Psychosocial Challenges at a Refugee Camp: When Volunteer Preparation is Lacking

This small-scale study was undertaken to learn about training for volunteers participating in a particular nongovernmental organization (NGO) program to help refugees living at a camp in Greece. There is a dearth of research on this topic in spite of the fact that organizations rely heavily on the support of volunteers. The design was that of a pilot case study. It was conducted using observations and interviews of volunteers at the NGO. Findings indicated that volunteers were poorly trained, as the NGO staff had insufficient knowledge about refugees in general, and the refugee population at the camp, in particular. The lack of training resulted in high levels of frustration for the camp residents as well as poor morale and sadness on the part of the volunteers. There are relatively easy solutions for better preparing volunteers to support refugees in transitional camps, including pre-arrival and on-site mentoring on the culture, history, and languages of the predominant camp residents as well as clear instructions on procedures and careful oversight by NGO staff, all of which would result in improved wellbeing for both refugees and volunteers

Baseline tests of the C. H. Waterman Renault 5 electric passenger vehicle

The Waterman vehicle, a four passenger Renault 5 GTL, performance test results are presented and characterized the state-of-the-art of electric vehicles. It was powered by sixteen 6-volt traction batteries through a two-step contactor controller actuated by a foot throttle to change the voltage applied to the 6.7 -kilowatt motor. The motor output shaft was connected to a front-wheel-drive transaxle that contains a four-speed manual transmission and clutch. The braking system was a conventional hydraulic braking system

Brazilian TV & Muslimness in Kyrgyzstan

Soap operas draw at least part of their success from their clever use of platitudes that may or may not be taken seriously by viewers. In this article, the author focuses on Clone, a Brazilian show in which Muslims are depicted in classic, and blunt, stereotypical fashion. While travelling from its intended audience in Brazil to unanticipated, but equally excited, audiences in Kyrgyzstan the soap opera obtained interesting new meanings. Ironically, the stereotypical images contributed positively to local debates on what it means to be Muslim

Using schema transformation pathways for data lineage tracing

With the increasing amount and diversity of information available on the Internet, there has been a huge growth in information systems that need to integrate data from distributed, heterogeneous data sources. Tracing the lineage of the integrated data is one of the problems being addressed in data warehousing research. This paper presents a data lineage tracing approach based on schema transformation pathways. Our approach is not limited to one specific data model or query language, and would be useful in any data transformation/integration framework based on sequences of primitive schema transformations

Emergence of overwintered larvae of eye-spotted bud moth, Spilonota ocellana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in relation to temperature and apple tree phenology at Summerland, British Columbia

We recorded daily appearance of overwintered larvae of eye-spotted bud moth (ESBM), Spilonota ocellana (Denis & Schiffermüller) in spring 1992, 1994, and 1996 in an unsprayed apple orchard at Summerland, British Columbia, to relate larval emergence to degree-day (DD) accumulation and apple phenology. In all years the first larva was found between mid-March and early April, and none appeared after late April. Median emergence of larvae occurred when McIntosh apple trees were at early, tight-cluster stage of fruit-bud development. Larval head capsule measurements showed that ESBM usually overwinter as fifth and sixth instars, with a small proportion (≤6%) as fourth instar larvae. In the laboratory we monitored emergence of non-diapausing overwintered larvae from apple branches incubated at 8.8, 9.4, 12.9, 15.0, 18.0, and 20.9ºC. A least-squares linear regression described emergence over this temperature range relatively accurately (r2 = 0.57, P < 0.05) and a base temperature for emergence (Tb = 1.0ºC ± 0.6) was extrapolated from this regression. Regression analysis indicated median emergence should require 154.6 ± 6.7 DD above 1ºC (DD 1ºC). Using daily airtemperature maxima and minima and 1 March to start accumulating DD1ºC, the error between predicted and observed days to median emergence in the field was -6.7 ± 3.1 d; the regression model predicted early in every case. Using observed larval appearance on apples (1992, 1994, & 1996) and an iterative process, we determined that a combination of 6ºC as the Tb and 1 January as a date to start accumulating DD6ºC, minimized the coefficient of variation for the three-year mean DD 6ºC accumulations (82.7 ± 3.5 DD 6ºC) required for 50% of the larvae to appear in the field. While this latter DD index described observed emergence of larvae accurately, and its use may help improve management of ESBM, it should be validated using independent data before growers use it routinely

"... Remembering what the Savior had said”: Social Memory and the Sayings of Jesus Tradition

Thesis advisor: Pheme PerkinsScholarship concerning the sayings attributed to Jesus has often been driven by the goals of historical Jesus studies, so that approaches to the sayings tradition have largely focused on determining the probaility of those sayings’ having originated with Jesus himself, and sorting the tradition into its presumed more and less genuine parts. This focus has been based in part on an understanding of human memory as capable of conveying accurate kernels of the actual past—here, genuine sayings of Jesus—alongside and within accreted tradition. Social memory theory, which originated in the social sciences but has been applied to Jesus scholarship over the last several decades, controverts this understanding of memory, arguing rather that memory is a dynamic social process, which continually interprets the perceived past through the socially-engaged frameworks of the present, and therefore cannot be separated into accurate and inaccurate parts. This correction to previous thinking about memory demands a corresponding correction to previous approaches to the Jesus and sayings tradition. The present dissertation proposes a variant-conscious approach—a label adopted and adapted from a parallel approach developed within New Testament text criticism—to the sayings tradition as a means of answering this demand and taking into account social memory theory’s claims concerning the entanglement of the past and present in the social construction of the tradition. Its aim is to attend to the sayings tradition and the variants within it each as distinct pieces of evidence for the diverse ways in which Jesus and his sayings were being remembered across Christian communities of the first three centuries CE. Two case studies (Chapters 2 and 3) apply this approach to two clusters of variants of sayings attributed to Jesus, an “Explaining the Parable(s)” cluster and an “Ask, Seek, and/or Knock” cluster. These studies find that the variations between the variants reflect each one’s origins as a product of social memory, connected at once to its past received tradition and to its own author’s present and socially-informed thinking about, for example, esoteric and exoteric knowledge, community identity, or the ongoing means of authority and revelation. A third case study (Chapter 4) turns its attention onto one sayings tradition text, the Apocryphon of James, in order to observe how its author, who could now be described as participating in the process of social memory, understood and described his own engagement with the processes of memory as a means of authorizing his contribution to the sayings tradition. Together these case studies demonstrate how a variant-conscious approach brings the insights of social memory theory to bear on the sayings tradition in a way that highlights the diversity and even competition within Christianity, as that diversity is given voice through the various memories of the voice of Jesus, which cannot be reduced to a singular vox Jesu.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Theology

Student Builders of Online Curriculum Content. What Are Their Perceptions and Motivations?

Objective/Purpose: 1. Describe the benefits and challenges of establishing a campus-wide student-centered program to create online curricular content. 2. Gain insight about student perceptions and motivations for becoming curriculum content developers. Need for Innovation: Faculty receive constant encouragement to discover methods for transforming health science instructional materials using active learning. Faculty identify lack of time as the most significant barrier to developing blended and online materials. In 2014, our academic medical center issued a student-centered call for proposals to create online materials for the Interactive E-Learning Program as a means to include students in the curricular change process. By pairing student creators, many of whom are fluent consumers of technology and digital education, with content expert faculty, the program uniquely capitalized on the students desire to contribute with the identified need of faculty for production time. Instructional Methods/Materials Used: The first call for student proposals was conducted in the fall of 2014, with the second in the fall of 2015. The competitive application required the following information: project members, faculty advisors, learning objectives, budget worksheet, description of the proposed module, and implementation plans for the curriculum. Awardees received $1000 per project for project expenses or student stipends. Students developed modules in six months with guidance from faculty advisors using resources available in the campus e-learning studio. Program completion was recognized by a letter of commendation. During the summer of 2016, students from both cohorts took part in a survey to assess their motivations and perceived benefits of participating in the Interactive E-Learning Program. Educational Outcomes: The two calls for proposals resulted in 30 funded student projects covering curricular topics for medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, allied health, and public health. A total of 58 students were involved and worked solo or in groups of 2-4 people. Survey results indicated students were motivated to participate by the desire to contribute to or enhance the curriculum and to develop their own e-learning skills. Students perceived an enhanced relationship with their faculty advisors and increased e-learning skills to be benefits of the program. Students also perceived participation in the program as a positive addition to their CV. Strengths/Areas for Improvement: The energy and creativity with which students approached the modules they designed resulted in many novel projects. The centralized e-learning studio and instructional design staff are strengths of the program, ensuring the modules meet instructional design principles, university branding requirements, copyright guidelines, and accessibility rules. An internal rubric and project checklist provided a guide for development and served as a tool for evaluation and feedback. Areas for improvement include the development of more interprofessional student teams that can lead to content applicable in more than one curriculum (eg professionalism skills, vital signs, medical history, etc). Approaches for identifying opportunities to implement the student-developed materials into courses on campus is also under consideration. Feasibility of Program Maintenance/Transferability: Many health sciences programs are facing curriculum redesign to meet the learning needs of current and future students or are seeking ways to engage students in the learning process. Based on our findings, extending the opportunity to students to become creators in partnership with faculty content experts was highly successful. Students are now more than just learners, but are also demonstrating altruistic behaviors to contribute and enhance curriculum for future students. After initial expenditures are made to acquire the proper software and hardware needed to support a formal e-learning program, the cost of maintaining such equipment is of small consequence when considering the impact of this program for the student developers, their faculty mentors, and the entire campus community