The Voluntary Association in The Slum

1 / Voluntary Associations in a Zone of Transition This report is a study of formal voluntary associations in a zone of transition. It seeks information on the various kinds of voluntary organizations to be found in such an area, the characteristics of the members, the manner in which people become affiliated with organizations, and the functions that organizations serve for their members. The specific associations studied include such diverse groups as a neighborhood improvement council, an old-age club, and various children\u27s associations. In this study such groups fall under the province of voluntary associations. That such groups are found in a zone of transition warrants special attention because it has been common to assume that formal associations are nonexistent or at a minimum in the slum, an assumption which has an important bearing on theory in urban sociology and ecology, This study was initiated with the knowledge that groups had been formed in an interstitial area through the efforts of a community organizer. The organizations created through his efforts provided a focus for the problem, and the membership of these groups provided a major portion of the universe studied. Thus, it was known prior to the study that there were persons belonging to voluntary associations in the area. It was assumed, however, that an extensive network of organizational participation could be found in the area independent of the affiliations created by the professional community organizer. This assumption was borne out readily. A cursory examination of the total membership for the city of such diverse organizations as the YWCA, Boy Scouts, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and so forth, indicated that many of the persons who were members of these groups also inhabited the area mapped out for study. Were the members of formal organizations in the slum similar to their counterparts who lived in the suburbs? For instance, were they likely to have relatively high educational achievement, to be Protestant rather than Catholic in faith, and be voters more often than nonvoters? Such questions were posed at the inception of the study. Still other questions concerned the similarities and differences between persons who became members of organizations created by the community organizer and persons living in the same slum area but affiliated with other voluntary associations. And in a different vein, did children who belonged to associations come from families where their parents had a tradition of association, or was parental affiliation incidental to a child\u27s participation? To answer such questions and to formulate hypotheses for testing, this inquiry drew heavily from studies dealing with voluntary associations. The relation of such studies to the present work will be noted shortly

Prediction of Shear Strength and Ductility of Cyclically Loaded Reinforced Concrete Columns Using Artificial Intelligence

The shear strength and deformation capacities of reinforced concrete (RC) columns are governed by a multitude of variables related to material properties of the steel and concrete used in the design and construction of the columns. Predicting performance of RC columns using design variables is a complex, non-linear problem. The prediction of shear strength and ductility for these types of structural members has historically been performed using empirically or semi-empirically derived formulae based on experimental results. The introduction of cyclical lateral loading, such as the forces imposed on a structure during an earthquake, can result in severe degradation of shear strength and ductility as load cycles continue. This can increase the complexity of predicting performance even further, as shear failure of the column occurs at relatively low deformations and can significantly affect the ability of the structure to resist lateral loading. Most existing models consider monotonic loading only and do not address this at all, which can result in extremely poor structural performance in a seismic event when compared to performance predictions

The Evolution of U.S. Foreign Policy Towards Cuba

Cuba\u27s location has determined the island\u27s political, social, and economic history. No other political entity in the Western Hemisphere has been as contested as Cuba has, and no other society has passed from colonial status, to a republic, to a socialist state in less than 100 years. The largest and most western island of the Antilles archipelago, Cuba is centrally located between North and South America, and guards access to the Caribbean Sea. For hundreds of years, its strategic position and its rich soil, abundant harbors, and mineral reserves have attracted foreign powers-first Spain, then the United States, and then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

United States business travelers\u27 response to price changes and overbooking: Its effect on intentional loyalty in the hospitality industry

Companies that have highly perishable inventories have used yield management quite extensively over the past decade. The process helps to maximize revenues based on demand. The airline industry was the first to adopt the process into a business setting and has seen varying results along the way. Much of the existing research is geared towards examining the revenue producing potential of the system. There has been little research however, to examine how this process of shifting price to manipulate demand effects customer loyalty; This research attempts to evaluate what the effects actually are when price is used as the major tool in controlling demand. This research will address consumer behavior issues associated with yield management pricing. Some examples are how yield management effects perceived value and trust. Issues like overbooking, price thresholds, reference prices, and rate increases will also be examined by creating specific scenarios to capture the attitudes of the business traveler in each case

The hagiography of St Alban and St Amphibalus in the twelfth century

This study is based on the fact that hagiographical texts can be used as historical sources. It examines texts produced at St Albans Abbey in the second half of the twelfth century which record the lives and miracles of St Alban and St Amphibalus, some of which were written by the monk William of St Albans. These texts were a stage in the development of the legend of St Alban which had its origins in Roman Britain. Textual and historical evidence suggests that they were written to provide both literary back-up for the discovery of the relics of St Amphibalus in June 1177, at Redbourn, near St Albans, and to document the emergent cult of that saint. The text can also be used to show that a principal motive for the initiation of the cult of St Amphibalus was the success of the cult of St Thomas of Canterbury, although there is also other evidence to suggest that St Albans Abbey was in debt and needed a new source of income. The invention-account and the miracle-account of St Amphibalus have not been studied before, and provide much information about the mechanics of cult-initiation and the spread of a 'new' saint's reputation for healing power

Identifying the Effects of Specific CHC Factors on College Students’ Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is an important skill for college academic success. Much of the research pertaining to reading in general, and reading comprehension specifically, focuses on the success of primary and secondary school-age students. The present study goes beyond previous research by extending such investigation to the reading comprehension of college-age student participants. Using the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theoretical model, this study investigates the effects of seven broad factors on the reading comprehension of college-age students. Of the seven broad factors identified within the CHC theoretical model, only crystallized intelligence and visual-spatial thinking demonstrate statistically significant direct effects on reading comprehension. Although crystallized intelligence consistently has been identified as playing an integral role in the reading comprehension of primary and secondary school-age students, this study represents the first time visual-spatial thinking has been found to have a statistically significant direct effect on reading comprehension, in any population. This study provides hypotheses to explain the effects of visual-spatial thinking on college-age students’ reading comprehension and offers instructional strategies to assist faculty in improving student learning in higher education settings

Early diffusion evidence of retrograde transsynaptic degeneration in the human visual system

We investigated whether diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) indices of white matter integrity would offer early markers of retrograde transsynaptic degeneration (RTD) in the visual system after stroke Objective: We investigated whether diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) indices of white matter integrity would offer early markers of retrograde transsynaptic degeneration (RTD) in the visual system after stroke. Methods: We performed a prospective longitudinal analysis of the sensitivity of DTI markers of optic tract health in 12 patients with postsynaptic visual pathway stroke, 12 stroke controls, and 28 healthy controls. We examined group differences in (1) optic tract fractional anisotropy (FA-asymmetry), (2) perimetric measures of visual impairment, and (3) the relationship between FA-asymmetry and perimetric assessment. Results: FA-asymmetry was higher in patients with visual pathway lesions than in control groups. These differences were evident 3 months from the time of injury and did not change significantly at 12 months. Perimetric measures showed evidence of impairment in participants with visual pathway stroke but not in control groups. A significant association was observed between FA-asymmetry and perimetric measures at 3 months, which persisted at 12 months. Conclusions: DTI markers of RTD are apparent 3 months from the time of injury. This represents the earliest noninvasive evidence of RTD in any species. Furthermore, these measures associate with measures of visual impairment. DTI measures offer a reproducible, noninvasive, and sensitive method of investigating RTD and its role in visual impairment

Kolab: appropriation & improvisation in mobile tangible collaborative interaction

Current design guidelines for conventional tangible systems suggest that the representational significance of tangible tokens is an important consideration in the design of tangible interaction, especially in collaborative contexts. Such advice might be assumed to imply that nomadic tangible systems that employ improvised tokens are liable to have highly impaired usability. In this paper we describe a proof of concept experiment for Kolab, a nomadic tangible interaction system that permits any surface to be appropriated as a collaborative tabletop, and which affords the use of a wide range of appropriated artifacts as improvised tangibles. We demonstrate an approach for realizing the necessary interaction techniques combining tangibles and hand gestures using a fusion of image and depth sensing. We present the results of a user study showing that while users' choices of artifacts were seen to follow an unexpected pattern, various artifacts were appropriated and improvised as tangibles, and the system was found to be both usable and well able to support user collaboration