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Teaching Computing in Prison
No full textIn this discussion, we seek to create a space for computing educators interested in teaching in prisons. Recent policy changes are leading to a growing number of higher education institutions providing programs in prison to combat the national crisis of mass incarceration, which disproportionately impacts already marginalized groups. Within the computing education community, we see an opportunity for several mutual benefits through our increased involvement in these programs including: a) providing computing courses in prisons, where STEM education opportunities are severely lacking, b) increasing diverse perspectives by bringing justice-impacted people into computing, and c) gaining experience and improving known methods in effective CS education in settings with low-technology infrastructure, for adult and non-traditional students, and for students from diverse backgrounds. All discussion leaders have experience in and/or plans to teach CS in a college-in-prison program. No experience is required, and we welcome all members of the community interested in learning more about these opportunities
PD Supporting CS And Math Integration: Implications Of Teacher Interest And Confidence For Workshop Design
No full textBackground and Context: Integrating computer science (CS) and math in classrooms is an increasingly recognized way for schools to address national CS mandates. There is a need to understand how professional development (PD) can support teachers to integrate. Objective: We examined math teachers’ interest, and confidence, in math, CS, and student learning, in relation to their participation in professional development (PD) designed to support them to integrate CS with math in their classrooms. Method: We used mixed-methods to study participants in entry-level hybrid PD, and a sub-group of those participants who took the workshop a second time. Findings: Results showed that not all math teachers have an interest in math, and that math interest significantly influenced whether teachers (a) returned to retake the entry-level workshop and (b) followed through to integrate CS in their teaching. Implications: Findings suggest that workshop design include: (1) multiple points of entry, (2) pairing/grouping participants based on interest and confidence, and (3) opportunities to practice
Us And Them: Foreign Threat And Domestic Polarization
No full textCan foreign threats reduce domestic polarization, and if so, under what conditions? This is an important question for the United States given the severity of internal division and the emergence of China as a potentially unifying external peril. We offer a novel theoretical argument about when external danger will rally Americans based on the nexus between the vividness of foreign danger and bipartisan elite agreement about the threat. We test our theory through a series of pre-registered survey experiments. We find that vivid foreign threats, in isolation, do not reduce domestic polarization and therefore the danger from China alone may not be sufficient to spur domestic unity. However, vivid foreign threats in combination with policymaker agreement about the threat does significantly reduce domestic polarization. This reduction in polarization comes at a cost: increased public willingness to violate use of force norms against China. Overall, our study establishes that foreign peril can reduce domestic polarization under certain circumstances, and demonstrates that elite reactions to foreign threats are highly important in shaping wider domestic effects
Technology For Civilian Self-Protection
No full textFrom alerting communities at risk to connecting local responders to those in need, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are transforming local protective responses in contexts of armed conflict. While scholars have analysed how state and non-state armed groups\u27 use of social media and ICTs shapes conflict dynamics, the protective application of technology by communities themselves to avoid harm remains underexplored and undertheorized. This article maps the range of existing and emerging technologies that individuals and communities harness for their own protection—for ‘civilian self-protection’. It develops a theory and identifies the causal mechanisms through which ICTs may augment civilians\u27 capacities for self-protection. The analysis finds that civilians\u27 use of technology is vast, and ICTs are being adapted for protection in novel ways. These technologies and mechanisms are explored through two case-studies based on original interviews, relating to the non-violent civilian movements of the Indigenous Guard in Colombia and the White Helmets in Syria. The cases indicate that certain ICTs can amplify existing (low-tech) non-violent protective actions, such as by increasing the effectiveness of community coordination, ‘naming and shaming’ and early warning systems. ICTs also enable new actions and approaches that are simply not possible without the technology in hand, such as countering disinformation. While new technologies may strengthen local/international protection partnerships and bolster the agency of vulnerable groups, technology can also exacerbate existing protection challenges and create new ones
Regeneration In Planarians Modifies Behavioral Switching
No full textThe planarian Dugesia japonica responds differently to localized stimuli: anterior regions turn, middle regions elongate, and posterior regions contract. If cut into several pieces, each piece immediately produces the same three responses. Over several days, each piece regenerates all transected body parts. This study tested how the pieces coordinate behavioral responses during regeneration. We first determined the locations of the turning/elongation and elongation/contraction behavioral switches. Immediately, all transections moved both switching sites away from the cut sites so that the worm pieces produced the same three responses as intact worms. During regeneration, the sites of behavioral switching moved progressively closer to the transection (now regeneration) sites. These results show that the immediate effects of transection (likely physiological) are coordinated with the addition of regenerating tissue (anatomical) to maintain as normal an animal as possible. Other animals that regenerate body parts, such as amphibians and reptiles, may use similar coordination mechanisms
Multiple, Not Single, Recipient Muscle Tendon Transfers Produce Well-Coordinated Thumb-Tip Movement In Lateral Pinch Grasp: A Simulation Study With Application To Restoration Of Improved Grasp After Tetraplegia
No full textIntroduction: Tendon transfer surgeries that engage the flexor pollicis longus (FPL) muscle are commonly performed to enable lateral pinch grasp in persons with tetraplegia. Functional outcomes, however, have been mixed. This may be the case, in part, because the FPL produces hyperflexion at the interphalangeal (IP) joint and radial deviation at the carpometacarpal (CMC) joint. Therefore, the goal of this simulation study was to investigate whether small groups of muscles could produce movement with less IP joint hyperflexion and CMC joint ab/adduction than the FPL produces during lateral pinch grasp. Methods: We adapted a published, open-source computational musculoskeletal model of the hand to simulate lateral pinch grasp movement. A forward dynamics simulation approach was used to drive the thumb, with 27 muscle groups being considered, from an extended posture to a flexed posture to make contact with the side of the index finger. We calculated CMC joint ab/adduction deviation from the flexion–extension plane and IP joint flexion in the plane that all muscle groups produced and compared those joint angle movements to those of the FPL when it alone drove the thumb. Results: Of the 27 simulations, three muscle groups, each consisting of three or four muscles, generated lower IP joint flexion and CMC joint ab/adduction compared with the FPL. Conclusion: This study points to the potential of novel, multiple recipient muscle tendon transfer surgeries to outperform the current standard of care to restore lateral pinch grasp following tetraplegia
Review Of Smitten: Sex, Gender, And The Contest For Souls In The Second Great Awakening By R. Hessinger
No full textHarvests Of Liberation: Cotton, Capitalism, And The End Of Empire In Egypt
No full textIn the first half of the twentieth century, a major change occurred in Egyptian nationalist understandings of imperialism and economic sovereignty. Where once the volatilities of foreign markets and capital were seen as the main threat, over time large landowners and their imperial allies were targeted as the principal obstacles to the country\u27s industrial progress. The perceived locus of imperial domination shifted from the realm of circulation to the realm of production. Harvests of Liberation situates this transformation in the midcentury dynamics of agrarian capitalism in Egypt. Ahmad Shokr tells a story of decolonization through the lens of cotton, Egypt\u27s prized export. He follows a range of actors—colonial advisors, nationalist leaders, agrarian reformers, merchant-financiers, landowners, and rural workers—whose interactions moved the levers of the cotton trade from institutions that facilitated accumulation on an imperial scale to new sites of control within the nation-state. Amidst depression and war, the transformation of Egypt\u27s cotton economy prompted nationalists to embrace policies of land reform and industrialization and adopt a new conception of history. Ultimately, Shokr argues, these efforts set the stage for the construction of a postcolonial republic under Gamal Abdel Nasser, where national liberation became equated with national development
Do Misperceptions About Medicare Coverage Explain Low Demand For Long-Term Care Insurance?
No full textMore than half of Americans aged 65 will likely need long-term care services at some point in their lifetime, and they’ll spend an average of almost $140,000 on such services. Yet, only 14% of people age 60 and over have private long-term care insurance, and about one-third of all long-term care expenses in the U.S. are paid for out of pocket. This paper explores the extent to which misperceptions about Medicare, which doesn’t cover extended use of long-term care services, limit the size of the private long-term care insurance market