Impact of Religiosity and Level of Acculturation on Cultural Alignment: An Exploration of Terror Management Mechanisms among Muslim American Women

ABSTRACT Impact of Religiosity and Level of Acculturation on Cultural Alignment: An Exploration of Terror Management Mechanisms among Muslim American Women by Farah Taha Goheer, M.A. Advisor: Joel Sneed, Ph.D. Background: Terror management theory (TMT) is based upon the notion that human beings require ongoing psychological protection from the unyielding, existential threat of death. A large body of evidence has shown that human beings manage death-related terror by aligning with and endorsing the dominant views of their cultural worldviews. Notably, as immigrants experience a new culture, worldviews become rearticulated to incorporate elements of host and heritage cultures. However, it is unclear how individuals with prolonged bicultural exposure effectively buffer death-related fears. Few studies in the vast TMT literature have been conducted with immigrant populations and the terror management defenses of Muslim American women, in particular, have yet to be investigated. As such, the purpose of this dissertation was to extend TMT research by examining the ways in which Muslim American women negotiate diverse aspects of their cultural worldviews to secure terror management benefits. Objectives: The current investigation examined the terror management defenses employed by Muslim American women in the context of elevated death anxiety and tested the potential moderating effects of acculturation and religiosity. In accordance with the mortality salience (MS) hypothesis of TMT, heightened death awareness was predicted to intensify support of the cultural worldview, such that participants would produce more positive evaluations of a worldview-supporting essay and more negative evaluations of a worldview-threatening essay. The association between increased death salience and worldview defense was also predicted to vary as a function of level of acculturation to U.S. society and religious commitment to Islam. Participants and Methods: The sample included 53 Muslim American female undergraduate students. Following random assignment to the MS prime condition or control group, participants read and evaluated two essays that were ostensibly written by Muslim American women in response to an image of a Muslim woman wearing an American flag hijab. The essays were designed to activate either secular or religious defensive responses to messages that challenged American and Islamic values, respectively. Measures of affect, death-thought accessibility, religiosity, acculturation, discrimination-related stress, and collective and personal self-esteem were also included. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to test the main effect of MS and the moderating effects of acculturation and religiosity on worldview defense (i.e., composite essay score). Contrary to expectations, the study’s predictor hypotheses were not supported. Heightened death anxiety did not result in the typical increase in worldview defense. Furthermore, the relationship between MS and worldview defense was not moderated by acculturation or religiosity. Conclusions: Taken together, the results of the present study did not support our hypotheses. In light of strong empirical support for the effects of heightened death awareness on worldview defense in prior studies, our findings were interpreted with caution. Alternative explanations for our results, limitations of our study design and sample, and avenues for future research with Muslim American women were discussed

Kreativitas Guru SD Dan Kuasa Kurikulum Dalam Penerapan Kurikulum 2013

Pendidikan adalah salah satu hal yang penting di dalam hidup masyarakat. Salah satu acuan pendidikan di Indonesia adalah kurikulum. Kurikulum 2013 adalah kurikulum terbaru yang dipakai oleh pemerintah. Akan tetapi, dengan bergantinya kurikulum, banyak kerepotan dalam pelaksanaannya di awal pemakaian kurikulum 2013. Dalam penelitian ini, peneliti memakai teori Bourdieu mengenai kuasa simbolik, serta memakai konsep dari Dr. Ralph J. Hallman mengenai guru kreatif. Dalam penelitian ini menggunakan studi deskriptif dengan metode campuran. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa tingkat kreatifitas guru SD di kota malang terbilang tinggi, dengan rata-rata jawaban guru memilih tidak pernah sebanyak 1 persen, jarang sebanyak 32.6 persen, sering sebesar 36.1 persen, dan sangat sering sebesar 24.32 persen. Tetapi, di Balik kreatifitas tersebut, terdapat kuasa dari kurikulum 2013 terhadap para guru. Kuasa tersebut bersifat simbolik, sehingga yang dikuasai tidak menyadarinya. Legitimasi yang diberikan pemerintah melalui UU dan peraturan, kurikulum yang telah lama dipakai sebagai pedoman pendidikan di Indonesia sehingga menjadi doxa, serta adanya dominasi dari kurikulum 2013 sehingga para guru harus memakainya sebagai pedoman dalam mengajar. Pada akhirnya guru harus kreatif agar dapat mengikuti aturan yang dimiliki oleh kurikulum 2013

The Auditory Nerve Overlapped Waveform (ANOW) detects small endolymphatic manipulations that may go undetected by conventional measurements

Electrocochleography (ECochG) has been used to assess Ménière's disease, a pathology associated with endolymphatic hydrops and low-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. However, the current ECochG techniques are limited for use at high-frequencies only (≥1 kHz) and cannot be used to assess and understand the low-frequency sensorineural hearing loss in ears with Ménière's disease. In the current study, we use a relatively new ECochG technique to make measurements that originate from afferent auditory nerve fibers in the apical half of the cochlear spiral to assess effects of endolymphatic hydrops in guinea pig ears. These measurements are made from the Auditory Nerve Overlapped Waveform (ANOW). Hydrops was induced with artificial endolymph injections, iontophoretically applied Ca2+ to endolymph, and exposure to 200 Hz tones. The manipulations used in this study were far smaller than those used in previous investigations on hydrops. In response to all hydropic manipulations, ANOW amplitude to moderate level stimuli was markedly reduced but conventional ECochG measurements of compound action potential thresholds were unaffected (i.e., a less than 2 dB threshold shift). Given the origin of the ANOW, changes in ANOW amplitude likely reflect acute volume disturbances accumulate in the distensible cochlear apex. These results suggest that the ANOW could be used to advance our ability to identify initial stages of dysfunction in ears with Ménière's disease before the pathology progresses to an extent that can be detected with conventional measures

Anti windup implementation on different PID structures

Although there have been tremendous advances in control theory over the last 25 years, the PID controller remains very popular and is still widely used in industry. A vital aspect of its implementation is the selection of a suitable set of parameters, as an improperly tuned controller might lead to adverse effects on process operation and worse, cause system instability. In industry, there are various types of PID controllers in addition to the 'textbook' PID but most tuning methods were developed based on this ideal algorithm. Another issue that is always associated with PID controllers is integral windup and the most popular method to overcome this problem is to add an anti windup compensator. This article includes the assessment of three anti windup strategies in combination with different tuning methods. The characteristics of PID controllers tuned using these approaches are evaluated by application to simulated FOPTD processes with different time-delay to time-constant ratios. Different measures were used to assess their performance and robustness properties, and the applicability of the tuning relationships to more typical (non-ideal) PID controllers is also considered. In general, the anti windup compensators successfully reduced the degradation effect caused by integral windup. It was found that the effectiveness of the different anti windup schemes varied depending on controller tuning methods and controller structures

Child poverty under the lens of Cognitive Neuroscience

Child poverty and development are multidimensional phenomena which imply the need to analyze several biological and psychosocial components and processes within complex and changing contexts (Beddington et al., 2008; Bornstein & Lamb, 2011). Both have been studied by different scientific approaches that keep debates open on either the universality or context-dependence of biological and psychosocial underlying processes as determinants, and their implications at academic, social and policy levels. The complexity of the myriad environmental influences and their dependence on timing, suggests the need for conceptual and methodological advances in the study of child development.Fil: Lipina, Sebastián Javier. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; ArgentinaFil: Farah, Martha T.. University of Pennsylvania; Estados Unido

Child poverty under the lens of Cognitive Neuroscience

Child poverty and development are multidimensional phenomena which imply the need to analyze several biological and psychosocial components and processes within complex and changing contexts (Beddington et al., 2008; Bornstein & Lamb, 2011). Both have been studied by different scientific approaches that keep debates open on either the universality or context-dependence of biological and psychosocial underlying processes as determinants, and their implications at academic, social and policy levels. The complexity of the myriad environmental influences and their dependence on timing, suggests the need for conceptual and methodological advances in the study of child development.Fil: Lipina, Sebastián Javier. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; ArgentinaFil: Farah, Martha T.. University of Pennsylvania; Estados Unido

Retrospective Evaluation and Framework Development of Bone Anisotropic Material Behavior Compared with Elastic, Elastic-Plastic, and Hyper-Elastic Properties

The main motivation for studying damage in bone tissue is to better understand how damage develops in the bone tissue and how it progresses. Such knowledge may help in the surgical aspects of joint replacement, fracture fixation or establishing the fracture tolerance of bones to prevent injury. Currently, there are no standards that create a realistic bone model with anisotropic material properties, although several protocols have been suggested. This study seeks to retrospectively evaluate the damage of bone tissue with respect to patient demography including age, gender, race, body mass index (BMI), height, and weight, and their role in causing fracture. Investigators believe that properties derived from CT imaging data to estimate the material properties of bone tissue provides more realistic models. Quantifying and associating damage with in vivo conditions will provide the required information to develop mathematical equations and procedures to predict the premature failure and potentially mitigate problems before they begin. Creating a realistic model for bone tissue can predict the premature failure(s), provide preliminary results before getting the surgery, and optimize the design of orthopaedic implants. A comparison was performed between the proposed model and previous efforts, where they used elastic, hyper- elastic, or elastic-plastic properties. Results showed that there was a significant difference between the anisotropic material properties of bone when compared with unrealistic previous methods. The results showed that the density is 50% higher in male subjects than female subjects. Additionally, the results showed that the density is 47.91% higher in Black subjects than Mixed subjects, 53.27% higher than Caucasian subjects and 57.41% higher than Asian. In general, race should be considered during modeling implants or suggesting therapeutic techniques

Failure Analysis of PHILOS Plate Construct Used for Pantalar Arthrodesis Paper II-Screws and FEM Simulations

A fractured stainless steel 3.5 mm proximal humerus internal locking system (PHILOS) plate and screws were investigated in this paper. This plate was used for ankle arthrodesis of a 68-year-old female with a right ankle deformity. Both the plate and screws were considered in this investigation. Optical and scanning electron microscopes (SEM) were used to document fracture surface characteristics, such as extensive scratching, plastic deformation, rubbed surfaces, discoloration, and pitting, along with cleavage, secondary cracking, deposits of debris, striations, and dimples. Indications of these features show that the plate failed by corrosion fatigue, however, overloading separated the screw(s) in two parts. Radiographic evidence shows that the screws failed ahead of the plate from the proximal end. Three-dimensional models of the plate and the screws: cortical, locking, and cannulated, were constructed using Solidworks and imported in ANSYS Workbench 16.2 to simulate the loading conditions and regions of stress development. Statistical analysis was conducted to understand the impact of different factors on the maximum von Mises stresses of the locking compression plate. These factors were the load, screw design pattern, coefficient of friction between the plate and screws, and cortical screw displacement. In summary, the finite element simulation of the plate validates the fractographic examination results. The following observations were made: (a) as the angle between the screws and the plates increased, the von Mises stresses increased in the cortical screws; and (b) the stress in the locking screws was lower than that of the cortical screws, which may be due to locking the screws with fixed angles onto the plate. Finally, fractographic examination of the cortical and locking screws supports the mechanism of corrosion-fatigue fracture from crack initiation sites, pits, due to the presence of inclusion bodies for this material (ASTM standards F138-03 and F139-03) documented for the plate in Paper I

Indoor Built Environment and Older Adults’ Activity: A Systematic Review

Bien que l’environnement physique puisse influencer l’activité des individus, peu de synthèses de connaissances portent sur les environnements intérieurs et les routines de la vie quotidienne des personnes âgées. Nous avons donc procédé à un examen systématique de publications revues par des pairs afin de guider les recherches et les pratiques futures. Les critères d’inclusion suivants ont été utilisés : études sans restriction quant au devis de recherche, à la date ou à la langue, portant sur les personnes âgées de 60 ans et plus, sur l’activité physique ou le comportement sédentaire, et l’environnement intérieur. Après avoir effectué des recherches dans cinq bases de données, deux des auteurs ont examiné les titres, les résumés et le texte intégral. La dernière recherche a été effectuée le 19 décembre 2020. Nous avons passé en revue 1367 citations et inclus 23 études se rapportant à des logements privés ou collectifs (p. ex. résidences avec services). Les caractéristiques intérieures favorisant l’activité physique étaient associées à trois domaines : les environs (p. ex. les commodités, les chemins), le bâtiment (p. ex. la superficie, le niveau de l’étage) et les équipements (p. ex. les ascenseurs, les couloirs). La connaissance des facteurs environnementaux intérieurs qui favorisent la participation des personnes âgées aux activités quotidiennes peut orienter les recherches et les politiques futures en matière de conception de logements.Although the physical environment can influence people’s activity, there are few knowledge syntheses for indoor environments and older adults’ daily life routines. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed evidence to inform future research and practice. Inclusion criteria were studies with any research designs, across all years and languages focused on older adults 60 years of age or more, on physical activity/sedentary behaviour and the indoor environment. After searching five databases, two authors completed title/abstract and full-text screening. The last search was on December 19, 2020. We screened 1,367 citations, and included 23 studies situated in private or collective dwellings (e.g., assisted living). We identified physical activity-supportive indoor features across three domains: campus (e.g., amenities, pathways), building (e.g., area, floor level), and fixtures (e.g., elevators, hallways). Knowledge of indoor environmental factors for older adults’ engagement in daily activities can guide future research and policy on housing design.Canada Research Chair

The Chaotic Properties of the Shift Map and His Conjugacy of Horseshoe Map

في هذا العمل, درسنا بعض الخصائص الفوضوية المختلفة لفضاء الضرب على دالة التزحيف. اوجدنا ترافقا تبولوجيا بين دالة التزحيف ودالة حدوة الحصان لنقل الخواص الفوضوية المدروسة على فضاء   .In our study, we prove some chaotic properties of the shift map  on the symbol space  and apply the topological conjugacy property of the shift map on the horseshoe map