485 research outputs found
Narrative threads: ethnographic tourism, Romani tourist tales, and fiber art
No full textThis thesis examines the need for the ethnographer to process their own emotions and experiences as part of the ethnographic experience. Specifically, it argues for the credibility of artistic expression resulting from fieldwork.
Drawing on the author’s experience during the 2012 inaugural "Romani Music, Culture, and Human Rights" study abroad program at the University of Pittsburgh, this thesis offers an analysis of five works of fiber art. Originally perceived by the author as separate from the thesis writing process, they became an integral part of thesis once they were recognized as the non-verbal processing of the my emotional response to events abroad and, therefore, essential components of the research process.
I argue that emotional processing is an integral part of writing an ethnography, for as the ethnographer works through their experiences, their understanding of the events changes, and this in turn impacts the ways in which the ethnographic is perceived and analyzed
NJBankers 2017-18 Economic Survey: Final Anaylsis and Report of Survey Results
No full textUnder the direction of James Hughes, the Bloustein School surveyed all 92 member institutions of the New Jersey Bankers Association and received a 73 percent response rate.
This year’s survey results indicate a soaring confidence in the US economy. Nearly 85 percent of respondents indicated the national economy’s health as “good,” and a record 10 percent rated it as “excellent.” For the first time in the survey’s history, no one rated it as “poor.” While somewhat more muted than sentiments toward the national economy, confidence in the NJ economy is nonetheless surging. 42 percent of respondents rated New Jersey’s economic health as “good” in 2018, compared to 15 percent in 2016. Still, 2018 marks the eighth consecutive year in which no respondent has rated New Jersey’s economy as “excellent.”Survey conducted for New Jersey Bankers Association by Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Field period: February 26-April 20, 2018. Published May, 2018
Satirizing Ethics
No full textI explored three late-night satirical monologues from late-night television following the Orlando Nightclub Shooting on 12 June 2016. I examined the monologues using a social constructionist approach to understand what lessons could be drawn from the event and how a satirist references the nomos when tackling an issue in the world. Satire uses comedic tools to point out follies within society and each host used his or her platform on late-night television to address issues they believed needed to be addressed following the shooting. What I found was that each host aimed to set an agenda in their monologues by emphasizing a) certain facts and information about the event and by b) presenting the audience with a way of viewing what happened and why the issue of gun violence and hate crimes in American needs to be addressed to ensure incidents like these do not happened again
Selecting Rehabilitation Outcome Measures for Persons with Multiple Sclerosis
No full textDespite the well-known benefits of using standardized outcome measures (OMs) in clinical practice, a variety of barriers interfere with their use. In particular, rehabilitation therapists lack sufficient knowledge in selecting appropriate OMs. The challenge is compounded when working with people with multiple sclerosis (MS) owing to heterogeneity of the patient population and symptom variability in individual patients. To help overcome these barriers, the American Physical Therapy Association appointed the Multiple Sclerosis Outcome Measures Task Force to review and make evidence-based recommendations for OM use in clinical practice, education, and research specific to people with MS. Sixty-three OMs were reviewed based on their clinical utility, psychometric properties, and a consensus evaluation of the appropriateness of use for people with MS. We sought to illustrate use of the recommendations for two cases. The first case involves a 43-year-old man with new-onset problems after an exacerbation. The second case pertains to an outpatient clinic interested in assessing the effectiveness of their MS rehabilitation program. For each case, clinicians identified areas that were important to assess and various factors deemed important for OM selection. Criteria were established and used to assist in OM selection. In both cases, the described processes narrowed the selection of OMs and assisted with choosing the most appropriate ones. The recommendations, in addition to the processes described in these two cases, can be used by clinicians in any setting working with patients with MS across the disability spectrum.Peer reviewedCopyright belongs to the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers
Spontaneous music : the first generation British free improvisers
No full textThe British free improvisation scene originated in London and Sheffield during the
mid 1960s. In groups such as AMM, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Joseph
Holbrooke, a distinctive and ambitious musicality developed that still occupies most
of its protagonists forty years later.
Marked stylistic contrasts developed within the genre, notably the `atomistic' and
`laminar' methods of interaction. Nonetheless, a consistency of principle and practice
was also apparent that defined British free improvisation as unique. In some respects
the genre resembled its German, Dutch and American counterparts, and also the jazz
and classical avant-gardes that had inspired them. Both conceptually and practically,
however, clear differences remained.
The British free improvisers refined a method and an aesthetic of musical creativity,
which suggested an intimate perspective and a detailed analysis of that which we
accept as `music'. Its techniques and results were unconventional, but remained
consistent with music's defining concepts and experiences. As such, British free
improvisation suggested a more inclusive model of musicality than is common, and
implied a broad critique of the cultural values that define `music' at all. Though the
free improvisers themselves did not explicitly state the connection, their work may be
viewed in the context of Deconstruction: the post-structuralist analytical strategy
associated with philosopher Jacques Derrida.
British free improvisation culminated from innovations within the twentieth century
avant-garde. Referencing styles such as atonality and free jazz, it challenged the
aesthetic, technical and hierarchical standards of Western tradition in a form that was
striking and extreme, but also of logical development and focus. Free improvisation
owed explicit debt to a variety of other musics; its most singular achievement
however, was the redefinition of `rhythm' by which it disguised this fact.
The music of the first generation British free improvisers is reliant upon precise
conceptual and practical execution. But though this has enabled the genre to be
musically innovative, in the long term it has also become a logical problem. With
British free improvisation as its subject, the scrutiny of Deconstruction reveals
significant discrepancies between what `free improvisation' implies and what it
actually represents
Religious Liberty Is “Top Priority” in Today’s Culture
No full textCedarville University President Thomas White served as co-editor of the second edition of “First Freedom: The Beginning and End of Religious Freedom.” The book will be released October 15.
The newly revised book seeks to equip pastors, churches and college professors to defend religious freedom. Leading evangelical scholars Barrett Duke, Albert Mohler, Russell Moore, Evan Lenow, Paige Patterson and Travis Wussow contributed to the book
The influence of statistical regularity on perception
No full textA traditional serial model of visual awareness begins with sensory input undergoing rudimentary processing in the peripheral nervous system, then traveling to the central nervous system’s subcortical structures and progressing through the visual cortex for progressively more complex forms of processing, and, only then, makes contact with memory systems. Recent models of visual awareness challenge both the sequence and linearity of this traditional model. In three sets of experiments I advocate for a recursive model whereby perception does not terminate in a memory representation but instead is dependent on a form of memory representation upfront, such that previously existing representations play an active role in shaping ongoing perception. I argue that experience builds a representation of statistical regularity of the environment into the brain and that the brain takes advantage of these learned representations when attempting to make sense of incoming stimuli. Experiment 1 replicates and expands upon previous research showing that statistically regular items are better perceived. Experiment 2 describes the effect of statistical regularity on time perception, whereby statistically regular items are perceived as lasting longer in duration than statistically irregular items. Finally, Experiment 3 asks whether processing of statistical regularity requires attention and provides evidence that the brain makes implicit distinctions based on statistical regularity even when attention is directed elsewhere.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2022-05-01The student, Evan Center, accepted the attached license on 2020-05-05 at 12:22.The student, Evan Center, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2020-05-05 at 12:33.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2020-05-06 at 16:16.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15219 on 2020-08-25 at 17:29:44Made available in DSpace on 2020-08-26T23:58:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3
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Optical, electronic, and dynamical phenomena in the shock compression of condensed matter
No full textThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-113).This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Despite the study of shock wave compression of condensed matter for over 100 years, scant progress has been made in understanding the microscopic details. This thesis explores microscopic phenomena in shock compression of condensed matter including electronic excitations at the shock front, a new dynamical formulation of shock waves that links the microscopic scale to the macroscopic scale, and basic questions regarding the role of crystallinity in the propagation of electromagnetic radiation in a shocked material. In Chapter 2, the nature of electronic excitations in crystalline solid nitromethane are examined under conditions of shock compression. Density functional theory calculations are used to determine the crystal bandgap under hydrostatic stress, uniaxial strain, and shear strain for pure and defective materials. In all cases, the bandgap is not lowered enough to produce a significant population of excited states. In Chapter 3, a new multi-scale simulation method is formulated for the study of shocked materials. The method allows the molecular dynamics simulation of the system under dynamical shock conditions for orders of magnitude longer time periods than is possible using the popular non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) approach. An example calculation is given for a model potential for silicon in which a computational speedup of 10⁵ is demonstrated. Results of these simulations are consistent with some recent experimental observations. Chapters 4 and 5 present unexpected new physical phenomena that result when light interacts with a shock wave propagating through a photonic crystal.(cont.) These new phenomena include the capture of light at the shock wave front and re-emission at a tunable pulse rate and carrier frequency across the bandgap, and bandwidth narrowing of an arbitrary signal as opposed to the ubiquitous bandwidth broadening. Reversed and anomalous Doppler shifts are also predicted in light reflected from the shock front.by Evan J. Reed.Ph.D
Rent - seeking trade policy : a time series approach
No full textUsing a time-series approach, the author analyzes the relationship between the extent of rent-seeking trade policy and both political and economic variables. For rent-seeking trade policy, the indicator he uses is the number of foreign-trade regulations passed each year for the benefit of a single firm or industry. The author uses data from Uruguay for 1925-83. Uruguay, which experienced an impressive economic decline, is an outstanding example of a rent-seeking society. After being a wealthy economy in midcentury, it suffered almost complete stagnation, which led to social and policital disintegration by the end of the 1960s. Three decades of restrictive regulations on foreign trade had created a nearly closed economy by the end of the 1960s. It was worth analyzing whether policymakers'great receptiveness to demands for protection could account for Uruguay's decline. Over the period 1925-83, the author finds almost 4,000 laws, decrees, and administrative resolutions that create, maintain, or modify a foreign-trade regulation for the benefit of a single firm or industry. About half of them explicitly identify the petitioner - usually a firm or guild. Since the size of the Uruguayan economy changed over the period studied, the author scales the annual number of regulations by output or exports to measure the extent of rent-seeking trade policy. The author shows that the extent of rent-seeking trade policy increased with discretionary policies and under dictatorship. (In the period studied, there were two stages of democracy - until 1932 and from 1943-72 - and two stages of dictatorship.) He also shows that rent-seeking trade restrictions increased under import-substitution strategies and, more unexpectedly, under active export promotion. This suggests that discretionary power leads to wasteful distribution, whether it is used to support inward- or outward-oriented policies. Finally, the author analyzes the correlation between innovations in the trade policy indicator and innovations in the growth rates of output and exports, with a lag of up to 20 years. Surprisingly, he finds a positive correlation with output growth rates after two or three years. But the correlation becomes negative some years later, particularly in the case of exports. The short-run positive impact on growth rates, together with the surprisingly long time lag before the negative impact, may account for policymakers'receptiveness to demands for protection.Trade Policy,Achieving Shared Growth,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies
The costs and benefits of Slovenian independence
No full textOne year is not enough time to draw conclusions about independent Slovenia's prospects, and it may not be easy for other countries to copy Slovenia's model. Slovenia is ethnically homogeneous, culturally and historically compatible with the West, and near (and somewhat protected from)friendly Western neighbors. And despite sharp political divisions, it has shown a political will to fight counterproductive redistribution. Still, Slovenia's experience may offer insights for other new post-Communist economies. Despite the obvious short-run costs of the brutal breakup of Yogoslavia's federal structure, Slovenia's medium- and long-run economic prospects are fairly good. Declining trade with the rest of Yugoslavia dims Slovenia's short-run prospects. But in the long run it may benefit from greater macroeconomic stability, freedom from subsidizing less-developed regions of Yugoslavia, and speedier integration with Western Europe. What has happened to Slovenia does not prove that separation necessarily improves welfare. In fact, had forces amenable to rational debate and compromise prevailed in Yogoslavia, Slovenia's secession might have decreased welfare. Slovenia's experience suggests that secession from a larger entity that is wrecked by political instability may produce economic benefits. Local autonomy gives Slovenia a chance to introduce a new currency and achieve macroeconomic stability, for example. This can work only if the local political constellation is not controlled by coalitions bent on preserving the old system of redistribution and is not hampered by major political divisions that paralyze decisionmaking. In short, secession can be beneficial if the new state is more homogeneous and functions more coherently than the old state. Not all newly independent states would face the costs Slovenia has faced. In the Czech-Slovak breakup, for example, political risk and refugee costs (or rather, the costs of migration) were much smaller than in Slovenia. Indeed, the Czech republic may also expect short-term costs but long-term gains.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Stabilization,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,National Governance
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