Industry-based Ministry: A Pilot Project at the New Dimension S.D.A. Church

Problem The Seventh-day Adventist Church, from my pastoral observation here at the New Dimension Seventh-day Adventist congregation in Brooklyn, has not been as successful in retaining the unskilled and uneducated urban poor as other ministries (for example, the Nation of Islam). We preach evangelistic messages to change the lifestyles of the poor and in the process we either lose them or leave them on government assistance because we have no viable economic program to sustain them in our faith. Purpose The purpose of this project was to develop and implement a model of industry- based ministry by which members could be empowered to be economically viable so they would not have to depend on others for their livelihood. Method I examined various examples of Industry-based Ministries (IBM) in the urban setting, identifying their impact on the community in which they serve and the transformation of the people and their living conditions. I interviewed more than 10 ministers, attended more than eight seminars, surveyed internet materials, and utilized other presentations on the subject. I also reviewed the biblical and philosophical theology that undergirds such ministries for the poor. Results There were positive changes at the New Dimension Church as a result of implementing (IBM) even on the small scale. (IBM) was voted in 2005 and implemented in 2006. Between 2006 and 2007 the church grew from 227 to 295 members, reaching 381 by 2009. There was a tremendous change in the baptismal rate. Not only were members retained, the church’s membership increased by 154. There was also a positive change in stewardship faithfulness. There was a steady financial growth in the church, averaging $300,000 per year from 2005 onward. (See table 3.) There was also a quality of life change as members applied their new skills and principles to open their own businesses and enhance their employments opportunities. The Adventurer Club began to take T-shirt contracts from various churches to design T-shirts for them. As a result they raised some money for T-shirt production in the process. There was a change in the overall confidence of members. Church attendance grew, member participation soared, membership reached an all-time high and tithe increased. There have been qualitative changes at the New Dimension since (IBM) was implemented. Finally, it became evident from the research that Adventist mission to the city and eschatology call for the implementation of Industry-based Ministry for at least two reasons. Alonzo Baker, an Adventist professor, reflects the first reason when he wrote: “Believers in the Second Coming should vigorously apply the ‘first aid’ of social betterment while waiting for the full recovery that only the ‘Great Physician’ can bring upon his return.” The second reason is to prepare God’s people for the crisis ahead before the enemy takes advantage of economic conditions to pressure them to forsake the Lord

Gregory Hess vs. State of Indiana (Brief of Appellee) In the Supreme Court of Indiana

Appeal from the Monroe Superior Court The Honorable James M Dixon, Judge No. 1271 S 372 Brief of Appelleehttps://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/histdocs/1026/thumbnail.jp

Mechanism Design in Social Networks

This paper studies an auction design problem for a seller to sell a commodity in a social network, where each individual (the seller or a buyer) can only communicate with her neighbors. The challenge to the seller is to design a mechanism to incentivize the buyers, who are aware of the auction, to further propagate the information to their neighbors so that more buyers will participate in the auction and hence, the seller will be able to make a higher revenue. We propose a novel auction mechanism, called information diffusion mechanism (IDM), which incentivizes the buyers to not only truthfully report their valuations on the commodity to the seller, but also further propagate the auction information to all their neighbors. In comparison, the direct extension of the well-known Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism in social networks can also incentivize the information diffusion, but it will decrease the seller's revenue or even lead to a deficit sometimes. The formalization of the problem has not yet been addressed in the literature of mechanism design and our solution is very significant in the presence of large-scale online social networks.Comment: In The Thirty-First AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, San Francisco, US, 04-09 Feb 201

Positive Youth Development at Camps for Youth with Chronic Illness: A Systematic Review of the Literature

This study aimed to systematically review all the literature on camps for youth with childhood onset chronic illness (COCI) utilizing the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework to assess camp processes and psychosocial outcomes. This paper describes a unique dataset of 425 included studies published over the last 70 years and gives a broad overview of camp demographics, processes that align with PYD’s Big 3 (sustained adult-youth relationships, skill-building, and youth leadership) and measured outcomes that align with the PYD’s 5 Cs (Competence, Confidence, Character, Social Connectedness, and Compassion). Among the included studies, 36% included diabetes camps, 15% included camps accepting multiple illnesses, 12% included cancer camps, and 11% included asthma camps. The majority of participants were under the age of 16. While no study explicitly used the PYD approach, over 90% of studies described camps that deployed both active leadership and sustained positive relationships, while only 59% of studies described camps providing the opportunity to learn life skills. Although no study utilized the PYD 5 Cs framework for outcome measurement, 47% addressed outcomes related to Competence, 44% addressed Confidence, 33% addressed Connection, 4% addressed Compassion, and 2% addressed Character. This review highlights opportunities for camp leadership to align their programming with the PYD framework, to incorporate older adolescents and young adults and, ultimately, to improve positive adult outcomes for youth with COCI. It provides a starting point for future research evaluating illness-specific camps using a PYD approach

Organizational Governance of Emerging Technologies: AI Adoption in Healthcare

Private and public sector structures and norms refine how emerging technology is used in practice. In healthcare, despite a proliferation of AI adoption, the organizational governance surrounding its use and integration is often poorly understood. What the Health AI Partnership (HAIP) aims to do in this research is to better define the requirements for adequate organizational governance of AI systems in healthcare settings and support health system leaders to make more informed decisions around AI adoption. To work towards this understanding, we first identify how the standards for the AI adoption in healthcare may be designed to be used easily and efficiently. Then, we map out the precise decision points involved in the practical institutional adoption of AI technology within specific health systems. Practically, we achieve this through a multi-organizational collaboration with leaders from major health systems across the United States and key informants from related fields. Working with the consultancy IDEO.org, we were able to conduct usability-testing sessions with healthcare and AI ethics professionals. Usability analysis revealed a prototype structured around mock key decision points that align with how organizational leaders approach technology adoption. Concurrently, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 89 professionals in healthcare and other relevant fields. Using a modified grounded theory approach, we were able to identify 8 key decision points and comprehensive procedures throughout the AI adoption lifecycle. This is one of the most detailed qualitative analyses to date of the current governance structures and processes involved in AI adoption by health systems in the United States. We hope these findings can inform future efforts to build capabilities to promote the safe, effective, and responsible adoption of emerging technologies in healthcare

Hardwood Pulpwood Stumpage Price Trends in the Northeast

https://digitalmaine.com/usda_feddocs/1000/thumbnail.jp

Development and Validation of ML-DQA -- a Machine Learning Data Quality Assurance Framework for Healthcare

The approaches by which the machine learning and clinical research communities utilize real world data (RWD), including data captured in the electronic health record (EHR), vary dramatically. While clinical researchers cautiously use RWD for clinical investigations, ML for healthcare teams consume public datasets with minimal scrutiny to develop new algorithms. This study bridges this gap by developing and validating ML-DQA, a data quality assurance framework grounded in RWD best practices. The ML-DQA framework is applied to five ML projects across two geographies, different medical conditions, and different cohorts. A total of 2,999 quality checks and 24 quality reports were generated on RWD gathered on 247,536 patients across the five projects. Five generalizable practices emerge: all projects used a similar method to group redundant data element representations; all projects used automated utilities to build diagnosis and medication data elements; all projects used a common library of rules-based transformations; all projects used a unified approach to assign data quality checks to data elements; and all projects used a similar approach to clinical adjudication. An average of 5.8 individuals, including clinicians, data scientists, and trainees, were involved in implementing ML-DQA for each project and an average of 23.4 data elements per project were either transformed or removed in response to ML-DQA. This study demonstrates the importance role of ML-DQA in healthcare projects and provides teams a framework to conduct these essential activities.Comment: Presented at 2022 Machine Learning in Health Care Conferenc