Drawing Delicate Connections

This paper discusses the methodology of a current drawing research project investigating delicacy as a value through case studies in other material practices. It reflects upon an interdisciplinary approach to understanding studio practice, specifically the special relationship that would seem to exist between the delicate, the intimate and drawing

A Delicate Presence::the Queer Intimacy of Drawing

This paper explores the fragile presence manifest in the value of delicacy in drawing. Delicacy remains one of the poetic, aesthetic and psychological qualities closely allied with the history of drawing yet despite these widespread associations, delicacy as an aesthetic and critical phenomenon has remained largely underexplored. This paper unpicks the value of delicacy to uncover a web of tensions between the seen- unseen, touching-not-touching and crucially, absence and presence. The possibility for drawing to open up space between presence and absence is explored through feminist materialist theory, specifically Karen Barad’s idea of ‘queer intimacy’ a theory of relationship based on quantum physics predictions of simultaneous absence and presence. The significance for us is that through looking at drawing we become sensitised to the possibility of other states of being, which in turn may offer fresh lenses though which to see the world. Equally, in co-opting new forms of critical discourse from other fields of thought might we enrich our understanding of graphic encounters

What Are We Afraid Of? A Survey of Librarian Opinions and Misconceptions Regarding Instant Messenger.

Buzz about instant messaging (IM) customer service is becoming louder, both inside and outside the library field. In general, librarian opinions of IM are mixed and at times even combative. A survey was distributed to gather librarians\u27 opinions of the usefulness of IM as compared to its feature-rich yet difficulty-prone sibling, commercial chat. Through detailed statistical analysis, this article provides an overview of trends in and opinions of IM reference, and offers analysis of its present and future in libraries

The Non-homogeneous Poisson Process for Fast Radio Burst Rates

This paper presents the non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) for modeling the rate of fast radio bursts (FRBs) and other infrequently observed astronomical events. The NHPP, well-known in statistics, can model changes in the rate as a function of both astronomical features and the details of an observing campaign. This is particularly helpful for rare events like FRBs because the NHPP can combine information across surveys, making the most of all available information. The goal of the paper is two-fold. First, it is intended to be a tutorial on the use of the NHPP. Second, we build an NHPP model that incorporates beam patterns and a power law flux distribution for the rate of FRBs. Using information from 12 surveys including 15 detections, we find an all-sky FRB rate of 586.88 events per sky per day above a flux of 1 Jy (95\% CI: 271.86, 923.72) and a flux power-law index of 0.91 (95\% CI: 0.57, 1.25). Our rate is lower than other published rates, but consistent with the rate given in Champion et al. 2016.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure

The Transformative Power of the 2030 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals

West Central Initiative, a mostly rural community foundation and regional development organization in Minnesota, integrated the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals into its strategic plan in 2019. This article explores how aligning the U.N. goals with the foundation’s “nested strategy” of local, regional, and global goals has aligned and energized the disparate functions of the organization. This article describes the strategic planning process that led to adoption of the goals, articulates how they have helped evolve the interplay of economic development and philanthropy, and identifies lessons learned from the first two years of working with the goals. Focusing on the strong and undeniable connections between the local and the global has crystalized West Central Initiative’s higher purpose. The new, transformative vision for the foundation centers diversity, equity, and inclusion as essential building blocks of both successful regional development and place-based philanthropy. Any region — anywhere — with a successful regional economy that also is supported by effective community philanthropy would look like the Sustainable Development Goals, realized

Medical symptoms associated with tobacco smoking with and without marijuana abuse among crack cocaine-dependent patients.

Despite the widespread use of tobacco and marijuana by cocaine abusers, it remains unclear whether combined tobacco and marijuana smoking is more harmful than tobacco smoking alone in cocaine abusers. We investigated the differences in medical symptoms reported among 34 crack cocaine abusers who did not smoke tobacco or marijuana (C), 86 crack cocaine abusers who also smoked tobacco (C + T), and 48 crack abusers who smoked both tobacco and marijuana (C + T + M). Medical symptoms were recorded using a 134-item self-report instrument (MILCOM), and drug use was assessed using the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). After controlling for clinical and demographic differences, the C + T + M group reported significantly more total symptoms on the MILCOM as well as on the respiratory, digestive, general, and nose/throat subscales than the C + T or C groups. The C + T group reported higher total and respiratory and nose/throat symptoms than the C group. HOwever, the C group had the highest number of mood symptoms among the three groups. The C + T and C + T + M groups were comparable in number of cigarettes smoked and ASI scores. Although tobacco smoking is associated with higher reports of medical problems in crack abusers, smoking both marijuana and tobacco seems to be associated with greater medical problems than smoking tobacco alone. Tobacco smoking was not related to changes in cocaine use. Also, marijuana smoking does not appear to be associated with a reduction in tobacco or cocaine use

For You Are All One in Christ (Gal 3:28): The Role of Women in the Pauline Churches

This paper seeks to demonstrate the fundamental importance of women in Paul\u27s ministry. Contrary to many modern interpreters, I suggest that Paul had an inclusive attitude toward women–an attitude that was rather extraordinary for his times. Paul\u27s inclusive attitude was however not maintained in the later Christian churches. I suggest that this loss of inclusivity has led people to read Paul incorrectly, through the lens of the Deutero-Pauline literature and the later church, rather than letting Paul\u27s letters stand on their own. Through a literary-historical analysis of the authentic Pauline letters I will try to show the various and substantial roles that women played in Paul\u27s churches and how their importance in Paul\u27s churches was linked to Paul\u27s larger theology. Like many other issues addressed in Paul’s letters, his perspective on women continues to be debated by Christians and scholars alike in order to better understand the ancient customs and traditions of the religion and how they shape modern practice

Alternative Risk: A Diagnostic and Canadian Anti-Vaccine Case Study

This thesis builds on a growing body of interdisciplinary risk scholarship that is taking place across the humanities and sciences. It combines Ulrich Beck’s sociological concept of “risk society”, legal scholar Dayna Nadine Scott’s “risk frame” as a Foucauldian “governmentality” and the techniques of the professional writing discipline of “risk communication” with multi-modal rhetorical analysis to show that “risk” is more than a deliberative discussion of statistics and probabilities: it is a multi-dimensional form of argument that has become a topos, or persuasive “place,” in our social discourse, one where we find arguments about preventing catastrophe ... or where we find arguments for all kinds of other purposes. I argue that this complex rhetorical practice is vulnerable to capture by “alternative risk”: risk communications that adopt the conceptual and formal features of risk discourse to exploit their audience’s risk anxieties. In a context of increasing concern about the volume and impact of disinformation, the concept of “alternative risk” offers a framework for diagnosing patterns and structures of disinformation, which I apply in a Canadian anti-vaccine case study, Stop the Shots in Kids. Mapping this anti-COVID vaccine campaign to the “alternative risk” framework reveals (1) how it uses the stylistic and conceptual features of risk communication alongside rhetorical strategies characteristic of the “alt-right” to advance conspiracy theories and other forms of mis- and dis-information in a manner that makes them difficult to distinguish from legitimate COVID-19 risk communications, and (2) how it uses the risk of vaccination as a “place” to argue about COVID-19 restrictions, mitigation practices such as masking, and the trustworthiness of government and other institutions. The case study, and the other examples included in this thesis highlight that alternative risk is not a “fringe minority” issue, but something of mainstream and ongoing importance in our daily lives