Congregational Leadership: An Art in Context

Reviewed Book: Weigel, Arnold D. Congregational Leadership: An Art in Context. [S.l.]: Vancouver School of Theology, 1993

The 'Dark Continent' goes north: an exploration of intercultural theatre practice through Handspring and Sogolon Puppet Companies' production of Tall Horse

This essay explores the complexities of intercultural interaction, specifically in the context of globalization. These interactions involve not only contact with, but also negotiation of cultural representations. The debates about the processes involved in such encounters are complex and highlight tensions among aesthetics, ideology, the ethics of production, voice, and authorship. The essay begins by outlining some of the key debates and issues specifically for theatre; in particular, it looks at the tension between Brook’s transcultural approach to intercultural theatre and Rustom Bharucha’s insistence on contextualized and historicized interactions. These theoretical positions are explored against the specific example of Tall Horse (2005), an intercultural production by the South African Handspring Puppet Company, the Malian Sogolon Puppet Company, a choreographer from Benin, and a scriptwriter from New York. The essay examines both the ideological issues raised in the text and the practical issues of cross-cultural collaboration and interaction to suggest an approach that may mediate between binaries that seem to dominate cultural interaction

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Obstacles, Benefits, Solution

I began this research project with the question, “Will the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ever be opened with the current nation-wide opposition to it”? I began my research and shortly found out my hypothesis, which is: “ANWR can be opened, but it will take a neutral position from both sides and both sides must compromise”. Throughout my research I ran into two main obstacles for ANWR: the United States Congress and their constituents. I argue that the constituents are the largest problem because without their support, Congress won’t open it. I have divided up the constituents into two groups: environmentalists and pro-drillers. After looking at both sides, I realized that in order to open ANWR, both sides must take a neutral approach to ANWR and the only approach I could come up with was a cost-benefit analysis. After both sides look at that they will realize that compromise is necessary. How do we get both sides (America) to see that compromise is necessary and the importance of ANWR? We begin a national grassroots campaign that can educate America on the positives and negatives of ANWR and the importance of it. Once America knows how important and necessary opening ANWR is, they will request their congressional members to support it. Only then will ANWR be opened

Distributed Triangle Counting in the Graphulo Matrix Math Library

Triangle counting is a key algorithm for large graph analysis. The Graphulo library provides a framework for implementing graph algorithms on the Apache Accumulo distributed database. In this work we adapt two algorithms for counting triangles, one that uses the adjacency matrix and another that also uses the incidence matrix, to the Graphulo library for server-side processing inside Accumulo. Cloud-based experiments show a similar performance profile for these different approaches on the family of power law Graph500 graphs, for which data skew increasingly bottlenecks. These results motivate the design of skew-aware hybrid algorithms that we propose for future work.Comment: Honorable mention in the 2017 IEEE HPEC's Graph Challeng

Ministry Burnout

Reviewed Book: Sanford, John A. Ministry Burnout. Louisville, Ky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992

Fluorescent Glow

This narrative describes aspects of my semester teaching English as a Second Language in the city jail. I had expected to be able to draw grand conclusions about incarceration, inmates and policy, but instead I discovered that the inmates sitting in front of me were, above all else, simply students. The article also includes a digital story about the experience. The narrative is intended for those with interest in jail or prison education

Loneliness: A Cradle for God\u27s Living Word

Reviewed Book: Weigel, Arnold D. Loneliness: A Cradle for God\u27s Living Word. [S.l.]: Vancouver School of Theology, 1993

Modifiable Factors Impeding Nurses’ Willingness to Report in a Disaster

This research project investigates what modifiable factors impede nurses’ willingness to report to work during a disaster. The survey sample were nurses in the United States. Survey methodology was a snowball sampling initiated among nurses attending a PhD Program at the University of Texas at Tyler as well as the utilization of Facebook to recruit participants. The survey instrument determined likelihood of nurses reporting to work in various types of disasters and factors that may impede them from responding to such disasters. The online survey asked thirty-five “select all that apply” type questions and the results will be used to improve disaster response rates among nurses. Additionally, subscales were created utilizing Likert style questions for the concepts of risk, perceived duty, education, resources, and faith in healthcare facility leadership. Lastly, nurse preparedness was assessed by asking dichotomous questions pertaining to whether or not participants possess recommended items of preparedness. There is a great need to identify these modifiable factors in order to provide evidence-based data that will serve as a baseline for interventions to improve nurse willingness to report to work in times of dire need. This would not only increase the quality and quantity of patient care but also strengthen nurses’ perceived safety and confidence in the work place. Understanding these modifiable factors may lead to increased willingness to report to work in times of need, thus saving more lives with an adequate staffing of willing, competent nurses

Scandals in health-care: Their impact on health policy and nursing

Through an analysis of several high-profile scandals in health care in the UK, this article discusses the nature of scandal and its impact on policy reform. The nursing profession is compared to social work and medicine, which have also undergone considerable examination and change as a result of scandals. The author draws on reports from public inquiries from 1945-2013 to form the basis of the discussion about policy responses following scandals in health care. In each case, the nature of the scandal, the public and government discourses generated by events, and the policy response to those failings are explored. These scandals are compared to the recent scandal at Mid Staffordshire Hospital. Conclusions are drawn about the impact of these events on the future of the profession and on health policy directions. Recent events have raised public anxieties about caring practices in nursing. Health policy reform driven by scandal may obscure the effect of under resourcing in health services and poses a very real threat to the continued support for state run services. Understanding the socially constructed nature of scandal, enables the nurse to develop a greater critical awareness of policy contexts in order that they can influence health service reform

Deficits and financial change in the Pacific Basin

Pacific Area ; Deficit financing ; Budget deficits ; Financial institutions - Pacific Basin