13,261 research outputs found

    An American Knightmare: Joker, Fandom, and Malicious Movie Meaning-Making

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    This monograph concerns the long-standing communication problem of how individuals can identify and resist the influence of unethical public speakers. Scholarship on the issue of what Socrates & Plato called the “Evil Lover” – i.e., the ill-intended rhetor – began with the Greek philosophers, but has carried into [post]Modern anxieties. For instance, the study of Nazi propaganda machines, and the rhetoric of Hitler himself, rejuvenated interest in the study of speech and communication in the U.S. and Europe. Whereas unscrupulous sophists used lectures and legal forums, and Hitler used a microphone, contemporary Evil Lovers primarily draw on new, internet-related tools to share their malicious influence. These new tools of influence are both more far-reaching and more subtle than the traditional practices of listening to a designated speaker appearing at an overtly political event. Rhetorician Ashley Hinck has recently noted the ways that popular culture – communication about texts which are commonly accessible and shared – are now significant sites through which citizens learn moral and political values. Accordingly, the talk of internet influencers who interpret popular texts for other fans has the potential to constitute strong persuasive power regarding ethics and civic responsibility. The present work identifies and responds to a particular case example of popular culture text that has been recently, and frequently, leveraged in moral and civic discourses: Todd Phillips’ Joker. Specifically, this study takes a hermeneutic approach to understanding responses, especially those explicitly invoking political ideology, to Joker as a method of examining civic meaning-making. A special emphasis is placed on the online film criticisms of Joker from white nationalist movie fans, who clearly exemplify ways that media responses can be leveraged by unethical speakers (i.e., Evil Lovers) and subtly diffused. The study conveys that these racist movie fans can embed values related to “trolling,” incelism, and xenophobia into otherwise seemingly innocuous talk about film. While the sharing of such speech does not immediately mean its positive reception, this kind of communication yet constitutes a new and understudied attack on democratic values such as justice and equity. The case of white nationalist movie fan film criticism therefore reflects a particular brand of communicative strategy for contemporary Evil Lovers in communicating unethical messages under the covert guise of mundane movie talk

    Copyright as a constraint on creating technological value

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    Defence date: 8 January 2019Examining Board: Giovanni Sartor, EUI; Peter Drahos, EUI; Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia Law School; Raquel Xalabarder, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.How do we legislate for the unknown? This work tackles the question from the perspective of copyright, analysing the judicial practice emerging from case law on new uses of intellectual property resulting from technological change. Starting off by comparing results of actual innovation-related cases decided in jurisdictions with and without the fair use defence available, it delves deeper into the pathways of judicial reasoning and doctrinal debate arising in the two copyright realities, describing the dark sides of legal flexibility, the attempts to ‘bring order into chaos’ on one side and, on the other, the effort of judges actively looking for ways not to close the door on valuable innovation where inflexible legislation was about to become an impassable choke point. The analysis then moves away from the high-budget, large-scale innovation projects financed by the giants of the Internet era. Instead, building upon the findings of Yochai Benkler on the subject of networked creativity, it brings forth a type of innovation that brings together networked individuals, sharing and building upon each other’s results instead of competing, while often working for non-economic motivations. It is seemingly the same type of innovation, deeply rooted in the so-called ‘nerd culture’, that powered the early years of the 20th century digital revolution. As this culture was put on trial when Oracle famously sued Google for reuse of Java in the Android mobile operating system, the commentary emerging from the surrounding debate allowed to draw more general conclusions about what powers the digital evolution in a networked environment. Lastly, analysing the current trends in European cases, the analysis concludes by offering a rationale as to why a transformative use exception would allow courts to openly engage in the types of reasoning that seem to have become a necessity in cases on the fringes of copyright

    Transgenerational Wellness: Trauma Informed Christian Spiritual Formation

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    Certain mindsets, processes, and practices produce health inequities and disparities including poor spiritual health. Young adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five years old are experiencing challenges with mental health and substance use resulting in a high rate of suicides and overdose related deaths. Many are experiencing co-occurring substance use and mental health challenges and have a history of trauma. There are limited options available for integrated treatment. Accessibility to services is very difficult due to limited providers and limited resources at this age. Church attendance has decreased significantly for young adults which limits the capacity of the church to respond to this crisis. A multifaceted and multidisciplinary approach is needed to engage the mission field for these young adults. A spiritually oriented social ecological approach to Christian spiritual formation that integrates healthy leadership, mindsets, processes, and practices will produce healthy faith communities leading to nested relationships across generations. A Spiritually Oriented Social Ecological Model provides the framework to respond to the complexities of this intergenerational problem. A multidisciplinary approach is utilized to build an interdisciplinary team for the mission field. Christian spiritual formation that is theologically sound provides families with the core beliefs, values, and practices to build a relationship with God, themselves, others, and the world. Equipped for The Journey facilitates a web platform that creates virtual access to services that are in dire need within the body of Christ. The organization also functions as a bridge between the church, health providers, and the community through collaboration, service delivery, and training

    Making friends with failure in STS

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    DIFFERENCES IN DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS AND ACTIONS, SCHOOL CHARACTERISTICS, AND AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS BY SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING PRACTICES

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    The overall purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the influence of social emotional learning on public schools. The first specific purpose was to describe the school characteristics associated with the presence of social emotional learning for the 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 school years. A second purpose was to determine the extent to which student attendance is related to social emotional learning for the 2015-2016 and the 2017-2018 school years. A third purpose was to ascertain the degree to which disciplinary problems and actions are related to social emotional learning for the 2015-2016 and the 2017-2018 school years. A final purpose was to determine whether consistencies might be present in the relationships of social emotional learning and student academic achievement. A causal comparative research design was used in this dissertation. Archival data from the 2015-2016 and 2017-2018 School Surveys on Crime and Safety were downloaded and analyzed. Results were inconsistent across the two school years, all three school levels, and across all three articles. In the first study, social emotional learning training was related to elementary students’ thoughts on the importance of academic achievement. The presence of social emotional learning training did not have an effect on the public elementary schools’ location, student attendance or discipline problems and actions. In the second study, statistically significant differences were present in respect to urbanicity and middle school students’ thoughts on academic achievement. The presence of social emotional learning training was related to urbanicity and middle school students’ thoughts on the importance of academic achievement. Social emotional learning training was not related to the public middle schools’ student attendance or discipline problems and actions. In the third study, statistically significant differences were present regarding urbanicity, discipline problems and actions, and high school students’ thoughts on academic achievement. Social emotional learning training was related to urbanicity, discipline problems and actions, and high school students’ thoughts on the importance of academic achievement. Social emotional learning training was not related to the public high schools’ student attendance. Results from the three articles were congruent with existing literature

    Academic underachievement and mental disorders in adolescence: Assessment and treatment

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    Academic underachievement affects many adolescents and is defined as a notable discrepancy between actual and expected achievement, given the student's cognitive ability level. A significant percentage of adolescents suffer from both academic underachievement and mental disorders, putting them at risk for negative psychosocial development. However, there are few treatments available focussing on these adolescents. The present doctoral thesis evaluated the efficacy of the treatment program "SELBST – achievement problems" in a randomised controlled trial (RCT). Furthermore, the added benefit of a specifically designed smartphone app to improve therapy transfer was investigated. Methods: The psychometric properties of the primary outcome, the Academic Problems Checklist, were analysed. A clinically referred sample of n = 60 adolescents aged 11-18 years was randomised into either the experimental group, receiving weekly cognitive behavioural therapy based on the "SELBST – achievement problems" treatment manual including a therapy smartphone app or into the control group, receiving treatment as usual. Results: The revised version of the Academic Problems Checklist consists of a 17-item, semi�structured clinical interview for adolescents, parents, and teachers. The analysis of the psychometric properties of the APC showed it is a short, reliable, and valid instrument for assessing academic underachievement of adolescents with mental disorders using a multi�informant approach. The RCT showed for both groups clinically relevant improvements on the primary outcome of academic underachievement. For the teacher-rated academic underachievement, a statistical superiority of the treatment group compared to the control group was found during the follow-up phase. The treatment group showed significant improvements regarding their grade point average compared to the control group. Statistical superiority of the treatment group was found for the individual problemlist measuring individual academic underachievement problems with large effects in the adolescent and parent rating. Mental health problems improved in both groups, however, there was no statistical superiority of either group. These effects remained largely stable during the follow-up period. The smartphone app was well accepted by the adolescents, however, it showed no statistically significant additional benefit compared to the standard SELBST-treatment. Conclusion: In summary, improvements were found for academic underachievement and mental problems. The treatment satisfaction was high, but the smartphone app provided no significant additional benefit. The study's limitations included the small sample size, the substantial dropout rate in the experimental group, and the technical challenges encountered implementing a smartphone ap

    Re(engineering) student success: constructing knowledge on students’ experiences in engineering education programs to encourage holistic student success

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    If a group of engineering deans were asked whether students at their institutions were successful and why, what information might they immediately or subconsciously use to measure or gauge the engineering students’ success? If only academic performance outcomes like GPA, individual course grades, or graduation rate race to their minds, then their rationale aligns with the majority of researchers. My research seeks to shift the mindset that frames engineering student success mainly within the boundaries of academic performance measures. By measuring students’ perceived autonomy, competence, social integration and relatedness within their programs, and aspirations after graduation, one can more accurately judge whether engineering students are achieving holistic student success. By utilizing surveys and exit interviews for freshmen Summer Bridge Program (SBP) participants, interviewing continuing and past SBP participants, and surveying engineering seniors, this research gathered more in-depth information on students’ experiences. In turn, one can better understand how the structures of engineering summer and undergraduate programs either contribute to or detract from student success and motivation. Results from SBP freshmen indicated that community building, structured studying, real-world experiences, residential life, and mentorship were perceived as valuable components by the students. Also, a perceived difficulty gap, based on students’ prior engineering experience(s), was uncovered. For continuing SBP students, there was an emphasis on Black community, leadership, and discourse when moving from SBP to larger departments. Lastly, within the seniors, we found that students tend to choose engineering careers regardless of their undergraduate experiences. This information can be used in practice for enhancing programmatic planning and design as well as potentially developing novel program components that contribute to students becoming more self-determined, motivated engineers. It is my hope that one day in the near future, engineering education faculty, administrators, and leaders will cultivate and measure success based on a more comprehensive assessment of lived experiences and better recognize how their decisions regarding programmatic structures impact students’ success and motivation

    The Impact of Acculturative Stress on Internalizing Problems Among Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Adolescents and Young Adults in the U.S. : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

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    Due to demographic changes of the U.S. population in the past few decades, more attention has been placed on understanding the sociocultural factors that have an impact on racially and ethnically minoritized (REM) groups and mental health outcomes. One of the factors that has been gaining increased attention in the past few years is acculturative stress. Acculturative stress is associated with various mental health outcomes, such as depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and suicide ideation (SI). However, the magnitude of this association remains unclear. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to provide a comprehensive review of the impact of acculturative stress on depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation among racially and ethnically minoritized youth. We also aimed to explore whether sociodemographic variables (i.e., race/ethnicity, generational status, sex/gender, and age) moderate the relationships between acculturative stress and mental health outcomes. Forty-three studies met inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review and meta- analysis. A positive relationship of moderate size between acculturative stress and depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation was found. Moderation analyses also revealed that the impact of acculturative stress on depression may be greater among those who are older and for first-generation immigrants. Results also suggested that the impact of acculturative stress on psychological distress may be greater among men compared to women. These findings highlight the importance of making sure clinicians assess for acculturative stress when working with REM youth, as well as factors that may be contributing to the individual’s acculturative stress level
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