is physically identical to the initial ship? There is no universally accepted answer to this question.
We can now explicitly connect this with the idea of uploading minds. Let’s say the mind is like the original (much repaired) ship of Theseus. Let’s say the computer copy of the brain’s structures and patterns is like the counterfeit ship. For some time there are two copies of the same mind/brain system — the original biological one, and the computer simulation. The very existence of two copies violates a basic notion most people have of the Self — that it must obey a kind of psychophysical unity. The idea that there can be two processes that are both “me” is incoherent (meaning neither wrong nor right). What would that feel like for the person whose mind had been copied?
Suppose in response to this thought experiment you say, “My simulated Self won’t be switched on until after I die, so I don’t have to worry about two Selves — unity is preserved.” In this case another basic notion is violated — continuity. Most people don’t think of the Self as something that can cease to exist and then start existing again. Our biological processes, including neural processes, are always active — even when we’re asleep or in a coma. What reason do we have to assume that when these activities cease, the Self can be recreated?
Let me end with a verse from William Blake’s poem “The Tyger“.
Will Brains Be Dowloaded? Of Course Not!
EDIT: I added this note to deal with some interesting issues to do with “chance” that came up in the Quora comments.
(1) Subjective degree of belief. We start with a statement A. The probability p(A) = 0 if I don’t believe A, and p(A) = 1 if I believe A. In other words, if your probability p(A) moves from 0 to 1, your subjective doubt decreases. If A is the statement “God exists” then an atheist’s p(A) is equal to 0, and a theist’s p(A) is 1.
(2) Frequency of a type of repeatable event. In this case the probability p(A) is the number of times event A happens, divided by the total number of events. Alternatively, it is the total number of outcomes that correspond to event A, divided by the total number of possible outcomes. For example, suppose statement A is “the die roll results in a 6”. There are 6 possible outcomes of a die roll, and one of them is 6. So p (A) = 1/6. In other words, if you roll an (ideal) die 600 times, you will see the side with 6 dots on it roughly 100 times.
Clearly, if statement A is “Mind uploading will be discovered in the future”, then we cannot use frequentist notions of probability. We do not have access to a large collection of universes from which to count the ones in which mind uploading has been successfully discovered, and then divide that number by the total number of universes. In other words, statement A does not refer to a statistical ensemble — it is a unique event. For frequentists, the probability of a unique event can only be 0 (hasn’t happened) or 1 (happened). And since mind uploading hasn’t happened yet, the frequency-based probability is 0.
So when a person asks about the “chance” of some unique future event, he or she is implicitly asking for a subjective degree of belief in the feasibility of this event. If you force me to answer the question, I’ll say that my subjective degree of belief in the possibility of mind uploading is zero. But I actually prefer not to assign any number, because I actually think the concept of mind uploading is incoherent (as opposed to unfeasible). The concept of its feasibility does not really arise (subjectively), because the idea of mind uploading is almost meaningless to me. Data can be uploaded and downloaded. But is the mind data? I don’t know one way or the other, so how can I believe in some future technology that presupposes that the mind is data? | https://neurologism.com/2013/12/ |
The objectives of this pilot study were to gather preliminary data on psychologic and physiologic effects of 60 days daily use of BBT (Binaural beat technology) for hypothesis generation and to assess compliance, feasibility, and safety for future studies.
There was a decrease in anxiety, an increase in quality of life, and a decrease in insulin-like growth factor-1 and dopamine observed between before and after measurements.
Conclusions: Binaural beat technology may exhibit positive effect on self-reported psychologic measures, especially anxiety. | https://www.whatsyourtone.com/how-does-it-work/resources |
Contact Elected Officials to Save the Proposed Thomasville Road Multiuse Path
On January 31 city and county officials will vote to advance the Thomasville Road Multiuse Path Feasibility Study to the design phase. Without your voice, the official may vote to table the long-awaited solution to the corridor’s increasing risk for cyclists and pedestrians. See list of city and county officials below.
Recently I watched an ebike rider speed past people walking on the narrow sidewalk east of Thomasville Road. Then I saw a distracted driver veering in and out of the bike lane. No wonder the ebike rider, who seemed to be on an errand, chose the sidewalk rather than risk the speeding traffic on Thomasville Road.
Most cyclists and runners just avoid Thomasville. The beautiful corridor has become a highspeed thoroughfare. The growing suburbs north of Interstate 10 send traffic to downtown, midtown, and campus destinations and have made Thomasville Road an ever more dangerous place to drive, walk, run and bicycle.
Thomasville is a state road that is part of local city and county transportation systems. But safety appears to be a multiagency afterthought. The only real safety measure is avoidance. Yet, there is no good alternative way to walk, run, or bicycle between neighborhoods and shops or from the market district to midtown.
A proposal by the Capital Regional Transportation Planning Agency to make Thomasville Road between Betton and Timberlane safer appears to be in trouble. On January 31 elected public officials will gather to decide to move the Thomasville Road Feasibility Study to the design phase. The officials are far from committed.
The proposal has many critics, some appear to know little about multiuse trail development. Most have emerged from the recently developed pocket neighborhoods along Thomasville Road.
If the opponents prevail it will remove any possibility of encouraging less than 100% car dependence for short trips to parks, schools, churches, and commercial centers on both ends of the corridor. It will all but eliminate future opportunities to travel safely by bicycle from midtown to the market district. Those who want to use Thomasville Road to visit parks or friends or will be stuck with using a car.
The Citizens Multimodal Advisory Committee (CMAC) approved unanimously the Thomasville Road Multi-Use Path Feasibility project feasibility study report. The committee found the path is feasible with the existing right of way. That action also signaled the project should move into the design phase when funding is allocated for that purpose. The vote of the CRTPA (made up of elected officials) will meet on Monday, January 31, at 5:30 pm in the Tallahassee Commission Chambers. The agenda will be posted on www.crtpa.org.
Many members of Captial City Cyclists and other organizations have contributed substantial amounts of time and effort in support of this project. Supporters have emailed elected officials, worked with neighbors to educate and propose alternatives. Many also attended CRTPA meetings and the public engagement session. The CCC position is linked here.
This is the time to express our views again. By approving the report and moving the project into the design phase, there will be opportunities to address many concerns already raised and questions posed, especially questions raised by those who value the road’s tree canopy. Motorist crash data will be reviewed. Pathways that avoid and protect trees will be reviewed. Signage and enhancing visibility and safety at driveways and crossing will be reviewed along with alternative transportation modes.
There are concerns about costs and questions about spending transportation funds on the north side instead of the south side of town. These are valid concerns but should not keep the plan from being considered. There are sizable investments being made in multimodal infrastructure downtown and on the south side of town. Certainly, we should all support more sidewalks, especially for the long-neglected neighborhoods to the south and northwest. However, without major safety improvements the Thomasville Road corridor will be an ever more dangerous and therefore avoided route for those seeking transportation alternatives.
CRTPA elected officials are listed by city and county jurisdiction below.
Please send your comments. Tell these elected officials in your own words why safe non-motorized use of the Thomasville Road corridor is important to you. | https://cccyclists.org/content.aspx?page_id=5&club_id=105555&item_id=72077 |
Faster-than-light (also superluminal or FTL) communications and travel are staples of the science fiction genre. However, according to physics as currently understood, these concepts require exotic conditions that are certainly well beyond our current technology to establish, and that may be directly forbidden by more complete models of the universe's physical laws. Should FTL travel or communication be possible, problems with causality will occur.
According to Einstein's theory of Relativity, the linear speed of any normal object can only be measured relative to other objects. To explain, examine the case of two observers passing each other in an otherwise empty universe. To each observer, the other observer would seem to be moving, while the observer himself remains stationary. Relativity states that neither of these views is "correct" - they are both perfectly valid. Each observer's motion can only be defined in a given 'frame of reference'.
Massless particles follow different rules, however. They are required to travel at exactly the speed of light, and that speed is (necessarily) independent of the frame of reference of the observer. This leads to some interesting consequences, explained below.
The fundamental obstacle to travelling faster than light in relativity comes from the Lorentz transformations. When relativity is taken into account, the concept of simultaneity becomes relative. In other words, if I observe two events that are not at the same location and conclude that they occurred at the same time, another observer (moving relative to me) may perfectly correctly conclude that one occurred before the other. A third observer might disagree on which came first. If one of the events caused the other, this would be a distressing situation: to some observers, the cause would happen after the event. Nothing is wrong with these observers; their point of view is as correct as anyone else's. Fortunately (in special relativity), if one can get from one event to the other by travelling slower than light, all observers will agree on the order. However, any two events that would require you to travel faster than light to get from one to the other will appear in different orders to different observers. So if ever someone travels faster than light, some observers will see them travelling back in time. So, in both special and general relativity, faster-than-light travel is the same thing as time travel. (Faster-than-light communication poses exactly the same problems, and in fact is much easier to analyze).
This fact does not rule out the possibility of faster-than-light travel; in fact, general relativity seems to permit it. But while faster-than-light travel does not appear to lead to any obvious paradoxes or violate any fundamental principles of physics, time travel certainly does: it leads to the grandfather paradox (among many others) and it violates the principle of causality.
In a sense, when people assert that relativity forbids faster-than-light travel, what they mean is that relativity says that faster-than-light travel leads to all kinds of problems, so we hope that something forbids faster-than-light travel. Fortunately, in special relativity, it seems to be possible to find problems with any proposed scheme for faster-than-light travel. In general relativity, this is much more difficult, and solutions to the equations producing closed timelike cycles do exist; in this case we hope that quantum gravity will forbid time travel (and, consequently, faster-than-light travel).
Special relativity states that there is an absolute speed limit for the transmission of information through conventional space: the speed of light in a vacuum, roughly 300 million metres per second. Note that there are some processes which do propagate faster than light, but which don't carry any information faster than light (See the section on existing FTL motion in this article). Although it seems counter-intuitive, light will be seen to move at the speed of light regardless of the frame of reference of the observer. A flashlight in a moving train will not produce light with a speed in excess of the speed of light. Both an observer in the train and one on the stationary platform will measure the same speed of light, in reference to their own reference points. This results in the Lorentz transformations; observers moving with respect to one another do not agree on the size of an object nor on simultaneity. Despite this apparent disagreement, all points of reference are fundamentally equally valid.
Relativity also shows that no object with a rest mass of greater than zero can be accelerated to light speed or above. Furthermore, accelerating an object to relativistic speeds (speeds at which relativity becomes important) requires an increasing amount of energy as an object approaches the speed of light. An infinite amount of energy would be necessary to accelerate the object to light speed. In a non-accelerating observer's frame of reference, the accelerating object would appear to be getting shorter and moving more slowly through time (see Time dilation), in accordance with the Lorentz transformations, as well as gaining mass. However, from the accelerating object's point of view, it would merely appear to be accelerating normally while the speed of the light ahead remained constant and unattainable.
which adds speeds v and u together, while <math>c<math> represents the speed of light.
Mathematically, while is impossible to accelerate an object to the speed of light, or for an object to move at the speed of light, it is not impossible for an object to exist at a speed greater than the speed of light. Particles that would use this mathematical loop hole are called tachyons, though their existence has neither been proven nor disproven. If they exist and can interact with normal matter, they would also allow causality violations. If they exist but cannot interact with normal matter, their existence cannot be proven, so they might as well not exist.
Mathematically, it is also possible for an object to travel at speeds greater than the speed of light, by not accelerating. Theoretically, warping the space around an object could move an object, without accelerating it. At this point we leave special relativity, and enter the realm of general relativity.
General relativity was developed after special relativity, to include concepts like gravity. While it still maintains that no object can move faster than light, it allows for spacetime to be distorted. An object could move faster than light from the point of view of a distant observer, while moving at sublight speed from its own reference frame. One such arrangement is the Alcubierre drive, which can be thought of as producing a ripple in spacetime that carries an object along with it. Another possible system is the wormhole, which connects two distant locations as though by a shortcut. To date there is no feasible way to construct any such special curvature; they all require unknown exotic matter, enormous (though finite) amounts of energy, or both.
General relativity predicts that any technique for faster than light travel could also be used for time travel. This raises problems with causality. Many physicists believe that the above phenomena are in fact impossible, and that future theories of gravity will prohibit them. One theory states that stable wormholes are possible, but that any attempt to use a network of wormholes to violate causality would result in their decay.
All of the above is based on Einstein's theory of relativity. Some theorists have proposed that, like Newton's theories on motion, Einstein's theory of relativity might be replaced by a newer theory. Such alternative theories exist. However, the overwhelming majority of physicists are still convinced that so far no sufficient evidence exists which could support the withdrawal of relativity in the favour of an alternative theory.
Some calculations show that it should be mathematically possible to transmit information faster than light. But as a basis, these calculations use theories that exclude faster than light transmission. Obviously, there is a logical flaw, somewhere.
Apparent superluminal motion is observed in many radio galaxies, blazars, quasars and recently also in microquasars. The effect was predicted before it was observed, and can be explained as an optical illusion caused by the object moving in the direction of the observer, when the speed calculations assume it does not. The phenomenon does not contradict the theory of special relativity. Interestingly, corrected calculations show these object have velocities close to the speed of light (relative to our reference frame). They are the first examples of large amounts of mass moving at close to the speed of light. In Earth-bound laboratories, we've been able to accelerate just elemental particles to such speeds.
The possibility of faster-than-light propagation of information appears quite unlikely to the best of our current knowledge.
Certain phenomena in quantum mechanics, such as quantum entanglement, appear to transmit information faster than light. These phenomena do not allow true communication; they only let two observers in different locations see the same event simultaneously, without any way of controlling what either sees. The fact that the laws of physics seem to conspire to prevent superluminal communications via quantum mechanics is very interesting and somewhat poorly understood.
The speed of light can have any value within the limits of the uncertainty principle as demonstrated in any Feynman diagram that draws a photon at any angle other than 45 degrees. To quote Richard Feynman, "...there is also an amplitude for light to go faster (or slower) than the conventional speed of light. You found out in the last lecture that light doesn't go only in straight lines; now, you find out that it doesn't go only at the speed of light! It may surprise you that there is an amplitude for a photon to go at speeds faster or slower than the conventional speed, c" (Chapter 3, page 89 of Feynman's book QED). However, this does not imply the possibility of superluminal information transmission, as no photon can have an average speed in excess of the speed of light.
There have been various experimentally based reports of faster-than-light transmission in optics—most often in the context of a kind of quantum tunneling phenomenon. Usually, such reports deal with a phase velocity or group velocity above the vacuum velocity of light, but not with faster-than-light transmission of information, although there has sometimes been a degree of confusion concerning the latter point.
As it is currently understood, quantum mechanics doesn't allow for faster-than-light communication.
Processes which do not transmit information may move faster than light. A good example is a beam of light projected onto a distant surface, such as the Moon. The spot where the beam strikes is not a physical object, just a point of light. Moving it (by reorienting the beam) does not carry information between locations on the surface. To put it another way, the beam can be considered as a stream of photons; where each photon strikes the surface is determined only by the orientation of the beam (assuming that the surface is stationary). If the distance between the beam projector and the surface is sufficiently far, a small change of angle could cause successive photons to strike at widely separated locations, and the spot would appear to move faster than light. If the surface is at the distance of the moon, a light source mounted on a phonograph is changing angle rapidly enough to create this effect. This effect is believed to be responsible for supernova ejecta appearing to move faster than light as observed from Earth. See the section in this article.
It is also possible for two objects to move faster than light relative to each other, but only from the point of view of an observer in a third frame of reference, who naively adds velocities according to galilean relativity. An observer on either object will see the other object moving slower than light.
which is less than the speed of light.
The phase velocity of a wave can easily exceed c, the vacuum velocity of light. In principle, this can occur even for simple mechanical waves, even without any object moving with velocities close to or above c. However, this does not imply the propagation of signals with a velocity above c.
Under certain circumstances, even the group velocity of a wave (e.g. a light beam) can exceed c. In such cases, which typically at the same time involve rapid attenuation of the intensity, the maximum of a pulse may travel with a velocity above c. However, even this situation does not imply the propagation of signals with a velocity above c, even though one may be tempted to associate pulse maxima with signals. The latter association has been shown to be misleading, basically because the information on the arrival of a pulse can be obtained before the pulse maximum arrives. For example, if some mechanism allows the full transmission of the leading part of a pulse while strongly attenuating the pulse maximum and everything behind, the pulse maximum is effectively shifted forward in time, while the information on the pulse does not come faster than without this effect.
The expansion of the universe causes distant galaxies to recede from us faster than the speed of light, if comoving distance and cosmological time are used to calculate the speeds of these galaxies. However, in general relativity, velocity is a local notion, so velocity calculated using comoving coordinates does not have any simple relation to velocity calculated locally.
July 22, 1997, The New York Times Company: Signal Travels Farther and Faster Than Light (http://dustbunny.physics.indiana.edu/~dzierba/HonorsF97/Week1/NYTJuly22.html) Quote: "..."We find," Chiao (http://physics.berkeley.edu/research/faculty/Chiao.html) said, "that a barrier placed in the path of a tunneling particle does not slow it down. In fact, we detect particles on the other side of the barrier that have made the trip in less time than it would take the particle to traverse an equal distance without a barrier -- in other words, the tunneling speed apparently greatly exceeds the speed of light. Moreover, if you increase the thickness of the barrier the tunneling speed increases, as high as you please..."
Markus P�ssel: Faster-than-light (FTL) speeds in tunneling experiments: an annotated bibliography (http://www.aei-potsdam.mpg.de/~mpoessel/Physik/FTL/tunnelingftl.html) Quote: "...An experiment of theirs, where a single photon tunnelled through a barrier and its tunneling speed (not a signal speed!) was 1.7 times light speed, is described in Steinberg, A.M., Kwiat, P.G. & R.Y. Chiao 1993: "Measurement of the Single-Photon Tunneling Time" in Physical Review Letter 71, S. 708--711..."
The Warp Drive: Hyper-Fast Travel Within General Relativity, Miguel Alcubierre Class. Quantum Grav. 11 (1994), L73-L77 (http://www.yellowknife.com/warp/) Quote: "...It is shown how, within the framework of general relativity and without the introduction of wormholes, it is possible to modify a spacetime in a way that allows a spaceship to travel with an arbitrarily large speed..."
This page was last modified 00:13, 10 Jun 2005.
This page has been accessed 9371 times. | http://footwww.academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Faster-than-light |
An Education Leader
St. Petersburg College was one of the first regionally accredited colleges in the U.S. to offer an associate in science degree and professional certificate program in Crime Scene Technology.
A well-rounded education at spc
Our Associate in Science Crime Scene Technology degree prepares you to work in crime scene investigations and to earn your bachelor's degree in Public Safety Administration at SPC. The A.S. degree gives you a working knowledge of crime scene technology and a chance to participate in lab and field experiences, mock crime scene exercises and moot court hearings.
This academic program prepares you for the following careers. All job data is provided by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Forensic Science Technicians
Salary Data
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA Average
Florida Average
Projected employment for Florida
2016 Employment
1,540
2026
1,880
Percent Change
22
Projected Job Openings
230
What you learn in SPC's certificate and A.S. degree in Crime Scene Technology
- Search a crime scene and gather data
- Record a crime scene and related evidence
- Collect and develop evidence
- Preserve and develop fingerprints
- Map, measure and log the crime scene
- Secure a crime scene
- Present courtroom testimony
Crime Scene Technology Associate in Science
CST-AS
Effective Beginning Catalog Term: Fall 2019 (565)
The requirements shown below are valid beginning Fall 2019 (565), and may not reflect degree requirements for current students. Current students should visit My SPC and view My Learning Plan to see specific degree requirements for their effective term.
Program Leadership Information
[email protected] -
Lynn Ernst
Lead Instructor, AC
(727) 341-4508
[email protected]
Brian Frank
Dean, AC
(727) 341-4503
Program Summary
The goal of this program is to prepare successful students for employment in the field of criminalistics with a specialty in Crime Scene Technology. The student can serve in, but is not limited to, a position as a Crime Scene Technician, Crime Scene Photographer, Fingerprint Classification Specialist, Crime Lab Assistant, Investigator/Consultant, Juvenile Assessment Worker, Latent Print Examiner/Trainee, Fire Inspector/Investigator, Forensic Science Specialist and Property and Evidence Personnel. Crime Scene Technologists can be employed by Local, State and Federal law enforcement agencies, State Attorneys' Offices, Public Defenders' Offices, Medical Examiners' Offices, law firms and private industry.
The content includes, but is not limited to, a working knowledge of all basic tenets in crime scene technology encompassed in the phases of crime scene search, recording, evidence gathering, packaging of evidence and courtroom testimony. The goal is the proper collection of crime scene evidence according to all legal dictates for presentation in court.
Reinforcement of basic skills in English, mathematics, and science appropriate for the job preparatory program is provided through vocational classroom instruction and applied laboratory procedures and practice.
Laboratory and field experiences are an integral part of this program. Students will participate in mock crime scene exercises, moot court hearings and various lab experiences that involve the processing of evidence.
The Academic Pathway is a tool for students that lists the following items:
o the recommended order in which to take the program courses
o suggested course when more than one option exists
o which semester each course is typically offered
o if the course has a prerequisite
o courses that may lead to a certificate (if offered in the program)
If you are starting the program this term, click here to access the recommended Academic Pathway.
If you have already started the program, click here for the archived Academic Pathways.
Please verify the Academic Pathway lists your correct starting semester.
Florida CIP Code
1743010600:
Federal CIP Code
43.0106: Forensic Science and Technology.
Admission Rules
1. Complete SPC application.
2. Take SPC placement test.
3. Attend an advising session with program director, faculty member or SEPSI advisor.
Graduation Rules
1. A minimum grade of "C" in all Support and Major courses.
2. Completion of an End-of-Program Assessment Examination.
AS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Communications - Composition
AS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Communications - Literature
AS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Communications - Speech
AS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Humanities and Fine Arts
AS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Mathematics
AS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Social and Behavioral Sciences
AS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Ethics
AS GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
Enhanced World View
SUPPORT COURSES
Computer and Information Literacy Competency (Complete 1 credit)
SUPPORT COURSES
Criminal Justice (Complete 3 credits)
SUPPORT COURSES
Human Anatomy (Complete 3 credits)
SUPPORT COURSES
Physical Science (Select 3 credits)
SUPPORT COURSES
Elective (Select 1 credit)
MAJOR CORE COURSES
Complete 28 credits
+ Courses CJL 2610 and CJE 2671 should be taken during the student's last semester.
FOUNDATION FOR OUR BACHELOR'S DEGREE
Our Crime Scene Technology Certificate is part of our Associate in Science Degree in Crime Scene Technology. The A.S. degree transfers to our bachelor's degree in Public Safety Administration.
PUBLIC SAFETY ADVANCED TRAINING
If you're looking for training as a current public safety professional or need to meet your mandatory training requirements, SPC offers a wide range of options. | https://www.spcollege.edu/future-students/degrees-training/public-safety-public-policy-and-legal-studies/public-safety/crime-scene-technology-as-degree |
Feasibility, satisfaction, acceptability and safety of telehealth for First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse people: a scoping review.
Public Health ; 207: 119-126, 2022 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1867698
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of access to telehealth as an alternative model of service during social restrictions and for urban and remote communities alike. This study aimed to elucidate whether First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) patients also benefited from the resource before or during the pandemic. STUDY
DESIGN:This study was a scoping review.
METHODS:A scoping review of MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases from 2000 to 2021 was performed. Paired authors independently screened titles, abstracts and full texts. A narrative synthesis was undertaken after data extraction using a standard template by a team including First Nations and CALD researchers.
RESULTS:Seventeen studies (N = 4,960 participants) mostly qualitative, covering First Nations and CALD patient recipients of telehealth in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, met the inclusion criteria. Telehealth was perceived feasible, satisfactory, and acceptable for the delivery of health screening, education, and care in mental health, diabetes, cancer, and other chronic conditions for remote and linguistically isolated populations. The advantages of convenience, lower cost, and less travel promoted uptake and adherence to the service, but evidence was lacking on the wider availability of technology and engagement of target communities in informing priorities to address inequalities.
CONCLUSIONS:Further studies with larger samples and higher level evidence methods involving First Nations and CALD people as co-designers will assist in filling the gap of safety and cultural competency.
Keywords
Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Telemedicine / COVID-19 Type of study: Prognostic study / Qualitative research / Reviews Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: Public Health Year: 2022 Document Type: Article
Similar
MEDLINE
... | https://search.bvsalud.org/global-literature-on-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/resource/en/covidwho-1867698 |
As early as 100 years ago (see photograph of Radio News cover, April 1924) the concept of “decentralized care” seemed just around the corner. Several key elements had to evolve over the past century to make this a reality: the sensors (remote patient monitoring), the telecommunication infrastructure (the Internet), the science, and perhaps most importantly, the buy-in from the medical and patient communities. The COVID-19 pandemic greatly accelerated the latter—to the point where we need to ask: what’s next? What did we learn, and how do we pragmatically move forward?
Depending on how we define them, decentralized clinical trials (DCT) are not new– the concept and early trials with a decentralized design significantly antedated COVID 19. Craig Lipset, clinical research pioneer, cites an internet feasibility study from 2003 and a Boston University patent for “Trials over the Internet” in 2007. But they still are not a singularly defined entity which has led to some confusion around the nomenclature (virtual? hybrid? combinations? site-less?) and execution.
Recently, the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) guidance defined DCT as trials “in which some or all study assessments or visits are conducted at locations other than the investigator site.” Here, we specifically focus on a portion of this broad spectrum: how technology can enable participation, leading to lower participant burden and better data. We believe this aligns well with the efforts to provide broader access to a more diverse population, which is encouraged by the latest FDA recommendations.
In part, pharmaceutical companies and CROs can conduct viable decentralized drug development trials because of the advent of remote patient monitoring technology, wearable sensors, and electronically gathered data such as ePROs, but also as a result of a more patient centered, real-world data focus. How those trials are established, conducted, and validated evolved significantly under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic.The question now is what happens next? What have we learned (both pre- and post-COVID) and how can we put it to practical use? How do the benefits to participant burden and cohort diversity balance with the hard endpoints required to establish safety and efficacy for new drugs? What study design elements, enabling technology, and next generation data management are required for all stakeholders including patients, investigators, sponsors, society to benefit?
Patient perspective
Starting with the positives on the patient side, many aspects of clinical trials can be performed remotely—which, when done right, increases convenience, accessibility, and diversity. Medical grade remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices and digital technology can facilitate obtaining high-quality data—but transforming this data into clinical trial endpoints is a high bar. Most importantly, the foundation needs to be established first, which is required for regulatory approvals, and ultimately for the pharma industry’s buy-in.
As anyone who has spent hours in digital “customer support loops” for their wireless carrier can attest, decentralized processes have to be simple, effective, and efficient in order to ensure patient adherence. We have heard from subjects who are motivated but unable to participate in drug trials due to the travel burden. DCT capabilities such as RPM devices can allow them to participate. These medical devices—mostly wearables—must be designed for patient comfort, reusability, and self-service. Depending on the trial, the participant pool could be tech-savvy millennials, or it could be an older demographic who is much less comfortable with technology and/or relies on a caregiver. Trial participants can represent a broad range of demographics as we seek to expand the diversity of participants for various studies.
The pandemic forced some populations to rapidly adapt to various forms of digital healthcare, including telemedicine. This is a positive development, but it is not enough. There is an opportunity to further capitalize on this adoption by driving participation in decentralized trials and expanding to previously underserved populations. To do so means acknowledging issues and developing solutions to ensure the progress attained thus far is not transient and expedites more patient-centric drug development.
Pharma viewpoint
Instead of just throwing technology at the problem, both digital healthcare companies and pharmaceutical companies must seek a more deliberate application of wearable and digital technologies. There is a tension between patient burden and convenience, and the ability to gather the hard, statistically significant endpoints for safety and efficacy that are ultimately needed for regulatory approvals. Effective DCT requires being able to remotely monitor patients and obtain precise data that meets both clinical endpoints and those required for FDA approval.
One key advantage that DCT can deliver using technology is the ability to gather data in the “real world” with a cadence driven by biology. This requires rethinking how we have historically defined endpoints and looking toward more functional outcomes that are more meaningful than the results of a point-in-time lab or physician assessment. Even the definition of a “fever” is changing as we better understand individual and circadian variations. Clearly not all endpoints can, or should, be measured at home. As examples, diagnostic imaging or biopsies will not be performed in somebody’s living room. But the key is determining functional endpoints that can be obtained from a patient performing daily activities that correlate with the scan or biopsy results, and that provide a more granular picture of the disease trend.
Successful DCT trial implementation is not necessarily fully virtual. We believe that hybrid approaches that incorporate remote features, convenient locations, and conventional methods are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Sleep is an illustrative case study. It is said that sleep studies in the clinic are an accurate measure of how nobody sleeps. People tend to sleep better in their own homes, so data derived from a trial conducted with remote technology is less of a burden for the subjects, more representative, and can be performed nightly over time which establishes patterns and derives analyzable data. Having said that, sometimes sleep studies in a local sleep lab can bring valuable insights with technology that is not readily deployable at home. As another example, in considering endpoints for an arthritis study, is the change in range of motion 90 days after the onset of treatment as reflective of efficacy as data on how, and how much, a patient is actually moving—in the real world, when not observed by a physician. That can be the difference between a singular, objective finding and assessing drug efficacy by the subject’s practical function. The ability to record continuous data provides a longitudinal view of a patient instead of snapshots. Researchers can evaluate a patient’s progress wherein each subject is his own control instead of comparing patient A with patient B for real-world analysis of the condition and applicable trends. This new, richer, more objective data will only be beneficial if we have the ability to adequately structure and analyze the various information streams to reap the benefits of a decentralized model.
Potential for change
With a decentralized model, a new approach to trial endpoints is necessary. The recently issued draft FDA guidance regarding digital health technology and RPM for clinical investigations specifically states that novel endpoints should be justified, and the method of assessing a patient’s response should be “well-defined and reliable.” That can present a challenge for RPM and the data streams it produces. Those conducting a study want to ensure the endpoints will meet necessary standards for safety and efficacy, and thus for approvals.
Remote patient monitoring technologies are an important tool in the DCT arsenal. They contribute to the proverbial win-win-win—to have the cake, eat it too, and not put on the extra pounds:
- lower burden for patients, which will broaden access,
- better and more objective data that links clinical research to the real world; and
- faster recruitment, better retention, increased patient diversity, and cheaper trials that allow for more attempts to reach the desired goal.
The pandemic provided a glimpse into what is possible when pharma, (med) tech, CROs, and regulators work together with a sense of urgency against a common threat. To successfully put a dent in the dire unmet medical need, this spirit of cooperation must continue. This is the only way to develop trials that are tailored to the situation, adapt to the patients, and fit into their lives, as opposed to the other way around.
Tony Fantana, Lead, Emerging Technology Strategy – Clinical Design, Delivery & Analytics, Eli Lilly and Company
Arthur Combs, MD is a clinician, serial entrepreneur and thought leader in wearable technology and digital biomarkers. He serves as a consultant to numerous companies especially those bringing new noninvasive or digital technology to market. | https://telstra-webmail.com/how-remote-patient-monitoring-technology-can-impact-decentralized-clinical-trials.html |
Following the discussion on body-worn cameras at the Jan. 12 Public Safety Review Committee (PSRC), I find it necessary to put my thoughts in my blog for those that were unable to make it to the meeting.
Not only do I not support body-cameras for the City of Madison, but I also believe that the recent resolution regarding body cams (Legistar 68625) is poorly written. Specifically, the resolution does not address the Body-worn Camera (BWC) Feasibility committee's recommendation for preconditions, recommendations from the Quatrone report, and the lack of funding from the operating budget to make the pilot successful. I also don't believe that a 90-day pilot program is sufficient for the data-driven research we need, if we were to pursue a pilot. Furthermore, the parties and policies necessary to review body-camera footage are not readily in place.
Body-worn Camera Feasibility Committee Recommendations
The resolution does note that the committee met 26 times over seven months and came to the conclusion of recommending body-cams according to specific requirements and policies. However, no groundwork has been done to meet the 10 pre-conditions noted in the report. These conditions include:
- "MPD has formally adopted the BWC policies recommended by the Body-Worn Camera Feasibility Review Committee with, at most, minor modifications that do not alter the essential substance and principles outlined in this Report and in the Model Policy, which are designed to minimize officer discretion, minimize potential bias in the captured images, protect legitimate privacy interests, minimize opportunities for exacerbating racial disparities and increased criminalization of marginalized groups, minimize opportunities for mass surveillance of civilians, ensure the integrity of the recordings, enhance accountability and transparency, and enhance access to the truth."
MPD and the Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) has neither agreed nor set specific policies. Shadayara Kilfoy-Flores, stated in the PSRC meeting that she may personally support body-cameras, but this resolution "puts the cart before the horse", because these policies aren't in place yet.
- "Accompanying all disclosure or release of BWC footage shall be a statement, either written as a document or added to the beginning of the video, informing viewers of the perceptual bias (detailed below) inherent in viewing BWC video footage, with an instruction to the viewer to consider this risk and its impact before reaching a conclusion about the footage, in order to arrive at valid judgements."
This is a condition not addressed in the resolution. MPD has also not laid the groundwork for what the disclosure process and statement will look like.
- "Given ongoing advances in research, experts on cognitive and perceptual biases should periodically be consulted for recommendations on steps that should be taken Elek, J. K., Ware, L. J., & Ratcliff, J. J. (2012). Knowing when the camera lies: Judicial instructions mitigate the camera perspective bias. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 17(1), 123-135. 10 to best mitigate these biases in judgements based on body camera footage (e.g., specific trainings for prosecutors, etc.), and appropriate actions should be taken, based on these recommendations."
Chief Barnes mentioned in the meeting that this is a step that could be taken during the pilot. This would also require Madison Common Council to hire an expert or consultant, during the pilot. This resolution ignores the funds needed to hire this person(s). We should have these people on processes of review prior to starting a pilot.
- "The Independent Police Monitor and Police Civilian Oversight Board are fully operational and have access to BWC video footage as set forth elsewhere in this report and model policy"
PCOB is still in the process of hiring an Independent Monitor. Plus, as stated in the PSRC meeting, the PCOB needs at least another year to be fully operational in order to handle the additional burden of body-cameras.
- "The City and MPD have made substantial and sustained progress toward adopting the other reforms recommended by the previous Madison Police Department Policy and Procedure Review Ad Hoc Committee, especially in the areas of Accountability, Use of Force, and Response to Critical Incidents."
This is another example of putting the cart before the horse. I am certain the city has not implemented major changes towards accountability measures. A person during the PSRC meeting stated, "ACCOUNTABILITY COMES BEFORE CAMERAS". I couldn't agree more.
- "A system and or process for sharing BWC video footage files – preferably an electronic file sharing system if feasible – with the Dane County District Attorney's Office and the Public Defender's Office in time for informing charging decisions for cases referred by MPD for potential criminal charges."
An electronic file sharing system most certainly is not in place.
- "The Dane County District Attorney's Office has formally enacted a policy to review any relevant BWC video before making a charging decision in any case referred by MPD where BWC video is available."
The DA's office has not been contacted yet.
- "The Dane County District Attorney's Office has firmly committed to measures sufficient to prevent an overall increase in charging rates and criminalization in lowlevel offenses caused by MPD BWC implementation."
The DA's office has not agreed to such conditions.
- "Arrangements have been made for a rigorous, randomized controlled trial as a pilot program, with tracking and analysis of data on key outcomes, and particularly prosecutorial charging rates. A primary use of the trial would be to determine if charging rates and pleading rates are increased, particularly for misdemeanors, for cases in which BWC video is available. If there is statistically significant evidence of an increase in charging rates, particularly for misdemeanors, which can be causally connected to the implementation of BWCs, measures sufficient to fully offset the increase should be taken before BWC program continuation or more widespread BWC implementation. If expansion of implementation occurs after the pilot program, MPD, as well as the Dane County District Attorney's Office, should continue to collect data on the effects of BWCs to continue to ascertain if BWCs are producing increases in charging rates for low-level offenses or other unintended negative consequences. If so, the City should take the necessary steps vis-à-vis the MPD and/or the District Attorney's Office to fully offset any unintended negative consequences."
This is one of the most important recommendations pertaining to this pilot that has not been addressed. If adopted, the pilot should be a rigorous, randomized controlled trial! Chief Barnes said something to the effect of once we introduce the pilot then research would be done and there needs to be processes for feedback, data-collection etc. The way in which this resolution is being introduced ignores the rigorous aspect of doing a pilot. The resolution essentially gives the impression that "we'll figure it out as we go". That certainly isn't the mindset we should have going into a pilot of this caliber.
- "The Common Council should engage in informed deliberation on whether resources required for BWC implementation would best be allocated to BWC implementation or other competing needs."
This is a fabulous recommendation. One in which also hasn't been met. Alder Heck noted in the PSRC meeting that we have not received an accurate fiscal note of body-cams pilot and full-implementation. The fiscal notes that were made in the BWC Feasibility Report and on the current budget item are based on conjecture not fact. We should not take on a pilot-program until we have a full-fleshing itemized list of the costs we're talking about. Like Alder Benford stated, we are in a pandemic! Do we really think that BWC is the best use of our time and resources in this economically unstable time? I agree with what Alder Heck said in the meeting that we are grossly under-estimating how much BWC will cost. I will also reiterate what myself and Alder Benford stated--there are so many other worthy causes, especially pertaining to public safety, that need this money more than BWC.
Quattrone Center Report Recommendations
It was transparent, during the CCEC meeting in which we received a presentation from the Quattrone Center representatives and MPD, that some alders cherry-picked the recommendation for body-cameras, as the only item they intended to follow-up on. This is quite unfortunate, because there are other recommendations worth noting. A recommendation that is of particular use for this resolution is that any changes pertaining to the police should be a dual effort with both community activists/leaders and MPD. The resolution before us expects the Chief of Police to be the sole leader of any efforts regarding body cams. This grossly undermines the Quattrone Center's recommendations and once again alienates local activists/leaders from having a say in police accountability measures.
It is important to note that there was an unfortunate and significant lack of input from local activists in the report. Their input on the matters in the report and on body-cams is vital. Their voices should not be ignored.
A BWC pilot Requires an operating budget amendment
This should be self-explanatory to all alders and any of those who have engaged in the city budget previously. The operating budget manages the financing necessary to pay staff for reviewing the body-cam footage and consultants we may hire per the BWC Feasibility Report recommendations. Purchasing the equipment for the body-cams is a capital budget item. Even the BWC Feasibility report noted that an operating budget item is necessary for the pilot. Therefore, the implementation of a BWC pilot program needs an operating budget amendment.
The resolution assumes that MPD will be able to absorb the operating costs in the overtime funds. Historically, MPD has used most if not all of overtime wages. We shouldn't be diving deep into overtime hours for this program, if/when the costs are not sufficient to support the pilot. The overtime fund is not a slush fund for predictable expenses. Overtime is for unforeseen emergencies. It should not be allocated to this pilot.
The Idea of a 90-day Northside Pilot is senseless and insufficient
Chief Barnes stated in the meeting that 90-days for this pilot might be sufficient. I have to disagree. For example, the CARES pilot is a year-long process, in which we are already a few months into. Public safety employees have repeatedly stated that we don't have enough evidence for full-implementation of the CARES program. A BWC pilot is no different. The original plan for the BWC pilot was for it to be for one year. Plus, the fact remains that a rigorous, randomized controlled trial as a pilot program cannot be completed within 90 days.
Furthermore, why should the pilot be on the Northside over other districts in Madison? Different districts have different needs and different police interactions. I believe we should be choosing the district that has the most police interaction and/or is impacted the most by police presence. Others opinions may differ. So what is the process used to identify the best location for a pilot?
There are so many other questions that need to be answered before we implement a pilot program. What questions in the pilot do we want answered? How will we collect data? Who will examine the data? What is the best location for a pilot? How many cameras do we need in order to collect the data we want? Who will be wearing the cameras? How will Covid impact the data we collect? What is the length of time needed to gather sufficient data? What will be the IM's and PCOB's role in the pilot? How much funds are actually needed for the pilot? Where will we get those funds? Are those funds better used elsewhere? How can we best address the BWC Feasibility report's 10 preconditions? I appreciate Chief Barnes' data-driven, evidence-based approach to policing. This approach will not be achieved with this resolution.
Any BWC pilot needs to be well-thought out and driven by data--a rigorous, randomized control trial. This resolution offers an uncontrolled trial, in which many of the questions that should be answered before bringing this resolution to council haven't yet been answered.
All this said, I stand firm in opposition to body-cams and a pilot thereof. However, there is an abundance of evidence, which demonstrates that those who do support body-cams, should not support this resolution. | https://www.cityofmadison.com/council/district8/blog/?Id=24799 |
Agripark, a networked innovation system of agro-production, processing, logistics, marketing, training and extension services, is aimed at uplifting rural communities with little or no previous agricultural experience. As a network, it enables the market-driven integration of various agricultural and livestock activities, with the support and expertise of industry leaders to increase chances of success.
The programme’s primary objectives are community upliftment through the provision of jobs, schools, churches, markets and, importantly, the transformation of rural small-scale farmers into commercial players who can provide grain, vegetables, meat and milk for economic gain. These farmers share in the technology, mechanisation, lower inputs and off-take agreements offered by the initiative and will become mentors for the next generation of farmers.
An Agripark involves a consortium of diverse partnerships, including private companies that specialise in each component of the programme’s activities. The starting point for a successful venture is the completion of a feasibility study based on agricultural and market data. Nulandis Precision Science has the experience, technology and knowledge to gather and interpret soil, agriculture and weather data for the compilation of a full business plan and financial feasibility study. This document forms the blue-print for an Agripark initiative and in establishing the best combination of crops, infrastructure (including the building of warehouses, communication and power generating systems) and markets for farming operations. | https://nulandis.com/content/agriparks |
The primary mission of the Office of Device Evaluation (ODE) of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is to ensure timely delivery of safe and effective medical products to patients. One aspect of this process involves ensuring that each device does what its manufacturer claims it will do and that manufacturers support such claims with valid scientific evidence. Approximately 10% of all submissions ODE receives for marketing authorization include clinical data as part of this scientific evidence.
BACKGROUND
Since the initiation of the medical device program in the United States in 1976, valid scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness from clinical trials has been required to support premarket approval (PMA) applications. However, the Safe Medical Devices Act of 1990 (SMDA) mandated that clinical trials also be conducted to support a claim of substantial equivalence for some Class II premarket notification (510(k)) submissions.1
To understand the need for supplying clinical data, it is necessary to consider the definitions of safety and effectiveness in FDA's statute and implementing regulations.2Safety is defined as "evidence that the risks presented to an individual from the use of a product are not unreasonable as supported by information from preclinical and clinical evaluation of the product." Effectiveness is defined in terms of "benefit derived to a significant portion of the affected population through use of the product." In essence, FDA defines safety and effectiveness in terms of a benefit-to-risk assessment of the use of a product based on valid scientific evidence submitted to support a marketing application. This includes the results of clinical trials conducted with the new product.
Products can reach the marketplace through the 510(k) process if a legally marketed predicate Class I or Class II product exists or if the predicate is a preamendment Class III device. FDA determines product classification by evaluating available evidence that establishes whether a given product type is safe and effective. In turn, a device's classification determines the kinds of controls (general for Class I versus special for Class II) that are needed to provide reasonable assurance of its safety and effectiveness. For a given 510(k), demonstrating substantial equivalence is intended to determine whether the new and predicate devices are sufficiently comparable that an independent classification procedure--establishing new safety and effectiveness and controls--is therefore not necessary for the new product.
As the medical device program has matured, the use of the 510(k) route to market has expanded to encompass significant technological developments. This results in differences between a given device and its legally marketed predicate that require additional clinical data to demonstrate equivalence. Through clinical trials, technological differences that could affect safety and effectiveness, and that might otherwise render a device not substantially equivalent, can be evaluated and demonstrated to have no significant effect. Clinical trials can also be used as a special control to allow a device type to be down-classified when it requires only specific clinical data to demonstrate equivalence.
CLINICAL TRIALS SCIENCE
Clinical trials science is an established discipline that provides consistent guidelines for all product types. Scientific principles direct how a study should be designed and evaluated, the basic requirements to include in a clinical study, and the appropriate and valid mechanisms for evaluating the trial data.
Clinical trials should contain well-defined hypotheses that address the intended use of the test product in the population for which it has been developed. Trials should also identify appropriate controls (historical or concurrent) and use a sample size based on the expected effect of the test device compared to that of the control product or procedure. Clinical trials should include a plan for data analysis that takes into account the amount and types of data to be collected. There are instances, however, where all of these elements may not be applicable. It is the responsibility of the trial sponsor to justify why a specific element is inappropriate or unethical.
As has been described in this series, no single valid clinical trial design is appropriate for all circumstances. The scientific evidence needed from a clinical trial should be the driver of the trial's design and evaluation. The claim a sponsor wants to make for a given product and the patient population in which it will be used define the design and scope of a clinical trial. The disease to be diagnosed or treated, the risks associated with the disease and with the product, and other products available to treat this condition also affect design and scope. In addition, the type of data a trial generates will affect the data assessments that can and should be made at the trial's conclusion. Sharply focused questions for a given trial strengthen trial design and analysis.
Because clinical trials are experiments that involve humans, they must be conducted ethically and appropriately to protect the subjects. To be ethical, a trial must develop useful data. It is unethical to conduct human research for its own sake, without a goal for the result of the study. Goals can be to advance knowledge about the natural history of a disease or to assess the diagnosis of or intervention in the given disease state. When conducting research on a new product, a trial's goal is most often to develop valid scientific evidence that demonstrates safe and effective use to support entry of the product into the marketplace. This is true for all health-care products: drugs, biologicals, and medical devices.
ROLE OF ODE
Within ODE the understanding and use of clinical trials in support of marketing applications have evolved. Early on, observational trials conducted on small numbers of patients were the accepted norm for clinical trials. Currently, trials are more frequently concurrently controlled and designed for statistical evaluation. As the industry has evolved and its products have become more sophisticated, the complexity and importance of medical device clinical trials have also evolved.
This increasing complexity has also led, unfortunately, to delays in the initiation of clinical trials. A recent informal evaluation of the causes of such delays revealed several common problems related to getting trials under way. Common problems include
- Lack of a clear hypothesis.
- Lack of a mature, well-thought-out trial design that includes how patients will be identified and assessed.
- Insufficient sample size to support sponsor claims.
- Weak plans for statistically evaluating trial results.
Trials that cannot produce the data needed to bring the product to market waste time and money and, most importantly, raise questions about ethical patient enrollment.
FDA's medical device program assists sponsors in identifying the questions to address before ODE will grant a new product marketing access. These questions may form the basis on which a manufacturer designs a clinical trial and determines the direction of data development. To obtain data to support safety and effectiveness, sponsors should design clinical trials that incorporate these regulatory questions as well as other issues to be examined. However, FDA does not dictate the details of clinical trial design because the development of each product is unique.
IDE PROGRAM CHANGES
During the past year, the administration of FDA's investigational device exemption (IDE) program has changed significantly. Changes include encouraging preIDE submission contact between ODE staff and sponsors and increased use of pilot trials to gather human data with new devices.3
Encouraging earlier interaction between a device sponsor and the reviewing division enables ODE to provide better guidance to the submitter and more background on new products to the review staff. An important issue to discuss during pre-IDE meetings is the timing of an IDE submission. The product design should be sufficiently mature so that only minimal changes take place prior to the submission of the marketing application. Any changes should not significantly affect patient outcomes. If substantive changes are made during a clinical trial that result in significantly different operating characteristics or expected patient outcomes, additional clinical data may be required before ODE will grant market entry. Clinical trials need to address a device's promotional claims and also FDA's need for sufficient safety and efficacy data. Early contact not only serves to identify these needs and the most efficient means of clinical testing but also reduces the time to initiation of a clinical trial.
Increased use of feasibility trials is being implemented in order to eliminate delays in the initiation of clinical investigations caused by poor clinical trial design. To address IDEs for which no significant safety issues exist that should preclude patient exposure to the device, ODE has allowed sponsors to begin trials in a limited number of patients while developing the definitive trial design. Early feasibility trials can answer device design questions about user interfaces or instructions for use. Sponsors can also use feasibility trials to assess data collection forms or identify problems not anticipated during bench assessments or in animal studies.
These and other changes to the program have increased the IDE approval rate from less than 30% in fiscal year (FY) 94 to more than 60% in FY95 (see Figure 1).4 Clinical trials of new devices now start earlier and because of improved communication are better designed. It will take several years, however, to determine whether these changes result in shorter development times for new products, which is the overall goal behind ODE's increased attention to the IDE process.
STAFF EDUCATION
One focus for course development in the CDRH staff college is training in the design and assessment of clinical trials. In order to evaluate a clinical trial, reviewers must understand the theory of clinical trial design, the logistical elements of conducting a trial, and its proper assessment. To this end, reviewers can attend a basic course in clinical trials, a course in basic statistical methods, and a refresher course on the review process.
The basic clinical trials course is team-taught by staff from throughout the agency. Lectures address clinical trial theory; regulatory requirements of IDEs, 510(k)s, and PMAs; practical issues of trial design and conduct; statistical considerations in trial design and assessment; and the appropriate role of the reviewer in these activities. The course acquaints new reviewers with the FDA resources available to assist in evaluation of trial design and assessment.
Among the most challenging topics in the basic course are those that address appropriate trial controls, the amount of data required to support a safety and effectiveness claim, the variety of valid trial designs, and the trial design flexibility available to sponsors. The course discusses actual IDE trials and uses practical exercises to help reviewers learn how to evaluate design approaches. This course was offered twice in FY95 with a focus on enrolling experienced reviewers. In FY96 ODE plans to offer this module several times and to encourage newer reviewers to attend.
The course in basic statistics is also team-taught by senior staff within the agency. Members of the staff college, senior ODE reviewers, and ODE program operations staff will teach a review process course, which includes modules on IDE, 510(k), and PMA review; documentation of the review process; and writing the summary of safety and effectiveness data.
CLINICAL TRIALS GUIDANCE
ODE's outreach to the industry regarding clinical trials requirements for medical devices is also a focus of current and future CDRH initiatives.
Guidances. Guidance documents are one way ODE consistently communicates regulatory requirements. Product-specific guidances (see box) address clinical trial needs for given product types and outline preclinical requirements as well as the format of marketing submissions. CDRH and ODE plan to make the process of guidance development more accessible as well as to develop guidance documents in more areas of device evaluation.
In September 1993, CDRH sponsored a workshop on clinical trials. One aspect of the center's work at that time involved developing a general clinical trials guidance document for industry use. Following the workshop, the center received numerous comments regarding that document. In FY96, the center plans to issue a revised draft of the guidance that focuses on the statistical aspects of trial design. In addition, CDRH will issue companion documents addressing the clinical considerations of general device trials and a special document on trial design for in vitro diagnostics. CDRH is also currently planning a second clinical trials workshop.
Industry Access. During the past several years, ODE has used public panel meetings and open workshops to involve a wide group of individuals with varying expertise in the review process. These meetings have served as a forum for discussion of the specific FDA requirements for safety and effectiveness for a given type of medical device and the extent of data needed to develop appropriate instructions for the health-care community. Such discussions have included appropriate technical information development and labeling for the reuse of hemodialysis filters, the reclassification of immunohistochemical stains, and the testing and labeling of devices containing natural latex.
Clinical Community. ODE has also increased outreach efforts to practice societies and associations in order to involve the clinical community in the development and evaluation of new technologies. Using FDA's Office of Health Affairs and its own resources, ODE has increased the participation of health-care practitioners in both the pre- and postmarket assessment of devices. As a result, the number of individuals cleared to act as special government employees and to participate in panel meetings as consultants and voting members has also increased. These individuals can be called upon to respond directly to ODE review questions that involve products before they reach the final PMA review stage. ODE has greatly benefited from this valuable clinical expertise.
CONCLUSION
CDRH and particularly ODE have focused much effort on device clinical trials design and assessment. The program is intended to facilitate better, more appropriate assessment of new technologies so that safe and effective products reach consumers within reasonable time frames.
Specifically, ODE has developed new guidances for industry, increased the training of CDRH review staff, and stepped up its involvement and communication with the health-care community, the ultimate users of medical device technologies.
REFERENCES
1. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 515(c) and 515(d).
2. Code of Federal Regulations, CFR 21 860.7.
3. "Goals and Initiatives for the IDE Program," Bluebook memo D95-1, Rockville, MD, FDA, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Office of Device Evaluation, July 12, 1995.
4. Annual Report, Rockville, MD, FDA, CDRH, ODE, 1995.
Susan Alpert is director of the Office of Device Evaluation at FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (Rockville, MD).
ODE GUIDANCES FOR CLINICAL TRIALS
The Office of Device Evaluation (ODE) has more than 200 guidance documents available that provide information relevant to clinical trials. The following list represents a sampling that have been published in the past two years.
Office of Device Evaluation
"Goals and Initiatives for the IDE Program" (July 1995)
"Availability of Investigational Devices" (May 1995)
"IDE Refuse to Accept Procedure" (May 1994)
Division of Cardiovascular, Respiratory, and Neurological Devices
"Coronary and Cerebrovascular Guidewire" (January 1995)
"Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulators" (August 1994)
"Interventional Cardiology Devices" (May 1994)
"Coronary and Cerebrovascular Guidewire" (March 1994)
"Replacement Heart Valves" (December 1993)
Division of General and Restorative Devices
"Spinal Fixation Device Systems" (July 1995)
"Saline-Filled Silicone Breast Implants" (December 1993)
Division of Ophthalmic Devices
"PRK Laser IDEs/PMAs" (July 1995)
Division of Reproductive, Abdominal, Ear, Nose and Throat, and Radiological Devices
"Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia" (November 1994)
"Vasovasotomy" (November 1993)
All ODE guidance documents are available from the Division of Small Manufacturers Assistance (DSMA). To obtain copies, contact DSMA via electronic docket: 800/252-1366 or 301/594-2741; Facts on Demand (telefax): 800/899-0381 or 301/827-0111; phone 800/638-2041 or 301/443-6597; or by mail at 1350 Piccard Drive, Rockville, MD 20850-4307. | https://www.mddionline.com/current-and-future-fda-initiatives-clinical-trials |
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Abstract:The Wyoming Department of Transportation’s (WYDOT’s) primary goal for implementing the Wyoming Connected Vehicle Pilot Deployment (CVPD) was to demonstrate the potential and feasibility of using connected vehicle (CV) technologies to improve safety and mobility along 402 miles of Interstate 80 (I-80) in southern Wyoming. As the lead agency, WYDOT wanted to explore using CV technologies to communicate road and travel information to commercial truck drivers and fleet managers that routinely travel the I-80 corridor. Using data provided by the Wyoming CVPD Team, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute conducted a qualitative assessment of the mobility impacts of the deployment. There was little evidence to suggest that the deployment had any direct or indirect impact on mobility; however, this finding was expected because the primary focus of the deployment was on improving safety and information dissemination during severe weather events.
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Main Document Checksum:urn:sha256:54a8ea90a3f6ac262d8f2081fcbf91a32c400a57317ee6d58c722e01fdb87ba3
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File Type: | https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/64241 |
The Fermi paradox is named after physicist Enrico Fermi and refers to the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for and various high probability estimates of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy. The basic points of the argument were more fully developed in a 1975 paper by Michael H. Hart and include: There are billions of stars in the galaxy that are similar to the Sun, and many of these stars are billions of years older than the Solar system. With high probability, some of these stars have Earth-like planets, and if the Earth is typical, some may have already developed intelligent life. Some of these civilizations may have developed interstellar travel, a step the Earth is investigating now. Even at the slow pace of currently envisioned interstellar travel, the Milky Way galaxy could be completely traversed in a few million years. According to this line of reasoning, the Earth should have already been visited by extraterrestrial aliens, or at least their probes. Fermi's name is linked because of a casual conversation in the summer of 1950 with fellow physicists Edward Teller, Herbert York, and Emil Konopinski. While walking to lunch, the men discussed recent UFO reports and the possibility of faster-than-light travel. The conversation moved on to other topics, until during lunch Fermi suddenly said, "Where are they?" or alternatively, "Don't you ever wonder where everybody is?" or alternatively, "But where is everybody?" (the exact quote is uncertain). Despite the jump in topic, two of his three lunch companions remember immediately knowing that Fermi was referring to potential extraterrestrials. Furthermore, York remembers that Fermi "followed up with a series of calculations on the probability of earthlike planets, the probability of life given an earth, the probability of humans given life, the likely rise and duration of high technology, and so on. He concluded on the basis of such calculations that we ought to have been visited long ago and many times over." There have been many attempts to explain the Fermi paradox, primarily either suggesting that intelligent extraterrestrial beings are extremely rare or proposing reasons that such civilizations have not contacted or visited Earth.
Words
This table shows the example usage of word lists for keywords extraction from the text above. | https://en.lexipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox |
This test-case will assess the ability of the NESTcc Data Network to reliably and validly capture data on class III surgical devices to study the safety and effectiveness outcomes for an indication expansion.
Currently, the standard treatment for cardiac arrhythmias includes cardiac ablation with a catheter to destroy a small area of heart tissue that is causing rapid and irregular heartbeats. Catheters have been generally approved by the FDA for use in the treatment of specific cardiac arrhythmias, such as paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and ischemic ventricular tachycardia. Catheters vary in which of these cardiac arrhythmias the FDA has approved their use. There are currently no catheters that are indicated for the treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation.
This test-case will explore the feasibility of generating evidence for label expansions on the use of cardiac ablation catheters to treat cardiac arrhythmias. The feasibility assessment will examine if the NESTcc Data Network Collaborators capture the necessary data elements, and if the data are of appropriate quality (e.g., reliability and relevance) and there is a sufficient population for a representative sample to support a robust and rigorous study for label extensions. | https://nestcc.org/portfolio-item/the-feasibility-of-using-real-world-data-in-the-evaluation-of-cardiac-ablation-catheters/ |
Constrained Writing, Creative Writing,
© De Geest and Goric,
PoetryToday 31:1 (Spring 2010)
© De Geest and Goric,
PoetryToday 31:1 (Spring 2010)
Although we may not consciously be aware of it, everyone who writes as a vocation or an avocation does so subject to constraints. Most fundamental are the constraints imposed by language, accepted style, and grammar. We all learn certain rules and are taught to adhere to them. We are expected to know when to use “which” and when to use “that.” If we vary the rules in a given instance, it is supposed to be only with foreknowledge of the rule and with a good reason for varying it, such as to avoid contextual awkwardness. (Remember Winston Churchill’s famous observation that “ending a sentence in a preposition is something up with which I shall not put?”)
The types of constrained writing referenced in the above quote, however, go further. Beyond the universal constraints, which apply to us all, authors also may find themselves subject to genre, or thematic constraints. As the article referenced above notes, such is the case with romance novels, which tend to follow a fairly established formula. So, too, the “fair play” mystery, which is expected to rigorously adhere to the rule that all clues must be fairly presented to the reader in advance of the solution. And, as discussed in previous columns, anyone writing pastiches – stories in which another author’s character is used – practices even a higher degree of constrained writing, attempting to capture the characters, the style, and the approach of the original author.
Other literary constraints are used often by mystery writers (myself included), as devices to hide clues. These include anagrams, in which the letters of a word are phrase can be re-arranged into a different word or phrase, and the acrostic, a favorite of Lewis Carroll, in which the first letter of successive lines of text, usually a poem, can be read vertically to reveal a hidden message. Another device is to restrict a portion of the text to only certain letters – an Ellery Queen mystery (nameless here; no spoilers!) does this in a message that is drafted in its entirety without utilizing one rather popular letter. As a general rule, particularly when the device is used to hide a clue, the goal is to apply the constraint in a manner in which it is undetected, at least initially, by the reader. The constrained prose or poem should read as though it was freely drafted, in other words, as though it was written without the constraint.
The self-imposed constraints discussed above are fun for the mystery writer. They allow the writer to stretch his or her wings, and can provide means to hide the obvious; they challenge the writer’s skill to pull off the ruse. But as I said, constrained writing is a spectrum. Let’s take a deep breath and then explore what lies several turns down the trail.
When the racetrack closed forever I had to get a job.There goes “when,” “the,” “I,” “had,” “to,” “get,” and “a” all before breaking free of the second line of the novel.
The story that unfolds recounts the exploits of a gambler who, like the constrained author, has vowed to never do, or say, anything that he has said or done before. The book is clearly a tour de force. But, unlike the more manageable constraints discussed above, this is hardly one that the author can pull off without the ruse becoming self-evident. And suffice it to say that this also is a book that requires focused attention by the reader and should not be undertaken by a mind already mellowed by a few drinks!
now in the public domain, is a lipogram: it is told without using any word containing a banned letter, here, the most prevalent letter in the English language – “e”. Wright’s mechanical technique in writing the novel is explained in the introduction as follows:
The entire manuscript of this story was written with the E type-bar of the typewriter tied down; thus making it impossible for that letter to be printed. This was done so that none of that vowel might slip in, accidentally; and many did try to do so!The burden of the technique, while broodingly present in the construction of any single sentence, presented overarching narrative problems as well. Again, the words of the author from his introduction:
In writing such a story, -- purposely avoiding all words containing the vowel E, there are a great many difficulties. The greatest of these is met in the past tense of verbs, almost all of which end with “—ed.” Therefore substitutes must be found; and they are very few. This will cause, at times, a somewhat monotonous use of such words as “said;” for neither “replied,” “answered” nor “asked” can be used. Another difficulty comes with the elimination of the common couplet “of course,” and its very common connective, “consequently;” which will’ unavoidably cause “bumpy spots.” The numerals also cause plenty of trouble, for none between six and thirty are available. When introducing young ladies into the story, this is a real barrier; for what young woman wants to have it known that she is over thirty? And this restriction on numbers, of course taboos all mention of dates.
Many abbreviations also must be avoided; the most common of all, “Mr.” and “Mrs.” being particularly troublesome; for those words, if read aloud, plainly indicate the E in their orthography.
As the vowel E is used more than five times oftener than any other letter, this story was written, not through any attempt to attain literary merit, but due to a somewhat balky nature, caused by hearing it so constantly claimed that “it can’t be done; for you cannot say anything at all without using E, and make smooth continuity, with perfectly grammatical construction—” so ‘twas said.
As Wright noted, with severe literary constraints writing style invariably suffers. That is not to say, however, that pathos cannot be found in all of this. Think of the sad plight of that which has been left behind in constrained writing – the letters, or words, or phrases that are shunned, exiled from the story through no intrinsic fault of their own. Think of the poor little “e’s.” Mr. Wright, in his constrained zeal, did not ignore their sad plight. | https://www.sleuthsayers.org/search/label/Doug%20Nufer?m=0 |
An E-R model stands for Entity-Relationship model. It views the world as a collection of entities (things or objects) and the relationships among them. An entity can be a physical object in the real world or a concept, and is represented by a noun. Relationships or relations are associations between entities. The term 'relation' refers to the manner in which the entities are associated; the term 'relationship' refers to the association itself. Relations are represented by verbs. Thus, an E-R model focuses on the whats of the world, and is well-suited to model data. Actions of the real world are represented by relationships.
The context for discussing E-R models is the database development process. This process is an adaptation of the software development process: database requirements analysis that produces the requirements and conceptual model and the user schemas; database design that produces the database design or logical model and design schemas; database implementation that produces the internal or physical model and the database code. Which database development work product produces an E-R diagram and which stakeholders read it? Can you give a small example of an E-R model? What is a single characteristic that distinguishes an entity?
To review, watch this video on Conceptual Design and read pages 113-116 of Database Design.
In addition to the main symbols for an entity and a relation, additional symbols are needed to represent information in real-world domains of application. Entities have names that are nouns. In our daily speaking and writing, we use qualifiers to add information to constrain nouns. Qualifiers, which we call constraints, are represented in an E-R model by attribute types, entity types, entity sets, derived attributes, and key attributes. A key attribute uniquely identifies one and only entity; each entity is uniquely identified by a key attribute value. An entity can be a weak or strong entity. The values of an entity and of attributes are constrained by a domain of values. How large, relatively, is a domain of a set of attributes compared to the domain of a single-valued attribute? It is multiplicatively larger. If an entity has 4 attributes, A1, A2, A3, A4, the domain for the values of the set is the cartesian product of the value sets of the 4 attributes; and the size of the value set is the product of the sizes of the 4 value sets. In practice, large databases can have hundreds of attributes.
Relationships constrained by relationship type, degree of a relationship, attributes. Attributes constrain an entity; in the same manner, attributes can constrain a relationship. Note that as we study several models, the boundary between entity and relationship can get blurred. Indeed, in the relational model an entity, which is the model calls a table, is a relationship. Also, in some models, relationships are represented as attributes, such as in function modeling. In object modeling, relationships are attributes of an object, which are a reference to another object. In relational modeling, this is called a foreign key attribute or reference.
Typically, an entity represents a group or class of individual instances and is similar to a type. Relationships can also be constrained by attributes. Cardinality and participation are two other ways of constraining a relationship. When two entities are related (say A is related to B), two obvious questions are "how many instances of B are related to a given instance of A?" (this is the perspective from A to B) and "how many instances of A are related to a given instance of B?" (this is the perspective from B to A). If the answer is 1, we say the cardinality is 1:1. If the answer is n, we say the cardinality is 1:n. If the answer to the first question cannot be 0, we say that the existence of an instance of A depends on the existence of an instance of the relationship, or that A totally participates in the relationship. If the answer to the second question cannot be 0, we say that the existence of an instance of B depends on the existence of an instance of the relationship, or that B totally participates in the relationship.
How are cardinality and participation constraints represented in an E-R diagram? What is an identifying relationship; what cardinality characterizes an identifying relationship? To review, watch this video from 43:00 to 51:00.
The above video gives a good overall review of the E-R model. In addition, this unit has several good written resources that you should review. The other resources for Unit 4 provide helpful suggestions and complementary explanations. When you are studying a unit, you should create a small directory of the resources you find helpful, annotate them with a few keywords on important points, and jot down a few notes of what is important to you. They will be very valuable when you review for the final exam.
An E-R model is a representation of an application domain, in terms of entities and relationships among the entities. Qualifications, properties, restrictions that add detail to the entities and relationships are called constraints. There are entity constraints and relationship constraints. Constraints are E-R representations of some of the semantics of the application domain.
Entity constraints include domain integrity or attribute value constraints, entity integrity or primary key constraint, and referential integrity or foreign key constraints. Relationship constraints include business rules, cardinality and participation constraints, and relationship types. Entity and relationship are types or collections of instances, called entity set and relationship set, respectively. Sometimes a lack of precision blurs the distinction between them.
When we study, it is easy to get lost in details. Here are some important concepts and principles to keep in mind
E-R models, and other formal models, are languages that represent information. E-R symbols can be thought of as pairing to nouns, verbs, active voice, or passive voice in natural languages.
To become familiar with E-R modeling in preparation for the final exam, you should study example E-R models in the resources and practice creating E-R diagrams. Use the examples, exercises, and problems in this resource and Advanced Topics in ER Modeling.
This vocabulary list includes terms that might help you with the review items above and some terms you should be familiar with to be successful in completing the final exam for the course.
Try to think of the reason why each term is included. | https://learn.saylor.org/mod/book/view.php?id=30449&chapterid=6293 |
article, and then examine some notations that do describe constraints more effectively than entity / relationship diagrams can. This will give us a clue as to what the metamodel should look like.
Correction
Figure 1 shows Figure 2 from the first article. In it, a business term is shown to be the use of a word or phrase to mean a definition. Since that writing your author has been
exposed to recent work by the Business Rules Group, who have been working with the Object Management Group (OMG) to develop a “Business Semantics for Business Rules”. They have recognized that there is a difference between the universe of discourse (the
body of concepts and facts that are what language describes) and the form of expression that is the set of symbols and statements doing the describing.
Accepting these arguments means that the correct drawing should look more like Figure 2. In this, entity class, and attribute are recognized as concepts (a reformulation of “definition” in Figure
1. They are not simply business terms. This make sense, since there are numerous ways that an entity class (for example) could be described. Indeed the entity class called “Entity class” can be
described using different symbols, depending on the modeling language used.
Note that different instances of an entity class will have names that are instance names—a specific kind of business term. Note also recognition that a word can in fact be part of more than
one phrase. This also is corrected in Figure 2, with the addition of word usage, which is simply the fact that a particular word appears in a particular phrase.
Of course this change to Figure 2 in the original article affects the other drawings as well, but since the subject is entity class, attribute, and so forth, the basic content of the article is not
changed.
Constraint Language
And now back to this article:
To describe business rules (specifically constraints) more completely, we need a language for discussing them. Ron Ross has provided us with such a language. Recognizing that an additional vehicle is needed to describe business rules, he invented a notation to lay over a data model for this purpose.
Figure 3 shows the elements of the notation. Constraints are of two basic types—integrity constraints and conditions. An integrity constraint is something that must be true, or it must be
kept true. In the example, the integrity constraint “X” is one of 28 atomic rule types. This one means “existence”. That is, “X” means
that if there is a party a value must exist for the attribute “Address”. A condition is a test that, depending on its outcome, may invoke another constraint or
an action. In the example, the condition “X” means that if party has a value for “Address” then another rule will be invoked.
Each symbol has a single line going into it, pointing from the thing being constrained. Mr. Ross refers to this as the anchor of the rule. A symbol may have one or more
lines going out from it, pointing to things doing the constraining. These are called correspondents. In the example, the entity class party is the anchor (the thing being
constrained) and the attribute “Address” is a correspondent (a constraint).
Figure 4 reproduces one of the problem models from last quarter’s article. Recall that in that model, we could not enforce the rule that a test type can only be embodied in a test if
- the sample method used to draw the sample that was subject to the test…
- … is the same sample method that is the basis for a test requirement for that test type.
The relationship “Each test must be an example of a test type” is constrained. We cannot create an instance of this relationship unless the relationship from test through sample to
sample method is consistent with the relationship from test type through test requirment to sample method. This is shown by an “R” (“Restricted”) integrity constraint, and
the constraining is done by the two relationships:
- from test to sample (and its implied sample method) and
- from test type to test requirement (and its implied sample method).
The Object Role Model (ORM) notation is a variation on entity / relationship modeling that is much more versatile in describing constraints. Figure 5 shows our model in ORM notation. Here, entity classes are represented by ovals, and relationships are shown as divided boxes, with
one space for each role that makes up the relationship. The double-headed arrow over half of each relationship box is what in ORM is called a “uniqueness constraint”. This means that,
for example, each occurrence of test requirement can have only one occurrence of the role from sample method. (This is ORM’s way of saying that each test requirement is from one
and only one sample method.) The dot between a relationship line and an entity class means that the relationship is mandatory for that entity class.
The constraint we are after is called a “join-subset constraint”, and in Figure 5 this is represented by the lines linking the relationship from test to test type to a line between the
test type / test requirement relationship and the test / sample relationship. That is the test / test type relationship is constrained by the contents of the two other relationships. In both cases,
this means that the latter relationships ultimately must point to the same sample method.
Figure 6 shows the metamodel of constraints. Note that we have seen part of this last issue, where we showed the metamodel of the inter-role constraint. In that case, the business constraint was to
constrain either an entity class or a role., and each business constraint element was constrained by a role. As you can see from this Figure, the complete model is much more extensive than that. A
business constraint must be either an integrity business constraint or a condition, and it may be to constrain an entity class, a role, or an attribute. The business constraint may be composed of
one or more business constraint elements, each of which refers to something doing the constraining—an attribute, a role, an entity class, or another business constraint.
As mentioned above, a condition will trigger either other business rules (constraints), or an action. Thus, in Figure 7, each condition may be the source of one or more rule triggers, each
of which is (the trigger) of either another business constraint or a function.
Figure 8 shows some additional information that can be captured about a constraint. As previously mentioned, Mr. Ross recognizes 28 atomic types of rules, grouped into “Instance
Verifiers” (such as “Mandatory”, shown above), “Type Verifiers” (such as “Mutually Exclusive”), “Position Verifiers” (such as
“Lowest”, “Highest”, etc.), “Functional Verifiers” (such as “Unique”), “Comparative Verifiers” (such as “Equal to”,
“Less than”, etc.), “Mathematical Evaluators” (such as “Sum”, “Subtract”, etc.), and “Projection Controllers” (such as
“Execute” (a function)). In addition, he’s defined another dozen categories of derived rules.
Other authors have categorized rules differently, but in any case, it is reasonable to assert that each business constraint must be an example of a business constraint type.
People and organizations play roles in the definition and enforcement of rules. This is shown in Figure 8 by the fact that a business constraint may be managed via one or more business
constraint roles, each of which must be played by one party. Each business constraint role must be an example of one business constraint role type.
Violation of a business constraint may have widely different consequences, depending on the nature of the business constraint. Either entry of the information may be refused, or it may be accepted,
with notification of the violation to various parties. Thus, each business constraint may be subject to a particular consequence of violation.
Figure 9 shows that either a business constraint or a business constraint element may be qualified by one or more business constraint arguments. These are the data that control constraints. These
are the test requirement occurrences described above. Each argument must be an example of a business constraint argument type.
An example of an argument would be, for example in Figure 10 (reproduced from last quarter’s article), that an occurrence of the relationship “Each physical asset may be accounted for
in one asset account” must be in place within 14 days. The argument is “14 days”.
Arguments are one example of business constraints being controlled by data. Another is to have them expressed in terms of other entity classes and attributes in the model. This will be discussed in
the next article.
For information about their current efforts, see John Hall, “Business Semantics of Business Rules”, BRCommunity, Volume 5, Issue 5,
May, 2004. Available at: http://www.brcommunity.com/b182.php
Ron Ross. The Business Rule Book: Classifying, Defining, and Modeling Rules, Second Edition. Boston: Database Research Group.
1997. | https://tdan.com/the-business-constraint-model/5214 |
What is Constraint-based Modeling in Prescriptive Analytics?
Every company operates within a large set of constraints, including annual budgets, material purchase contracts, resource capacity, hospital ward space, environmental regulations, customer order contracts, financial reporting regulations, and others. While these financial, physical and policy constraints can impact an entire organization, most planning processes are still done by department, business unit, geography or some other hierarchy. The need for true Integrated Business Planning (IBP) has never been greater.
No one would argue that major constraints, especially those impacting profits, are not important. Well understood and managed constraints, such as budgets, normally trickle down to various decision-making levels. However, companies often have many enterprise-impacting constraints, which are not always taken into account or followed.
This results in disconnects and inconsistencies in the decision logic process — often the case when organizations use a descriptive or predictive analytics modeling approach for planning decisions. Critical constraints are usually simplified or aggregated, and sometimes completely ignored!
A constraint is not a bias or a preference. Implementing a rule such as “games should be scheduled on Friday nights if possible” is not a constraint, it’s a preference. A rule such as “customer ABC’s orders should be processed out of DC 123” is also not a binding constraint if viable alternatives are allowed to be considered.
Some industry pundits believe that using preferences and biases in the form of heuristic rules, in lieu of hard constraints, is perfectly acceptable — but is it? What it comes down to is how important profitability, predictability, agility, and accountability are to the company’s management and their investors.
Constraint-based modeling is a scientifically-proven mathematical approach, in which the outcome of each decision is constrained by a minimum and maximum range of limits (+/- infinity is allowed). Decision variables sharing a common constraint must also have their solution values fall within that constraint’s bounds. A constraint-based modeling approach is most commonly — and effectively — used with optimization techniques, such as the use of linear and mixed-integer programming to maximize an objective function.
Here’s a simple example: an auto manufacturer has two assembly lines, Line #1 for cars and Line #2 for trucks. However, the manufacturer has a single paint shop, which acts as a constraint for the entire plant. The company, in this case, wants to know how many cars and trucks it should make to maximize profitability. When an optimal solution is obtained, neither assembly line’s production can exceed the paint shop’s capacity.
While some approaches rely on averages (such as standard cost accounting) for true driver-based constraint modeling, all costs, rates, yields, and constraints will be defined in their natural units of measure (e.g., $/unit, Euro/hour and so on) for each step in the process. Imagine the problem as if you were actually watching the processes occur right in front of you. Once defined, it is then the solver’s responsibility to analyze natural behavior and apply all constraints to determine the optimal solution.
Conversely, constraint-based modeling is not hypothesis-driven (a.k.a. deterministic) modeling. No analyst using a constraint-based model should be able to predict the behavior of the entire model beforehand. Any “solution” that allows for this is not true constraint-based modeling.
True constraint-based modeling also calculates the opportunity value of the constrained decision. Company management should not settle for a report that states a machine’s capacity will be utilized for an entire 40 hour work week, and that, therefore, no additional production can occur. The best constraint-based modeling approaches will certainly provide that insight, but will also identify all profit-impacting opportunities.
For example, by adding an extra shift on a given machine, a company may be able to make an additional $100k per hour. Most traditional planning systems, like those for materials requirement, capacity, inventory or demand, simply will not calculate the true bottom-line opportunity value associated with a constrained decision. This is true for positive opportunity values constrained at an upper limit (usually in the form of time or market constraints), as well as negative opportunity values constrained at a lower limit (usually in the form of supply, labor or demand contracts).
For prescriptive analytics software — used to answer the question “what should I do?”— constraint-based modeling is not an optional feature; it’s a core philosophical foundation. It must be able to not only define and apply critical customer-specific constraints but also, as mentioned previously, state the value of the constrained decision. This value can only be obtained by using established optimization techniques.
Ask the vendor to describe how critical business constraints are defined, and if any shortcuts are taken in the process — remember the difference between constraints and heuristics.
Think globally — the value of constraint-based modeling grows exponentially with complexity. Make sure to ask how policy, regulatory and other types of non-physical constraints are represented.
Insist on understanding how financials are modeled — even if it's not necessary for your initial project, as soon as you meet with your CFO or CEO they will become critical.
By all means, if the project at hand is complex, put the vendor through a proof-of-concept (POC). Ask them to build a model with your data, and then optimally solve “what-if” scenarios during a live demonstration. This transparent approach will not only enable you to see how constraint modeling works but also provide a proper comparison of the various alternatives available. | https://blog.riverlogic.com/what-is-constraint-based-modeling |
Oulipo and Beyond: 6 Playful Constrained Writing Projects
Writing isn’t all fun and games. Except, of course, when it is. Constrained writing, or writing that involves self-imposed limits, can take many forms. Poetry often works within expected constraints, like rhyme schemes. But you can constrain prose, too. Or limit poetry in new, unexpected ways.
Members of the Oulipo, an experimental French group active since 1960, have famously used constrained writing in their work. “Oulipo” stands for Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, or “workshop of potential literature.” Oulipian writers have generally focused on using limitations to foster new creative possibilities.
Of course, constrained writing doesn’t begin and end with the Oulipo. And you don’t have to be an official member of the group to use Oulipian techniques. Here are some impressive examples of constrained writing from both inside and outside the Oulipo circle.
One Hundred Twenty-One Days by Michèle Audin (Translated by Christiana Hills)
Michèle Audin is a French writer and mathematician, making her a natural candidate for the Oulipo, of which she’s been a member since 2009. One Hundred Twenty-One Days, her first novel, is available from Deep Vellum Publishing in English translation. This book follows the experiences of some mathematicians doing work throughout World War I and II. Each chapter falls into a specific style, such as that of a fairytale, a diary, or an interview. Each chapter also begins with the words on which the previous chapter ended. This all makes for an especially absorbing and unique read.
Not One Day by Anne Garréta (Translated by Emma Ramadan)
Here’s another offering from Deep Vellum. Not One Day involves a constraint of organization. In this genre-defying adventure, Garréta resolves to write about an instance where she desired a woman, or a woman desired her, every day for a month. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that this doesn’t turn out to be the compilation of conquests you might expect. Rather than simply fulfilling the constraint, Not One Day produces something unexpected and invigorating.
Sleeping with the Dictionary by Harryette Mullen
Harryette Mullen isn’t a member of the Oulipo, but has made deliberate use of some Oulipian techniques. Poetry may typically already have certain constraints, but that hasn’t stopped Mullen from creating new ones. In Sleeping with the Dictionary, she orders all poems alphabetically, and makes use of additional artistic feats of organization—alphabetical and otherwise. For example, the poem “Any Lit” constructs a skyscraper of near-identical sentences built on the formula “You are a [word beginning with “u” sound] beyond my [word beginning with “my” sound].”
The White Book by Han Kang (Translated by Deborah Smith)
Han Kang, author of the acclaimed novel The Vegetarian, has also produced this work based on the theme of the color white. The White Book begins with a list of associations with the color. It then circles “white” imagery for the rest of the text, which itself revolves around the protagonist’s thoughts about her sister who died shortly after birth. The White Book wavers between reading like a novel, essay, and poetry collection. While the constraint here may be looser than with other works on this list, it’s definitely worked to produce new possibilities.
Winter Journeys by Georges Pérec and the Oulipo (Translated by Harry Mathews, Ian Monk, and John Sturrock)
The late Georges Pérec arguably remains the most prominent member of the Oulipo, with one of his most notable works being La Disparition, translated into English as A Void. This novel, an example of a lipogram, famously never used the letter E. (The constraint was kept in the translation.) Winter Journeys, which publisher Atlas Press categorizes as an “anti-classic,” is definitive for a different reason. It collects 20 texts from Oulipo members riffing off “Le Voyage d’hiver” (The Winter Journey), a short story of Pérec’s.
Pérec’s original story is an amusing few pages about a man who discovers a curious book in a friend’s library one night. This book reveals some of the great minds of French literature to be plagiarists. The other Oulipo members spun “sequels” to Pérec’s story over a number of years. In the process, they created tales of elaborate literary conspiracies, alternative histories, and rewritten mythologies.
You can glimpse the Oulipian fun and games in the titles themselves: “Le Voyage d’hiver” is followed by “Le Voyage d’hier” (Yesterday’s Journey), which in turn is followed by “Le Voyage d’Hitler” (Hitler’s Journey). In French, these titles rhyme with one another and sound very similar; the resulting stories blossom out of these bits of wordplay.
This is a fantastic book to add to your coffee table collection. Or to place unassumingly on a nightstand, where your guests can discover it for themselves on a cold winter’s night.
“Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den” by Yuen Ren Chao
This isn’t exactly a masterpiece to savor, but it’s an extremely playful (and plain extreme) example of constrained writing. Yuen Ren Chao, a famous linguist, wrote this piece using Chinese syllables distinguishable from one another in speech only by their tones. The result is a comprehensible poem that consists entirely of the general sound “shi.”
“Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den” is about a poet named Shi, who lives in a stone room and has an appetite for lions. He shoots ten lions and brings them back to his stone room to eat them, but then realizes that the lions are also stone. While this is extremely silly, it’s not without literary merit. After all, it’s clear even if you’re reading a translation that the poet is trapped in a prison of language.
The works above only represent a few steps into the world of constrained writing and Oulipian wonders. For a closer look at the legacy of the Oulipo and how it could inform modern literature, check out The End of Oulipo? by Lauren Elkin and Veronica Esposito.
Maybe you’ll be inspired to try your own writing experiments. Have fun! | https://bookriot.com/constrained-writing/ |
Wrestling with the Angel is a meditation on contemporary political, legal, and social theory from a psychoanalytic perspective. It argues for the enabling function of formal and symbolic constraints in sustaining desire as a source of creativity, innovation, and social change.
The book begins by calling for a richer understanding of the psychoanalytic concept of the symbolic and the resources it might offer for an examination of the social link and the political sphere. The symbolic is a crucial dimension of social coexistence but cannot be reduced to the social norms, rules, and practices with which it is so often collapsed. As a dimension of human life that is introduced by language -- and thus inescapably "other" with respect to the laws of nature -- the symbolic is an undeniable fact of human existence. Yet the same cannot be said of the forms and practices that represent and sustain it. In designating these laws, structures, and practices as "fictions," Jacques Lacan makes clear that the symbolic is a dimension of social life that has to be created and maintained and that can also be displaced, eradicated, or rendered dysfunctional. The symbolic fictions that structure and support the social tie are therefore historicizable, emerging at specific times and in particular contexts and losing their efficacy when circumstances change. They are also fragile and ephemeral, needing to be renewed and reinvented if they are not to become outmoded or ridiculous. Therefore the aim of this study is not to call for a return to traditional symbolic laws but to reflect on the relationship between the symbolic in its most elementary or structural form and the function of constraints and limits.
McNulty analyzes examples of "experimental" (as opposed to "normative") articulations of the symbolic and their creative use of formal limits and constraints not as mere prohibitions or rules but as "enabling constraints" that favor the exercise of freedom. The first part examines practices that conceive of subjective freedom as enabled by the struggle with constraints or limits, from the transference that structures the "minimal social link" of psychoanalysis to constrained relationships between two or more people in the context of political and social movements. Examples discussed range from the spiritual practices and social legacies of Moses, Jesus, and Teresa of Avila to the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt and Jacques Rancière. The second part is devoted to legal and political debates surrounding the function of the written law. It isolates the law's function as a symbolic limit or constraint as distinct from its content and representational character. The analysis draws on Mosaic law traditions, the political theology of Paul, and twentieth-century treatments of written law in the work of Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, Pierre Legendre, and Alain Badiou. In conclusion, the study considers the relationship between will and constraint in Kant's aesthetic philosophy and in the experimental literary works of the collective Oulipo.
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Here is what concerns me: a growing sense that despite the varied and important ways in which contemporary social and political theory has attempted to understand and defend the cause of freedom, the latter is too often defined solely in negative terms, as a freedomfromlimits or constraints: oppressive norms, restrictive or prejudicial laws, the reified accretions of the status quo that make it resistant to change.
When Georg Cantor defined mathematics as a practice of “freedom realized through constraints,”¹ he gave expression to something that is all too often overlooked today: that the pursuit of subjective freedom may...
“To go through a psychoanalysis marks a passage, on the condition that my analysis of the unconscious as founding the function of the symbolic be completely admissible.”¹ With these words, Jacques Lacan sums up the two claims that this chapter will attempt to elucidate: that the analytic experience constitutes a “passage”—a transformation of the subject’s position with respect to the fantasy—only on the condition that the subject traverse the field of the symbolic, and that it is the unconscious that founds the symbolic function, and not the norms, ideals, or prohibitions that regulate social coexistence. Psychoanalysis is an...
The traditional pessimism of psychoanalysis with respect to social change is well known. Even from its greatest innovators, we are used to a kind of jaded critique of social reform or political engagement as enthusiasm, wish fulfillment, or worse: Freud’s dismissal of Marxism as a delusional worldview,¹ or Lacan’s telling the student militants of May ’68 that “what you aspire to as revolutionaries is a master: you will get one.”² Both judgments point to the imaginary character of most social and political projects, or their tendency to aid and abet the idealization and wish-fulfillment that are the hallmarks of the...
The legal theorist Pierre Legendre has argued that the Romano-Canonical legal traditions that form the foundations of Western jurisprudence “are founded in a discourse which denies the essential quality of the relation of the body to writing.”¹ It emerges historically as a repudiation of Jewish legalism and Talmud law, where the rite of circumcision encodes the subject’s entry into law as an “allegiance to the absolute Writing,” or the “relationship between the human subject and the logical place of the Other” (110–11). In this shift, one understanding of writing is displaced by another: the material inscription of the letter,...
When we juxtapose the two polemics that in many ways bookend the long history of political theology—Paul’s polemic against the Jewish law and Carl Schmitt’s critique of constitutional liberalism—it becomes apparent that both authors challenge spatial notions of law that establish a boundary between an “inside” and an “outside” by topologizing “inside” and “outside” as continuous: through the “fulfillment of the law” in Paul, and through the strategy of sovereign exception in Schmitt. In his mission to the Gentiles, Paul argues that the covenant with the Israelites does not define the borders of the kingdom of God; the...
Alain badiou has made numerous and important contributions to the problem of the symbolic, including but not limited to the elaboration of what might be called a symbolic dimension to his theory of the event.¹ Strikingly, however, his work appears to leave no room for a symbolic understanding oflaw. Almost invariably, it is reduced to the imaginary function of representing the “situation” or “world” where the event intervenes.² Indeed, Badiou’s work might even be read as an attempt to rehabilitate the concept of the symbolic precisely by purging it of law. It tends to reinforce an understanding of the...
Walter benjamin′s early writings on law from the Weimar period model another, more productive way of thinking about the written law. They cast a critical eye on any account of the political sphere that upholds the unwriteability of the act as its chief virtue, or attempts to reduce the function of law to the status of a secondary representation. Benjamin, who was at once a harsh critic of the failures of parliamentary democracy, a committed proponent of revolutionary class struggle, and a grudging admirer of “the fascist public law theorist” Carl Schmitt,¹ might seem an unlikely source to appeal to...
In a series of recent essays on the will of the people, Peter Hallward finds that the question of will is at best disregarded by contemporary philosophy, at worst feared or rejected by it. In particular, he takes issue with a long genealogy of political philosophy that opposes the negativity of law and limits—or the finitude of lack—to a will understood as an irrational agency that must be circumscribed by laws and constitutional limits or diluted by mediating forms of representation. This is generally read by Hallward as a debasing of the subject, a suspicion concerning its political...
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