MindMusic: Brain-Controlled Musical Improvisation

MindMusic explores a new form of creative expression through brain controlled musical improvisation. Using EEG technology and a musical improviser system, Impro-Visor (Keller, 2018), MindMusic engages users in musical improvisation sessions controlled with their brainwaves. Brain-controlled musical improvisation offers a unique blend of mindfulness meditation, EEG biofeedback, and real-time music generation, and stands to assist with stress reduction and widen access to musical creativity

The Muslim Jewish Interfaith Dialogue Group's Alternative Spring Break

Every year, the Muslim Jewish Interfaith Dialogue Group at U of M collaborates goes on an alternative spring break. This year, MuJew members spent a week working at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees in upstate New York to both gain first-hand knowledge on refugees and build bridges between two religious communities.University Library's Student Engagement ProgramGinsberg Center for Community Service and LearningOffice of Academic Multicultural InitiativesMuslim Jewish Interfaith Dialogue Grouphttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/122846/1/Goldstein_Rachel_FinalReport_Slideshow.pdfDescription of Goldstein_Rachel_FinalReport_Slideshow.pdf : Symposium presentation slidesho

Evaluating the Impact of a Consolidated Health Care System on Low-Income Patients in Connecticut

Hospitals around the country are adopting new practices and joining hospital systems. While some states have had a relatively mild rate of consolidation, others, like Connecticut, have become heavily dependent on a bifurcated hospital system. Previous papers have mainly considered prices of treatments and availability of care to the broad population. This research paper explores the ability of a consolidated health system to treat and meet UNESCO defined standards for social responsibility in the healthcare sector, particularly for low-income patients. Based on the findings in Connecticut’s New London county, this paper finds that it is possible for a place with a heavily consolidated health system to not only meet UNESCO defined standards, but also to provide high levels of medical care and a variety of services to low income patients

The Rise of Health Disparities in the United States: An Investigation into Medicaid Expansionary Policies

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the variations in health spending and health outcomes across states have further diverged. While some states have increased their overall funding of Medicaid, others, like Texas, have not increased Medicaid coverage nor have they kept funding equal to inflation levels. This research paper examines and compares the health outcomes of states with higher uninsured populations and the ability to meet UNESCO defined standards for social responsibility in the health care sector. Based on literature review and a case study of health outcomes for low-income patients and disabled individuals, this paper finds that non-expansion Medicaid states are not capable of meeting UNESCO defined standards, due to the barriers to mental health care and the likelihood of long-term disparities in health outcomes for low-income and disabled individuals

HOW TO ATTRACT YOUNG ADULTS TO AMERICORPS SERVICE

AmeriCorps offers a variety of options for US citizens to serve their country in a non-military fashion while providing an opportunity for skill development, career exploration, community service, and self-growth. In exchange for service, AmeriCorps provides a minimal living allowance and an education award. Even with these benefits geared towards young adults, few young adults choose to enter AmeriCorps service upon the completion of their undergraduate studies. This research sought to understand motivations for and against service in an attempt to inform and improve AmeriCorps current recruitment practices. To understand how AmeriCorps can attract more young adults, a qualitative research study was conducted by employing online surveys with 73 AmeriCorps Members and 26 Non-Members; and interviews with two AmeriCorps employees. The findings revealed that the following factors influence recruitment: motivations for service, experiential poverty, preconceived notions of service, perspectives of compulsory service, challenges faced, and advertising/marketing. These findings informed recommendations on changes to the structure of AmeriCorps and improvements to current recruitment practices to help the organization increase its reach and influence the next generation of civically engaged citizens

Sexual Health Education: A Comparison Between Denmark and the United States

There are vast differences in sexual health education internationally. This paper examines peer-reviewed articles, international reports, and government mandated sexual health curricula to compare the current sexual health education in two countries, Denmark and the United States. Sexual health education has been slowly incorporated into the education system since the early 1900s but at different levels of comprehension and thoroughness. Denmark currently has one of the most comprehensive sexual health educations in the world, which includes information on safe sex, prevention against sexually transmitted infections, gender and sexuality, and diversity. Sexual health education in the United States differs significantly from Denmark, primarily because each state uses a different curriculum and several of the states do not teach sexual health whatsoever. To illustrate the point, I draw on two main examples: Texas and New Mexico. Texas has an abstinence-only approach to teaching sexual health. Health studies are required to be taught in grades one through eight and must be offered at the high school level. In comparison, New Mexico’s sexual health education curriculum is more progressive. It is also mandatory, although parents and guardians can choose to remove their children from the lessons. However, the two countries are not entirely in opposition. Both put an emphasis on teaching about the impact and prevention of HIV and both lack adequate teaching on sexual consent. The impact of the different approaches to sexual health education between the two countries is reflected in the higher frequency of unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and rates of HIV among American teens compared to Danish teens. These findings suggest that a comprehensive sex education curriculum gives students actionable skills that they can use to protect themselves from the consequences of unsafe and uneducated sex

Das Berliner Schloss and Humboldt Forum: A Contemporary Repository of Cultural Identity

The collecting history of the Brandenburg-­‐Prussian Kunstkammer began in the lateseventeenth century after the original sixteenth-­‐century collection was destroyed during the Thirty Years War. The ethnographic objects that were collected over five hundred years by the rulers of Brandenburg and Prussia with a Western purview were originally housed within the Berliner Schloss as a part of the Brandenburg-­‐Prussian Kunstkammer, a cabinet of curiosities. Torn down in 1950 by the East German government, the Berliner Schloss is being rebuilt, with a projected opening date of 2019. The new Berliner Schloss will contain the Humboldt Forum, a global, cultural museum that will house the non-­‐Western ethnographic collections that were part of the original Brandenburg-­‐Prussian Kunstkammer. The collections that will be housed in the new Berliner Schloss will be encoded with cultural value and will position Germany within a global context, rather than retain the country’s historic identity as a harbinger of empire

Constructions of diaspora-oriented Jewish identities: a comparative case study of individuals in New York city and London

Although historical sources acknowledge the diversity of Jewish identities, recent research tends to focus heavily on religious and Zionist bases for Jewish identities. To explore the research question, “How do Jews outside the mainstream of religion and Zionism construct and maintain alternative Jewish identities?” a case study was crafted to focus on a small sample of individuals from two left-wing, Diaspora-oriented Jewish groups in New York City and London in 1999 – 2000. The project used participant observation, discourse analysis, and in-depth interviews to research members of these groups at this unique historical moment—a time of higher levels of optimism and security as the Holocaust was further in the past and the second intifada in Israel and 9/11 attacks in the US had yet to occur. Semi-structured interviews allowed for detailed personal histories of alternative Jewish identity formation and expression. Significant findings include the fact that non-mainstream Jews find Jewish meaning in culture, history, tradition, politics, and minority status. Furthermore, alternative Jewish identities are constructed and maintained from the margins, in community, through learning, by action, and through redefining rituals. There remain many obstacles but also opportunities for those seeking non-mainstream Jewish identities in the Diaspora, including the inherent fluidity of identity, marginalisation, lack of knowledge, need for rituals, ambivalence and internalised anti-Semitism, potential burnout for activists, and Zionism and Israel/Palestine debates. This study contributes to the fields of Jewish sociology and identity research in applying qualitative methods and more recent identity theories to Jewish identities typically marginalised by both scholars and mainstream Jewish institutions