How Social Media’s Rhetoric Shapes The Social Identity of Online Groups: Forming, Confirming and Reinforcing and The Algorithmic Role

The world has become integrated with technology at a rapid rate. The rhetoric of online platforms, due to technology integration, allows people to connect, converse, and meet others who have common character traits. Eyman (2015) defines rhetoric as an action that intends to persuade and form meaning. These platforms are referred to as social media, which are online networks made by people who use rhetoric to form, confirm, and reinforce the connections of platform users with common character traits: Hobbies, thoughts, race, gender, or religion. These common character traits make up one\u27s social identity. This study details the findings of an extensive literature review with data used from journals, articles, dissertations, and abstracts from the University of Mary Washington library database; to identify how social media\u27s rhetoric shapes social identity through the formation of online groups and reveal how algorithms aid in the confirmation and reinforcement of social identity. This study also uses critical discourse analysis to compare different social groups with similar social identities, illustrating how social media\u27s rhetoric forms, confirms, and reinforces social identity and provides insight into algorithm’s role throughout it all

Supporting Student Wellness: De-Stressing Initiatives at Memorial University Libraries

Student mental health and wellness is a critical issue facing institutions of higher education across Canada. Mental illness is predicted to be the leading cause of disability at Canadian universities. This article looks at recent data on how mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression are affecting academic performance. There is a growing consensus amongst university administrators that student mental health is a campus-wide responsibility. Providing students with healthy and positive methods of relaxing and coping with stress is another way that libraries can support learning and academic success and contribute to a campus culture that is supportive of wellness. Two branches of Memorial University Libraries in Newfoundland, the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) and Grenfell Campus library, have undertaken initiatives, partially through partnering with the university’s Student Services department, to help decrease students’ anxiety levels during the particularly stressful end of semester. These include extended hours, yoga and mindfulness, pet therapy, micro-breaks, and free hot beverages and snacks. Both branches surveyed students to obtain feedback on these initiatives and determine what impact students felt the initiatives had on their stress levels. These events also garnered positive exposure in both social and local media and provided a great promotional opportunity for the libraries

You Kind of Have to Prove It: Gender Microaggressions within the Lived Experiences of Women in Engineering

This intrinsic case study explored the lived experiences of women within three engineering majors at a mid-sized institution in the Mid-Atlantic using gender microaggressions (Nadal, 2010; Sue, 2007) as a theoretical lens. Data included individual interviews with 28 participants as well as document review from Web pages and observations from physical spaces within the campus engineering building. Data analysis resulted in seven themes in congruence with Sue’s (2007) taxonomy of gender microaggressions and further established the three levels of gender microaggressions distinguished by Nadal (2010). Findings also revealed that barriers within engineering were less visible or outwardly sexist, and that gender microaggressions shaped the experiences of undergraduate women in engineering majors by creating an atmosphere in which women feel the need to prove they belong. Implications suggest the importance of administrators charged with overseeing engineering programs finding ways to help women feel more supported and socialized with one another within engineering departments and the need to educate faculty and staff working with students about the effects of subtle messaging on women

Embracing American Indian Ways of Educating: Restoring Culturally Embedded Practices While Building Pathways Towards Student Success

American Indian cultural traditions and practices are presented for their merit in promoting student learning within the K-12 educational system. Spe-cific culturally imbedded practices are provided as examples by which student learning can be enhanced while honoring First Nation’s teaching and learn-ing practices. Five developmental theorists noted in this concept paper speak to pedagogical practices that are in alignment with American Indian cultural orientations and that support their inherent value for application in the classroom. This paper asserts that by valuing and promoting American Indian culture and practices in the K-12 curriculum, that the United States would make greater strides in not only affect-ing the achievement gap, but in taking steps toward equity and achieving social justice goals

Preservice Teacher Education Preparation: Implementation of Personalized Learning and Technology Integration in the Fifth Industrial Revolution

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here. It has been argued that we have moved into the age of personalization. One can see this while ordering drinks at a local Starbucks, where options are limitless. This personalization has been called the Fifth Industrial Revolution, a time noted for a deep, multi-level cooperation between people and machines. With emphasis on innovation, purpose, and inclusivity, this revolution calls for changes in the classroom setting to focus on relationships and lived experiences. So, how do we prepare our preservice teachers for this reality? Methods of instruction that create an engaging and collaborative learning community need to be considered when designing classroom experiences. The five facets of personalized learning will be examined through the lens of student research and application. These facets include assessments, instructional rigor, equity, study agency, and classroom culture. Qualitative data will be shared emphasizing student experiences as they engage in research and implementation of personalized learning tools during their field experiences. In addition to this, data from administrator and mentor teacher surveys regarding our teacher preparation program will be examined to better understand viewpoints from the schools that host our teacher candidates. Situated learning theory will be cited to emphasize the necessity of learning in context for preservice teachers

An Examination of Thomas Hurka's Virtue Consequentialism

In this dissertation, I examine three separate issues pertaining to Thomas Hurka’s virtue consequentialism. Hurka’s account describes virtue as a positive orientation towards a good, and a vice as a negative orientation towards a good. The three goods that Hurka assigns to his theory are: pleasure, achievement, and knowledge. In my first paper I argue that an indirect approach to virtue development is more effective than a direct approach. I propose that an individual will have an easier time becoming virtuous if he works on cultivating his empathy, and being guided by a rational commitment to promoting the goods, rather than depending strictly on his willpower, and a rational commitment to promoting the goods. In the second paper I criticize Hurka’s definition of humility, and argue for my own account. Hurka characterizes humility as an asymmetrical recognition of goods. We might inflate the goods of others even though they are equal to our own, or we might deflate our own compared to the equal goods of others. I argue that this conflicts with his theory of virtue, and does not capture what is valuable about humility. I provide my own account of humility as a skill utilized by mentors. The third paper argues that Hurka’s account of virtue does not accurately describe intrinsic value, and therefore would be rejected by virtue ethicists. His account is committed to describing the intrinsic value of virtue as part of a conditional organic unity. I argue that this is different from the intrinsic value argued for by traditional virtue ethicists

The Rise of a Two-Party State: A Case Study of Houston and Harris County, Texas, 1952-1962

This thesis discusses the rise of the Republican party in Texas and specifically Harris County. The time period is the decade between the Presidential election of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the campaign of Jack Cox for Governor. Changes in the structure and leadership of the Republican party at the state level and specific precincts are examined in detail in chapter one. Leaders in Houston during this time period, such as Jesse Jones, Roy Cullen, and Oveta Culp Hobby are discussed in chapter two. The elections of Eisenhower, Cox, and Republican John Tower are analyzed in chapter three. The conclusion finds six major factors for the political changes occurring in Harris County, including economic and demographic changes. Main sources for this work included the Harris County Democratic party records and the Jack Cox Papers at the Center for American History, the Eisenhower Library, and the John Tower Papers

Preparation of Novel Hydroxyethyl Amine Isosteres as Potential Cathepsin D Inhibitors

Cathepsin D is a lysosomal aspartic protease found in all mammalian cells and is considered to be one of the main catabolic proteinases. Cathepsin D has been suggested to play a role in the metastatic potential of several types of cancer. A high activated cathepsin D level in breast tumor tissue has been associated with an increased incidence of relapse and metastasis. High levels of active cathepsin D have also been found in colon cancer, prostate cancer, uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer. Hydroxyethyl isosteres with cyclic tertiary amine have proven to be clinically useful as inhibitors of aspartyl proteases similar to cathepsin D inactivity, such as the HIV-1 aspartyl protease. We have undertaken the design, via computer molecular modeling, and the synthesis of (hydroxyethyl) amine isostere inhibitors, which are similar to potent inhibitors of the aspartyl HIV-1 protease. We now report the preparation of six compounds that contain novel hydroxyethyl isosteres with cyclic tertiary amines

Case Report Gouty Panniculitis with Ulcerations in a Patient with Multiple Organ Dysfunctions

Gouty panniculitis is a rare manifestation of gout. Clinically, it is characterized by indurated subcutaneous nodules in nonjoint areas. Pathologically, typical characteristic gouty tophi can be seen in subcutaneous tissue. It is postulated that gouty panniculitis develops as a consequence of uric acid accumulation in the body and localized inflammatory changes in subcutaneous tissue. We report a case of a 46-year-old man with 20-year history of gout, who developed multiple subcutaneous nodules over the abdomen and right groin/thigh area over a 2-year period. After a recent episode of congestive heart failure and acute renal failure, the nodules increased in size and the overlying skin became erythematous and ulcerated. Pathologic examination demonstrated typical tophi in the dermis and subcutaneous tissue. A review of the literature yielded fifteen similar cases that had been previously reported. We conclude that gouty panniculitis may be a manifestation of undertreated gout and may be exacerbated by the deterioration of other systemic functions