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Are you down to earth?
Get PDFThe practice of grounding, or “earthing” has been gaining popularity in the last few decades as a holistic approach to prevention and treatment in broad scopes of practice. The exercise reflects the early human experience of frequent and direct contact with the earth’s surface. The current, limited available data perceives and theorizes health improvements including decreased inflammation, enhanced perfusion, sleep restoration, lowered blood pressure, enhanced muscle recovery, and decreased cortisol levels. When implementing any new health practice into one’s routine, it is crucial to be well informed. This review can help individuals better ascertain if grounding could improve their health and provide practical methods to begin the practice
Comparing the Visuospatial Abilities of Alzheimer\u27s Patients and Huntington\u27s Patients
Get PDFVisuospatial deficits emerge from the pathophysiology of Huntington\u27s Disease (HD) and Alzheimer\u27s Disease (AD). We directly compared the mental rotation abilities of HD (n=18) and AD (n=18) patients relative to age matched young healthy controls (n=20) and older healthy controls (n=20). Participants completed non-rotational and rotational components of the Right-Left Orientation (RLO), Luria, Money Road Map (MRM), and Stick Construction (SC) tests. Participants indicated the strategy they used on each test: personal rotation, extrapersonal rotation, or non-rotation. Results indicated that HD and AD patients were equally impaired relative to healthy controls on rotational, components of all tests. The groups did not differ in self-reported use of strategies on RLO or Luria, but group differences emerged on MRM and SC. Controls were most likely to use personal rotation on MRM and SC, but strategy choice did not affect performance. Only HD patients were less likely than their controls to use personal rotation on the MRM. Utilization of a personal rotation strategy by patients resulted in better performance on the MRM, but not SC. Together, results suggest that patients with neurodegenerative disorders are less likely to utilize personal rotation strategies on visuospatial tests than healthy peers, which may partly explain their mental rotation deficits
Reshoring the Semiconductor Industry Supply Chain: Analysis of Risks and Capabilities
Get PDFThe importance of supply chain resilience and semiconductor manufacturing has been discussed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and its later disruptions to multiple industries (The White House, 2021). This paper uses frameworks developed by Pettit, Fiksel, and Croxton (2010), Ponomarov and Holcomb (2009), and Rao and Goldsby (2009) to identify the semiconductor industry’s risks, capabilities, and interdependencies through an analysis of 45 prominent semiconductor companies. The analysis was done on multiple levels. On the industry level, risks, and capabilities as well as their co-occurrences were analyzed. On the supply chain level, relationships were mapped using Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Semiconductor Industry Association data (SIA, 2021) to understand interdependency and interrelationships. Finally, a case study was developed to understand the impact of industry characteristics, interdependency, and supply chain risks and capabilities at the company level. The resulting overall analysis was used to analyze the relevance and viability of reshoring semiconductor manufacturing to the U.S. as a means of improving supply chain resilience. The results suggest a misbalance of the industry’s risk and capabilities. The most commonly identified risks, macroeconomic and natural uncertainty, were linked to the organization capability. However, that capability has not been found to address the environmental level risks the semiconductor companies identified. Instead, there are several other capabilities including flexibility in sourcing, anticipation, and adaption that are capable of addressing the risks the industry is most concerned about. Therefore, while reshoring could reduce risk, it may not be necessary if other solutions are thoroughly explored
Check It Out: Analyzing the Checkout Experience of Small Business E-commerce Websites
Get PDFThere is limited research available aimed at identifying specifically how a small business shopper may experience different pain points during checkout in comparison to well-known retail websites and the layout of their e-commerce websites. Enlightened by the Technology Adoption Model and the concept of consumer trust, the purpose of this research is to determine similar characteristics across small business e-commerce websites to identify common pain points for users, or simply what small businesses lack regarding common elements that ease the checkout experience for consumers. From these insights, elements within the checkout experience can be compared to the pain points of those of larger retail websites. With these comparisons, new recommendations can be made for smaller businesses on how to adjust checkout elements to create a smoother experience for shoppers. This research involved a content analysis on a variety of elements within a checkout experience to compare a sample of 50 small business e-commerce websites. The results showed that a majority of small business websites are not implementing recommended elements that will enhance the online checkout experience. Yet, small businesses need it the most to establish e-commerce credibility
The Reconciliation of Theology and Mythology in Philosophical Defenses of Music in Early Modern London
Get PDFSince Antiquity, elements of Greek mythology and Hebraic history have intersected in many forms of literary and visual art. Renaissance philosophers, moved by skepticism, struggled to reconcile the historical and theological contradictions of these ancient sources, and scholars of European history Arthur Ferguson and Jean Seznec recognize resulting trends of mythological interpretation among authors of diverse disciplines. My research investigates ways in which London university professors John Taverner, John Case and an anonymous Oxford author utilized these interpretive methods in their music treatises of the early modern period and discusses the intersection of Protestant theology and Greek mythology in these authors’ defense of communal music.
In 1611, Taverner claimed to follow St. Augustine’s example “to gather out of the writings of profane authors, that so taking the good and true from those unjust owners, we might reduce them to their proper and primary use.” Unlike some Protestants who waged literary war on the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology, Taverner and others employed “writings of profane authors” as an integral part of their rhetorical content, placing Apollo, Jupiter, and Mercury alongside Biblical figures as authoritative proof of music’s intrinsic virtue and appropriate usefulness. I contend that these authors sought to maintain Christian theological ideals while defending music’s rightful place in civil and ecclesiastical contexts by channeling their mythological sources through culturally acceptable lenses of historical and allegorical interpretation.
A comparison of these treatises with histographies and mythographies circulating in early modern England reveals a hierarchy of source material achieved by filtering mythological references through subjective interpretative techniques. The investigation of literary authorities and rhetorical devices used in these treatises affords a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between ancient tradition and emerging rationalism and offers additional perspective on the philosophical discourse surrounding English Renaissance music