Rituals, Our Past, Present & Future. Glimpses of Islamic Enrichment

A Muslim should be encouraged to comprehend the benefit and value behind every aspect of Islamic practice and wisdom, and not just practice their religion because they were told to do so. The products proposed in this thesis aim to achieve this by inviting and encouraging a Muslim to practice The Five Pillars of Islam while comprehending their value through the use of modern means such as Arduino technology, 3D printing and visual computing programing. I am provoked by the fact that the circle of Gulf-region Muslims I’m surrounded by, and have been exposed to since childhood, belong to one of two stereotypes: those against or afraid of change who force adherence to religious chapter and verse, or those straying further and further away from our religion’s rituals and traditions. Can the practice of religion, and the values that it teaches us, be made more accessible and engaging by incorporating the very technology that is often accused of distracting us from its practice

Negotiation of Meaning in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom Interaction

Studi ini difokuskan pada negosiasi makna di dalam bahasa Inggris sebagai interaksi kelas bahasa asing. Dua pertanyaan penelitiannya adalah: 1) Tipe-tipe transaksi, pertukaran,perpindahan dan tindakan apakah yang terjadi pada negosiasi makna dalam bahasa Inggris sebagai sebuah Interaksi Kelas Bahasa Asing antara dosen dan mahasiswa? 2) Sampai padatingkatan apakah dosen dan mahasiswa memerankan peranan di dalam proses negosiasi makna dalam bahasa Inggris sebagai sebuah Interaksi Kelas Bahasa Asing? Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif-deskriptif. Subjek studi ini adalah dosen dan mahasiswa semester enam padaProgram Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris pada kelas Metodologi Penelitian. Analisis ini pada dasarnya didasarkan pada analisis wacana kelas yang diajukan oleh Sinclair dan Coultharddengan sistem yang disebut: transaksi, pertukaran, perpindahan, dan tindakan. Hasil dari studiini menunjukkan bahwa (a) tiga tipe transaksi pokok yang terjadi pada wacana kelas EFL adalah; 1) melaporkan transaksi sebanyak 44 kali (45,36%), 2) memunculkan transaksisebanyak 35 kali (35.05 %), dan 3) mengarahkan transaksi sebanyak 19 kali (19.59 %). (b) Tipe-tipe pertukaran yang terjadi pada wacana kelas EFL meliputi 14 jenis pertukaran, yangterjadi sebanyak 128 kali, tetapi yang paling sering terjadi adalah membatasi (boundary), yaitu sebanyak 51 kali (39.84 %) dari keseluruhan kejadian pertukaran, sedangkan memperkuat (reinforce) dan menerima (accept) menempati posisi terendah, yaitu satu kali (0.78 %) dari keseluruhan kejadian pertukaran. (c) Tipe-tipe perpindahan yang terjadi pada wacana kelas EFL di dalam kelas Metode Penelitian adalah: 1) Perpindahan Awal (pembukaan) terjadi sebanyak 36 kali (37.5 %), 2) Perpindahan Respon (memberikan jawaban) terjadi sebanyak 34 kali (35.42 %), dan Perpindahan Umpan-Balik (tindak lanjut) terjadis sebanyak 26 kali (27.08 %).(d) Pada tipe-tipe tindakan yang terjadi pada wacana kelas EFL, terdapat 22 jenis tindakan yang terjadi, sebanyak 1.106 kali, tetapi yang paling sering terjadi adalah yang membenarkan(acknowledge), yaitu sebanyak 238 kali (21.52 %) dari seluruh kejadian tindakan, sementara memeriksa (check) menempati posisi terendah yaitu 3 kali (0.27 %) dari seluruh kejadiantindakan. Peran dosen dan mahasiswa di dalam proses negosiasi makna antara lain: 1) proses ritual yang dilakukan oleh dosen, sebanyak 8 kali (53.33 %), proses ritual yang dilakukan oleh mahasiswa, sebanyak 7 kali (46.67 %); sementara ritual negosiasi yang dilakukan sebanyak 12kali dibagi ke dalam Data I sebanyak 6 kali atau 50 % dan Data II sebanyak 6 kali atau 50 % pula. Diharapkan bahwa hasil dari studi ini akan memberikan informasi kepada para dosenbahsa Inggris di Indonesia sebagai konteks EFL mengenai beberapa strategi yang dapat digunakan untuk mengoptimalkan makna negosiasi antara dosen dan mahasiswa di dalam wacana kelas. Partisipasi mahasiswa di dalam wacana kelas EFL tergantung kepada bagaimana dosen menciptakan situasi, dengan menggunakan metode-metode yang tepat, karakteristik mahasiswa, serta alat-alat instruksi pilihan serta tidak didominasi oleh dosen

Traditional health practitioners’ management of HIV/AIDS in rural South Africa in the era of widespread antiretroviral therapy

Background: Traditional health practitioners (THPs) have been identified as a key local resource in the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa. However, their approaches to the treatment of people living with HIV (PLHIV) have been met with skepticism by some biomedical practitioners amidst increasing access to antiretroviral treatment (ART). In light of this ambivalence, this study aims to document and identify treatment approaches of THPs to the management of illness among PLHIV in the current era of widespread access to ART. Methods: The study was conducted as part of a larger trial of treatment as prevention (TasP) in rural northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, intended to treat PLHIV regardless of CD4 count. Nine THPs were enrolled using purposive and snowballing techniques. Repeat group discussions, triangulated with community walks and photo-voice techniques were conducted. A thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data. Results: Eight of the nine THPs had received training in biomedical aspects of HIV. THPs showed a multilayered decision-making process in managing illness among PLHIV, influenced by attributes and choices of the THPs. THPs assessed and managed illness among PLHIV based on THP training in HIV/AIDS, THP type, as well as knowledge and experience in the traditional healing practice. Management of illness depended on the patients’ report of their HIV status or willingness to test for HIV. Conclusions: THPs’ approaches to illness in PLHIV appear to be shifting in light of increasing exposure to HIV/AIDS-related information. Importantly, disclosure of HIV status plays a major role in THPs’ management of illness among PLHIV, as well as linkage to HIV testing and care for their patients. Therefore, THPs can potentially enhance further success of antiretroviral therapy for PLHIV when HIV status is known

The Learning Edge: Supporting Student Success in a Competency-Based Learning Environment

State by state, our country is revamping our education system to ensure that each and every one of our young people is college and career ready. Over two-thirds of our states have adopted policies that enable credits to be awarded based on proficiency in a subject, rather than the one-size-fits-all seat-time in a classroom. Now states such as Maine and New Hampshire are taking the next step in establishing competency based diplomas in which students are expected to demonstrate that they can apply their skills and knowledge. To ensure high-quality competency education, in 2011 one hundred innovators created a working definition to guide the field. This paper delves into the fourth element of the definition: Students receive timely, differentiated support based on their individual learning needs. Through a series of interviews and site visits, an understanding of how support in a competency-based school differs from traditional approaches emerged. Learning in a competency-based environment means pushing students and adults to the edge of their comfort zone and competence -- the learning edge. Common themes that were drawn from the wide variety of ways schools support students became the basis for the design principles introduced here. It is essential to pause and understand the importance of timely, differentiated support. Our commitment to prepare all of our young people for college and careers demands that we be intentional in designing schools to effectively meet the needs of students of all races, classes, and cultures. It also demands our vigilance in challenging inequity. There is a risk in competency education -- a risk that learning at one's own pace could become the new achievement gap and that learning anywhere/anytime could become the new opportunity gap. Therefore, our goal in writing this paper is to provide ideas and guidance so that innovators in competency education can put into place powerful systems of supports for students in order to eradicate, not replicate, the inequities and variability in quality and outcomes that exist in our current system. Please consider this paper as an initial exploration into what it means to provide support for the individual learning needs of students. It is designed to generate reflection, analysis, and feedback

Creating I-Communities for the Modern Business

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

Qualitative analysis of young adult ENDS users' expectations and experiences.

ObjectivesDespite extensive research into the determinants of electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) uptake, few studies have examined the psychosocial benefits ENDS users seek and experience. Using a consumer ritual framework, we explored how ENDS users recreated or replaced smoking practices, and considered implications for smoking cessation.DesignIn-depth interviews; data analysed using thematic analysis.SettingDunedin, New Zealand.Participants16 young adult ENDS users (age M=21.4, SD=1.9; 44% female).ResultsParticipants reported using different ENDS to achieve varying outcomes. Some used 'cigalikes' to recreate a physically and visually similar experience to smoking; they privileged device appearance over nicotine delivery. In contrast, others used personally crafted mods to develop new rituals that differentiated them from smokers and showcased their technical expertise. Irrespective of the device they used, several former smokers and dual users of cigarettes and ENDS experienced strong nostalgia for smoking attributes, particularly the elemental appeal of fire and the finiteness of a cigarette. Non-smoking participants used ENDS to maintain social connections with their peers.ConclusionsParticipants used ENDS to construct rituals that recreated or replaced smoking attributes, and that varied in the emphasis given to device appearance, nicotine delivery, and social performance. Identifying how ENDS users create new rituals and the components they privilege within these could help promote full transition from smoking to ENDS and identify those at greatest risk of dual use or relapse to cigarette smoking

Religious leaders\u27 perceptions of advance care planning: a secondary analysis of interviews with Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Sikh and Bahai leaders

Background: International guidance for advance care planning (ACP) supports the integration of spiritual and religious aspects of care within the planning process. Religious leaders’ perspectives could improve how ACP programs respect patients’ faith backgrounds. This study aimed to examine: (i) how religious leaders understand and consider ACP and its implications, including (ii) how religion affects followers’ approaches to end-of-life care and ACP, and (iii) their implications for healthcare. Methods: Interview transcripts from a primary qualitative study conducted with religious leaders to inform an ACP website, ACPTalk, were used as data in this study. ACPTalk aims to assist health professionals conduct sensitive conversations with people from different religious backgrounds. A qualitative secondary analysis conducted on the interview transcripts focussed on religious leaders’ statements related to this study’s aims. Interview transcripts were thematically analysed using an inductive, comparative, and cyclical procedure informed by grounded theory. Results: Thirty-five religious leaders (26 male; mean 58.6-years-old), from eight Christian and six non-Christian (Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Sikh, Bahá’í) backgrounds were included. Three themes emerged which focussed on: religious leaders’ ACP understanding and experiences; explanations for religious followers’ approaches towards end-of-life care; and health professionals’ need to enquire about how religion matters. Most leaders had some understanding of ACP and, once fully comprehended, most held ACP in positive regard. Religious followers’ preferences for end-of-life care reflected family and geographical origins, cultural traditions, personal attitudes, and religiosity and faith interpretations. Implications for healthcare included the importance of avoiding generalisations and openness to individualised and/ or standardised religious expressions of one’s religion. Conclusions: Knowledge of religious beliefs and values around death and dying could be useful in preparing health professionals for ACP with patients from different religions but equally important is avoidance of assumptions. Community-based initiatives, programs and faith settin

Silver hair market in Japan? Good quality of (whose) life with silver-to-black consumption?

Japanese Society (Silver Market?): Exceptionalism in Socio-Economic Sense? What You See is Not What it is in Japan! This question was my Japanese colleagues and informants confronting me, and I concur with them as I completing this brief…. Perhaps this synopsis could help to realize the limited understanding of we have on another Asia society (despite frequent travels and information exchange in the mobile-Internet age), par­ticularly the enigma about Japanese society’s traditionalism embedded into its supra-modernization trajectories of socio-economic development since 1868! 日本社会（银发市场？）：社会经济的例外主义？ 你所见的并不是真实的日本！这是我提出这问题时，我的日本同事跟消息提供者对我的反驳，而我完成这篇概论后也认同他们的理据……也许这篇概论能帮助我们意识到自己对另一个亚洲社会的认知是如此有限（即使我们经常到日本旅游，而且又身处这信息交流发达的年代），特别是自1868年起，深嵌于社会经济发展超现代化进程中的日本传统主义，对我们来说真的有如谜一样

Contextualization: Tanzanian Maasai Culture and the Implications for Worship and Women’s Ministry

Maasai religion, music, and cultural customs have a definite impact on the methodology of missions and relations with the people of their tribes, specifically in the areas of worship and women’s ministry. Maasai tribes have specific cultural needs that require ministry different from those usually employed in Western methodology. There are theological foundations of worship and women’s ministry that must be understood in order to properly execute the process of contextualization as it applies to the Christian gospel. An analysis of the history, religion, rituals, gender roles, and music of Maasai tribes in Tanzania coupled with an understanding of contextualization will aid in the discovery of the implications of culture for ministry within this specific tribal setting