American Muslim Health Disparities: The State of the Medline Literature

Background: While religious beliefs and values influence health behaviors, conventional health disparities research rarely examines health outcomes by religious affiliation particularly within multi-ethnic minority communities. Methods: Using a systematic strategy we searched the Medline literature to identify empiric studies that report on health disparities between American Muslims and non-Muslim groups residing in America. In addition to use religious affiliation descriptors for Muslim groups we utilized geographic and ethnicity terms such as “South Asian” or “Pakistani” as proxy terms to help uncover studies of American Muslims. Results: 171 empirical studies were captured. South Asians and Arabs were the most commonly studied groups, and mental health was the most common studied health condition. The overwhelming majority of studies did not assess connections between the Islamic faith and health outcomes. Conclusion: Healthcare disparities among American Muslims remain under-investigated. The few empirical studies of American Muslim groups, or of ethnic groups with large numbers of Muslims, rarely examine relationships between Islam-related factors and health outcomes and thereby miss an opportunity to understand the relationships between religion and health disparities

KOMBINASI METODE NIBLACK DAN SAUVOLA UNTUK BINERISASI DOKUMEN JAWI KUNO

Dokumen Jawi kuno merupakan warisan peninggalan masa lampau yang terdapat di Nusantara. Dokumen kuno ini perlu dilestarikan agar informasi dan pengetahuan yang terkandung di dalamnya tidak hilang dan dapat digali kembali. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) merupakan aplikasi yang dapat digunakan untuk menggali kembali informasi tersebut. Salah satu tahap penting dalam sistem pengenalan karakter adalah binerisasi. Salah satu metode binerisasi adalah metode Niblack dan Sauvola yang berbasis nilai ambang. Metode Niblack dan Sauvola memiliki kekurangan dalam melakukan binerisasi suatu citra dokumen, yaitu munculnya banyak noise dan missing text pada citra dokumen hasil binerisasi. Oleh karena itu, peneliti menggabungkan kedua metode tersebut untuk menghasilkan suatu metode binerisasi yang lebih baik. Penggabungan ini dilakukan dengan mencari nilai tengah thresholding antara Niblack dan Sauvola untuk setiap local window yang digunakan. Penggabungan tersebut menghasilkan suatu persamaan baru untuk pencarian nilai thresholding. Pada penelitian ini, local window dan nilai konstanta bias k ditetapkan secara manual. Untuk mendapatkan hasil terbaik dari metode yang dikembangkan tersebut, maka peneliti melakukan pengujian terhadap beberapa local window dan nilai konstanta bias. Dari pengujian yang telah dilakukan, hasil binerisasi terbaik yang didapatkan baik secara visual maupun dari hasil analisis menggunakan metode evaluasi adalah menggunakan local window 19x19 dan nilai konstanta bias 0,35. Hasil pengujian menunjukkan bahwa secara rata-rata metode baru mempunyai performansi lebih baik 22,47% dari Niblack dan 21,5% dari Sauvola untuk metode evaluasi f-measure. Dari hasil perancangan tersebut, dilakukan perbandingan antara metode yang dikembangkan dengan metode Niblack dan Sauvola itu sendiri, serta metode local adaptive thresholding lainnya yaitu NICK, Feng dan Wolf. Hasil perbandingan menunjukkan bahwa metode yang dikembangkan menghasilkan citra terbinerisasi yang lebih baik dari metode Niblack, Sauvola, Wolf, Feng, dan NICK. Kata Kunci: Dokumen Jawi kuno, binerisasi, penggabungan Niblack dan Sauvola, binerisasi berbasis nilai ambang, OC

Dorm Hair: Black Sisterhood, Protest and Academic Excellence at Harvard, 1975-1990

The Association of Black Radcliffe Women (ABRW) started in the spring of 1975. They first wanted to achieve unity among the students “from all regions of the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa.” These women were very aware of the ethnic and cultural variety among the black community of women. They also set up a big sibling program to address was the divide between upper clanswomen and the “freshwomen.” This would allow cross-class friendships and mentorships to flourish across the divide between the Harvard Yard and upper class houses. The diverse community of black women took its first steps in strengthening its constituency

Righteous Fury: 1960s Black Strudent Activism at Harvard and Radcliffe

The black students at Harvard and other northern white colleges such as Columbia, Rutgers, and University of Pennsylvania would utilize black nationalist and militant organizational strategies in service of integrationist goals on campus. The black student struggles used the fiery rhetoric of nationalism, formed alliances with local community members of militant organizations, and thought of themselves as adherents of the nationalist ideology. They brilliantly and strategically exercised their agency by combining the two deeply embedded political traditions of radicalism and moderation in the course of the 1960s campus struggle

A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT FOR READING COMPREHENSION AT SMAN 10 BANDA ACEH

Banda Ace

An empirical study into factors that influence e-learning adoption by medical students in UAE

Aim: The global higher education sector has shown an inclination towards the adoption of technology-based learning for introducing innovation in teaching and learning activities. However, this e-learning environment can only be effective if students have positive perceptions of e-learning. Hence, educational personnel is required to consider how students perceive this concept. This research intends to serve this purpose by identifying factors affecting students' acceptance of e-learning as well as their intention toward the use of e-learning for their learning activities.   Methods: The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used in this re-search to formulate a theoretical framework. This research will employ online questionnaires as a data collection tool while the international students enrolled at United Arab Emirates universities will serve as study participants.   Results: The research outcomes indicated the most crucial role played by the predictors of “Accessibility" “Perceived Enjoyment", “Social Influence”, “Perceived Usefulness”, and "Perceived Ease of Use" in shaping students’ intention to resort to e-learning platforms for learning purposes.   Conclusion: The research indicated that the extended TAM model is applicable in the UAE educational context. The research outcomes also showed the possibility for policymakers in the educational sector to make effective use of e-learning platforms both as a technological solution and as an e-learning platform to support distance learning. The research also highlights the practical implications for the concerned educational developers in the educational sector to help them develop and apply a competent e-learning system.   Acknowledgment: This work is a part of a project undertaken at the British University in Dubai   Conflicts of interest: None declared

What can literature teach us about the Iraq invasion? A case study of Ian McEwan’s ‘Saturday'

by Afrah Almatwari ‘Saturday’ by Ian McEwan. Published January 1, 2005. This blog post examines the novel Saturday by Ian McEwan, which takes place in the shadow of the great London marches of 15 February 2003, before the Iraq invasion. The novel tells the story of a day in the life of a neurosurgeon named Henry Perowne and depicts the contentious debate present in British society about the justifications for initiating war in Iraq and its ethical implications. Through the two main characters, Perowne, who is pro-war, and his daughter Daisy, who is anti-war, this article analyses whether humanitarian crises justify military intervention, as well as the irrationality of fighting terrorism militarily. It shows that Saturday is just one example of how literature can be instructive in examining justifications for major political events, such as the invasion of Iraq