1,225 research outputs found

    Navigating the system vs. changing the system: a comparative analysis of the influence of asset-based and rights-based approaches on the well-being of socio-economic disadvantaged communities in Scotland

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    Asset-based and rights-based approaches have become leading strategies in Scottish community development. The asset-based approach seeks to help communities develop skills to provide self-help solutions. The rights-based approach seeks to help communities claim rights and make governments more accountable. These two approaches are based on contrasting conceptions of empowerment, employ opposing methods and lead to different outcomes. However, there is no empirical research that has comparatively assessed the two. This thesis represents the first in-depth exploration of the comparative effects of asset-based and rights-based approaches on the well-being of communities experiencing socio-economic disadvantage in Scotland. The study follows a qualitative design that includes a comparative case study of two projects: the AB project (representing the asset-based approach), and the RB project (representing the rights-based approach). The study also includes the perspectives of a wider pool of practitioners working in a range of community development organisations in Scotland. In total, forty-five participants across seventeen organisations have participated in this study. To assess the influence of asset-based and rights-based approaches upon well-being, this thesis employs a pluralistic account that combines objective and subjective indicators across three dimensions: material, social and personal. The specific well-being framework employed is the result of combining White’s (2010) well-being framework for the development practice and Oxfam Scotland’s (2013) Humankind Index. The results of this study indicate that asset-based and rights-based approaches have important contrasting effects on well-being. The asset-based approach seems to have a more positive effect on project participants and across a higher number of well-being indicators. The rights-based approach has more observable effects on material well-being and a higher impact on the wider community, but across fewer indicators. My findings also suggest that employing these approaches in community development settings brings different advantages and disadvantages. The asset-based approach seems easier to apply and to prove the positive outcomes on those involved. This approach, however, risks sustaining the status quo and, by doing so, misses out the opportunity to achieve more transformational outcomes. The right-based approach seems able to address structural disadvantages more effectively. Yet, it is more difficult to apply and to prove a positive impact. Organisations, practitioners, and communities applying it also face higher costs. These findings have significant implications at the practice level. Asset-based and rights-based approaches are rarely combined in UK community development settings. As a result, practitioners are often left in the position of having to make a trade-off between helping improve the well-being of project participants and helping improve the well-being of the wider community. In theory, practitioners could avoid this trade- off by combining these approaches. In practice, this is not always possible. Asset-based and rights-based approaches represent opposing theories of change. There are also legal and funding requirements that prevent organisations from following a combination of both. Given this, understanding the comparative impact of applying asset-based and rights-based approaches in community development is critical

    Multidisciplinary perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and the law

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    This open access book presents an interdisciplinary, multi-authored, edited collection of chapters on Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) and the Law. AI technology has come to play a central role in the modern data economy. Through a combination of increased computing power, the growing availability of data and the advancement of algorithms, AI has now become an umbrella term for some of the most transformational technological breakthroughs of this age. The importance of AI stems from both the opportunities that it offers and the challenges that it entails. While AI applications hold the promise of economic growth and efficiency gains, they also create significant risks and uncertainty. The potential and perils of AI have thus come to dominate modern discussions of technology and ethics – and although AI was initially allowed to largely develop without guidelines or rules, few would deny that the law is set to play a fundamental role in shaping the future of AI. As the debate over AI is far from over, the need for rigorous analysis has never been greater. This book thus brings together contributors from different fields and backgrounds to explore how the law might provide answers to some of the most pressing questions raised by AI. An outcome of the Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law and its interdisciplinary working group on Law and Artificial Intelligence, it includes contributions by leading scholars in the fields of technology, ethics and the law.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    The Amaraugha and Amaraughaprabodha of Gorakṣanātha: The Genesis of Haṭha and Rājayoga

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    LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volume

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    LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volum

    On the Inherent Anonymity of Gossiping

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    Detecting the source of a gossip is a critical issue, related to identifying patient zero in an epidemic, or the origin of a rumor in a social network. Although it is widely acknowledged that random and local gossip communications make source identification difficult, there exists no general quantification of the level of anonymity provided to the source. This paper presents a principled method based on ε\varepsilon-differential privacy to analyze the inherent source anonymity of gossiping for a large class of graphs. First, we quantify the fundamental limit of source anonymity any gossip protocol can guarantee in an arbitrary communication graph. In particular, our result indicates that when the graph has poor connectivity, no gossip protocol can guarantee any meaningful level of differential privacy. This prompted us to further analyze graphs with controlled connectivity. We prove on these graphs that a large class of gossip protocols, namely cobra walks, offers tangible differential privacy guarantees to the source. In doing so, we introduce an original proof technique based on the reduction of a gossip protocol to what we call a random walk with probabilistic die out. This proof technique is of independent interest to the gossip community and readily extends to other protocols inherited from the security community, such as the Dandelion protocol. Interestingly, our tight analysis precisely captures the trade-off between dissemination time of a gossip protocol and its source anonymity.Comment: Full version of DISC2023 pape

    The Intersection of Disability and Romance in Nineteenth-Century Literature

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    Thesis advisor: Maia McAleaveyMy thesis is about the intersection of disability and romance in nineteenth-century literature. I explore the gap in scholarly writing that often ignores how characters with disabilities fit into romantic relationships. I explain how, although people typically believe that characters with disabilities in Victorian literature do not participate in the romance plot, in actuality, it is because a character becomes disabled that allows them to flourish in a romantic dynamic. I coin the term "disability-romance plot" to describe the pattern where authors use disability as a mechanism to solve otherwise unsolvable conflicts within romantic pairings. In my essay, I outline the two types of disability-romance plots: the male disability-romance plot and the female disability-romance plot. Together, I look at how the disability-romance plot challenges stereotypes about people with disabilities and reveals gender norms in the nineteenth century.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: English

    An empirical investigation of the relationship between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in supply chains

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    This research aimed to develop an empirical understanding of the relationships between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in the supply chain domain, based on which, two conceptual frameworks were constructed to advance the field. The core motivation for the research was that, at the stage of writing the thesis, the combined relationship between the three concepts had not yet been examined, although their interrelationships have been studied individually. To achieve this aim, deductive and inductive reasoning logics were utilised to guide the qualitative study, which was undertaken via multiple case studies to investigate lines of enquiry that would address the research questions formulated. This is consistent with the author’s philosophical adoption of the ontology of relativism and the epistemology of constructionism, which was considered appropriate to address the research questions. Empirical data and evidence were collected, and various triangulation techniques were employed to ensure their credibility. Some key features of grounded theory coding techniques were drawn upon for data coding and analysis, generating two levels of findings. These revealed that whilst integration and dynamic capabilities were crucial in improving performance, the performance also informed the former. This reflects a cyclical and iterative approach rather than one purely based on linearity. Adopting a holistic approach towards the relationship was key in producing complementary strategies that can deliver sustainable supply chain performance. The research makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the field of supply chain management. The theoretical contribution includes the development of two emerging conceptual frameworks at the micro and macro levels. The former provides greater specificity, as it allows meta-analytic evaluation of the three concepts and their dimensions, providing a detailed insight into their correlations. The latter gives a holistic view of their relationships and how they are connected, reflecting a middle-range theory that bridges theory and practice. The methodological contribution lies in presenting models that address gaps associated with the inconsistent use of terminologies in philosophical assumptions, and lack of rigor in deploying case study research methods. In terms of its practical contribution, this research offers insights that practitioners could adopt to enhance their performance. They can do so without necessarily having to forgo certain desired outcomes using targeted integrative strategies and drawing on their dynamic capabilities

    Cultivating Virtue: A study into education and the political theories in classical Athens

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    This thesis is concerned with understanding the relevance of education to good leadership within the political writings of fifth and fourth century Athenian thinkers. I ask why education became such a universal component to the works of post-Socratic thinkers. What specifically were the lessons or skills that were seen to be so important to competent ruling and how might a society be designed in order to cultivate those lessons within its leadership? To address these questions, the thesis will assess the works of Xenophon, with particular attention given to the Cyropaedia, Isocrates and Plato’s Republic and Laws. I propose that as a result of Athenian theatre and the rise of sophist teachings, especially in the fifth century, education came to be acknowledged as important to democracy and leadership. As a result, by the close of the fifth century, Athenian thinkers considered how education could be used to create good and even idealised leadership. I argue that for all our sources, leaders needed actively to learn the needs of their society and how to control their own desires and ambitions in order to rule in the best interests of all. I show that while different thinkers approach this idea from slightly different positions or by using different terminology, they maintain this common notion that education was relevant to leadership. It is within the question of how best to cultivate these lessons in society, that our sources begin to demonstrate more difference. Yet I will demonstrate how all our thinkers design meritocracies based around one’s mastery of moderation and social awareness. They all establish hierarchies, while also attempting to avoid forceful ruling. Ultimately, I will show how they all create societies obsessed with the cultivation of education, so as to ensure future leaders can judge what is for the benefit of all members of society

    Nativist and Islamist radicalism. Anger and anxiety

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    This book analyses the factors and processes behind radicalisation of both native and self-identified Muslim youths. It argues that European youth responds differently to the challenges posed by contemporary flows of globalisation such as deindustrialisation, socio-economic, political, spatial, and psychological forms of deprivation, humiliation, and structural exclusion.The book revisits social, economic, political, and psychological drivers of radicalisation and challenges contemporary uses of the term “radicalism”. It argues that neoliberal forms of governance are often responsible for associating radicalism with extremism, terrorism, fundamentalism, and violence. It will appeal to students and scholars of migration, minority studies, nationalisms, European studies, sociology, political science, and psychology.We are happy to acknowledge the European Research Council’s support through its funding of the Advanced Research project: PRIME Youth (Nativism, Islamophobism and Islamism in the Age of Populism: Culturalization and Religionization of What Is Social, Economic and Political in Europe, Grant Agreement No. 785934), from which this collection partly arose.-- Introduction. Nativist and Islamist radicalism -- Part 1: Spatial deprivation and local contexts -- Chapter 1: Please don't blame us -- Chapter 2: Alternative für Deutschland's appeal to native youth in Dresden -- Chapter 3: The interplay of psychological stress, aggression, identity, and implicit knowledge -- Part 2: Mental processes of radicalisation -- Chapter 4: Islamophobia and radicalisation -- Part 3: Critical analyses of Islamist radicalisation -- Chapter 5: Radicalisation, extremism, or a third position? -- Chapter 6: Is it radical for a woman to become a stay-at-home mother or wear a headscarf? -- Chapter 7: Risking Muslims -- Chapter 8:The radicalisation of Morrocan-origin youth in Europe -- Chapter 9: Religiosities in a globalised market -- Chapter 10: Commentary -- Epilogu

    African American Masculinities in Ann Petry’s Oeuvre

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    This dissertation articulates how Ann Petry challenges the traditional notions about African American masculinities and redefines them with more positive and progressive attributes in her works. It probes the ways Petry’s black male characters face oppression, stereotypes, and systemic barriers, in relation to American hegemonic masculinity and (black) femininity. As black men, they are in the process of being permanently constructed due to the intersecting power of race, gender, class, and other categories on personal, social, and state levels in a context specific manner. I implement an intersectional reading method to analyze Petry’s constructions of African American masculinities, enhanced by a two-step strategy of identify-by-explaining categories and asking the other question about their constitutive and overlapping dynamics. This dissertation also addresses Petry’s underrepresented role in subverting the socially constructed and maintained stereotypes about African American masculinities and proposes two reasons for it. Firstly, there is an actual interplay between reinforcing and subverting stereotypes in Petry’s novels and short stories, which I regard as part of an evaluation of her oeuvre. On the one hand, she depicts stereotypical African American male characters in “Like a Winding Sheet” (1945), The Street (1946), and “In Darkness and Confusion” (1947) in order to revisit and refine the violent and sexually driven black masculine stereotypes. On the other, she represents black male characters as racially-conscious and diverse in “Solo on the Drums” (1947), The Narrows (1953), and “The New Mirror” (1965) to maintain her non-essentialist and progressive definitions of black masculinities. Secondly, reading Petry on the periphery of protest fiction – epitomized in the works of black male authors such as Richard Wright – overshadows her divergent aesthetics and impedes her contribution to the advancement of mid-century African American fiction. By depicting black male characters from the perspective of a female author, this dissertation showcases how Petry modifies the male-dominated modes of representation of black masculinities. The critique of Petry’s representations of African American masculinities, thus, expands outside the male vs. female dichotomy and repositions her beyond the confinements of protest novel aesthetics
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