The Value of Community Ethnography in Public Library Crisis Preparation

In this brief article, I address the usefulness of including community-driven interviews into preparations for disasters. Drawing on Shera’s (1970) highly influential construction of library work as tied to communication, I analyze responses of three library organizations–the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library and the New Jersey Library Association–immediately following Hurricane Sandy. I then turn to a specific role of communication that libraries can offer surrounding communities, providing resources for local community members to conduct interviews among those who have experienced a disaster. By incorporating this kind of responsibility to communicate experiences of a crisis to a wider audience, libraries fulfill an important part of Shera’s charge to reflect the local values and norms of surrounding communities

The Rise of Eco-Tourism in Costa Rica and its Effects

The Costa Rica Tourism Board’s website is covered with pictures of the beautiful landscapes Costa Rica is known for. It advertises activities such as horseback riding, hiking in forests, and guided bird watching tours under the impressive “eco-tourism” section of its website (“Essential Costa Rica”). Costa Rica is often considered a “successful” Latin American country, with relatively low levels of poverty and violence, a high GDP, and one of the highest Human Development Indexes (HDI) in Latin America. Costa Rica currently has a booming eco-tourism industry important to the Costa Rican economy. The environment in Costa Rica is not only a source of beauty and “pura vida,” but is also a large part of the Costa Rican economy due to industries like tourism, pharmaceuticals, and prospecting (Allebon-Web et al. 2013, 42). Costa Rica’s rich biodiversity makes it an optimal place for eco-tourism. In fact, Costa Rica is home to 5% of the world’s biodiversity despite occupying only 0.0035% of the earth’s surface (Honey 2008, 160). Tourists are attracted to Costa Rica’s volcanoes, waterfalls, hiking trails, beaches, and many different kinds of animals. In addition, Costa Rica is seen as a generally safe country for tourists. Costa Rica also has a comprehensive legal framework for environmental protection. For these reasons, Costa Rica is seen as the “poster child” for effective environmental infrastructure, with strong economic incentives to keep it going (Honey 2008, 160-61)

Automating Community Charrettes: Using CommunityViz to Improve the Effectiveness of Community Charrettes, Based on a Charrette Performed in Old Orchard Beach in 2006

Public input has become an important part of the planning process for many communities and participatory design charettes. This Capstone project considers the impacts and opportunities of using these interactive technologies for participatory planning. It then looks at a charrette that was performed in 2006 using traditional pencil and paper chip game, and how this same process could have been conducted using the GIS extension program CommunityViz. Possible advantages of automating charrettes are considered. Finally, this project explores what added features of the charrette could have been included by using CommunityViz, and considers future applications and adaptability of this project

Head, Heart, and Hands: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis Comparing the Learning and Transformation of Remote vs. In-Person Experiential Service-Learning Opportunities for Teens

The goal of service learning is rooted in the integration of education, community, and self with the expectation that personal and community transformation takes place when students apply what they are learning in the classroom to the real needs of real people in the real world. This paper compares the service learning experiences of high school students done remotely during the 2020-21 school year versus service learning done in-person during the 2021-22 school year to determine if there is a difference in transformational impact by the type of service learning. A mixed methods program evaluation was completed that utilized data from student reflections and evaluations from each year. Three key evaluation questions were used to look at the difference in service learning between each year, the value of the different experiences, and how age and gender may impact different service learning experiences. Data from this evaluation showed that positive outcomes can be achieved through both remote and in-person service learning including sense of community, engagement, and future participation. Future program evaluations should consider multiple ways to integrate remote and in-person service learning opportunities depending on their desired outcomes for transformational growth in high school students

Sculpting Course impact on medical students\u27 anatomy examination grades

Abstract Objectives: The primary hypothesis of this project is that those who take the medical sculpting course will be positively impacted on their anatomy practical examinations when compared to those who have not taken the course. The secondary outcome of this project is that those who take the medical sculpting course will have a difference in their pre- and post- mental rotations test. Methods: Using the Vandenberg and Kuse mental rotation test, the students taking the sculpting session and a control group of students were pre-screened for their visual spatial awareness. The students who opted into the course then completed a medical sculpting course relevant to whatever course they were enrolled in. After the course they took the mental rotation test again. Both groups then took their anatomy practical examination. Results: Comparison of the averages of the anatomy practical examination score control vs course had a p value of 0.8154. Comparison of the pre-test mental rotation scores vs the post-test scores had a p value of 0.0329 Conclusion: The hypothesis that a medical sculpting course would positively affect the anatomy practical grades of those who took it versus those who did not has been disproven using the current data. Secondly, the hypothesis that a medical sculpting course would positively affect the mental rotation test results pre and post course has been proved correct. Both will also be evaluated further with a larger sample size as the course is ongoing

Factors That Affect Harem Stability in a Feral Horse (Equus caballus) Population on Shackleford Banks island, NC

Mammal species often live in social groups, but the factors that promote group cohesion can be difficult to analyze due to the prevalence of strong group affiliations. Feral horses maintain stable harems of one or two males and several females, and harem stability is strongly related to individual fitness. Anecdotal evidence and an early study in the non-breeding season suggest that management of the Shackleford Banks island horses with immunocontraception reduces harem stability in the population, providing an opportunity to study the factors that influence harem stability. I investigated the effects of the immunocontraceptive PZP on harem stability during the breeding season and examined mare activity budgets and harassment rates to determine if these factors influence harem stability. I hypothesized that 1) immunocontraception would increase the rates at which mares changed harems during the breeding season 2) activity budgets of contracepted individuals would differ significantly from those of uncontracepted individuals, and 3) contracepted mares would experience greater levels of harassment associated with changing harems than uncontracepted mares. I found that the immunocontraceptive does increase harem changes during the breeding season. I also found that contracepted mares have different activity budgets than uncontracepted mares; as predicted, contracepted mares grazed less and moved more than uncontracepted controls. The factors that influence mare activity budgets included immunocontraception, harem stallion, number of individuals in the harem, number of mares in the harem and body condition of the mare, as well as some interactions between factors. I found that high harassment rates by both harem stallions and other mares in the harem are correlated with higher harem change rates and that contracepted mares are harassed more than uncontracepted mares. These results indicate that the immunocontraceptive does influence harem stability in this feral horse population, potentially through alterations in activity budgets and harassment rates

Adjusting The Borders: Bisexual Passing And Queer Theory

Fluidity is a term sometimes used in reference to bisexual identity, thus positioning sexuality as an adaptive, evolving set of behaviors performed to constitute alternately straightness or queerness. Part of the speciousness of using fluidity to describe bisexuality centers on the implication that heterosexuality and homosexuality occupy opposite ends of a psychological spectrum, leaving bisexuality vaguely straddling poles of identity, without specificity or intent. This article is predominantly concerned with the notion of intentionality in bisexual behavior and whether or not deliberate choices are made to participate in communities that identify as either straight or queer. Rather than framing this investigation in terms of whether or not sexuality itself is a choice, this article compares bisexuals who alternately engage in straight or queer practices in the context of passing, as when a person presents herself as an alternate race. Using personal narratives, theoretical works from Judith Butler, bell hooks and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and drawing on descriptions of racial passing, I am interested in crafting psychological profiles of women who routinely perform their sexualities differently as part of belonging to and identifying with distinct communities of queerness and straightness