The Hive: the Joint University of Worcester/Worcester Public Library That’s Open for Business

This article outlines some of the key developments that have occurred since The Hive opened to help create services and events for the business community. It looks at some examples of good practice to show how through its partnership working, The Hive has created new opportunities and ways of working that make it good for the business community and for the university. Finally, options for further development and growth are briefly considered

In My Skin, Her Skin: An Artistic Exploration of the Intersection of Queer Femininity and Body Image

This project aims to visually record the feeling of being seen and queer women and non-binary people’s developing knowledge of their identity. Using interview questions that focused on body satisfaction, body selectiveness in partners, queer identity, and one’s relationship with femininity, a series of “floating collages” was created to record and juxtapose the appearance of the body with one’s internal relationship to the body. By realistically showing a variety of different body types that all relate to queerness and femininity in some way, one may expand their presupposed notions about the body enforcing identity. Additionally, despite these varying appearances of the body, the shared expressions of body insecurity, navigating queer expression, and learning self-love unify these differences to reinforce the idea that the person is so much more than the body

Assessment of Self-Reported Studying Habits in a High-Risk Business Calculus Course

The University of Rhode Island offers a number of undergraduate courses that are considered high-risk, which is constituted by a high failure rate. BUS 111: Business Calculus has been identified as a high-risk course that focuses on basic concepts in calculus and is typically taken by freshman students. There are a multitude of potential factors that increase the likelihood of students struggling in BUS 111, such as prior math knowledge, class attendance, lack of resources, and ineffective studying strategies. However, the most salient factors for determining performance in BUS 111 have not been identified. Therefore, I sought to examine what studying techniques undergraduate students employed in BUS 111 and which techniques contributed to successful performance on examinations. In order to gather data on studying habits, I constructed two surveys that were distributed to approximately 200 students enrolled in BUS 111 during the Fall 2010 semester. The surveys included information that assessed demographics, studying techniques and duration, use of social media and examination performance. In addition, I conducted interviews with faculty, and spoke with other universities to determine whether they offered high-risk undergraduate math courses. Following this, I examined the survey responses to attempt to determine what factors contributed to successful performance on examinations. I was able to identify factors that contributed to successful performance on BUS 111 examinations. As a result of the findings, I have made some suggestions for studying habits and additional approaches to this class that may improve the likelihood of successful performance in BUS 111. This project has helped me develop skills to conduct a basic research study and communicate findings to an audience regarding a certain problem. Ultimately, these recommendations may help future undergraduate students perform successfully in BUS 111

Whose Identity? The Responsibilities of Museums in the Representation of the Past and Present

The goal of this thesis is to investigate the nature of cultural identity as represented in, and connected to museums and the artifacts they contain. In particular, I will focus on the different ways anthropologists, archaeologists and many museums approach the problem of representation within a museum setting. Based upon a review of the literature within the fields of anthropology, museum studies, and archaeology, I will discuss how cultural identity is constructed and represented in a museum setting, demonstrating that the collective identities of both those who view archaeological collections, and the descendents of those represented may be influenced by the information they receive. Using examples of Pre‐Columbian art collections (in particular, Olmec, West Mexican, Maya and Aztec cultures) at six museums in Texas and Mexico City, I will examine the messages projected to the viewer through the layout, organization, displays, and text of exhibits on Pre‐Columbian cultures. I will argue that these messages are conveyed to the public in an attempt to influence or guide the viewer to certain conclusions about the culture. In so doing, a museum is participating in the creation of a mythology surrounding that culture. In my concluding remarks, I propose, based on the way visitors assimilate information, the adoption of a specific communication model intended to reduce these kinds of messages, which may very well be unintentional. I also suggest ways in which museums can work together with various stakeholders, including indigenous communities, the general public, archaeology and academia for the purposes of sharing cultural heritage in a more ethically responsible and representative manner

Adopting Building Codes and Building Code Amendments by Reference

Cities adopting building codes by reference must adopt the complete codes by ordinance. Includes sample ordinances and resolution

Brazilian, Feminist Non-Governmental Organisations - a Force for Change: Constructing Citizenship through Health Sector Reform and Delivery of Reproductive Rights

This thesis examines the role Brazilian feminist institutions - NGOs and the National Council for Women’s Rights, created in the transitional period from dictatorship to democracy (1985-95) to represent the mass social movement of women - have played in transition politics, where their aim has been to invoke the notion of ‘citizenship’ to address marginality and instigate constitutional change to deliver health services to women. The methodological framework is the Extended Case Study Method (Burawoy 1991, 2000), which draws on different and complementary ethnographic research traditions. Interviews with leaders of Brazil’s mass women’s movement, as well as with government officials and a leader of the Popular Movement for Health, provide data which give an account of the overall political context of the governance of that period and the constitutional process whereby, as civil society bodies, feminist institutions acted at the macro level of state policy in the public health sector, as well as at the micro, local level in their communities. Theories used to interpret data include Social Movement Theory of Latin America, which analyses processes arising from transitional periods following repressive military dictatorship and include: a) the emergence, characteristics and organisation of social movements; b) how the discourse of human rights relates to the notion of citizenship; c) the role of feminism in démocratisation. Also examined are participatory approaches to international development including the contribution made by NGOs in development processes

Deceitful Bodies: Ideas, Performance and the Physicality of Bodily Fraud, 1540 - 1750

In early modern England it was believed that many people possessed the ability to alter and thereby mispresent their bodies. Various texts claimed that they were able to do so by either creating or restoring different aspects and features of the body. This dissertation investigates the defective and deceptive body in early modern England. It considers how bodies like these and the methods used by people to manipulate the body were portrayed in medical, religious, literary and popular works to the early modern populace. In considering attitudes towards bodily fraud and deceit it assesses early modern attitudes towards deformity and its causes. The dissertation argues that people were aware that defective and deceptive bodies existed and were visible in a range of printed texts and in everyday life. It examines the extent to which cultural representations of criminal and dishonest behaviour fuelled anxieties about fraud and duplicity. It considers the ways in which writers and readers connected and distinguished between bodies, that while all deceptive, were not all fraudulent. By establishing the origins of deformity, such as birth, injury and illness, this dissertation shows how some of these contexts were used by fraudulent beggars to invoke sympathy or were concealed by individuals who wished to hide the extent of their bodily defect to minimise their social and economic exclusion. Different types of deceptive behaviour were motivated by economic factors. Those who wished to conceal their defective body did so to promote work and marriage opportunities increasing their chances of financial stability in the long term. Fraudulent beggars reshaped their narratives and manipulated their bodies to appear deserving of charity and it was believed that women were able to recreate their virginity to please a new husband or to increase profit from prostitution. Overall this dissertation demonstrates that regardless of the context, defective and deceptive bodies were profitable socially and financially