La Boheme

One of the most popular and beloved operas of all time, La Bohème was composed in December 1895 by Giacomo Puccini. He became interested in the Scènes de Ia vie de Bohème, a novel by Henri Murger in the winter of 1892-3, before the premiere of Manon Lescaut. His intention to base an opera on Murger\u27s novel involved him in controversy with Leoncavallo, who claimed precedence on the novel in 1893 in his publisher\u27s periodical, II secolo. Leoncavallo asserted that he already had artists in mind and that this fact was well known by Puccini. This assertion was quickly rebutted by Puccini, writing the next day to II carriere della sera. His letter stated that he welcomed the chance to compete with his rival while allowing the public to judge the better composer

The Importance of Conflict Resolution Techniques in Autonomous Agile Teams

Today, software companies usually organize their work in teams. Social science research on team development has shown that for a team to reach a productive and autonomous stage, it has to be able to manage internal conflicts and disagreements efficiently. To better facilitate the team development process, we argue that software engineers' needs additional training in negotiation skills and conflict resolution. In this position paper, we outline ideas for what aspects to consider in such training. As an example, we argue that a majority of the conflicts originate from team-level factors and that they, therefore, should be managed on the team-level instead of in relation to dyads.Comment: Accepted at 1st International Workshop on Autonomous Teams (A-TEAMS), 201

The effects of acute alcohol intoxication on women\u27s perception of and responses to high risk dating and social situations

This study examined how alcohol intoxication, victimization history, and sexual attitudes affect womens perception of and responses to high risk dating and social situations. One hundred and seventeen college women were randomly assigned to an alcohol or control (no-alcohol) condition. Participants read 15 vignettes describing high risk dating and social situations, rated the degree of victimization risk in each situation, and indicated how likely they would be to respond to each situation in a passive, acquiescent, assertive, and aggressive way. Results revealed that, regardless of condition, women with more liberal sexual attitudes made lower risk ratings than women with less liberal sexual attitudes. In addition, women in the alcohol condition reported that they would respond in a more acquiescent way to the situations than women in the control group. Women with a more severe victimization history in the alcohol condition reported they were more likely to respond acquiescently than women in the control group. Surprisingly, women with more liberal sexual attitudes assigned to the alcohol condition reported that they would respond in a less passive way to the situations than women in the alcohol group with less liberal sexual attitudes. Results suggest that preventative interventions for college women might address the relationship between alcohol use and liberal sexual attitudes and women\u27s risk for sexual victimization

Misaligned Values in Software Engineering Organizations

The values of software organizations are crucial for achieving high performance; in particular, agile development approaches emphasize their importance. Researchers have thus far often assumed that a specific set of values, compatible with the development methodologies, must be adopted homogeneously throughout the company. It is not clear, however, to what extent such assumptions are accurate. Preliminary findings have highlighted the misalignment of values between groups as a source of problems when engineers discuss their challenges. Therefore, in this study, we examine how discrepancies in values between groups affect software companies' performance. To meet our objectives, we chose a mixed method research design. First, we collected qualitative data by interviewing fourteen (\textit{N} = 14) employees working in four different organizations and processed it using thematic analysis. We then surveyed seven organizations (\textit{N} = 184). Our analysis indicated that value misalignment between groups is related to organizational performance. The aligned companies were more effective, more satisfied, had higher trust, and fewer conflicts. Our efforts provide encouraging findings in a critical software engineering research area. They can help to explain why some companies are more efficient than others and, thus, point the way to interventions to address organizational challenges.Comment: accepted for publication in Journal of Software: Evolution and Proces

Genocide in East Turkestan: Exploring the Perspectives of Uyghurs in the Diaspora and their Resistance to Chinese State Violence

The Uyghurs of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region—or East Turkestan, as many Uyghurs call their Indigenous homeland in northwestern China, are a Muslim ethnic group whose culture and identity are being systematically destroyed by the Chinese state. Since 2016, Uyghurs have been imprisoned in China’s “re-education camps” on an enormous scale, numbering up to three million. Uyghurs have experienced discrimination and marginalization in China for many years, yet relatively little attention has been given to what has now become a set of gross human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity and genocide. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, by working in collaboration with Uyghur diaspora members, this study aims to share and amplify their perspectives on the atrocities in their homeland. Five themes and 16 sub themes emerged from data collected through interviews, observations, field notes, document analysis, and archival research. These include 1) intense repression starting in 2014, 2) numerous illegitimate reasons for imprisonment, 3) severed contact with family members since 2017, and 4) exploitation of Uyghur land, property, and culture. The second purpose of this study is to highlight how Uyghurs in diaspora communities around the world have been speaking out in resistance to Chinese hegemony at great risk to themselves and their family members. I examined the efforts of local and international Uyghur organizations, high profile Uyghur individuals, and San Francisco Bay Area Uyghur activism. In this dissertation, I seek to honor the stories of Uyghur diaspora members, describe their resistance in the face of tremendous struggle, and present data to raise awareness of the magnitude of this human rights issue in the hope of calling people to action and holding governments and international human rights mechanisms accountable to stop the Uyghur genocide