How to Know if You\u27re an Extremist

I’m a serious West Wing fan. I love it because it not only gives me a little insight into what is obviously a totally accurate depiction of what life is like working in the White House (right?) but it also makes me think. Take this scene from season 3 as an example: Josh Lyman, the Deputy White House Chief, is stuck in the White House cafeteria with a group of high school students while the White House is under emergency lockdown. Since the students have been promised the opportunity to speak to influential people in D.C. during their visit, Lyman lets them ask him any questions they want. One student asks him, “Why are Muslims out to kill us?” Josh Lyman challenges the student’s statement with the following: “Islamic Extremist is to Islam as the Ku Klux Klan is to Christianity.” [excerpt

Beliefs Underlying Employee Readiness to Support a Building Relocation: A Theory of Planned Behavior Perspective

The purpose of this research was to examine the utility of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a framework for understanding employee readiness for change. One of the major advantages of the TPB approach is its ability to identify the underlying beliefs that distinguish between those who intend and do not intend to perform the behavior under investigation. In the present study, the extent to which a sample of local government employees intended to carry out activities during a 6-month period that were supportive of their organization's relocation to new premises was examined. An elicitation study (N = 18) determined salient beliefs relating to the relocation. For the main study, 149 participants completed a questionnaire that assessed their behavioral, normative, and control beliefs in regards to the change event. A series of MANOVAs revealed statistically significant differences between employees with moderate compared to high intentions to engage in changesupportive behaviors on a range of beliefs. Implications of these findings for designing change management strategies that help foster readiness for change are discussed

Shelf Life of Aquaponically-Grown Finstar Lettuce in Different Oxygen Transmission Rate Films

The effects of oxygen transmission rate of packaging material on the shelf life of aquaponically-grown Finstar lettuce was studied. Parameters of packaging headspace gas composition (oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations) and lettuce pH, percentage weight loss, total aerobic microorganisms, and color were analyzed every ten days for sixty days. Finstar lettuce was stored at 4○C in four different types of packages (treatments), including a clamshell package and three film bags with oxygen transmission rates (OTR) of 3.0-6.0 cc/(m2/24 hr/1 atm), 80-90 cc/(m2/24 hr/1 atm), and \u3e225 cc/(m2/24 hr/1 atm). Lettuce stored in clamshell packages (20.9-24.1% O2) or bags with \u3e225 OTR (11.8-23.3% O2) had higher levels of oxygen in the headspace than the 3.0-6.0 OTR (0.034-23.1% O2) or 80-90 OTR (0.7-23.3% O2) packages while carbon dioxide levels in the headspace of both the 3.0-6.0 OTR (0-20.5% CO2) and 80-90 OTR (0-10.9% CO2) packages were significantly higher than the clamshell packages (0-0.5% CO2) and \u3e225 OTR bags (0-3.9% CO2). The pH values of the clamshell packaged lettuce (6.00-6.82) were significantly lower than 3.0-6.0 OTR (6.34-7.37) and 80-90 OTR (6.40-6.95) but not the \u3e225 OTR (6.25-6.79) packaged lettuce. The percentage weight loss of the 3.0-6.0 OTR package (-0.76-1.05%) was significantly lowest while the percentage weight loss of the clamshell package was significantly highest (0.81-7.72%). The packages with lower carbon dioxide headspace percentages and higher oxygen headspace percentages had lower pH values. Shelf-life ratings by a panel (1=eat as is, 2=trim then eat or 3=discard) of the 80-90 OTR packaged lettuce were significantly lower than the shelf-life ratings of lettuce packaged in all the other treatments while shelf-life ratings of the \u3e225 OTR packaged lettuce were significantly higher than the lettuce packaged in all the other packaging treatments. There were no differences in the color of lettuce (lightness, greenness, yellowness) stored in the different packaging treatments. However, the hue angles of lettuce packaged in the 80-90 OTR bags were significantly higher than the lettuce packaged in the \u3e225 OTR bags. There were no significant differences in numbers of total aerobic microorganisms recovered from lettuce packaged in the different treatments (CFU/g or log CFU/g). Finstar lettuce displayed a long shelf-life compared to previous studies on other varieties of lettuce regardless of the package atmosphere. The long shelf-life may be attributed to Finstar having resilient genetic properties along with being greenhouse-grown which lessens the possibility of contamination compared to field-grown lettuces

Small Town and Rural Economic Development: A Case Study Analysis of Strategies for Success

This research paper examines the issue of economic development in small, rural communities. Literature review of the difficulties facing small town communities and how the ever-evolving economy is affecting these communities demonstrates the need of small towns to create and implement economic development strategies in order to thrive in an urbanizing and globalizing world. Through a case study analysis of four small town communities in the United States (i.e. Ord, NE; Mitchell, SD; Davidson, NC; and Clinton, NJ), this paper aims to determine common, successful economic development strategies that have helped these communities grow and compete with larger communities. Common strategies were extracted from this case study analysis: regional and cross-sector collaboration, promotion of local-first economies and encouragement of the local entrepreneurial spirit, and strategic planning and long-term visioning for development. This research also pinpoints lessons for small Michigan communities: (1) utilize organizations, businesses, and institutions within and surrounding the community, (2) engage in long-term planning and visioning for better development outcomes, (3) support sustainability initiatives and smart growth principles, (4) invest in networking infrastructure to connect to the digital economy, and (5) take advantage of rural-specific loans, grants, and programs through the federal or state government. This case study analysis overall illustrates how officials and community leaders in small towns can strategize their economic development to promote livable, connected, and 21st Century-viable communities

Through Their Eyes: Buffalo Bill\u27s Wild West as a Drawing Table for American Identity

For the last quarter of the 19th century, in places such as New York, Chicago, California, London, Georgia, even in smaller towns like Bloomington, Illinois, Wild West shows were the it thing. Presented to crowds of 20,000 and more, they were spine-tingling, rip-roaring sensations not to be missed, if nothing else, for the sake of a story to tell a grandchild fifty years later. As the harsh, open expanses of the American West closed in with the heavy footsteps of manifest destiny, the character building quality of Western land and Western life found a new home in Wild West shows and the public discourse surrounding them. The ability to construct distinctly American identities that contemporary historian Fredrick Jackson Turner attributed to the Westward moving pioneer was now available, in entertainment form, to all