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An Integrated Decision Support System (DSS) for Sustainable Supplier Selection, Evaluation, and Benchmarking Using a FIS and MOLP Approach
Get PDFApplications of sustainable supplier selection criteria in supply chain management are less developed compared to other evaluation methods. This study focuses on three main dimensions of sustainable supplier performance: economic, environmental, and social criteria. The research aims to identify significant criteria within each dimension that are crucial for the sustainable supplier selection process. These criteria will be utilized to develop a hybrid decision support system that integrates a fuzzy inference system with multi-objective linear programming. This comprehensive model will evaluate and benchmark supplier sustainable performance, providing an overall assessment of supplier performance. The proposed model offers a holistic approach to supplier evaluation, considering not only the economic aspects but also the environmental impact and social responsibility of suppliers. By incorporating these dimensions, the model ensures that the selection process aligns with broader sustainability goals. This approach enables companies to make more informed and sustainable decisions, ultimately contributing to a more resilient and responsible supply chain. Furthermore, the integration of a fuzzy inference system allows for handling the inherent uncertainty and vagueness in supplier performance data, while multi-objective linear programming facilitates the optimization of multiple conflicting objectives. This combination enhances the robustness and reliability of the decision-making process, making it a valuable tool for supply chain managers. In summary, the proposed model provides a comprehensive framework for evaluating and benchmarking supplier sustainable performance, supporting more informed and sustainable decision-making in supply chain management
Artificial ignorance: Understanding the role of AI in modern agnotology
Get PDFThis paper explores the concept of agnotology, the deliberate production of ignorance, within the context of modern scientific endeavors, particularly in the corporate and technological sectors. It examines how industries use various tactics to manipulate public understanding of scientific issues, often to protect profits and limit liability. The rise of private sector funding and the increasing reliance on technologies like AI and machine learning have exacerbated this process by making scientific inquiry more opaque and less accountable. Ultimately, we argue that as knowledge production becomes more entangled with corporate interests and technological systems, traditional methods of oversight and regulation are insufficient to combat the growing influence of agnotology
Galaxy Tales: A Data-Driven Approach to Emotional Self-Expression
Get PDFGalaxy Tales is a mobile application that transforms users’ social media activity into personalized planetary visuals, offering a novel way to document and reflect on life experiences. This project explores how data-driven design can create emotionally resonant and personalized representations of identity by extracting key elements—color, object shapes, and emotional atmosphere—from digital footprints. Grounded in psychological theories such as memory anchors and emotional attachment, Galaxy Tales enables users to form deep emotional connections with their virtual planets, turning abstract memories into tangible visual metaphors. The project also addresses current societal challenges, such as loneliness and emotional fatigue, by offering a reflective and emotionally supportive space. The final app prototype features a minimalist UI, an evolving planetary system, and potential for expansion through AI-assisted data extraction and deeper interactivity. Galaxy Tales demonstrates the potential of integrating design and psychology to create meaningful, sustainable digital experiences
Understanding Vaccines: A 3D Animation and Print Materials for Clinical Trial Patients
Get PDFThis project covers the importance of patient education, and the decisions that go into making patient facing materials. The topic of this piece is “Understanding Vaccines” and will explore several key aspects: what vaccines are, how they work, their important role in public health, and how to best communicate with patient audiences. Given the growing challenges in vaccine education, this piece will address common misconceptions and emphasize the importance of clear, accessible communication. The goal of this piece is to educate, but also to encourage individuals to make well-informed decisions regarding vaccination. The artwork created for this thesis was developed from an original script, built out into a storyboard, then further developed into a 3D animation. The pieces developed for this thesis will be used by Rochester Clinical Research, Inc to aid their current patient education tools. A brief history of the field of clinical trial research is touched on, as well as the importance of the existence of clinical trials
A Wayfarer
Get PDFThis paper examines the making of A Wayfarer, a personal film that explores themes of identity, cultural belonging, and the experience of being a third-culture individual. The character Boaty represents the complexities of navigating multiple identities, as the film blends visual and sound design to convey the feeling of being lost-in-culture. As part of my graduate thesis at the Rochester Institute of Technology, the film blends visual and sound design to convey the feeling of being lost-in-culture. The paper discusses the creative choices behind the shift from humor to vulnerability, the challenges of depicting family dynamics, and the process of creating a soundtrack. Feedback from family and its selection in queer and Asian film festivals influenced my understanding of my evolving identity as a filmmaker. Ultimately, A Wayfarer serves as a case study in visual storytelling, offering insights of process driven filmmaking for aspiring filmmakers and cross-cultural researchers into the process of filmmaking while exploring the universal search for identity and belonging. The paper concludes by examining how the film reflects both personal growth and broader cultural themes, contributing to the ongoing dialogue between identity, culture, and the cinematic medium
Integrating the Seven Stages of Conocimiento with Nahuatl and Ralámuri Wisdom in Kosmic Feminism: My Creative Writer Identity.
No full textThis paper explores the intersection of Kosmic Feminism and the seven stages of conocimiento as outlined by Gloria Anzaldúa, integrating Indigenous wisdom from Nahuatl and Ralámuri traditions. It examines how decolonial thought, feminist theory, and creative writing can be transformative tools for personal and communal healing. Drawing on personal experiences rooted in the borderlands of Ciudad Juárez-El Paso and Rarámuri heritage, the author blends Anzaldúa’s framework of conocimiento with Indigenous perspectives to offer a critique of patriarchal systems and a vision of holistic, cosmic resistance. The seven stages of conocimiento—awakening (El Arrebato), liminality (La Nepantla), commitment (El Compromiso), healing (La Herida Abierta), and spiritual activism (Shifting Realities)—serve as guiding principles for navigating the complexities of identity, trauma, and resistance, with a particular focus on the power of creative expression to disarticulate patriarchal language. Through the lens of Kosmic Feminism, this work challenges traditional narratives of forgiveness and justice, proposing a radical, active form of spiritual activism that reconnects personal, communal, and cosmic dimensions of healing. The paper ultimately invites readers to envision a decolonial, feminist future where transformation is both individual and collective, and where the written word becomes a powerful act of resistance and reclamatio
Systematic Evaluation of Regression Models for the Prediction of Influenza Cases
Get PDFThis study systematically evaluates machine learning models to forecast influenza outbreaks, aiming to enhance public health preparedness through accurate predictions. Laboratory-confirmed influenza case data from the New York State Department of Health (2009–2023) were used to train and test five regression models—XGBoost, Neural Network (MLP regressor), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Random Forest, and Support Vector Regression (SVR)—with preprocessing techniques including differencing and phasing. A leave-one-season-out cross-validation framework and Symmetric Mean Absolute Percentage Error (SMAPE) were employed to rigorously assess performance. Key findings reveal that the Neural Network (MLP regressor) outperformed other models, achieving the lowest SMAPE score (23.7), underscoring the critical role of raw temporal data over differencing methods. Differencing universally degraded accuracy, suggesting that removing trends obscured essential temporal patterns. SVR models exhibited poor performance, highlighting limitations of linear kernel-based methods in capturing nonlinear epidemiological dynamics. Hyperparameter analysis demonstrated distinct temporal dependencies: KNN excelled at short-term fluctuations, XGBoost at medium-term trends, and Random Forest at long-term structural shifts. These results provide actionable frameworks for public health decision-making, enabling timely resource allocation and outbreak mitigation. Future work should extend forecast horizons, integrate external datasets (e.g., weather, social media), and explore granular region- or strain-specific models. This study concludes that machine learning, particularly neural networks, offers a robust pathway to transform surveillance data into predictive insights, bridging critical gaps in infectious disease management and preparedness
Contributor News
Get PDFEditor Jen Hirt shares a collection of contributor updates, highlighting successes in publications and careers following articles published in the Journal of Creative Writing Studies
A Perennial Kind of Service: Flannery O’Connor, Protégé and Mentor
Get PDFFlannery O’Connor stands among the great authors of the second half of the twentieth century, with a canon of literary work—two novels and a National Book Award-winning collection of stories, along with essays, speeches, letters, and journals—that belies her limited years. If her life had been longer, she would have completed a greater body of work, but she also might have affected the development of creative writing pedagogy in the United States. O’Connor, after all, was one of the most successful of the early graduates of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the first and most prestigious graduate program for creative writers. Holding a newly minted degree, a prestigious fellowship, and a book contract in hand, she might have been invited to teach at many of the creative writing programs emerging in the years after her graduation[1]; however, convincing her to become part of the overwhelming enterprise of the American university would have been difficult. As a student, she found the content of her creative writing “classes where students criticize each other’s manuscripts … equal parts of ignorance, flattery and spite” (MM 86), at best, and, writing to her mother, she once characterized the criticism as “violent” (Dear Regina 28).
[1] I imagine O’Connor teaching at her undergraduate alma mater, Georgia State College for Women, where, had she not suffered an untimely death due to lupus, she could have had a front row seat to the integration of the American South. In the summer of 1964, as O’Connor was dying, the first Black student, Cellestine Hill, was admitted to the college. O’Connor described herself “an integrationist by principle & a segregationist by taste,” and further comments written to friend Maryat Lee in May 1864 about James Baldwin, other Black leaders, and the Black community have rightly generated a vigorous scholarly conversation about O’Connor and race. For more on these issues, see Paul Elie’s 2020 New Yorker article “How Racist Was Flannery O’Connor?” and Angela Alaimo O\u27Donnell’s book Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O\u27Connor