78 research outputs found
Letter from Nancy Colbe, Bridgeville, Alabama, to Sister, Sarah Robertson, January 23, circa 1864
No full textThis item is from the Samuel D. Cameron and Maxwell A. Cameron Papers, a collection of letters primarily from two Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, brothers, Samuel D. Cameron, 2nd Alabama Cavalry and Maxwell A. Cameron, 18th Alabama Infantry Regiment, to their sister, Sarah, and brother-in-law, Isham Robertson, during the Civil War. Additional materials include financial documents and other family letters
Cartiere, Cameron
No full textcurrentCameron Cartiere is Professor of Public Art and Social Practice in the Faculty of Culture + Community at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She is a creative practitioner, writer and researcher specializing in public art, urban renewal, and environmental issues. She is the author of RE/Placing Public Art, co-author of the Manifesto of Possibilities: Commissioning Public Art in the Urban Environment, co-editor of The Practice of Public Art (2008 with Shelly Willis) and co-editor of The Everyday Practice of Public Art: Art, Space, and Social Inclusion (2016 with Martin Zebracki) and co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Art in the Public Realm (2020 with Leon Tan). She is currently working on the anthology, The Failures of Public Art and Participation (2022 with Anthony Schrag). As part of her research on the sustainable effects of public art, Dr. Cartiere co-founded Border Free Bees (with Associate Professor Nancy Holmes, UBC Okanagan). Collaborating with artists, writers, scientists, designers, new media researchers, and municipalities, the BFB project converted neglected greenways across Canada, Mexico, and the USA into native pollinator pastures using public art as the driving force for environmental renewal. Cartiere is also the founder of chART Projects, a public art initiative that specializes in participatory projects (chartprojects.com)
Dimensionality reduction for k-means clustering
No full textThesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-131).In this thesis we study dimensionality reduction techniques for approximate k-means clustering. Given a large dataset, we consider how to quickly compress to a smaller dataset (a sketch), such that solving the k-means clustering problem on the sketch will give an approximately optimal solution on the original dataset. First, we provide an exposition of technical results of [CEM+15], which show that provably accurate dimensionality reduction is possible using common techniques such as principal component analysis, random projection, and random sampling. We next present empirical evaluations of dimensionality reduction techniques to supplement our theoretical results. We show that our dimensionality reduction algorithms, along with heuristics based on these algorithms, indeed perform well in practice. Finally, we discuss possible extensions of our work to neurally plausible algorithms for clustering and dimensionality reduction. This thesis is based on joint work with Michael Cohen, Samuel Elder, Nancy Lynch, Christopher Musco, and Madalina Persu.by Cameron N. Musco.S.M
Design on the Wing: Collaborative Work with Nature
No full text"Organized as a dialogue between nature and design, this book explores design ideas, opportunities, visions and practices through relating and uncovering experience of the natural world.
Presented as an edited collection of 25 wide-ranging short chapters, the book explores the possibility of new relations between design and nature, beyond human mastery and understandings of nature as resource and by calling into question the longstanding role for design as agent of capitalism. The book puts forward ways in which design can form partnerships with living species and examines designers’ capacities for direct experience, awe, integrated relationships and new ways of knowing. It covers: New design ethics of care ; Indigenous perspectives ; Prototyping with nature" -- publisher summaryPeer reviewedchapte
Social rights and economics : claims to health care and education in developing countries
Get PDFThe author analyzes contemporary rights-based and economic approaches to health care and education in developing countries. He assesses the foundations and uses of social rights in development, outlines an economic approach to improving health and education services, and then highlights the differences, similarities, and the hard questions that the economic critique poses for rights. The author argues that the policy consequences of rights overlap considerably with a modern economic approach. Both the rights-based and the economic approaches are skeptical that electoral politics and de facto market rules provide sufficient accountability for the effective and equitable provision of health and education services, and that further intrasectoral reforms in governance, particularly those that strengthen the hand of service recipients, are needed. There remain differences between the two approaches. Whether procedures for service delivery are ends in themselves, the degree of disaggregation at which outcomes should be assessed, the consequences of long-term deprivation, metrics used for making tradeoffs, and the behavioral distortions that result from subsidies are all areas where the approaches diverge. Even here, however, the differences are not irreconcilable, and advocates of the approaches need not regard each other as antagonists.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Systems Development&Reform,Decentralization,Public Health Promotion,Early Child and Children's Health,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Assessment,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Gender and Education
The good parodist: beyond images of escape in the fiction of Doris lessing
Get PDFIn her earlier fiction, Doris Leasing presents images of escape from what Cohen and Taylor term "everyday life”. These images of escape, such as the vision of the "noble city, set four-square" in Martha Quest and Martha's plunge into the muddy veld pothole in A Proper Marriage, are framed by realism. In positing an escape from 'realism'(understood as both literary form and "everyday reality") they suggest the inadequacy of realism. However, the success of these images is limited as they attempt to posit an "outside", a project which postmodernism has taught us, is bound to fail. Lessing increasingly replaces these images of escape with parody. Parody more fundamentally interrogates realism and allows Lessing to negotiate an escape whilst recognizing her implication in contemporary society. My model of parody takes its lead from Linda Hutcheon's consideration of "serious parody", as marking "the intersection of creation and re-creation, of invention and critique" (A Theory of Parody, 1985). This, I argue, is the intersection of Lessing's political and aesthetic projects. Lessing's use of parody also provides her with a useful strategy for negotiating subjectivity. I argue that whilst she questions the liberal humanist self, she does not completely reject it. She is "post-humanist" rather than "anti-humanist". Lessing's "space fiction" seems to signal a return to the project of positing an "outside" implied by her images of escape. However, I illustrate how her space fiction is equally subject to the problematic politics of parody. Just as parody "installs" a pre-existing text to "subvert" it, so space fiction "installs" the Earth in order to critique it. The "dual-codedness" of parody is, I conclude, perfect for Lessing's multiple projects
The 'true use of reading' : Sarah Fielding and mid eighteenth-century literary strategies.
No full textPhDThe aim of this thesis is to explore, by examining her life and
works, how Sarah Fielding (1710-68) established her identity as an author.
The definition of her role involves her notions of the functions of
writing and reading.
Sarah Fielding attempts to invite readers to form a sense of ties
by tacit understanding of her messages. As she believes that a work
of literature is produced through collaboration between the writer and
the reader, it is an important task in her view to show her attentiveness
toward reading practice. In her consideration of reading, she has two
distinct, even opposite views of her audience: on the one hand a familiar
and limited circle of readers with shared moral and cultural values and
on the other potential readers among the unknown mass of people. The
dual targets direct her to devise various strategies. She tries to
appeal to those who can endorse and appreciate her moral values as well
as her learning. Her writings and letters testify that she is sensitive
to the demands of the literary market, trying to lead the taste of readers
by inventing new forms.
The thesis opens with an overview of Sarah Fielding's career,
followed by a consideration of her critical attention to the roles of
reading. I go on to examine the narrative structures and strategies
she deploys, with a particular emphasis on her use of the epistolary
method. The following chapter deals with her attention to the reading
of the moral message tangibly embodied in her educational writing. It
is followed by an analysis of the activity which earned her a reputation
as a learned woman. Various as the forms of her works are, they invariably
reflect her attempt to balance herself between the two demands of
inventiveness and familiarity
CULTIVATING CAPACITY: A PRINCIPAL’S USE OF DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP THEORY TECHNIQUES
No full textBackground: The demands placed on educators are challenging. High stakes testing along with long hours, low pay, limited benefits, and not enough support lead to teacher frustration. Improving educators’ working conditions must become a priority if our society is to ensure high-quality academic experiences for all children. In the past, educators often worked in isolation to accomplish tasks delegated to them by administrators. The principal was the sole decision-maker and power was concentrated within one or a few individuals with few opportunities for leadership capacity to develop or be distributed among teachers. The author, who was a first-year principal, was in the process of implementing distributed leadership through shared decision-making and collaboration to increase students’ academic achievement. Purpose: This study explored how a principal’s use of distributed leadership to grow capacity in others shaped beliefs and perceptions about distributed leadership. Questions: 1. How have beliefs about involving teachers in the shared decision-making process evolved since completing the study? 2. What are teachers’ perceptions about distributed leadership? Methods: This study employed an inductive qualitative approach based on an autoethnographic framework. Data were recorded by the researcher through field notes, journal entries, observations, and semi-structured interviews to gain insight about leadership practices. Data were coded by hand as themes arose throughout the study and by using NVivo 12 software to seek lexical patterns. Alternative explanations of data were performed by gathering other people’s interpretations to increase the trustworthiness of the findings. Participants were six fourth-grade teachers who were chosen through purposive sampling techniques of critical case sampling and key informant sampling. Findings: The study added to the literature regarding how a reflexive leader can adapt leadership practices to the needs of the people in the organization through distributed leadership techniques to build capacity in others to increase student achievement. Three main themes emerged from the data: carrying out of instructional leader tasks, carrying out of non-instructional leader tasks, and shared decision-making through collaboration. While teachers reported finding value in collaborative activities such as common planning and professional learning communities (PLCs), they voiced concerns about time not always being used wisely during collaborative activities, not always understanding the focus of PLCs, and not all members putting forth the same amount of effort during collaborative activities. Analysis of data revealed that teachers found value in collaborative activities when PLCs were vertically aligned, included support staff, and allocated time to problem solve and learn from specialists. The researcher found that her perceptions about the value of distributed leadership to develop capacity in others evolved over the course of the study to include a belief of teachers as leaders of their students who can also become leaders of others when provided necessary supports. Conclusion: The findings suggested that participants’ perceptions of distributed leadership were influenced over the course of the study to include thoughts and beliefs of distributed leadership enhancing and empowering teachers to become more equipped to lead students and other staff to grow in their skills and to work together collaboratively to influence student achievement.Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Department o
The effects of hatch-order and gender on the behaviour of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia)
Get PDFBurrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) have an asynchronous hatch: females begin incubating well before the last eggs are laid, which results in age, size and developmental differences among the members of a clutch. Mating monogamously, for rarely longer then a season, Burrowing Owls have different sex-based roles within a mating pair. Males are typically more territorial than females, and might thus be expected to be generally more aggressive. Males defend their burrows, mates and offspring from predators or competing males while females spend more time incubating and caring for their offspring. I examine the effects of an asynchronous hatch and gender on the behaviour of juvenile Burrowing Owls. Intraspecific interactions between individual owls were observed within an enclosure, in which captive-bred owls are held before release and the relative aggressiveness or submissiveness of each bird was determined during each interaction. The results indicate that although there appears to be an association between the gender and asynchronous hatch on the behaviour of Burrowing Owls there does not appear to be any association between the clutch size and hatch weight on their behaviour
The effects of hatch-order and gender on the behaviour of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia)
Get PDFBurrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) have an asynchronous hatch: females begin incubating well before the last eggs are laid, which results in age, size and developmental differences among the members of a clutch. Mating monogamously, for rarely longer then a season, Burrowing Owls have different sex-based roles within a mating pair. Males are typically more territorial than females, and might thus be expected to be generally more aggressive. Males defend their burrows, mates and offspring from predators or competing males while females spend more time incubating and caring for their offspring. I examine the effects of an asynchronous hatch and gender on the behaviour of juvenile Burrowing Owls. Intraspecific interactions between individual owls were observed within an enclosure, in which captive-bred owls are held before release and the relative aggressiveness or submissiveness of each bird was determined during each interaction. The results indicate that although there appears to be an association between the gender and asynchronous hatch on the behaviour of Burrowing Owls there does not appear to be any association between the clutch size and hatch weight on their behaviour
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