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Placemaking: A Democratic Project
No full textDemocracy in a post-industrial society such as the United States is increasingly characterized as a system of governance orchestrated by the media to shape a mass of passive consumers who live in non-places. Because of the scale and structure of the political economy, we have come to understand the body politic as an adversarial system in which the primary responsibility of the citizen is to vote and consume. After 9/11, an additional alienating element, fear, has entered into our national imagination of passivity leading many people to believe that they are collectively powerless in the face of unknown terrors. If one is committed to democracy as a social structure of human organization and politics, the question must be asked: Where does one learn to be a citizen? How do groups of people communally engage in democratic action and develop community intentions?
The authors propose that the practice of placemaking offers a unique public space in which webs of relationships interact to create a common world in specific locales. Placemaking is the ongoing work of transforming the places we find ourselves into places in which we can truly dwell as individuals and communities of people [2]. The practice of making our places changes and maintains the physical world and our ideas about it while it also creates communities of people who share concerns, interests, hopes, desires, and fear.
The authors present two stories of their own practice to offer insight into the tasks of placemaking: the opening of a dialogic space, the dialectic of confirmation and interrogation; and framing action. These tasks offer an approach for interrogating place, revealing and resolving conflict, and taking action in places such as neighborhoods, cities, public agencies, offices, and intermediate institutions. This theoretical and practical lens attempts to demonstrate how placemaking as a critical practice supports the struggle to create and maintain democratic societies, addresses the problems inherent in work normally assigned to experts, and establishes placemaking as an act of resistance and hope
Disorienting Western Viewers with Nacer Khemir\u27s Desert Trilogy
No full textIn this essay, I explore tensions that arise when creating alternative cinematic visions of Muslim life, specifically frictions emerging from the goal of shifting public perception of the community and patterns of self-orientalization. Here, I complicate assumptions about the representation of Islam by looking at a self-articulated presentation of Muslims through the narrative feature series the Desert Trilogy, by Tunisian director Nacer Khemir (born 1948). I argue that Khemir is ensnared by ahistorical Islamic nostalgia and largely reinforces romantic orientalist aesthetics in his films. While his portrait of Muslims is much more “positive” than those in the broader archive, it is just as skewed and incomplete as stereotypical images of Muslims as violent terrorists. Ultimately, it seems that he fails to offer a coherent and stable locus for Islam that can dispel misconceptions and mitigate the heavy liability of the “Hollywood Muslim” in Western social consciousness. Khemir’s desire to submit an alternative portrait of Muslims rooted in esoteric Sufi traditions of Islam in combination with his allegorical and anti-realist film style leaves the viewer with a synthetic and saccharine impression of Muslim experience
Enhancing Cyber Situational Awareness Through Dynamic Adaptive Symbology: The DASS Framework
No full textThe static nature of traditional military symbology, such as MIL-STD-2525D, hinders effective real-time threat detection and response in modern cybersecurity operations. This research introduces the Dynamic Adaptive Symbol System (DASS), a novel framework enhancing cyber situational awareness in military and enterprise environments. The DASS addresses static symbology limitations by employing a modular Python 3.10 architecture that uses machine learning-driven threat detection to dynamically adapt symbol visualization based on threat severity and context. Empirical testing assessed the DASS against a MIL-STD-2525D baseline using active cybersecurity professionals. Results show that the DASS significantly improves threat identification rates by 30% and reduces response times by 25%, while achieving 90% accuracy in symbol interpretation. Although the current implementation focuses on virus-based scenarios, the DASS successfully prioritizes critical threats and reduces operator cognitive load
Joint Control on Stream Direction and Pothole Axis Formation in the Lower Chesapeake Group, Southeastern King William County, Virginia
No full textMultiple heavy rain events in the last few decades, three in particular: Hurricane Isabel (2003), Tropical Depression Gaston (2004), and Hurricane Irene (2011), produced noteworthy downcutting of numerous streams in two adjacent watersheds in the Virginia Coastal Plain in southeastern King William County, Virginia. The downcutting has exposed joint sets in the Chesapeake Group clays in streambeds with yellowish gray clay, as well as a series of potholes in a streambed with a blueish gray clay. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that joints in the streambeds in these two watersheds control stream direction and pothole axis formation. The test showed an agreement of joint strike directions with stream directions, and a relationship between the axis of the potholes and stream directions in the Pothole Stream. Overall, results indicate that the stream directions from the three streams and the axis of the potholes in the Pothole Stream in the study are controlled by the strike of joints in the two watersheds
Designing AI-Powered Learning: Adult Learners\u27 Expectations for Curriculum and Human-AI Interaction
No full textDespite the potential benefits offered by GenAI technologies to provide innovative solutions to address distinct challenges faced by working adult learners (ALs) in higher education and beyond, there is limited understanding of how best to structure AI-powered learning for this population while ensuring their distinct needs and perspectives are considered. Hence, this study aimed to determine what curriculum and student-AI interaction would be required by situating ALs’ views. Through analyzing 48 e-portfolios and in-depth interviews with 20 ALs from diverse educational and professional backgrounds, the study found that ALs perceived content mastery and developing a lifelong habit of learning as the optimal learning goals for AI-powered learning. AI-powered learning can be facilitated through personalized mastery-based learning and collaborative performance-based tasks, in tandem with scenario-based assessment, unobtrusive gamified assessment, and competency-based assessment. Along this line, AL articulated various necessary supports to foster AL-AI interactions. While AL identified metacognition and developing diverse and high-quality questions as crucial to support AL-AI cognitive interaction, they also highlighted that building ethical AL-AI relationships is important for enhancing AL-AI socio-emotional interaction. In addition, AL perceived immersive game-based platforms and interactive interfaces could serve as effective mediums for enhancing student-AI interactions. These findings can provide a more comprehensive understanding of AI-powered adult learning and implications for the design of educational AI, as well as instructional design to improve the educational experience for ALs
Unveiling Hidden Mercury and Methylmercury Sources: The Role of Submarine Groundwater Discharge in Coastal Lagoons
No full textMercury loads from Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) may represent an overlooked source of methylmercury (MeHg) to the ocean, affecting human and ecosystem health. The SGD process involves the flow of fresh, saline, or mixed groundwater from coastal aquifers into the oceans classified in different components. Existing studies rarely report the fluxes supplied by the different SGD components; therefore, the relevance of SGD as a source of mercury remains unclear. We aimed to quantify SGD-driven mercury/methylmercury fluxes to the coast, focusing on the largest coastal lagoon in the western Mediterranean. We measured total dissolved mercury and MeHg in surficial and porewaters during the summer and autumn. Porewaters were enriched in total dissolved Hg and MeHg compared to the lagoon. Lagoon shore waters and porewaters with a high concentration of labile dissolved organic matter were prone to MeHg formation and thus had higher MeHg concentrations. The mercury input through SGD to the Mar Menor lagoon (4300 mmol year–1) was similar to atmospheric deposition and 1 order of magnitude greater than the stream input. Among different components of the SGD, long-scale lagoon water recirculation dominated. These findings have substantial implications for the regional Hg budget and raise awareness of the importance of considering the different SGD components for an accurate estimation of SGD-based Hg input to the coastal ocean
Use of Clinical Competency Examinations for Dental Hygiene Licensure
No full textDental hygiene licensure with a clinical competency examination (CCE) using a live patient has been required by state licensing boards since 1929. Clinical competency examinations were initially used when dental training was poorly developed, non-standardized, and largely based on the apprenticeship model. Currently, Canada and the state of California have removed the requirement of passing a CCE for dental hygiene licensure, provided certain requirements have been met. Dentistry is the last health care profession to mandate that graduates pass a CCE. The vast majority of dental licensing boards continue to require that third party testing agencies validate the clinical skills of candidates that were acquired through accredited dental and dental hygiene education programs. Originally, there were 53 individual CCEs within the United States. As the profession became more uniform, regional examinations have replaced individual state examinations. Clinical competency examinations have come under scrutiny over the past few decades largely due to ethical concerns regarding human subjects and perceived limitations in manikin-based testing. Concerns about high stakes, single-encounter live patient exams and manikin exams have also been raised regarding their validity and reliability of measuring competency and readiness for clinical practice. In spite of the lack of peer-reviewed scientific evidence supporting the use of CCEs as reliable and valid instruments, dental boards continue to require them for initial licensure. While CCEs were initially developed to protect the public by ensuring the clinical competency of licensed clinicians, there is no predictive validity to support this intent. Ethical concerns regarding live patient, procedure-based dental and dental hygiene CCEs have been covered extensively in the literature. This short report will examine the ongoing concerns and updates on the use of CCEs for dental hygiene licensure
What Role do Finance Ministers Play in Political Business Cycles? Evidence-Based on a New African Dataset
No full textThis study investigates how the personal characteristics of finance ministers influence political budget cycles in Africa. Using a new dataset covering 300 finance ministers across 23 countries from 1980 to 2020, we find that political budget cycles primarily take the form of increased government consumption during election years. Ministers with prior central banking experience are less likely to amplify spending in election years, effectively curbing political budget cycles. These results remain consistent after accounting for institutional quality, ministerial tenure, and other confounding factors. The findings contribute to the literature by showing that the appointment of finance ministers in African countries shapes fiscal discipline during elections
Energy-Aware Swarm Robotics in Smart Microgrids Using Quantum-Inspired Reinforcement Learning
No full textThe integration of autonomous robots with intelligent electrical systems introduces complex energy management challenges, particularly as microgrids increasingly incorporate renewable energy sources and storage devices in widely distributed environments. This study proposes a quantum-inspired multi-agent reinforcement learning (QI-MARL) framework for energy-aware swarm coordination in smart microgrids. Each robot functions as an intelligent agent capable of performing multiple tasks within dynamic domestic and industrial environments while optimizing energy utilization. The quantum-inspired mechanism enhances adaptability by enabling probabilistic decision-making, allowing both robots and microgrid nodes to self-organize based on task demands, battery states, and real-time energy availability. Comparative experiments across 1500 grid-based simulated environments demonstrated that when benchmarked against the classical MARL baseline, QI-MARL achieved an 8% improvement in path efficiency, a 12% increase in task success rate, and a 15% reduction in energy consumption. When compared with the rule-based approach, improvements reached 15%, 20%, and 26%, respectively. Ablation studies further confirmed the substantial contributions of the quantum-inspired exploration and energy-sharing mechanisms, while sensitivity and scalability analyses validated the system’s robustness across varying swarm sizes and environmental complexities. The proposed framework effectively integrates quantum-inspired AI, intelligent microgrid management, and autonomous robotics, offering a novel approach to energy coordination in cyber-physical systems. Potential applications include smart buildings, industrial campuses, and distributed renewable energy networks, where the system enables flexible, resilient, and energy-efficient robotic operations within modern electrical engineering contexts
A Mixed-Methods Examination of Interprofessional Preschool Virtual Simulations for Speech-Language Pathology and Occupational Therapy Graduate Students
No full textInterprofessional education (IPE) is a required prerequisite of interprofessional practice (IPP), the most collaborative service delivery model for speech-language pathologists working in both health care and educational settings. This exploratory, mixed methods study was conducted to examine the impact of an experiential IPE training program on graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) and occupational therapy (OT) students working together in a preschool classroom for children with developmental disabilities. Eight SLP and five OT students participated in a 2-hour in-person workshop and two 1.5-hour virtual simulations using ViewPoint technology. The training program provided instruction related to: three of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative’s (IPEC) Core Competencies (Communication, Roles and Responsibilities, Teams and Teamwork); writing collaborative goals; and writing collaborative intervention plans. Students completed the Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Scale-Revised (ICCAS-Revised) and were observed at pre-training and post-training using the Interprofessional Collaborator Assessment Rubric (ICAR). They also participated in 1-hour focus groups to assess their ability to discuss the IPEC Core Competencies at pre-training and post-training. Students’ ICCAS-Revised and ICAR ratings increased significantly from pre-training to post-training and they were able to talk about the IPEC Core Competencies in greater depth at the end of the training. The study suggests that virtual simulations paired with the clinical experience of collaborating in a real-world setting can lead to gains in not only students’ self-perceptions of their interprofessional skills but also their actual abilities to work effectively on interprofessional teams